Historic Nantucket
The Famous Catboat Lillian on one of her regular trips "Up-Harbor" to Wauwinet during her last decade of opera tion — fifty years ago.
JULY, 1974
Published Quarterly by
NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS
NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President, Henry B. Coleman Vice-Presidents, Albert G. Brock, George W. Jones, Alcon Chadwick, Albert F. Egan, Jr., Walter Beinecke, Jr., Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin. Honorary Vice-Presidents, Mrs William L. Mather, W. Ripley Nelson. Secretary, Richard C. Austin Treasurer, John N. Welch Councillors, Henry B. Coleman, Chairman, Mrs. Richard Swain, Bernard Grossman, terms expire 1974; Robert Metters, George A. Snell, terms ex pire 1975; Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman, Francis W. Pease, terms expire 1976; Benjamin Richmond, Miss Mary Gardner, terms expire 1977. Administrator, Leroy H. True Curator, Miss Dorothy Gardner Historian, Edouard A. Stackpole Honorary Curator, Mrs. William L. Mather Editor, "Historic Nantucket", Edouard A. Stackpole; Assistant Editor, Mrs. Merle Turner Orleans.
STAFF Oldest House: Chairman, Mrs. Kenneth S. Baird Receptionists: Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Miss Adeline Cravott Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Chairman, Mrs. Phoebe P. Swain Receptionists: Mrs. Irving A. Soverino. Miss Marjorie Burgess. Miss Maud Jackson, Mrs. Lucile P. Bell 1800 House: Chairman. Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman Receptionist: Mrs. John Kittila, Sr. Old Gaol: Chairman, Albert G. Brock: Receptionist. Lawrence Ayers. Whaling Museum: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Manager, William W. Walmsley Receptionists: Mr. Clarence H. Swift, Mrs. Harold Killen, Jesse Dun ham, Mrs. Herbert Sandsbury, Abram Niles, James A. Watts, Miss Catherine Z. Deutsch, Janice DeGraw Peter Foulger Museum: Chairman and Director, Edouard A. Stackpole Receptionists: Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth. Mrs. Clara Block. Mr. Joseph Sylvia Librarian: Mrs. Louise Hussey Nathaniel Macy House: Chairman, Mrs. John A. Baldwin Receptionists: Mrs. Sarah Morris, Miss Dorothy Hiller, Lisa Gasparello Archaeology Department: Chairman, Paul C. Morris, Jr. Field Supervisor, Miss Barbara Kranichfeld Old Town Office: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Old Mill: Chairman, Richard F. Swain Miller, Ira Wolff Folger-Franklin Seat & Memorial Boulder: Chairman, Francis Sylvia. Friends Meeting House-Fair Street Museum: Chairman, Mrs. Harding U. Greene, Co-chairman, Mrs. Alfred M. P. Amey
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET Published quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a whaling port. VOLUME 22
July, 1974
No. 1
CONTENTS Nantucket Historical Association Staff and Officers
2
Editorial
5
Annual Report of the Administrator
6
Report of the Whaling Museum
9
The Financial Report
12
Currents of Migration on Nantucket By George Rogers Taylor
14
The Effect of Salinity Changes on a Filter Feeding Organism By John Sease
22
Clevelands on the Island By Theodore C. Wyman
27
Legacies and Bequests
31
Historic Nantucket is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts, by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association Members. Extra copies $.50 each. Membership dues are — Annual-Active $5.00; Sustaining $25.00; Life — one payment $100.00. Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts. Copyright, 1974, Nantucket Historical Association Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Hstorical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.
5
Fifty Years Ago — 1924 An Editorial THE WORLD OF NANTUCKET in 1924 was so much in con trast to that of 1974 that only those who lived here during this period may realize the fundamental differences. First of all, it was a time of post-World War I depression. The great conflict which was to "make the world safe for democracy" was less than six years in the past, and the subsequent let down in the national economy was reflected in Nantucket's summer business although in a much milder form from 1920. The usual melan choly prophecies about the summer of 1924's business were making the rounds, to prove as groundless as similar prognosti cations in other years. Two things characterized new phases in island life in 1924. Since the summer of 1918, when the automobile was first legally admitted (by the narrow margin of 40 votes), there had grad ually evolved a new way of life here. Grocery stores and markets began delivery of orders by auto; livery stables introduced lim ousine service and the Steamboat Wharf featured the auto as well as the horse-and-carriage; the family touring car had already become a fixture, and teamsters were investing in trucks mo torized. For the first time in two and one-half centuries a revolution in the pattern of transportation on the land had been fully exper ienced. The old railroad train to 'Sconset had been replaced by buses to 'Sconset, as well as to Surf side and the Weweeder Inn. The auto had not only become a fixture in the once quiet streets of the Town but had invaded the out-lying roads leading to Wauwinet, Quidnet, Madaket and even Dionis. Another new feature was created by the prohibition era. Varieties of local types of "liquid refreshment" had long since made their appearances, while imports from near-by "rum row" were distributed. Alarmed by the ease through which such im ports reached the mainland, the U. S. Coast Guard inaugurated a series of bases along the coast, and Nantucket was selected as one such base. With the cement-hulled Wayanda as the head quarters vessel, a fleet of these "rum-chasers" were moored at Straight Wharf, to become an active part of the waterfront scene. Fashion and social events played their roles on Nantucket as well as in America. The changes in feminine styles were radical, with bobbed hair, shortened skirts and rolled stockings introducing the flapper era. Sport clothes became prominent in both men and women, the modern tennis costume and the onepiece bathing suit for the ladies and the golf "knickers" for men. There was also a change in the business life of the town — a slower but definite development — but that is another story re served for another time.
6
Annual Report of the Administrator GREAT PROGRESS has been made in restoring many of our prints and oil paintings. This work is being done at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and at the New England Document Conser vation Center. Money permitting, it will be continued this year until these are in good shape. Actually our art collection in the several buildings is of considerable importance and will receive more attention in the years ahead. For the first time we are formulating plans for exhibiting contemporary arts and crafts. The president has appointed a committee for this consisting of Miss Mary Gardner, Mr. Regi nald Levine, and Mr. Julian Everett. They will formulate plans for collecting and displaying, not only for interest today but with consideration of the future, when what is done today will be a part of Nantucket's history. Attendance at our exhibits reached an all-time high this year. Income from invested funds and membership donations was also up. This made it possible for us to do some catching up on greatly needed repairs to several of our buildings. This was most gratifying but as I have pointed out before, with one exception, all are old buildings whose needs are never completely satisfied. We now have full title to "Greater Light," the gift of Miss Hanna A. Monaghan. It will be open to the public five after noons a week this summer. This will not be included as one of our Historic Exhibits but as an Open House filled with a unique and fascinating collection of art and furniture from several countries. The Association urged the Board of Selectmen to appoint a committee to formulate plans for the Bicentennial Celebration featuring Nantucket's history and tradition more than a festival. They appointed Rev. Robert G. Metters, Chairman, George W. Jones, and Albert G. Brock, later adding Harry Gordon and Richard Maloney. These men are working diligently for a pro gram we can all be proud of. During the winter we held several programs at the Peter Foulger Museum featuring Mr. William Neufeld, Mrs. Barbara Johnson, and Mr. Edouard A. Stackpole. All were free to mem bers and well attended. These programs will be continued and expanded this year. The two museums were again open every Saturday afternoon during the winter. This created a small financial loss but was greatly appreciated by many people and seemed very worthwhile. The Peter Foulger Museum, especially the library, is suc cessfully filling its mission under Mr. Stackpole's able direction.
ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT
Many people, especially college students, have been doing re search there throughout the whole year and the number of school classes learning here and at our other buildings has surpassed any previous year; literally hundreds of young people have par ticipated, from here and from off-island. We have changed the name of the Christian House to the "Nathaniel Macy House, gift of Mrs. George Christian" with con siderable reluctance but it is thought that the name of the original owner would have greater historic meaning without lessening the importance of Mrs. Christian's outstanding gift. Mrs. John A. Baldwin is chairman of this most interesting and impressive exhibit. We are grinding corn at the mill again after giving it many years of rest. Chairman Richard Swain has had the top fixed so it can now be turned and the electric wires for the alarm system have been placed underground so not to detract from its charm. It is regrettable that these wires are necessary but after the fire a few years ago we consider the alarm essential. Fair Street Museum and the Friends Meeting House with Mrs. Harding U. Greene and Mrs. Alfred M. P. Amey, chairmen, should again be open to the public soon after the new roof, now in progress, is finished. This building has presented no end of problems over several years but I feel sure you will agree that we did the right thing in spending a fairly large sum of money to put it in good condition and that the exhibit planned for it will be an important addition. Fairly extensive painting, both inside and out, has been done at the Hadwen House-Satler Memorial. Mrs. Phoebe P. Swain, chairman, has done some rearranging which has helped to ac centuate the beauty of this magnificent house. Under Mr. Chace's chairmanship, the Whaling Museum has made great improvements this last year. His complete report is included in this issue. The Oldest House has had some sprucing up by our new chairman, Mrs. Kenneth S. Baird. We are especially pleased to display a beautiful small block quilt given us by Mrs. Austin Tyrer and completed as a donation by the women at the Nan tucket School of Needlery. Hopefully the front roof will be shingled this fall with fire resisting wooden shingles and some needed repairs made on the fireplaces. More shingling and repairs have been done at the 1800 House. The dishes so attractively displayed on the table have been enclosed in a glass cabinet. Much less attractive but they are very rare and beautiful and the risk of being handled was too great. Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman, the chairman, is considering plans for a new exhibit in the east room. The Quaker manikin in
8
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
the "Borning Room" has livened up this display and we are hoping to add a child manikin soon. We are indebted to the Firemen's Association for painting and dressing up the Hose Cart House. This is one of our free exhibits but it has many interesting items. We also exhibit for free the attractive Old Town Office on Washington St. and the Folger-Franklin Memorial off Madaket Road. The former is in the charge of Mr. Chace; the latter cared for by Mr. Francis S. Sylvia. We have had a request for furniture from the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Historical Society. They have restored one of the houses built by the group of Nantucket whalemen who migrated there and they would like one or more rooms furnished with period furniture from Nantucket, such as our people took with them when their families left here. Please call me if you could make such a donation. Mr. J. Richard Daub is in the process of producing a movie for automatic showing in the Peter Foulger Museum. In this, Mr. Stackpole will give a brief history of Nantucket while pic tures are being shown. We think this will be an appropriate introduction to the town and museum. The Archaeology Committee, Mr. Paul C. Morris, Jr., chair man, will conduct another dig this summer with Miss Barbara Kranichfeld, the field supervisor. The number who can be in volved is somewhat limited but we hope to have room for all Association members who wish to participate. We have an excellent staff this year but problems ahead. Several will be leaving early to return to college and we antici pate difficulty filling the positions for September and two weeks in October. Would you like to try this work or know of someone you could recommend either as a volunteer or paid employee? We are greatly in need of friends with the means and de sire to purchase Nantucket memorabilia. For those of us directly connected with the museums, it is always very sad to see im portant historic Nantucket articles sold off-island and to learn of a Nantucket signature quilt offered for sale in California. I do not know what to recommend but I do know, as you do, that these items are available only rarely and when they are we must try to keep them here or bring them back to the island. Leroy H. True Macy Family We had planned an article on this famous family for this issue of Historic Nantucket but it has been unavoidably delayed. Hopefully it will be ready for the next quarterly.
Report of the Whaling Museum THE CONSERVATION of works of art and antiquities entrusted to its care is certainly one of the primary responsibilities of museum management. Since the Association has been especially active in this area during the past year, it seems appropriate to begin this report with a brief account of such progress made at the Whaling Museum. Most importantly, the museum's entire art collection has been reviewed by experts in conservation and, in accordance with priorities established with their help, the Association has pressed forward to implement their recommendations. Since last fall, eighteen of our oil paintings, watercolors and prints have received professional care at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the New England Document Conservation Center in North Andover, Mass. In addition, virtually all of our other art-on-paper has been rebacked with museum quality, acid-free rag board. This is a preventive measure designed to minimize further de terioration until items requiring more extensive attention can be scheduled to receive it. Ship models, scrimshaw, whaling irons and gear, and miscel laneous artifacts also require regular maintenance and repair but there is nothing out of the ordinary to report in these cate gories. Competent volunteers have offered to make minor repairs on certain ship models under the expert direction of Charles Sayle, and we are hopeful that this project will move ahead after the regular season has closed. The Whaling Museum is rightfully proud of its outstanding collection but this does not mean that there isn't plenty of room for improvement, both as to quantity and quality. This was brought home to us a short while ago when a number of items on loan were placed on sale by the owner. Fortunately, the Associa tion was able to buy several of the better prints, and to avoid an unacceptable downgrading of the collection. The owner very gen erously made a special price for our benefit and we are deeply grateful. A brief passage from the 1973 report of Ernest S. Dodge, Director of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Mass., is very much to the point. Mr. Dodge wrote as follows: "The hard core of any museum is the richness and extent of the collections within its areas of specialization. Collecting in those fields of interest must always continue. Any other policyfor a museum ivould mean its slow death." (Emphasis supplied.) Friends have responded generously on many occasions to urgent exhibit needs made known to them through the pages of this quarterly. It happened most recently early this year when
10
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
a benefactor donated a fine mid-19th century chronometer in answer to such an appeal. We hope that all of you will keep in mind that there is not a single category in our collection which cannot be improved and that we need a steady stream of new accessions to maintain our high standing and appeal with an increasingly sophisticated and demanding public. Our long term plans include a major program to upgrade the educational and entertainment content of the whale room. A final decision has not been reached but it can be reported that a highly competent professional from a major museum in New York has offered his services at a reduced fee to design and implement the improvements, which can be made piecemeal, if necessary, as funds are made available. The principal change in our physical setup during the past year involved the removal of a wall section to make the receptionsales area more spacious and efficient in accommodating the growing number of visitors. In addition, this area, as well as the scrimshaw room, upper hall and reading room were redeco rated and we have received many compliments on their appear ance. A pleasing two-tone combination of Williamsburg blue was used on the woodwork and walls. Come in and see it for yourself! For many years we maintained an extensive library dealing with whaling, Nantucket history and maritime subjects gen erally. Except for a few volumes of general interest kept on three reading tables, this material was used almost entirely for research by serious students of these subjects. When the new Peter Foulger Museum was built, superior research facilities were provided and this function came more directly under the supervision of Mr. Edouard Stackpole, our Historian, who is also chairman and director of this sister institution. In the interest of greater efficiency, it was decided last fall to consoli date the two research libraries at Foulger. Our reading tables continue to accommodate casual readers with an ample selection of material. The removal of bookcases from the west wall of the library made possible a general rearrangement of the exhibits in this room and we believe that you will like the new feeling of spa ciousness which the extra room gives. If you haven't visited us since last August you will notice quite a change in the scrimshaw room. The collection has been rearranged, largely by category of use, and certain items of commercial or dubious provenance were removed from the ex hibit. Some of these are nevertheless worthy of display and are now exhibited separately in the reading room along with Eskimo carvings, an art form in its own right but not scrimshaw as we think of it.
WHALING MUSEUM REPORT
11
Messrs. Morgan Levine of Nantucket and Darby Bannard of Princeton, N. J., and Nantucket, have both rendered valuable service to the museum and have consented to join our Advisory Committee. Morgan is a well-known local dealer in whaling art and artifacts and his expertise in this area is known far and wide. Darby brings to us not only his nationally recognized artistic talents but an extensive knowledge of whaling lore. We set a new record for attendance last year so let's not talk about income and expense, ok? We are alive and well and living happily in the best, although not the largest, whaling museum building in America. There have been two major changes in our permanent staff since last year. Logically enough, the Peter Foulger Museum requisitioned Louise Hussey, our Librar ian, along with the books; and if you haven't done so already, you really ought to meet Bill Walmsley, our new manager. A 'man of his ability and dedication is mighty hard to come by nowadays and we are delighted to have him with us. Hugh R. Chace Chairman
The Bunker Family Descendants
It has been requested that Bunker family descendants make themselves known to Mrs. George A. Moore 360 Lowell St. Peabody, Mass. 01960 She will send them a copy of the past issue of "The Bunker Banner" which carries an account of the family origin in Nan tucket. There will be no cost.
12
The Financial Report June 1, 1974 (Subject to final adjustment by auditors Rodrigues, Guckin, and Tobojka.) Assets Cash — checking Investment and savings Foulger Fund Pledges Fixed Assets
$
2,218.2,8 407,903.83 275,573.31 88,619.07 1,107,869.53
1,882,184.02 Liabilities Payroll (withheld Mass. Pr and sales tax) Reserve Unrestricted and Gen. Fund Restricted Funds Unallocated Gifts Plantr Fund Endowment Funds
$
208.42 5,227.06 60,470.22 10,454.29 34,460.64 1,127,335.04 644,028.35 1,882,184.02
Income Memberships Dividend and Interest General Foulger Macy Monaghan Donations Sales Admissions
18,240.00 15,562.35 14,245.62 3,238.63 1,306.80 15,724.37 15,602.73 54,890.42 138,810.92
Expenses Wages Utilities Supplies & R&M Major Building Expense Taxes Advertising and Printing Purchased for Resale
46,399.45 9,567.49 18,750.35 25,823.07 2,524.11 10,165.47
«
FINANCIAL REPORT
Insurance Professional Fees Miscellaneous Historic Nantucket Archaeology
13
8,770.00 1,030.00 1,624.59 3,474.21 10,329.72 138,458.46
Special Funds — Unrestricted Sidney Mitchell Ella Starbuck Ruth H. Sutton Elizabeth Blackburn Maria Mitchell Starbuck MacKay Rev. William E. Gardner Mary E. Walker Mary Eliza Macy Edna Whitteken Mary E. Gouin Coffin Genealogy Elizabeth Coffin Fitzgerald Clara Baker Laura K. G. Hecker
$ 3,000.00 3,000.00 6,461.00 5,000.00 3,000.00 1,000.00 500.00 500.00 1,000.00 7,500.00 5,885.16 2,590.20 2,500.00 1,000.00
Principal and Interest Restricted as Noted by Donor Life Membership Emma F. Hayward William Swift Jos. Mitchell & Elizabeth B. Mitchell Mary Chase Miliken
15,852.00 2,000.00 5,000.00 20,100.00 5,274.00
Principal and Interest Restricted as Noted M/M Richard Swain (Satler Memorial) Old Mill Preservation W. E. Gardner (rebinding) Jethro Coffin House (restoration) Susan E. Brock (Friends Meeting) Henry Carlisle (Whaling Museum) M/M Richard Swain (Old Mill) M/M Richard Swain (Paintings) Mrs. Winthrop Coffin (Oldest House) James Reid Parker (grounds at Oldest House)
1,000.00 1,164.62 766.59 799.06 1,000,00 2,000.00 500.00 1,968.95 10,000.00 1,000.00
14
Currents of Migration oil Nantucket
1760 - 1780 BY GEORGE ROGERS TAYLOR
THE PATTERN of migration to and from the island of Nan tucket in the late Colonial Period departs from the familiar New England model. The over-all view is that of a rapidly multiplying people engaged in cultivating a thin and soon-exhausted soil who provided the pressure for a persistent exodus which surged westward from the coastal and rural towns of southeastern New England into western Connecticut and Massachusetts, across the border into New York and Pennsylvania, and northward into New Hampshire and Vermont. On the other hand, the infertile soil of Nantucket never held out to settlers the hope of rich harvests promised by the river valleys and forest-clad hills of the mainland. In 1791 Thomas Jefferson described the island of Nantucket as "a sand bar fif teen miles long, and three broad."1 The pulling power of Nan tucket lay in its preeminence as the leading whaling center in the colonies. Voyaging for whales and the related mercantile, servicing, and processing operations provided almost the only employment. Especially in the ten years just before the Revolu tion, whaling attracted an increasing flow of immigrants to Nan tucket. Leading island authorities testify to the unprecedented expansion of the industry. Obed Macy reported that whaling in the American Colonies in the period 1770-1775 "increased to an extent hitherto unparalleled."2 And Alexander Starbuck de clared that whaling in the colonies in 1774 was "in the full tide of success."3 Nantucket, possessing roughly half of the industry in the British Colonies, shared richly in this growth. A remarkable acceleration in Nantucket's population growth during the ten years before the Revolution reflects the contem porary boom in whaling. From 1726 to 1764 the average decennial increase had been a little over 575 persons. Then during the ten years ending in 1774 the number of inhabitants rose 1352 to total 4545.4 This increase of more than forty per cent in ten years on this isolated stretch of sand constituted a small scale population explosion. In the colony of Massachusetts when the war began, only Boston with 16,000 people and Salem with 5,337 were larger. Nantucket's sister island, Martha's Vineyard, though more than twice her size and with several harbors as good or better than that of Sherburne (later Nantucket Town), could claim a population of little more than half that of Nantucket. In the years preceding the Revolution, when whaling was becoming so prosperous and Nantucket's population growing so rapidly, a considerable conntermovement from the island set
MIGRATION ON NANTUCKET
15
in. Though complete records are unavailable, contemporary evi dence, chiefly that provided by the minutes of the Nantucket Friends Meeting, shows an exodus which has received little attention. In part this emigration consisted of families or in dividuals moving to other nearby New England ports — Lynn, towns on the Cape, Kennebeck, Boston, and especially New Bed ford, where Nantucket families were already taking a leading role in the rise of a rival whaling center. But in addition to this scattered migration, three more localized movements took place preceding the Revolution, one to Barrington, Nova Scotia, another to the North Carolina frontier, and a third to Dutchess County, New York. The earliest group migration from Nantucket preceded the rapid pre-Revolutionary War expansion in population taking place during the Seven Years War, the early 1760's, when inter ference by both the French and the English had become well nigh intolerable to the island whalers. Seizure of vessels and cargo by French privateers though bad enough was hardly less feared by Quaker seamen than impressment into the British navy. So, setting their vessels on a northeaster'/ course, these Nantucket migrants sailed away to Nova Scotia to settle on a small harbor in Barrington Township, where they hoped to escape the depredations of both belligerents. There in 1761, on Cape Sable, only a little more than 300 miles from their recent home, Nantucket whaling men of the Quaker persuasion erected simple shelters alongside those of fellow religionists from Cape Cod. Forty-eight Nantucket men are reported to have reached Barrington in 1762. Their families along with other emigrants arrived in the following year or two. Their new home promised an advantageous base for fishing in the vicinity of Cape Sable and off the Grand Banks, as well as for whaling along the coast of Labrador and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But this remote fishing settlement on the rocky south ern tip of Nova Scotia failed to prosper. Perhaps the remoteness from markets, supplies, and special services provided too ser ious handicaps. At any rate, with the return of peace the Bar rington settlers began drifting back to their former home.5 Shortly before the Revolution, Nantucket Quakers left home in considerable numbers to settle in the North Carolina piedmont. As indicated by the minutes of the Nantucket Friends Meeting, at least one hundred individuals and probably more were in volved in this migration.6 Beginning with about twenty in 1771, the number of emigrants rose to approximately fifty in 1773, declined in 1774, and practically ceased thereafter. At the very height of whaling development on Nantucket these people sailed to North Carolina and traveled one hundred miles inland to join fellow Quakers on the frontier. There, chiefly at New Garden (later Guilford), they built their homes, erected meeting houses, and taking up land became pioneer farmers. The Quaker his-
16
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
torian, Rufus Jones, reports that there were at New Garden "No less than forty-one certificates from Nantucket . . and that many of the migrants were young men seeking their fortunes on the frontier.7 While young men may have dominated in this band, the Nantucket records show the importance of families in the migration and also indicate that women were about as numerous as men. At any rate, here was no fleeing from re ligious persecution or political pressures, or even, if we may believe the record, an attempt to escape generally depressed eco nomic conditions. How then can this thousand mile trek by sea and land be explained? Perhaps, though whaling was expanding, conditions on the island seemed increasingly crowded and com petition more severe. For some at least the hope of improving their condition on the frontier apparently proved sufficient to draw them away from comfortable homes and long-accustomed maritime occupations.8 The migration of Quaker families to Dutchess County, New York, began slightly later than that to North Carolina and ap parently involved somewhat smaller numbers. The deep channel of the Hudson River had long provided the trading sloops of Nantucket with a safe passage all the way to Albany. In 1772, Nantucket Friends established an enclave at Nine Partners, which soon included an adjoining area known as "The Oblong." This migration averaged only a few families a year through 1774. Then it accelerated to about twenty persons per annum in 1775 and 1776. The move to Nine Partners, or "there away" as the minutes of the Friends Meeting read, appears to have begun much like that to North Carolina as a trek of a few persons venturing to the "westward." But as war restrictions multiplied, the Hudson Valley seemed to offer a nearby safe retreat from the increasingly harassed New England coast. A few Nantucket families even moved just before the definite break with the mother country to distant Saratoga on the Hudson above Albany. By 1776, wartime developments put an end to this early, offisland flight to the American mainland — a move, it is worth noting, which preceded that of 1783-4, when a large group migra tion of Friends, largely from Nantucket, founded a surprisingly successful whaling port at the new city of Hudson eighty miles up the river from New York City.9 As tensions heightened on the Massachusetts mainland in 1774 a)nd 1775, some of the more fearful loyalists sought a less belligerent environment by moving to neutralist Nantucket. The chief incursion followed the Battle of Lexington during the week of April 29, when more than sixty persons arrived, chiefly from Boston and Salem.10 Also, Quaker families which had earlier migrated to Barrington, Nova Scotia, and not yet returned, now had an additional incentive to do so, for with their vessels subject to seizure by both the British and the revolting colonists, Nan tucket seemed to offer a possibly less vulnerable position.11
MIGRATION ON NANTUCKET
17
A further movement off the island in this early Revolutionary period merits attention. As in the better-known group migra tions after 17,80, whale oil merchants promoted, directed, and underwrote this exodus of ships and crews — the twin sources of their wealth. As early as January, 1775, these far-sighted promoters, anticipating the likelihood of Colonial interference with the disposal of their product at the Great London Market, laid plans to protect their interest. Action must have seemed especially urgent to them because an unusually promising area for the pursuit of the sperm whale was just opening up in the South Atlantic, an expanse of ocean known to whalers as the Brazil Banks. In this crisis, Francis Rotch of New Bedford and Aaron Lopez of Newport took the lead in organizing, equipping, and manning a whaling fleet designed to operate in southern latitudes with headquarters in the Faulkland Islands.12 The leaders had hoped to have their vessels away from the American coast by the first of June. But Rotch and Smith reported that the populace threw difficulties in their way, forcing them to move their fleet from port to port. In September, 1775, they succeeded in assembling twenty whaling vessels in a harbor at Martha's Vineyard. Of these, five were registered to Francis Rotch of New Bedford, three to his brother William Rotch of Nantucket, six to Leonard Jarvis of Dartmouth (R. I.), and two to Aaron Lopez of Newport.13 The oil merchants had designed a bold plan to circumvent American restrictions. It involved establishing their whaling headquarters in the South Atlantic at Port Egmont in the Faulk land Islands, operating their whaling vessels under the British flag, and marketing their oil directly in London, an arrangement which they assured Lord North was "as agreeable to their in terest as to their inclination."14 Such a project could hardly have been kept a very close secret. Thus, on August 12, 1775, the Nantucket diarist Kezia Fanning reported in respect of this fleet that, "Common fame says that they are intending to go to England with their oil." She further wrote at this time that boats from Falmouth on the Cape brought a patriot com pany to investigate these developments, but that they returned satisfied that their suspicions were unjustified. Soon afterwards the fleet got to sea and, according to the promoters' statement, with the assistance of the British warship "Rose."15 Interest here lies not in the history of this shadowy South Atlantic venture, but rather in recording its part in promoting migration from Nantucket. The twenty ships sailing from Mar tha's Vineyard in September 1775 must have been manned by around three hundred officers and men16 many of whom, and probably most, came from Nantucket, the prime recruiting ground for the sperm fishery. The Nantucket whalers who served in this fleet constituted only a small part of those from the island who manned the British whaling fleet during the war. Con cerning some of these whalemen, Benjamin Franklin and John
18
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
Adams reported from Passy, October 30, 1778, that the British whaling fleet off the Atlantic Coast of South America consisted of seventeen vessels manned for the most part by American officers and men, including . . at least four hundred and fifty of the best kind of seamen . . . almost all being Americans from Nantucket and Cape Cod."17 This whole operation, long shrouded in mystery, is now better known, thanks to the investigations of Edouard A. Stackpole among the papers in the British Public Records Office. He has shown that Francis Rotch, arriving in London in the autumn of 1775, set himself up there as "a citizen of London formerly of Boston" and during the darkest days of the Revolution directed extensive whaling operations in the South Atlantic under the protection of the British government.1 8 As the war progressed, commercial and whaling operations from Nantucket became increasingly risky. The Americans seized vessels suspected of trading with the enemy; the British on their part captured island craft not carrying English papers. The British often gave the captured American officers and crews a choice of life on a prison ship, serving on a man-of-war, or carrying on whaling from an English port. So in the late seven ties, whaling from Nantucket reached a very low point. In a sense, this war-time migration differed from those before the Revolution as most of the sailors must have regarded their departure as merely temporary. In his standard work on the island, Starbuck estimates ". . . that no less than 1200 seamen, mostly whalemen, were captured by the British or perished at their hands . . . from Nantucket alone."19 This figure seems high, especially as the island's population is reported to have declined by only 276 between 1774 and 1784.2° Of course, many of those serving under the British flag may have returned by the latter year and natural increase probably helped to swell the total. However, although numbers returned from 1783, many others remained abroad where as officers or members of the crew they constituted an appreciable part of the British whaling fleet.
MIGRATION ON NANTUCKET
19
References 1. American State Papers, Commerce and Navigation (Wash ington, 1832), I. 11. 2. Obed Macy, The History of Nantucket (2nd ed., Mans field, Mass., 1880), p. 77. This volume includes a reproduction of Macy's original edition published in 1835. 3. Alexander Starbuck, History of the American Whale Fishery (New York, 1964), I, 57. First published in 1878. 4. Macy, History of Nantucket, p. 83. 5. Edwin Crowell, A History of Barrington Toivnshig and Vicinity . . . 160U-1870 (Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, n.d.), pp. 86-201, and Arthur Garratt Dorland, The Quakers in Canada, A History (Toronto, 1968), pp. 30-33. See also J. B. Brebner,
The Neutral Yankees of Nova Scotia. A Marginal Colony during the Revolutionary Years (New York, 1937), pp. 28-30, 56-58, 112n, and Edouard A. Stackpole, Historic Nantucket, "The Nantucket Migrations," vi (Oct. 1958), 15-20.
6. Estimates of the numbers migrating are based, unless other wise indicated, upon the minutes of the Nantucket Friends Meeting. On leaving the island, members in good standing ordinarily requested certificates to a meeting near their destination. Such certificates were sometimes for families and at others for individuals. Normally issued when depar ture was intended, they might be requested by those who had already migrated. At least some Friends did not request certificates. For those not members of the society no record has been found. 7. Rufus M. Jones, The Quakers in the American Colonies (Lon don, 1911), p. 297. 8. Obed Macy, History of Nantucket, p. 55. See also Will F. Macy,"Migrations of Nantucketers to the South and West," Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association (1933) p. 24. 9. Minutes of the Nantucket Friends Meeting. 10. Kezia Coffin Fanning, Diaries (1775-1820), Mar. 16, June 27, July 8, and Oct. 12, 1775; Stackpole, The Sea-Hunters (Phila., 1953), pp. 79, 99-100.
20
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
11. Dorland, Quakers in Canada, p. 32. The minutes of the Nan tucket Friends Meeting of September 9, 1774 note the request of one family for a certificate to New Garden — one which had earlier migrated to Barrington without requesting a cer tificate. 12. Petition of Francis Rotch and Richard Smith to the Right Honorable Lord North, First Lord Commissioner of His Majesty's Treasury, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Co lonial Office, 5, vol. 146, folio 63b. The Library of Congress provided a copy of this important communication. I am in debted to footnotes in Stackpole, Sea-Hunters, pp. 477-478, for this and other useful references. The leading role of Francis Rotch in this enterprise as well as its hush-hush nature are clearly indicated in Francis Rotch to Aaron Lopez, London, Feb. 20, 1776 in Commerce of Rhode Island, II, 39-41. 13. Rotch and Smith to Lord North, Public Record Office, Colon ial Office, 5, vol. 146, folio 63 b, and Stackpole, The SeaHunters, pp 71-81, 14. Rotch and Smith to Lord North, Public Record Office, Colon ial Office, 5, vol. 146, folio 63 b. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. Sixty men were taken from four vessels in the fleet when the vessels were temporarily seized by the British. 17. The Works of John Adams (Boston, 1852), VII, 63-64. A copy of a similar letter appears in Alexander Starbuck, The History of Nantucket (Rutland, Vermont, 1969), pp. 229-30, and in Massachusetts Archives, vol. 210, p. 16. 18. Stackpole, Sea-Hunters, pp. 71-8L 19. Starbuck, American Whale Fishery, I, 77. 20. Macy, Nantucket, pp. 83-84.
22
The Effect of Salinity Changes On a Filter Feeding Organism BY JOHN SEASE
INTRODUCTION THE AREA USED for this study is located in the Quaise salt marsh on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. An estuary, open to the harbor, winds through the marsh, with several tributary streams, each connecting the estuary to small ponds. At the innermost extremity of the estuary is the last in this series of ponds. Where the estuary flows into this pond, sand deposition has built up a small delta. Soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria) are found in this area, but not the surrounding mud. It has long been known that clams need a fairly hard substrate to survive; soft mud or shifting sand could smother them (Kellogg 1903). Although the estuary winds through the marsh for a con siderable distance, the rise and fall of the tides is considerable at the delta, as much as 80 cm. With each rising tide, water of high salinity (approximately 29%) moves up the estuary from the harbor. Fresh water is introduced to the system from the opposite end of the pond, and because fresh water input from this source is relatively constant, it follows that extensive mixing must occur at some point in the pond during the tidal cycle. An additional source of fresh water is seepage from the underlying fresh water table. A typical marsh can be described as floating, the tangled web of plant roots forming a support ing mat over the liquid-like mud and peat below (Teal 1969, p. 2). This water would very likely be fresh, as a pond is the inter section of the water table with the ground surface. The presence of nearby fresh water is indicated by a stand of cattails (Typha latifolia) on the marsh margin. These plants are unable to survive in a highly saline environment. At question here is to what extent do water of varying salinities mix, and what is the resulting effect on the clam population in the sand delta. The Soft-Shell Clam and its Environment The clam lives in the sand, often penetrating as deep as 30 cm, although usually somewhat less, and feeds by reaching its siphon to the sand surface. Cilia within the siphon create an incurrent flow of water, which carries with it food and oxygen. More cilia pick out food particles and pass them to the mouth and then to the stomach. Wastes are removed by the excurrent water. Spawn is also carried out in this manner and fertiliza tion is external. The larvae remain free-swimming for up to two weeks before settling to the bottom. For several days the small clam will hold to the bottom with a thread-like byssus before finally burrowing into the sand. Like many other marine organ-
EFFECT OF SALINITY CHANGES
23
isms, the clam population survives by producing tremendous numbers of offspring. The mortality rate is quite high for the free-swimming larvae, and numbers are further reduced as many spat are likely to settle on hostile terrain. A wide variety of conditions may regulate the growth of clams. First, the substrate must be hard enough for the clam to dig without having its siphon smothered by mud or loose sand. The soft muddy bottom so characteristic of the great majority of the salt marsh is unsuitable for the clam, as the siphon could not be kept clear of the shifting mud. Most significant of the influencing factors is the current. Current is important as the clam is stationary and it must de pend on water movement to deliver food, oxygen, lime salts for shell formation, etc., as well as remove spawn, waste, and dan gerous decaying material. Experiments have shown that there is an optimal current flow at which maximum growth of clams will take place. At lower flow rates they grow less well and in very rapid currents their survival rate rapidly diminishes (Belding 1914; Kellogg 1905). An additional factor influencing clam growth is salinity although there is conflicting evidence con cerning its effect on their feeding activity. Matthiessen (1960) found growth rate to vary directly with salinity, while Blake (1961) reported no significant influence of salinity on feeding activity (in both cases feeding activity and rate of growth were considered directly related). My investigations at the Quaise marsh are an attempt to resolve this uncertainty. II Methods Six sites for salinity measurements were chosen that would cover the delta and give representative sampling. Readings were taken using an induction salinometer (G.M. mfg. and Instrument Corp. RS5-3), which measured conductivity, salinity, and tem perature, salinity being directly proportional to the salinity of water to conduct an electrical current. Stakes with crossbars at intervals of approximately 15 cm were placed at each of the six locations and the sensing unit was lashed at the end of a long fiberglass pole. The sensor was hung from the appropriate crossbar, depending on water level, and measurements were made without disturbing the water. To monitor salinity fluctuations, readings were made at four phases of the tidal cycle: slack high and low tides, and mid-flood ing and mid-ebbing tides. Salinity was checked at the surface and on the bottom at all stations, except at low tide. In this case, the water was so shallow at five of the six stations only one measurement could be made. Measurements were compiled over a period of seven days, and the range of the tides varied during that time (the seven sample days covered approximately half of the lunar tide cycle from spring tide to neap tide). The time of high and low water varied with the range of the tides.
24
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
During the greater tides, low tide at the delta area was observed approximately three hours behind the chart listing for the harbor. During neap tide, low water occurred l1/? or 2 hours behind the harbor. In both cases high tide was several minutes closer to the time listed for the harbor. To test for upward seepage of water, sampling was con ducted by lowering the sensor to the bottom at various locations. Where any current was encountered, a non-conducting, plastic trash barrel, its bottom removed, was lowered to the bottom to shield the sensor from mixing currents, allowing fresh water to seep upwards undisturbed. Density of clams was determined by sampling many parts of the delta, several samples taken in a line across the delta, successively moving along from one end toward the other. A four-sided box 25 cm x 40 cm x 25 cm in height was buried in the sand to a depth of 20 cm. All sand within the box was removed and sifted through window screen, this giving an accur ate census of clams within the area of the box (1000 cm2). An arithmetic average of all samples gave a reasonable estimate of the clam population. Filter feeding activity was observed by using a diving mask and making observations at various phases of the tidal cycle. Although it was impossible to actually see particle movement around the siphon because of poor visibility (due to swift cur rent and murky water), the siphons themselves were visible. In the case of larger clams, both the incurrent and excurrent open ings were seen. The fact that siphons were visible was taken as indication of filtering activity. Ill Results The data compiled by the salinometer shows stratification of differing salt concentrations during ebb and flood tides. The surface salinity while flooding ranged between 16-20% while on the bottom readings varied from 28-29%. Similarly, the the surface during an ebbing tide was 16-19% while the bottom was 25-27%. At mid-tide testings, turbidity, often extreme, was encountered at the surface, thus making accurate readings difficult. At high tide, however, the salinity differentiation be tween upper and lower levels was noted to be less severe, the lower depths being only slightly more saline (17.7-25.9% as compared to 17.5-18.3% at the surface). Mild turbulance was noted near the bottom. Wind was not considered to be a possible mixing factor. Variations in the lunar tide cycle may be respon sible for slight variations in the results. Temperature was not observed to be a factor. Preliminary salinity measurements were also made at the bottom of a small pool to the east of the sand delta, where the effect of the current was greatly reduced. After resting the sensor on the bottom, successive readings showed a steady de-
EFFECT OF SALINITY CHANGES
25
cline in salinity, the readings stabilizing near 80%. Later tests showed the salinometer's accuracy not to be impaired by resting on the bottom in this manner. Similar results were recorded in another area of the marsh. The incoming water at the highway was found to be quite low, as high as 5%, and on one occasion slightly below 10%. The harbor was usually about 29-30%. These are respectively the lowest and highest salinities measured. The great majority of clams found in the estuary were less than 2.5 cm in length (83%), although several clams were found as large as 10 cm. Density appeared to be uniform throughout the delta, my samples averaged 1.3 clams per 1000 cm2, a figure indicative of a good population (personal communication with J. C. Andrews, 1973). Observation with the diving mask revealed that the clams were actively feeding (siphons visible) during most of the tidal cycle, with the exception of a short interval before, during, and after slack low water, when very few siphons were observed. The water's depth ranged at that time from 5-10 cm at the shal lower spots, to 25-30 cm at the deeper parts of the delta. IV Discussion Results of the salinity measurements show that waters of differing salinities are meeting over the delta area. Salt water being more dense than fresh water, stratification by salinity results. During a rising tide, for example, water of essentially the same salinity as that of the harbor moves into the pond along the bottom with the less saline water forming a layer along the top. Similar layering occurs during the falling tide, highly saline water along the bottom with a fresher layer at the surface. This suggests that little mixing is experienced in the pond. Should mixing occur there to any extent, stratification by salinity would be lost and could not be observed during the falling tide. Turbulence was encountered near the surface during the ebbing and flooding tides, observed both visually and with the salinometer. This turbulence is an indication of extreme mixing; extreme fluctuations on the salinometer's conductivity scale coin cide with rapid fluctuations of the water's conductivity, or salinity. The lack of such fluctuations near the bottom indicated that such mixing does not exist, or that the salinity is relatively uniform. The water at low tide roughly coincides with the surface water during flood and ebb tides (14-18%). The fresh water flow at the opposite end of the pond is quickly pushed to the surface, where enough fresh water is present to form a layer several cm in depth, this layer being what remains at low tide. At high tide the water on the bottom is only slightly more saline than at the surface. It would be expected to show the same strati fication that occurs before and after high tide, during the rising and falling tides. One possible explanation is a steady upwelling of fresh water in the delta area from the underlying water table,
26
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
the flow significant enough to be noticeable in the slack water. If the pond water were unaffected in this way, it would be able to flush out the delta area quickly and the increased volume of water would be able to obliterate evidence of further seepage near the delta. More extensive testing is needed to confirm these theories, although two tests did indicate some seepage in the small pond to the east of the delta and another pond across the marsh. Even without adequately explaining the tidal salinity fluc tuations, it has been demonstrated that the delta does experience a range of salinity approaching 15%. The presence of clams in the area further demonstrates that clams are capable of with standing such fluctuations, a fact known for many years (Belding 1914; Kellogg 1905). Filter-feeding activity appears to continue through most of the tidal cycle, the only period of reduced activity occurring shortly before, during and after low tide. The salinity on the bottom appeared to be quite high (25-29%) except during high and low tides, when it dropped to a range of 14-20%. Feeding during the lower salinities experienced at high tide would seem to eliminate salinity as a factor. Previous work in a salt pond, however, demonstrated that salinity changes of this magnitude had little bearing on growth rate. Only when salinity dropped well below this were the effects clear (Matthiessen 1960). The rate of the current could explain the reduced filtering activity however. It has been reported that if sand particles or debris in large numbers come in contact with the sensory organs at the tip of the siphon, the clam withdraws the siphon into the hole (Kellogg 1905). As the water level decreases, the cross-sectional area of the channel also decreases, resulting in an increased rate of flow. Except for a few moments at slack low tide, this condition continues until the level is increased again. The amount of debris increases with the rate of flow, hence^ the force of impact against the siphon is increased, resulting in a much reduced feeding activity. In summary, a significant clam population exists in an area which is a mixing zone for fresh and sea water. Sea water moves up the estuary from the harbor, while fresh water enters from the opposite end of the pond. Preliminary evidence also sug gests fresh water seepage from the water table below. Filter feeding activity is reduced only a short portion of the tidal cycle, but it appears that this decreased activity results not from salinity changes, but from increased rate of current flow. (Working at the Quaise Station of the University of Massachusetts, under the direction of Dr. Wesley N. Tiffney, head of the Marine Biology Department at Quaise, Mr. Sease was one of two students receiving scholastic support from the Coffin School Scholarship Awards.)
27
Clevelands on the Island BY THEODORE C. WYMAN
ALL THROUGH THE YEARS that I have worked on genealo gies of various branches of the family I have come to realize that, in a way, I have been surrounded by family history. And a part of that family history has to do with the time I lived for ten years on the island of Nantucket. At that time I knew, in a general way, that some of my grandmother's family, originally the Cleavelands, later written Cleveland, had lived on the Vine yard. And then as I worked on a history of the Cleveland fam ily, I found that a very large number of that family had lived on the Vineyard and on Nantucket. Not only had they lived on Nantucket, but several of them had been captains of whaling ships and they had descended from the Moses Cleveland from whom I had descended. That Moses Cleveland and his brother Aaron Cleveland, from whom President Grover Cleveland had descended, were the sons of Moses Cleveland who came from Ipswich, England in 1635 and who was one of the early settlers of Woburn. Most of the information came from a genealogy of the Cleveland family at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, but there was more information to be found in the Whaling Museum in Nantucket. And I was able to find the graves of two of the Cleveland family on the island, one of them that of Capt. Henry Cleveland (1798-1875) who was captain of the whaleship Richard Mitchell. So it seems that, to some extent, my own life had followed a pattern similar to that of many of the Cleveland family. They had lived on the islands, followed the sea to many parts of the world, and served in var ious wars. And that seems to be what I have done. In a genealogy of the Cleveland family that I finished in 1971, I included a record of many of the family who had lived on the Vineyard and on Nantucket. And some of the records were made because of my interest in the connection of the Cleveland family with so many of the island families I have known. There was also the connection with the whaling industry as sea cap tains and ship owners as well as service in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War, and settlement in other parts of the world. There was all that, but what I shall include here are just a few of the records found in a genealogy of the Cleveland family at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and then some things found in various records at the Whaling Mu seum while on a visit there in 1972. As for the records found in the genealogy of the Cleveland family, they might be confusing to read by anyone who has never been interested in putting
28
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
together a family genealogy. So I shall just include some infor mation that was of interest to me. SETH CLEVELAND, who died on Nantucket in 1823, married Mary Jones, daughter of Ebenezer and Delight (Davis or Dimick) Jones. He was a mariner and in the War of 1812 he and his son Zimri ran an open whaleboat to the mainland for provisions, choosing stormy nights to avoid English cruisers in Vineyard Sound. When overtaken by daylight they would sail to the near est land, hide their cargo in bushes and sink their boat in shoal water until dark. REUBEN CLEVELAND of Nantucket who died in London, Eng land in 1850, dwelt first in London about 1801 to 1804 after going to London in merchant service from Nantucket. He after wards settled at Milford Haven, Wales, and later at Grantham, England, became a linen draper and was one of the few Ameri cans who returned to England and became wealthy. DAVIS CLEVELAND who married Rebecca Russell of Nan tucket, daughter of Seth and Abigail (Meader) Russell, was a mariner who was a Dartmoor prisoner. He died at sea in 1821 while steering a boat when a sperm whale dropped its jaw over the stern, biting him in two. HENRY CLEVELAND whose grave I found in the New Town Burying Ground in Nantucket, married Rebecca Coffin Russell. He dwelt at Nantucket, removed to New Bedford to 1846, and always afterward lived on Nantucket, At New Bedford he man ufactured whale oil. He became captain of a whaler, and was part owner of the ship Richard Mitchell. He sailed from Nan tucket and New Bedford. SETH FOLGER CLEVELAND died at Wailuku, Sandwich Is lands, Hawaii on May 1, 1873. He was a mariner who dwelt at Nantucket to 1850, was at sea to 1852, San Francisco, Cal., and Calimines to 1855, and afterward in Sandwich Islands. Now for a few things found during a visit to Nantucket in 1972. There was a chance to go through various records in the Whaling Museum and from Whaling Masters 1731-1925; History of the American Whale Fishery, Alexander Starbuck; and Charles W. Morgan The Last Wooden Whaleship by Edouard A. Stackpole, there was some information that was of interest to me. Of particular interest was the information about some Clevelands who were captains of whaling ships from Nantucket. If some of the Clevelands lived and died on Nantucket, then there must be some record of them in the old burying grounds on the island, so I started out to search for some of those
CLEVELANDS ON NANTUCKET
29
records and covered a great deal of ground without any success. There was nothing I could find in the Old Quaker Burying Ground, and in both sections of the Old North Burying Ground, so I checked with the Peter Foulger Museum and they had a record of some Clevelands in what was known as the New Town Burying Ground. So I found there two graves of which they had a record, and one of them was of one of the old whal ing captains. The graves and inscriptions I found were: Capt. Henry Cleveland 1798 - 1875 Rebecca, wife of Henry Cleveland 1809 - 1878 (From the Cleveland Genealogy in Boston she was Rebecca Coffin Russell.) Then there was the grave of Susan P. Cleveland with an interesting inscription which read: Erected by a number of young men friends of the deceased to the memory of Susan P. daughter of Zimri and Sarah Cleveland who was drowned in Madaket Harbor July 24, 1849 Ae. 24 yrs. 9 ms. 16 ds. "Gaily and brightly the waves danced before thee and woo'd thee with smiles to disport on their breast. The Angel of Death on their bosom hath found thee and born thee away to the land of the blest." And so I thought she must have been quite some lady to have a number of young men who would erect a stone in her memory. Then, later, in looking through the Cleveland Genealogy at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, there was the record from a Boston newspaper that said Susan Pease Cleveland had been drowned at Madaket by the careless upset ting of a pleasure boat when Phebe Allen, too, was drowned. And it was of interest to me to note that she was the daugh ter of Zimri Coffin Cleveland who, with his father Seth Cleve land, had so many adventures in the War of 1812. As Seth Cleveland descended from Moses Cleveland, as I did, then Zimri and Susan also descended from him, so that makes her some kind of cousin to me. And the same is true of Henry Cleveland. Now for some records in the Whaling Museum of men from the Cleveland family who were captains of whaling ships. 1835 — Ship Richard Mitchell — 385 tons Captain Henry C. Cleveland Managing owner or agent — P. Mitchell & Sons
30
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
Whaling ground — Pacific Ocean Date of sailing — July 20 Arrival — Dec. 27, 1838 Result of voyage — Sperm oil — 1172 bbls. Whale oil 937 bbls. 1854 — Ship Three Brothers — 3.84 tons Captain Charles E. Cleveland Managing owner or agent — G. & M. Starbuck & Co. Whaling ground — Pacific Ocean Date of sailing — July 10 Arrival — April 20, 1859 Result of voyage — whale oil 6000 bbls. Sent home — 179 Sperm, 31000 bone (whale bone) Largest quantity ever brought in. Captain William Cleveland Whaling bark Morning Star Voyage Nov. 10, 1853 - May 18, 1857 1503 bbl Sperm There were also some records at the Whaling Museum about Benjamin D. Cleveland. From 1883 to 1921 he was captain of ships sailing from New Bedford, San Francisco and Boston, and in 1916 he was captain of the Charles W. Morgan. I could not find any record of him in the Cleveland genealogy in Boston. Per haps I just could not find it, or perhaps it was because the gene alogy was published in 1899. There is more information from: The Charles W. Morgan, The Last Wooden Whaleship, by Edouard A. Stackpole Captain Benjamin D. Cleveland bought the Charles W. Morgan for a voyage to Desolation Island (in the Kerguelen group) in the South Indian Ocean. On Sept. 7, 1916 the Morgan sailed on her thirty-fourth voyage to the Cape Verde Islands. She sailed from Brava Nov. 21, 1916 and reached Desolation on Feb. 7, 1917. On her way home she had to sail through enemy submarines and arrived in New Bedford Oct. 23, 1917. So there is some information about members of the Cleve land family who followed the sea and who lived on Nantucket. And of interest to me is that Benjamin Cleveland sailed to the Cape Verde Islands and then south as I did the same thing on a voyage to Rio in 1925.
Bequests or gifts to the Nantucket Historical Association are tax deductible. They are greatly needed and appreciated.
Ship Model and Cradle of Bone Among the many unusual displays at the Whaling Museum
