Samuel Whitsett of Ireland

Samuel And William Whitsett of Ireland

Information on Samuel Whitsett of Ireland and the Irish Whitsett's comes from two sources.  William Thornton Whitsett, of Whitsett, North Carolina and Dr. William Heth Whitsitt of Nashville, Tennessee.  William Thorton Whitsett based his information on the early Irish ancestors on the work of Dr. William Heth Whitsitt, whose information was passed town to him through is family. My own research shows that during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries there were several Whitsett (of various spellings) families in Counties Armagh and Antrim in Ireland. One can find the names of Samuel, William, Joseph and Robert. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any conclusive evidence to support claims for ancestors Samuel Whitsett and his son William, of Ireland. Of course, that does not make it untrue, only unproven.

William Thornton Whitsett was a historian living in North Carolina during the early twentieth century. I have a copy of his notes on the Whitsett family history that were obtained from his daughter Mrs. Carrie Whitsett Hayes in 1980, and from his papers held at the University of North Carolina.  I obtained copies of his papers from the University soon after receiving copies of Mrs. Hayes' notes. Neither of these documents included references to sources. Professor Whitsett died in 1934 before publishing his work, so he may not have completed his work. Mrs. Hayes did not know of any other documents related to these notes. She did know that Mr. Whitsett had obtained a family Bible from the descendants of Revolutionary War hero William Wirt Whitsett of Fayette County, Pennsylvania who supposedly was born in Ireland (he was actually born in Lancaster, now Lebanon, County, Pennsylvania, but was the son of Irish immigrant Ralph Whiteside/Whitsett). This Bible has since disappeared.

I am more comfortable with research on the early family by Reverend, Dr. Whitsitt of Nashville. Dr. Whitsitt was a prominent Baptist theologian and university history professor.  He states in a series of articles published in 1904 in Nashville that his information for William and Elizabeth Dawson Whitsitt from Ireland, originated with his aunt, Mrs. Margaret (Whitsitt) Blakey, the daughter of William Whitsitt and Ellen Menees of Nashville.  Her grandparents were William and Elizabeth (Dawson) Whitsitt. My own research in Pennsylvania records, where the Whitsett families first settled in America, found substantial records for this family and related family members (f.

At least a few of the Whitsett/Whitsitt families in Ireland were Quakers.  The book, Immigration of The Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750, With Their Early History in Ireland, by Albert Cook Myers, M.L. (1902) has references to a few individuals, but does not have any information about our particular Whitsett ancestors; I have heard from a source who visited Ireland that very few records survive due to the conflicts that plagued Northern Ireland. The John Whitsett family, who came to North Carolina and eventually settled in what was then Orange County, were apparently comfortable with Quakers. Many of their neighbors were Quakers and they moved for a short time to the Quaker settlement in Wrightsboro, Georgia until trouble with Native Americans drove them back to Orange County. Our American Whitsett family was apparently mostly Presbyterian and Baptist, but they may have been Quakers before immigrating to America.  In the wilderness of Pennsylvania they attended, and some of their children were baptised in the Lutheran Church of German Johan Casper Stoever. Quaker William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, actively recruited Quakers to immigrate to his new colony in Pennsylvania. The motivation for our Whitsett family immigration to America could well have been due to Quarker influence.

Below is the opening words of Dr. William Heth Whitsitt's article in, Annals of a Scotch-Irish Family: The Whitsitt's of Nashville, Tenn., AMERICAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, Vol IX, 1904, 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. 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."

I found records of the James Menees (McNees) family living near the families of William, James, John, and Ralph Whiteside/Whitsett (see the link at the top).  The marriage records of Rev. John Casper Stoever does contain an entry for the May 30, 1764 marriage of Eleanor McNees, daugher of James McNees, and William Whitside of Bethel Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This and other records in Pennsylvania support the family information provided Dr. Whitsitt.

Ronald N. Wall

MODIFIED: 18 August 2022