The Unobstructed Universe

Stewart Edward White (1873-1946) was an early 20th century American writer, novelist, and spiritualist. He was a brother of noted mural painter Gilbert White. Born on March 12, 1873 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Mary E. (Daniell) and Thomas Stewart White, White graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. degree in 1895 and his M.A. degree in 1903. He served as an officer in the 144th Field Artillery in United States Army during World War I. From around 1900-1922, Write wrote fiction and non-fiction on adventure and travel, with an emphasis on natural history and outdoor living. Beginning in 1922, he and his wife Elizabeth “Betty” Grant White co-wrote numerous books they say were received through channelling with spirits, as well as writing of their travels around the state of California. Betty White died in Hillsborough, California. White’s books were popular at a time when America was losing its vanishing wilderness. He was a keen observer of the beauties of nature and human nature, yet could render them in a plain-spoken style. Based on his own experience, whether writing camping journals or Westerns, he included pithy and fun details about cabin-building, canoeing, logging, gold-hunting, and guns and fishing and hunting. He also interviewed people who had been involved in the fur trade, the California gold rush and other pioneers which provided him with details that give his novels verisimilitude. In 1927, the Boy Scouts of America made White an Honorary Scout, a new category of Scout created that same year. This distinction was given to “American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys....” Stewart Edward White died in Hillsborough, California on September 18, 1946, aged 73.