Mr. Thomas Whitney, gentleman, parentage unproven, was born say 1550, died 18 May 1637, and was buried 20 May 1637, St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, England.
He married, 12 May 1583, St. Margaret's, Westminster, England, Mary Bray, daughter of John and Margaret (Haslonde) Bray. She was baptized 24 Dec 1564, St. Margaret's, Westminster, England, and was buried 25 Sep 1629, St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, England.
"On May 10, 1583, he obtained from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster a license to marry Mary, daughter of John Bray, in which he is described as 'Thomas Whytney of Lambeth Marsh, gentleman,' and on May 12th the marriage ceremony was performed in St. Margaret's. 'Lambeth Marsh' is a name still applied to a locality near the Surrey end of Westminster bridge. There were born to him nine children [sic: There were at least eleven, and perhaps thirteen.--RLW], viz: Margaret, Thomas, Henry, Arnwaye, John, Nowell, Francis, Mary, and Robert, but only three [sic: That should be five.--RLW], viz., John, Francis, and Robert, survived childhood. Of these John emigrated to Watertown, Mass., Francis died at Westminster in 1643, and Robert in the parish of St. Peters, Cornhill, London, in 1662. In 1611 it is recorded that Thomas paid the subsidy tax, and December 6, 1615, on the probate of the will of his father-in-law, John Bray, he was appointed executor. February 22, 1607, he apprenticed his son John, and November 8, 1624, his son Robert. The record of the latter, like the marriage license, describes him as a "gentleman." September 25, 1629, he buried his wife, and in April, 1637 [sic: That should be May, 1637.--RLW], died himself. His eldest surviving son, John, being then out of England, administration of his estate was, on May 8, 1637, granted to the other two, Francis and Robert. The accounts of the latter show that the deceased was in comfortable circumstances."
In 1603, London was hit by a several-year-long outbreak of the plague in which 34,000 people perished and about 2/5ths of the population fled the city. Typically, it was the aristocracy and the rich who could afford to escape, and we know that Thomas Whitney was of some means, being styled "gentleman" in the records of his marriage. This plague could explain why their daughter Alice's baptism has not been located in Westminster, and why their daughter Margaret was buried in Isleworth in 1604/5.
