The John White Line

John White

A butcher who said he was from Hackney, and whose origins stayed hidden until DNA testing found them

Born 1823 · Remenham, Berkshire, England
Died Before 1892
Arrived 1849-1850
From Remenham, Berkshire, via Hackney

This Family Line

The Story of John White

A Berkshire boy who went to London to learn the butchering trade, and married an Irish orphan on the border between two colonies in Australia in 1851. His own origins stayed obscure until DNA pointed back to Chinnor, Oxfordshire and Pyrton, Oxfordshire.

The Narrative

From Remenham to London to Echuca via the South Australian border - the life of John White.

○ In preparation Research Report

The Research Report

The DNA evidence identifying James White and Alice Hearn, of Chinnor and Pyrton, as probable the parents of John White.

○ In preparation

What happened after he left?

The Hearns and Whites in Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

○ In preparation Photographs

Ancestral Home Photographs

Remenham, Chinnor and Pyrton - photographed on a visit in 2026.

○ Photographs coming soon
Vital Records
Born4 December 1823, Remenham, Berkshire
Baptised4 January 1824, Remenham - probable
ParentsJames White, 1787-1866, and Alice Hearn, 1785-1870, both died at Henley on Thames
BrotherRobert White, 1829-1841, Remenham
Learned his tradeHolborn, from about 1837 - his aunt Phillis Hearn’s husband Robert Gunston was a butcher in Liquorpond Street, ten minutes from Smithfield
1841 censusBethnal Green, journeyman butcher
Arrived3 April 1849, Port Adelaide, on the Mary Anne - speculative
MarriedCatherine Wherry, 3 May 1851, Kalangadoo, South Australia
TradeButcher - Portland 1852, Echuca 1873
PublicanPlough Inn, Limestone Ridge, 1854-1857 · Digby Hotel, 1858-1860
LandMumbannar 1857 · Digby 1860 · Kanyapella, 210 acres, 1872-1878
Kanyapella, 1878Out of cash and mortgaged on the lease, John asked to be released from it to pay his debts; the three allotments transferred to Scott in January 1878
ChildrenTen, born between 1852 and 1873
Catherine died4 April 1878, Kanyapella, Victoria
DiedBefore 1892
Research Status
His parentsJames White and Alice Hearn, of Pyrton and Chinnor, identified through DNA as probably his parents
What he saidHe gave himself as a Londoner born 1825, and as from Hackney born 1827, on his children’s registrations
His arrivalThe Mary Anne is the best South Australian match, but nothing corroborates it beyond the index entry
Sarah WhiteMatch sizes suggest Sarah White, 1811, is his sister; she was baptised at Britwell Salome with no mother named, and the Oxfordshire and Berkshire archives hold nothing further
His deathNot established. Before 1892, with three candidate registrations