Family:Whitney, John (1746-a1791)
John5 Whitney (Eliakim4, Nathan3, John2, Henry1), son of Eliakim4 and Mary (Beachgood) Whitney, was born 28 Jul 1746, Stamford, CT,[1] was baptized 24 Aug 1746, Darien, CT, and died after 1791, Prescott, ON.
He married, say 1776, Esther -----. She was born say 1748.
- "He had a wife and three sons. They settled, about 1800, in Prescott, Upper Canada, where he engaged in lumbering." His relatives have lost all trace of him and his family.[2]
- WHITNEY, John, and his sons Eliakim and Peter were from the USA, according to Ontario Archives land petition records, and were living in the Lunenberg District, (Matilda ?County), likely in Johnstown, prior to 1791. In 1791 when the Province of Upper Canada was formed, John and Eliakim petitioned for land. Johnstown, located about 2 miles east of present day Prescott, was formed in 1789/90. By 1793 there was a lumbermill established. It seems Prescott came into being with the construction of Fort Wellington in 1812. A petition from Peter in 1819 states that he had been living in the province (Upper Canada) for 28 years, ie., since 1791. Does anyone have further information as to when this family came to Canada and in particular where in the USA did they come from? I am aware of the Whitney Phoenix entry # 394 about a John WHITNEY, born 1748 a son of Eliakim, tradition had it that John had a wife and three sons and had settled in Prescott Upper Canada in 1800, where he was engaged in lumbering. It is reasonable that the research for the Phoenix record, done a few years prior to 1878, would indicate Prescott and not Johnstown, as by the late 1800's Johnstown was likely a minor suburb of Prescott. Any comments (I am really looking for evidence) on where the John WHITNEY and his famly living in Johnstown (Prescott) in 1791, came from and the likelihood that he was the John mentioned in the WHITNEY Phoenix entry #394 would be much appreciated. -- Stu Whitney
Children of John5 and Esther (-----) Whitney, all born in the U.S.A.:
i. Samuel6 Whitney, b. ca. 1778; m. Mary Landers. ii. Eliakim Whitney, b. 1780; m. Mary Elisabeth Peters. iii. Peter Whitney, b. say 1782; m. Mary Lamont. iv. Stephen Whitney, b. say 1784; m. Anna Catherine La Bar. v. Jenny Whitney, b. ca. 1791; m. 1811, George Stevens.
References
1.^ "Whitney, John, s. Eliakim & Mary, b. 28 Jul 1746," according to Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Stamford 1:83.
2.^ Stephen Whitney Phoenix, The Whitney family of Connecticut, and its affiliations; being an attempt to trace the descendants, as well in the female as the male lines, of Henry Whitney, from 1649 to 1878; to which is prefixed some account of the Whitneys of England. (New York : Priv. Print. [Bradford Press] 1878), p. 109.
Copyright © 2011, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group.
