Person:John Whiting (34)

Sibley's Sketch of Rev. John Whiting

"John Whiting. Born 1664, killed 1697, aged 32.

Rev. John Whiting, M. A., of Lancaster, born 1 July, 1664, was second son and third child of Samuel Whiting, of Billerica, H. U. 1653. His mother was Dorcas, born 1 November, 1637, daughter of Leonard Chester of Wethersfield, Connecticut. He was invited, February, 1688, to preach as a candidate for settlement at Lancaster, Massachusetts. At the same time the town voted to build a house for their minister. When it was completed, the inhabitants 'at a town meeting, January 3, 1690, agreed to make conveyance to Mr. Whiting of the house and land formerly granted by the town. And the town the same time went out of the house, and gave Mr. John Whiting possession thereof in behalf of the whole above written, formerly granted by the town.' It was known as the 'ministers garrison.'

'Wednesday, December 3, 1690,' writes Judge Sewall, 'A Church is gathered, and Mr. John Whiting Ordained Minister at Lancaster. Mr. Sam^l Whiting' H. U. 1653, 'gives him his Charge, Mr. Estabrooks,' H. U. 1664, 'gives the Right hand of Fellowship; Mr. Brinsmead & others there.' There had been several preachers at Lancaster, hut no settled clergyman since Joseph Rowlandson, H. U. 1652, who was there at the destruction of the town by the Indians, in 1676. September 11, 1697, the Indians, who for some time had been lurking in the neighborhood, contemplated another attack on the garrison, and 'were just ready to rush into it,' but 'supposing they were discover'd, gave over that Design; and fir'd at such as were out in the Fields. … Whiting being on some Occasion at a Distance from his Garrison, they surpriz'd and kill'd him. They indeed offer'd him Quarter; but he chose rather to fight to the last, than resign himself to those whose tender Mercies are Cruelty. At the same Time they kill'd Twenty others; … wounded two, but not mortally; and captivated Six, five of whom returned.' It is stated that Whiting was shot and scalped about noon, and that three houses were burnt with several aged people in them.

John Prentice, H.U. 1700, was the next ordained minister, Andrew Gardner, H.U. 1696, who had received a call, having been killed before he was ordained.

Whiting married, about 1693 or 1694, Alice, daughter of Joseph Cooke, of Cambridge, H.U. 1661, and had Alice, born in December, 1694, and Eunice, born in 1696, both of whom died at Cambridge, in 1697. A stone standing at the graves of these children, in the old burying-ground at Cambridge, has on it the following inscription: 'Here lyes y^e children | of JOHN & ALICE | WHITEING. | ALICE WHITEING Aged 2 years & 10 M^o | Died | October 19 1697. [ EUNICE WHITEING | Aged 1 year Died | November 4 1697.'

After the death of her husband, the widow married, 9 May, 1701, the Reverend Timothy Stevens, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, H. U. 1687."^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} John Whiting, in Sibley, John Langdon. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Cambridge, Mass.: C.W. Sever, 1873- 1885)
   3:335-37.
2. ↑ Foster, F. Apthorp (ed.). Vital Records of Billerica, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1908)
   199.

   "Whiting, … John, s. Samuel [(duplicate entry) Sam[ue]ll] and Dorcas, [born] Sept. 1 [(duplicate entry) Aug. 1], 1664. [Whiteing, s. Samuel, Aug. 1, (Middlesex County record, East Cambridge)]"

3. ↑ The Massacre of September 11, 1697, in Nourse, Henry Stedman. Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1850. (Clinton, Massachusetts: W.J. Coulter, 1890)
   16.

   "Reverend John Whiting, aged thirty-three years."

4. ↑ Old Burial Field, in Nourse, Henry Stedman. Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1850. (Clinton, Massachusetts: W.J. Coulter, 1890)
   401.

   "57. In Memory of | The Reverend John Whiting, | second minister of Lancaster, | Killed by the Indians | September 11, A. D. 1697. | This Stone in place | Of one broken and decayed | is set by the Town, A. D. 1878."
   "66. MR | JOHN …ITING | PAST… OF THE | CHURCH … LAN^r | DECEASED | SEPTEMBER | 11 DAY | 1697."

5. ↑ Rev John Whiting, in Find A Grave.