from the Dawson County Review

from the Dawson County Review, May 16, 1946 Charles E. White, Pioneer Editor of Wibaux passes:

Charles E. White, editor and publisher of the Wibaux Pioneer-Gazette, died suddenly of a heart attack at his home last Wednesday noon. He was 74 years old and for 37 years had been at the helm of the Wibaux paper which made him the oldest newspaper publisher in point of continuous service in eastern Montana.

Born in England, he came to the United States when he was 23 years of age. A native of Somersetshire, he attended the public schools of Glastonbury until he was about 12 years old, when he moved with his parents to Cardiff, Wales. Here he served seven years under a parchment of indenture, and after a year out of this line of work, he entered the ministry of the Bible Christian Church, a branch of the Wesleyan Methodist church in Wales.

Coming to the U.S. in 1895, he matriculated in the Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. where he applied himself to the study of theology, sociology and social service. He preached his first sermon in the United States as a regular minister at Wimbledon, N.D. where he remained for two years, when he went to the Methodist Episcopal church pastorate at Bismarck, N.D. He served as chaplain at the penitentiary. He served as minister at Bottineau and Park River and later came to Wibaux, where he became minister of the Congregational church in 1910.

Having engaged in journalistic work as a sideline, he gave up preaching after two years to devote his time to the Beaver Valley Gazette which he founded as a weekly newspaper. Later he purchases the Pioneer.

Mr. White served as secretary of the Wibaux Commercial club for 16 years, and was elected president in 1930. He was affiliated with the Wibaux Blue Lodge of Masonry.

He was married at Cardiff, South Wales on March 31, 1897, to Miss Sarah Jane Woodhead, native of North Wales, who survives him.  Other survivors are: daughter, Mrs. S. L. Sherman of Wibaux; sons, William E. White of Billings; and Wesley White of Bozeman; eight grandchildren; a brother, R. E. White, professor of English at Naperville, Ill. College and other brothers and a sister residing in England. ###