Acadiensis/Volume 1/Number 4/The Wetmore Family
Josiah Wetmore.
Born in Rye, N. Y., 20th Nov., 1770.
Abraham Joseph Wetmore.
Born in Carleton, St. John, N. B., 14th Oct., 1798.
The Wetmore Family
of Charlotte County, New Brunswick.
MONG the numerous families who came with the flood of Loyalist immigration of 1783 into New Brunswick, few have occupied more prominent positions in provincial affairs than those who bore the name of Wetmore. Their descendants today are very numerous, and are to be found in almost every section of the province. During the many years which have elapsed since the Loyalist advent, nearly a century and a quarter, they have contributed many men of no mean ability, who have done much by their integrity, uprightness, and energy, to advance their country's welfare. In the ranks of the so-called learned professions, many of the name have occupied prominent positions.
By no means the least prominent among the various branches of this family are the descendants of Josiah Wetmore, who was born in Rye, New York, November 20, 1770; and at the age of thirteen removed with his father's family to New Brunswick, where he grew to manhood and died much respected by the community in which he lived, leaving a family of six children. Among these was Abraham Joseph Wetmore, with whom, his forefathers, and his descendants, it is the intention of the writer more particularly to deal.
In the year 1861, a most valuable book was published by Munsell & Rowland, of Albany, N. Y., entitled "The Wetmore Family of America." The author of this work, which comprises nearly seven hundred pages, was Mr. James Carnahan Wetmore, then of Columbus, Ohio. The amount of study and research spent in the preparation of this volume must have been very great. Its value, to genealogical students of the present day, however, has been greatly impaired by the neglect or refusal of certain members of the family, who were then in a position to contribute much material that cannot now be obtained, to aid the author in his meritorious work. While scores of pages are devoted to the genealogy and biographies of other branches of the family, the information concerning Josiah Wetmore, who has been before alluded to, and his descendants, is so meagre that scarcely half a page of the book is devoted to them. What little information is thus obtainable is so inaccurate as to be of no practical value.
As it is many years since the Wetmore book was pubblished, and it is now exceedingly rare, particularly in this province, it is the writer's intention to sketch, as briefly as may be consistent with the interest and importance of the subject, the origin of the family in America, the direct line of descent from Thomas Whitmore, the first American ancestor, to Josiah Wetmore, who came to this province in 1783, and from that date to insert such information as may be deemed advisable, confining the subject, as nearly as possible, to the Wetmores who lived in Charlotte County, N. B., and their descendants.
Concerning the origin of the name Whitmore, from which the name Wetmore is taken, Robert Furguson, in his work entitled "English Surnames and their Place in the Teutonic Family," London and New York, 1858, says:
- Gull.
- Mauve.
- Mew.
- More.
- Whitmore.
- Beardmore.
Burke, in his Encyclopedia of Heraldry (London, 1847) in noticing the family of Whitmore, of Apley, County Salop, says that it "Was originally seated in the northwest side of the Parish of Bobbington, in the Manor of Claverly; subsequently they removed to Claverley and acquired considerable possessions there; derived from John, Lord of Whyttemere; his son was Phillip de Whytemere. Subquently the de was dropped, and the name continued for several generations as Whytemere, when it was changed to Whitmere, and then Whitmore."
Regarding the changing of the spelling from Whitmore to Wetmore, Mr. J. C. Wetmore writes:
At what particular time the family changed the spelling of their name we have been unable to discover; we are led, however, to think that the children of the third (possibly some few of the second) in part, and the descendants of the fourth generations (counting from Thomas Whitmore, who landed in America in 1655.—D. R. J.) very generally adopted the name of Wetmore. What induced them to make the change we have no means of determining, unless it was, as says a correspondent, "probably a matter of convenience to them, growing out of the greater number of families in Middletown of the same name, that a part of them should vary the spelling to avoid confusion, and without sufficient consideration of the greater evils which follow such a change.
In another passage the same writer says:
If the family name had been Wetmore in England, it is fair to presume that some one of that name (other than those who have descended from the American Wetmores) could have been found there. We have, with other members of the family, been unable to discover in travelling in various parts of England, any native Briton who spelt his name Wetmore. Mr. A. S. Somerby, an accomplished English genealogist heretofore referred to, has made (by request of parties interested) diligent search among parish records, and in offices of registry of wills, in many counties of England, and has forwarded abstracts of wills made by persons of names similar to Wetmore, and has reported at the same time, his inability to find any record of a family spelling their names Wetmore.
The family coat of arms used by the Wetmore family in America is different from that used by the English families, except one branch which coincides with that of the American branch, and is believed to have been brought out in 1723 by the Rev. James Wetmore, of Rye.
It is like that used by the Cheshire family, but with the addition of three martletts which, in the estimation of Mr. Somerby, is proof that the person who obtained the arms, could not prove his relationship to that family, and hence this difference was made. Without venturing to differ from so eminent an authority as Mr. Somerby, the writer may perhaps be permitted to observe that he was recently informed by no less an authority than the Lyon King at Arms of the Herald's College, Edinburgh, that in cases where a younger son desired a patent-at-arms, it was customary to make a grant resembling in the main features those worn by the elder brother but differing sufficiently in some minor detail, such, for instance, as the substitution of a dexter for a sinister direction in some of the emblazonments, or as in the case under consideration, the addition of three martletts to the coat of arms already borne by the older branch of the family.
In heraldic terms, the arms of the American Wetmores are thus described—He beareth argent, or a chief azure; three martletts or crest—A Falcon, ppr.
The arms are so well illustrated in the book-plate of Rev. Robert Griffieth Wetmore, which was recently reproduced in the series of articles upon Acadian book-plates by the writer, that he feels that he may be pardoned for inserting herein the same drawing. This illustration, it may be explained, is reproduced directly from an original copy of the book-plate now in the possession of the writer.
The Lineage of the English Family of Whitmore, as stated in Burke's Landed Gentry.
John, Lord of Whytemere, in the reign of Henry III, Edward I., was father of
Philip de Whytemere, who died in 1300, and was succeeded by his son,
John de Whytemere, living in 1361, whose son,
Richard de Whytemere, of Claverley and Whytemere, married Margery, daughter and heir of William Atterall, of Claverley, and dying about 1386, left a son and heir,
Richard de Whytemere, father of another
Richard de Whytemere, who married a lady named Joan, but of what family is not ascertained, and was succeeded at his decease in 1442, by his son,
Thomas Whytemere, of Claverley, who died in 1483, his son,
Richard Whytemere, left at his demise in 1504. by his wife Agnes, a son and successor,
Richard Whitmore, of Claverley, born in 1495, who married Frances Barker, and had two sons,
William, his heir,
Thomas, ancestor of the Whitmores of Ludstone, in Claverley.
Richard Whitmore died in 1549, and was succeeded by his son,
William Whitmore, Esq., of London, merchant, who married Anne, daughter of Alderman William Bond, of that city, and by her (who died October 9, 16 15,) had issue; 1, William (Sir), his heir 2, Thomas, died sine prole; 3, George (Sir), Knight of Balmes, in Hackney parish, Middlesex. He died December 12, 1654.
From the above the several families of Whitmore in England trace their ancestry.
The Lineage of the Wetmore Family of Charlotte County, New Brunswick.
Thomas Whitmore, who was the immigrant ancestor of the Wetmore family in America, was born 1615, in England, and married, first, Sarah Hall, d. of John Hall and Anne (Willocke) Hall, and was the father of
Izrahiah Whitmore, b. 8 March, 1656-7? m. Rachael Stow, by whom he had eight children, all sons, of whom the third was
Rev. James Wetmore, b. 31 December, 1695 (O. S.), who married Anna ———, and had six children, of whom the eldest was
James Wetmore, b. in Rye, N. Y., 19th December, 1727, m. Elizabeth Abrahams, and had by her twelve children, of whom the eldest was
Abraham Wetmore, b. November 27th (9th?), 1747, m. Sarah Sniffers, by whom he had three children, of whom the eldest was
Josiah Wetmore, b. November 20, 1770, who married Rachael, daughter of Justus Sherwood, by whom he had six children.
Of the above the last three generations were Loyalists, and removed to New Brunswick at the close of the war in 1783, the eldest, James, at the age of fifty-six, the youngest, Josiah, at the age of thirteen.
Josiah had six children, namely, Sally, William, Justus, Abraham Joseph, Josiah, Anne. Of these, the fourth,
Abraham Joseph Wetmore, b. 14 October 1798, m. I, Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of James Campbell, Lieut. 54th Regiment of Foot, by whom he had six children, namely, Marian, Sarah Josephine, Douglas, Thomas, Susan and Julia; m. II, Laura Jewett, of Boston, by whom he had two children, namely, Sydney and Laura Eugenia, both of whom died unmarried.
Abraham Joseph Wetmore was the ancestor of all the Wetmores, of Charlotte County, N. B. Of his first family, Marian married John W. Norton; Sarah Josephine married Peter Clinch; Douglas married Julia Russell; Thomas died unmarried; Susan married John Cameron; and Julia married Charles C. Ward.
Having thus sketched, as briefly as possible, the genealogy of the Wetmore family, of Charlotte County, N. B., and given the reader what he trusts will be found a concise statement of the line of descent from Thomas Whitmore, the American ancestor of the family, the writer will, in the next chapter, and beginning with the last-named individual, give a short biographical sketch of the various members of the family which he has enumerated.