Elisha Whitney (1722)

Born 15 Oct 1722 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Mount Hanley, Annapolis, Nova Scotia, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Leigh Anne Dear [send private message] and Alan Whitman [send private message]

Biography

Caution The given names of the Whitney family from Massachusetts can be a bit confusing to family researchers. For example, Roxbury brothers were named Elijah and Elisha and those names perpetuated through several generations.

BIRTH and BAPTISM
Elisha Whitney, son of Daniel and Susannah Whitney of Roxbury, was born the 15th October 1722, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. ^[1]

At the First Church of Roxbury, West Precinct, Elisha, son of Daniel & Susannah Whitney, was baptised on the 21st October 1722, Roxbury. ^[2]

MARRIAGE and CHILDREN
The name of his spouse is not identified.

Based upon several secondary sources (one of which may be relying upon the other) he had a daughter named Amy Whitney who married David Randall on the 23rd November 1775 at Annapolis and who resettled at Aylesford. ^[3] Amy's birth year suggests she was born about 1755, give or take. Her husband, David Randall, was from a well documented Connecticut family line. Her marriage record demonstrates that her father, "Elisha Whitney of Mount Hanley", ^[3] was a local resident. This date time frame suggests he was one of the so-called "New England Planters" who relocated to Nova Scotia (and New Brunswick) after the "Expulsion of the Acadians" by the British in the early 1750's. Although, Mount Hanley was later settled by the British so-called United Empire Loyalists (UEL) after the American Revolutionary War for Elisha to be a resident in or earlier than 1775 suggests he was a planter.

Although he shows the children of Daniel and Susanna (Curtis) Whitney, "The Whitney Family Genealogy" by compiler Frederick Clifton Pierce, skips over the naming of Elisha's wife and offspring. ^[4] So does the Whitney Family Research Group. ^[5]

DEATH

RESEARCH NOTES
CAUTION: Elisha's brother Elijah Whitney (b. 15 Jan 1715, Roxbury) m. Hannah Coffin (1 Nov 1739) at Boston and had a son they named named Elisha on the 6th Feb. 1747. But, his birth/baptism records, from two different transcribers, appear to be in conflict regarding the father's name. One record says it's Elijah and the other record says its Elisha. Elijah based upon the following, Elijah appears to be the more likely.

(1) In a transcription of birth records from the First Church of Roxbury, West Precinct:

Elisha, son of Elijah & Hannah (Coffin) Whitney was born 6th February 1747. ^[6]

(2) According to what appears to be an early hand-written transcription for baptism records obtained from the First Church of Roxbury, West Precinct, the 1747 baptisms performed include:

Elisha, son of Elisha and Hannah Whitney, [who was] baptized the 8th February 1747 at the First Church of Roxbury. ^[7]

Tory (Loyalist) Leanings: The following is meant to be a research aid in determining some of the Massachusetts Whitney clan who were called (British) United Empire Loyalists and who relocated to the [Canadian] Provinces:

This profile's nephew Elijah Whitney, son of his brother Elijah Whitney (1715-1792), who was born 6 Oct 1747, Roxbury, Mass. was a United Empire Loyalist (UEL) and was resettled in 1796 ^[8] at the province of Ontario (Toronto; Adolphustown; Niagara). ^[9]

Sources of Nova Scotia relocations which may prove of further research help:

• Norton, Judith A. "New England Planters in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, 1759-1800; A bibliography of primary sources" Toronto, Univ. of Toronto Press, 1993. Norton states that after the fall of 1748 and over the course of the next fifteen years well over 8,000 men women and children traveled northeastward from America.

Copyrighted material which may be of future help:

• Conrad, Margaret editor "Making Adjustments: Change & Continuity in Planter Nova Scotia, 1759-1800" 281pp. Wolfville, Nova Scotia; Acadia University, 1990.

Sources

1. ↑ Vital Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849: Vol. 1, Births" p.372. Salem, Mass., USA: The Essex Institute, 1925. Reprinted (subscription online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 13 Apr 2022. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/28083633?h=03ac48
2. ↑ Holbrook, Jay Mack, comp. "Massachusetts Vital Records, West Roxbury, 1712-1873; Church Records..." ledger p.28. Oxford, Mass., USA: Holbrook Research Institute, 1985. Reprinted (subscription online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 13 Apr 2022. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/28083688?h=2388e2
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Calnek, W.A. & Savory, A.W. "History of the county of Annapolis, including old Port Royal and Acadia: with memoirs of its representatives in the Provincial parliament, and biographical and genealogical sketches of its early English settlers and their families" p. 567. Accessed 6 Mar 2024. https://archive.org/details/historyofcountyo00calnuoft/page/566/mode/1up?q=Whitney
4. ↑ Pierce, Frederick Clifton, comp. "Whitney. The Descendants of John Whitney, who came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635" See first p. 40, where the children of Daniel Whitney & Susanna Curtis Whitney are listed which includes son Elisha, b. 5 Oct 1722, Roxbury, and who is assigned descendant no. 256 ; then go to p.66 where descendant no. 256 is skipped over. Chicago, Ill., USA: The Press of W. B. Conkey, 1895. https://archive.org/details/whitneydescendan00pier/page/40/mode/1up?q=Elisha&view=theater
5. ↑ https://wiki.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php/Family:Whitney,_Daniel_(1681-a1726)
6. ↑ "Roxbury Records, Births, Marriages, Deaths, 1630-1785" Vol. 1 Transcript & Index. p. 77. See right side of page, the last record for year 1747 Reprinted ($ online db) "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988" Records Births, Marriages, Deaths, 1630-1785; Vol. 1: 77. Accessed 6 Mar 2024. Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Image
7. ↑ "First Church of Roxbury, West Precinct" p.72. See "Elisha, son of Elisha & Hannah Whitney, bap. 8 Feb 1747" Reprinted "Massachusetts Vital Records, West Roxbury, 1712-1873" Oxford, Mass., USA: Holbrook Research Institute, Jay Mack Holbrook, 1985. Reprinted ($ online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 6 Mar 2024. Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Image
8. ↑ Fitzgerald, E. Keith "Ontario People: 1796-1803". Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1993. 250p. Date and place of loyalist oath of allegiance. Extracted from RG1, L7, volume 52B District Loyalist Rolls and Others, located at the Manuscripts Division of the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. Reprinted ($ online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 18 Jun 2021.
9. ↑ "The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada by the United Empire Loyalists 1784-1884" p.273. (The Celebrations at Adolphustown, Toronto and Niagara, with an Appendix containing a copy of the United Empire List, preserved in the Crown Lands Department at Tor. Reprinted ($ online db) "Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s" Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 18 Jun 2022.