The history of the Reverend William Whitsett and wife Jane (Harden) Whitsett.  Rev. Whitsett was one of the founding Cumberland Presbyterian ministers in Memphis, Tennessee and son of Samuel and Mary (Stockard) Whitsett of Orange County, North Carolina.

The Reverend William Whitsett (1780-ca1860) Orange County, NC; Lauderdale County, AL; Memphis, TN

By Ronald N. Wall
Florence, Arizona, November 2006

I think it is important for those of us interested in the Whitsett family that settled in Lauderdale County, Alabama in the 1820's to know something of the Reverend William Whitsett who lived and ministered in Florence and Lauderdale County from about 1823 until about 1830. Some researchers, myself included, jumped to the conclusion that Rev. Whitsett was the ancestor of the Lauderdale County families.  Following up on this idea I did extensive research on William Whitsett. In 1980 and 1981 I hired genealogy researchers in Florence, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee to look at the original documents and obtain copies for me. I did not find a single piece of evidence to tie William Whitsett to our Whitsett family. Several little things seemed contrary to that notion.  Soon I was completely convinced that my original conclusion was wrong. Unfortunately, before that I had written and distributed to a few people a brief history of the family based on my original assumption.  I owe a debt of gratitude to William Anderson of Memphis for the documentation he found for me in Memphis in 1980-1981, and Mr. Hinkley Smartt of the Theological Seminary of Memphis for information on Rev. Whitsett and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church he sent me in 1980.

NOTE: Recently (November 5, 2007) I received an email message from Josh and Amanda Lyle. Josh is a direct descendant from the Memphis Whitsett's. They had discovered a family Bible from 1855 with much information on the family. This information helps us to sort out the children of Rev. William and his brother James S. Whitsett. I have corrected information on this site based on their rediscovered family history.

William Whitsett in Orange County, North Carolina

William Whitsett was born probably in Orange County, North Carolina in 1780.  He was the son of Samuel Whitsett and Mary Stockard.  According to Dr. Whitsett, "Samuel Whitsett … had four sons - Moses, James who married Sarah Jackson, John who married Ruth L. Low, and William who married Jane Harden and was a Presbyterian minister in Tennessee."

In a letter from A. T. [Alfred Thomas] Whitsett (uncle of Dr. William Thornton Whitsett) of Chapel Hill, North Carolina to James Edward Whitsett of Weatherford, Texas (November 6, 1929), Alfred stated, "I had a granduncle who was a preacher and left N. C. quite a number of years ago and settled at or near Mem's [Memphis], Tenn.  His name was Wm. Whitsett.  I did not know but what you might be of that family."

These two statements show quite convincingly that Rev. William Whitsett was from the Orange County, North Carolina Whitsett family.  We also know from Dr. Wm. T. Whitsett's family history that William had a brother James S. Whitsett who married Sarah Jackson.  The families of both William and James settled in Memphis probably about 1830 (more about that later).

On Monday, September 2, 1805 the following announcement appeared in the Raleigh Register, "M. in Orange County, on Thursday the 15th inst., Mr. William Whiteside, to Miss Jane Harden, dau. Of John Harden, Esq., all of same county."

Orange County, North Carolina Marriage Bonds has the following records:
James Whitsett to Sarah Jackson, Aug. 22, 1801, Orange Co., NC; J. Collins bondsman
William Whitsett to Jeany Harden, Aug. 12, 1805, Orange Co., NC; Samuel Whitsitt bondsman

Jean Harden Whitsett's mother, Sarah Harden made her will in Orange County on September 20, 1814.  She named her children and left to her daughter Jean Whitsett livestock and furniture, among other things.  It is likely that William and Jean still lived in Orange County at the time. A small extract of Sarah's will is quoted below.

Orange County, NC Wills 1753-1937, NC State Archives Microfilm, pg. 685, September 20, 1814
"I Sarah Harden being sick in body, but of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make and ordain this my last will and Testament ...  I give and bequeath to my daughter Jean Whitsett all my title and interest in two hundred acres of land lying in Caswell county, also one negro woman by the name of Liddy and her increase, two cows and one heifer, one feather bed and furniture, one pewter dish, 1/2 dozen pewter plates, one set cups and saucers, one earthen dish. 1 doz. earthen plates, one woman's saddle, one chest called her father's chest, and two pounds of wool to have and to hold the said property during her life time and then to the heirs of her body forever."

On April 22, 1816 William Whitsett sold land in Orange County to George Nease (Orange County Deeds, Book 19, page 162).  The timing of this sale seems right for the departure of William and Jean from North Carolina to Tennessee.  It is also probably about this time that William became associated with the Cumberland Presbyterian movement.

The 1820 census of Maury County, Tennessee (page 26) lists the household of William Whitsitt.  In the household are two males under the age of ten and one male of 26 or older but under the age of 45.  The women in the household included two under the age of 10, two of ten but less than 16 years of age and one female of 26 years but less than 45. In 1820 the Rev. William Whitsett was 40 years old and Jean Harden Whitsett was 32 years old.  Although we have no way of knowing for sure that this is the William and Jean Whitsett household, I believe that it probably is. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church

Without getting into to too much detail, the Cumberland Church grew out of a schism with the Presbyterian Church over issues of revival, ministerial qualifications and the doctrine of predestination, the idea that one's ultimate fate was predetermined before birth.  In the mid to late 1790's, a fundamentalist revival swept over the South, from Virginia to the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee.  Outdoor tent revivals were held in many frontier settlements, and due to a lack of entertainment in these wilderness areas they attracted many from all religions.  The Baptists and Methodist churches reaped most of the fruits of these revivals.  Baptists and Methodists ministers preached with a spirit and enthusiasm that the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish had never seen before. 

In 1800 and 1801 James McGready, a Scotch-Irishman and Presbyterian Minister in Logan County, Kentucky influenced by the fervor and success of Baptist and Methodist evangelists held a series of revival meetings. On August 6, 1801 at Cane Ridge McGready began a revival meeting that lasted several days.  The preaching went on for days until provisions ran out.  Most people, having traveled a great distance (in those days) from their frontier cabins to attend, camped on the site and thus was born the Camp Meeting.  The camp meetings attracted large crowds of people from all over the frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee.  McGready's 1801 revival especially was marked by the phenomena of the "jerks," people caught up in the hysteria of the preaching began having, "... spasms of bodily jerks, singing, dancing, etc."  Nothing like it would be seen again until the Pentecostal revival movement took off in the early twentieth century.

The Presbyterian clergy were divided for and against the revival.  Presbyterian ministers were required to be highly educated and on the Western Frontier there were only a few.  These were mostly elderly men who were, "... a stately and dignified set of men, the reserve of whose manners had the effect of keeping people at a distance, and checking familiarity."  The Church requirement for university trained ministers was unrealistic on the frontiers of Tennessee and Kentucky.

Historically, the Presbyterians regarded religious observance as the duty of the elderly.  As a result young Presbyterian men rarely practiced religion.  The revival and religious fervor of 1800 in Tennessee and Kentucky drew in many young people who had never before thought or cared about religion.  In 1802 a few young Presbyterian men influenced by the revival attempted to obtain licenses to preach.  The anti-revival faction actively opposed their licensing.  Finally, the Transylvania Presbytery relented due to pressure from western congregations and they licensed several young men.  Among them was Finis Ewing.  It is interesting to note that the Ewing family was closely related to the family of William and Ellen (Eleanor Menees) Whitsitt of Nashville and later, Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky. Finis was the brother of Reuben Ewing who married Ellen Whitsitt, daughter of William and Ellen Whitsitt.  He was also one of McGready's converts.

Shortly after the young ministers received their license in the fall of 1802 the Transylvania Presbytery was divided and the Cumberland Presbytery was formed to cover the new settlements along the Cumberland River. Friction between the revivalists and traditionalist continued and the Cumberland Presbytery was dissolved in 1806.  Appeals by the congregations were denied by the General Assembly in 1809.  On February 3, 1810 Finis Ewing, Samuel King and Ephraim McLean went to the home of Samuel McAdow in Dickson County, Tennessee.  In defiance of the General Assembly, these ministers agreed to form a new Cumberland Presbytery.  In November, 1812 the Presbytery met at Lebanon Church in Christian County, Kentucky and the Elk and Logan presbyteries were formed.  The Elk Presbytery extended to the Cumberland Mountains in today's Middle Tennessee south to the white settlements in northern Alabama.  The Cumberland Synod was formed in 1813 at the Beech meeting-house in Sumner County, Tennessee when the Cumberland Presbytery was joined by two others in the schism with the Presbyterian Church.  At that time there were only sixteen ordained ministers.  From that point on the Cumberland Synod operated as a separate denomination which became known as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  In 1829 the Cumberlands organized their own General Assembly.  By then they had presbyteries in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri as well as Kentucky and Tennessee.  In 1906 the Cumberlands reunited with the mother Church, pretty much on their own terms.

William Whitsett, M. G., Lauderdale County

William Whitsett from Orange County was probably influenced by one of these founding ministers shortly after he and his family arrived on the frontier in Tennessee.  He must have been a man of fair education, because before too long he was licensed and probably ordained to preach in the Cumberland Church.  He was a member of the Tennessee Presbytery (formerly the Elk).  Possibly one of his first assignments was to start a congregation in northern Alabama after the land rush began to the newly opened lands in Alabama.

The life of these new ministers was hard. In the early years of the church there were no settled pastorates.  All of the ministers from 1806 through 1829 were missionary evangelists.  Some times they covered an area as large as five hundred miles in diameter.  They were usually sent in pairs, one of the older men and one of the boys.  They carried bell and hobble for their horses, crackers, cheese, a tin cup and blankets to make a bed.  Their clothing was homespun made by their wives or mothers.  If they found lodging in a frontier cabin they slept on the floor in their own blankets.  Breakfast was usually what the man of the cabin could shoot as the sun was rising.  Many times these were areas where farmers were planting their very first crop.  The ministers held their meetings in these cabins and from them sprang the churches that remained when the isolated cabins became communities and then towns. 

William Whitsett apparently took up residence in Florence about 1822 or very early in 1823.  In March 1823 he sold Thomas Farmer, "both of Lauderdale County," 160 acres in Arkansas.  The land was located in today's Faulkner County, Arkansas In near Wooster. It had originally been granted to Elias Flanagan in 1821.  How William Whitsett came in possession of the property is unknown.  (Lauderdale County, Alabama Deed Book A-1, pg. 76, 13 March 1823, recorded 19 June 1825).

At some point he purchased a town lot in Florence located at the corner of Tuscaloosa Street and Tongigy Street between Court and Pint Streets. He later used this property as collateral for loans. This same property was sold by John P. H. Whitsett, William's nephew, in 1837, several years after William and his family had removed to Memphis.

While living in Lauderdale County William Whitsett, Minister of the Gospel, performed at least six marriages.  On June 5, 1823, he united in marriage John B. Gooding and Jane McKee, (Marriage Book 1, pg. 81).  The following year, on July 28, 1824 he married Josiah P. Thomas and Rachel B. Strain, (Marriage Book 1, pg. 149).  These marriages were followed by the wedding of Joseph W. Holt and Cartha Ann A. M. Smith, solemnized "at night" 4 May 1826 (his marriage was not recorded until 16 April 1827, Book 2, pg. 149). William M. Garner and Martha Pope were married on 18 July 1827 by Wm. Whitsett, and on August 9, 1827 Elisha Brown married Mary Jarman, solemnized by Wm. Whitsett, MG (both recorded in Book 2, pg. 68).  The last recorded wedding performed by William Whitsett in Lauderdale County was Calvin Peyton and Mary Futrell, solemnized 12 June 1828 by William Whitsette, MG (Marriage Record 2, pg. 115).

Rev. Whitsett traveled back to Tennessee probably during the summer in 1824 to attend the annual meeting of the Tennessee Presbytery.  This event probably occurred over multiple days and Rev. Whitsett missed some of the meetings.  Minutes of the Tennessee Presbytery, 1824 state that,"The Rev. William Whitsett came and took his seat; his excuses for absence were all sustained except for first and fourth. For these he was admonished by the Moderator."  The record of the Synod shows that he was absent from the meetings for the next four meetings, 1825-1828. His membership was still in the Tennessee Presbytery when the General Assembly was organized in 1829 and the Tennessee Presbytery was put in the Columbia Synod. We do not have any records of the meetings of that Synod.  The Elk and Tennessee Presbyteries were in southern Tennessee and northern Alabama.

In 1829 there were two weddings not performed by Rev. Whitsett but were probably in the family. On March 19, 1929 Edwin Manning and Sarah H. Whitsette were married by Isaac Shook, M. G. (Marriage Record 2, page 110). Sarah Harden Whitsett was the daughter of Rev. William and Jean (Harden) Whitsett.  On October 18, 1829 a William Whitsett married Parmelia Hunter. The ceremony was performed by William Bradshaw, J.P. (Marriage Record 2, page 110).  Nothing more is known of this William and Parmelia.  It is possible that he was a son of the Reverend and Jean Whitsett. No one has been able to identify all of the children of William and Jane.  We do know of two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth because we have documents stating their relationship. We have identified some of the other children based on circumstantial evidence.

Abraham Wood of Lauderdale County on January 1, 1826 paid a debt of $159.60 for a horse and saddle purchased by William Whitsett from Abraham Fox.  As security for the debt Rev. Whitsett pledged property where he lived on lot 11 at the corner of Tuscaloosa Street and Tongigy Street in Florence (Lauderdale County, Alabama Deed Book A-4, page 336, recorded 22 April 1829).  Among other reasons, Reverend Whitsett probably needed this horse and saddle to continue his ministry in Lauderdale and surrounding counties of Alabama and Tennessee.

In 1830 William Whitsett and his family were enumerated on the U.S. Census of Lauderdale County.  In the household was a young boy between the ages of five and nine, another boy between ten and fourteen, a young man between fifteen and nineteen.  The Rev. Whitsett was the male listed as the male between fifty and fifty-nine years of age.  Also in the household was a young girl less than five years of age, another young girl between five and nine, a teenage girl between fifteen and nineteen.  Rev. Whitsett's wife Jean is listed as between forty and forty-nine years of age (1830 census of Lauderdale County, page 204). 

On January 17, 1833 William Whitsett makes a bond to pay of a debt of $175 in five equal installments to Thomas J. Crow and William C. Worrell.  Rev. Whitsett uses, ".. lot [11] where on said Whitsett now lives … town of Florence … 33 feet on Court and back to full depth to alley ..." (Lauderdale County, Alabama Deed Book A-5, recorded 21 Jan. 1833). I believe this money was used for the family's move to Memphis.

William Whitsett, Memphis Tennessee

The Reverend William Whitsett may have traveled from Florence in Lauderdale County to Memphis about 1829 or 1830 to attempt to establish the first Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Shelby County, Tennessee.  He and his family did not actually make the move to Memphis until about 1833 or 1834.  On February 4, 1833 Rev. Whitsett borrowed $57.98 from the Cowan Bias Company in Memphis.  As security he pledged a chestnut sorrel horse with a white face (Deeds, Deeds, Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee, Book C, pg. 391, Feb. 4, 1833).

James D. Davis in his HISTORY OF MEMPHIS, (Memphis, Tenn., 1873) states that, "In 1829, I think the Rev. William Whitsett, of the Cumberland Church, came here and established a church of that denomination. Owing to the smallness of the membership he was rather unsuccessful for a time. His widow, at the extreme age of eighty-eight, still survives, with a strength of body, mind, hearing and voice that is truly remarkable. Of the large family they raised, but one daughter is now living - Mrs. Eliza Whitsett, wife and cousin of Wiley W. Whitsett, of whom few men of his day were more generally known and respected. Of their large family of children not one now survives." Note that this article states that of a large family of children, only daughter Eliza, wife of Wiley Whitsett, was still alive in 1873.  This is the first important clue about William Whitsett's relationship to the other Whitsett families in Lauderdale County, Alabama because Wilson Whitsett and Joe Whitsett were still very much alive there in 1873. (The conclusive evidence was provided by the descendants of John Whitsett, one of the four Whitsett brothers in Lauderdale County. Family documents state that the four brothers, Wilson, Isaac, Joe and John were orphans taken in and raised by Benjamin Price. This was between 1825 and 1830 while Rev. Whitsett and his family were still living in Florence, Alabama).

J. M. Keating in the HISTORY OF THE CITY OF MEMPHIS AND SHELBY COUNTY (Vol. I, pg. 175,1888) wrote, "[in 1828] The Presbyterians, however, soon found a room in a house belonging to Mr. Schabell, and the Cumberlands built a home of their own. The Rev. William Whitsett was their pastor."  I believe the Cumberland Church was built much later than 1828.

B. W. McDonnold in his HISTORY OF THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, (Forth Edition, 1899, page 373) states.
"The church at Memphis, Tennessee, was organized in 1830, in the house of the Rev. Mr. Whitsett. For ten years preaching was kept up by Mr. Whitsett, W. A. Bryan, Robert Baker, H. A. Morgan, and Samuel Dennis. In 1840, Mr. Dennis was assisted by Reuben Burrow in a meeting held in the Methodist church. At this time elders were chosen and the organization perfected, Mr. Dennis was commissioned to travel and obtain funds to build a church. Robert Donnell, who afterward was pastor for a time, aided in raising money to complete this work. This house stood till about 1860, when the building now in use was erected." 

Although this article implies that the church was in the home of Rev. Whitsett in 1830, again I believe services could not have been held in his home until after 1834.  Rev. Whitsett may have conducted services before that in the home of his son-in-law, Edwin Manning.

Gerald M. Capers, author of THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER TOWN: MEMPHIS: ITS HEROIC AGE, (The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N. C., 1939) wrote, "The Reverend William Whitsett of the Cumberland Presbyterian arrived in 1829 to labor for the Lord ... After eleven years of effort Whitsett assembled a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation."

All of these histories give a date of around 1829 or 1830 for the beginning of the Cumberland Church in Memphis.  Although Rev. Whitsett may have begun his ministry in Memphis as early as 1829, original source documents prove that he did not actually move to Memphis until probably 1833.  It is likely that these authors used the 1873 history, or borrowed from later ones based on the 1873 history, to compose their own account of the founding of Rev. Whitsett's Memphis congregation. My researchers in Memphis in 1980 and 1981 did not find any Cumberland Presbyterian Church documents that would validate these histories.

On December 9, 1834, Reverend Whitsett signed an Article of Agreement with his son-in-law Edwin Manning, both living then in Memphis, to build a house 18' by 24' with a shed extending back from the main body of the house 10 or 12 feet the width of the house.  The house was to have a brick chimney and be given one good coat of plaster.  In exchange for building the house Manning gave Reverend Whitsett a six year lease on the property.  The exact location in Memphis of the house is not given. (Deeds, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, Book E, pg. 172).

Back in Lauderdale County, Reverend Whitsett's property in Florence was not sold until early 1837 when his nephew (son of brother James), John P. H. Whitsett traveled back to Alabama to complete the necessary deed.  On January 30, 1837 John P. H. Whitsett of Shelby County, Tennessee was paid $200 by Thomas J. Crow of Lauderdale County for, The deed was signed by John P. H. Whitsett and recorded on January 31, 1837 (Lauderdale County, Alabama, Deed Bo"... in town of Florence, the S1/4 of S1/2 of Lot no. 11". ok A-7 pg. 150).

The 1840 U.S. Census of the City of Memphis, (page 195) lists the household of William Whitsett. By this time there was only one teenage boy between the ages of fifteen and nineteen still living at home. Reverend William Whitsett,  probably sixty years old when the census was taken is listed as the male between sixty and sixty-nine.  Wife Jean, age about fifty-two is the female listed between the ages of fifty and fifty-nine.

William Whitsett purchased from W. L. Vance lot number 282 in Memphis in January, 1842.  The property is described as fronting on Commerce Street and running back to Market Square (Deeds, Shelby County, 1821-1933, Book 3, pg. 634, 31 Jan. 1842; extracted for me by William D. Anderson, Memphis, Tenn., March, 1980-March, 1981). In November, 1849 William Whitsett sold this same lot for $800. (Deeds, Shelby County, Tenn., Book 5, pg. 114, Nov. 10, 1849, William Whitsett to William Viers[?]). The sale was confirmed by William Whitsett in front of the County Court Clerk of Shelby County On 5 April 1850.  Reverend Whitsett probably retired from his ministry about this time and he and his wife moved into the hotel run by their daughter Sarah and son-in-law and Edwin Manning. The 1850 U.S. Census of Memphis on August 26, 1850 lists Wm. Whitsett, age 70, C. P. Clergyman and wife Jean, age 62, in the household of the Manning's (1850 Census, 3rd Ward Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, page 74).

This is the last record we have of the Reverend William Whitsett.  I believe he probably died about 1853, although I have no documentation to support this date.  Jane (Harden) Whitsett outlived her husband by almost two decades. In 1860 she is enumerated in the boarding house in Memphis owned by her daughter, Eliza Jane Whitsett, widow of Wiley W. Whitsett (1860 Census, 1st Ward, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, page 48).  She died at 36 Market Street at the age of eighty-eight on April 2, 1876 (CERTIFICATE OF DEATH, Memphis and Shelby County Health Department, Certified Copy dated 9 Aug. 1980).  The undertaker's name was Holst but there appears to be no record of her place of burial.  She outlived all of her children, except for daughter Elizabeth "Eliza" Jane who was still alive in 1880.

Descendants of Reverend William and Jane (Harden) Whitsett

Also living in Memphis from about 1830 to his death in 1836 was James Stockard Whitsett, the brother of Reverend Whitsett.  James S. Whitsett married Sarah Jackson in Orange County, North Carolina on August 2, 1801.  James and Sarah also had several children and until recently it was impossible to tell with certainty which children belong to which couple. Except for William and Jane's daughters Sarah (Whitsett) Manning and Elizabeth Jane Whitsett, we had no documents stating relationships for the second generation of the two families.  We know that Wiley W. Whitsett who married Eliza Jane was her first cousin, so we can deduce that he was the son of James and Sarah.  The only other brothers of James and William - John and Moses - removed from Orange County, North Carolina to Missouri and Georgia respectively, and their children are accounted for in those states.  In November 2007 I was contacted by Josh and Amanda Lyle. Josh is a direct descendant of James and Sarah (Jackson) Whitsett. With the help of a family Bible and a hand written family history compiled by Livonia Whitsitt Hays (daughter of Brice Andrew and Lucy Hardaway Whitsitt) we now have a good picture of these families.

Ronald N. Wall

Updated: 01 JUNE 2011