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From: Allan McGillivray <>
Subject: Samuel Whitney Sr.
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 15:26:52 -0500 (EST)


I have some questions about the family of Samuel Whitney Sr. of
Brunswick, Me. (in the mid 1700's).
F.C. Pierce lists 5 children for Samuel Sr. and Lydia:
Samuel Jr. b. Sept. 15, 1732-
Jonathan b. Dec. 21, 1734-
Lydia b. Feb. 20, 1735-
Susannah b. Jul. 25, 1738-
Lettis b. Jun. 27, 1742-

Dr. L.M. Harris said in his book "A Branch of the Whitney Family" (1858)
that Samuel Sr. had six children. There has been speculation that the sixth
child was Ebenezer Whitney born c1745 who went to New Brunswick. And there
are questions as to why there is only a record of Samuel's first five
children and not of the sixth child.
On Dec. 4, 1751, Samuel Whitney Sr. signed and presented a memorial
about a recent Indian raid to "His Majestys Council & House of
Representatives in General Court". One paragraph of the memorial says,
"Your memorialists son yet remaining in Captivity among the Indians with
three more that were taken at ye same time, and he has a wife and 8 children
under difficult circumstances by reason of this misfortune".
The memorialist was Samuel Whitney Sr., and the son was Samuel Whitney
Jr. who was then about 19 years old. Throughout the memorial, Samuel
Sr.refered to himself as "he". He said "he" had a wife and 8 children.
As this is from a primary document, and if it was copied correctly,
then Samuel Sr. had 8 children instead of 5 or 6. He gave the memorial and
he certainly would have known how many children he had.
One can even speculate that he had a wife and 8 children under
difficult circumstances, and that another son, Samuel Jr., was still with
the Indians - making 9 children in total. That may be stretching it a little.
Were the additional 3 children all born after 1842? Has anyone seen a
record of them? What became of them? Since the other 5 were Baptised, and
he was a church deacon, he almost certainly would have had the additonal 3
Baptised. At the same church or at another location? Any clues are welcome.

Allan McGillivray

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