Family:Whitney, Benjamin Franklin (1804-1885)

Benjamin Franklin⁷ Whitney (Cyrus⁶, Isaiah⁵, Isaiah⁴, Isaiah³, Thomas², John¹) born 21 Mar 1804; married 16 Jun 1827, at Harvard, Louisa Lawrence; born May 17, 1808; died Jan. 6 1887. Her genealogy given in Genealogy of John Lawrence of Wisset, Suffolk, England, whose father, Henry, came to Charlestown, in 1635, and who himself settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, soon after. Louisa (L.) Whitney died Jan. 1887. Her mother was a Bigelow, genealogy given in Bigelow family. It would be easy to write of the grace of her L. (L.) W's. youth, the loving, and able care of a model mother for her large family, of her sore trials, of her cheerful, social, helpful spirit. Her firm and loving hand saved the family, for instance, at one time from absorption in the Skeneateles (New York) Community, where her husband, infatuated by Fourier, and eldest son, spent some months, and in many crises of changing fortune.

He was born in Harvard and soon moved with his parents to the old ancestral home of his grandfather on the extreme eastern slope of Oak Hill, next the Boxboro line. As a boy he experimented on the problem how to improve the poor native apples. He was always, through his long life, trying experiments, more to see what could be done than to reap any pecuniary reward. He was one of the very first to raise improved grafted applies and this first attempt was made without his father's knowledge or consent, but when the results were tasted and looked upon were followed by his father's practical approval, for he went into the improvement with considerable zest. This farm, according to tradition under Cyrus Whitney's management, took a prize one year for being the best farm in all Worcester county. It has produced large quantities of all kinds of fruit, as earlier it did grains and grasses. B. F. W. was allowed but little time at school, but the short time spent at a neighboring academy, and the constant habit of reading and use of reference books made him a well-informed man. He traveled much in 1828 and about 1832 or 1822 he engaged in trade in a country store in Harvard village. In 1836 moved to Seneca Falls, New York, where with varying success he managed a variety store, put up buildings, and one year carried on a large farm. In 1845 he returned to his native town, where he spent the last forty years of his life in agricultural pursuits, the last two giving him more and more pleasure. He greatly enjoyed the face of nature and all the changing life of bird, insect and plant. He knew the names, mostly common names,. which the medicinal effect upon the human body of almost every leaf and root and herb. With him expired a considerable knowledge of his own genealogy and that of many about him. He esteemed others more than himself, was of retiring disposition, but when approached, conversed with interest and remarkable intelligence for one of his opportunities. He was a member of the Unitarian church, which he cherished. Was in early days a Whig in politics, in favor of a protective tariff, an admirer of Horace Greeley, in later life a stanch Republican and always for the union, and that he was one of the first to enter Richmond and offer protection to some defenseless, but at first defiant female cousins, who were at length glad to accept his offices in the confusion of the Federal occupation. He died 15 Dec 1885; resided Harvard, Massachusetts.

Children of Benjamin Franklin⁷ and Louisa (Lawrence) Whitney:

i.	Mary Louisa8 Whitney, born 25 Dec 1828; died 6 Oct 1829.
ii.	Solon Franklin Whitney, born 22 Aug 1831; married Charlotte C. Wilder.
iii.	Sarah Louisa Whitney, born 25 Nov 1833; died 6 May 1854.
iv.	James Harris Whitney, born 16 Aug 1835; married Addie Thomas.
v.	Frances Alice Whitney, born 20 Mar 1838; died 27 Aug 1839.
vi.	Charles Edward Whitney, born 19 Nov 1840; died unmarried 8 Feb 1872. He enlisted at the beginning of the war and served to the end; lay 100 days in the trenches in front of Petersburg, Virginia, where from disease and bullets he was left the highest in command of his regiment, a part of the time only serg.-major, then captain. He was one of the first to march into Richmond. The horse which he rode came back to Boston with him, bore him to his father's in Harvard, was honored and cared for and finally buried long after the Captain had gone to his last muster. In the Wilderness he had seen his friends cut down, had suffered much from exposure, but lived after returning home until 1872, having gradually succumbed to pulmonary disease, the seeds of which were planted by repeated attacks of pneumonia while in service. He or his friends never asked for a pension. He brother Solon F. was app. admr. of his estate Feb 20, 1872.
vii.	Harriett Lucy Whitney, born 16 Sep 1843; died 15 May 1844.
viii.	Frances Lucy Whitney, born 18 Feb 1848.
ix.	William Ellery Channing Whitney, born 11 Apr 1851; married Alma C. Walker.

References

1. 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. 353-354.

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