Individual Details

Rev. Samuel Whiting, Jr.
From "Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume III" by William Richard Cutter, 1908 [http://books.google.com/books?id=b6AhB-PTzMYC&pg=PA1121&lpg=PA1121&dq=%22Oliv er+Whiting%22+Billerica&source=web&ots=WQbc2SSyyx&sig=hj1rW5cmt6VsK2_Mt8-ebv2p1eY&hl =en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA1120,M1].
"Rev. Samuel Whiting, son of Rev. Samuel Whiting, born in Skirbeck, England, March 25, 1633, came to America with his father when about five years old. He graduated at Harvard College in 1653. His thesis subject at commencement was the question: 'An detur Maximum et Minimum in Naturae?' and he spoke on the affirmative. He remained at college a year after graduation, and the fact is noted as pecular that his quarterly bills were almost always paid in silver. He was admitted a freeman May 11, 1656, and in 1658 settled in Billerica as a preacher from year to year until November 11, 1663, when he was ordained pastor of the church organized about that time. Here he remained almost fifty years, and was esteemed, as Rev. Cotton Mather, says, 'A reverend, holy and faithful minister of the gospel.' He preached the artillery election sermon in 1692..
"On his settlement the town granted him a ten acre lot or single share with town privileges. His house lot was twenty acres lying upon the township on the south side of it, bounded by land of George Willis on the north, the brook highway on the east, by Charnstaffe Lane on the south, John Stearn's field on the west. The highway known as the Concord road crossed it. The field in which his house stood was owned lately by Miss Susan Hill. He received in various parts of the town at various times grants of twenty-three lots of land, amounting to more than two hundred acres. He was one of the seventeen ministers opposed to the settlement of Rev. John Davenport in Boston. His manuscript sermons have been lost recently. He married, November 12, 1656, Dorcas Chester, born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, November 1, 1637, daughter of Leonard Chester, who was a nephew of Rev. Thomas Hooker, D.D. Chester lived a year or more at Watertown, and assisted in exploring the Connecticut Valley, and in selecting the site for settlement there when Dr. Hooker removed to Hartford. He died December 11, 1648; his widow married Hon. Richard Russell, one of the foremost citizens of Charlestown; she died a widow, November 30, 1698, aged eighty..
"Rev. Samuel Whiting's house was used as 'ye main Garrison house' (Billerica). There is a boulder as marker, at corner of Charnstaff Lane and Old Concord Road, placed there by the Billerica Historical Society. The (Whiting) parish was large, extending from Concord and modern Acton to the Merrimack and Andover. Rev. and Mrs. Whiting were married fifty-six years, and separated by death only thirteen days. She died February 15, 1712-1713, and he died February 28. Cotton Mather tells us, and we may thank him for the item, that he died 'an hour before Sunset.' And, not for their poetry but their truth, we may repeat the lines: 'Whiting, we here behold, a starry light,/Burning in Christ's right hand, and shining bright;/Years seven times seven sent forth his precious rays,/Unto the Gospel's profit and Jehovah's praise.'.
"That he had opinions and convictions far in advance of his century, is pleasantly preserved in this record: '30 October, 1693. At this meeting our Rev. Paster, Mr. Samuel Whiting, did set at liberty and free from his service, Simon, Negro, who hath been his servant about thirty and one years.' Does the country afford an earlier prophecy of the great Emancipation Proclamation! 'This faithful servant, in his will, which bears date a few days after Mr. Whiting's death, 'in consideration of the respect which I have and do bear to my Master's family,' gives them his homestead and land west of the Concord river.'.
"Children of Rev. Samuel Whiting: 1. Elizabeth, born November 6, 1660; married October 14, 1702, Rev. Thomas Clark, pastor of Chelmsford. 2. Samuel, born January 19, 1662-63. 3. John, born August 1, 1664, graduate of Harvard College, 1685; pastor at Lancaster; killed by Indians, September 11, 1697. 4. Oliver, born November 8, 1665. 5. Mary, born May 28, 1667. 6. Dorothy, born September 23, 1668. 7. Joseph, born February 7, 1669-70, graduate of Harvard, 1690. 8. James, born August 20, 1671. 9. Unis (Eunice), born September, 1672, died September 20. 10. Benjamin, born September 26, 1676, died October 18 following. 11. Benjamin, born November 5, 1682, died November 15 following.".
https://www.ourfamtree.org/view.php?pid=526298&aid=34792
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John Whiting, Esq., mayor of Boston, in England, and brother of Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Lynn, advanced 50 pounds in aid of the Massachusetts colony. In return, the General Court granted him 500 acres of land which he transferred to his American brother, who gave it to his son, the Billerica pastor. The grant was located on Salmon brook, in Dunstable, and passed into the possession of Samuel Whiting, Jr., who became one of the first settlers of Dunstable, and a leading man in that town (Henry A. Hazen, History of Billerica… [Boston 1883 reprint Cambridge 1973]
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SAMUEL WHITING, JR., A.M., b. Skirbeck, Lincolnshire, England, March 25, 1633, son of the Rev. Samuel and Elizabeth (St. John) Whiting; H.C. 1653, A.M.; Ord. Billerica Nov. 11, 1663, as the first minister; sett. Billerica, 1658-1713; Artillery Election Sermon, 1682; d. Billerica, Feb. 28, 1712/3, a. 79.
(Weis, F. L., The Colonial Clergy and the Colonial Churches of New England, 1936)
Lynn marriages: WHITING, Samuell, and Mrs. Dorcas Chester, 12 : 9 m: 1656. CT. R. 
Billerica deaths: WHITING, Samuel [dup. Samuell], Rev., Feb. 28, 1712-13. [Rev. Samuel [dup. Feb. 27], a. 80. GR1].
Parents: Samuel Whiting 1597–1679
Elizabeth St John 1604–1677
Spouse: Dorcas Chester Whiting 1637–1713
Siblings:
Dorothy Whiting Weld 1628–1694
Joseph Whiting 1641–1723

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Birth	25 Mar 1633	Skirbeck, Lincolnshire, England
Marriage	12 Nov 1656	Charlestown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts - Dorcas Chester
Death	28 Feb 1713	Billerica, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Burial		Old South Burying Ground, Billerica, Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Spouse	Dorcas Chester (1637 - 1713)
Child	Elizabeth Whiting (1660 - 1705)
Child	Samuel Whiting III (1663 - 1715)
Child	Rev. John Whiting (1664 - 1697)
Child	Oliver Whiting (1665 - 1736)
Child	Mary Whiting (1667 - 1740)
Child	Dorothy Whiting (1668 - 1740)
Child	Joseph Whiting (1670 - 1701)
Child	James Whiting (1671 - 1671)
Child	Unice Whiting (1672 - 1672)
Child	Benjamin Whiting (1674 - 1675)
Child	Benjamin Whiting (1682 - 1682)

Father	Samuel Whiting ( - 1679)
Mother	Elizabeth St John ( - 1677)
Sibling	Rev. John Whiting ( - 1689)
Sibling	Joseph Whiting (1641 - 1723)
Sibling	Elizabeth Whiting (1645 - 1717)

Notes