"the past will be restored, the lost will be found"

Lizbeth May Halsey White

Lizbeth May Halsey White

Lizbeth Halsey White (6 Apr 1869 - 25 Oct 1932) was the sister of Harry, Abigail Fithian, and Rev. Jesse Halsey, daughter of Charles and Melvina. Lizbeth was 18 when her mother died, and for the six years following Melvina's death, Lizbeth helped her father tend the home, cared for her younger siblings, and worked on the farm. In 1892, when Lizbeth was 23, she married Edward White, then 27, and they and what would be their three children lived with Edward's parents, his uncle, three servants, and six or so boarders in the Old Post House a few blocks down Main Street from the Halsey family home in Southampton. Later, Abigail (Aunt Babbie) lived with Lizbeth and her family in the Post home, too, despite Jesse having built Abigail "the bungalow" behind the Halsey family home at 49 No. Main. Edward was a justice of the peace, as well as founder of the Southampton Colonial Society.

Edward Post White, Sr.

Lizbeth was the town historian of Southampton during the '20s and early '30s, the second person to hold said position and the first woman. The dedication page to Abigail Fithian Halsey's 1940 book "In Old Southampton," published by Columbia University Press and chronicling the history of the town of Southampton from its founding in the 1640s through its role in the Revolutionary War, reads:

MY SISTER, LIZBETH HALSEY WHITE
HISTORIAN OF THE TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON 1923-1932
BEGAN THESE STORIES IN 1932
IT HAS BEEN A LABOR OF LOVE TO COMPLETE THE SERIES
IN HER MEMORY

Lizbeth with son Edward Post White, Jr. and Dorothy Pearson, March 1923
Cap'n Eddie and Dot were married in July 1924

From the memorial written by Robert Keene at Annual Meeting of Southampton Colonial Society, May 17, 2985:

Lizbeth White was the founding Regent of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and it was Lizbeth White who was instrumental in bringing to the attention of the Town Board in 1928 the design of the Town Flag, as presented by the D.A.R. . . .
And it was Lizbeth who revealed that the first woman to step ashore at what was later to be called Conscience Point was Eleanor, the wife of the leader of the first settlers, Edward Howell.

In advocating for the creation of an organization dedicated to the preservation of historical landmarks in 1915, Lizbeth wrote:

"Many of our Town's most precious memorials have vanished forever. Our fathers were too busy planting and colonizing, wrestling life from hard conditions, to think much about leaving behind them personal souvenirs . . . Then into this repository let every native and every citizen take a pride in gathering whatever shall preserve the memory of the past or throw a light upon its life . . . Begin with today and work backward as fast as possible. Gradually the past will be restored, the lost will be found."

Photographs of Lizbeth and Edward Post White, courtesy of Con Crowley, from a collection of photos belonging to his grandfather, Captain Ed White, Jr. Apparently, Cap'n Eddie kept the photograph album with him at sea, as he spent a lifetime in the Navy, Merchant Marine, and Coast Guard.  

1910 United States Federal Census Record 
1930 United States Federal Census Record
Pedigree view for Lizbeth May Halsey White on Ancestry.com