William H. Whitten

William H. Whitten was born December 25, 1819, in the city of New York, of English parents. His father died before he had any knowledge of him; his mother died in the fall of 1824, leaving two children of which he was the youngest; his sister died in 1844 or'45, the last and only relative he knew of in the world; she left two children, the youngest died at the age of three years, the other, Frederic Ike Leaycroft, lived with him until he was twenty- two years old, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, Illinois Infantry, and served during the war and was honorably discharged; he (Frederic) is now living in Kansas. In the month of November, 1829, the subject of this sketch was indentured as an apprentice by the commissioners of the almshouse of the city of New York, to Thomas Elliott, a farmer of Middletown, Delaware county, N. Y., to learn the art, trade and mystery of a farmer. At the age of eighteen his master died, and he still remained with the family until March, 1841, and got an honorable discharge. In 1844 he married Miss Nancy, daughter of Peter and Sarah Wearer, of Delaware county, N. Y., engaged in farming there until 1854, when he settled at Pleasant Grove, Osceola township, purchasing eighty acres on section 34, where he engaged in grain and stock-growing. In the spring of 1860 he joined the Pikes' Peak stampede, traveling from March 22 to May 7 overland. There he worked in the gold mines, also prospected, all with such success that the $23 he started out with increased to $27 on his return home in November, 1800. In 1865 he sold his Osceola farm and purchased 160 acres on section 3, Penn. In February, 1868, his first wife died and in November of that year, he married Mrs. Ellen Philhower, daughter of William and Sarah Schuyler, natives of New Jersey. To them four children were born: Ira J., Charles W., John H, and Fred. A., all residing here or in attendance on school at Bradford. In politics Mr. Whitten is Republican. For six years he has served as justice of peace, was road commissioner for a number of years and also school director. He was formerly a member of the old Free Will Baptist church, but now supports the Methodist church of which his wife and some of his children are members. The five children of Mrs. Philhower are: Ann, wife of Reuben Redding, of Nebraska; George, of Springfield, Ill.; Sarah, wife of Henry Wm. Budine, of Henry, Ill.; Jennie, residing here, and Peter, a resident of Bureau county, Ill.