Archive:TAG Volume 74
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Ward, Robert Leigh, "The Footloose Joshua3 Whitney (1687-1771) and Some of His Descendants," TAG, vol. 74 (1999), pp. 197-208.
© Robert L. Ward, and © The American Genealogist, 1999. Posted with permission from both.
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AND SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS
The published vital records of Upton, Massachusetts, show the marriage of Sarah Whitney to Jonathan Flagg on 15 May 1772.1 Some years ago, research was undertaken to determine the ancestry of this Sarah Whitney, and in the process, several serious errors were found in Frederick Clifton Pierce, Whitney: The Descendants of John Whitney (1895).2 The purpose of this article is to correct some of those errors and set forth the ancestry of the said Sarah (Whitney) Flagg. Unless otherwise stated, all places in this article are in Massachusetts.
1 JOSHUA WHITNEY3, son of Benjamin2 and Jane (-----) Whitney and grandson of John1 and Elinor (-----) Whitney of Watertown, was born in Sherborn on 21 September 1687,3 probably the youngest child of his father by his first wife. The family of his father and his two wives has not been studied in detail. but the identity of this Joshua3 Whitney is well established. He married in Medfield on 20 November 1709,4 HANNAH4 ROCKETT or ROCKWOOD, daughter of Josiah3 Rockett (Nicholas2, Richard1) and Mary (Twitchell) of Medfield. She was born in Medfield on 24 August 1691.5 The will of Josiah Rockett of Medway, dated 31 December 1719 and proved on 3 November 1727. mentions, among others, his daughter Hannah Whitney,6 and an agreement of the heirs dated 29 December 1727 includes Joshua Whitney of Uxbridge and Hannah his wife.7
Joshua and Hannah Whitney lived for a few years in Medfield, where the births of their two oldest children are recorded. Pierce states that he was one of the thirty original proprietors of Oxford, having purchased land there from the Nipmuck Indians in 1713. He further states that Joshua resided on Lot 27 in Ox
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1 Franklin P. Rice, ed., The Vital Records of Upton, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass., 1904), 146 (hereafter cited as Upton Vrs).
2 Frederick Clifton Pierce, Whitney: The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635 (Chicago, 1895) (hereafter cited as Pierce, Whitney Descendants).
3 Thomas W. Baldwin, comp., The Vital Records of Sherborn Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1911), 94 (hereafter cited as Sherborn Vrs).
4 The Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts. to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1903). 182 (hereafter cited as Medfield Vrs).
5 Medfield Vrs, 88.
6 Suffolk Co., Mass., Probates 25:545-46.
7 Suffolk Co. Probates 26:73.
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ford, on the Sutton Road, but that he disposed of that land in 1715, and removed to Mendon.8 Either Joshua and Hannah lived in that part of Mendon which in 1727 became Uxbridge, or else they removed by 1727 to Uxbridge, where their youngest child was born. There they remained until 1750.
At this point Pierce becomes confused between Joshua3 Whitney and his eldest son, Joshua4 Whitney Jr. It was the latter who married before 173718, and possibly about 1733, Phebe -----, had nine children born in Uxbridge and Medway, and who died before 1 December 1750. For details of this, see below. Only four of the eleven children credited to Joshua3 Whitney by Pierce were actually his, while seven more belonged to Joshua4 Whitney Jr. and three were omitted entirely.
Joshua3 Whitney and his wife Hannah removed about 1750 to Woodstock, Connecticut. On 1 March 1752, they transferred their church membership from Uxbridge to the First Church of Woodstock.9 There Joshua sold land to his "loving son," Garshom Whitney of Woodstock, on 14 February 1750/1, consisting of "20 acres in the south half of Woodstock on the north side of where I now dwell."10 Four other deeds of Joshua Whitney are recorded at Woodstock, the last dated 17 March 1756.11
Apparently Joshua Whitney left Woodstock in 1756, and bought a tract of 252 acres in Palmer, on the north road to Brookfield, one mile east of the meeting house, on 23 November 1756. This deed calls Joshua Whitney a cordwainer, of Woodstock, Connecticut.12 On 29 January 1759, Joshua Whitney of Palmer, cordwainer, sold to "my son Gershom Whitney" of Palmer, husbandman, fifty acres, a part of the above tract, and two pieces of thirty acres to George Abbot of Palmer, husbandman.13 Another deed of Joshua Whitney, undated, but acknowledged 10 May 1765 at Brimfield, sells to "my son Gershom Whitney" of Palmer, husbandman, "part of the farm where I now Dwell, acres uncertain... including the house, orchard and improvements, reserving occupation during the whole of my natural life, and if Hannah my wife shall survive me. .. reserve one-half during the term of her natural life."14
This is the last record showing Hannah, wife of Joshua Whitney, as living. On 2 March 1768, Joshua Whitney of Palmer, cordwainer, sold to Mary Abbot seventy acres out of the 252-acre tract, part of the east side of the farm where Joshua Whitney then dwelt on south side of a road going from Whitney to Parsons, and
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8 Pierce, Whitney Descendants, 38, citing Suffolk Co. Deeds 27:174.
9 Woodstock, Conn., Congregational Church Records, transcripts, Conn. State Library, Hartford.
10 Woodstock Deeds 1:62.
11 Woodstock Deeds 1:277, 2:15, 139, 212.
12 Hampshire Co., Mass., Deeds 1:368.
13 Hampshire Co. Deeds 1:369-70.
14 Hampshire Co. Deeds 6:48.
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the deed was acknowledged on 16 May 1771 at Ware. 15 Mary Abbot of Palmer, widow, sold the same seventy acres to Samuel Perkins of Palmer on 18 December 1772.16 Finally, Joshua Whitney and Gershom Whitney, both of Palmer, husbandmen, sold on 10 November 1769 to Isaac Cummings of Ware, husbandman, the homestead which formerly belonged to Thomas Little, 130 acres, bounding the land of George Abbott and the Dwight farm.17
The above acknowledgment of the deed to his daughter, Mary4 (Whitney) Abbott, on 16 May 1771 at Ware, is the last record of Joshua3 Whitney alive. He died at Ware on 16 June 1771.18 His wife Hannah was probably the [blank] Whitney who died at Ware on 8 August 1772.19
Known children of Joshua3 and Hannah (Rockett) Whitney:
i HANNAH4 WHITNEY, b. Medfield, 12 Oct. 1710,20 d. unknown. She m. (1) Uxbridge, 16 March 1737/8,21 MOSES TENNEY, as his 2nd wife. He d. Mendon, 2 June 1770.22 She m. (2) Mendon, 3 Nov. 1772, ISAAC CHASE of Sutton, she being described as "of Upton."23 He d. Sutton, 27 Feb. 1786, aged about 98 years.24 Seven Tenney children recorded at Mendon.25 2 ii JOSHUA WHITNEY, b. Medfield, ca. 27 Nov. 1712;26 m. PHEBE -----. 3 iii EZEKIEL WHITNEY, b. Mendon, 29 Aug. 1716;27 m. JENET PATTERSON. iv BETHIA WHITNEY, b. Mendon, 29 Sept. 1720,28 apparently d. soon. v BETHIA WHITNEY (again), b. Mendon, 24 Feb. 1726/7,29 d. Medway, 22 July 1822, aged 95 years.30 She m. Wrentham (both of Medway), 1 Oct. 1750, THOMAS
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15 Hampshire Co. Deeds 10:465.
16 Hampshire Co. Deeds 14:478.
17 Hampshire Co. Deeds 9:116.
18 Ware, Mass., Congregational Church Records, unpublished, Young Men's Library Association, Ware, p.224 (examined by Claude W. Barlow, FASG) (hereafter cited as Ware Cong. Ch. Recs.).
19 Ware Cong. Ch. Recs., p.224.
20 Medfield VRs, 103.
21 Thomas W. Baldwin, comp., Vital Records of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1916), 341.
22 Thomas W. Baldwin, comp., Vital Records of Mendon, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1920), 503 (hereafter cited as Mendon VRs).
23 Mendon VRs, 401.
24 Franklin P. Rice, ed., Vital Records of Sutton, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass., 1907), 408 (hereafter cited as Sutton VRs).
25 Mendon VRs, 178.
26 Medfield VRs, 103.
27 Mendon VRs, 212.
28 Mendon VRs, 212.
29 Mendon VRs, 212.
30 Vital Records of Medway, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1905), 320 (hereafter cited as Medway VRs).
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JONES,31 son of Thomas and Esther (Richardson) Jones, b. Medway, 29 May 1729,32 d. there, 7 Feb. 1 802.33 Seven children recorded at Medway.34 4 vi GERSHOM WHITNEY, b. probably in Uxbridge, say 1729; m. (1) SARAH WOOD, (2) BATHSHEBA (THAYER?) JACKSON. vii MARY WHITNEY, b. Uxbridge, 27 Oct. 1732,35 living 18 Dec. 1772.36 She m. Woodstock, Conn., 16 Jan. 1754, GEORGE ABBOTT, son of Daniel and Hannah (Chandler) Abbott, b. 21 June 1730, Woodstock.37 His date of death is given as Woodstock, 16 March 1776, but she is called a widow in a deed quoted above on 18 Dec. 1772.
There is also a record of intentions of marriage in Uxbridge on 30 August 1735, between Hannah Whitney and Abraham Daniels of Mendon,38 which may pertain to Hannah4 Whitney above. Apparently this marriage did not occur, as Abraham Daniels and wife Abigail had children born in Uxbridge from 1742 to 1753, and Dr. Abraham Daniels died there 16 December 1752.39 The Hannah Whitney in question, however, could have been another person.
2 JOSHUA4 WHITNEY (Joshua3, Benjamin2, John1) was born in Medfield probably in late 171240 and died probably in Medway or Uxbridge before 1 December 1750, when his inventory was taken.41 He married before 1737/8, PHEBE -----, who married secondly in Medway on 16 July 1751, Caleb Partridge.42
Josiah Taft was the administrator of the estate, and filed an accounting on 5 September 1751.43 At Medway on 9 April 1754, "Joshua Whitney A young man About fi[f]teen years old or more of Sd Medway Personally Appeared and .. . made Choise of his father in Law [i.e., stepfather] Caleb Partridge of Sd Medway to be his Guardian[,] a man of good Conversation"; Partridge's bond was supported by Joshua Morse and Jeremiah Allen, both of Medfield.44
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31 Thomas W. Baldwin, comp., Vital Records of Wrentham, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1910), 396.
32 Medway VRs, 83.
33 Medway VRs, 320.
34 Medway VRs, 82-83.
35 Uxbridge VRs, 183.
36 Hampshire Co. Deeds 14:478.
37 Clarence Winthrop Bowen, History of Woodstock, Conn., vol.8, completed by Donald Lines Jacobus and W. Herbert Wood (Worcester, Mass., 1943), 482-87, at 487, q.v. for their family.
38 Uxbridge VRs, 341.
39 Uxbridge VRs, 55-56, 368.
40 Medfield VRs, 103: "rec. after Nov.27, 1712."
41 Worcester Co., Mass., Probate Records 3:338 [Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, film #856,275]; he is called "of Uxbridge."
42 Medway VRs, 238, 275.
43 Suffolk Co., Mass., Probates, new series, 28:42-43 [FHL film #594,185].
44 Suffolk Co. Probates, new series, 32:520-23 [FHL film #594,187].
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Children of Joshua4 and Phebe (-----) Whitney: i JOSHUA5 WHITNEY, b. Uxbridge, 27 Feb. 1737/8.45 He m. (I) Medway, 29 Oct. 1765,46 JEMIMA CLARK, who d. there, 22 Nov. 1778.47 He m. (2) Medway, 28 Oct. 1770, KEZIAH HOBBS,48 who d. there, 15 April 1820, in her 78th year.49 Issue. ii JOSEPH WHITNEY, b. Uxbridge, 21 March 1739/40,50 d. before 30 Sept. 1765, when he was not included in the receipt cited under no. viii below. iii BENJAMIN WHITNEY, b. Uxbridge, 14 March 1743;51 possibly m. Westborough, 4 April 1775, ESTHER HIGGINS.52 iv PHEBE WHITNEY, b. Uxbridge, 25 July 1745 [sic], bp. there, 2 Sept. 1744 [sic];53 m. Medway, 28 May 1765, ISAAC KIBBY or KIRBY.54 v HANNAH WHITNEY, b. Uxbridge, 4 Feb. 1746,55 living 30 Sept. 1765. vi JOHN WHITNEY, b. Medway, 7 May 1749, bp. there, 7 July 1751,56 d. 21 Jan. 1824. He m. Newton, 16 Feb. 1768, MOLLEY CARY.57 Revolutionary War soldier.58 vii - HANNAH DAVIS.64 Revolutionary War soldier.65
viii ISAAC WHITNEY. His existence is revealed by a document quoted by Pierce, in which on 30 Sept. 1765, Benjamin Whitney of Uxbridge, Joshua, Nathaniel, Hannah, Isaac, and Phebe Kirby signed receipts from Lydia Taft, administratrix of their father's estate. ix NATHANIEL WHITNEY. See the remarks for his brother Isaac, above.
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45 Uxbridge VRs, 183.
46 Medway VRs, 274
47 Medway VRs, 343.
48 Medway VRs, 274.
49 Medway VRs, 343.
50 Uxbridge VRs, 183.
51 Uxbridge VRs, 341.
52 Franklin P. Rice, ed., Vital Records of Marlborough, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass., 1908), 219.
53 Uxbridge VRs, 183.
54 Medway VRs, 274.
55 Uxbridge VRs, 183.
56 Medway VRs, 130.
57 Vital Records of Newton, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1905), 403.
58 Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, 17 vols. (Boston, 1896-1908), 17:227 (hereafter cited as Mass. Soldiers & Sailors of the Rev.).
59 Medway VRs, 130.
60 Vital Records of Hinsdale, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1902), 96 (hereafter cited as Hinsdale VRs).
61 Medway VRs, 274.
62 This date appears in Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks, Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America . . . (Boston, 1892), p.90, but not in Sherborn VRs.
63 Hinsdale VRs, 96.
64 Hinsdale VRs, 67.
65 Mass. Soldiers & Sailors of the Rev., 17:223-24.
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The last two children mentioned above may well have been the oldest children of Joshua4 and Phebe (-----) Whitney, in which case the marriage of their parents may be estimated at about 1733.
3 EZEKIEL4 WHITNEY (Joshua3, Benjamin2, John1) was born in Mendon on 29 August 1716.66 He died in Sutton between the date of his will, 5 May 1753, and the date of its probate, 23 May 1753. He married, intentions dated Uxbridge, 31 March 1743, JENET PATTERSON.67 Apparently she died soon after the birth of their last child, as she is not mentioned in Ezekiel's will.
The will of Ezekiel Whitney of Sutton mentions his three daughters, Susannah, Jenet, and Margaret, and also kinswoman Rachel Bennett, whose exact relationship is not stated, and has not been pursued. The settlement of the estate of Ezekiel Whitney includes several very interesting documents. On 23 August 1753 in Sutton, Joshua Whitney gave a receipt to Micah Allen, guardian, for maintenance of the two daughters of his son Ezekiel Whitney, and another on 14 September 1753. In 1756 Joshua Whitney of Woodstock was paid for boarding Jennit and Margrit Whitney for three years. On 27 June 1759 in Sutton, Gershom Whitney gave a receipt to Micah Allen for £55 9s. 4d. for Margret aged 5 years [sic] and Jennit aged 3 years [sic] "by virtue of a power of attorney from my father Joshua Whitney for his keeping above." Gershom expressed doubt of getting the full allowance, and John Chandler, Probate Judge, called it "most exorbitant and unjust." He appointed John Harwood to investigate, and the latter reported that the full sum was justified.
The estate was finally divided among the three daughters on 21 May 1768, when Susannah had married John Love, and the other two had guardian Nehemiah Hall of Uxbridge, who had been appointed on 16 March 1768.68
Children of Ezekiel4 and Jenet (Patterson) Whitney, born at Sutton,69 baptized at Uxbridge:70
i SUSANNA5 WHITNEY, b. 24 July 1745, bp. 13 Oct. 1745; m. Palmer, 3 March 1768, JOHN LOVE.71 ii JENNET WHITNEY, b. 4 Sept. 1746, bp. 12 Oct. 1746, apparently d. young. iii MARGARET WHITNEY, b. ("Margett") 7 July 1748, bp. 11 Sept. 1748, apparently d. soon. iv JENNET WHITNEY (again), bp. 10 Sept. 1749, living 21 May 1768, unmarried. v MARGARET WHITNEY (again), b. 8 July 1751, bp. 18 Aug. 1751, living 21 May 1768, unmarried.
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66 Mendon VRs, 212.
67 Uxbridge VRs, 341.
68 Worcester Co. Probate Records, Case #64823.
69 Sutton VRs, 187.
70 Uxbridge VRs, 183.
71 Vital Records of Palmer, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1905), 194 (hereafter cited as Palmer VRs).
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4 GERSHOM4 WHITNEY (Joshua3, Benjamin2, John1) was born in Uxbridge say 1729 and died in Weathersfield, Vermont, before 27 July 1791, the date of the administration of his estate.
He married first in Mendon on 21 March 1751 (intentions recorded at Woodstock, Connecticut, on 8 November 1750), SARAH WOOD,72 daughter of James and Grace (Thayer) Wood. She was born in Mendon on 6 September 1732,73 and was undoubtedly the Sarah Whitney who died in Ware on 12 January 1770.74 The will of James Wood of Mendon, dated 19 September 1777, proved on 3 March 1778, mentions several sons and three deceased daughters, among them "the heirs of my daughter Sarah Whitney, deceased," to whom he bequeathed nothing, because they had had their portions during his lifetime.75 He married secondly (intentions at Ware on 19 November 1771), BATHSHEBA JACKSON,76 very likely BATHSHEBA (THAYER) JACKSON, daughter of Isaac and Miriam (Thayer) Thayer, born in Bellingham on 16 November 1738,77 who had married in Uxbridge on 8 May 1760, Joseph Jackson.78 She was a double second cousin of Sarah Wood, Gershom Whitney's first wife. Whatever her parentage, she was living on 5 September 1800, and had remarried, before 17 August 1799, one ----- Leat or Leet, who remains unidentified.
Like his father, Gershom Whitney was quite a nomad, living in no less than eight different towns in three states during his lifetime. This has meant that the records of his life are quite dispersed, and probably accounts for his omission by Pierce.
He undoubtedly resided with his parents in Uxbridge from his birth until their removal to Woodstock, Connecticut, about 1750. He was described as "of Woodstock" in both the intentions and record of his marriage to Sarah5 Wood of Mendon. On 14 February 1750/1, he purchased from his father, Joshua3 Whitney, a tract of twenty acres in the southern half of Woodstock, but sold it back to him on 27 March 1753.79
The next record of Gershom Whitney is on 5 February 1754, when he, wife Sarah, and daughter Sarah (all from Uxbridge) were warned out by the selectmen of Upton.80 Apparently they left Upton, for on 6 May 1754, the selectmen of
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72 Mendon VRs, 429-30; Vital Records of Woodstock, 1686-1854 (Hartford, 1914), 290.
73 Mendon VRs, 219
74 Ware Cong. Ch. Recs., p. 224.
75 Worcester Co. Probate Records 14:359-60 [FHL film #856,282].
76 Vital Records of Ware, Massachusetts [original], 1:207.
77 Vital Records of Bellingham, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1903), 63.
78 Uxbridge VRs, 264.
79 Woodstock, Conn., Deeds 1:62, 277.
80 Worcester County, Massachusetts, Warnings, 1737-1788 (Boston, 1899), 77 (hereafter cited as Worcester Co. Warnings).
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Mendon warned out Gershom Whitney, wife Sarah, and children, who were living with James Wood (likely James5 Wood, brother of Sarah5).81
Gershom Whitney served in the French and Indian War from Massachusetts. From 12 September 1754 to 6 June 1755, he served in Captain Israel Williams's Company and participated in the Colrain and Crown Expeditions.82 Next, on 3 November 1756, Gershom Whitney of Upton purchased from Joseph Plumbly of Uxbridge fifty acres of land, part in Uxbridge, part in Upton.83 Gershom Whitney of Uxbridge, husbandman, sold this same piece of land to Josiah Tenney of Mendon, husbandman, on 19 April 1758,84 and on the same day, he bought twenty acres in Mendon from the same Josiah Tenney.85
His next appearance in the records is at Palmer, on 29 January 1759, when he, described as husbandman, of Palmer, bought fifty acres of land from his father.86 Four of his children are recorded in the vital records of Palmer, from 1757 to 1765, but surely the oldest was born elsewhere, probably in Uxbridge. On 4 April 1760, Gershom Whitney "of Palmoth" (should this read "of Palmer"?), husbandman, sold ten and a quarter acres of land in Mendon to Moses Gage Jr. of Mendon,87 and the next day, 5 April 1760, he sold eight more acres, bounded by the previous parcel, to Robert Sanders of Mendon.88 In 1765 in an undated deed, his father, Joshua Whitney of Palmer, yeoman, sold to his son Gershom Whitney of Palmer, husbandman, for £100, "part of the farm where I now dwell," as mentioned above.89 The last mention of Gershom Whitney in Palmer is on 4 April 1769, when he conveyed fifty acres of land purchased from his father to Thomas Quintin of Palmer, husbandman, his wife Sarah signing by mark.90
His next home was in Ware, Hampshire County, where he bought fifteen acres from Lemuel Blackmore of Ware, yeoman, on 10 December 1770.91 He also sold three tracts in Ware, totaling more than eighty-five acres, to Abraham Cummings of Ware, on 15 April 1776,92 but how he obtained those three tracts, or how he disposed of his fifteen acres, does not appear in the records.
Gershom Whitney served in the Revolutionary War from 19 April 1775 until 30 January 1779, serving from Ware and Brookfield under Colonels Brewer,
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81 Worcester Co. Warnings, 43.
82 Robert E. MacKay, ed., Massachusetts Soldiers in the French and Indian Wars, 1744-1755 (Boston, 1978), 479.
83 Worcester Co., Mass., Deeds 40:50.
84 Worcester Co. Deeds 40:52.
85 Worcester Co. Deeds 40:51.
86 Hampshire Co. Deeds 1:369.
87 Worcester Co. Deeds 47:38.
88 Worcester Co. Deeds 42:572.
89 Hampshire Co. Deeds 6:48.
90 Hampshire Co. Deeds 9:401.
91 Hampshire Co. Deeds 10:140.
92 Hampshire Co. Deeds 18:96.
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Woodbridge, Converse, and Sheppard. He was among those who spent the winter at Valley Forge in 1777-78.93 His son Gershom Whitney Jr. served in the same units, but died between 20 and 30 November 1777
Next he removed to Brookfield, Worcester County, where he is recorded as selling, on 16 December 1779, a tract of one acre to William Jennison of Douglas, with a formal release of dower by Bathsheba, wife of Gershom Whitney.94 On 9 October 1780, Gershom and Bersha [sic] Whitney sold three acres in Brookfield to John Batcheler of Brookfield, yeoman.95 His daughter Hannah5 Whitney was married in Brookfield on 15 February 1781, which is the last connection of this family with Brookfield.
Weathersfield, Windsor County, Vermont, was the next known home of Gershom and Bathsheba Whitney. Somehow he obtained a tract of land in Weathersfield, which he sold on 11 January 1780 to Newbury Eddy of Weathersfield, for £20: eighty acres on the north side of lot 64 in the 4th division.96 On 16 March 1784, Gershom Whitney, wife Barshaba, and daughters Mercy and Polly were warned out of Weathersfield.97 Gershom Whitney bought thirteen acres of lot number 25 in the first division and ten acres and a dwelling, part of thirteen acres of lot number 26 in the first division, from Josiah Hatch of Weathersfield for £40 on 8 January 1787.98
Gershom Whitney died before the federal census was taken in Vermont in 1791, for widow Barsheba Whitney is listed in Windsor County with a household containing one male under 16 and three females.99
On 27 July 1791, Bathsheba Whitney of Weathersfield, administratrix of the estate of Gershom Whitney, deceased, late of Weathersfield, signed bond with Oliver Kidder as surety. The inventory of Whitney's estate was taken by Thomas Prentice, Oliver Kidder, and Asa Sterne on 2 August 1791, totaling £65 11s. 9d. It included clothing, a set of shoemaker's tools, a set of tinker's tools, furniture, farm supplies, domestic stock, and real estate consisting of a house and barn and eighteen acres of land, being lot number 25 and part of lot number 26 in the first division, worth £28.
The same three men were appointed a commission to examine claims of creditors. Their report, dated 16 August 1792, found debts of £15 14s. 6d., administratrix's claim of £6 1s., and a balance to distribute of £43 16s. 3d.
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93 Mass. Soldiers & Sailors of the Rev., 17:219-20.
94 Worcester Co. Deeds 84:149.
95 Worcester Co. Deeds 83:440.
96 Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Vt., Deeds 2:360.
97 Alden M. Rollins, Vermont Warnings Out, vol. 2: Northern Vermont (Camden, Maine, 1998), 400.
98 Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Deeds 2:403.
99 Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States... : Vermont (Washington, 1907), 65.
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Distribution by the commission was made first to the widow Bathsheba Whitney, for her dower rights, and then to the following heirs: to Hannah Gilbert, £6 16s. 2d., which is all for her as she already took more than her share; to Sarah Flagg, 11s. 6d.; to Polly Whitney, 11s.; to Marcy Whitney, 11s. 6d.; and the last three to divide the balance of the real estate, which amounts to £16 6s. each, and also 1/6 of the barn. The report of distribution was filed on 10 November 1792.100
The widow Bathsheba Whitney apparently did not pay the taxes on the land she inherited from her late husband, for on 17 August 1799 she purchased lot 25 in the first division in Weathersfield from Thomas Prentis, collector of taxes for Weathersfield in 1797, for 31 cents, she being then called Bathsheba Leat of Weathersfield.101 Who her third husband was has not been discovered, but he does not appear in Weathersfield records. She then sold eleven and one-half acres on the north side of lot 25 in Weathersfield to Josiah Hatch on 24 January 1800.102 The last record of Bathsheba is in a lease of five acres in Weathersfield, on the river, beginning at the southwest corner of the land of Gershom Whitney, late of Weathersfield, deceased, to hold said ground or farm of land during the natural life of Bathsheba Leet, for the sum of $20, from Amos Ball of Weathersfield, her son-in-law, on 5 September 1800.103 According to the 1800 census, she was apparently living with Amos Ball, aged 45 or more.104
The last connection of this family with Weathersfield is the record of a quit-claim deed of Amos Ball and Mercy his wife, both of Weathersfield, to Josiah Hatch of Weathersfield, on 17 September 1800, for £52 10s., releasing all their interest in twenty-two acres, part of lot 26 in the first division (ten acres) and part of lot 25 (twelve acres), being the whole of said tracts.105
Children of Gershom4 and Sarah (Wood) Whitney:
i SARAH5 WHITNEY, b. Woodstock, Conn., 2 March 1752,106 d. Upton, 3 Oct. 1777;107 m. Upton, 15 May 1772, JONATHAN FLAGG,108 son of James and Anna (Morse) Flagg, b. Upton, 15 Nov. 1751,109 d. Shelburne, 2 July 1842.110
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100 Windsor, Vt., Probate District 2:54-57, 158.
101 Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Deeds 4:220.
102 Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Deeds 4:234
103 Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Deeds 4:383.
104 1800 Federal Census, Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Vt., p.341 .
105 Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Deeds 4:385.
106 Woodstock VRs, 101.
107 Family records in the possession of the author, written by Elizabeth Hardy, her great-granddaughter (hereafter cited as Hardy Family Records).
108 Upton VRs, 146.
109 Upton VRs, 146.
110 Vital Records of Shelburne, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Salem, Mass., 1931), 115 (hereafter cited as Shelburne VRs).
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Children of Jonathan and Sarah (Whitney) Flagg, b. Upton:111 1. Sally Flagg, b. 18 April 1773, d. Shelburne, 23 July 1841;112 m. Upton, 21 June 1792, Constantine Hardy Jr.113 2. Jonathan Flagg, b. 26 Feb. 1775. 3. Timothy Flagg, b. 28 May 1777, d. Wilmington, Vt., 16 March 1861;114 m. Deerfield, 25 Jan. 1799, Polly Torry of Shelburne.115 ii child, b. Upton or Uxbridge, between 5 Feb. and 6 May 1754, but d. s.p., before 1791. The evidence for this child is the Uxbridge warning out of 6 May 1754 (see above), which mentions "children." iii GERSHOM WHITNEY, b. Palmer, 4 Feb. 1757,116 d. between 20 and 30 Nov. 1777, In the army, probably at Valley Forge, Pa.; he served in the same units as his father in the Revolutionary War;117 probably unmarried. iv JOSIAH WHITNEY, b. Palmer, 23 June 1760;118 not in the distribution of his father's estate in 1791. v HEZEKIAH WHITNEY, b. Palmer, 4 Nov. 1762;119 not in the distribution of his father's estate in 1791. vi HANNAH WHITNEY, b. Palmer, 20 Aug. 1765;120 m. Brookfield, 15 Feb. 1781, ELI6 GILBERT,121 b. Brookfield, 9 March 1762, son of Abner5 Gilbert (Thomas4, Henry3, Thomas2-1) and Hannah (Jones). He was a soldier in the Revolution. They removed to Cavendish, Vt., by 1782, and to Argyle, Washington Co., N.Y., by 1790; in the 1790 census, he had one boy and three females in his household.122 Children of Eli and Hannah (Whitney) Gilbert, b. Cavendish, Vt.:123
- 1. Lucy7 Gilbert, b. 28 March 1782. 2. Hezekiah Gilbert, b. 25 Aug. 1784.
vii Ezekiel Whitney, b. Upton, ca. 1767, d. 2 Sept. 1778, aged about 11 years.124
Children of Gershom and Bathsheba (Thayer?) (Jackson) Whitney:
viii MERCY WHITNEY, b. Brookfield, 22 May 1780,125 bur. Harford, Pa.; m. Weathersfield, Vt., 16 June 1799, AMOS BALL;126 removed first to Moretown, Vt., then to Orange Co., N.Y., and last to Lemon Twp., Pa.127
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111 Hardy Family Records.
112 Shelburne VRs, 162.
113 Upton VRs, 121.
114 "Timothy Flagg," The Vermont Antiquarian 3(1905):1 01-3.
115 Thomas W. Baldwin, comp., Vital Records of Deerfield, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston, 1920), 185.
116 Palmer VRs, 83.
117 Mass. Soldiers & Sailors of the Rev., 17:2 19-20.
118 Palmer VRs, 83.
119 Palmer VRs, 83.
120 Palmer VRs, 83.
121 Franklin P. Rice, ed., Vital Records of Brookfield, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass., 1909), 438,
122 Homer W. Brainard, Harold S. Gilbert, and Clarence A. Torrey, The Gilbert Family: Descendants of Thomas Gilbert, 1582(?)-1659, of Mt. Wollaston (Braintree), Windsor, and Wethersfield, ed. Donald Lines Jacobus (New Haven, 1953), 165 (hereafter cited as Gilbert Family).
123 Gilbert Family, 165.
124 Upton VRs, 186.
125 Family record in possession of Wilsey descendants.
126 Vital Records of Weathersfield, Vt., Marriage Book 2, p.41 (examined by Claude W. Barlow, FASG).
127 Family record in possession of Wilsey descendants.
| 208 | The American Genealogist | [July |
Children of Amos and Mercy (Whitney) Ball, first four recorded in Moretown, Vt.:128 1. Horace Whitney Ball, b. 11 Nov. 1800, d. Dimock, Pa., 1821; married, one child. 2. Polly Ball, b. 1 Aug. 1803; m. (1) John Bloomfield, m. (2) Matthew Wilsey; removed to Iowa. 3. Horatio Viscount Nelson Ball, b. 5 Dec. 1805, d. unmarried. 4. Orville Ball, b. 18 Feb. 1808, bur. East Lemon Cemetery; m. Mahalia Shaw. 5. Bathsheba Ball, b. 23 March 1811; m. Silas Bardman. 6. Almira Ball, b. 19 March 1814; m. G. W. Shambach (?); moved to California. 7. Mercy Ball, b. 21 Feb. 1817; m. Aaron Galloway. 8. Fidelia Ball, b. 2 Feb. 1820; m. Abington, Pa., 1848, Erasmus Turner. 9. Joseph Camp Ball, b. 1 Jan. 1826, bur. Factoryville, Pa. 10. Benjamin Ball, b. 11 March 1822, bur. Harford, Pa.; married, two children. ix POLLY WHITNEY, b. say 1782 (mentioned after her sister Mercy in the 16 March 1784 warning out [see above]). She appears in the distribution of her father's estate in 1791. No further record found.
Much credit for the research and preparation of this article is due to the late Dr. Claude W. Barlow, FASG, without whose assistance this article would not have been possible. He performed all the searches among the Vermont records, the county records in Massachusetts, and the land and church records of Woodstock, Conn. Additions or corrections to the above data would be welcomed.
Robert Leigh Ward is a mathematician employed by the United States government. His address is 12236 Shadetree Lane, Laurel MD 20708-2832.
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128 Vital Records of Moretown, Vt., examined by Claude W. Barlow, FASG; family record in possession of Wilsey descendants.
Rising, Marsha Hoffman, "Enigmas #12: Was Elizabeth, Wife of Richard1 Cutter of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Daughter of Robert1 Williams of Roxbury?" TAG, vol. 74 (1999), pp. 292-298.
[p. 293]
- ". . . On 18 June 1726, Nathaniel and Mercy Whitney of Watertown quitclaimed their right in Richard Cutter's estate, it being in the right of their mother, Elizabeth Robinson (alias Cutter), deceased, that land until now the estate of her father, Richard Cutter (Middlesex Co., Mass., Deeds 39:113, 114, recorded 1736). . . ."
Copyright © 1999, 2002, 2006, 2011, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group.
