JONATHAN E. WHITTEN

The following bio was taken from page 446 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

Jonathon E. Whitten and his wife, Mary Scruggs Whitten, lived in southern Missouri, near Crane, Missouri, until the death of Mary Scruggs Whitten about 1900. Mary Scruggs Whitten was buried in Old Town Cemetery at Crane, Missouri. After the death of his wife, Jonathan E. Whitten came to Texas with his son, William Archie Whitten, because of the encouragement from his brother-in-law, James P. Scruggs, a Texas resident. Jonathan E. Whitten was a Civil War veteran. He died September 2, 1905, and was buried in the Holleman Cemetery in the Oak Flat Community in southern Rusk County.

William Archie Whitten, a lumberman and farmer, was married to Josephine Estella Ellis when they came to Texas. Josephine Estella Ellis Whitten died March 12, 1919, while they were residing in Nacogdoches County. She was buried in the Holleman Cemetery. William Archie remarried after Josephine’s death. He married Josephine’s cousin, Edna Wilson, a resident of southern Missouri. William Archie Whitten died while residing in Smith County, on November 23, 1941, and was buried at Holleman Cemetery. His second wife, Edna Wilson Whitten, was buried in Missouri.

William Archie Whitten and Josephine Estella Ellis had five children: Delanie Jane, who married James T. Vaughn and resided in the Oak Flat Community of Rusk County; Winnie, who married Burt Gentry and resided in the Sulphur Springs Community of Rusk County; John, who married Lela Hancock of Tulia, Texas, and resided in Tulia; Lee Eastern, who married Ella Jordan and resided in the Good Springs Community of Rusk County; and James Leonard, who married Bernice Martin and resided in the Concord Community of Cherokee County.

Submitted by Kenneth Whitten