When two people are born in the same place around the same time, with the same name, confusion ensues. I have been researching one William P. Whitley, born about 1835 in Stanly County, North Carolina and died January 24, 1923, in Fallstown, Iredell County, North Carolina. I am closing in on more and more information about him all the time.
The other William Whitley was born about 1836 in Stanly County and died on July 6, 1921, in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NC. There are no mysteries as to who his parents were. He also moved to Iredell County for a period after living in Stanly County.
Both men fought in the Civil War and both men survived it. I can see how it would be easy to get them mixed up. This William Whitley, I discovered had a middle initial of "H". He is also mixed up with another William H. Whitley, who while was not from Stanly County, was from North Carolina, and migrated west. Here, I will attempt to untangle the two from Stanly County, as best as I can from this stage in my research, and later, may do a separate post on the other guy.
1850 is when at least one of them appears in records, in the census, with his mother, Jane, as the head of household.
This is William H. Whitley, the one who dies in 1921, in Mecklenburg County. He's 15 years old and living in Almonds Township, Stanly County, with his mother, Jane, 53, and siblings, Nancy, Solomon S., Susan and Levi, 11, the youngest child. The asterisks above his mother's listing and beside the two little Almond girls, Catherine and Rosa, indicate they were left out of the Almond list and belong there, not in the Whitley household. There was another member of the Whitley family, a little boy named Archie Harris Whitley, who was listed on the next page. He was too young to have been a child of Jane, and was probably a grandchild of hers, but through which of her children, I don't know.
Court records from the 1840's show that Jane was the widow of John Whitley, a son of the George Whitley who first settled here and a brother to "Old Billy" Whitley, whom I have mentioned in previous posts. Jane was supposedly Jane Hathcock, a daughter of Benjamin Hathcock, my ancestor, and another early arrival to western Stanly County. She was a sister of Martha Hathcock who married John's brother William "Old Billy" Whitley, and they were sisters to my 5th Great Grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Hathcock who married Nancy Burris, daughter of Solomon Burris and his wife, Judith.
1860
Jane and her family appear twice in the 1860 census, a few small differences in age and assembly, but the same folks. Above is one instance. William is now 25. Unmarried sisters, Nancy and Susan, are still in the home, as is younger brother, Levi, and little Archie. The census riders made errors, as in this family being counted twice.
The family of the other William was missed altogether in 1850, but they were there, as land records proved, and as a young man, he went by his middle name, Pinkney. This family was also headed by a widowed mother, 62-year-old Nancy Whitley. Pinkney is listed as 20, with a 30-year-old sister, Mary, and an 11-year-old brother "Teller", whose name was really Taylor Whitley. Above them is another brother, Hardy, 25, married to Bathsheba Hatley and the also live near Sampson Hinson. From land records, and location, I know this family is tied or related to Hezekiah Whitley, and I believe they are somehow related to the Exodus Whitley family. Still working on that. Land records also reveal they lived in Stanly County on Stillwater Branch during the 1850's. The census taker just rode past them on his mule that day or didn't see a path to their home.
Unlike Jane, I haven't yet determined which Whitley Nancy was the widow of. In the 1840 census of Stanly County, there was Green D., George, Needham, Isham, Allison, Edmund, William, Mary and a Henry in Anson. Ten years prior, in 1830, there was Zachariah, Thomas, Isham, George, Needham, Needham, Jr., Exodus, John, William and Green, with Henr and an Allen in Anson. Just like Nancy was skipped in 1850, it appears John was skipped in 1840, because he was alive in 1840, and passed away in 1842, so we can only guess. We know she wasn't the widow of anyone still living in 1860. With Taylor being born in 1849, her husband had to have been living until at least 1848 or 1849.
The War
There were three William Whitley's who enlisted in the Confederate Army from Stanly County. There were more who had William in their name, like William Malachi Whitley, who went by Malachi. For the three who went by William, I used their enlistment dates to keep them separate.
William H. Whitley, son of John and Jane, enlisted on February 8, 1863, by J. M. Hartsell.
William P Whitley was residing in Rowan County by the time he took the oath of allegiance.
| Name | William P Whitley |
|---|---|
| Enlistment Age | 21 |
| Birth Date | abt 1841 |
| Enlistment Date | 25 Mar 1862 |
| Enlistment Place | Stanly County, North Carolina |
| Enlistment Rank | Private |
| Muster Date | 10 May 1862 |
| Muster Place | North Carolina |
| Muster Company | H |
| Muster Regiment | 42nd Infantry |
| Muster Regiment Type | Infantry |
| Muster Information | Enlisted |
| Side of War | Confederacy |
| Residence Place | Stanly County, North Carolina |
| Notes | 1862-12-19 Deserted; 1863-01-30 Confined, Estimated day; 1863-09-30 Returned; 1864-08-16 Deserted; 1864-10-19 Returned |
| Title | North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster |
When he enlisted, he enlisted in Stanly County, on March 25, 1862, in Company H, 42nd Infantry, and was 21 years old. He deserted multiple times, which may be why he abandoned Stanly County, but he made it out alive.
| Name | Taylor Whitley |
|---|---|
| Enlistment Age | 16 |
| Birth Date | abt 1848 |
| Enlistment Date | 4 Aug 1864 |
| Enlistment Place | Petersburg, Virginia |
| Enlistment Rank | Private |
| Muster Date | 4 Aug 1864 |
| Muster Place | North Carolina |
| Muster Company | H |
| Muster Regiment | 42nd Infantry |
| Muster Regiment Type | Infantry |
| Muster Information | Enlisted |
| Imprisonment Date | 10 Mar 1865 |
| Imprisonment Place | Wise's Forks, North Carolina |
| Casualty Date | 10 Mar 1865 |
| Casualty Place | Wise's Forks, North Carolina |
| Type of Casualty | Wounded |
| Muster Out Date | 12 Apr 1865 |
| Muster Out Place | Hosp, New Berne, North Carolina |
| Muster Out Information | died wounds |
| Side of War | Confederacy |
| Survived War? | No |
| Residence Place | Stanly County, North Carolina |
| Notes | 1864-08-17 Deserted; 1864-10-19 Returned |
| Title | North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster |
His little brother, Taylor who was only 16 and 17 years old when he served, did not.
| ame | Hardin Whitley |
|---|---|
| Enlistment Age | 26 |
| Birth Date | abt 1836 |
| Enlistment Date | 25 Mar 1862 |
| Enlistment Place | Stanly County, North Carolina |
| Enlistment Rank | Sergeant |
| Muster Date | 10 May 1862 |
| Muster Place | North Carolina |
| Muster Company | H |
| Muster Regiment | 42nd Infantry |
| Muster Regiment Type | Infantry |
| Muster Information | Enlisted |
| Rank Change Rank | Sergt |
| Muster Out Date | 25 Apr 1864 |
| Muster Out Place | Hosp, Wilmington, North Carolina |
| Muster Out Information | died disease |
| Side of War | Confederacy |
| Survived War? | No |
| Residence Place | Stanly County, North Carolina |
| Additional Notes 2 | Rank Change 2 Date: 24 Dec 1862; Rank Change 2 Rank: Private; Rank Change 2 Information: Reduced to ranks |
| Title | North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster |
Neither did his brother, Hardin "Hardy" Whitley.
Hardy left two children, James and Eva Ann and a widow, Bathsheba, who died in 1873 and has probate files. Neither she, nor the children show up in 1870. We know John Brooks and John W Austin served as Guardians. Eva doesn't show up again in records until her marriage in 1880. William P. Whitley, Nancy Whitley and Mary Whitley are not to be found in the 1870 census, either. I have not located Mary or Nancy after mention in an 1864 land transaction.
The William H Whitley family does show up in the 1870 census, as if they were standing by the fence post on the closest road, waiting on that census taker and his mule. William has married Julia Ann Smith, daughter of Moses Smith, sometime just after the War, or before the end of it, as their oldest child, Mary Hargett Whitley was born in 1865. The family is living in Davidson Township, Iredell County. It is unknown what spurred their relocation there, but they have moved to Mount Mourne. Mount Mourne was originally the name of a Plantation owned by Rufus Reid in Davidson Township. A huge cotton plantation, it had a post office as early as 1805, and by the 1860's was on a railway route. As the economy changed from a slavery based to an agricultural base, early cotton mills shot up in the area, which may have brought the Whitley's there. The plantation was named for the Mourne Mountains in Ireland by early Irish settlers along Davidson Creek.
Also in the home of William Whitley was his 75 year old mother, Jane, and his two unmarried sisters, Susannah, 33, and Nancy, 45. The household below William's was Archibald Whitley, or "little Archie", 22, and his bride, Isabella. Archie's wife, Aesenith Isabella Hunter, was from Mecklenburg County, and they had married there on December 23, 1869.. Their first child was born the next year, so the family may had moved to Mecklenburg before settling in Davidson.
The household after that was of youngest brother, Levi Hobson Whitley. Levi had also served in the Civil War and had married Margaret Jane Smith, a sister of William's wife, shortly after the War. It seems they returned to Stanly by 1865 or 1866, and had moved away by 1869.
1880
The William H. Whitley family has moved again. This time to the Rocky River area of Western Cabarrus County.
William and Julia are farming with their four children, Mary H., Sidney, Emma and William Presley Whitley.
Flip to the next page and we find that Levi H. Whitley and his family has followed and is living next door. With him is his older sister, Nancy. Their mother Jane and sister, Susan, are no longer with them. Jane has probably passed away. Susan may have also, but could have also gotten married in the early 1870's.
Back in Iredell County, the other William Whitley shows up with a wife and a teenaged son, who is actually a stepson. William Pinkney Whitley married sometime after the war to Margaret Melinda, maiden name unknown, the widow of another Confederate soldier from Stanly County, Israel Springer. With them is her son, Alexander Springer, or John Alexander Springer, born in 1861. He will marry, in 1882, to a Telitha Jane Whitley, in Iredell County. In 1900, they are living next door to her brother, William Alexander Whitley, born in 1868 in Stanly County. Telitha Jane Whitley was born in 1856. In 1870, she was living with the Alfred Ledbetter family in Stanly County and in 1880, she is living with her mother, Mary and brother William A. Whitley in Iredell County. I haven't solved the identity of her parents yet, besides her mother's first name.
1900 - Both William Whitleys evaded the 1900 census. William Pinkney Whitley was undoubtedly in Iredell, as he will be found there in the next two decades. As for William H. Whitley, he was probably in Guilford County, as his oldest daughter, Mary Hargett Whitley marries there in 1901, to James F. Rowe. His middle two children are already married and living in Guilford, Sidney A. Whitley to Martha Jane Keisha and Emily Jane Whitley to Robert H. Deaton. Oddly, youngest son, William Presley Whitley returns to Stanly County to marry Ella Wilson, and is found there in 1900.
1910
William H. Whitley is a widower, and living in Crowder Mountain, Gaston County, in the home of his older daughter, Mary H. Whitley Rowe.
Still in Iredell, William P. Whitley and wife, Margaret Malinda Whitley, are operating a general farm in Barringer Township, Iredell County. At this point, he is 75 and she is 66, both getting on up there, so a decade later, they've found themselves unable to operate their farm any longer.
William and Malinda find themselves in the Iredell County Home for the aged in 1920, in Fallstown.
As for William H Whitley, he has escaped the 1920 census, but appears to have remained with his daughter Mary, who had moved to Mecklenburg County.
He was the first William to go, reported as passing away at 85, outliving two of his children. He had lost his wife in 1896 and passed away on July 6, 1921, as reported by The Charlotte News.
William P. Whitley lost his wife, Margaret Melinda, on November 25, 1921. She was buried at Saint Paul's Lutheran Church in Iredell County.
He would live in his loneliness another two years, and passed away January 4, 1923, as was reported by Statesvilles The Landmark.
William P. Whitleys death certificate reveals he died of pneumonia following influenza, but not much else. His informant was a staff member of the home, or perhaps medical personnel, who knew nothing much about him and didn't name his parents. He was buried in the County Home Cemetery.
In contrast, William H. Whitley, who had died of acute nephritis, had his son-in-law as his informant, who knew his parents names were John and Jane.
Two old Civil War Soldiers died with two years of each other, and had been born within two years of each other. They shared the same place of birth, the same first and last names and had fought on the same side of the same war, but there were two of them.
