Historic Nantucket, January 1963, Vol. 10 No. 3

Historic Nantucket

The North Tower — Frame by Boreas

JANUARY, 1963

Published Quarterly by

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President, George W. Jones.

Vice-Presidents, Miss Grace Brown Gardner, Burnham N. Dell, Aloon Chadwick, W. Ripley Nelson, Albert Egan, Jr., Mrs. William Mather.

Secretary-Treasurer, Miss Ethel Anderson.

Auditor, Ormonde F. Ingall.

Councillors, George W. Jones, Chairman; Mrs. Joseph King, Herbert I. Terry, term expires 1963; Mrs. Francis W. Pease, H. Enrol Coffin1, term expires 1964; Henry Coleman, Norman P. Giffin, term expires 1965; Mrs. Nancy S. Adams, A. Morris Crosby, term expires 1966.

Publicity Committee, W. Ripley Nelson, Chairman.

Honorary Curator, Mrs. Nancy S. Adams.

Curator, Mrs. William Mather.

Finance Committee, Albert Egan, Jr., and Alcon Chadwick.

Editor, Historic Nantucket, A. Morris Crosby; Mrs. Margaret Fawoett Barnes, Mrs. R. A. Orleans, Assistant Editors.

Exhibits' Publications Committee. Burnham N. Dell, Chairman; Mrs. John Bartlett.

Chairmen of Exhibits, Fair Street Museum, Mrs. William Mather; Whaling Museum, W. Ripley Nelson; Oldest House, Mrs. Francis W. Pease; Old Mill, Henry Coleman; Old Jail, Norman Giffin; 1800 House, Mrs. Joseph King; Gardner Street Firehouse, H. Errol Coffin.

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 10

January, 1963

No. 3

CONTENTS

Nantucket Historical Association Officers

2

Nantuckelt in Portage County, Ohio

By Edgar L. McCormick — In Two Parts, Part One

5

The Old Physical Training Classes

19

1962 Historical Essay Contest

—- 21

The Story of a Desk

27

Recent Events

29

Diary of William C. Folger

32

Legacies and Bequests

-

-

-

35

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 $2.00; Sustaining $10.00; Life—one payment $50.00.

Entered as Second Class Matter, July, 1953, at the Post Office, Nantucket. Massachusetts.

Copyright, 1963. Nantucket Historical Association.

Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

5

Nantucket in Portage County, Ohio

BY EDGAR L. MCCORMICK

Kent State University IN TWO PARTS — PART ONE

I

The Beginnings and the First Families

Although there is frequent mention of a mid-nineteenth cen­ tury Nantucket migration to Portage County, Ohio, little has been recorded about it, and yearly the task of describing it accur­ ately grows more difficult. The haze of time has even obscured the names of some of the Nantucketers who settled in this north­ eastern Ohio county between 1839 and 1860. Not given to any word or act ithat suggested ostentation or false pride, these people usually were reluctant to have their biographies or portraits pub­ lished in the local histories and atlases that appeared during their lifetimes. Besides, their busy, useful lives left them little time to write about themselves. They loved Nantucket and they adopted Ohio; they were conscious, certainly, that they were Braytons, Coffins, Chases, Colemans, Folgers, Gardners, Greenes, Longs, Pitmans, Lawrences, Barnards, Rays, Swains, Munroes, Rogerses, Russells, Whippyis, and Wyers, but they left so few records that even their descendants cannot supply an accurate roster of the families who emigrated to this Ohio County. But, over a century later, these Nantucketers are remembered here for their concern for causes and for the integrity with which they lived.

The following account of the Nantucket migration to Portage County is based upon obituaries and other information in the files of local newspapers, records of deeds, assessors' lists, and election roll books; data from census reports and the Pollard and Barney papers; and facts furnished by descendants of several of the fam­ ilies represented in the migration. Voyages mentioned in local accounts have been checked against the Catalogue of Nantucket Whalers and Their Voyages from 1815-1870 (Nantucket, 1876), Whaling Masters (New Bedford, 1938), and the appendix to Alexander Starbuck's History of the American Whale Fishery from Its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876 (Waltham, Massa­ chusetts, 1878).

The basic documents for establishing a roster of most of the families associated with the migration are the accounts of the

6

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

annual Nantucket reunions held chiefly in Rootstown township from 1868 until about 1880. The Ravenna, Ohio, Portage County Republican-Democrat for July 7, 1869, and July 5, 1871, contains lists of those present at these picnic-reunions, "most of whom were natives of the Island of Nantucket."

The one hundred and ten Nantucketers attending the second reunion on July 3, 1869, organized a "permanent Society of Nan­ tucket people," with Silas B. Swain of Ravenna, Ohio, as presi­ dent and Edward G. Russell, also of Ravenna, as secretary. They heard "a very interesting letter . . . from Christopher Hussey, an invited guest,"1 and called upon Captain Isaac Brayton, then re­ siding at Newburg, Ohio, for an address. It was Captain Brayton who had left Nantucket in June, 1839, to look for a place in the West for a colony of Nantucket people. "A visit to Ravenna de­ cided him that the place was found, and his report at home was so satisfactory that Captain George G. Russell and Captain William C. Wyer immediately commenced their westward journey."2 They had farms in Portage County when Captain Brayton and his fam­ ily arrived in the fall of 1839. Thus began a migration of over two score Master Mariners with their families and fellow islanders that 'extended through the 1850's and exerted a lasting influence upon the civic growth of this county in the Western Reserve.

People unfamiliar With the history of Nantucket inevitably ask why these whalemen left the sea to live as inland farmers and villagers. The Reverend John G. Hall of the Ravenna Congrega­ tional Church, addressing the "Captains, mates, and all hands" present at the fifth annual reunion held in 1872 at Captain Al­ bert Ray's farm in Rootstown township, just south of Ravenna, eloquently summed up the reasons for the migration: The whale began to make himself scarce; the gold of California began to promise a better harvest; the great fire of 1846 devastated the town; coal gas in cities began to supplant the sperm candle; and, last but not least, a new kind of oil made its appearance from the rock. Then fell Nantucket! ... Alas, that such a change should come.

But come it did, and that explains why .you are here ... ploughing the land instead of the sea; milking cows and making cheese in­ stead of harpooning whales and manufacturing sperm candles.

This migration, of course, was one of many.3 In the eighteenth century, Nantucketers, buffeted by the effects of war and eco­ nomic uncertainty, had gone to Barrington and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Hudson, New York; New Garden, North Carolina; and even to Dunkirk, France. In the nineteenth century, especially during the war of 1812, the migrations continued, with Nantucket

NANTUCKET IN PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO

7

people settling in Ohio, Indiana, New York, and Maine, and with hundreds leaving in 1849 to seek their fortunes in the gold fields of California.

Merely a glance at Alexander Starbuck's enumeration of the whal­ ing voyages from Eastern ports in the 1830's reveals the growing ascendency of New Bedford during whaling's golden years; Nan­ tucket harbor, beset by its bar, could no longer conveniently ac­ commodate ships of sufficient tonnage for the long voyages. An economic decline began which was the main stimulus for Captain Brayton s decision to found a Nantucket colony in Ohio. So serious was this decline, especially after the fire of 1846, that by 1870 a Portage County visitor on the Island wrote home that houses were selling for $400.00.4 By contrast, the village of Ravenna and its environs offered excellent opportunities for investment and initiative. The Pennsyl­ vania and Ohio Canal, opening in 1840, greatly expanded commerce in the area; by 1851 the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad also served Ravenna. Besides being the county seat, the village was the trading center for the farming community round about. In Rootstown township alone, by 1850 over 7000 acres were farmed and even more were grazed.6 The chief crops were corn, oats, wheat, hay, and potatoes. Almost every farm had a sugar camp of 200 to 500 trees; many families also kept bees. Apples and pears were plentiful and large peach orchards flourished. The township ship­ ped butter, cheese, and eggs in quantity, producing as much as 200,000 pounds of cheese and 80,000 pounds of butter in one year.

Most farmers also kept sheep, for wool was in great demand.

Such was the abundance that the Nantucketers helped to de­ velop in Portage County, and both the land and the people verified Captain Brayton's faith in the future of a Nantucket settlement "in the West."

Captain George G. Russell (1801-1865) and his wife, Louisa Wyer, persuaded by Captain Brayton's favorable report from Ohio, moved to a one-hundred-acre farm just south of Ravenna Village in September, 1839. Their Nantucket-born children, James F., Caroline, Anna W., and John B. also made Ohio their home, although James apparently returned to the sea, for the 1850 Cen­ sus Report lists him as a "sailer." Two sons, Edward W. and Wil­ liam B., who were born in Ohio, died in 1862 and 1865, aged twenty-one and twenty-two respectively, while serving with Ra­ venna's volunteers in the Civil War. Their older brother, John B., also saw service and returned in 1865 to his business in Ravenna,

8

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Whitlock and Russell, manufacturers of sash, doors and blinds.

Captain Russell had been master of the Rose on her highly successful 1829-1,831 voyage from Nantucket to the Pacific. His father, Captain James Russell of the Hero had been murdered by General Benevedes in Chile in 1821. As will be noted later, James' widow, Polly, and another son, Edward G., came to Ravenna in the 1840's.

Louisa Wyer Russell died at Ravenna, March 14, 1863, aged 60 years. On May 25, 1864, at the home of Captain William Munroe in Rootstown, Captain Russell married Mary S. Jewett, the widow of John Jewett and the daughter of Shubael Chase (Pol­ lard Papers, 111, 288). He died of consumption on January 16, 1865, at the age of 63. The Captain, Louisa, and four of their children, Edward, William, John, and Anna, rest in Ravenna's Maple Grove Cemetery.

Accompanying the Russells to Ohio were Captain William C. Wyer (1799-1884), his wife, Lydia Coffin, and his four-yearold son, George W. They bought a fifty-acre Charlestown township farm about three miles east of Ravenna village, and there the Captain and his wife spent over half of their long lives. Their farm sloped down to the West Branch of the Mahoning River, and the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, which was being readied for its 1840 opening when the Wyers arrived, crossed their prop­ erty within sight of their home.

The Captain's troublous voyage from Edgartown to the Pa­ cific on the Lima, 1834-1838, was his last venture at sea. After surviving fire between decks and near mutiny,7 he was ready to leave "the dangerous and uncertain life of a sailor."8 And he lived quietly and independently on his Ohio farm, for although "he had his marked peculiarities . . . those who knew him best said he had a kind heart and was a good neighbor."9 In mid-August, 1873, the Nantucket "colony" observed the Wyers' golden wedding. Over one-hundred Nantucketers came to the farm for a picnic dinner; those who could not attend sent a purse of $50.00. The Charlestown correspondent of the Ravenna Republican-Democrat reported on August 20 that the affair "was enjoyed as Nantucket people know how to enjoy such occasions."

And the colony, aging and already bereft of many of its original members, gathered again with the Wyers on Tuesday, March 29, 1881, to celebrate Mrs. Wyer's eightieth birthday, two days after the event. It was a "happy reunion with old neigh­ bors and friends."10

NANTUCKET IN PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO

9

This Portage County farm, once owned by Captain William C. Wyer, slopes down to the West Branch of the Mahoning River. Located on Knapp Road, about three miles east of Ravenna, it seems to typify the broad terrain that attracted the Nantucket whalemen.

Captain Wyer died on January 8, 1,884, leaving his wife, who survived him by three years, an almost helpless invalid. He is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, Ravenna, beside his son, George, who died at nineteen, three decades before his father.

Soon after the Russells and the Wyers had established new homes in Ohio, Captain Isaac Brayton (1801-1885) completed his move to Ohio. With him came his wife, Love Mitchell, sister of Nantucket's well-known William Mitchell, and their children, Mary Ann and George Mitchell. Two sons, John and Henry Swift, were born in Ravenna. There, too, on September 28, 1847, Mary Ann married Frederick W. Woodbridge, who was assisting her father with John Tappan's Eastern Land Company accounts,11 and with the Brayton freight warehouse on the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal at the south edge of Ravenna Village. The Braytons were the first of the Nantucket people to live in the village.

Captain Brayton, a distinguished Master Mariner, had had his most successful voyage on the Ann, 1830-1833, bringing 2824 barrels of sperm oil to Nantucket. In 1835 he survived the dis-

10

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

astrous wreck of the Independence I at Starbuck s Island,1- and left the sea. In 1837 he was elected to the Massachusetts Legisla­ ture, where he knew Horace Mann. In Ohio, as in Massachusetts, he soon turned his attention to public affairs. The Reverend A. M. Hills of the Ravenna Congregational Church, called Captain Brayton "the foremost man in the community. His purity and piety and ardent love of liberty, and his devotion to humanity, made his home the rallying place of reformers and humanitar­ ians and eminent public men."13 Among the many famous guests in the Brayton home were Louis Kossuth, John Brown, and Salmon P. Chase.

In 1853 Captain Brayton saw the Union School he advocated for Ravenna become a reality, and Portage Heritage (Ravenna, 1957), the latest history of the county, recognizes him as "the father of the Ravenna school system." In that same year the Braytons moved to Newburgh, near Cleveland. During the next twenty years he served as judge, legislator, administrator of the Nashville station of the Sanitary Commission, and superintendent of the Soldiers' Home at Columbus. He returned to Ravenna with the Woodbridges in 1873, the year in which Mary began her dis­ tinguished career in the temperance movement that was to asso­ ciate her nationally with the work of Frances E. Willard.

Thus the Nantucket migration to Portage County began with the arrival of Russells, Wyers, and Braytons in 1839. They must have recommended their new home highly, for the next two decades brought scores of fellow islanders to Ravenna and the nearby townships.

II The Main Migration: the 1840's Such familiar Nantucket names as Folger, Coffin, Coleman, Chase, Swain, Pitman, Lawrence, Munroe, Barnard, Gardner, and Ray appeared in Portage County in the 1840's. The settle­ ment that Captain Isaac Brayton had envisioned became a reality.

And the newcomers, tired from their long trip by water to Albany, by rail to Schenectady, by canal packet across New York, and by lake steamer to Cleveland, found a pleasant hostelry awaiting them when they alighted from the stage in Ravenna.

In 1843 Captain Mayhew Folger's son, William M. (1804-1890), left Massillon, Ohio, and the hotel his father had established there to become proprietor of Ravenna's stage tavern, the Prentiss House. He was long remembered in Ravenna as "one of those

NANTUCKET IN PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO

11

peculiar Landlords that take pains and pride in making his nu­ merous customers cheerful and happy."14 Until 1,859, when the Prentiss House burned and William Folger moved to Akron to manage the Empire House, this Folger family figured prominently in the Nantucket colony and in the temperance and anti-slavery reforms of the day. Mrs. Folger, the former Julia A. Heydon of Connecticut, shared her husband s popularity, and was toasted by 120 guests at a Prentiss House Festival" in January, 1859, as "a Lady always greeting her friends kindly. . . ."15 Their four children, James M., Emily A., Mary Joy, and Harriet E., grew up in Ravenna. Mary Joy died in 1851, aged sixteen. Captain Mayhew Folger's widow, Mary Joy, died at the Prentiss House on June 28, 1858.16 After a last venture as an innkeeper at Reno, in the booming oil country of Western Pennsylvania, William Folger returned to Portage County to reside with his son James M. at Mantua, north of Ravenna. There he died on November 24, 1890, and was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, Ravenna, beside his wife and their daughter, Mary Joy. But there were Coffins in Portage County before the Folgers arrived to be their hosts. According to his obituary in the Portage County Democrat, December 14, 1870, Captain Alexander Coffin (1790-1870), after thirty years at sea, "felt desirous of relin­ quishing his seaman's life for that of a farmer. As master of the wrecked Lorenzo, in 1820 he had been held captive by the "treacherous natives and Indians who inhabit Peru . Aftei his tenth voyage, 1835-1836, on the Edward of Hudson, New York, and a three-year term as superintendent of the Nantucket County Farm, he arrived in Ravenna on September 18, 1842, with his wife, Lydia Myrick, and their children: Mary and her husband James Blood Coffin; Alexander G.; and Elizabeth, who died single in 1844.

(The oldest daughter, Mrs. Charles H. Clark, apparently did not come to Ohio.)

The Coffins stayed at the Prentiss House, then under the management of William Coolman, for a month before they ac­ quired an eighty-three-acre farm in Randolph township, about seven miles directly south of Ravenna and just beyond the Rootstown township line. After farming for almost twenty years, the Coffins retired in Ravenna, where their son, Alexander G., had opened a "fancy dry good establishment" in 1857: "A. G. Coffin s Cash and Ready Pay Store."" Alexander G„ his wife, Caroline Turner, and their seven children subsequently migrated to Dur-

12

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

and, Wisconsin. In 1883 he was appointed Pepin County Judge.

Captain Alexander Coffin died of cancer at his Prospect Street home in Ravenna on December 7, 1870, in his eighty-first year. The Portage County Republican-Democrat on December 14, 1870, paid tribute to him as "a man of the most inflexible firmness of character and this spirit possessed him to the last." Lydia Myrick Coffin died in Ravenna, March ,8, 1876, in her eightyfifth year.

In March, 1843, Captain Coffin's daughter Mary and her husband, James Blood Coffin (1811-1863), son of William Bar­ nard Coffin (1781-1867) and Deborah Swain (1787-1841), pur­ chased 107 acres about one mile east of Ravenna village. On that farm their four children were born. William B., who became a railroad superintendent and spent his last years in Jacksonville, Florida; Eliza M., who married Francis B. King of Ravenna in 1864; Susan C.; and Arthur L. Henry S. Coffin, James Blood Coffin's younger brother, also came to Portage County about this same time. In 1844 he married a Ravenna girl, Harriet King, and apparently became a farmer in 1845 on the 98 acres his father, William Barnard Coffin of Nantucket, purchased on September 3 in the eastern part of Rootstown township. There is no record of Henry S. paying real estate taxes in Portage County; the 1850 Census Report shows, however, that he was farming in Rootstown. In 1856, William Barnard Coffin divided his Rootstown holdings, selling fifty acres to his son James B., and fifty acres, "more or less," to Henry S. Coffin of Rootstown.18 Henry and Harriet Coffin had three children: a son, Fred­ erick (who, as a Union soldier, died in Kentucky), and two daughters, Elizabeth S. and Emma.

Three other children of William Barnard Coffin joined in the Nantucket migration as it reached its height: Susan B. (Mrs. John B. Coleman), in 1845; Martha S. (Mrs. Silas B. Swain), in 1846; and Captain Frederick W., in 1848.

None of the Nantucketers in Portage County has attracted more notice among literary historians than Captain John B. Coleman (1800-1871) who was Master on Pacific voyages of the Zenas Coffin, 1832-1835, the Catawba, 1836-1839, and the Charles and Henry, 1840-1845 (with Herman Melville on board for a Pacific cruise as harpooner). In 1845, he and his wife Susan Coffin purchased a farm near the West Branch of the Mahoning River, two miles east of Ravenna village.

NANTUCKET IN PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO

13

Their son William B. was twelve when they came to Ohio, and their adopted daughter Elizabeth Coffin Coleman (daughter of John's brother James of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) was fifteen.

Elizabeth married D. C. Coolman, son of the former proprietor of William Folger's Prentiss House in 1849. After Mr. Coolman retired in 1865 as chief engineer for the Atlantic and Great West­ ern Railway, the Coolmans lived in an imposing mansion, Clinton Terrace, on Clinton Street, Ravenna, that had once housed the Tappan Female Institute, a school that had considerable support from the local Nantucket group during its five years of existence, 1849-1855. The son, William B., moved to Cleveland about 1873; he had extensive coal mining interests in Ohio.

The Portage County Republican-Democrat, in reporting Captain Coleman's death which occurred on September 16th, 1871, at his Walnut Street home in Ravenna, described him as a "man of pure life, exemplary walk, and conversation," who had the highest respect of his fellow citizens.19 Melville's captains de­ scribed in Chapter 1 of Mardi and 33 and 82 of Omoo are said to be counterparts of the Master of the luckless Charles and Henry.

Susan Coffin, the captain's wife, died at Ravenna, Aug. 4, 1875.

Captain Henry Coleman (b. 1815), Master of the Mt. Vernon, the Charles Carroll, and later of the Houqua in the tea trade, was in Ravenna in 1852 between voyages to California in 1849 and to China in 1855. His granddaughter, Mrs. George W. Jones of Nantucket, recalls that the Captain and his wife, Elizabeth E. Coffin, named their son, Horace B., after Horace Reed of Ra­ venna, in whose home the child was born.

In his 24th year, Silas B. Swain (1,822-1875), a Nantucket tinner, came to Ravenna with his wife, Martha S. Coffin. After following his trade locally for six years, he was employed by the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad, advancing from brakeman and conductor to train-dispatcher and agent. His health failed in 1874, and he died of paralysis on September 1, 1875, remembered by his many friends as "a man of the strictest integrity, and as a "citizen of intelligence and virtue."20 The Swains had five children: Edgar C. (a Ravenna dentist) , Walter E. (who succeeded his father as agent for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad) ; John (who later resided in Bradford, Pennsylvania) ; Joseph S. B. (a Ravenna jeweler who moved to Iowa and later returned to Sidney, Ohio) ; and Linda B. (who died October 8, 1863, when she was four years old).

14

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Captain Frederick W. Coffin (1813-1883) was William Bar­ nard Coffin's fifth child to emigrate to Ohio. He had made four voyages on the Aurora from Nantucket to the Pacific, two as Master, before he came to Ravenna Village in 1848, purchasing lots 106 and 107 there on December l.21 With him came his wife, Mary Jane Alley, and their three-year-old son, Frederick Wal­ lace. A second son, Phillip M., was born in Ravenna, August 20, 1849. The Captain made one more voyage; as Master of the Cour­ ier, he sailed with his family to the Pacific in 1856. The Ccffins returned to their home on Cedar Street in July, 1861.

Captain Coffin was a member of the banking firm of Robinson, King, and Company, and later was a director of Ravenna's Second National Bank. Along with D. C. Coolman and three others, he established the Diamond Glass Company in 1867. He served as Justice of the Peace, township assessor, and director of the County Infirmary. He was greatly interested in the Union cause, and, too old for regular duty, joined the volunteer militia known as the "Squirrel Hunters" to help defend Ohio against General Morgan's raiders. His obituary in the Republican-Democrat, Au­ gust 1, 1883, following his death on July 31, praised him as "a most exemplary citizen."

The older son, F. Wallace, became a physician and was later associated with a pharmaceutical firm in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Phillip M., a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, practiced law in Detroit, Michigan. Mary Jane Alley Coffin died April 6, 1903.

A third branch of the extensive Coffin family was represented in Portage County by Edward H. Coffin (1806-1853), son of Owen and Jedidah Hall Coffin, and the brother of Mrs. William C. Wyer. He first purchased land in Ravenna township in April, 1845,22 and added to his holdings within the year, buying one parcel through John Tappan's agent, Captain Isaac Brayton.23 He farmed until his death on July 11, 1853.24 A brief notice in the Ravenna Republican for January 5, 1887, records the death of his widow, Lydia Law Coffin.

The Edward H. Coffins' two daughters, Elizabeth M. and Lydia Wyer, came from Nantucket with them. On January 18, 1849, Elizabeth, then eighteen, married Joseph Loomis, formerly of Springfield, Massachusetts, a partner in the Rowell Brothers and Company store in Ravenna. W. E. Booth, in his "Recollec­ tions Wa> Back in 49, recalled that Loomis, "having married into a 'Nantucket' family, commanded the cream of the trade

NANTUCKET IN PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO

15

in that direction."25 Elizabeth and her husband left Ravenna about 1857 to reside in Ottumwa, Iowa. Her sister, Lydia Wyer, married John Rounds of Providence, Rhode Island.

The Chases were another Nantucket family to be repre­ sented prominently in the Portage County colony in the 1840's.

On January 2, 1845, as a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, Captain Paul Chase (b. 1797), the highly successful Master of the Pacific of New Bedford, bought seventy-five acres just south of the Ra­ venna village limits.26 That he moved to Ravenna is apparent from the record of the sale of the same property by Paul and Mary Coffin Chase "of Ravenna" to Captain Charles Lawrence of Nantucket on August 8, 1847,27 just prior to Captain Law­ rence's migration to Ohio.

Although Paul Chase, the son of Stephen and Margaret Bar­ nard Chase, must not have spent more than two and one-half years in the county, his brother, Charles W. (1805-1878), made it his permanent home. A veteran of eight voyages,28 and appar­ ently Master of the George, sailing from Fairhaven in 1836 and 1838, Captain Chase came to Edinburg township, southeast of Ravenna, and purchased forty-eight acres there on September 11, 1845.29 The Chases' son, Timothy, was sixteen when they came to Portage County. Charles W., Jr., William B., and Elizabeth C. were born in Edinburg. Timothy C., a carpenter and carriage maker, served in the 122nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He married Lucinda McCray of Ravenna and moved in 1868 to Durand, Wisconsin. He died at Eau Claire on May 15, 1916. The younger children became Cleveland residents, Charles W., Jr., marrying Myra F. Cowles there on August 1, 1,872. The Captain's widow, Eliza Brown Chase, died in 1884.

Two years after Captains Paul and Charles W. Chase had come to the county, their sister, Louisa, also emigrated with her husband, Captain Charles C. Russell, as will be noted later.

Captain Peter F. Chase (1795-1871), and his sister, Parnel Chase Swain (1791-1865), children of George and Rebecca, ac­ quired Portage County property in 1846 and 1850 respectively.

(We have already noticed that their brother Shubael's daughter, Mary, married Captain George G. Russell in 1864.)

Captain Chase's fifty-five-acre farm was a mile south of Ra­ venna village on the road to Rootstown. There the first of the reunion-picnics was held in 1868. This "bluff, old-fashioned, en­ ergetic son of Neptune"30 had spent thirty years at sea and had

16

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

been Master of such well-known whalers as the Lydia, the Her­ cules, and the Hercules 2nd. His last voyage was to the Indian Ocean, 1837-1840. He and his wife, Eliza Bunker, had but one child, Mary Abby, who died single on December 25, 1859. After the death of his wife, May 26, 1859, the Captain married Miss Lucy Peterson of Ravenna on March 20, 1861.

The John B. Rogers house at Rootstown Center as it appears today.

Captain Rogers (1812-1876) came to Rootstown in 1851 and built this house shortly before his death on October 28, 1876.

Parnel Chase Swain, widow of Tristram C. (1791-1842), came to Rootstown to live with her son-in-law and daughter, Captain William and Rebecca Munroe, when they emigrated from Nantucket soon after the Captain returned from his last whaling voyage in 1846. On March 25, 1850, she purchased a small piece of property in Rootstown from her son-in-law,31 and on July 25, 1855, her son and daughter-in-law, Calvin and Deborah Coffin Swain, bought twelve acres in the same township, giving Captain Munroe power of attorney to collect rents and manage their property.32 Calvin Swain died at Boston in 1873; although Cap­ tain Munroe paid personal property tax for him in 1859, he seems never to have made Portage County his home. Parnel Swain died at Captain Munroe's home on March 10, 1865.

(To Be Continued)

NANTUCKET IN PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO

17

1 Christopher C. Hussey, husband of Lydia Coffin, whose sister Susan (Mrs. John B. Coleman) and brothers James B., Frederick W., and Henry S. migrated to Portage County. See the Pollard Papers, 1, 385.

2 "Reunion of Nantucket People," The Ravenna, Ohio, Portage County Republican-Democrat, July 7, 1869.

3 See Emil Frederick Guba's account of the migrations from Nantucket in his Nantucket Odyssey (Waltham, Massachusetts, 1951) pp.

131-137.

4 "Letter from Nantucket," Portage County Republican-Democrat, July 27, 1870.

5 The facte about Rootstown in 1850 are from Grace L. Horton's, History of Rootstown Township, published as part of a souvenir booklet in 1952, when the township celebrated its sesquicentennial.

6 Edouard A. Stackpole, The Sea Hunters; The New England Whale­ men during Two Centuries, 1653-1853 (Philadelphia, 1953), pp. 310-311.

1 See the journal in the Nantucket Whaling Museum kept by a member of the Lima's crew.

8 The Ravenna, Ohio, Republican, January 16, 1884.

9 Ibid.

10 The Ravenna, Ohio, Portage County Republican-Democrat, April 6, 1881.

n A. M. Hills, Life and Labors of Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge (Ravenna, Ohio, 1895), p. 38.

12 The Sea Hunters, pp. 350-352. is Life and Labors of Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge, p. 35. n Portage County Democrat, August 22, 1855. is Ibid., Jan. 26, 1859. is Ibid., June 30, 1858. n Ibid., March 2, 1859.

18 Portage County Record of Deeds, LXVIII, 189.

18 September 20, 1871.

20 Republican-Democrat, September 15, 1875.

24 Record of Deeds, L, 659 22 Ibid., XLIV, 124.

23 On September 23, 1839, in Boston, John Tappan granted Isaac Brayton power of attorney to sell property for him in Portage County (Rec­ ord of Deeds, XXXV, 411). The Tappan family, late in the eighteenth century had purchased a four-sixth interest in the township (Portage Heritage, Ravenna, Ohio, 1957), p. 427.

24 According to the marker in Maple Grove Cemetery, Ravenna.

25 Republican, June 1, 1905.

26 Record of Deeds, XLIII, 317.

27 Ibid., XLIX, 159.

28 According to the obituary of his wife, Eliza Brown, in the May 14, 1884, Republican. ..

29 Record of Deeds, XLIV, 504.

30 Democrat, April 26, 1871.

34 Record of Deeds, L, 115.

32 Ibid., LXXIII, 152.

18

19

The Old Physical Training Classes "A youth fitness" program was not unknown to Nantucket school children of the early 20th Century.

In 1909 Dr. John S. Grouard, many years the Town Doctor, who bore the official title of Medical Inspector, recommended that some form of physical culture be taught to the older school chil­ dren and practised by them.

It wasn't until the next year, however, that arrangements were made for the introduction of a formal program; and for this purpose the Athletic Club, a private organization, offered the use of its gymnasium in the building on Beach Street now owned by the Nantucket Yacht Club. The Athletic Club, which was also the center of various social activities, had a large gymnasium equipped with the usual apparatus for class and individual work, such as dumbbells, Indian Clubs, parallel bars, horses, ropes, and the like.

It also boasted two good bowling alleys, which were much used for tournaments and matches with visiting teams.

So, in 1910 all classes at the Academy Hill school, the only school in the town at that time, from the Sixth Grade on through High School, marched every school day down Broad Street to the Athletic Club and back for their physical drills, the boys and girls at different times.

In the first year, one of the faculty, a Mr. Harvey, was the instructor. Afterwards, Mr. George C. Wilton was made "Director of Physical Training" and carried on the program until 1914, when it was given up.

Prior to the inauguration of the school program and during its continuance, a youth organization known as the Boys Gym­ nasium Club" flourished at the Athletic Club. This group, which might perhaps be considered a prototype of the Nantucket Boys Club, was maintained by a number of public spirited citizens includ-

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

ing Dr. Grouard. Frank W. Woodlock, the instructor in Manual Training and Woodworking, was the Secretary and Treasurer of this club.

Mr. Wilton, in addition to his skill as an athletic instructor, seems to have wielded a facile pen; for during the three years of his incumbency, he submitted annual reports that were not want­ ing in literary merit. These reports are on file in the office of the Town Clerk.

The program, however, cost money; and notwithstanding an appropriation by the town in 1913 of $1000 for its support (money which seems never to have been spent), the program in 1914 was abandoned and the physical education classes suspended.

"How when the Nancy overhauled A Chinese pirate's crew, We flogged them heathen till they bawled, Then hung them by the queue."

From Henry S. Wyer's poem, "A Vision of the Fleet."

Any present-day application?

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The Birth and Death of the Nantucket Railroad

BY ELIZABETH CLEMENTS

Honorable Mention — 1962 Historical Essay Contest — High School For thirty-six years Nantucket actually owned a railroad; but now it is only a memory. From 1881 to 1917 inclusive a little narrow-gauge line was operated across the island and then the track and train gave place to a more modern method of transpor­ tation, the automobile.

It was in 1881 that the scheme of constructing a railroad between the town and Surfside took form and a company was formed to finance the undertaking, through the efforts of Philip H. Folger. The "Surfside boom" was then on and great promise was held for that section as a mecca for summer tourists.

The first sleeper was laid on May 13, 1,881, and the first train was run on the 4th of July. To William D. Clark, the old town crier, was accorded the honor of driving the first spike. For several years thereafter, "Dionis" (the name of the train) did a big business.

Surfside was booming. The Coffin Reunion was held there in August of 1881, about a month after the railroad service was established, and the little narrow-gauge railroad, with its "open" cars carried many of the descendants of the illustrious "Tristram out to the south shore for their reunion and clam-bake. It was in memory of "Tristram" Coffin's good wife "Dionis" that the little engine was given her name and the letters stood forth in gilt on each side of her tender.

In 1882, the Surfside boom was at its height and the highway leading there (known as Atlantic Avenue) was widened that year.

In 1883, the "Riverside Hotel" was removed from its site on the Providence river and brought to Nantucket and erected at Surfside as the "Surfside Hotel". It was formally opened to the public on the 4th of July.

"Dionis" was doing a rushing business and she was very popular, but it was a short run of only three miles to Surfside and she longed for more activity than the little route afforded. Pros­ pects for the success of the railroad were promising, so the promoters decided to extend the track along the south shore to

22

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

'Sconset. This was done in the spring of 1884 and the first train was run to the village on the 8th of July, when "Dionis" first made the acquaintance of 'Sconset. That, too, was a gala occasion; but the lengthened route proved to be too much for "Dionis" to cover alone, as she was getting old, so in 1885 a companion was pur­ chased for her and christened "Sconset," making her first trip on the 25th of June.

The latter was a peculiar little engine of unusual construction, inasmuch as the locomotive and her tender were all mounted on one truck, that is, the tender was built onto and made a part of the locomotive itself.

The island railroad boomed and in August the village of 'Sconset held a big illumination. The "Surfside Hotel" at the south shore and the "Nantucket Hotel" on Brant Point were employing rival bands that season and their "hops" were largely attended.

But old "Dionis" had been having her troubles. The seas were at that period cutting into the bank at the south shore and in 1883 the heaviest surf known at Nantucket for years pounded its way into the bluff on August 29th, almost at the height of the season.

The railroad line was threatened, but the storm subsided before the roadbed was reached and all went well until 1887, when it was found necessary to move the track in from the edge of the bluff. And the next year another heavy storm came in November and the railroad line was washed into the surf.

Twice the track was moved inward after it was first laid.

Finally, in 1893, came a second great August storm and a long stretch of the road-bed at Nobadeer was carried away.

Realizing that it was unwise to continue to battle against the forces of nature and endeavor to maintain the road-bed along the edge of the south shore, the promoters of the line in 1895 rebuilt the railroad by a shorter route to 'Sconset and Surfside was abandoned, the interests and energies of the line centering upon the development of the village of 'Sconset. The Surfside "boom"had vanished in the air, and the hotel had long since been closed, the building gradually falling into decay until its complete collapse came in November, 1899.

During its career the Nantucket Railroad had passed through many ownerships, none of which had ever become rich out of the investment. In fact, there was one year (1906) when the railroad 'took a rest" and the whistle of the little locomotive was not heard once during the season.

1962 HISTORICAL ESSAY CONTEST

23

The island missed its cheery sound, however, and 'Sconset suffered from its inactivity, for a stage coach was the principal means of transportation between the town and the village that season, and it was very unsatisfactory. Delmont L. Weeks, who had been manager of the road for several seasons, announced that the company which he represented was ready to sell out.

And then "the Macy syndicate" came to the rescue. Nantucket blood (not the Coffins, but the Macys) became interested and Anally secured the aid of New York capitalists and bought the line.

The late Cromwell G. Macy was president of the new company and Thomas G. Macy general manager, and they planned to discard the familiar little train for a more modern conveyance known as a "gasoline motor-car".

A little car which soon became known as "The Bug" was placed in service, with the intention of establishing an "all-theyear" line. "The Bug" could accommodate but six or eight pas­ sengers, yet it possessed a "trailer" upon which trunks could be piled, and the outfit was known as "The Bug and the Bird-cage".

Although crude in its appearance and operation, "The Bug" could skim over the rails faster than "Dionis" ever went and on the 29th of November, 1907, it made a trip out to 'Sconset in 19 minutes. The "Bug" finally became unruly and squashed herself to death.

The next year (1908) the promised new "gasoline motor-car" was placed in service. It could accommodate some thirty passengers, but its vibration was so intense that the trip could not be made in comfort. The scheme was not a success, so the motor-car was shipped back to the mainland again the next October.

The next year (1909) the reconstruction of the road-bed was commenced and a new line of track was laid. Another locomotive had in the meantime been brought to the island, purchased from the Revere Beach line, to take the place of old "Dionis", and it was this outfit (the third of Nantucket's locomotives) which "turned turtle" down on the south shore on the 23d of July, 1909. No one was injured, however, so the locomotive was righted again and did service several years longer.

In 1910, new rolling stock was brought to the island and the old outfit discarded. The new stock included locomotive, passenger and baggage car, all built especially for the Nantucket line. It was a gala day for the islanders when the new train went out to 'Sconset over the new road-bed on the 17th day of June in that year. Heretofore, about everything the line had possessed was

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

brought here "secondhand", but this outfit was brand new, and the islanders rejoiced in the fact.

And then came another change in ownership and manage­ ment, but New York capitalists still retained control.

The line did business each season, but it was a losing venture and finally, in 1917, the owners decided to junk the entire outfit, the market price of scrap iron being at a high mark, due to the war. The rails and track were soon torn up and the iron shipped to the mainland, along with the engine and its cars.

And thus ended Nantucket's unique little railroad, born in 1881, died in 1917. It was not strange that, with 'Sconset then cut off from regular communication with the mother town, the move­ ment to admit automobiles received such strong support, so when the little railroad passed on, the voters of Nantucket put aside their prejudices and in May, 1918, voted to let down the bars and admit automobiles. But "Dionis" and her little train will long be remembered.

Typical Nantucket Houses

BY ARTHUR CHAMBERS Honorable Mention — 1962 Historical Essay Contest — Coffin School

Although the whaling industry and the Quaker domination have passed, another one of Nantucket's great charms is still existing. You ask what else besides the whaling industry is a great lure to the Island? ... It is the many early style houses.

The earliest houses were in co-ordination with the local raw materials and the weather conditions.

The Quaker faith had a great deal of influence on the manners, customs, and architecture; and, therefore, the quality of the furni­ ture, silver, and clothing was always the best.

The typical house is a two-story structure with a pitched roof, and often you will find that a one-story or two-story ell has been added later, and a small room, called a "wart," with a shed roof added at the side.

The wooden shingles on the walls are usually left to weather, and their color varies with the weather conditions. After a north-

1962 HISTORICAL ESSAY CONTEST

25

easter, they are almost black, but after they have been dried in the sun they turn again a silvery gray.

The earliest of the Nantucket houses were usually built on a low foundation of stone, with a small bricked, cylindrical cellar under the kitchen, which was used for storage of vegetables. In later years, the houses were built high on brick foundations, and this provided a well lighted basement which could be used as a summer kitchen with a fireplace and baking oven.

The front entrance, which was placed off-center, had two windows which provided light in the parlor on one side, and one window lighting a closet on the other.

To illustrate better the typical Nantucket house, the Maria Mitchell House can be used as an example.

This house, located at 1 Vestal Street, was the home of Maria Mitchell, world famous astronomer. The house, originally built

by Hezekiah Swain and his brother in 1790, became the property of the Mitchell family in 1816.

In 1850, Peleg Mitchell, the next owner of the house, built a new addition on the northwest side of the old kitchen, and, later, William Mitchell added the ell containing a larger kitchen and a new back stairway.

A unique thing which many of the Nantucket houses have is the wooden latches. In the Maria Mitchell House, for example, the designer has made the simple latch into an eye-catching device of which many of the people who see it speak highly.

Another house, built in the late eighteenth century, in plan and character similar to the Maria Mitchell House, is at 5 New Mill Street.

It has all the compositions of the typical house; it's placed close to the sidewalk, with weathered gray shingles, and projecting plant window frames.

This house also displays a papier-mache figure which repre­ sents another historical event in Nantucket.

What is the figure?

In 1846, there was the Great Fire. At that time, the fire-fight­ ing equipment was owned and maintained by volunteer companies

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

which competed with each other to see which would be first at the fire. It is said that the Great Fire was able to gain much headway because of this. Both Company No. 6 and Company No. 8 arrived at the fire at the same moment, and an argument over who should have the honor position at the fire was started. The delay made by the argument was just long enough for the flames to spread.

By now you have guessed that the figure is that of one of the firemen.

In the Jethro Coffin House, we find a unique closing for this paper ... a mystery!

The dwelling is the lean-to type with a massive brick chimney.

The significance of the horseshoe-shaped figure in the brick of the south side of the chimney is not clear.

Was it a symbol to bring good luck, as the horseshoe is today?

Was it to keep away evil spirits? Or, was it merely an ornament? ... That is the mystery.

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The Story of a Desk From time to time gifts come to the Nantucket Historical Association in unexpected but no less welcome ways. The Governor Winthrop desk, now a part of the furnishings of the 1800 House, is a recent example.

This fine colonial antique was formerly in the home of Mrs. Lucius Potter, when she summered in Nantucket at 5 Milk Street.

She had obtained it from a local dealer in antiques, and, apparently feeling that it should remain on the Island, had written on a piece of paper, "For the Nantucket Historical Association," and had pasted the slip on the bottom of a drawer.

Unfortunately Mrs. Potter inadvertently omitted mention of the desk in her will; and on her death the desk, together with other articles in her estate, was sold at auction in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

As it happened, the buyer was Mrs. Alice S. Judd, a resident of Greenfield and an old friend of Mrs. Potter, also a friend of Nantucket. Mrs. Judd knew of the slip of paper in the desk and of Mrs. Potter's intention. Accordingly, she wrote to the Historical Association that she had the desk and wanted the Association to have it, as Mrs. Potter had desired.

How to get this valuable antique to Nantucket then became a problem, since it was feared that in ordinary handling it might become damaged. At this point Lady Luck stepped in again. Learn­ ing that a nephew of Mrs. Judd, Kenneth Denton of neighboring South Hadley, a public relations counsel, was coming soon to attend a meeting in Nantucket, George Jones wrote to him to ask if he would be willing to bring the desk along at the same time.

Mr. Deniton was more ithan willing. Loading the desk on a rented trailer, he brought it straight through to the Island, aided by the good offices of Manager Frank Look of the Steamship Authority; Mr. Jones met the boat at the wharf; and he and Mr. Denton took the desk to the 1800 House, where it will add further charm and authenticity to this exhibit.

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Structural Steel Comes to Nantucket the Jared Coffin House.

Putting up a Fire-Escape on

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Recent Events As Historic Nantucket with this issue ushers in the New Year, with its hopes and fears, and uncertainties, so far as this Island is concerned it might not be inappropriate to recall the words of the Reverend Edward G. Porter, of Boston, who was the guest speaker at the Third Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Associa­ tion in 1897. Said Rev. Porter, in the last paragraph of his address titled "The Argonauts of New England": "And then, why should you not find your Golden Fleece in the future .... by making your Island so attractive to visitors that they will be drawn here by the thousands? They are ready to come. In many respects you have no equal. Your unique history gives a decided flavor 'to all that you can show us. Guard well your inheritance and develop it . . . and your appeal will be not only to the sons and daughters of Nantucket, but to all our countrymen who care for fine traditions, picturesque oddities, stirring tales and substantial comforts." *

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Travel for December ("The Magazine that roams the Globe") devotes a part of an article on "U.S. Maritime Museums" to Nan­ tucket and the exhibits maintained by the Historical Association, with a schedule of the dates and the times of their openings. *

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And speaking of Museums, Dr. Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., reports that a new Museum is opened in the United States about every four days, part of a world-wide upsurge in interest in preserving historic places and relics; all this resulting from the destruction in the Second World War of so much of historical value that people every­ where poignantly realize that they must now organize and work (bo save what is left. *

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The Fair Street Museum has received the Second Part, 1862, of the "Civil War Naval Chronology, 1861 to 1865," put out by the Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, 25, D. C. This is a handsome, detailed, and well illus-

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

trated volume that should prove of great value to students of Naval Warfare and others interested in the history of the Navy's part in the "War Between the States." (Fair Street Museum, No. 62-19) To the Whaling Museum has come "America Sails the Seas"

by John O'Hara Cosgrave II., Houghton, Mifflin Company, Boston, 1962, 93 pp. John O'Hara Cosgrave is considered to be America's foremost marine artist. The text and pictures are by him and cover the subject from the birch bark canoe to the atomic submarine.

Over 200 ships are illustrated, all in color and nearly half in full color. A truly fascinating book and one that might well become a collector's item. *

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The Historical Association and the Atheneum Library have received the Ithird "Anniversary Issue of the Folger Family Reunion News Letter" published last October. Compiled and written by Mr. Franklin Folger Webster and addressed to his "Cousins," it goes to those descendants of Nantucket's Peter Folger who attended the Folger Family Reunion on Nantucket Island in 1959, at the commemoration of Nantucket's 300th Anni­ versary, and to a few other Folgers especially interested; about 150 copies all told. This "Newsletter" represents a lot of work on Mr. Webster's part and includes some agreeable comment about the Island doings, family reunions, meetings with various Folgers about the country, vital statistics, and so on. All, of course, related to Peter's diffuse progeny. Yet it is chatty and informative, with now and then an important reference to some matter of general historical interest. *

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The Island of Nantucket came through the "crisis" incidental to the Blockade of Cuba philosophically, notwithstanding her isola­ tion and her proximity to Otis Air Force Base, at once a defense bastion and a prime target. Nantueketers, down through the years, and ciicled as they are by an often hostile sea, have had to endure so many stresses and strains that they have acquired a sort of iirefiagable and patient acceptance of whatever Fate or the folly of man may have in store for them. *

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Whether or not Nantucket is enjoying the benefits of a westerly trend m the course of the Gulf stream, it is true that the

RECENT EVENTS

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Island was spared most of the turbulent weather that during the past two months has so sorely beset the Mainland. Not even the great storm of mid-November caused more than minor damage— some radio antennae were broken or bent, and a chimney was blown down on the Cliff; also there was the usual high water and flooding along Eas'ton and Walsh Streets. Otherwise Nantucket had little to complain about. To be sure, we were without a boat for three days early in December; but the mail was flown in and out, supplies were sufficient; and if you live on an Island, what would you ? *

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After one of the heavy rains in late Autumn, the body of a golden eagle, minus one wing, was found on the moors at Polpis.

Rare in the East, and probably unique on Nantucket, the great bird had been lighted a few times soaring majestically against the sky.

Burns on the body indicated that, with his seven foot wingspread, he had crossed two high tension wires to his doom. *

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Although it is still more news than history, mention should be made of the early morning fire last December 16th which de­ stroyed Ryder's store and market in middle Orange Street. Start­ ing from defective wiring and apparently having smoldered for some time, the fire burst out with explosive fury about 2 a.m., and by the time the first apparatus arrived the rambling one and a half story building was an inferno. A second alarm was imme­ diately sounded and a five-hour battle followed to keep the flames from spreading 'to the closely adjacent buildings, only one of which suffered and that merely a scorched wall. The new aerial ladder was used as a manned water-tower, a hoseman at the top directing a powerful stream of water into the heart of the blaze, a maneuver largely credited with preventing its spread. The Ryder fire is said to have been Nantucket's worst since the "Point Breeze" burned on August 8, 1925. That it did not develop into a major disaster is due to the training and skill of Nantucket's fire-fighters, most of them volunteers, and to the efficiency and readiness of the Town's modern equipment. The local papers gave the fire full coverage in their editions of December 21 and ref­ erence is made to them for particulars.

32

Diary of William C. Folger EDITED BY NANCY S. ADAMS (Continued from the October issue of "Historic Nantucket")

1837 June 5—I got at J. & F. Lawrence & Go's, store some materials for coat and also 2 silk handkerchiefs, amounting to $27.97 and got 6 months credit for these articles. Lydia G. Bunker, Dr. on a/c for Cambric, linen, twist and buttons and charged to my account. Took tea at E. R. Folger's.

June 6—I went this evening to the wedding of my cousin Mary Folger to Rev. Cyrus W. Allen of Norton Mass. It was at uncle Gideon's.

June 9—Went to hear Rev. Taylor of Boston preach at the chapel.

June 10—At a party at E. R. Folger's.

June 11—Heard Bishop Heddi'ng preach this afternoon at the Methodist Church.

June 16—1 paid for cutting coat and pantaloons to Cromwell Bar­ nard 1.33. Paid Catherine Prince for making coat for me 3 dollars.

June 17 Paid Hepsibeth Ray, wife of Frederick, for making pan­ taloons, 75c. Paid Lydia G. for washing 1.17.

June 19—First Shearing day, very pleasant, I was collecting letters for the west etc.

June 20—Rainy second Shearing day. I borrowed C. Everetts orations of Samuel H. Jenks to read.

June 21 Last Shearing day, returned Everetts orations. Paid 12cts. for carting down my baggage to Schooner Imperial. I had got last week 1y2 yds, of tow cloth at J. & F. Lawrence's to make a bag to contain part of my clothes. I settled with Lydia G. Bunker for board. I had been at her house 4y2 weeks at 2.50 — $11 25 I had let her have goods for 85c and cash 10c and I gave her now a ue bill for $10.30 for which I am to send her the money I have seen my dear relatives and fiends and now as the time comes tor parting I feel very disagreeably at leaving them to go to a 'Sm " ,,Part. °f Jast country and exchange the kindness and ympathy of my old friends for new associates at the West. I think have never had these feelings so strong as now at parting

DIARY OF WILLIAM C. FOLGER

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June 22—I left Nantucket early this morning in the Imperial, Capt. Charles P. Swain for New York City, got as far as the Cove at night.

June 23—Bealting against a head wind.

June 24—We arrived at New London about 1 p.m. and went to one of the wharves. I went up and viewed the city and environs.

June 25—I went in the forenoon to the Baptist Church and in afternoon crossed the river with Capt. Swain and Capt. Charles Coleman & Hosier to Groton to visit the battle monument erected to the memory of the 81 men who were killed by the British troops under the traitor Benedict Arnold. Went into the monument which is 125 feet high & is about 170 feet above the water so that the top of the monument is about 300 feet above tide water.

I also visited old Fort Griswold. After tea took a walk with Capt.

Swain & Wife & Mrs. Russell, widow of Capt. James to Capt.

Chesters & then over the city.

June 26— Bot 6cts worth of apples. Left New London this morning & about 8 p.m. got aground on the shoal which puts off from the North side of Faulkners or Falkland Island where we lay till morning.

June 27—Got clear of the shoal but waited for wind and tide & in the meantime we went ashore & viewed the place & then went a fishing but had not very good luck.

June 28—We arrived at New York about 1 p.m. I paid Capt.

Swain $6.00 for my passage & board. Best 10 ets. worth of Straw­ berries & about 10 cts. worth of groceries. I went to try and find F. G. Macy but found he had left the city. I called on Joseph C. Hart, Esq. the author of "Miriam Coffin" or the "Whalefisherman."

I had business to him from Uncle Walter, called at the office of the Detroit Line to find about John G. Coffin's chest but did not find that it was there. I slept aboard the "Imperial."

June 29—I saw Arvin Week who was just from Charleston, S. C. also I saw Capt. Gifford. Paid carman 373/2 cts. for taking my trunk over to steamboat Robert L. Stevens. Capt. Swain would not fake anything for board to-day. Left New York about 5 o'clock for Hudson, paid 50 cts. for passage. I met Josiah I. Underhill on board. I was a scholar in his school in Hudson in 1823 & 24.

June 30—We got to Hudson about 4 o'clock a.m. I paid carman for taking my baggage to Tobey's, a short distance, 123/2 cts. Started afoot for Aunt Phebe's and took bread & milk for breakfast at a

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

tavern on the road for 6 l /> ets. Got out to Aunt Phebe's at about 1 o'clock.

July 1—I took a walk with William M. Bunker to his farm & then to Mount Pleasant. Aunt Phebe gave me three dollars specie for a three dollar bill so that I might have change on the road going west. I saw my cousin Rebecca Dingman and her husband Henry Dingman, who have come to Ghent on a visit from Jefferson, Scoharie Co., N. Y. July 10—I took leave of Aunt Phebe's family & went to Hudson with William M. Bunker. We went by the way of Claverack & I saw my cousin Abram Macy who was at work at a stone quarry near Hudson. I dined at William H. Coleman's called at Thomas Mar­ shall's & lodged at Wm. F. Coleman's. Paid for shaving 6 cts. and for gingerbread 6 cts.

July 11—I collected yesterday & to-day genealogical information.

July 12—I took leave this morning of my cousins Phebe & Nabby Coleman after having stayed at their house. I paid at Tdbey's for storage for my bag & trunk 19 cts. and took passage for Albany in steamboat. Arrived in Albany at noon & had my bag & trunk taken aboard of the Canal Line boat, Roscoe, Capt. Adams. Bot 6 cts. w. of gingerbread. Whilst in Albany I went aboard of Capt.

Daniel Bunker's vessell & saw Capt. C. Starbuck & also aboard of Capt. Cathcart. I met on the Canal Bridge, Frances Edward Chase \\ ho told me he left Nantucket about ten days after I did.

I asked him to go West in the Roscoe as I was going in her & he concluded to saying he had 4 to 500 lbs. of baggage aboard one, of the Washington Line. We walked to West Troy where the Canal Boat overtook us.

July 13—Crossed the Mohawk & I spent 14 cts. for bread & milk for myself & for Franois C. Chase. Arrived at Schenectady & walked up & viewed the place.

(To Be Continued)

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Legacies and Bequests Membership in our Association proves that you are interested in its program for the preservation of Nantucket's famed heritage and its 'illustrious past, which so profoundly affected the develop­ ment of our country. You can perpetuate that interest by giving to the Association a legacy under your will, which will help to insure the Association's carrying on. Counsel advises that legacies to the Nantucket Historical Association are allowable deductions under the Federal Estate Tax law.

Legacies will be used for general or specific purposes as di­ rected by the donor. A sample form may read as follows: "I give, devise, and bequeath to the Nantucket Historical Association, a corporation duly or­ ganized under the laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and located in the Town of Nantucket, in said Commonwealth, the sum of dollars."

Legacies may be made also in real estate, bonds, stocks, books, paintings, or any objects having historical value, in which event a brief description of the same should be inserted instead of a sum of money.

Please send all communications to Miss Ethel Anderson, Secretary, P. 0. Box 1016, Nantucket, Massachusetts. Office, Fair Street Museum.

Winter is also for Camera Pans . . . Lily Street at North Liberty.