Family:Whitney, Edmund Burke (1815-1884)

Edmund Burke⁸ Whitney (Peter⁷, Peter⁶, Aaron⁵, Moses⁴, Moses³, Richard², John¹), son of Peter⁷ and Jane Lambert (Lincoln) Whitney, was born 26 Mar 1815, Quincy, MA, and died 14 Feb 1884 [Pierce], Jamaica Plain, MA [Pierce], or 13 Feb 1884, Boston, MA, aged 64 years 10 months 18 days, of congestion of lungs and brain.^[1]

He married, 28 Nov 1842, Boston, MA, or 4 Jan 1843, Roxbury, MA, Lydia Augusta Bouvé, daughter of Ephraim Bouvé. She was born 28 Jan 1820, and died after 1900.

Edmund Burke Whitney, who died at his residence, Jamaica Plain, was a native of Quincy and son of the Rev. Peter Whitney of that town. Coming to Boston in early life, he spent some years in the gun establishment of William Read & Son, afterward with George H. Gray & County, hardware dealers, subsequently filling in succession the positions of secretary and president of the Franklin Insurance Company. The deceased was universally esteemed by those who met him in all the relations of life for his admirable qualities and character. Mr. Whitney was a man of unblemished character and highest moral convictions. His life, though uneventful, was full of deeds of kindness and affection." Not half enough could ever be said of his loveliness of character and manner to all persons and at all times. He resided Boston and Jamaica Plain, MA.

Children of Edmund Burke⁸ and Lydia Augusta (Boone) Whitney:

i.

Frances A.9 Whitney, b. 10 Oct 1843; d. after 1900; m. 8 Feb 1872, Jamaica Plain, Jabez Silas Holmes, from Bristol, RI, b. 30 Oct 1844; d. 13 Sep 1884, s.p. She resided 67 Elm St., Jamaica Plain. As a counselor he was known to his clients and to his antagonists by his assiduous achieving industry, his concentrated devotion, his hearty energy in attack, his steady courage under fire. To his professional brethren he had strongly commended himself by his clearness of mental vision, his more of carefully selected and well digested learning and his scrupulous regard for his word. Circumstance had decreed that the larger part of his legal work should be devoted to parents; but very few either of the lawyers or laymen who met him in the United States courts could have guessed that he began his studies profoundly ignorant of every kind of machinery and with something like a native antipathy to investigation in the mechanical arts. With all his noble endowment in intellect Mr. Holmes prime distinction was after all, in his moral quality which was singularly high and fine. Hundreds of persons who had n acquaintance with Mr. Holmes and perhaps did not know his name, have been struck by the singular distinction of his appearance and bearing, in which a certain swift, decisive grace of movement was well matched with the fineness of his sharply cut features, the deep brilliancy of his large gray eyes and the premature beauty of his whitening hair. Top his acquaintances he was most charming, with a charm to which the easy elegance of his manners, the refinement of his tastes, the responsive vivacity and shrewdness of his talk alive contributed.

ii.

George Edmund9 Whitney, b. 3 Feb 1855; d. 5 Sep 1864

Census

• 1850, Roxbury, Norfolk Co., MA:

2347 3114 Edward B. Whitney 36 M - Clerk Mass. Lydia A. " 30 F - " Frances A. " 6 F - " Margaret Cunningham 40 F - Domestic Ireland

• 1855, West Roxbury Ward 2, Norfolk Co., MA:

53 45 Edmund B. Whitney 40 M - Clerk Mass. Lydia A. Whitney 31 F - " Frances A. Whitney 11 F - " George E. Whitney 5m M - " Albert W. Hastings 27 M - Merchant " Mary L. H. Hastings 26 F - " Albert B. Hastings 3 M - " Ellen Hagan 27 F - Ireland Mary Gately 11 M - Mass.

• 1860, West Roxbury, Norfolk Co., MA:

178 178 Edmund B. Whitney 44 M - Sect. Ins. Co. Mass. Lydia A. " 40 F - " Fanny A. " 16 " - " George E. Whitney 5 M - Mass. Bridget Gaily 40 F - Servant Ireland Cannot read or write

• 1870, West Roxbury, Norfolk Co., MA:

385 427 Whitney, Edmund B. 55 M W Sect. Fire Ins. Company $2000 Massachusetts Male citizen over 21 -----, Lydia A. 50 F W Keeping House Massachusetts -----, Frances A. 26 F W No Occupation Massachusetts Holmes, Jabez S. 25 M W Lawyer Rhode Island Male citizen over 21 Corbett, Annie 18 F W Domestic Servant Massachusetts Parents foreign born

• 1880, Boston, Suffolk Co., MA:

Edmund B. WHITNEY 65 Self M M W MA Pres. Fire Ins. Co. MA MA Lydia A. WHITNEY 60 Wife F M W MA Keeping House MA MA Fannie A. HOLMES 36 Dau F M W MA At Home MA MA Jabez S. HOLMES 35 SonL M M W RI Lawyer RI RI Annie CORBETT 26 Oth F S W MA Servant IRELAND IRE Annie F. MCGUIRE 22 Oth F S W IRELAND Servant IRE IRE

• 1900, Boston Ward 22, Suffolk Co., MA: Lydia A. Whitney, and daughter Frances A. Holmes.

References

• 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. 482-483.

1.^  "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 357, page 41.

---

Copyright © 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group.