John Baker White (August 4, 1794 – October 9, 1862) was a 19th-century American military officer, lawyer, court clerk, and civil servant in the U.S. state of Virginia.

White was threatened by occupying Union Army forces to either vacate his residence in Romney or face arrest because of his Confederate sympathies.

In 1861, White voted for Union candidates to serve as delegates from Hampshire County in the Virginia secession convention, one of which was his son-in-law Colonel E. M.

Because of his Confederate sympathies, White was threatened by occupying Union Army forces to either vacate his residence in Romney or face arrest.

[12][13][14] When Front Royal became endangered by advancing Union Army forces, Captain White had the records moved to Luray Caverns where they remained for several months.

[11][13][14] In the fall of 1864, the county's record books were rescued by Captain White and his company as Union Army troops were in the process of destroying them.

[13][14] Captain White's company loaded about 150 record books into a wagon, and they were taken to North Carolina where they remained safely for the duration of the war.

[2][4][11] White's friends and family believed that he "died of grief" caused by the loss of his property in Romney and his concern for the safety of the records in the Hampshire County Courthouse during the conflict.

[2][11] In their History of Hampshire County, West Virginia: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present (1897), West Virginia historians Hu Maxwell and Howard Llewellyn Swisher said of White:[2] "[White] was a man of great integrity, kind heart, strong sense, sound judgment, high principle, and broad cultivation.

He was a Christian, and was prominent in every enterprise for the advancement of the county or the betterment of its people, a good lawyer and safe counsellor, true and trusty in all the relations of life, and with a heart and hand ever open to charity.

His life was rich in good deeds, and his means and large influence were potent factors in promoting the material interests and moral, religious, and intellectual advancement of the people of his county.

Due to his upbringing in an affluent family, White was a person of means from a young age, and in his early adulthood he was able to construct a "large brick mansion" at this location.

[1][2] During the construction of the Northwestern Turnpike through Romney, the state superintendent for the project, Angus William McDonald, proposed building the thoroughfare through White's garden in front of his residence.