Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS

President, Leroy H. True Vice-Presidents, Albert G. Brock, George W. Jones, Alcon Chadwick, Albert F.

Egan, Jr., Walter Beinecke, Jr. Honorary Vice-Presidents, W. Ripley Nelson, Henry B. Coleman Secretary, Richard C. Austin Treasurer, John N. Welch Councillors, Leroy H. True, Chairman

Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman, Miss Mary Gardner, terms expire 1976. Benjamin

Richmond, Francis W. Pease, terms expire 1977; Mrs. R. A. Orleans,

Robert E. Tonkin, terms expire 1978; Robert D. Congdon, Harold W. Lindley, terms expire 1979. Curator, Miss Dorothy Gardner Historian, Edouard A. Stackpole 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, Mrs. Alfred A. Hall, Mrs. Harold

Arnold, Miss Helen Levens. 1800 House:

Receptionist: Mrs. John Kittila, Sr. Old Gaol: Chairman, Albert G. Brock Whaling Museum: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace

Receptionists: Clarence H. Swift* Mrs. Herbert Sandsbury, Frank Pattison,

Jesse Dunham, James A. Watts, Miss Lucia Arno, Adam Craig, Mrs.

William Searle Peter Foulger Museum: Chairman and Director, Edouard A. Stackpole

Receptionists: Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth, Mrs. Clara Block, Joseph Sylvia, Lalie

Keesham.

Librarian: Mrs. Louise Hussey Nathaniel Macy House: Chairman, Mrs. John A. Baldwin

Receptionists: Miss Dorothy Hiller, Mrs. Henry C. Petzel Archaeology Department: Chairman, Mrs. Roger Young

Field Supervisor, Miss Barbara Kranichfeld Old Town Office: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Old Mill: Chairman, Richard F. Swain, Miller: William Searle Folger-Franklin Seat & Memorial Boulder: Chairman, Francis Sylvia Friends Meeting House-Fair Street Museum: Chairman, Mrs. Harding U.

Greene Lightship "Nantucket": Chairman, Benjamin S. Richmond, ship keeper,

Richard Swain

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 24 July, 1976 No. 1

CONTENTS

Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff

Editorial — The Role of Tradition

The Long Voyage of Captain Bunker and Fate of Mate Coffin

A Tribute from an Island Descendant 2

5

6

12

Mrs. Marie M. Coffin, an Appreciation by Merle Turner Orleans

Elisabeth Gayer's Letter by Walter Weston Folger

When Grover Cleveland Visited Nantucket 15

16

18

Sachem Nickanoose of Nantucket and the Grass Contest (continued from April, 1976) by Elizabeth A. Little 21

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 $7.50; Sustaining $25.00; Life — one payment $100.00 Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

Andrew Jackson Swain — Nantucket Blacksmith This photograph of one of the best known Nantucket blacksmiths of the early 20th century was presented by his grandson and namesake, Andrew J. Swain, now a resident of Savannah, Georgia.