The Naming of the Canyon and JH Whitney
On 1/25/1888, records show (see below) that John H. Whitney bought about 36 acres for cash from the government near the mouth of today's Whitney Canyon. On 4/9/1900, he bought 156 acres next to, and east of, his earlier purchase also for cash from the government. This map from between 1906 and 1910 shows the land that Whitney owned land (from "Petroleum in Southern California", by Paul W. Prutzman, Bulletin 63, California State Mining Bureaum, 1913).
In the Twelfth Report of the State Mineralogist for the Two Years Ending September 15, 1894 (p. 354), the canyon is called "Mud Springs Canon", the earliest reference to that name that I can find. Bulletin 63, 1913, of the California State Mining Bureau says "Mud Springs Canyon". Bulletin 753 from 1924 says "Mud Springs Canyon or Whitney Canyon". In 1934, Walling writes of "Whitney (or Mud Springs) Canyon". In 1943, Kew in Bulletin 118 writes only of "Whitney Canyon". Only Whitney Canyon is used after that. Apparently, between 1934 and 1943 the canyon "officially" became Whitney Canyon.
There are actually two JH Whitneys from that time period - John H. and James H. Both also had wives whose first name began with "A".
John H. Whitney
In the Names of the Nineties article from the "Story of our Valley" in the Newhall Signal of 11/11/1954, A.B. Perkins writes:
"John Whitney and his wife were on their Whitney Canyon ranch. His two little girls were victims of diphtheria and lie today in the old Lyon Station cemetery."
In the U.S. Census of 1880 for the San Fernando Township (see image below), there is a listing for 28-year old John Whitney from Pennsylvania, his 23-year old wife Aramanta (?), his 5-year old son Willie, his 3-year old daughter Mabel, and his 26-year old brother William B (along with boarder Frank Horne). His son was born in California, so John must have been in the state by 1875 and was still here in 1888 (the year Mabel died).
Unfortunately, I can find no more census records for this John Whitney. I would especially liked to have found him on the 1900 or the 1910 census, but no luck. The 1890 census was lost in a fire many years ago and thus is not available. The 1870 census for Lenox, Pennsylvania shows a J. S. Whitney married to Melinda (or Galicida) with offsprings (amoung others) of John, age 16, and Wm E., age 13. This could be John's parents.
Whitney 1888 homestead patent for 35.32 acres (see the BLM/GLO land patent search page). He bought the land from the federal government. A patent gave him complete ownership of the land.
Whitney 1900 homestead patent for 155.79 acres bought for cash from the federal government
On the plat map I have enclosed the 1888 claim in green and the larger 1900 claim in yellow (see the GeoCommunicator page for plat maps)
On a topo map, I have enclosed the two claims. He pretty much owned all of Whitney Canyon. Oddly, his land in the map at the top of this page does not match any of the land of his claims. I can only guess that he sold all his 1888 and 1900 land and bought the land on the other map.
The following three photos show that 10-year old Mabel (misspelled on the stone as Mable) died in 1888. Eternal Valley records for that burial plot 118 only say that sites c & D contain a baby Whitney. There is no other information. However, that is enough to verify Perkins' story of the two little dead Whitney girls. There was probably a second stone for the other child, but it was either lost or stolen sometime in the past.
This small headstone in the middle of the picture is located in the Garden of Pioneers in the Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, California, part of which used to be the old Lyon Station Cemetery.
Moving closer, you can see how weathered it is, but you can begin to make out some of the words, in particular, the "J.H. & A. Whitney" in the middle. This stone is drenched with water when the sprinklers are on, so, unfortunately, it will eventually be unreadable.
Mable A.
Daughter of
J.H. & A. Whitney
Born
June 17, 1877
Died
April 18, 1888
Beneath this stone in solemn repose
is laid down ? dearest Mable
A flower that scarce had waked to life
and light and beauty ere it died.
The bottom part was very hard to read. There is one word I could not figure out (something like ??ier's) and I may not be 100% correct. It is a shame that the stone cannot be protected from weathering in some way. Years from now all the writing will be illegible.
James H. Whitney
Pat Salatore from the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society provided me with the 1910 US Census of the Newhall Precinct of the Soledad Township (see image below) which includes a James Whitney with a wife named Annie.
He is also on the 1920 and 1930 census with Annie. James Henry Whitney was born on 7/4/1871 in Texas and died on 10/5/1940 in Los Angeles. Annie R. Whitney (nee Simon) was born on 12/10/1883 in California and died on 11/1/1965 in Los Angeles.
They had 6 children - Joseph (10/2/1906 - 1/31/1955), Odia (2/16/1909 - 12/30/1997), Rosie M. (b. 1911), Louis R. (5/5/1913 - 4/5/1994), Mary (or Marie) L. (b. 1915), and Martha P. (b. 1920).
In 1910, he was working on the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Voter registration records show that they moved out of Newhall by 1916, and were living in Los Angeles City.
The two J.H. Whitneys do not seem to be related (at least not very closely). John was born in Pennsylvania and James was born in Texas.