Whitis Line

From Bluegrass to Bluebonnets______________________________________________________

My Whitehurst/Whitis Line

Note: Spelling of the name from Whitehurst to Whitis began about 1840/ generation six.

Generation One

William Whitehurst, believed to be the emigrant father of the Whitehursts of Virginia, was one of twenty men transported into the colony of Elizabeth City County Virginia before 1636. The county was later called Princess Anne County, and this was the location of the 1,000 acres Mr. Stafforton received for transporting the twenty men into the Virginia colony.

Elizabeth Anne County was a large area, so it was later divided to form Norfolk County and Princess Anne County. In 1963 Norfolk County was incorporated into the city of Chesapeake, and Princess Anne County became a part of the city of Virginia Beach.

The exact year that William Whitehurst arrived into the Virginia Colony is not known, but *Mr Stafferton sold the 1,000 acres in Elizabeth City County to James Vanerit 17 October 1636.

William Whitehurst came from Staffordshire, England. Proof is found in the book, The Whitehurst Family of Trentham by Wesley F. Russell. This book contains extracts from the Trentham Parish Register 1558-1812, Deanery of Trentham, Staffordshire, England. The Trentham Parish included the church parishes of Blurton, Hanford, Dresden, Trentham, and part of Normacot and Butterton.

The extracts from The Whitehurst Family of Trentham, previously mentioned, consists of babtisms, marriages, and burials of parish members with names such as William, Richard, Thomas, John, James, and Elizabeth which are used repeatedly in the Whitehurst families who settled in Virginia.

The name is spelled eight different ways in the register: Whythurste, Whythurst, Whytehurste, Whytehurst, Whiturst, Whithurste, Whithurst, and Whitehurst.

Generation Two

William Richard Whitehurst, known as Richard, and believed to be the son of William Whitehurst, was born about 1600, died 22 November 1651. He married Ellen____ of Princess Anne County Virginia. *
Richard wrote his will in 1651, and his wife, Ellen wrote her deed of gift in 1654.

(1) James Whitehurst, will dated 1721, married Sarah Goldsmith, daughter of William Goldsmith.
(2) Robert Whitehurst, will dated 1691, married Elinor Nicholas, daughter of Henry Nicholas.
(3) John Whitehurst, will dated1691, married Mary____.
(4) William Whitehurst, will dated 1699, married Jane____.
(5) Richard Whitehurst, died c1705, continued...
(6) Ellen Whitehurst, no information.
(7) Susan Whitehurst, no information.

Generation Three

Richard Whitehurst, died 1705, married ¹Margaret Nicholas, d/o Andrew Nichols/Nicholas, married ²Mary Batson.

(1) William Whitehurst, will dated 1732, Princess Anne County Virginia.
(2) Richard Whitehurst, will dated 1765, Onsloe County North Carolina.
(3) John Whitehurst, no information.
(4) Batson Whitehurst, will dated 1759, Princess Anne County Virginia
(5) James Whitehurst, no information.
(6) Simon Whitehurst, continued...

Generation Four

Simon Whitehurst, was born in Virginia c1730, died c1800 in North Carolina. He married Argent Cox, Princess Anne County Virginia. They had five children all born in Virginia. About 1761 Simon moved his family to Beaufort County North Carolina, and settled on South Devining Creek.

(1) Henry Whitehurst, born 23 October 1753, married Lydia Vause, daughter of *Captain Thomas Vause.
(2) Hillery Whitehurst, born 1755.
(3) Batson Whitehurst, born c1757, continued...
(4) Nancy Whitehurst, Cox.
(5) Sarah Whitehurst, Campen.

Generation Five

Batson Whitehurst, born c1757, Prinsess Anne County Virginia, died 1823, wife unknown. He moved with his parents to Beaufort County North Carolina when he was about four years old.
He enlisted in the Revolutionary War 20 july 1778 and served nine months. He was enlisted as Batson Whites instead of Batson Whitehurst*

Batson had many land deeds on record in Beaufort County North Carolina, but he sold his land before he moved to Hawkins County Tennessee with his son, Thomas Joshua and his family. This move was between 1821 and 1823.

When Batson made his will 26 March 1823, he did not name his wife as heir so she must have been deceased. Among those names in his will were four grandchildren: (Patsy) Martha, Batson, John, and Thomas (Jefferson) Whitehurst.

(1) Batson Whitehurst, Jr. no information
(2) Simon Whitehurst. married Mary Ann Scott
(3) Arthur Whitehurst. Had a son William Whitehurst born 1788 that married Elizabeth.
(4) Richard Whitehurst. Had a son John C. Whitehurst born 1803 that married Elizabeth Bryan.
(5)Thomas Joshua Whitehurst, continued...

Generation Six

Thomas Joshua Whitehurst, born c1789, died c1830. Married Elizabeth P.____, born c1791.

Thomas Joshua and Elizabeth were both born in North Carolina. They married about 1815. Between 1821/23 they moved to Hawkins County Tennessee near Rogersville. They had seven children, the first four born in North Carolina.

It is believed Thomas Joshua died in late 1830 before the census was taken because Elizabeth P. was the head of household on the census of 1830, 1840 and 1850.

On the 1820 census list of Beaufort County North Carolina the Whitehurst name was spelled correctly. On the 1830 census of Hawkins County Tennessee it was misspelled Whiteass. The 1840 and 1850 census spelled the name Whitis and it has been spelled Whitis ever since, at least by this branch of the family.

Elizabeth P. Whitis was on the 1850 census but not on the 1860. Possibly she died about 1852, as four of her children, Martha, Hiram, John and Thomas Jefferson moved to Pulaski County Kentucky about that time. Another son, Charles was attending Tusculum College in Greenville North Carolina.

Thomas Joshua and Elizabeth P. Whitis (Whitehurst) had the following seven children:

(1) Martha (Patsy) Whitis (Whitehurst) was born in Beaufort Coubty NC c1816. She married Claiborne Russell in Tennessee in 1836. In 1852 she and her husband moved with her brothers families to Kentucky.
Martha and Claiborne had the following children: Albert Russell, Jane Russell, Thomas Russell, Elizabeth Russell, William Russell, and Russell Russell.

(2) John Whitis (Whitehurst), born 1817 in Beaufort County North Carolina. He married Susan Roberts in Rogersville, Hawkins County Tennessee, and they moved with his brothers families to Pulaski County Kentucky near Somerset in 1852.
John and Susan remained in Kentucky, and had the following children: Nomen Whitis, John Wesley Whitis, Frances Whitis, Amanda Whitis, Hiram Whitis, William Whitis, Rachel Whitis, James Whitis, Charles, and Martha Whitis.

(3) Batson Whitis (Whitehurst), born 1818 in Beaufort County North Carolina. wife unknown. He and his brother, John, were the two boys between ten and fifteen years of age on the 1830 census of Hawkins County Tennessee. The 1850 census did not list Batson with his mother, Elizabeth P., and other family members. No further information found on him.

(4) Charles Wesley Whitis (Whitehurst), born in 1824 near Rogersville, Hawkins County Tennessee. He received his B.A. degree about 1852 from *Tusculum College in Greenville, NC. He studied law under Judge Shields and served as a clerk of the District Court in Greenville. In 1854 he joined a group of families bound for Texas, and drove one of the teams for his travel expenses. After months of dangerous adventure through indian and outlaw country, he reached Lockhart, Texas, then an important border town, in December 1854. In Lockhart he lived in the home of Judge Story, taught school and began the practice of law with Theophalus Rogan, traded in cotton, prospered, and became a leading figure of his connunity. In 1857, he married Florence Rogan, niece of his law partner, daughter of Griffith Rogan of Botecourt County Virginia, who had moved to Lockhart, Texas in 1844.After the War of Secession, Charles bought sixty acres of land three miles north of Austin, and moved his family to a cottage which is now the present corner of Alice and 38th Street. In Austin, he formed a partnership with James H. Raymond and bought the private banking firm of Swenson Brothers. He became a civic leader, organizer of industry, and one of the true fathers of Austin. His efforts did much to bring the first railroad, The Houston and Texas Central to Austin in 1871.
Most of the campus of the University of Texas was once Whitis land. The present area of Grace Hall, All Saints Chapel, and Gregg House was once the Whitis Orchard. The brow of North Hill, where Whitis built the new home for his family, is now the location of the Austin Scottish Rite Dormitory.
After the death of Charles Wesley Whitis in 1857, the City Council of Austin named Berlin and Matilde Street Whitis Avenue.
Charles and Florence (Rogan) Whitis had the following children: Mary Whitis, *Dr. Rufus Whitis, Willie B. Whitis, John H. Whitis, Charles Wesley Whitis Jr, FlorenceWhitis, Ellen Patten Whitis, Gertrude Whitis, and Thomas P. Whitis.

(5) Hiram C. Whitis, born 1826 in Hawkins County Tennessee. He moved with his parents to Somerset in Pulaski County Kentucky in 1852 where he married Nancy Ping, 20 October 1853. She was the daughter of Robert and Patience Whitson, Ping. They remained in Kentucky and have many descendants living in that area today.
Hiram and Nancy had nine children: Mary Elizabeth Whitis, Melvina Whitis, Charles Wesley Whitis (m. Sarah Randall), William Daniel Whitis (m. Paralee Russell), Thomas Whitis, George H. Whitis (m. Janie Langford 1891), Florence Whitis (m. James M. Mize 1872), Sarah Whitis (m. James Milkey Mize 1874), and Angeline Whitis.

(6) Thomas Jefferson Whitis, continued.

(7) Angeline Whitis, born 1831 in Hawkins County Tennessee.

Generation Seven

Thomas Jefferson Whitis, born 21 November 1819 in Beaufort County North Carolina, died 21 November 1905 in Lampasas County Texas, He was two years old when his parents moved to Hawkins County Tennessee.
About 1843 he married *Elizabeth Ann Burton, who was born in Tennessee on 28 April 1828, died 30 April 1906 in Lampasas County Texas.
The family moved to Pulaski County Kentucky near Somerset in 1852. Thomas Jefferson probably continued to farm there as he did in Tennessee; however, the tradition is that he served as the County Sheriff for 20 years, but never carried a gun.
In 1882 Thomas Jefferson and Elizabeth Ann moved to Williamson County Texas, near Round Rock. Their family had all married except James Calvin and John Napoleon, but the children that had married moved to Round Rock then or soon afterwards. Thomas Jefferson and Elizabeth Ann always lived near their son, William Robert, and when they could no longer care for themselves, they lived with him and his family. In the 1900 census, they are living in Lampasas County Texas near the small town of Kempner where they remained .

(1) Sarah Whitis, born 1845, married Bowling Bullock, 2 February 1863 in Pulaski County Kentucky.
(2) Jesse Whitis, born 1847, married (1) Mary Campbell in 1866, (2) Elizabeth N. Eldridge in1870.
(3) Martha Whitis, born 1849, married Pleasant John Smith in 1873.
(4) Mary B. Whitis, born 1851, married Daniel Harper in 1872.
(5) Alice Whitis, born 1856, married Augusta Smith (b. 1851,Lee Co.Va) in 1873 in Pulaski County Kentucky.
(6) Nancy Whitis, born 1858, died 1859.
(7) Lucinda Whitis, born 1860 continued...
(8) William Robert Whitis, born 20 June 1863, died 17 April 1928, married Eliza Ellen Chapman in 1883.
(9) James Calvin Whitis,born 1865, married two times, names unknown.
(0) John Napoleon Whitis, born 1 August 1871, died 12 October 1895, buried in the Kempner Cemetery.

Generation Eight

Lucinda Whitis, was born in Pulaski County Kentucky on 10 February 1860. She married Fielden Shelton on 18 October 1877 in Pulaski County Kentucky. Fielden was born in Grainger County Tennessee, c1859, d. 1880-83.

Continued: (generation six) on the Shelton Family Page:

NOTES & SOURCES:

* Land Office Records, Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia.

* Richard and Ellen are mentioned in The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy Vol VI, First Families of America Section, p 435, under the name of Russell.
The Whitehurst Family, Archives of NC State Library, Raliegh, NC contain 4 generations of this line of Whitehurst family. they are William Richard Whitehurst, Richard Whitehurst, Simon Whitehurst, and Batson Whitehurst.

* Richard Whitehurst Grandfather of Us All, by Rebecca W. Sanders, Smithfield, NC.

* Captain Thomas Vause of the British Navy who commanded a sloop of war, resigned his command and took sides with the American Colonies in the Revolution.

* The 2nd Supplement DAR Patiotic Index New Ancestor Lists verifies the name as Batson Whitrehurst.

* Alumni Catalogue of Tuscular College. ( his name is listed as James W.)

*Dr. Rufus Whitis in Encyclopedia of Texas, Vol II, p. 313. Annuals of Travis County 1871 by Brown , chapters XVII and XXX.

*Elizabeth Ann Burton is reported to be a kinsman of Daniel Boone. Would like to confirm this, if you have info., please contact me.

Marriage records: Pulaski County Tennessee, Burnet County Texas.
Census records: Beaufort County NC 1790, Hawkins County Tn 1820-50, Pulaski County Ky 1880 , Lampasas County Tx 1900.

Credit: The above information and the sources listed below were taken from a Book on the Whitehurst/Whitis Family, written by Lena Mae (Whitis) Crawford, a direct descendant of William Robert and Eliza Ellen Chapman, Whitis.

Additions and corrections to these pages are welcome.