Alfred Whitacre ancestors came to America in 1699, in that Year, Alfred's great, great grandfather John Whitacre first sailed for the new colony of Pennsylvania and then made his way to the burgeoning frontier area of Muncy Valley. Like many other emigrants John Whitacre's journey was motivated both by a desire to escape religious persecution in his native England and an opportunity to practice to prosper free of crown interference. He settled in the beautiful Muncy Valley, a fortuitous choice, here he and his descendents quickly established large and prosperous farms. Alfred Whitacre's parents Edward Whitacre and Sarah Reece had a large family with ten surviving children. Alfred Whitacre was born in Muncy Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania on November 14, 1840. Alfred was the 6th of Edward Whitacre (1//31/1808-3/15/1884) and Sarah Reece's (12/21/1810-12/24/1876) 10 children.
John Whitacre 8/26/1831-3/23/1851
As a boy Alfred grew up among a busy, crowded and loving household. He quickly joined his elder brothers Joseph and Nehemiah working their fathers extensive fields. The Whitacre children all attended the nearby Friends School at Pennsdale each fall and spring. His brother Nehemiah (know as "Reece") was an instructor at the school. Muncy Twp then was a small agricultural community where families knew each other and often were related through family and social ties. Alfred's future wife Ellen Adlum Straub attended the same school and lived within a short walking distance of the Whitacre farm.
A large portion of the Whitacre family time was devoted to practicing their Quaker faith, a faith which required frequent attendance at the Friends Meeting House in Pennsdale. Among the tenets of that faith was a strong commitment to pacifism and a rejection of slavery. While Whitacre family and other Friends gravitated toward pacifism, Edward Adlum Straub (Alfred's future brother-in-law) remembered that much of Muncy small population was sympathetic to the new Republican Party and that in 1861 many of the towns young men welcomed the Civil War with enthusiasm and rushed to defend their country.
After Fort Sumter, Alfred was among those who rushed to join the colors, he enlisted on December 20, 1861; his enlistment was in the newly formed 50th New York Engineers Company F then recruiting in Washington DC. Alfred most likely decided to leave Muncy and journey out of Pennsylvania rather then confronted his family which while anti slavery, would not support his bearing arms.
The war set off a debate within the Quaker community as to if it was ever possible for a member of the Society of Friends to bear arms. Alfreds older brothers Joseph and Nehemiah Whitacre followed the traditional Quaker response and reused to bear arms and both requested and received deferments for conscientious reasons from the state of Pennsylvania.
Alfred thought the war and a Union victory so important that he had to join even in the face of family opposition. His new regiment was assigned to support the Union Army by building fortifications, roads and bridges. Much of the regiments work was dangerous, arduous, dirty and unhealthy (over 200 soldiers in the 50th NY would die of disease). Like other new engineers Alfred would learn to build while simultaneously fighting the enemy. At Fredericksburg his company would successfully build a critical bridge all the while under heavy Confederate rifle fire. The summer of 1863 was crucial juncture in the war Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg demonstrated Northern willingness to fight and win despite horrific losses. That same summer, unbeknownst to Alfred his beloved younger brother Henry Phillip Whitacre was drafted and ordered to join the 143rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Henry too could have been deferred but chose to serve. Fate sadly had ordained young Henry Whitacre but a short and tragic part to play in the nations greatest conflict. There are no records which reflect why Henry chose to follow his brother Alfred into active military service rather then follow Joseph and Nehemiah and request a conscientious deferment. Perhaps Henry like Alfred saw the war for the Union and the fight against slavery as overriding any Quaker injunctions to pacifism. Ironically, Henry never saw a battlefield instead like many other young men he would die of disease far from home on route to meet his regiment at Alexandria VA on November 18, 1863.
His sudden death was attributed to typhoid fever. His parents Edward and Sarah were devastated to receive news of their sons death. They lovingly collected his body transported him home and buried him in the small cemetery outside the Pennddale Meeting. After the war, Edward Whitacre helped memorialize Henry and the other fallen sons of Muncy PA by subscribing to towns monument for the Civil War dead. Alfred Whitacre (according to his granddaughter Lucile Whitmore recollections) felt his brothers loss most of all. Alfred and Henry had been very close and within the family Alfred enlistment for the war was viewed as a contributing factor in Henrys fatal decision to go to war. Rather then return to the Muncy Valley and home on his discharged in December of 1863 Alfred reenlisted for the duration of the war. In making his decision, Alfred demonstrated his own resolve in his decision to fight on and give purpose and meaning to Henrys tragic loss.
Alfred Whitacre remained with his regiment until the final victory at Appomattox Court House and in June 1865 marched with his regiment down Pennsylvania Avenue in the Union Victory parade.
In 1866, Alfred Whitacre with his brother Edwin Abbott Whitacre decided to move west. They traveled with a party of other Muncy residents who wanted to try their fortune in Illinois and new territories then opening. Among their group was Henry Hahn Straub, his wife their three sons: Edward, Peter and John and daughter Ellen. Edward later remembered.
At Chicago two of our party, Alfred and Edwin A. Whitacre, changed cars and boarded the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad for Brighton. Iowa. We were informed that they had relatives at Brighton and in the vicinity of Washington, Iowa.
Like many young men after the war Alfred was restless and spent the next decade traveling and working as itinerant farm hand. His friendship with the Straub family brought him into contact with his former school mate Ellen Adlum Straub 10/29/1847-09/24/1904and love blossomed; on 12 /27/1877 Alfred married Ellen. Their ceremony was conducted by the Rev. James Trewatha of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Shannon Illinois. According to Ellens brother Edward
Mr. Whitacre turned his attention to farming in Illinois until about 1881, when in the spring of that year, he decided to emigrate to Boone County, Nebraska, and enter a homestead claim in that section of the state. He entered a claim of one hundred and sixty acres about twenty-five miles northwest of Albion (the county town) on which he continued to live for several years. He thinks he made a mistake in settling in that locality, as a portion of the country in the northern part of the state was of a barren and inferior quality. However, he thought by cultivation of a good garden and raising vegetation he would be able to pull through and have an honest living. The couple had two sons, Henry (3/12/1878) and John (6/23/1884) and one daughter Bessie (Sarah Elizabeth)1/10/1880) all of whom moved to Nebraska with their parents. Henry was born on the John G. Heisel farm in Spring Valley, in March 1878, four miles northwest of Shannon. Bessie was born in Shannon, Jan. 10th 1880; John was born in Dekalb County, Illinois. In the spring of 1883 Alfred finally gave up trying to farm his acreage in Nebraska and the family returned to Illinois and bought a home in Mill Grove, Stephenson County Illinois where they continued to live for some three years, after which they sold their property and moved to Shannon.
The couple's children were:
Henry Alfred Whitacre 3/12/1878-1978
Catherine Whitacre 2/26/1833-12/10/1914
Mary Elizabeth Whitacre 7/18/1834- 1/28/1917
Joseph Reece Whitacre 9/23/1836-3/09/1882
Nehemiah Reece Whitacre 8/09/1838-8/01`/1930
Alfred Whitacre 11/14/1840-8/10/1932
Henry Philip Whitacre 2/14/1843-11/18/1863
Edwin Adlum Whitacre 12/02/1845-8/1/1924
Sarah Ellen Whitacre 4/01/1849-11/29/1919
Robert Harlan Whitacre 5/2/1851-8/2/1934
Sarah Elizabeth "Bessie" Whitacre 1/10/1880-8/13/1951
John De Kalb Whitacre
6/24/1884-3/16/1951
James Wilson Whitacre 7/13/1892- (see photo below)
Lilly Adlum Whitacre 10/31/1886-12/26/1886)
Alfred Whitacre's youngest son
James' spouse Mrytle Adell Pickell
and their daughter Mabel Ellen.
The photo is circa 1918).
James was born in Shannon Illinois.
He and his family lived primarly in Carroll and Stephenson County.
After returning to Carroll County Alfred Whitacre continued to farm remained active in civic life and the activities of the Grand Army of the Republic. He served as president of the Shannon Illinois Hiram Putnam GAR post number 646. In 1905 after the death of his beloved wife Ellen, Alfred entered the Old Soldiers Home at Quincy Illinois where he resided on and off until his death in 1932. In his later years he often visited his family and friends in and GAR comrades in Shannon. His granddaughter Lucile Whitmore would later recollect that each Memorial Day he journey to the local cemeteries to lay flowers on the graves of the Union dead and that to the end of his life he carried the burden of his brother Henrys tragic death.
Sources and Documents:
Alfred Whitacres military file, for his service in the 50th New York, Volunteer Engineer Regiment, Company and his pension records are at the National Archives and Records Administration. The pension number is: 977237 certificate number: 740116 dated August 21, 1890. Record from Alfred Whitacre s stay at the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home, Quincy Illinois are accessible through Genealogy Genealogy Trails.org web site http://www2.sos.state.il.us/GenealogyMWeb/quincysrch.html
In addition the following contain useful information: for the history of the 50 New York Engineer Regiment , see Bridge Building in Wartime, Colonel Wesley Brainerd Memoir of the 50th New York Volunteer Engineers (Brainerd was Alfred's Commanding Officer) edited by Ed Malles, published by the University Of Tennessee, Knoxville 1998. For Muncy Pennsylvania in the Civil War see: Priceless Treasure A History of the Muncy Soldiers Monument by David l. Richards, published by the Muncy Historical Society. Dave Richards has discovered and succinctly narrates much of Henry Whitacre's sad story. The Life and Civil War Services of Edward Adlum Straub published by J.H. Yewdale & Sons Wisconsin 1909 is useful since this autobiography was written by Alfred Whitacre's brother in-law and contains some useful information. Lastly but most important single source for the Whitacre Family is: Mostly about the Whitacre and Warner Families by Helen Whitacre Burke published in 1981 with 1985 supplements. These two volumes are the principal source for any investigation of the Whitacre family. The photo of Alfred Whitace circa 1880s is courtesy of Helen Whitacre Burke. Lucile Whitmore reminiscences of her grandfather Alfred Whitacre are from the author's notes.
