Rev. Col. Samuel Whiting

• BIRTH 25 Mar 1633 Lincolnshire, England
• DEATH 28 Feb 1713 (aged 79) Billerica, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• BURIAL Old Congregational Burying Ground, Billerica, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• PLOT C88 MEMORIAL ID 19531580 by Bill Boyington & Aura N

He studied with his father at Lynn and graduated at Cambridge A.M. in 1653 and was ordained minister at Billerica November 11, 1663, as the first minister; sett. Billerica, 1658-1713; Artillery Election Sermon, 1682; d. Billerica, Feb. 28, 1712/3, a. 79. [3] A Patriot of the American Revolution for CT with the rank of COLONEL. He died February 28, 1713, aged seventy-nine years.

He married Dorcas Chester on 1656 in CT and they had ten children--Elizabeth, Samuel, Rev. John (minister at Lancaster, and killed by Indians September 11, 1697, aged thirty-three), Oliver, Dorothy, Joseph, James, Eunice, Benjamin (died in infancy), and Benjamin (2nd).

Samuel and Elizabeth Adams Whiting had thirteen children. Their next to last child was Samuel who was born in Windham on May 15, 1720. Samuel fought in the French and Indian War4 and the Revolution serving as Captain of the 5th Connecticut Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel of the Continental Regiment, and Colonel of the First Battalion of Connecticut Troops5. The Revolutionary pension file for Samuel Whiting at the National Archives indicates that he received a disability pension of $15.00 a month (one-sixth of full pay). One affidavit states that "during his service in 1777, while overheated by marching and exhausted by fatigue, he caught cold by wading across a river near Norwalk, which resulted in a complication of diseases and the final loss of his right eye." Two brothers, William and John also served in the military. The Windham bicentennial book states "the family of [Reverend] Samuel Whiting was one of the religious militant families of the early town. Its members could pray or fight as occasion demanded."4 At some point, Colonel Samuel Whiting moved to Stratford, CT, and died there on 15 February, 18032. He married Elizabeth Judson in 1743 and they had ten children, six of them boys. One son, Samuel, went to Yale in 1765 and was a surgeon in the Continental Army. He was captured in Colonel Webb's expedition to Long Island in 1777 and imprisoned on the ship Jersey. Dr. Whiting received a vote of thanks from the Congress for his medical care of the prisoners after the war5. Another son, Judson Whiting, is said to have been an Ensign who died on the same prison ship2. Colonel Samuel Whiting's youngest child was Seymour Conway, born in Stratford in 17666. My lineage continues with Seymour Conway and here is where most of my own detective work began. Seymour C. Whiting lived in Stratford his entire life. He appears there in the 1820, 1830 and 1840 census'. Agriculture is listed as his occupation in the latter one. Seymour C., as did many of the Connecticut Whitings, bought and sold real estate on a regular basis. Transactions quite often occurred between relatives. Fairfield County and Stratford land records show Seymour C. conducting business with his brothers William N. and John, his son Ezra C., and with various sons-in-law. Seymour Conway Whiting died July 26, 1841 and is buried in the First Congregational Burial Ground in Stratford with his wife, mother, father, and one son. His will is dated April 3, 1841 and identifies his wife, Hannah, and his surviving children and grandchildren. Seymour C. Whiting outlived three of his children: Ezra C., Hannah, and Lasper. Seymour C. Whiting's grandchildren, Seymour (Webster) and Chester Gilbert Whiting, are shown as receiving their father Ezra's share of the inheritance.

"1. Wee do agree to give Mr. Samuel Whiting. Jutf.. (our minister.) that house which is now vpon ye towncship. comfortably finished, for him, and his heirs, if he continues amongst us during his life, but if he shall remove from amongst us, then the said house with all the acomodations of the same shall returne againc to the towne, to be at their dispose; or, if Mr. Whiting shall dye with vs. then the towne shall have the refusing of the said house and all other acomodations aforesaid belonging to the same, if Mrs. Whiting do sell y* same. •• 2. We do promise to give to him y* sume of fourty pounds per year, for his maintenance, for the first two years of his selling with vs. and for the third year fifty pounds, and for the fourth year sixty pounds, and for afterwards we do promise and ingage to better his maintenance as the Lord shall better our estates. "3. We do .loyntly pmise to eary at or owne charge, from year to year, so much of the pay (as doth amount to twenty pounds) as shall be brought in to him in wheat or in other grains. or porke ; to deliver the same, either at Mis tick mill or at Charlestowne. which Mr. Whiting shall apointe, and to deliver the same at such prizes as such pay shall or doth at such times pass fro man to man, unless Mr. Whiting and the Towne shall make any other agreement concerning the same. "4. We do promise to provide his firewood & to bring it home to his house, from year to year, at our owne charges."4. We do promise to provide his firewood & to bring it home to his house, from year to year, at our owne charges. "5. We do promise to fence him in it paster for to keape his horse in, as convenient as we may. •• ult. for his acomodations. we do promise to lay to re said house, a ten-acre lot, for his house-lot. and twelve acres of meadow, with other in convenient to the same, i. e. to grant to him all other divi- tions of lands and meadows, with other lots of y* like quantity. "The persons subscribing to the premises, who were then the inhabi ts nee. were : • "Ralph Hill, Sen'. John Parker. Will™, ffrexch. James Parker. John Rogers, Sere Will™. Tat. George farlet. Will". Chamberlixe. Will". Pattin. John Trull. Sam". Cr Anne. James Paterson. John Sterkes. Joint Marshall. Joy ath . Daxforth. John Shildox. Ralph Hill, Jur. U exert Jeiffs. John Baldwin." •' Also, at a Towne Meeting of y inhabitance, r 18, 10"., 1661. "It is agreed, That whatever charges Mr. Whiting shall be at, in makeing his house and land more convenient for his comfortable susistence and livelyhood amongst vs, in erecting any more building, fenceing, oror breaking of land, or clearing of meadows, and the like; That in case the providence of god so orders it that afterwards he shall remove from us, and so (by our former agreement) leave all his acommodations to the useof the Town*, the towne do promise that what the whole premises shall be the better, at his leaving it. by reason of his costs and charges upon it. It shall at that time be returned to him by the towne. as it shall be adjudged by men indifferently chosen." It speaks well for the courage and faith of these founders of the town that, numbering only nineteen men, they were ready to put their hands to such an instrument and assume all its responsibility. It speaks well for the young Harvard graduate, of good birth and sterling ability, that he was ready to identify himself with the rising town and make his home in this wilderness, when not even the little meeting-house of logs and thatch was yet erected. Where Mr. Whiting preached for the first two years, we can only conjecture; perhaps at John Parker's, where early town meetings were held ; perhaps in his own house. A year later, the following vote appears: — "It Is agreed, by the major prt of the Towne. that"It Is agreed, by the major prt of the Towne. that Mr. Whiting shall have 50 p. for this year, for his maintenance, and caring down corne, and making a well and Howell for his catell ; which is 10 p. more than or agree ment for his yerely maintenance ; the caring his corne or other pay downe to towne and getting his firewood included, to be done at Mr. Whiting's own charges." In the accounts of the town, credit is given to John Baldwin, George Farley, and Ralph Hill, Jr., for "oxen to help fetch Mr. Whiting"; and to Ralph Hill, Sr., Samuel Kemp, John Marshall, James Patterson, and John Rogers, "for John for going for Mr. Whiting." It was no small undertaking to help the minister remove to Billerica, at that day. [5]

Inscription
HERE LYES Ye BODY
OF Ye REVEREND MR.
SAMUEL WHITING
PASTOR OF Ye CHURCH
OF CHRIST IN
BILLERICA AGED 80
YEARS DECEASED
FEBRUARY Ye 28th 1712

Parents
Samuel Whiting 1597–1679
Elizabeth St John Whiting 1604–1677

Spouse
Dorcas Chester Whiting 1637–1713

Siblings
Joseph Whiting 1641–1723
Elizabeth Hobart Whiting 1645–1733

Half Siblings
Dorothy Whiting Weld
1628–1694

Children
Samuel Whiting III 1663–1715
John Whiting 1664–1697
Oliver Whiting 1665–1736
Mary Whiting Burchsted 1667–1740

References

[1a] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19531580/samuel-whiting

[1b] Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 18 2016, 16:00:23 UTC

[2] http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kerryf5&i...

Source

[3] http://whitingfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/07/george-mordecai-wh...

[4] Weis, F. L., The Colonial Clergy and the Colonial Churches of New England, 1936)

[5] The History of Billerica, Massachussetts By Henry Allen Hazen p. 153-154

[6] Billerica deaths: WHITING, Samuel [dup. Samuell], Rev., Feb. 28, 1712-13. [Rev. Samuel [dup. Feb. 27], a. 80. GR1].

[7] DAR Ancestor # A124803

Other Information

Parents:

 Samuel Whiting (1670 - 1725)

 Elizabeth Adams Niles (1681 - 1766)

Spouse:

 Elizabeth Judson Whiting (1723 - 1793)

Children:

 Seymour Conway Whiting (____ - 1841)*

 Martha Whiting Pixley (1759 - 1840)*

Siblings:

 Ann Whiting Fitch (1698 - 1778)*

 Elizabeth Whiting Gager (1702 - 1730)*

 William Whiting (1704 - 1787)*

 John Whiting (1706 - 1786)*

 Sibilly (Sybil) Whiting Backus (1708 - 1755)*

 Mary Whiting Clap (1712 - 1736)*

 Samuel Whiting (1720 - 1803)

 Nathan C. Whiting (1724 - 1771)*