Family Talk:Whitney, John H. (c1855-a1880)

Whom the wife of my great-great grandfather John Whitney is not! My Amanda Speer (Phifer-Pettigrew) that died in Leon Co., TX in 1931 is not the right Amanda. Much frustration has evolved because of this for me personally. That particular Mary Amanda Speer, a daughter of James L. Speer, and Susan Rebecca Little, clearly was never married to a Whitney. She first married Alfred Ayers Phifer, and had eleven children by him, of which birth dates of Phifer, and Whitney children are in conflict, suggesting the woman had extraordinary birthing powers. All eleven children can be linked to her, and Alfred Ayers Phifer by record, if one will do the research. She would again marry after the death of Alfred Ayers Phifer to John Mitchell Pettigrew, and would bare him at least one daughter named Frieda.

A wife of a cousin insists that the Mary Amanda Speer Phifer Pettigrew who died in 1931 in Leon Co., Texas is the mother of the above Whitney children. She is apparently reinforced that this is the right one because she was, per death certificate, born in Titus Co., Texas in 1859. Titus is a neighboring county of Franklin.

Plainly, Mary Amanda Speer Phifer Pettigrew who died in 1931 in Leon Co., Texas is the wrong Amanda. The correct Amanda is listed in the 1880 Franklin Co. Texas census with her husband John H. Whitney (see the census record below). She is the daughter of Andrew J. Speer, and Catherine Taylor that were married in Jefferson Co., Alabama in 1851

I have never know anything about an Amanda Pettigrew and never heard the last name until you posted it and then you sent me that info. I have always said that she was married to John Whitney. The problem was all along that you are saying Amanda was not married to John Z Whitney but to a John H Whitney. I don't understand why you are accusing me of saying anything, we don't even know each other and clearly I have never mentioned any Pettigress or Phifers."