User talk:Candlemaker

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Welcome!

Welcome to the Whitney Research Group! Could you please post some details about your William Whitney? For example - where did he live in the various census records? I was trying to locate him to do some searching for you, but was unable to locate him simply because there are too many Williams out there and I don't have an age or location.

Thank you!

- Tim Doyle - Talk to me 22:10, 25 February 2009 (CST)

1860

You probably already have this, but I've located your family (at least I think I have the right ones) in Kalamazoo, MI in 1860. William Whitney was a tallow Chandler living with his wife Sarah, children George W. and Harriet, probable mother-in-law Sarah Titus, a servant, and Sylvester Titus.

- 22:29, 25 February 2009 (CST)

William Whitneys

I'll see if I can find anything when I get a chance, but in the meantime, you might want to check our index of all William Whitneys that we have on our family group pages here on this website. Simply type William Whitney in the search box in the left-hand column and hit enter. This can be done for any name (Whitneys only).

- Tim Doyle - Talk to me 12:48, 26 February 2009 (CST)

1850

I think I may have found him:

1850 U.S. Census, Springfield, Hampden Co., MA, p. 105
1624 1773 William Whitny  32 M Soapmaker  Mass
          Caroline "      29 F            Vt
          Eliza "         22 F            Mass

I suspect that this is him because the age is right (32 in 1850, 53 in 1870, a little "off" 40 in 1860), and he is a soap maker (1850), an industry very closely related to if not identical with Tallow Chandlers (1860) and Soap Kandle Manuf (1870).

I suspect that Caroline was his first wife and his eldest son George W. may have been her son. Note the age gap between George and Harriet in 1860. I suspect William had married Sarah sometime between 1852 and 1857. You probably didn't find this record before because the surname is spelled without the "e". Now that we think we have him in 1850, I'll see what more I can find on this fellow.

Eliza was probably his younger sister, and I guess they all three could have been siblings for that matter.

- Tim Doyle - Talk to me 18:31, 26 February 2009 (CST)

More Details

According to Archive:Springfield, Massachusetts, Vital Records, William Whitney married Caroline M. Pierce, 28 Mar 1842, Springfield, MA. This William was apparently the son of Family:Whitney, Luke (1783-1838) and indeed this man does have a younger sister Eliza about the right age. I think this must be the family listed in the census that I located. However, this man is listed as having died in 1871 in Springfield. If that is correct, then my identification must be wrong. Now we need to figure out if that death date is really for this man or not, and where it came from.

- Tim Doyle - Talk to me 18:46, 26 February 2009 (CST)

Follow up

See the message I posted here. The Whitney genealogy by Pierce does not include a death date or place for this William, and the date on our page for this family was added last year by WRG co-host Robert L. Ward. If his identification is incorrect, then we still could have found your man.

- Tim Doyle - Talk to me 18:55, 26 February 2009 (CST)

More to confuse us

We're not there yet - I've found more to muddy the waters...

We know that Caroline Whitney was 29 in 1850 (b. VT) and residing with William the soap maker and Eliza Whitney.

This ma or may not be her, but I did find a Caroline M. Whitney, age 40, b. VT residing in Springfield in 1860 along with a younger Caroline M. Whitney, age 18, b. MA, along with several other unrelated persons, including a Franklin Wade, age 22. The Springfield vital records page shows the following marriage: Caroline M. Whitney and Franklin Wade, m. 13 Jan 1862. In 1870 in Longmeadow, Hampden Co., MA I find Franklin Wade, age 30, Caroline Wade, age 25, three children, and apparently her mother Caroline Whitney, age 50, b. VT.

Did the William we found die and was this his widow? If so, where was the daughter Caroline in 1850?? Is this a different family altogether, just here to confuse us? Did William and Caroline get divorced with William moving off to Kalamazoo? Did William just desert his family?

At this point we have some new leads to check out, which is a very good thing! But don't get attached to these people yet - we have a long ways to go till we determine if there is a connection or not.

Glad you're enjoying and hopefully learning from this journey!

- Tim Doyle - Talk to me 22:49, 26 February 2009 (CST)