The law firm of White and White was composed for many years of the father and son team of Ferris M. and Kenneth S. White. After his father's death, Kenneth White practiced law with John W. Davison, under the name of White and Davison.
Ferris M. White (1862-1940) was born in Prescott, Wisconsin, the son of a local attorney Joseph Spencer White. He was educated in Prescott schools and read law in a local law office. From 1880 to 1886 he operated a farm in Traverse County, Minnesota. In August 1886, he was admitted to the bar at Breckinridge, Minnesota, and practiced in that state for several years. In October 1890, he moved to River Falls, Wisconsin, where he established a law practice. Two years later he married Mary Elizabeth Foster (1867-1934), the daughter of Joel Foster, the first settler in the community. The Whites had three children, Kenneth S., Shirley, and Ruth. In 1921, Ferris M. White was appointed by the state Supreme Court as a member of the Board of Law Examiners and he became the board's chairman in 1927. In addition, he was the city attorney for River Falls for a time, and served as a trustee of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. From 1933 to 1935 he was the Pierce and St. Croix county attorney for the Home Owners' Loan Corporation. Throughout his career he also held other elective and honorific positions.
Although Ferris M. White was a Democrat in politics, his son, Kenneth S., joined the state Republican Party and held several elective and appointive offices. Kenneth (1897-1976) attended the Teachers' College at River Falls and enrolled in the University of Minnesota Law School. He served with the Army in France in 1917. After his discharge he continued his law study at the University of Wisconsin. He graduated in 1921 and became a partner in his father's law firm.
Kenneth was district attorney of Pierce County for two terms and for three terms served as a member of the county board. At one time he was president of the St. Croix-Pierce County Bar Association. In 1936, he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention. In that year he was elected as a state senator for Buffalo, Pepin, Pierce, and St. Croix counties. While in the state senate he served on the judiciary committee and was active in legislation for improved educational facilities and opportunities in Wisconsin.
Kenneth White also was active in the state's National Guard. In 1940, when it became apparent that the Guard would be called into active service, White did not run for reelection. In October of that year, Lt. Col. White commanded a convoy of Guard members to their encampment in Louisiana. The legal firm was closed during the war after both White and his new partner, Davison, were called into active service. White was released from service in 1944 as a major and battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion, 120th Field Artillery of the Guard. Two years later he announced his candidacy for the lieutenant governorship prior to the Republican Party convention at Oshkosh, but the effort was an unsuccessful one.
Kenneth S. White, and his wife, Helen Kyle, had two sons, John Spencer and Charles.
