Archive:The Descendants of John Whitney, page 254
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The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, by Frederick Clifton Pierce (Chicago: 1895)
Transcribed by the Whitney Research Group, 1999.
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| 254 | WHITNEY GENEALOGY. |
3837. i. JACOB, b. -----; d. young. 3838. ii. ANNIE, b. -----; m. Hiram FOWLER, of W. Ch.: Samuel, Eliza and John. 3839. iii. BETSEY, b. in 1804; m. in Worcester in 1832, Luther LEGG, b. Jan., 1794; res. W. Ch.: Lucy, d. unm.; Perley, b. Nov. 14, 1832; res. unm. in Upton, Mass., and Mira, d. unm. Betsey d. 1892. He was a farmer, and d. 1872. 3840. iv. SEBRA, b. -----; m. Samuel KING; res. W. Ch.: Emory, Davis, Lawson and Curtis. 1832. JOSEPH WHITNEY (Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John), b. Nov. 27, 1767; m. Polly STOCKWELL; d. Oct. 29, 1844. He d. Aug. 4, 1843; res. Grafton, Mass. 3841. i. JOSEPH H., b. Mar. 29, 1803; m. Damaris H. RICE and Sarah INGRAHAM. 3842. ii. DANIEL S., b. Nov. 24, 1804; d. Dec. 19, 1832. He made his will Oct. 20, 1832. It was probated Feb. 5, 1833. Mentions father Joseph, brother Nath'l G., sister Hannah R., sister Harriett W. Nath'l WHITNEY, exec. 3843. iii. POLLY J., b. Oct. 29, 1806; m. Jan. 1, 1829, Solomon L. PRENTICE, b. 1802. She d. -----; res. Grafton, Mass. Ch.: Ann M., b. Mar. 18, 1830; Sarah R., b. Feb. 2, 1833; Mary E. b. July 10, 1835; d. Aug. 9, 1837. 3844. iv. NATHANIEL G., b. July 4 1810; m. Charlotte THOMPSON. 3845. v. HANNAH R., b. Aug. 25, 1812; m. Nov. 6, 1834, John C. CODY. 3846. vi. HARRIETT R., b. Jan 19, 1817. 1836. ELI WHITNEY (Eli, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John), b. West- boro, Dec. 8, 1765; m. Jan., 1817, Henrietta Frances EDWARDS, June, 1768; d. Apr. 16, 1870. She was dau. of Hon. Pierpont EDWARDS, gr. at Princeton Coll. in 1768; was a law- yer in New Haven, Conn., soldier in the Revolution, member of the Continental Congress, and judge of the U. S. court for Conn. at the time of his death. He was a frequent member of the Conn. Legislature, was the first grand master of the Masonic fraternity in Conn. She was a granddaughter of Rev. Jonathan EDWARDS, president of New Jersey college. Eli WHITNEY, inventor, born in Westboro, Mass., Dec. 8, 1765; died in New Haven, Conn., Jan. 8, 1825. During the Revolutionary war he was engaged in making nails by hand. Subsequently, by his industry as an artisan and by teaching, he was able to defray his expenses at Yale, where he was graduated in 1792. In the same year he went to Georgia under an engagement as a private tutor, but on arriving there found that the place had been filled. He then accepted the invitation of the widow of Gen. Nath. GREENE to make her place at Mulberry Grove, on Savannah river, his home while he studied law. Several articles that he had devised for Mrs. GREENE's convenience gave her great faith in his inventive powers, and when some of her visitors regretted that there could be no profit in the cultivation of the green seed-cotton, which was considered the best variety, owing to the great difficulty of separating it from the seed, she advised them to apply to WHITNEY, "who," she said, "could make anything." A pound of preen-seed cotton was all that a negro woman could, at that period, clean in a day. Mr. WHITNEY up to that time had seen neither the raw cotton nor the cotton seed, but he at once procured some cotton, from which the seeds had been removed, although with trouble, as it was not the season of the year for the cultivation of the plant, and began to work out his idea of the cotton- gin. He was occupied for some months in constructing his machine, during which he met with great difficulty, being compelled to draw the necessary iron wire him- self, as he could obtain none in Savannah, and to manufacture his own iron tools. Near the end of 1792 he succeeded in making a gin, of which the principle and mechanism are exceedingly simple. Its main features are a cylinder four feet long, and five inches in diameter, upon which is set a series of circular saws half an inch apart and projecting two inches above the surface of the revolving cylinder. A mass of cotton in the seed, separated from the cylinder by a steel grating, is brought in contact with the numerous teeth in the cylinder. These teeth catch the cotton while playing between the bars, which allow the lint, but not the seed, to pass. Beneath the saws is a set of stiff brushes on another cylinder, revolving in a opposite direction, which brush off from the saw teeth the lint that these have just pulled from the seed. There is also a revolving fan for producing a current of air to throw the light and downy lint that is thus liberated to a convenient distance from the
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