Sunday’s Obituary is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. To participate in Sunday’s Obituary, bloggers post obituaries along with other information about that person. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.
Today’s historical Sunday obituary is for David Whitford, the progenitor for most of the Whitfords living in Eastern North Carolina today. His 1847 obituary was published in the New Bern Eastern Carolina Republican on October 13, 1847. The obituary is seen below (from the site Newspapers.com)
It reads: “DIED. In this County on the 8th inst, at his residence, the Rev. DAVID WHITFORD, in the 84th year of his age. For sixty years he has been a member of the Baptist Church; and for nearly thirty years has had the pastoral charge of the Baptist Church on Little Swift Creek. He was an affectionate husband, tender father, a kind neighbor and constant Christian; and his loss will be deplored by a large family and extensive circle of friends, who will long cherish the remembrance of his exalted piety and useful life.
‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord for they rest from their labor and their works do follow them.'”
David Whitford was born August 8, 1764, the son of Martin Whitford and Mary Purifoy Whitford. He married Nancy Stilley in Craven County on October 29, 1789. He had ten children: Hardy, Sarah (Sally), Nathan Martin, Sina, John Martin, Narcissa (Dossie), Elisha (Alicia), David Purifoy, Bryan, and Annie. The descendants of David Whitford hold a family reunion each September, for the past few years at the New Haven Activity Center in Caton.
In an earlier post, I discussed Church Records, particularly the Contentnea Baptist Church minutes. Those records in October 1850 have a biography of David Whitford, which were also printed in the Tarboro’ Press of February 22, 1851.
Links to the Tarboro’ Press biography are above (the article was in two columns).