Mathew WHITEHILL ¹²⁴

  General Notes:

The 1850 Putnam County, VA and 1870 Fulton County, IL Census note that Mathew was born in Virginia in 1811. In dispute are the Rose Hill Cemetery Records (which may be viewed at the Shenandoah, IA Public Library) which state Matthew was born in England.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Residence, 1811, England. ³⁹⁵ where he was eventually orphaned.

• Residence, 1822, Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, USA. ³⁹⁵ when he came to America from England as a "bound boy" to a restaurant owner to repay him for the cost of transportation to this county.

• Occupation, 1843, Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, USA. ³⁹⁵ as a farmer where he and his father-in-law, Joseph Blakely, operated a farm until the Civil War when Confederate soldiers plundered their home.

• Occupation, 1850, Putnam County, Virginia. ³⁹⁶ Farmer

• Residence, 1850, Putnam County, Virginia. ³⁹⁷

• Residence, 1862, Canton, Fulton County, Illinois, USA. ³⁹⁸ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilfulton/1871FultonAtlas/Pg11Subscribers2.htm

• Occupation: Farmer, 1870, Fulton County, Illinois. ¹²⁴

• Residence: Canton Township, 1870, Fulton County, Illinois. ¹²⁴

• Residence, 1872, Page County, Iowa. ³⁹⁹

• Occupation, 1872, Page County, Iowa. ³⁹⁹ Farmer

• Residence, 1880, Fisher Center, Fremont County, Iowa, USA. ⁴⁰⁰

• Occupation, 1880, Fisher Center, Fremont County, Iowa, USA. ⁴⁰⁰ as a farmer.

• Obituary, 3 Apr 1894, Clarinda, Page County, Iowa 51632. ⁴⁰¹ in the Clarinda Herald. Obituary courtesy of Gareld Whitehill.

Matthew Whitehill died at his home south of town on last Monday night. He was 84 years old. Services were held at the Summit M. E. church on Wednesday and the remains interred in the Shenandoah cemetery.

• Cemetery, 26 Mar 1894, Rose Hill Cemetery: Shenandoah, Page County, Iowa, USA. Locate the grave on the road leading north from the chapel and flag pole. The grave is on the west side of the road, about 1/2 way between the flagpole and the next intersection. There are other Whitehills buried nearby that may assist in locating the grave.

• Honors. by having this item published in an unknown book:

MATTHEW AND MARTHA JANE WHITEHILL
The actual birthplace of Matthew Whitehill is not known, but since the Whitehill name is of English origin, it is presumed that he came from England. It is known that he was born in 1811 and came to America as a bound boy at the age of 7 years. He was an orphan, bound out to a restaurant owner in the hill country of West Virginia. he met and married a young girl of 16 years, when he was 30. They lived upon a tract of land that was owned by his father-in-law and himself in the mountainous country of Wheeling, West Virginia. Here 8 of their children were born: Joseph - 1843; James - 1846; Mary - 1848; Zachariah - 1850; Boyd - 1853; Samuel - 1855; Matthew - 1859; George 1861; and John in 1866. Grandmother Whitehill was active in the community. She helped organize the first Sunday School at Summit (Page County, Iowa), which was held in the schoolhouse and of which she was elected superintendent. Martha Jane passed away in 1892. Matthew two years later in 1894. Both are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.

The following was written by Edna Lois Whitehill: Mathew Whitehill was my grandfather. He was born in 1811 and died in 1894 and is buried in Rose Hill cemetary [sic] in Shenandoah, Iowa. He came to America from England in 1818, settled in Wheeling, W. Virginia, and was married to Martha Jane Blakely in 1843. They migrated to Illinois during the Civil War days. They came to Iowa to the Summit neighborhood south of Shenandoah in the fall of 1872 when their son John (my father) was six years old.

Mathew married Martha Jane BLAKENEY, daughter of Joseph BLAKENEY and Mary B. BLAKENEY (NEE UNKNOWN), 17 Oct 1841 in Virginia.¹²⁰ (Martha Jane BLAKENEY was born 9 Sep 1825 in Kanawha County, West Virginia,⁴⁰² died 15 May 1892 in Fremont County, Iowa ⁴⁰³ and was buried 17 May 1892 in Rose Hill Cemetery: Shenandoah, Page County, Iowa, USA ¹⁷.)

  Marriage Notes:

The Putnam County Virginia 1850 Census indicates Mathew and Martha were "married within the year", which would date the marriage in 1849-1850.