Archive:Micah Whitney, Revolutionary Soldier

From WRG
Jump to navigationJump to search

Archives > Archive:Extracts > Micah Whitney, Revolutionary Soldier

Sedgeley, Geo. B., Micah Whitney, Revolutionary Soldier and His Twelve Children Settled Early in Philips, Maine; Jacob and Joseph Whitney Came to Phillips 1792; Salmon Whitney Appeared in Letter E Plantation 1810 (Farmington, Maine: The Knowlton & McLeary Co., Printers, 1943).


Micah Whitney, Revolutionary Soldier

and
His Twelve Children Settled Early
in
Phillips, Maine

 

 

Jacob and Joseph Whitney
Came to Phillips 1792

 

 

Salmon Whitney Appeared
in
Letter E Plantation 1810

 

 

Farmington, Maine
The Knowlton & McLeary Co., Printers

1943

WHITNEY 5


WHITNEY
(By Geo. B. SEDGELEY)


THE name Whitney was spelt no less than twelve different ways before 1800. The family was of high rank in England. In America many able men have borne the name Whitney. For several generations a branch of the Whitney family of considerable wealth have lived in Boston and New York. A Whitney died in New York city in the winter of 1929 whose estate was the largest ever probated in the United States.

Two Whitney immigrants came to America early. The first to come was John Whitney who settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1635. The other Whitney came a few years later and settled in Connecticut. The relationship, if any, between these two immigrants is not known. Doubtless they were of the same Flemish origin. Genealogies of both branches have been compiled. The genealogy of the Connecticut branch is in two volumes and is the most elaborate and expensive book of this kind ever written 510 copies were printed.

All, or nearly all, of the Whitneys in Maine were descendants of the Massachusetts immigrant, and he was the progenitor of a numerous family.

No less than ten families of Whitneys settled in Phillips, Maine, and in the towns near, between 1792 and 1815. Most of these families did not think they were related. It is now known that they were all descendants of the Massachusetts immigrant. Jacob Whitney, a Revolutionary soldier, was the first town clerk of Phillips when the town was organized in 1812. He was living in Phillips as early as 1793, and his son Christopher must have been about the first white child in Phillips. In the census of 1790, the first census taken in the United States, there were no families living in Phillips, but fourteen families were living in Avon, an adjoining town. In 1791 seven men came to Phillips and made clearings and built log houses. Sherman S. Whitney, a merchant in Phillips (1943), is a great-grandson of the above mentioned Jacob Whitney.

WHITNEY


This word designated a place for no one knows how long before it Was adopted as a personal name. The parish of Whitney, in the western part of Herefordshire, England, near the confines of Wales, lies in the valley of the river Wye, which is there a mountain torrent, subjected to sudden and violent floods. This circumstance affords a probable explana-


6 WHITNEY


tion of the name "Whitney ", which may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon word whit, signifying "white", and ey, meaning "water", the literal signification of the term being "white water". The record of Whitney in Herefordshire is found in the Doomsday Book, which was compiled between the years 1081 and 1087. In the distribution of the land among the followers of William the Conqueror, Whitney was one of nine tracts granted to Sir Turstin, commonly known as "Turstin the Fleming" and "Turstin De Wigmore", the son of Rolf. He married Agnes, daughter of Alured De Merleberge, one of the great barons of the realm, who settled on her, with other land, the Pencombe estate. To Sir Turstin and Agnes were born two sons, Eustace and Turstin, the elder succeeding to the parental estates by progeniture, as it was then the custom. Eustace's son or grandson, sometime between 1100 and 1200 engaged in border wars, built a stronghold and took up his residence at Whitney, and following the custom of the times took the surname (or addition) De (of) Whitney. In other words took the name of the town with De added. The first mention of a De Whitney in any record now extant is that of " Robert De Wytteneye ", in the "Testa de Nevill", in the year 1242. There are numerous records relating to Robert's son "Sir Eustace De Wytteneye", and from the latter down an authentic account can be given of each head of the family in the long line. In the offices of sheriffs of their county, knights of the shire in parliament and justices in the commission of the peace, the name Whitney may be traced in Herefordshire from the twelfth century, when the name originated, to the time of George III, 1799, or for more than six hundred years. The name "Turstin the Fleming", is good proof that the Whitney family is of Flemish origin. The population of Flanders at that period was made up largely of Germans with some French and Dutch.

Thomas Whitney, a descendant of the Whitneys of Whitney, from whom the Whitneys of this account are descended, is known to the following extent: On May 10, 1583, Thomas Whitney obtained from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster a license to marry Mary, daughter of John Bray, in which he is described as "Thomas Whytney of Lambeth Marsh, gentleman", and on May 12th the marriage ceremony was performed in St. Margaret's. Lambert Marsh is a name still applied to a locality near the Surry end of Westminster bridge, not far from London. In 1611, as the records show, Thomas Whitney paid the subsidy tax, and Dec. 6, 1615, he was appointed executor of the will of his father-in-law, John Bray. (Western England was full of Brays.) Thomas Whitney died in April, 1637. The children of Thomas and Mary (Bray) Whit-


WHITNEY 7


ney: Margaret, Thomas, Henry, Arnwaye, John, mentioned below, Newell, Francis, Mary and Robert. Six of the children died in childhood.

The above "Used by permission of W. B. Conkey, Chicago, Illinois, Publishers of the WHITNEY FAMILY GENEALOGY by Frederick Clifton Pierce.

The first four generations of the following is from the State of Maine Genealogy and Family History.

WHITNEY -- MASSACHUSETTS BRANCH


(I) John Whitney, fifth child and fourth son of Thomas and Mary (Bray) Whitney, was born in England in 1589. He received for those days good education in the famous Westminster school, now known as St. Peter's College. He was baptized in St. Margaret's, the parish church, standing in the shadow of the famous "Abbey",the 20th day of July, 1592. February 22, 1607, he was apprenticed by his father to William Pring, of the Old Bailey, London. The latter was "freeman " of the Merchant Tailor's Company, then the most famous and prosperous of all the great trade guilds, numbering in its membership distinguished men of all professions, many of the nobility and the Prince of Wales. March 13, 1614, John Whitney became a member of this guild, soon after married and took up his residence at Islesworth-on-the-Thames, eight miles from Westminster. Later he lived in Bowe Lane. In April, 1635, with wife and sons John, Richard, Nathaniel, Thomas and Jonathan, he registered as a passenger in the ship "Elisabeth and Ann ", Roger Cooper, master, which soon after sailed for America. His arrival in this country is supposed to have occurred in June, 1635. He immediately settled in Watertown, Mass., where he purchased a homestead of sixteen acres and made it his permanent place of abode. Before 1642 the town had granted John Whitney nine other lots of land amounting to one hundred and ninety-eight acres. He also made several purchases of land, and aided all his sons in their settlements. He was admitted freeman March 3, 1636; was appointed constable of Watertown by the general court, June 1, 1641; selectman, 1636 to 1655, inclusive, and town clerk in 1655. " He was next to the schoolmaster and minister the most important man in the town." He married (first) in England, Elinor, whose surname does not appear. She was born in 1599, and died in Watertown, May 11, 1659. He married (second) in Watertown, Sept. 29, i 659, Judith Clement. She died before her husband.
Children -- all by first wife:

  1. Mary2, born in England; died young.



8 WHITNEY


  1. John2, born in England; came to America.
  2. Richard2, born in England; came to America; ancestor of a wealthy branch.
  3. Nathaniel2, born in England; came to America.
  4. Thomas2, born in England; came to America.
  5. Jonathan2, born in England; came to America.
  6. Joshua2, the first Whitney born in America, was born in Watertown, July 15, 1635, a month after his parents' arrival; was a pioneer settler of the town of Groton, Mass. He married three times, his wives being respectively, Lydia, Mary and Abigail Tarbell.
  7. Caleb2, born in Watertown.
  8. Benjamin2, mentioned below.


(II) Benjamin Whitney, ninth child and eighth son of John and Elinor Whitney, was born in Watertown, Mass., June 16, 1643; died in 1723, aged eighty. He appears first in York, Maine, as a witness to an agreement by John Doves, in 1662, and as a witness to other agreements by John Doves in 1666-68. He was in Cocheco, New Hampshire, near Dover, in 1667-68. April 13, 1674, the selectmen of York laid out to Benjamin Whitney ten acres of land. In 1685 Benjamin Whitney sold a certain tract and parcel of land which I have improved, possessed, and have builded a small tenement upon, planted and lived upon these several years", which was granted by the town of York in 1680, and ten acres granted by the town of York in 1674, as stated above. April 5, 1670, John Whitney deeded to his son Benjamin his homestead in Watertown of seventeen acres and appurtenances thereto, in consideration of said Benjamin's taking care of him during the remainder of his life. March 9, 1671, with the consent of his father, he sold this property to his brother Joshua for forty pounds. After his second marriage in 1695, Benjamin lived on land belonging to Harvard College, which he leased of Governor Danforth, in Sherburn, Mass. He married, probably, at York, Maine, (first) Jane -----, who died Nov. 14, 1690; married (second) April 11, 1695, Mary Poor of Marlboro.
Children by first wife born in York, Maine:

  1. Jane3.
  2. Timothy3.
  3. John3, the grandfather of Jacob Whitney, the first of the name to settle in Phillips, Maine, in 1793; was born 1678; married Letty Ford.
  4. Nathaniel3, born 1680. Mentioned below.



WHITNEY 9


  1. Jonathan3.
  2. Benjamin3.
  3. Joshua3.

Children by second wife born, probably, in Massachusetts:

  1. Mark3, born in 1700.
  2. Isaac3.


(III) Nathaniel Whitney, the third son and fourth child of Benjamin and Jane Whitney, was born in York, Maine, April 14, 1680; married Sarah, daughter of John Ford of Kittery, Maine. (She was born in York.) He lived in York, Kittery and Gorham; died in Gorham. In 1703 he joined the military Company in York raised to defend the settlers against the Indians. He was a weaver in Kittery, but also purchased land in York, including twenty acres of John Rockleft for twenty pounds.
Children:

  1. Naham4.
  2. Nathaniel4.
  3. Abel4, born in 1712. Mentioned below.
  4. Sarah4.
  5. Lydia4.
  6. Isaac4, born 1720; died 1800; lived in York, Saco and Buxton; married Sarah Crosby; had two wives later; had eleven children. His son Barnabus born 1766 in Gorham, Maine; married Sarah Walker; settled first in Pownal, Maine; then in 1808 moved to Freeman, Maine. Barnabus was a first cousin to Micah Whitney who settled in Phillips, Maine, soon after 1806 with his twelve children.
  7. Amos4.
  8. Lydia4.
  9. Joanna4.


(IV) Abel Whitney, third son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Ford) Whitney, was born in York, Maine, July 23, 1712; married Nov. 23, 1735, Mary, daughter of Nicholas Cram. He lived in York, Gorham and Standish, Maine.
Children: (From records it appears that all or part of his 12 children were born in York)

  1. Joanna5, born in 1736; died young.
  2. Moses5, born 1738.
  3. Joseph5, born in 1739.



10 WHITNEY


  1. Daniel5, born in 1741; died before 1754.
  2. Joel5, born in 1743; married Mary Weston; settled in Portland; later moved to Jonesboro, Maine; left a large estate in land, mills and other property; was a prominent man; had seven children.
  3. May5, born in 1744.
  4. Lydia5, born in 1746.
  5. Zebulon5, born in 1747; married Joanna Stone.
  6. Joanna5, born in 1749.
  7. Nephthali5, born in 1750.
  8. Micah5, born in 1752. Mentioned below.
  9. Daniel5, born in 1754.


(V) Micah Whitney, the eleventh child of Abel and Mary (Cram) Whitney, was born in York, Maine, Dec. 2, 1752; died in Phillips, Maine, Sept. 4, 1832, aged 80; married in Gorham, Maine, Nov. 29, 1779, Hannah Cobb. (She was born March 28, 1762 and died Dec. 5, 1833.) He enlisted in the Revolutionary War from Buxton, Maine, serving from April, 1775 to January, 1776. He lived in Gorham, Gray and Phillips, Maine. His youngest child was born in Gray in 1806. It is known that at least six of his children were born in Gorham, the four oldest are recorded on the Gorham town books. He settled in Phillips early in 1800 and probably between 1806 and 1815. He was a blacksmith. It appears that he lived on a farm in Phillips. The last of life he probably lived with his son Benjamin on the Rufus Bean farm, so called, as he is buried on that farm on the bank of the Sandy River. There is in existence an interesting article given by his son Ebenezer, of his shoeing George Washington's horse, and Washington saying: "Man, you did a good job." Many of Micah's descendants were of small stature, strong and wiry, scholarly, long lived, prosperous and had fretful dispositions. Micah's twelve children settled in Phillips. Micah was a first cousin to Barnabus Whitney who settled in the nearby town of Freeman in 1808.
Children - twelve and all lived to grow up:

  1. Sally6, born Jan. 11, 1781; married James Humphrey. (The Humphrey family lost all their property before they came to Avon, Maine, in law suits over land titles -- had two trials over the same land, won in the first trial and lost in the second.) She probably lived in Phillips, Maine, for a time at least, as two children are recorded in the town books.



WHITNEY 11


    Children:
    1. Mary Humphrey, born Dec.29, 1805.
    2. Betsey Humphrey, born Sept. 17, 1807.
  1. William6 Whitney, born May 3, 1783. Mentioned below.
  2. Lydia6 Whitney, born Feb. 3, 1785; did not marry; lived to old age; lived and died at the home of her brother, Ebenezer Whitney; is buried in the Field's Cemetery in Phillips, Maine.
  3. Joel6 Whitney, second son of Micah and Hannah (Cobb) Whitney, was born in Gorham, Maine, May 7, 1787; married (first) Sally, daughter of Rev. Joseph Dyer. She was born Nov.10, 1797 and died April 6, 1834. Joseph Dyer's mother, Elizabeth Dyer, was one of the four women that blacked up the men who threw the tea over-board in Boston harbor. Her husband was a sea captain in the Revolutionary War and died from the effects of his war service before his widow and two sons came to Maine. One son settled in Freeman, the other son settled in Phillips on Tory Hill, where A. D. Whitney now lives. Elizabeth Dyer is buried on the John Dyer farm, now known as the Benjamin Dodge farm, in Freeman. The Daughters of the American Revolution have placed a large marker at her grave and fixed the lot at considerable expense. She is the only person buried on that farm. She left able descendants. Joel Whitney married (second) Sarah Compton of Farmington, Maine; married (third) Betsey Chase. The exact date when he came to Phillips is not known. A post office was established in Phillips in 1818 and Joel Whitney was the first postmaster. He lived in the Warren Bates house and had the post office and a store there. His name appears as town clerk as early as 1819 and for many years afterwards. He was a good citizen and considered the ablest man in town. In about 1850 he removed to Plymouth, Maine, where he built a tannery and lived for a time, then went to St. Paul, Minn., among the first settlers there, and helped build up St. Paul and Minneapolis; built a mill where the Pillsbury Flour Mill now stands. When in Phillips he owned a saw mill. At that time in rural Maine there was but little money in circulation yet he appeared to have been prosperous and donated land on which the Union Church and the town schoolhouse were built. Said land to revert to his heirs when not used for church or school. Also donated the church bell at a cost of three hundred dollars. How long he lived after he went to St. Paul is not known to the writer. One report says a short time which may mean a few years. The inscription on the



Joel E Whitney.gif
JOEL E. WHITNEY

The son of Joel Whitney of Phillips and St. Paul and grandson of Micah Whitney, the Revolutionary soldier, and great-grandson of Elizabeth Dyer of Revolutionary fame


WHITNEY 13


    tallest monument in the cemetery, back of the Methodist Church in Phillips, is in memory of Joel Whitney and his wife Sally and their children, Julia A. and Sarah G., and his second wife Sarah and their child, Julia. None of his descendants live in Phillips.
    Children by first wife born in Phillips:
    1. Sophie D.7 Whitney, born Jan. 1,1816.
    2. Charles T.7 Whitney, born Sept. 18, 1817.
    3. Julian7(?), on the town books, but probably Julia A. born June 9, 1820; died Nov. 23, 1834, as per grave stone record.
    4. Joel E.7 Whitney, born May 18,1822. In looks he resembles his mother's people, the Dyer family. See picture. He was living in Minneapolis in 1860. Every year he sent flowers to his cousin, Stephen Quimby, to put on his father's cemetery lot in Phillips.
    5. Eliza J.7 Whitney, born June 20, 1824.
    6. Sarah G.7 Whitney, born April 2, 1827; died young.
    7. Andrew J.7 Whitney, born April 20, 1829; is probably the A. J. Whitney who married in St. Paul, Bertha L. Burbank, a sister to James Crawford Burbank of St. Paul, a man who accumulated great wealth as a wholesale merchant and owner of over-land mail and stage routes.
    8. P. Luthum7, born May 18, 1831.

    Children by second wife:

    1. Julia7 Whitney, died young. There is no record of her except the one on the monument in the cemetery.
    2. E. S.7 Whitney, may have been a son of Joel, but there is no record of his birth on the books at Phillips. He married Helen M. Burbank who died at the age of 99 years. It is known he was a brother to A. J. Whitney who married her sister, Bertha L. Burbank. What the several above named sons of Joel Whitney amounted to is not known to the writer.
  1. Charlotte6 Whitney, was born in Gorham, Maine, March 16, 1789; did not marry; lived in the home of her brother, Ebenezer, in Phillips; is buried beside sister, Lydia, in the Field's Cemetery near where Ebenezer lived.
  2. Ebenezer6 Whitney, third son of Micah and Hannah (Cobb) Whitney, was born in Gorham, Maine, Aug. 15, 1791; died in Freeman, Maine, at the home of his son, J. Drury Whitney, Nov.18, 1874, aged 83 years 3 months 3 days; married Dec. 26, 1842,



Ebenezer Whitney.gif
EBENEZER WHITNEY

The third son of Micah Whitney, the Revolutionary soldier


WHITNEY 15


    widow Dorcas (Drury) Parlin, daughter of Capt. John Parlin, Revolutionary veteran, of Temple, Maine. She was born in 1812 and died in 1894 in Franklin, Mass., at the home of her son, Drury Whitney. He came to Phillips, Maine, in about 1810, as he enlisted in the War of 1812 in a New Vineyard, Maine, company and served at Bath, Maine, for a time. He lived on a farm in Phillips near the Madrid town line, where he owned and operated a saw mill, on what is now known as the George Haley farm. The reason that two of his unmarried sisters lived in his home was probably because of the fact that he did not marry until he was fifty-one years old. Ebenezer Whitney was more than a farmer and millman for he appears to have been a civil engineer and laid out the first wagon roads built in Phillips; laid out the first wagon road that went to Rangeley. At the time of his father's death in 1832 he was then forty-one years old and was surveying the international road from Solon, Maine, through Jackman to the Canadian border. The story of how he happened to marry ever at the age of fifty-one: He was the school agent in the district where he lived and in want of a teacher. He hired a young widow, Dorcas (Drury) Parlin, who had an infant child. She agreed to teach if Whitney would make a cradle for the baby which he did, then she took the baby into the schoolroom with her, and the girl that stood at the head of the spelling class had the privilege of rocking the cradle. The result: Whitney married the teacher. She taught seventy-two terms of country school; many terms after her husband's death; was seventy when she taught the last term. What about the baby? It seems it did the baby, Simon Parlin, much good to get such an early start in his education for he became a teacher, officer in the Civil War and for fifty years was editor of "The American Horse Breeder", a paper published in Boston. The baby became a fine looking man and had a strong and pleasing military bearing.
    Children born in Phillips, Maine:
    1. John Drury7 Whitney, born Oct.21, 1843; died at the age of ninety or a little past; married Jan.26, 1870, Eldusty, daughter of Samuel and Abigail (Heath) Peary. She was born in 1850 and died in 1935. Drury as he was called served in the Civil War. He was in California a few years and while there cut a stick and brought it home from which was made the cane seen in the picture of his father. He was a devout church worker, a well-to-do



16 WHITNEY


      farmer and lived in Freeman, Maine, until middle life, then removed to Franklin, Mass. While living in Freeman he was a licensed preacher in the Methodist Church, a singing school teacher and leader of the first brass band in Strong in 1862, also the first leader of the second band organized at Strong in 1878. Members of the band were: J. Drury Whitney, John Soule, Loring Hunter, Frank Dyer, Frank Worthley, Bert Richardson, High Kilkenney, Abner Page, Walter Jones, Lincoln Smith and George Smith. Before his death he and his sister, Myra (Whitney) Reed, were the last living of more than fifty grandchildren of Micah Whitney, the Revolutionary soldier.
      Children, the four oldest born in Freeman, the youngest in Franklin:
        1 Frank D.8 Whitney, born Jan. 9, 1871; married May 8, 1894, Kate 0. Coggesshall of Narragansett, R. I.; lives in Wakefield, Mass. His business is automobile hearse, ambulance and limousine service for undertakers. Children:
        1. Everett Drury9 Whitney, born July 30,1897, in Branford, Conn.; married Aug. 3, 1918, Alice M. Donald of Wakefield, Mass.; lives in Wakefield. He is with the Radiator Research Laboratory at M. I. T., Cambridge, Mass Previously he was for twenty-two years with F. L. Dunn Company, custom tailors in Boston.
          Child:
          1. Norma A.10 Whitney, born March 9, 1928.
        2. John F.9 Whitney, born Sept.22, 1907, in Wakefield; died Feb.25, 1917, of scarlet fever.
      1. Minerva B.8 Whitney, daughter of J. Drury Whitney, born Feb. 11, 1872; married Dec. 31,1895, Henry Norton Foster Marshall, he died Oct.27, 1913. He was in the wholesale paint, oil and varnish business forty years in Boston. After retiring he was associated with D. L. Moody in building the East Northfield Seminary, being business manager there three years and at Mt. Hermon school for boys ten years Also was one of four men who incorporated the



WHITNEY 17


        New England Conservatory of Music in Boston Minerva Marshall was a missionary, appointed by the General Board of the Nazarene Church, for about five years to Swaziland, South Africa, among the Swazi and Zula people. She was a licensed minister under the New England District of the Church of the Nazarene for fourteen years. Also a teacher of vocal music to the young people of Piggs Peak and Indingeni, Swaziland, and translated a Nazarene Hymnal in Lula tongue for the abantus. Thousands of copies were sent to Africa from the Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri. She lives in Franklin, Massachusetts.
        Child:
        1. Ruth B. Marshall, born June 3, 1899; married July 21,1922, Rev. Walter L. Sheppard, Baptist minister; reside in Greene, Maine.
          Children:
          1. Thelma A. Sheppard, born Oct. 1, 1923; training in the Central Maine General Hospital, Lewiston, Maine.
          2. Ruth J. Sheppard, born April 15, 1925; clerk in Peck's Department Store, Lewiston, Maine.
          3. Walter L. Sheppard, born May 28, 1929; is in school.
      1. Charles Louis8 Whitney, son of J. Drury Whitney, was born in Freeman, Maine, Feb. 9, 1874; married Nov. 3, 1896, Florence J. Gibson; lives in Dedham, Mass. He retired after forty-eight years service with the Adams and American Railway Express Company at Hyde Park, Boston, Mass. He was first trumpet player in the 110th Cavalry Band (Mounted) of Boston for many years.
        Children:
        1. William E.9 Whitney, born July 30, 1898; married Eleanor May Crosby, born May 14,1902; lives in Nicholas, Conn.; is a commercial artist


    18 WHITNEY


          Children:
          1. Weldon W.10 Whitney, born Oct. 6,1935.
          2. Dianna E.10 Whitney, born Sept. 14,1942.
        1. Charles H.9 Whitney, born July 1, 1900; married Ruth F. Warren, born June 27, 1897; lives in Randolph, Mass.; is a production manager.
          Child:
          1. Charles R.10 Whitney, born June 28,1939.
        2. Clarence R.9 Whitney, born May 11, 1903; married Elizabeth Obuchou, born July 17, 1912; lives at Hyde Park, Mass.; is a welder.
          Children:
          1. Janet L.10 Whitney, born May 29, 1937.
          2. Robert E.10 Whitney, born Sept.24, 1939.
        3. Grace L.9 Whitney, born Dec. 6, 1908; married Duncan A. Crawford, district manager for Stone Webester Company; lives in Roanoke, Virginia.
          Children:
          1. David A. Crawford, born April 14,1938.
          2. Barbara E. Crawford, born March 8,1942.
        4. Louis I.9 Whitney, born Dec. 9, 1915; lives in Dedham, Mass.; is a welder.
      1. Jonas A.8 Whitney, born Nov. 5, 1877; died Dec., 1877.
      2. Ralph T.8 Whitney, son of J. Drury Whitney, born May 2, 1890, in Franklin, Mass.; married Myrtle Rockwood Grant, Dec. 3, 1919, at Benning, Georgia, while serving as musician first class with the 29th Infantry Band. He lives in Wollaston, Mass.; is a linotype operator, machinist and printer.
        Children:
        1. Ralph T.9 Whitney, born Oct. 7, 1921; is in the U. S. Marine Corps.
        2. Maitland G.9 Whitney, born Oct. 6, 1923; is in the U. S. Marine Corps. A newspaper clipping is as follows:
          A Family Tradition

          Recent enlistments in the U. S. Marine Corps include Ralph T. Whitney Jr., and his brother, Maitland G. Whitney. The two men



WHITNEY 19


          are grandsons of John Drury Whitney, formerly of Franklin. (And Freeman, Maine.) Serving in wartime is a family tradition with the family. Preceding the brothers in the service, their father served with the 29th Infantry in the first World War. Their grandfather, John Drury Whitney, was in the Civil War. Their great-grandfather, Ebenezer Whitney, served in the War of 1812, and their great-great-grandfathers, Micah Whitney and Capt. John Drury, served in the Revolutionary War.
    1. Charles Edgar7 Whitney, son of Ebenezer Whitney, born Dec. 2, 1846, in Phillips, Maine; died Aug. 13, 1894; married April 28, 1877, Julia Burbank, daughter of Benjamin Bray and Drusilla (Mayo) Burbank of Freeman, Maine. He was a farmer and lived in Phillips. When a young man he was in California a few years, and while there contracted a humor that finally caused sickness, then his wife and after his death his widow had the care of the family. How well she succeeded is reflected in the lives of her three sons.
      Children, born in Phillips:
      1. Charles Rayinond8 Whitney, born March 28, 1878; died in 1942; was a machinist; lived in Beverly, Massachusetts. He is buried in Puritan Lawn Memorial Park, West Peabody, Mass., on the east side of Suntaug Lake, and is a part of what was the estate of John B. Pierce, his cousin. (For Mr. Pierce's life see the Burbank Genealogy.)
        Children born in Beverly:
        1. Esther M.9 Whitney, born Feb. 14, 1911; married Philip E. Nokes; lives in Beverly; has two sons.
        2. Charles A.9 Whitney, born Dec. 16, 1912; married Dorothy A. Littlehale; lives in Bristol, Conn.; is a mechanical engineer. Child: 1 Cynthia Ann10 Whitney.
        3. Ruth A.9 Whitney, born Dec. 5, 1914; married



20 WHITNEY


          Malcolm R. Knox; lives in Bloomfield, Conn.; has a daughter.
      1. Albert Drury8 Whitney, born Aug. 7, 1879, in Phillips; is not married. He is a well-to-do farmer donates liberally to charity; lives in Phillips on a three hundred acre farm that was cleared up by Rev. Joseph Dyer, mentioned above, and later the home for twenty-five years of Dyer's son-in4aw, Col. Benjamin F. Eastman, who presided at the first Republican convention held in the United States at Strong, Maine. Eastman was the father of the late Eastman Brothers, merchants, of Portland, Maine Bert Whitney, the name he is best known by, was fortunate in his ancestry. From his father he inherited the New England thrift that was common to the early settlers; from his mother, a member of the Burbank-Bray-Welleome family, he inherited ambition and financial ability. His mother kept house for him until her death in 1937, and since then he has lived alone part of the time. (See the pamphlet, "The Welleome Family of Freeman, Maine~")
      2. Benjamin Burbank8 Whitney, born May 20, 1884, in Phillips; married June 14, 1921, Hazel M. Hall of Calais, Maine. He is road master of the Maine Central Railroad; lives in Bangor, Maine. Like his grandfather, Ebenezer Whitney, he is a civil engineer. A graduate of the University of Maine, where he paid his way through the school. How and where the grandfather got his knowledge of the science of civil engineering is not known, perhaps in what is called the hard way, self educated.
        Child:
        1. Hall9 Whitney, student at the University of Maine.
    1. Myra A.7 Whitney, daughter of Ebenezer Whitney, born Sept. 29, 1850, in Phillips, Maine; married Nov. 30, 1882, Frank A. Reed, carpenter, and he was the first State Fish Commissioner of Oregon. Since the death of her husband in 1923 she has lived in Rivera, California, for a number of years, but has now, at the age of ninety-two,



WHITNEY 21


      removed to San Francisco to live with her foster daughter, Myra (Bradbury) Bradley, the daughter of Eva Parlin (Bradbury) Haley, and granddaughter of her halfbrother, the late Simon Parlin. Mrs. Reed is the only living grandchild of Micah Whitney, the Revolutionary soldier.
  1. Andrew6, son of Micah Whitney, born May 5, 1794. Mentioned below.
  2. Mary6, daughter of Micah Whitney, born April 30, 1797; married Rueben Smith. No further record is found. They settled in Massachusetts.
  3. Joanna6, daughter of Micah Whitney, born Dec. 6, 1799; married Sept. 10, 1818, Caleb Sylvester of Avon, Maine; lived in Phillips, Maine, for a time, as two children are recorded on the town books; moved to Wisconsin.
    Children, born in Phillips:
    1. Eliza Sylvester, born March 25, 1819; died May II, 1819.
    2. Ebenezer Sylvester, born Aug.25, 1820.
  4. Happy6, daughter of Micah Whitney, born Nov. 1, 1801; married May 18, 1821, Samuel Finix; lived in Phillips and Madrid, Maine, for a number of years, then removed to Plymouth, Maine.
    Children, born in Phillips:
    1. Mary Ann Finix, born Aug.13, 1822.
    2. Hannah Eliza Finix.
    3. Sarah Jane Finix.
  5. Naham6, son of Micah Whitney, born Oct.11, 1803. No record is found that he ever married; lived in Phillips, and the last of his life at least he was a wanderer and traveled long distances on foot, making two trips on foot to the middle west and back to visit a brother. He lived to old age, had money in his pocket at time of death to pay all expenses.
  6. Benjamin M.6, the youngest child and sixth son of Micah and Hannah (Cobb) Whitney, was born in Gray, Maine, March 19, 1806; died in 1890; married Sept. 26, 1830, Susan Wells of Phillips, Maine. (She was born in 1806 and died in 1892.) He lived in Phillip5, and probably on the Rufus Bean farm, so called, for a time, as his father, the Revolutionary soldier, and mother are buried in unmarked graves on that farm on the bank of the Sandy River. The plot of land with six or more graves is unfenced and has grown up to woods. The soldier's grave will probably be marked at the close of the second World War. He



Benjamin Whitney.gif
BENJAMIN WHITNEY

The sixth son and twelfth child of Micah Whitney, the Revolutionary soldier


WHITNEY 23


    came to Phillips when a child with his parents soon after 1806, and like his brother, Joel, served as town clerk for several years He is buried in the cemetery back of Methodist Church. Mrs. Ella Brackett of Phillips, aged 90 years, says: "I well remember Benjamin Whitney. He was of small stature. Among his other activities he was a school teacher. When there was a hard school to govern or the teacher had been lugged out by the big boys the school authorities would send for little Ben Whitney and there was no more trouble in that school the rest of the term."
    Children, born in Phillips:
    1. Phebe C.7, born Feb.24, 1831; married Orrington Andrews; lived in Gardiner, Maine; had two children, Hattie and Enols Andrews.
    2. Royal T.7, born July 29, 1832; lived in Phillips until the freshet of 1869; had a furniture mill where the woolen mill now is, and when the mill and dam was washed out he went to Texas; has descendants living in Texas.
    3. Martin V. B.7, born June 21,1834; died 1924, aged 90; married (first) Rowe; married (second) widow Abbie Q. (Toothaker) Pratt of Phillips. He was a farnier; lived the last half of his life in Greene, Maine.
      Child by first wife:
      1. Theron C.8 Whitney, born in 1862; died in about 1940; lived in Greene, Maine, or that vicinity; was a painter and paper hanger.
        Children:
        1. Mary9 Whitney.
        2. Pauline9 Whitney.
        3. Edith9 Whitney.
        4. Walter9 Whitney.

      Child by second wife:

      1. Edward H.8 Whitney, born in 1867; married (first) Pearl Jenkins of Temple, Maine; married (second) Ila (Babb) Ross of Phillips. He was a druggist for many years at Rangeley, Maine, then later at Phillips; is now engaged in lumbering; lives in Phillips.
        Children by first wife, born in Rangeley:
        1. Margaret9 Whitney, born 1900; married Norman Hodgkins; lives in Wilton, Maine; has a daughter, Rechel Hodgkins.
        2. Howard P.9 Whitney, born 1906; married Hazel



24 WHITNEY


          Stanley. He is a teacher of English in the high school at Wilbraham, Mass. Children: Judith and Gillian. His children are in the tenth generation from John Whitney, the immigrant ancestor.
    1. Susan Melvina7, born May 28, 1836; married Jan. 1, 1860, J. Richmond Adams of Wilton, Maine; had three daughters.
    2. Joseph Clement7, twin, born Feb.26, 1838; was a physician and surgeon; lived in Thorndike, Maine; had children, Osman and Hattie Whitney.
    3. Mary Clementine7, twin, born Feb. 26, 1838; died 1916; married George Cushman, farmer, of Phillips, Maine.
    4. Dexter Benjamin7, the youngest child of Benjamin M. and Susan (Wells) Whitney, was born Dec., 1841; married Annis B. Ross of Phillips. He was an hydraulic engineer, and lived in Gardiner, Maine.
      Children:
      1. William8 Whitney, deceased, was a lawyer.
      2. Benjamin8 Whitney, deceased, married Ida Page; lived in Gardiner and Phillips.


(VI) William Whitney, the second child and oldest son of Micah and Hannah (Cobb) Whitney, was born in Gorham, Maine, May 3, 1783; died in a Western state; married (first) Sarah Frank who was born in Gray, Maine, or lived there at the time of her marriage, and died Aug.20, 1815, soon after the birth of her seventh child, at the age of about thirty, and living at the time of her death in Phillips, Maine; married (second) Oct.27, 1823, Nancy Carlton of Letter E Plantation, Maine. It is said he was a blacksmith; settled in Phillips probably before 1815; lived in Phillips a number of years after his second marriage then moved to the middle west when past fifty. It appears he lived in the Colby Whittemore house and owned a number of acres of land in the section where the Milia Ross house and the blacksmith shop now stand, as he gave land in that section to his daughter, Sally (Whitney) Quimby. He had twelve children recorded in Phillips, the same number his father Micah had, but he may have had other children after he went west. He came from Gray, Maine, to Phillips, Maine.
Children by first wife, Sarah Frank:

  1. Sally7 Whitney, born in Gray, Jan.31, 1806; died in Phillips 1886; married Feb.19, 1825, Thomas Quimby; lived in the Milia Ross house in Phillips.



WHITNEY 25


    Children:
    1. James Quimby, born Feb. 9,1826; died March 19, 1832.
    2. Harriet Newell Quimby, born Oct. 16, 1827; married Edwin Cummings. Her son, Stephen Cummings, lived in Kingfield, Maine.
    3. William Whitney Quimby, born April 18,1830; lived to old age in Phillips; the maiden name of his wife was Hawkes; operated a tannery just below the saw-mill on the Sandy River in the lower village. Member of the Masonic Lodge No issue. Brought up Lena (Hawkes) Winter.
    4. Stephen Hart Quimby, born in 1833; lived to old age in Phillips; in the Quimby-Ross house; was a stone mason; did not marry.
    5. Sara Jane Quimby, born Jan. 31, 1844; died July 15, 1928; married in 1870, Charles C. Bangs; lived in Phillips. (He was born in 1838 and died in 1881, aged 43; brought up by William Toothaker, a wealthy citizen of Rangeley and Phillips; was in early life a teacher and later a deputy sheriff and owner of a livery stable; was previous to his marriage in California for eight years.)
      Children born in Phillips:
      1. Homer Bangs, born 1871; died young.
      2. Mary Bangs, born in 1873; married in 1894 Charles H. McKenzie, merchant, of Rumford, Maine. He died in 1920.
        Children:
        1. Janet A. McKenzie, born May 30, 1896, in Phillips; lives in Phillips.
        2. C. Herbert McKenzie, born in Rumford, March 17, 1898; married Ida Pepper; lives in Portland; is an officer in the Oxford Paper Compan'. Children: C. Herbert 3rd born 1921 and died 1922, Jean M. born 1923.
        3. M. Berella McKenzie, born Dec. 4,1899, in Rumford; died in 1940; was buyer for McKenzie Company's store of Rumford.
        4. Sarah C. McKenzie, born April 14,1902, in Rumford; lives in Rumford; married Thomas McCafferey. She is the State President of Business and Professional Women's Club.



William Whitney.gif
WILLIAM WHITNEY

The second child and oldest son of Micah Whitney, the Revolutionary soldier


WHITNEY 27


        1. Margaret C. McKenzie, born July 11, 1905, in Phillips; married Colby S. Eldridge; lives in Rumford. Children: Nancy B. born 1931, David C. born 1937 and Thomas H. born 1942.
        2. Elizabeth McKenzie, born Feb. 26,1907, in Phillips; married Delbert I. Morrison; lives in Rumford. Children: Peter born 1929, died in infancy, Joan M. born 1930, Stephen D. born 1932 and Penelope A. born 1933.
        3. John 0. McKenzie, born March 31, 1909, in Phillips; married Elizabeth Robertson; is in the U. S. Navy. Child: John 0. born 1930.
        4. George K. McKenzie, born July 7,1911, in Phillips; married Olive Mitchell. He is a lawyer; lives in Old Greenwich, Conn. Children: Jefferey A. born 1937 and Jeremy A. born 1941.
        5. Frances E. McKenzie, born Nov. 30, 1913; teacher in the public schools of Augusta, Maine:
        6. Jean N. McKenzie, born Feb.17, 1916; died Jan. 7, 1917.
      1. Milia Bangs, born in 1878; married in 1909 Deberna R. Ross, lawyer, of Phillips. He died in 1918.
      2. Cherry Bangs, born in 1878; married in 1901 Arno L. Pratt of Phillips; was a school teacher previous to her marriage.
        Children born in Phillips:
        1. Son, born 1902; died in infancy.
        2. Leonard Pratt, born in 1909; is a soldier in World War II.
        3. Charles Pratt, born in 1915; died young.
        4. Julia Pratt, born in 1917; is secretary to the President of Westbrook Junior College; lives in Portland, Maine.
        5. David Pratt, born in 1921; is a soldier in World War II.
      3. Laura Elva Bangs, twin, born in 1881; died in infancy.
      4. Charlie Elva Bangs, twin, born in 1881; died in infancy.
    1. Lura Elva Quimby, born Oct. 16, 1848; lived in Phillips; married Stephen L. Twombly, a retired railroad engineer.



28 WHITNEY


      Child:
      1. Nell Quimby, born 1871; married (first) Mason Parker, physician; has a daughter, Alice Parker, instructor in defence work; married (second) Herbert Vining, carpenter; lives in Phillips; was a teacher in the public schools of Phillips for many years.
  1. Son, of William Whitney, born July 15, 1807; died same day.
  2. Happy7, daughter of William Whitney, born June 14, 1808; married David Quimby, brother to her sister's husband, Thomas Quimby; lived in Rangeley, Maine.
    Children:
    1. Elmira Quimby; married Baker Tuffs, boat builder; lived in Rangeley; had a daughter, Carry Nell Quimby.
    2. Dexter W. Quimby; married three times; had a large family, children by the three wives; lived in Rangeley; descendants still living in Rangeley (1943).
  3. William P.7, son of William Whitney, born July, 1810; lived in Sycamore, Ill. No farther record.
  4. Huldy7, daughter of William Whitney, born March 5, 1812; married Abel Chandler, brother of Bial Chandler of Phillips; lived in Temple; no issue.
  5. Elmira7, daughter of William Whitney, born Nov. 13, 1813. She was the mother of Isaac Smith Whitney who changed his name to Isaac Whitney Smith; was a millman; lived in Phillips and Madrid, Maine; was the father of Charles, Fred, Daniel, Isaac and Artemas Smith. She married Enoch Staples, a man of large physique and great physical strength; weighed 325 pounds; dropped dead while working in his grist mill at Fairbanks, Maine.
  6. Hannah7, the youngest child of William Whitney by his first wife (the mother died sixteen days after her birth). She was born Aug. 4, 1815; married Lorin Worthley; lived in Phillips in the house where Whitman Toothaker lives. Her husband used the house on the rock near the river for a wood-working shop and cooper shop; was living in the Dr. Currier house in 1869 freshet, then moved to Farmington.
    Children, order of birth not known, except that Helen was the youngest:
    1. Thaxter Worthley, came home on a cot from the Civil War; died soon after.
    2. Alphonso Worthley, went to California.



WHITNEY 29


    1. Millie Worthley, married Edward Gleason; lived in Mexico; four children; had one pair twins.
    2. Emma Worthley, married Charles B. Bangs; lived in Farmington, Maine, for a time, then removed to Massachusetts Bangs was a native of Salem, Maine; had five children.
    3. Helen Worthley, born about 1860; married Edward C. Merrill, dentist, of Farmington, Maine; had six children, one pair of twins; resides in Farmington.

Children of William Whitney by his second wife, Nancy Carlton, were born in Phillips, and it appears that they went west with the parents:

  1. Hiram7, born Sept. 12,1825; died Oct. 2, 1825.
  2. Nancy P.7, born April 14, 1826(?); married second 1849 George M. Kinyon; lived in Sycamore, Ill., in Cortland Township. Children: John, Dexter, Lydia Kenyon.
  3. Phileina7, born Nov.25, 1828; died Sept.21, 1829.
  4. Hiram7, born April 12,1832.
  5. George7, born Dec. 8, 1837. His son or grandson wrote to the town clerk of Phillips a few years ago for records on the Whitney family.


(VI) Andrew Whitney, seventh child and fourth son of Micah and Hannah (Cohb) Whitney, was born May 5, 1794, probably in Gorham, Maine, possibly in Gray, Maine; died between the ages of 83 and 90; married Huldah Sweetser who was born Feb. 20, 1796, and doubtless was a resident of Cumberland county and belonged to the Yarmouth, Maine, branch of the Sweetser family - the immigrant ancestor of this branch was Seth Sweetier. Apparently he married before settling in Phillips, Maine. The exact time he came to Phillips is not known, a guess is about 1819. He was a farmer; lived near Whitney Hill, in the vicinity of Bray Hill and not far from the old Dug Hill road that went to Salem. The farm, now grown up to woods, joined the Chandler farm and one of his daughters married Chandler for his second wife. The last of his life lived with his daughter, Mary, in Capton, Maine, and is buried there; was very active and athletic even in old age; could repeat much of the Bible from memory. He left eminent descendants.
Children, the two oldest may have been born in Gray, the others in Phillips:

  1. Jane Rideout7 Whitney, born March 4, 1818; died Nov. 1, 1870; married in 1837, Jacob Hammond Stinchfield, son of Nathan and Synlinda (White) Stinchfield of Phillips, Maine; lived for a few



Andrew Whitney.gif
ANDREW WHITNEY

The fourth son of Micah Whitney, the Revolutionary soldier


WHITNEY 31


    years on the Turner farm on Tory Hill in Phillips, then removed to the farm where Henry W. Allen later lived in Strong, Maine.
    Children:
    1. Charles Alvah Stinchfield, born Oct. 15, 1840; died in the Civil War, April 22, 1863.
    2. Augustus White Stinchfield, born Dec. 1, 1842, on Tory Hill, in Phillips; married May 1, 1877, Martha J. Bear; lived in Rochester, Minn. He was a widely known and noted physician and surgeon, one of the ablest that ever lived in America; had much to do with establishing the world famous Mayo Hospitals at Rochester, Minn., and for many years he was the chief consulting physician.
      Children:
      1. Nellie Stinchfield.
      2. Charles Stinchfield; died in youth.
      3. Minnie Stinchfield.
      4. Lura Stinchfield.
      5. Alice Stinchfield.
    3. Nellie M. Stinchfield, born Nov.28, 1847; died April 24, 1873.
    4. Eliza J. Stinchfield, born Jan.12, 1852; died Nov.11, 1889, in Los Angeles, California; married July 12,1874, Samuel G. Wethern.
      Children:
      1. Annie Wethern.
      2. Jane Wethern.
      3. Dan Wethern.
    5. Lura Stinchfield, born June 24, 1854; died Dec.21, 1875.
    6. Abbie Stinchfield, born July 9, 1857; died March 6, 1886, in Eyota, Minnesota.
    7. Minnie A. Stinchfield, born Jan. 17, 1859; married May 29, 1890, Henry W. True (see Bray Genealogy); lived in Cattaraugus, New York.
      Children:
      1. Clara E. True.
      2. Gladys E. True.
      3. Lional True.
      4. Henry True; died in infancy.
    8. Clara B. Stinchfield, the youngest child of Jane Rideout (Whitney) Stinchfield, was born Nov.23, 1863; married Dec. 11, 1881, C. Burton Richardson, jeweler, of Strong, Maine.



32 WHITNEY


      Children born in Strong:
      1. T. Helen Richardson.
      2. J. Hammond Richardson.
      3. Marion E. Richardson.
      4. Augustus S. Richardson.
  1. Cynthia7, second child of Andrew and Huldah (Sweetser) Whitney, was born in Phillips, Maine, Oct. 18, 1819; married (first) John Byron, farmer, of Phillips; married (second) Feb. 23, 1848, George Staples, farmer, of Phillips. Staples was born Oct. 25, 1828, and at time of the marriage he was 20 and she was 29 and it was said his wife paid for his time until he was 21 by giving his father, Hugh Staples, a pair of oxen. In 1865 Mr. Staples left his wife, children and step-children and went to the middle west. Doubtless the cause of his leaving his family was trouble with the step-children and quite possibly the fretful disposition of his wife, a general characteristic of this branch of the Whitney family. After her marriage to Staples she continued to live the rest of her life on the farm that came to her from her first husband. Cynthia took a trip to the middle west in search of her husband, she found him, but he did not return with her to Maine. Tradition says he had a family in a western state. Staples served in Civil War.
    Children by first husband, born in Phillips:
    1. John W. Byron, born April 1, 1841; lived in Phillips and Livermore.
    2. Orvard Byron, born Oct. 15,1843; married Clara Gay; lived all of his life on his mother's farm in Phillips in the Blethen-Byron district; was a well-to-do farmer and added acres to his farm.
      Children:
      1. Archie Byron, married Pearl Davenport of Phillips; lives in Wilton, Maine; has four sons.
      2. Orland Byron, married, died at about 50; lived in Starks, Maine.
      3. Nettie Byron, died at about twenty.
    3. Cynthia Ann Byron, born July 25, 1845; married Nelson Ross of Madrid, Maine. She worked for many years in shoe shops; lived the last of her life with her son in New Jersey.
      Child:
      1. Daniel Ross, lives in New Jersey; has a daughter.



WHITNEY 33


    Children by second husband, born in Phillips:
    1. Betsey Jane Staples, born Oct.23, 1850; died in 1920; married Feb. 12, 1867, Frederick B. Sweetser, a Civil War soldier, farmer and carpenter, lived in Phillips.
      Children, all born in Phillips:
      1. Charles B. Sweetser, born 1868; died 1919; married (first) Lena Webber; married (second) Ada (Farmer) Staples; was a blacksmith; lived in Phillips.
        Children by first wife:
        1. Ardine Sweetser, died in young manhood; married Lucille Vose of Kingfield, Maine; left two daughters and a son.
        2. Hazen Sweetser, married Gladys Morton; is a millman; lives in Dover-Foxcroft; has four sons.
      2. Willmot F. Sweetser, born 1870; died 1934; married 1897 Lilla McLaughlin; was a farmer and railroad employc; lived in Madrid, Maine.
        Children:
        1. Ferne E. Sweetser, born 1901; married Kenneth Smith, a farmer; lives on Tory Hill in Phillips; has two sons.
        2. Faye J. Sweetser, born 1904; married D~niel Steward, a millman; lives in Livermore Falls, Maine; has two daughters.
        3. Donn W. Sweetser, born 1913; married Vertie Kilkenny of Freeman, Maine (divorced); is in World War II; has two daughters.
        4. Maxine E. Sweetser, born 1911; married Arnold Palmer; lives in Lynn, Mass.
      3. Elgen G. Sweetser, died at middle age; married Belle Roberts; was a millman; lived in Farmington, Maine; left a son Guy.
      4. Joseph F. Sweetser, born 1874; married Edith Hughes, she died in 1934, of Rangeley, Maine, formerly of England. He has worked as a carpenter, farmer and blacksmith; lived in Phillips, Rangeley, Avon and Livermore Falls, Maine; is now living with his only child, Rev. Robert F. Sweetser, in Auburn, Maine.
      5. Lillian May Sweetser, born April .29,1878; died Dec.28, 1922, at the age of forty-four years of pneumonia; married Aug.23, 1906, George B. Sedgeley, merchant, of Phillips. For a number of years she made a home



34 WHITNEY


        for her niece, Minnie Foss. At the age of sixteen she became a teacher and taught in her native town of Phillips for twelve years, five years in ungraded country schools and seven years as principal of the village grammar school. She was eminently successful both as an instructor and a disciplinarian. From the testimony of scores of her pupils it appears that she was a beloved teacher.
      1. Evelyn Sweetser, twin, born ~88; married Ralph Morey, deceased, an electrician of Gray, Maine; lives in Auburn, Maine; employed by the Cushman Shoe Company.
      2. Evedene Sweetser, twin, born 1888; married William O. Steward, barber; lives in Phillips.
        Children born in Phillips:
        1. Malcolm Steward, born 1906; died 1922.
        2. Florence Steward, born 1909; married Arthur Newell, carpenter, lives in Phillips.
        3. Pauline Steward, born 1922; student in commercial school.
      3. Florette Sweetser, born 1892; married (first) Donald Foss of Farmington, divorced; married (second) George B. Crooker of Mechanic Falls, Maine, who died in 1942. Child by second marriage, Beatrice Crooker.
        Children by first husband:
        1. Minnie Edith Foss, born 1914, in Farmington, Maine. She lived for twelve years, from the time she was five to seventeen, in the home of her aunt, Lillian (Sweetser) Sedgeley, three years before her aunt died and nine after. She married in 1932 Clifford Cole, railroad employe; lives in Mechanic Falls, Maine. Children: Ruth, Allan and Patricia Ann Cole.
        2. Iva Lillian Foss, born 1917; married William V. Korhonen, carpenter; lives in Auburn, Maine; has a daughter.
        3. W. Frederick Foss, born 1920; is an officer in World War II.
    1. Lilla Staples, born April 27, 1855; died young.



WHITNEY 35


    1. Mary Staples, born about 1857; married Daniel Plaisted, a farmer; lived in Phillips, Salem and Kingfield, Maine.
      Children:
      1. Florence Plaisted, married Andrew Sawyer, railroad employc; lived in Phillips and Kingfield.
      2. Delbert Plaisted, optometrist; lives in Auburn, Maine.
      3. Roland Plaisted, married ----- Tash; has several children and one pair of twins.
    2. George Alvah Staples, born June 19, 1860; died when about 68; married Ida Calden; was a carriage painter; lived in Phillips.
      Child:
      1. Mertie Staples, married Carl Whorff, millman; lives in Phillips; has a son, Kenneth Whorff, who is married and has two children.
    3. Hildreth S. Staples, the youngest child of George and Cynthia (Whitney) Staples, was born in 1862; married Eva Butterfield of Phillips, divorced; was a millman; lived in Dixfield, Maine.
  1. Andrew7, son of Andrew Whitney, born April 21, 1822; died May 26, 1832.
  2. Betsey R.7, daughter of Andrew Whitney, born Jan. 4, 1826; married Jan. 2, 1851, Bial Chandler, widower; had a son.
  3. Mary7, daughter of Andrew Whitney, born Sept.18, 1827; married Norman Beal; lived in Canton, Maine; had three daughters -- one was very scholarly and died when about twenty years old. Her father lived in her home the last of his life.
  4. John Sweetser7, son of Andrew Whitney, born Dec.27, 1829; had children, some of them it is said settled in Massachusetts.
  5. Lileus7, child of Andrew Whitney, born Oct. 1, 1831; died young.
  6. Phebe French7, daughter of Andrew Whitney, born Aug.23, 1833; married May 22, 1852, Ephraiin Staples, son of Hugh and Joanna (Conant) Staples. He was a farmer and mill man; lived in Phillips, Maine; was a man of large physique and great physical strength and weighed 326. His wife was of small stature. His mechanical ability was passed along to his sons and daughters.
    Children born in Phillips:
    1. Tryphena S. Staples, born Dec. 22,1852; married Charles B. Conant, farmer, of Strong, Maine. Children: two sons died young, a daughter, Ella May Conant, married Harry G. Vining, deceased; lives in Minot, Maine. A daughter,



36 WHITNEY


      Wilma Conant, married (first) ----- Chapman; married (second) Albert B. Dolbier of Farmington, Maine; married (third) Albert S. Conant, deceased; is living on the home farm in Strong; had a daughter by the first marriage.
    1. Andrew Whitney Staples, born Dec. 4,1854; died -; married (first) - , married (second) Sadie (Walker) Avery; had a son Arthur by first wife who lives in New Vineyard, Maine; had two sons by second wife, Clinton and Colon Staples, the latter lives in Phillips and is engineer, fireman and surveyor of lumber at the McLain Wood Products Corporation; married Iva Weston and has daughter, Maxine.
    2. Enoch S. Staples, born May 1,1857; lived in Strong, Maine; was a lathe man in Starbird's mill; has a son, Howard, in the state of New Mexico.
    3. Myra A. Staples, born May 18, 1860; died 1929; married Nov. 7, 1878, Edgar Calden, blacksmith and horse trainer; lived in Phillips, Maine, and Hudson, Mass.; has three daughters.
    4. William A. Staples, born Jan.29, 1863; died in 1941; married Mattie Hutchins of Strong, Maine; was a blacksmith; lived in Phillips for a time, then went to California and Alaska for a few years and on his return to Maine settled in Winthrop. His wife and daughter remained in California; had a son die in infancy while living in Phillips; married (second) in Winthrop. When he had his trade learned he went to the Kennebec River where much ice was being cut to get a job shoeing the horses. The man in charge thinking the boy lacked experience said, "We will try you for one day"; they did and kept him and soon discovered there was not a man on the river that could shoe as many horses in a day as Will Staples. The last three years of his life he lived in the home of his niece, Ella May (Conant) Vining in Minot. A short time before his death his granddaughter of California was in Maine on a visit and was lost when a vessel on an excursion trip went down off the coast of Maine.
    5. Charles B. Staples, born July 11, 1868; was a blacksmith; lived in Wilton, Maine.
    6. Harry U. Staples, born May 2, 1870; died when about thirty; married Ada Farmer; was a lathe man in a novelty mill a few years, then a blacksmith in Phillips. He was the young-



WHITNEY 37


      est of the five brothers, all of whom could turn handsprings up a hill. No issue.
    1. Phebe Belle Staples, born April 20, 1872; had one son; married ----- Tupper; lived in Phillips and Westbrook, Maine.
  1. Huldah7 Whitney, the youngest child of Andrew and Huldah (Sweetser) Whitney, was born in Phillips Sept. 7, 1835; died 1879, married April 14,1853, Benjamin Whitney, son of Christopher A. Whitney and grandson of Jacob Whitney who was the first Whitney to settle in Phillips, Maine. After her marriage she lived in Lincoln, Maine, Tomah, Wisconsin; had two sons; one son, Dr. Charles Whitney, practised medicine in New York City. Dr. Whitney was a great scholar and noted entertainer. Two of Andrew Whitney's daughters, the oldest, Jane, and the youngest, Huldah, each had a son with a national reputation as a physician and surgeon.


The ancestor of the wealthy Whitney branch of Massachusetts and New York was Richard, the third child and second son of John Whitney, the immigrant ancestor, and a brother of Benjamin, the eighth son, who settled in York, Maine, and is the ancestor of most of the Whitneys of Maine The direct line of descent of this branch, as the writer recalls it from memory, is as follows:
John1, Richard2, Richard3, Richard4, Joseph5, General Joseph6, Stephen7, William C.8, Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of Grover Cleveland, Henry Payne9, Harry Payne9 (brothers) and John Hay10 Whitney.


JACOB AND JOSEPH WHITNEY OF PHILLIPS, MAINE


For the ancestry and first generation of this branch see John Whitney (I) of Watertown, Massachusetts, on page 7 and for the second generation see Benjamin Whitney (II) of York, Maine, on page 8.

(III) John Whitney, the second son of Benjamin2 and Jane Whitney, was born about 1678, in York, Maine, and is found of record at the age of twenty-three with his brothers, Nathaniel, the grandfather of Micah (V), and Timothy, as members of the military company commanded by Captain Abraham Preble, of York. "This company comprised the flower of York, and the young men of that date." He owned property in York adjoining that of one of his brothers; 1739 he settled


38 WHITNEY


in New Meadows, Maine, and subsequently resided at Lisbon Falls, Maine. He married Letty Ford, of York; children: Mary, Samuel, Elizabeth, Hannah, Mercy, Mehitable, John and Benjamin, mentioned below.

(IV) Benjamin Whitney, youngest child of John3 and Letty (Ford) Whitney, was born May 22, 1725, in York, Maine, and settled on Little River, in Lisbon, Maine. He was part owner of the grist mill there, and during his lifetime was a miller; served as a soldier of the Revolution; died Nov. 8, 1797; married Mercy Hinckley, of Brunswick. There are conflicting accounts as to his children, but the following is probably the correct list: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, mentioned below, Nathan, Benjamin, Joseph, Samuel, Sarah, Rebecca, Rechel, Joseph, referred to below, and Isabel. 12 children.

(V) Jacob Whitney, third child of Benjamin4 and Mercy (HinckIcy) Whitney, was born June 11,1763, in Lisbon, Maine; died May, 1846, in Phillips, Maine; was a soldier of the Revolution, as was his father. He and his brother Joseph settled in Phillips in 1792 on farms in the vicinity of the intervale farm now known (1943) as the Andrew Davenport farm on the Sandy River. The brothers, Jacob and Joseph, came to Phillips the next year it appears after seven men had made the first clearings in the plantation the year before, so it is possible the Whitney brothers were the eighth and ninth settlers. (Joseph and his family is mentioned below.) One record states Jacob lived on the farm now known as the Hezekiah Hinkley farm, a short distance up-river from the Davenport farm. Phillips was organized as a town in 1812. The records show the first town oflicers: Jacob Whitney, town clerk; Jacob Whitney, Benjamin Tufts and Isaac Davenport, selectmen and assessors Jacob Whitney married Hannah Mills, born July 18, 1760.
Children, the two oldest were born probably in Lisbon, the others in Phillips:

  1. Mary M.6, born June 17, 1788; died March 25, 1790.
  2. James M.6, born Oct., 1790.
  3. Christopher A.6, born April 3, 1793, the first Whitney born in Phillips. Mentioned below.
  4. Patience W.6, born Feb. 26, 1795.
  5. Joseph S.6, born Jan. 26, 1797; died before Aug. 1, 1807.
  6. Samuel L.6, born Aug. 3, 1799.
  7. John B.6, born Nov. 5, 1801.
  8. Joseph S.6, born Aug. 1, 1807.



WHITNEY 39


(VI) Christopher A. Whitney, third child of Jacob and Hannah (Mills) Whitney, was born April 3, 1793, at Phillips, Maine, and inherited the military spirit of his father and grandfather. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812 and resided at Phillips until 1866, at the age of seventy-three, when he removed to Greenfield, Wisconsin. His last days were spent at Tomah, Wis., where he died Aug. 23, 1869. He married, June 1, 1823, Adeline Howard, born in 1803, daughter of Uriah Howard, of Phillips, who survived him about fourteen years, dying at Black River Falls, Wis., in 1883. He was a farmer and lived on land now known as part of the Eastman Ross farm and not far from the schoolhouse then standing at the junction of the Wyman road leading by the Hoyt-Parlin farm.
Children, born in Phillips, first three from town records:

  1. Rufus G.7, born Nov.17, 1823.
  2. Samuel W.7 Mentioned below.
  3. Daniel7, probably died young.
  4. Benjamin7. Mentioned below.
  5. Louise7.
  6. Naomi7. Lived in the West, as probably other sisters and brothers did.
  7. Edward7. Order of birth of last four children not known.
  8. Lucette7.


(VII) Samuel W. Whitney, second child of Christopher and Adeline (Howard) Whitney, was born 1826; died 1906; married about 1857, Elvira Harden, born 1841 and died 1875, daughter of Sidney and Lavinia (Whitney) Harden of Phillips. He lived in Phillips; was a farmer, dealer in live stock and carriages.
Children, born in Phillips:

  1. Frank H.8 Whitney, born Dec.17, 1858; married 1883, Cora L. Call, died 1941, of Dresden, Maine. He learned the printer's trade and worked at that for a time in Maine, then removed to Lowell, Mass., and was a member of the police force for twenty-five years; retired and owned and lived on an estate in Chelmsford, near Lowell, the last of his life. He died in 1942.
    Children:
    1. Agnes Vivia9, born in 1885 in Richmond, Maine; married Everett F. Gray, banker, of Boston.



Hilda Whitney Steward.gif
HILDA (WHITNEY) STEWARD

Great-great-granddaughter of Jacob Whitney, the first of the name to settle in Phillips in 1792, and on the maternal grandmother's side the great-great-granddaughter of Salmon and Abigail (Bray) Whitney who settled in Letter E Plantation in 1810


WHITNEY 41


    1. Maude Ethel9, born in 1887 in Richmond, Maine; married (first) Fenwick Umpleby (divorced); married (second) David Kelley (deceased).
    2. Winnifred Grace9, born in 1888, in Lowell, Mass.; married Alderick Fecteau, fruit farmer, of Westford, Mass.
  1. Sherman S.8 Whitney, born June 20, 1870; married Jan. 1, 1895, Lura Shepard of Phillips, Maine; is a merchant; lives in Phillips.
    Child:
    1. Hilda9 Whitney, born May 3, 1898; married Frank H. Steward (divorced); has two sons, Elliott W. Steward and Kenton Steward. She is a music teacher; lives in Phillips.


(VII) Benjamin Whitney, the fourth son of Christopher and Adeline (Howard) Whitney, was born April 2, 1828, in Phillips, Maine, and resided first at Phillips, subsequently in Lincoln, Maine, and at Tomah, Wisconsin, where he died in 1868. He married in 1853 Huldah Whitney, fourth cousin, daughter of Andrew and Huldah (Sweetser) Whitney of Bray Hill, Phillips. Andrew was the son of Micah Whitney.
Children:

  1. Benjamin8 Whitney. No farther record found.
  2. Charles Alvanos Whitney8, youngest son of Benjamin and Huldah (Whitney) Whitney, was born Oct. 21, 1860, in Boston, Mass., and received very excellent educational advantages. He was two years a student at Christ Hospital in England, and of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the medical department of Bowdoin College in 1889, and immediately pursued the post-graduate course of one year in New York City, and two years abroad. He practiced his profession for two years in Boston, after which he came to New York, and was actively and successfully engaged during the remainder of his active life, making a specialty of heart and lung diseases. For six years he was lecturer at the New York Polyclinic, and was visiting physician of the New York Lying-in Hospital, and Northwestern Dispensary. He married June 4, 1886, Bell Armstrong of Boston, educated in Boston and abroad, and they were the parents of one child, Lloyd Whitney, born Aug. 10, 1888.


(V) Joseph Whitney, the eleventh child of Benjamin and Mercy (Hinckley) Whitney, was born May 1, 1770, in Lisbon, Maine; married Rebecca, sirname not known, born June 12, 1775. He was an early set-


42 WHITNEY


tler in Phillips, Maine, came with his brother, Jacob, mentioned above, in 1792, and settled in the vicinity of Davenport flat. One of his descendants married in the Eveleth family of Phillips, but the writer knows of none of his descendants now living in Phillips or where any of them do live.
Children, as copied from the town records of Phillips:

  1. Mehitable6, born Dec. 22, 1797.
  2. Thomas S.6, born Sept.10, 1799.
  3. Ephraim6, born June 18, 1801.
  4. Alvah6, born March 31, 1803.
  5. Frances(?) T.6, born March 24, 1805. (Some doubt if name is deciphered correctly.)
  6. Moses6, born March 24, 1805. (Appears to have died same day.)
  7. Moses6, born March 25, 1805; died young. (Last three appear to be triplets.)
  8. Respah6, born Aug. 11, 1808.
  9. Moses6, born June 10,1810; died young.
  10. Johnson6, born March 5, 1811.
  11. Nathan6, born July 25, 1812.
  12. Moses6, born June 5, 1814.


SALMON WHITNEY
DESCENDANT OF JOHN WHITNEY -- PURITAN EMIGRANT


(I) John Whitney, the first of the name in America, was born In England in 1589, and died 1673, the fourth son of Thomas Whitney, "gentleman", and his wife, Mary Bray. He came to America with wife Elinor and five sons in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Mass. (A more complete write-up of the Emigrant is in the first part of the pamphlet, page 7.)

(II) Richard Whitney, second son of John and Elinor Whitney, was born in England, baptized Jan. 6, 1623-4; married March 19, 1650, Martha Coldam; was a proprietor at Stow, Mass., June 3, 1680; resided in Concord and Stow. His eight children were born in Watertown He was the ancestor of the able and wealthy Massachusetts and New York branch. Harry Payne Whitney of New York left an estate of one hundred and seventy-five million, the largest estate ever probated in America.
Children:

  1. Sarah3, born March 17, 1652.
  2. Moses3, born Aug. 1, 1655. Mentioned below.



WHITNEY 43


  1. Johanah3, born Jan. 16,1656.
  2. Deborah3, born Oct. 12,1658.
  3. Rebecca3, born Dec. 15, 1659; died Feb., 1660.
  4. Richard3, born Jan. 13,1660.
  5. Elisha3, born Aug.26, 1662.
  6. Ebenezer3, born June 30, 1672.


(III) Moses Whitney, son of Richard and Martha (Coldam) Whitney, was born Aug. 1, 1655, in Watertown, Mass.; resided in Sudbury and Stow, Mass. He served as a soldier in King Philip's War in 1676.
Children:

  1. Sarah4, born July 2,1687.
  2. Moses4, born 1690. Mentioned below.
  3. Abraham4, born May 29, 1692.
  4. Jonas4, born Feb. 1,1699.
  5. Lemual4, born Aug. 1,1714.
  6. John4.
  7. Ephraim4.


(IV) Moses Whitney, son of Moses and Sarah (Knight) Whitney, was born June 15, 1689; married (first) Lydia ----- who died Sept. 7, 1744, aged 59 years: married (second) Elizabeth ----- who died July 17, 1772, aged 73 years. "He and his wife Lydia came early to Littleton, Mass. He purchased his farm in 1708 and sold it in 1720. He was dismissed to the church in Lunenburg Aug., 1748. He died in Littleton May 7,1778, aged 88 years 10 mos. 22 d." He was called Lieutenant.
Children by first wife:

  1. Salmon5, born Jan. 8, l711-12. Capt. Salmon Whitney died March 16, 1759, aged 47 years; married Sarah -----.
  2. Aaron5, born March 14, 1714; married (first) Alice Baker; married (second) Mrs. Ruth (Hubbard) Stearns.
  3. Sarah5, born Sept. 29,1716; married June 11, 1734, Jonathan Wood, at Stow.
  4. Lidia5, born April 26, 1719, in Lancaster, Mass.; married Dea. Samuel Taylor, of Templeton, Mass.
  5. Barnabas5, born Jan. 22, 1721; probably died before 1778; not mentioned in his father's will.
  6. Ephraim5, born March 1, 1723 or 4. Mentioned below.
  7. Bazaleel5, born Nov. 29, 1726; died 1730.
  8. Mary5, born June 30, 1729; married John White. (Above generations from the Whitney Genealogy, and the data from town records.)



44 WHITNEY


(V) Ephraim Whitney, son of Moses and Lidia Whitney, was born in Lunenburg, Mass., March 1, 1923 or 4; died in Chesterfield, N. H., Nov. 9, 1796; married Jan. 16, 1745, Jane Bancroft. He lived in Petersham, Mass., and Chesterfield, N. H. They were dismissed to the church in Chesterfield, N. H., in 1781.
Children:

  1. Moses6, born Jan. 11, 1747. Mentioned below.
  2. Ephraim6, born Aug. 12, 1749.
  3. Molly6, born Sept. 25, 1755.


(VI) Moses Whitney, son of Ephraim and Jane (Bancroft) Whitney, born Jan. 11, 1747, probably in Petersham, Mass.; died 1824 in or near Raymond, Maine; married, intentions dated Aug. 16, 1766, Sarah Gerry, born 1741 and died 1841, at the age of 100. Published at Petersham, at the age of 19. A positive statement is made that Sarah Gerry was a sister to Hon. Elbridge Gerry, member of the first Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, minister to France, Governor of Massachusetts, and Vice President.

Moses Whitney came from Massachusetts to Rindge, N. H., and was in business there for a time prior to the Revolutionary War. He did a big mercantile business, but was not successful and failed. Then he returned to Boston and went into the mercantile again and met with absolute financial disaster. Then followed his prosperous truckman, George Pierce, into the wilderness of Maine to mend his fortunes. He settled about four miles south of Edes Falls in Raymond -- now Casco. He moved several times before he was permanently located. He probably lived in the vicinity of Raymond the rest of his life. Otisfield, Maine: "Moses Whitney of Raymond was one of the first settlers. He came to George Pierce's Oct. ye 15, 1777 and moved his family into his own house Dec. ye 6, 1777."

The records found of his children are not very complete. When his son Moses Jr. died the following is on record: "In memory of Moses, son of Mr. Moses and Sarah, his wife, and grandson to Lieut. Ephraim Whitney and Mrs. Jane, his wife. He died Sept. ye l8the, 1774, age 6 yrs. 10 days." This statement is proof that Ephraim was Moses' father (From New Hampshire records.)

It was fortunate that one of the soldier's descendants applied for membership in the D. A. R. In the application on file in Washington the names of his 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th children are given. The D. A. R. Lineage Books are in the library. This is what was found -- Vol. 79, Page 100. National Number 78266 -- Miss Adeline Winona M. Whitney, born in Portland, Maine.


WHITNEY 45


Daughter of Frank W. Whitney born 1851 and Esther Agnes Whitney, his wife, married 1881. Granddaughter of Peletiah Whitney (1819-1891) and Persis T. True (1819-1905), married 1849. Great-granddaughter of Salmon Whitney (1785.1858) and Abigail Bray (1786-1864), his wife. Great-great-granddaughter of Moses Whitney and Sarah Gerry, his wife.

Moses Whitney (1742-1824) served 1775 as a private in the company of Capt. Samuel Dunn; Col. Edmund Phinney's 31st Mass. regiment.
Children, dates of birth missing, order of birth not known:

  1. Moses7, died Sept. 18, 1774, age 6 years 10 days.
  2. Ephraim7, born before 1772.
  3. Salmon7, born before 1772; died before 1785.
  4. Susan7, married Carlton; lived in Otisfield, Maine.
  5. Peletiah7. Had a nephew named for him who figured in the D. A. R. application, as above.
  6. Mary7, married Mann; lived in Casco, Maine.
  7. Jane7, born 1782; married in 1800, Daniel Cook Jr.; he was a farmer; settled in Casco.
  8. Salmon7, born 1785 or 86; probably the youngest child. Mentioned below.


(VII) Salmon Whitney, son of Moses and Sarah (Gerry) Whitney, was born in or near Raymond, Maine, in 1785 or 1786. The inscription on the grave stone at Madrid, Maine, reads: "Salmon Whitney died Feb. 28, 1859, aged 73." He married in about 1808 Abigail Bray, born 1786, died 1864, daughter of Nicholas Bray of Harrison, Maine, who served seven years in the Revolutionary War and died at the age of 91 years. Abigail's brother, Nicholas Bray Jr., was the minister at Harrison. In about 1810 Salmon Whitney settled in Letter E Plantation, Maine, and cleared a farm in the Gore, so called. The farm known as the George Chick place is now in the town of Madrid.

To find the parentage of Salmon took a long time and was expensive. Finally after several months' work by Miss E. Marie Estes of Portland, an experienced genealogist, and a D. A. R. record she unearthed of Salmon's great-granddaughter, Adeline Winona M. Whitney of California, the proof was found.
Children:

  1. Lorenzo8 Whitney, born in 1808. Mentioned below.
  2. Ezra8 Whitney, a wealthy man; lived in Rockland, Maine; died at the age of 93 years; had a daughter.



46 WHITNEY


  1. Lorana8 Whitney, married Enith Huntoon; married (second) Amos Kenney.
  2. Lavinia8 Whitney, born in Letter E Plantation; died Nov. 30, 1903, aged 89 years 3 months -- her death was caused by a fall; married Sidney Harden, a cabinet-maker and painter; lived in Phillips, Maine.
    Children:
    1. Simon Harden, had a son, Sidney Harden, who is a guide in Rangeley, Maine, and for a time was deputy sheriff.
    2. Elvira Harden, born 1841; died 1875; married Samuel Whitney, farmer, dealer in live stock and carriages. Children: Frank H. Whitney, died 1942, a policeman in Lowell, Mass., and Sherman S. Whitney, a merchant, of Phillips. (See Jacob Whitney branch.)
    3. Rand E. Harden, born 1844; died 1925; married (first) Sarah Whittemore; married (second) Flora Golder; lived in Phillips; was a railroad conductor. Children by first wife: Izette, Stella, Albert and Vina. There was much athletic ability in all of the branches of the Bray family that descended from Thomas Bray. The direct line in this branch was Abigail (Bray) Whitney, Nicholas, Nicholas, Moses, Thomas, and Thomas Bray, the immigrant ancestor, of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Rand Harden had great physical strength and in his early life was an expert wrestler, when wrestling was a common and popular sport in all country towns.
    4. Moses W. Harden, born 1846; died 1926; married (first) Arvilla Hinkley; married (second) Winnie Calden; was a barber and in business more than fifty years in Phillips. He had two sons by first marriage: Guy L., twin, born Oct. 8, 1878, lawyer in Boston, and Don L., twin, born Oct. 8, 1878, deceased, was a physician at Brownville Junction, Maine.
  3. Louise8 Whitney, died 1858, aged 45 years; married Ephraim Rand who had the first tin shop and hardware store in Phillips, Maine.
  4. Peletiah8 Whitney, named for his uncle, was born in Letter E in 1819; died 1891; married 1849 Persis T. True; lived in Portland; owned two or more lots of land near City Hall.
    Child, probably others:
    1. Frank W.9 lived in Portland for a time at least.



WHITNEY 47


      Child:
      1. Adeline Winona M.10 Whitney, born in Portland; lived in Los Angeles, Cal.; was a member of the D. A. R. It was the accidental discovery of her membership in the D. A. R. that furnished the key to prove the parentage of Salmon Whitney.
  1. Moses8 Whitney, the youngest child of Salmon and Abigail (Bray) Whitney, was born in Letter E; lived in Camden, Maine.


(VIII) Lorenzo Whitney, the oldest child of Salmon and Abigail (Bray) Whitney, was born in Maine in 1809; died aged 97 years 11 months; married Elizabeth Sprague; lived in Madrid and Phillips. Came to Letter E Plantation in 1810 with his parents.
Children:

  1. Gideon9 Whitney, went to California when a young man; was not heard from for thirty years, then he wrote home; lived to old age; married and had a son William, probably other children.
  2. Abbie9 Whitney, married Dr. Kimball; lived in Phillips.
  3. Chester9 Whitney, born in about 1832; died 1914; married Naomi Huntoon; lived in Madrid, Maine; was a farmer and for a number of years carried the mail to and from Madrid to Phillips.
    Children:
    1. Gertie10 Whitney, married Frank Cole; lived in Madrid and Phillips for a number of years, then went to the west coast and died there.
    2. Grace10 Whitney, born 1868; died 1943; married James E. Drake; lived fifty years in Portland, Maine.
      Children, order of birth not known:
      1. N. Edna Drake, lives in Portland.
      2. Mrs. Cyril S. Springer, lives in Portland.
      3. Lloyd L. Drake, lives in Arlington, Mass.
      4. Charles Whitney Drake, lives in Portland.
    3. Vance10 Whitney, born 1875; married Annie Field, daughter of Levi and Ada (Walker) Field of Phillips, Maine. He is a millman; lives in Phillips. He has in his possession the flintlock rifle his great-great-grandfather, Nicholas Bray, carried seven years in the Revolutionary War. Bray lived to the age of 91 years.
      Child:
      1. Wendell11 Whitney, born in 1914 in Phillips. He is over across in World War II, serving in the hospital corps.



Wendell Whitney.gif
WENDELL WHITNEY

Great-great-grandson of Salmon Whitney who settled in Letter E Plantation in 1810 and great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas Bray, the Revolutionary soldier


WHITNEY 49


  1. Elmer9 Whitney, died young.
  2. Roscoe G.9 Whitney, born in Madrid, Maine; died in 1926, aged 89; married (first) Emily Heath; married (second) Aug. 30, 1890, Lefa Bryant of Madrid. He was a farmer; lived in Phillips until past middle life, then removed to Farmington, Maine.
    Children by second wife:
    1. Everett10 Whitney, born Aug. 3, 1898, in Phillips; married Sept. 5, 1920, Blanche N. Sawyer; lives in Farmington, Maine; is truck driver for C. W. Steele Fuel Company.
      Children:
      1. Helen Esther11 Whitney, born Aug. 12, 1922; is a student.
      2. Lawrence Roscoe11 Whitney, born March 23, 1929.
      3. Jean Elizabeth11 Whitney, born Jan. 12, 1931.
    2. Clarence E.10 Whitney, born Jan. 21, 1900, in Phillips; married July 5, 1921, Grace Mary Brock of West Paris, Maine He is an employc of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company; lives in Skowhegan, Maine.
      Children:
      1. June Estelle11 Whitney, born Dec. 22, 1922; married Dec.23, 1942, 1st Licut. Allen H. Pulsifer of Poland, Maine, at Camp Davis, North Carolina. She is a student at the University of Maine.
      2. Lois Ann11 Whitney, born Oct. 16, 1929.



Copyright © 2002, 2006, The Whitney Research Group