See also "WILLIAM WIRT WHITSETT, SON OF RALPH" part of THE IMMIGRANT WHITSETT FAMILIES OF PENNSYLVANIA

 

THE FAMILY LEGEND

There are a number of stories about William Wirt Whitsett passed down to us by various sources.  These stories were written long after his death.  None of the writers name any primary sources (such as an eyewitness, a contemporary official document, a letter or other written account by anyone who knew him personally). As genealogists and family historians we must consider these tales as simply family legends.  However, often these legends have a basis in truth, thus they are useful to the family historian. The stories below do give us some factual information and insight to life on the frontiers of Pennsylvania.  They are also very entertaining, so we present them here for your reading pleasure.  I have taken the liberty of rewritting these stories using factual material to place the separate tales into context.  Where necessary I have modified the story to fit the facts as found in reliable source material.

In 2008-2009 I did considerable research on the Whiteside/Whitsett families of Pennsylvania with the help of William R. Whiteside, historian for the Whiteside Family Association.  We discovered a bonanza of source material that answered many questions about the early Whitsett family who came to Pennsylvania from Ireland.  I have merged the factual information we uncovered with the legends passed down in the Fayette County, Pennsylvania family.  I have purposely left out references to my sources.  Please visit the pages on this web site pertaining to the Whitsett family of Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania by clicking on this link for factual material and sources.

I have added my comments at the end about some of the claims made in the family stories.  There you will also find credits for my contributors. 

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THE LEGEND OF WILLIAM WIRT WHITSETT
FRONTIER SCOUT, INDIAN FIGHTER, REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO

In the late 1730’s five Whitsett siblings, four brothers and a sister stepped off a ship in Philadelphia. They were among an almost continuous stream of Irish Protestants arriving in the Pennsylvania Colony. These siblings, William, John, James, Ralph and Elizabeth Whitsett must have arrived here with some wealth because the men soon took out warrants for large quantities of land. As a family they settled close to each other choosing the near wilderness in northern Lancaster County. Today the area they settled is on the outskirts of the City of Lebanon in Lebanon County. Sister Elizabeth married John Welsh in Lebanon Township in 1738, not long after the family had arrived in America. Tragically, she died a couple of years later after bearing one son. Brother William was already married before coming to America. His bride was Elizabeth Dawson and they brought with them one son also named William. She must have died soon after arriving here. Brother John was married, probably in America and had a large family but the name of his wife is unknown. John eventually went to North Carolina settling in Orange County. He was the great grandfather of Sarah Childress Polk, wife of President Polk. Brother James died in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1761. His widow Ann married John Giles and she and her children went with Giles to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Of the four brothers, Ralph was the only one to remain in Pennsylvania. We know from church records that his wife was Sarah Wilson. Ralph and Sarah must have married in Pennsylvania because all of their children were born there. In 1756 Ralph Whiteside and his wife Sarah Wilson sponsored the baptism of Susanna Gambil, daughter of neighbor John Gambil. In April 1742 Ralph obtained a warrant for 125 acres which eventually grew to 215 acres. It was here that William Wirt Whitsett was born in 1752. He had an older sister named Sarah who married Peter Tittle some years later after the family had moved to Cumberland County. William’s older brothers were Samuel born about 1745-47 and Joseph born about 1750. Family tradition claims there was also a son named John whose descendants eventually went to Missouri.

William was only five or six when the French and Indian War broke out on the Pennsylvania frontier. Northern Lancaster County bore much of the brunt of the fighting. The Seneca and their allies raided across the northern mountain killing white settlers almost at will on their isolated farms on the edges of the wilderness. William must have received his baptism by fire during these days.

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CREDITS

NELSON'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND HISTORICAL REFERENCE BOOK OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PA. By SB Nelson, Publishers, Uniontown, PA (1900).

Ken Whitsett of California, February 1999 to Kathy Whitsett.  Portions quoted from NELSON'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND HISTORICAL REFERENCE BOOK OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PA.

Kathy Whitsett, "WHITSETT CHART 15."  [Kathy Whitsett was a diligent researcher of her husband's Whitsett line and obtained information from many Whitsett families.  I do not know what Kathy's source was for the information given here. 

Susanne Jones, "WHITSETT FAMILY TREE, The Whitsett's of Fayette County, Pennsylvania," (2010), Fairmont, West Virginia; GEDCOM sent to Ronald Wall, Florence, AZ, January 2011.

William Thornton Whitsett, "The Whitsett Family History," (ca.1930), unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC.

 

 

MY COMMENTS

 Recent research has pointed out the inaccuracies in the account given above.  Sources for my remarks are: Pennsylvania Archives, various series containing tax lists, court records, petitions and land records; records of Cumberland County, Pa.- the will of James Whitsett (bro. of Ralph), various justice court records; Pennsylvania land surveys for the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, York, Westmoreland and Fayette.