Hi, I'm looking for descendants of Jacob and Sally Whitney, parents of Alonzo J. (aka Jacob A.) Whitney (1839-?), who lived in and around Worcester Co., MA. This is *possibly* their marriage record: Sally F. and Jacob F. of Watertown, Mar. 31, 1836. Harvard, MA, vital records: http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/vitals/ mass/harvard.html What we know: This family probably lived in Royalston, Worcester Co, MA, in 1840. The census record (p. 298) shows: 1 male 0-4 2 males 5-9 1 male 30-39 1 female 0-4 1 female 10-14 1 female 30-39 The family lived in Phillipston, Worcester Co., MA, in 1850. The census record (p. 342) shows: Jacob, 46, farmer, b. MA Sally, 43, b. MA Sarah R., 20, b. MA John P(?), 18, laborer, b. MA Elisabeth M., 14, b. MA Jacob A., 10, b. MA Harriet M., 8, b. MA Esther D. H., 5, b. MA – [Note: Esther Desire Fuller born in Athol, 20 Oct 1844: http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/extracts/whistler/ 1-2.html] We know of another son, George Hoyt Whitney (1847-1848), who died of lung fever. At that time, the family was in Phillipston. I have a theory that the son missing from the 1850 record but present in the 1840 record may be Charles Mayo Whitney (c. 1835 - 1900). Any information about Jacob, Sally, and their family would be helpful. While I'm wishing, please let me know if you are a descendant of this family and have taken a DNA test. At least one of Charles M.'s line has taken a test, and it would be nice to see how close the match is. Thanks for your time, Stacy Whitney

"CS stands for Civil Service, that is: the holding of a Civil office such as Constable; Jailor; Juror; Justice of the Peace; Moderator; Ordinary; Selectman; Sheriff; Surveyor of Highways; Tax Collector; Town Clerk; Town Treasurer; etc. from preface section of DAR Patriot Index [pages unmarked]. There is even a more extensive list of "PS" Patriotic Service such as collector of provisions; Fence Viewer, Furnishing a substitute, Legislator, Taking an oath of allegiance; Prisoner of War or of the Indians; Refugee; etc." etc." Margaret Swanson, Registrar Rancho Purisima Chapter, NSDAR P.S. One of the more notorious "fudging" was for Eleanor Roosevelt. Quoting Jo Hogle <[email protected]>: > I have been reviewing and entering data from the extractions of the > DAR Patriot Index by comparing them to data found on the WRG website. > A very tedious task, but I am finding matches as well as errors. > I have heard from others that often the records were "fudged" in > order to make a fit so someone would be eligible for the DAR, and I > am seeing it in this index. So I am searching for as much verifiable > information as possible. > However - some of the codes used are noted with question marks and I > have found one that I believe I know the answer to. > The code is "CS" and the transcriber noted that they did not know > what the abbreviation was. > I have another ancestor who was described as a Citizen Soldier during > the Revolution and I would guess that is what this would denote. He > was a man who fought in battles to defend the area when needed, but > he was not enlisted or conscripted and he was not paid as a soldier. > This allowed him, and others like him, to remain at home and also > allowed the town to retain a group of men to care for the needs of > the town. These seem to be men in their late 40's to 60 something. > Considered too old for the rigors of the Army full time, but capable > of short term assistance as needed. > > Would that make sense to others as a probable definition of the abbreviation? > > Jo Hogle > >

Yes, Jo, that does make sense. They were the precursors to the "Division of Civilian Marksmanship". The CMP, created by Congress, was originally the Department of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM), formed under the Department of the Army in 1916 to provide a pool of trained civilian marksman that the military could draw from if required. Due to deployments of many of the trainers, the Army is again using that civilian pool of instructors. Kess Leake-Campbell On 9/26/05, Jo Hogle <[email protected]> wrote: > > I have been reviewing and entering data from the extractions of the DAR > Patriot Index by comparing them to data found on the WRG website. A very > tedious task, but I am finding matches as well as errors. > I have heard from others that often the records were "fudged" in order to > make a fit so someone would be eligible for the DAR, and I am seeing it in > this index. So I am searching for as much verifiable information as > possible. > However - some of the codes used are noted with question marks and I have > found one that I believe I know the answer to. > The code is "CS" and the transcriber noted that they did not know what the > abbreviation was. > I have another ancestor who was described as a Citizen Soldier during the > Revolution and I would guess that is what this would denote. He was a man > who fought in battles to defend the area when needed, but he was not > enlisted or conscripted and he was not paid as a soldier. This allowed him, > and others like him, to remain at home and also allowed the town to retain a > group of men to care for the needs of the town. These seem to be men in > their late 40's to 60 something. Considered too old for the rigors of the > Army full time, but capable of short term assistance as needed. > > Would that make sense to others as a probable definition of the > abbreviation? > > Jo Hogle > >

Hello list, Just thought I would try again. I have Willard Moore Whitney b. 1882 in NY, d. 1946 in Philadelphia, PA. He married Hester Kress b. 1883, daughter of James M. Kress and Matilda Peters. I have descendant information to share, and Matilda Peters ancestors. I also can't find James Kress parents. Willard and Hester are buried in the West Laurel Hill cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, PA along with other Whitney's and Kress' family members. I cannot find who Willard's parents are, or if he has siblings. I do have access to the census and have not been able to find this information this way as by 1900 he was a boarder in Troy, NY. Then, by 1910 he was married and living in Pen Argyl, PA Joyce Sharpley [email protected]

I have been reviewing and entering data from the extractions of the DAR Patriot Index by comparing them to data found on the WRG website. A very tedious task, but I am finding matches as well as errors. I have heard from others that often the records were "fudged" in order to make a fit so someone would be eligible for the DAR, and I am seeing it in this index. So I am searching for as much verifiable information as possible. However - some of the codes used are noted with question marks and I have found one that I believe I know the answer to. The code is "CS" and the transcriber noted that they did not know what the abbreviation was. I have another ancestor who was described as a Citizen Soldier during the Revolution and I would guess that is what this would denote. He was a man who fought in battles to defend the area when needed, but he was not enlisted or conscripted and he was not paid as a soldier. This allowed him, and others like him, to remain at home and also allowed the town to retain a group of men to care for the needs of the town. These seem to be men in their late 40's to 60 something. Considered too old for the rigors of the Army full time, but capable of short term assistance as needed. Would that make sense to others as a probable definition of the abbreviation? Jo Hogle

Jo: Thanks for the kind words. I have a much larger version that I am just about to submit to Robert to replace the old one that is up on the website. That one has 10,000+ names, and the current version has over 17,000, most with source citations. Allan

I was looking at the website trying to find the most current WRG database, I see that it has been pulled temporarily. Glad that others are still up and running for help. I find Allan Green's database to be very helpful with the project I am working on at the moment. Thanks Allan for all the hard work. However, I decided to glance at the Bible extracts and was surprised to see that the records from the John Whitney Jr Bible, that Bob Schadewald submitted, are not included on the website. Bob gave me the Bible before his death and I consider it one of my most prized possessions. How do I submit the extracts again since they are missing? Jo Hogle

All, At 07:54 AM 9/19/05, Jan Whitaker wrote: >We are looking for Samuel's father, Abner, in 1790, so if anyone has >found a stray Abner in ME or MA in 1790, please let us know( he was >a wanderer). There are just three Abner WHITNEY entries in the 1790 census: Whitney, Abner MA Worcester Co. Lancaster Town p. 224/321 [??] Whitney, Abner MA Worcester Co. Westminster Town p. 243/663 [Abner-6, Samuel-5, William-4, Nathaniel-3, John-2, John-1] Whitney, Abner NH Cheshire Co. Claremont p. 014 3-3-3-0-0 [Abner-5, Jonas-4, Eleazer-3, Thomas-2, John-1] I am aware of only four Abner WHITNEY men old enough to be listed, the other two being your Abner-5 WHITNEY [John-4, Isaiah-3, Thomas-2, John-1] (1734-1802) and his son Abner-6 WHITNEY (1755-bef.1810). I suppose that the last was already in NC by 1790, so perhaps the Abner WHITNEY in Lancaster, above, is the one you seek.

Looks like he's OK. I got this e-mail from him yesterday: Hello Cousins, Cousines & Researchers, I'm happy to inform you that all that happened to me is some water on the floorboard of my car, (engine is ok), displacement for (2) weeks by living with in-laws. Today my bride (of last April), Elaine, and I have just returned to our apartment (second floor condo). We are all in good shape. My wife got help from an old co-worker, Betty Morris of Ormon, St. Charles Parish. Come to find out she and her husband are both from Catahoula Parish. She has an ancestry from the surname, Swayze. She knew of all these other surnames of Catahoula Parish, Ford, Pool and Taylor that I'm interested in. I'm going to get together with her later to explore our family trees. She could be a distant cousine. The devastation is just terrible. We have friends our age, try early seventies, that we may never see again. The local Mardi Gras float maker, Blaine Kern, says we will have Mardi Gras. Well, I find that hard to believe. Our love to all. Thank you so much for inquiring about me. Robert Croxton Whitney of the Mississippi Whitneys

Dear WRG's, Esther Mott and I are pleased to announce that our submitted biography of Samuel(Abner, John, Isaiah, Thomas, John) Whitney of Falmouth ME will be published in the upcoming 9th Volume of "Maine Families in 1790"! We hope this will help other Whitney researchers, and especially want to tell those distant cousins with whom we have had contact in recent years. Some need to update their e-mail addressess, so if anyone knows how to contact Patricia Cheney Karl, in particular, please alert her. We are looking for Samuel's father, Abner, in 1790, so if anyone has found a stray Abner in ME or MA in 1790, please let us know( he was a wanderer). Also,( Ken and Larry in particular) I am working on Sarah(Rounds) Thompson Whitney, of Buxton and wonder if you have been able to trace her daughter Jane Whitney any further? Cheers! Jan Whitaker and Esther Mott

Perhaps "Father Arnold" is used in the sense of "Senior" here, to distinguish him from a relative? This Thomas Arnold had sons named Thomas by each of his wives. This genealogy notes that Thomas "moved to Smithfield, RI, Oct 17, 1661", the same day of the land deal in Watertown: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/4791/orrinstonearnold.html [6th paragraph] Jeanne Muse also spelled out the details of these Arnolds for us in a newsletter seven years ago: http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/mailinglist/list9610.html Speaking of Arnolds, Thomas's half-nephew was Gov Benedict Arnold of Rhode Island. Later this month we'll mark the 225th anniversary of the, um, incident involving his namesake descendant. Cheers, Ron Kyser On Wednesday, September 7, 2005, at 09:41 AM, Robert L. Ward wrote: > All, > > At 07:06 PM 9/6/05, [email protected] wrote: >> I am almost positive that >> the Arnold >> surname for Elinor comes from an anonymous posting to Ancestral File >> on the >> Mormon website in Salt Lake City. It had no sourcing or >> documentation. As one >> who spent at least 20+ hours at the British Genealogy Society library, >> searching for any marriage record anywhere in England for John and >> Elinor -- to no >> avail -- I don't think that there is any known source or document that >> confirms >> the surname Arnold for our maternal progenitor. > > I think I know the source of "ARNOLD": > <http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/extracts/bond.html#whitney10>. > It was John-2 WHITNEY, Jr., son of John-1 and Elinor, who is the WHITNEY > man in question here. The Thomas ARNOLD involved was too young to be > Elinor's father. He seems not to be related to John WHITNEY, Jr., or > his wife Ruth (REYNOLDS) WHITNEY, in any known way. It's hard to > understand why he is called "Father ARNOLD" in the cited deed. > > This means that there is no credible evidence of ARNOLD as a maiden > name for > Elinor (-----) WHITNEY, wife of John-1 WHITNEY of Watertown. In fact, > as Allan > points out, there is no credible evidence supporting ANY MAIDEN NAME > for our > ancestress Elinor. > > Regards, > > Robert > > Mr. Robert L. Ward > rlward AT whitneygen DOT org > http://www.whitneygen.org/home.html

I am Carolyn Whitney Cook and I have been doing family genealogy for about two years now. It all started when I received my great great grandmothers bible. Her name was Sarah E. Whitney and she had presented the bible to her "brother and sister Mr. and Mrs. Joel Brownson". I wanted to know more about Sarah and so the search began. The bible included very little information about her or her husband William Whitney. From obituaries that I have read I am working to substantiate that Sarah was born in Conneticut the daughter of John and Lucy Polley. Sarah was born November 14, 1821 and died February 2, 1880. She married William Whitney in New York and they had two sons Frederick Eaton born in (Higley, Cedar County, New York as noted in his obituary printed in the Clinton Herald, Clinton, Iowa, March 17, 1924; or Hectley, Oneida County, New York as printed in the Clinton Advertiser printed on the same date) on May 26, 1856 and Charles E. born April 23, 1861 in Shiwassee Michigan. I have found William, Sarah, and Frederick listed in the 1860 Michigan census. I need assistance in that I cannot find a Cedar County New York and/or Hectley in Oneida County. In order to possibly find out more about Sarah and William I was going to attempt to get Frederick's record of birth but can't decide quite how to go about accomplishing this. Anyone have any ideas? BTW - I certainly would be pleased to find I have a tie to the WRG. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/

Carol - The closest I could find in French's Gazeteer is Hecla Works, a village in Westmoreland, Oneida County, NY. There is no Cedar county. Hecla works has a large blast furnace and a factory that employees 40 making shelf hardware (this is in 1860) there are also 16 houses in the village.

Dear Darlene: GenCircles is a free website -- found at http://www.gencircles.com It consists of a very large amount of genealogical materials submitted by various researchers, which has then been indexed and organized so as to be able to search it easily. There is a LOT of information on this site. However, I must also warn you that it consists entirely (I think) of material that has been submitted by anyone and everyone. Very little of it shows sources for the "facts" that it presents. On the other hand, if you have no idea at all who "your guy" married, and where she came from, you can pick up a lot of clues as to where to look for confirmation. I rarely just "accept" what they present, but I do find that quite often I can find the confirmation and a respectable source once I know where to look. My inquiry about Sheila Stratton-Peel (who, BTW, IS a member of the WRG and has answered and identified herself to me) was prompted by a search I was doing (on GenCircles) for the family of an Isaac Williams who married a Martha Whitney. While searching GenCircles for that family, I discovered that she had submitted data about them. While checking the data by using the CD set of MA Vital Records that I own, I discovered that in one of the families I had found several other children in one family group that she had missed, probably because that family had moved to a new town. Thinking that I remembered her from some WRG list postings, I sent the inquiry to the list. Thus, I use this source as I would any other secondary source. I find clues that will direct my searching and then look elsewhere for confirmation. I do the same with the Ancestral File material on the LDS website, and any other site that depends on the collection of material from researchers, some of whom are utterly reliable and others who have very poor research technique. The biggest clue is the extent to which one finds documentation and sources cited. This includes World Family Tree, Olive Tree Genealogy and Rootsweb. So, I would urge anyone to check these sources if you are stuck and need a clue as to a new direction to search. Just remember not to take what you find as the gospel truth. Happy Hunting! Allan E. Green

Dear WRG: Please forgive me for using the WRG maillist to contact an individual, but I do not have an individual e-mail address for this lady. Is Shiela A. Stratton-Peel still a member of this group? If so, would you please contact me by e-mail so as to discuss some of your postings on Gen-Circles. I have some additional information that will supplement what you have included in your postinngs on that site. Thank you. Allan E. Green

Lisa Cozzens inquired regarding my 6th great grandfather, Daniel Whitney. He was born Dec 6, 1681 in Roxbury Suffolk, MA On Jun 21, 1704 he married Susanna CURTIS in Roxbury, Suffolk, MA. They had 9 or 10 children; John, Elizabeth, Susanna, Daniel, Anna, Hannah, Ruth, Elisha, Esther. Records show Anna and Hannah born in the same year and a month apart - so I believe they may just be one and the same, a birth and baptism of same child possibly. Jo Hogle

No news from anyone on Mr. Robert Croxton of New Orleans ?? W. Whitney

Looking for the parents of my 3rd great grandmother Roxanna Whitney b. 3 Oct 1799, Rutland, VT. d.13 Apr 1881, Crawford Co., OH. m. Philip Doddridge Paul 4 Oct., 1818, Huron Co., OH. Any help would be greatly appreciated. William Roberts

All, At 07:06 PM 9/6/05, [email protected] wrote: > I am almost positive that > the Arnold >surname for Elinor comes from an anonymous posting to Ancestral File on the >Mormon website in Salt Lake City. It had no sourcing or >documentation. As one >who spent at least 20+ hours at the British Genealogy Society library, >searching for any marriage record anywhere in England for John and >Elinor -- to no >avail -- I don't think that there is any known source or document >that confirms >the surname Arnold for our maternal progenitor. I think I know the source of "ARNOLD": <http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/extracts/bond.html#whitney10>. It was John-2 WHITNEY, Jr., son of John-1 and Elinor, who is the WHITNEY man in question here. The Thomas ARNOLD involved was too young to be Elinor's father. He seems not to be related to John WHITNEY, Jr., or his wife Ruth (REYNOLDS) WHITNEY, in any known way. It's hard to understand why he is called "Father ARNOLD" in the cited deed. This means that there is no credible evidence of ARNOLD as a maiden name for Elinor (-----) WHITNEY, wife of John-1 WHITNEY of Watertown. In fact, as Allan points out, there is no credible evidence supporting ANY MAIDEN NAME for our ancestress Elinor. Regards, Robert Mr. Robert L. Ward rlward AT whitneygen DOT org http://www.whitneygen.org/home.html

Gail: Forgive me for sticking in an answer. I am almost positive that the Arnold surname for Elinor comes from an anonymous posting to Ancestral File on the Mormon website in Salt Lake City. It had no sourcing or documentation. As one who spent at least 20+ hours at the British Genealogy Society library, searching for any marriage record anywhere in England for John and Elinor -- to no avail -- I don't think that there is any known source or document that confirms the surname Arnold for our maternal progenitor. I cannot provide a definitive answer about the Bray surname, but suspect that it came from an equally suspicious source. Too many people have search too far and wide not to have discovered this if it were the same surname as John's mother. Happy Hunting! Allan E. Green