Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

WHITNEY John Whitney, of London, England, son of Thomas Whitney, of Westminster, England, was baptized July 20, 1592, and was the first Whitney in America, appearing in Watertown, Mass. Bay Colony, in June, 1635. He was one of a noble family and trace his ancestry to the days of William the Conqueror, some ambitious researchers going even to an earlier period. It is not our purpose in this sketch to go back to the generations that includes the children of Thomas Whitney, of Westminster. Children: 1. Margaret, 1584-1604. 2. Thomas, 1587-1588. 3. Henry, 1588-1589. 4. Arnivaye, 1590-1591. 5. John, 1592-1673. 6. Norwell, 1594-1597. 7. Francis, 1599-1643. 8. Mary, 1600-1601. 9. Robert, 1605-1662. (I) John, the fifth child of Thomas Whitney, of Westminster, England, was baptized July 20, 1592, came to New England in 1635, sailing from London in May of that year accompanied by his wife Elinor and children: John, Richard, Thomas and Jonathan. He was next to Mr. Norcross, the schoolmaster, and Mr. Brown, the deputy of the general court, the most influential man in the town in which he lived thirty-eight years and where he died June 8, 1673. His wife Elinor was born in England, 1599, died in Watertown May 11, 1659. Children: 1. Mary, baptized at Islesworth, England, May 23, 1619, probably died young. 2. John, baptized Sept. 14, 1621, came to Watertown with his father; married in 1642, Ruth Reynolds, daugheter of Robert of Watertown and Boston; children: John, Ruth, Nathaniel, Samuel, Mary, Joseph, Sarah, Elizabeth, Hannah, Benjamin. John Jr. died in Watertown Oct. 12, 1692. 3. Richard, Jan. 6, 1624, came to Watertown with his father in 1635; married March 19, 1651, Martha Caldam, of Watertown; removed to Stow in 1681; children: Sarah, Moses, Joanna, Debora, Rebecca, Richard, Elisha, Ebenezer. He died in Stow, Mass. 4. Nathaniel, born in England, not mentioned in his father's will and probably died young. 5. Thomas, born in England, married Mary Kendall or Kettle, of Watertown; children: Thomas, Mary, Bezaleil, Sarah, Mary, Isaiah, Martha. He died in Watertown, Sept. 20, 1719, aged about ninety years. 6. Jonathan, born in England about 1634, came to America with his father; married Oct. 30, 1656, Lydia Jones; removed to Sherbourne in 1679; children: Lydia, Jonathan, Anna, John, Josiah, Eleanor, James, Isaac, Joseph, Abigail, Benjamin. He died in Sherbourne, Mass. Dec., 1702, aged sixty-eight years. 7. Joshua, the first Whitney born in America, was born in Watertown, Mass., July 15, 1635; he was a pioneer settler of the town of Groton he was married three times, his wives eing respectively: Lydia, Mary and Abigail Tarbell. children: Hannah, Joshua, Sarah, Abigail, Mary, William, Cornelius, David, Martha, Elizabeth, Eleanor. He died in Groton, Mass. Aug. 7, 1719, aged eighty-three years. 8. Caleb, born in Watertown, July 12, 1640, died there 1640. 9. Benjamin (q.v.). (II) Benjamin, youngest son of John, the immigrant, and Elinor Whitney, was brorn in Watertown, Mass. June 6, 1643. He married (first) probably in York, Maine, Jane ____, who died Nov. 14, 1690; married (second) April 11, 1695, Mary Poor, of Marlboro, Middlesex county, Mass. He witnessed at York, Maine, in 1662-66-68, respectively, agreements of John Doves. He was in Cocheco, N. H., near Dover, in 1667-68, and April 13, 1674. The selectmen of York laid out ten acres of upland for Benjamin Whitney, but in spite of the wishes of his father who desired him to return to Watertown and receive from his father a deed for about seventeen acres of land in that town bounded by lands of John Sherman, William Bird and Martin Underwood, April 5, 1670, Benjamin and Jane, by consent of his father, deeded the land so consigned to Joshua for forty pounds, and thus relinquished all his rights in his father's estate. In 1635 Benjamin and Jane Whitney, of York, sold and conveyed land in that town to Jonathan Sayward. His wife died in York, Nov. 14, 1690, after she had given birth to seven childrem. Children: 1. Jane, born in Watertown Sept. 29, 1669, married in Sherbourne, Jan. 4, 1693, Jonathan Morse. 2. Timothy, b. York, Maine, was a member of Captain Preble's company raised in 1703 for defence against the Indians. 3. John, b. York, about 1678, married Letty Ford. 4. Nathaniel (q.v.), b. April 14, 1680. 5. Jonathan, b. 1681, married Susanna Whitney. 6. Benjamin, married Esther Maverick, widow. 7. Joshua, b. Sept. 21, 1687, married Hannah Rockwood. Children of 2d marriage: 8. Mark, b. about 1700, married Tabitha Miller. 9. Isaac, married Elizabeth Bridges. Upon his second marriage, he located in Sherbourne, where his two younger children were born and where he died in 1723. (III) Nathaniel, third son of Benjamin and Jane Whitney, was born in York, Maine, April 14, 1680. He married Sarah, daughter of John Ford, of Kittery, Maine, born in York. They removed to Gorham, Maine, and in 1703 he joined the military company in York raised to defend the settlers against the Indians. He was a weaver in Kittery, but also purchased land in York, including twenty acres of John Rockleft for twenty pounds. He died in Gorham, Maine. Children: 1. Nathan, born Jan. 10, 1706, married Lydia Young. 2. Nathaniel, born Dec. 12, 1709, married Molly Day. 3. Abel (q.v.) 4. Sarah, born Nov. 8, 1714, married Jeremiah Simpson. 5. Lydia, died July 14, 1720. 6. Isaac, born March 9, 1720, married Sarah Crosby. 7. Amos, born March 5, 1723, married Sarah Payne. 8. Lydia, born July 22, 1726, died March 23, 1727. 9. Joanna, born March 13, 1729. (IV) Abel, third son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Ford) Whitney, was born in York, Maine, July 23, 1712. He married, Nov. 28, 1735, Mary, daughter of Nicholas Cram, and he lived in York, Gorham and Standish, Maine. Children: 1. Joanna, born Oct. 10, 1736. 2. Moses, born Feb. 17, 1738. 3. Joseph, born March 1, 1739. 4. Daniel, born Sept. 7, 1741, died before 1754. 5. Joel (q.v.) 6. May, born Oct. 5, 1744. 7. Lydia, born July 31, 1746. 8. Zebulon, born Nov. 27, 1747, married Joanna Stone. 9. Joanna, born Sept. 27, 1749. 10. Naphthali, born Feb. 10, 1750. 11. Micha, born Dec. 11, 1752, married Hannah Cobb. 12. Daniel, born Sept. 27, 1754. (V) Joel, son of Abel and Mary (Cram) Whitney, was born in the old town of York, Maine, May 21, 1743. He removed to Falmouth, now Portland, Maine, where he was married to Mary Weston, and moved thence to Chandler's River. His wife was a sister of Josiah Weston, whose wife Hannah Weston was famous in revolutionary times. Their daughter Hannah was the first girl of English parentage and the first child born in the settlement, which was known as Chandler's River up to 1789, when the land comprising the settlement was granted to John C. Jones, of Massachusetts, and he gave the place the name of Jonesboro. Ephraim, brother of Hannah, and eldest son of Joel and Mary (Weston) Whitney, was the first white boy forn in the settlement. Joel Whitney was prominent in the affairs of the town and his judgment was much relied on in business matters. He left his estate, which consisted of lands, mills and other property, to the charge of his son Ephraim. He had built a log house at the end of the mill dam on the south side of Chandler's river, and he died there in 1789. Children: Hannah, Mary, Ephraim (q.v.), Reuben, Abel, Joel and Porter. (VI) Capt. Ephraim, eldest son of Joel and Mary (Weston) Whitney, was born at Chandler's River, Maine, Nov. 7, 1770, the first white child born in the place. He was captain of a company of militia, a representataive to the general court of Massachusetts for ten successive years, assessor of the town of Jonesboro, selectman, treasurer and agent of the town, and held the office of postmaster for several years. The first town meeting held in Jonesboro, Maine, March 27, 1809, was "warned" by him. He was a member of the constitutional convention held in 1820 to frame a constitution for the new state of Maine and he represented the town of Jonesboro in the first Maine state legislature that met after it was separated from Massachusetts and was admitted into the sisterhood of states, and he was again elected as a representative and took an active part in the early legislature so incorporated to the stablity and growth of the new state. He married, July 9, 1794, Sarah Noyes. Children: Gustavus Fellows (q.v.), Mary, Betsey, Beriah (married Lucy Hall), Phoebe, Joel, Sophia, Ann, Nancy, Porter, Josiah, Clara. (VII) Gustavus Fellows, eldest child of Ephraim and Sarah (Noyes) Whitney, was born in Jonesboro, Maine, June 8, 1822. He married Hannah Libby, and their daughter, Sarah, born in Jonesboro, married John Fogg Lord, of Centerville, Maine, and they had two children: Mariam and Laura Helen.