The Whitfield family was a prominent American political family of the Southern states. The Whitfields formed the American branch of the British Whitfield family - having descended from the British aristocracy, particularly the Earls of Kilmorey and having established colonial residency under Sir. Thomas Whitfield, whom headed East India Trading for the British Empire. In early days of Colonial America, the family emigrated to Virginia in the seventeenth century, particularly, Nansemond County, Virginia from Lancashire, England.