Family:Whitney, Otis (1781-1857)
Otis7 Whitney (Aaron6, Nathan5, Nathan4, Thomas3, Thomas2, John1), born Conway, Massachusetts, 24 May 1781; married at Waterbury, Vermont, 4 Mar 1805, Sarah Edmunds; born 7 Apr 1782; died 1 Sep 1868.
From the homes of New England have gone forth a multitude of men and women who have shaped the thought and activities of all the mighty West. In one of these homes in Conway, Massachusetts, Otis Whitney was born in 1781. In 1803 he moved to Waterbury, Vermont, and there in March, 1805, was married to Sarah Edmunds, daughter of Joseph and Rosamund (Barton) Edmunds. Joseph Edmunds had been a privateersman during the Revolutionary war, and his many stories of adventure had a strong fascination for the boys and young men of his acquaintance. The father of Joseph Edmunds had been a Quaker preacher, and had transmitted to his son a noble strain of independence. Rosamond Barton, wife of Joseph Edmunds, was one of the Rhode Island Bartons, and was related to the Bartons of Revolutionary fame, hence in the veins of Sarah Edmunds, wife of Otis Whitney, there pulsated a pure and strong love of justice and liberty for every human being, and of that religion of the spirit that rises above the narrow technicalities of creeds. And, personally she was a woman of strong mental and moral qualities.
Otis Whitney was a descendant of a sturdy family that before his day, and since, has produced many able farmers, mechanics and merchants; many brilliant clergy-men, lawyers and statesmen. Otis was a man of clear head and practical turn. His efficiency provided his family with the comforts usually found in a well-to-do New England home. He was a farmer, and his children were born and grew up amid the freedom, the independence, the intelligence and industry that then characterized the rural population of New England. Both he and his wife were member of the Baptist church, in which faith they lived honorable lives and met peaceful deaths. He died 14 Nov 1857; resided Williston, Vermont.
Children of Otis7 Whitney:
i. Laura8 Whitney, born Mar 17, 1806; married and died Oct 27, 1875. One of Laura's children is Mrs. Amelia Fay, of Granville, Ohio. ii. Charles Whitney, born Feb 1, 1808; died Aug 2, 1824. iii. Leonard Whitney, born Oct 23, 1812; married Ann J. Harwood. iv. Amelia Whitney, born 6 May 1814; married ----- French; resided Williston. - Ch.: Lucian Whitney; resided Williston.
v. Edmund Whitney, born Nov 5, 1818; married Esther Flagg and Mary Elizabeth Seaton. vi. Lucian Whitney, born 11 Jul 1822; died 8 May 1823.
Census
- 1810, Waterbury, Chittenden Co., VT: Otis Whitney, 1 male 26-45, 1 male under 10, 1 female 26-45, 1 female under 10.
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. 340-341.
Copyright © 2006, the Whitney Research Group
