Archive:The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Volume 3
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The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, volume 3 (1912).
From Google Books.
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THE WHITNEY FAMILY--ORIGIN OF THE NAME.
A paper read at a reunion of the Whitney Family, held in Salt Lake City, June 17, 1904. Prepared from data collated by Frederick C. Pierce, compiler of "The Whitney Genealogy."
By Orson F. Whitney.
The name Whitney is of Saxon origin. Witan is the Anglo-Saxon for wise men, and the genitive form of the word, Witena, means of the wise men. Witena-Gemot signifies council or meeting of the wise men, and Witan-Eye is defined as the island of the wise men, or Parliament. In England there are two parishes named Whitney, one in Oxfordshire, the other in Herefordshire. From the latter sprang the surname Whitney, as it has descended to our times.
Whitney Parish, in Herefordshire, lies in the beautiful and picturesque valley of the Wye, which for a hundred miles furnishes some of the most charming scenery in England. This river flows into the Severn, and is mentioned by Tennyson in "In Memoriam," as "the babbling Wye." Rising near the Welsh border, it is there a mountain torrent, subject to sudden and destructive freshets. Hence the additional claim that the origin of the name Whitney is in the Anglo-Saxon "Hwit" (white) and "Ey" (water)--White Water.
Up to the time of the Norman Conquest, A.D. 1066, the name had various spellings. In Domesday Book, a record compiled by order of William the Conqueror, and containing a survey of all the lands in England, their ownership, value, etc., it is rendered Witenie. The family, for which the parish was originally named, if there was one, had its seat in Herefordshire before the conquest. Witenie passed, with all England, into the possession of the Normans, and the name was taken by one of the followers of the Conqueror, to whom William gave the land as an inheritance.
Among William's adherents, when he crossed over to conquer the Saxons, was one Turstin the Fleming, a redoubtable warrior, said to have been the standard-bearer at the battle of Hastings, where the Saxon King Harold was overcome. The wife of William the Norman was a Flemish princess, a fact that accounts for the presence of Flemish troops in his army. The province of Flanders is now in Belgium. Of Turstin, otherwise known as Torstinus, it is said: "He was a valiant fighter, one of the northern sea rovers who joined the army of William on the expedition for the conquest of England. The amount of bounty allotted him by William shows that he was a man of position and consequence." The bounty in question consisted of nine tracts of land, including Whitney in Herefordshire. "He was specially commis-
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sioned to guard the frontiers against the incursions of the Welsh, and for this purpose had his castle situated on the Wye and within the bounds of the present manor of Whitney."
Turstin's son, Eustace, or Eustacius, inherited this property, and in conformity with the Norman custom assumed the name of his estate, being known as Sir Eustace de Whiteney. He was the ancestor of a long and distinguished line of warriors, statesmen and public officials. In Domesday Book it is recorded that Agnes, widow of Turstin the Fleming, and Sir Eustace, her son, Lord of Whiteney, gave to the Church of St. Peter, at Gloucester "one hide" (120 acres) of land in Pencomb, etc. During the reign of Henry the Fourth one of the lords of Whiteney, a descendant of Sir Eustace, was killed in the king's service at the capture of Edmund Mortimer, and his property was burned and destroyed by the followers of the fierce Welsh rebel. In compensation for this loss, the king granted to the successor of the deceased, Robert Whiteney, Esq., the castle of Clifford and the lordships of Clifford and Glasbury, with all the lands and tenements thereto appertaining. The lordship of Clifford, on the opposite side of the Wye and adjacent to Whitney, was thus added to the family domain.
Some of the early lords of Whitney--before the conquest--were of Welsh descent. One of them, Sir Peidge Exrog, was a Knight of the Round Table, and "to King Arthur's time he lived att his castle att Cardmore att Cardiganshire." Aluard, a Saxon, is said to have held the land before the Normans came. But at the time of the Domesday survey, A.D. 1086, it was "waste," with no owner save the king as paramount lord.
Of the subsequent lords of Whiteney, one or more figured in the Crusades. Sir Randolph de Whiteney, grandson of Eustace, accompanied Richard Coeur de Leon to the Holy Land. Concerning him the following legend is preserved: Sir Randolph was noted for his personal strength and great courage. On one occasion he was sent on a mission to the French commander, and as he was leaving Richard's camp, the brother of Saladin, whom he had twice before defeated, followed, and with two others made a furious attack upon the English knight. De Whiteney defended himself with great valor, but his assailants were gaining the advantage, when a Spanish bull, feeding near the scene of the conflict, attracted by the red dress of the Saracens, rushed upon and diverted them from their intended prey, compelling the two subordinates to seek safety in flight. Sir Randolph succeeded in wounding his single assailant, whom he left for dead, and then, overtaking the other two, slew them and proceeded upon the mission of the king. He attributed his deliverance and success to the especial interposition of the Virgin, and on his return to England he erected to her a chapel, the walls of which remain to this day adjoining the grounds of the ancient family mansion on the Wye. This story is told to explain the origin of the Whitney crest
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--a bull's head coupled sable; horned argent; horns tipped with red.
One of the Whitneys fought under Edward the First in the Scotch war of 1301. The Whitney slain at the capture of Edmund Mortimer had twice represented Richard the Second abroad in important affairs of state. A fourth followed Henry the Fifth to France and fought at the battle of Agincourt, where the English were so wonderfully victorious. The Whitneys intermarried with great families, and by this means at least two could claim blood relationship to royalty, from William the Conqueror to Edward the First. Numerous knights and esquires, sheriffs of the county, members of Parliament, church men, and military leaders came from the family. A very amiable and pious Christian gentlewoman, Constance, eldest daughter of Sir Robert Whitney, was grand-daughter on her mother's side to Sir Thomas Lucy, who prosecuted Shakespeare for poaching. Constance at the time of her death in 1628 was but seventeen years of age. Legend says that after she was buried the verger descended into her vault, opened the coffin, and began to cut off the maiden's finger, in order to possess himself of a precious ring left thereon. On the knife entering the flesh, she arose, and it was found that she had been buried alive.
We now come to Thomas Whitney, gentleman, of Westminster, who married Mary Bray, and became the father of John Whitney, Puritan emigrant, the first of the family line in the New World. Thomas was not a native of Westminster (now part of London), but had come from one of the oldest families in the west of England, namely, the Whitneys of Whitney, on the banks of the Wye. His uncle, Sir James, was sheriff of Herefordshire, and had been knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1570, while his grandfather, Sir Robert, had been knighted by Queen Mary in 1553. Thomas and Mary Whitney had nine children, but only three survived childhood. Of these, Francis, the second child, died at Westminster in 1643, and Robert, the youngest in the parish of St. Peter's, Cornhill, London, in 1662.
John Whitney, eldest of the, three survivors and fifth among all the children, was born in 1589. He probably received a good education in the famous "Westminster School," and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed by his father to William Pring, a freeman of the Merchant Tailor's company, the most noted and prosperous of all the great trade guilds of London, numbering in its membership the Prince of Wales, many of the nobility, and distinguished men of all professions. John Whitney, at the age of twenty-one, became a full-fledged member of that guild. Marrying soon after, he took up his residence in the parish of Isleworth-on-Thames, nine miles from London, where he resided from May, 1619, to January, 1623-4. Returning to London he with his
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wife Elinor and five sons sailed in April, 1635, for America. The bark in which they crossed the Atlantic was the "Elizabeth and Ann," Roger Cooper, commander.
In June of the same year John and Elinor Whitney settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, from which place their descendants have spread out over New England and many other parts of the United States. There are other lines of Whitneys in America, but undoubtedly the most distinguished is the line springing from John and Elinor, the Whitneys of Watertown. Among their many noted descendants may be mentioned Eli Whitney, famous as the inventor of the cotton gin; Myron Whitney, the great basso; Professor Josiah Whitney, of Harvard University; William C. Whitney, Ex-Secretary of the United States Navy; and Newel K. Whitney, who died Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Copyright © 2009, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group
