Family:Whitney, William Wilson (1798-1861)

William Wilson⁸ Whitney (Cyrus⁷, Lemuel⁶, Joshua⁵, Nathaniel⁴, Nathaniel³, John², John¹), son of Cyrus⁷ and Ruth (Mayo) Whitney; born Springfield, Vermont, 7 Mar 1798; married 28 Nov 1837, at Springfield, Matilda Wolkes; born 23 Jul 1800.

William Wilson, son of Cyrus and Ruth Mayo Whitney, was born 7 Mar 1798, in Springfield, Vermont. He enjoyed the meager advantages then possible in the common schools. He supplemented these by extensive reading, mostly of borrowed books, and by study at home, with occasional help from Samuel Hemminway, a retired teacher whose delight was to teach young men mathematics. In this way he mastered the harder parts of the arithmetic and learned algebra, geometry, trigonometry, surveying and navigation. He also studied philosophy and chemistry; and made some progress in Latin to fit himself for a teacher. At the age of 18 years he begin teaching district school in winter while he continued to work on the farm in the summer. In 1821 he went to New Brunswick, New Jersey, to teach in the Lancasterian school there; from thence he went to Trenton, North Carolina, where he taught two years and returned on account of the unfavorable climate. Here he learned a hatred of intemperance and slavery which lasted through life. Against these he wrote, chiefly for the local press, talked, lectured and voted as long as he lived, but he had no affiliation with the so-called Birney or abolition party. After his return from the south he assumed care of his father's farm but continued to teach in winter for many years. He held various town offices, was overseer of the poor seven years and in 1850 was a member of the constitution of convention called by the council of censors of Vermont. He died Mar. 14, 1861; re. Springfield, Vermont.

Children of William Wilson⁸ and Matilda (Wolkes) Whitney:

i.	Luthera9 Whitney, born 22 Dec 1841; unmarried; resided S. She was born in Springfield, Vermont, where she has always resided. An injury received in her youth made her a delicate child and a woman whose health is far from firm. It followed from this that her education was acquired in a somewhat desultory manner, but complete enough, however, to soon enter upon the profession of teaching, in which she was especially successful. She has written, at intervals, for the local and methodist newspapers, sketches and poems mostly, and occasionally stories for the Wide Awake and Youths' Companion. She has also done a large (gratuitous) business in poems, and historical and biographical sketches and other etceteras, for local societies. The Lathrops gathered up a few articles (family legends and traditions) written for the Wide Awake and published them in book form. "Old Time Days and Ways, by Luthera Whitney, with sixty-two drawings by W. Parker Bodfish. Quarto, gilt edges." Her chief ambition has been to write a school history and manual of Vermont. She resides at home with her mother.
ii.	Amanda Whitney, born 22 Jan 1844; married 22 Jan 1866, Asahel Upham; resided Windham, Vermont. He was born 18 Feb 1834. Is a farmer, Congregationalist and a Republican. Ch.: Constance, born 1 Jun 1871; Bradford, born 30 Sep 1874; died 6 Sep 1876; Grace Whitney, born 28 Aug 1876.
iii.	Rollin W. Whitney, born 30 Mar 1848; married Ann E. Taylor.

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. 445-446.

---

Copyright © 2006, the Whitney Research Group