The Whitsett Family Origins, From England to Ulster, Ireland, to America

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ORIGIN OF OUR WHITSETT FAMILY

A commercial organization that sells coats of arms and histories of surnames is not the most reliable source of family history. However, in 1994 Sue and I purchased one these documents for the surname Whitsett at an Irish festival in Phoenix, Arizona. It appears to contain authentic research concerning the Whitsett name. It gives the following information on the origins of the name. It states that “Whitsett” is derived from the name “Whiteside” and it appears that most of the references apply to the latter spelling.

According to this document, published by The Hall of Names, Inc. (1994), professional analysts researched the history of lowland Scotland and northern England, including the Inquisition, the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, the Ragman Rolls, the Hearth Rolls, the Doomsday Book, parish records, baptismal records and private collections. The first record of the name Whitsett appears to be found in Lanarkshire (England) where they lived on Whiteside lands from very early times. From time to time the surname was written as Whiteside and Whitesides as well as Whitsett.

The family seems to come originally from the Strathclyde Britons, an ancient northern race who were a mixture of Gaels and Celts. These Britons ranged from Lancashire in the south, northward to the River Clyde in Scotland. From 400 A.D. to 900 A.D. their territory was overrun first by Irish Gaels, then the Angles from the east, and, finally the Picts and Dalriadans from the north. However, their basic culture remained relatively undisturbed. By 1000 A.D. the Strathclyde Britons had formed into some of the first Clans in the British Isles.  In 1603, the Scottish and English crowns became united under King James VI of Scotland, who was also crowned King James the 1st of England (commissioner of the King James version of the Bible). The Crown dispersed these unruly border clans, which had served loyally in the defense of both sides. The unification of the governments was threatened and it was imperative that the old border code should be broken up. The border clans were banished to England, northern Scotland and northern Ireland.

The family names Whitsett and Whiteside are descended directly from the Strathclyde Britons. By the 15th century some of the Whiteside clan had moved south to England and the name appears on numerous taxation rolls in Yorkshire at Scarborough. A large migration of Whitesides took place from Lanarkshire to Ulster in Ireland in the seventeenth century and some became influential men in Ireland. The Reverend John Whiteside, Vicar of Scarborough (England) was the son of Reverend William Whiteside, headmaster of Rathmines School in Dublin, Ireland and the grandson of William Whiteside of Londonderry. James Whiteside was Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. The border clans that settled in Northern Ireland were sent there between 1650 and 1700 with grants of land provided they remained Protestants. They became known as the “Undertakers” (not meaning funeral directors).  As many as eighteen Whiteside families migrated to Ireland and became an influential force. For instance, In 1740 a Miss Whiteside married the Chief Justice of Ireland, the Right Honorable Warden Flood, of Flood Hall in county Kilkenny. Records show that some of these families were known by the name as Whitsitt or Whitsett, as well as Whiteside.

WHITESIDE to WHITSETT AND OTHER VARIATIONS

It is generally accepted by most Whitsett researchers that the name “Whitsett” was derived from the name “Whiteside.” It occurs in the Ulster province of Northern Ireland in the counties of Armagh and Antrim among the Scotch-Irish Protestants. There was apparently a large clan of Whitesides and Whitsitts in these two counties. I have not found, what to me is a definitive explanation of the evolution from Whiteside to Whitsett, or why one was considered the equivalent of the other. However, there are several examples in documents of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s that show both uses, and they occurred both in Ireland and America. Most likely it was because "white side" and "white site" were commonly used to indicate a location. Whiteside, as with many names, derived from a place, such as the white side of a hill (limestone) or riverbank. It was also common to drop the "e" making "white" into "whit" and side and site into "sid," "sit" or "set." In Ireland, one of the earliest records of the name is William Whitesitt who was listed as a member of the Ulster Province Friends (Quaker) meeting at Charlemont in county Armagh on July 27, 1695. In 1696, William Whitesite and Mary Calvert were married in a Friends ceremony at the house of Thomas Calvert near Carreckfergus in the county Antrim. Susanna Whitsite of the Grange meeting near Charlemont in Armagh married James Moore of Ballymoney meeting on October 24, 1701. William Whitsitt of Charlemont is again listed in the Ulster Province meeting of March 30, 1702. John Whitsitte of Grange near Charlemont and Ruth Robson of Lurgan in Armagh were married in a Friends meeting on June 11, 1703. The will of William Whitsitt of Dreemore manor of Dungannon in the county Tyrone near Charlemont was probated in 1732. The will mentions wife Mary Calvert Whitsitt. These records can be found in Albert Cook Myers’, “Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania 1682-1750 with Their Early History in Ireland,” published by the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore in 1969.

By 1730, many of these Irish Protestants were dissatisfied with life in Ireland. Many of the original land leases were lapsing and landlords were drastically raising rents. The several of the Whitsett families looked to the New World. They left Ireland aboard the “White Sails,” an armada of sailing ships such as the Hector, the Rambler and the Dove which struggled across the stormy Atlantic. Some ships lost 30 or 40 percent of their passenger list, migrants who were buried at sea having died from diseases and the elements.

SAMUEL AND WILLIAM WHITSITT OF IRELAND

Information about our Irish ancestors, Samuel Whitsett and his son William comes from two sources. William Thornton Whitsett, of Whitsett, North Carolina and 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. My source was Albert Cook Myers, "Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennylvania 1682-1750 With Their Early History in Ireland", published in 1902.  One can find the names of Samuel, William, Joseph and Robert. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find evidence that conclusively identifies Samuel Whitsett and his son William as the ancestors of the American family. That does not make it untrue, only unproven.

The source for the claim that Samuel Whitsitt and his son William of Ireland are the ancestors to our American family is Dr. William Heth Whitsitt, Annals of a Scotch-Irish Family: The Whitsitt's of Nashville, Tenn., AMERICAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, Vol IX, published in 1904 by Richmond College, Richmond, Virginia. Reverend, Dr. William Heth Whitsitt was a prominent Baptist theologian and professor of history. 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.

Dr. Whitsitt wrote, "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. 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 (the original for of the surname Menees), and William Whitside of Bethel Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This and other records in Pennsylvania support the family information provided Dr. Whitsitt.

The first of our families who preferred variations of the spelling “Whitsett” or “Whitsitt” arrived in Philidelphia, British colonial America about 1732s or 1740’s. These Scotch-Irish were a tough bunch and were use to harsh living conditions. They tended to move to the frontiers of the colonies and many became fierce Indian fighters, among them, William Whitsett of western Pennsylvania. The Scotch-Irish did not care much for the English government, whom they felt had oppressed them in Ireland and they were in the forefront of the American Revolution. After the Revolution it was mainly the Scotch-Irish in the frontier regions of Pennsylvania and Virginia that were instrumental in the Whiskey Rebellion protesting the new United States government taxes on whiskey. One of these was Samuel Whitsett of Fayette County, Pennsylvania and later Montgomery County, Kentucky. It was the Scotch-Irish who led the push into the wildernesses of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and other western territories. Our branch of Whitsetts apparently settled before the American Revolution in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and then North Carolina.

PENNSYLVANIA

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.

My web page Whitsett Immigrant Ancestors of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has information on sources and links for the history of the early Whitsett families of Pennsylvania - William Whitsett and Elizabeth Dawson; Ralph Whitsett and Sarah Wilson; James and Ann Whitsett; Elizabeth Whitsett and John Welsh. There is also a link for John Whitsett who left Pennsylvania and settled in North Carolina.

Whiteside vs. Whitsett In North Carolina

There are many examples in North Carolina documents to show that these families used both versions, Whiteside and Whitsett, in official records and probably their day-to-day lives. It is so common that one may assume they considered the names to be equivalent.

For example, land records in Orange County, North Carolina record the property of Samuel Whitside and John Whitsett who received warrants for land in Orange County. A survey record for land warrant number 425 on the waters of Back Creek in Orange County dated November 17, 1778 gives the name of the owner as John Whitsett on the outside of the document, but gives his name as John Whitesett in the body of the text. One of the witnesses signed his name as Sam’l Whitsett. A land warrant number 1002 for fifty acres was surveyed on January 27, 1794 for Samuel Whittsid. The land was also on the waters of Back Creek. A second document, the order to survey this same land, came from John Butler, Entry Officer of Claims for lands in Orange County. It clearly states the name as Samuel Whitsett. These fifty acres were adjacent to Samuel’s other land of 190 acres. The document for the survey of the 190 acres, dated May 10, 1794, lists the name Sam’l Whitsett on the outside of the document and Samuel Whittsides in the body of the text.

John Whitsett died in 1788. An estate sale was conducted and the record of the sale lists among the buyers Samuel Whitsett and James Whitsett. The administrators’ bond for the estate lists among the administrators Sam’l Whitesides and James Whitsides. These are probably the same men as those listed as buyers.

The 1779 tax list of Orange County gives the names James Whitsitt, John Whitsett and Sam’l Whitsitt. The 1780 tax list gives the names of these same tax payers as Samuel Whiteside, Jas. Whiteside and Jno Whitesett.

On September 2, 1805 the Raleigh Register announced that on August 15th Mr. William Whiteside and Miss Jane Harden, daughter of John Harden, Esq. were married in Orange County. We know from collaborating evidence that this was the Reverend William Whitsett, son of Samuel Whitsett. Jane, wife of William, is mentioned as Jane Whitsett in the will of her father John Harden.

In 1832, Adam Sharp of Rockingham County, North Carolina filed a pension application for service in the Revolutionary War. In it, he states that he was drafted as a private for nine months under Captain William Whitsett and Major Richard Singleton and in 1782 served for three months under Captain Whitsett. We know from other sources and a Whiteside genealogy that Adam Sharp was referring to William Whiteside, brother-in-law to Richard Singleton both of Rutherford County, North Carolina. Their Revolutionary War service is well documented. The Whitesides were a distinguished family in Rutherford County, many of whom removed to Kentucky and Illinois and whose descendants still use the name Whiteside. Of this family was lawyer Thomas Whiteside, a distinguished resident of Maury County, Tennessee. He occasionally spelled his name as “Whitsett.”

These examples clearly show that Whitsett and Whitsitt were at one time excepted forms of the perhaps more formal “Whiteside.” They also show that in North Carolina there are several possibilities for the origin of the Lauderdale County, Alabama Whitsett family.

Ronald N. Wall

Modified: 21 August 2025