Family:Whitney, James Rix (1760-1822)

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James Rex Whitney.jpg

Tombstone of James Rex Whitney

James Rex Whitney Military record.jpg

James Rex Whitney's military record

James Rix5 Whitney (Caleb4, William3, Joshua2, John1), son of Caleb4 and Margaret (Tracy) Whitney, was born 16 Oct 1760, Middletown or Norwich, CT,, and died 4 Feb 1822, Washington, MS.

He married, 31 Oct 1781, Windham, CT, Mary "Polly" Holland,[1] daughter of Joseph and Mary (Allen) Holland. She was born about 1764, New London, CT, and died 22 Nov 1814, Charleston, SC.

Pierce says the following:

He was born in Middletown, Conn., and resided nearly all his life in the south. Three years before his death he was elected sergeant at arms of the Miss. legislature. ... res. Franklin, Ga., and Washington, Miss.

William Lebbeus Whitney says:

He died at the home of his son, John M. Whitney, in Washington, Miss., and was buried there. Years afterward, and after removing to his plantation near Fayette, Miss., this son prosecuted a claim against the United States, for services of his father, during the Revolutionary War. The money recovered was expended in the purchase of a marble monument intended to be erected over his remains, but his grave could not be identified, the "neat enclosure put around it" having disappeared. In June, 1857, it was erected in the private graveyard of John M. Whitney on his plantation. On this cenotaph is the following inscription:
"In memory of
JAMES R. WHITNEY,
a native of Middletown, Connecticut.
He died February, 4th 1822.
He was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, of Commo-
dore Paul Jones' Squadron of the Navy of the United
States, and was in that memorable battle lf the Richard
and the Serapis, on the 23rd Sept., 1779, and shared in the
severest struggle, to the honor and renown of his country's
effort for Liberty."


It bears also the emblem of the square and compasses, which indicates that he was a Freemason. The story of his services as he related them to his son John, is, in short, as follows: He was first in the land service, in Captain Lowrey's company of New York Militia. Afterward, he went to Boston, and entered the Navy. Went to sea on a cutter, and was captured by two British vessels. Paul Jones sighted these vessels, pursued them, made fight and captured them, together with the cutter and her crew. Thereupon, he joined Paul Jones' squadron, and was with him when he landed upon the estate of Lord Selkirk, on the coast of Scotland.


Children of James Rix5 and Polly (Holland) Whitney:

i. Jedediah6 Whitney, b. 3 Mar 1782, New York, NY; m. Keziah Barrett.
ii. Lebbeus Whitney, b. 8 Oct 1785, Hillsboro, NC; m. Elizabeth Ford.
iii. Mary Whitney, b. 1787, GA; d. in southern MO; m. say 1810, Richard Hardin. They lived in 1823 at Hardin's Ford, GA. They had seven children.
iv. William Whitney, b. 1790, GA; m.(1) ----- -----; m.(2) Sarah Leggett; m.(3) Mary (Coleman) Smith; m.(4) ----- (Witherspoon) King.
v. John Merrick Whitney, b. 4 Jun 1792, Franklin, GA; m. Clarissa Montgomery.

Notes

Mary Holland was a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland in the following line:

  1. John Howland, m. Elizabeth Tilley
  2. John Howland, m. Mary Lee
  3. Mary Howland, m. John Allyn
  4. Isaac Allyn, m. Lydia Leonard
  5. Mary Allyn, m. Joseph Holland
  6. Mary Holland, m. James Rix Whitney

Census

References

1.^  "James Rix WHITNEY & Polly HOLLAND, [married] Oct. 31, 1781," according to Bailey, Frederick W., ed., Early Connecticut Marriages, as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800 (1896-1906), Brooklyn, 1:41.

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