ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 2, 1996 TAG: 9612020005
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
ALEXANDER WHITE and nine of his deceased relatives are to be moved from their old family cemetery to the East Hill Cemetery in Salem.
Alexander White was one of the wealthiest and most colorful figures living in Roanoke County during the 19th century.
Guests at his Fort Lewis mansion included President Andrew Jackson, who spent the night there on more than one occasion as he traveled between his Tennessee home and the White House.
Today, the small family cemetery where White's body was buried 90 years ago is known only to a handful of relatives. The cemetery is on a hilltop just off West Main Street, hidden from passing motorists by a vine-covered fence.
But White, who was born in Fort Lewis in 1813 and lived there his whole life, is about to change his address for the first time in nearly two centuries. He will soon be transferred to the East Hill Cemetery in Salem.
White and nine of his deceased relatives are being moved because their cemetery is bordered on three sides by a vacant commercial property that was recently sold for development.
Relatives support the project. They say it has become more difficult for them to maintain the cemetery as they have gotten older. And in the grave's new location, history buffs and other visitors will be welcome to stop by.
Anyone who wants to know what Alexander White was like need only ask Jean Potter, his great-granddaughter. When she was consulted about her ancestor, she pulled out a book she wrote about her family in 1968.
"He was arrogant, proud and colorful," Potter read from the entry on Alexander White. "He rode a grey horse, wore a grey suit and a grey cape lined in red. People looked up to him and while he was not a churchman, he never refused to help the poor."
His charity also extended to churches. Although he apparently was not affiliated with any denomination, White donated an acre of his estate to Fort Lewis Baptist Church in 1854. The church is still on that site.
While White was known as a proud man, he had his moments of humility, according to Potter. When he was invited to the White House, he vowed that "If the president swallows his napkin, I'll swallow mine."
White's gumption was passed on to his son Samuel, Potter's grandfather, who eluded hanging when he was captured during the Civil War by announcing he was a Mason. A Union officer and fellow Mason promptly canceled the young soldier's execution. The reason for the planned hanging isn't clear.
More than a trace of that family spirit is evident in Potter, still feisty at 91.
She has been interested in her family's history practically from birth.
"My grandmother used to say, `Remember who you are,''' Potter said. "You don't care who you were until you're real old. I think there's a lot to learn from history. Now that I'm 91, I feel like a philosopher."
Alexander White is best known for being wealthy in an era when most people in Roanoke County were poor. Most of Virginia's largest estates were in the eastern part of the state, which made families with large landholdings in the west even more prominent.
The White family's property, known as the Fort Lewis estate, once contained more than 4,500 acres. Although it had been whittled down to 1,200 acres by the Civil War, census figures published in historian Deedie Kagey's A History of Roanoke County indicate it was still the fourth-largest estate in Roanoke County, with a value of $70,000.
White's father built the Fort Lewis mansion, hauling bricks from Lynchburg in four-horse wagons. The structure was just 150 feet from the site of the old fort, and six skeletons - apparently soldiers killed in battle - were unearthed during excavations for the cellar.
The magnificent home was completed in 1822 after four years of work. Nine years later, when Alexander was just 18, he became master of the estate upon the death of his father.
Life in the Fort Lewis mansion was a mixture of luxury and hardship. Kagey's census records show there were only 33 pianos and harps in Roanoke County during the Civil War. White owned one of them. On the other hand, personal hygiene wasn't much easier for the wealthy than it was for the poor in a time before indoor plumbing. White did at least own a bathhouse, which he frequented even in bad weather, according to Dorothy Black, another great-granddaughter of Alexander White and Potter's second cousin.
"He'd go out all winter long and break the ice and take a bath," Black said.
Black and her brother, Lewis Terrell Jr., have tended to White's gravesite over the years. Terrell died in the spring and Black, who is 80, was worried about how she would continue that care.
She said she is relieved that the bodies of White and the other relatives are being moved to a perpetual care cemetery. Transfer of the remains is being paid for by Susan Thomas, who purchased the property on West Main Street surrounding the cemetery.
"It's almost a civic project on the side," said Thomas' attorney, Philip Coulter.
No date has been set for the move, but required legal procedures will delay work until at least December.
Buck Simmons, president of Southwest Vault Service, said graves can be transferred even in the winter, but it's a long and costly job no matter what the season. Disinterment can take four to five hours per gravesite, he said.
Since most remains are buried at a depth of six feet, Simmons said, a bulldozer can be used to remove two to three feet of soil. At that point, the work must be done by hand. A modern coffin will be surrounded by a concrete or metal container that can be removed with hydraulic equipment. Older remains must be gathered up and placed in a similar container for reburial.
A similar transfer of three 19th-century graves in Botetourt County recently cost about $1,000. Simmons said families sometimes cut costs by placing husbands and wives or other close relatives in a single container for re-interment.
He said it's also common to find unmarked graves near old family cemeteries. They are often the burial sites of slaves. The Whites owned as many as 32 slaves, according to Civil War archives.
"You have to be very careful that you don't miss someone," Simmons said. "Most of the time the ground will let you know."
He said indentations in the earth and darker soil are used to identify unmarked graves.
Black said East Hill was chosen because the cemetery will accept the original headstones. Also, other members of the White family are already buried there, including Alexander's son, Samuel.
Potter, who has lived in a Salem nursing home for the past year, is content with the family's decision.
Seated in her room, surrounded by pictures of her 27 great-grandchildren, Potter feels sure they will one day pick up her book and wonder what happened to Alexander White.
It's comforting to know he'll be well cared for until that happens.
LENGTH: Long : 124 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. DON PETERSEN\Staff. Jean Potter, 91, is Alexanderby CNBWhite's great-granddaughter. She has written a book about his life.
color. 2. Alexander and his wife, Mary Bacon Oliver White, are
portrayed in this picture, probably dating to the late 1800s.