White, John

White, John, artist, cartographer, Virginia pioneer

White, John, fl. 1585–93, artist, cartographer, and Virginia pioneer, b. probably in England. In 1585 he was commissioned to go with the expedition to Roanoke Island to depict life in the New World. His paintings provide some of the earliest and most valuable source materials on the natural history of the North American continent. It is believed, though by no means proved, that he is the same John White whom Sir Walter Raleigh appointed governor of the second Roanoke colony in 1587.

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White, John, English colonizer

White, John, 1575–1648, English colonizer. An Anglican priest of moderate Puritan belief, White wished to establish a colony for Puritans. He helped form (1628) the New England Company, which later became (1629) the Massachusetts Bay Company, but he himself never went to America.

Bibliography

See biography by F. Rose-Troup (1930).

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White, John

(flourished 1585–93) British artist, explorer, and North American colonist. He sailed on an expedition to Greenland in 1577 and returned to England with sketches of the land and its people. His 1585 trip to colonize Roanoke was sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh. White's paintings and sketches illustrated a report of the region after the colony was abandoned (1586). He was appointed governor of a second colony and arrived at Roanoke with 100 colonists (1587). He returned to England for supplies that year but was unable to send a relief expedition to Roanoke until 1590; the expedition found no trace of the colonists, including White's granddaughter, Virginia Dare.

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White, John (fl. 1585–93) painter, cartographer, colonial governor; born in England. Nothing is known of him until he sailed with Sir Martin Frobisher's second expedition to Baffin Island (1577). In 1585 he was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) as artist and mapmaker; he came back with a set of watercolors that remain the primary source for the study of the flora, fauna, and indigenous inhabitants of this part of North America. It is now generally accepted that he was the John White sent as governor on the second expedition to Roanoke (1587); it was this White's daughter who gave birth to Virginia Dare, the first British child born in the New World. After going to England for more support (1587), he returned (1590) to find the colony had totally vanished. He sailed back and reportedly lived in Newtowne in Kylmore, Ireland, by 1593.