The legend of Simeon White and the White surname

I don’t know when the story began or who originally created the story. The story, or versions of it have been heard from several descendants of Simeon White. As the story goes, Simeon and a brother were somehow left to be raised by their grandmother. According to legend, there was a law in North Carolina that did not allow a single woman to raise these brothers. As a result, the boys were bound out to separate families. Another facet to the story is the original surname of these boys was Youngblood.

The legend says that the one son went to a family that he was treated well, and poor Simeon went to a family that mistreated him or worked him excessively hard, As the legend goes, When Simeon reached the age of eighteen, instead of reclaiming his Youngblood surname, he decided that he would retain the surname of the family that he was bound to. From that time on he is to use that surname of White.

This story was told to me by my Grandfather when I about twelve years old. My sister wrote of this folklore in a family newsletter in the early nineteen eighties. In her writing, there are a few more details and she states that the story was told to her by our grandmother.

Now, I personally have doubts about this story. Without going into the details of why, I will just say that at this point of time, I have not found anything that supports the story.

This page is a work in progress, stay tuned.

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