Doubts About John Whitney's English Ancestry

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Whitney Ancestry Doubts

by Robert L. Ward

In reviewing the records we have of John¹ Whitney, immigrant to Watertown, MA, in 1635, questions have arisen concerning the English records which seem somewhat troubling. I present my thoughts below, and welcome comments.

Here is the accepted pedigree, for reference:

Thomas Whitney = Mary Bray b. bef. 1562 | bap. 1564 d. 1637 | bur. 1629 | +----------+-----+---------------+----------------------------+ | | | | John Whitney Francis Whitney Robert Whitney = Mary Tower 6 others bap. 1592 bap. 1599 bap. 1605 | all d. young (John-1 of no survivors will 1661/2 | Watertown) | John Whitney bap. 1639 Claimant, 1676

The Erroneous Claim

In 1676, John Whitney, son of Robert and Mary (Tower) Whitney and grandson of Thomas and Mary (Bray) Whitney of Westminster, made a claim to the College of Arms to be the heir male of the Whitney family of Whitney, Herefordshire. Even though the claim was not sustained by the College of Arms, there is a troubling aspect of the claim. If the children of that John's uncle John Whitney, son of Thomas of Westminster, were living in New England, they would have a better claim to heirship than the claimaint. The other uncle, Francis Whitney, apparently died without surviving children, so is not an issue. This is a hint that John, son of Thomas of Westminster, might have died without issue. That is the only way that John Whitney, the claimant, could have been heir of Thomas Whitney of Westminster, let alone of the Whitney family of Whitney. Another fact bearing on this is that in 1637 the administration of the estate of Thomas of Westminster was granted to sons Francis and Robert, with no mention of a son John. Of course John¹ Whitney of Watertown was already in New England at that time. Furthermore, there is a burial of a John Whitney at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on 30 Jan 1604 [1604/5], who might be the son of Thomas of Westminster, or not.

Apprenticeship Records

Henry Melville, in his The Ancestry of John Whitney, and also in Pierce's The Descendants of John Whitney, gives the following apprenticeship records from the Company of Merchant Taylors, London:

• Feb. 22, 1607, John Whitney, son of Thomas Whitney of the city of Westminster, yeoman, apprenticed to William Pring of the Old Bailey.
• March 13, 1614, John Whitney made free by William Pring, his master.
• March 8, 1624, Robert Whitney, son of Thomas Whitney of the city of Westminster, gentleman, apprenticed to John Whitney of Isleworth.
• Jan. 14, 1632, Robert Whitney made free by John Whitney, his master, upon the report of his master.

Melville claims that this last is the apprenticeship of John¹ Whitney's youngest brother Robert to him. The dates, however, do not agree well with the baptism of Robert Whitney, son of Thomas, at St. Margaret's Westminster, 10 Nov 1605. Apprentices were freed at age 21, not at age 26! Furthermore, the traditional age for apprenticing a boy was 14, not 19. I feel that this Robert Whitney, son of Thomas Whitney of Westminster, gentleman, must have been born about 1610. Did the 1605 Robert die young and was another Robert born as son of Thomas? The records do not reveal any such person, yet it would seem that this conclusion is the most logical explanation. These records certainly tie the three people together: Thomas of Westminster, his sons John and Robert, with John being later of Isleworth, both sons members of the Company of Merchant Tailors. Note that to be a master of an apprentice, John Whitney of Isleworth had to have served an apprenticeship himself. That would be the one from 1607 to 1614. These individuals seem to be one family. Furthermore, the will of Robert Whitney of St. Peter's Cornhill, London (father of the John Whitney of the 1676 claim), dated 19 Jan 1661/2, calls himself citizen and merchant tailor of London, which lends support to the view that the above apprenticeship applies to him. At least that part of the pedigree seems correct: Thomas Whitney of Westminster, father of Robert Whitney of St. Peter's Cornhill, also father of John Whitney of Isleworth, and grandfather of John Whitney the claimant. This still is not proof of the identity of John Whitney of Isleworth and John¹ Whitney of Watertown.

Ages

The age at death of John¹ Whitney would put his birth in 1588-1589. His age on the ship list would put his birth about 1599-1600, and his wife Elinor's about 1604-1605. The last is inconsistent with children born beginning in 1619, so either the ship-list age is wrong, or some of, and probably all of, the children baptized at Isleworth are not Elinor's. In the three Isleworth baptismal records the name of the mother is given as Ellen, Ellin, and Elinor (respectively), which is strong evidence that John had just the one wife. Also the ages of the children on the ship list are not consistent with the baptisms at Isleworth, Middlesex, and St. Mary Aldermary, London. According to the ship list, John² was b. 1623-1624, Richard 1625-1626, Nathaniel 1626-1627, Thomas 1628-1629, and Jonathan 1633-1634. The baptism of John was 14 Sep 1621, Richard 6 Jan 1623/4, Thomas 10 Dec 1627, and the baptisms of Nathaniel and Jonathan have not been found. There is a two-year discrepancy for all three of the children for whom we have both dates. These discrepancies in ages would individually be negligible, but combined, they are troubling. Can we just dismiss the ages on the ship-list as being too young for the entire family? Didn't any of them know their ages? Or were all the ages estimated by the recorder of the list without asking the passengers? This last might be checked by looking at other families on the same ship to see if their ages agree with known records.

Jacobus's Opinion

Even Donald Lines Jacobus was less than enthusiastic about the identification of John¹ Whitney of Watertown with the John Whitney records in Westminster, Isleworth, and London. He wrote,

"We therefore accept, at least tentatively, the conclusions reached by Mr. Melville identifying John Whitney of Watertown as son of Thomas Whitney of Westminster, though the proof is less positive than could be wished." [Jacobus, Donald Lines, "Pre-American Ancestries: John Whitney of Watertown, Mass.," The American Genealogist, vol. 10 (1933-1934), pp. 84-88].

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Copyright © 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006 Robert L. Ward and The Whitney Research Group