Historic Nantucket
A classic photograph of upper Main Street, just beyond the Monument, taken by Henry S. Wyer in 1900.
April, 1987 Published Quarterly by Nantucket Historical Association Nantucket, Massachusetts
NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President: H. Flint Ranney Vice President: Robert D. Congdon Vice President: Mrs. Bracebridge Young Secretary: Mrs. Walker Groetzinger Treasurer: Donald E. Terry Honorary Vice Presidents Walter Beinecke, Jr. Albert Brock Albert F. Egan, Jr Alcon Chadwick Mrs. Bernard Grossman Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans Presidents Emeritus George W. Jones Leroy H. True Edouard A. Stackpole
Mrs.Kenneth Baird Mrs. John A. Baldwin Mrs. Dwight Beman Mrs. James Chase Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman John Gilbert
Max N. Berry Patricia A. Butler Charles Carpenter
COUNCIL MEMBERS Mrs. Hamilton Heard, Jr. Mrs. John G. W. Husted Reginald Levine Robert F. Mooney Mrs. Carl M. Mueller Philip C. Murray ADVISORY BOARD Mrs. Charles Carpenter Stuart P. Feld William A. Hance Andrew J. Leddy, Jr.
Mrs. Alan Newhouse Francis W. Pease Mrs. Judith Powers Charles F. Sayle, Sr. Mrs. Jane D. Woodruff Robert A. Young
Mrs. Thomas Loring William B. Macomber Nancy A. Martin
STAFF John N. Welch, Administrator Victoria Taylor Hawkins Curator of Collections Jacqueline Kolle Haring Curator of Research Materials Louise R. Hussey Librarian Elizabeth Tyrer Executive Secretary Peter S. MacGlashan Registrar Kathrine L. Walker Ass t. Curator of Collections Thomas W. Dickson Merchandise Manager
Bruce A. Courson Curator of Museums & Interpretation Edouard A. Stackpole Historian Leroy H. True Manager, Whaling Museum Wilson B. Fantom Plant Manager Elizabeth Little Curator of Prehistoric Artifacts Gayl Michael Asst. Curator of Research Materials Richard P. Swain Miller Georgiann L. Phipps Director of Development
Docents: Kay Allen, Kathleen Barcus, Suzanne Beaupre, Marjorie Burgess, Alcon Chadwick, Tamar Chizewer, Marjorie Corey, Roscoe Corey, Margaret Crowell, Anita Dougan, Everett Finlay, Barbara Johnston, Maureen Murdock, Elsie Niles, Alfred Orpin, Gerald Ryder, Dorothy Strong, Mary Witt ' ' * Historic Nantucket Edouard A. Stackpole, Editor Merle T. Orleans, Assistant Editor
Published Quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a whaling port.
Volume 34
April, 1987
No. 4
CONTENTS Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff
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Editorial: It Happened in April - In Our Own Times
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Melville's First Captain - Valentine Pease, Jr.
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"An Island Song", by Mary E. Starbuck
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Emerson's Tribute to Nantucket
13
Bequests/Address Changes
13
Were There Two Parliament Houses? by Roland L. Warren
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"Seaside Time", by Josephine Smith Brooks
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My Sea-Faring Family by Nancy Grant Adams
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"Nantucket", by Mary Starbuck
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When Governor Lincoln Visited Nantucket
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"The Walk", by Mary Starbuck "Springtime-Blisstime", by Josephine S. Brooks
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Historic Nantucket (USPS 246-160) is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association members and extra copies may be purchased for $3.00 each. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Nantucket Historical Association, P.O. Box 1016, Nantucket, MA 02554. c. N.H.A. 1986 (USSN 043^-2246). Membership dues are: Individual $15., Family $25., Supporting $50., Contributing $100., Sponsor $250., Patron $500., Life Benefactor $2,500. 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.
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It Happened in April - In Our Own Times THROUGHOUT HISTORY on Nantucket, April has been a month of destiny. Two World Wars of momentous import began in this month. Nantucket has seen the approach of both in a physical sense, and some of these events are within the memory of the older folks. As a starter, does one remember the announcement on Mack's billboard on April 6, 1917, that the United States had declared war on Germany - being posted across the square on Main Street? Or that April morning on the 13th in 1918, when the first airplane, a hydroplane- land ed in the harbor and came up on the beach just inside the old Petrel Wharf. And, four days later, four others of the unknown craft landed inside Brant Point, from the Chatham Naval Base. School was dismiss ed to permit the children to witness the event. Although one plane was damaged in landing there were no casualties. With the headquarters set up on Nantucket for the large Naval Reserve Force, under Lieut. T. J. Prindiville, during World War I, with the Springfield House as the dormitory, and the Nantucket Yacht Club as the recreational headquarters, opened on April 20,1917, and a fleet of small craft stationed here. The Nantucket Railroad disappeared, the rails and locomotive shipped to France for the American Expeditionary Forces. Daylight saving went into effect in March, 1918. On April 24 1918, Governor McCall signed the bill in the State Legislature which repealed the law excluding automobiles from Nan tucket. Only a few weeks later, the Nantucket voters accepted the repeal by the narrow vote of 336 to 296. It was a decision accepted with much reservation by the townspeople. During the first years thereafter, Nan tucket saw to it that the automobile adapted itself to the island. Now, Nantucket has been changed; we have retrogressed. There is a nice pat tern to this particular segment of Island history, which lends itself to a possible solution to our summer problem. In April of 1926, the old basin at Steamboat Wharf, known as the Adams' basin, was filled in, and an era in Nantucket's waterfront disap peared forever. Do you remember? - Edouard A. Stackpole
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Melville's First Captain - Valentine Pease, Jr. Was Born on Nantucket in 1797 by Edouard A. Stackpole IT WILL COME as some surprise to many lovers of Herman Melville to learn that the first whaling master, under whom Melville began his whaling career, was a native of Nantucket. Captain Valentine Pease, Jr, master of the whaleship Acushnet, which sailed from New Bedford, in January, 1841, on board of which Melville signed on as a greenhorn, has been generally called a Vineyard man, because he settled on that island following his marriage. But the house in which he was born still stands on Nantucket. Captain Pease was the son of Captain Valentine Pease and Love Daggett, and their first child was also named Valen tine, but he died shortly after, and three children later, Valentine, II was born on November 22, 1797. He came to be known as Valentine Pease, Jr. Captain Valentine Pease, Jr.'s, birthplace stands on West Chester Street and is now owned by Mrs. Joseph Woodle, and has also been called the Captain Priam Brock house. Facing the south, of lean-to design, the fine old structure has been carefully preserved over the years, with the successive owners keeping the old architecture intact over a period of over two centuries. With its front facing the Lily Pond, the house has a long sloping rear roof, in traditional Nantucket style. Its great cen tral chimney sits on the roof top like a crown, with an ell protruding at the rear to serve as a summer kitchen. Captain Valentine Pease, Sr., came from Martha's Vineyard to com mand Nantucket whaleships. In the Alliance, he made a successful voyage to Woolwich Bay on the west African coast in 1795-96. During his next voyage a fifth child was born to him and Love (Daggett) Pease in Nantucket - a second son, named Valentine Pease, Jr. - born November 22, 1797. Three brothers followed Valentine Pease, Jr., Charles F. Pease born Dec. 8,1800; Henry Pease, born Jan. 18,1802; and Tristram Daggett Pease, born Feb. 18,1805. An older brother, named Valentine, had been born in 1789 but died as an infant. Three girls, Love, Martha and Sally, were born before Valentine, Jr. came on to the scene. Two of these three sisters married whaling masters on Martha's Vineyard. The three brothers of Valentine Pease, Jr. also became whalemen. Charles F . Pease, born in 1800, was lost in the whaleship L a d y A d a m s , of Nantucket, which disappeared on the Japan Grounds in 1823. The next brother, Henry Pease, born in 1802, became the master of the ship Catawba, of Nantucket, in 1840, completing a successful three-year voyage. A third brother, Captain Tristram Daggett Pease, was master of the ship Columbus, of New Bedford, in 1832. Captain Valentine Pease, Jr., took his first command in the ship H o u -
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
qua, of New Bedford. From this voyage he returned in 1835, after an experience which would have disheartened a less determined man. Dur ing the three and a half years at sea, the 33-year-old Captain Valentine Pease, Jr., had lost 11 men by desertions. His 1st mate, Edward Starbuck, had resigned his post after a disagreement with the Captain. A boat's crew and two mates were lost by drowning in an unsuccessful attempt to save a man who had fallen overboard. From the original crew of 25 men only three returned in the Houqua with Captain Pease. However, the ship had a successful voyage, bringing home some 1700 bbls. of oil. Captain Pease was one of the five owners of the Houqua, but sold his share upon his return home. On his next voyage, Captain Pease took out the ship Mechanic, from St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. It was a successful voyage for the owners but disastrous for the crew and officers, and was to leave an unfavorable impression on the young shipmaster.
On his next voyage whaling, Captain Valentine Pease Jr., took com mand of the new ship Acushnet, of Fairhaven, a new ship built in Mattapoisett, Mass., arriving at Fairhaven only a month or so before she sailed. Among the crew signing on was a young greenhorn named Her man Melville, and as Wilson Heflin aptly expressed it, the voyage of the Acushnet provided "the great flood-gates of the water-world" to swing wide open. The ship sailed from New Bedford harbor on January 3,1841. In his third command, Captain Valentine Pease, Jr., was 43 years old. Adop ting a familiar course, the Acushnet crossed the Atlantic to the Cape de Verde Islands, then crossed the South Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he put aboard a vessel bound for Boston, (and eventually reached Fairhaven) a few barrels of sperm oil. He then headed for Cape Horn, which he rounded in April, 1841. In May, he was off Massafuera Island, and then off to the coast of Peru, where they first reached a land fall at Santa late in June. The voyage of the Acushnet was Melville's first whaling experience, and was to lay the foundation for his literary career. Typee, Omoo, Mardi, White Jacket and eventually Moby Dick were to become the beginn ings, and to start the long road to his triumphs. After sailing to the eastern perimeter of the off-shore ground, the and gammed the Nantucket whaleship Lima. It was on August 1,1841, and Melville was 22 years old. When they again gamm ed with the Lima, Melville wrote into his copy of the book, The Loss of the Ship Essex of Nantucket, that he had met the son of the book's author, Owen Chase, who had loaned him a copy of the book. The son's name was William Henry Chase, of Nantucket. Melville wrote in the margin, much later, that he first read the story - "the wondrous story, upon the landless sea, and close to the very latitude of the shipwreck, which had a surprising effect upon me." Acushnet met
After speaking several ships, the Acushnet continued her cruisings, and during September, 1841, stove down 720 bbls. of sperm oil, as a result
Captain Valentine Pease, Jr.
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
of 10 months' voyaging. At this time the crew was mutinous, and con tinued to refuse duty, and seven crew members were given two dozen lashes, and confined to irons in the ship's blubber room - and 3 ring leaders were discharged when the ship put in at Callao. During the early months of 1842, the ship cruised near the Galapagos Islands, where they once gammed with the ship Columbus, of Nantucket, Captain William B. Gardner, of Nantucket, and where she took terrapin. During January and February, 1842, the Acushnet spoke four Nantucket whaleships — the Aurora, the Congress, the Ganges, and the Ocean — as well as the ship James Maury, of Salem, under Capt. Benjamin Hussey. They put in at Tombez, and sailed again for the mid-Pacific. In June, 1842, the Acushnet spoke the Enterprise, of Nantucket, and the Columbus, of New Bedford, under command of Captain Pease's brother, Captain Tristram Daggett Pease, his younger brother. The for tunes of the First Mate, Frederick Raymond, and the Third Mate, James Galvan, had reached a low ebb, and both officers obtained their discharge from the vessel by the time she ended her next cruise to the west coast of South America. But what happened during their cruising to the Marquesas Islands became an important milestone in lives of two "greenhorns" who went ashore as deserters. The stories of Herman Melville and Richard Greene - later called "Toby" - at Nukuhiva, in the Marquesas, on July 6, 1842, became the vital parts of the entire voyage. The Acushnet had put into Taiohai Bay, at Nukuhiva in the Marquesas Islands, which has been so properly described by Sir Edward Belcher, in his "Narrative of a Voyage Round The World," and described thus: "The view of the entrance of the bay is beautiful, far surpassing anything I have noticed in these seas; and altogether rugged, isolated masses of rock....to add to their sombre effect to the otherwise brilliant tints of the landscape, still the luxuriant of the slopes and valleys....produces a sensation which cannot be justly entrusted to pen or pencil. If one did not associate gentley slopes and levels with our idea of Paradise, I should say this is it." Three weeks before, the French fleet, under Rear Admiral Du Petit Thouars, sailed into the island and claimed the territory for the French nation. The Acushnet sailed into the anchorage, and Melville went ashore with a boat's crew, and with Richard Greene, "Toby", promptly deserted the ship. As Melville described the scene: "How shall I describe the scenery that met my eyes as I looked out from the verdant season. The narrow valley, with its steep and close adjoining sides draped with vines, and arched overhead with a fretwork of in terlacing boughs, nearly hidden from view....from where I stood like an immense arbour disclosing its
CAPTAIN VALENTINE PEASE, JR.
11
vista to the eye, which as I advanced it widened into the loveliest vale eye ever beheld." Into his description in Typee ventured the two runaways on that ear ly July morning, and became deserters to live with the natives in the valley of the Typees. The Acushnet lay off and on, for a few days, retur ning to the harbor to search for the runaways, and did recapture three of the missing men, although Melville and his friend "Toby" Greene remained hidden in their island fastness. Three other whaleships came into port in Taiohai Bay, the whaleships Potomac, of Nantucket, Cap tain Isaac Hussey, who left one deserter when he sailed, and the Charles and Margaret Scott, both of New Bedford. A week later, July 14, "Toby" Greene decided to leave Melville in Typee Valley, (where he was recovering slowly from an infected leg), and to go aboard the newly arrived New Bedford whaler London Packet, where he signed on as'a greenhorn. Melville watched his companion sail away, and stayed hidden with the natives until August of 1842, when he signed on aboard the Australian whaler Lucy Ann, to make his way to Tahiti, where he left the ship, to be eventually one of the men engaged to sail aboard the whaleship Charles and Henry, of Nantucket. The Acushnet continued to sail with a dissatisfied crew, with Captain Valentine Pease, Jr., in command. After crossing the Pacific again, the ship put into Payta, Peru, for refreshments, and it was at this port that First Officer Frederick Raymond parted with his command. The abstract log of the Acushnet gives the bare details, and Captain Pease lost the services of a good mate. Third Officer James Galvin left the vessel soon after this incident. John Hall, an Englishman, who had sailed with Captain Owen Chase on the ship Charles Carroll, stayed with Cap tain Pease. When the ship returned on May 13,1845, she had obtained a successful voyage, with 850 bbls. of sperm oil, 1,350 bbls. of whale oil, and 13, 500 lbs. of whalebone. Captain Pease never went again on a whaling voyage, being content to live in his new home on South Water Street in Edgartown. He did not give up the sea entirely, being in business in a small way buying coal by schooners, unloading it and distributing it to those who placed their orders with him. His nephew Alex Pease once said to a questioner: "No, I don't recall Uncle Valentine as a harsh man. I should say he was an upright man, but at times quite profane." Melville's third captain was Captain John B. Coleman, master of the whaleship Charles and Henry of Nantucket, on which Melville signed aboard in early November, 1842, after his stay ashore at Papeete in the Society Islands. He was honorably discharged from the Nantucket craft at Lahaina in the Hawaiian Islands six months later. Captain Valentine Pease, Jr., died in Edgartown on Sept. 9,1870, ag ed 72 years, 9 months and 11 days, and is buried in an Edgartown cemetery.
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
As for Herman Melville, his experiences as a whaleman were in calculable. In his epic of whaling, Moby Dick, he wrote the following passage: "If I shall ever deserve any real repute in that small but hushed world which I might be unreasonably am bitious of; if hereafter I shall do anything on the whole a man might rather have done than to have left un done then I prospectively ascribe all the honor and glory to whaling; for a whaleship was my Yale College and my Harvard."
"An Island Song" By Mary E. Starbuck
I dream of the east wind's tonic, Of the breakers' stormy roar, And the peace of the inner harbor With the long, low Shimmo shore. I want to sail down from Wauwinet, As the sun sinks low in the west, And the town, like a city celestial, Looks a fitting abode for the blest. I long for the bell buoy's tolling Which the north wind brings from afar, The smooth green, shining billows To be churned into foam on the bar. Oh, for the sea gull's screaming As they swoop so bold and free! Oh, for the fragrant commons, And the glorious, open sea. For the restful great contentment, For the joy that is never known, Till past the jetty and Brant Point light, The Islander comes to his own.
Emerson's Tribute To Nantucket
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RALPH WALDO EMERSON'S famous tribute to Nantucket appeared more than a century ago, but it deserves to be better known, and we reprint it herewith: "On the seashore of Nantucket I saw the play of the Atlantic with the coast. Here was wealth; every wave reached a quarter of a mile along shore as it broke. Here are no rich men, I said, to compare with these. Every wave is a fortune. One thinks of Etylers and great projectors who will turn this immense waste strength to account and save limbs of human slaves. "Ah, what a freedom of grace and beauty with this might! The wind blew back the foam from the top of each billow as it rolled in, like the hair of a woman in the wind. The freedom makes the observer feel as a slave. Our expression is so slender, thin and cramp, can we not learn here a generous eloquence? "[The] nation of Nantucket makes its own war and peace. Place of winds, bleak, shelterless, and when it blows, a large part of the island is suspended in the air and comes into your face and eyes as if it was glad to see you. The moon comes here as if it was your home, but there is no shade. A strong national feeling. Very sensitive to everything that dishonours the island, because it hurts the value of national stock till the company are poorer... At Nantucket every blade of grass describes a circle on the sand." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bequests or gifts to the Nantucket Historical Association are tax deduc tible. They are greatly needed and appreciated. $3 PLEASE — Send us your change of address if you are planning to move. You will receive your copy sooner and we are charged extra for all copies returned because of an incorrect address.
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Were There Two Parliament Houses? The Question Is Raised By The Author Of Mary Coffin Starbuck THE FORTHCOMING BOOK, "Mary Coffin Starbuck and the Early History of Nantucket," by Roland L. Warren, is in the hands of the printers, and is due to appear in two or three months. Mr. Warren is the writer of the play about the Oldest House and its early families, which was shown at the celebration activities relating to the Oldest House last summer, and was well received by interested audiences. On this occasion he is writing about the Mary Coffin StarbuckNathaniel Starbuck, Jr. house, known as "Parliament House," on the corner of Pine Street and School Street, in Nantucket. His chapter call ed: "Fact, Fiction and Conjecture," excerpts from which have been used herewith, appears as follows: Fact, Fiction and Conjecture by Roland L. Warren
The confused identification of Mary Coffin Starbuck with her daughter Mary Starbuck has been mentioned in the Introduction. The cir cumstance that one author has the young Mary Starbuck marrying her own father, Nathaniel, might serve as the best illustration of the dif ficulties caused by conflicting accounts. But perhaps the most complex illustration of the jumble of statements based on inadequate data and statements that go contrary to the known facts is the example of Parlia ment House. When was it built? Was there one, or were there two Parlia ment Houses? And, was either one moved into Wesco (the present Nantucket)? In July, 1983, Margaret S. Beale published an article called "The Starbuck Family and the Parliament House" in Historic Nantucket, the of ficial journal of the Nantucket Historical Association. In it, she attemp ted "to determine if a correlation exists between 10 Pine Street and 'Parliament House', a dwelling known as the home of Nathaniel and Mary (Coffin) Starbuck, which was located in the section of Old Sherborn known as Cambridge as early as 1667. According to Nantucket lore, John Folger, a Quaker carpenter, told his grandson, Joseph Austin, that he had incorporated into the house on the corner of Pine and School Streets materials salvaged from 'Parliament House'." Other writers take the "correlation" between the two houses as more than lore. Merle Turner simply reports that "In 1667 Nathaniel and Mary Starbuck had a house, called the Parliament House, on the hill north of Hummock Pond. Around 1820 this was moved to town..." For him, it was not just materials from the original house, but the house itself, apparently intact. Anderson states in a footnote that "The Parliament House still stands, although on a later site, at the corner of Pine and
TWO PARLIAMENT HOUSES?
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School Streets in Nantucket town." William F. Macy states more cautiously that it "is said" that Parliament House now stands at Pine and School Streets. But when was Parliament House built? Beale stated "as early as 1667." Anderson was not specific, but implied that it was not long after 1665. Turner indicated that it existed in 1667. In that year, as reported by Allen Coffin and Beale, an earlier reference to Parliament House had been recorded in the Book of Deeds. Both Beale and Coffin infer that this entry dated from the initial land division by the proprietors in Ju ly, 1661. They report that the entry referred to "the place commonly called the Parliament House." Worth, who is considered most authoritative on early land holdings and buildings, found mention of a meeting in "Parliament House" in 1667, being the home of Nathaniel and Mary Starbuck and Foreman states, curiously, that Parliament House was "still standing in 1665"! At least one fact seems reasonably established from the above: Parlia ment House was built some time before the end of 1667. But, wait. There may have been two Parliament Houses. The Parlia ment House referred to above may not have been the one that was allegedly moved to town in 1820. Guba asserts that the first Parliament House was the place in which the meetings of all three Quaker mis sionaries took place (1698-1701). This building, he relates, "was taken down and rebuilt on upper Main Street where it is known as the Tobey House." He goes on to explain that Nathaniel Starbuck built another house for his son Nathaniel, Jr. in 1699, and that this house of the "bright rubbed room" that Richardson described in 1701, now stands, yes, at Pine and School Streets and is known as the Austin House. Similarly, Leach writes that it was in the Tobey House that Nantucket Monthly Meeting was born in 1708, but that "the first room used regular ly for First-Day meetings was the living room of the Parliament House, built by Nathaniel Starbuck in 1699." (NHA1950, p. 24) He concurs that this was the bright rubbed room mentioned by Richardson and that it was modified and moved to School and Pine Streets as the present Austin House. No doubt, both Guba and Leach were given impetus in their two-house explanations by Worth, who had concluded in 1901 that "The probabili ty is that the house which Folger moved was a later house occupied by the Starbuck family and not that originally known as the Parliament House." Beale, by the way, concluded that there was a "lack of evidence to support John Folger's incorporation of material from "Parliament House" in Cambridge into #10 Pine Street," but she went on tostate that this lack "does not totally negate the story's credibility" — a truly in conclusive statement. Interestingly, A.B.C. Whipple, who does not seek to weed out the aues-
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
tion of whether there was one house or two houses, nevertheless makes an anachronistic flight of imagination, visualizing "the Great Lady, Mary Starbuck, holding the white railing as she descended the steps and graciously acknowledged the bows of her neighbors as she proceeded grandly down Pine Street toward the square. To get there she might have gone down a narrow passage now known as Mooers' Lane..."All this, despite the fact that Mary Starbuck was already dead three years before the house was allegedly moved into town. Just consider: There was one Parliament House. There were two. No, only one of them was named Parliament House. The original house was moved into town. No, the second house was moved into town. No, both houses were moved into town. No, we can't be sure that either one was moved into town. Confusing, yes; but consider further: What of that reference to Parlia ment House in the Book of Deeds from 1661, as reported by Allen Coffin and Beale. That would have been a full year before Mary and Nathaniel were even married. I have found no assertion that either of the two buildings treated above was constructed as early as 1661. Worth, who has made the most thorough study of early Nantucket buildings, writes that "There is no doubt that in 1665 to 1667 the Starbuck house was designated the Parliament House, probably because it had a room large enough to accommodate the meeting of the inhabitants for religious or political purposes." In this passage, he ignores the reference to Parlia ment House in the Book of Deeds perhaps because on the face of it, it seems inconceivable that this house could have been built so early. Most historians agree that the first date at which one can be reasonably sure of a permanent settlement on Nantucket was July, 1661. It strains credulity to believe that a Parliament House such as Worth described it already existed at that time and already had become so designated because of its suitability for meetings. Neither Worth nor any of the other authors who treat the question make any such assertion. How shall we resolve this problem of the reference to a Parliament House in 1661? Let us consider the full entry in the Book of Deeds, as given by Allen Coffin. "The one half of the accommodation to Tristram Cof fin, sen., being assigned to Mary Starbuck and Nathaniel Starbuck, Tristram also being present at the place commonly called the Parliament House, Sixty rod square, bounded with the land of Thos. Mayhew on the south; and with the land of James Coffin on the north; and on the east with the land of Stephen Greenleaf; on the west by the common—Same land allowed at the east end with reference to rubbage land, more or less." Notice the wording: "at the place commonly called the Parliament House;" not the "building," "house," "structure," but "place." Can it be that the reference was not to an existing building but to a location, a section of land which for some long-forgotten reason was then called
TWO PARLIAMENT HOUSES?
17
Parliament House? And that the house (or houses) built there and oc cupied by the Starbucks came to be alluded to by the same name—so that one might speak of going over to Parliament House just as people no doubt spoke of going over to Roger's Field when they wanted to visit f}uF F°lger? And as time went on, because of the size and function of the Starbuck residence(s), the name gradually became attached to the dwelling itself? c Iue a^ove line of reasoni"g seemed at least plausible. To pursue it further, I re-examined the initial record in the Book of Deeds. On closer examination, I have concluded that the word "place" simply does not appear in the document. Perhaps it was included in the renditions by Coffin and Beale simply to "make sense" of the text at a point which was indecipherable. The original text at that point reads: "Tristram also being present at the commonly the Parliament House six ty rod square"...etc. Although the missing word is indecipherable, it is clearly not "place," nor would that word fit into the context at that point. Thus, the notion that there was an earlier "place" commonly called Parliament House has proved to be a false lead. Further, there seems to be no way to be absolutely certain that the entry actually dated from 1661, rather than 1667, when it was apparently recorded. If it did, there remains the mystery of how there was mention of a Parliament House in 1661, one year before Mary and Nathaniel were even married.
Perhaps we will never know the true origin of that name or the year in which the first Parliament House was built. In any case, Parliament House is a pristine example of conflicting assertions based on in conclusive data. Sfe
Seaside Time
Sunny skies and balmy air; Glistening blue waves everywhere; Shouts of merry childish joy Hearts of light - no care to cloy. It's seaside time, At old Nantucket. Scream of birds in passage swift, Streams of sunshine o'er them drift. Air is full of salt sea-scent; Over all a charm is lent. It's seaside time, At old Nantucket. Sailing, bathing, driving, playing By the sea where boats are swaying; By the rippling, restless waters, Many sons and many daughters Love old Nantucket. Josephine Smith Brooks
Mrs. Nancy Grant Adams. Born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, August 26,1887. Died in Nantucket, February 7,1968. President of the Nantucket Historical Association from July, 1953 to July, 1956.
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Nancy Grant Adams, 1887 - 1968 "MY SEA-FARING FAMILY" was completed in 1957 by Mrs. Nancy Grant Adams, who had retired the previous year as President of the Nantucket Historical Association. She had been a vital part of the Association's growth for over thirty years, serving in various capacities - curator, librarian, custodian of collections, chairman of the Whaling Museum, and, finally, as President in 1953. Her activities in Nantucket also included the Abiah Folger Franklin Chapter, D.A.R., Nantucket Civic League, Nantucket Atheneum Library, American Red Cross, and as a member of the Nantucket Finance Committee. As a daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Nantucket whaling captains, she had collected over the years a remarkable number of logbooks, letters and stories from which she wrote "My Sea-Faring Family". It is with pleasure and pride that we present in this issue of "Historic Nantucket the first installment of her book, a major achieve ment of a remarkable woman. Merle T. Orleans, Assistant Editor
MY SEA-FARING FAMILY: A true account of the whalemen: Charles Grant Nancy J. Grant Charles W. Grant George A. Grant
1814-1906 1823-1905 1850-1882 1857-1942
by Nancy Grant Adams 1887-1968 daughter of George A. Grant
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My Sea-Faring Family Dedicated to all the Descendants of Charles and Nancy Grant who were Sea-farers "The wild rise of waves, The close watch at night At the dark prow in danger Of dashing on rock. The wide joy of waters The whirl of salt spray. There is no man among us So proud in his mind, Nor so good in his gifts, Nor so gay in his youth, Nor so daring in deeds, Nor so dear to his Lord That his soul is not stirred By the thought of Sea-Faring." From: Sea-farer, Morley's Translation INTRODUCTION TRISTRAM COFFIN was one of the early settlers of the Town of Sher burne, on the island of Nantucket, located thirty miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Tristram married about 1630 Dionis Stevens of Brixton and had nine children. He moved to Nantucket in 1659, just three hundred years ago. In direct line from Tristram and Dionis through their first child Peter who married Abagail Starbuck came the maternal line of the Grant family. Jethro and Mary; Robert and Susanna; Ephraim and Sarah; Hepsabeth Coffin and John Ellis; whose daughter Elizabeth married James Grant, the Scotsman, the first of the line of Grants in Nantucket. The Wyer branch of the Sea-Faring family got its start through another Scotsman named Edward Wyer, who was born in 1622 in Scotland and who came to America as early as 1646. He was a tailor and settled in Charlestown, Mass., in 1658. In 1659 he married Elizabeth Johnson. They had eleven children and the Nantucket branch came from Robert, the 3rd child born in 1664. He was also a tailor and an Inn-Holder. He married in 1688 Elizabeth Fowle who died without issue. Then he married for his second wife in 1692 - Ruth Johnson. Through their son Robert, Jr., born in Charlestown in 1695 and who moved to Nantucket when he married Katherine Swain in 1720, the line of Nantucket Wyers
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originated. Zachariah and Abagail; Obed Wyer and Polly; Obed Jr. and Polly Gorham; Benjamin and Eliza Ann Hull. Benjamin Wyer was born in 1797 and married Eliza Ann Hull in 1821. They were married by Seth Swift in the Unitarian Church. They had children: Benjamin; Charlotte M.; Ann Eliza; William and Nancy Jay. Grandmother Nancy Jay was born in 1823 and married Charles Grant August 28, 1839, when she was 16 years old. These two families, Grant and Wyer, were the ancestors of George A. Grant and his sister Eleanor Baker Peirce whose children are the third generation. The son of George, Arthur Burbank Grant, is a Sea-Farer and Ensign in World War I. And presently owner of fishing boat Madeline. His son Robert Swain is a deep sea fisherman and presently employed in the U.S. Fish & Wild Life Service with duties on the "Delaware", of Gloucester, Mass. His second son, Philip Baron, is also a deep sea fisherman and manager with his brother-in-law of a very successful seasonal fish market in Nantucket. This is the background and the introduction to my Sea-Faring Family. MY SEA-FARING FAMILY Chapter I "Come the Grants of Tullochgorum Wi' their pipers gaun before 'em Proud the Mothers are that bore 'em. Next the Grants of Rothirmutvhus Every man his sword and dirk has; Every man as proud's a Turk is." James Grant was a Scotman, born in the year 1782 in the little town of Tomintoul, Banff Co., in the highlands of Scotland. The reason why he left Scotland bound for America is not known. However, we do know that early in the nineteenth century, prior to 1806, he was presumed to have been travelling on a ship loaded with wine and molasses and that ship was wrecked. The family story was that he was cast ashore off the island of Nan tucket and was brought in to the town and went directly to the poor house until he found a home. Another idea was that he was on the ship FAME, a British ship, Cap tain Timothy Folger, Mate James Grant, and that ship was wrecked off the coast of Patagonia, near the Isle of Sol, and the Nantucket ship
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
FAME, with Capt. David Folger took off some of the oil and the members of the crew and brought them to Nantucket, in the year 1804-5. The latter is a more romantic idea, but the writer cannot vouch for the latter historical fact. James decided to stay in Nantucket and became a ship rigger, a trade that was quite necessary in this busy whaling town. He became ac quainted with an Englishman, John Ellis by name, who had a daughter Elizabeth, and they became engaged and in the year 1806 they were married. James at this time was twenty-four years and Elizabeth was only six teen. She had the care of her mother who was in poor health and also of her grandfather old Ephraim Coffin, who lived with the Ellis family. In the year 1810 both of them passed away, and James and Elizabeth and their year-old baby William, who was born in 1809, moved into a large double house in the section of town known as Poverty Point, on the West Monomoy lots. The house was known as Fort Sumter because of its square architec ture. In later years James purchased one half of this house for the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, from one Allen Fuller. In the year 1870 this house was burned down. From the year 1810 to 1815 Nantucket was suffering from the effects of the war. The population was 6,907. Of this number there were 210 peo ple over 70 years of age and 379 were widows. There was much suffering and in the winter of 1814-15 there was a scar city of food. A soup house was established in a building near the corner of Main and Gardner streets, where soup was dispensed free to the poor families. James was having his troubles, too, a family to raise and not much work for him. It was during this time of suffering that a new baby was born to Elizabeth and James. He arrived on the 14th of June, 1814. He was named Charles and he was destined to be a man of the sea, as were the other members of James' family. The other children came along as the years advanced. There were Thomas, John, James, George and Eliza. All the boys who lived were all to take to the sea. In the year 1815, twenty-six ships and twenty-four vessels were cleared from the port of Nantucket. Some of these were whalers bound for the Pacific. In the year 1819 the famous Japan grounds were discovered and by 1820 there were seventy-two whalers owned at the island. Of James' sons, George died at sea, James was drowned in 1834, and John went to California. Charles was lingering around the docks at a very early age. He was a tall gangling boy with red hair and freckles. His first childish instinct
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was to make a boat of wood and sail it in the creeks near his home. He learned to swim in this same creek. When the whaleships arrived in port he was on hand to see all that was going on. The arrival of these great ships from a four-year voyage was the cause of great excitement among the island people. Young and old, friend and foe, gathered on or near the dock to greet husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, who had been gone for so long a time, and to see the great ships unload. When the ships came in the dock, men came off in boats to take the lines and warp the ship in and make her fast. Sails were furled and all made snug, below and aloft, and then all hands went below to get their chests and belongings and go ashore. It is not long before the members of the crew, who have lived together most intimately for forty-eight months or more, will be gone on their merry way. Some will wait for another ship and some will be promoted in rating on the same ship on which they have just returned. It was to this sort of life that Charles had set his heart. He wanted to go to sea. To him it would be a very romantic life to ship as cabin boy, and then go on up the line and perhaps some day to be Master of a ship. Charles had, up to the age of eleven years, very little schooling; a Cent school was about all he had where he learned the alphabet and a very brief time in primary school. In the fall of 1825, when he was eleven and a half years old, he was down on the dock with his father when the good ship JOHN JAY arriv ed in port. James was helping with the unloading and had asked for a chance to go on the ship when she sailed again. Charles wanted to go also. So they were both signed on, James as Boatsteerer and Charles as Cabin Boy. Charles' mother was not too happy to learn that her husband and son were going to sea. There was nothing she could do about it but just bear it. Charles was rather young to have to suffer the hardships on a ship, but at least his father would be with him. He went to bed on the night of December 2,1825, knowing that it would be a long time before he would climb into bed at home and have his mother kiss him good night. The next morning it was with a sad heart that she bade good-bye to her son Charles and her husband James as they took their departure carrying their chests to the old wagon that a neighbor had offered, to drive them to the dock. Charles Grant was on his way to a sea-faring life. Little did he know how many times he would "round the Horn" and double it.
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Chapter II CABIN BOY ON THE SHIP JOHN JAY "In the old days when the sea was old And the builders lithe and young From timber that gleamed like gold This carpet of chips was flung. Here rested the noble ships Keel-frame and towering spar, And where the horizon dips They sailed and vanished afar." From Youth's Companion, Jan. 30, 1908 Charles Grant sailed away from Nantucket on his first voyage on a whaler on the 3rd day of December, 1825, at the age of 11% years. He had shipped as cabin boy on the JOHN JAY with Alexander Drew, Master, and Moses Coffin, 1st Mate, Charles H. Clark 2nd Mate, and James Grant, Boatsteerer. *1. All on board were soon to learn that their skipper was a hard task master and a heavy drinker as well. Charles soon learned that he must jump when he was spoken to and do no "sojering" on the job. He learn ed the duties as cabin boy which were to wait on the cabin table, set the table and wash the dishes, as well as to help the cook in his culinary tasks. He learned sailoring too, tying knots, boxing the compass, splicing the rope, sail-mending and other duties. Also, he had to wash and mend his own clothes. When the Captain visited a ship at sea, gamming they call it, Charles went with him. At first he was a little squeamish and had difficulty in getting used to the fare on board ship. It was quite different from that which he had at home. He delighted in going forward to listen to the tales told by the old and experienced sailors. He was eager to learn but in the past had little opportunity to do any studying. There were books aboard but none that interested him. Those that were available were mostly religious books and none that he could understand. The sailors on board a whaler are kept busy, there being little time for leisure. They are employed in mending and bending sails, painting the outside and inside of the ship and the boats, making spun-yarn, breaking out water and provisions from the hold, and they spent some time picking over potatoes. When the oil is boiled out and cooled, it has to be put in casks and stored in the hold and the try-works have to be kept repaired and cared for. When they do have leisure, it is spent in having a little fun. Among their amusements are singing and dancing on deck. There is always some one who can play the fiddle or a harmonica or even a jew's harp.
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There is much swapping stories and lies. One of the popular pastimes is carving the bone taken from the whale's jaw, making it into knives, stilettos, lamp picks and jagging wheels for crimping the edges of pies. A great deal of ingenuity is manifested in this intricate carving. It is done mostly with jack knives and files but some sailors are lucky enough to have tools similar to dentists' tools. This carving is called "Scrim shaw". Favorite designs on the handles of some of these articles are a hand or fist and a female leg or foot. Another pastime is writing letters home to their loved ones. In those days all mail was carried back home by any ship which they met at sea, or in port which would be likely to reach home before they did. All ships that sail carry mail out from the home port, in hopes that they might meet the ship for which it is destined. It is more than likely that ships will meet on the whaling grounds, as there are certain times in the year when whaling is "in season" at particular locations. Many months would pass sometimes without either receiving letters or being able to send any home. Sometimes letters would be left at a port likely to be touch ed by other ships, such as Galapagos Islands or Bay of Islands in New Zealand. The Galapagos are a cluster of 14 or 15 isles in Lat. 21' west; Long. 91. At Post Office Bay, named so in the old whaling days, there was an unofficial mail station, for the Pacific Ocean. Here is a box nailed to a tree, labeled "Hathaway's P.O." - set up by one Hathaway of New Bedford. Later a barrel was set up on a stake. Whalemen would come to look for letters from home and to leave some to be picked up. The JOHN JAY cruised off the coast of Chile, Peru and in the Pacific. Charles passed the dangerous Cape Horn westward for the first time in February, 1826. Little did he realize then how many times he would round the Horn and double it in the years to come. It has been claimed that the passage round the Horn from the eastward is the most difficult and attended with more hardship than that of the same distance in any part of the world. In March, 1827, the JOHN JAY was reported to have been up at Tumbez, on the north coast of Peru. A whaleship must be a little world unto itself and carry everything needed for a four-year voyage. The provisions consistently carried are mainly: about 40 bbls. of salt provisions, 3¥2 tons of bread in casks, 30 bushels of beans and peas, 1000 lbs. of rice, 40 gallons of molasses, 24 bbls. of flour, as well as potatoes, dried apples, coffee, tea, chocolate, corn, butter and some fresh beef. It was a sad day for Charles when the Captain, one early morning, when they were alone in the cabin, said to him, "Are you afraid of me?" Charles replied, "No, Sir, I am not afraid of you." The Captain then bran-
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dished a knife toward him. Charles made up his mind then and there that he was afraid of him. It was during one of the Captain's prolonged spells of drinking that he committed a ghastly crime, which ended his career as Master of a ship. During breakfast when the Captain and his 2nd Mate, Mr. Clark, were eating in the cabin, Charles came in with the coffee pot and was pour ing into the cups. The Captain said to the Mate, "Get up from this table and go up on deck." Mate Clark replied, "Yes, Sir, when I have finish ed my breakfast." The Captain took up a long knife from the table and lunged at the Mate, stabbing him in the chest. Poor Charles was a witness to this proceeding and heard the knife strike the bone in the Mate's chest. He was terrified and ran to the deck, the coffee pot still in his hands and gave the alarm. Some of the men made for the cabin, but then Mate Clark came up on deck and fell in a faint from loss of blood. The Captain was seized and put in irons and the ship was headed for shore. The 1st Mate Moses Coffin was now in charge of the ship and he head ed her for Payta, Peru, where they put in and obtained a doctor. Mate Clark was beyond help and died about a week later. This tragedy broke up the voyage and the ship sailed for home, arriving at Martha's Vineyard on March 31st, 1828, with Moses Coffin as Master. Her cargo was 648 bbls. of Sperm Oil and 261 bbls. of Head Oil. The Captain, being still in irons, was brought to Boston under custody of the United States Marshall. The prisoner was fully committed to trial, was afterwards acquitted and died years later in Nantucket. Mate Clark was 24 years old and son of William Clark, of Chilmark. It is believed he left a wife and one child. This was anything but a bright beginning for Charles. He returned home to his family and spent the next six months thinking things over. He was now fourteen years old and still had the call of the sea in his blood. He returned to his old haunts on the wharves and hoped he might be lucky enough to strike a ship soon to sail "a-whalin". Drinking in the smell of salt water and tar, oakum and cordage, he would climb the spiles and wait eagerly for a ship to come in. When the ship MARIA came in port, Charles was on hand when she docked. He heard that Captain Gardner was not to sail her for the next voyage, so he questioned the frequenters of the wharves to find out who was to be her master. When he heard that Captain Benjamin Ray was the man, he promptly ran home to ask his father if he could ship with him on the voyage. His father reluctantly gave his consent and Charles hurried off to see Captain Ray and get the chance to go on her. Captain Ray was very much pleased with the appearance of Charles and thought him a husky lad, so he shipped him "fore the Mast". *2
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NOTES Chapter 2; Ship JOHN JAY 1. The owners of the JOHN JAY were Zenas Coffin and Gilbert Coffin. The lays of Captain Drew and crew members were: Capt. Drew 1/17 M. Pocknet Joseph Macy 1/27 T. Pocknet Moses Coffin 1/33 E. Coombs Charles L. Clark 1/55 A. Coombs James Grant 1/75 F. Jarritt Obed Gardner deserted Geo. Calloway Reuben Swain 1/130 Charles Grant 1/130 Wages paid to: D. Luther 1/120 W. Thompson R. Mitton 1/120 G. Wilkinson W. Holbeck 1/120 J. Carroll J. L. Smith 1/120 L. Lavett 1/130 Alex. Bunker H. P. Barker Charles Jay 1/130 Coman Drew 1/130 Share of sperm oil: James Grant 265 Charles Grant 153 Share of head oil: James Grant Charles Grant
107 62
Cash paid to Charles L. Clark's Administrator Dr. Charles Grant -1825 to cleaning ship Am't of outfit Bal. to book Dr. James Grant to E. Jones bill labor Moses Coffin Cleaning ship Bill credit to acct. For cleaning ship: Robert Ratliffe For watching ship: Barnabas Bunker
1.80 80.38 44.96 127.14 17.00 13.50 1.08 189.16 220.74 6.00 3.00
1/85 1/85 1/85 1/85 1/100 1/46
$231.08
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2. Obituary of Moses Coffin From the Boston Journal in 1882 we find the following: Mr. Moses Coffin, who was thirty-two years a resident of Springfield, Vt., died at his residence in that place on the 13th inst. He was born in Nantucket, Mass., Nov. 15,1799, and was a lineal descendant of Tristram Coffin. His mother, Phebe Folger Coffin, was a descendant of Peter Folger whose daughter Abiah was the mother of Benjamin Franklin. Mr. Coffin was bred to the sea and made his first voyage as cabin boy when he was fifteen years old. Having learned navigation, he, at the age of twenty years, became the Mate on a coasting vessel, and in this position remained until he shipped in 1825 on the ship JOHN JAY for the Pacific Ocean. The captain, in a drunken fit, stabbed an officer, and the ship was taken from Valparaiso home by Mr. Coffin. During his several voyages he learned the Spanish and Kanaka languages, and was often employed as an interpreter by American and British officers. Leaving the sea in 1828, he moved to Willimantic, Conn., and then to Ashland, Mass., in 1832, where he remained until 1850, then moved t9 Springfield. While in Ashland he invented several improvements in paper mak ing machinery, that are in use at the present time (1882). He married in 1823 Nancy Gardner, of Nantucket, who bore him two daughters and seven sons. She died in 1854, and, on May 31,1858, he mar ried Mrs. Caroline Hatch, of Springfield, who survived him. His last days were peaceful and he died, regretted by all who knew him.
& Nantucket "Just a sandy wind-swept island!" What more would you have it be, With a turquoise sky above it, Around it a sapphire sea? When its dawns are pearl and opal, Its noon are crystals clear, And its sunsets shower down gold dust Till the diamond stars appear, When to those who are born on the island, And to many from over the sea, 'Tis fairer than all its jewels, What more does it need to be? Mary Starbuck, 1911
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When the Governor of Massachusetts Visited DESPITE THE FACT that Nantucket was known early in the 19th cen tury as the whaling Capital of the world, it was not until September 5, 1825, that Governor Levi Lincoln, of Massachusetts, with some friends decided to visit this unusual appendage of the State. Accompanied by Hezekiah Barnard, of Nantucket, who at this period was the Treasurer of the Commonwealth, Aaron Hill, Postmaster of Boston, an aide nam ed Colonel Davis, and Josiah Quincy, his secretary, the party boarded the Plymouth stage coach in Boston. From Plymouth the party journeyed on to Falmouth, where the Nantucket packet lay, with a head wind to delay the departure of the Governor's party. When they got under way they found only bunks below the deck to provide accommodation for the miniature voyage, and upon arrival at two o'clock the following morning they were alerted by a large thud and a swishing sound along the sides of the vessel. They were informed that they were on Nantucket bar and would have to await the rise of the tide to free the packet. Several whaleships, anchored nearby, loomed as the sun rose. This brought forth from the Governor the following exclamation: "There is Yankee perseverance for you. Would they believe in Europe that a port which annually sends eighty of these whalers to the Pacific has a har bor which a sloop drawing eight feet of water cannot enter?" After a visit around town and to 'Sconset, with a reception at the Com mercial Insurance office, Governor Lincoln and his party returned by packet to Falmouth and thence to Boston via the Plymouth stage. This island town was the third largest port in the Commonwealth at this time, and the greatest whaling port in the western world, soon to be surpased by New Bedford during the next decade. But, in the period when Gover nor Lincoln visited, the island was enjoying the approach of its "palmy days", when the ships and the merchants were witnessing the zenith of the whaling prosperity. While the 1830's saw Nantucket at the height of its whaling prosperi ty, there was no indication that the fraternity of Whalemen was to lose their position in the whaling world. First there was a bad fire along the waterfront in 1938, which caused much misfortune, but it took and ma jor disaster to turn the tide in the fortunes of the island's prosperity. This came in the form of the Great Fire in July of 1846, which destroyed the entire waterfront as well as the business section of Main Street and extended several blocks to the west of the town's center. It was the most destructive conflagration ever to occur in this old Quaker town and its effect was immediate and lasting.
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The Walk Never a Captain grizzled and gray Now climbs to the house-top walk, Pipe and spyglass are put away. But the wise ones sometimes talk Of the pleasant ghosts that are peering still Through the glasses out to sea, Thinking back to the lure of the ships And the life that used to be. Mary Starbuck
Springtime - Blisstime Oh - give me the greening, the budding of trees And the soft fleecy clouds and birds on the wings; Then Nature is new with its blithesome caress, For Spring lifts the soul as it blesses and sings. The sun gilds the hills and the mountains once drear, The grass upspringing with life that is new, Flowers shyly peeping as if fearful of cold Lest blasts left from winter might prove none too few. It gives one the thrill that it's good to be living And to attune one's own self with Nature's fair way, It's health and it's joy - it's soul lifting freedom The Springtime - the blisstime of Nature's new day. Josephine Smith Brooks (From "Nantucket Reflections")
