The Whitelaws and the house that was

Since working with the Founder's Collection at the Cape Girardeau County History Center, I've acquired an appreciation for the Whitelaw family of Jackson and Cape Girardeau.

Turn back the clock to the early 1800s. Nicholas Whitelaw and his wife, Elizabeth (Beaszley), came to Missouri from Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1818. They "purchased 400 acres from Lewis Dixon, adjoining Gilbert Sector and Widow Taylor on Hubble Creek." (Cape Girardeau County Deed Book D) It was three miles north of Jackson. Store records from the J. Frizel Mercantile, Jackson, show family purchases in 1818 of cinnamon, copper kettle, 12 pounds sugar, ink powder, thread, tea, and nails, etc.

The children of the family numbered eight daughters and one son, James Nicholas Whitelaw, born March 25, 1826. Times were hard for the family as they made do with what they had or could make themselves. Nicholas made all the shoes for his entire family. As James related to his granddaughter, Iska Whitelaw, they were very poor. He was 21 before he had his first store-bought shoes. These stories Iska preserved in the family's memoirs.

James' mother Elizabeth died when he was 7. His sister, Mary, married Peter Garrett, who became Jackson's justice of the peace in 1826 and clerk of the court 1828. As a young lad, James lived with them until he became a young merchant in Jackson.

A tall slender man at 6 feet 4 inches, James was prosperous and a fashionable dresser in his Prince Albert coat, top hat and cane. After moving to Cape in 1840, he married Sarah Deane, sister of Edwin Deane of Cape Girardeau. Sadly, at the birth of their son James Jr., both died in 1850. He then married his cousin Adeline Rodney, daughter of Thomas J. and Maria Louise Rodney, on June 5, 1851. Losing four babies as toddlers, the couple had one living son, Rodney Gayoso.

Among James' business ventures were a flour milling operation in Commerce, Missouri, and a mercantile store with his nephew William Garrett at Main and Broadway. He later purchased the business of A.D. Leech on the corner of Themis and Main.

Following the death of Adeline in 1900, James resided with his son, Rodney, mayor of Cape Girardeau in 1903, and Katie Whitelaw at his Whitelaw mansion built around 1860 by Cape's popular architect, Edwin Deane, James' brother-in-law. Located on the corner of Broadway and Fountain (present site of the new Marriott Hotel) until 1906, it was one of the most beautiful homes of Cape. The lot was purchased by James from Adeline's father's estate of 1853 for $9,000.

When he wasn't tending his large garden, he loved sitting on one of the double front porches, watching the travelers on Broadway.

The Whitelaws were faithful workers in the Baptist church. On Sundays Adeline could be found playing the organ and James ringing the bell.

At the age of 80, James Nicholas died at his Broadway home of pneumonia in February 1906. Burial was alongside his wife at Lorimier Cemetery with the Masonic Lodge No. 93 conducting rituals.