Family:Whitney, Seth (1726-b1807)

Seth⁴ Whitney (Nathan³, John², Henry¹), son of Nathan³ and Sarah (Platt) Whitney,^[1] was born 8 Feb 1726, Ridgefield, CT;^[2] died before 30 May 1807, Yorktown, NY.^[3]

He married firstly, say 1749, Sarah Mow,^[4] daughter of John and Mary (Mead) Moe. She was born about 1732, Greenwich, CT, and died before 1787, Yorktown, NY.^[5]

He married secondly, 21 March 1787, Yorktown, NY, Elizabeth Wright,^[6] parentage and birth unknown. She died date unknown, Yorktown, NY.^[7]

He married thirdly, before 9 July 1802, Anna (Smith)(Jump) Trowbridge,^[8] parentage unknown.^[9] She was born about 10 May 1730,^[10] and died 29 June 1819, Yorktown, NY, aged 89 years, 1 month and 19 days.^[11]

Phoenix says the following:^[12]

... Sarah Mow, or Moe, ... was probably from Greenwich, Conn. He was a tanner, currier and shoemaker, and the indenture of Ezra Mow, son of John Mow of Greenwich, Conn., dated 23 Dec. 1758, as his apprentice to those trades, shows that he was then living in Cortlandt's Patent, now Crompond, in Yorktown, Westchester Co., N.Y., where he bought a fine farm, which is still owned by his descendants; and built a good house, yet standing after more than a century, and occupied by Gen. Bernardus Montross, who married his granddaughter, and yet keeps up its reputation for generous hospitality. His house was attacked during the Revolutionary war, by a party of tories who took all of his arms; soon after which they paid him another visit, headed by the notorious freebooter, Joseph Hueson, who tried to enter a back window, while his comrades kept watch outside. Whitney warned him to keep out or be killed, but Hueson, feeling sure that he had no arms, persisted in the attempt, and was stabbed in the breast with an old bayonet which Whitney had mounted on a stout staff. Hueson fell inside of the house, and his comrades forced the door and carried him away. They took Whitney into the yard, and not daring to use their guns for fear of alarming a body of American soldiers who were quartered at Crompond Church, a short distance from there, they struck him over the head with a horse-pistol, giving him a mark which he carried through life, and leaving him for dead. He had the satisfaction of hearing Hueson, as they carried him off, say, "the old rebel has killed me"; and so it was, for he only lived to ride a half-mile. The bayonet and staff are yet kept in the old house.--See Bolton's Hist. of Westchester County, II., 390.

His wife died at Yorktown, date not known, and he m. (2d), at Yorktown, 21 March 1787, Elizabeth Wright, Rev. Silas Constant, of Crompond, officiating. The date of her death does not appear. He married (3d), Anna Smith, whose first husband was ----- Jump, and her second, Capt. Trowbridge, of Bedford, N.Y. She signed a deed with him, 9 July 1802; another 21 Mary 1803; was mentioned in his will of 1 Jan 1807; and died 29 June 1819, aged 89 years, 1 month and 19 days. She was buried in the Crompond East graveyard, where a stone marks her grave. He died in 1807, prior to 30 May, and was buried in the same yard, but nothing has been left to mark his grave, or those of his first two wives.

The diary of Rev. Silas Constant shows that, 4 Jan. 1786, he "rode to Mr. Whitney's, preached Matt. xxii, 5; conference in the evening." Also "Jan. 4, 1797, rode to Mr. Whitneys; married John Travis and Phebe Whitney."

Children of Seth⁴ and Sarah (Mow) Whitney:

i.	Sarah5 Whitney, b. 3 Apr 1750;[13] m. Joseph Fowler.
ii.	Mary Whitney, b. unknown; m. at Yorktown, N.Y., by Rev. Silas Constant, 4 Feb. 1790, to Samuel Beadle. Tradition says that she received an injury in early life, which resulted in insanity soon after marriage; so that she remained in her father's family, and lived apart from her husband, who also became insane. Samuel Beadle, who died 25 May 1827, in his 69th year, is buried in the Crompond East burial-ground, and is possibly the same. Her father, in his will of 1 Jan. 1807, provided for her support; as did also her brother, Seth Whitney, in his will of 8 June 1835. The date of her birth, and that of her death, have not been found.[14]
iii.	Ezra Whitney, b. Yorktown, NY; was never married; lived in Yorktown, with his brother Seth; was for many years paralytic; and the date of his death is not on record.[15]
iv.	Abijah Whitney, b. Yorktown, NY;[16] m. Melicent Hyatt.
v.	Seth Whitney, b. 3 May 1765, Yorktown, NY;[17] m. Elizabeth Strang.
vi.	Amos Whitney, b. 15 Dec 1767, Yorktown, NY;[18] m. Rosetta Lewis.

Seth⁴ and Elizabeth (Wright) Whitney had no children.

Seth⁴ and Anna (Smith)(Jump)(Trowbridge) Whitney had no children.

Census

• 1790, York, Westchester Co., NY: Seth Whitney, 4 males over 16 and 4 females.
• 1800, York, Westchester Co., NY: Seth Whitney, 1 male over 45, 1 male 26-44, 1 male 16-25, 1 female over 45, and 1 female 26-44.

References

1.^  Stephen Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney family of Connecticut, and its affiliations; being an attempt to trace the descendants, as well in the female as the male lines, of Henry Whitney, from 1649 to 1878; to which is prefixed some account of the Whitneys of England. (New York : Priv. Print. [Bradford Press] 1878), pp. 39-40.

2.^  "Seth [Whitney], s. Nathan & Sarah, b. 8 Feb [1726]," according to Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Ridgefield LR1:206.

3.^  Phoenix, loc. cit.

4.^  Ibid.

5.^  L.D.S. International Genealogical Index.

6.^  Phoenix, loc. cit.

7.^  Ibid.

8.^  Ibid.

9.^  Ibid.

10.^  Ibid.

11.^  Ibid.

12.^  Ibid.

13.^  Phoenix, op. cit., p. 110.

14.^  Ibid.

15.^  Phoenix, op. cit., p. 111.

16.^  Ibid.

17.^  Ibid.

18.^  Ibid.

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Copyright © 2007, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group