Do relatives of General William Whipple (signer of the Declaration of Independence) get to attend college free?
Donna Wilson (DWilson33@aol.com) originally asked: I heard that if a person is related to the Whipple that signed the Declaration of Independence, they and their children or grandchildren could attend college free. Do you know anything about that? A person in the Genealogical Society I belong to said she read it in a Readers Digest. What does it mean to “be related” to someone? William and his wife Katharine (Moffat) Whipple had three children–all of whom died in infancy. So, contrary to many popular rumors heard today, no one alive today is a descendant of General William Whipple! We don’t know the answer to the original question. However, we know of at least one other Whipple descendant who signed the Declaration of Independence: Stephen Hopkins. He was a colonial governor of Rhode Island.
