The Whitsett Pioneer Families From Ireland Who First Settled In Pennsylvania In America

GENERATION 2

WILLIAM WHITESIDE/WHITSETT OF NORTHERN IRELAND

Due to the lack of documents containing specific family information, during the 18th century especially, my work here involves a great deal of guess work. Anyone using the information below should do so advisedly. I am certain of one thing - that there are errors in my work. I have tried to limit those errors as much as possible by using only what I consider to be reasonably reliable sources.

The Whiteside family from Ireland that first settled in Pennsylvania in the early years used surnames "Whiteside", "Whitsett" and "Whitsitt" and other variations such as "Whitside" and "Whitsid". The forms "Whitsett" and "Whitsitt" became standard when it became important for written proof of names in official records. In the earliest records all variations of the spellings can be found obviously tied to the same person.

The evidence of the ancestors of the Pennsylvania Whitsett family is based on the work of Dr. William Heth Whitsett, Annals of a Scotch-Irish Family: The Whitsitt's of Nashville, Tenn." AMERICAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, Vol IX, 1904; Dr. William Heth Whitsitt, Richmond college, Richmond, Virginia. "The Whitsitt family is widely extended. Persons bearing the surname and blood may be found in nearly every portion of the United States and Canada, as also in Ireland and Scotland. To treat of them all would be beyond my powers and learning. I shall therefore confine my attention to that small portion of the family with which I chance to be most acquainted, namely the Nashville Whitsitt's The best records of these have been kept by the Blakey family, of Russellville, Ky. They rest upon the industry and authority of three persons, namely, Mrs. Margaret (Whitsitt) Blakey; her son, Doctor George Douglas Blakey, and her grandson, Honorable Churchill H. Blakey, all of whom are now deceased. They were industrious chroniclers, and the family owes them a debt of gratitude."

"First Entry---The opening entry of the Whitsitt annals is expressed in the following words: '"William Whitsitt, the son of William Whitsitt, the son of Samuel Whitsitt (all of Ireland), married Elizabeth Dawson, of Ireland. William Whitsitt, son of the aforesaid William, married Miss Ellen Menees, daughter of James Menees, who married the widow of Ranney Breathitt, formerly Miss Ellen Cardwell; died at the residence of his son, the Rev. James Whitsitt, in the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee, July 14, 1811. Ellen Menees Whitsitt, his wife was born -------, and died at Rural Choice, Kentucky, the home of her son-in-law, George Blakey, September 13, 1818."

GENERATION 3

JOHN WHITSITT OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, IRISH ANCESTOR

John Whitsitt, AKA John Whiteside, John Whitsett, John Whitsite, etc., settled first in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania near today's city of Lebanon. He later sold his land and removed to Rowan County, North Carolina where he was involved in the government of the county. He was one of the men comissioned to lay out the town of Salisbury. John owned and operated a grist mill in Rowan County. About 1770 John and his son John, jr., along with the Thompson family obtained lots in the Quaker settlement in Wrightsboro, Georgia. They soon left Georgia because of Indian trouble and came to what was then Orange County, North Carolina. John, sr. died there in July 1786. John's wife Rachael is listed simply as the Widow Whitsett when John's estate was settled. He left Pennsylvania in 1752 and went to what was then Rowan County, North Carolina. He is likely the John Whitsett that is the source of the Whitsett family legend of John that "went south" and was never heard of again. It appears that he was a surveyor for a time in Rowan Co. In 1754 he was one of the men who set off lots for sale in the village of Sallisbury. John operated a grist mill or Grant's Creek until 1768. In that year he began selling off his land in Rowan County. By this time the Quakers in the settlement of Wrightsboro, Georgia began offering non-Quakers free land to help populate the region with white settlers. John Sr. and John jr. and wife Sarah Thompson, her father Lawrence Thompson, Richard Bird and others bought plots of 200-250 acres in Wrightsboro, but, their time in Georgia was short lived. The Indians did not take kindly to white settlers encroaching on their tribal lands. Their fierce attacks soon ended the desires of many whites to remain in Georgia. A number of these settlers simply abandoned their lands and returned to North Carolina. In May 1771, John Whitsett Sr. is on a list of those that had left the province of Wrightsboro due to Indian troubles. The following year the younger John and wife Sarah (Thompson) Whitsett sold their Wrightsboro lot of 250 acres; afterwards they may have first gone to Caswell county, N.C. a 1777 tax list for the Glouchester District, Caswell County, North Carolina lists a John Whitsett. The entire family seems to have removed to Orange County, NC, by 1779. Several deeds and lists of tax payers are evidence that John jr. and Sarah left Orange County for Middle Tennessee around that time. John and Sarah were the grandparents of Sarah Childress Polk, the wife of President James K. Polk.

Rowan County, North Carolina court records: ^22,25,26,27
John Whitsett named as treasurer of the court.
John Whitsitt appointed tax commissioner
John Whitsitt to run a section of the line between Rowan and Orange County from the Dann River to Buffalo Fork as far as King's settlement.

Rowan Co., NC, deed from John Braley to Abram Whitesid for 60 pounds Virginia money, 596 acres on a branch of Reedy Fork of the Haw River, adjacent to James McCuiston; deed is witnessed by Mathew Long and Wm. Denny; Rowan County Deeds, book 4, pg. 931; Guilford County, N.C. Historical Documentation Map: "Between 1762 and 1763, Abraham Whiteside located near the confluence of the Long Branch creek and Reedy Fork, Rowan County, N.C." [became Orange then Guilford Co.].²⁶

John Whitsett [Sr.] and L. Thompson are on the list of those that have left the province of Wrightsboro due to Indian troubles. Others leaving were Richard Bird, Thomas Hart, Hugh Tinnen; these names appear in later documents in Orange County.^23,24

Mecklenburg Co., NC, John Whitsitt of Mecklenburg to Thomas Nealy jr. of same county, land granted 4 May 1769 on waters of Steel Creek, adjacent to Mathew Knox's land, signed John Whitsett and Rachel Whitsett [is this our John?]; vol. 6, pp. 266-268.^48,49

Land Grant Orange Co., NC, Samuel Whitsett is granted a deed for 270 acres. on Back Creek adjacent James Whitsett; this is the same land that deeded to John Whitsett in 1778 and surveyed for him in 1782. This is good evidence that Samuel was the son of John.⁴²

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RALPH WHITSETT OF LANCASTER CO., PENNSYLVANIA

Ralph Whitsett, three brothers and at least one sister came to America from the north of Ireland. They settled first in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania near today's city of Lebanon in Lebanon County. Ralph later sold his land Lancaster County and removed west to Cumberland County, across the Susquehanna River from Lancaster. Ralph owned and operated a flour mill on Yellow Breaches Creek. Family legend of his son William says that the mill was attacked and destroyed by Indians. Whatever the reason the mill went bankrupt and was foreclosed on by Ralph's financier. He disappears from the record after that. It is probable that he moved in with one of his sons about that time. There is no record of his or his wife Sarah's death.

"Came into Court Rowlin Chambers and by petition to said Court setting forth the gread disconveniency and damage done to the petitioner by a road being laid out leading from Ralph Whitesides Mill near Yellow Britches Creek to Tobia Hendrix".⁶⁹

"Came into Court Tobias Hendrick...being 4 of the persons appointed by order of a former Court to view and if they should see cause to layout a road from or beginning near Ralph Whitesides Mill on Yellow Britches Creek the nearest and best way to Harris Ferry or into the County Road leading by Tobias Hendricks ...and have accordingly laid out the same road..." ⁶⁹

Peter Tittle, Sr of Carlisle, Cumberland Co. Pa, listed in "History of Cumberland Co, Pa" as being one of its earliest settlers, before 1745. Land deed records document his residence in this area at least until 1763 and perhaps later. A deposition given by Peter, Sr in 1760 regarding the death of an Indian also gives his date of birth as 1725. A daughter Elizabeth (possibly named for her grandmother) married James Hunter (will of James Hunter) who was a neighbor in the area. Son Peter, Jr married Sarah Whitesides, also a neighbor in this area and their family is found later in Westmoreland Co, Pa.⁵¹

At Carlisle, "The sheriff Ezekiel Dunning returns the following list of grand jurors...Ralph Whitesides..." ⁶⁹

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ELIZABETH WHITESIDE AND JOHN WELSH

On February 6, 1738, Elizabeth Whiteside "of Quittapahilla" married John Welsh “of Quittapahilla”. The ceremony was performed by neighbor and Lutheran minister Rev. John Casper Stover. A history of St. John’s Church in Jonestown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania says, "By Quittapahilla it is meant the Hill Church, on the ridge known as the Gravel Hill, about halfway between Lebanon and Annville. Quittapahilla was the earliest name of this church." The Hill Church was located on the northern edge of what was the land of Rev. Stoever. John Welsh subsequently obtained land adjoining Stoever’s just north of Hill Church. John Welsh married Anna Sharp on June 9, 1742 four years after he married Elizabeth. It appears to me that Elizabeth died, perhaps in childbirth, the leading cause of death in young women before the modern era. Welsh obtained his warrant in Lebanon Township on November 25, 1745. Immediately south of Welsh’s land was Rev. John Casper Stoever's. Stoever’s survey shows that adjoining tracts with his were those of both John and Ralph Whiteside and William Allen. Stoever’s land is described as being on the waters of Quitapahilla and Mill Creeks.

The union between John and Elizabeth produced at least one child. There seems to be a continuing relationship between the Whitsett family and John Welsh long after Elizabeth died. On March 3, 1761 John Welsh obtained two town lots in Carlisle, Cumberland County. This was near the same time that Ralph and James Whiteside removed from Lancaster County, Lebanon Township to near Carlisle in Cumberland County. We know that by 1761 there were two John Welsh’s in Cumberland County. It is my guess that one of them, John Welsh, Jr. was Elizabeth's only child. The younger Welsh was probably 17 or 18 years old and just starting his life as an adult when his father obtained the town lots in Carlisle.

In 1762, among the taxables in Carlisle, Cumberland County were “Widow Welsh” and John Welsh leading me to suspect that John Sr. died in Carlisle shortly after moving there, survived by his second wife and oldest son, John. On the same tax list is William Whiteside (son of Ralph). John Welsh jr. apparently moved from Carlisle to Newbury Township, York County about the same time as Ralph’s son Samuel Whitsitt. Both warrant applications, one for John Welsh and one for Samuel Whitsitt, were dated on April 10, 1767. This is just a little more evidence that there was a tie between the two families.

A John Welsh also shows up in Westmoreland County after the American Revolution. It is impossible to tell from these records if he was the same John Welsh from Cumberland and York counties. This John Welsh was granted a warrant in Westmoreland County for 200 acres on October 11, 1787. The tract was located in what became Armstrong County. In January 1789, John Welsh patented a tract on a warrant originally issued to Joseph Wiles in 1786. This tract was in Hempfield Township about the middle of present day Westmoreland County (Hempfield is the location of the county seat). John Welsh jr. may have returned to York Co. (or, he never left); a John Welsh, age 97 [b. in 1740] was buried in the church cemetery of the Trinity Reformed Church (Trinity United Church of Christ) in Hanover, York Co., PA in April 1837.

John Welsh obtains a warrant and survey for 150 acres in Lebanon Twp., Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania (Book D6 pg. 77); Survey for Casper Stover on Quitapahilla and Mill Creek by virtue of two warrants 6 Mar 1743 and 2 Oct 1745 (adjoining tracts John Welsh, Jno Cryder, Widow Hyde, John & Ralph Whiteside, Wm. Allen, (Book A1 pg. 282).^78,79

GENERATION 4

WILLIAM WHITSITT and ELLEN MEENES

William Whitsitt, son of William Whiteside/Whitsett and Elizabeth Dawson

GENERATION 5

REV. JAMES WHITSITT of NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

James Whitsitt, son of William and Ellen Menees Whitsitt, although paid a meager salary by his congregation, was the wealthy pastor of the Mill Creek Baptist Church in Davidson County, Tennessee. The Whitsitt family, because of their Irish roots, were originally Presbyterian, though they attended any church near to their frontier settlements; most notably in Pennsylvania, the German Reformed (Lutheran) church services held by the traveling minister Rev. John Casper Stoever. While James' family were living in Henry County, Virginia, the Baptist Evangelist Joseph Anthony came to the area in 1789 during the American religious period known as the "Great Awakening" and the family converted to Anthony's Baptist faith. James followed his family to Nashville in 1790, his parents and siblings having gone there the previous year. His uncle, James Menees had settled in that area earlier, and James meet his cousin Miss Jane Cardwell Menees. They were married in the old fort at Nashville in 1792. The couple had eleven children, four died in infancy, three grew to adults but died unmarried and four married and had children. In 1833 the Mill Creek Baptist Church was the site of the formation of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, which, because of the Civil War nearly thirty years later, became the Southern Baptist Convention. James and Jane are buried in the cemetery of the modern Mill Creek Baptist Church.

Ronald N. Wall

Modified:  29 July. 2022