Proceedings of Nantucket Historical Association: Nineteenth Annual Meeting

PROCEEDINGS of the

Nantucket Historical Association NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING July Twenty-third, Nineteen Hundred Thirteen

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PROCEEDINGS of the

Nantucket Historical Association NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING July Twenty-third, Nineteen Hundred Thirteen

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ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association was held in its rooms in the Friends' Meet­ ing-house on Fair street, Wednesday morning, July 23, 1913, and was called to order by the president immedi­ ately after 10 o'clock.

The secretary, Miss Annie W. Bodfish, read the re­ port of the annual meeting of 1912, which was approved as read.

The annual reports of the Treasurer, Secretary and Curator were next in order, followed immediately by the reading of his annual address by President Starbuck.

It was voted to accept the several reports and print them in the "Proceedings", together with the presi­ dent's address.

The report of the committee on nominations being called for, Chairman Severance made the following: President—Alexander Starbuck.

Vice-presidents—Dr. Benjamin Sharp, Henry B. Worth, Mrs. Sarah C. Raymond, Moses Joy, M. F. Freeborn, Mrs. Eleanor W. Morgan.

Secretary—Miss Annie W. Bodfish.

Treasurer—Miss Hannah G. Hatch.

Curator and Librarian—Miss Susan E. Brock.

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MINUTES OF MEETING

Councillors (term expiring 1917) — Miss Emily Weeks, Harry B. Turner.

Auditors—Irving Elting, Edward A. Fay, Miss Harriet A. Elkins.

The members then proceeded to ballot for officers for the ensuing year, Mr. Severance and Mr. Joy being appointed tellers. The tellers reported 83 ballots cast and all for the nominees of the committee.

Nominations for a new nominating committee be­ ing called for, the names of Walter Severance, Miss Annie Alden Folger, Miss Helen A. Gardner, William r. Macy and Miss May Congdon were presented, and it was voted that they serve for the coming year.

Henry S. Wyer then made a statement regarding Di. Lithgow's proposed book and expressed the hope that sufficient encouragement would be given in the way of subscriptions to warrant publishing it. He offered to assume the trouble and expense of publica­ tion, if a reasonable number of subscriptions could be secured. „7.„^1SS Anna Fish read a very interesting letter from William F. Macy,the President of the Sons and Daugh­ ters of Nantucket, warmly urging the moral and, so ar as possible, the physical, support of the members tor the Sons and Daughters, so as to make the coming twentieth anniversary of that society a red-letter night in its^history. Miss Fish eloquently supported Mr. Macy s letter by her own remarks.

Illness prevented the preparation of papers that were to have been read. The president stated that, in order to avoid disappointing the meeting, he had brought with him a paper that he had read before sev eral historical societies, but as the hour of noon was close at hand, and as the time had been very interest-

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ingly taken up, it seemed wise to defer reading it, and he did so. After he had called particular attention to the reception in the afternoon the meeting adjourned.

The reception was held in the rooms and was largely attended. It was a very pleasant affair, old friends meeting and greeting each other after the good old manner of Nantucketers. Refreshments of ice cream and cake were served, Misses Mary Brock, Ida Parker and Olive Allen assisting in serving.

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SECRETARY'S REPORT. Mr. President, Members and Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association: The past year has brought us two new life mem­ bers and thirty-two annual members. Such an incom­ ing tide is an incentive to greater effort and service and a proof that life and vitality beget the same.

But the tide ebbs as well as flows and we record with sorrow the long list of those who have been borne away by it: Mr. Charles E. Kelley and Miss Mary Crosby Wyer from the life members.; Mr. Anthony W. Ayers, Mrs. Harrison Allen, Mrs. Malinda S. Barney, Mrs. Helen M. Belcher, Hon. Wm. Barnes, Mrs. Mary Jane Cobb, Mrs. Judith J. Fish, Mr. E. S. Isom, Mr. George M. Neall, Mrs. Maria T. Owen, Mrs. Jane Cof­ fin Perry, Mrs. Hannah B. Sharp, from the annual members.

Two things mark our year's work especially: one, the repairing the "Old Mill," which has renewed its youth and usefulness; the other, the use of the old house at 'Sconset for the Branch of the Atheneum Li­ brary.

The old house adapts itself wonderfully to its changed condition and the Librarian, as a part of her duties, exhibits the house, interests visitors in the Historical Association and sells our publications. The

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Council decided that it was wise to discontinue the en­ trance fee, as no fine collection of historical objects was possible and the property was not purchased for that purpose.

During the year, the Secretary, the Curator and the attendants have had frequent requests for the Pro­ ceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting, which contains Miss Weeks' paper on the "Women of Nan­ tucket." That article has done much to make our so­ ciety and our island interesting to those not closely bound to us by ties of birth and association.

The Secretary has had also many requests for bul­ letins, mainly from other historical societies.

A pleasant feature of the year has been the visits to the room made by some of the classes of the High School, and of the eighth and ninth grades.

The sur­ prise and delight of the young people in our collection may bear fruit in a continued interest.

Probably the' Council will extend its invitation through the coming years.

This is the nineteenth birthday of the Association, and it seems to us, who have shared its childhood and youth, that we are on a pleasant table-land over which bends a sky of hope and across which ever blow the winds of endeavor.

Respectfully submitted, ANNIE W. BODFISH, Secretary.

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CURATOR'S REPORT. Mr.President and Friends of the Historical Association: Our nineteenth year has sped away,and in review­ ing its record we find no great events or radical chang­ es in our routine work, but a steady, satisfactory growth and accomplishment perhaps as great as in most of the preceding years of our Assocation's exis­ tence.

The important work of this year has been the pub­ lishing of the final instalment of Mr. Henry B. Worth's "Abstracts of Wills." The matter was all included in one volume, with a copious index, making a Bulletin of 96 pages, and bringing the subject down to the year 1845. Thus we have in a concise form a source of in­ formation easily available for reference and a great help to seekers after such knowledge.

Another important acquisition in the line of Nan­ tucket ancestry, is a donation consisting of a History and Genealogy of the Coffin family, with 300 blanks from descendants, 300 compiled from notes, 300 com­ prising lists of daughters' children, and some odd sheets. This vast amount of data was collected by Zebulon B. and William Edward Coffin, who were a sub-committee of the committee on Family History ap-

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pointed at the Coffin Reunion held at Nantucket in 1881.

It was left in the custody of the former, who is now deceased, and the last named member of the commit­ tee, feeling the importance of the preservation of this material, suggested that it be placed in charge of our society.

Mr. Henry B. Coffin, who held the papers, agreed to this proposition and shipped them to us at once—a most generous and valuable gift.

We have spent considerable thought and money on necessary repairs of two of our buildings, viz:—the house at Siasconset, a report of which the Secretary has given, and the Old Mill. The vanes of the latter were pretty well demolished by a heavy gale and had to be practically rebuilt. This has been done and in such a manner that it is quite feasible now for the mill to be operated—that is, when the wind is in a certain quarter—and if the occasion arises, it may yet be seen again turning merrily to the breeze, as of yore.

Our collection has, as usual, been augmented by many small donations and loans, comprising some ex­ quisite pieces of old .china, some very ancient silver, one unusually artistic piece of scrimshonting, consist­ ing of a whale-bone box, made at sea about 1840, and ornamented with views of Cape Horn, St. Helena and the Peak of TenerifTe, all executed in a spirited man­ ner. We have received several portraits of sea cap­ tains, and one more authentic relic of the famous Newbegins sisters. This is a "light stand" which has the initials A. N. chalked on the under side of the top,and was purchased by the father of the donor, at the sale of the Newbegins effects.

We have come into possession, by purchase,of sev­ eral wonderfully interesting manuscripts. One of these is the Deed of Manumission belonging to the late

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CURATOR'S REPORT

Hiram Reed, whom many of us remember as a respect­ ed colored citizen of Nantucket. He was a slave in St. Louis at the time of the war, and was freed from ser­ vitude by the authority vested in the Major-General commanding the western department of the Army of the United States.

The paper was signed by Gen. Fremont himself, on Sept. 12, 1861, and is the only one which ever came to Nantucket, where Reed lived all the rest of his life. This deed is thought to be one of the earliest issued for this purpose.

The second purchase was of a log-book, which un­ expectedly turned up in a second-hand book store in New York, the proprietor of which recognized its local value and wrote to our Association, offering to sell it at a price which seemed exorbitant to us. Upon in­ spection, however, we felt it must be ours at any cost, for it proved to be one of the most interesting and val­ uable we have ever seen. It is a journal of a voyage of more than three years in the Ship "Three Brothers," written by Charles P. Coffin, Boatsteerer and Cooper.

It has been said "if you want romance, read history," and a perusal of this book proves the truth of the say­ ing. There is scarcely a dry or uninteresting page in it, from the first day, Oct. 16, 1851, when he writes: "Got under way from Tarpaulin Cove, and stood out to sea with fine weather, a strong breeze and heavy harts," until March 16, 1854, when the sails were furled for good in Edgartown harbor.

There are graphic descriptions of terrible storms when the ship seemed to go down never to rise—of long and desperate battles with whales—hair-breadth escapes from rocks and icebergs pathetic references to loneliness and hard experiences under domineering officers—much bewailing of the monotonous bill of fare with its eter-

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nal "poor, hard duff," etc.—but his spirits bound up­ ward at an unexpected feast, and he writes in a burst of enthusiasm "who wouldn't go .right whaling and have roast pig!" We get a glimpse of the stern stuff the old whaling masters were made of, when we read that the captain knocked a sailor down and killed him one day,and read the prayers of the burial service over him the next. Our chronicler often bemoans his fate and makes many vows never to go to sea again, but when the ship is turned homeward with a full cargo of oil,he writes in happy vein, "we've lashed the anchors to the bow solid, not to be taken off again this side of Nantucket, I hope. Watch employed in setting up head and back stays, and when they are through the old ship will be laced up like a New York feminine aris­ tocrat—small around the waist"—and then he adds, "the old ship is making tracks for home, and the Nantucket girls are hauling on the ropes." These few excerpts give you but a small idea of this re­ markable book, parts of which might some day be published to make a most interesting narrative. It sometimes seems that there cannot be much more to be found out about the old whaling times and that all the relics of those days have been discovered and preserved, and then suddenly a find like this appears and shows us our work is not yet completed even after two dec­ ades of effort in this direction.

So much for the past, and now we must needs look at the future, and in doing so we find ourselves con­ fronting a serious problem once more.

When we moved into our long-talked-of and much desired fire­ proof building, it seemed so spacious that we could not imagine in eight short years it would become inade­ quate to our requirements. Our collection is now so

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CURATOR'S REPORT

crowded in some departments that it is impossible to properly display many articles of interest. This is es­ pecially the case with the library and the picture gal­ lery. There is scarcely an inch of wall space left un­ covered, and, as you see, we have been compelled to hang a few portraits in this room temporarily, where we do not wish to keep them,as it has always been our object to preserve the meeting-house in its austere simplicity, just as our ancestors used it and left it,and, too, this building is not fire-proof, and that is perhaps the most serious objection to placing portraits here.

When the architect planned our new building he assured us that it would be a comparatively simple mat­ ter to raise the roof and build on a third story, and this is what we need to think of now. If it could be done, and the new story used perhaps entirely for portraits and pictures of all kinds, it would relieve the conges­ tion in the whole building and enable us to accept new donations and loans, without the anxious question of how we may dispose of them satisfactorily.

We have always found that when we needed funds for any purpose, they were soon forthcoming, and so I now submit this necessity to you with great confidence that in some way our wants may be met in the near future.

When a few of our charter members came together nineteen years ago, it seemed a presumptuous thing to start a historical association, without money or build­ ings, but we did it, and in a few years our hopes were fulfilled beyond our wildest expectations, and there is no reason to doubt that we can solve this new problem, if we all co-operate with a will.

So, learning our lesson from the past, let us again

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put our shoulder to the wheel, feeling that nothing is too great or difficult for us to accomplish if we work together, and, to paraphrase the log-book, if "the Nan­ tucket girls (and boys) are hauling on the ropes."

Respectfully submitted, SUSAN E. BROCK.

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TREASURER'S REPORT. CREDITS. Balance on hand June 15, 1912 Membership dues for 1913 Membership dues for 1914 Membership dues previous to 1913 Membership dues paid in advance Admission fees Historical Rooms Admission fees Siasconset House Sale of Bulletins, etc.

Cash withdrawn from People's Savings Bank, Worcester, Mass.

Cash withdrawn from Bristol County Savings Bank, Taunton, Mass.

$68.28 129.00 117.00 9.00 6.00 315.50 28.00 18.39 40.40 303.28 $1,034.85

DEBITS. A. G. Brock, Insurance Siasconset House Collection A. G. Brock, Insurance Old Mill A. G. Brock, Insurance Meeting House A. G. Brock, Insurance Meeting House Gas bill Citizens' Gas, Electric & Power Co., sundries

$3 QQ

10.70 18.00 15-75 g

1.15

TREASURER'S REPORT

W. F. Worth, Ice Cream for Reception to Bay State League Delegates M. E. Crowell, cake for reception to Bay State League delegates Sundries Bay State League dues Water bill Typewriting Treasurer's Report Secretary, Postage Dorothy Small, Prize for essay Elizabeth Grimes, Prize for essay Cleaning Siasconset House Collection on foreign check Holmes & Pease, Carpenter repairs Sundries, Siasconset House Sundries, Siasconset House Sundries, Siasconset House W. B. Marden, Plumbing W. B. Marden, Plumbing T. C. Pitman, Carpenter's bill Old pewter dish H. E. Smith, Repairing clock C. F. Wing, Holland Shades Freight and Cartage Cook & Turner, Printing and Advertising Cook & Turner, Printing Cook & Turner, Printing Cook & Turner, Printing Cook & Turner, Printing Annual Reports G. S. Davis, Repairs Siasconset House Cutting grass, Siasconset House grounds Freedom Wentworth, chairs Sullivan & Crocker, Binding Folger Records Ernest D. North, Old Log Book

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9.00 7.10 .95 2.00 8.00 .75 16.39 5.00 5.00 2.00 .06 1.45 1.43 1.04 .60 1.50 1.00 6.08 2.00 .75 4.25 1.70 11.50 1.00 4.75 2.00 106.95 8.62 1.00 16.00 15.30 25.00

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TREASURER'S REPORT

George M. Lake, Plumber's bill 6.85 William H- Chase, Repairs on old ship 1.75 J. Killen & Son, Coal 3.88 Mercury Publishing Co., Bulletin "Abstracts from Wills" 135.80 Cutting grass 75 Cartage 25 M. A. Crocker, Manumission papers of Hiram Reed 15.00 W. Finlay, Cleaning Historical Rooms 17.84 W. F.Worth, Ice Cream for Annual Reception 11.00 Nantucket Tea Co., Lemons for Annual Reception 1.50 M. E. Crowell, Cake for Annual Reception 8.40 Sundries for Annual Reception 3.02 Stamps 10.00 Curator, Supplies 10.00 Inquirer and Mirror, Subscription 2.00 Salary of Curator 100.00 Salary of Treasurer 75.00 Salary of Secretary 50.00 Salaries of two attendants (14 weeks each) at Rooms 156.00 Salary of attendant, Siasconset House 16.00 Salary of Janitor 60.00 Balance to new account 22.44 $1,034.85 SUMMARY. Assets.

Fireproof Building Meeting House ™,M;n ._ , Collection (Insurance)

$8,500.00 1,500.00 1,000.00 1,000.00

TREASURER'S REPORT

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Siasconset House 1,500.00 Siasconset House Collection (Insurance) 300.00 Susan W. Folger Fund: Nantucket Institution for Savings 1,139.94 People's Savings Bank, Worcester 1,000.00 Bristol County Savings Bank,Taunton 425.00 2,564.94

Liabilities—None.

$16,364.94

HANNAH G. HATCH, Treasurer.

Approved, July 5, 1913, the above report of the Treasurer of the Nantucket Historical Association for the year ending June 15, 1913.

Irving Elting, Edward A. Fay, H. A. Elkins, Auditing Committee.

MEMBERSHIP. Life Councillors Life Members Annual Members New Annual Members Lost by death, Life Members Lost by death, Annual Members Transferred from Annual to Life Membership Dropped for non-payment of dues (three years) Withdrawn

4 58 276 26 2 12 2 3 4

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Fellow Members of the Nantucket Historical Associa­ tion: Twenty years ago last May the Nantucket Histori­ cal Association was organized with the avowed purpose of "the collection and preservation of such memorials, books, papers and matters of interest as may tend to illustrate and perpetuate the history of the early set­ tlers of this Island, their descendants, and of the race which vanished before them; and the securing of a memorial building in which such collections can be pre­ served." I think we may congratulate ourselves that, while still fighting the good fight, and though we have not nor ever shall have completely finished the course, we have most certainly kept the faith. For while each newly opening vista discloses new avenues adown which we make new discoveries or find confirmatory evidence of previous ones, we have in the erection of our fire-proof building fulfilled quite completely one of our declared purposes.

How many changes have taken place even in those two decades! Our present membership is 338 in its total, but in the 20 years we have lost by death 144 and by withdrawal, discharge or inability to ascertain their correct addresses, 136 more. On May 9, 1894, there were 130 members, so that, from the start, 609 have

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joined our Association. There is not the strong appeal to the younger element of our people in a historical so­ ciety ; a certain degree of maturity is needed for an appreciation of its true value and importance; conse­ quently a more active effort is needed by us all, not only to keep our ranks fully recruited, but to gain acces­ sions. The larger our numbers the larger our income, and the larger our income the more enlarged the sphere of our usefulness. For that reason we urge every mem­ ber of our Association to help us in adding to the num ber of our interested members. It would seem advisa­ ble to study directions in which we can reach out and interest young people in our work. There are direc­ tions in which our activities can be extended in which we now venture but falteringly, and with the natural and expected additions to our collection the time must come when it will be wise to enlarge our fire-proof building. Furthermore, as an additional measure of self-protection it may be advisable to be able to control land to the west and south of our property, to prevent the erection of any structure in too close proximity to our line. There is a considerable degree of fire protec­ tion in isolation.

During the past year, as your delegate, I have at­ tended one meeting of the American Historical Society and four of the Bay State Historical League.

The Fall Meeting of the League for 1912 was held by' courtesy of the Norwood Society in Library Hall in that Town on the afternoon of Saturday, October 19th, 1912. • The afternoon was cloudy and before the meet­ ing was over a rain storm set in.

President Chick read a communication from the Massachusetts Historical Society and others, setting forth the desirability of having certain of the docu-

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

ments in the State archives published, as well for per­ manent preservation as for historical research, and asking the League to join in a resolution and petition to the General Court to that effect. It was voted to authorize the President to assist in the matter.

The topic of the day, "The Romance of Records," was then taken up. The President announced that, owing to a death in his family, Mr. Albree, who was expected to take part, was unable to be present. Rev. Arthur Wentworth H. Eaton, D. C. L., of New York, opened the discussion on the topic with a carefully prepared and very interesting paper. He told of a Boston lady, who was endeavoring to locate old estates in that city, and who told him that, in trying to place the historic spots, she endeavored to put herself in close touch with the spirit and customs of the time she was considering, and to live in the past of the locality.

No man or woman, said the speaker, can be truly his­ toric, who is unable to put himself or herself into the time which is being considered.

Unpleasant things may be put in the background and the more agreeable ones emphasized. In studying genealogy, he tried to put himself into the life of the day. One often comes across the humorous in his investigations, he said, and he gave several instances illustrating that phase of study. For the pathetic part of historic research he instanced the sad fate of the Acadians. He spoke of the migration of Americans to Nova Scotia prior to the close of the Revolution. One hundred thousand Tories emigrated from the United Colonies, 30,000 of them to Nova Scotia alone. An English officer, writing from Boston in 1776, declared that "neither Hell, Hull nor Halifax is as bad as here."

Mr. John H. Edmonds, of Roxbury, who was to

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speak, was unable to be present, but Ex-President Read read his paper, which, like that of Dr. Eaton, was exceedingly interesting and instructive. He spoke of the vast number of old records that have been lost or sold for old junk, and the manner in which some so­ cieties had acquired valuable documents foi their ar­ chives. Of one old family of 26 children, which he re­ ferred to, the record of only one has been found.

Mr. Walter Kendall Watkins and others continued the consideration of the topic and President Chick gave an interesting account of an experience he had in clearing a title. A question asked by Mr. J. R. Web­ ster, of Cambridge, as to the early history of Milton Academy seems to open up a new field of usefulness for the League.

Votes of thanks to the speakers and to the local Society were passed, and after the meeting a light collation was served in Grand Army Hall, nearby.

The following-named Societies were represented by the numbers affixed: Arlington 4,Billerica 2, Bostonian 4, Hyde Park 6, Holliston 1, Lynn 1, Maiden 1,Bedford 4, Medfield 2, Milton 3, Nantucket 1, Needham 3, Nor­ wood 12, N. E. Hist. Geneal. 2, Old Newbury l.Somerville 3, Sharon 2, Winthrop 1, Weymouth l.Westboro 1.

Others not stated 5; total 60.

The mid-winter meeting of the League for 1913 was held on Saturday afternoon, January 25th, in the hall of the new building of the New England HistoricGenealogical Society, Boston, President Chick presiding.

The topic of the day was substantially a continua­ tion of that of the Norwood meeting, and President Chick presented as the first speakerMiss Helen F.Wild of Medford. Miss Wild said: "The subject you have chosen is 'Romance in His-

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

tory,' and perhaps you have chosen me to speak because yeu think me in romantic mood,I having spent the past month copying, recopying and indexing marriages of 1912. Even in modern work a great deal of joy and sorrow, comedy and tragedy comes over the counter in­ to every registrar's office.

The people whose heart stories we listen to are almost too near us to enable us to view their experiences in any other than a prosaic light, but the old records have the fascination for the genealogist, amateur or professional,that the stories of our childhood have for the little folks of today.

There is a possibility of a 'find' in every old manu­ script book, which invites research, and anyone with even limited experience along genealogical or histori­ cal lines knows what precious nuggets of information have been found in out-of-the-way places.

Old account books are mines worth careful work­ ing.

Modern town clerks are rescuing those of the village doctors of long ago and filing the copies of en­ tries regarding births and deaths with their vital sta tistics. Old diaries, inventories and letters furnish the personal high lights which enliven the official records.

For instance—a colonel at Valley Forge writes a note to a brother officer asking him to carry a letter to a sweetheart in a far-away home on the Mystic River,re­ ferring to the town as 'That Mystical place where you are going.' We find no marriage record and we know he died at Yorktown. We read that Commodore Hull unsuccessfully sought the hand of a daughter of a house in our neighborhood ; that the man she loved played her false and that, in spite of all the other love with which she was surrounded, she died of a broken heart.

The pathetic appeal of an exiled loyalist pleading 2r right to return to his home touches a responsive n j 'n our ^earts n°w that the smoke of battles has rolled away. These incidents concern my own town, and I might mention others, although our history is not at all romantic compared with many others in our Com­ monwealth. Ordinary research develops so much ro­ mance that can be vouched for that I, for one, feel no

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sympathy with those who draw upon their imagination to vivify historical sketches.

To read a local history which has been compiled by competent writers is a keen pleasure, but to put it to­ gether is literally never-ending delight. In my home town a good history, considering the material then available, was published in 1855. Another was pub­ lished in 1886, which was a reprint of the first with supplement brought up to date. We rested on our laurels quite content with ourselves and our knowledge for ten years. Then our Historical Society was formed, and for sixteen years it has published a quarterly of at least twenty-four oetavo pages filled with interest­ ing matter untouched by either of the two histories.

And some of our writers have dared to contradict the elder historians and have produced the proofs of their statements. Every paper that is published opens new vistas. Last Monday evening I read what I call a lazy paper about the old street where I was born,giving my childhood's memories only. Mention of some eight or ten very old houses has started a desire to know some­ thing of their ownership when the town was young.

Nobody knows what the search will bring to light. There is material enough if we have time or disposition to delve for it, and if we undertake the task there is plen­ ty of satisfaction for ourselves in store.

The reasons for actions taken in town meetings are sometimes difficult to find, but they can always be traced to some political or commercial situation in the colonies or over seas. To get a true idea of the mean­ ing of our colonial events we should study European history at the same time,and I wish that it were possi­ ble to obtain a textbook for children which could, in an interesting and simple way, combine the contemporary history of the world to interpret our own.

To enjoy the true romance of records one must study them in the places where they belong. _ A copy of a record is a plant in a flower pot; the original in its own town is an old-fashioned garden.

Ever since our Historical Society was formed, I have done record work, sometimes for historical pur-

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

poses and sometimes merely clerical, always in connec­ tion with my own family or my birthplace, but in 191112, I had the privilege of working in about a dozen Massachusetts towns, and I never enjoyed a year more.

I read town and church archives, and cemetery inscrip­ tions, beside many private and a few court records.

The dove-tailing of all these showed the wisdom of combining all in compiling vital statistics.

On a perfect June morning two of us drove out from Greenfield to hunt for Bible and graveyard rec­ ords. In a few minutes we had left the thriving town and were out in the meadows with the winding river on one hand and the Shelburne Hills on the other. We stopped first at a little burial ground whose broken headstones were piled up around the walls, but let me say in passing that before the work was finished my energetic companion had hired a man to lift them for her and had copied every inscription. These stones may be reset or carted away, but those records are safe. A little farther on was a comfortable farmhouse where the good lady of the house received us seated on a Sheraton sofa whose money value was nothing to her, but whose worth as an heirloom was priceless. As we copied the death record in her family Bible, she told us the story of her kinsfolk who had died in a terrible scourge of typhoid; then, as we went on with mar­ riages and births, she told us the simple annals of the lives of those whose names we wrote.

At another farmhouse, the family record was a marvel of fancy printing and decoration, preserved un­ der glass. The experiences of the collectors of old fur­ niture and china are very different from those of the searcher for family records or traditions.

At one house we were mistaken for collectors and the door was opened about three inches in response to our knock, but when our errand was understood courtesy and hos­ pitality were unbounded. The ladv not only ransacked her attic for old church records (and she found some very valuable ones which she willingly restored to their ughtful owners), but showed us all her ancient treas­ ures in the line of mahogany, china and pewter. This

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experience was often repeated. People who are old residents of the parent town love to tell the old tradi­ tions which are the background and atmosphere of the written page.

The records of deaths which the old pastor of Heath wrote down cannot fail to cause a feeling of sympathy for those who long ago passed from a life of privation to the life beyond. We wonder how they stood the terrible winters, with no physician and with communication with the river settlements practically cut off. But as we enjoy the clear air, the green pas­ tures and fertile meadows which skirt the water courses, in summer, the lure of the beautiful country possesses us as it did the pioneers.

The memorial inscriptions in the burial grounds of the shore towns areas touching as the chronicles among the hills. "Died at sea," "Wrecked on the coast of China," or similar records we find on every hand,while across the marshes we hear the moan of the sea.

Speaking of Heath reminds me of an incident which came into the experience of a friend of mine.

He was searching the archives for the service of a man whom he knew was a resident of Heath (or Charlemont, rather, for the former was not incorporated until after the Revolution). He found no mention of the name except one man from Shirley.

Almost by accident he noticed that the company and commander hailed from Charlemont and a comparison of the company roll and the list of so-called Shirley men proved that the clerk of the company had recorded the men from the Fort Shirley district as of Shirley, thereby causing confusion by omitting the word "Fort." The men who served in the outlying districts of Medford were credited to "Mystic," but as no town of that name existed there is no chance of mistake. Perhaps this allusion to something which is outside of today's subject, may be of use to some puzzled applicant to a patriotic society.

In a little town in Bristol County I unearthed a church quarrel in good and regular standing which had lasted many, many, years. There were three church quarrels or secessions in my own town, but next week

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the two churches, which have grown up side by side in consequence,will celebrate together the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the first church in Medford. But here the breach had never healed. I was sent to hunt for the church records which corre­ spondence had failed to bring to light. In a pouring rain I landed in an unfamiliar town, but by the use of my Yankee tongue and by persistent trudging through the mud I located the books, which proved to be valua­ ble. I inveigled the custodian to loan one of them to me so that I might copy the vital records and that night I slept with it within reach of my hand, but the next day I received notice that I must deposit it with the custodian every night, not on account of danger from fire, which was my bete-noir, but because some feared that I might carelessly leave it where someone from the other church might purloin it. Subsequent conversation on both sides of the parish lines told me how strong a feeling existed and I did not blame the one who was responsible for their safekeeping for not trusting the volumes too much to the honor of a strang­ er.

The copyist of ancient manuscripts must eliminate personal comfort and inclination and exercise patience and perseverance; the owners and custodians are often cranky and the work must be done in their way. Men­ tal reservations and private notes are better and more successful than discussion.

I have compared town records with original re­ turns made by doctors, ministers and undertakers, and found discrepancies.

Lately several modern mistakes have come to my notice, which were fortunately de­ tected before official reports were made to the State, a nd they set us wondering how many more went un­ discovered. They were simple clerical errors, but they might have caused trouble for the genealogist of the twenty-first century. A doctor, in reporting a birth, interchanged the names of father and son—a literal rendering of "The child is father to the man!" A clergyman wrote a _ bridegroom's name McDonald for Donnelly on a marriage return. If he had not written

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the father's name properly and in full, there would have been no way of detecting the existence of an er­ ror," Miss Wild concluded her very interesting paper by saying: "If one cannot find amusement or human interest in old records, if he can not forget the so much an hour in the interest he has in translating or recording, he had better change his occupation; but if he looks for hidden meanings, if he enjoys fitting seemingly "unim­ portant facts or even hints together to make up the whole fabric of the history or statistics upon which he is laboring, he has his reward, he has found his ro­ mance."

Miss Wild was followed by Mr. Walter Kendall Watkins of Maiden. Mr. Watkins, following out a line of thought suggested by the definition of "Romance," as given in Bailey's Dictionary, said his subject would be "The Lies of Records." The opening sentences of his address were in the line of a continuation of a dis­ cussion he had been carrying on with Congressman Curley refuting the latter's absurd statements regard­ ing the Boston Tea Party.

I have given quite a full synopsis of Miss Wild's paper,because it was instructive as well as interesting.

Mr. Watkins was followed by Mr. Mann of Medford, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Albree, Mr. Titus, Mr. Cham­ berlain, Mr. Woodbury, Mr. Damon of Lexington, and Mr. Martin, each of whom contributed much of inter­ est to the romantic side of the topic.

A vote of thanks to the New England HistoricGenealogical Society was passed.

A light collation was served after the meeting.

The spring meeting of the League was held April 26 of the present year, in the new building recently

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erected for the Fitchburg Historical Society in that city. The delegates and guests were welcomed by President Stearns of the local Society.

President Chick of the League alluded to the re­ cent death of Mr. David A. Floyd of Winthrop. Mr. Floyd will be remembered by those of our Association who were present at the Annual Meeting of the League last year in our own rooms, as one of the most enthusi­ astic of our visitors.

The topic of the day was "Methods of Research to be used in local Historical Societies," and the first speaker was Charles K. Bolton, A. B., Librarian of the Boston Atheneum. I can only quote a few of his par­ ticularly impressible sentences such as: "History, like life, should be constructive and not destructive": "We admire genius, but seldom go beneath the sur­ face"; "The vicissitudes of the family oftentimes ob­ scure economic and political history"; "I would be as much interested in knowing that some ancestor was the owner of a famous book as that he fought in the Pequot War"; "A writer has said in substance that if our histories were destroyed they might be largely re­ constructed by a study of Christian names"; "Local societies should take up the subject of characteristics as well as mere pedigree"; "An interesting study is that of genius or degeneracy in the abnormal sized family."

Mr. Bolton was followed by Mr. John S. C. Andrews, Instructor in History in the Lynn English High School. What he said was grouped under three heads. Referring to the development of historical re­ search he said it should be carried out: First, in a critical spirit: second, in a spirit of historical research; and third, we must apply our research to the general work of the time. Your President was one of the

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scheduled speakers and spoke largely on his personal experiences in the search for historical material. The discussion was continued by Mr. William A. Mowry, of Hyde Park; Major Henry S. Burrage of the Maine State Historical Society and others. A light collation was served. There were 67 present representing the following Societies: Arlington, Bostonian, Brookline, Dedham, Holliston, Hyde Park, Leominster, Maine, Mendon, Lynn, Milton, Nantucket, N. E. HistoricGenealogical, Society for the Preservation of New Eng­ land Antiquities, Sherborn, Somerville, Swampscott, Weymouth and Fitchburg.

The annual meeting of the League was held June 21 at Marblehead. The reports showed the League to be in a prosperous condition. During the present year the League has issued the 5th of its series of publica­ tions. Judge James P. Parmenter, of the Boston Mu­ nicipal Court, and President of the Arlington Society, was chosen President. Our own Society was again honored by the re-election of your President as Secre­ tary. A light collation was served after the meeting.

There are now 50 societies affiliated in the League.

The annual meeting of the American Historical and allied societies was held last winter in Boston in the week of December 23d. As your delegate I attended the only session which was of special interest in our work and which was held on Saturday, December 28, in the hall of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

The hall is not a large one, but the voices of the speak­ ers were low and indistinct and it was difficult to un­ derstand them. The most interesting of the addresses was that of Mr. Bolton, of the Boston Atheneum. By request he repeated this address at Fitchburg and I have already given you some of its salient points.

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During the past year 14 of our members have passed away. This is the largest number we have lost by death in any year since our association was formed.

Some of them are a distinct loss to the communities in which they lived as well as to the immediate circles of their homes.

During the past year considerable interest has de­ veloped in the placing of the old Friends' Burial Ground under perpetual care by the town,that the time may never come when through neglect graves sacred to every man, woman and child of Nantucket birth or de­ scent, may be desecrated by having their sanctuary open to the incursions'of cattle or trampled by the feet of the thoughtless and indifferent. It is desired to raise SI,500 for this purpose, of which about one-fifth has been subscribed. It would seem quite fitting for our Council to consider this matter and if possible as­ sist in the movement financially or otherwise, as may seem advisable.

I would suggest that the Council this year make another small appropriation for the purchase of local histories of Massachusetts communities.

May I again call attention to the desirability of having correspondents in such centers as New York and Philadelphia to keep informed when any books or manuscripts of particular interest from a Nantucket stand-point are in the market. This subject was renewedly brought to my own attention during the past year. A few months ago a Boston dealer who keeps me in touch with all such matters as come to his notice,no­ tified me of two volumes of valuable charts that he had purchased, and as the books, because of their value were not saleable in their present form he was going to sell the charts separately. On looking them over I im-

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mediately selected and purchased two that had to do with our island and its vicinity. They proved to be a set of charts of the coasts and harbors of New England which, accordng to the title page, were especially en­ graved by Des Barres for the use of "The Right Hon­ ourable Lord Viscount Howe, Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ships in North America," and used by his ships in their campaigns in America during the War of the Revolution. How many books and manu­ scripts of similar value escape our attention in other large centers we do not know.

1 have recently been in correspondence with people of Nantucket descent, of my own family name, who are located in the Middle West and are representatives of that migration from Nantucket which founded New Garden in North Carolina about the time of the War of the Revolution and from thence made a still further migration to Indiana and other middle states.

Speaker Joseph Cannon was a descendant of one of the emigrating families. I am expecting to obtain be­ fore long the genealogical record of those who are of my own name and their descendants,and that eventual­ ly our Association can fill out its genealogical tables with that information. It may be a matter of interest to know that the wife of the present Secretary of the Navy is a descendant of the Nantucket settlers of New Garden. In a personal letter to me Secretary Daniels says "My wife's grandfather was Jonathan Worth,and his father went from Nantucket to New Garden, and I think when we met before that you and my wife found you had the same ancestors and, therefore, could claim to be kin."

In conclusion I would call the attention of the Asso­ ciation to the fact that next year we complete the sec-

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ond decade of our existence. The close of the first ten years was made noteworthy by the laying of the cor­ nerstone of our fire-proof building; will it not be wise and pleasant to observe our second decade in some suit­ able manner?

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PUBLICATIONS of the Nantucket Historical Association: Quakerism on Nantucket since 1800, by Henry Barnard Worth.

Vol. 1, No. 1, 1896, 25 cts.

Timothy White Papers, by Rev. Myron Samuel Dudley.

Vol. 1, No. 2, 1898, 25 cts.

Nantucket Lands and Land Owners, by Henry Barnard Worth.

The Title and The Nantucket Insurrection.

Vol. 2, No. 1, 1901, 25 cts.

The Settlers, Their Homes and Government.

(Map) Vol. 2, No. 2, 1902, 25 cts.

The Indians of Nantucket.

Vol. 2, No. 3, 1902, 25cts.

Sheep Commons and The Proprietary.

Vol. 2, No. 4, 1904, 25 cts.

Ancient Buildings of Nantucket.

Vol. 2, No. 5, 1906, 35 cts.

Indian Names, Wills and Estates, Index.

Vol. 2, No. 6, 1910, and No. 7, 1913, 35 cts.

A Century of Free Masonry on Nantucket, by Alexander Starbuck.

Vol. 3, No. 1, 1903, 25 cts.

Proceedings of First, Second and Third Annual Meet ings of the Nantucket Historical Association.

1895-6-7.

Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1898.

Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1899. Out of print.

Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Nan tucket Historical Association. 1900.

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Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1901.

Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1902.

Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1903.

Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1904.

Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association, Constitution and List of Members. 1905.

Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association, with List of Members. 1906.

Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1907.

Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1908.

Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1909.

Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1910.

Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1911.

Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association, with List of Members. 1912.

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1913.

Price ten cents each.