Whittier Thomas b. 1622 England, U.K. d. 28 NOV 1696

1622 - 1696

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Birth 1622 England, U.K. [1]

Gender Male

_UPD 13 AUG 2009 18:42:15 GMT-5

Died 28 Nov 1696 [1]

Person ID I5262 Alan Donald Vibber

Last Modified 08 Dec 2009

Family Green Ruth, d. 28 Nov 1710

Married Y [1, 2]

Children

1. Whittier Mary, b. 09 Oct 1647, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

, d. 28 Jul 1698, Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

Family ID F2235 Group Sheet

Notes	This surname is identical with Whittier, and the American families of these names have the same ancestry. The name was variously spelled from the first in America. There is evidence that for several generations it was pronounced as of two syllable?, like Whit-chur. The most common spelling in the seventeenth century is Whittier, though the name of Nathaniel, son of the immigrant Thomas, appears frequently as Whitcher, and this spelling and Whicher became common in some branches of the family. The name is of French origin, and the family was doubtless French Huguenot. The poet Whittier is perhaps the most distinguished member of this family. There is some confusion in the spelling of Whitaker and Whittier when living in the same territory, as they did in Essex county, but the origin of Whitaker (white-acre) is well established as a place-name in England. It must be said, however, that the spelling Whitehair and Whiteyeare and Whityear indicate the belief that the name is of English origin. (I) Thomas Whitcher (or Whittier), immigrant ancestor of both Whittiers and Whit- chers, was born in England, 1622, and came to America in the ship "Confidence" in 1638, from Melchett Parke. Wiltshire, England, via Southampton, in the employ of John Ralfe (or Rolfe), who settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts. Rolfe's will, dated March 29, 1663-4, bequeaths to Thomas Whittier's five children, "to Richard Whittier, my sister's son and her son John Whittier." Thomas Whittier married Ruth Green, whose relationship to John Rolfe and Henry Rolfe, his brother, (who also mentions Thomas Whittier as kinsman) is uncertain. She may have been a half-sister, or a widow when she married Whittier, or possibly a sister of John Rolfe's wife. Thomas Whittier, in the latter event, may have been a nephew of the Rolfes, as stated by Packard in his life of John Greenleaf Whittier. He was certainly thirty years younger than John Rolfe. After coming to America with the Rolfes he lived with them at Salisbury, probably until the time of his marriage, about 1646. There is a family tradition that he was a veritable giant, weighing three hundred pounds before he came of age, and proportionately strong. He received his grant of land and settled first, when he was about of age, in what is now the town of Amesbury, on the Powow river, and a hill on his farm still bears his name. He served in various town offices, and was deputy from Salisbury to the general court. In 1649 ne lived for a few months across the river in Newbury and soon afterward settled in Haverhill. about ten miles from his original home. He lived in Haverhill the remainder of his life, and his farm was a mile or more from the Merrimac river in the eastern part of the town, on the bank of a small stream known as Country Brook, formerly East Meadow Brook. In his first house, which was built of logs, situated a mile southeast of the one he built later, all but the eldest of his ten children were born. Each of his five sons exceeded six feet in stature. When he was about sixty-six years old he began to hew the timbers for a new house, the site of which he selected on the banks of a stream that runs along the base of Job's Hill. This house, which has sheltered generation after generation of descendants and is famous as the birthplace of the poet, was built in 1688-9 and occupied by the immigrant until his death, November 28, 1696, and by his widow until her death, November 28, 1710. The spot is picturesque, but has always been isolated. Here in the northeast corner of the town, only three miles from the city' with its thirtythousand inhabitants, this house is so secluded that no neighbor's house can be seen even to the present day. When hostilities began in 1676, Thomas Whittier had been living in his log-house on East Meadow Brook for nearly thirty years, receiving frequent visits from the Indians, whose respect and friendship he won by the fearlessness and justice he displayed in his dealings with them. When friendly intercourse with the pioneers was broken and the savages began to make their forays upon this exposed settlement, several houses in the town were fitted up as garrisons and we find that in 1675 Thomas Whittier was one of a committee appointed to select the houses that should be fortified as places of refuge. But though many of his townspeople were killed or carried into captivity, he never availed himself of this shelter for himself or his family, and tradition says he did not even bar his doors at night. Whittier had much respect and sympathy for the persecuted Quakers. In 1652 he was among the petitioners to the general court for the pardon of Robert Pike, who had been heavily fined for speaking against the order prohibiting the Quakers Joseph Peasley and Thomas Macy from exhorting on the Lord's Day. The irascible general court answered this petition for religious tolerance by appointing a committee to command the signers to withdraw the petition or suffer the consequences. Whittier was one of the sixteen who refused to withdraw their names, and they were punished by suspension of their rights as freemen—the penalty nowadays accorded to convicted felons only. The disability was removed May 23, 1666. There is no evidence that he joined the Society of Friends ; in fact, he continued active in the Puritan church. He was a deputy to the general court, and held other offices. He married Ruth Green. Children: 1. Mary, born at Salisbury, October 9, 1647; married, at Haverhill, September 21, 1666, Benjamin Page. 2. John, born at Haverhill. December 23, 1649; married, January 14, 1685-86, Mary Hoyt. 3. Ruth, born November 6, 1651 ; married, April 20, 1675, Joseph True. 4. Thomas, born January 21, 1653-54 ; resided in Haverhill, where he died October 17, 1728. 5. Susanna, born March 27, 1656; married, July 15, 1674, Jacob Merrill. 6. Nathaniel, born August 14, 1658; mentioned below. 7. Hannah, born September 1o, 1660; married, May 30, 1683, Edward Young, of Haverhill. 8. Richard, born June 27, 1663 ; died March 5, 1724-25. 9. Elizabeth, born November 21, 1666; married, June 22, 1699, James Sanders Jr., of Haverhul. 10. Joseph, born May 8, 1669; married, May 24, 1694, Mary Peasley.

Sources

[S147] Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, William Richard Cutter, (Name: 1908;), 1527 (Reliability: 3).
[S68] New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, William Richard Cutter, (Name: 1913-1915;), 2186 (Reliability: 3).