Bartley S. Whitney, one of the early settlers of Clayton County, was born in Ontario, Can., on the 8th day of March, 1827, son of Lewis and Sarah (Kitchen) Whitney of English descent. They were married in Niagara, Can., and had a family of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, four of whom are living, viz.: Wm. A., a real estate dealer of Nebraska; B. S.; Charles A., furniture dealer of Ontario, Can.; Ellen, now the wife of Paul Moore, of Canada. Lewis Whitney died in Ontario, Can. The mother died in Canada in April, 1882. The subject of this memoir was educated in the common schools of his native country, and at the age of seventeen was apprenticed to a tinner with whom he remained four years. In the spring of 1849 he married Diana Switzer, daughter of Amos Switzer, a native of Quebec, where she was born in 1831. The fruit of this union was five children, four living, viz.: Sarah A., now the wife of Dr. C. H. Stearns, of Elkader; Rosalie J., wife of Virgil Davis, Deputy Recorder and County Clerk; Harry S. and Frank G. In 1854 Mr. Whitney emigrated to Geneva, Wis., where
he remained five years; thence to Prairie du Chien, and
in 1859 came to Elkader, where he has been engaged in the
tin and hardware business since. In politics he was a
Republican until Grant's second nomination. Since that
time he has been a Liberal. source: History of Clayton County, Iowa, 1882, p. 676 |