Family:Whitney, Paul (1789-1854)

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Paul7 Whitney (Paul6, Aaron5, Moses4, Moses3, Richard2, John1), son of Paul6 and Charlotte (Clapp) Whitney, was born 16 Apr 1789, Westfield, MA, and died 14 Mar 1854, Shrewsbury, MA, aged 66 years, of lung fever.[1]

He "Whitness" married, 1 Oct 1820, Boston, MA, Lucy Cushing Stone,[2] daughter of Jonas and Lucretia (-----) Stone. She was born 15 Feb 1785, Leicester, MA, and died 15 Sep 1853, Shrewsbury, MA, aged 68 years 7 months, of chronic stomach disease.[3]

Paul Whitney, for about a quarter of a century a well known Boston merchant, and head of the mercantile firm of Whitney, Haskell & Company, was a son of Dr. Paul Whitney of Westfield, MA, a physician and a graduate of Harvard College. He died when his son was six years of age, and left his wife in moderately comfortable circumstances. She was not enabled to give her son the advantages of a collegiate education, which he greatly desired, and which his father and grandfather had enjoyed before him. He fitted for college, however, at the academy in Westfield, and when still a youth went to Boston, and in a short time embarked upon his mercantile career. There seems to be a little discrepancy about his age when he died; but from data furnished by himself, in one of his letters, and from the genealogy before me, I have come to the conclusion that he was born in 1789, died in Shrewsbury, MA, 14 Mar 1854, and was 65 years of age at the time of his death. Paul Whitney was tall of stature, erect and manly looking; and his whole appearance gentlemanlike and imposing. He was scrupulously neat and orderly in his dress and personal habits and wore the white neckerchief and ruffles not unfrequently seen upon the elderly merchants of his day. He was a man of noble and stately presence; with the dignified bearing, and graceful urbanity of manners, so eminently characteristic of the "gentlemen of the old school." About the beginning of his business career he contracted a severe cold which settled in his head and terminated in an incurable deafness. His children never spoke to their father without approaching his person and speaking in his ear. His deafness altogether precluded his hearing conversation in the social circle and even preaching of the gospel, which latter deprivation, in particular, was a severe trial. But he had learned in early life to look upon all the troubles and trials of life as so many blessings in disguise, brought upon mankind for the purpose of weaning them from the world and fixing their thoughts and attention upon a better world above; and to this afflicting dispensation of Divine Providence he bowed with Christian patience and resignation. His genial hospitality was proverbial among his friends; few things yielded him more pleasure than to see assembled under his roof, and gathered around his bounteous board, the old and young of the large circle of his relatives and friends; and during the week of the "May Anniversary," when the clergy of New England assembled in Boston, he invariably gave all that he could a cordial invitation to make his house their home during their stay in the city; at that time it was generally filled, and the respect and attention he paid them, showed the reverence he felt for their sacred calling, and in what high estimation he held the self-chosen servants of his Master and his God. His benevolence and charity were strong and shining virtues. He contributed largely to the support of foreign missions, and to this day his name, in conjunction with his wife's, may be seen in the list of "Honorary Members" published annually by the "A. B. C. F. M." He gave freely of his substance to relieve the wants of the poor and needy. He was always ready to extend a helping hand to worthy young men, as he had opportunity, especially to those in his employ, who always found in him a wise counselor and a firm friend. His infirmity isolated him in no small measure from the society of his fellow-men, and at the same time, no doubt, operated in a considerable degree, to draw nearer to his God, to cause him to feel that utter dependence upon him for his life, his health, and for all things together with that reverence, that deathless devotion and loving gratitude toward Him, which was the crowning beauty of his life. And He, who "tempers the winds to the shorn lamb," and "suffers not a sparrow to fall to the ground without His notice," forgot not His servant, but everywhere, at all times, at home or abroad, in the busy mart or crowded thoroughfare, in open day or in the silent watches of the night, constantly and continually threw around him the powerful shield of His divine love and protection. His Bible he took, indeed, "as a lamp to his feet, and a light to his path;" from it he drew abundant sources of comfort and consolation; upon that sacred volume he rested his hope of salvation, through the atoning blood and merits of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He assembled his household morning and evening for the reading of the Scriptures and the worship of God, and solemnly impressed upon all the great importance of true religion, to insure peace of mind and happiness here upon earth, and eternal happiness in the world to come. He bore the honored name of one of the most distinguished and devoted of Christ's apostles; like that "man of God," and faithful preacher of the "Word," he loved his Master's cause. Like that famed soldier of the Cross he fought well the good fight till he had finished his course; that he kept the faith, his dying words bear ample testimony. He was a kind husband; a fond, indulgent father; in discipline mild and gentle, yet singularly firm; beneath his stately and somewhat stern exterior there beat a strong, manly and noble heart, that ever throbbed with tender love for his wife and children. He was a beautiful and rapid penman, a chaste and elegant writer; his mind seemed to be teeming with beautiful thoughts which he was wont to express in the choicest flowers of language, called from the sublime and exquisite poetry of the Bible. His letters to me while at Hardwick, Andover and other places, and when on the eve of sailing for the East Indies, all of which were kindly sent to me by my sister are models of epistolary correspondence; they are replete with the kindest expressions of parental love and pious solicitude for my temporal and eternal welfare. They are of priceless value to me, and I wish to have them transmitted as a valuable souvenir to my children and their descendants in hominis memorium. That he was a worthy descendant of a race of godly men, a good man, a devout Christian, his life and death eloquently attest. How straight the paths his feet have trod. His record is above. He has passed away from earth, and the places that have once known him will know him no more. "The dust has returned to the earth as it was, and the spirit unto God who gave it," but his memory will be kept green and sacred in the hearts of his children. No more shall we hear that loved familiar voice in sonorous solemn tones, invoking upon our heads the choicest blessings of "Israel's God." "No more the watchman's voice shall bid us fear, repent, rejoice." He has gone where the deep song of his rejoicing is attuned to Celestial music; where the heavenly spheres roll in their eternal round on their majestic course harmonious strains of sweetest melody in their great Creator's praise; where the angelic hosts in glorious measure, in everlasting, sing loud their glad Hosannas to the Great Redeemer's praise.

"Gone to thy Heavenly Father's rest.

The Flowers of Eden round thee blowing,

And on thy ear, the murmurs blest

Of Siloam waters softly flowing.

"Finished thy course, and kept thy faith

With Christian firmness unto death;

And beautiful as sky and earth

When Autumn's sun in downward going,

The blessed memory of thy worth

Around thy place of slumber glowing."

Henry M. Whitney San Francisco, September, 1864. He resided Boston and Shrewsbury, MA.

Children of Paul7 and Lucy Cushing (Stone) Whitney:

i. William Phillips8 Whitney, b. 28 Nov 1821; d. 1 Feb 1887, Boston, MA, aged 65 years, of pneumonia and dropsy of the heart; unmarried.[4] At death he was a bookkeeper and res. 524 Columbus Ave., Boston, MA.
ii. Lucy Whitney, b. 14 Dec 1822; d. same day.
iii. Maria Louisa Whitney, b. 12 Apr 1824; m. 26 Mar 1845, Boston, MA, Lowell Mason.[5] Mrs. Maria Mason, the wife of Lowell Mason, died at her home at Montrose, NJ, on Thursday morning, November 10, a little after midnight. She was born in Boston, 12 Apr 1824, and was a daughter of Paul Whitney, a prominent merchant of that city, and a leading member of the Old South Church. She was married in 1844 to Lowell Mason, and after residing for a time in Cincinnati and New York, came to Orange in 1854, where her home has been ever since. For many years she had been troubled with deafness and she had long been an invalid, her sufferings increasing greatly during the closing years of her life. She was excluded thus from general society, and lived her life almost wholly in the circle of her own home. Her outward activity was chiefly with her pen, but through this she was enabled widely to extend her influence, and by her words of tenderness and sympathy to hold her friends very near to her. For many years she had written occasionally for magazines, of late almost exclusively for Scribner's. She had an imagination of extraordinary vividness and delicacy, and the exquisite gift of expression which often makes every word a picture. Through her contributions to Scribner's she formed a pleasant intimacy with the late Dr. Holland. "Afterglow" has a special tenderness from the experience which it enshrines, and from its association, now, with her own death. Though she was born in Boston her early home was at Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, a few miles from Worcester, and in the old burying ground there on the top of Shrewsbury Hill are the four graves of her father and mother, and a brother and sister, who died within a short time of one another. These are the "four mounds," ever kept green in her memory, and so touchingly commemorated in this her last composition:

Afterglow.

Four mounds of earth lie side by side
Where summer sunshine far and wide
Its largess throws. No dismal shade
From cypress or from yew is made;
The sweet-briar trails across the sward
Where happy-hearted daisies guard
From rude approach the precious sod
That lies upon that hill of God.
An hundred throats their carols pour
From out a full, exhaustless store,
As if their rapture bore a long
Refrain from one undying song.
The light, the song, the roses' breath
Preclude the gloom and chill of death,
As calm, and still, the holy dust
Awaits the rescued spirit's trust;
And joyous life upspringeth fair
Where they have climbed the heavenly stair.
Can love from out our lives be lost,
Whose fibres with our own have crossed?
Are you bright angel's brows more fair,
'Neath glory of the haloed hair,
Than when they bent to me below
All glistening with the Paschal-snow?
Do they, in happy life above,
Forget their ministry of love?
Though years on years of silence fall
Since they have answered to my call,
Their coming footsteps still I hear
(And stretch my arms to draw them near).
Their garments rustle on the stair,
Their tender accents thrill the air,
So close they seem, so calm, so bright,
The lonely way is touched with light,
Like afterglow in Eastern lands,
That flushes all the desert sands!

She died 10 Nov 1881; resided "Silver Spring," Orange, NJ:

iv. Henry Martyn Whitney, b. 25 Jun 1826; m. Emma Jane Merrill.
v. Emery Stone Whitney, b. Feb 25, 1828; d. 20 Oct 1846, Shrewsbury, MA, aged 18 years 7 months 25 days, of consumption.[6]
vi. Charlotte Clapp Whitney, b. 1 Nov 1831, Boston, MA; d. 7 Mar 1854, Shrewsbury, MA, aged 22 years 4 months 17 days, of consumption; unmarried.[7]

Census

126 163 Jonas Stone 92 M - None Mass. Lucretia B. " 62 F - " Lucretia B. " 2d 40 F - " Paul Whitney 61 M - Farmer $3000 " Lucy C. " 65 F - " Wm. P. " 28 M - " Charlotte C. " 18 F - " Catherine Farley 16 F - Ireland

231 315 J. W. Young 37 M - Mass. John W. Young 12 M - " William P. Whitney 30 M - Copyist " C. H. Chamberlin 23 M - Harness Maker " Addison W. Denny 20 M - Clerk Vermont

Boarding House 665 1122 Goodwin, James F. 44 M W Special Officer C. House Maine Male citizen over 21 ... Whitney, William P. 56 M W Book Keeper Mass. Male citizen over 21 ...

Ruth J. FOWLER 50 Self F S W MA Housekeeper MA ME Thos. L. PUTNAM 35 Oth M M W MA Glue Manuf. MA MA Mary PUTNAM 30 Oth F M W MD At Home NH NH Arthur PUTNAM 14 Oth M W MA At School MA MD Gustavus DROST 55 Oth M W W BREMEN Importer OLDENBG. BREMEN Charles DROST 25 Oth M S W MD Clerk In Store BREMEN PRUSSIA Chas. FESSENDON 25 Oth M M W MA Salesman In Store MA MA FESSENDON 27 Oth F M W MA At Home MA MA Albert N. PARLIN 32 Oth M M W MA Treas. In Finance Co. --- MA Sarah B. PARLIN 29 Oth F M W MA At Home ME MA Freddie PARLIN 8 Oth M S W MA At School MA ME Wm. P. WHITNEY 58 Oth M S W MA Bookk'R. Organ Co. MA MA Dora B. MANSON 34 Oth F S W MA At Home NH MA Frank PITT 30 Oth M S W MA Life Ins. Bookk'. MA MA A. ROSENBAUM 29 Oth M S W RUSSIA Clerk In Store RUSSIA RUSSIA Allen BURDICK 20 Oth M S W MI Student VT VT John BRAINARD 20 Oth M S W VT Student --- --- Joseph PIERCE 41 Oth M S W MA Clerk In Store MA MA Wm. HATCH 20 Oth M S W MA --- --- John C. BALLON 20 Oth M S W MA Typesetter MA MA (Continued)

References

1.^  "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 86, page 164.

2.^  Boston Vital Records.

3.^  "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 77, page 165.

4.^  "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 384, page 34.

5.^  "Maria L. Whitney & Lowell Mason, m. 26 Mar 1845," according to Boston, Massachusetts, Vital Records

6.^  "Emery S. [Whitney], s. Paul and Lucy, [died] Oct. 20, 1846, a. 18y. 7m. 25d. consumption," according to Franklin P. Rice, ed., Vital Records of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (1904). Also, "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 27, page 185.

7.^  "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 86, page 164.


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