Asa White and the lake with three names
Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 9, 2001
One of the really odd details on the latest map issued by the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce is the name of a lake located mostly in Pickerel Lake Township and northwest of the city.
Sunday, September 09, 2001
One of the really odd details on the latest map issued by the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce is the name of a lake located mostly in Pickerel Lake Township and northwest of the city.
The county map side of this publication shows the name of this small body of water as White Lake. Yet, on the city side of the map the name for this very same body of water is Lake Chapeau.
To add just another bit of confusion through the years, this particular place has also been known as White’s Lake. Thus, there’s the implication that the lake may have once belonged to someone. And, in a way, this was once partly true.
The key to understanding this continuing confusion regarding the small prairie lake’s name is based on two men, Albert Miller Lea and Asa White.
And just who was this man with the last name of White? The following biographical sketch in the 1911 Freeborn County History may help to answer this question.
&uot;Captain Asa W. White, pioneer, veteran of the Civil War, upright citizen and former county and city official, died January 13, 1907, after a useful and well-spent life. He was born in Chenango County, N.Y., on Dec. 20, 1827, and in 1848 settled on a farm in Green county, Wis. In 1852 he became a merchant in Union, Rock County, Wis., and in September of that year was married to Elizabeth A. Priest. In June 1854, Captain White moved his family to Mitchell, Iowa, where he built the first log house in the vicinity. There he was register of deeds and afterward county treasurer. Early in 1856 he resigned the latter office and came to Freeborn county, settling in Pickerel Lake Township, where he lived until 1861, when he assisted in recruiting the heroic Company F, of the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Enlisting as a private on Oct. 11, 1861, he was, on Oct. 20, commissioned captain. He participated in the battles of Iuka, Corinth, the campaign against Vicksburg, the Yazoo Pass expedition and other notable engagements. June 19, 1863, by reason of ill health, he was compelled to resign and return home. He soon after, and until 1872, engaged in the mercantile business. In the latter years be became clerk of the district court and served two terms. He also served as justice of the peace, as city assessor and in other positions. He was a charter member of Western Star Lodge, No. 26, A. F. & A. M., and was its first master. From 1895 until his death Captain White lived on his fine farm on the west shore of Lake Albert Lea … He left three children …