Jonathan Whitney (1631-1703) and Lydia Jones (abt 1632-1702)

{Immigrant Hills Ancestors}

From http://wiki.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php/Family:Whitney,_Jonathan_%28c1634-1703%29:

"Jonathan2 Whitney (John1), son of John1 and Elinor (-----) Whitney,[1] was born about [1631], probably in or near London,[2] and died 1 Jan 1702/3, Sherborn, MA.[3]. He came to New England with his parents aboard the ship Elizabeth and Ann in 1635 when he was about three years old. (see Appendix A for a discussion of his birth year.) His family settled in Watertown. They were relatively affluent, and his father served in many public offices.

Jonathan Whitney took the oath of fidelity and was made a freeman in 1652 (Pulsifer, 301).

Lydia Jones, the oldest daughter of Lewis and Anna (-----) JONES.[5] She was born about 1632, possibly in England, and died 3 Feb 1701/2, Sherborn, MA.[6] It is not known when her parents came to New England, but in 1640 they were on the records John Elliot’s congregation in the Roxbury Church. Anne Jones either had difficulty having babies, or the births and deaths of her other children are not recorded. Lydia’s next sibling of record is her brother Josiah, who was born about 11 years after she was on 2 October 1643 in Roxbury. A sister, Phebe, was born on 21 Jan. 1645/46, also in Roxbury. On 6 January, 1650, when Lydia would have been about eighteen years old, her then four year old sister, Phebe, died of a scald, and Lewis and Anna moved their family to Watertown, where they lived on a ten-acre lot at what is now the North West corner of Belmont and Grove streets, in the town of Belmont according to Dr. Bond, the Watertown historian. In Watertown, Ann had her last child, Shubael, who was apparently handicapped in some way. In his will, Lewis Jones talks about the the weak and helpless condition of my dear wife Ann Jones and my son Shubael Jones. Lydia very likely provided much of the management of the house and the care of her mother and brother. In Watertown, Lydia met Jonathan Whitney. They were married on 30 Oct 1656.[4],

Children of Jonathan2 and Lydia (Jones) Whitney, all born in Watertown, MA:

  1. Lydia3 Whitney, b. 3 Jul 1657,[13] married Sherburn 15 April 1684 (SVR, 181) MOSES ADAMS, born 6 October 1654, died 27 May 1724 (Whitney genealogy, 24). No probate found.

  2. Jonathan Whitney, b. 20 Oct 1659;[14] m. Sarah Hapgood.

  3. Anna Whitney (our ancestor), b. 29 Apr 1660;[15] m. Cornelius Fisher.

  4. John Whitney, b. 26 Jun 1662;[16] m.(1) Mary Hapgood; m.(2) Sarah Haven; m.(3) Martha (How) Walker.

  5. Josiah Whitney, b. 19 May 1663;[17] m.(1) Mary -----; m.(2) Abigail Martin.

  6. Elinor Whitney, b. 12 Oct 1666,[18] d. 23 Nov 1678, Watertown, MA,[19] unmarried.

  7. James Whitney, b. 25 Nov 1668,[20] d. 30 Nov 1690, Sherborn, MA,[21] unmarried.

  8. Isaac Whitney, b. 12 Jan 1671,[22] d. 2 Dec 1690, Sherborn, MA,[23] unmarried.

  9. Joseph Whitney, b. 10 Mar 1673;[24] m. Rebecca Burge.

  10. Abigail Whitney, b. 18 Aug 1675,[25] d. 7 Jun 1704, Sherborn, MA,[26] unmarried.

  11. Benjamin Whitney, b. 6 Jan 1679;[27] m. Mercy Travis.

"About 1659, Jonathan’s father gave him 39 acres of land [situated in the Little Plain in Watertown], which he had purchased of Richard Woodward. On 7 November 1664, Jonathan Whitney, and wife Lydia, sold, this land to Thomas Flagg for £40. Lydia signed her name to this deed, as indicated in the copybook, but no original sample of her writing survives. The same day they sold 5 acres of meadow, situated on a branch of Stony Brook to Richard Child (Middlesex Deed 3:80-81). [See Barry, p. 436.]"[9]

http://wiki.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php/Archive:The_Ancestry_of_Eva_Belle_Kempton

At the March 1664 Watertown selectmen's meeting, it was found that, "whereas Jonathan whetny & Danill Meddup are intendinge to goe to Cape Pare: & the towne feareinge thir wives or children may be in want in their absence: & thay not beinge willinge to satisfy the select-men upon thefr demand:

"The town apoynted goodman Baitow goodman Colledge & goodman Tayntor to Call Jonathan whetney & Danili

Meddup before Mr Danforth or sum other magistrate which acordingly was done: & Jonathan whetney before mr Danforth ingaged to leave (for his wives & childrens supply in his absence: in the hand of Tho. Flegg) as a debt then due 36£: to be paid yearly in 3 years: & the vallew of 14£ in Cattell in his wives hand (WTR 1:83)."i

Nathan Fisk Jr. and Jonathan Whitney were chosen to be Watertown's hogreeves in the year 1674 (WTR 1:121). In 1676, Jonathan was charged for his share of the fines of hogs and cattle, 12s (WTR 1:126). He may have been away at the time, since his service from Watertown in King Philip's War dated from 24 August 1676 (Bodge, 273,376). He was paid in 1677 for his work on the mill bridge, 8s (WTR 1:132).i

Jonathan Whitney and his son, John, were witnesses at the trial in the attempted rape case of Sam, an Indian. On 30 August 1671, Mary Bacon, wife of Daniel Bacon of Cambridge, was returning home with her husband on a horse-drawn cart, when they arrived at the river. Mary and Daniel crossed, but Mary was in a hurry to get home, so she asked Daniel to wait for the cart, while she went on ahead a quarter of a mile to their house. She deposed that "when I was goften within about 20 roods of[f] from the house, a man coming sudingly behind me claping his hands upon my eyes" knocked her down and flipped her clothing over her head. Pinned to the ground she struggled and called out, nearly suffocating, but succeeding in frightening the man away (Suffolk File #1050). Although she never actually saw the man who attacked her, she named Sam, an Indian, who lived nearby as her assailant. Among the deponents who came forward in the case was "John Whitney aged about 9 years" who testified that on that day he had been looking for sheep with Sam, son of William Indian, who soon ran up toward Goodman Bacon's, and it getting dark, young Whitney "went home & about one quarter of an houre after the said Sam came to my father's house near the bridge foot at Waftertown mill." Not long after Sam left, John saw a woman pass by towards Goodman Bacon's house on the highway. He told his father, who also came to testify:

Jonathan Whitney aged about 36 yeares examined sayth that in sd evening upon ye 30 August after it ye day light was Gone, hee being abeute half a mile of[f] hee herd a doleful cry hee suposed a woman's cry & it twas toward ye house of daniel Bacon as I conseive fromm sd plase wher I was; but who it was yt so cried I know not also when he came Hom yt night & hering of the buisnes about Goodman Bacon's wife Asault had examined his sonne John Whitney who the[n] did relate unto me the substance of what is contaned in his examination taken before Capt Gookin (Suffolk File #1050) i

Sam the Indian was near the scene of the crime, but no one, not even the victim, saw him attempt the assault. He was committed to prison.

Jonathan Whitney served from Watertown in King Philip's War (Bodge, 273, 376). i

In 1679, the year their youngest son was born, Jonathan, Lydia and their family became inhabitants of Sherborn, MA. With five other men, Jonathan Whitney was appointed to lay out highways leading from Sudbury, Sherborne, Marlborough and Framingham, and Falls upon Charles River, "so as may be most convenient for the accommodation of travaillers from Towne to town both for men & beast" (15 December 1684, Pulsifer, 4:139). His involvement with the town and colony roads continued to the end of his life, when on 15 December 1702 the Middlesex Court ordered that Jonathan Whitney Senr be paid for his work in ordering the building of a bridge on the way from Natick to Boston at the falls (Middlesex County General Sessions). i

In July of 1683 Jonathan Whitney was unsuccessfully sued by George Fairbanks and others (Inferior Ct. of Pleas, Suffolk Co.). i

Lydia died 3 February 1701/02 in Sherborn, and a year later, Jonathan also died in Sherborn on 1 January, 1702/03.

Following his death, on 21 January 1702/03, t"he heirs of Jonathan Whitney Sr., late of Sherborn, being Jonathan, John, Josiah, Joseph, and Benjamin Whitney, and Lydia Adams and Abigail Whitney", all called his "orphants," acknowledged a 1702/3 agreement to leave the real estate to Joseph and Benjamin, with these two paying small sums to their remaining siblings (Middlesex Deed 17:167-9). Benjamin had to forfeit some of his portion because he neglected to settle some of the debts of the estate.

References:

  1. Dean Crawford Smith and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton, 1878-1908. Part I: The Ancestry of Warren Francis Kempton, 1817-1879 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996), pp. 536-539.

  2. "Lidia Whetney, d. Jonathan & Lidia Whetney, b. 3 Jul 1657," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 19.

  3. "Jonnathan Whetny, s. Jonathan & Lydia, b. 20 Oct 1659," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 21.

  4. "Annah, d. Jonathan & Lydia Whetny, b. 28 Apr 1660," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 22.

  5. "John Whetny, s. Jonathan & Lyida Whetny, b. 27 4mo 1662," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 24.

  6. "Josiah Whetny, s. Jonathan & Lydia Whetny, b. 19 May 1663," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 26.

  7. "Elin Whetny, d. Jonathan & Lidy Whetny, b. 12 Oct 1666," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 28.

  8. "Elinor Whitny, d. Jonathan & Lidia Whitny, d. 23 9mo 1678," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 44.

  9. "James Whittny, s. Jonathan & Lidya Whettny, b. 25 9mo 1668," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 30.

  10. "Deaths ... [Whitney,] James, Nov. 30, 1690," according to Sherborn Vital Records.

  11. "Isaack Whetny, s. Jonathan & Lydia Whetny, b. 12 Jan 1670," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 33.

  12. "Deaths ... [Whitney,] Isaac, Dec. 5, 1690," according to Sherborn Vital Records.

  13. "Jofeph Whetny, s. Jonathan & Lidya, b. 10 Mar 1672," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 36.

  14. "Abigall Whetny, d. Jonathan & Lydia Whetny, b. 18 Aug 1675," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 40.

  15. "Deaths ... [Whitney,] Abigail, d. of Jonathan and Lydia, June 7, 1704," according to Sherborn Vital Records. "A deed by the heirs of Jonathan Whitney selling land to their brothers Joseph and Josiah, dated 12 January 1702/3, is supposedly acknowledged 21 January 1714/5 by all the heirs, including Abigail, but the casual wording of the acknowledgement leaves room for the interpretation that since Abigail's only heirs were her siblings, it made no difference whether she acknowledged or not (Middlesex Deed 17:167-168). Consequently, there is no conflict in identifying her as the Abigail who died in 1704," according to Dean Crawford Smith and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton, 1878-1908. Part I: The Ancestry of Warren Francis Kempton, 1817-1879 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996), pp. 540-541.

  16. "Benjamin Whitny, s. Jonathan & Lidia Whitny, b. 6 Jan 1678," according to Watertown Records, vol. 1, p. 44.

 

Copyright © 2006, Robert L. Ward and The Whitney Research Group

See also:

http://wiki.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php/Archive:The_Ancestry_of_Eva_Belle_Kempton

Appendix A – Jonathan Whitney’s Birth Year.

Jonathan Whitney’s birth record has not been found, but his birth year is often given as 1634 based on the ages shown in the 1635 embarkation record when his family came to New England. Jonathan was said to be one year old at that time. However, according to Henry Austin Whitney, an early Whitney Family researcher, those ages were understated, and Jonathan may have been born as early as 1641, which makes sense since it would mean that he was 21 years old rather than 18 when he took the oath of fidelity and was made a freeman in 1652. In 1875, Henry Austin Whitney wrote:

 

"The record of embarkation, April, 1635, gave the names and ages of the family as follows :* --

John Whitney [the father] 35

Elinor Whitney [the mother] 30

John   11

Richard 9

Nathaniel 8

Thomas 6

Jonathan 1

 

(To be found in a "manuscript volume in folio, containing the names of persons permitted to embark at the port of London, after Christmas, 1634, to the same period in the following year." This volume is now in the Rolls Office, Chancery Lane, London, the entry referred to being on page 35. See, also, same record in Vol. III. of the Third Series, Mass. Hist. Collections ; Vol. XIV. Genealogical Register ; and in Drake's "Founders of New England," Boston, 1860 and 1865.)

 

"Other sons were born in Watertown, Joshua, Caleb (who died in 1640), and Benjamin.

 

"Shortly after preparing (in 1857) for the Genealogical Register, a more complete account of the earlier generations of the descendants of John and Elinor Whitney than was given in Bond's History and Genealogies of Watertown, I was convinced that at least the ages of the father and the two older sons, as given in the custom-house list, were understated. That these lists were not always exact, and were sometimes purposely incorrect, we have many examples ; and, in this instance, the ages were doubtless given too young through design, either to avoid some clause in the subsidy act, or some of the many embarrassments thrown in the way of emigrants.

 

"My belief was based upon data which escaped the critical and searching eye of Dr. Bond, the historian of Watertown, and which are as follows:--

 

"FIRST. The death of John Whitney is thus registered in the church records of Watertown: 1673. "John Whetny, widdower, deceased first of June, aged abought eighty-four years," so that, in 1635, he would have been about forty-five instead of thirty-five years of age.

 

"SECOND. His eldest son John, whose age was given as eleven in the list of 1635, was married in 1642, when he would have been but eighteen or nineteen years old.

 

"THIRD. Richard, the second son, said to be nine years of age in 1635, was excused from military training by the Court in 1691, as being "seventy years of age," when he could not have been over sixty-five by the record of embarkation.

 

"These facts were made known to the late Mr. James Savage, which led to the following cautious language in his " Genealogical Dictionary," published in 1862. After giving the custom-house ages, he adds, "But a slight reason may be seen for thinking one of these ages too low; as, in the record of Watertown, the father is called at his death, 1 June, 1673, eighty-four years old, and Richard was released from training in 1691, 'being seventy years of age,' when he could only be sixty-five, if the custom-house report be accepted."*

 

"At the time, the reasons given for thinking the custom-house report incorrect seemed far from slight; but, in 1871, my theory was confirmed by the discovery of the dates of baptism of the two older sons, together with that of a daughter Mary, of whom we know nothing, and who probably died previous to the emigration, at which time, if living, she would have been sixteen or seventeen years old.

 

"The late Mr. H. G. Somerby wrote to me from London, under date of January 11, 1871, that the previous day he had occasion to search the parish register of Isleworth; about nine miles from London on the banks of the Thames, opposite Richmond, and that he had there accidentally found the registry of baptism of three of John and Elinor Whitney's children, namely : Mary, May 23, 1619; John, September 14, 1621; and Richard, January 6, 1623-24.

 

"It will be noticed that John the eldest son was fourteen years old or more in 1635; instead of eleven, and twenty-one years old when married in 1642; and that Richard was twelve years or more in 1635, instead of nine, and in 1691 was at least in his sixty-eighth year when excused from "training." It is probable that John and Elinor left Isleworth shortly after the baptism of Richard in 1624; as no further trace of them is to be found there."[16]

Appendix B – Will of Jonathan Whitney

Several days before his death, Jonathan Whitney made his will:

In the name of God, amen

I Jonathan Whitney of Sherborne in the County of Middx within her Majesties Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England yeom: being weeke of body but in sound & disposing memory Praise be given to god for the same; doe make this my last wrn & testament in manner & forme following, that is to say, first & principally I Resign my Soule into the mercyfull hands of almighty god my Creator, assuredly hoping through the merits of my blessed saviour to obtaine pardon & remission of all my sins, and my body I comit to the earth whence it was taken, to be decently buried by the desc[rJ etion of my executors herein after named; and as for the worldly goods and estate the lord hath lent me, I dispose thereof as follows

Impr my will is that after my Just dets and funerall charges be paid, that all the rest & residue of my estate both housing lands, chattle & other my movables (ten pounds excepted) be equally divided betwen my children Jonathan Whitney, John Whitney, Josiah Whitney, Joseph Whitney, Benjamin Whitney, Lydia Addams and Abigail Whitney to them & their heires for ever.

I give & bequeath to my grandchild Benjamin Fisher fower pounds towards his bringing up to be pd to my Daughter Abigaill Whitney within six months after my Deces, to be pd by my executors.

I give and bequeath to my grandchild Anna Fisher six pounds to be pd her by my executors when she is of ye age of eighteen years or day of Marriag, which shall first happen, and I doe nominate appoint & ordaine my abovessl Sons Jonathan Whitney & John Whitney my executors to se this my last will & testament performed, making null & voide all former or other wills by me heretofore made. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seale this twenty first Day of December one thousand seven hundred & two, and In the first year of her Majesties Reign Anne by ye grace of God of England &c. Queene

Signed, Sealed and Published

In the Prsence of us Jonathan Whitney

Nathaniel Coilldg

Thomas Whitney

Munings Sawin

(Proved Cambridge 1 March 1702[/3])

 

An Inventory of the Estate of Jonathan Whitney Late of Sherborne Deceasd Jany 1 1702/3 as it was taken by us whose names are underwritten viz.

 

Imp: His wareing apparrell, books, money & armes 04.06.00

Beds and Beding and Houshold ware 11.14.00

Cart, plow & other utersills 02.12.00

one horse cattell and swine 24.08.00

Buildings & Lands and grain 88.16.00

Totall 131.16.00

 

Benoni Larned

John Coollidg

March 1 1702[/3] (Middlesex Probate #24690)