No. 4510 Royal Whiton, 1846-1928?
Whiton lived at 36 Melville Avenue.
From American Series of Popular Biographies. Massachusetts Edition. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: Graves & Steinbarger, 1891.
Royal Whiton, a retired railway official, residing in the Dorchester District, Boston, was born July 28, 1846, in Hingham, Mass., the birthplace of six generations of his ancestors, son of Royal and Rebecca Allen (Lothrop) Whiton. He is eighth in descent from James Whiton or Whiting, who was an inhabitant of Hingham as early as 1647. The line is James, Matthew, Isaac, Stephen, Israel, Royal, Royal, Royal.
James Whiton was a farmer by occupation, was made a freeman in 1660, and resided at “Liberty Plain,” South Hingham. In 1657 he received a grant of land from the town, and at subsequent dates other lots of meadow and upland. At his death, April 26, 1710, he possessed much landed property in the neighboring towns of Scituate, Abington, and Hanover, as well as in Hingham. On April 20, 1676, his house, with several others, was burned by the Indians. He married on December 30, 1647, Mary Beal, daughter of John and Nazareth (Hobart) Beal. She was born in Hingham, England, in 1622, and died in Hingham, Mass., at the age of seventy-four years.
He writes his name James Whiton, but some of his descendants wrote the family name Witon and Wyton, and it has also been written Whiting. He had nine children. (See History of Hingham, vol. iii, 1893.)
Matthew Whiton, born in Hingham, October 30, 1653, the third of a family of nine children, died intestate, July 22, 1725. He was a cooper by trade, and in 1701 held the office of Constable. He married, December 27, 1677, Mrs. Deborah Pitts Howard, widow of Daniel Howard, and daughter of Edmund and Ann Pitts. She was born in Hingham in 1651, and died September 19, 1729. He had nine children, all born in Hingham.
Isaac Whiton, by occupation a weaver, born in Hingham, March 25, 1695, married March 17, 1720, Lydia Garnett, or Gardner, who was born in Hingham, January 22, 1694-95, daughter of Stephen and Sarah (Warren) Gardner. He also had nine children, all born in Hingham.
Stephen Whiton, a cooper, born in Hingham, October 13, 1722, died January 14, 1812. By his first wife, Mercy, daughter of Caleb Campbell, he had three children; and by his second wife, Sarah, daughter of Jeremiah and Sarah (Macvarlo) Stodder, he had two. Mrs. Sarah S. Whiton was born in Hingham, June 25, 1739, and died September 30, 1823.
Israel Whiton, born in Hingham, September 20, 1758, son of Stephen and Mercy, married January 14, 1781, Hannah Stowell, daughter of Adam and Deborah (Cowen) Stowell. She was born in Hingham, January 9, 1761, and died August 12, 1827. He died August 2, 1840, at the age of eighty-two. He was cooper by trade and a soldier of the Revolution. He had seven children, all born in Hingham.
Royal Whiton, son of Israel and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Hingham, February 22, 1792, and married, July 3, 1811, Esther Cleverly, of Quincy. She died in Hingham, April 19, 1867, at the age of eighty years. He died August 18, 1877, at the age of eighty-five. A trader, he was also interested in shipping. His residence was on South Street near Thaxter’s bridge, Hingham, Mass.: whereas his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had resided on Main Street, nearly opposite Hersey. He was a Mason and Knight Templar. His children, all born in Hingham, were as follows: Elizabeth Devina, who married Dr. T. Larkin Turner, of Boston, and died December 20, 1879; Hannah Stowell, who married Captain Jairus Beal, and died March 24, 1878; Catherine Cushing Andrews, who died in infancy; Catherine Cushing Andrews, second, who died in 1838, at the age of nineteen years; Royal, of whom a more detailed record is given below; Hiram, whose first wife, Lydia Loring, died in 1847, he himself dying in 1857, survived by his second wife, Abigail Hyland, who died in 1882; James, who died in infancy; Henry Jackson, born in 1826, who was killed on the railroad at Dorchester, October, 24, 1848; and Rebecca Cleverly, born 1830, who died in 1832.
Royal Whiton, second of the name and father of the present Royal, was born in Hingham, July 26, 1820. He completed his school education at the Derby Academy in his native town, and for a short time subsequently was a clerk in his father’s store. Then coming to Boston, he was employed for some time by Dr. T. Larkin Turner, his uncle by marriage, who kept an apothecary’s store. He next became a member of the firm of Chapin, Whiton & Co., dealers in drugs, paints, and oils, in which business he continued until his retirement in 1872. He belonged to the Masonic order, and was a member of the Unitarian church. His wife, Rebecca Allen , was a daughter of Peter Lothrop, of Cohasset, Mass., of the well-known Massachusetts family of that name. In 1847 Mr. and Mrs. Whiton removed to Dorchester. He died there on August 20, 1889, having survived his wife ten years, the date of her death being August 6, 1879. They were the parents of five children — Esther Cleverly, Royal, Thomas Larkin Turner, Esther Rebecca, and Henry Jackson Whiton. Esther C. And Thomas L.T. Whiton are no longer living. Henry J. Whiton was married on February 20, 1895, to Miss Charlotte A. Dodge, of Jamaica Plain, Mass. He was a member of the Congregationalist church.
Royal Whiton, third, was reared and educated in Dorchester. After leaving school, he took the position of shipping clerk for Messrs. Stone, Wood and Company, Franklin Street, Boston, where he remained three years; and he was subsequently in the employ of Messrs. E.E. Folsom & Company, dealers in paints and oils. In the spring of 1876 he entered the service of the Ogdensburg Transit Company, operating between Boston and western points. Two years later he accepted a position in the general freight office of the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway at Topeka, Kan., where he remained two years; and on May 17, 1880, he was appointed general eastern agent of the Ogdensburg Transit Company, office Boston, Mass., in which capacity he continued until August 15, 1899.
Mr. Whiton, resides on Melville Avenue, Dorchester. He was made a Mason in 1885, in Revere Lodge, Boston, of which he is a Past Master. He has advanced through St. Andrews’ Chapter, R.A.M., Boston Council, R.S.M., de Molay Commandery, Knights Templar, Boston Lafayette Lodge of Perfection; Giles F. Yates Council, Mount Olivet Chapter of the Rose Croix, and the Massachusetts Consistory, thirty-second degree, of all of which orders he is a life-member. He belongs to the Old Dorchester Club and Railroad and Steamboat Agents Association.
On March 9, 1887, Mr. Whiton was united in marriage with Miss Ella C. Rice, who was born March 9, 1857, a daughter of Alvin Augustus and Mary (Woodbury) Rice. Mrs. Whiton’s father was born April 17, 1818, and died December 11, 1865. Her mother, who was born October 26, 1821, is still living.
Mrs. Whiton has been for a number of years actively engaged in club work. She has been very efficient in securing the building of the beautiful club-house of the Dorchester Woman’s Club House Association — of which association she is now president. She is also a charter member of the Dorchester Woman’s Club and filled the position of treasurer for the Club for five years.