The Legend of William Wirt Whitsett, Pennsylvania Frontier Scout and Revolutionary War Soldier | ||
THE FAMILY LEGENDThere 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. |
[essay currently in progress] THE
LEGEND OF WILLIAM WIRT WHITSETT
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CREDITSNELSON'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND HISTORICAL REFERENCE BOOK OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PA.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 Portions quoted from NELSON'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND HISTORICAL REFERENCE BOOK OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PA.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.
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MY COMMENTSRecent 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.
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Ronald
N. Wall Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved. Modified: 28 May 2011 |