User talk:Bradrockwood

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Welcome!

Brad,

Thank you for registering as a user on the Whitney Research Group website. Thanks also for giving your Whitney line of descent from Daniel and Arvilla (Marsh) Whitney.

Please consider creating a family group page for this couple.

I regret to say that I do not know who Daniel's parents were. There are, however, some lines of research which I can suggest for you.

Daniel Whitney served in the War of 1812. You could see whether or not he applied for and/or was granted a pension for that service. Applications sometimes contain valuable genealogical information.

Daniel lived first in Oneida Co., NY. There were two families listed in the 1800 census there who had males aged 0-9 who might have been him. (There were others, but we know enough about them to eliminate them as possibilities.) The heads of household are Aaron Whitney of Rome and Samuel Whitney of Westmoreland. See the extracted records. Unfortunately, we know nothing about either of these men. Oneida County was formed from Herkimer in 1798, and Herkimer from Montgomery in 1791. There is no record of these men in the 1790 census of Montgomery County. There is a possible Samuel Whitney in 1790 in Halfmoon, Saratoga Co., NY, who might be the same as the man in Westmoreland later, but he, too, is a mystery. There is no possible Aaron Whitney in the 1790 census. No trace of either is found in Oneida or Jefferson Counties in the 1820 census.

Every town and county in New York has an historian, paid by the state. Their job is to collect and preserve the history of their particular jurisdiction. Part of that deals with the families of the area. You could write to the historians of the places where you know Daniel lived to inquire if they can assist.

Good luck with your research. Please keep us informed of your progress, if any.

Robert - Talk to me 13:27, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Re: Daniel and Arvilla (Marsh) Whitney

Brad,

Thank you for your long note on the above, and your research.

As you pointed out, Job Whitney in the 1810 census of New York seems to be identified sufficiently to make the link to his family group page, and vice versa, so I have done that.

You make a fair case for your Daniel being a son of Samuel Whitney (1749-1822). The main reason against this is that the book by S. Whitney Phoenix does not include him with the other children on pages 169 through 172. It was compiled in the 1870s by corresponding with descendants, and has proven quite accurate, especially in the later generations. I agree that the census records show a male child living in the family who does not correspond to any of the known ten children. That is suggestive, but not conclusive. That boy could have been an adoptive son, a foster son, or a grandson (I thought of apprentice, too, but probably not when under the age of 10).

It's a theory, but needs a lot more substantiation. You could try to find a probate record for Samuel to see if it mentions your Daniel or not. There is a Samuel Whitney of Kirkland, Oneida Co., NY, who left a will (Oneida Co. Surrogate Court Will Books, vol. 8, p. 1), who may be this man, although the date seems to be too late. Also, I repeat the suggestions made before about military pension records and local historians.

Good luck in your search!

Robert - Talk to me 11:04, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

DNA

Brad - I saw the messages that you and Robert exchanged with regards to your line. One additional option would be to have yourself DNA tested. This would quickly allow you to determine if you were a descendant of the immigrants John, Henry, or one of the other branches. We have had several known descendants of each of the major immigrant lines tested, and we now know the DNA signatures. This would quickly eliminate a large number of families and allow you to concentrate on a smaller subset. Information can be found on our DNA page.

- Tim Doyle - Talk to me 18:03, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Daniel Whitney Page

Brad,

You have done an excellent job of creating a family group page! I have looked it over carefully, and have made a few minor changes.

Then I added several categories at the bottom of the page. These can be used to find all pages which share a common property. Most are geographic categories, and they point to all pages on which someone is said to have lived there. The "Parentage Unknown" category gives a list of all families for which the parentage of the head isn't known. (There is also a "Parentage Conjectured" category.)

I also changed the link to the 1830 census record by adding "#151" to the page address. This points not just to that census page, but to a particular line on it. That is the line which appears just after the so-called "anchor" "<span id="151"></span>".

I also added a link from your name in the copyright line to your user page.

I hope these changes meet with your approval. If you want to discuss them, or anything else, I am available.

Robert - Talk to me 14:11, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Daniel Whitney Page, II

Brad,

Yes, it's O.K. (even desirable), whenever you create a new Family: page, to add a line to the appropriate Whitneys by Given Name page. If you don't, I'd have to.

Adding pages for Daniel and Arvilla (Marsh) Whitney's children would be a plus. As you do that, link the father to the children and vice versa.

A lineage string should be included, even if it is very short. I wouldn't use generation number superscripts, since we don't know the proper number to insert. If we ever connect Daniel to one of the immigrants, then we can modify the lineage strings and add generation numbers for him and his descendants.

For your information, I have adopted the following convention. If a child married and had children, then a page can be created for that child and family. If a child not in the previous category has a lot of information available (how much is a subjective judgment having to do with readability of the parents' page), then a page can be created for that child. If such a page is created, I include only birth data and the name or names of the spouse or spouses (if any), on the parents' page, along with the link to the child's page. In cases where no page is created for the child, I include whatever I know about the child on the parents' page.

I also use the adverbs "probably", "possibly", "perhaps", "apparently", and so on, to qualify items of which I am not certain. I use "about" or "circa" for dates I have some reason to believe are close to the right one, and "say" when I am just guessing.

I hope this all makes sense to you. Feel free to write again if I can help further.

- Robert Ward - Talk to me 19:17, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Daniel Whitney Page, III

Brad,

You are doing well. No, I didn't have any record of Daniel Whitney in the War of 1812, aside from what you stated. It was a possibility, but not all veterans applied for or received pensions, especially if they had means.

To avoid the blank lines before and after the census records, first put a line break after the colon, and then put the <p class="Plaintext"> string at the beginning of the first line of the record, and </p> at the end of the last line. I have made these adjustments for you on Daniel's page.

- Robert Ward - Talk to me 11:47, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Re: Daniel Whitney Update II

Brad,

Thanks for keeping me up to date with your research.

You wrote: >I suspect it will be another month before I receive my bible record from the DAR so I can add references.

When you do, there is the Archive:Bible Records page where you can post a transcription.

>I still have pages to add for some of the children’s children.

All such additions are welcome.

>It’s also interesting that this Daniel married a Marsh as well; probably just a coincidence.

I'm not so sure that this is a coincidence. There are many, many examples of cousin marriages.

>While digging around, I’ve found some records for other Whitney’s outside of the scope of my family. Is it ok to add those to their family pages provided I have references?

Absolutely! The more we can compile about Whitney individuals, the better.

- Robert Ward - Talk to me 11:31, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Re: Daniel Whitney Update IIa

Brad,

I'm delighted that you have a plausible theory to pursue about Arvilla's parentage! It also supports the parentage of Daniel, her husband, as a possible son of Daniel and Eunice (Marsh) Whitney. A look at Chesterfield, NH, is clearly in order for the Marsh family. I notice that there is a Moses Marsh in Keene, NH, in 1790 and 1800.

- Robert Ward - Talk to me 08:33, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Re: Daniel Whitney Update IIb

Brad,

You're way ahead of me on the censuses. Good work!

The only reason I mentioned Chesterfield, NH, is that that is where Daniel and Eunice (Marsh) Whitney were about 1790. I thought possibly Moses Marsh may have lived near them, not only in NY, but earlier in NH, too. You point out that he was probably still living at home in Douglas, MA, in 1800, which would negate that idea. Daniel and Eunice (Marsh) Whitney seem to have left Chesterfield long before Moses Marsh, their brother-in-law, left home.

I found some family trees on Ancestry.com which said that Moses Marsh's wife was Betty/Elizabeth Lyon. This wife belonged to a different, older Moses Marsh. I have no idea who the wife of Moses, son of Ebenezer, may have been.

Your suggestion that the census taker may have written "Samuel" when correct might have been "Daniel" is possible, but cannot be assumed without further evidence to support it. The image is very clear, and definitely says "Samuel". It is true that every census record extant is a copy, so there could also have been a copying error.

- Robert Ward - Talk to me 13:12, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Re: Daniel Whitney Update III

Brad,

Your census records are thought-provoking. I don't know what to make of the Samuel Whitney records you have found, but I would be VERY hesitant to include Whittlesey as a misspelling of Whitney.

As far as identifying the Samuel Whitneys of the census with those you have found in our family group records, this is just a guess. One (or more) of the latter may be one (or more) of the former, but there is no evidence for such except for identity of names and range of birth dates. Leaping to such a conclusion is not warranted.

As far as identifying any of them as the father of Daniel, the evidence for this is very weak. It's a theory, and you can pursue it if you wish, but I am not optimistic about the possibility of confirming it.

- Robert Ward - Talk to me 17:14, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Re: Wills & Probate

Brad,

In New York, all probate records are held at the county level, in the hands of the Surrogate Court. It is somewhat difficult and/or expensive to get copies by mail. Probably it would be easier to hire someone local to go to the courthouse and examine the records for you.

I call your attention to an on-line source: <http://www.sampubco.com> This website has indexes to the wills for the counties of New York state (among others), and will sell you a copy of any particular one or ones you want. It does not deal with administrations, guardianships, or any other kind of probate records.

- Robert Ward - Talk to me 17:19, 29 October 2011 (UTC)