Family:Whitney, Phinehas (1766-1831)

Capt. Phinehas⁷ Whitney (William⁶, William⁵, William⁴, Nathaniel³, John², John¹); son of William⁶ and Mary (Mansfield) Whitney; born 1 Apr 1766; married 17 Jan 1793, Phebe Stearns; born 1774; died 7 Apr 1794; married 2d, 15 Feb 1796, Bethiah Barrett, of Barre; died 2 Aug 1849.

Capt. Phinehas Whitney was the most prominent business man in Winchendon from 1800 to the time of his death in 1831. Besides a large farm he kept a tavern, owned an oil mill and woolen factory and raised horses and cattle. Though esteemed by his townsmen he was rarely in office because of his business. He was the first to enlist to put down the Shays rebellion, being then but twenty years of age; afterwards he was captain of a cavalry company. He was always active in religious and temperance matters. Bethiah Barrett was a model countrywoman. She was small in stature, comely, with blue eyes and brown hair, very intelligent, dignified and grave. She was much loved and highly esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances. She was easily the first woman in Winchendon in her time. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Rev. Giles Lyman, in Marlborough, New Hampshire. He died 10 May 1831, at Newton; resided Winchendon, Massachusetts.

Children of Phineahas⁷ and Phebe (Stearns) Whitney:

i.	Phinehas8 Whitney, born 1794; died 12 Jul 1804.

Children of Phineahas⁷ and Bethiah (Barrett) Whitney:

ii.	Phebe Whitney, born 5 Apr 1797; married 1817, Asa Washburn, born 5 Mar 1790; died 2 Oct 1824; she married 2d at Winchendon, Apr., 1827, John Woodbury, born Aug., 1784; died 5 Dec 1870. She died 7 Mar 1876. Ch.: Nelson P., born 14 Oct 1818; married Elizabeth A. Hills; resided Claremont, New Hampshire; 2 ch. He is a large boot and shoe manufacturer; William Barrett, born 31 Jan 1820; married 6 Sep 1847, Hannah A. Sweetser; 6 ch.; resided Greenfield, Massachusetts, one son William N., resided Greenfield. Gov. William Barrett Washburn, was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, 31 Jan 1820, and died in Springfield, Massachusetts, 5 Oct 1887. He was graduated at Yale in 1844 and became a manufacturer at Greenfield, where he was for many years president of the National bank and which he represented in both branches of the legislature in 1850-54. He was identified with the republican party from its organization in 1856 and at the beginning of the civil war contributed liberally to the national cause. In 1862 he was sent to Congress as a Republican and he was returned biennially till on 1 Jan 1872, he resigned his seat to become governor of Massachusetts. This office he resigned also during his third term to fill the vacancy that was made in the U. S. Senate by the death of Charles Summer, serving from 1 May 1874, till Mar 3, 1875, when he withdrew from public affairs. Besides holding many offices of trust under corporations, he was a trustee of Yale, of the Massachusetts Agricultural college, and of Smith college, of which he was also a benefactor and a member of the board of overseers of Amherst from 1864 to 1877. Harvard conferred the degree of L.L. D. upon him in 1872. By his will he made the American board and the American Home Missionary association residuary legatees, leaving to each society about $50,000. He was also a great benefactor of the Greenfield public library. He died suddenly while attending a session of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions of which he was a member; Mary Jane, born Mar. 11, 1828; died 11 Oct 1840.
iii.	Lucy Whitney, born 4 Jun 1799; married in Winchendon in 1825; Rev. Benjamin Rice, of South Deerfield. He was born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, May 9, 1784, graduated at Brown college in 1808, studied theology at Andover, and settled in the gospel ministry first at Skeneateles, New York, next at Deerfield, Massachusetts, and afterwards at New Gloucester and Buxton, Maine; he returned to Massachusetts, and settled in Winchendon, where he died 11 Jul 1847, in his 64th year. He was married three times--first to Elizabeth Bennett, who died in Sharon, Connecticut, in Feb., 1818. His second wife was Almira Whipple, of Charlton, Massachusetts, and his third Lucy Whitney, by whom he had William Whitney, born 7 Mar 1826; married at Stamford, Connecticut, 21 Nov 1855; Cornelia A. Moen, born 1833, died 16 Jun 1862; married 2d, at Worcester, 28 Sep 1875, Alice M. Miller, born 22 Jul 1840. Ch.: William Whitney, Jr., born 31 May 1858; died Feb 10, 1864; Charles Moen, born 6 Nov 1860, resided Worcester. He was prepared for college at Phillips, Exeter (New Hampshire), academy, entered Harvard college in 1878, and was graduated in 1882; studied law at the Harvard law school, also in his father's office, and was admitted to the bar in 1886; is now practicing his profession and member of the firm of Rice, King & Rice. Hon. William Whitney Rice was prepared for college at Gorham academy, Gorham, Maine. He entered Bowdoin college at Brunswick in 1842, and was graduated in 1846. He was preceptor at Leicester (Massachusetts) academy for four years, studied law in Worcester with Hon. Emory Washburn, and with Hon. George F. Hoard, U. S. senator from Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar in 1854, where he has ever since resided and practiced his profession. He has been eminently successful in his profession, and is recognized as one term in that office. He was district attorney for the middle district of Massachusetts from 1869 to 1874, and member of Massachusetts general court in 1875. He was elected to the 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, and 49th congresses as a member of the house of representatives from the Ninth or Worcester district. He was an able, efficient and influential member of congress during his long term of service, and took an active part both on the floor and in the committees. He is a republican in politics, conservative upon the tariff and monetary questions, and has always kept well in advance with the progressive element of his party. In the councils of his party his opinions are always sought for, and have been and are influential in formulating party policy and molding public opinion. He was a model public man, who during his long public life served his constituents and the public with disinterested patriotism and unselfish devotion to the public welfare. He is a member of the board of overseers of Bowdoin college, member of the board of trustees of the Worcester County Institute of Industrial Science, member of the board of trustees of Clarke university, also trustee of Leicester academy; Lucy A., born 26 Sep 1827; married 24 Sep 1857, Rev. Milan H. Hitchcock; resided Hubbardston, Massachusetts; Charles Jenkins, born 2 Jul 1883; married Sarah M. Cummings, s.p.; died 3 May 1892; Mrs. Lucy (Whitney) Rice, now in her 94th year, resides in Winchendon.
iv.	William Barrett Whitney, born 14 Jun 1801; married Lois Stone.
v.	Mary Whitney, born 17 Mar 1803; married 22 Jan 1828, Dr. Alvah Godding; born 5 Nov 1796; died 11 Jan 1875. She died 15 Nov 1870; resided Winchendon, Massachusetts. Dr. Alvah Godding was born in Troy, New Hampshire, 5 Nov 1796. He died at Winchendon, Mas.., 11 Jan 1875, aged 78 years, 2 months and 6 days. Dr. Alvah Godding studied medicine with Dr. Amos Twitchell, of Keene, New Hampshire, and was graduated in medicine from Bowdoin Medical college, Maine, in 1825. He practiced his profession for a short time at Royalston, Massachusetts, as a partner of Dr. Stephen Batcheldor, and subsequently removed to Winchendon, Massachusetts, where he continued to successfully practice his profession until his death in Jan., 1875, a period of nearly half a century, and was greatly beloved by all who knew him. For several years he was member of the general court. Ch.: William Whitney, born 5 May 1831; married Dec. 4, 1860, Ellen R. Murdock, Supt. National Insane Asylum, Washington, District of Columbia. Dr. William Whitney Godding was prepared for college at Winchendon academy, Winchendon, Massachusetts, and at Phillips academy, Andover, Mass He entered Dartmouth college, Hanover, New Hampshire, and was graduated in the class of 1854. He studied medicine with his father, attended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, and at the Castleton Medical College, Vermont, and was graduated from the latter institution in the class of 1857. After his graduation he practiced his profession with his father until 1859, when he was appointed assistant physician at the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, Concord, New Hampshire. In 1862 he resigned his position in the New Hampshire Insane Asylum and went into private practice at Fitchburg, Massachusetts. In the autumn of 1863 he was appointed assistant physician of the Government Hospital for the Insane, at Washington, District of Columbia. In 1870 he was appointed superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum at Taunton, Massachusetts, where he remained until the summer of 1877, when he was appointed superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane at Washington, which position he now holds. He has spent the greater part of his professional life among the insane, and has made the study and treatment of the diseases of the unfortunate class a specialty, and he is to-day recognized and admitted to be one of the highest authori ties in the country on the subject of insanity and the treatment of the insane. In 1882 Dr. Godding published a small volume entitled "The Hard Cases: Sketches from a Physician's Portfolio."
vi.	Phinehas Whitney, born May, 1806. He died 5 Mar 1809.
vii.	Nelson Whitney, born May, 1808; died 5 Mar 1809.
viii.	Sarah A. Whitney, born Jan. 1809; married 28 Aug 1832, Jesiah Brown, born 1801; died 29 Sep 1836; married second April 23, 1839, Charles William Bigelow. Ch.: George R. Brown, born 5 May 1835; died 5 Nov 1838. Charles William Bigelow, born 15 Jan 1810; died 6 Jan 1880. She died Jan. 24, 1884; ch., Charles E., born Winchendon, Massachusetts, 18 Mar 1843; married Jennie M. Robbins. He grad. Williams College, and has charge of the New York house of the Knowles Steam Pump works.
ix.	Louisa Whitney, born 30 May 1812; married 14 Dec 1835, Rev. Giles Lyman, born 16 Mar 1802. He died 1837, s.p. He was grad. at Amherst in 1827, and at And. Theo. Sem. in 1831. Was pastor of the Cong. church in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 1832-7; from 1840-69 he was settled in Marlborough, New Hampshire, and preached frequently at Fowlerville, New York, Ashburnham and Gardner, Massachusetts. She died Dec., 1892.

Census

• 1800, Winchendon, Worcester Co., MA: Phinehas Whitney, 1 male 16-25, 1 female 16-25, and 1 female 0-9.

References

• All data imported from Frederick Clifton Pierce, The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, (Chicago: 1895), pp. 266-270.

---

Copyright © 2006, the Whitney Research Group