Husband John Whitman 1 2
Born: 30 Mar 1810 - Sugarcreek Twp, Venango Co, PA 1
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Died:
Buried:
Father: John Whitman ( -1839) 3
Mother: Jane Davis ( -Abt 1849) 4
Wife
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Children
General Notes: Husband - John Whitman
At about the age of seventeen years he embarked in life on his own account, and for four years worked on farms in the vicinity of his home. His health then failed; he was afflicted with bilious fever and pleu-risy, and was advised by his physician to burn charcoal for his health. This he did for four summers, after which he took a trip down the Allegheny, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers as far as Vicksburg, Mississippi, with boat-loads of ice, pur-chased and procured by residents of that city. The first time that he attempted to make this trip he was taken ill and had to postpone the pleasure, but he finally succeeded in going in the spring of 1838. He remained in Vicksburg about two weeks looking to the unlading of the boats, and then returned to the North by boat, after an absence of some two months. During the remainder of that summer he worked on a farm in Venango County and also performed service on a turnpike road then building through the county. The next two years were passed in sawing lumber in Buck mill, as it was called, in Venango County, after which he came to Sheffield township, Warren County, and worked in the saw-mill of White & Gallop; in the southern part of the township. He operated their mill one year. At that time Erastus Barnes was rafting lumber to Wheeling, West Virginia, and seeing in Mr. Whitman the man he wanted for his help, he hired him to raft the lumber, going with him on the first trip. This work he performed for six or seven years, and in the mean time began to buy lumber of his employer and take the property of both himself and Mr. Barnes to the same market at the same time. By this time his reputation as a skillful pilot and raftsman had extended beyond the limits of his county, and Fox & Wetmore, of Forest County, made him an offer to enter their service, which he thought well to ac-cept. He rafted for this firm for ten or twelve years, and as long as they con-tinued together, running occasionally as far down as Louisville, Kentucky. On his last trip he took down 127,000 feet of lumber without help. In the fall of two different years he also assisted in the construction of a wooden tramway from the place where the timber of his employers was cut to the east branch of the Tionesta Creek, whence it was floated to the mill. From 1866 to 1873 he worked as pilot for different employers. In the last year he purchased a large amount of lumber from Fox & Wetmore and went down the river with it, realizing a gratifying profit. Following this he kept teams at work in Warren County drawing oil and lumber.
Meantime, as early as 1866, he purchased thirteen acres of land from Sam-uel Gilson, and worked on it at such leisure moments as were at his command. After he relinquished the life of a raftsman he devoted the greater part of his time to the cultivation of this tract.
In politics Mr. Whitman was a consistent and loyal Democrat, and, though he avoided rather than sought office, was frequently called upon to serve in various capacities in his own town. He was a member of the Free Methodist Church, at which he was a regular attendant, and of which he was a trustworthy supporter. He also took a deep interest in Sabbath-school work.
While the main incidents of his career show him to be a man of earnest purpose, he was ever controlled by the true philosophy that much of the pleasure of life consists in enjoying such privileges as may be gathered on the way, rather than condemning them, and trusting to the often vain hope of "an easy time in the evening of life." On the 2d day of March, 1885, Mr. Whitman laid aside his cares for a time and took a pleasure trip to the New Orleans Exposition. While there he improved his opportunity to the utmost, going 110 miles below the city to the mouth of the Mississippi River, visiting the old Spanish Fort, sailing to West End, view-ing that famous cemetery or city of the dead, in which the bodies of the dead are kept in vaults above ground, inspecting the old battle-ground of General Jackson, and pacing on Shell Beach on the Gulf of Mexico. He returned by way of Nashville, Tennessee, and Cincinnati. In this way he united pleasure and profit-the profit that comes of instruction. [HWC1887, 669]