Historic Nantucket, April 1985, Vol. 32 No. 4

Historic Nantucket

P u m p a t 93 Main S t r e e t

April, 1985 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, Jr Treasurer: Donald E.Terry Secretary: Richard Austin

Honorary Vice Presidents Walter Beinecke Alcon Chadwick

Albert Brock Mrs. Bernard Grossman

Albert F. Egan, Jr. Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans

Presidents Emeritus George W. Jones

Leroy H. True

Edouard A. Stackpole

COUNCIL MEMBERS

Edward B. Anderson Mrs. Kenneth Baird Mrs. John A. Baldwin Mrs. Marshall Brenizer Mrs. Paul A. Callahan Mrs. James F. Chase Mrs. George A. Fowlkes

Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman John Gilbert Mrs. Walker Groetzinger Andrew J. Leddy Reginald Levine Mrs. Carl M. Mueller

Philip C. Murray F. Philip Nash, Jr. Mrs. Alan Newhouse Francis W. Pease Mrs. Judith Powers Charles F. Sayle, Sr. Mrs. Jane Woodruff

ADVISORY BOARD Charles Fl. Carpenter

Mrs. Charles Carpenter

Stuart P. Feld

William B. Macomber

Mrs. Thomas Loring

F. Blair Reeves

STAFF John N. Welch, Administrator Victoria Flawkins, Curator Elizabeth Tyrer, Executive Secretary Edouard A. Stackpole, Ftistorian; Director, Peter Foulger Museum Leroy Ft. True, Director of Whaling Museum Historic Nantucket, Editor, E.A. Stackpole Assistant Editor, Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans Mrs. Louise Hussey, Librarian Mrs. Jacqueline Haring, Archivist Laura Evans, Curatorial Assistant* Oldest House: Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Mrs. Abram Niles Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Mrs. Richard Strong Whaling Museum: James A. Watts, Alfred N. Orpin, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dougan, Gerald Ryder Greater Light: Dr. Selina T. Johnson Peter Foulger Museum: Registrar, Peter S. MacGlashan; Mrs. Everett Merrithew, Alcon Chadwick, Everett Finlay Macy-Christian House: Miss Dorothy Hitler, Mrs. Helen S. Soverino Old Mill: Millers: John A. Stackpole, Thomas Seager Fair Street Museum: Mrs. William Witt, Mrs. Kathleen Barcus Archeology Department: Vice-Chairman, Mrs. John D. C. Little Museum Shop: Manager - Thomas W. Dickson, Lucy Bixby

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 32

April, 1985

No. 4

CONTENTS Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff

2

Editorial — "Our Natural Resources - Protection is now"

5

Summer Events -1985

7

'Sconset Memories

by Edward G. Stanley-Brown

8

'Sconset Songs

by Maureen Murcoch

18

"Portuguese in Hawaii - Heritage of New England Whaling

by John Lacoutoure

19

"I Am Sankoty Light"

by Eleanor Dixon Glidden

23

Nantucket Whale Oil and Street Lighting

by Edouard A. Stackpole

24

'Sconset Beloved

by Mary Starbuck

28

In Search of the Ancestors of Tristram Coffin

by N.K. Jeans

29

Bequests/Changes of Address

31

Historic Nantucket (USPS 246460) 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, Box 1016, Nantucket, Ma. 02554.

Membership dues are: Individual $15, Family $25, Supporting $50, Patron $100, Life $300.

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.

5

Our Natural Resources - Protection is Now! SINCE THE FIRST stages of Nantucket's land boom, which began with the end of World War II, the inroads into the natural resources of our island have been steady and devastating. The past two decades have accentuated the problem, especially evident with the demand by those who want more land to develop, ignoring the basic premise that what they acquire is now serving as the destructive force which threatens the future of Nantucket as well as their private interest.

When the first settlers established an agricultural community on this island they recognized the land as their major asset. Raising sheep, herding cattle, tending farms, they cared for the land, carefully arranging for its protection by forming a corporate body called the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Land of Nantucket. Then came the recognition that the sea was to become their future means of livelihood. The old town of Sherborn was transferred to the Great Har­ bor and a seaport created. With the success of whaling a century of steady growth marked the success of Nantucket's seafaring people.

The Proprietors continued to control the out-lying land, however, until the infamous "set-off" of the second decade of the 19th century, when certain wealthy Nantucketers were granted large areas of the land for private development. The Proprietors objected, but the Supreme Court of Massachusetts arbitrarily supported the overambitious petitioners and the opening wedge was forced.

With the collapse of whaling, attention was diverted to the laun­ ching of another economy - the "Summer Business". The influx of sum­ mer visitors in the decade which followed the Civil War, brought atten­ tion to the construction of buildings within the town for the accom­ modation of the summer visitors. New homes appeared on the Cliff and Brant Point; the waterfront improved; 'Sconset took on a new lease on life; and such public services as a water supply system, electricity, telephone and street lighting came into being.

The twentieth century was marked by continued steady progress in the development of the "summer business", but little growth occurred in the out-of-town land. A few houses were erected along the north shore, and at established places such as Wauwinet, Quidnet and Madaket, but there was no building boom.

Then, with the aftermath of World War II, there was a swift turn in the events. The outlying land became the outstanding attraction for the developers. Stretches of sheep commons, heath land, salt marsh and bayberry thicket were sought; the shores all around the island were

6

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

eagerly acquired for house lots. Citizens, alarmed at the growing trends, sought some methods of control in zoning. The dividing line be­ tween rural environment and urban sprawl has become the paramount issue.

The Conservation Foundation was formed for the purpose of ac­ quiring for public use our island assets, before the inevitable destruc­ tion of these natural resources. The town introduced new departments, such as Planning Board, Building Inspector, Board of Appeals, etc. The Historic Districts Commission, now thirty years old, has been hardpressed to protect the town itself.

If we are to preserve our natural assets, there is only one way to do so. The Town must borrow the money to buy the land before the developers acquire it. The Land Bank is a stop gap. Municipal action is the only remedy!

Edouard A. Stackpole

Members and friends who may have back issues of the Proceedings are urged to look for these issues to help fill out the series for our library. These particular issues are: 1899, 1900,1909, 1920 1921, 1922, 1930, 1941.

Such contributions will be appreciated.

Summer Events -1985 Sponsored by the Nantucket Historical Association and to be held at the Whaling Museum at 8 P.M. Monday, June 24

PROTECTING NANTUCKET'S FURNITURE HERITAGE: CARE AND CONSERVATION, Robert D. Mussey, Jr., Furniture Conservator, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.

Thursday, July 11 NANTUCKET AND HER COASTAL PORT CONNEC­ TIONS IN THE ERA OF AMERICA'S CHINA TRADE, Miriam Butts, Guest Instructor at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Thursday, August 8 SONGS AND YARNS OF THE DEEPWATER SAILORMEN: A MUSICAL EVENING, Stuart Frank, Director, Kendall Whaling Museum and Mary Malloy, Dept. of Education, Peabody Museum.

Thursday, August 22 OWEN CHASE AND THE ESSEX SURVIVORS: FILLING IN THEIR STORY, Thomas Farel Heffernan, author of Stove by a Whale.

Admission to the above is free to NHA members Other adults: $4.50, Children: $1.00

Exhibitions at the Fair Street Museum May 11 - June 8 June 13 - July 13

July 18 - August 24

August 29 September 21

NANTUCKET PORTRAITS, the Association's marvelous collection depicting personages from the island's past.

HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE OF NANTUCKET: HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW?, selection of panels from the Historic American Buildings Survey, complemented by paintings and historic photographs.

WOMEN ARTISTS ON NANTUCKET, a first-time assembled exhibition of works by female Nan­ tucket artists, including many examples from private collections.

NANTUCKET COLLECTORS, an exhibition of works drawn from some of the major private col­ lections on Nantucket, including furniture, sculpture, paintings, and objets d'art.

Special Memorial Exhibition of the works of GRETCHEN WEEBER June 7 - June 14

At the Kenneth Taylor Gallery in the Thomas Macy Warehouse on Straight Wharf selected paintings will be sold to benefit the Historical Association's building maintenance fund.

8

' Sconset Memories by Edward G. Stanley-Brown I FIRST CAME TO NANTUCKET in 1923, the year of my birth. Since that time I have only missed one summer which I spent in Korea, courtesy of the United States Army.

Charles Augustus Oliver, M.D., my grandfather, was an eye surgeon and Chief of Surgery at the Will's Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. There, in 1885, he removed cataracts from a man's eyes.

The two operations successfully completed, the patient announced that he had no money with which to pay my grandfather. The patient owned two lots of land on the North Bluff of 'Sconset on the island of Nantucket which he offered as payment for the surgery. My grandfather is reputed to have said that he had "never heard of the damned place but, if that was all he was going to get, he'd take it".

In the spring of 1886 he journeyed to Nantucket, inspected the pro­ perty and immediately decided it would be a grand location for a sum­ mer home. He deposited $1,500.00 in the Pacific National Bank and commissioned a local ship's carpenter to build him a summer cottage.

The result, "Sunnycliffe", no longer in our family since 1980, stands to­ day exactly half way between Sankaty Lighthouse and the 'Sconset Post Office. Built from the timbers of a barn from Wauwinet, "Sun­ nycliffe" boasts four double bedrooms, three single bedrooms, two din­ ing rooms, three chimneys, a wood house, bath house and a garage.

Douglas and Barbara Seholm with their six children own the house to­ day and I am grateful that they love the old home as much as I did growing up there.

As a child with my grandmother, 25 pieces of luggage, a dog and always a bird in a cage, we boarded the steamer Commonwealth or the Priscilla of the old Fall River Line at Pier 14 on the North River (the Hudson River). Leaving New York was an exciting occasion with bands playing, flags waving, flowers, bon voyage parties, popping of champagne corks for the grown-ups and unnumbered porters to convey your luggage. My grandmother had a veritable suite with sitting room, bedroom and private bath. One entire wall of the sitting room was taken up with her luggage stacked from floor to ceiling.

My grandmother, who was an unyielding lady, to be polite, had both her dinner and breakfast, the following morning, served in her sit­ ting room. She declined to take a table in the public dining room with its polished brass, burnished wood railings and attentive black waiters

10

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

whose snow white hair betrayed their years. Pristine white linen, crystal and hotel silver plate laid an elegant table. For a very few dollars we feasted on an incredible shore dinner with a generous bucket of steamed clams, warm clam juice and melted butter therein to dip, rich white New England Quahog Chowder, live boiled lobster with lemon butter, steamed corn on the cob, green salad, rolls and butter and for dessert, vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce.

Dinner over, I was sent to bed as I was considered too young to be exposed to "Horse Racing". This was a throw of the dice game with uniformed bus boys moving wooden "ponies" up and down a felt track.

As bets were made and money exchanged it was deemed unfit for the young. All of this was entirely legal as it took place outside the two mile Continental Limit.

Early the following morning the dinner bell summoned us to an in­ credible breakfast with orange or grapefruit juice, hot and cold cereal, eggs, any style, with bacon, sausage, scrapple; breakfast steaks, broil­ ed tomatoes, mushrooms and every variety of potatoes one could name. Vast pots of coffee, tea and hot chocolate accompanied this repast along with every possible selection of bran, blueberry, cranberry or corn muffins as well as pop-overs, toast and biscuits. An absolutely fantastic meal which satiated every one far into the after­ noon.

Docking in New Bedford we traversed the wooden dock. My grand­ mother stopped at least twice to count her 25 pieces of luggage, the dog and the bird. We boarded the steamer to Nantucket on the other side of the dock. Her course was New Bedford to Woods Hole then to Oak Bluffs and finally to Nantucket. We passed the Lightship C r o s s R i p and everyone threw current newspapers and magazines overboard.

The men on the Lightship fished these out of the ocean with long wooden poles and set them out to dry on the rails, decks and rigging. In those days Coast Guardsmen were assigned to lightships for months at a time and it was on these lightships the original "Nantucket" lightship baskets were woven. The only item stolen from "Sunnycliffe", our 'Sconset house during my youth, was an original nested set of lightship baskets that went from one that was large enough to hold only a single egg up through 12 baskets to the largest which measured 21% inches in diameter.

As the boat rounded Brant Point she blew her steam whistle three times. It was well to take note of the wind direction and thereby avoid a shower of red-hot droplets of water.

As one came off the gangplank you passed between a row of porters or bell hops who sang out one after another: "Roberts House, Sea Cliff,

'SCONSET MEMORIES

11

Sea Cliff Inn, The Breakers, Gordon Folger, Wauwinet House, Tom Nevers Hotel" and so on, to garner their arriving guests. On the Island at last we walked up Broad Street to Centre to The Roberts House, where we stayed the several days required to open "Sunnycliffe".

The house was put to bed in the fall like a tomb. Mattresses were hung from ceiling hooks. All the furniture was piled in the center of each room and covered with dust sheets. Heavy wooden shutters were screwed in place over every window in the house (there are 57). In the spring all of this had to be dismantled, each room cleaned, everything in the linen closet washed by hand, dried and ironed. Every piece of china, glass and silver washed and polished. The cast iron stove in the kitchen was polished with stove black and started up, the fire to be banked each night. The kerosene engine that powered the pump draw­ ing water from our well, had to be cleaned, oiled and primed and then run to fill the water tank on its tower.

When everything was ready and cleaned, the kitchen stocked with food, ice in the ice box, all beds made, we took a horse and carriage to 'Sconset and settled in. The trunks and luggage followed on a separate wagon.

Mr. Coffin delivered fresh milk every day and his vegetable wagon came by three times a week. Mr. Glidden's fish wagon came on Friday with all his wares on a huge tray of ice. Lobster was 25 cents a pound and required one day's advance notice. In August the blueberry pickers came by with their oversized pails and you simply took a kitchen col­ ander to the back road and bought what you needed. Ice came in large blocks on a wagon with an awning. There was a cardboard dial in the back kitchen window which you adjusted with a black arrow to show how much ice you wanted, 10, 20, 50 pounds, the ice man sawed up your needs and brought it in with his tongs.

Meat and staple products came from Ashley's Market which stood on Main Street at the corner of Centre, where Congdon and Coleman's Insurance office is today. My grandmother took the horse and buggy to town once a week to do her marketing.

Sunday dinners in the middle of the day featured roast beef one Sunday, alternating with roasted chicken the next. Dessert was homemade ginger or fresh peach ice cream. Just before the dinner bell I cycled down to Mrs. Coffin's kitchen and dashed back with the silvery-tinged metal box in a great hurry so the ice cream wouldn't melt. My grandmother invariably invited the minister who had preach­ ed the Sunday Sermon at the 'Sconset Union Chapel. Each week I was asked about the sermon. I was only rarely able to describe it satisfac­ torily.

'SCONSET MEMORIES

13

We walked to the lighthouse, played on the beach, made sand castles and learned to swim in the surf. At Wauwinet we paddled about on the harbor side and learned how to sail from Captain Whelden on the catboat Lillian, which sailed down harbor to town. We took all our meals at home, save for that glorious occasion: a clam bake!

A long deep trench was dug on the beach and a roaring wood fire started on the bottom. When this was hot enough it was covered with large rocks, and when they were hot enough they were covered with bushels of seaweed. The baking potatoes, corn, fish, chicken, clams and, of course, the lobsters, were arranged on the rocks, and covered with more seaweed, and then a heavy tarpaulin which in turn was covered with sand. When the "bake" was ready bowls of melted butter were handed out and the tarpaulin removed, resulting in an unbelievably tantalizing aroma. The trick at this point was not to fill up too much on clams, chicken, fish and potatoes. There were always guests who made this mistake and were then too full to eat their lobster. I almost always managed to get two lobsters in this fashion.

We took tennis lessons and played at the 'Sconset Casino just as children do today. When the subject was deemed suitable, we sat through a play or a movie at the Casino on those same miserable un­ comfortable wooden chairs that must have been there time out of mind.

My grandmother had a locked leather bag marked U.S. Mail. I rode my bicycle down to the Post Office where the Post Master, who also had a key, filled the bag and relocked it. I was not to be trusted with a "parcel too large for Box". This had to be collected by a grown­ up.

I fished for pickerel in Gibbs Pond and when I was older George Rogers taught me salt water fishing. He instructed innumerable youngsters to surf cast as well as training us in sportsmanlike behavior and he cared not a whit whether we were summer people or islanders.

My grandmother was an energetic hostess and there were endless house guests until the time came to close the house for going home. The guest book, started in 1889, is filled with thank you notes, letters, signatures, poetry, hymns, sketches and even water colors contributed by the never ceasing succession of house guests. In her later years, blind, my grandmother took to sitting on the front porch and inviting tourists walking the Bluff Path to Sankaty Light to come up on the porch for a chat or a cup of tea.

There weren't too many houses on the North Bluff in those early years. Miss Wilmerding lived in the "Flagship" now owned by Marjorie and the late Nat Benchley. The Vaughans lived in what is now the

14

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Turrentine House and they had three stunningly beautiful daughters in the Dana Gibson style. At age 12 years I was secretly in love with all three of them.

The Morris sisters owned what is now the Cashman House and they were among the first in 'Sconset to have a motor car and a liveried chauffeur.

Next door lived the Mesdemoiselles Heubener and Reusch who tutored us in French, and had seemingly endless supplies of candy.

They are buried side-by-side in the Huguenot Cemetery.

Next came Stanley Swift who was an avid golfer. He had a small black and white Boston Terrier who had learned to find and retrieve golf balls. Mr. Swift carried a large empty pail to the Sankaty Head Golf Club and while he played the dog dashed hither and yon collecting balls and soon filled the pail.

Further north lived the Watrous family. Raymond Watrous design­ ed the yachts that raced for the America Cup. They served dried kelp to be sprinkled over your dinner. They assured me this was extremely healthful, but it tasted simply dreadful.

Nearer the Light came Professor Karl Landsteiner who greatly ob­ jected to people taking the Bluff Path across his property to the Lighthouse. Hoping to discourage this practice he positioned two water sprinklers in such a fashion that it was impossible to cross in front of his house without getting drenched. As children we called him Pro­ fessor Water Snozzle. It was quite a shock in medical school to learn that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 for having discovered the four blood types and the Rh factor in human blood.

In those days Sankaty Light ran on kerosene vapor. If you ap­ peared at the appropriate moment the keeper would let you climb up with him and when the exact moment of dusk arrived you could ignite the flame. The original light with its prisms may be seen today in the Whaling Museum. The light flashed every 7.5 seconds even as it does today but there is no human being in attendance.

Just south of "Sunnycliffe" in my childhood stood the "Haunted House" built by Miss Bertha Galland, a star of the Broadway stage at the turn of the century. After she died the house was unoccupied for many years and stood shuttered and dark; truely a "Haunted House".

Finally it was to be auctioned off for back taxes and a crew of cleaning people came over from Boston and worked for a week. The dust on the floors was so thick that your footprints showed clearly while curtains had rotted off their rods. The scene was right out of Charles Dickens'

16

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

"Great Expectations." Selden Dickinson made his winning bid stan­ ding in the privet hedge which surrounds "Sunnycliffe". Since then the original house burned to the ground and has been replaced by a smaller version.

In the mid-thirties my grandmother died and the house passed on to my mother and her brother, Norris Oliver. This explains the sign "Oliver-Stanley-Brown" which was at the back of the house for many years. At that point servants vanished from the scene and we took our meals on a weekly basis at the Chanticleer. Today, this is surely one of the finest restaurants on the Island but then, run by the senior Wileys, it was a true family affair.

You had an assigned table and your own napkin ring, the napkin be­ ing changed every third day. You could foretell the menu by the day of the week, steak on Monday, lobsters on Friday and roast beef on Sun­ day. If you missed a meal you got a credit and could invite a guest. The only competition was Folger's Guest House on Broadway, next to "Auld Lang Syne". Both offered plain, wholesome American style cooking. Servings were gigantic and eminently satisfying.

'Sconset memories: Terns' eggs on the beach in June (careful where you step), roses in July, blueberries in August, beachplum jelly in September. Summertime ends, and back to the Roberts House for the 4 or 5 days it took to put the house to bed and finally the 6:00 a.m. boat for home.

Last summer, as the Nantucket rounded Brant Point, I watched a gentleman throw a penny into the harbor. I remarked that I wasn't sure that that was the best place as I had always thrown my penny at the last jetty. He said "Well, it's worked splendidly for me for the past 68 years." He said it gets harder to leave each year. Our eyes both filled up simultaneously and we looked away from each other in mutual em­ barrassment.

Not too many folks are left who know about throwing a penny - be it Brant Point or the jetties. Do it, it means you'll come back next year.

Edward G. Stanley-Brown, known to all on Nantucket as "Ted", is now a doctor. He lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and spends his summers in Tom Nevers Head.

'Sconset Songs by Maureen Murdoch 'Sconset Songs 0! Sing a song of 'Sconset Bluffs with roses crowned, Small grey cottages with names That make a chiming sound...

Dear little lanes that wander Through town so aimlessly, Yet, go they up or go they down They always find the sea...

Sands shaking sea-weed flounces As swaggering waves roll by; Shrill-calling gulls a-whirling Against a mackerel sky...

A curving beach that beckons Past tumbling bayberry And tall dune-grass, until you come At last to Sankaty...

0! Sing a song of 'Sconset Where roses, sun and spray All weave a spell that holds you fast Forever and a day! ***

Off-Islander's Prayer Dear Lord, if I've been very good and win to heaven's delight Grant me this boon: exile me not to some Elysian site To play a harp and sing a psalm. Instead, commission me A guardian angel where the 'Sconset bluffs fall to the sea!

19

"Portuguese in Hawaii — Heritage of New England Whaling" by John Lacoutoure AS IN NEW BEDFORD and on Nantucket many persons of Portuguese ancestry live in the Hawaiian Islands as one of the legacies of the New England whaling era. In the 1970 census citizens of Portuguese ancestry constituted 11.6% of the population of Hawaii and have provid­ ed a Portuguese flavor to the Islands' food, ceremonies and traditions.

The decline of the Pacific whaling industry in the early 1870's saw the rise of the sugar industry in Hawaii to replace it. This rapid expan­ sion of the sugar industry depended on an increasing supply of cheap labor which was not available from the native Hawaiians who had suf­ fered a considerable loss in numbers to the "whiteman's" diseases.

Initially Chinese men were brought in to fill this labor shortage, but Chinese women could not be induced to emigrate. It was not long before this large influx of Chinese men only met with resistance from the general public who wanted immigrants to bring their families to replenish the population of the islands as well as to meet the acute labor shortage.

As a result its sugar planters cast about for another labor source at minimum cost. At this time there were about 400 Portuguese sailors from whaling ships who had settled in the Islands and had proved to be useful and desirable citizens. Most of them were small farmers or dairymen or served on the plantations and ranches.

The suggestion was made to bring over additional numbers of Por­ tuguese from the impoverished Azores and Madeira Islands. On 6 November 1876 the Hawaiian government voted to provide the costs of bringing 200 people from the Portuguese Islands at a cost of $45 per man, $50 per woman, and half price for children and to transport the immigrants on ships belonging to New England shipping and whaling companies. Although never consummated, this was the first proposal to promote the immigration of Portuguese to the Hawaiian Islands.

The actual inauguration of Portuguese immigration was due large­ ly to the efforts of Dr. William Hildebrand. Dr. Hildebrand had lived in the Islands for several years, but returned to Germany in 1871 and was living temporarily in the Madeiras in 1876. Aware of the labor shortage in the Hawaiian Islands, he wrote from Madeira noting the similarities in climate and in produce and mentioning conditions were favorable

20

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

for emigration from the Madeiras. He indicated he would be willing to assist in such an enterprise, if asked to do so by the Hawaiian govern­ ment. He praised the residents of the Azores and Madeira Islands as sober, honest, hardworking and peaceable as well as being accustomed to living and working in a tropical climate. He further claimed their education, ideas of social requirements, abilities to withstand priva­ tion, mental capabilities and habits of work would insure higher status in the next generation.

As a result Hildebrand was appointed commissioner of immigra­ tion for Hawaii in the Portuguese Islands. The Hawaiian board of im­ migration agreed to pay $75 per adult for transportation with a contract providing for three years of service on arrival at wages of ten dollars per month. This called for 26 working days per month working ten hours per day. It also provided a daily food ration, suitable family lodg­ ing, a garden plot to work for his own needs and free medical care.

Women and children were to receive smaller wages but with similar perks.

Hildebrand arranged with Hackfield and Company for Bremen for a ship to transport the first Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii. The first group of 60 men, 27 women and 38 children departed on the German bark Priscilla, arriving in Honolulu on 29 September 1878.

The arrival of the P r i s c i l l a in Honolulu marked the beginning of an immigration period lasting ten years (1878-88) during which time 17 ships transported 11,057 Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and the Azores to the Hawaiian Islands. It was a long passage across the Atlan­ tic, through the Straits of Magellan, up the west coast of South America and across to Hawaii, often lasting over three months. It was not unusual to have several births and deaths on board ship during these long voyages.

After the arrival of the P r i s c i l l a , the Hawaiian government set up a contract with the English company of Hoffnung and Company to transport the Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii. During this contract there were many deviations from instructions which caused extra ex­ pense to the Hawaiian government. Yet the Portuguese were viewed as valuable accessions to the population and the government chose to con­ tinue the program but with instructions to their agents to insure stricter adherence to contract terms. In 1881 King Kalakawa made a trip around the world during which he visited Portugal where he received a royal welcome. After his return Portuguese immigration policies were reviewed and the call went out for 700 more Portuguese families.

The principal objections to the Portuguese labor source were the

PORTUGUESE IN HAWAII

21

high costs of transportation and the large percentage of women and children (30% men, 22% women and 48% children). However, Por­ tuguese immigration continued unabated until 1888 at which time suc­ cessful inauguration of a cheaper program of immigration from Japan caused the end of the Portuguese program except for two more shiploads, one in 1895 and one in 1899, carrying about 830 more im­ migrants, bringing the total to 12,870. Actually three more ships carry­ ing 3,400 more Portuguese arrived in the 1906 to 1909 time period, but most of these late arrivals left immediately for California.

Of the approximately 13,000 oldest Portuguese settlers over one half left the Islands at different times mostly attracted to California with very few returning to their old homeland. The Portuguese, however, are a prolific race and as previously mentioned constituted 11.6% of the Islands' population in the 1970 census.

One of course finds the same Portuguese family names in Hawaii as found on Nantucket. For example on Oahu alone there are over 300 "Silva" listings and over 150 "Santos" listings in the phone book with commensurately large numbers of these names listed in the other Islands' phone books.

When they first arrived as immigrants all the Portuguese men worked as field laborers on the sugar plantations. Many, however, soon moved up to "lunas" or foremen on the plantations or took over jobs of mechanics, teamsters and cowboys. A few expert stone cutters started a thriving construction business building substandard homes of hewn lava rock. As a result of these quick job promotions, the Portuguese gained a social and economic power foothold much faster than the Oriental and Filipino immigrants.

Many now are bankers, lawyers or hold executive positions in the larger business houses. Others work for the railroad companies and in the iron works. Notably honest, virtuous, law abiding, and patriotic, the Portuguese now constitute about 20% of Hawaii's National Guard where they are regarded as fine officers and soldiers.

By the 1930's Portuguese members of the Hawaiian community had become Chief Justice of the Territory's Supreme Court, territorial secretary and acting governor and Catholic Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. Much credit for the early success, stability and pros­ perity of Hawaii's Portuguese community must go to Portugal's first consul to Honolulu, Senor A. de Souza Canararro, who in this post for 30 years became the guide, protector and defender of the Portuguese im­ migrants.

An additional factor in the quick and successful growth of the Por-

22

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

tuguese community was the formation of their own benevolent societies. The first of these societies, the San Antonio Society, was started in 1877 by the Portuguese whalers from New England whaling ships who had settled on the Islands. These benevolent societies provid­ ed sick benefits, death benefits, invalid pensions and care of orphans to society members and to any person in need of Portuguese ancestry.

The Sociedade Lusitana with its magnificent clubhouse in Honolulu is the largest of these welfare societies and still exists today. The Patria Society founded in 1905 had a somewhat different objective which was the founding of schools for teaching the Portuguese language.

Throughout the Islands the Portuguese have maintained their Por­ tuguese traditions and festivals and brought with them their food, music and dress. Some of their festivals can be traced back to the Mid­ dle Ages. A classic example is the post-Easter series of festivals known in Portuguese Hawaii as the Seven Domingos or Holy Ghost festivals sponsored by still surviving Portuguese Holy Ghost societies which maintain several clubhouse chapels on the Islands.

During the seven weeks of "festa" entire families participate in old style prayer and merrymaking, which include a succession of parades, dances and singing of old Portuguese folk songs to the accompaniment of Portuguese folk musicians, many playing the ukelele. The climax arrives on the Seventh Sunday when the "festa", queen, the "rainha de festa", leads a glittering parade of the royal court all in opulent costumes with many little girls costumed as angels through the Por­ tuguese sections of the larger towns.

As part of their culture the Portuguese from the first shipload of immigrants brought with them their lively style of folk music and a small four stringed instrument called the "braza" or "braguinho." The second shipload of immigrants brought over not only musicians but also craftmen who could make "braguinhos".

In 1879 an Englishman, Edward Purvis, an ex-Army officer, arriv­ ed in Hawaii, made friends with the newly arrived Portuguese, and soon became adept at playing the "braguinho". Purvis was small in stature and very quick with his hands as he played the "braguinho".

Before long his Hawaiian friends nicknamed him uku lele, the "leaping flea", and soon the "braguinho" also became known as the ukulele. As the missionary influence declined Hawaiians began to sing and dance again and it was not long before most Hawaiian homes had a ukulele.

Another important Portuguese contribution to Hawaii's culture has been Portuguese food. Possibly the most common item is the spicy Por­ tuguese sausage available in most restaurants for breakfast in three

23

varieties - mild, medium and hot. For several years all McDonalds on Hawaii have sold them either with eggs or on sausageburgers. These sausages also form an important ingredient of the commonly available excellent Portuguese bean soup.

Most Hawaiian bakeries have available Portuguese sweet bread known as "pao dulce". No carnival or fair in Hawaii would be complete without the delicious Portuguese "malsada" counter making these tas­ ty morsels of deep fried dough dunked in sugar. One could wish that these Portuguese delicacies were available on Nantucket.

As you can see from the foregoing, the impact of the Portuguese and their culture on the Hawaiian Islands has been considerable.

Without the New England whaling ships, many from Nantucket, bring­ ing the first Portuguese to these islands as members of their crews, the subsequent considerable Portuguese immigration to Hawaii would never had taken place.

"I Am Sankoty Light" by Eleanor Dixon Glidden "I AM SANKOTY LIGHT" The walls of an old Candle House Cherish and shelter The beauty of me I am old, if age be — Flashed — a century — Hope to the storm tossed Prayer to the lost And home to the whaler In prisms of light.

The ghosts of proud mariners Come every night Through gathering gloom To this shadowy room Close — close — to me.

And lest I be lonely They talk of the sea 'Till I wake and remember And drench them with light.

"I AM SANKOTY LIGHT."

24

Nantucket Whale Oil and Street Lighting by Edouard A. Stackpole MELVILLE, IN HIS "Moby D i c k " made a remarkable statement in his passage on "The Advocate". He wrote: "But, though the world scouts us as whale hunters, yet does it unwittingly pay us the profoundest homage; yea, an all-abounding adoration! for almost all the tapers, lamps, and candles that burn around the globe, burn, as before so many shrines, to our glory!"

There was a considerable truth in his words. The part played by Nantucket whalemen was, however, even more extraordinary. The name of this Island was known throughout the western world as being synonymous with American whaling. In the 18th century the Nantucketers had inaugurated an entirely new Colonial industry called "whaling in the deep". Until the end of its long career as a whaling port its reputation was established, as Nantucket whaling men became the pioneers in exploring and discovering new whaling grounds in all the great oceans of the world. Because of the influence of the Society of Friends in its life on land and at sea, these whalemen were called by Melville "Quakers with a vengeance". During the 18th century the Nantucket whaleships lighted the lamps of both the new and old worlds.

The true impact of the whaling industry on the habits and customs of the town and city life of its time has never been fully evaluated. It must be remembered that, before the introduction of the whale oil lamp, the means of lighting homes and buildings was governed by the meager illumination allowed by fish oil, torches and tallow dip candles.

With the coming of a better light through the whale oil lamp, the lengthening period of study and recreation created greater oppor­ tunities for the advancement of learning and social gatherings. As an example of cultural advancement, the dim medieval theatre was suc­ ceeded by the first theatres with stage lights, footlights and other ad­ vancements in the art of stage craft, using whale oil and candles.

The 18th century saw a new era in lighting history. In contrast with the crude fish and vegetable oil lamps, the rush lights, link torches and

NANTUCKET WHALE OIL

25

tallow dips, and the first (right) whale lamps, came spermaceti oil from that aristocrat of whales, the sperm. The improvement in lamps and the introduction of sperm candles brought a great demand for sperm oil, and Nantucketers were the great specialists in marketing this superior oil. Quite aside from home consumption there soon came a demand of Nantucket whale oil for street lighting. For years, the great cities of Europe remained unlighted. London was a prime exam­ ple. Save for the watchman's lanthorn as he made the rounds, and the link-boys bearing their torches for the individual traveller or sedanchair, the streets were as tombs, dark and rambling, with refuse and garbage underfoot and robbers at pitch-black corners laying in wait for travellers who were out unattended.

When, in 1709, the first lights made their appearance in London, they were few and placed at points too far apart to be effective. Then, in 1745, came the reforms in civic government, when the elder Pitt secured passage of a bill which would give more street lights for the metropolis heart of the British Empire.

As an immediate result, the demand for whale oil increased one hundred fold. The addition of more street lights resulted in the decrease of crime. It has always been an axiom that crime does not thrive in the light, whether in illumination from lamps or from an enlightened society. Great cities like London and Paris recognized these important facts early, and made provisions for better lighting.

Most of the great cities of Europe soon adopted a system of street lighting which increased the demand for whale oil. The cities of Ham­ burg, Copenhagen, Kronstadt, Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Rome, Ant­ werp, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Marseilles, Bordeaux on the Continent, and London, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Hull, Dublin and Edin­ burgh in the British Isles — these cities constituted a tremendous market for the industry.

By far the aristocrat of lighting in the home was the sperm candle.

From the head-oil - or the almost pure spermaceti oil taken from a great reservoir in the whale's head called the "case" - came the "headmatter", that great wax-like substance which, when processed, was made the sperm candle. This candle burned with a pure white flame, giving forth no smoke and no odor. Here, indeed, was the very essence of candle-making, a peerless taper which graced the rooms and tables of the rich, the cultured and the governing classes of its time. Even to­ day this candle is considered without rival in its performance.

Street Lighting in Nantucket It is interesting to note that Nantucket, as a community, was not

26

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

called a village, as were most New England habitations in Colonial days. It was always a town from the beginnings. When the first houselots were laid out along the shores of the Great Harbor, these areas were first called the Wesco Acre Lots, and as the town grew, the Fish Lots and the Monomoy Acre Lots were added. The dwellings, shops, lofts and warehouses were built close to each other, with the waterfront and the wharves the more closely congested. Houses from the old set­ tlement to the west were moved into the new town of Sherborn as the town grew in size.

During the night, people walking the streets and byways carried either a candle lanthorn or an oil-lighted one. Early in the history of the old town, a watchman made the rounds, with the number augmented as the population increased, and the houses gradually spread throughout the confines of the house-lot divisions. With the development of the whaling industry the closely-knit town also grew. However, the in­ troduction of street lights was comparatively slower. Whale oil was too valuable a commodity to be "wasted" by burning it at night for the citizens.

However, in 1826, the town began the practice of furnishing oil for street lamps which certain individual citizens erected along the streets. Apparently this custom was not universally agreed upon by the voters, who at the town meeting in November, 1826, decided to postpone the continuance of such action. A number of years later (1848) the firewards requested citizens to place lighted lamps in their front windows at night time to help when a fire occurred in the neighborhood.

It must be remembered that London in 1730, as the chief marketplace for Nantucket whale oil, had no more than 700 street lights in the entire limits of this city - the greatest in Europe. In 1736 a system of street lighting was introduced in London known as "parish lamps," and paid for by a tax collected. The practice grew; it was a great way to curb the crimes that were taking place in that city's streets. By 1780 some 15,000 street lamps were being tended by lamp-lighters. It was London's boast that there were more street lamps along Oxford Row than in the entire city of Paris! The street lamps were placed at regular intervals, and were now enclosed by glass. Whale oil was the illuminant, and a cotton twist was the wick. Sperm oil was used in private homes.

With the demand for oil by the London market, it was natural for the thrifty Nantucketers to curtail any extravagance in bringing regular streetlights to the town. Private enterprise, on the other hand, led to the first "out door" lamps, which were placed by the door posts of the dwellings of certain wealthy citizens. It is probable that Liberty, India, Orange and Union Streets were the first to boast these lamps by

NANTUCKET WHALE OIL

27

the door-ways of the ship-owners and whaling merchants. The style of light was similar to those found in London. It will be remembered that Boston and Philidelphia were the first American cities to adopt the London methods. John Hancock, in 1772, was the promoter of street lighting in Boston, proposing a globe of glass. Three hundred were im­ ported from London, and it was Benjamin Franklin who earlier had proposed a triangular glass cover for the street lamps in Philadelphia, demonstrating that the lanthorn, if completely closed, would cause smoke and soot and obscure the light.

The tallow candle was undoubtedly first used by the Nantucket families, with mutton and hog fat for the ingredients. When visiting at night the lantern guided the way along the footpaths and then, in the town, along the streets. When whale oil came into use, the lanterns were improved, and the tinsmith was employed for lamp-making as well as for lanterns. Some of the early lantern types had horn instead of glass, which served the owners well through the years.

In September, 1748, the town voted to establish the night watch from 8 o'clock in the evening until the "break of day". As the wat­ chmen carried lanterns, we are now aware of the official night use of whale oil for lighting. It is highly probable that individuals hung lights in front of their homes when expecting visitors at night, but just what type used must have been a personal choice. Hogarth, in London, drew sketches of street lights, showing tin sections as well as glass.

It is probable that no regular street lighting in Nantucket was ever adopted until the advent of the first decade of the 19th century. The records of the town are singularly free of any references to such a use, but it is logical to recognize that some means of providing light along the thoroughfares must have been in existence. It is also likely that the commercial connections with seaports brought about the adoption of posts of a standard size for this use. Individual house owners provided street lamps at their dwellings well into the 19th century.

In voyages to London the Nantucketers reported the advances made in street lighting in that great metropolis. The first use of manufactured gas for lighting was introduced in London, with American cities following this example. In Nantucket gas was manufactured for the first time in 1854, and the stores on Main Street began installing gas fixtures soon after. The iron standards for street lights were next to be introduced. This cast iron post had a cross-arm under the lamp holder, so that the attendant took care of the glass enclosed burner. On the 22nd of November, 1854, the Main Street Square was lighted with gas for the first time.

The average iron standard was 20 feet high, and the design was

28

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

usually a fluted column, tapered with acanthus leaves and a cross-arm under the lantern, In 1967, the late Errol Coffin, a well known architect who retired to live in Nantucket, made an interesting study of street lighting posts and bracketed gas lanterns, and included a number of drawings for his important essay. His article was published in Historic Nantucket.

'Sconset Beloved by Mary Starbuck Sweet tangled swamps where the orchids bloom, Peat-smoke, wild roses and scents of the sea, Soft through the dusk the dear village lights; 'Sconset Beloved, heart's greeting to thee!

Thy white curving shore is the threshold of day, Down at Low Beach night's wings are unfurled, Over Tom Nevers the moon sails away Through the sweetest air the the whole wide world.

Scrub oaks and pines on the frank, free downs, Cool silver ponds where the ducks rest, And swaying reeds whisper to listening ears, "Here is life simplest and truest and best."

Evening and morning and turn of the tide, Ah, falling leaves, and the sad plover's cry!

An ache in the heart for the west tide serves, 'Sconset Beloved, good bye, good bye!

29

In Search for the Ancestors of Tristram Coffin WALTER WESTON FOLGER, now a resident of North Carolina, has been a valued contributor to Historic Nantucket over a period of years. He has been in correspondence with Mr. N.K. Jeans, of Truro, England, an interested researcher, delving into the Coffin family of England, seeking the immediate forebears of Tristram Coffin, one of the original founders of Nantucket. One of these Coffin families was that of Peter Coffin, of Cornwall, England.

In a letter to Mr. Folger, in September, 1984, Mr. Jeans stated he has been collating some of his research material on Peter Coffin, with the following deductions: "Firstly, there is no reason for me to change my views, and, in fact, I am certain that Peter Coffin had nothing to do with Nantucket. Therefore, I am enclos­ ing a review copy of my notes of 1980, and you may pass them along to Mr. Stackpole for publication.

"Secondly, I regret it is not possible to follow the Chudley connection, as there are no registers extant for that period.

"Thirdly, from letters received from Mr. Stephen Cof­ fin, I am in agreement with certain deductions he has painstakingly and analytically made. He was 91 when he wrote me in 1981. This correspondence comes as close as any to linking the South and West Coffins in England."

This information supplied to Mr. Folger by Mr. Jeans follows: 1. P E T E R C O F F I N B o r n and christened at Peylnt in Cornwall, approx. 25 miles from Plymouth. No Parish registers at Peylnt pre 1610.

M a r r i e d to Marie Boscawen (who see below). No record of marriage traced, connected in his lifetime with Pelynt, Duloe, St Neot, St Mawgan in Pydar, St Eval, St Cleer, St Winnow, St Columb Major, St Columb Minor, and St Michael Penkivel.

Will dated 13.4.1605, proved 12.12.1605 - will in CRO, Truro. Left Estate of 50 Pounds, describing himself as

30

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Gent, of St Mawgan in Pydar. Mentions wife, sister named Mary Goldsmith & various others.

Known In 1595 employed by John Arundel of Lanhern as Bailiff (a John Coffin similarly employed by Bassett of Tehidy).

No trace of parentage or any other information.

2. MARIE BOSCAWEN Born in 1551 (No trace of record of baptism).

Married Peter Coffin as above - no record of date or place found.

Parentage 4th Dau. (10th of 14 children) of Hugh Boscawen of Tregothnan and Phillipa Carminowe, dau. & coheir of Nicholas Carminowe of Carminowe.

Died 4.9.1622. Buried at St. Michel Penkivel 21.9.1622.

Memorial brass in floor of North Transept of St. MPK Church.

Known Aged 7 at date of Hugh Boscawen's death Sept.

1559. Her mother, Phillipa remarried (see below) and it may be supposed that she moved away from Tregothnan to her Mother's new home. Following Peter Coffin's death in 1605 she appears to have lived with her sister, Elizabeth, supported by annuities ob­ tained by her nephew Boscawen.

NO TRACE OF HER WILL. NOTE: No mention of any children to marriage of Peter & Mary Coffin. Lord Falmouth says marriage is sans issue.* 3. PHILLIPA CARMINOWE Born 1519 Married Hugh Boscawen (date not known) Remarried to James Trewydden als Trewynnard of Chedley (now Chudley, in Devon) 9.8.1563 Speculation: How did Marie Boscawen come to meet Peter Cof­ fin? Heralds Visitation to Devon gives Richard Coffin of Portlinch mar­ rying Wilmot, dau. of Sir Richard Chudley. This may give a clue as to the introduction of these two people, and in so doing provides a very tenuous link for Peter Coffin back to the N. Devon Coffins. There are various other tenuous clues: from private sources I know that John Coffin (son of Richard above, who died in 1619) married Elisabeth, dau. of Henry Hurdley. Now, purely coincidentally, a John & Elizabeth Cof­ fin took a lease of Trezebal Tenement in Manaccan Parish on 20.1.1620 in 1640 a Boscawen bought the freehold of this property; the significant point being that the terms of the lease to Coffin (which was a life lease) were very disadvantageous to the Tenant, being designed to give an an-

IN SEARCH OF ANCESTORS

31

nuity to the wife & children of the lessor - gives impression that the transaction was a family affair.

Conclusions: Peter Coffin & Mary Boscawen were not the pro­ genitors of the Nantucket Coffins; but Peter Coffin was, in some as yet unexplained way, connected to the Portlinch Coffins. Many Coffin publications refer to the Carminowe "connection" involving land own­ ed by Phillipa Carminowe in Plympton, near Butlers. I think this is ir­ relevant.

N.K. Jeans.

The Old Rectory St Michael Penkivel, Truro *Since 1980, I have examined such registers as are available for the Parishes with which Peter Coffin was connected and can find no references to any issue. The Boscawen Family, on the other hand, are very well documented, and there is no reason to believe Lord Falmouth to be incorrect. The conclusion I have come to is as positive as one can be at this distance in time.

N.K.J.

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