All Scholars

Whiton’s family goes back on his father’s side to James Whiton, who settled in Hingham, MA in 1647, and on his mother’s side to John Alden (c.1599-1687). He was valedictorian of his class at Boston Latin School and at Yale he won several awards including the Townsend Premium for English Composition. His Latin oration “Roma Disrepta” was one of the twelve presented at the Junior Exhibition in May, 1852. As salutatorian he addressed the class of 1853 in Latin and was admitted into Phi Beta Kappa. For several years Whiton worked to earn his doctorate degree at Yale. He studied Sanskrit two hours a week with Professor William D. Whitney and took final examinations in Latin, Greek, German and Sanskrit. His dissertation, written in Latin “embellished the theme with six clearly, boldly and symmetrically written pages” and showed that he had “assimilated the precise style of Latin prose writers, especially of Cicero and that he had as working model several distinguished American teachers of the classics” (Rosenberg 393). In 1861 Whiton, along with two other young men earned the first doctorates ever awarded in the U.S. His was the first in classics.

During these years Whiton worked on two textbooks: Handbook of Exercises and Reading Lessons for Beginners in Latin (1860) which he dedicated to Epes Sargent Dixwell (1807-1899), teacher, submaster and head of the Boston Latin School and First Lessons in Greek (1862). He had been licensed to preach 25 November 1859 by the New Haven West Association, and over time his interest in religion and the pulpit drew him away from a career in classroom. However he continued to prepare textbooks for many years. In 1888 he established the Whiton Prize at Talladega College, a school founded with the support of the Congregational Church’s American Missionary Association for black students in Alabama in 1867. Sums of five and ten dollars were awarded each spring to the best essays on a theme from history, literature or philosophy. In 1891 after retiring from Trinity, Dr. Whiton spent his time lecturing and adding to the many works he published on religion which included books such as Miracles and Supernatural Religion (New York: Sturgis & Walton, 1903) and Getting Together (New York: Sturgis & Walton, 1913). From 1898 to 1901 he ministered to a small rural congregation in Haworth, NJ, and after helping to establish the New York State Conference of Religion in 1899, chaired the group for many years. Dr. Whiton was buried in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, CT.