Ralph Whitsett of Pennsylvania

In August 1744, Ralph signed his name as Ralph Whitsitt on a petition asking for a road in Lancaster County. This is the first reference of that version of the name among the Whitesides of Lebanon Township. It is interesting that he signed his name as “Ralph Whitsett” in 1761 on documents for the probate of James Whiteside’s will in Cumberland County. In 1745 Rev. Stoever had his land on the waters of Quitapahilla and Mill Creeks surveyed on April 20, 1745. A sketch of the survey shows that Quitapahilla Creek almost evenly divided it into north and south sections. Running through the middle of the south section was Mill Creek. Adjoining tracts are shown as belonging to John Welsh on the north; John Cryder and Widow Hyde were on the west side; John Whiteside and Ralph Whiteside bordered the south and southeast sections; William Allen was located on the northeast side. The Hill Lutheran Church, also known as the Quitapahilla Church, was founded by Rev. Stoever and was on the northern edge of his land. This is supposedly where John Welsh and Elizabeth Whiteside were married. This historic church still stands today.

Ralph’s land in his 1741 warrant was surveyed for him in April 5, 1746. The land was resurveyed in 1746 because part of his brother John’s property line overlapped his. On December 11, 1747 Ralph’s neighbor William Allen made his will. He named Ralph Whiteside and Thomas Hammersley as executors. Hammersley was also a neighbor. A little more than a month later, William Allen’s will was proven on the testimony of Ralph Whiteside and Thomas Hammersley.

Ralph Whiteside is one of 130 taxables in Lebanon Township in 1750. The following year Ralph is taxed 4 shillings, 6 pence in Lebanon Township. In February 1754, Ralph’s brother James made his will in Lebanon Township. This important document helped us to put together the puzzle of the Whitsett family in Pennsylvania. It appears from the will that James was suffering from some sort of long-term illness; he died seven years later in Cumberland County. James stated his occupation as “weaver.” This bit of information tells us that James, and probably all of his brothers, had a trade learned in Ireland, which they practiced after coming to America. James also mentions his wife Ann and son John, and the fact that he had seven children. He states, “I herewith constitute make and ordain my only and sole executors of this My Last Will and Testament Ralph Whitsite, & James McNees & Thomas Hammersley.” The will was written and signed in the presence of John Allen, Mary A. Wyland and Isabell Hammersley (probably the wife of Thomas). Both James and Ann signed the document with their marks. The will was probated in Cumberland County in 1761 and the court documents indicate that both Ralph and James (and their families) had removed from Lebanon Township in Lancaster County to Cumberland County.

The WARRANT REGISTERS for Lancaster County shows that Robert Varner (sic) obtained a warrant for 200 acres on Mill Creek in Lebanon Township. This land was surveyed on December 3, 1754. The survey records his name as Robert Verner and returned 272 acres on the southern boundary of John Whiteside’s tract and touching the southwest corner of Ralph Whiteside’s property. The following year Ralph Whiteside is on the tax roll for Lebanon Township. The next reference to Ralph is in the baptismal records of Rev. Stoever. On June 14, 1756 Ralph Whiteside and his wife, Sarah Wilson sponsor the baptism of Susanna Gambil, daughter of John Gambil. Two years later in 1758, Ralph Whiteside is again listed on the tax assessment list for Lebanon Township.

It appears that Ralph moved to Cumberland County about 1760. His Lebanon Township land was surveyed and patented by George Reynolds. The survey draft shows that on May 16, 1760 Ralph Whiteside had 216+ acres adjacent to tracts originally granted to John Whiteside, Robert Vernor, Casper Stoever, Martin Funk, George Stoitz and the Widow Kryter. Between 1742 and 1760 various surveys for property in Lebanon Township show that adjoining Ralph's land was that of John Whiteside, Robert Vernor (Varner) and Casper Stoever, among others. When this survey was made and the land sold to George Reynolds, Ralph was probably already living in Cumberland County, just west of Lancaster County across the Susquehanna River from today’s Harrisburg, and a relatively short distance from Lebanon Township.

Some researchers of the Tittle family that lived near the Whitsett’s in northern Lancaster and in Cumberland County state that Ralph’s daughter Sarah Whitsett (Whiteside) married Peter Tittle, Jr. in Cumberland County. If so, the marriage probably took place shortly after the family arrived in Cumberland. For the next five years the name Ralph Whitsett in its various versions appear in the official records of Cumberland County.

In January 1761, Ralph was subpoenaed to appear before the Cumberland County Court of Quarter Sessions. The court document reads, “The King vs. Ralph Whitesides - For keeping a Publick House with [out] license. Defendant being solemnly called appeared not.” I am not certain exactly what constituted this offense, but it must have been a rather common one. Peter Tittle was issued a similar subpoena at about the same time. This must have been a very minor offense, because in January 1761 Sheriff Ezekiel Smith returned his list of grand jury members and it includes Ralph Whitsides and Peter Tittle.

On the 21st of April 1761, letters testamentary were issued in common form to Ralph Whiteside, James McNees and Thomas Hamersely (sic). This was the beginning of the probate process for the estate of Ralph’s brother James. On December 1, 1761 Ralph Whitsett and Thomas Hammersley as executors exhibited the will of “James Whitesides, late of Cumberland County” at the Registers Office at Carlisle, county seat for Cumberland County and validated their signatures.

In 1762 the list of taxables in Allen Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, included John Giles, Thomas McGee, Peter Tittle and Ralph Whiteside. The significance of those names is that John Giles married Ann, widow of James Whiteside; Thomas McGee married Elyse (Alice), daughter of James and Ann Whiteside around this time, and Peter Tittle is suspected of being the husband of Ralph’s daughter, Sarah. On April 20, 1762 the Cumberland County Court of Quarter Session lists grand jurors for the coming session and among them are Ralph Whitsides (sic) and Peter Tittle. On January 8, 1763 Ralph Whitesides is again sworn in on a grand Jury inquest, as he is again in January 1764 and April 1765. Thus, Ralph Whitsett and Peter Tittle served together on the grand jury of Cumberland County for three years from 1762 through 1765.

In 1763, Tobias Hendricks was appointed by the court to layout a road from near Ralph Whitesides’ Mill on Yellow Britches Creek to Harris’ Ferry, or to the County Road leading to Hendricks' own place. This order was followed by a "petition setting forth the gread [great] disconveniency and damage to petitioner by road being laid out from Ralph Whitesides Mill near Yellow Britches Creek to Tobias Hendrix.” In July 1763, the minutes of the court lists the "Account of roads confirmed commencing July Sessions Beginning at Ralph Whitesides' Mill to Harris Ferry, April 1763." Ralph Whiteside’s mill was located in or near the village of Lisburn in Allen Township of Cumberland County and lay in a bend of the Yellow Britches Creek. It was only a few miles southwest of Harris’ Ferry, which was located near the confluence of the Yellow Britches and the Susquehanna River. This mill is an important clue that helps to tie together Ralph and his son William Wirt Whitsett.

On November 26, 1909 John R. Miller read a paper to the Cumberland County Historical Society titled, “Callapatscink, the Yellow Breeches Creek.” Included in the paper was the following passage.

Sometime in 1765 Ralph Whitsett sold to William Bennett the lot in Lisburn “where Jacob Flickernell had built his brick house." The last record I have found of Ralph is dated June 21, 1765. Ralph Whiteside entered a Caveat against the acceptance of a Survey and patent being granted to Thomas Stuart and his father Arthur. These records dating between 1760 and 1765 indicate that Ralph lived somewhere between Mechanicsburg and Carlisle, a description that could apply to Lisburn. I can find no record of Ralph after 1765. The Craig Sharrow genealogy for the Sharrow and Charron families states that the Whitsett family left Cumberland County in 1770 because Indians had burned out their flourmill. That sounds much less embarrassing than telling everyone the business had failed and the mill foreclosed on. It is my guess that Ralph removed to Westmoreland County and probably lived with one of his children there. He may have died in Fayette County. There is a marker in the Mt. Washington Cemetery of Perryopolis, Pennsylvania for Ralph Whitsett but has no dates. It has a plaque from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Ralph’s grandson Ralph Crawford Whitsett is also buried there, but he was born long after the war (in 1801). E. M. Whetsel copied the markers in the cemetery for the Fayette County Genealogy Project (Rootsweb) but some of the dates he copied make no sense. The markers in this cemetery need to be verified.

Evidence is suggesting that Ralph was the father of William Wirt, Samuel (erroneously referred to by some as Samuel Varner Whitsitt), and Joseph Whitsett/Whitsitt. Ralph’s son William fought in the Revolution and is buried in the Perryopolis cemetery. William Wirt Whitsett named his only son Ralph. Ralph’s son Samuel married Margaret (possibly Margaret Tittle) and removed about 1786 to Kentucky. He died in Montgomery County in 1815. One of his sons was also named Ralph. Ralph’s third son, Joseph married Mary Clifford in Fayette County and removed to Harrison County, Kentucky after the Revolution. Some researchers have suggested that Joseph and Mary also had a son named Ralph, although I have not located any source documents to support that assumption. However, the names of these grandsons tell us pretty clearly that Ralph Whiteside/Whitsitt was the heretofore-invisible ancestor of the Kentucky and Fayette County Whitsett and Whitsitt families. I am utterly amazed that he was under the radar for so long with so many researchers (including myself) looking for the origin of these families. Today, we have multiple descendants of Samuel in the Whiteside Family Association yDNA project that should be very interested in Ralph.

There were probably other children of Ralph and Sarah Wilson Whitsett, but the ones we know about, or have some evidence for are as follows. Son Samuel Whitsett was born about 1745. Daughter Sarah was reportedly born on June 13, 1748 in Lancaster County. She married Peter Tittle in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in 1771. Sarah died on October 14, 1812 probably in Westmoreland County. Craig Sharrow references sons James and John Whitsett as brothers of William Wirt Whitsett. We have no other information on either John or James. Son William Wirt Whitsett was born in 1752. There is more on William below. Son Joseph Whitsett was born about 1750 in Pennsylvania.

Whiteside and Whitsett Pioneers and The Whitsett Family of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Ralph Whitsett and Sarah Wilson