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Whitney Family.
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157
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into which he moved 30 March 1828, and had a son born next day. The house was long since made into sidewalks. About 1834, he laid out into building lots a part of his farm, on the west side of the Black Fork, in Sharon, which was the beginning of the flourishing village of Shelby, containing, in 1874, about two thousand inhabitants. She died in Shelby, 22 Jan. 1847, on the same farm where they first settled, and was buried there. He married (2d), 20 Nov. 1848, Sarah Johnson, from Vermont, who was born in 1805, dau. of Charles and Sarah Johnson. She was living at Shelby, in 1873. He suffered paralysis in 1862, died in Shelby, 25 March 1864, and was buried on Easter Sunday, 27 March. He was a believer in the doctrine of universal salvation.
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II. James Whitney, b. in Norwalk, Conn., 16 Aug. 1792; died 14 Aug. 1793.
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III. James Whitney, b. in Pudding Lane, Norwalk, Conn., 22 Jan.1794; the town-record says 1793, which is inconsistent with the preceding records of the same household; a boot and shoe maker; left Norwalk in 1812, for New York City, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812, for which he has since received a pension. He passed three months in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and, in 1874, was the only survivor of his company of 93 men. In the Spring of 1814, he went to Albany, N.Y., which has since been his home. In a familiar letter, written in 1873, in which he compared portions of his own life with that of his contemporary, Peter Cooper, he spoke of his early life thus: "From the great total eclipse of the sun in 1806, to 1815, when I got married, I believe I went through more trials, hardships, accidents, and difficulties, twice-told, than Peter Cooper ever knew or experienced; and how I escaped them and lived, has been a wonder to myself to the present day. . . . I do not know how my sun will go down, but I have made up my mind to distil from the labor, sorrow, and perplexities of a past life all the joy, happiness and contentment that I can." He was married, 18 July 1815, in Albany, N. Y., by Rev. John Ayers, to Nancy Mascraft, only child of John and Hannah (Whitney) Mascraft, of Albany, where she was born 23 March 1795. After a wedded life of fifty-seven years, she died at Albany, 10 July 1872, of paralysis, in the 78th year of her age, and was buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery. Since her death, while his home has remained in Albany, he has lived with his daughters, and was yet in perfect health and vigor, in March 1877. His house was 173 Hamilton Street, and later 136 Hamilton, or 124 Beaver Street. On Saturday, 26 Sept 1874, he visited his native town, Norwalk, with the following result, as given by himself: "After diligent inquiry, I could not find a person, male or female, whom I ever knew. Splendid mansions, the houses doubled, the inhabitants diminished, the enterprise gone--and I left the place with sorrow and sadness."
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2111
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