Editing Andrew Dickson White (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Saint Paul's Cathedral inscription, Syracuse, New York.jpg|thumb|left|Andrew and his brother dedicated the spire of [[Saint Paul's Episcopal Cathedral (Syracuse, New York)|St. Paul's Cathedral]] in [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]] to their mother]]
[[File:Andrew Dickson White at Yale.jpg|thumb|White as a junior or senior at [[Yale College]] wearing his [[Skull and Bones]] pin]]
White was born on November 7, 1832, in [[Homer, New York]], to Clara (née Dickson) and Horace White.<ref name="politicalgraveyard">{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/13559.html|work=The Political Graveyard|title=The White Family|access-date=May 15, 2009}}</ref> Clara was the daughter of [[Andrew Dickson (politician)|Andrew Dickson]], a [[New York State Assembly|New York State Representative]] in [[55th New York State Legislature|1832]] and his wife. Horace was the son of Asa White, a farmer from [[Massachusetts]], and his wife. Their once-successful farm was ruined by a fire when Horace was 13.<ref name="politicalgraveyard"/>

Despite little formal education and struggles with poverty after his family lost their farm, Horace White became a businessman and wealthy merchant. In 1839, he opened what became [[Syracuse Savings Bank Building|Syracuse Savings Bank]] in [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]].<ref name="rootsweb">{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyononda/FAMILY/WHITE.HTM |work=Rootsweb |title=ANDREW DICKSON WHITE, M.A., LL.D., L.H.D. |access-date=May 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620214234/http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyononda/FAMILY/WHITE.HTM |archive-date=June 20, 2008 }}</ref> Horace and Clara White had two children: Andrew Dickson and his brother. Andrew was baptized in 1835 at the Calvary Episcopal Church on the [[town green]] in Homer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.homerny.org/townhallhistory.pdf |publisher=Village of Homer, New York |title=Homer, N.Y.: A Town and its Hall |access-date=May 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107173734/http://www.homerny.org/townhallhistory.pdf |archive-date=January 7, 2010}}</ref>

One of Andrew's cousins, [[Edwin White]], became an artist of the [[Luminism (American art style)|Luminism]] style and [[Hudson River School]].<ref>
[https://books.google.com/books?id=takoAAAAYAAJ&dq=The+Compact+of+the+%27Mayflower+Edwin+white+museum&pg=RA1-PA468 ''Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography'' edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske] (D. Appleton and Company, 1889), pp. 467–468. ''With etching image of ADWhite, and signature reproduction.''</ref> His nephew was [[Horace White]], governor of New York.

Beginning in the fall of 1849, White enrolled as an undergraduate at Geneva College, known today as [[Hobart and William Smith Colleges]], at the insistence of his father.<ref name="droppingout">White (1904), pg. 54</ref> He was inducted as a member of [[Sigma Phi Society]] in 1850 and he served as editor of the fraternity's publication, ''The Flame''.  White remained active in the fraternity for the rest of his life, founding the Cornell chapter and serving as the national president from 1913 to 1915.<ref>{{cite web |author=ΣΦ |title=ΣΦ - Rockledge |url=http://www.alphasig-rockledge.com/history.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509155651/http://www.alphasig-rockledge.com/history.php |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |access-date=May 22, 2009 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> In his autobiography, he recalled that he had felt that his time at Geneva was "wasted" by being at the small [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]] school instead of at "one of the larger New England universities".<ref name="droppingout" /> White dropped out in 1850. 

After a period of estrangement, White persuaded his father to let him transfer to [[Yale College]]. At Yale, White was a classmate of [[Daniel Coit Gilman]], who later served as the first president of [[Johns Hopkins University]] in [[Baltimore]]. The two were members of the [[Skull and Bones]]<ref>*{{cite web|url=http://area907.info/911/index.php?Bonesmen2|title=Bonesmen 1833–1899|publisher=Fleshing Out Skull and Bones|access-date=March 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811190506/http://area907.info/911/index.php?Bonesmen2|archive-date=August 11, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> secret society and would remain close friends. They traveled together in Europe after graduation and served together on the [[Venezuela Boundary Commission]] (1895–1896). His roommate was [[Thomas Frederick Davies Sr.]], who later became the third bishop of the [[Episcopal Diocese of Michigan]], 1889–1905.<ref name="rootsweb" /> Other members of White's graduating year included [[Edmund Clarence Stedman]], the poet and essayist; [[Wayne MacVeagh]], [[Attorney General of the United States]] and [[United States Ambassador to Italy|U.S. Ambassador to Italy]]; and [[Hiram Bingham II]], the missionary, collectively comprising the so-called "famous class of '53."<ref name="Maine">{{cite book|title=Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine|publisher=Lewis historical publishing Company|author=Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs|year=1909|url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicaland00stubgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicaland00stubgoog/page/n151 1174]}}</ref>  According to White, he was deeply influenced in his academic career and life by Professor [[Noah Porter]] (later, Yale's president), who personally instructed him in rhetoric and remained a close personal friend until Porter's death.<ref>White (1904), 31</ref>

He also served as an editor of ''The Lit.,'' known today as the ''[[Yale Literary Magazine]].'' He belonged to [[Linonian Society|Linonia]], a literary and debating society.<ref name="rootsweb" /> As a junior, White won the Yale literary prize for the best essay, writing on the topic "The Greater Distinctions in Statesmanship;" this was a surprise as traditionally a senior was chosen for the winning essay.<ref name="rootsweb" /><ref>White (1904), pg. 32</ref>  Also as a junior, White joined the junior society [[Psi Upsilon]].  In his senior year, White won the Clark Prize for English [[disputation]] and the De Forest prize for public oratory, speaking on the topic "The Diplomatic History of Modern Times".  Valued at $100, the De Forest prize was then the largest prize of its kind at any educational institution, American or otherwise.<ref>"Yale College—The De Forest Prize.", ''The New York Times'', 18 June 1853, [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1853/06/18/75126916.pdf]</ref> In addition to academic pursuits, White was on the Yale [[rowing (sport)|crew]] team, and competed in the first [[Harvard–Yale Regatta]] in 1852.<ref>White (1904), pg. 33–34</ref>

After graduation, White traveled and studied in Europe with his classmate Daniel Coit Gilman. Between 1853 and 1854, he studied at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], the {{lang|fr|[[Collège de France]]|italic=no}}, and the [[University of Berlin]]. He also served as the translator for [[Thomas H. Seymour]], the [[United States Ambassador to Russia|U.S. Ambassador to Russia]], following Gilman's term as translator, although he had not studied [[French language|French]] ([[Lingua franca#French|the language of diplomacy]] and the Russian royal court) prior to his studies in Europe.  After he returned the United States, White enrolled at Yale to earn a [[Master of Arts|MA]] and be inducted into [[Phi Beta Kappa]] in 1856.<ref name="NYbio">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of biography of New York|author=Charles Elliott Fitch|author-link=Charles Elliott Fitch|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_qSoEAAAAYAAJ|publisher=[[American Historical Society]]|year=1916|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_qSoEAAAAYAAJ/page/n602 321]–326}}</ref>