Stephen Whitaker Papers

James Whitaker was born in Davidson County, North Carolina ca. 1779. His son, Stephen Decatur Whitaker, was born (ca. 1814) in Buncombe County. Eventually, the family settled in Cherokee County in the southwestern corner of the state. James Whitaker’s first wife, Mary (Polly) Walker Whitaker, died in August 1849. In May 1853 James Whitaker remarried, this time to Mary McBrayer. At the time of the Federal Census of 1860, Stephen Whitaker and his wife, Elizabeth Taylor Whitaker (b. ca. 1820), were living on their farm in the Valley Town neighborhood of Cherokee County with their nine children. Stephen Whitaker served in the Confederate Army as Captain of Co. H, Walker’s Battalion, Thomas’ North Carolina Legion. The Whitakers were among the relatively few families in that part of the state to own slaves. Elizabeth Whitaker was born in what became Polk County, Tennessee, but in 1820 that territory was still part of the Cherokee Nation. Elizabeth, who was 3/8 Cherokee and belonged to the Ani-Wâdi (Red Paint) Clan, was a descendant of John Anthony Foreman, a Scottish immigrant who lived and traded among the Cherokees. Stephen Whitaker was adopted into the tribe.

Archive: 
North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh
Other: 
PC 26

Letters

Displaying 1 - 17 of 17
ID Letter Date Author Recipient From To
10004 Whitaker12 March 22, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker Greeneville, TN Cherokee County, NC
9993 Whitaker1 March 25, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker , Mary McBrayer Whitaker Knoxville, TN Cherokee County, NC
9994 Whitaker2 April 18, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
9995 Whitaker3 May 8, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker Greeneville, TN Cherokee County, NC
9996 Whitaker4 May 18, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker , Mary McBrayer Whitaker Greeneville, TN Cherokee County, NC
9997 Whitaker5 June 28, 1863 Stephen Whitaker Elizabeth Taylor Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
9998 Whitaker6 July 23, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker Knoxville, TN Cherokee County, NC
9999 Whitaker7 August 2, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker , Mary McBrayer Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
10000 Whitaker8 August 13, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
10001 Whitaker9 August 25, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
10002 Whitaker10 August 27, 1863 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
10003 Whitaker11 November 14, 1863 William Holland Thomas William C. Walker
10005 Whitaker13 April 6, 1864 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker , Mary McBrayer Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
10006 Whitaker14 April 25, 1864 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker TN Cherokee County, NC
10007 Whitaker15 May 19, 1864 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker Saltville, VA Cherokee County, NC
10008 Whitaker16 August 5, 1864 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker Charlottesville, VA Cherokee County, NC
10010 Whitaker17 January 4, 1865 Stephen Whitaker James Whitaker Cherokee County, NC

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