Archive:Who Was Deliverance (-----) Whitney

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Who was Deliverance, wife of Benjamin5 Whitney?

by Robert L. Ward


I have been intrigued by the problem of identifying Deliverance, wife of Benjamin5 WHITNEY (Daniel4, Benjamin3, John2, John1). You may recall that no marriage record has been found, nor any death record for her or her husband. He had been born 12 Apr 1723, Watertown, and their children were:

  • Lydia, b. 15 Sep 1745, Watertown [sic].
  • Henry, b. 8 Jan 1745/6, Watertown [sic].
  • Sarah, b. 1 Sep 1749, Watertown.
  • Benjamin, b. 2 Feb 1751/2, Watertown (not in VR).
  • Deliverance, b. 20 Nov 1757, Watertown.

With so unusual a given name, it seemed to me that I should be able to find Deliverance's identity, or at least narrow it down to a short list. With that in mind, I consulted the index to:

Henry Bond, Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Including Waltham and Weston; to Which is Appended the Early History of the Town. With Illustrations, Maps, and Notes. Volume I, Genealogies (2nd ed., 1860); Vol. II, Additions, Corrections, and Early History (Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company, 1855).

Prepared by Stephen Lawson, this index can be found on-line. I own a copy of this book, so the index combined with the book are a powerful tool. I searched the index for all occurences of persons named Deliverance with any surname. I produced the following list, in roughly chronological order:

  1. Deliverance JACKSON, b. 1657, m. ca. 1684, Joseph WILSON of Roxbury and Newton, d. 1718. [p. 958]
  2. Deliverance DODGE, b. 1661, m. 2 Oct 1689, Reading, John3 PARKER of Reading, d. 10 Mar 1717/8. [p. 524]
  3. Deliverance DANA, b. 1667, m. ca. 1688, Samuel3 HYDE of Cambridge, d. 1754. [p. 304]
  4. Deliverance3 EDDY, dau. of Samuel2 and Sarah (MEADE) EDDY [John1], b. 15 Jul 1676, m. 1719, William WEBB, formerly of Medford, d. 20 Dec 1758, aged 82 years. [pp. 203, 755, 963].
  5. Deliverance FERGERSON, m. 20 Dec 1698, William CHAMBERLIN [pp. 152, 207]
  6. Deliverance3 TROWBRIDGE, dau. of James2 and Margaret (ATHERTON) TROWBRIDGE [Thomas1], b. 30 Dec 1679, m. bef. 20 Mar 1707, Eleazer WARD. [p. 609]
  7. Deliverance3 BOND, dau. of William2 and Hepzibah (HASTINGS) BOND [William1], b. 2 May 1686, m. 26 Jan 1704/5, Ebenezer3 WELLINGTON. [pp. 48, 628, 686]
  8. Deliverance HAYS, m. about 1708, Benjamin3 SHATTUCK, d. 22 Jan 1711/2. [p. 428]
  9. Deliverance4 HYDE, daughter of Samuel3 and Deliverance (DANA) HYDE [Job2, Samuel1], b. 8 Oct 1689, m. 26 Mar 1713, William4 HYDE, Jr. [p. 304]
  10. Deliverance3 BIGELOW, dau. of Samuel2 and Mary (FLAGG) BIGELOW [John1], b. 22 Sep 1695, m. 10 Aug 1715, John3 STEARNS of Lexington, then Worcester. [pp. 31, 559]
  11. Deliverance4 PARK, dau. of John3 and Elizabeth (MILLER) PARK [Thomas2, Richard1], baptized as an adult 14 Sep 1718, went to Killingly, CT, in 1723. [p. 385]
  12. Deliverance PEASE, m. 24 Mar 1718/9, Groton, William3 SHATTUCK. [p. 427, 933]
  13. Deliverance4 WARREN, dau. of Daniel3 and Elizabeth (WHITNEY) WARREN [Daniel2, John1], b. 10 Oct 1699, m. 11 Jun 1719, Josiah4 COOLIDGE, d. 25 Feb 1764, Weston. [pp. 171, 620]
  14. Deliverance3 FLAGG, dau. of Allen2 and Sarah (BALL) FLAGG [Thomas1], b. 13 May 1702, m. 18 Oct 1749, James BASFORD of Chester. [p. 222]
  15. Deliverance4 SHATTUCK, dau. of Benjamin3 and Deliverance (HAYS) SHATTUCK [William2, William1], b. 22 Jan 1709/10, m. 15 Dec 1726, Samuel FAY, "both of Westborough". [pp. 206, 428, 429, 933]
  16. Deliverance5 WOODWARD, *son* of John4 and Hannah (HYDE) WOODWARD [John3, George2, Richard1], b. 5 Nov 1713, Canterbury, CT, m. 7 Mar 1737, Abigail JUEL. [p. 659]
  17. Deliverance3 STEARNS, dau. of Samuel2 and Mary (BROWN) STEARNS [Nathaniel1], b. 16 Jan 1714/5, d. 31 Dec 1722. [p. 580]
  18. Deliverance PARMENTER, dau. of John and Martha (-----) PARMENTER [John, 3rd], of Sudbury, b. 10 Nov 1717. [p. 190]
  19. Deliverance WATKINS, dau. of Samuel and Elizabeth (-----) WATKINS, bp. 24 May 1719, Weston, removed to Hopkinton, 1724. [p. 626]
  20. Deliverance4 BROWN, dau. of Benjamin3 and Anna (GARFIELD) BROWN [Jonathan2, Abraham1], b. 11 Nov 1720, m. 31 Mar 1743, Daniel4 FISKE, of Sturbridge, d. Jul 1758, Sturbridge. [pp. 121, 215, 761]
  21. Deliverance5 PARKER, dau. of Josiah4 and Anna (STONE) PARKER [John3, Hananiah2, Thomas1], b. 18 May 1721, m. 17 Apr 1737, Marrett MUNROE of Lexington. [p. 524]
  22. Deliverance4 CUTTING, dau. of Jonathan3 and Sarah (FLAGG) CUTTING [James2, Richard1], b. 20 Dec 1724. [p. 194]
  23. Deliverance -----, m. ca. 1745, Benjamin5 WHITNEY [Daniel4, Benjamin3, John2, John1], and had children Lydia, Henry, Sarah, Benjamin, and Deliverance. [p. 648]
  24. Deliverance4 STEARNS, dau. of John3 and Deliverance (FLAGG) STEARNS, m. 25 Dec 1750, Elisha HEDGE, Jr. [p. 560]
  25. Deliverance5 FISKE, dau. of Daniel4 and Deliverance4 (BROWN) FISKE [Nathan3, Nathan2, Nathan1], b. 31 Jul 1757, Sturbridge, m. 1778, Silas MARSH of Sturbridge. [p. 761]
  26. Deliverance LOVEWELL, b. 7 Oct 1782, dau. of Joseph and Hannah (WARREN) LOVEWELL [Joseph]. [p. 354]
  27. Deliverance MARTIN, m. about 1805, Benjamin TOBY of Conway. [p. 75]

Many of these are properly disposed of with marital partners and otherwise documented histories. Others were too young or too old for Benjamin5 WHITNEY. There is, among this group, one really outstanding candidate: 22. Deliverance4 CUTTING, b. 20 Dec 1724. She was about a year and a half younger than Benjamin, and aged 21 when his first child was born.

If Deliverance CUTTING was the wife of Benjamin WHITNEY, let us consider the naming of their children.

  • Lydia, named for his sister who d. young.
  • Henry, named for his brother who d. young.
  • Sarah, named for her mother.
  • Benjamin, named for himself.
  • Deliverance, named for herself.

This all makes sense. Perhaps if they had had more children, there would have been children named Daniel, Dorothy, and Jonathan, for the rest of their parents.

I don't have any proof of this identification, but perhaps with this clue, someone will be able to find that.

This is a rarely-used technique in genealogy. I have never used it myself successfully until, perhaps, now.

Copyright © 1999, 2006, Robert L. Ward and The Whitney Research Group

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