Archive:Who Was Phinehas Whitney

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Whitney Family Groups > Unconnected Whitney Families > Most Wanted Whitneys > Who Was Phinehas Whitney

Phinehas Whitney - Most Wanted

by Kenneth L. Whitney

Precis: No known record proves the parentage of Phinehas Whitney of Phillips, ME.

Problem: No record has been found of Phinehas Whitney of Phillips, ME, prior to his marriage, 18 Aug 1803, Sidney, ME. His parentage is unknown, and that is the problem.

Background: The birth dates of Phinehas Whitney, his wife Mary, and their twelve children are recorded in the Vital Records of Phillips, Somerset (then Franklin) Co., ME. A transcription of the records can be found at: Archive:Phillips, Maine, Vital Records.

A record of the marriage of Phinehas Whitney and “Polly” Crommitt is found at the DAR Library in Washington, DC, in the Maine DAR GRC Report, Series 1, Volume 058, Marriages from the Vital Records of Sidney, (Kennebec Co.), ME. On page 426 of Book I it is recorded in Marriages by Ichabod Thomas, Esq.: Mr. Phinehas Whitney, & Miss Polly Crommitt, both of Waterville, Aug. 18, 1803. Polly is a nickname for Mary.

The question becomes, what is the ancestry of Phinehas Whitney of Phillips, ME? There have been no primary or secondary sources of information found to answer this question. So, thus far it is left a matter of conjecture, which is what the rest of this discourse constitutes.

Argument for a Possible Solution: Conjecture leads us back to Waterford, York Co., ME, to find a family to which Phinehas may belong. The 1790 census of Waterford reveals the family of one Phinehas Whitney, with a wife, two males under sixteen years of age (born 1774 to 1790), and two female children. The History of Norway, Maine states that Phinehas had four children: two sons and two daughters. Waterford eventually became Norway, and this Phinehas lived in the Waterford Three Tiers section of Norway, Oxford Co., ME.

The Revolutionary War pension file of Phinehas Whitney, S38463, M-804, Roll 2568 is at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It states that he was born 3 Jul 1747 and died 21 May 1830. He lived in Norway and Waterford, ME, and his wife’s name was Keziah. Phinehas is Individual number 1091 on page 187 of Frederick Clifton Pierce’s John Whitney genealogy: Archive:The Descendants of John Whitney, page 187. Unfortunately, Pierce listed Phinehas’s first born daughter Mary as his only child. A more complete list of the family is found in the Vital Records of Harvard, Worcester Co., MA: Archive:Harvard, Massachusetts, Vital Records. However, the only birth listed is their first born, daughter Mary, as recorded by Pierce. The other five children mentioned are recorded by their date of baptism. Since all of these children were baptized in different years, one could infer that they were baptized in the year of their births. The children are:

Mary, born 15 May 1766.
Esther, bapt. 13 Nov 1768.
Sarah, bapt. 8 Jul 1770.
Jonathan, bapt. 21 Aug 1774.
Relief, bapt. 18 Jun 1780.
Oliver, bapt. 4 Nov 1781.

Page 12 of the History of Norway, Maine tells us that daughter Annis was born to Phinehas6 and Keziah on 13 February 1785, presumably in Harvard, MA.

An analysis of the 1790 census tells us that the female children at home were probably Annis and Relief. One of the male children was probably Oliver. The identity of the other male child in the household is the subject of further conjecture. Since he was born in 1774, Jonathan could be the second male. Or, he could already be living outside the home of his parents. The Phillips, ME, Vital Records tell us that Phinehas of Phillips was born 1 Dec 1775, making him fourteen years old in 1790. Conjecture from the Sidney, ME, marriage record would place him as the second male under sixteen in the family.

The name Phinehas has a long history in the family. The proposed father of Phinehas of Phillips would be named Phinehas6 also. Keziah (Farnsworth), his proposed mother, was the daughter of Phinehas and Azubah (Burt) Farnsworth. The father of this Phinehas6 of Harvard and Norway was Jonathan5, who was born at Stow and resided at Lancaster and Harvard, MA. Jonathan5 had a brother named Phinehas5. I find it difficult to believe that Phinehas6 and Keziah would have at least seven if not eight children and not name one of them Phinehas.

Why was not the birth or baptism of Phinehas recorded in Harvard as were those of his siblings? It must be remembered that Dec 1775 was a very tumultuous time in Massachusetts history. Boston was under siege by an army of patriot farmers. The recording of the birth or baptism of one’s child at that time might well be forgotten.

Phinehas6 Whitney of Norway did indeed have a will when he died. It was recorded at Paris, the County Seat of Oxford County. The box which supposedly contains the will of Phinehas6 Whitney has been examined by the County Clerk, and the will is found to be missing from the box. Therefore, it cannot be examined for the mention of heirs.

I propose by this conjecture that Phinehas Whitney of Phillips, ME, was the son of Phinehas6 and Keziah (Farnsworth) Whitney of Harvard, MA, and Norway, ME.


Copyright © 2010, Kenneth L. Whitney and the Whitney Research Group.