Birth: December 17, 1785 Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut
Death: March 1848 Mt. Pisgah, Union, Iowa
Baptism: February 3, 1846
Endowment: February 3, 1846 Nauvoo Temple
Son of: Elisha Whiting and Susanna Butler (Sealed to Parents: December 20, 1934 Salt Lake Temple)
Married: Sally Hulet September 18, 1805 (Sealed: November 7, 1872)
Elisha was born in Hartford, Connecticut December 17, 1785. His father was a seafaring man who died when Elisha was small. His mother Susanna Butler bound Elisha out in apprenticeship to an old Quaker. Feeling that his master was mistreating him, Elisha ran away. He was about 18 years old when he came to the Hulet wagon shop and sought employment there. He met Sylvanus Hulet’s daughter, Sally and they were married September 18, 1805. Elisha was tall and Sally was small with dark eyes. In 1817 they moved to Ohio, traveling by wagon over the ‘Mohawk Trail’. Elisha chose a spot on a gently sloping hill to erect his log cabin. At the foot of the hill was a spring of clear cold water, so he had no need to dig a well. Eventually they moved from Nelson to Windham and there, Elisha engaged in the business of chair and furniture making. In 1839 the mob drove their family out of Missouri, burning Elisha’s chair shop. They settled in the Morley settlement in Illinois. Elisha built a larger than average home and shop there to accommodate his woodworking business. One of the beams for the Nauvoo Temple was produced at the Whiting shop. On September 10, 1845 an armed mob entered Yelrome. One of his sons was near death with fever. There, members of the mob showed a measure of mercy. They did not burn the house and chair shop. The sick were taken to the chair shop after the mob had burned the rest of the town. The need for food drove the men back to the Morley Settlement to obtain corn from their abandoned fields. The Whitings recognized their flock of sheep in an old neighbors yard. They did not make an attempt to repossess their sheep, but went at night to gather corn from their abandoned farm.
When they arrived at Mt. Pisgah they again built a chair shop. During the winter evenings dances and socials were held in the chair shop. Sometime during the summer of 1848 Elisha died and was buried in the cemetery on the hill above the town.
Submitted by Ginger S. Vandenburg, 2010