Paul Whitin (1767 - aft. 1831)

Born 3 Dec 1767 in Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Fletcher) Whitin — married 3 Dec 1793 in Northbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Descendants

Died after 8 Feb 1831 after age 63 in Northbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

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This profile is part of the Whiting Name Study.

A Pioneer of American Industry

Biography

Paul Whiting, known later in his life as Colonel Paul Whitin, was born in colonial Massachusetts in 1767, the son of Nathaniel Whiting and Sarah Draper.^[1]

His father died in 1769 when Paul was a child of two. His uncle, Moses Draper was named his guardian. The following year his widowed mother Sarah Draper Whiting married James Prentice in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Sarah and James had eight children, Paul's half-siblings.

Paul Whitin became an apprentice in James Fletcher's forge along the Mumford River in Northbridge (previously part of Uxbridge). In 1793, Paul and Fletcher's daughter Betsey Fletcher married. Paul and Betsey Whitin had ten children.

Along with his father-in-law and other investors, in 1809 Paul Whitin established the Northbridge Cotton Manufacturing Company, the third cotton mill in the Blackstone Valley. In 1815, Paul Whitin, James Fletcher, and Fletcher's two sons, Samuel and Ezra, formed another company, Whitin & Fletcher, and built a second mill.

Paul Whitin bought out the Fletchers' shares and, in 1826, went into partnership with his sons, Paul Jr and John, forming a new textile company, Paul Whitin & Sons. Two other sons, Charles and James, joined the family business later.

In 1831, John Whitin designed and patented a new cotton picker that was the first of many innovative textile machines that led to development of "The Shop" in 1847 and the Whitin Machine Works, which would later become the largest manufacturer of specialty textile machinery in the world.

Paul Whitin died in Northbridge in 1831. He is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in the present day Whitinville section of the town. ^[2]

Paul wrote his will on 4 February 1831. His estate passed probate on 24 May 1831 in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.^[3]

Beneficiaries:

• my beloved wife Betsy Whitin
• my beloved children:
  • Paul Whitin Jr
  • Mary Walker, wife of Amory A. Walker
  • Nathaniel D. Whitin
  • John C. Whitin
  • Charles P. Whitin
  • Sarah A. Whitin
  • James F. Whitin
  • Margeret F. Whitin

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch [1] : 15 January 2020, Paul Whitin, 1767. [extract of birth]
2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59432975/paul-whitin: accessed 9 August 2022), memorial page for Paul Whitin (3 Dec 1767–8 Feb 1831), Find A Grave: Memorial #59432975, citing Pine Grove Cemetery, Northbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Charles Dunford (contributor 47187019).
3. ↑ Probate: "Massachusetts, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991"
   Probate Records (Worcester County, Massachusetts); Index 1731-1881; Author: Massachusetts. Probate Court (Worcester County); Probate Place: Worcester, Massachusetts
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 9069 #380984 (accessed 13 June 2023)
   Paul Whitin probate on 4 Feb 1831 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQ63-TLL : 5 January 2021), Nathl Whiting in entry for Paul Whiting, 1769. [extract christening in Dedham]

Research Notes

• Family name: Paul Whitin dropped the "g" from the name Whiting. He and his descendants used the spelling Whitin but continued to pronounce it as Whiting.
• Place of Birth: various Massachusetts records and online sources cite Dedham, Roxbury, Uxbridge (as well as Northbridge which was not established until 1772 after Paul Whitin's birth), appears that Roxbury, home of his father Nathaniel Whiting is most likely. Needs additional research to confirm.
• Title: known as Colonel Whitin, Paul Whitin was an active supporter of the local and state milita(s). He was too young to have fought in the Revolutionary War (NPS pamphlet is in error). The War of 1812 was unpopular in New England and it appears that Colonel Whitin did not see active service then either.
• Whitinsville: in 1835, four years after his death, the South Northbridge section of Uxbridge, Massachusetts (which had become the separate town of Northbridge in 1772) was renamed Whitinsville in honor of Paul Whitin.

See Also

• Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park, National Park Service.
• Crane, Ellery Bicknell, Historic Home and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County with a History of Worcester of Antiquity. New York & Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1907.
• Lazell, Theodore S., Whiting Genealogy: Nathaniel Whiting of Dedham, Mass, 1641 and Five Generations of His Descendants. Boston, MA 1902, pg 62.
• Navin, Thomas R. The Whitin Machine Works since 1831: A Textile Machinery Company in an Industrial Village. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press, 1950.
• Northbridge Historical Society, Northbridge, Massachusetts.
• Whitin Machine Works Records, Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School, Harvard University.
• The Whitin Spindle, Whitin Machine Works, 1919-1963.
• Whitinsville Social Library, Northbridge, Massachusetts.
• Wikipedia - Paul Whitin.
• Worcester Telegram & Gazette, "Three Generations of Whitins Gather for Reunion", October 3, 2012.