White, Edward ("Ned")

Born in Loughrea, Co. Galway; He emigrated to the United States about the middle of the 19th century and settled in Boston; When Michael Egan died, and had left no successor, White, who originally was a piper, started a pipemaking shop in Roxbury (a suburb of Boston) "to meet the want"; Reedmaking and repairs were most in demand, but he turned out quite a number of new sets; The tones of his drones, if equaled, were never surpassed by those of any pipemaker known to Americans; During the years of the Civil War, 1861-1865, he was "in the zenith of his fame" and conducted a dance hall at Roxbury; He proclaimed prosperity by his fashionable wardrobe, and he never appeared in public uncrowned with a tall silk hat (hence his nickname).