Archive:Andrew Whitney of Ashby, Springfield and Fitchburg
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Andrew Whitney [of] Ashby, Springfield and Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1912), pp. 307-313.
ANDREW WHITNEY
[p. 307]
1. John Whitney, born in England, 1589; settled in Watertown, Mass., June, 1635; married in England, Elinor, who died in Watertown, May 11, 1659; married, second, in Watertown, Sept.29, 1669, Judith Clement who died before her husband; residence, Watertown, Mass.
2. John Whitney, (John,) born in England, 1620; resided in Watertown; married, 1642, Ruth Reynolds, daughter of Robert Reynolds, of Watertown, Weathersfield (sic) and Boston, Mass.
3. Benjamin Whitney (John, John,) of Watertown, born June 28, 1660; married, March 30, 1787, Abigail Hagar, daughter of William and Mary (Bemis) Hagar; married, second, Elizabeth; he died in 1736; residence, Watertown.
4. Ensign David Whitney, (Benjamin, John, John,) born at Watertown, June 16, 1697; married Rebecca Fillebrown, born in Cambridge, Nov. 6, 1675; died 1749. He was one of the original proprietors of land at Paris, Maine, in 1736.
5. Josiah Whitney, (David, Benjamin, John, John,) born Nov. 22, 1730; married, June 15, 1752, Sarah Lawrence, born July 21, 1737; died Sept. 14, 1794. He served in a Watertown company during the Revolu-
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tionary War. He died Dec. 3, 1800; residence, Waltham and Ashby, Mass.
6. Josiah Whitney, (Josiah, David, Benjamin, John, John,) born at Waltham, June 23, 1765; marriage published Jan. 10, 1790, to Mary Barrett, born 1768; died Aug. 23, 1841. He was born in Waltham and married in church in Ashby, Nov. 24, 1797, where they ever after resided.
7. Jonas Prescott Whitney, (Josiah, Josiah, David, Benjamin, John, John,) born in Waitham, Sept. 22, 1793, and baptized the same day. Moved to Ashby 1799, and married Rebecca Piper, daughter of Jonathan Piper, of Ashby; born May 15, 1797; died June 18, 1838. He married, second, Louisa Wheeler, born April 14, 1804; died June 1, 1864. He died in Ashby, Aug. 18, 1879.
I. REBECCA, born June 26, 1815; married, Sept. 16, 1841, Isaac Cushing; residence, Ashby, Mass.; born June 30, 1813; died Oct. 9, 1891. She died Sept. 11, 1896.
Children of Rebecca and Isaac Cushing:
- Charles Tileston, born Sept. 24, 1842; married, Eliza Carleton; married, second, Mrs. Mary Edgecome. By the first, marriage there was one daughter, Caroline Rebecca. She married Ernest Adams, from whom she was divorced; married, second, Albert St. Clair.
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- Sewall Gibson, born Sept. 7, 1844; married Addie Sampson, Aug. 22, 1872. She was born June 5, 1848; residence, Fitchburg.
Children of Addie and Sewall Cushing:
- Alice Whitney, born Feb. 28, 1874; married April 27, 1898, Elmer E. Reed. Their children are: Elsworth, born April 8, 1900, and Leslie, born Oct. 30, 1902.
- Helen Lucinda, born March 27, 1876; died April 22, 1876.
- Hermon Sampson, born March 13, 1878; married June 23, 1902, Florence Buckley. They have two children: Stella, born March 3, 1903, and Dana, born Feb. 24, 1908.
- Emily Frances, born Oct. 29, 1847.
- Jonas 'Prescott, born April 21, 1849; married Martha Louise Holman; died Dec. 15, 1907. They had two children: Mildred, born Nov. 11, 1893, and Earl Isaac, born Sept. 15, 1895.
- Jane Wellington, born March 22, 1851; married March 24, 1874, Thomas Tivnin; he died Feb. 18, 1888.
II. JOSIAH DAVIS, born Nov. 7, 1818; married Dec. 5, 1842, Lucy Day Chapin, of Springfield, Mass.; born Dec. 21, 1818; he died Feb. 5, 1902.
Children of Lucy and Josiah D. Whitney:
- Lucy Jane, born June 13, 1844, unmarried.
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- Edwin Day, born April 4, 1856; married Julia Spring Brooks, born March 22, 1857; died December, 1911; residence, Brattleboro, Vt. Their children were: Harold Edward, born Feb. 29, 1884; Edwina Augusta, born Aug. 18, 1885; Alice Lucy, born April 5, 1887; Merrill Brooks, born May 26, 1891.
III. MARY ANN, born Nov. 17, 1820; married, May, 1843, James A. Mansfield; she died in November, 1885.
Children of Mary Ann and James A. Mansfield:
- Lorinda Elizabeth, born August, 1844; married John A. Merrill.
- Ann Maria, married Thomas Wood.
- James Lloyd, married Mary Hale.
- George Dexter, married Flora (a German lady).
- Clara, unmarried.
- Sarah Whitney, died young.
IV. JONAS, born March 30, 1824; married Elizabeth Corey Rice on April 11, 1850. She was born March 21, 1827; died May 3, 1874. He married, second, Lucy Damon of Westminster, Mass. There was one son by the first marriage, Frank Ormond, born July 21, 1851; married Anna M. Snow. They have one son, Franklin, in Boston, who is married.
V. ANDREW, born Feb.28, 1826; married Didama Hudson, July 3, 1872; born Aug. 2, 1850; died April 30, 1886. He married, second, July 29, 1899, Jennie Moriarty, born Sept. 6, 1861.
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There were three children by the first marriage:
- George Andrew, born April 2, 1873; married Oct. 28, 1898, Sarah Mae Russell, daughter of Frank L. and Lilla Russell of Springfield, Mass.
- Alice Ethel, born May 5, 1875; married Nov. 21, 1907, Harold Irving Cook, son of Simeon S. and Ruth Ann Cook; residence Newton Highlands, Mass. They have one son, Stuart Whitney, born April 1, 1909.
- Edith Irene, born Oct. 8, 1878; married Feb. 6, 1907, Gardner Cheney Basset, son of Horace Scudder and Elizabeth (Cheney) Basset of Worcester, Mass.
There was one child by the second marriage,
- Catherine, born Aug. 13, 1900, and died the same day.
VI. CLARA, born May 6, 1828; married, May 8, 1861, William Ward Hubbard, who was christened Sept. 12, 1827, in Chesterfield, Vt.; died July 18, 1902. Buried at Ashby, Mass.
VII. SARAH, born Oct. 14, 1830; married Jan. 11, 1865, Benjamin F. Dewing; born Jan. 24, 1836; died Oct. 12, 1904, at 11 Milford street, Boston, Mass.
VIII. ELLEN, born June 11, 1832; died June 19, '1832. Buried in Glen wood Cemetery, Ashby, Mass.
IX. MILO, born May 16, 1834; married Malintha Hook of Fitchburg. He died Aug. 11, 1910. Residence 73 Warren avenue, Boston, Mass.
X. JULIUS, born May 28, 1836; married Feb. 25, 1864, Harriette Downe, who died Dec. 17, 1865; mar-
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ried, second, Oct. 18, 1866, Mary J. Whitney of Westminster, Mass. There was one son by the first marriage, Herbert P. born Aug. 10, 1865; married April 27, 1887, Jennie M. Taintor; residence 33 Cottage square, Fitchburg.
The son by the second marriage, Louis Albert, was born Feb. 12, 1874; married Lida L. Davis of East Somerville. Vt.; residence Brattleboro. Vt.
From the Whitney genealogy, compiled by F. C. Pierce, and published in 1895 by The W. B. Conkey Company, 341 Dearborn street, Chicago, Ill., the following pages are quoted and may be of interest to those who delve into the past: "Whitney, as a surname, owes its origin to the ancient but obscure parish of Whitney, on the western confines of Herefordshire, near the border of Wales. Whitney is supposed to mean White water, from waters of the mountain torrent, the river Wye, which is subject to sudden, violent freshets, thus: hivit = white, ey = water. Other examples being Whitbourn = white brook and Whitchurch, as well as Whitton = white town. Some say that Whitney is derived from Anglo-Saxon, signifying 'The island of the wise men or of Parliament,' meaning a gathering of the wise men of the shire, not the national council."
In the Doomsday book, compiled between the years 1081 and 1087, by order of William the Conqueror, and which contains the general survey of all the lands in the kingdom, is to be found mention of Turstin, the
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Fleming, and his wife Agnes, whose son, Sir Eustacius Miles, was called from the Herefordshire hamlet, Lord of Whitney, and founded the family of De Whitney.
The parish church of Whitney is about four miles from the Hay, in Beacon, Wales. The "De" had been dropped from the name before the twelfth century. There is record of many honors accorded those bearing the name of Whitney previous to the reign of Queen Mary, when Robert Whitney was knighted, and his crest was the head of an ox (sic), which is said to have originated when a Whitney who accompanied Richard Coeur de Lion to the Crusades distinguished himself greatly, when by his personal strength and courage he defended himself from the attacks of the Saracens until a furious Spanish bull, attracted by the red dress of his assailants, charged upon them and was slain by Sir Randolph Whitney, who then pursued and killed the Saracens.
The present representative of the Herefordshire Whitneys is Thomas Whitney, Esq., of Bath.
John Whitney, the emigrant to America, was, baptized in St. Margarets, in the shadow of Westminster Abbey, on July 20, 1592. He was the son of Thomas Whitney and his wife Mary Bray; residence, Westminster. He was elected Selectman of Watertown in 1637, an office which he held until 1655. He was made Town Clerk June 1, 1641, and he was appointed Constable at Watertown by the General Court in Boston.
In the church records at Watertown is to be found this entry, made in 1673: "John Whitney, widower,
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deceased, first of June, aged abought eighty-four years.
"His wife, Elinor, mother of his eight sons, died in Watertown May 11, 1659, aged about sixty years (though called fifty-four). He married again on Sept. 29, 1659, Judith Clement."
A copy of his will is to be found on the records. It is dated April 3, 1673.
Richard L. Carey wrote the following verses for the Whitney Genealogy:
THE WHITNEY FAMILY From a little English hamlet
From Whitney on-the-Wye,
Where the hawthorns bud and blossom
Underneath an English sky,
Came a stalwart, sturdy Whitney
Four long centuries ago,
Like the hawthorn, spread and blossomed
In the sunshine and the snow.All about him grew the forests,
Trees of maple and of oak,
And pine trees bent to listen
To the words the river spoke;
While the war-whoop of the red man
Rent the silence far and near,
In the midst of Massachusetts.Grew a family up around him,
As the years drifted by,
While about his old log cabin
Fell God's blessing from the sky;
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And the family name took root there,
Spread its branches far and wide,
Till they reached from York to 'Frisco,
Sunset gate to evening tide.
Some there were that for the Union
Wore the tattered army blue.
Some the gray, and then forgot it
When the old became the new;
One the cotton gin invented,
'Twas his own peculiar plan;
And where'er you find a Whitney,
You will find an honest man.
Copyright © 2002, 2006, The Whitney Research Group
