Henry S. Whitney was born on August 8, 1816, in Buffalo, New York. He moved to Spencer County, Indiana, by the early 1840s, and he married Mahala McCoy there on December 17, 1841. They had at least five children: William, born in 1842; Bradford, born around 1845; Thomas, born around 1849; Eliza, born around 1852; and Catherine, born around 1857. Whitney worked as a carpenter, and in 1860, he owned $1,000 of real estate and $200 of personal property. A decade later, he owned $1,500 of real estate and $400 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in June 1879 on behalf of his son William, who died in June 1865. He moved to Girard, Kansas, sometime in the 1870s, and he passed away there on May 20, 1897.