Walter Gilbert Genealogy: John Whitney & Hannah Atherton

206–207. John Whitney was born in Harvard, Worcester County, Massachusetts, baptized on Sunday, March 30, 1760, and died in Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1799. Hannah Atherton was born in Harvard on Sunday, November 25, 1764, and died in Harvard in 1795. They were married in Harvard on Sunday, January 2, 1785. She took the name Hannah Whitney. He is the son of Isaiah and Persis (Randall) Whitney. She is the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Hutchins) Atherton. An unknown number of children were born but included:

i.	Sarah Atherton Whitney [#103]: She was born in Harvard, Massachusetts, on September 2, 1787, and died in Kosciusko County, Indiana, on December 31, 1858.
ii.	John Whitney: He was married in Baltimore Township, Windsor County, Vermont. [The existence of this son comes from the research of Valda L. Galbreath but is not substantiated in her work.]

John Whitney served as a private in Captain Sawyer's company, Colonel Dike's regiment, which assisted, 1776, at the evacuation of General Howe's troups from Boston (Dorchester Heights, March 17, 1776). In 1777 and 1778, he served with the fifteenth Massachusetts line, Colonel Bigelows regiment and participated in the battle of Saratoga, the battle of Monmouth, and the battle of West Point.

Volume 17, page 227, of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution gives:

Whitney, John, Harvard. Private, Capt. Manasseh Sawyer's co., Col. Nicholas Dike's regt.; pay abstract for travel allowance home, etc., dated Dorchester Heights, Nov. 30, 1776; said Whitney credited with allowance for 2 days (38 miles) travel; also, return of men raised to serve in the Continental Army from Capt. Samuel Hill's co.; residence, Harvard; engaged for town of Harvard; joined Capt. Joshua Brown's co., Col. Bigelow's regt.; term, 3 years; also, Private, Capt. Brown's co., Col. Timothy Bigelow's regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from July 10, 1777, to Dec. 31, 1779; also, same co. and regt.; return dated Feb. 3, 1778; mustered by Middlesex Co. Muster Master; also, same co. and regt.; pay roll for Feb., 1779, sworn to at Providence; also, (late) Capt. Joshua Brown's co., Col. Bigelow's regt.; muster roll for March and April, 1779, sworn to at Providence; also, Colonel's co., Col. Bigelow's regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from Jan. 1, 1780, to July 10, 1780.

Sources:

D.A.R. Lineage Book, vol. 78, p. 25, D.A.R. ID number 77066 for Mrs. Nannie Galbreath Radcliff.
Baldwin, Thomas W., ed., Vital Records of Harvard, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, Boston, MA: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1917, pp. 135, 230, 246 Whitney entries only.
Virkus, Frederick A., Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy.
Van Curen Web site; contents unconfirmed.
Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, 17 volumes, Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Co., 1896– (Courtesy of Robert L. Ward.)