Original letters and pictures: This genealogy of the Whitney and Hay families is linked to the Civil War era. Notably, John Milton Hay, a descendant of the Hay family, served as a private secretary to Abraham Lincoln and was present at his deathbed. The Whitney family descended from English immigrant John Whitney, has a notable history in the United States. Rev. Leonard's acclaimed connection to Keokuk, Iowa, Chaplain under Col. Ingersoll's 11th Ill. Cav., First Unitarian church in Iowa, Abolitionist and opposition to Fugitive Slave law, memorialized in Iowa Historical Record.