Archive:The Descendants of John Whitney, page 18
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The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, by Frederick Clifton Pierce (Chicago: 1895)
Transcribed by the Whitney Research Group, 1999.
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| 18 | WHITNEY GENEALOGY. |
Feb. 22, 1607, John Whitney, son of Thomas Whitney of the city of Westminster, yeoman, apprenticed to William Pring of the Old Bailey. March 13, 1614, John Whitney made free by William Pring, his master. April 26, 1613, Richard Whitney, son of Robert Whitney of Ugley, in the county of Essex, yeoman, apprenticed to William Searson. June 28, 1620, Richard Whitney made free by his service with William Searson, his master. March 8, 1624, Robert Whitney, son of Thomas Whitney of the city of Westmin- ster, gentleman, apprenticed to John Whitney of Isleworth. 1632, Robert Whitney made free by John Whitney, his master, upon the report of his master. ---------- OTHER WHITNEYS IN NEW ENGLAND. THOMAS WHITNEY was a resident of Plymouth as early as 1634; for that year he was one of the jury in the trial of cases before the Plymouth Colony Court. He served as a member of the jury in the trial of cases during the years 1648- 49-50-51-53-54-56-57-59-60-61-62-63-64-65-66-67. He took the oath of fidelity at Plymouth in 1657. There is no record of the births of any of his children at Ply- mouth. He must have been well along in years when he married. Wis wife, Win- nefred, died July 23, 1660, aged only 22 years. (See Plymouth Colony Record.) Jeremiah Whitney resided in Plymouth in 1643, for at that time he was included in a list of those able to bear arms. In 1657 he took the oath of fidelity at Sandwich, Mass. Stephen Whitney was one of the first settlers of Huntington, L. I. Henry Whitney was another early settler and located in Connecticut. The genealogy of his descendants, both male and female lines, has been very fully traced by the late Stephen Whitney Phoenix, of New York City, ably assisted by the late D. Williams Patterson, of Newark Valley, New York. There are a number of inaccuracies in that work, but the most glaring in it is the alleged connection between the American and English branches. The following letter from Col. Joseph Lemuel Chester fully explains the imposition: LONDON, ENG., Jan. 16, 1880. I do not know whether Mr. Whitmore has mentioned to you the contents of my last letter to him, respecting the Whitney pedigree in Mr. Phoenix's splendid volume. If not, I may now say to you that Mr. Phoenix's suspicions being aroused as to the accuracy of the English pedigree furnished by Mrs. De Salis, he begged me to inves- tigate it. It required but a single glance at the pedigree and her statements in the text, to enable me to determine that they were fictitious, as I saw at once that they stated what I knew to be impossibilities. A little investigation revealed all that she had done, and enabled me to determine exactly how she had done it. As this is now the third of her American cases which I have examined with sim- ilar results, I felt not only justified, but bound to interpose between her and my countrymen. I taxed her with what I had discovered, and now have her confession that the two wills of Thomas Whitney and Ann Roberts, the alleged father and aunt of the emigrant Henry Whitney, on which alone the pedigree is based (as you will see by referring to the books), were pure fabrications, although she persists in declar- ing that they were not fabricated by herself, but by some mysterious assistant, whom she trusted. This, however, I have good reason for not believing. I have also her written pledge that she will never again seek or accept a com- mission from the United States. I do not know yet what course Mr. Phoenix will pursue either here or at home, so perhaps you will guard what I now write as at least semi-confidential. After this experience, it is fair to presume that all her other American clients have been treated in a similar manner. Sincerely yours, Jos. L. CHESTER.
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