Archive:The Descendants of John Whitney, page 660
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The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, by Frederick Clifton Pierce (Chicago: 1895)
Transcribed by the Whitney Research Group, 1999.
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| 660 | WHITNEY GENEALOGY. |
profession, that of literature, and cause his name to be enrolled among the foremost writers and thinkers of the west. With others of a literary and dramatic turn of mind, he established the Wasatch Literary Association, which gathered to itself the choice spirits of the city for several years, and remained, even after WHITNEY had retired from it, a nursery and training school of literature, music and the drama. Young WHITNEY's predilections first lay in the direction of music and the drama, tastes no doubt imbibed from his father. In the university, as a boy, he had been known as the first declaimer in the school. He decided in adopting a dramatic career, and at the age of 21 was about to set out for the east in pursuance of this
design when he received a call from the church to which he belonged (Latter Day Saints) to fill a mission in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. He obeyed the call and spent about a year and a half laboring as a missionary in that state and in Ohio, during which he wrote a series of letters to the Salt Lake Herald under the nom de plume of Iago, which attracted considerable attention. Returning home his eloquent sermons brought him into notice and he was appointed a bishop in the church. He also accepted a position on the staff of The Deseret News, where he remained for several years. In February, 1880, he was elected a member of the city council by the Peoples party and served till the fall of 1881, when he left for Europe to fill a second mission. He remained abroad 21 months, during which time he edited the organ of his church in Europe, the Millenial Star, published at Liverpool. He visited the main cities of Great Britain and the continent and accumulated a large store of information to be used in his writings at a later period. Returning home in the sum- mer of 1883, he resumed his position on the staff of the News, which he left a year later to accept the office of treasurer of Salt Lake City. He acted in this capacity until February, 1890, when the defeat of his party handed the city over to Liberal control. He was twice chosen as chancellor of the Deseret university by the territorial legislature. He published a volume of his poetical writings, which attracted widespread attention, in December, 1890, and is now engaged in a history of Utah, which will be published in three volumes, and the appearance of which is looked for with the keenest interest by all classes of citizens. He was married December 18, 1879, to Miss Zina B. SMOOT, of Provo, and resides at present in Salt Lake City. 9889. i. HORACE NEWELL, b. Oct 27, 1880. 9890. ii. HEBER KIMBALL, b. June 3, 1882; d. April 20, 1883. 9891. iii. EMILY, b. Jan. 20, 1885. 9892. iv. HELEN MAR, b. Aug., 1, 1887. 9893. v. MARGARET, b. Aug. 24, 1889. 9267. HORACE GIBSON WHITNEY (Horace K., Newel K., Samuel, Samuel, Samuel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John, John), b. Salt Lake City, Jan 6, 1858; m. Jan 10, 1884, Marion M. BEATIE, b. April 21, 1861. The subject of this sketch is the eldest issue of the marriage of Horace Kimball and Mary Cravath WHITNEY, and was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, on the 6th of January, 1858. His early life was much the same as that of any other western boy, born of intelligent and moral parents, in a region at that time - though it had been settled for over ten years by his people - still remote from outside civilization. His education, however, was not neglected, and a very tender age saw him under the tutelage of the best school "marms" and masters that his native town could boast. This early training prepared him in due time for the local university, through which he passed with credit, excelling in rhetoric and English literature. At the age of fif- teen, he wielded a facile and even brilliant pen, and gave promise of being a satirist and an essayist of no mean ability. Like his father before him, he early imbibed a passion for reading, and devoured with avidity the standard authors - poets and nov- elists; DICKENS of the latter and GOLDSMITH of the former class being his especial favorites. These authors probably did more to shape his literary style than any others, and the clever imitations he sometimes gave of them, to the delight of ad- miring friends, told how deeply their genius had impressed him. In 1873 he left the university to engage in business, not on his own account, but as bookkeeper for a wholesale liquor firm, which place he vacated about a year later for a more advan-
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