FYI: The site at the address (http://www.interment.net/) from Jeanne, type in Michigan, go to Kent County, includes a link to the Whitneyville cemetery, where I found a listing for "Horace Whitney," the four-year-old son of Peter and Betsy; and a listing for Oscar Whitney, a son of Zerah, who died at age 36. (Thanks, Jeanne) Merry

Hi, Zerah was born in Newtown, Conn. on June 10, 1784 and died in Bradley, Michigan January 15, 1873. Whitneyville is now nothing more than a road, about 15 miles southeast of Grand Rapids. Zerah's father was James Whitney, b. Conn. August 10, 1753, d. Newtown, Conn. 5/21/1841; m. Eunice Johnson 8/13/1777. I don't know whether any of this line (Zerah's siblings -- James & Eunice had 12 children) lived in Maine, but James' father Samuel was born in Stratford, Conn. 12/13/1727; his father, also a Samuel, was born in Mass., baptized 7/1687 in Weston, Mass. and died in Stratford, Conn. 12/6/1753. Zerah moved from Conn. to New York, then (1838) to Michigan. My g-grandfather, Abraham Johnson Whitney, moved to Michigan in 1836, two years before his father and brothers. Since he would've been only 16 (born 1820) at that time, and because my great-grandmother's scrapbook included an obituary notice of someone named Alvord, from Genesee County, New York -- who "came to Michigan with his father in 1836..." and who married a Louisa Mizner (Zerah's oldest, a daughter Ruth Ann, married a Jonathan Misener), I'm guessing A.J. traveled ahead with relatives, family friends and in-laws. Zerah's youngest, Martin, would have been only 3 years old in 1836, 5 years old in 1838, so that may have been a factor in his waiting two years. It seems as though quite a few Whitney families settled in different parts of Michigan, including the upper peninsula, and although most would likely be descendants of John and Elinor, I have no idea if they knew each other. It would be really interesting to know whether the various Whitney families were in contact by the early 1800s, wouldn't it? Merry

I do have a Harold Whitney in my family line, born 1908. Married in 1941 in Rockford, IL to Margaret Loveland. His children were: Frederick Arthur (b. 1944), Virginia Louise (b. 1945), and Margaret Mary (b. 1947) all of which were listed as being born in Chicago. Does any of this fit for you? If so, we are cousins. I can tell you more. However, tell me more about your family so I can see if I can match you up. Note: Aurora, IL is only about 60 miles from Rockford and near Chicago.

The motto on the Whitney Coat of Arms (reportedly) is: "Magnanimiter Crucen Sustine" ('Sustain the Magnificent Crucifix'). Merry

I have seen a Whitney crest in a book, but it was a very poor reproduction and virtually useless. Does anyone have a copy of a Whitney crest and/or motto? Bruce29@aol.com

I have the great color crest that is in the Melville book. I bought an old copy and have never tried to scan out of it yet because of the binding. But I can see what I can do, if you are interested. Shawn Whitney Seattle, WA GO Mariners! Bruce29@aol.com wrote: > I have seen a Whitney crest in a book, but it was a very poor reproduction > and virtually useless. Does anyone have a copy of a Whitney crest and/or > motto? > > Bruce29@aol.com

Dear WRG, I am desperately seeking any information on Ephraim Whitney of Machias, Maine. In particular I am looking for his parents and the place and date of birth. I am hoping with the number of members on this mailing list that there might be someone with information on my elusive Whitney. Please let me start with the fact that my Ephraim is not the son of Joel Whitney from Jonesboro, Maine. Here are the facts as I have them so far. Ephraim married Mary (Polly) Crocker, daughter of James W Crocker and Rebecca Berry, June 20, 1813 in Machias, Maine. Ephraim and Mary lived in Marshfield, Maine with their children. Ephraim died Feb. 4, 1828 at the age of 38. Their children are as follows: Otis Crocker born April 27, 1814 Emma Olive born July 1, 1816 Arathusa Brigham born November 16, 1817 Ephraim Crocker and Hannah Crocker born March 4, 1823 I have been under the assumption that Ephraim was born in the Machias area. Ephraim Crocker's death record indicated that his father was born in Machias. I enlisted the help of a researcher from Machias, hoping that she may find his parents. She was unable to find any information on him from any of the records in Washington County. She suggested that I start looking at the Whitney's from the York County and Cumberland County areas. Last night I conducted a search on Ephraim on the LDS site. The search did retrieve an Ephraim Whitney born abt 1789 in Parsonfield, York County, Maine. The date of birth is consistent with my Ephraim. If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it. When I first started the Whitney research last year I did find someone on the message boards that was researching the same line. Dean was researching Otis Crocker's line. He send me his new email address and now I can not reach him. He was my only hope ! Sincerely, Debbie Whitney

For years I have been searching for the family of John Lemuel Whitney b. 6 Oct. 1842 Prescott Onterio Canada. I have learned in just the last few days that I may have been looking in the wrong area. Another researcher working on The Laney family has turned up information that show he may have been born in Ohio. This information is from census records. She did not state what year. But her records say: Almira McMillan was born 25 May, 1833 in Champain Co. Ohio, and died 23 April 1903 in Talmage Ks. She married Thomas J. Laney in Champaign Co. Ohio. He was born 22 Aug. 1828 in Greene Co. Pa. and died 12 Feb. 1899 in Talmage Ks. child Margaret A. Laney b. 15 Oct. 1850 d. 9 May 1931. Married John Lemuel WHITNEY 8 Nov. 1866, Iroquois Co. Illinois. b. 6 Oct. 1842 d. 21 Feb. 1916 We agree on everything except where they were born. I find this may be why I never could find them anywhere. Other things about John Lemuel Whitney and Margaret Ann Laney John may have had 2 sisters, named Ann & Lucy. He may have had 2 brothers, named Jim & Calvin One or more of these may have been a half sibling. John and Margaret had 4 sons; 1.Thomas Calvin b. 13 Feb. 1868 Lahoque Illinois 2.William Dufton b. 27 May 1872 Lahogus Illinois 3.Martin Eickleberger b. 3 Sept. 1878 Talmage Ks. 4.Elmer Lemuel b. 5 June 1886 Talmage Ks. We can only work with the information we have,so sometimes we end up going down a blind alley for years. Now maybe I can find this family. Thanks to the kind lady who shared her information on the Laney Family with me. Holly __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

Dear WRG: Someone on another surname list mentioned this internet site so I took a look. http://www.interment.net/ It has an easy to use search engine. Typing in the surname Whitney and searching under ALL resulted in 30 pages of cemetery inscriptions. Jeanne

I definately agree with what Carolyn Whitney Branagan has written. She makes her points very carefully and very well. And there really is no way that we, in the 21st century, surrounded by modern technology, creature comforts unthought of in the 16th and 17th centuries, can know their minds, their motives, or their emotions. Their judgements had to be made using criteria largely foreign to today's population. So, in a nutshell, I think that she is right on target. Barbara Armstrong Cleveland Cofer

Dear WRG, Thanks to Jan Whitaker, I have now scanned in and converted to a web page the booklet _Whitney Families of Maine_, by Rev. Charles N. Sinnett. It is not as encyclopedic as its title might imply, but for what it's worth, it's at <http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/extracts/sinnett.html>. Enjoy! Regards, Robert Robert L. Ward Whitney Research Group http://www.whitneygen.org/ rlward@whitneygen.org

A friend, who knows of my interest in Whitney genealogy, sent me this newspaper clipping, assumingly from Hilton Head Island, SC. ******************** "The Island Packet", Thursday, May 24, 2001 http://www.islandpacket.com Group News ... BLUFFTON HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SOCIETY The Bluffton Historical Preservation Society will hold its annual meeting at 3 p.m. June 3 in the Bluffton Municipal Building auditorium. Hugh Stiles Golson of Savannah will give a talk on "Mulberry Grove" a 1700's plantation on the Savannah River. It was here that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 and there is a current preservation project for the site. The society's Caldwell Award for historic preservation will be presented and election of officers and trustees will be held. Following the meeting, refreshments will be served and the society's archives, located in the municipal building, will be open. Non-members are welcome. For information, call 757-6293. *************** Jeanne

Hi Folks, Since there is such a wonderful discussion going here about our Native American ancestry, I thought it a good time to throw this out to you and see if there are any bites. My ggg-grandmother, Sofia Atwood/Daniels--a Native American, was born at Indian Hollow (a then-area of Huntington), MA around 1814. Her parents were called Peter Atwood and Laura Whitney. Peter was said to be from NY State....Laura was from MA. It appeared that Laura was perhaps disowned after marrying Peter....as her own family history lists her only as "Laura"...no other info. I don't know what happened to her (both of her parents died in 1826 of influenza in Chester, MA)....Peter later remarried in 1825, had another family, and later moved to Illinois. On Sofia's death certificate, her step-mother (Peter's 2nd wife) was listed as her mother. (Mehitable Phoebe Clark/Atwood). My question is about Laura Whitney...anybody have any info on her? I would be interested to know if there is any further information on her marriage to Peter Atwood...and especially on HIS heritage. We believe it was Peter Atwood who was the Native Amercan, because we've traced Laura's family back to England. All info welcome at: chozijoy@aol.com Bev

Hi Everyone! The thought provoking message from Lee Castleton regarding Indian captivity appeared on the WhitneyL list today. I agree with Lee's statement that as genealogists we have to take the good with the bad and cannot change history because we don't like it. But, I would like to offer that neither can we judge too quickly people who lived in a different time and place.Their sense of right and wrong came from the experiences they lived and from the morals and values they were taught. Our experiences and education are different because we live in a different time. We cannot know what their lives were really like, we cannot know what they really thought. We can only take information from the resources available to us and imagine what it must have been like, based upon our modern experiences and education. Our most enduring image of the Indian as the bloodthirsty savage comes from the early Puritan writers, such as Rev. John Williams, who tried to make sense of Indian captivity by claming the raids were the result of sinful acts within communities, that the Indians were the Devil, and that those held in captivity were given the chance by God to test the strength of their Christian faith.The Puritans thought if there was enough prayer and repentance a captive would be set free. The bondage and redemptionidea was used frequently by the Puritan writers and preachers. Indian life was very different from the life lived by most settlers. Many raids took place in the winter when frostbite, snow and lack offood was a problem. Can you imagine walking the length of Vermont inwinter to get to Montreal? How about doing it with 2 or 3 cold and frightened children in hand? The Indians moved quickly through the wilderness hardly ever resting. Food was scarce and unfamiliar to the captives. There was no shelter. Sometimes the Indians brought extra moccasins and food to help their captives survive, but usually the captives were just expected to keep up or they were killed to eliminate the Indian's liability. One famous exception is Susanna Johnson, taken from Charlestown, New Hampshire in 1754. Mrs. Johnson gave birth to a child, Elizabeth Captive, while on the way to the Indian village of St. Francis. Both the child and Mrs. Johnson survived. Colin G. Calloway has compiled an excellent book entitled North Country Captives, that tells the stories of several white men and women taken into captivity from Vermont and New Hampshire during the mid 1700's. . Indians raided newly established settlements for the purpose of taking captives to be held for English ransom ( as was our own Samuel Whitney and son) or to be adopted for replacement of Indian family members. Over 1600 people were taken captive from New England between 1689 and 1763. Some of these people died in captivity, some made new lives for themselves in French Canada, some lived the rest of their lives in Indian communities. Among the examples of captives living happily with their Indian captors are Eunice Williams, taken from Deerfield, Mass in 1704 and Squire Howe, taken from Bridgman's Fort in Vernon, Vermont in 1755. The New England frontier was not really a very large area and as the white population grew, Indians and settlers co-mingled in the same regions. I do not believe there was an extermination campaign against the Indians such as what was mounted against the Jews in 1930-45 in Europe. I would be very interested in research with sources that shows there was such a campaign. To the contrary, the history of Vermont is full of stories of settlers and Indians living in close proximity, sharing resources and blending culture. In my own town there is a story of an Indian man who "borrowed" pies daily from a farm woman's kitchen window where she had placed them to cool. He became a close friend and protector of that family. The State of Vermont assumed the cost of caring for many Indians in the 1800's, such as the Indians known as Joe and Molly in what is now the town of Hardwick. Town records show that Joe and Molly were from"Canada" but resided in Hardwick. Readers may have driven by Joe's Pond or Molly's Pond along Vermont route 15. The ponds were named for the old Indian residents of the town. Without a doubt the process of living together was not always easy and not always non-violent. Certainly today we in Vermont are still striving to attain equity for all citizens, including Indians. Last weekend in the village of Swanton, Vermont, near my home, there was an Abenaki Heritage Festival, where celebrations of Abenaki culture continued for 2 days. Pottery, art, baskets, story telling, dancing and even Abenaki language was highlighted in this community event that drew people from 3 states and Canada. My point is that the relationships between Indians and early New England settlers were not superficial, nor easily understood. They were affected by influences that were political, economic, cultural and religious. Therelationships evolved and are continuing to evolve into what seems just in all eyes. I'm interested to know what others think . from, Carolyn Whitney Branagan PS. Yesterday, May 30, it snowed on Mt. Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont! Here in the valley it only rained. White Dove wrote: > Kate, > We have ancestors on both sides of this issue. Hannah Duston is one of > ours............... > We are genealogists, and this is on topic. We are searching for not > only our > ancestors, but what kind of life that they lived. Those were people too, > capable > of good and evil is varying amounts. We are reaching back into history to > find them, and will have to take the bad with the good. There is no > re-making > the truth in the history, and one man's glory is another's story of a crime. > None > of this is our fault. We cannot change these histories simply because we do > not like them. > I suspect that on another interest group, there may be other stories > told > from the other side with an equal amount of passion. Read the book, "Bury > My Heart at Wounded Knee". It should be at your local library, loanable > for no money at all. > > Lee Castleton > maxlee@net-link.net <mailto:maxlee@net-link.net> > > researching: COWLEY, ROOT, MERRIAM > > >

Moving on June 1st. New email address: mailto:gbarnett@netins.net Sharon Barnett

In a message dated 05/31/2001 10:25:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time, maxlee@net-link.net writes: > 100 Pounds Sterling was probably > a very large sum to folks who may not even see 5 Pounds Sterling in smaller > amounts that fleetingly crossed their palms in a single year. Yes, the sum is so large that I doubt the validity of the number. Remember that all of Manhattan Island was bought for $24 in beads! I believe that there were bounties, and they may have been high, but it sounds like someone's imagination was working here... I agree with the rest of your comments. Bruce

The inquiry about Maine Whitneys from Don Henze and Allan Green rings a bell with me. I am new to the Whitney mailing list, and have so far not seen any contacts for my ancestor: Peter Whitney, born in Maine on Nov 12, 1811. Died in Onodaga, Ingram, MI on Mar 16, 1875. Married Laura Farley about 1840; Laura was from New York, but marriage location not known. I have information on Laura Farley's origins and of Peter and Laura's descendants (they had 7 Whitney children, born in Michigan), but I can't find any further data on Peter Whitney. I have seen a number of comments about missing Whitney ancestors in Maine, but nobody mentions Peter Whitney. It seems that there is at least one family of Whitneys in Maine that hasn't been "reassembled" yet... they may have come from Canada... Bruce Gordon Bruce29@aol.com

Kate, We have ancestors on both sides of this issue. Hannah Duston is one of ours. Hannah has a statue erected in her honor and has a web site dedicated to her. She was kidnapped and probably raped; her newborn baby was murdered, and she was marched overland for over 150 miles before avenging her baby's murder by scalping and killing 10 or more of her captors. She effected her escape with the aid of other captives thereby freed by 'borrowing' one of their canoes. She had to scalp the Indians after killing them in order not to be stoned to death as an adulterer upon her return (had to show proof of revenge and non agreement to her kidnapping). Another is possibly Atalibi Huscai Blanck, an Indian from a different tribe, the Pottawatami or 'Keeper of the Fire' who live in Michigan. He established a farm in mid Michigan and probably had two names, one Pottawatami and one American, so that he could do business in both worlds. In any case, he occupied the same land as provable ancestors in the Blanck family at about the same time they did. He had to sign government documents with his actual name to file a valid land claim. We think that he was raised at a church mission because of the Indian first name and the German or Dutch last name. Point is, Hannah had a reason to scalp the cutthroats who were her captors. She was not doing it just to make money. What some of those were doing has a name today. It is called 'ethnic cleansing' or genocide! Substitute the word Jew for Indian. Substitute 1930 for 1725 or so. Substitute Germany for your state. Sounds different, does'nt it!? That man who was killed by the lake was probably just fishing or hunting to feed his family!, and he was murdered in cold blood for dirty money. Granted both groups commited horrible crimes, the sorting out of which is like the chicken and egg story. None of those excuse cold blooded murder. The establishment of a 'bounty of 100 Pounds Sterling' was a princely sum in those days. It made the whole area a free fire zone, converting the whole place to something akin to a Nazi death camp! 100 Pounds Sterling was probably a very large sum to folks who may not even see 5 Pounds Sterling in smaller amounts that fleetingly crossed their palms in a single year. A posting of wages for those times recently stated some service occupations' wages of as little as 3 Pounds Sterling per year. Now here was a gift of almost a lifetime of wages to any person to anyone who would pull a trigger to commit murder. This bounty was for 'Indian' scalps presented for payment. That could mean not only men, but also women and children, and babies! So that governor was awarding lifetimes of wages for the murder of babies, simply because of the color of their skin! We are genealogists, and this is on topic. We are searching for not only our ancestors, but what kind of life that they lived. Those were people too, capable of good and evil is varying amounts. We are reaching back into history to find them, and will have to take the bad with the good. There is no re-making the truth in the history, and one man's glory is another's story of a crime. None of this is our fault. We cannot change these histories simply because we do not like them. I suspect that on another interest group, there may be other stories told from the other side with an equal amount of passion. Read the book, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". It should be at your local library, loanable for no money at all. Lee Castleton maxlee@net-link.net researching: COWLEY, ROOT, MERRIAM

Dear WRG: I received this note from a Don Henze, with an inquiry about Maine Whitneys. Having none, I wrote back asking for his permission to forward his message, which I have just received. ******************************** Hi Allan, I read something you wrote about Maine Whitneys, posted on the web. I have a relative named Jimmy Whitney, born around 1830 in Maine. He married Eliza Irving from Canada and had a daughter named Mercy, who was born in Canada. If you knew anything about this that would indeed be most fascinating! Thanks, Don Henze ****************************** If this rings a bell with anyone in the WRG, please post it to the Whitney-L list and send it to Don at this address: henze@email.unc.edu Allan E. Green

I have a photo of a Whitney reunion taken possibly in New Ipswich NH maybe in the 30's. I'm looking for possible relatives who can help me identify some of the people. The three I've identified are Hannah (Parker) Whitney, Wilbur Whitney and Carl Whitney.