ACTIVITY 1
Identify and copy valuable information from records
The information in the next column has been compiled about William Henry Whitaker, his wife, Mary Jane Wyatt, and their children.
Read through the information and see if you can identify only the vital (birth, marriage and death) information.
Copy the vital information about him and his wife and children onto a Family Group Record.
Document the source on the back of the form.
Note: When you have finished, put this Family Group Record in a place where you can easily get to it again. You will need to refer to it in lesson six.
ACTIVITY 2
Create a timeline of events
Use all of the information about William Henry WHITAKER, and create a timeline of the events (like you did for yourself in episode two).
Find any compiled or original records you may have about one of your ancestors and create a timeline for him or her.
EPISODE FOUR: ACTIVITY SHEET
The following information is taken from FLORIDA PIONEERS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS, Volume One, compiled and edited by Anne Taylor Wood and published by the Florida State Genealogical Society in 1992.
Pioneer: Whitaker, William Henry:
County Settled: Hillsborough
William
Henry Whitaker was born 1 August 1821 in Savannah
(Georgia), the son of Richard WHITAKER and Frances SNELL.
William Henry left home when he was about fourteen and joined
his half-brother Hamlin V. SNELL at St. Marks, Florida.
He worked around the fishing industry there for a while,
then went to school in Tallahassee. He served in the
Indian War in 1839, then went to Sarasota Bay, then a
part of Hillsborough County, in 1842. In 1844 he and a
partner Joseph Woodruff, started a business selling dried
fish. Wm. WHITAKER was voter #6 and Election Clerk at Precinct
#5, Sarasota, the first statewide election 26 May 1845.
He married Mary Jane WYATT, daughter of William WYATT and
Nancy Catherine STEWART, 10 June 1851. In September of
that year, he received the deed for his homestead, and in
1852 their first child, Nancy Catherine Stewart, was born.
William Henry took up arms against the Indians again in
the last Seminole Indian War, serving as a Captain in a
company of volunteers. On 9 January 1855, the Sarasota
Bay area became part of newly created Manatee County.
William owned 193 acres of the frontage on Sarasota Bay.
William served as sheriff of Manatee County at one time.
He is credited with planting the first orange grove in
the Sarasota/Manatee area with seed he brought from Cuba
during the Civil War. After the Civil War, the fugitive
Confederate leader Judah P. BENJAMIN stopped to rest at
the Whitaker home on his last night before boarding an
escape boat.
Mary Jane WYATT was born 11 April 1831 in Leon County, Florida, the daughter of Colonel William WYATT and Nancy Catherine STEWART. She was married to William Henry WHITAKER on 10 June 1851, in the first wedding recorded in the Manatee County area. Their daughter, born a year later, was supposedly the first white child born in what is now Sarasota County. Their home was raided and burned during the last Seminole Indian War, and the family took refuge in the fort while William Henry was away fighting the Indians. Their first son, Furman Chaires was born at the fort 4 March 1856. After the war ended they built a new home on Sarasota Bay. Children of William Henry and Mary Jane were: Mary Catherine Stewart, married John HELVENSTON; Louise Ansley, married Thomas G. EDMONSON; Furman Chaires, married Nellie Louise ABBE; Hamlin Valentine, married Ella DREW; William Richard; Charles Clarence, married Sue F. WHITCOMB; Carrie; Edward; Emilie Victor; Flora Winnefred; and Grace.