Christian Wilhelm (Weidemann) Whitman (1724 - aft. 1796)

Born 7 Apr 1724 in Mörfelden, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, Holy Roman Empire

Husband of Arensteen (Gross) Whitman — married 28 Nov 1751 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died after 1796 after age 71 in Haverhill, Grafton, New Hampshire, United States

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Biography

Christian (Weidemann) Whitman has German Roots.

Immigration

A reconstructed passenger list shows a Weydman family of six people who boarded on the ship Priscilla in 1751 as follows:^[1]

• Niclaus Weydman, age 50
• Elizabetha Agness (Schmitt)
• Christian Wilhelm, age 27
• Joachim, age 23
• Johann Henrich, age 20
• Catharina Sophia, age 13

The parish of Niclaus Weydman's family's origin was Meerfeden, and his occupation was weaver and pitchmaker.^[1]

By May of 1751, Master Joseph Crellius recruited a shipload of German immigrants and brought them from the mouth of the Ruhr down the Rhine to Rotterdam in two transports. After delays in finding a ship, the emigrants boarded the Priscilla in June 1751, commanded by Captain Brown. The Priscillia touched in Cowes, England, as was custom. After another long delay, they sailed from England on 31 July 1751. Finally, they landed in Boston on 28 October 1751 (or 9 November 1751), with about 200 Palatines in 50 families, after an exceptionally long voyage against headwinds.^[2]

The long interim period had reduced the provisions taken aboard in Rotterdam. The passengers' meals were stopped after the Priscilla was well out to sea. The passage money was supposed to cover the cost of meals, but after protesting to Captain Brown, the provisions placed aboard by Crell were depleted, and there was nothing available except the ship's stores, which they could purchase from the captain or do without. Those with money could purchase the ship's supplies, and those without money were forced to go into debt with the ship, a debt that could be discharged only by agreeing that the captain might auction them off as indentured servants. That they did so is evidenced by the following advertisements in the Boston Eventing Post, 18 November, 25 November, and 2 December 1751: Lately arrive in Boston, a Number of German Protestants, some of them both Male and Female, not having paid their Passages, are willing to hire themselves out for a certain time, in order to have their Passages paid Any person wanting any of said Germans, may treat with William Bowdoin at his store in King Steet, who acts for said German.^[3]

The petition was prepared in both languages in 1751 and published in 1752 in Germany and France to encourage further emigration.

The French petition of December 1751 shows that they signed their names in the French language as Nicolas Weydman de Meerfelden and Christien Guil Wiednam de Meerfelden. Also, the German petition of 3 December 1751 shows that they signed their names in the German language as Niclaus Weydman and Christ. Wilhelm Weydman of Meerfelden. Later, another petition of 39 May 1753 shows that they signed their names as Niclaus Weydman and Christian Wilhelm Weydman.^[1]

Niclaus Weydman and Elisabetha Agness Schmitt were the parents of Christian Wilhelm Weydman.^[4]

Christian Wilhelm Weydman's origin was Meerfelden, also known as Mörfeldin in Hesse, Germany.^[5] He came over to Boston, Massachusetts, on 28 October 1751 (or 9 November 1751).^[6][7]

Marriage

The marriage record showed that both Christian Wideman and Arensteen Gross are Germans and were married on 29 November 1751, at First Presbyterian Church in Boston, Massachusetts.^[8][9]

Life

Christian Wilhelm Weydeman settled with his wife and two children on the Lexington grant in 1758. He was one of the proprietors of the grant, and upon its division among the several owners, he secured a farm on which he lived. He was described as an intelligent, valued citizen.

Children

They had five children recorded in the Ashburnham vital records as follows:

1. Catharine Whiteman, b. 18 October 1752, m. 9 August 1781, Henry Sunbury.
2. Elisabeth Whiteman, b. 5 April 1756, m. Jabob Constantine.
3. Anstina Whiteman, b. 24 July 1758.
4. Nicklaus Whiteman, b. 19 February 1761, m. 23 August 1781, Elizabeth Rodamel.
5. Christian William Whiteman, b. 21 October 1763.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Whitaker and Horlacher, p. 57.
2. ↑ Whitaker and Horlacher, p. 49.
3. ↑ Whitaker and Horlacher, p. 54.
4. ↑ Whitaker and Horlacher, pp. 57, 636.
5. ↑ Mörfelden-Walldorf is a town in the Groß-Gerau district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in the federal state (Bundesland) of Hesse, Germany. (Wikipedia).
6. ↑ Schenk, Trudy. Wuerttemberg Emigration Index. Vol. I-VIII. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: Ancestry, Inc., 1986.
7. ↑ U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s–1900s'.
8. ↑ A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston: Containing Boston Marriages from 1700 to 1751. Boston: Municipal Print. Off., 1898. Print Pages 299 and 341.
9. ↑ Whitaker and Horlacher, pp. 544, 636.

• Whitaker, Wilford W., and Gary T. Horlacher. Broad Bay Pioneers: 18th Century German-Speaking Settlers of Present-Day Waldoboro, Maine. Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 1998, pp. 57, 544, 633, 635–636.