Person:Horace Whitmore (2)

According to the records kept by his granddaughter, May Stiles France,^[1] Horace was born 14 February 1817, in the part of Ontario County, New York that is now Livingston County. We presume that Horace was recorded as a part of the household of his father, Peleg Wetmore, on the 1820 census of Freeport, Ontario County, New York and on the 1830 census of Pennfield, Monroe County, New York. Horace was, with his two older brothers, Noah and Myron, one of the three older sons who remained with his father after the death of their mother. After the death of their father the three young men appear to have made their way, probably traveling by boat down Lake Erie from Buffalo, to Detroit.

The first record we have of Horace Whitmore, by name, is his land transaction in 1837. On 10 April 1837 Horace Wetmore, of Oakland County, Michigan, received a patent of 80 acres of land consisting of the East half of the South East quarter of section 28 in Township Six North of the Range East (Mundy Township, Genesee County, Michigan).^[5] On the 15th day of February the following year (1838)l Horace Wetmore of Genesee County sold this 80 acre plot to Elijah Kent of Wayne County, State of New York for $150. These two land transactions are the the first and last time his surname is recorded as Wetmore. On the same day he sold this acreage to Elijah Kent, and recorded on the following page in the deed records, Horace Whitmore of Genesee County purchased from Cyrus and Lucina B. Simmons 80 acres consisting of the West half of the North East quarter of Section 20 in Mundy Township.^[9] This, with an additional 20 acres to the west, was to be his home for the next fifty eight years. We have no way of knowing whether the change to Whitmore was intentional or if it was merely the spelling used by those who recorded the records, but his descendants have continued to be Whitmores for 175 years.

Not surprisingly; neither Horace nor his brother Myron were enumerated by name in the 1840 census of Genesee County. As single men they probably resided in the household of someone else. They were, however, counted as voters in the election of 1840 and Horace was listed as a tax payer in 1844.^[10]

Voter in Mundy Township, Genesee County, Michigan in 1840

Horace Whitmore and Mae Cross

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} France, May (Stiles), Indiana, to H. B. Whitmore, letter, 1950, Whitmore family information, Whitmore Research Files, privately held by H. B. Whitmore.

   This is the only source for the month and day of birth. Year confirmed by census records.

2.   McClelland, Lillian A., Princeton, Idaho to H. B. Whitmore, letter, April 4, 1964, Wetmore Family Information, Wetmore Research Files, privately held by H. B. Whitmore.

   This letter from Lillian McClelland in 1964 was my first indication that the family surname was originally Wetmore.

3. ↑ _____. Evergreen Cemetary, Hill Road, Genesee County, Michigan. (DAR reading, Flint, MI, circa 1934)
   Whitmore family marker, no dates for Horace Whitmore. (NB: I visited this cemetery in 1994 and photographed many family markers. The dates on this one were almost unreadable at this time. Therefore I have cited two separate readings for this marker.).
4. ↑ Compiler: Merle Perry. Genesee County, Michigan Cemeteries, Volume V, Evergreen Cemetery (Whigville) Grand Blanc Township.. (Flint Genealogical Society, Flint, Michigan, 1987)
   Whitmore family marker, Horace Whimore, "died" no dates.
5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Wetmore, Horace, of Oakland County, Michigan Land Patent, in United States. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records
   Accession Number MI0290__099, 10 Apr 1837.

   80 acres Michigan, Michigan-Toledo Strip, Twp. 006N, Rng, 006, Aliquots E1/2 SE1/4, Section 28, Genesee County

6. ↑ ^6.0 6.1 Horace Whitmore Obituary, in Wolverine Republican (Flint, Michigan)
   18 Apr 1896.

   Horace Whitmore, of Mundy, died at the home of his daughter Mrs. Wm. Corss, at Rankin Monday night [13 APR 1896]. He leaves a son and a daughter, Mrs. T. B. Stiles of Middleburg, Ind., and Monroe Whitmore, of Nebraska. The funeral was held from the Presbyterian church at Rankin and the remains taken to Whigville for burial.

7. ↑ Horace Wetmore, in Find A Grave.

   Horace Whitmore/Died [no date]

8. ↑ Reynolds, Sara Whitmore, Narberth, Pennsylvania, to "Dear Harold" [Harold B. Whitmore, Jr.], Letter, 19 April 1946.

   This source included to document my earliest research into my Whitmore ancestry some sixty seven years ago.

9. ↑ Genesee County (Michigan). Register of Deeds. Deed record, 1836-1924; index, 1827-1930. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 2003)
   page 615 and 616.
10. ↑ Ellis, Franklin. History of Genesee County, Michigan: with illustrations of its prominent men and pioneers. (Philadelphia: Everts & Abbott, 1879)
    291-292.