In the years after Indiana became the 19^th state in 1816, it was the part of America that came to mind first when Eastern residents thought about westward expansion. For adventurers, families and anyone with dreams of a better life, the land north of the Ohio River, South of the Great Lakes and East of the Mississippi was seen as the land of opportunity. Sometime in the late 1820's the Joseph Wilhite family set off for this new land of opportunity, they made their way down the Ohio River and overland to the area around the Gibson/Vanderburgh County line, where numerous descendants still reside.

     Joseph Wilhite was the son of Michael Wilhoit and Jemina Lucas, he was the grandson of another Michael Wilhoit and Mary Ballenger. This first Michael Wilhite was a Revolutionary War soldier and the son of Tobias Willheit, who came to Virginia from the Palentine area of Germany as a young child in 1717 and is associated with the Second Germanna Colony.

     Samuel Spilman, possibly a brother or uncle of Polly Spilman-Wilhite was an early and prominent Gibson County settler. By 1820, Polly's father James had moved to Gibson County. By 1830, the Joseph and Polly Wilhite family had made their way there as well.

     The 1830 census serves as the benchmark for identifying the members of the Joseph Wilhite family, but finding the names of all of the family members has not been easy. Until 1850, the format for the census was to list the name of the head of a household only. All the other members of that household were listed by age and gender only. From the 1830 census we know that in the Joseph Wilhite household there was one male and one female in the 40-50 age range, those would be Joseph and Polly. The children were listed as follows:

Finding the names of these unidentified children has taken years of research, and it is possible that some of what we believe and report on this site is incorrect. The effort to identify the descendants of all of these children is ongoing. A primary purpose of establishing this site is to tell the story of Joseph and Polly, and to seek out the identities of the descendants. If you trace your ancestors back to one of these children we want to hear from you, please contact us.

    If you know you have Wilhite connections in Southwest Indiana and are not sure if or how you connect to this family, we may be able to help, please contact us. We do know that there were other Wilhite families who came to Gibson County in the same general time period. The Woodson Wilhite family (sons Lawrence and Jefferson) also came to Gibson County in 1820. The Jesse Wilhite family (sons of Peter and Franklin) came to Gibson County in the 1850's. The Southwest Indiana Association of Wilhite Families hopes to include all of these families in our research, as well as any additional unknown Wilhite family groups. We would also like to hear from our Wilhite connected cousins from other family groups, near and far.