WHITNEY-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: The Sutro Library (SF) is great!
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 10:51:04 -0400 (EDT)

Dear WRG:

Visited the Sutro Library here in San Francisco yesterday, and found it to be
amazingly excellent. In the browsing stacks I found THREE copies of the
Stephen Whitney Phoenix book on the Whitneys of Connecticut (all three
volumes), two copies of the Pierce (in sad shape - tied up in a boxlike
affair) and even one of the Melville. I did take the time to look into
volume 1 of the Phoenix, because I had never seen it, ignoring all ofwhat he
said about the ancestry of Henry Whitney and the early family in England.
The material after the family came to this country seems to be quite well
documented (though I can't, of course, speak to the quality of interpretation
of the material based on twenty minutes cursory glance).

I spent my time using the card catalogue to identify and look through
histories of OTHER families and other sources unknown to me. I did find
several interesting sources, and some material that seems not to have found
its way into our database (and I was using the "advance copy" of Witney12
that Jon just sent me two days ago, while he finishes up polishing it for
general distribution.

For whoever is interested in the descent of the Whitneys through the family
of Sarah Whitney, daughter of Isaiah and Sarah Whitney, who was married to
Andrew Parker, I do have some information that will expand the Whitney/Parker
connections. Some of it does NOT agree with our database, but the man who
wrote it in 1893 didn't have the same access to source material that we do,
either. He thought, for instance, that this Isaiah Whitney was the son of
Eleazer Whitney and the grandson of Thomas Whitney of
Watertown, while our current thinking is that he (Isaiah) was a younger
brother of Eleazer (who was the twin of Elnathan). I also picked up a number
ot other marriages from this book, which I will report on in a few days.

Also of interest is a little phamplet written by Edward Raymond Sandiford of
Bloomfield, NJ - in 1941. In it he extends one of the lines much further by
proving fairly conclusively that an Ezekiel Whitney of Pomfret, CT, was the
son of Ebenezer(3) (Richard2, John1) Whitney, and then proceeds to enumerate
his descent and "add them to the descent of John and Elinor Whitney of
Watertown:. Again, I will be reporting on this material in a later note - I
think I want to add it to the database and then print out a descendancy chart
for inclusion in an e-mail.

Today we leave the lap of sinful luxury here at the Fairmont Hotel and head
north for a brief look at the wine country of Sonoma County (where MAL lives)
and then on up the state toward the Redwoods, the coast, and on up into
Oregon. I have not yet found out if I can find local AOL numbers up there,
so may be out of touch for a day or three. Will certainly be back on-line
when we get to Salt Lake City.

Happy Hunting!

Allan

This thread:

• Re: The Sutro Library (SF) is great! by The Lindsays <>

  • The Sutro Library (SF) is great! by <>

  • Re: The Sutro Library (SF) is great! by "Patricia A. Whitney-Jones" <>
  • Re: The Sutro Library (SF) is great! by <>