DAVID WHITMER & SELLESTEEN WHITMER

The stories we are going to tell are about David and Sellesteen Whitmer who were the sons of Francis Suffare Whitmer and Catharine Delawder. They were born and raised in Hardy County, West Virginia. Their father immigrated from Switzerland. Their brothers also served in the Confederate War: Abraham, Phillip and Adam. They all served in the same Company and apparently were in the same battles together.

DAVID WHITMER

David enlisted in the Confederate Army 4 September 1862. He was wounded in the battle by the Union Forces and put in a hospital there. He said the hospital was a school house in Winchester. As soon as he was able to travel he escaped from the hospital with a friend from the Cove and they made their way back home having to travel at night and hide out during the day. It took them 2 months to go the 60 miles back home. Before they left the hospital, they took some Confederate currency from a desk drawer. The war ended soon after they got home and they never got to spend the money as the Confederate money became worthless.
David had many health issues after the war. As a result of the wound David had he would often spit up blood. The rifle ball in the chest was never removed and would cause him to cough up blood when he did strenuous work. David died as a result of the wound. The account
given by Jackson, David’s son, Jackson, states that he was in the field cutting oats with a hand scythe when he started hemorrhaging in his lungs. He started toward the house and evidently became weak and sat down leaning against an apple tree in the orchard near the house where he died.

Jackson said David was a large man of over 6 feet tall and was a hard worker and cared for his family very much. He was a good farmer and provider. One of his great-granddaughters said that David never joined any church but always said that some day the true church would come along and then he would join it. He died 23 October 1891.