Owen P. White

Owen Payne White, writer and editor, second son of Alward and Katherine J. (Payne) White, was born at El Paso on June 9, 1879. White graduated from El Paso High School on May 27, 1896, briefly attended the University of Texas at Austin in 1898, and returned to El Paso within a few months. He studied law at New York University but never graduated. During World War I White achieved the rank of sergeant serving in a medical unit. On January 22, 1920, White married Hazel Harvey and the same year went to work as a columnist for the El Paso Herald. The publication of his first book, Out of the Desert, in 1923 brought him to the attention of H. L. Mencken, editor of the American Mercury. The book, a local history of El Paso, was also favorably reviewed in the New York Times.

Area: Central / El Paso High

El Paso High

Source: El Paso County Historical Society

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

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17 January 2024 by Scott Baker

I have read all of Owen's books. They offer a social and historical perspective that would take years to glean from history books. What other writer was on a first name basis with notorius gunmen or FDR's V.P? Owens writing syle is unique and highly entertaining.

11 March 2022 by Eva K Ross

John Gordon Knight, "Owen Payne White, Password ,quarterly of El Paso County Historical Society, Vol X, No. 2, Summer 1965, 53-56.

12 October 2020 by Eva Ross

March is Women's History Month. Read Frontier Mother by Owen White for details on daily life in early El Paso, TX.

24 March 2020 by Eva

tag Meet El Pasoans, newspaper, Owen White also skillfully wrote Frontier Mother, a history of his mother's life in El Paso, TX. Source of info is ISBN-0-87404-061-2