Henry Brigham Whitteker (1814 - 1844)

Born 15 Nov 1814 in Charleston, Kanawha, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Anna (Howe) Whitaker — married 30 Aug 1842 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio

Died 15 Sep 1844 at age 29 in Alton, Madison, Illinois, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Dee Christophel D'Errico [send private message]

SOURCE Letter of William Whitteker 21 Nov 1814 to Eliakim Richards of Boston

TITL History of the Presbyterian Church of the State of Illinois AUTH A.T. Norton PUBL W.S. Bryan, St. Louis, MO

NOTE Henry was brought up by his parents to respect religion and attend church. From the ages of twelve to eighteen his time was spent with his father either in a store or traveling up and down the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers in a store boat selling goods. Henry's father and mother, William Whitteker and Philena Cobb, were founding members of the first Presbyterian Church in Charleston (W) Virginia. They had become good friends of it's founder, the Reverend Dr. Henry Ruffner, who was an active supporter of the movement to end slavery. Through Ruffner's influence they had set their slaves, which were used in William's Salt Works, free by the end of the 1830s. There is a court record among the many Whittaker Court Records in Kanawha County in 1846 in which William sought to finally evict the free blacks who were still living on his land, in preparation of the sale of this land after his wife had died, when he could no longer afford to keep the property.

Henry was received by examination into the congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Charleston on 17 Feb 1833, according to the early church records. Upon the advice of Dr. David Nelson, who was visiting in Charleston, he went in Jan 1836 to Marion College to study for the ministry. Near the end of that year, he went to Marietta College in Ohio, where he remained until the 1st of Aug 1840. He appears in the Catalogues of the Officers and Students of Marietta College for the years 1836-1837, 1838-1839, and 1839-1840. He is also listed as deceased in the 1850 Marietta College Catalogue of the Society of Inquiry.

He then went to Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, after having spent about 6 months at Oberlin College. Both Oberlin and Lane were well known centers of abolitionist leanings. President of Lane was Rev. Lyman Beecher, whose daughter, Harriet Beecher Stowe, would write "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Oberlin College was started by the Lane Rebels & teachers who walked out of Lane after being told that they were no longer to even duscuss the question of slavery in the school. The very first college he attended, Marion, is proved to have been a center for abolitionist teachings as around 1839 Dr. Nelson was run out of town for teaching from the abolitionist papers of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, a notorious supporter of the abolitionist movement. I believe that Rev. Lovejoy was a hero in Henry's eyes and in the eyes of his wife, Anna Howe. The Marion College, of which Dr. Nelson was one of the original founders, had been a sort of experiment of schooling for poor young men who could not afford to go to college. It was situated on two different large farms in Missouri, near St. Louis, where each student was given tillable acreage from which to make money to pay for his studies. Dr. Nelson had been famous at the time for a book which he had written called "The Cause and Cure of Infidelity: Including a Notice of the Author's Unbelief and the Means of His Rescue", better known as "Nelson on Infidelity". This book is still available and still referred to in this day although published in 1841. And, so it seems that the influences in young Henry's life continued to mold him into a serious supporter of the unpopular movement to end slavery.

He went in Apr 1842 to Missouri to be licensed on 25th June by the Presbytery of Lexington. He labored a short period in Platte country and in Belleville, Illinois, and then went to Ohio, was married on 31 Aug 1842 to Anna Howe of Princeton, Massachusetts, a cousin, then returned immediately to Belleville. After working there several months, he came to Upper Alton, 23 Apr 1843. The following October he was called to become pastor there, but declined. He was ordained by the Alton Presbytery. He continued to work in Upper Alton with great acceptance, until seized with his last illness. He died at Sunrise Sabath Morning, 15 Sep 1844. He was buried at 5:00 pm the same day; and on the next Sabath Morning his funeral sermon was preached by Rev. A. T. Norton at the church in Upper Alton. Thus Henry passed away at the age of only 29 years and ten months. He was said to be a minister of ardent piety, flaming zeal, and high promise.

The First Presbyterian Church of Upper Alton, Illinois had played a central role in the Abolitionist Movement in this area. It's first Pastor, Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, had come here from across the river in Missouri after having had his printing press destroyed. Whether his enemies followed him across the river or not, I do not know; but, he brought three more printing presses to Upper Alton, the last of which was secreted under cover of darkness to a large store called Alexander's Store. Rev. Lovejoy had also been publishing newspapers for a while and was a great champion of the movement. To say that those who did not agree with his ideas were aggressively trying to ruin him would be putting it mildly. This was the year 1837, long before the Civil War. Rev. Lovejoy had not cowered in front of his enemies. He had even participated in a debate with them. Tempers were running out of control, though, and on this night of 07 Nov 1837, the Reverend was shot and killed and his printing press once again destroyed.

The Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy is now considered to be a hero and martyr to the cause of abolishing slavery in this country. Back then, he was known to be a "conductor" in the "Under-ground Railroad". There are still several buildings which stand in Alton, Illinois, which may be visited, in which slaves on their way to freedom were hidden until they could be sent further up the line.

A short five years after this riot and murder took place, Henry and Anna decided that this was where they were to start their married life. It was still a very small town by any standard. There is no way they would not have known about what had happened here. Not only that, but Henry chose to be a preacher in the very church that Elijah P. Lovejoy had preached. Had Henry's life not been cut short by a fever, there is no telling what more he may have been involved in. Those with a sincere desire to end slavery who came to this town intending to be involved in the movement were really taking their lives into their own hands. By this time Alton was well known to have been a lawless place. The trials of those who had killed Rev. Lovejoy had already been held and they had received what had amounted to a slap on the wrist. Those who had stood with Lovejoy that fateful night to defend the press were also charged by the prosecutors of Alton. There was to be no justice here. Today, a rather large monument to Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy stands on his burial spot, but back then he had been buried in a plain pine box, in an unmarked grave. His grave was found only by the memory of those who had buried him. His remains were later located and moved to the Alton Cemetery.

Anna, Henry's wife, had been born into a family in Princeton, Massachusetts, which believed strongly in education and in ending slavery. She and her two sisters, Emily and Sarah, had been educated and entered the teaching profession. They had come to Virginia to teach. Emily had married Judge and Col. Asa DuPuy of Prince Edward County, Virginia; and, came to own over 50 slaves, herself. After Henry's death, Anna went to live with Emily and started a school for black children there on her sister's plantation. It was against the law to educate blacks unless you had the permission of their masters. I am sure that this permission was readily given by Emily; and, after some time had passed other plantation owners in the neighborhood began to allow some of their slaves to attend this school. The good people of Massachusetts had donated the books for this endeavor as evidenced by Anna's letters to her relatives and friends back in Massachusetts and by one letter which was published in 1847 in "The Emancipator", an abolitionist newspaper published in Boston.

SOURCES: History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Illinois by A. T. Norton, pages 326-327and pages 247-260

Upper Alton/Oakwood Cemetery Records

Going Underground by Nicole Harris, Business Week Archives 31 Mar 1997

Presbyterian Historical Society

Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Chicago, General Catalogue, 1939, page48

Lane Theological Seminary General Catalogue, 1829-1899, page 35

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Marietta College, 1836-1837, Wheeling, Virginia, Times Press - Newton & Co., Printers, 1837, Page 9

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Marietta College,1838-1839, Cincinnati, Ohio, Isaac Hefley & Co., Printers, 1838, Page 6

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Marietta College, 1839-1840< Marietta, Ohio, G. W. Tyler & Co., Printers, 1840, Page 6

Constitution, By-Laws, and Catalogue of the Society of Inquiry of Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, Printer at the Intelligencer Office, 1850, Page 13

Biography of Eugene La Fon Nelson from "Class of '63 Williams College 40th Year Report" by Thomas Todd Printer, Boston 1903

Centennial History of Madison County Illinois and Its People 1812-1912 by W. T. Norton, pages 255 & 106

History of Marion College on Rootsweb.com

Oberlin: The Colony and the College 1833-1883 by James H. Fairchild, pages 50-77

A History of the Schools of Cincinnati by John B. Shotwell, pages 312-316

Franklin County Ohio Probate Court

The Letters of Anna Howe Whitteker

Alton Telegraph & Democratic Review, 21 Sep 1844, Obituary

Henry rests in lot 3, block 77 of the Upper Alton/Oakwood Cemetery in Alton, Illinois (was Upper Alton, Illinois).

From WV Newspaper Obituaries 1822-1899 by KVGS

The Kanawha Republican October 1, 1844

Died at Upper Alton, Illinois on the 15th of September, from a violent attack of fever, Rev. Henry B. Whitteker, in the 30th year of his life. Mr. Whitteker was born and spent the years of his youth in this place. In the days of his youth, he made a profession of religion, connected himself with the Presbyterian Church, and with much zeal entered on his master's service. He was licensed to preach the gospel in 1841, and at the time of his death was pastor of the Church at Upper Alton. The day before his death he said to his beloved wife, "I have a great deal to say to you but cannot say it. All is well with me. I will commit you to a kind Savior. He will take care of you."

An obituary from the Alton Telegraph & Democratic Review of 21 Sep 1844 stated that Henry had died of "Congestive Fever", a term which was used for Milaria. It said that he had worked so hard for the Lord and never rested so that it was felt that this had contributed to the triumph of this fever in taking his young life. There had been a flood in September of 1844, probably contributing to the ongoing mosquito problems in Alton, so the spread of malaria may have been thus facilitated by this event.

To read my article which was published in the Kanawha Valley Genealogical Society Journal before it closed it's doors in December of 2009, click on the link below:

Rev. Henry B. Whitteker's Story