Family:Whitney, Seth (1726-b1807)
Seth4 Whitney (Nathan3, John2, Henry1), son of Nathan3 and Sarah (Platt) Whitney,[1] was born 8 Feb 1726, Ridgefield, CT;[2] died before 30 May 1807, Yorktown, NY.[3]
He married firstly, say 1749, Sarah Mow,[4] daughter of John and Mary (Mead) Moe. She was born about 1732, Greenwich, CT, and died before 1787, Yorktown, NY.[5]
He married secondly, 21 March 1787, Yorktown, NY, Elizabeth Wright,[6] parentage and birth unknown. She died date unknown, Yorktown, NY.[7]
He married thirdly, before 9 July 1802, Anna (Smith)(Jump) Trowbridge,[8] parentage unknown.[9] She was born about 10 May 1730,[10] and died 29 June 1819, Yorktown, NY, aged 89 years, 1 month and 19 days.[11] She had married firstly ----- Jump, and secondly, about 1763, Capt. Samuel Trowbridge (1726-1771).
Phoenix says the following:[12]
- ... Sarah Mow, or Moe, ... was probably from Greenwich, Conn. He was a tanner, currier and shoemaker, and the indenture of Ezra Mow, son of John Mow of Greenwich, Conn., dated 23 Dec. 1758, as his apprentice to those trades, shows that he was then living in Cortlandt's Patent, now Crompond, in Yorktown, Westchester Co., N.Y., where he bought a fine farm, which is still owned by his descendants; and built a good house, yet standing after more than a century, and occupied by Gen. Bernardus Montross, who married his granddaughter, and yet keeps up its reputation for generous hospitality. His house was attacked during the Revolutionary war, by a party of tories who took all of his arms; soon after which they paid him another visit, headed by the notorious freebooter, Joseph Hueson, who tried to enter a back window, while his comrades kept watch outside. Whitney warned him to keep out or be killed, but Hueson, feeling sure that he had no arms, persisted in the attempt, and was stabbed in the breast with an old bayonet which Whitney had mounted on a stout staff. Hueson fell inside of the house, and his comrades forced the door and carried him away. They took Whitney into the yard, and not daring to use their guns for fear of alarming a body of American soldiers who were quartered at Crompond Church, a short distance from there, they struck him over the head with a horse-pistol, giving him a mark which he carried through life, and leaving him for dead. He had the satisfaction of hearing Hueson, as they carried him off, say, "the old rebel has killed me"; and so it was, for he only lived to ride a half-mile. The bayonet and staff are yet kept in the old house.--See Bolton's Hist. of Westchester County, II., 390.
- His wife died at Yorktown, date not known, and he m. (2d), at Yorktown, 21 March 1787, Elizabeth Wright, Rev. Silas Constant, of Crompond, officiating. The date of her death does not appear. He married (3d), Anna Smith, whose first husband was ----- Jump, and her second, Capt. Trowbridge, of Bedford, N.Y. She signed a deed with him, 9 July 1802; another 21 Mary 1803; was mentioned in his will of 1 Jan 1807; and died 29 June 1819, aged 89 years, 1 month and 19 days. She was buried in the Crompond East graveyard, where a stone marks her grave. He died in 1807, prior to 30 May, and was buried in the same yard, but nothing has been left to mark his grave, or those of his first two wives.
- The diary of Rev. Silas Constant shows that, 4 Jan. 1786, he "rode to Mr. Whitney's, preached Matt. xxii, 5; conference in the evening." Also "Jan. 4, 1797, rode to Mr. Whitneys; married John Travis and Phebe Whitney."
Will of Seth Whitney, 1 Jan 1807, Yorktown, Westchester County, New York:
- "In the Name of God Amen ~
- "I Seth Whitney of Yorktown in the County of Westchester and State of New York, farmer
being somewhat unwell but of perfect mind and memory thanks be given unto God calling unto mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men to die Do make and Ordain this my last Will and Testament - first I commend my soul unto the hand of the Almighty God that gave it, and my body to be buried in the earth at the discretion of my Executors believing in the general Resurrection having hope in Christ Jesus and as touching such worldly estate that God has given me. I give devise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form.
- "First I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Anne Whitney the sum of fifty pounds,
one of my cows together with all the household goods & furnature that she brought unto me if they are to be found. Again I give unto my son Seth Whitney all my right and title to two bay mares and the right I have [to] the farming utensils which are yet on his farm where I now live. I say if I have any right or title to them I give the same unto Seth Whitney or to his heirs. Again I Order and Direct my Executors to sell all the remainder of my Estate not before willed and pay all my lawful debts and charges and keep the reside [residue] in there hands for the maintenance of my daughter Mary Bedle to be delt out as she should stand need or according to her necessities, but if my daughter Mary Bedle should die before the moneys should be all expended, then in that case I order my Executors to pay the residue unto my son Seth Whitney or to his heirs.
- "Lastly I constitute and appoint my two friends and neighbors Caleb Underhill and Jesse
Mekeel Executors to this my last Will and Testament and I do hereby utterly revoke and disallow all and every other former Will [and] Testament or legacies bequests or executors by me in any ways before willed ~ ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last Will and Testament.
- "In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this first day of January in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seven ~ 1807 ~ Signed sealed published pronounced and declared by the said Seth Whitney as his last Will and Testament in the presence of us . . . . . .
- "John Sutton
Jesse Armstrong
Seth Whitney
Ellen Marvin
- "proved by the oath [?] of John Sutton
- "May 30th 1807
- "Caleb Underhill affirmed"[13]
Children of Seth4 and Sarah (Mow) Whitney:
i. Sarah5 Whitney, b. 3 Apr 1750;[14] m. Joseph Fowler. ii. Mary Whitney, b. unknown; m. at Yorktown, N.Y., by Rev. Silas Constant, 4 Feb. 1790, to Samuel Beadle. Tradition says that she received an injury in early life, which resulted in insanity soon after marriage; so that she remained in her father's family, and lived apart from her husband, who also became insane. Samuel Beadle, who died 25 May 1827, in his 69th year, is buried in the Crompond East burial-ground, and is possibly the same. Her father, in his will of 1 Jan. 1807, provided for her support; as did also her brother, Seth Whitney, in his will of 8 June 1835. The date of her birth, and that of her death, have not been found.[15] iii. Ezra Whitney, b. Yorktown, NY; was never married; lived in Yorktown, with his brother Seth; was for many years paralytic; and the date of his death is not on record.[16] iv. Abijah Whitney, b. Yorktown, NY;[17] m. Melicent Hyatt. v. Seth Whitney, b. 3 May 1765, Yorktown, NY;[18] m. Elizabeth Strang. vi. Amos Whitney, b. 15 Dec 1767, Yorktown, NY;[19] m. Rosetta Lewis.
Seth4 and Elizabeth (Wright) Whitney had no children.
Seth4 and Anna (Smith)(Jump)(Trowbridge) Whitney had no children.
Census
- 1790, York, Westchester Co., NY: Seth Whitney, 4 males over 16 and 4 females.
- 1800, York, Westchester Co., NY: Seth Whitney, 1 male over 45, 1 male 26-44, 1 male 16-25, 1 female over 45, and 1 female 26-44.
References
1.^ 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), pp. 39-40.
2.^ "Seth [Whitney], s. Nathan & Sarah, b. 8 Feb [1726]," according to Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Ridgefield LR1:206.
5.^ L.D.S. International Genealogical Index.
13.^ Will of Seth Whitney, 1 Jan 1807, Yorktown, Westchester County, New York. Transcribed by Sally Whitney Goodfellow, Charlotte, NC, November 28, 2014. Copy of original, handwritten will acquired from Westchester County (NY) Archives. Executors Caleb Underhill (1770-1843) and Jesse Mekeel (1784-1835) were both residents of Yorktown, NY.
14.^ Phoenix, op. cit., p. 110.
16.^ Phoenix, op. cit., p. 111.
Copyright © 2007, 2013, 2015, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group.
