Asaph Whittlesey, late of Tallmadge, Summit Co., Ohio

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ALLEN COUNTV PUBLIC LIBHARY

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GENEALOGN COLLECTION

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ASAPH WHITTLESEY,

-LATB OF —

T^LLM:A.I3aE, SUnVIlVlIT C0.,01dLL(>.

VESTA HART WIIITTLHSEY,

Susan Evereit Whittlesey, «^ Frrcii

^^fVEtATv^

Fairbanks, Benhdict * Co., Printhrs, Hurai.d Offick.
1872,

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

FORT WAv^'^ MiiiNA

7034 3i>;*

PORTIONS OF A DISCOURSE

DELIVERED BEFOUE THE

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF TALLMADGE,

: "i

OCT. 6, 1868,

By General LUCIUS V. BIERCE, of Ahron, 0.

ASAPH WHITTLESEY

^-Was descended from a line of ancestors extending back in America to

..^John Wliittlesey, who is presumed to have come from England, and

-prettied in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1G50. (See Appendix.) This ances-

^tor married Ruth Dudley, a grand -daughter of Governor Dudley, of

Massachusetts, and from tliis marriage has sprung, a/i of the name and

blood i)i America. John was the only one of the nam.e known to emigrate

to America. Whether he was a willing or an unwilling emigrant, an

adventurer on the tide of fortune, or a victim driven from his country

by religious persecution, is unknown.

From this connection of the Whittlesey's and Dudley's, has sprung a
race who have done honor to themselves and their country, in the field,
the camp, and in the civil, political and religious departments of our
country.

Note.— By consulting the very valuable genealogy of the family in America, published In
1855, by a committee appointed from its members at Saybrool;, in latS, it appears that there
were then living three hundred and ten persons, of tlie name and progeny of this pair. The
whole number, living and deceased, who had borne the name in America, was seven hundred
and eighteen. Of course the females are lost sight of after marriage.

According to the rate of natural increase in the United States— which is twenty-six per
cent, for each period of ten years, or one hundred per cent, in forty years— there should
have been living In 1854, four hundred and forty-eiglit persons of tlieir blood and descent.
Of these a part were of the seventh and a part of the eightli gcnerutiim. In A. D. 1894, at the
expiration of two hundred years from 1094, there sliould be in existence, eiglit luindred and
nlnety-slx persons, descendants of John and Kuth Whittlesey, of Saybrook.

4 IKJOKED BY THE FALL OF A TREE.

His father, John Whittlesey, of New Preston, Connecticut, inherited
the ancestral name, but did not transmit it in the family ; nor did Asaph,
as was done by his brother Elisba, and by a branch of the family living
in Atwater. In 1793, his father moved to Salisbury, in the same county.
He was a lad of remarkable activity, and a fine flow of spirits.

As Salisbury was a newly settled township, his opportunities for
education were not as good, as for those living in older towns. His
physical constitution was a very fine one, capable of great endurance;
but by an accident, which occurred just before he became of age, he was
injured so as to cripple him for life. An older brother and himself were
chopping in a wood, when one of the trees fell upon young Asaph;
striking him upon the back of the neck, and crushing him into the
ground. For some time it was thought he was dead, and his back
broken. This accident so impaired his ability to labor, that it changed
the course of his life. He removed to Southington, Connecticut, and
entered into a partnership with his brother Chester, in the mercantile
business. In November, 1807, he was married, at Southington, to Miss
Vesta Hart. In July, 1812, he came to Tallmadge, made a contract for
a piece of land at the center, cleared a small part, sowed it to wheat, and
then returned to Southington for his family.

In the Spring of 1813, he started for Ohio with his wife and two
children, in a four-horse wagon, taking the southern route by way of
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, a journey at that time full of trials and
hardships. War was then raging in the West. Their neighbors looked
upon them with forbodeings, that they might be the doomed victims of the
tomahawk and scalping knife. In passing " the Narrows," between
Pittsburgh and Beaver, their wagon run off a steep bank, and turned
completely over, so that the wheels were uppermost. His wife and child-
ren were beneath the load. Their groans and stifled cries were growing
weaker and more faint, when, by a desperate, almost superhuman effort,
he succeeded in raising the wagon and load alone, sufiiciently to remove
some boxes that lay upon Mrs. Whittlesey. She and the children were
rescued, but the injuries received impaired her health, for the remainder
of her life. They were detained some days in consequence of this acci-
dent, and did not reach Tallmadge till July, where they were received by
the inhabitants with great kindness. Mr. Whittlesey was soon after
elected Justice of the Peace, an oflBce which he held nearly to the close
of his life.

In 1814 a Post Office was established in Tallmadge, and he was at once
appointed Post Master, a place which he held until his death. In 1816 Mr.

INJURED BY A FALLING LOG.

Whiltlesey met with anotlier accident, which rendered him lame for life.
At the raising of the log house of Mr. Reuben Beach, one of the timbers
fell, and grazing his back threw him down with such yiolence as to break
his thigh bone. He was carried home on a blanket before the bone was
set. The injury received at Salisbury had always affected his strength,
and the broken limb was never wholly restored. It was shorter than the
other, and somewhat crooked. The united effects of these injuries were
very serious, but a strong constitution and an unflinching will, enabled
him to accomplish a large amount of labor, under so many disadvantages.
He started a small store ; purchasing goods in Pittsburgh and bringing
them in wagons to Tallmadge. In connection with his store he carried
on an ashery.

In 1818 he embarked in an enterprise both new and hazardous, the
manufacture of iron. He erected a forge with four refinery fires on the
Little Cuyahoga, at what is now called " The Old Forge " below Middle-
bury. The metal manufactured was poor ; cash payments unknown ;
the tarilf was reduced; and the price of iron consequently fell. By the
years 182-1-5, he had lost a large part of his property, and wasted in the
struggle, much of that physical energy with which nature had endowed
him. He returned to his farm prematurely infirm. In 1825, he was
elected one of the Commissioners of the County of Portage, after which
he retired to his farm and family, where he found that repose
so congenial to his nature, which can not be found amid the cares
and perplexities of politics, business, or public life. He closed his long
and useful career on the 17th of March, 1842, on the farm which he first
purchased in Tallmadge, at the age of sixty-one.

By nature and by association he was, from his youth, a person of good
morals and religiously inclined. During the confinement and sufi"ering,
that followed the injury received at Mr. Beach's raising, his religious
views were more fully developed, but owing to an unfortunate difficulty
then existing in the Church, he did not immediately become a member.
At the separation of Rev. Mr. Woodruff from the church, Mr. Whittlesey
became a member, and subsequently one of the Deacons. In society and
church matters he was ever active, judicious and efficient, fearing the
rebuke of no man, when he believed he was right.

His intellect was naturally of a high order, yet lacked that artificial
strength aud polish, which education produces. On public questions he
could speak and write, with a force that generally enabled him to carry
his views into practice. Reading proved at least a partial remedy, for
defects of early education.

._J

D OBITUARY NOTICES.

His religious convictions were strong, and never yielded to policy
or c'xpedicucy. lie was plain in speech, sometimes abrupt. Those who
respected him were more numerous than those who loved him ; but for
his frietuls no one had a stronger attachment. His dislikes were not
very well concealed, or easily removed. In short, he was a man of strong
mind, strong feelings, strong prejudices, strong affeciions, and strong
attachments, yet the v/hole was tempered, with a strong sense of justice
and strong religious feelings. His last words were "It is a great thing
to die."

KEMARKS 01'- TAPTAIX AMOS SEWARD,

Delivehed on the Evening of the Semi-Centennial Celebration at Tallmadqb,
June 24, 1857.

In e.irly life Mr. Whittlesey engaged In the mercantile business in Southinnton, where he
married. In 181:!, he removed to tliis town and settled at tlie center, then a gloomy swamp.
IIo thi;n corninenced i-luarinR his farm with his own liands. Was sliorlly after elected
matji^lrate, wliKli olllc^e he hold fur many years. IIo was a warm advocate of all the
iniproveinents made in the town; his opinion often being solicited on matters of import-
ance, and generally heeded. He had no scniples in telling others their faults, and some-
times in rather an abrupt manner. In serving in public business he was always courteous ;
not apt to give offense, ilr. Whittlesey had more public business to transact, than any
other individual that has lived in the town.

EXTRACTS FROM THE FUNERAL SERMON,
Hy the Rev. S. W. MAGILL, his Pastor.

I look back upon the course of our departed brother, through all the business transac-
tions in which we have been engaged as a church, during ray residence with you, with
unmingled satisfaction. iS'ot a moment's undue excitement has been manifested, not an
unliind word has been uttered, not a suspicion of a disposition to domineer, could be
attached to his conduct— none could presumu to call him a party man.

IIo proved himself to be a godly and faithful man, who sought to please God and serve
his generation, by the will of God. Not as a party man, but evidently one whose inquiry was,
What is best for the church ? What will best promote our peace and stability— the prosperity
of the cause of Christ among our sister churches?

This cpiestiou being settled in his mind, he went forward true to his aim, cool in his
deliberations— unbiased in his .judgment— steadfast in well doing— and not a tongue would
impeach his motives, repudiate his spirit, or could disprove his wisdom.

Thus lived our brother. Uut disease lays him us a victim upon the dying bed, and now
how stands his faith, and what comes up as his aid at the honest hour of death. His words
upon his dying bed were few. The nature of his disease was such at Urst as to forbid
much conversation, and during its latest stages his mind was evidently much Impaired. He
was not a man, in respect to whom his friends feared to tell him of his prospects.

OBITUARY NOTICES.

FEOM THE "OHIO OBSERVER,"

Hudson, Mabch, 1812.
Died— At Tallmadge, on Thursday, the nth Inst., Asaph Whittlesey, Esq., aged sixty-
one years, of which twenty-nine have been spent as a resident of that place.

The rare character of the deceased, requires something more of us than a formal
announcement of his departure from this life, to be glanced at and forgotten.

By u remarkable scrutiny of observation, connected with a retentive and accurate mem-
ory, without leisure or study, he became possessed of extensive knowledge. In enforcing
his ideas upon an audience, through the roughness of an unschooled intellect there appeared
at times, touches of eloquence exhibiting a mind destined by nature, for a more extended
fleid uf effort. Strong in argument, clear in illustration, pertinent and original in his view
of his subject, it was difficult to avoid a conversion to his opinions. Owing to the want of
early education he entertained strong prejudices. But they were in favor of Justice, virtue
and religion. Oppression and fraud never failed to arouse his indignation, and the commis-
sion of injustice, to call out a withering rebuke, no matter who might be the author of it.
The conclusions of his mind were not hasty, but his Judgment served him faithfully. When
fairly decided, it was difficult to shake his convictions. In politics he acted under a strong
party bias, but his motives escaped defamation. In the midst of the highest excitement.
Common and Sunday schools received a large share of attention for many years preceding his
death, which the little children acknowledged by crowding in tears about his grave.

lie was tlio youngest but one of a family of six brothers and one sister, among whom no
death had previously occurred for the period of sixty-three years. In the fail of 1839, the
seven met, at the house of a brother in Salisburi', Connecticut, having been separated thirty-
seven years. The eldest of the family is now seventy-six years of age, the youngest flfty-
nine. His father, John Whittlesey, of New Preston, Litchfield county, Connecticut, was a
man of stern integrity. His mind and memory possessed a native vigor seldom equaled.
Both father and son were active without assuming, prominent without ostentation, pious
and humble, but as far from suffering injury as inflicting it on others. The estimate of the
citizens upon the character and services of the deceased, displayed Itself more fully at the
funeral tlian on any other occasion. A large concourse of all classes and from neighboring
towns, collected about the corpse as it lay in the majestic repose of death, about to be com-
mitted to the earth.

Here an air of unaffected sorrow pervaded the assemblage— suppressed indeed, but
evident and real, showing how much one man may secure of the respect, and win of the
affection of a community, composed of all conditions of men.

MRS. VEdTA H. WHITTLESEY.

VESTA HART WHITTLESEY

Was born at Southington, Hartford county, Connecticut, May 16, 1789.
Married Asaph Whittlesey, November 26, 1807, at Southington, and died
at Talhnadge, Ohio, December 20th, 1835.

Her futlier, Ool. Samuel Hart, lived under the shadow of the moun-
tains in the west part of Southington. lu person she was small, active,
and pretty. On account of a hereditary disposition to scrofula, her
physicpie was not of the hardy material, required for the hard life of the
new settlements. Her disposition was cheerful, and her manners attrac-
tive. She received the best advantages of early education which a
thriving New England town afforded, in the years following the Revolu-
tion, in which she afterwards taught three seasons. She was very happy
in correspondence, from very early youth. Quite a voluminous diary is
in existence, covering nearly twenty years of her life, which is the best
example of her felicity in composition, because it was written without
premeditation or restraint.

No one who had personal intercourse with her, could doubt the
genuineness of her piety. It appears distinctly in all of her letters, from
the day of her marriage to her death.

Although this occurred when she was only forty-six years of age,
the severe, labor and trials of a frontier life, had brought upon her
gi-ay hairs, and other evidences of a decayed and broken constitution.
The fatal disease, however, was in the lungs, in the form of scrofulous
consumption. She went to her rest with perfect resignation, in the

fullest confidence of a happy futurity. Her last words were, tell " I

charge him to meet me at the throne of God."

FRAGMENT OF A PARTIALLY DESTROYED LLT'IER,

Written fuom Canflexd, Mahoninq Cocnty, ln Jukb or July, 1813, to some Friend

AT Southington.

In some way, Mr. Whittlesey knows not how, lie got us all out before any assistance
could be had. We had concluded we could not live live minutes lon^'cr. This scene of dis-
tress you cannot, indeed, I hope you will not, realize. Wc thouglit fur sometime, my darlinK
iliild Samuel was dead, and pried open hla mouth, blowing into his nostrils. In a few
minutes he recovered. I suppose he was smothered. We were si:arcely able to breathe our-
selves, and Samuel was under mo, but was only a little hurt."i:<jphla hurt the side of her face
and her arm. I was very badly bruised in at least twenty places, and could not walk for

LETTERS FBOM OHIO. ^

tliree days without assistance. When Samuel recovered I fainted several times. We had no
lights, and there was no water except that which was muddy, which they threw in my face.
It was with the greatest difficulty I could—

VESTA WHITTLESEY TO HANNAH CLARK, aOUTHINQTON.

Tallmadqe, July 28, 1813.
Dear Gkandmothee:

Through the goodness of God we have at length arrived at our place of abode, and are
pretty well settled. *****

I have not been homesick at all since we have been here, although I was quite so on the
niad, in the State of Pennsylvania; but it would be finding fault with Providence to complain
or be uneasy, after receiving such special favors at his hands.

You have probably heard through a letter of Mr. Whittlesey, of our misfortunes on the
road. I think that we should not have survived five minutes longer. My feelings cannot
bo described, and I cannot think of it without tears. *****

I have not yet recovered from my hurt, and never expect to. Our children have had the
chicken-pox since we came here, four weeks ago, but are now better.

I visit Connecticut almost nightly in my dreams, which is some satisfaction. But I tell
you I am better pleased with the place than I expected, though you may think it flatten' ;
but it is nut.

Our nearest neighbor south Is about a quarter of a mile, the most kind, obliging and
Cliristiau people I ever saw— their name is Kilbourn. (George Kilbourn and Almira, his
wife.)

Our house is comfortable but is not furnished- we expect to do it after harvest. ♦ »
As to provisions, we do very well. They bad prepared flour from five bushels of excellent
wheat ; a keg of maple sugar; nearly a barrel of pork; lard, butter, soap, vinegar; a cow and
all things necessary. It was strange to see the rejoicing there appeared to be on our arrival.
One sent me some dried pumpkin, another milk, berries, and so on. Sophia Kilbourn has
liclped me just when I needed help, and is the finest of girls. As to neighbors and acquaint-
ances, I have a most agreeable circle ; and I find many who were acquainted with you ail. I
have had a number of tea parties, and yesterday afternoon we had Mr. George Kilbourn and
wife, Ephralm Clark and wife, Judge Norton and wife, Mr. Woodruff, a missionary from
Litchfield, and Sophia Kilbourn. You will perhaps smilingly ask how I entertain them.
Very well. Our floors are of good whitewood boards ; our table is a borrowed one, so small
that only four or five can set at it at a time ; but I take up a board of the right length from
my chamber floor, put It on the table and cover it with a cloth. My china becomes it very
well, and we have excellent meals, most frequently relished better after a blessing.

We have had preaching three Sabbaths since we came, and two lectures, and a confer-
ence at Mr. Clark's every Sabbath, after meeting.

There have been four different priests to visit us; and week before last we attended a
wedding; the Rev. John Seward to Miss Harriet Wright, daughter of Esquire Wright,
formerly of Canaan. There were about thirty present, and but one or two who were not
dres-sed in silk or cambric.

,\s to the quantity of land cleared within sight of our'.house, there are about thirty acres.
Including the centre, and a lot Asaph has cut but not yet logged. They have cleared three
or four acres in front of our house, and by going four or five rods we can see four houses, all
within three-quarters of a mile. »• » • * We are now harvesting wheat,

of which we have a good crop, and are cutting away the dry trees from our home lot, in
order to set out apple trees this fall.

1 can give no one wishing to come here encouragement about good roads, for I think
there can be no worse ones anywhere, than from the eastern side of the Alleghauies to this
place. As to the country I can give every encouragement. The timber is large, tall, and
straight. It is said an ox team is the best to move with ; but coming only to see the country,
the cheapest, and nearly as speedy a way, la to come on foot and by the northern route.

10 MRS. SUSAN E. WHITTLESEY.

SUSAN EVERETT WHITTLESEY, n'e FITCH.

I EXTRACTS FEOM THE FUNERAL SERMON,

I By the Bev. S. W. SEGUR.'Tallmadge, FEBRnART 21, ISTl.

" Miss Susau Fitch was born at Bloomfleld, Connecticut, October 29, 1790 ; was married to
I Dr. William Everett, August 25, 1817. They removed to Hudson, in this county, in 1825, where

, Dr. Everett died suddenly in 1833. Mrs. Everett Avas married to Asaph Whittlesey May 4,

I 1836. In 1844, after the death of Mr. Whittlesey, she removed to Sharon, Medina county, and

i In 1851 returned to TallmadRe. In 1853 she wasimarrled to Captain Amos Seward, who died

I In 1859, leaving her a widow for the third time."

' "Those of us who were present at the little gathering at her house In October last, on the

I eightieth anniversary of her birth, will always remember her happiness and the high regard

j expressed for her by ail those who were present."

*' She "was zealous in the performance of christian duty and the enjoyment of christian

i privileges. The last Sabbath she spent on earth she was In this house of God, where she

loved so well to come. She was a person of ardent love, strong faith and fervent prayer.
It seemed that her place was nearer the throne of Grace than most of us attain. It seemed
ithat she was in the Inner circle of the disciples of Jesus."
"We believe If we could hear the Master speaking in an audible voice to us to-day for
our comfort in this trial. He would say as He did of Mary, In our text, ' She hath done what
, she could.' Brief summary of an eventful, and, as we reckon It, a long life ; but how ex-

I presslve and comprehensive."

, . " She was always more severe In her judgment of herself than others were of her."

' "While she had low views of herself, she had the broadest charity for others. Where

,' others saw only evil, she would find some good. She would attribute good motives where

\ others might think only of wrong ones. Another prominent element in her character was a

I deep personal Interest In otliors, attaching tliem to herself, and thus reiideHng her efforts

' for them successful. She often found an avctmo to hearts, wliicli were closed against the

t Influence of others. She had also moral courage and resolution in the performance of every

christian duty."

From the " Northbrn Ohio Correspondence Cleveland Herald," Feuruary 23, 1871,

Mrs. Susan E. Seward died at this place (Tallmadge) on the 18th Inst. During the greater
part of her long and varied life her health has been good, her spirits cheerful, and her
habits industrious. The most conspicuous feature of her character was, however, a con-
scientious performance of the every day duty of life. She had beyond an almost faultless
christian character, a practical benevolence which enables us to repeat with perfect sincerity
that abused and hackneyed phrase, "she has not left an enemy," and probably never had
one.

L_,

APPENDIX.

ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY.

The ancestral origin of the family is still a mystery, to the American poition.
It ia a point to which many of its members have given prolonged research, with-
out heing able to trace thuir genealogy to the old world. English Law Reports
have been examined, extending back many centuries, without finding the name
among litigants in the Knglish courts. Several London directories of various
dates, have not shown such a family among the residents of that city, although
Thacliery, in " The Newcombs," reters to Lady Whittlesey's chapel.

Whiitle, Whiteley and AVhittcU are common English names. An examina-
tion of tlie "Gentleman's Magazine," from 1731 to 1786, furnishes the following
obituary— the only instance where an approach to the American name, has been
found :

A. D. 1783.— "Died— At Bodlcote, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, Miss WnrrLESBB, an
agreeable young lady, with a large fortune."

The late George Hoadley, of Cleveland— a man of remarkable memory and
research, and a lover of genealogical lore— took an interest in this question. Not
long before his death, in March, 1857, he furnished a memorandum, of which the
following is an abstract:

Und^r " Cambridgenhire," In the Penny Cyclopiedia, page 179, Is "Cambridge," the capital
and sent of the University, forty-nine miles north of London. The north part of the shire
is a vast marsli or "mere," on a level with the North Sea, with course grass and bogs. It is
partially reclaimed by ditches and canals, one of which is called the " Bedford Canal."

Here and there are dry knolls called " eys" or islands, of solid land, on which are hamlets
and churches. Fur natural drainage there are three sluggish streams, the Ouse, the New
and the Cora, which discharge into the "Swash." There are three hamlets on the "eys,"
known as "Thoms-ey," "Itams-ey" and " Whlttles-ey." There is also on the Com, the
eastern boundary of the shire, a " Whlttles-ford."

^Vllittle.^ea or Whittlesey was, until 178U, a market town, in the north-west
))art of the shire, a parish and a polling precinct, with a population in 1830 of 0019.
In the '• London Illustrated News'" for 1844, describing a progress of the Queen
through Cambridgeshire, complimentary mention is made of the " Yeomanry" or
volunteer militia of " Whittlesea."

In "Term Reports," vol. IV., page 207, there is a reported case of the king
against the inhabitants of " Whittlesea."

12 AKCHBISHOP WHITl'LESEY.

There is, in Collins'' ^^ Peerage of England,''' vol. II, London, 1812, under
"■ Canlerbury,'' March S, A. D. laSO, v -I'jO— I'JS William "Whittlesey" or
" Witesley" or " Whytelsey," Archbishop Canterbury.

The will of Thomas de Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was probated before
Archbishop Whittlesey, at Lambeth, May 17, 1379. It is probable that, as
Whittle is a froqueut name, the place and perhaps the family came from it, by au
easy transition.

STATEMENT OF THE LATE M. B. SCOTT,
Of Cleveland.

This gentleman occupied lumself during the last ten years of his life, with
researches in heraldry and genealogy. Having traveled in England in the
pursuit of his favorite stud)', he furnished the tollowing statement in regard to
Archbishop Wliittlescy or Witlcscy, who, as Primate of all England, stood next
tlie Pope in the PLomish hierarchy:

Cleveland, June 3, 1867.

Enclosed you will find the result of my researches into the history of Archbishop
Wittlesey. The fact that no other person of the name can be found in Enslish history can only
be accounted for on the hypothesis of Fuller. If one may reas(jn from the fact, that the
liif,'her orders of ecclesiastics in the fourteenth and flfteenth centuries, usually assumed a.
new name on entering holy functions, and freciueiitly the place of their birth or education,
it is presumable, that Wittlesey was not the family name of the Archbishop, but an adopted
one, and not transmitted to posterity. Then the question arises— Where did the Saybrook
family derive their name?

The probabilities are that Whittlesey is to bo traced to " Wrlothesly," this having been
originally "Wrythc." The transition of sound and orthoi,'rapUy from WrythetoWriothesly ia
much greater than from Wriolhe.-ly to Whittlesey.

1 sivo you also the (jeneaiosy and history of the Wrlothesly family, from "Stowe'a Survey
of London," A. U. luoa, edited by Wm. J. Thomas, ISW.

Yours very truly, etc.,

M. B. SCOTT.
Col. Chas. Whittlesey.

EXTRACT FROM "FULLER'S WORTHIES.'

PRELATES.

William de Whittleset.— No printed author mentions the place of his birth and
breeding. He was placed by us in this County, (Huntingtonshire,) flnding Whittlesey a
town therein, (so memorable for the Mere,) and presuming that this William, did follow suit
with the best of his coat in that age, surnamed from the places of their nativity.

Mr. Paricer, (I tell you my story and my story man,) an industrious antiquary, (MSS. in St.
Peter's House,) collected out of the Church of Ely, that, after the resignation of Kalph de
Holbeach, William do Whittlesey, Archdeacon of Huntington, 1340, was admitted Third
Master of Petcr-II.m.-'e in Cambridge. Vet lie lialli kft mure sigjial testimony of his allcc-
llon to Oxford, whlih he freed from the Jcirlsilielion of llio lllsliop of London, allowing the
scholars to choose their own Chancellor. Ho was kinsman to Simon Islip, Arcliblshop of
Canterbury, who made him Vicar-General, Dean of the Arches; and successively he was

AKCIENT RECORDS. 13

preferred Bishop of Rochester, Worcester, London; Archbishop of Canterbury. An erudite
scholar, an eloquent preacher, and his last sermon most remarkable, to the Convocation, on
the test— "Tlio truth shaii malco you free." It seems by the stoi-y that, in the sermon, he
had a particular reflection on the privileptea of the clergy, as exempted, by preaching the
truth, from payment of taxes, save witli their own free consent. But all would not serve
their term; for, in the contemporary Parliament,'^tlie clergy, uuwittingly willing, granted
yearly tenth, to supply tiie pressins occasions of King Edward III.
This William died Anno Domini 1375.

ANCIENT FUNERAL MONUMENTS
Within the Diocese op Cantekbdry. By John Weever— A. D. 1631.

William Wittlesey succeeded the said Simon, and was brought up at Oxford, at the
charges of Simon Islip, who was his uncle, wliere hee proceeded Doctor of Canon Law, and
by him sent to Rome to solicit liis causes, and also to get experiance by seeing the practice
of that Court; who, after he had stayed there a time, was called home and prefered by his
Tncie's means unto the place of Vicar-General, then to the Deanerie of the Arches, the
Archbisliop of Huntington, the Parsonages of Crogdon and CiilT; to tlie Uisliopricke of
Rochester, from thence to Worcester; and lastly, (after the decease of said Ynkle,) to this
Archbishoprlcke of Canterbury, in which lie continued almost seven years, being most of
the time troubled with a tedious, lingering disease, wliereot iie died July 0, 137-1.

He lieth burled over against ills Ynde, between two pillars, under a marble tomb inlaid
wltli brass, which, ^vith his epitaph, is altogether defaced, the brass worne, torne or stolen
away; these few words only remaining:

*' tumulatus

Wittlesey natus gcmmata luce '*

IRELAND'S HISTORY OF TIIE COUNTY OF KENT.

William Wittlesey, LL.T)., Bishop of Worcester was translated to the See of Canterbury
on the Iltii of Octodcr, 13(58.

He was a native of Huntingtonshire, and nephew of Archbisliop Islip, at whose charge
he received his education at Oxford, and became Doctor of the Common Law ; he then pro-
ceeded to Rome to acquire experiance, whence being summoned home by his uncle, he
became his Vicar-General, then Archdeacon of Huntington, &c. After this lie was inducted
alternately to the Sees of Rochester and Worcester, and from the latter raised to tlie Archie-
piscopal dignity.

Having suffered from the effects of a procrastinated disease, tliis primate died at Lam-
beth, January 5, 1374, after presiding Ave years over the See.

He was buried, according to Husted and Batteley, in the south side of the upper part of
nave of Canterbury Cathedral ; whereas Gostiins states that " the latter writer was certainly
mistaken, when he mentioned the tomb over against Isiip's as that of Whittlesey; for the
figures on this were plainly those of a man and liis wife.

William Wittlesey was esteemed a man of sound erudition and an eloquent preacher,
which appears from two sermons in Latin, delivered at the Synods convened by that Arch-
bishop.

Simon Islip, his uncle, took ills name from Islip, tlio iilaco of his nativity. In Oxfordshire.
Simon de Sudbury, tlio successor of Wittlesey, in tlie See of Canterbury, took liis name from
the place of his birth ; his father's name was "Tyboid."

14 ANCIENT RECORDS.

DOCTOR PETER HEYLEN'S "HELP TO ENGLISH HISTORY."

William be Wittlesey, Archdeacon of Huntington, Master of St. Peter's College.
Cambridge, in 1361, translated to Rochester as 48th Bishop.
William Wittlesey, in 13C3 55th Bishop of Worcester.
William Wittlesey, in 1368 translated to Canterbury as the 57th Archbishop.

MARTYROLOQY AND OBITUARY OP CHRIST CHURCH. CANTERBURY.

"On the eighth of the ides of June, (June Bth,) died Lord William Weytelesee, Arch-
bishop."

I take the above year to be 1375, because Arclibishop Sudbury was translated in that year from the
See of London and inaugurated 58th Archbishop of Canterbury. Beyond what is given above, I do not
find the name in any English book within my reach. The nearest is " Whittleley " and " Whittelle," in
" Burke's General Armory." **• ^- S-