Ella C Whitney (1847 - 1907)

Born 15 Mar 1847 in Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States

Died 17 Jan 1907 at age 59 in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States

Biography

Ella was born on 15 Mar 1847 to Charles Whitney and Caroline Stimson in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.^[1] She was the 3rd of five children in the family, with her older sister Clara dying just six months after she was born.

Ella's father died just three years after her birth, and by 1860 her mother had remarried to Nathan Russell. The family continued living in Cambridge, and Ella was one of five children living in the blended household. Her 20-year-old brother died in a drowning accident just a couple of months before this census was enumerated.^[2]

Ella, her mother, and her brother Frank were living at the same address as her brother William and his wife Emma in 1870. We know that her stepfather, Nathan Russell, died in 1874, so he and her mother must have separated at some time after the 1860 Census.^[3]

Her mother died in 1872, and in 1880, Ella was boarding in the household of Albert and Emma Sawyer in Cambridge, and she was working as a teacher.^[4]

She never married. In addition to teaching, she was also an artist.^[5]

Ella died on 17 Jan 1907 at the age of 59.^[5] She is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHNV-V7X : 10 November 2020), Ella C. Whitney, 1847.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZC8-R1P : 18 February 2021), E C Whitney in entry for Nathan Russell, 1860.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD38-49J : 29 May 2021), Ella C Whitney in entry for Caroline T Russell, 1870.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHXS-WYK : 19 February 2021), Ella C Whitney in household of Albert J Sawyer, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district ED 441, sheet 185D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,543.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N4MB-9ZP : 2 March 2021), Ella C Whitney, 17 Jan 1907; citing Cambridge,,Massachusetts, 201, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,258,906.
6. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142524722/ella-c-whitney : accessed 31 October 2021), memorial page for Ella C Whitney (15 Mar 1847–17 Jan 1907), Find A Grave: Memorial #142524722, citing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Jacki Earp, Weymouth, Massachusetts (contributor 47755371).