John White is of unknown descent, though it has been said that he is descended from Peregrine White, the Mayflower passenger, however no reliable evidence has been found. He was born on April 4, 1715 in Virginia and died in October of 1791 in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. He had been shot 5 times by Indians at the Endicott Meeting House on the edge of Bourbon County, north of Lexington, in what is now Harrision County, Kentucky. He is buried in an unmarked grave one mile below Lexington, Kentucky, on the Elkhorn River, over where, in 1910, a large barn stood.

John White married Katherine Evans on 6 November 1750 and had 5 sons and 5 daughters:

Robert ( - )
John (abt 1750/1757 - 1793) m. _____
James ( - ) m. Libby Stinson
William ( - ) m. _____
Nathaniel (1759 - 1802) m. Martha McFarland

Mary Ann "Polly" (1757 - 1819/1827) m. Robert Benjamin Snodgrass
Jane ( - )
Rebecca (8 May 1763 - 1 May 1822) m. William McFarland
Margaret (8 May 1763 - 3 Nov 1834) m. Joseph McFarland
Esther ( - )

In 1790, John and Katherine moved from Rockbridge County, Virginia to an area near Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky.