Family:Whitney, Charles Francis (1866-1931)

Charles Francis Whitney (Charles Mayo, Jacob, (prob.) Jabez⁶, Jacob⁵, Jonas⁴, Eleazar³, Thomas², John¹), son of Charles Mayo and Laura Acenath (Maxfield) Whitney, was born about 1871, Saint Louis, MO, and died Apr 1931, Miami, FL.

He married, 27 Sep 1899, Gloucester, MA [also recorded at Somerville, MA], Mary Elizabeth Clark, both of Somerville, daughter of Samuel L. and Dorcus L. {Curtis/Center) Clark.^[1] She was born 28 Oct 1864, Gloucester, MA, and died 31 Dec 1945, Chattahoochee, FL.

Charles Francis Whitney is the first well known individual of this Whitney clan. He was the son of Charles Mayo Whitney, who was born about 1832-33 in Massachusetts. Records found to date show his father as a lawyer in Troy, NY, and married to Laura Acenath Maxfield, from Chester, VT. They moved to St. Louis, MO, where his father was lawyer/editor, and Charles F. was born. The family moved to British Columbia, Canada, perhaps about 1890. His father started a newspaper called the Courtenay Weekly News in November, 1892. It later became the Cumberland News. Charles F. was the first postmaster in Courtenay, in 1893. Charles' mother died in 1893 at the Asylum for the Insane, in BC. His father, Mayo, moved to Vancouver in 1898 and died there in 1900.

Charles F. Whitney left Vancouver about 1897 and became a seaman, traveling to Australia. Based on his diary, he traveled via the "SS Aberdeen" to Melbourne, Australia, stayed in the Bethel Shipworks, joined the "Lucile" of Freeport, ME, and worked the run from Melbourne to New Castle, a three day sail for 2 pounds, 10 shillings. He stayed at the Caledonia Hotel for 18 shillings/week including board. He joined the 1580 ton ship "Phasis" captained by Thomas Flemming. He left New Castle for Surabaya, Java, on 18 Jun 1897. They went through the Torres Straits 29 Jun, by Maderia Island 16 July, then lay on the bar for 8 days. They entered the Java Sea 19 Aug, crossing the line (equator?) about 26 Aug arriving in the China Sea 27 Aug. They passed the last island on the Borneo coast 29 Aug. On 2 Sep the ship wrecked at 2245 on the St. Royal Georges reef in the South China Sea. The 27 souls left ship in three boats and sailed ESE for the Ambering coast of Borneo. They were all rescued by Capt. Grant of the steamer "Libelle" of London and taken to Kudat, then Sandaken, the capital, where they picked up lumber, and then to Kadat and Labuan which is 1/3 owned by NCBY Co. The steamer was owned by New Central Borneo Co. "There is a beautiful drive along the beach studded with orange trees and coconuts. Fine residences line the road for miles." They left Labuan sailing 14 days to Singapore and the ship-wrecked sailors home. He obtained passage to London on Alfred Hoults-Blue Funnel-Pratisclus, then to New York, arriving 13 Dec 1897.

After returning to Massachusetts, he married Mary E. Clark and settled in Somerville, MA. His son, Charles O. was born there. Later they moved to Worcester where his uncle Alonzo lived. He was a Railroad Brakeman and then a traveling salesman for the Better Brush Company. The family moved to Florida, via Philadelphia and Ocala in 1925, camping along the way. He worked as a laborer at a concrete block company with his son for a while. He died in Miami in 1931. Strangely, like his mother, his wife Mary spent the last years of her life in a State mental illness home in Chattahoochee, FL, before her death in 1945.

Children of Charles Francis and Mary Elizabeth (Clark) Whitney:

i.	Charles Orlando Whitney, b. 1 Sep 1903, Somerville, MA;[2] d. 5 Dec 1988, Harrison, AR.

Census

• 1860, Troy Ward 7,Rensselaer, NY, p.641.
• 1880, Saint Louis, MO, 2nd enumeration, p. 388B.
• 1900, 11 Irving Place, Boston Ward 4, Suffolk Co., MA:

65 100 Johnson, Joseph Head W M Oct 1834 65 mar 34 Canada Eng. Canada Eng. Canada Eng. Car maker, Rents house, Immig. 1855 -----, Margaret Wife W F Mar 1839 61 mar 34 3ch 1liv Canada Eng. Scotland Canada Eng. Immig. 1865 -----, Bishop Son W M Oct 1879 20 sgl Massachusetts Canada Eng. Canada Eng. Book keeper 101 Whitney, Charles Head W M Aug 1869 30 mar 8m Missouri Massachusetts Vermont Gasman, House -----, Mary J. Wife W F Oct 1865 34 mar 8m Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts

References

• Archive:Charles F Whitney Diary

1.^  "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 488, page 343, and volume 489, page 565.

2.^  "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841–1910," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004; volume 533, page 622.

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Copyright © 2006-2008, 2015, 2016, 2018, Stacy Whitney, Curt Whitney and the Whitney Research Group.