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.
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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favor of this is persuasive, based on the parish records of St. Margaret's, the parish registers of Islewortb, co. Middlesex, and St. Mary Aldermary, London, and the records of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors. This evidence was laid out by Melville, evaluated by Jacobus and Reed, and supplemented by Smith and Sanborn in 1996.5
One additional fact not mentioned by the above sources has been discovered. As was previously reported,6 but not widely published, on 29 December 1629, "marye the Daughter of John Whitney taylore dwellinge in Bowe lanne [emphasis added]" was christened, according to the parish register of St. Mary Aldermary, London, England.7
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The new fact discovered is that John1 Whitney, "Taylor," bought six acres of land in Watertown near the "Little Playne" from Robert Daniel on 6 2nd month [April] 1653.8 Thus, the occupations of the English and Watertown John Whitneys were the same, buttressing their identification as the same individual. Although no source has been found to prove beyond all doubt that this is true, we believe the circumstantial evidence in favor of it is very strong, and we accept it. Not only was John1 Whitney a member of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, but he actually was a tailor.
Once we accept Melville's evidence and the data above that ThomasA Whitney gent., of Westminster was the father of John1 Whitney of Watertown, we are faced with the question of Thomas's parentage. Melville, Jacobus, and Reed have already addressed this topic. Melville cited various visitation pedigrees, some with later additions, which assert that Thomas's parents were Robert Whitney and Elizabeth, daughter of Morgan ap William.9 This Robert Whitney is shown in some of the
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5 Dean Crawford Smith, The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908, Part I: The Ancestry of Warren Francis Kempton 1817-1879, ed. Melinde Lutz Sanborn (Boston, 1994), 523-51, at 523-24 (hereafter cited as Smith and Sanborn, Kempton, l).
6 Winifred Lovering Holman, "Whitney Line," typescript, Winifred Lovering Holman Papers, New England Historical Genealogical Society Library, Boston, call# Mss A H63.
7 St. Mary Aldermary, London, parish register [FHL, film #374,484].
8 Middlesex Co., Mass., Deeds 1:192; this deed is also noted in Smith and Sanborn, Kempton, 1:530.
9 "The Visitation of Herefordshire, 1586, with additions of later date," Harleian MS. #1140, f. 66b, British Library, London; "The Visitation of Gloucestershire in 1623," Harleian MS.#1041, f. 45, British Library; "The Visitation of Herefordshire, 1586, with additions of later date," Harleian MS. #1159, f 65b, British Library; 'The Visitation of Herefordshire, 1586," Harleian MS.
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pedigrees as the third son of Sir Robert and Sibyl (Baskerville) Whitney of Whitney, co. Hereford.10 Jacobus and Reed proved conclusively on chronological grounds that Sir Robert could not be the grandfather of ThomasA Whitney of Westminster. Thus, those pedigrees are wrong in some part. Others do not state that relationship, however, but the pedigrees do seem to agree on the following information:
MORGAN AP WILLIAM = | ROBERT WHlTNEY = ELIZABETH ___________________________|______________________________________ | | | | | | 1 NlCHOLAS = 2 WILLIAM 3 THOMAS 4 RICHARD THOMAS = ANN MARGARET WHITNEY | WHITNEY WHlTNEY WHITNEY ROBAGE | WHITNEY WHITNEY | of Westminster | EUSTACE ________| |_________ WHITNEY | | ROBERT = MARY dau. of ROBERT = ELIZA WHITNEY | John Tower CHAUNDLER ROBAGE | JOHN WHITNEY aged 38 in 1676
Because of the chronological difficulties, Jacobus and Reed rejected the parentage of ThomasA Whitney of Westminster as stated by the pedigrees. We shall show below that that rejection was premature, and that Thomas was indeed the son of RobertB and Elizabeth Whitney. Instead, it is the parentage of Robert that is wrong in the pedigrees. This Robert Whitney could not have been a son of Sir Robert. Jacobus observed that "Mr. Melville's book does not produce the will or probate action on the estate of Robert (third son of Sir Robert); nor extracts from parish registers concerning this Robert and his children; nor any contemporary documents whatever regarding this family."11 We now can rectify those deficiencies.
In October 2006, Adrian Benjamin Burke, Esq., at our request, provided the following, which is an abstract of the will of Robert Whitney:
555/l Robert Whitney of Castleton, gent.. Will: made 17 July 1555; Executors: his wife Elizabeth and his son Nicholas Whytney; Beneficiaries: his unmarried daughters Elinor and Margaret and his son Thomas Whytney; Witnesses: Sir Androwe vicar of St[--] and [--] ap John and Howell David and William Morgan and John Wyllis. [damaged and faded] (f. 28v).12
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1442, ff. 66, 67, 68b, British Library; "The Visitation of Herefordshire, 1569, with additions," Harleian MS. #1545, ff. 69-69b, British Library; and Joseph Jackson Howard and Joseph Lemuel Chester, eds., The Visitation of London anno domini 1633, 1634, and 1635, Harleian Soc. Pubs, 15 (London, 1880):157 (hereafter cited as London Visitation 1634). These are also reproduced in Melville, Whitney Ancestry, 265-67, 272-76.
10 Harleian MSS. #s 1041, f. 45, 1442, ff. 66, 67, 1545, ff. 68b-69, British Library.
11 Jacobus, "Pre-American Ancestries: John Whitney," TAG 10(1933-34):86.
12 M. A Faraday and E. J. L. Cole, eds., Calendar of Probate and Administration Acts [p. 252]
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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.
