I understand your scenario!
I have a 30-30, 44 mag and a 444 lever gunthat were allbought for whitetail in Eastern Kentucky.

I've hunted there with the 444 and the 30-30 and have had GREAT success with them. I just recently bought the 44 mag and I have to agree with everyone else, what a great, fun, and extremely accurate lever-gun. I must admit, I like it a heck of a lot more than I thought I would, and I'm really looking forward tohunting deer withit. If I had to give em all up (God forbid) and just choose 1 for whitetail or all-around, I'd choose my first love, the 444 Marlin. To me, it has it all, knockdown,(3009 lbs of energy out ofcertain factory loads)accuracy(I have no problemtaking a whitetail at 150 yards with it)and speed(2250 fpswith a 280 gr bullet and 2350 with a 240) You never know you might head North and take a Black Bear with it someday, or head to Tennessee and take a hog, if you've chosen 444 you'll be more than ready for any of that!
BUT I guess that wasn't one of my choices, If I had to choose between the 3 choices you gave me I'd choose the 45-70.
Happy hunting!!