Accounts say that white tobacco, or burley, was first discovered on the farm of Fred Kautz in Brown County, Ohio.  Two of Kautz's tenants, George Webb and Joseph Fore, ran out of seed, and got additional from the farm of George Barkley in Bracken County.  One L. J. Bradford, of Augusta,  reported in an 1873 Frankfort newspaper that he gave the seed to Barkley.

As the seed spread, and won prizes at fairs, it was learned that the new variety was also less prone to  rotting and mildew.  Additionally, the red burley had to be picked leaf-by-leaf as the leaf ripened, unlike the new white burley where the entire plant could be cut at once.