Joseph Whitney

Notes:

4 II. Joseph Whitney, b. in Norwalk, Conn., 1 March 1678 [1678-9]; a mill-wright; married in Norwalk, 6 July 1704, Hannah Hoyt, "the daughter of Mr. Zerubbabel Hoyt," of Norwalk.1 She was a member of the First Congregational Church in Norwalk, in 1725. After the death of his brother, John Whitney, he came in possession of the grist-mill, by deed from his father, stipulating to pay all of his debts, and give him one half of all tolls which the mill should earn during his father's lifetime. His will was dated 21 March 1740-41; and he probably died in Norwalk, in 1741. His great-grandson, James Whitney, when eighty years old, wrote an interesting letter, in which he speaks of him as follows: "He was a very excentric man, and I heard many ancedotes of him. One was as follows; he was called upon to name a stree running from the foot of Pudding Lane to the bridge at the head of the harbor, by the mill; and this was his answer, --

From Hyatt's hill to Thacher's mill, Was once a lonesome valley; Since it's become a place of fame, We'll call it Petticoat Alley, and it went by that name when I was a boy, I believe over one hundred years later."

http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/extracts/phoenix/p0011-0015.html