Family:Whitney, Hezekiah (1767-1839)

Dea. Hezekiah⁶ Whitney (Timothy⁵, Jonas⁴, Moses³, Richard², John¹), born Harvard, Massachusetts, 14 Oct 1766; married Mehitable Haven.

He was a farmer all his life and resided in the east part of Otis, Massachusetts he chronicles the following: "One Sunday, 11 Jul 1819, God visited us with lightning and thunder and destroyed the south part of the house and preserved our lives in the north end of the house." The house was struck by lightning while the family was at prayer one warm Sabbath evening. A curious fact was that every room in the house was damaged but the one occupied by the family at the time. No one was hurt, although his daughter, Julia, was struck to the floor, as she stood near a window. The house is yet standing, I think. He married his wife against the wishes of his father, but he was soon reconciled. "Mehitable was a very handsome girl and remarkably smart." He was a very patient, gentle man, was a deacon in the Presbyterian church. He died 25 Oct 1839; resided Otis, Massachusetts.

Children of Hezekiah⁶ Whitney:

i.	Paul7 Whitney, born 18 Jun 1793; married Rebecca Desire Freeman and Mrs. Harriett (Wheeler) Roberts.
ii.	Julia Whitney, born -----; married Jesse Williams; resided Sandisfield, Massachusetts. A son, Orville, is a physician. She died 6 Aug 1856, in New Boston, Massachusetts.
iii.	Hannah Whitney, born -----; married Isaac Snow; resided Otis.
iv.	Mehitable Whitney, born -----; married ----- Galpin. Had 2 sons. Mehitable Whitney, daughter of Hezekiah Whitney, was a small, frail woman, waist measure when a girl less than eighteen inches; her whole figure well proportioned. Yet this frail, little woman, once in winter when the deep snow made stout men wait before braving it, found the supply of fuel almost gone and her father too ill to go for any. She donned her father's coat and trousers, boots and mittens, yoked the oxen, and with shovel to help clear away the snow, went into the woods alone, cut down, drew home, and cut for the fire wood enough to last till her father was well again.
v.	Hezekiah Whitney, born -----; died unmarried at Buffalo, New York.
vi.	William Whitney, born -----; died in infancy.
vii.	Juliette Whitney, born -----; married John Bowen.
viii.	Sally Whitney, born -----; married John Bowen. After her death he married Juliette.
ix.	Lucy Whitney, born -----; married ----- Chatfield.
x.	Tabitha Whitney, born -----; married John Bowen.

References

1. All data imported from Frederick Clifton Pierce, The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, (Chicago: 1895), pp. 170-171.

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