Researching Nantucket

· ANTUCKfil

VOL. 53, NO. 2

THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Peter W. Nash President

E. Geoffrey Verney First Vice President

Barbara E. Hajim Vice President

Pamela C. Bartlett Rebecca M. Bartlett C. Marshall Beale Robert H. Brust Nancy A. Chase John H. Davis Mary F. Espy Nina Hellman

Alice F. Emerson Vice President

Marcia Welch Vice President

John M. Sweeney

Julius Jensen III Arie L. Kopelman JaneT. Lamb Carolyn B. MacKenzie Bruce D. Miller Bruce A. Percelay Melissa D. Philbrick

Treasurer

Patricia M. Bridier Clerk

Christopher C. Quick Susan F. Rotando Melanie R. Sabelhaus Harvey Saligman Bette M. Spriggs Isabel C. Stewart Jay M. Wilson Robert A. Young

Frank D. Milligan Executive Director

RESEARCH FELLOWS Pauline Maier

Patty Jo S. Rice

Nathaniel Philbrick

Renny A. Stackpole

FRIENDS OF THE NHA Pat & Thomas Anathan Mariann & Mortimer Appley Heidi & Max Berry Christy & William Camp Jr. Laurie & Robert Champion Dottie & Earle Craig Prudence & William M. Crozier Robyn & John Davis Sandra & Nelson Doubleday Nancee &John Erickson Marjorie & Charles Fortgang Nancy & Charles Geschke

Georgia &Thomas Gosnell Silvia Gosnell Barbara & Robert Griffin Barbara & Edmund Hajim George S. Heyer Jr. Barbara & Harvey Jones Kathryn &James Ketelsen Sara Jo & Arthur Kobacker Coco & Arie Kopelman Sharon & Frank Lorenzo Carolyn & Ian MacKenzie Phyllis Macomber Miriam & Seymour Mandell

Ronay & Richard Menschel Aileen & Scott Newquist Charron & Flint Ranney Gleaves & Thomas Rhodes Ellen & Kenneth Roman Marion & Robert Rosenthal Ellen & David Ross Linda & Harvey Saligman Charlotte Smith Genevieve & Richard Tucker Marilyn Whitney Yuriko & Bracebridge Young Jr.

ADVISORY BOARD Walter Beinecke Jr. Joan Brecker Patricia Butler Michael deLeo Lyndon Dupuis Martha Groetzinger Dorrit D. P. Gutterson

Nina Hellman Elizabeth Husted Elizabeth Jacobsen Francis D. Lethbridge Reginald Levine Katherine S. Lodge Sharon Lorenzo

Patricia Loring Paul Madden Robert F. Mooney Jane C. Richmond Nancy J. Sevrens Scott M. Stearns Jr. Mary-Elizabeth Young

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Mary H. Beman Margaret Moore Booker Richard L. Brecker Thomas B. Congdon Jr.

Peter J. Greenhalgh Robert F. Mooney Elizabeth Oldham Nathaniel Philbrick

Sally Seidman Bette M. Spriggs James Sulzer David H. Wood

Cecil Barron Jensen

Elizabeth Oldham

Claire O'Keeffe

EDITOR

COPY EDITOR

ART DIRECTOR

.. Historic �antucket w�comes �rticl�s on any aspect of Nantucket history. Original research, first-h and accounts, remuuscences of island experiences, historic logs, letters, and photographs are examples of materials of interest to our readers.

Copyright© 2004 by Nantucket Historical Association

Historic Nantucket (ISSN 0439-2248! is published qu�terly by the Nantucket Historical Association, 7 Fair Street, N antucket, MA 02554.

Periodical postage prud at Nantucket, MA and additional entry offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address chan ges to Historic Nantucket Box 1016 • Nantucket,� 02554�1016 • (508) 228-1894; fax: (508) 228-5618 • nhainfo@nha.org For information about our historic sites: www.nha.org

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VOLUME 53, NO. 2

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Foreword

by Frank D. Milligan

5 8

Christopher Hussey Blown Out (Up) to Sea

by Ben Simon

The Robber Baron Behind the 1881 E. Howard No. 3 Striking Town Oock

' •

by Ben Simons

11

• Edmund Fanning, I Presume: Or, How to Flesh Out a Life Through Local Records

16

Susan Mitchell: A Woman ofMany Identities

by Betsy Tyler

by Jim Sulzer

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22

Historic Nantucket Book Section

Heritage Society Research Project

Review by Elizabeth Oldham

by Betsy Tyler

23

NHANews On the cover: Looking up at the Town Oock from the opposite side of Orange Street, ca. 1900s.

P20786

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Research: Our Invisible Foundation

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F PRESERVATION AND EDUCATION ARE THE visible cornerstones of the Nantucket Historical Association, then research is the invisible foun­ dation that supports virtually everything we do.

Some, like me, chip away at research when we can, stealing an hour or two here or there exploring the countless untold Nantucket stories contained in our archives or collections center. But the organization's success ultimately rests with the abilities of our prof essional curators, educators, and library and archives personnel who bring forth the stories behind the objects and historic properties we own in addition to setting the guidelines and procedures for prese1va­ tion and restoration.

In this issue of Historic Nantucket, NHA assistant curator Ben Simons provides historical insight into the nineteenth-century striking clock that will be installed as a centerpiece of the new Whaling Museum, opening in the spring of 2005. In Betsy Tyler's and Jim Sulzer's articles, the reader gains a sense of the tireless research that writers must do in order to tell an accurate story. In the end, historical research is like peeling an onion: you never really know what the next layer is going to reveal.

In addition to the interesting history, what emerges in these articles is the passion with which NHA staff and independent researchers pursue their work.

T he availability of online databases, including the genealogical records, has opened up family genealogical research to many who might not otherwise have under­ taken a task that can become laborious.

Research is fundamental to the association's preser­ vation work. For example, extensive research-by a team that includes a preservation architect, a structural engineer, Research Fellow Patty Jo Rice, and the NHA's Robyn and John Davis Curator Niles Parker-has taught us a great deal about the structural history and interior workings of the 1847 Hadwen & Barney candle factory, known affectionately as the Whaling Museum since 1929 when the NHA purchased the building.

When the building reopens next year, visitors will see the beam press and trywo rks r eveal ed in their HISTORIC NANTUCKET

entirety-for the fi rst time since whale oil was processed and spermaceti candles were made in the heyday of nineteenth-century whaling. A visit to this restored factory will become a "must see" on any islander's itinerary of key historical stops.

Visitors will also see hundreds of artifacts-each of which will have information researched and written by a curator-on display in new climate-controlled galleries. This includes the skeleton of tl1e forty-seven­ foot sperm whale that washed ashore at 'Sconset a few years ago and is now being examined by experts in whale anatomy and behavior before its installation in the new Gosnell Hall. Additional conservation and installation research work is also well under way on hundreds of other priceless objects from our collec­ tions. Each needs to be properly cleaned and in some cases repaired, mounts need to be constructed that will safely support the delicate artifacts, and appropriate musew11-standard Lghting systems will be chosen.

Research is also under way in preparation for the launch of the NHA's new lifelong-learning programs to be offered at the restored 1800 House on Mill Street.

This property will reopen as a "hands-on" living muse­ wn with an educational focus on researching and reen­ acting the historical trades and domestic crafts used to make the utilitarian and decorative objects that once graced Nantucket homes and shops. In restored rooms and gardens and in rehabilitated instructional class­ rooms, the past will be reborn by young (a11d not-so­ young) students of Nantucket history who, with the help of N1 IA staff and guest instructors, will learn how to research and make objects from our past.

Even this year's August Antiques Show, with its theme of "Everything Old Is New Again," is leading the event's planning committee into the fascinating and rewarding world of historical research. Which all goes to show that yet another good reason for becoming involved with the NI IA is to learn more about historical research and-who knows-maybe do some yourself! _ Frank D. Milligan SPRING

2004

The Robber Baron Behind the 1881 E. Howard No. 3 Striking Town Clock

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N 1881, WILLIAM HADWEN Starbuck presented the town of Nantucket with a magnificent striking clock made by the E. Howard Watch & Clock Co. of Boston. The clock drove the four faces that gazed upon the town from the tower of the Unitarian Church on Orange Street until its mecha­ nism was electrified in 1957. The town retained possession of the origi­ nal clockworks until 1999, when they were donated to the Nantucket Historical Association. Now the original E. Howard clock is in the process of being restored and will be installed in the stairwell leading to the roofwalk of the new NHA Museum Center on Broad Street, opening in 2005.

The Howard Watch and Clock Co. of Boston was one of America's premier clock.makers of the period.

The company manufactured five different flatbed strik­ ing models-from No. 0 (smallest) to No. 4 (largest).

Nantucket's No. 3 striking clock cost its donor $1,000.

It was installed in the South Tower and began operating on July 28, 1881. On JW1e 25, 1881, the Inquirer and Mirror reported: "The vane and balls upon the South Tower were removed yesterday, by Charles H .

Robinson, preparat01y to gilding the dome." I n addi­ tion to the donation of the clock, William Hadwen Starbuck had offered to pay for repainting the exterior of the church and for gilding the dome.

The tow.n's generous benefactor is described in accounts of the clock's arrival simply as "William Hadwen Starbuck of New York." Well known to the citizenry of the day, Starbuck's identity has been obscured behind the story of his generous gift. But when a name appears on the pages of history with such HISTORIC NANTUCKET

seeming nonchalance, it cries out for further examination. The resources of the Nantucket Historical Association Research Library provide ample opportunity for such investigation; and in this case, they reveal a highly inter­ esting tale.

Though not an island resi­ dent, Starbuck certainly had island pedigree, being a descendant of settler Edward Starbuck, Quaker foundress Mary Starbuck, and the nephew of island merchant W illiam Hadwen. But who exactly was this "grateful son" of Nantucket, and how had he arrived at a position in life that allowed him to return the favors the town of Nantucket had bestowed upon him in his youth?

The NHA archives contain several obituaries of Starbuck, along with a photocopy of a check in his hand for $10,000,000 dated August 8, 1881, drawn on the Farmers Loan and Trust Company, No. 20 Exchange Place, New York, endorsed by one "H. Villard." The same year that saw the arrival of the E. Howard No. 3 clock in Nantucket also witnessed a massive capital venture involving one of Nantucket's most successful native sons. In the age of the great rob-

by Ben Simons

Unitarian Church, ca. 1890s

by Clara E. Pitman.

P20252

Photocopy of Starbuck check of 1881.

M5144.1

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ber barons, who was this Nantucket capitalist, and where were his hands getting soiled?

The second son of George and Elizabeth Starbuck (of West Brick on Main Street), William Hadwen Starbuck (known as "Hadwen") was educated in Nantucket's public and private schools until completion of high school. A childhood playmate described him as "the most generous of boys and of a jocund sprightli­ ness that always made him a leader in the sports and games incident to boyhood," adding that he was "kind and void of malice." In the glow of remembrance, the acquaintance attributes Starbuck's future success to the boyish good nature, kindness, and sportive energy picked up in the Nantucket of his childhood: "His boy­ hood was a prophecy of his successful business career and munificent benevolence."

Starbuck began his career in the counting room of Wainright & Tappan of Boston. He gained several years' experience before starting the partnership of Tappan & Starbuck in New York. The firm was involved in ship brokerage and becan1e a successful player in the field of ship ownership and management.

The business prospered for some time, but eventually its fortunes took a turn for the worse, and it was at that point that Starbuck entered into his partnership with one Henry Villard. (The Villard mansion on Madison Avenue in New York City at one time was the home office of Random House and then the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York before being incorporated as the entrance of the New York Palace Hotel, built by Harry B. Helmsley in 1977.)

Villard was a witty and charismatic Bavarian, born Ferdinand Heinrich Hilgard, with some experience in German railroads. He came to New York in 1835 and had a successful career as a journalist covering the Lincoln- Douglas debates (Villard was an abolitionist) and the Civil War as a correspondent for the NewYork Herald and the New York Tribune. He later bought the Nation and the New York Post. In 1866, Villard mar­ ried Helen Garrison, only daughter of William Lloyd Garrison. In 1874, he became interested in the affairs of Oregon steamships and railroads, scouting the "vast region drained by the Columbia and its tributaries [that] formed a very empire in its extent." In a move chara cteris tic of high-finance schem es of the day, Villard discovered that the company controlling the region, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, could be purchased for $3,000,000. He secured a four-month HISTOR IC NANTUCKET

$100,000 option on its stock, returned to New York, and incorporated his option under the name "The Oregon Transcontinental Improvement Company," with 60,000 in unpaid shares.

Villard then proceeded to the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company of New York, which floated his shares for $10,000,000---the amount we have already seen on the check with Starbuck's signature endorsed by Villard. Villard was able to use his option to purchase control of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. For an initial investment of $100,000, Villard and his associ­ ates, including Starbuck, were in charge of capital assets of $10,000,000. Starbuck commented, "Then came the boom of 1879, and soon Villard and I were rolling in money." In a gesture of remembrance for Starbuck's ancestors and the legacy of his hometown, it was report­ ed that "The Oregon Steam Navigation Company, of New York, is, we understand, to adopt for its vessels the blue and white signal flag used on the whaling ships formerly owned by the late Joseph Starbuck."

Villard's reputation on Wall Street was well known.

The broker Henry Clews remembered him: "As a stock waterer Villard had probably no superior in that impor­ tant department of railway management." "Stock waterer" Villard soon issued $18,000,000 in new com­ pany stock, and had its price "bulled" up to $200 per share, from the already astronomical $95 per share.

Villard's scheme was essentially a land grab. He "envis­ aged nothing less than seizure of all the possible routes and approaches to the Pacific Ocean in the Oregon and Washington country, thus blocking the line of march of the second transcontinental railroad, the Northern Pacific." He proceeded to acquire mountain passes, val­ leys, coal deposits, agricultural land, and any other assets that could prove valuable.

In 1881 (the year of tarbuck's gift to the town), Villard declared a dividend of 11 .1 % , further fueling interest in the stock. Meanwhile, hundreds of his own immigration agents were honeycombing the small vil­ lages and hamlets of England, Germany, Sweden, and Russia with wild promises of a new paradise to entice the inhabitants to make the long journey to America to populate his towns. Rep01tedly, whole villages in Russia were emptied by the promises of Villard's agents.

Like other speculators of his day, Villard was not so much interested in building the best railroad throu�h the Pacific Northwest as in securing a monopoly on its best land and assets. In fact, the lines were hastily conSP RING

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structed and poorly engineered.

A competitor of Villard's wrote: "The selection of the routes and grades is abominable. Practically it would have to be built over." Shortly after a cere­ mony of laying the golden spike on his new railroad, Villard was in deep trouble. His competitors with real rail­ road experience were lobbying in Washington to have his land grant for­ feited. Rumors of his speculation were afloat and began to affect the price of his stock. He became subject to the blackmail and recrimination of petty partners at all levels of his enterprise.

Villard eventually recouped his losses and in 1890 acquired the Edison Lamp Company of Newark, N. J., which after merging with the Edison Machineworks of Schenectady, N.Y., became the Edison General Electric Company, which, in 1893, became the General Electric Company.

In the end, Villard's scheme proved so beneficial to Starbuck that, according to his obituary, "he retired therefrom." The depth of his involvement is not known, but as Villard's partner, he certainly profited from his lucrative stock maneuvers. After his grand beginning with Villard, Starbuck moved on briefly as president of the Housatonic Railroad until being enticed back to the presidency of the Oregon Transcontinental Improvement Company. He contin­ ued in that position w1til his retirement in 1895, one year before his death.

In an obituary of Starbuck in the Inquirer and Mirror on April 11, 1896, Phebe Ann Hanaford wrote: "When he amassed a fortune, such as no Nantucket man, I think, had ever before secured, he did not hoard it self­ ishly, but he manifested a benevolence and generosity which won the respect and gratitude of his former fel­ low-townsmen." As a son of several great Nantucket lines, he "inherited from both the paternal and mater­ nal sides, those characteristics which under favorable circumstances, could not fail to bring him success."

Regardless of the particulars of his "fortune," Nantucket welcomed back into its fold this "man of mark," who had remembered his hometown in the gift of the beautiful E. Howard clock. Starbuck lived on in New York City in an "almost palatial home" until his death with all of the respectability he had gathered HISTORIC NANTUCKET

View of Unitarian

around him. He was a member of the New York Yacht Club (and owner of the brand-new steam yacht Tillie), and an active parishioner at the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church.

On the day of his funeral in New York, flags were set at half-staff in his home­ town of Nantucket "upon all public and private places where bunting can be displayed."

Church and clock tower from Orange Street, ca. 1920s.

CPN3183

Rev. Ted Anderson and Linda Woodford rehang the Portuguese bell after she completed repairs.

Photograph by

Ben Simons is the NHA's assistant curator.

Robert R.Hall 1978.

Source List:

P19462

Inquirer and Mirror.

Author and

Barney Genealogical Record.

NHA assistant curator

NHA Research Library Blue Files: "Town Clock," "Bells of Nantucket."

NHA Research Library, Edouard A. Stackpole Collection, MS 335, folder 684.

Ben Simons

Obituary in unnamed newspaper dated April 4, 1896.

Obituary in Inquirer and Mirror by Phebe A. Hanaford dated April 11, 1896, signed "Phebe A. Hanaford/336 West 51st st./New York City, April 1, 1896."

Undated and unnamed newspaper article on the signal flag of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company.

Matthew Josephson, The Robber Barons: Great American Capitalists, 1861-1901 (Harcourt, Brace and Co.: New York, 1934).

Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th edn.

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Christopher Hussey Blown Out (Up) to Sea always appears with an absolute authority, as in Elmo Paul Hohman's The Ame rican Whaleman: "In 1712, when Christopher Hussey was blown off shore in a gale cruising near the shore /or Right whales, and was and captured the first sperm whale far out at sea...." blown off some distance from the land by a strong With repeated force, Macy's tale became an authorita­ northerly wind, when he Jell in with a school of tive foundation story anchored firmly at the outset of a that species of whales, and killed one and brought great tradition. How surprising, then, to look into the it home. At what date this adventure took place is Barney Genealogical Record and the ½"tal Records of not fully ascertained, but it is supposed to be not Jar Nantucket, and to discover that in 1712 the said from 1712.

"Captain" Christopher Hussey was either a six-year-old Obed Macy, History a/Nantucket boy or already twenty-seven years deceased!

(First Edition, Nantucket: 1835), p. 32.

Obed Macy does not list the sources he used for the famous passage in his History of Nantucket. Naturally, modern historians have been perturbed by the refer­ N THE INTRICATE MAZES OF HISTORICAL ence. Edward Byers writes in his The Nation of research, sometimes a bright thread appears that Nantucket that the story is "almost certainly apoc­ has all the attraction of a mythical golden strand. ryphal." E lizabeth Little, in a paper on "Early That was the effect of Quaker historian Obed Whaling," credits the capture story, "though not by a Obed Macy Macy's 1835 account of Nantucket's first encounter Christopher Hussey," but "this first sperm whale cap­ with a sperm whale. Almost every subsequent retelling ture may have been made by one of his grandsons, 199411 of the Nantucket whaling story uses Macy's brief Sylvanus Hussey or Bachelor Hussey." Nathaniel paragraph to launch the great epic story Philbrick also retains the story in Away Offshore, but of Nantucket's whaling empire.It was changes the protagonist to an unknown "Hussey." during that accidental voyage of There is little doubt that Nantucketers began to "discovery" that Nantucket's long encounter sperm whales at some time near Macy's "not relationship with the sperm whale fully ascertained" date of 1712. A far more believable was born. The only question is­ story in Macy's History, also dated to 1712, describes a was it true? sperm whale "found dead and ashore, on the southwest The appeal of Macy' s foun­ pa1t of the island." After a bitter dispute with "many dation story proved so strong claimants," including a representative of the British over time that it became subject Crown, and the "natives" [Macy] who first found it, the to wild creative embellishments. proprietors disingenuously asserted their clain1 to the By the early twentieth century, carcass due to a retroactive right "comprehended in for instance, Ivan T. Sanderson their purchase of the island." The excited populace con­ feels confident enough to describe sidered the teeth, spermaceti, and blubber of the sperm "Capt ain Chris tophe r Huss ey's whale "worth their weight in silver." bearlike figure . . . more like the fig­ The earliest Christopher Hussey (1598-1685) was urehead on a ship than a man." Even in bo rn in Surrey, England, and was one of the island's first more sober scholarly accounts, the story I purch asers. Christopher was married to Theodate HISTORIC NANTUCKET SPRING 2004

by The first Spermaceti whale taken by the Nantucket Ben Simons whaler was killed by Christopher Hussey. He was

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Bachelder, daughter of the radical Quaker minister Hussey" who captured Nantucket's first sperm whale.

Stephen Bachelder. Christopher was often referred to in (Another Christopher Hussey was born in 1706, far too records of the day as "Captain Christopher Hussey," late to be involved). but appears never to have set foot on Nantucket. He It seems unlikely that Nantucketers, although was long deceased by the year of the initial capture increasingly involved in the business of the Right-whale in 1712. His son Stephen Hussey was one of two fishery and in laying claim to "rack" or "drift" whales early Quakers on Nantucket, and a strong and even washed ashore, had never seen or encountered sperm "rude"voice for the full-share men during the whales before 1712. In fact, there is testimony to earlier Half-Share Revolt. Stephen's two sons Bachelor encounters. Frederick C. Sanford wrote an account of (Bachelder) [1684-?] and Sylvanus [1682-1767] figure the American whale fishery for the U. S. Commission of actively in the scant records of the early whaling indus足 Fish and Fisheries in 1882 in which he states: "In 1670, try on Nantucket.

William Hamilton succeeded in taking the first sperma足 According to records in the State House in Boston, ceti whale off Nantucket, and from that time for nearly among the Nantucket vessels registered at the ti.me were two hundred years Nantucket successfully pursued the two sloops: "April 24, 1711, Sylvanus Hussey, sloop business." The identity of Hamilton is not further Eagle, 30 tons, built at Scituate, 1711; July 30, 1713, known, nor does Sanford provide a source for that early Sylvanus Hussey, sloop Bristol, 14 tons, built at capture.

Tiverton, 1711." Sylvanus Hussey, son of Stephen and Given Nantucket's proximity to the Gulf Stream, grandson of Christopher, had organized one of the earli足 where sperm whales frequently congregate and feed, est whale oil companies on Nantucket-Sylvanus there must have been other such encounters, Hussey & Company. Though small-tonnage sloops were whether or not they resulted in an actual capture. used in the coastal trade, at that time Elizabeth Little suggests that Nantucketers they were also being fitted out carried on specifically for whaling on the the early "deep." Whoever it was that was caught "cruising near the shore" when blown off to sea, the vessel that carried him and his crew may well have been owned by Sylvanus whaling trade in larger volumes than records Hussey or his associates.

Another clue comes from one of the earliest account indicate, in part because it was a "cute" practice, books to survive from the time that was kept by conducted in somewhat clandestine circumstances with Nathaniel Starbuck Jr. It contains perhaps the earliest a "marked similarity to smuggling." Whether or not documented record of spermaceti on Nantucket in the sperm whale oil was part of this early invisible trade year 1712: "1/0 on permaseeta 000/01/000." Another practice is difficult to say, but the myth of a definite mention appears in 1714 under the account of "first capture" remains questionable.

It is interesting to speculate why the myth of Captain "Bachelder Husey": "5/0 on oll of permaseta Christopher Hussey became so engrained in the imagi足 000/10/00." Other names with "permaseeta" accounts nations of generations of Nantucketers and historians are Nathaniel and John Barnard, John Coffin, and writing about Nantucket.

Origin myths are always George Gardner. There is no way to tell for sure attractive, especially for communities that settle in a new whether the spermaceti listed in those accounts came locale, all the more so if they gradually displace an from the whale washed ashore or a mythical whale indigenous population.

Similarly, a tradition with the encountered at sea. However, the second mention of a grandeur of the Nantucket whaling story tends to seek a Hussey family member in connection with sperm oil of and all origin that at once explains appeases point suggests that Stephen's two active sons, Sylvanus and Bachelor, might have been involved in an initial capture. that would follow: notice the accidental, involuntary Pending further evidence, those two Husseys are the quality of the first capture, as if Nantucketers were closest we can get to the mythical "Captain Christopher merely driven to their pursuit of the sperm whale by HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Sperm Whale.

Graphite drawing

by Don Sineti

s PR! I G 2 0 0 -4--

9

The Live Iron

by George Gale.

2()()1.581-23

TheWhale Fishery "In a Flurry" published by N. Currier,

152 Nassau Street, New York, 1852 /992.400 I

chance. At the same time, in those early days of Nantucket seafaring, there were many incidents of small craft being "blown out" to sea, many of which resulted in tragic deaths. P erhaps the myth of the early encounter with a sperm whale after being "blown off" to sea was a way for the historical consciousness of the emerging community to cope with all of those watery deaths. In any case, the myth of Captain Christopher Hussey being "blown off some distance" from the shoreline of his new Nantucket homdand and encoun­ tering the first sperm whale in the island's history is a rich tale that belongs to the overflowing basket of Nantucket legend.

Ben Simons is the NHA's assistant curator.

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IN MEMORIAM

COLLECTORAND PHILAN1HROPIST JANEI P NTO RESI -BR IAN ENGELH ARD, 86, wife of the late industrialist Charles Engelhard of Far Hills, NJ, died at her Nantucket home on Feb. 29, 2004. A full-time island resident since 1995, Mrs. Engelbard's interests and generosity extended from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to many Nantucket organizations, including the Nantucket Historical Association. Through the Charles Engelhard Foundation, she provided support for constructing the Bartholomew Gosnold Center, the NHA's collection storage and conservation facility, and for cataloging the NHA's collection of more than 800 paintings. This work led to the publication in 1996 of Piduring Nantucket, RT

An Art History of the Island with Paintings from the Collection of the Nantucket HistoricalAssociation. Coincidentally, the NHA's founding meeting in 1894 was held

at the West Brick on Main Street that would later become Mrs. Engelbard's home.

Among her survivors are five daughters, including Charlene of Concord, Mass., and Nantucket; twelve grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. The NHA is deeply grateful for her generosity.

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C HIS T O I R

NA N TUCKET

Source List Barney Genealogical Record Vital Records of Nantucket Town NHA Research Library: Green Files, "Hussey" Worth Family Papers, MS Book 14 Account Book 128 U. S. Commission offish and Fisheries, Report of the Commissioner for 1882 (Washington, G. P. 0, 1884), Part X. (Thanks to Elizabeth Oldham for reference).

Edward Byers, Nation ofNantucket (Boston, 1987).

Elmo Paul Hohman, The American Whaleman (New York, 1928).

Elizabeth A. Little, Nantucket Whaling in the Early 18th Century (Nantucket Algonquin Studies No. 16.: Nantucket, 1981).

---Indian Whalemen of Nantucket: The Documentary Evidence (Nantucket Algonquin Studies No. 13: Nantucket, 1992) Obed Macy, History a/Nantucket (First Edition, Nantucket, 1835).

Nathanid Philbrick, Away Offshore (Nantucket, 1994).

Ivan T. Sanderson, Follow the Whale (Boston, 1954).

Alexander Starbuck, The History a/Nantucket (Boston, 1924).

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Edmund Fanning, I Presume:

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O,; How to Flesh Out a Life Through Local Records

S A LIBRARIAN, I SPENT A NUMBER OF YEARS helping people research a variety of topics in Nantucket history, from agriculture to zoology. Once I even assisted a woman who had been regressed by her psychiatrist to a former life as a man on colonial Nantucket and came here to look for the setting of her life in old Sherburne. She remem­ bered Nathaniel Starbuck's blacksmith's shop, at the bottom of a hill. Every time I fetched a logbook, diary, or a particularly bulky folder of family correspondence for a researcher, I wished I could be the one spending hours getting to know a person, or a house, or a small island in the Paci.fie.

So I left my library job and became a free-lance researcher. One of my first clients was Ian Strange, an author, artist, naturalist, and conservationist who lives in the Falkland Islands, dividing his time between Port Stanley, the capital, and New Island South, a small island on the western side of the Falkland group, home to thousands of rockhopper penguins and albatrosses.

Ian is interested in the history of New Island South and its first New England contacts, who were whalemen and sealers from Nantucket; Dunkirk, France; and Milford Haven, Wales (where Nantucketer Francis Rotch set up a whaling operation during the American Revolution). For background reading he suggested I might be interested in Marooned: Being a Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Captain Charles H. Barnard, Embracing an Account of the Seizure of his Vessel at the Falkland Islands, etc., 1812-1816 (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1979) and Edmund Fanning's Voyages and Discoveries in the South Seas 1792-1832 (Salem, Mass.: Marine Research Society, 1924).

A man named Edmund Fanning was one of the part­ ners in the voyage of the brig Nanina, out of New York, a voyage that left Charles H. Barnard marooned on HISTORIC NANTUCKET

New Island South in 1812 with four of his crew, with no by provisions and little hope of rescue, through two sub- Betsy Tyler arctic winters. Barnard's narrative of his suffering is a great read. He portrays himself as resourceful, humane, determined-a Shackleton-like figure--one you would want to be marooned with, if you had to be marooned.

You would also want to be accompanied by his faithful dog, who in my mind turned out to be the real hero of his tale. In the collection of the NHA Research Library there is a log of the Nanina, kept by first mate Henry Ingman Defriez. He paints an entirely different portrait of Charles Barnard in the following log entry: I shall now proceed to make some remarks of the trans­ actions on board from the commencement of the voy­ age-the first dispute that took place was settled to the satisfaction of all concerned-the next [g]revious mis­ widerstanding that took place, was on the morning of the fourth of july, I say [g]revious miswiderstanding, when one man threatened to blow anothers brains out what was certainly the case with Capt BarnardJW1 who in my hearing threatened to blow capt Fanning & Pease out without giving them any chance for his Life-and indeed I am sorry to say it but the whole passage as been one continual term of quarreling which in my opinion was entirely from the disposition of Capt BarnardJwi,-the treatment I have received from him as been such as I should be ashamed to give to a dog He has abused me shamefully and even threatned to kick me over the bows so that I considered my Life in danger-I have endeavoured to conduct myself in such a manner as to demand the treatment and respect that is due to a chief officer, which can be attested to by Capt Fanning, Hunter and Peas and I believe the crew are ready at any time to assent the truth; without bribery should we ask them ...

After reading Henry's account of the voyage one won­ ders if the abandonment of Charles Barnard was an accident. And who is the Edmund Fanning on this voy­ age? Edmund Fanning, the author of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Seas, was forty-three years old in SPRING

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11

I

WEST FALKLAND

Capt Chase, belonging to Edmund Fanning of New York which place she left on the 12th of July-bringing with her the melancholy News of a war with Great Britain which rook place on the seventeenth of June

Would Henry have not clarified that the owner of the Hope was with them on the Nanina, if that were the case? I imagine so. So who is the Edmund Fanning in the Falklands in 1812?

In her introduction to the 1979 edition of Marooned, maritin1e historian Bertha Dodge states that Ou, ' � Se1 "Edmund Fanning ...was a name already to be con­ Sholl Harbour' � Jiouse . jured with, the older and more famous Edmund Fanning having been an explorer of note.Nantucket­ born co-partner Fanning, also Edmund, according to d ,< CHARLOTri Mr.Edouard Stackpole, Director of the Peter Foulger FOIi/ Museum on Nantucket, was the explorer's nephew 3AY who, before 1812, had been commanding vessels trad­ ing in West Indian and South American ports." Ms. Dodge apparently had not seen the log of the Nanina kept by Henry lngman Defriez when she wrote her lengthy introduction to the book. She does not men­ tion Barnard's malevolent side.

These uncertainties about Edmund Fanning and Charles Barnard stayed in the back of my mind as I examined otl1er logbooks for mention of New Island.

Of the hundreds of logbooks and journals at the NHA-and hundreds more at New Bedford and Mystic and other maritime libraries-how does one narrow down the choices and select those most likely to yield information? The best method I have found is to use the indexes and databases that are available, published and unpublished, to discover which vessels were in an area of interest during a specific time peri­ od. Once I have access to a logbook, or a microfilm �¼,,..,;;• copy of it, I note the record of latitude and longitude, Mapo/WestFalkland, 11812. Accordi ng to the Dictionary of American courtesy ofthe author Biography, Fanning's great success in his voyage in the which is almost certain to be entered into the logbook on a regular basis. New Island South happens to be in scJ9, Betsey, 1797-98, enabled him to devote the remainder the vicinity of latitude 51 south, longitude 61 west, so I of his life to promoting the South Seas trade."He lived most of the time in New York, occasionally visiting am able to pinpoint when a ship is in the area pretty Stonington where he had a shipyard.As agent for a quickly. This is a more foolproof method than relying group of New York capitalists, he promoted and acted on the creatively spelled place-names that are common as agent for more than seventy expeditions to the South in most logbooks.What I look for in the log entries are Seas, occasionally taking part himself." The Nanina sightings of other ships in the area, which leads to the sailed out of New York.Could this be one of the voy­ search for their logbooks, as well as mention of crew ages that the famed Capt. Edmund Fanning joined? On going ashore for wood, water, and provisions (including penguin eggs and wild hogs), descriptions of wildlife, January 22, 1813, Herny notes in his log terrain-anything that helps to paint a picture of life in yesterday morning we where in formed by Capt that small corner of the ocean two hundred years ago.

Barnard, of the arnval & departure of the ship HopeKING GEO BAY

:J)' '

12

HISTORIC

N ANTU CKE T

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One of the logbooks I found with a lengthy descrip­ tion of a visit to ew I land is that of the Jane Maria, on a sealing expedition to the Falkland I lands in 1817. On the cover of the logbook, in the unmistakable handwrit­ ing of Edouard tackpole is the note "Log kept by Edmund Fanning of antucket." After the Jane Maria reached the Falklands, the crew constructed a sloop, smaller and more manageable than the mother brig, for cruising among the islands to find seals and sea ele­ phants. The sloop was christened the Mage/an [sic], and her master was Edmund Fanning, written in bold script across the top of each page of the log during the ti.me the Magelan was at sea. The brig Jane Maria stayed anchored in a safe harbor. On December 9 ' 1817 ' Edmund makes the following entry: Fresh wine.ls at SE anc.l gooc.l w<..>ather-at day break got under weigh anc.l at l PM we Anchord at Georges Islanc.l where we got the Blubber of 51 Elaphant on board which filled the sloop fuU Got underweigh-at 10 arrived at our Brig where we found 2 officers belonging to the Ship Sea Fox Capt Fanning 80 days passage from New York. She belonging to the owners of our Brig- I lmec.liatcly got into her Boat to Get on Board of her. She Laying at Barnard Island. Ends with a Fresh wind at NW good weather

base there are two of them, and sure enough, one is the son of Phineas and Kezia.

Edmond [sic] Fanning (b.1790) son of Phineas Fanning and Kezia Coffin. Married ? Lewis. One daughter Ann Francis Fanning

A

TUCKET

label /or the Jane Maria's Logbook

This Edmund's father, Phineas Fanning (1750-98), was in turn the son of Col. Phineas Fanning (1724-96) and Mahitable Wells of Long Island. Another son of Col. Phineas Fanning was Barclay Fanning, who married Caroline Henson Orne on antucket in 1784. They also had a son named Edmond, or Edmund-the spelling varies depending on the source consulted.

So in 1817 Edmund fanning, reputedly of antucket, left his sloop and went on board the Sea Fox to greet Edmund Fanning of New York. Was he going to s e his uncle? Is he the same Edmund Fanning who was on Edmond Fanning (1785-1822) married Abigail the anina five years earlier? Unfortunately, there is no (Nabby) Giles. He died at sea in 1822. He and Nabby further mention in the log of the meeting between the had three children: Edmond F. A. Fanning, Barclay two Edmund Fannings.

Fanning and Louisa Fanning.

In the context of the research I am conducting for Ian Strange, the identity of the Edmund Fanning of Either of these Edmund Fannings would have been Nantucket is not that important. It's just that not know­ the right age in 1812 (either twenty-two years old or ing who this Edmund Fanning of antucket is drives twenty-seven years old) to be on the Nanina. And as it me crazy. My fust thought is that perhaps he is the son turns out, the two Edmund Fannings were fust cousins. of Phineas Fanning and Kezia Coffin Fanning, well.­ Are they the nephews of Edmund Fanning, known figures in Nantucket history. So I spend some of author of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Seas?

Well, this is where the Barney Record ceases to be of my free ti.me trying to find out.

This leads to the subject of genealogy, which is the assistance, since the families moved to Nantucket from backbone of so much historical research. Luckily for I other parts.

I decided to see if there was a published genealogy students of Nantucket history, the genealogy of the inh abita nts of this island is well documented. The of the Fanning family that might reveal the relationship NHA's Eliza Starbuck Barney Genealogical Database for me. Searching the Library of Congress online cata­ (or Barney Record) contain vital records for the first log I found that in 1905 Walter Frederick Brooks had settlers and their descendants almost to the end of the written and had privately published a History of the nineteenth century. I immediately opened the Barney Fanning Family: A Genealogical Record to 1900 of the database and typed in Fanning, Edmund. In the data- Descendents of Edmund Fanning, the Emigrant Ancestor HISTORIC

Edouard Stackpole's

S P R I N G

2 0 0 4

13

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in America, who settled in Connecticut in 1653.

Unfortunately, an interlibrary loan request revealed that the pages of no library in the country had a circulating copy.

Edmund Fanning's So I turned to the New England Historic Genealogical whalingwgs Society in Boston. As a member I can use its online search capabilities to examine all references to Edmund Fanning within their various databases.I discovered, in volume 100 of the NEHGS Register, published in 1946, an article titled "Nantucket Supplementary Records." These are death records kept by Isaac Coffin of Nantucket, and not included in the five-volume Nantucket Vital Records published in 1925.Edmund Fanning's death in 1822, in Coquimbo, is listed there, but with startling new information-he shot himself!

Now I really had to know more.First of all, where the heck is Coquimbo? It turns out to be on the coast of Chile, so Edmund was likely on another voyage.

I decided to check deeds and probate records for other clues.Both the Nantucket Registry of Deeds and the Nantucket Probate Court are in the Town Building, and their records are public.By searching the grantee indexes in the Registry of Deeds under the name Fanning, I found three interesting documents.In Deed Book 23, page 446, there is a deed from John Beard, cooper, to Edmund Fanning, mariner, for 16 rods of land with a dwelling house, bounded on the west side

by Orange Street.Edmund Fanning paid $1,400 for this property in 1816. It was located somewhere on the east side of Orange Street between land of the heirs of Matthew Beard on the north, and by John Beard on the south.It was not clear from this deed which of the two local Edmund Fannings bought the house.

The next two documents cleared up that mystery.

In Deed Book 25, Page 34, Edmund Fanning gave a power of attorney to his wife Nabby on July 20, 1818.

This allowed Nabby to "grant, bargain sell and convey all my real estate of every kind and description situated at Nantucket aforesaid to such person or persons as she Headings from

14

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HISTORIC

NANTUCKET

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may think proper and for such price or prices ..." It was a fairly common practice for Nantucket mariners to give powers of attorney to their wives when they went to sea.We know that one of the Nantucket Edmund Fannings went sealing on the Spartan in 1818; he was the same Edmund who was on the Jane Maria, and who captained the sloop Magelan in 1817.The logs of all of those voyages are in one logbook, kept by Edmund.

The log of the Spartan begins on July 22, 1818, two days after the power of attorney was signed, so fairly solid circumstantial evidence would point to Edmund Fanning (1785-1822) as our man in the Falklands. The other Edmund, son of Phineas and Kezia, died in 1848 in Nova Scotia, according to the Nantucket Vital Records which add in brackets that he, too, died at sea on Dec�mber 24, 1822.This confusion about Edmunds has a long history.

Nabby Fanning used her power of attorney immedi­ ately.In August of 1818, she sold their dwelling house to mariner Edward Clark for $1,600. The property description in Deed Book 25, page 35, matches that in the earlier deed book, when Edmund bought the prop­ erty in 1816, so I know it's the same house.Nabby's and Edmund's children were nine years old (Edmond F. A. Fanning) and four years old (Barclay Fanning) in 1818.

Their third child, Louisa, was born March 27, 1819, nine months after Edmund left on the Spartan. There are no more deeds or other documents recorded under the names Edmund or Nabby Fanning in the Nantucket Registry of Deeds.

Probate records often reveal quite a lot about a per­ son's life, in small details that don't show up anywhere else. Edmund Fanning wrote a will, dated June 17, 1818, recorded in Nantucket Probate Book 6, page 243.With a young family and a dangerous occupation, he certainly acted responsibly.He left his wife half of his household furniture and the use and improvement of all the rest and residue of my Estate both real and personal during the �e she shall remain my widow; and at her second mar�age, or decease, I give to my son Berkley [sic] Fannrng the whole of my Estate (the one half of my furniture aforeSP RING

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said excepted) to him his heirs and assigns forever, unless my wife should have another child, in which case, the child shall inherit my Estate equalJy with my son Berkley-I have omitted giving any thing to my son Edmund frederick Augustus Fanning from a con­ sideration of his being al ready provided for by the late General Edmund fanning deceased General Edmund Fan ning! Who was he? The

Dictionary of American Biography describes this

Edmund (1739-1818) as a loyalist during the American Revolution who practiced as an attorney in North Carolina after his graduation from Yale. He was so thoroughly hated by the people of North Carolina that he was practically run out of the state. After the war he moved to Nova Scotia. Ile became Lieutenant Governor of Prince Ed ward Island, where he was accused of tyranny. And in 1808 he became a general in the British Army. General Fanning moved to England in 1813 and died there in 1818. Little Edmund Frederick Augustus Fanning was obviously one of his heirs. One has to wonder why.

The big question now is what happened between 1818 and 1822 that would drive Edmund to take his life in Coquimbo, C hile? The log of the Spartan ends October 15, 1819, so Edmund must have gone out on another voyage that took him around Cape Horn to Coquimbo, but there is no local record of that voyage.

In perusing volume five of the Nantucket Vital Records, the "Deaths" volume, I noticed that John B. Fanning, son of Barclay and Caroline Henson Ornes (and thus the brother of Edmund) died October 24, 1822, "on board the United States Sc hool Shark." The Barney Record, to confuse facts even more, states that John B. died on board the "W.S. Schooner Shark." The best interpretation of both garbled notes might be "U.S. Schooner Shark." John B. at twenty-six years old was quite a bit younger than his brother Edmund, who was thirty-seven years old in 1822. Did John's death have some­ thing to do with Edmund's suicide two months later?

One other note before I leave you hanging. Edmund Fanning died with an estate that was deemed insolvent and insufficient to pay his debts. His whole estate was valued, in January 1823, at $111.17 and included some sin1ple furni­ ture, bedding, and crockery. Three pic­ tures, his most valuable possessions, were HISTORIC NANTUCKET

appraised at $60. Perhaps they were fa.nilly portraits.

Of Edmunds. An addendum was made to his estate inventory a year later, when the following items were appraised for $28.59.

4 jackets 8 pair trowsers 2 waistcoats 7 shirts 1 pair stockings 1 pillow 1 coat 1 clothes bag 5 handkercl1iefs 1 bag thread etc.

1 sea quilt blanket and shirt 2 Coast Pilots Malham's Gazzetter [Gazetteer] 4 smalJ volumes 3 white shirts 3 pair pantaloons 1 thin jacket l white waistcoat 4 napkin 3 silk handkerchiefs 1 smalJ trunk These items were obviously r eturned to Nabby from the ship that Edmund had been on during his last voyage.

I have a lump in my throat thinking about Nabby and her boys, and baby Louisa, and wondering what happened to Edmund and his brother. Their connec­ tion to Edmund Fanning the famous explorer and author became less of a burning question as their lives on Nantucket unfolded a little. What are my next research steps? Perhaps examining the Inquirer for 1822 to see if there is any information about Edmund or his brother John; looking for records of the American Consul in Chile; finding out about the U.S. Navy's schooner Shark; learning more about Edmund's cluldren and who they married and who their descendants are; and of course getting my hands on T he

History of the Fanning Famzly.

Betsy Tyler is a free-lance researcher and writer living on Nantucket. Her articles on the "Heritage Sodety Research Project" appear regularly in Historic Nantucket.

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2 004

15

Susan Mitchell: A Woman a/Many Identities by

u

NTIL MY QUEST FOR SUSAN MITCHELL GOT

und:r way, I had �o idea ho� mu?1 s�, Jim Sulzer persistence, good Judgment, rmagmatton, and sometimes luck are involved in even the simplest act of historical research. T his woman of many identities taught me that a real historian accomplishes an almost miraculous feat, like someone constructing a tiny but perfect replica of a ship inside a bottle, while following faded, misleading, shredded instructions. With her multiple identities and her conflicting stories, Susan Mitchell taught me that researching isn't easy for amateurs like myself, but the rewards of the chase can be keen and exhilarating.

It was the summer of 2000, and I was repaying a favor to the incomparable Tom Congdon, who had edit­ ed a book of mine that was about to be published. A few years earlier, in exchange for his efforts to salvage another manuscript, I had shingled the front of his Pine Street house; for this latest piece of editing, his charge to me was to delve beneath the fa<;ade and research the his­ tory of the house, which he owns with his wife, Connie.

As the search began, I had no idea that someone Susan Mitchell's named Susan Mitchell would enter the story, or how tax record many difficulties I would encounter even before she arrived on the scene.

Ms, ,53 My guide to researching the history of a house was Hobson Woodward's 1997 article in Nantucket Magazine, "If These Walls Could Talk." From his clear, helpful explanations I learned about constructing a "deed chain" by examining the current deed and fol­ lowing its reference to the previous deed, which in turn should refer to a still older deed-on and on into the mists of Nantucket history.

For a while, as I began to trace the history of Tom and Connie's house, the records in the Registry of I

,_

16HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Deeds in a comer of the town building were essential.

As I paged my way through the thick, hardbound books of records, I found that the current deed referred directly to a 1979 purchase from the former owner, which referenced a 1977 purchase from yet another owner. I started to feel more comfortable with the ter­ minology: "grantor" meant seller and "grantee" meant buyer, and I anticipated an easy conclusion to the search as I leapfrogged from deed to deed back into the 1800s and earlier.

In retrospect, it should come as no surprise that even before I reached the mid 1900s, the chain grew tangled.

The 1977 deed referred to the granting of one-third of the property in 1946 to a husband and wife, Wilhelm Mathison and Louise E. Mathison, from someone named Grover C. Coffin, identified as the son of Martha W. (Chadwick) Coffin-and at that point the linear chain of leads dissolved into a series of circuitous an1biguities.

As Hobson Woodward's article explains, once the deeds stop offering clues, it is likely that the earlier transferences were made through inheritance. At that point it is necessary to go upstairs to the state's Probate Court, which has records of the disposition of property through wills.

Before researching the probate records, however, I needed to decide exactly what I was researching.

I needed to form a hypothesis or hypotheses-to make best guesses, and then check those guesses against later findings. In forming those hypotheses, I had nothing but common sense as my guide. I posed a few central questions: why was one third of the property granted to this husband and wife team? Had the property already been split into thirds-and why?

To begin to answer those questions, I needed to learn more about William and Louise E. Mathison.

While there was little on William, in the town clerk's office I did find the death certificate of Louise E. (Chadwick) Mathison, which revealed the names of her parents, Frederick S. Chadwick and Mary L. Folger.

SPRING

2004

In tum, an 1874 probate court record of F. S. Chadwick Mathison, in a now-missing probate transfer. Why the revealed that guardianship of young Frederick had 1911 transfer to Emma Cook and back to Mary F. passed to his mother, Eliza Chadwick, in that year, pos­ Chadwick? I could only conjecture that Frederick was sibly with the death of his father-Eliza being the in some sort of legal trouble and needed to transfer sole grandmother of Louise E. Mathison. With this further ownership of his two-thirds of the property to his wife. clue, I then examined the probate file of Eliza But whatever the reason, this record was proof that as Chadwick in the year of her death, 1903. It revealed of 1911, Frederick and Mary were already in possession three children: the previously identified Frederick as of two-thirds of the house-suggesting further that well as his sisters, Martha W. (Chadwick) offin and Frederick had already received the one-third interest of Sarah E. (Chadwick) Jones. The three siblings were the his younger sister, Sarah E. (Chadwick) Jones. father and the two aunts of Louise E. Mathison.

Here was a new hypothesis: Frederick has slowly Here was the first possible clue: perhaps the one­ been gathering up the missing thirds of the property for third share was the aftereffect of the house having been his own use. jointly owned by three siblings. As further corrobora­ A return to the Registry of Deeds would reveal tion, Grover C. Coffin was the son of one of the sib­ exactly such a transfer. A search of the grantee books lings-of the oldest, Martha W. (Chadwick) revealed that in January of 1911, Sarah E. (Chadwick) Coffin-and in 1946 Grover would, in fact, transfer his Jones transferred her one-third ownership of the prop­ one-third of the property to his cousin, Louise E. erty to her brother Frederick. And even better, for the Mathison. With that action, the daughter of Frederick purposes of my search, this record referenced an earlier Chadwick received a one-third share from the son of transfer: on December 19, 1874, the property had been Martha, effectively reuniting the ownership of the house sold for $550 to Martha, F rederick, and Sarah in a single branch of the family, one generation removed Chadwick, all of them in their teens, by someone named Susan Mitchell. from the original three siblings.

There was no record of how Susan Mitchell came But how had the original three siblings come to the property, or why she would sell it to three into Eliza hypothesized, I Perhaps, own the house?

And this mysterious woman would prove teenagers.

Chadwick had owned the house and passed it on to her much more difficult to trace than the legal machinations three children.

Wrong. An examination of property transfers from encountered thus far.

Who was Susan Mitchell? The death records for 1900 to 1910 revealed no such transfer. Eliza had appar­ gave evidence of two who lived in the nine­ Nantucket ently never owned the property.

Susan R. M itchell and Susan A. century: th teen I knew I needed to prove their ownership, but I had exhausted all the resources I knew: deed chain, death Mitchell. My working hypothesis now was to find as much as I could about each of them and, with luck, to certificates, probate records.

When a dog loses a bone or a tennis ball, it begins a come across the record of how one of them came to ran dom search in the most likely areas, trusting to own the property.

Susan R. Mitchell was born a Hallett. She didn't chance and luck, and I could think of no better Joseph Mitchell until 1880 (when she was forty­ marry approach. I began a feverish search of all property he was seventy) and therefore couldn't be the and seven transfers on Nantucket in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and dumb luck finally came to my res­ cue. An examination in 1911 found a transfer in March of two-thirds of the property from Frederick S. Chadwick and Mary F. Chadwick to Emma Cook-and then, oddly, five days later, from Emma Cook back to Mary F. Chadwick alone. Apparently, that was a legal maneuver to give sole ownership to Mary Chadwick, who would later bequeath that two­ thirds share to her d aughter, Louise E. H!STOR[C NANTUCKET

I

Backyards ofPine Street looking toward Ray's Court.

PN23

Tom and Connie Congdon's house on Pine Street.

P7424

Photographs ca. 1970s

by John McC.alley.

2004

The 1866 plot plan for Susan Mitchell's Ray's Court property that

NHA

research associate Libby Oldham found/or the author.

AtSlfJ.f

18

Susan Mitchell who sold the property to the three Chadwick siblings in 1874.

Susan A. Mitchell was born a Chase, the daughter of Reuben Chase and Judith (Gardner) Chase. She was born in 1791 and died in 1875. Marriage records in the town clerk's office revealed that in 1811, at the age of twenty, she married Obed Alley of Nantucket. He died on November 5, 1836, leaving her some property on Pearl Street (later to be renamed India Street). In 1846 her father died intestate-leaving it to his son, Reuben Chase II, to administer his estate-and with no clear records of property disbursal. In 1848 Susan married a second huband, Samuel Mitchell-the same probate judge who oversaw the intestate administration of her father's estate! He died in 1866. A court document revealed that he owned property on North Water Street and granted her permission to live on the property for the remainder of her life, but leaving it after her death to his children by a previous marriage. Perhaps, I rea-

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

soned, she had inherited the Pine Street property from her husband or her father. It seemed possible that she " viewed the Pine Street property as a " secon d home and felt at liberty to sell it in 1874 to help support her in her declining years. It was possible, but not proven.

Another court record showed that Susan A. Mitchell was declared insane on April 20, 1875, and put in the custody of Obed Chase. She died in Brockton, and an appraisal of her property revealed a house and grounds on Pearl Street worth $850, as well as bonds and cash worth over $1,000. There was no mention of any prop­ erty on Pine Street.

Since Susan Mitchell was listed as the sole owner of the property sold to the Chadwicks, it was tempting to think that she purchased the property as a widow in the period between the death of her second husb�d � 1866 and the selling of the property to the Chadwicks m 1874. However, a close examination of the grantee records during that time period revealed no such pur­ chase. At that point, emulating a dog searching in wider and wider circles, I exaniined the grantee records all the way back to 1836, and found no records of the Pine Street property being sold to anyone. When this search proved fruitless, I then researched the death records �f Reuben Chase, identifying his father Stephen and his mother Judith, looking desperately for mentions in their probates of Pine Street. Nothing. I even checked the records of the Alleys-her family from her first mar­ riage. Again, nothing. My random, dogged approach had worked earlier, but now it failed.

No one in the family of Susan A. Mitchell had ever owned property on Pine Street. She was the wrong Susan Mitchell.

The problem was, no other Susan Mitchells appeared in the town death records.

There was one other recourse-to look through the tax records, available at the Assessor's Office.

Fortunately, the town tax records go back to 1871-just far enough to be useful for this search. They were on microfiche and had to be viewed on a rusty old machine outside the Assessor's Office that looked as if it hadn't been used in years. Merely finding toner for the printer was an effort-but with a bit of tweaking the machine kicked into working order and even coughed out some barely legible copies of the old microfiche. The trouble was worth it. Eventually those tax records would fur­ nish crucial clues to the identity of Susan Mitchell.

In 1871' 1872 ' and 1873 the tax records noted Susan SPRING

2004

Mitchell's payment of taxes on the property on North Water treet which she had inherited (temporarily) from Samuel Mitchell. The house was valued at $300, the land at $100, and the total combined tax was $16.96.

Then, in 1874, came an astonishing development: Susan Mitchell's name came up again, but now in con­ nection with a Pinc Street property. I was so excited that I jotted down at the bottom of the printout a short note: "first mention of Pinc Street-no mention of N. Water treet." If I had been less exhilarated, I might have noticed a yet more revealing development: the North Water trcct property did still appear-after the amended name usan A.Mitchell. The usan Mitchell of Pine treet was another person altogether-a yet unsuspected person whose death certificate has appar­ ently been lost.

Still not realizing that there were actually two Susan Mitchells in 1874, I nevertheless stumbled upon the decision that would eventually solve the myste1y of the ownership of the Pine Street property.I laving heard over the years that the antucket I Iistorical Association had an archive full of details on many Nantucket prop­ erties, I concluded that I now had enough i.nfotmation to conduct a search there.

At the NIIA Research Librmy (in tl1e old building), research associate Libby Oldham listened to my mus­ ings on the Mitchell fru11ily and Pine Street and then, with nothing more th,m a h01t step-ladder and a wealth of knowledge and discernment, she effortlessly and effi­ ciently furnished the missing clue. Looking up the Mitchell fan1ily, she found that folder 15 in the Mitchell fam ily papers contained something about "Susan Mitchell ...1866 ...sale of Ray's Court Property."

Since Ray's ourt backs up on Pine treet, it was possi­ ble that tlus new lead related to tl1e Pine Street property m some way.

I began to look through tl1e file with a nuxture of rev­ erence and eagerness. Among many pieces of nuscella­ neous info1mation about Edward Mitchell in folder 15, there surfaced a deed of sale granting hin1 ownership of a piece of land.The seller was Susan Mitchell.And in claioung her right to the property, she noted: "By virtue of the power, liberty and authority given to me by the last will and testament of my mother, Alice Barnard."

It was a different Susan M itchell, after all­ a Barnard, not a Chase.

The deed of sale contained a plot plan showing that the property Susan sold to Edward for forty dollars was HISTORIC NANTUCKET

the piece of property east of the Congdon home.Showing signs of a recent, meticulous survey, the plot plan also indi­ cated Susan Mitchell's land and even showed the location of the northeast comer of Susan Mitchell's porch­ part of the house now owned by the Congdons.

That porch was about twenty feet from the back of the property, and later mea­ surements would confirm that it had subsequently been converted into the present-day kitchen at the rear of the Congdon house.

The search was finally back on track.There was a new Susan Mitchell, complete with a new family.

Further research would reveal that the property came to her through her father, Thomas Barnard, who died at sea in 1808 and left the property to his widow, Alice.

Alice's will in 1843 stated, "To my daughter Susan Mitchell I give and bequeath the dwelling house in which I now live, wiili all ilie land and outbuildings thereto belonging." Thomas had received the land and house from his father, Shubael Barnard, who had prob­ ably received the property from his father Matthew Barnard.The house may have been built by his father John Barnard, a grandson of Thomas Barnard, one of the original purchasers of Nantucket in 165 9.

The general outline of the Congdon's house history was now complete.Many questions remained unan­ swered: Which Barnard actually built the Pine Street home? Why did ilie teen-aged Chadwick cluldren pur­ chase the home in 1874? What happened to Susan Mitchell after she sold ilie property to them? Why did Frederick Chadwick transfer sole ownership of two­ tlurds of the property to his wife?

Wiili perseverance, good judgment, imagination, and not a little luck, someone wiili more skill than I may one day answer those questions.

Curator oflibrary and archives Georgen Gilliam Charnes, research associate Libby Oldham, and author Jim Sulzer.

Jim Sulzer is an elementary-school teacher, author, and member of the NHA's Editorial Committee.

His oral history with George Andrews was published in the summer 2003 issue a/Historic Nantucket.

SPRING

2004

19

Historic Nantucket Book Section Review by Elizabeth Oldham

Time & Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket

By Frank Conroy In the Series Crown Journeys, Crown Publishers: New York, 137 pp.

Frank Conroy will be the NHA's Super Series speaker on Monday, August 9, 2004, at the Unitarian Church.

T

HE PUBLISHER INCLUDES THIS BOOK IN ITS "literary travel series," calling on distin­ guished writers to walk us through the places they love, describing and reminiscing as they go. Frank Conroy is certainly a distinguished writer, and his trip down Memory Lane provides a thoughtful, nostalgic glimpse of Nantucket that will satisfy the curiosity of the uninitiated and call up a few memories for those of us who are on the same timeline as the author-give or take a year or two.

Conroy claims that his earliest memory (of anything, anywhere) is being around three years old, on a huge boat, being lifted to the rail to see boys diving from a dock for coins thrown to them from the boat's passen­ gers. The memory stayed with him, but it wasn't until thirty years later that he learned the dock was Steamboat Wharf and the place was Nantucket.

He didn't get back here until the mid-fifties, when he was nineteen and came from Pennsylvania with his girl­ friend and several of their college friends to find summer jobs. Never mind that they didn't know anyone, had never been here. Halcyon days: summer jobs of every description were up for grabs, finding housing a cinch; imagine, six of them in a three-bedroom affordable apartment that was theirs for the whole , 1tJ1.,r of ..;.TOf'-T!\11: .,r,d llUIJ\ � "141[ I summer. The girls worked as waitresses, one of the boys drove a tour bus, and Frank had a gig playing the piano in the bar at the Ocean House (quick, where and what was that?).We don't see many American college students working here summers anymore.

C O N R O Y T I. M E

&

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Conroy does a good job of placing Nantucket in history: settlement, sheepherding, whaling, Quakers, fire, destitution, Maria Mitchell, recovery, tourism, prosperity, Walter Beinecke, trophy houses. . . .

His own experience of the island begins that sum­ mer of 1955 and continues as he graduates from college, marries (the girlfriend), moves to New York, succeeds as a writer, and in the late sixties buys property in Quaise--having spent summers in rental houses for a dozen years.He put up a house that had been a tobacco barn in Pennsylvania, dismantled and reconstructed by a "six-foot-seven-inch bearded back-to-nature M.I.T. engineer" [hnumn, who could that be?] whom he hired "to oversee a bunch of hippie carpenters." Ah, yes­ hippies....

The house, the land, the beaches. Nantucket was heaven and haven for the family-three boys growing up here swmners (two from his first marriage, one from his second to the lovely Maggie, a wonderful actress).

And then his grandsons, still doing the classic kid things-clamming, crabbing, fishing, boating, rainy days at the Atheneum or the museums, movies at the 'Sconset Casino.

Conroy becan1e a year-rounder for a good part of the seventies, so he was here when growth began to be explosive. He even became an entrepreneur himself when he and a couple of partners acquired the rickety building that had housed the Pines restaurant out on Fairgrounds Road. They tidied it up and renamed it the Roadhouse-definitely a cool place to be, especially with Frank playing great jazz piano.

He has been director of the prestigious Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa for years.

He's published four other books, notably Stop-Time, his splendid autobiography, which was nominated for a National Book Award. Lucky students to have such a mentor; lucky us to have iliis little excursion through time and tide.

Note: It may not be fair; because I have read only a bound set of "uncorrected proofs," but I hope the publisher had someone do a little fact-checking be/ore publication.-EO SPRING

2004

HERITAGE SOCIETY RESEARCH PROJECT Frank B. Howard lhtf 11 a11 acwzmt of a hequest made to the NIJA hy Frank B. Howard.

1 p£ 1tl of the l lentt1gc \'ocietv Research Pm1ect hy Z:rland researcher Betry Tyler, /tttmt mut I of fIi toric 1 antucket u ill include other ruch reports on hu1uerts tu the NIJA madt oz•er the last century.

BIONC, US CLOSER TO OUR ANCESTORS and to the topics of biographical research. My curn:nt investigation into the many Eclmw1ds of th<.: Fanning family (sec article on page 11) leads me happil) to three portraits bequeathed to the NHA in 1952 by Frank B . HowarJ, a grcat-granJson of Phineas Fanning and Kt:zia Coffin Fanning.

Mr. I Ioward's Fanning ancestors relocated to New York state around 1815 , during a time of economic hardship on antucket folk)\\�ng the War of 1812.

In 1939 rrank B. I Ioward wrote to Edouard Stackpole: ORTlt\lTS

You paid a fine compliment to Keziah Coffin fanning's heirs by reproducing her portrait. Miss Wood was pleased and I ,tm sure the other descendants of the old lady who kept the diary must have found satisfaction in it. I have just kx1kcd up at the original painting of Kezia on the wall of my oftice and renewed the resolve to have it go to the Nantucket I listorical Society, together with the paintings of Robert Barclay fanning, her son, and h is wife Phoebe S\\'alll. You h,1,·e seen thL-se thrL'C paintings in my office.

Mr. IIoward was true to his word. He left the NHA the paired portraits of Robert Barclay Fanning (b.1791) and his

wife Phebe Swain Fanning (b.1798), which may have been commissioned as wedding portraits. Robert was the son of Phineas Fanning and Kezia Coffin Fanning (1759-1820), the renowned Nantucket diarist whose portrait was also part of Mr. Howard's legacy, as were two Chippendale chairs once owned by CaptainJohn Coffin, Kezia's father.

Kezia's mother, Kezia Folger Coffin, is one of the most controversial characters in the history of Nantucket. Her black-market activities during the Revolutionary War made her both wealthy and despised. A number of lawsuits were brought against her following the war, leading to her evic­ tion from her home on Centre Street. According to her daughter's diary entry for December 27, 1783, "my Mother refused going out of the house. The sheriff and Mathew & Is. Barnard, Peter Macy, etc. took her up in her chair and carried her out of the house and set her in the street."

Perhaps it was one of the Chippendale chairs that remained in the Fanning fa.nilly for two hundred years before being returned to the island by a descendant who W1derstood the in1portance of donating artifacts to an organization dedicat­ ed to preserving their link with the past.

-Betsy Tyler

· to the NHA in 1952: Phebe Swain Fanning and her husband, Robert Barclay Fanning, c-, " s bnnztest ' . Hozoa•d' 1, ese three portraits were par1 o.rF 1 rankB -rh Coffin Fanning.

Kezia mother, great-grand s flanking his mother and Mr. Howard' HISTORIC NA

TUCKET

SPRING

2004

21

N H A

N E W S

1800 House Programming The NHA's exciting project of developing "lifelong­ learning" programs in Nantucket social and cultural history, with an emphasis on decorative arts and crafts, is generating great excitement and attracting funding.

The NHA recently received an anonymous gift of $300,000 earmarked for the development of the hands­ on programs and restoration of the 1800 House. That property, once restored, will house the "lifelong-learn­ ing" progran1s. Work has already begun by award-win­ ning local preservation contractors, Valerie and Rick Norton. The NHA also hopes to secure a grant from the Community Preservation Act that would allow much of the needed structural work to be completed by the fall.

Neighborhood Garns Last year the NHA sponsored nine neighborhood gams across the island. Well received, the gams brought neighbors together to share the stories and his­ tories of their communities. Recordings and transcripts of the gatherings have been added to the NHA Research Library's oral history collection. The NHA would like to continue the tradition and encourages Nantucket neighborhood associations to contact asso­ ciate director/director of development Jean Grimmer at (508) 825-2248, ext. 11, to plan a meeting for 2004.

Whitney Exhibition To complement the educational programming on whaling presented at the Quaker Meeting House this year, the curatorial staff is planning a small exhibition in the Whitney Gallery, NHA Research Library, 7 Fair Street. Opening in April, the exhibition will feature whaling tools, paintings, scrimshaw, and ship models.

"We want to give visitors the flavor of Nantucket's great whaling past," said Niles Parker, the Robyn and John Davis Curator. "It will be a small exhibition but will definitely feature some of the most popular items JaritaA. Davis from our whaling collection."

lights the influences that New England and American culture have had on Cape Verdean in1migrants, as well as the influences that Cape Verdeans have had upon their New England communities. During her stay, Jarita led activities in island classrooms and greeted the com­ munity in a series of evening programs including a Five Corners Garn, cohosted by the Museum of Afro­ American History in Boston at the African Meeting House, and a poetry reading in the Whitney Gallery.

News &om the NHA Research Library Volunteers continue to help provide access and order to the collections at the NHA Research Library. Joanne Polster works at reshelving materials and was surprised to learn how easy it is to scan photographs. Doris Glazer has been recataloguing the Preservation Institute: Nantucket reports. Nancy Sevrens, Pamela Halsted, and Elizabeth Murray, members of the Nantucket Garden Club, have been processing the club's records held here. Nancy Tyrer works away at scanning and cataloguing the Tony Sarg photograph collection. Donna Cooper is dedicated to summarizing the Whalemen's Shipping List and Les Ottinger wrote summaries of the logs for ships Susan and Nantucket.

In addition, the staff happily welcomed Holly Corkish back to the library during her spring break from Roger Williams University, and we've had the benefit of Leslie Malcolm's internship in Archival Administra-tion from Sin1mons College.

SAVE THE DATE May 20 WINE FESTIVAL GALA May 22 WINE FESTIVAL WINE AUCTION DINNER July 9

NHA BIRTHDAY PARTY

Aug. 5

27TH ANNUAL AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW

2004 Artist in Residence

22

The NHA was pleased to host poet Jarita A. Davis for two weeks in March as the 2004 artist in residence. Davis has written a collection of poetry that looks at the lives of Cape Verdeans and Cape Verdean-Americans. There Should Be More Water is the title of Davis's collection of poetry; it "examines the shifting identities of Cape Verdean and Cape Verdean-Americans whose culture is marked by a continual migration to and from their island origins." Her work highHISTORIC

NANTUCKET

Preview Party, Nantucket New School

Aug. 6-8 27TH ANNUAL AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW

Nantucket New School Aug. 9

FRANK CONROY, NHA SUPER SERIES SPEAKER

Unitarian Church SPRING

2004

SUMMER

2004

CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS

T?fr sum7::er, the N_antucke� Hfrtorical A�·sociat��n is pleased to of/er a wide array of programs designed to bring zsland hz.it?rv to li/c fJr chzldren and their famzlzes. Developed with multiple learning styles in mind each class t1 filled zu1th hands-on activities and takes advantage of the NHA's extraordinary resource;_ Come join us as we travel back in time!

One-Day Workshops Age.1 4-6, ll'tth ,.

Ages 10-12 Amazing Architecture

Calling All Collectors

Nantucket Town has some of the most beautiful build­ ings in ilie world. Learn to identify Nantucket's architec­ tural styles and how to uncover what some important buildings are saying about our island's history. Then make a model of a Main Street house. OfferedJuly 28 and August 16, 2-4 EM. $20 members/$30 nonmembers

1.oc 6-',J

Have you ever wondered what life was like aboard a whaleship? Learn all about ilie whales tliat were hunted, practice knots and navigation, and carve a piece of scrinlshaw to take home from your voyage.

OfferedJuly 5 and August 11, 2-4 EM. $20 members/$30 nonmembers

Do you collect things? So do we! Come tell us about your collection, then help us organize our collection of beautiful buttons! Please bring a snack and a button.

OfferedJune 30,July 21, and August 18, from 10-11:30 A.M. $15 members/$25 nonmembers

Gone A-Whaling

Colonial Life

Did you ever wonder what life wa like on Nantucket 250 years ago? You'll find out as you grind corn into meal at the Old Mill, then bake meal into cornbread over an open hearth. Appropriate footwear; open-toed shoes are not allowed. OfferedJune 23 and 30, plus Wednesdays inJuly and August, 9 A.M.-noon. $30 members/$40 nonmembers Whales and Mermaids

Come learn all about Captain Ichabod Paddock, who found a mermaid playing cards in the stomach of a whale. OfferedJuly 2,July 16,July 30, and August 20, 2-4 P./\1. $20 members/$30 nonmembers Obadiah's Nantucket

Mischievous Obadial1 had all kinds of adventures in 19th-century Nantucket! We'll follow Obadiali and his friends on an amazing journey through town. OfferedJuly 23 and August 13, 10 A.M.-noon. $20 members/$30 nonmembers Historic Fun and Games

Have fun playing the same garnes that Native American and colonial settlers played! We'll roll hoops, tell tall talcs, and learn colonial board games. OfferedJuly 8, 22, August 12 and 26, lOA.M.-noon. $20 members/$30 nonmembers

Ages8 10

Colonial Life

Join the millers as tl1ey grind corn into meal at the Old Mill. Then journey to tl1e Oldest House to bake cornbread over an open heartl1. Appro­ priate footwear; open-toed hoes are not allowed.

OfferedJune 25 and Fridays in July and August, 9 A.M.-noon. $30 members/$40 nornnen1bers All Aboard the Nantucket Railroad!

Can you imagine a railroad on tiny Nantucket Island? It's true! Learn all about the Nantucket Railroad, and make your own railroad car to take home. OfferedJuly 7, 14, and August 4, 10 A.M.-noon. $20 members/$30 nonmembers Historic Fun & Games

Eighteenth-century children didn't just work-they played, too! Learn colonial board games, weave like tl1e Wampanoag, tell silly riddles, and run a race with a hoop and stick. Offered July 15, 29, and August 19, 10 A.M.­ noon. $20 members/$30 nonmembers A Whaler's Life for Me

Sign on to our voyage to find out what life was like on a Nantucket whale­ ship rwo hundred years ago! Learn how to tie knots, design a house flag for your ship, and carve a piece of scrimshaw to bring home from your journey.

OfferedJune 30,July 21, and August 25, 2-4 P.M. $20 members/$30 nonmembers

A Nantucket Photo Album

Join professional photographer Koren Reyes as we recreate scenes from 11-year-old Howard Sherman's photo album from his trip to Nantucket in 1911. How has Nantucket changed over the years? Snap photos throughout town and make your own Nantucket scrapbook.

Two-day class:July 12 and 13, 1-4 P.M. $75 members/$90 nonmembers

Ages 11-15 Navigation Past and Present

Join ilie Nantucket Historical Association and the Maria Mitchell Association for iliis exploration of navigation tools, whaling voyages, and basic orienteering. Two-day class: August 4 and 5, 2-4 P.M. $40 MMA or NHA members/$50 non-MMA or NHA members

Other Offert1gs Hands-On History at Hadwen House

Drop in at Hadwen House to make historic crafts! From scrimshaw and sailor's valentines to scrapbooks and samplers, children aged five and up will have a chance to get ilieir hands on history-and bring home a souvenir of their trip back in time! Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 10 A.M.-4 EM. Members free/$5 nonmembers Children under th£ age of 10 ,. •ust be acco1 ,pannd b,, ,,, adu/r Fanuly Walking Tour

l

� This walking tour of historic Nantucket Town has been designed especially for families with children aged five and up.

A scavenger hunt, historic artifacts, and . picture books all help to bring Nantucket's history to life for children and ilieir parents! Offered daily at 10:30 A.M. Free wiili purchase of a History Ticket. Space is limited; please sign up in advance at ilie Museum Shop.

Registration Information: • Enrollment is limited to ensure iliac your child receives individual attention.

• Unless oilierwise noted, advance registration is required for all children's prograrns.

• Payment is due in full at the time of registration.

• Refunds will be given only if the NHA is able to fill your child's spot.

• Program location will be given at time of registration.

• Space is limited-please register in advance by calling (508) 228-1894, X 0

HUSEUH SHOP s. ge

Whaling Museum Programs are moving to 7 Fair Street for 2004 Quaker Meeting House

7 Fair St. (one block from top of Main Street)

In 2004, during restoration of the Nantucket Historical Association's Whaling Museum and construction of new downtown galleries, the nineteenth-century Quaker Meeting House, in the heart of Nantucket's historic district, is the perfect place to start your visit.

Offerings include: ► ► ► ►

Whaling tools, scrimshaw, paintings, and ship models Expert talks on Nantucket's dramatic whaling past Firsthand accounts of the horrifying story of the whaleship Essex Children's programs at the Old Mill, Oldest House, and Hadwen House.

NHA Walking Tours

Walk the cobblestoned streets of Nantucket town with our trained educators. Learn about the island's growth and commercial history, while marveling at its architectural gems. Our Family Walking Tour is perfect for strollers and little feet.Walking Tours start at the Museum Shop at 11 Broad Street. (Tours are offered regularly April-October.)

Admission tickets to our historic properties and guided walking tours are available at the Quaker Meeting House and the Museum Shop at 11 Broad Street (one block/ram the Steamship Authority dock).

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F· {?9NANTUCKET ·.:·.::;�'0-· HISTORICALASSOCIATION 7 Fair Street I 508. 228. 1894 I www.nha.org

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