Person:Jeremiah Whitten (1)

Information on Jeremiah Whitten

from ANNALS OF WEST TISBURY by Dr. Charles Banks:

According to Savage (Genealogical Dictionary, IV, 532), there came in the "Elizabeth and Ann," in 1635, one Thomas Whitten, aged 36 years, bringing Audrey aged 45, who may have been his second wife, and Jeremy aged 8 years, but he does not know what became of them. [*With him came three Morecock children, probably belonging to his second wife by a previous marriage. They were certified by the Vicar of Benenden, Co. Kent, as to "conformity" in religion, but their names cannot now be found in the records of that parish. The name Whitten was commonly written Whitney in the Plymouth records.] It can now be stated that he settled at Plymouth, where in 1643 Thomas and Jeremiah Whiton or Whitney were "able to bear arms." Before 1657 Jeremiah had removed to Sandwich as he appears that date to take the oath of fidelity. In 1660 the father gave certain property rights to his son Jeremiah. [*Thomas Whitton (Whitney) is frequently mentioned in the Plymouth records and was a juryman every year 1643-1667. He married twice after the death of the wife Audrey (before 1639), and in his will he mentions son Jeremiah and grandson Thomas.]

The four original proprietors of Takemmy admitted, among others, in May, 1671, Jeremiah Whiten to joint pro prietory rights, and if this be the Jeremy of 1635, as it undoubtedly is, our Jeremiah was forty-four years old when he took up his residence and cast his lot in the new township of Tisbury. His homestead is thus described in the records:

June the 27 1673 the Record of the lands And Accomadations of Jeremiah Whitin in Takymmy or tisbury on the vineyard. One house Lot which containeth fourty Acres [lying on the west side of the brook where his dwelling house] is this present year or 1673 bounded by the hey [way] And James Allens lot on the south being fourty [rods by the brook] more or less And the brook on the east And runing eight score rods in length westward being fourty Acres more or less. And the sixth part of the neck by John Eddys of [which half] the sixth and furdermost lot next the poynt is Jeremiah whitins Leying Across the neck as the neck is devided to every mans [lot], contained in the neck as before mentioned in the order of the devision of the three necks bareing dates the first of february [1671]. And the sixteenth part of all undevided lands whether purchased or to purchesse or that may be purchased

This is the record of the lands And Accomadations of Jeremiah Whitin [*This lot was between the cemetery and Scotchman's Bridge road.]

At the time of his coming here he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Daggett, of Watertown and the Vine yard. She was born about 1638 and two children were born to them, Thomas and a daughter Mary, b. May 1, 1666, recorded in the town book of Tisbury, though it is probable she owned some other place as her native town. Thomas died young.

Jeremiah Whitten remained in Tisbury the rest of his days, until death terminated his earthly career late in 1711. There is no record of his decease, nor of his wife's, and no gravestones mark their last resting place. His will shows that the "aged Mother Elizabeth my wife" was living in November of that year. The daughter Mary married Benjamin Manter and the son-in-law with his wife were the beneficiaries of his estate, subject to support of the widow during her lifetime. Whitten Manter received a gun "which formerly belonged unto my son Thomas Whitten deceased" (Probate, I, 33). His estate inventoried at £283, 7s.

In his lifetime he made but little impress, if we may judge from the infrequency of appearance of his name in the town records. He was selectman in 1679, and on the committee to rearrange the town books in 1689, and this constitutes all that is known of him. The name became extinct here at his death, but that of Whitten Manter was familiar to past generations, and all the descendants of Benjamin Manter may look to him as a common ancestor.

Source: http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=pjmpjm&id=I6714