Philena (Unknown) Cobb

Wife of William Whitteker — married 29 Sep 1806 in Boston, Suffolk, MA

Descendants

Died 21 Jun 1846 in Charleston, Kanawha, VA

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SOURCES West Virginia History Magazine - Oct 1939 Vol 1 No 1, 287. Article entitled "The Memorandum of William Whitteker" which includes a transcription of parts of his diary. TITLE Diary of William Whitteker

Boston Courier, Boston, Massachusetts, 09 Oct 1806: "Married by the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, Mr. William Whitaker to Mrs. Philena Cobb."

NOTE Philena Cobb was a poor widow with two small children when William Whitteker married her in Boston in 1806. There was not much more information about her written in William's diary. He did say that when he had his great religious experience in 1817, on a trip by himself to Zanesville, Ohio, on horseback; and he decided to be baptized by his friend the Reverend Henry Ruffner, that not long after, his wife, Philena, was also baptized and received into the first Presbyterian Church of Charleston.

A special booklet was published in 1969 by the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston to celebrate it's 150 year history. In a section called "The Church of 150 Years" by Ruth Putney Coghill, the account of the organization of this church, which took place 14 Mar 1819, written by Dr. Ruffner, himself, "The aforesaid Elders with the officiating minister having convened in session, Mrs. Philena Whitteker, Mrs. Agnes Truslow, and Adam (a black man) were upon examination admitted to baptism and baptized accordingly, after which baptism was also administered to an infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Truslow." So, according to this, she; and, morethan likely, her husband were founding members of the first church.

Page 7 of" Kanawha Images Volume 2" by Stan Cohen and Richard And re-tells the story from a history of this same church that in 1827 Philena was called "on the carpet" in front of the church council for having a dancing party at her "tavern" while her husband, William, was away on business. Her answer was that his step-son (her child from the previous marriage) was left in charge of the house while William was away, as he was of age by this time, and that it was he who chose to have the dancing party, against her expressed wishes. She swore that this would never happen again; and, was forgiven. This is the only mention of her children from the deceased first husband which I have been able to find anywhere. The story is very indicative of the times in which they were living; and, the zeal with which the church would supervise the lives of it's flock. I spoke with Richard Andre to see if I could find exactly where this story had come from. In the book, it was referred to as coming from "a history of the first Presbyterian Church", however, I had not been able to find the source. Mr. Andre had not foot noted this reference and did not remember exactly from where it had come.

I have also found a story in an old Charleston Gazette of 05 Jul 1925 on page 18 which refers to this same story, although, the part about the step-son was not evident in the article. It says that "preceding the annals of 1827 for the Presbyterian Church" that "Mrs. Philena Whitteker, in the absense of her husband in May 1827, ventured to amuse herself at her tavern one evening by inviting her friends to a dancing party." Then it further stated "May 25, 1827, This day, Mrs. Philena Whitteker appeared before this session, convened at her request, to give an explanation of her conduct in relation to a dancing party which occurred in her tavern, in the absense of her husband, for which offense she had been informed she would be called to account before the session. Upon evidence of the fact, in connection with Mrs. Whitteker's profession of regret and sorrow that the occurrence had taken place, and her promise in the future to guard against anything of the kind, the members of the session expressed their satisfaction at the exhibition of a Christian spirit on the part of Mrs. Whitteker and affectionately admonished her to guard in future against anything which might have even the appearance, on her part, of giving countenance to a practice so injurious to the cause of piety as dancing." This article goes on to mention another group of records, in the form of a "minutes" of the Female Benevolent Society of Charleston which was organized in the same year of 1827; and they mention three other Whitteker females amongst the names of this society: Celina Whitteker (probably Salina, the daughter of Levi and Elizabeth), and two others which I cannot as yet identify;

Patrcy L. Whitteker and Edney P. Whitteker.

Edney P. Whitteker is probably Edna Campbell Whitteker, the daughter-in-law of William and Philena, married to their son, William F. Whitteker.

A later story in the Charleston Daily Mail of 21 Nov 1937 about early taverns identifies this tavern as having been in a hotel, The Kanawha House, at the corner of Summers Street and Kanawha Street.

The original early church records, which are in possession of the Kanawha United Presbyterian Church of Charleston, show that the above dancing party stories did actually originate in their records.