Whidden Family of New England and Nova Scotia
Last update of page: 27 October 2023.
The Whidden family enters into Douglas J. Graham's Family Reunion through Elizabeth Whidden, b. 1774, who married the Reverend Hugh Graham, the first Graham of my family to emigrate to Canada from Scotland.
A previous version of this page relied heavily on Miller's book (4) which however was incorrect in several major details of my Whidden ancestry. Unless indicated otherwise, all the information below comes from Jane Wile's recent (2022) book on the Whiddens (5) but I present here only a brief summary; her book should be referred to for more complete information and for her sources.
The Whiddens were an English family (likely from the area of Devonshire). Our branch of the family emigrated to New England and then to Nova Scotia. In various earlier records there are many spelling variations of the name such as Whitton or Whitten.
Samuel Whidden, b. abt 1643 --- m. --- Mary Cate (10 children)
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Samuel Whidden, b. 1680s --- m. --- Sarah Jones (link to Willix) (5 children)
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James Whidden, b. abt 1710 --- m. --- Abigail Sanborn (link to Philbrick) (7 children)
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John Whidden, b. 1736 --- m. --- Elizabeth Longfellow (link to Clark) (7 children)
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Hugh Graham, b. 1758--- m. --- Elizabeth Whidden, b. 1774 (6 children)
Samuel Whidden, b. abt 1643
Samuel's birth place is unknown. Some researchers state he was born in England but others that he was born in Portsmouth, NH. Possibly his parents were Ichabod and Mary Whidden; he may have had brothers named James and John in NH. Samuel is first definitively noted in Portsmouth in June 1662 when he appears in a court record. By 1669 he is recorded in land transactions, where he is noted as a bricklayer or mason. He was also a sawmill operator. The various transactions were either in Portsmouth, NH or Greenland, NH (part of the township of Portsmouth).
Samuel married in 1675 in Greenland, NH Mary Cate, born about 1643 in Portsmouth, NH, daughter of James and Alice Cate. Samuel died before 7 May 1718 in Greenland, NH (that being the date his will was probated). Her death is not recoded but it was after 1714, when Samuel's will was drafted. Samuel and Mary Whidden had 10 children, covered in the next section
Samuel Whidden, b. 1680s, and Siblings
The ten children of Samuel Whidden and Mary Cate are below. All are recorded as being born in NH or sometimes in Greenland, NH. Their are few precise birth dates for them.
1) Jane Whidden. She married Thomas Edgerly on December 3 1691.
2) John. He married Sarah Nutter on January 18 1711/1712. He was a farmer in Greenland, NH and died in 1767. No children are noted by (5).
3) Alice, born about 1683. She married Samuel Haines and then William Jenkins and died January 19 1782 in Greenland, NH.
4) Samuel Whidden, b. in the 1680s in Portsmouth, NH. He was a farmer in Greenland, NH (and also served as a constable). In about 1700 he married Sarah Jones, born in Portsmouth, NH, daughter of Francis Jones and Susannah Willix; she died in about 1722. Samuel died between August 1713 and March 1714 in Greenland, NH. He was about 30 when he died, of unknown causes, leaving his wife pregnant with their 5th child. She is not recorded as remarrying. Their children are covered in the next section.
5) Abigail. She married William White and died before November 1716.
6) Sarah. She married Joshua Haines in about 1710.
7) Mary, b. about 1690 in Greenland, NH. She married Nathan Johnson on February 19 1712/1713.
8) James. He was a farmer, residing in both Portsmouth, NH and in Swan's Island, ME. In 1745, he participated in the Siege of Louisbourg, as a captain. He married on February 18 1714 in Greenland, NH to Mary Philbrick. She was b. May 20, 1692 and died before 1758. One child Abigail Whidden known from this marriage. James then married by 1758 to Abigail.
9) Elizabeth, b. about 1694 in Greenland, NH. She married Jonathan Philbrick (born March 25 1694, died after 1743).
10) Margaret, baptized September 22, 1695. She married John Neale, March 1 1715/1716.
James Whidden, b. about 1710, and his Siblings
Samuel Whidden and Sarah Jones had 5 children. The eldest 4 children were all baptized together in 1713; their birth dates not being noted. James emigrated to NS but the other children apparently all remained in NH.
1) John Whidden. Also noted as "Whitten" by (5). He married Ruth Merrill, born July 26 1711.
2) Samuel Whidden, 3rd, b. 1707.
3) James Whidden, b. about 1710 in Canterbury, NH (baptized in 1713 at Greenland, NH). By the mid-1740s he was living in nearby Nottingham, NH. He and his family lived there for about 15 years and then in 1761, at the age of about 48, he decided to move to Nova Scotia. Jane Wile (5) speculates that for the sake of his children he wanted to take advantage of the new lands that were opening up in NS and there was also the fact that one of the agents organizing emigration to NS was Jacob Longfellow, the brother-in-law of his son John. After the expulsion of the Acadians, the British government wanted the vacated lands to be colonized by British protestants and strongly promoted immigration from New England. According to Wile (5), the family traveled to Nova Scotia on a ship belonging to the famous John Hancock of Boston, an American founding father, who was a friend of James. A grandson of James (a son of David) would later be named John Hancock Whidden in his honour.
James and his son David received land grants at Truro, James receiving a full share of 500 acres. His son John (and Jacob Longfellow) settled at Cornwallis. In Truro, James was a farmer and miller (both sawmill and grist mill). As a farmer, he principally grew flax, for the production of linen. James was the founder of the Whidden line of Colchester County, NS.
James married three times. The Miller book had indicated that Mary Lyons [sic] was the mother of his children but this is not the case; Mary Lynds was in fact his third wife. He first married Abigail Sanborn on March 26 1734 in Greenland, NH; she was the mother of his seven children (see following section). She was born October 24, 1715 in Hampton, Rockinham, NH, daughter of Samuel Sanborn and Sarah Philbrick. She died in the late 1750s, possibly in Nottingham, NH, leaving a family of young children. James then married Abigail Tilton before January 30 1759 (date of a legal document in which she delegated to her husband James Whidden of Nottingham the administration of the estate of her late son Jonathan Prescott). She thus must have been previously married to a Prescott. She was born May 20 1706 in Hampton, NH, daughter of Samuel Tilton and Meribah Page. She died before 1774 (date of James's third marriage); it is not clear whether or not she emigrated to NS with her husband in 1761.
Some time after 1774, James married in NS a third time to Mary Gould, daughter of David Gould and Elizabeth Green and widow of Jacob Lynds. She was born April 6 1724 in Stoneham, MA. The Miller book (4) states he died December 13 1790, his widow going at that time to live with her son Thomas Lynds of the North River of Truro; she died there in 1810. Thomas was the husband of Rebecca Blair. For more information on Jacob Lynds and his family see (5) and see also the Blair chapter for information on their son Thomas.
4) Sarah, b. 1712. She married William Bucknell and died December 19 1751.
5) Ichabod, b. 1714, after the death of his father. Jane Wile (5) provides some information on his children. There likely are many Whidden descended from this New England branch of the family. He resided in Newmarket, NH. He married three times but it is not noted which were the mothers of his children and his death date is not recorded. His wives were Miss Uhlan, Elizabeth Small, and Eunice Parsons. His children were:
1. Jeremiah Whidden, b. December 30 1750, died young.
2. Mark, b. October 27 1751, died 1798.
3. Ichabod, b. January 19, 1756, resided in Halowell, ME. He married Abigail Matthews.
4. Parsons, b. November 25, 1758.
5. Nathaniel, b. March 20 1761.
6. Elizabeth, b. October 21 1763.
7. Josiah, b. May 1767.
John Whidden, b. 1741, and his Siblings
James Whidden and Abigail Sanborn had 7 children, all born in NH, USA, and presumably the six living children all emigrating with their father James to NS in 1761. The children were the following:
1) Eleanor Whidden, born about 1735 (the year of her baptism) in Greenland, NH.
2) John Whidden, b. July 17 1736 in Greenland, NH. John is my great-(4x)-grandfather. John was about 25 when the family emigrated to NS. Before leaving, he married in NH to Elizabeth Longfellow. Unlike the rest of his family, they settled in Cornwallis, N.S. where he was a prominent citizen of the town. Cornwallis, NS is no longer to be found on Google Maps; Wikipedia states "Cornwallis Township was one of the original townships of Kings County, Nova Scotia. The township was named after Edward Cornwallis, the founder of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It bordered Aylesford Township to the west and Horton Township to the south. While the name has fallen into disuse on maps, overshadowed by the growth of individual towns and villages within the township, many historical places and documents refer to Cornwallis".
John was a Justice of the Peace and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Kings County. He died September 14 1794 in Cornwallis and was buried at Chipman Corner, Cemetery, Kings County. In October 2023, the nearest cemetery to Chipmans Corner is Elm Grove Cemetery, perhaps the location of his burial? I have it in my notes that my great-aunt Ethel Graham visited their graves in 1959 at which time she noted they were in good condition.
Elizabeth Longfellow was a daughter of Capt. Jonathan Longfellow and Mercy Clark. Elizabeth was born July 17 1741 in Nottingham, NH. She died June 2 1830 in Newport, NS and is buried with her husband. She is related to the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) but the link is remote. Their common ancestor is Elizabeth's great-grandfather William Longworth, born in England and emigrated to MA. William is the poet's great-great-great-grandfather, making him the 2nd cousin twice removed of Elizabeth. In other words, the poet was the fourth cousin of James Graham, and thus my 4th cousin 4x removed, the distant relationship explaining my inability to rhyme anything more than 2 words!
John Whidden and Elizabeth Longfellow had seven children, covered in the next section.
3) Elizabeth, born in Greenland, NH.
4) Martha, born August 14 1743 and died 1743 in Greenland, NH.
5) David, born about 1749 in Nottingham, NH. The descendants of David are all treated in great detail, for at least three more generations, in Miller's genealogical history of Colchester County (4) and by Jane Wile (5). David was an original Grantee of Truro Township, receiving half a share (250 acres). He increased his land holdings through purchases from his father and through inheritance. He sold out in 1795 and moved to Maitland, NS. His occupations were recorded as farmer, shopkeeper, merchant, and shipbuilder. He also worked as a surveyor in Truro. He died October 1 1825 in Maitland.
On September 29 1774 he m. Eleanor, b. 1754 in Londonderry, NH, second daughter of Adam Dickey and Janet Scovil. David's widow died August 10 1828 in Maitland. They had 3 sons and 1 daughter:
1. James Whidden, b. July 8 1775 in Truro. He moved to Maitland, NS with his father in 1795 and died there June 3, 1830, after being thrown from his horse. He was a prosperous merchant and ship-builder. He married Abigail Brown (1779-1867) on January 31 1805 in Londonderry, NS. They had 10 children and many Whidden descendants.
2. John Hancock Whidden, b. February 13 1777 in Truro (as noted above, named after John Hancock). He died young.
3. David, born April 2 1779 in Truro. He died at sea in December 1801 and was unmarried.
4. Abigail, born November 10 1780. She married William Frieze (abt 1775-1843) on April 9 1801 in Londonderry, NH. She died January 4 1808 in Maitland, NS, likely in childbirth as her last child was born that same month. They had 5 children, leaving many Frieze descendants.
6) Samuel, born 1752 in Nottingham, NH. The descendants of Samuel are all treated in great detail, for at least three more generations, in Miller's genealogical history of Colchester County (4) and by Jane Wile (5). Samuel was a farmer, living Salmon River, NS and in Greenfield, NS. He died July 10 1821 in Greenfield, NS, aged 69.
He married Abigail Newcomb, b. June 8 1757 in Lebanon, CT, on 15 July 1774 in Truro. She was the daughter of Capt. Eddy Newcomb and Abigail English. She died March 11 1815 in Greenfield, NS. We found the graves of Samuel and Abigail in August 2005 in the Truro Cemetery (3). We recorded his death date from the gravestone as 11 July 1821 (sic?; different from Wile's date above), aged 69. They had ten children, all born in Salmon River, NS, leaving a great many Whidden descendants:
1. Elizabeth Whidden, born March 29 1775. She married Richard Pyke (1770s-abt 1804, drowned in the Shubenecadie River) in 1798. They had 3 children. Their daughter Rebecca (see below) married Elizabeth's cousin David Whidden, son of Simeon Whidden.
2. Abigail, born December 7 1776. She married Robert O'Brien, 3rd (1777-1848), on November 23 1802. She died February 16 1858 in Noel, NS. They had 9 children.
3. Eddy, born February 16 1778. He resided for some time in Greenfield, NS and later in New Annan, NS where he died in 1858. He married Sarah Barber Fisher (1789-1835) in 1807. Miller (4) tells the story of Sarah giving birth to twins while alone in their house, in the middle of winter. They had 10 children and numerous grandchildren.
4. Sarah, born December 29 1779, died in 1797.
5. Eleanor, born April 5 1783. She married Daniel Webster Bentley (1810-1865) and she died June 2 1836 in Stewiacke. They had 3 children.
6. Mary, born June 29 1785. In July 1813, she married John Bartlett (abt 1776-1837) and she died February 12 1839 in Onslow Mountain, NS. They had 7 children.
7. Nancy, born December 24 1787. In September 1807 she married James McCabe (1781-1861), son of John McCabe and Eleanor Moore, and died April 24 1858 in Greenfield, NS. They had 10 children.
8. Samuel, born August 13 1790. He resided for time in Greenfield and later in Harmony, NS and in Brookfield, NS. A farmer, he married in February 1811 to Sarah Stevens (1790s-1842) and they had 8 children. He later married on January 31 1844 to Elizabeth P. McMullen, born 1817. Samuel died February 16 1862. One son moved to Brighton, MA.
9. James, born 1796. A farmer, he resided in Greenfield, NS and in Onslow, NS. In December 1820 he married Hannah Johnson (1801-1886). James died September 5 1870 in Onslow. They left 9 children and many grandchildren.
10. Phebe, born February 18 1799. She married Ralph Johnson (1796-1873) and died July 28 1842 in Greenfield, NS. Four children are recorded.
7) Simeon, born 1754 in Nottingham, NH. A farmer, he lived in Truro but resided afterwards in Middle Stewiacke where in about 1784 he received a land grant of 500 acres.
In the 1770s (the source (4) states 1775) in Salmon River, NS he married Dorothy ("Dolly") Blair, daughter of Capt. William Blair, Sr. and Jane Barnes (she was a sister of Hannah Blair, our direct ancestor). She was born 1753 in New England. Miller (4) recounts that at the time of their marriage, Sammy Archibald, "being fond of fun, made an arrangement with the men of both parties unbeknown to Whidden, to steal his bride after the marriage, which they did & proceeded with her from Salmon River, up by Wm C. Eaton to between Simeon H. & John Blair on the Marsh. Whidden who found out the joke too late, followed after & overtook them & either he or one of the party had a leg broken in the affray". Sounds like a case of a prank going disastrously wrong!
He died in Middle Stewiacke in January 1800, of a broken leg from an accident while loading logs in the woods. On her husband's death she was left with a large family including many infants. There is no record of her remarrying but at his death, letters of guardianship were granted to Alexander Miller of Truro for the minor children. She died in November 1827 in Middle Stewiacke, NS.
Their eleven children and their descendants are all treated in great detail, for at least three more generations, in Miller's genealogical history of Colchester County (4) and by Jane Wile (5). The first three children were born in Truro Township, NS with the following children born in Middle Stewiacke. Here we provide only a brief summary:
1. Mary, born September 11 1778. On December 29 1799 she married William Fisher (born 1773) and they had 10 children. They moved to St. Mary's, NS. Their death information is not noted in (5).
2. James, born July 11 1780. In 1806 he settled at St. Mary's NS but by 1838 (a census date) he had left NS for Ontario, where both he and his wife died; the location in Ontario is not noted. He was a wheelwright. He married Jane Fisher (1781-1852) on July 16 1801, the marriage being celebrated by the Rev. Hugh Graham. Both Jane and his brother-in-law William Fisher were children of James Fisher and Margaret McKeen. Jane Wile (5) names five children; Miller (4) notes they had 5 sons and 5 daughters).
3. Sarah, born 1782. In 1807 she married John Higgins, 2nd (1783-1861). She died February 3 1871 in Middle Musquodoboit, NS. They had 8 children.
4. William, born April 11 1784. He was a farmer in St. Mary's, NS where he had a large property on the West Bank of St. Mary's River. He married Mary McLean (1784-1844) on July 7 1808 in Guysborough County (St. Mary's is in that county). Both William and Mary died at St. Mary's, he dying in February 1857. They had 12 children.
5. Simeon, born May 17 1786. He lived in various Nova Scotia communities including Cape Breton, Stewiacke, Dartmouth, Truro, and finally Hilden where he and wife both died, his death date being October 25 1859. In 1812 he married Susannah Harris (abt 1786-1859). They had a large family of 8 children.
6. Robert, born April 2 1788. He was a farmer, residing in Middle Stewiacke (inheriting a part of his father's farm) where he died April 1 1834. On November 9 1813 he married Esther Creelman, daughter of Francis Creelman and Esther Campbell; Francis was a brother of our direct ancestor Samuel Creelman. She was born September 23 1796 in Truro and died October 7 1873 in Wenham, MA. Several of her children also are noted from Massachusetts so presumably she moved to the States with one of them after the early death of her husband. Robert and Esther had 10 children.
7. John Blair Whidden, born November 21 1791. Wile (5) notes that he resided in Antigonish, NS as of 1804 when he would have only been 13. Although born a Presbyterian, he became a Baptist minister and died July 19 1864 in Antigonish. On December 30 1816 in Antigonish he married Harriet Elizabeth Symonds (1798-1878). They had a large family of 11 children.
8. Dorothy ("Dolly"), born May 29 1794. On July 20 1818 she married James Downing (1794-1839); they lived in Stewiacke where she died September 4 1850. James was a blacksmith. They had six children.
9. David, born 1796. By 1825 he resided in Smithfield, NS, being one of the first to settle that area. He was a farmer and carpenter. He died there on July 20 1882. David married in January 1821 to Rebecca Pyke (born 1803), daughter of Richard Pyke and Elizabeth Whidden. Elizabeth Whidden, daughter of Samuel Whidden and Abigail Newcomb, was David's cousin. David and Rebecca had eight children, one of whom (Jane) moved to Santa Clara, CA.
10. Jane B., born January 22 1798. On May 12 1817 she married James Reid, Sr. (1796-1870). They lived in Brookvale, NS (formerly known as "Reid Settlement") where he was a farmer and carpenter. Jane died March 8 1890 in Middle Musquodoboit. They had a large family of 13 children.
11. Abigail, born 1799. She died unmarried before January 1825. At the time of her death she owned real estate in Middle Stewiacke, inherited from her father.
Elizabeth Whidden, b. 1774, and Siblings
John Whidden and Elizabeth Longfellow had seven children:
1) Sarah, who drowned at the Truro Board landing on 12 Aug. 1770. It is noted that she was 17 but it more likely that she was much younger.
2) Elizabeth, b. 1774, married the Rev. Hugh Graham in 1792. Presumably this birth date from Miller's book? GeneJane (2) gives it as 15 Dec. 1768, Cornwallis Township. Little is known about her except that she was a pious woman. She died 12 June 1816 in Stewiacke, aged 42.
Sources
A previous version of this page relied heavily on Miller's book on the genealogy of Colchester County, NS (4). This source however was incorrect in several important details of my Whidden ancestry. Furthermore, a great deal of research has since been conducted into the genealogy of the early Colchester County families. A very detailed and complete account of the Nova Scotia Whitens was recently published (2022) by Jane Wile (5). Unless indicated otherwise, all the information below comes from that source but of course I present here only a brief summary; her book should be referred to for more complete information and for her sources.
The detailed information on the Whiddens of Nova Scotia comes primarily from Miller's genealogical history of Colchester County. Information on the earlier Whiddens were recorded in various undocumented papers of Ethel Graham (see also Family Reunion Sources) and are based on a variety of family records passed down through the generations. None are well documented and none have been confirmed through secondary research.
See note (1) below about the "Whidden Family of Nova Scotia", by H. Whidden. I have not seen (nor looked for) this book; it would undoubtedly be a rich source of new material.
Footnotes
(1) Composite Sprague Database of Dick Weber of Platteville, WI with some 110,000 individuals; consulted in Sept. 99. The database is quite carefully sourced and can be consulted for detailed information on sources. Weber uses as its source the "Whidden Family of Nova Scotia", by H. Whidden.
(2) "GeneJane's" (Jane Wile) database on Nova Scotian families: http://www.genealogynet.com/resident/genejane/index.php. At least on the Web, this site does not provide any source information. It should be consulted for much additional information on names and dates not recorded here.
(3) Personal visit of myself and William and Margaret Graham to the Truro Cemetery on 22 August 2005. A few more detailed notes in my own records. This was not a systematic visit but rather just a few quick observations.
(4) Miller's genealogical history of Colchester County.
(5) A Genealogical & Historical Report: The WHIDDEN Families of Colchester County, Nova Scotia. Jane Wile, 2022. The report can be purchased on her web site at https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ColchesterFamilies.
