Archive:TAG Volume 81
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Ward, Robert Leigh, and Tim Doyle, "The Whitney Lineage of John1 Whitney of Watertown, Massachusetts," TAG 81, No. 4 (Oct 2006):249-262.
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In 1896 Herny Melville published what appeared to be a well-researched book outlining the identification of the immigrant John1 Whitney of Watertown, Massachusetts, and detailing his lineage back to the earliest Whitneys of Whitney, co. Hereford.1 In 1933, however, Donald Lines Jacobus reviewed this work and cast serious doubt on the identification of John's father, ThomasA Whitney, as the grandson of Sir Robert Whitney, based upon chronological difficulties.2 In 1994 Paul C. Reed provided proof that Melville's suggested lineage was incorrect when he brought to light additional information concerning the chronology.3 This current article will present a proposed paternal ancestry of John1 Whitney through a cadet branch of the ancient knightly family of Whitney of Whitney, based on recently discovered documents and a fresh analysis of all the information currently known about John1 Whitney and the Whitney families of this time period.
THE PARENTAGE OF JOHN1 WHITNEY
It has been generally accepted that John1 Whitney of Watertown was the John Whitney, son of Thomas Whitney, gent., and his wife Mary (Bray), who was baptized on 20 July 1592 at St. Margaret's, Westminster, England.|4 The evidence in
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1 Henry Melville, The Ancestry of John Whitney, Who, with His Wife Elinor, and Sons John, Richard. Nathaniel, Thomas, and Jonathan, Emigrated from London, England, in the Year 1635, and Settled in Watertown, Massachusetts; the First of the Name in America, and the One from Whom a Great Majority of the Whitneys Now Living in the United States Are Descended (New York, 1896) (hereafter cited as Melville, Whitney Ancestry).
2 Donald Lines Jacobus, "Pre-American Ancestries: John Whitney of Watertown, Mass.," TAG 10(1933-34):84-88.
3 Paul C. Reed, "Whitney Origins Revisited: John' Whitney of Watertown, Massachusetts, and Henry' Whitney of Long Island and Norwalk, Connecticut," TAG 69(1994):9-14.
4 St. Margaret, Westminster, parish register [Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, film #908,519).
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Rising, Marsha Hoffman, CG, FASG, "Abijah Gale (1730-1804)[:] Separating Two Men of the Same Name in Weston, Massachusetts," TAG 81(2006):300-303.
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Copyright © 2020, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group.
