My Genealogy Hound

Jay Manuel Whitham, superintendent of mechanic arts and profeesor of engineering in the A. I. U., was born in Warren, Jo Daviess Co., Ill., August 24, 1858, and is the son of John and Caroline A. (Rowe) Whitham. The father was born in Leeds, England, and when about twelve years of age he immigrated to America with his parents. The mother was born in North Granby, Conn., and their marriage was solemnized in North Colesville, N.Y. After remaining in this State until 1857, they moved to Illinois, and here the father died at the age of sixty-eight. The mother is still living, and is sixty-two years of age. In their family were six children, four sons and two daughters, of whom our subject is the youngest. He received his early literary education in the high-school at Warren, Ill., and when nineteen years of age entered the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md., where he pursued a course in engineering, graduating with first honors in that course in 1881. Two years following this he cruised on the United States men-of -war Quinnebaug and Galena, visiting ports in the Mediterranean, on the coasts of Africa and South America. After returning he stood an examination at the academy for promotion, and was commissioned assistant engineer in the United States Navy, spending the summer of 1883 on duty in that department at Washington. From 1883 to 1885 he held the position of professor of mechanical engineering in St. John’s College, Annapolis, Md. In the last named year he resigned from the United States Navy to accept the chair of applied mathematics and commandant of cadets in the A. I. U., and in June, 1887, he was made superintendent of mechanic arts and professor of engineering. In 1884 he married Miss Rebekah E., daughter of J. M. Dashiell, D. D. She was born near Baltimore, Md., and by her marriage became the mother of two children: Jay Dashiell and Lloyd Bankson. Prof. Whitham is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is corresponding secretary of Arkansas Society of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors. He is also the author of a book, published by John Wiley & Sons, New York, entitled “Steam Engine Design,” and a forthcoming text book on “Elements of Analytical Mechanics,” besides several professional papers. Prof. and Mrs. Whitham are members of the Episcopal Church.