JOHN HENRY WHITLEY

The following bio was taken from page 444 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

One day in 1869 a travel-weary young man with all he had in a bag rode up to his sister’s house in Rusk County, Texas. He had ridden from White County, Tennessee, so family legend goes, the day after he buried his first wife and child in April of 1868.

The young man was my grandfather, John Henry Whitley, Company K, 16^th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A. His sister was Isabelle Henrietta (Whitley) Roberts. Aunt Belle and another brother, Sharp R. Whitley, had been in Rusk County, Texas since before the Civil War. Later another sister, Lucinda Jane (Jennie) Whitley, came to Texas with her father, John M. Whitley, and stayed to marry William Franklin Bradberry in 1874 in Rusk County, Texas. These are the antecedents of the Rusk County Whitleys.

My grandfather, John Henry Whitley, married Sarah Margaret Blair, daughter of Hugh Blair and Sarah Elizabeth (Grigsby) Blair in 1871. Daddy Whitley was a farmer and clerk of the Methodist Church for many years. In his clerk’s book is the record of his children and other relatives joining the church.

Daddy Whitley and Mammy raised eight children who were honest, industrious citizens.

It was great to visit the Whitleys and know the aunts, uncles and cousins, many of whom still live in Rusk County. The country was beautiful, the cousins, delightful, and love was there.

Daddy Whitley’s obituary (Rusk County News, Vol. XLV, No. 1, February 15, 1922) says, " Mr. Whitley was a man of highest ideals, even tempered, reserved and unassuming, and all during his long life exemplified these splendid qualities. He was recognized as a leader of church and community life during his active days, a leadership of which he was never conscious, gained solely by his unselfish devotion to the principles of right."

John Henry Whitley was descended from the Revolutionary soldier, William Whitley of Virginia. The line is as follows: William Whitley, who married Penelope Turner, died in 1810; Randolph Whitley, who married Tabitha, died in 1785; Sharp R. Whitley, who was born circa 1784-1785; John M. Whitley, who was born May 24, 1810, in Illinois, married Nancy Allen; John Henry Whitley, born May 18, 1842 in Tennessee, married Sarah Margaret Blair, January 18, 1871 in Rusk County. She was born April 16, 1852 in Rusk County. Both died in Rusk County, John Henry on February 8, 1922 and Sarah Margaret, on November 20, 1935.

The children of the couple are: Charles B. (Buck) Whitley, born October 30, 1871, married Mertie Haney, August 1894 and died May 4, 1947; John Allen Whitley, born April 11, 1879, married Maude Fussell, March 16, 1902, and died May 1, 1965; Sarah Maud Whitley, born April 20, 1875, married Thomas Jefferson Pruitt, December 27, 1896 and died July 27, 1954; Hugh Blair Whitley, born March 28, 1878, married Bessie Beauchamp Mays, June 20, 1908 and died March 2, 1953; Vinson Webster Whitley, born April 9, 1881, died January 10, 1964; James Floyd Whitley, born February 18 1884; who died February 7, 1954; and Anna Belle Whitley, born August 6, 1888, who died November 17, 1977.

Submitted by Frances Whitley Bryan