Family:Whitney, Newel Kimball (1795-1850)

Newel Kimball⁸ Whitney (Samuel⁷, Samuel⁶, Samuel⁵, Nathaniel⁴, Nathaniel³, John², John¹), son of Samuel⁷ and Susanna (Kimball) Whitney; born Marlborough, Vermont, 5 Feb 1795; married Kirtland, Ohio, 20 Oct 1822, Elizabeth Ann Smith; born 26 Dec 1800; died 15 Feb 1882; married 2d, 14 Feb 1845, Emmeline B. Woodward; married 3d, 8 Feb 1846, Anna Houston; born in Jackson, Ohio, 8 May 1821; died 23 Sep 1848. Emmeline married 2d, 10 Oct 1852, Daniel H. Wells.

Newel Kimball Whitney, son of Samuel and Susanna Kimball Whitney, was born at Marlboro, Windham County, Vermont, on 5 Feb 1795. The time of his removal from his native town and state is uncertain. In the year 1804, when Newel was an urchin of nine, his father's family resided at Fairfield, New York. They continued to dwell in that state, though not in the same place, for many years. Newel left home at an early day, and went out into the world to seek his fortune. Possessed of energy business tact, and strict honesty of heart and purpose, he was not long in quest of employment before finding it. At nineteen he was a sutler, or merchant in a small way, at the historic village of Plattsburgh, on the west shore of Lake Champlain. Here occurred during the war of 1812, the battle of Plattsburgh and the naval battle of Champlain, in both of which the British were defeated. Newel took part in the engagement on land, 11 Sep 1814, defending his country against the foreign invader. Having lost all or most of his property by the war, he next established himself as an Indian trader at Green Bay, Lake Michigan. An incident occurred while there, which came near costing him his life. A drunken red-skin, incensed at the young trader's refusal to supply him with liquor, was pursuing him with knife or tomahawk in hand, when a young Indian girl named Modalena seized the irate savage and restrained him until his intended victim was well out of the way. The presence of the initial M. in the name of a daughter of Newel K. Whitney is thus explained, Pocahontas, whom in act she so much resembled, was not more revered by Capt. Smith and his descendants than the dusky heroine Modalena by Newel K. Whitney and his posterity. Leaving Lake Michigan, he went to Painesville, Ohio, where he fell in with a merchant named A. S. Gilbert, who employed him in his store and gave him a knowledge of book-keeping. We next hear of the prosperous firm of Gilbert & Whitney, at Kirtland, not far inland from Lake Erie. Here Newel married, Oct. 20, 1822, Elizabeth Ann Smith, a young lady from Connecticut, who had come out west with a maiden aunt. Ohio, then a new state and its northern part almost a wilderness, was the "far west," at that time to the people of New England. In religion, the Whitneys were Reformed Baptists, or Campbellites, but in the fall of 1830 they joined the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (commonly called Mormons), which had been organized about six months previously in the state of New York, and was already sending its missionaries westward. Early in 1831 the church removed its headquarters to Kirtland, and in December following Newel K. Whitney became its second bishop. He was an excellent business man, and as the bishopric represents the temporal wing of Mormon church government, he was well adapted for the duties of his calling. He remained in Ohio, where his father and mother and other relatives joined him, until after the exodus of his people to Missouri, but in the fall of 1838 set out to rejoin them. Reaching St. Louis, he learned of their expulsion from Missouri, and so, having temporarily settled his family at Carrolton, Greene County, Illinois, returned on business to Kirtland. In Illinois the exiled community found refuge and built their beautiful city of Nauvoo. At the first municipal election held there, in February, 1841, Newel K. Whitney was chosen an alderman of the city. After Joseph Smith's death in June, 1844, Brigham Young became the leader of the Latter Day Saints. Under him they made their exodus to the Rocky mountains. This exodus began in February, 1846. The ensuing winter was passed by the emigrating Mormons on the Missouri river, where they founded Winter Quarters, now Florence, Nebraska. Bishop Whitney was with his people, in their primitive prairie settlements, among the Pottawatomie and Omaha Indians, preparing to continue their westward journey in the spring. In April, 1847, Brigham Young, at the head of a picked band of pioneers, leaving the main body of his people to follow at their earliest convenience, set out for the Rocky mountains. Among the 142 men who accompanied him on that long and arduous journey across the vast prairies and desolate plains west of the Missouri, were Horace K. and Orson K., sons of Bishop N. K. Whitney, who remained in charge of important church affairs, at Winter Quarters. The bishop followed in the wake of the pioneers in 1848, leading a company of his people to the valley of the Great Salt lake, where he arrived on Oct. 8. During the succeeding two years, all that remained of his mortal life, he labored arduously in the work of colonizing what is now Utah territory and founding the famous city of Salt Lake, where most of his descendants now dwell. During his latter years he was presiding bishop of the church. His death, which resulted from a severe attack of pleurisy, occurred on 23 Sep 1850. In a post mortem tribute in the Deseret Weekly News of 28 Sep of that year, the following, in relation to Bishop Whitney, appears; "In him the church suffers the loss of a wise and able counselor, and a thorough and straightforward business man. It was ever more gratifying to him to pay a debt than to contract one, and when all his debts were paid he was a happy man, though he had nothing left but his own moral and muscular energy. He has gone down to the grave leaving a spotless name behind him, and thousands to mourn the loss of such a valuable man." He died 23 Sep 1850; resided Marlboro, Vermont, Kirtland, Ohio, Nauvoo, Illinois, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Children of Newel Kimball⁸ and Elizabeth Ann (Smith) Whitney:

i.	Horace Kimball Whitney, born 25 Jul 1823; married Helen Mar Kimball, Lucy Bloxam and Mary Cravath.
ii.	Sarah Ann9 Whitney, born 22 Mar 1825, died 4 Sep 1873, Salt Lake City, UT. She married, 27 Jul 1842, as his second (plural) wife, Joseph Smith. He d. 27 Jun 1844. She married, 29 Apr 1843, Nauvoo, IL, as her second husband, Joseph C. Kingsbury. She married, 17 Mar 1845, Kirtland, OH, as her third husband, Heber C. Kimball, born 14 Jun 1801; died 22 Jun 1867; resided Salt Lake City, Utah. Ch. of Sarah Ann and Heber C. Kimball: Dorice H., born 26 Feb 1850; married 14 Nov 1870; resided Meadowville, Utah; Newel W., born 19 May 1852; married 19 Nov 1870; resided Logan, Utah; Horace H., born 3 Sep 1854; married 31 Mar 1887; resided Meadowville, Utah; Sarah M. Kimball Jenkins, born 4 May 1858; married 21 Oct 1876; resided Meadowville, Utah; Joshua H., born Feb. 23, 1863; married 29 Mar 1887; resided Meadowville, Utah.
iii.	Franklin K. Whitney, born 25 Feb 1827; married and d.s.p.
iv.	Mary Elizabeth Whitney, born 26 Sep 1828; married and died s. p.
v.	Orson Kimball Whitney, born 20 Jan 1830; died s. p.
vi.	John Smith Whitney, born 13 Sep 1832; married and resided Mendon, Utah.
vii.	Joshua Kimball Whitney, born 13 Feb 1835; married Ann Logstroth.
viii.	Ann Maria Whitney, born 1 Oct 1836; married 2 May 1866, Erastus Foote Hall; born Jamestown, New York, 15 Feb 1839; died 23 Feb 1890. She died June 27, 1881; resided Salt Lake City. Ch.: Erastus Whitney, born Feb. 21, 1867; Albert Verro, born 25 Jan 1872; died 5 Jan 1873; Eugene Roy, born 8 Jan 1875; Elizabeth Isabella, born 19 Mar 1878; died Sept. 18, 1879.
ix.	Don Carlos Whitney, born 14 Feb 1841; died s. p.
x.	Mary Jane Whitney, born 17 Jan 1844; married 4 Jul 1865, Isaac Groo; born Apr. 8, 1827; resided Salt Lake City, Utah. Ch.: Grace, born 10 Feb 1866; died 29 Dec 1880; Vilate, born 23 Oct 1867; married 28 Feb 1888, W. A. Taylor; born 29 Dec 1862. Ch.: Grace, born 7 Apr 1889; died 8 Apr 1889; Sullivan, born 22 Sep 1869; died 25 Sep 1870; Lawrence, born 11 Apr 1871; died 16 Aug 1890; David, born 23 Jul 1873; died Apr. 23, 1873; Roscoe, born 30 Aug 1884.
xi.	Newel Melchisedek Whitney, born 6 Feb 1847; died s. p.

Children of Newel Kimball and Emeline B. (Woodward) Whitney:

xii.

Isabel Modalena Whitney, born 2 Nov 1848; married 11 Apr 1869, Septimus W. Sears; resided Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born 8 Mar 1844. Ch.: Sidney W., born 24 Jan 1870; died 9 Aug 1870; Herbert W., born 21 Mar 1871; died 19 Sep 1872; S. Isabel, born 19 Oct 1872; Septimus W., born 24 Jan 1874; L. Lucile, born 2 Mar 1876; Emma W., born 1 Jun 1878; Eugene S., born 14 Sep 1882; Edward Brenton Main, born 19 Jun 1885; address of all, Salt Lake City, Utah.

xiii.

Melvina Caroline Whitney, born 18 Aug 1850; married 7 Nov 1874, William W. Woods; resided Osborn, Idaho; born 24 Jan 1841, lawyer; resided Wallace, Idaho. Ch.: Daisie D., born 5 Jun 1868; Verona M., born 11 Dec 1869; married 30 Apr 1889, B. Nugent Hillard; resided Murray Idaho. Ch.: Helen Louise, born 16 Jan 1890; died 14 Mar 1891; Leslie A., born 30 Apr 1872; died 23 Jul 1882; Winnifred I., born Oct. 16, 1875; died 28 Dec 1879; Percival, born 23 Apr 1878; died Oct. 20, 1887.

Children of Newel Kimball and Anna (Houston) Whitney:

xiv.	Jethro Houston Whitney, born 8 May 1848; married Jane S. Gibson.

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. 441-443.

• H. Michael Marquardt, The Strange Marriages of Sarah Ann Whitney to Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet, Joseph C. Kingsbury and Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1973).

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