Dear WRG Members, As some of you know, we have been working on the identification of the Whitneys who settled in Maugerville,N.S./N.B. along the St. John's River. Deacon Samuel Whitney (Sr.) appears as a grantee in 1761 as part of a contingent of Pre-Loyalists, having mostly military ties. The evidence is very weighty, favoring the relocation of both Samuel Whitney Sr. and Samuel Whitney Jr. to Maugerville from Brunswick, Maine. It appears that Whitney Sr. remains in Maugerville with wife Lydia. Church records show both are living in 1789, his age being 82. Samuel Whitney Jr. seems to appear on a deed in 1796 with wife Mary at Grand Lake just below Maugerville along the River. The question has ben why did a Maine family remove to the St. John's, when the preponderance of early settlers were from the Rowley, Mass area. Recently while checking names, I discovered 3 Nevers brothers in the Brunswick area who were also early grantees, one being Dr.Phinneas Nevers. Dr Nevers had ties to Bos! ton where his father purportedly had a boarding house. In an attempt to connect the dots, it was discovered that Dr. Nevers and Deacon Samuel Whitney were in the same military readiness group in Brunswick in 1757. Also, the English addvertised in the Boston papers for settlers to the Maugerville area. It should also be mentioned that Dr. Nevers 2 brothers removed to N.B. at the same time. I would like to throw out this question to the WRG: Does anyone have more information on Dr. Phinneas Nevers? Perhaps a marriage in Mass. (wife is unknown). Perhaps a son-in-law to Whitney? It seems Nevers may have been the catalyst that brought the Whitneys to N.B. The second item is of clarification surrounding the abduction of Deacon Samuel Whitney in 1751. He, with 6 others were captured by the Indians and brought to Canada for ransom. He was released, only to submit a Memorial (Petition) to the General Court in Mass. for relief for his family and son, Samuel Whitney Jr. who still remained in captivity. Many versions of this Memorial exist both in print and on the internet. Some mention Deacon Samuel Whitney as having 5, 6 or 8 children; some even relate no children mentioned! This week I received a copy of the original Memorial of Samuel Whitney from Volume 74, Page 46 & 47. It reads "...Your Memorialists son yet remains in captivity among the Indians with three more taken at the same time and he has a wife with eight children...". This leaves little doubt that Samuel Whitney had at least 3 more children over the 5 shown on the Brunswick, Maine records. It is unclear, and a matter of interpretation, as to whether "eight" i! ncludes his still captive son Samuel Whitney Jr. Conceivably, Whitney may have 4 children over the 5 listed in the Brunswick Vitals as it seems to indicate. This document opens the way for the possible connection to Samuel Whitney of the yet unidentified 4 Whitney men in the Maugerville area, These being Ebenezer, Josiah, John and Jeremiah. The ages of these men seem to fall within the time frame after the last recorded birth in 1742. This document was dated January 21, 1752, with notation of January 20, and30, 1752 written elsewhere. I hope this helps those that may be working on this project. We welcome any assistance or ideas in solving this much attempted riddle. Regards, Larry Tracy Jr. Kennebunkport, Maine Nancy Metelski Saco, Maine