John
Whitmore
Born about in England
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Unknown (Unknown) Whitmore
— married
before 1611 (to before 1639) in England
Husband of
Joanna (Kerrich) Whitmore
— married
about 1639 in Weathersfield, Connecticut
Descendants 
Father of
Thomas Wetmore and John Whitmore Jr.
Died
at about age 59
in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut
Profile managers:
Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree 
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[send private message], Steven Barcomb [send private message], John Putnam [send private message], Stephen Schauer [send private message], and Loretta Ann Duryea [send private message]Profile last modified
| Created 13 Sep 2010
This page has been accessed 8,651 times.
| John Whitmore migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 371) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Contents |
Biography
Immigration 1639
John Whitmore (aka Wetmore) came to New England in 1639,[1] with his children (port of origin and birth place unknown) . He resided temporarily in Watertown, Massachusetts before taking a lot in Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1639. The lot was located east of the River Landing, later called Rocky Hill.
Among Original Settlers of Stamford, Connecticut 1641
John Whitmore sold his Wethersfield land in 1640. He joined the company led by Pastor Richard Denton that settled Stamford, Connecticut, a town situated on Long Island Sound. [2] The town of New Haven had purchased the land encompassing Rippowam, (later named Stamford) and they offered it to the men of Wethersfield for a price equal to 100 bushels of corn.[2] John Whitfield is listed on the register of men who contributed to the price of the town, as giving 3.1 bushels.[2] In the 1641 land distribution, John Whitmore is listed receiving ten acres of marsh and upland.[2] Like the bushels of corn list, his name is near but not in the top of the list - others gave more corn, received more land, but many more gave less corn, received less land. John Whitmore was number nine on the 1641 list of the first twenty-eight settlers of Stamford.[2] In November of 1641, John Whitmore was one of seven men elected to be "Townsmen" of Stamford.[2] Their work was to "order town occasions".
He was a freeman in 1642, elected to the Assembly in 1647. He was murdered by Mohegan Indians in 1648.[3]
Marriages
There is a widespread but mistaken internet rumor that Joanna Jessup was the mother of John Whitmore's children who accompanied him from England to Massachusetts. However, it is well-established that Joanna Kerrich (widow Jessup) was John Wetmore's second wife, whom he married after moving to Connecticut in the 1630s.[4][5]
Children
With his first, unknown wife:
- John b say 1625
- (possibly) Thomas, b say 1615. Thomas owned land adjoining to John in Stamford, and later moved to New Haven as did John (b c 1625). This only suggests a possible relationship, and is certainly not enough to determine that they were father and son.
See Research Notes for Disputed Children.
Death
The story of John Whitmore's murder and the resulting trial of an Indian named Taphance can be found at History of Stamford, Connecticut, pp 108. [3]
John Whitmore disappeared in October,[3] and inventory of his estate was taken 8 Dec 1648, by "Robert Hustes and Jefery Ferreye", from page 59 of the town records for Stamford.[6]
Research Notes
Disputed Children
Early genealogies claimed several additional children:
- Ann Whitmore, b. c1618, md. George Farrar/Farough.
- Mary Whitmore, b. c1623, Eng., md John Brewer.
- Francis Whitmore, b. c1625, md. (1) Isabel Parke; (2) Margaret Harty.
Ann and Mary, probable sisters married in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1640s. There is no known record connecting them to John Whitmore, or to Stamford and Wethersfield. For a discussion of the claim of parentage see Mary Whitmore.
Francis Whitmore, of Cambridge, also has no known connection to John, or his locations in Connecticut. His son Francis did reside in Middletown, but that is not sufficient to even suggest a relationship. Y-DNA has shown that Francis Whitmore and Thomas Whitmore, a possible relative of John, were not paternally related.
Anderson's Great Migration Directory
- John Whitmore (aka Wetmore) is listed on page 317 of Robert Charles Anderson's 2015 book, The Great Migration Directory, as follows:
- Unknown; 1639; Wethersfield, Stamford [CCCR 1:44, 197; WetLR 1:74, 137; SmTR 4; FOOF 1:336; Moore Anc 619].
- Key to Abbreviations:
- CCCR: The Public Records of the colony of Connecticut 1636-1776
- WetLR: Wethersfield Connecticut Land Records
- SmTR: Stamford Town Records, Volume 1:1641-1723, by Paul R. Finch, ed.
- FOOF: History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, by Donald Lines Jacobus
- Moore Anc: Moore and Allied Familes: The Ancestry of William Henry Moore, by Effingham deForest and Anne Lawrence deForest (1938) - not the 1934 version
Disputed Parents
- One merged profile listed Thomas Whitmore and Mary Meade
- One merged profile listed Roger Whitmore and ]]Meade-44|Mary Meade]]
- One of these four has a source, but the listed source does not support a son John b about 1589 or any other John in the right time frame.
- In addition Anderson's Great Migration Directory states his origins as Unknown. All alleged parents have been disconnected.
Sources
- ↑ The Great Migration Directory, by Robert Charles Anderson, (2015), page 371
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Huntington, Elijah Baldwin. History of Stamford, Connecticut, From its Settlement in 1641, to the Present Time (Stamford, 1868), pages 15-20, 25, 46 archive.org
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Huntington's History of Stamford, Connecticut, pp. 108-110[https://archive.org/stream/historyofstamfor00hunt#page/108/ archive.org], murder of John Whitmore
- ↑ Families of Old Fairfield, by Donald Lines Jacobus, Vol 1, page 336, bio for John Jessup, Note: his widow Joanna m. John Whitmore 1639
- ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #71592896 John Whitmore's memorial page.
- ↑ Stamford, Connecticut Town Records
See also:
- Whitmore, William Henry. Record of the Descendants of Francis Whitmore of Cambridge, Mass. (J. Wilson, Boston, 1855) p. 21. Link to page at archive.org.
- Purdy, Jessie Whitmore Patten. The Whitmore Genealogy. A Record of the Descendants of Francis Whitmore of Cambridge, Massachusetts (1625-1685). 1907. pp. viii-ix. Link to pages at hathitrust.org. (Lists Thomas, Anne, Mary, Francis and John as children of this profile's John Whitmore, but provides no support and states that there is no positive proof that Francis of Cambridge was his son.)
- Whitmore, WIlliam H. Whitmore Tracts. A Collection of Essays on Matters of Interest to Persons Bearing the Name. 1875. Link to book at archive.org. (Author believed that Francis Whitmore of Cambridge was the son of Francis Whitmore of Laxton, Nottinghamshire and makes no parent-child connection between this profile's John Whitmore and Ann and Mary Whitmore of Ipswich.)
- Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. Vol. IV. Little, Brown and Company, 1862. p. 526. Link to page at hathitrust.org. (In John's entry he states that he had children Thomas, Francis, John, Ann and Mary, but in Francis' entry states that he was just probably the son of John of Wethersfield.)
- Wetmore, James Carnahan. The Wetmore Family of America, and Its Collateral Branches: with Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical Notices. 1861. Link to book at archive.org. (Does not claims any parent-child relationship between this profile's John and alleged children Francis, Ann and Mary.)
- Anderson, Robert Charles, F.A.S.G., The Great Migration Directory, (Boston, Massachusetts, NEHGS, 2015), "Concise entries for all immigrant families for the entirety of the Great Migration, from 1620 to 1640." Entry for Whitmore, John, page 371
- Huntington, Elijah Baldwin. History of Stamford, Connecticut, From its Settlement in 1641, to the Present Time (Stamford, 1868), at archive.org, [includes transcriptions of Stamford's earliest documents] pp. 15-20, 25,32, 46, 63, 108-110, 463, 470
- Fairfield, CT: Families of Old Fairfield. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. Compiled and edited by Donald Lines Jacobus. 2 vols. New Haven: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1930-1932. Families of Old Fairfield, Vol 1, page 336, bio for John Jessup, Note: his widow Joanna m. John Whitmore 1639
- Stamford, Connecticut, Stamford, Connecticut Town Records, The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .), TAG Vol 10 (1933), page 111 [inventory taken for John Whitmore]
- Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 02 May 2018), memorial page for John Whitmore (1589–Oct 1648), Find A Grave: Memorial #71592896, ; Maintained by history4sure (contributor 46997739) Non-Cemetery Burial, who reports a Family record: Buried on his farm in Stamford
- New England Historical Genealogical Society "Reference #35
- "Wetmore History and Some Maternal Lines" by Kathryn Lee (Wetmore) Stadel; Edwards Brother; Ann Arbor, Michigan; 1970
- Whitmore FGS based on Stadel, Katherine Wetmore, Wetmore History, Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1970.
- De Forest, Louis & De Forest, Anne. Moore and Allied Families, The Ancestry of William Henry Moore (De Forest Publishing Co., New York, 1938) P. 618 archive.org
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DNA
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Rejected matches › John Whitmore (abt.1415-abt.1460)
John is 16 degrees from Emeril Lagasse, 14 degrees from Nigella Lawson, 20 degrees from Maggie Beer, 41 degrees from Mary Hunnings, 26 degrees from Joop Braakhekke, 23 degrees from Michael Chow, 20 degrees from Ree Drummond, 22 degrees from Paul Hollywood, 19 degrees from Matty Matheson, 19 degrees from Martha Stewart, 27 degrees from Danny Trejo and 25 degrees from Molly Yeh on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Categories: Puritan Great Migration
edited by Raymond Murphy
As far as "too much of a coincidence" you'd be surprised how often coincidences happen, especially in early New England when there just weren't that many people around.
edited by M Cole
edited by Raymond Murphy
There are two editions of the source, and the Directory (and Torrey) refer to the 1938 version which can be found here: https://archive.org/details/moorealliedfamil00defo/page/618/mode/2up
It seems to me that, in order to keep Ann, Mary, Francis and Thomas attached as children, we need at least a reasonable argument based on circumstantial evidence that they are John's children. Names, dates and geography can be enough, but the name evidence is not compelling and, in the case of Ann, Mary and Francis, the geography evidence actual weighs against their being John's children - eg if John is in CT in 1639-1648, why do Anne and Mary first appear getting married in Ipswich in 1644 and 1647?
In the case of Anne and Mary, I think it is probably more likely that either (1) they were daughters of Robert Whitman of Ipswich and that their last name was misrecorded or mistranscribed or (2) they were the step-daughters of a man living in Ipswich.
The genealogies in the book don't list sources, but neither does she embellish what isn't there.
I just looked at Savage, who uses the same list, so perhaps that's where the list originated. Savage also says: Francis of Cambrigde is prob. s/o John of Wethersfield; John of Hartford is perhaps s/o John of W; Thomas of Middletown was son of John of Wethersfield
Elsewhere he says the w/o George Farrow was Ann Whitmore perhaps d/o John; and John Brewer "perhaps after m. 23 Oct. 1647, Mary, d. of the first John Whitmore, prob."
I think all of John's "children" currently attached are speculative except for son John, and at least one of them (Thomas or Francis) is definitely incorrect.