Archive:Civil War Pension File, Addison Otis Whitney
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Civil War Pension File of Addison O. Whitney
Father: John F. Whitney
Survivor Applic. # 498338 Cert. # 735717
National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
Private, Co. D, 6th Maine Infantry
Addison O. Whitney enlisted in the Lowell, Mass. City Guard in 1860, and was discharged in early 1861. In April ,1861, members of that unit were asked to re-enlist in the US Army. On April 15, 1861, Addison O. Whitney enlisted in Co. D of the 6th Maine Infantry. The company embarked by train for Washungton, D.C., where they were to be mustered into the army. However, the train was attacked by a mob of southern sympathizers in Baltimore, and Addison Whitney was killed on 19 April, 1861.
John F. Whitney, father of Addison O. Whitney, first applied for pension benefits as a survivor of his son in 1881. For some reason not elucidated in the file, that petition was dropped. In 1891, with a new lawyer, John F. Whitney re-filed for pension benefits. At the time, he was living at 109 Courtland St., Providence, Rhode Island. John Whitney married Jane B. (no maiden name mentioned) 27 September 1835 in Belmont, Maine. They were married by William Rusk, J.P. Jane B. Whitney died at Centerville, Rhode Island 23 February 1879.
The main problem with the pension claim was that Addison had never been mustered into the army, but had enlisted. The muster was to take place in Washington, D.C. It was determined that the soldiers in his company had been paid as of their 15 April enlistment, so the pension application was approved. There is no death date in the file for John F. Whitney. He was dropped from the pension roll 5 July 1894 due to death. He had been paid up to 4 March 1894.
The pension file contains a notarized copy of the family record in the Bible of John F. Whitney. It was notarized in Providence, RI on 7 March 1891. The Bible was published in 1829. It contains the following record of the births of the children of John F. and Jane B. Whitney:
- Emily Jane Whitney, born Aug 4th 1836
- John Willard Whitney, born Dec 22 1837
- Addison O. Whitney, born Oct 30 1839
- Mary Celestia Whitney, born May 5 1842
This is all of the historical and genealogical information I have extracted from the pension file.
Discussion by Kenneth L. Whitney: This seems to clear up the controversy with the number of marriages and the children of John F. Whitney. He was not married a second time to a person named Almira, and had no more children than mentioned in the file. I believe that the Almira mentioned by James was actually married to John C. Whitney, and her maiden name was Almira Turner. The children listed were the names of their children. This John C. Whitney was: John1, Benjamin2, John3, Benjamin4, Samuel Lumber5, John C.6.
So then, who is John F. Whitney? It was proposed that he was John Whitney, Jr., son of Rev. John and Hannah (Rich) Whitney of Thorndike, Maine. But that does not seem to fit. No vital records ever mention Rev. John Whitney as having a middle initial. And, the Thorndike records do not ascribe a middle initial to John Whitney, Jr. However, Rev. John and Hannah had eleven children. Eight of them had middle initials in the Thorndike records. Therefore one would think that a middle initial for John, Jr. would be mentioned if he had one. Also, census records indicate that John F. Whitney was born abt 1809-10. Thorndike records indicate John, Jr. was born in 1813, so he is too young to be John F. Whitney. Finally, I believe, but have no absolute proof, that John Whitney, Jr. died in 1837 in Thorndike. If that is true, he was dead 2 years before Addison was born.
I cannot prove the ancestry of John F. Whitney. What I can do is make an educated conjecture, and let someone else disprove it. I believe that John F. Whitney was the son of Samuel and Margaret (Darrow) Whitney of Belmont, Waldo Co., Maine. Samuel's ancestry is: John1, Benjamin2, Nathaniel3, Nathaniel4, Moses5, Samuel6. "A Genealogical History of Morrill, Maine" (GHMM) tells us that Samuel and Margaret had lived in Dixmont and Castine, and came to Morrill about 1825. At that time, Morrill was a part of Belmont, and was not set off from Belmont until 1855. The GHMM lists 6 chuildren for Samuel and Margaret, but does not mention John F. So, how is he part of this family?
John F., born abt 1809-10, would have been their oldest child. By 1825, when they came to Belmont, John would have been 15 years old, and possibly out of the home working for someone. All six of the mentioned children of Samuel and Margaret have middle initials mentioned, so John F. would fit right in. The GHMM does mention John F. Whitney and his family. He was a shoemaker, and lived in Waldo, Maine before moving to Belmont when Addison was a young boy. The GHMM also mentions Addison O. Whitney. It says he was born Oct 30, 1839 in Waldo, Maine. If one looks at the census of 1840, one finds Samuel Whitney and his son, Rev. Doty Whitney, living side by side in Belmont, Maine. A short time after Addison was born in 1839 in Waldo, just up the road a piece, John F. moves his family to Belmont.
All of the above is circumstantial. I have no proof that John F. is the son of Samuel and Margaret. But, it makes sense to me. Perhaps Samuel, Margaret, and John F. will show up in the records of Dixmont or Castine. Lets hope so.
Followup by Robert L. Ward: Addison Otis Whitney was son of John Fay and Jane B. (Kiff) Whitney, and grandson of John and Lydia (Russell) Whitney of Union and Warren, ME. This ancestry of the last is not proven, but it seems likely that he was a son of Solomon6 and Mary (Fay) Whitney, of Lincoln, MA.
Copyright © 2006, 2011, Kenneth L. Whitney, Robert L. Ward, and the Whitney Research Group.
