Ethnicity Norman | ||
Members William Whitfield IWilliam Whitfield IIWilliam Whitfield IIIHenry L. WhitfieldJames B. WhitfieldJames WhitfieldNathan Bryan Whitfield Connected families Herring family, Bryan family, Wooten family Distinctions Planters (American gentry) | ||
The Whitfield family is a prominent American political family of the Southern states, and formed the American branch of the British Whitfield family - having descent from the British aristocracy, particularly the Earls of Kilmorey. In early days of Colonial America, the family emigrated to Virginia in the seventeenth century, particularly, Nansemond County, Virginia from Lancashire, England.
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The family produced many United States Congressmen, Senators and Governors, as well as businessmen and military generals active from the American Revolutionary War and past the American Civil War, with significance during the antebellum period. The family is most connected to the U.S. State of North Carolina, but had extended land ownership, slave trade, business activities and public service to Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Florida.
Background
Born in Lancashire, England, patriarch William Whitfield I moved to Nansemond County, Virginia. In 1770, Whitfield, along with his wife, were killed by the Tuscarora Indians. His son, William Whitfield II purchased Seven Springs, North Carolina from Buckskin Williams, the father of Benjamin Williams, the Governor of North Carolina. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as a Captain of the 6th Virginia Regiment, along with his sons, Needham Whitfield and William Whitfield III who were in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge during the revolutionary war. The former was a clerk to Colonel Richard Caswell and the other a private in the Light Horse Cavalry, taking prisoner General McDonald, who was the Commander of the Tories.
Whitfield II was a Dobbs County member to the 1761 and 1762 North Carolina General Assembly held in Wilmington. In 1779 he was a member of Governor Richard Caswell's Council held in New Berne, and a Justice of Peace for Johnston County, North Carolina. He was later a Colonel. Whitfield III in turn, was also appointed Justice of the Peace for Dobbs County in 1778. Along with his son, he was a Director and Trustee for designing and building the town of Wanesboro. He had 29 children and forty of his descendants served in the confederate army during the American Civil war.
This included, Nathan Bryan Whitfield, William III's nephew, who became the Counselor of State for the State of North Carolina and was a State Senator. He was later commissioned to Major General rank to succeed his father for the militia. His son, Dr. Bryan Watkins Whitfield, was pardoned by U.S. President Andrew Johnson on September 12, 1865. Gaineswood, which still stands today, was the most significant remaining examples of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama. was designed and built by Whitfield, beginning in 1843 as an open-hall log dwelling. Whitfield is known to have designed most of the house from pattern books by James Stuart, Minard Lafever, Nicholas Revett and others. Much of the work on the house was executed by highly skilled artisan slaves. Whitfield moved from North Carolina to Marengo County, Alabama in 1834. In 1842 Whitfield bought the 480-acre (1.9 km2) property from George Strother Gaines, younger brother of Edmund P. Gaines.
Much of the work on the house was executed by highly skilled artisan slaves. The grounds had been the site of a notable historic event while owned by George Gaines. When Gaines was serving as the US Indian Agent, he is said to have met with the famous chief Pushmataha, of the Choctaw Nation, under an old post oak tree on what would become the Gaineswood estate. They were negotiating the terms of the treaty that would lead to the Choctaw removal to Indian Territory. The tree became known as the Pushmataha Oak.
Whitfield first named the estate Marlmont in 1843; he renamed it Gaineswood in 1856 in honor of Gaines. The Whitfield family tradition maintained that Gaines' original log house was the nucleus around which Whitfield had the mansion built, and that it was located at the present site of the south entrance hall and office. Gen. Whitfield sold the house to his son, Dr. Bryan Watkins Whitfield, in 1861. The second generation of Whitfields maintained Gaineswood as a residence. Mary Foscue Whitfield inherited the nearby Foscue-Whitfield House in 1861 upon her father's death and used that as a residence as well. For later descendants, being on the losing side of the war had strained finances, and most of the lands and plantations went up for sale.