Archive:Whitney, by Anderson
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Anderson, Bobby, Whitney (Revised 1991) (Goodlettsville, TN: The author, 1991). Library of Congress call number CS71.W62 1991.
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(Revised 1991)
Bobby Anderson
7965 Ridgewood Road
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Whitney, as a name, has been found in south Muhlenberg County since well
before 1850. However, because neither family nor official records reflect sufficient data, much is yet to be
learned about that family's history.
For instance, it is not known to a great degree of certainty, which Whitney first inhabited the area, nor who the father and mother of that one family was. Nor is it known which of the early Whitneys were brothers to another.
The census of 1850 revealed four families of Whitneys in the county, but it has not been ascertained, either through public records, or from various present-day Whitneys, the relationship, if any, between them.
For instance, Sarah whitney was 55 and a widow, when censused near Rosewood and Dunmor in 1850. She was born in 1795 in North Carolina, but there were no other Whitneys in her household. She lived with a Bannister Hogans, 33, of North Carolina, and a person who probably is his mother, Margaret Hogans, 52, also born in North Carolina. It is probable that Mrs. Hogans and the widowed Mrs. Whitney were sisters. Who the husband of Mrs. Whitney was is not known, nor do we know if he ever lived in Kentucky -- or possibly was deceased when Sarah Whitney came to Muhlenberg County.
Nearby, in the same community, near to what is now Lake Malone, Fielding Whitney and his family lived. Fielding was 25, and was born in Kentucky, indicating the Whitney's had been in the state for at least 25 years. If Fielding, as some believe, was the son of Sarah, then it would prove that his father also had lived in Kentucky prior to his death. Fielding was married to Elizabeth Weatherford on Aug. 3, 1845 in Muhlenberg County. She also was North Carolina-born.
Near to the Mud River community lived Wiley Whitney, 31, a chairmaker, who listed that he was born in Kentucky in 1819. His wife was Lucinda. If this marriage was in Muhlenberg County, records are not to be found.
Still another Whitney family, L. B. Whitney, 41, (The writer believes this is L. P. or Lovet P. Whitney) born in South Carolina, and his wife, Maria, 36, Tennessee-born, lived near to the Mud River area. Maria is believed by this writer to be Marian, who was the daughter of War of 1812 veteran William Hudgens of Georgia, who died in Muhlenberg County in 1848. Though the family of Fielding Whitney is traceable to the present day, in the same area as when he was first censused, others in the 1850 census are not as easily found. Sarah and the Hogans were not to be heard of again, in official records. S. B. and Maria Whitney also did not show up in later censuses, nor did their children, John (1833), Eliza J. (1835), Hezekiah (1837), Sarah A. (1840), Martha P. (1845) and Emeline (1848). Possibly, they removed to another location prior to 1860. It is possible that some of their children did marry and remain in Muhlenberg County, however.
Likewise with Wiley Whitney. Nothing later has been heard of him, or his children, Isabella Rose (1838), Elizabeth and James, possibly twins born in 1841 and Lovet P., born in 1848. The fact
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that he lived at Mud River indicated he must have been related to others of that community, for many Whitneys flourished in that area in a later period.
One of the earliest recorded Whitneys in the county was Lovet T. Whitney of the Hunt Settlement area. He was recorded in the county court records in the 1840s as bondsmen for those in his community, as security on legal papers and as an appraiser in settling estates. There is no further record of him after 1846, though it should be noted that Wiley whitney of Mud River named one of his sons, born in 1848, Lovet.
The first marriage of a Whitney in Muhlenberg County was Mary Whitney who married Divin Huseman in Muhlenberg County on Nov. 21, 1844. The census records show that name to be Duren Houseman of the Campfield Branch-Buchanan Ferry area of Mud River. Duren, 25 and Mary, 19, were censused there in 1850. This indicates Mary was 13 when married. Oddly enough, they were near to the home of Fielding Robinson, a prominent farmer, who had a son named Wiley. Fielding and Wiley were two common names also in the Whitney family, though no known relationship between the two families has been uncovered.
Two names stand out as forefathers of the most of the Whitneys in Muhlenberg County today -- namely Fielding and Isham (Isom). There are two theories. One is that Isham (Isom) and Fielding were brothers, though Isham would have been 15 years older than Fielding. If this is true, and Sarah is their mother, Isham would have been born when Sarah was about 15 The other theory is that Isham was a brother to Fielding's father. Either one has its merits, its evidence, and just as often, its lack of evidence. Isham married Jane Price in Trigg County in 1831, later moved to Butler County -- and then to Muhlenberg. we do know that Isham later named his own son Fielding, also.
The older Fielding, the one living near Dunmor-Rosewood, is the forefather of most Whitneys who still live in the Dunmor area. To name only a few at this juncture, one would list Howard, a great-grandson, through Fielding's son Elijah, and grandson, Mike, who was Howard's father. A second one would be Z. W. (Cotton) Whitney, son of Eugene, who was the son of Zilman, the son of the same Elijah who was Fielding's son.
In the Beech Creek-Drakesboro area, one would find that Harold, Lee and Ruby Whitney, for instance, descend from Isham, through his own Fielding and Willie Warner Whitney. Likewise, Obie is a descendant of Isham, through Fielding's son, Guy.
Likewise, Charles Bassett of near Ebenezer, descends from Isham, through his son Levi, then William Jefferson (Big Bill) Whitney, and his own mother, Ruby Whitney Bassett.
Also at Ebenezer, Mrs. Jim Anderson, born Nellie Whitney, descends from Isham through the oldest son, William, who married Barbara Foster, and was the father of William Thomas (Bill Tom) Whitney, the father of Nellie. Bill Tom's second wife, and widow, Bessie Anderson, also still resides at Beech Crek.
All of these will be brought into perspective and in much more detail in later paragraphs. These lines are just to show the tie between the early Whitneys and the present-day Whitney generations.
As noted, Fielding Whitney was the forefather of those who have
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for 150 years called Dunmor, Rosewood and even northern Logan and Todd counties, home.
He was born in Kentucky about the year 1825, and in 1845 married Elizabeth Weatherford. Their first child was Elijah Whitney, to be called Lige, born May 16, 1848. Two other children were born to this marriage prior to Fielding's death. Alfred was born in 1851, and Sarah in 1857. Sometime in this period, Fielding died, leaving Elizabeth a widow with three children. He was not to be found in the 1860 census, when Elizabeth and the children lived near Dunmor. Her home was located near to the Weatherford families, possibly parents and brothers. Elijah was 12 at this time, and the oldest.
Ironically, the only other Whitney family in the county at that time also was a widow. Jane (Price) Whitney lived near Paradise. Her husband, Isham had died, leaving her with seven children, whose lives we will delve into later.
It is not known what happened in the next ten years to Elizabeth Whitney's family, other than Elijah's marriage. In the 1870 census, Elizabeth was missing, having either died, or re-married and moved away. There is no record to show her next move. Likewise with young Alfred. He was not known after his listing in 1870. Young Sarah, (namesake of the grandmother, the widow Sarah?), now 13, was living in the home of M. C. Weatherford, a widow, near Greenville.
In 1867, on Dec. 24, Elijah, the grandfather of the present-day Whitneys at Dunmor, married Mary Ann Strader. Mary Ann, known as Polly, was the daughter of Mrs. Laky King, and had earlier married William Strader. At his death, she married Elijah, and after Elijah's death in 1880, married Joe Audas. Polly, who was born June 13, 1847, died Jan. 28, 1915. Joe Audas is buried in the DeArmond cemetery, in back of the Goodie Fagg home at Dunmor, and Polly Audas is buried beside her daughter, Cally Audas Poe in the McPherson cemetery on Jason Ridge.
Incidentally, there is some question as to the middle name or initial of Elijah (Lige) Whitney. The 1850 and 1860 censuses lists him with the middle initial of "F", as does his tombstone at Hughes cemetery. In one or two instances, he is listed as Elijah J. Whitney. The writer believe, without the availability of undisputable evidence that the "F" is correct, and that it was for Fielding, he being named for his father.
Elijah, who was listed as a member of the Muhlenberg Militia in 1874, and Polly were the parents of at least six children. These included (according to census records): Alexander (Zannie), born about 1873; Mike (father of Howard), born Dec. 8, 1870; Zilman, father of Gene and grandfather of Cotton, (born 1872, died 1949); Georgeann, born 1877; Elizabeth in 1878 and John W. in 1879.
Tragedy struck the Whitney family on March 19, 1880. On this day, Elijah Whitney was slain while working in the log woods near to what is today known a Hope School. His death and many of the events surrounding that death will be revealed in a later section of this Whitney history.
Admittedly, the present Whitney families do not know what the course of events were for several members of Elijah's family following his death. After her marriage to Joe Audas, Polly and her children lived in Logan County for a while. Records of some of them may be found there. At least four of the children, Zilman, John, Alekxander and Mike, left tracks in today's society.
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Zilman was known as Jasper. He was born in 1872 and died in 1949. He is buried in the Dunmor cemetery. On Aug. 6, 1893 he married Sophronia (Fronie) McPherson Strader. Fronie was the daughter of Elijah and Martha Chapel McPherson, born in April, 1869. Her first marriage was to Frank Strader. At least two children, Lura in August, 1885 and Martha, in February, 1888 were born to this marriage.
To Zilman and Fronie, six children were born. They include (not in any particular order):
(1) Eugene, born in May, 1894, married Dovie Ferrell Dec. 13, 1917. They had one child, Zilman Woodford, called Cotton, who still lives at Dunmor.
(2) Elvey Thomas, known as Pete, first married Ethel Gertrude Johnson in 1922. She was the mother of his first three daughters, Pauline, Era Belle and Juanita. Pauline first married J. D. Marsh of Nortonville, and later, Walter Proctor and now lives in Missouri. Era Belle married Billy Revelett of Drakesboro, and after his death, married D. W. Travis, who is also deceased. She lives in Drakesboro. Juanita married Luther Walker and lives in North Carolina. His first wife died in 1929, and Pete's second marriage was to Mary Erdine Fleming, daughter of Pearlie and Della Fleming in 1931. Pete lived many years at Beech Creek, Penrod and Dunmor. His children by Erdine include James, Cecil and Betty (Mrs. Paul Miller) of Evansville and Virginia, who died in 1988.
(3) Bessie, who married Bayless J. Sumner in 1921, and later Prentiss Covington, still lives near the post office at Dunmor.
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(4) Rebecca (Becky), born August, 1896. First married an Adler, and later Dude McPherson.
(5) Myra, born March, 1899, married a Lacy.
(6) John, known as Little John, was born July 28, 1811, died Jan. 17, 1986 and is buried at Dunmmor. He married Josie Wilson, daughter of Jonah Wilson. Josie died July 31, 1979. Their children included Velma Alene, who married Charles Ellis Wood; Sue (Markham), Bonnie, who married an Adler and lives near Deerlick; Dean (Hogg) and Doris (Travis).
Jessie Mikford (Mike) Whitney, the son of Elijah and Polly, was born Dec. 8, 1870 and died May 8, 1947. His son, Howard, said the father, as a child, living at Penrod, recalled watching as they build the L&N Railroad through that town. That occurred beginning around 1880.
The railroad may have influenced Mike to travel in his younger years. He left Kentucky, and in Arkansas, he married Martha Smith, whose mother was one-fourth Indian. Mike later returned to Kentucky, and he and Martha were the parents of eleven children, Howard being one of them.
They include:
(1) Crilla, who married Edward Page.
(2) Ora, married Browder F. Hardison in 1910.
(3) Lola, married Hershel DeArmond
(4) Freeman Thomas first married Eula Mae Silvey, daughter of John Louis and Alice Clementine DeArmond Silvey. They had four children, James, John Welsey, Ray Thomas and Freeman, Jr., who still lives near Greenville. Later, Freeman, Sr. married
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Irene Baugh Humphrey. For those who remember them at Hughes-Kirk, she was the mother of Charles, James and Jesse Humphrey.
(5) Vada married a DeCoursey.
(6) Zettie married a Baugh.
(7 and 8) Nina and Obediah died young.
(9) Elmer, known as John, married Eva Greene.
(10) Howard, who married Mildred Wagoner, daughter of merchant A. L. Wagoner, still lives at Dummor.
(11) Robert married Irene Lyons.
John W. Whitney (born 1879) married Nora Hayes in Muhlenberg County on Nov. 12, 1899. Little else is known, and much of that was given by Clara Beadnell Silvey, formerly of Dunmor, now living in Bisbee, Ariz., a family friend. John and Nora were the parents of two daughters, one the childhood friend of Clara Silvey. She was named Winnie Myrtle (born September, 1900), and married Raymond Kyle Hope, son of French Hope, who was in turn the son of Alfred Hope. Winnie Myrtle, following the death of her mother, lived in the Tom Allen home until her marriage to Raymond Kyle Hope. Kyle and Myrtle Hope's daughter is Joan Hope Cain, and they have a son, Ray Thomas Hope.
The irony involved here is that Alfred Hope, grandfather of Kyle, was a brother of Susanna Hope, wife of the man who killed Elijah Whitney, Myrtle Whitney Hope's grandfather. See the next sector.
The second child of John and Nora is Mary Ethel Whitney (born in 1905) who married Rudolph Grise. She currently resides in a Morgantown nursing home.
After Nora's death, which occurred when the children were young, John W. Whitney married Nannie Goodman. They had two children, Gibbie, deceased, and Johnye, who married Alton Crafton, and who is also deceased.
Alexander, known as Zannie, is believed to have a full name of Isaac Alexander Whitney. He was born circa 1873. He married Necia Hayes and was the father of four children, according to relatives, but names of all are not available. Virgil, who lived at Beech Creek, was apparently the first-born. Virgil married Alpha Latham in 1917. He as born July 26, 1896, died Jan. 14, 1948 and is buried in Rose Hill cemetery at Central City. Alexander F. was born and died Oct. 19, 1907 and is buried at Dunmor The names of the two other children are not known.
The morning of March 19, 1880 opened as many days before it had. Elijah (Lige) Whitney was up early and off to the log woods to earn money to support his growing family.
He lived at what is now Penrod, then known as Laurel Bluff. His log house stood where Anderson and Mabel Mallory now live (and formerly operated a store and restaurant). A few hundred yards in front of his house, the Owensboro and Russellville branch of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was being built. Three miles to the east, a new house was also being planned, and Elijah had the task of hewing the sills for the house. He traveled the three miles and began his work. This day would be his last. He would never return home to his wife and children.
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He was slain in the woods, to the rear of the home last occupied by J. D. Smith on the Dunmor to New Hebron road and near to where Ellis and Elsie Wood used to live, across the road from Hope school. The house today is still known as the "Uncle Bill Hope" place, or the "Aunt Sack Hope" place. His slayers were William Bartlett Baugh and a man identified later only as "Tooley"
Howard Whitney remembers vividly the story told many times by his father relating to the death of his grandfather, Elijah. Much of the information here was recently re-told by Howard.
According to Howard, the men accosted Elijah Whitney where he was working, and with his own ax, killed him and chopped off his head, throwing it into a brush pile.
Elijah's body was discovered that day, but not his head. Because of the condition of the body, burial in nearby Hughes cemetery was planned immediately. Just before his burial that day, someone found the head in the brush pile, and took it the cemetery to be buried with the rest of the body.
According to Howard Whitney, Bartlett Baugh was arrested and was later sent to prison for his part in the crime. Howard said "Tooley" was smuggled out of the country by his family in a crate of goods.
Since his story came from his father, who remembered the incident vividly, it is probable that Howard Whitney's version is much more authentic than the many other stories which continue to surface from time to time concerning the incident which occurred 110 years ago in an otherwise quite, rural community.
The son-in-law of Lenorice O. (Lefty) Baugh (former Dunmor and Drakesboro school teacher), Melvin D. Palmer (he married Nancy), tells an altogether different version in his book, "Baugh Station". He relates that Whitney, Baugh and another man, named Hinton, were working together in the tie woods. There, Baugh and Hinton accosted Whitney, wedged his hands in the split of a log so he could not get away, and then chopped off the head.
Palmer goes on to say that the two men hid in a cave at Diamond Springs (in Logan County, near Baugh Station). The cave became known as Murderers' Den. After a while, according to Palmer, Baugh's nephew, identified as Billy Sharp helped him to escape by horseback, to Guthrie, where he caught a train and left Kentucky. Hinton (it is probably Tooley), Palmer reported, was later captured and brought to trial for the murder. Legend goes that Baugh escaped to Missouri where he became the infamous outlaw, "Black Bart". There is little fact to support this.
In fact, the best evidence supports Howard Whitney's version that it was Baugh who was captured and jailed. In 1880, when the Muhlenberg County census was taken just weeks after the murder, the census statistics shows Bartlett's wife, Susanna (Hope) residing with her children, next door to her father, Jeremiah Hope, not far from where the murder occurred. But, in the jail census that year, one of the four prisoners confined was William Baugh, 28, which would have been about the right age for William Bartlett Baugh. This indicates that at this time, he had been taken into custody for the murder of Elijah Whitney.
Legends become enhanced as years wear away, and this one is no different. While there is no firm evidence to support this, it was said, and is still said by those who tell the story, that jealousy was the motive for the slaying. Palmer reported that Susanna Hope Baugh "apparently had an affair" with Whitney.
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Another story Is that Baugh overheard Whitney urging Susanna to leave Baugh and go with him. Thus, he enlisted Tooley's help in plotting and carrying out the beheading of Elijah Whitney. Yet, there is no one who professes to know the real reason for the slaying.
Clara Beadnell Silvey of Bisbee, Ariz., whose late husband was related to the Baughs, was able to give a name to Tooley, stating his first name was Allen. Allen Tooley, in 1870, was the nine year old son of James Tooley, a Dunmor-area shoemaker. He is not shown in the 1880 census as Allen Tooley, but may be the same 19-year-old Albert A. Tooley, who is lodged in jail with William Bartlett Baugh, as shown in the census records.
Neither Tooley nor Baugh appear again in the Muhlenberg County census records, both having probably left the county. Palmer's version is that Baugh moved to Missouri and then to Kansas, where Susanna later joined him. Palmer verifies this portion of the story, with word that Bartlett's kin had visited him in Missouri in later years.
Clara Silvey, and a cousin, Elizabeth Estes of Owensboro, recall how the ghostly story of Elijah's death carried over for many years in the community. Elizabeth's mother, Bra Hughes Beadnell told of her own fears. Never one to be afraid of a cemetery as a child, she stated she was always afraid "of the man who had his head chopped off".
Incidentally, another story concerning the incident still lives. According to family legend, the sills Elijah was hewing, were used in the house, and still remain, and as one family member put it years ago, "everytime I step in the front door, I step over the sill where his head was cut off".
Basically, the "other Whitneys" are all descendants of Isham (Isom) and Jane Price Whitney, who came to Muhlenberg County, from Trigg County where they were married in 1831, stopping briefly in Butler County enroute to Muhlenberg.
There may be some exceptions, but the great portion of the Whitney families and Whitney descendants, in Beech Creek, Beechmont, Browder and Drakesboro, descend from Isham.
More basic is the fact that all come from three of Isham's children, William, Fielding and and Levi. After learning what is available about Isham and Jane, we will then, one by one, unfold the available information of the families of those three men.
Isham Whitney was born in North Carolina, according to research done by Charles Bassett, though it is not known what year. The best guess is sometime after 1800--but near to 1810, since he married In 1831. It is not known why the family -- or if it was Isham alone, was in Trigg County, but there he married Jane Price at Cadiz on Dec. 28, 1831. Since their first child, according to Charles Bassett, was born in either Trigg or Butler county (William in 1835) it is possible to be either. Isham was censused in Butler County in 1840 as between 30 and 40 years old, setting his birth between 1800 and 1810. His wife was between 20 and 30, possibly closer to 30 because a female child in the family was near to 15 years old. Another female was between five and 10. Two boys were under five and one between five and 10 were in the
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family also. Isham and his family were not to be found in Butler or Muhlenberg censuses in 1850, thus they could have been skipped or were back in Trigg County. One thought occurs that Isham may have been married prior to his marriage to Jane Price. First, because the female child in Butler County may have been too old to be Jane's child, and second because of some family records supplied by Harold and Dorothy Whitney of Beech Creek, suggesting that Isham's might also have had an earlier wife named Caroline.
Isham never showed in a Muhlenberg County census, though his widow Jane was here in 1860, indicating Isham's death previous to that time. Isham and Jane had seven known children. They were:
- (1) William R. in 1835;
- (2) Fielding T. in 1842;
- (3) Elvira C. in 1844;
- (4) Levi D. in 1846;
- (5) McHenry in 1848;
- (6) Finess A. in 1851 and;
- (7) Sarah 5 in 1858.
Sarah's birth in 1858 puts Isham's death in that year or in 1859 or early 1860. Jane was still alive, and 67-years-old in 1880, and censused as Genettie. At home with her then were her widowered son, Levi, a grandson, William (later known as Big Bill) and a daughter, Elvira. Sometime after 1880, Jane died. Looking at their children individually we find:
William R. Whitney was born in about 1835 according to census records, but his tombstone at Mt Moriah shows his birth as being Aug. 10, 1829, probably in error since that is two years prior to his parents marriage. He married Barbara Foster (born 1847) on July 21, 1864. Their children (according to census records):
(1) Rosa was born in May, 1872;
(2) Lilly J. was born January, 1874;
(3) William Thomas, known as Bill Tom, born March 14, 1876, married (1st) Millie Harper in 1900 and (2nd) Bessie Anderson in the mid-1930s.
(4) Isom (perhaps Isham after his grandfather), born May, 1878, and married Luzetta Harton in 1911.
(5) James G., born May, 1880, married (1st), Martha Leslie in 1903 and (2nd), Cordie England in 1920.
(6) Jesse, June 14, 1887, married Lillie James in 1916.
(7) Jake, born Feb. 8, 1898, married Hattie Parker in 1923. He died July 19, 1966 and both are buried in Peanut cemetery at Drakesboro.
Bill Tom Whitney and his first wife, Millie B. Harper had several children. Included among them was Nellie, who married Jim Anderson at Beech Creek and who became the mother of Ruby Nell Kuykendall, Edna Lee McKinney, Billy and Jimmy Anderson. Bill Tom and Millie were also parents of Edgar, known as Diggie, (1906-1974); Edward L., (1910-1970) and Oscar, (1903-1953). Two other children, Leona and Hettie died as children. It would be well to note here that when Millie died in 1928, Bill Tom married Bessie Anderson, daughter of Matthew and Hettie Penrod Anderson, also the parents of Jim, who had married Bill Tom's oldest daughter, Nellie. Both Nellie and Bessie survive, Nellie living at Ebenezer and Bessie at Beech Creek. Bill Tom died in 1957 and is buried beside Millie and their children at Wyatt's Chapel.
Jesse whitney died Jan. 3, 1971, and is buried at Rose Hill
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cemetery at Central City. His wife, Lillie, also buried there, died in 1969.
Fielding Taylor Whitney was born around 1842, and was apparently twice married, according to marriage statistics. Also according to one marriage record, he may have been born in Ohio County, since he listed that once as his birthplace. This may indicate where his father, Isham lived in the 1840-50 period. He first married Mary E. Hill on Dec. 13, 1862, and was the father of six children by this marriage. They included James in 1866; Sarah Jane in 1869; Charles Z. (or Y.) in 1873 (or 1878); Martha B., called Mattie in 1875; Barbara A., in 1878 and Kittie E. in May, 1880.
Charles or Charlie, was known to have lived at Beech Creek in the 1930s. Charles Bassett, who then lived in the Kirk communuity at Beech Creek recalls that Charlie delivered groceries for Kirk's Company Store. Marriage records show that Charlie Whitney married Maggie Alexander in 1932. He listed himself as the son of Fielding and Mary Hill Whitney, and as being born in Ballard County, Ky. She stated her parents were James Hardin and Harsis Sisk, indicating she had been previously married. His age at the time was 59, her's 31. Bassett also recalls there was a boy in the family, surnamed Alexander, apparently her son. (Writer's note: Could that have been Paul Edward Alexander who attended school at Hughes-Kirk in the 1930s?) According to Bassett, Alexander died of cancer in the VA hospital in Dawson Spring. Charles whitney was known to have lived in the Bill Tom Whitney home at Mud River in 1900. He was listed at Bill Tom's cousin. Shortly after Mary's death in the early 1880s, Fielding married Effie Rebecca Vick, daughter of Robert and Mattie Vick on Jan. 12, 1884. From this marriage came the forebears of the present-day Harold, Lee, Ruby, Obie and other Whitneys in the general Beech Creek area. Born to Fielding and Effie were: Guy in January, 1893; William or Willie Warner on Aug. 3, 1896; James in February, 1897 (possibly 1895?) and Dora B. in July, 1899. Though Fielding lived in what the census described as the Paradise district much of his life, it was known that when he was married to Effie Vick, he lived at Mud River. At his death in 1906, he lived at Cleaton, where he apparently worked in the coal mine. He is buried in the Cleaton cemetery. Effie died in 1927 and is buried at Wyatt's chapel. Several of their younger children are buried at Mt. Moriah, namely Edith Mae, Anna M., and Lee, all small children.
Among their children were:
WILLIE WARNER WHITNEY, born Aug. 3, 1896, who married Lizzie Mae Lyons (born Nov. 30. 1897 the daughter of William Wesley and Mandela Binkley Lyons of Dunmor) on March 2, 1917. Mr. Whitney died May 23, 1977 and Mrs. Whitney on Sept. 30, 1988. They are buried at Wyatt's Chapel. Their children include:
(1) Charles William, born Feb. 28, 1918. Charles died at the age of three on April 13, 1921 and is buried at Wyatt's Chapel.
(2) Albert Lee, born Jan. 14, 1920. He married Zula Mae King, daughter of Aaron (Joe) and Lydia Mathie Hope King on Dec. 24, 1938. They have three children, Ronnie, Brenda Kaye and Judy Lee. Ronnie married Joyce Faye Baker of Penrod; Brenda married
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Jerry DeKen and Judy married Jerry Darrell Hope. All have families of their own.
(3) Delia Rebecca, born Jan. 30, 1922. She married Boyd Henry Knight, known as Jabby on Sept. 19, 1941. They have three children, William Boyd, Elwood and Roger Dale Knight.
(4) Ruby Royce, born Nov. 11, 1924. Ruby married Minnie Evelyn Smith, daughter of William Pinkney (Pink) and Josie Steele Smith, on March 13, 1942. They have three children: Ruby Jeraldine, born in 1943; Royce Gene, born in 1947 and Rebecca Mae, born in 1948. Ruby lives in Evansville. Other members of Ruby's immediate family include great-grandchildren: Emily Carolin Wilson, daughter of Steven Kurtis and Lou Ann Watkins Wilson; Laura Evelyn, Elia Nicole and Kirby Glen Price, children of Kerry Glenn and Linda Carol Watkins Price. Linda Carol and Lou Ann are daughters of Jeraldine Whitney Watkins, daughter of Ruby and Evelyn.
(5) Harold Ray, born March 24, 1927, married Dorothy Gill on Feb. 11, 1949. Dorothy is the daughter of David Ottie (Ott) and Elva Carver Gill of Beech Creek. Their children include:
Janice Rae, born 1950, and married to Richard Edwin Wood, son of James Milam and Flossie Howerton Wood, out of the pioneer Mud River Wood family. They have children Amy Elizabeth, Richard Seth and Zachery Tate.
Steven Cary, born 1951, married Anita Kathleen Jones. They are parents of Heather and Benjamin.
Pamela Darlene, born 1953, married James Rocky Ford. Their child is James Wesley Ford. In a marriage to Stephen Foster, Pamela had two children, Christie and Melanie.
Sudith Lynn, born 1954, married David Lynn Morris. They have one child, Sarah Katherine. Sudith has two stepchildren, Ondrea LaShell and Christopher.
Lisa Gay, born 1963.
(6) Willie Mae (Vinson), born Nov. 22, 1931. Married George Barnett Vinson, on Sept. 2, 1955. He was born in 1928 in Muhlenberg County, the son of Robert Denzil and Lula Mae Thompson Vinson. They have one son, George Warner, born June 1, 1961
(7) Rachel Louise (King), born Aug. 14, 1934. Married Dec. 25, 1959 to Hugh Pearl King, (9-6-1920), son of Aaron (Joe) King and Lydia Mathie Hope King of Beech Creek. Hugh and Rachel had one son, Richy Hugh King, who was born in Evansville Jan. 12, 1965, and is married to Michelle Thompkins. Rachel died July 13, 1988 and is buried in Evansville. Hugh had two children by a previous marriage. They are: Marilyn Kaye, born in 1944 and married to Robert L. Lutz and Larry Keith King, born in 1941. He died in 1989. Marilyn and Robert have three daughters, Kimberly Kay (Vrytovak), born in 1966, Kelly Lynn, 1971 and Kriste Leigh, 1977.
GUY WHITNEY was born Jan. 19, 1893 and died Nov. 12, 1960. He is buried at Wyatt's Chapel. His first wife was Mary C. Whittinghill, whom he married in 1915. A second marriage was to Lila Brown in 1926. Obie Whitney of Beech Creek is the son of Guy and Mary. Obie Lee married Louise Davis, daughter of Hershel and Burless Goodman Davis of Beech Creek on Feb. 27, 1937. They have two children, Shirley Whitney Hunt and Joan whitney Mallory.
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Elvira C. Whitney, born about 1844 to Isham and Jane Whitney, married T. J. England in Muhlenberg County on May 20, 1886, but no further official record of them has been found in this county.
Levi D. Whitney, the son of Isham whitney, Was born in 1847 in either Trigg or Butler County, Ky. On Feb. 19, 1872, he married Ellen Vanlandingham, daughter of Dorthea Vanlandingham. One child was known to be born to this union. He was William Jefferson Whitney, to be later known as "Big Bill", to distinguish him from other William Whitneys, known variously as Little Bill, Will and Bill Tom. Before Levi died in the 1890s he re-married Mattie Vaught on Dec. 31, 1889 at the home of his brother, Finess Whitney. There was one child, probably two, born to Mattie: Myrtle J. in February, 1894 and George, who moved to Olney, Ill. The exact dates for the deaths of Levi and Ellen are not known. Levi was killed in a logging accident.
William Jefferson Whitney married Katie Mae Smith on Oct. 18, 1894. Katie Mae was born Nov. 18, 1877 in Gibson County, Ind. to Ervin and Nancy Jane Engler Smith. Ervin was a wounded civil war veteran, who died in 1878, not living to see a grandchild named for him.
William Jefferson and Katie Mae had these children:
(1) Claude, born Feb. 17, 1896. He married Carrie Brown, (b. 1898), but had no children of his own. Carrie had four children by a previous marriage: Willie Mae, Chloe, Gladys and Thelma, who took the Whitney name after her mother's marriage to Claude. Claude, a World War I veteran, died July 10, 1967. He and Carrie are buried at Ebenezer.
(2) Ervin, namesake of the grandfather, Ervin Smith, was born May, 1900. He married Ora Mae Stanley (b. July 29, 1907) of Jewell City, Ky. Their children were William David, now living in Ohio; Ervin, Jr., Bobby, (deceased), Geraldine, who died at 18 months and a daughter, Marjorie Nell, who died at birth in 1932. Ora Mae died in 1937 and is buried at Wyatt's Chapel. Later, Ervin married Mary Anderson of Beech Creek. Their children include Don, Howard Ray, Jackie and Maryetta.
(3) Ruby, born Dec. 3, 1904 at Paradise, married Homer Bassett (b. May 22, 1895, Hopkins County, Ky.) on April 8, 1922 in Muhlenberg County. They have one son, Charles J. Bassett, who married Gladys Hill, daughter of Monroe and Elva Hill of Beech Creek They live near Drakesboro, and have a daughter, Sandra Lynn, who married Eugene Taber. The Tabers live in Phoenix, Ariz. Another son of the Bassetts, Claude, died at birth. Homer Bassett died Nov. 18, 1965 and Ruby on Aug. 18, 1965. They are buried at Wyatt's Chapel.
(4) William Howard, born Nov. 23, 1908, married Carra B. Carver (b. Aug. 25, 1907). They had no hildren. Howard died Dec. , 1969 and is buried at Ebenezer.
(5) Toomsey died in early childhood.
(6) Frank married Pauline Brown and still lives in Louisville.
(7) Irene was never married. She was born Oct. 8, 1902 and died Jan. 30, 1922
[p. 12]
McHenry Whitney, the son of Isham, was born in 1848. he married Anna Marie Brooks in Muhlenberg County on Dec. 3, 1874. One child is known to have come from this marriage. Genettie, probably named for her grandmother, Genettie (Jane) Price Whitney was born in 1875.
Finess A. Whitney was the son of Isham Whitney, born in 1857. Other than marriage records where Finess signed as a security for others getting married, no further records of him, have been found. One of those securities was made in 1889 when his brother, Levi, married Mattie Vaught. Finess signed the security bond and later the wedding took place at his home. Does any reader know who Finess married, and when and where?
Sarah A. Whitney, the daughter of Isham and Jane Whitney was born in 1858 and married William Oliver Vanlandingham on Dec. 3, 1874. They lived between Browder and Paradise the most of their lives, raising a family of at least six children: Katie, August, 1880; Willie, August, 1884; Gennie, May, 1887; Gertrude, December, 1891; Don Carlos, Sept. 15, 1895 and Mearlie, July, 1898. Don Carlos Vanlandingham will be recalled by many because of the 1942 Browder tornado which destroyed his home and killed his wife and son.
Efforts were made to find the parentage of other Whitneys known to have lived in the area, but in some cases, questionnaires were not returned. Thus some information simply was not available. A search was made for the family of Andrew Whitney, but to no avail. Andrew was born in November, 1870. On Feb. 15, 1894, he married Flora L. Blame Wood, widow of the late C. E. Wood. Mrs. Wood already had children, John A. Wood (1887), Millard (1889) and Charles (1892) when she married Andrew Whitney. Among their children were Mary E., born in 1895 and Naoma J., born in 1898. Nillard Wood was known to have gone to Arizona in the 1930s, and later was with the sheriff's department in the county where he lived. Andrew and family also lived at Beech Creek, but the names of his parents have not been learned.
Valuable information for "Whitney" was given by Charles Bassett of Drakesboro, Harold and Dorothy Whitney of Beech Creek, Howard and ~ildred Whitney of Dunmor and Clara Silvey of Bisbee. Ariz. Also family charts diligently prepared by Brenda Collier Doss were valuable in setting the Whitney family in order. Anyone with additionial Whitney family information, should address correspondence to the writer, 7965 Ridgewood Road, Goodlettsville, Tenn. 37072.
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Two Whitney descendants, following the publication of the earlier Whitney genealogy, have submitted valuable information about two branches of the family.
They are Marilyn Pogue Anderson, a descendant of Guy Whitney, and Ruby Nell Anderson Kuykendall, who submits further information on the William R. Whitney branch of the family.
Despite numerous questionnaires sent out by this writer to obtain information on Guy Whitney prior to publication, no one was able to give us information on this branch of the Fielding Taylor Whitney family. Now thanks to Mrs. Anderson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Guy Pogue and granddaughter of Guy and Mary Carmel Whittinghill, the information is available. Mrs. Anderson lives on Belton, Route 1, and is owner of Christie's in the Copper Creek Shopping Center at Powderly.
She writes: "Guy Whitney has left such a rich heritage I think it would be a shame to overlook or leave any mistakes in print".
She notes that Guy Whitney married Mary Carmel Whittinghill (3-15-1915) and had five children, Jack, Alice, Obie, Gwedola and Grace. Following Mary's death, Mrs. Anderson records that Guy Whitney married Leila Mercer (The official record lists the name as Lila Brown to whom he was married in 1926). He and Leila (or Lila) were the parents of three children, Darrell, Dallas and Gaynell.
Further, according to Mrs. Anderson:
(1) Jack died in his early teens following a hunting accident.
(2) Alice married Guy Pogue. Their six children include Betty (Steele), Sue (Sumner), David, Jimmy, Mary (Jones) and Marilyn (Anderson). In this branch of the family there are 15 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and numerous great-great grandchildren.
(3) Obie married Louise Davis, daughter of Hershel and Burless Davis of Beech Creek. Their children are Shirley (Hunt) and Joan (Mallory)
(4) Gwendola married J. P. Steele. They have five children, Jeanie (Loney), Doris (Shemwell), Wayne, Timothy and Shirel.
(5) Grace married Roy Mahan. They had two children, Sandra (Franklin) and Rhonda (Earle). Mrs. Anderson lists two other children, Richard Masters and Rita Taylor Mallory for Grace Whitney by two previous marriages.
Of Guy's children by his second marriage:
(1) Darrell Whitney married Aleen Terry and has three children, Charlotte, Victor and Curtis.
(2) Dallas married Faye Hardison. They have two children, Lisa and Steven.
(3) Gaynell married Bill Brown. Two children, Diana and Donnie came from this marriage.
[p. 14]
Guy Whitney, the son of Fielding Taylor and Effie Vick Whitney, was born Jan. 19, 1893 and died Nov. 12, 1960. He is buried at Wyatt's Chapel.
Ruby Nell Anderson Kuykendall of Route 39 Box 285b, Beaver Dam, Ky. is the great-granddaughter of William R. and Barbara Foster Whitney; the granddaughter of William T. (Bill Tom) and Millie
Harper Whitney, and the daughter of the late Jim Anderson and Nellie Whitney Anderson of Ebenezer.
Her information greatly amplifies that which was contained in the first Whitney story.
According to her family records, William R. Whitney, the son of Isom and Jane Whitney was born Aug. 10, 1829, though other records indicate he was born in 1835. William R. Whitney died Aug. 28, 1912, and is buried at Mt. Moriah. His wife, Barbara, died sometime near 1915, and is buried at Wyatt's Chapel.
He married Barbara Foster (called Babs) in Muhlenberg County on July 21, 1864. He was a veteran of the Civil War, having fought at the Battle of Shiloh.
Their children, according to Ruby Nell, included Rosa, Lillie, James, called Jemes, Jess, William Thomas, known as Bill Tom and Isom. This is a departure from the original census reports in the first Whitney article, since some of the children listed in the William and Barbara Whitney household, according to Ruby Nell, were children born to Rosa prior to her marriage.
According to her grand-niece, Rosa Whitney was the mother of four children before she married Jim Masters. Her children, not in any particular order, included Dicy, who was raised by her grandparents, Jake, Henry, called Babe, Joe and Lethia Masters. Dicy wed Field Camplin of Beech Creek. Their children included William Harrison, who died young, Clarence, Jenny Lind, who married Elmer Wright, Elmer Ray, Billie June, Betty Jean and four children who died at an early age. Rosa's second child, Jake, married Hattie Parker and was the father of Elwood and Sue Whitney. There is no other information on Henry (Babe) and Joe Whitney, but the youngest, Lethia Masters married Harrison Sims. They were the parent of Imogene Sims, the much publicized 12-year-old child bride, who married Raymond Ellison in 1947, when she was 11-years-old and was later murdered by her husband, who left her body in the backwaters of Mud River. Ellison, convicted of the crime, and sentenced to electrocution, was the last Muhlenberg Countian to die in the electric chair at Eddyville. Lethia Masters Sims recently died and is buried at Peanut Cemetery near Drakesboro. Imogene Sims Ellison, born Feb. 2, 1936, died March 26, 1948 and is also buried at Peanut.
William's second child was Lillie, who married Edward Vick. Their children included Robert, Edward, Maurice, Roy and Ethel, the latter dying young.
James first married Martha C. Lesley, and later Cordia Engler (Vanlandingham) and Sarah Engler. His children by Martha Lesley include Hobart, Pete, Delmar and Nina.
Jesse married Lillie James Howard. In addition to her daughter by a previous marriage, Ethel Mae, he was the father of Ida, who married Hershell Henderson, and Ruby, who married Hershell
[p. 15]
Hardison and later a Tinsley.
Isom married Luzetta Harton in 1911.
Bill Tom, Ruby Nell's grandfather, was first married to Millie Bell Harper, daughter of Squire and Adeline Harper of Butler County, in 1900. They were the parents of seven children, including Raymond, Oscar, Virgil Edgar, Edward Lee, Lillie Leona, Hettie Marie and Nellie Mae.
Raymond died young of hydrocephalus.
Oscar (4-12-1903 to 2-15-1953) never married.
Virgil Edgar (2-8-1906 to 4-9-1974) was known as Diggie. he was briefly married and divorced in the 1950s, but had no children.
Edward Lee (1-10-1911 to 7-25-1970) was never married.
Lillie Leona (5-3-1912 to 11-15-1917) died young.
Hettie Marie (11-30-1917 to 9-17-1918) died young.
Nellie Mae, born June 14, 1908, married James Lee Anderson (4-21-1906 to 10-3-1969) on May 17, 1929. She still resides at Ebenezer. They have four children, Ruby Nell (Kuykendall) born Oct. 11, 1930; Billie Neal, born March 17, 1933; Edna Lee (McKinney) born Oct. 31, 1934 and Jimmy Wayne, born Sept. 10, 1941. Ruby Nell lives in Beaver Dam, Billie Neal in Charlestown, Ind., Edna Lee at Ebenezer and Jimmy Wayne in East Chicago, Ill. Bill Tom was born March 14, 1876 and died April 21, 1957.
Millie Harper was born Jan. 1, 1878 and died March 18, 1928. They are buried at Wyatt's Chapel.
After Millie's death, Bill Tom married Bessie Anderson, who was the daughter of Mathew and Hettie Penrod Anderson, on Nov. 5, 1931. She still resides at Beech Creek. She was previously wed to Floyd Penrod. Bessie is a sister to Jim Anderson, who married Bill Tom's daughter, Nellie.
Millie Harper Whitney's parents, Squire and Adeline Harper, were the parents of four other children. These include Edward, who was twice married. His first marriage was to a Gaines, and their only child, Oleda May, died young. His second wife was Carrie ?, who had two children by a previous marriage. Edward and Carrie had two children, Elrena and her unnamed twin sister. Earl Harper married a DeArmond and had two boys, Taft and Mac. Nettie wed Dave Al Arnold and had three children, Irene, Eldon and Nelda. Elva first married a Wade, and then a Wells, having two children, Cecil and Russell Wade.
Adeline, according to her granddaughter, lived at Dunmor at the time of her death in the late 1930s and is buried at Wyatt's Chapel beside her daughter, Millie Whitney. Squire Harper is believed to be buried in Butler County.
Copyright © 2001, 2006, The Whitney Research Group
