Family:Whitney, Otis (1821-1901)

Capt. Otis⁸ Whitney (Otis⁷, Nathan⁶, Jonathan⁵, Jonathan⁴, Jonathan³, Benjamin², John¹), son of Otis⁷ and Betsey (Hawley) Whitney, was born 13 Jun 1821, Seneca, NY, and died 8 Jun 1901, Oswego, KS. He is buried in Labette Cemetery, Labette, KS.^[1]

He married, 4 Oct 1854, Monterey, NY, Harriett Newell Barnes, daughter of Enos and Rebecca (Wicks) Barnes. She was born 14 Sep 1829, NY, and died 30 Jul 1916, Oswego, KS. She is buried in Labette Cemetery, Labette, KS.^[2]

Otis Whitney, Jr., was born 13 Jun 1821, in the town of Seneca, Ontario County, state of New York, where he lived till nearly thirty years of age, working on the farm, attending school and studying law; was admitted to the practice in the supreme court of the state of New York at a general term of the court held in the city of Auburn, county of Cayuga, on the first day of November, 1847, but never engaged actively in practice, having no relish or respect for it. He traveled and taught school for three years, and then went into partnership with his brother-in-law, Tyler H. Abbey, who was a successful merchant at Watkins, Schuyler County, state of New York, and continued in business up to the fall of 1854, when he caught the western fever and decided to take the advice of Horace Greeley to "go west and grow up with the country." Before leaving he was united in marriage with the daughter of Dr. Enos Barnes, in western New York, a well known and popular physician and surgeon, and one of the earliest settlers on the west side of Seneca Lake. The newly married couple started immediately on the journey west, and finally located in Quasqueton, Buchanan County, state of Iowa, where he purchased two hundred acres of land, intending to make a farm of it, but finding more satisfactory employment in town never settled on the land. Most of the time up to 1862 was spent in clerking, overseeing flour and saw mills, and acting justice of the peace, for which office his previous study of law was especially helpful. In the fall of 1862 he went into the army as first lieutenant of Company H, Twenty-seventh Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry. In camp of instruction he was familiar with the drill, etc., as he had been studying the tactics from the commencement of the war and in command of and drilling a company of home guards for more than a year. In a few weeks the regiment was ordered to the field, or as the popular phrase is, to the front, and not more than half drilled or disciplined. On 10 Apr 1863, he became captain of the company by reason of resignation of Captain Jacob M. Miller, the previous captain, who became disabled and unable to endure active field service. Whitney was captain of the company up to the close of the war, and was discharged with the company and regiment at Clinton, IA, 8 Aug 1865. He returned to his home in Quasqueton, which he had not seen in three years, worn out, run down, and weak from constant for three years, and which continued for more than fifteen years after the war. Finding no place of business obtainable he with his family, wife and two children, went on a visit to the old folks at home in the state of New York. While on this visit he was induced to engage in an enterprise to be consummated at Richmond, VA, in the establishment of a dairy farm. The project was a complete failure, and mindful still of the advice of Greeley he again went west with his family to grow up again, locating on government land in Oswego Township, Labette County, Kansas, in the spring of 1867. Upon this place he lived seventeen years, when he sold out and moved into the city of Oswego, two and a half miles distant. The land sold for $31.25 per acre, costing from the government $1.25 per acre. He has continuously lived in Oswego up to date, 20 Oct 1894, aged seventy-three years four months and seven days. He has no regular business of his own, but spends most of his time assisting his son-inlaw in a coal, wood, flour and feed store; resided Quasqueton, IA, and Oswego, KS.

Children of Otis⁸ and Harriett Newell (Barnes) Whitney:

i.	Emma Hawley9 Whitney, b. 2 Aug 1855; m. 1 Oct 1876, Lafayette Baker, b. 19 Sep 1851; resided Oswego. Ch.: Roy Whitney, b. 33 Aug 1877; d. 12 Nov 1877; Clifford Otis, b. 12 Jun 1879; d. Aug 1882; Edward Lafayette, b. 10 Feb 1883; Florence Eva, b. 5 Mar 1885; Emma Louise, b. 17 Aug 1890; Viola, b. 22 Jun 1893.
ii.	Edward Otis Whitney, b. 29 May 1860; m. Laura M. Norris.

Census

• 1860, Liberty, Buchanan Co., IA:

313 305 Otis Whitney 36 M - Druggist $1200 $1000 N.Y. Harriet N. Whitney 30 F - " Emma H. Whitney 4 F - Iowa Unnamed Whitney 3/365 M - "

• 1870, Oswego, Labette Co., KS:

104 106 Whitney, Otis 42 M W Farmer $2000 $150 New York Male citizen over 21 -----, Harriett 40 F W Keeping House New York -----, Emma 14 F W Ohio -----, Edward 10 M W Ohio

• 1880, Oswego, Labette Co., KS:

Otis WHITNEY 58 Self M M W NY Farmer MA MA Hariett N. WHITNEY 50 Wife F M W NY Keeping House CT NY Edward O. WHITNEY 20 Son M S W IA NY NY

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. 583-584.

1.^  Find A Grave memorial #13936819, Capt. Otis Whitney.

2.^  Find A Grave memorial #13936810, Harriett Newell Whitney.

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