John Gailey White, born 1756 in Lurgan, Shankill, Armagh; emigrated about 1780

Dear William,

Thank you very much for your query to Ireland Reaching Out. Well done finding information for the 18th century - an achievement indeed!

What was the religion of this family? If they were Church of Ireland, there is a good chance that records are still available for birth and marriage.

Was John in the military and posted to the US? Was his wife born in the US? Consider checking military records, but also think about checking shipping records. If you knew the name of the ship they emigrated, you might be able to find more detail for Susanna. Then at least you would know where she was from (or what country at least).

Try checking the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) for more information. There is also a website available for the history and ancestry of Lurgan, in County Armagh.

Hope this helps to get you started.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

I have some of joyce hughe's research, she like myself is a direct descendent of the aforesaid. She charts your james white as senior, the 1820 census shows a james white junior.  I also have considerabe information on the shortess family, whose family origin is also likey scotish.  Like the prendergast family, they had a strong presence in the clonmel-kilkenny area of ireland.  You might enjoy going tonthe oregon state library (portland) and reading some of the handwritten letters shortess family to robert shortess, who was the real founding father of the governmnt of oregon.  These letters are over 150 years old and written to robert shortess when he was living at tongue point(astoria).  John gailey white and susannah shortess were children aboard the same ship of immigration.  Their parents, thomas white and thomas shortess owned ajoining farms.  For more information contact me, don burlingame, olympia, washington.

Hello William,

Something tells me I might be related! I've only just started on the journey of my Irish father's family tree (Gailey-White), but thought it would be prudent to reply. I certainly hope to have more information to share in the coming weeks.

AlexGW:  John Gailey White is on my wife's side of our family, and she's away visiting some lady friends of hers right now.  But I don't THINK she has much more information about this person than what she posted here.  Don Burlingame, of Olympia, Washington, who posted a reply just above yours (but back in 2012!) is, I believe, quite an expert on the Whites according to my wife who has visited with him.

Bill Prendergast 

AlexGW:  PS!  My wife has done AncestryDNA.  Have you done your DNA with Ancestry (or other)?  She is registered with AncestryDNA as Sherryl Irene Seger.  If you and she are connected through John Gailey White, it would be interesting to see if you have a "distant cousin" match.

Bill Prendergast