WHITNEY-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Puzzler responses and more questions
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 01:43:37 -0500

Dear WRG:

My thanks to Jan Whitaker, Marion Leska and Peg Sanborn for their quick
responses to my Whitney Puzzlers. In a couple of cases, their responses
cleared up a couple of points, and then raised others. This will answer some
of the questions they raised, and ask the rest of you to join in if you can
contribute to solving one or more of the problems.

First of all, on the question of WHERE all the children of Richard and Martha
were born, Marion Leska came up with William Barry's "History of Framingham",
which includes Sudbury, and which said that all of the children were born at
Watertown. However, that source had a date of birth for *Sary* of Oct.,
1653, rather than 16 Mar 1651/2. It also did not show Ebenezer, the
*ten-years-later* child, born 30 Jun 1672, as a child of this family. In the
part about Richard Sen. (father OR son), it had to be the son, Richard, born
13 Jan 1660/61 who died in 1723 at Stow, as Richard the father, born in
England, died 20 Sep 1719 in Concord, Middlesex, MA (source not cited, does
anyone have the VR for Concord?) I would feel a lot better about these if
someone would have access to the Watertown VR for Births, and could confirm
them in that primary source. Jan Whitaker came up with a different, but
still secondary, source: "Stow, Massachusetts 1683 - 1933 compiled in honor
of The Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Town" published by Rev.
and Mrs. Preston R Crowell. It showed that there were eight children, "born
in Watertown", and listed all eight that I had (including the elusive
Ebenezer) with the years of birth only, not the full dates, plus the
parenthetical comment about Elisha as follows "(didn't he go to Conn.?)". It
further said of Richard that, [Quote} "He became a freeman [AEG - would have
to have been Watertown] May 7, 1651. ... He became a "Proprietor of Stow"
June 3, 1680. Moved there when it was "the plantation beyond Concord".
April 7 1697, we read, Richard Whitney of Stow, being 70 years of age, was
released from training, by the Court." [End quote]

Apropos the matter of double dating, we really need to see the original
version of the Marriage Records of Watertown, to settle the matter of the
date of marriage of Richard Whitney and Martha Coldham. The Bailey book, and
thus the on-line transcription of that that I published just two weeks ago,
and which came from that same source, shows the marriage as 19 Jan 1650, but
I have the date in my records as 19 Mar 1650. I THINK I got that date from
an *absolutely true* copy of the Watertown records that said "1st mo."
What is needed here is to find again a source for the original record that
does not *clean up* the "archaic" forms of some of the entries, and see if it
actually said Jan(uary) or <1st mo(nth)>, which at that time would have been
March.

Lets see if we can find a volunteer to locate and transcribe all the Whitney
records (births, marriages and deaths) in the Watertown Vital Records exactly
as they appear, warts, archaic spellings and all, just like Carolyn Vosburg
did for the Templeton and Harvard VR's..

I wish Peg Sanborn had sent her answer to the list, rather than just to me,
as she told of a trip up into Maine to search for a book on the Whitneys that
she had seen in a bookstore once previously. It had been sold, but her
description of her trip and passing through the town of Cape Porpoise, ME,
where her great-uncle, Dr. Ray Whitney, had lived many years ago, and where
she had fond memories of summer visits to his big old Cape Cod house on the
ocean, complete with a family ghost. It was wonderful, and I hope that she
will be willing sometime to share these memories with all of us. It put me
in mind of the evening I spent dining at the Whitneyville Inn on Whitneyville
Road in Cascade Twp., Kent Co., MI. It was a "Coaching Inn" built by some of
my ancestors in the 1840's, and had upstairs a "floating dance floor" in the
ballroom that was mounted on springs, so the rhythmic vibration from the
vigorous dancing would not cause the joints in the structural wood joints to
loosen. The food was pretty good, I guess, but I was so busy looking at and
thinking about the family history in the place, that I probably didn't notice
(and for me, as much as I love good food, that was something). Ain't it
great that my librarian wife is also a gourmet cook!!

Back to business. When Peg and I get this line all straightened out, the
stuff she will be adding about her family is going to be very interesting -
full of civil war drummers, wood carvers in public buildings, early members
of the college of surgeons, inventors of gas logs for fireplaces, and a
psychiatrist with degrees from Brown and Harvard. But, you don't get it
until we get some help and get some of the problems straightened out, so
there! <VBG ;-)>

Marion Leska mentioned the Will of Richard (the son) and his children: here
is what I have on the children of Richard and Elizateth Sawtell(e) Whitney,
which essentially agrees with her listing from his will:
1) Richard, b. 1694, Stow, m. Hannah Whitcomb, seven children
2) Hannah, b. ca 1696, Stow?, m. Samuel Farr, children??
3) Jonathan, b. 26 Feb 1698 (or 98/99), Stow?, m. Alice Willard, children??
4) Sarah, b. ca 1700?, d. 1703? (if she existed)
5) Sarah, b. 1703, Stow?, m. Hezekiah Hapgood, children??
6) Ruhamah, b. 1705, Stow?, no other information except alive in 1723
7) Joshua, b. 1706, Stow or Concord?, m. Zerviah _____, three known children
8) Elizabeth, b. ca 1708, Stow?, m. John (Wetherby) Weatherbee, children??
9) Hepzibah, b.ca 1710, Stow?, m. Seth Sawyer, children??

Now, to look at the elusive Ebenezer Whitney, b. 30 Jun 1672 (to Richard and
Martha Coldham until proved otherwise). Sometime between 1695 and 1700 he
married a woman named Anna _____. He had the following children that I know
of:
1) Zachariah, b. ca 1701, Concord, Middlesex, MA (source?), m. 30 Jul 1730 in
Pomfret, Windham Co., CT, Ruth Taylor, b. 15 Sep 1704, Woodstock, CT, 3
children
2) Ezekiel, b. ca 1703, Stow, Middlesex, MA (source?), m. Isabel Taylor, b.
25 Jun 1702, Woodstock, CT, children??
3) Esther, b. ca 1705, Stow, (source?), m. 18 Jan 1725/6 to William
Bigginton, children?? [My CT marriages show this marriage in Canterbury,
Windham Co., on 19 Jan 1727]
Feel free to jump right in here, Arvy Whitney, as we're dealing with your
line now.

We did not get any answers to the questions of the places of birth of Moses
and Sarah Knight Whitney's children. Below is what I have on them, but I
feel the need of more sourcing and documentation for these children:
1) Sarah, 2 Jul 1687, Stow, m. 1734(???) Jonathan Wood**
2) Moses, ca 1690, Sudbury (source?), Midx, MA, m. (1) Susan Gray, (2)
Elizabeth __
3) Abraham, 29 May 1692, Sudbury??, m. (1) Elizabeth ___, (2) Mary Stone
4) John, ca 1695, Sudbury??, m. ca 1720, Rebecca Whitney, five children were
born to
*A* John and Rebecca Whitney in Harvard, the earliest in 1725. No
guarantee that that couple is this John and Rebecca.
5) Jonas, b 1 Feb 1698/99, Sudbury??, m. (1) Dorcas Wood, 1 child, (2)
Margaret Stratton, four children.
6) Jason, b. ca 1704, Sudbury??, m. Arabetha _____, children???
7) Ephraim, b. 1713, Sudbury??, no other data
8) Lemuel, b. 1 Aug 1714, Sudbury??, m. Sibel _____, children??
** The name and date of this marriage came from the Crowell book about Stow
mentioned above.

Again, we need the records of Stow transcribed for all the Whitneys of that
town, and from the information I have received, there must have been a LOT of
them - <Baryonyx> tonight in a note said that it was founded in part by some
Whitneys, and that there were still two old Whitney homes there, one a
retirement home and the other still in private hands. He/she also said that
Stow is rich with Whitney History when he/she lived there for five years.

1:40 AM, so time to call it a night and send this out.

Happy Hunting to all :-) Allan

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