Seth Whitney was born on 8 February 1726 in Ridgefield, Connecticut Colony.1 He married Sarah Mow.1 Their daughter, Sarah Whitney, was born on 3 April 1750.2
His house was attacked during the Revolutionary war, by a party of tories who took all of his arms; soon after which they paid him another visit, headed by the notorious freebooter, Joseph Hueson, who tried to enter a back window, while his comrades kept watch outside. Whitney warned him to keep out or be killed, but Hueson, feeling sure that he had no arms, persisted in the attempt, and was stabbed in the breast with an old bayonet which Whitney had mounted on a stout staff. Hueson fell inside of the house, and his comrades forced the door and carried him away. They took Whitney into the yard, and not daring to use their guns for fear of alarming a body of American soldiers who were quartered at Crompond Church, a short distance from there, they struck him over the head with a horse-pistol, giving him a mark which he carried through life, and leaving him for dead. He had the satisfaction of hearing Hueson, as they carried him off, say, “the old rebel has killed me”; and so it was, for he only lived to ride a half-mile.
Sarah Whitney married Joseph Fowler on 3 October 1776.2 Their daughter, Elizabeth Fowler, was born on 6 July 1782 in New York.3 Joseph died on 22 May 1797 in Crompond, N.Y.2 Seth died in 1807, and he was buried in an unmarked grave in Crompond.4 Elizabeth married Robert McKune in N.Y.3 Their daughter, Mary Ann McKune, was born on 9 September 1810 in Mamakating, N.Y.5 Elizabeth died on 16 May 18176 in Mamakating.3 Robert died on 4 March 1861 in Pennsylvania.6 His death was due to falling from a train car.7
The train was about switching off on the upper switch, just above the Cascade bridge, and backing up suddenly, he was thrown off, his head striking on the rail. He was pushed along on the rail by the brake some sixty feet, when two cars passed over him. The back part of his head was taken off, and the body cut and bruised.
1 Phœnix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, 39.
2 Phœnix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, 110.
3 Phœnix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, 317.
4 Phœnix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, 40.
5 Phœnix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, 840.
6 Phœnix, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, 318.
7 "Fatal Casualty," The Montrose Democrat, 14 March 1861, p. 2, column 4.