Ancestor Sketches Series
Roberts-Barnes-Taft Line
by Don Taylor
Amanda Taft was born on 31 December 1798 in what was then called Partridgefield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts — a town that would be renamed Hinsdale in 1804.[1] She was the daughter of Asa Taft and his wife, Sarah Whitney Taft, and she entered the world as at least the third child of what would grow into a large family. Her elder known siblings were Asa Perry Taft Jr. and Luransa Taft, born 22 Sep 1874 and 28 March 1796, respectively.[2] There may have been an additional child between Luransa and Amanda whose record I haven’t located. Younger siblings include Lucy Wilson Taft and Joel Cruff Taft.
The family did not remain long in Massachusetts. By 1800, Asa Taft had moved his household to Sharon, Schoharie County, New York, where he appears in both the federal census and the New York tax assessment rolls.[3] Amanda, just a year old, made that journey with them. The move was part of a broader pattern of westward migration common to New England families of the period, drawn by cheaper land and new opportunity across the New York border. By around 1805, the family had settled further west still, in Triangle, Broome County, New York, in the Chenango River valley — a community where Amanda would spend the remainder of her life.[4]
A word on Amanda’s mother: she appears in the genealogical record under two names. The Massachusetts vital records and most secondary sources give her name as Sarah Whitney.[5] The Taft Family Bulletin of December 1970, however, refers to her as “Sally (Whitney) Taft.”[6] This is not a conflict. Sally was an extremely common diminutive of Sarah throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, used interchangeably in both formal documents and family correspondence. The evidence points confidently to a single woman known in life as Sally, recorded formally as Sarah, and the wife of Asa Taft.
Before 1819, Amanda married Chauncey Whitney in Triangle, Broome County, New York.[7] Together, Amanda and Chauncey raised a large family. The 1865 New York State Census records Amanda as having borne ten children in all, and Chauncey was still living at that time, aged sixty-eight.[8] He presumably died sometime between June 1865 and February 1872, though I need to research him further.
Of Amanda and Chauncey’s ten children, I have identified four by name: Oliver C. Whitney (born about 1819), Clarissa Whitney (born about 1821), Lucy Whitney (born about 1825), and Jackson Whitney (born about 1830), the latter two born in Chenango County, New York.[9] The identities of the remaining six children await further research. By 1865, both Lucy and Jackson were living in the family household: Lucy, then thirty-nine and single, and Jackson, thirty-one and a widower.[10] Also present were two young children — Eva Belle Whitney, aged two, and Franklin Whitney, aged one — recorded as grandchildren of Amanda and Chauncey. I presume them to be Jackson’s children from his marriage.[11]
The 1865 census offers a vivid glimpse of the household Amanda shared in her later years. The dwelling, a framed house valued at $1,200, was occupied jointly with the family of her brother, Asa Perry Taft Jr., a carpenter and voter, and his wife, Miranda. Several boarders also resided there, including Diana Mayhew, a widow with her own children.[12] Within this shared and busy household, Amanda is listed as the owner of land, a detail that begs further research and understanding.
Amanda Taft Whitney died on 7 February 1872 in Broome County, New York, at the age of seventy-three. Her life followed the arc common to so many women of her generation: born in a Massachusetts hill town, carried west in childhood by a migrating family, married young, and devoted to raising children across decades in a New York farming community. What sets her record apart for the genealogist is the consistency of her documented presence across multiple census enumerations spanning 65 years.
Disclaimer: The research presented in this post represents my current findings and conclusions based on the sources cited. Claude.ai was used as a research and drafting aid, and Grammarly for editorial review and copyediting. Where evidence is incomplete, I have drawn careful inferences and have endeavored to distinguish clearly between documented fact and reasoned interpretation. Genealogical research is an ongoing process; new records may alter, refine, or overturn conclusions presented here.
All source citations are provided for transparency and verification. Cited records belong to their respective repositories and institutions. The narrative text, analysis, and editorial conclusions are my own work and are protected under copyright.
If you have additional information, corrections, or family connections relevant to this post, I welcome your contact through the blog. Genealogy is a collaborative pursuit, and I am always grateful for the contributions of fellow researchers and family members.
— Don Taylor, Family Historian, DonTaylorGenealogy.com
Endnotes
[1] Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626–2001, FamilySearch, entry for Amanda Taft, 31 Dec 1798. familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DDM4-GH3Z. Also: Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700–1850, Ancestry.com, page 45.
[2] FamilySearch, entry for Luransa Taft, 28 Mar 1796. familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DD93-2J2M. Birth order of Asa Perry Jr., Luransa, and Amanda established from this record and the Taft Family Bulletin (see note 6). A possible unnamed child between Luransa and Amanda has not been confirmed.
[3] “United States, Census, 1800,” FamilySearch, entry for Asa Taft, Sharon, Schoharie, New York, page 161. familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5B-QR1. Also: New York, U.S., Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799–1804, Ancestry.com, 1800 — Asa Taft, Sharon, Schoharie, NY.
[4] 1855 New York State Census, FamilySearch, entry for Amanda Whitney, Triangle, Broome, NY. Residence circa 1805 inferred from family settlement pattern.
[5] Massachusetts vital records, as cited in note 1.
[6] Thomas E. Collins, Taft Family Bulletin (December 1970), page 15, “Children of Asa & Sally (Whitney) Taft,” #15263. Accessed 23 Jan 2025, Ancestry.com.
[7]Ibid. Marriage placed before 1819 based on the birth year of the eldest identified child, Oliver C. Whitney.
[8] 1865 New York State Census, FamilySearch, household of Asa Taft and Chauncey Whitney, Triangle, Broome, NY, page 15. Chauncey Whitney, age 68, born in Massachusetts; Amanda Whitney, age 66, born in Schoharie County, NY, mother of ten children.
[9] “United States, Census, 1850,” FamilySearch, entry for Chauncy Whitney and Amanda Whitney, Triangle, Broome, NY. familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCTJ-K3X. Oliver and Clarissa designated “prob. son/child of Amanda” in that record. Also: 1855 New York State Census, FamilySearch, same household.
[10] 1865 New York State Census, as cited in note 8. Lucy Whitney, age 39, born in Chenango County, single; Jackson Whitney, age 31, born in Chenango County, widower, shoemaker.
[11] 1865 New York State Census, as cited in note 8. Eva Belle Whitney, age 2 years 4 months, born in Broome County; Franklin Whitney, age 1 year 5 months, born in Cortland County. Both are recorded as grandchildren. Parentage through Jackson is presumed based on his presence in the household as a widower; it has not been independently documented.
[12] 1865 New York State Census, as cited in note 8. The dwelling is recorded as a framed house valued at $1,200, shared by two family groups. Diana Mayhew, age 42, born in Broome County, widowed, three children; Addie Mayhew, age 16, born in Pennsylvania, boarder. No family relationship between the Mayhews and the Whitney or Taft families has been established yet.
Discover more from Don Taylor Genealogy
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
