User:TCMurphy
|
My name is Theresa Murphy. I live in San Francisco. My 2nd great grandfather was Nathaniel Jordan Whitney. Based on the family history written by his daughter-in-law, he was born in Biddeford, ME (between 1834 - 1840) and his mother was Catherine Maybrey. He came to San Francisco, California in 1850 and married Mary Regina Tyrell in 1862. He worked as a tinsmith in SF until 1865. There was a significant earthquake that year, which destroyed the area in which his shop was located. He moved 30 miles north to Vallejo and worked as a tinsmith at the Navy Yard until his death in 1899. We have various pictures, census records and other data that support this info.
As I started researching his family in Maine, I came across the family of William Whitney (c.1795-1845) through various ancestry research sites as well as WRG. I now think that this William may be Nathaniel's father, which means his mother was Mary Ann Mayberry, not Catherine Mabrey. There are many data points to support this theory, including common family names from both the Whitney and Mayberry sides and their location at one time in Biddeford. There is also an unidentified son for William and Mary Ann from the 1840 census who is the right age for Nathaniel.
William died in 1845 and Mary Ann re-married about 1848. Our family history mentioned that Nathaniel had a step-father and left home at an early age. I found a Nathaniel J Whitney in the 1850 census, who was living with the Brown family a short distance from Mary Ann and her new husband. I found a Hannah Whitney living in the area who married into the Brown family a few generations back, so it looks probable that these Browns are cousins of some sort. In addition, this Hannah Whitney shows up on the tree of someone who matched my DNA as a distant cousin.
I have been unable to find a birth record for Nathaniel in Maine to confirm the name of his parents. I checked on the marriage records at Old St. Mary's in SF. Nathaniel and his wife are definitely listed, but the parents' names were not included. I also obtained a death cert from Solano County, where Nathaniel died, but no parents were listed there either. I was able to obtain a baptismal certificate from St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Vallejo, California. Nathaniel was baptized the day before his death. His father's name is listed as William Whitney and his mother is Catherine Mabrey. I think this was the name given by his wife or daughter-in-law, as he was quite ill at the time. After Mary Ann remarried, she moved to Casco, Cumberland, Maine - just two houses away from her sister Catherine. I think it is likely that correspondence with the family in Maine may have gone to Catherine, which would account for the confusion as to his mother's name.
If anyone has suggestions about finding birth records in Maine, or know more about the descendants of William Whitney and Mary Anne Mayberry, I would appreciate hearing from you.
