He married Mary Canady, known as Polly, on January 31, 1793 in Rowan  County.  She had been born in Halifax County, on October 27, 1772. 

     William and Mary Whitaker moved to Fairview around 1798 and lived on what is now Old Fort Road.  David Crockett once had dinner and spent the night with William Whitaker and his family in the early 1800's while he was living in Swannanoa.  William prospered as a farmer and mill owner, and died in Fairview on February 21, 1860.  Both William and his wife are buried in Cane Creek Cemetery there, leaving a family of eight children:

     Margaret, born December 25, 1793, married her second cousin James McCrary, son of Boyd and Nancy Anna Merrill McCrary.  They moved to Gallatin, Davies County, Missouri.

     Joshua Whitaker, born Sept. 15, 1797, married Margaret Asheworth, daughter of John Jr. and Celia Nettles Asheworth, and had a family of seven children.

     Mary Whitaker, born July 24, 1799, married Hiram Jackson and they moved to Indiana where they raised a family of five children. 

     Sarah Whitaker, known as Sallie, was born June 13, 1801, married Thomas Henry Jenkins, from whom descended a future mayor of Asheville, His Honor Roy Trantham.

     William Whitaker Jr., born July 6, 1803, married Rutha Williams, daughter of John and Mary Ashworth Williams.  They left a large family.

     James Whitaker, born May 14, 1805, married 1st, Melinda Fishel, daughter of Adam and Judie Fishel.  Melinda died after the family moved to Gallatin, Davies County, Missouri, and he married Nancy Woodland, daughter of John and Celia Steepleford Woodland.  Nancy was a Mormon and the family moved several times to places in Illinois, Iowa and finally to Willard in Box Elder County, Utah, where they are both buried.  James had six children by his first wife and twelve by his second wife.

     Martha Whitaker, born April 14, 1807, married Josiah Jenkins and they had a family of seven children.

     Henry Whitaker was born March 26, 1811, and his family is described in a separate sketch.

     On May 8, 1830, he married Margaret Jerusha Harper, the daughter of Lot and Mariam Whitaker Harper.  She was born in Fairview on Feb. 27, 1807.

     Henry Whitaker became a fairly well-to-do farmer, owning a mill and a large tract of land on what is now Old Fort at Church and Whitaker Roads. They had a family of eight children, and Henry died October 11, 1883.  Jerusha died June 11, 1888, and both are buried in Cane Creek Cemetery in Fairview.
There children were:

     Mariam, born Aug. 22, 1831, married Jesse Garren, the son of Eli and Synthia Ward Garren.  Mariam and Jesse had three children, and she died Jan. 15, 1890.  Jesse was born Dec. 28, 1828 and died Feb. 7, 1982.

     William Whitaker, was born March 19, 1834, and died on March 12, 1938.

     Lot Whitaker, was born February 20, 1836 and died in the Battle of Atlanta during the Civil War, on August 19, 1864.

     John Whitaker, born April 30, 1838, died in the Battle of Murfresboro,
Tennessee on December 31, 1862.  He was a first Sergeant in the Confederate
Army.

     Mary Whitaker was born October 22, 1840 and married 1st, William Alexander McBrayer, son of William and Elizabeth Fortune McBrayer.  They had two children who died as babies, and "Alec" who died of a wound received at the Battle of Murfresboro, Tenn.  She married, secondly, Millington Lytle, the son of George and Ann Clark Lytle and they had two children.

     Margaret was born March 27, 1844 and married first, Lewis Garren, son of
Eli and Synthia Ward Garren who died in the Civil War.  They had one daughter
Mary Louise.  Margaret married secondly, John Coston Mitchell, son of Elbert
and Elizabeth Coston Mitchell, and had eight additional children.

     Jesse L., born November 28, 1846, married Martha Rosilla Garren, daughter
of Joseph and Bertha Russell Garren.

     Soloman was born September 3, 1849, and married his first cousin Anner Harper, daughter of Alexander and Lucinda Sales Harper and they had a family
of at least six children.

    On October 2, 1866, he married Martha Rosilla Garren, daughter of Joseph and Bertha  ussell Garren.  Martha was born June 17, 1849 in Elijay, Gilmer Co., Georgia, although her people had been from Fairview until shortly before her birth.

     Jesse and Martha lived on Flat Top Mountain in Fairview at the present site of Meyers Green House.  Jesse was a farmer and horse breeder.  He served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and was shot in the left cheek which caused him speech difficulty the rest of his life.  Together they had a family of nine children:
 

     The Whitakers who seemed to have a Pennsylvania Quaker background were well-educated for the time and the place.  Joshua has been described in family stories as a very stern man who made up his own mind what was right and wrong. In his obituary it was stated that before he joined the Church of God when he was sixty-nine, he had never found any church whose doctrine agreed with his understanding of the Bible.  He is listed as one of the McDowell County men who joined General Winfield Scott in the 3rd Volunteer Militia in removing the Cherokee Indians from North Carolina to Oklahoma in 1838.

     Joshua and Lydia had thirteen children.  Five of their sons were in the Civil War.  Four - Julius, William, James and Joshua, were on the Confederate side; and one, Josiah, was on the Union side.  William, who was studying to be a lawyer, was killed at Fredricksburg, VA., on December 13, 1862; James was also killed May 29, 1864; Julius was killed while home on leave by "bushwhackers" near Hendersonville; Joshua survived the war as did Josiah. Josiah's discharge papers from the Union Army, Indiana Volunteers Regiment, are dated July 21, 1865.  He is described as six feet, one inches tall, with fair complexion, blue eyes.

     There seemed to have been no "hard" feelings in the family against Josiah since he went back to Edneyville after his discharge and lived there until about 1888 when he and his family moved to Hominy Creek, NC.  On September 13, 1866, Josiah had married Adline Garren, daughter of Absolum Garren and Caroline Eliza Vaughn.  Josiah and his wife, on February 12, 1880, gave land to have a Church of God built. This tract of land joined the Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery where many of the Whitakers are buried.

     Josiah and Adline had seven children.  Two of their daughters, Eliza and Rosamon, died after contracting what was called "galloping tuberculosis" at the Peabody School.  Eliza died in 1890 at 23 years of age, and Rosamon died in 1891 at 15 years of age.  They are probably buried at Hominy Creek.  Eliza was working on family history in 1885, and my start came from her material.

     In 1902 Josiah and Adline moved to Swannanoa with their remaining daughter and at least one of their three sons.  Josiah died March 8, 1916, and Adline died December 9, 1923.  They are buried in the Tabernacle Methodist Church Cemetery in Black Mountain.  Their remaining daughter was my grandmother, Lydia Emaline who married J.A. (Andy) Lance on September 10, 1904.

II. Mary Whitaker (b. 1798; d. 1872) married Jeremiah West (b. 1795; d. after 1880)  Lived: Buncombe Co., NC

III. Alexander West (b. 1830; d. 1910) married Rachel Elinor Penland (b. 1840; d. 1920) Lived: Buncombe Co., NC

IV. Lura Emma West (b. 1861; d. 1939) married Robert Jackson Roberts (b. 1858; d. 1933) Lived: Buncombe Co., NC

V. John Henry Roberts (b. 1886; d. 1949) married Myrlte Lillian Spain (b. 1895; d. 1986) Lived: Buncombe Co., NC

VI. Dorothy Roberts (b. 1920) married Arnold James Hyde (b. 1914) Resides: Buncombe Co., NC