Family:Whitney, Jonathan (1737-1792)

Capt. Jonathan⁵ Whitney (Jonathan⁴, Jonathan³, Benjamin², John¹), son of Jonathan⁴ and Lydia (Jones) Whitney, was born 26 Jul 1737, Mendon, MA,^[1] and died 22 Aug 1792, Seneca Castle or Milo, NY.

He married, 6 Nov 1760, Mendon, MA, Esther Parkhurst, daughter of Jonas and Abigail (Bigelow) Parkhurst, both "of Mendon" She was born 22 Jun 1741, Weston or Mendon, MA, baptized 9 Aug 1741, Milford, MA, and died 6 Dec 1812, Milo, NY.

Jonathan Whitney was born in Mendon, in that part subsequently Milford, Mass., and soon after his marriage in 1761, moved to Conway, where he resided until 1782. With his son, Joel, he went in 1789 to Ontario Co., N.Y., cut a stock of hay on the "Old Castle" farm near Geneva and put in four or five acres of wheat, put up a log house 18 feet square and roofed it up with bark, and returned home to Conway in the fall. In 1791 with his family he moved to the "Old Castle" farm with ox teams and were some seventeen days on the road.

Jonathan was in the Revolutionary War and was at the seige of Ticonderoga. The trees around the fort had been felled to allow the guns to be used. One tree, however, remained upright, against which another had fallen in a slanting direction. He climbed into the crotch of the upright tree and fired into the fort, a party under the tree loading guns and handing them up to him. It was some time before he was discovered and driven away by the garrison."

He began his miltary career during the Lexington Alarm on 22 April 1775 as a Sergeant. In May of 1776 he was a 1st Lieutenant. In June of 1780 he was made a Captain of the 7th Co., 5th Regt. of the Hampshire County, Massachusetts militia.

Children of Capt. Jonathan⁵ and Esther (Parkhurst) Whitney:

i.	Nathan6 Whitney, b. 18 Oct 1761, Conway, MA; m.(1) Olive Whitney; m.(2) Thankful Caldwell.
ii.	Abigail Whitney, b. 12 Mar 1764, Conway, MA; d. 7 Jul 1853, Lodi, MI; m. (int. 2 Apr 1787, Conway, MA) Simeon Amsden, both "of Conway".
iii.	Joel Whitney, b. 13 Nov 1766, Conway, MA; m. Sybil Wetmore.
iv.	Esther Whitney, b. 16 Dec 1769, Conway, MA; d. 16 Aug 1848; m. (int. 31 Aug 1789, Conway, MA) Solomon Gates.
v.	Experience Whitney, b. 6 Jun 1772, Conway, MA; d. 5 Feb 1826, Geneva, NY; m. 17 Sep 1789, Conway, MA, Immor Crittenden, both "of Conway".
vi.	Jonas Whitney, b. 12 May 1775, Conway, MA; m. Catherine Parker.
vii.	----- Whitney, b. circa Dec 1777; calculated from age at death; d. 6 Jun 1780, Conway, MA, aged 2-1/2 years.
viii.	Ami Whitney, b. 12 Jan 1781, Conway, MA; m. Anna Amsden.
ix.	Parkhurst Whitney, b. 25 Sep 1784, Conway, MA; m. Celinda Cowing.

Refereneces

1.^  Source

2. Don Worth's family records.

3. DAR Lineage Book, Vol 76, 1925, 75429.

4. Muster rolls from Massachusetts Archives.

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Copyright © 1999, 2006, 2007, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group