There are some things to take into consideration if "Mystery Joshua" belongs to William-4. First, his move to New Hampshire diverges from the otherwise relentless due-west march of this branch: Watertown, Groton, Killingly, Canaan, Claverack, Binghamton. Not that this would rule out one of them moving northeast, but it might be easier to accept if there were something to draw him up there, e.g., in-laws or neighbors. Thomas-5 begat his own Joshua in 1747, within a year of the birth of this fraternal candidate. I'm sure it wouldn't be the only time in colonial New England a man had a son and a brother born the same year with the same name, but is seems remarkable nonetheless. It's interesting that William-4 disappears from the record in 1753. A year later Thomas-5 first shows up in Claverack, New York with a group of squatters from his wife's hometown of Sheffield, Mass. (Though in different states, Canaan, Sheffield and Claverack are all within 10 or 15 miles of one another.) They spent the next dozen years warring with the patroon Robert Livingston, so I doubt William was among them. But what would draw him to New Hampshire? The New Hampshire Joshua and William asked to rename Saville "Wendell" in 1781. (Today it's Sunapee.) This was to honor one of the original proprietors of the colony, John Wendell. I assume he was English. However, there was a Dutch Wendell family in New York in the 18th century. Sung Bok Kim mentions Thomas Whitney several times in covering the Claverack squatters in his book "Landlord and Tenant in Colonial New York". Much of his material on this comes from the correspondence of Robert Livingston and Jacob Wendell, an ally and colleague. Thomas and his family were likely aware of Wendell and his relationship to Livingston. Livingston's men ended up killing Thomas in 1766. Even though Jacob Wendell would have no connection to John, I can imagine a brother or father of Thomas having problems with that name even after fifteen years. Cheers, Ron Kyser On Dec 17, 2005, at 3:50 PM, Robert L. Ward wrote: > > > More interesting is the William WHITNEY who was in Wendell with Joshua > in 1781. > He could be a brother or a father of Joshua. This is a less common > given name > in the WHITNEY family. I found a family which seems a likely spot to > place this > Joshua WHITNEY. He might be (this is a pure guess!) an unrecorded son > of > William-4 and Mary (WHITMORE) WHITNEY (William-3, Joshua-2, John-1), > of Killingly, > CT. That couple had just three recorded children: William-5 (1725), > Thomas-5 > (1728), and Abigail (1741). Pierce says that William-4 lived in > Canaan, CT, > after 1753. We don't know what happened to him after that. The son > William-5 > WHITNEY seems to be the one who married Archoucher DUTCHER in 1747 in > Salisbury, > CT, both being of Canaan. The last we know of him was birth of a > daughter in > 1766 in Salisbury. Either William-4 or William-5 could be the > resident of > Wendell in 1781 cited above, and Joshua could be an unrecorded son of > William-4. > > I suggest that the son John WHITNEY, above, may have been John Calvin > WHITNEY, > and later known as Calvin. He would be named after the famous John > CALVIN, > founder of the Presbyterian church. That would give you brothers > Calvin and > Haynes, for which you have been searching. > > These clues (they are nothing more) may lead to records which confirm > or refute > the statements made above. Good luck in your search! > > Regards, > > Robert > > Mr. Robert L. Ward > RLWard AT WhitneyGen DOT org > http://www.WhitneyGen.org/home.html