e-Newsletter | May 21, 2021 |
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Every Picture Tells a Story
The museum has hundreds of portraits in its collections, each one giving an insight into the life of the individual. Walking through the period rooms and galleries and opening the shutters of the Cushing House, I sometimes stop to say good morning to these old friends who have incredible stories to tell -- some of them swashbuckling, others revealing prosperous and happy family lives, and others poignantly tragic. Some of them grew up in the bustling port of Newbury and others traveled far to make this special place their home. This week I'll share two stories -- the first a local family who only through the gift of a descendant did their tale become part of the annals of local history. These are the men and women who helped to create the character of our community. –Susan C.S. Edwards, Executive Director
Meet the Woodburys
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Abigail Brown was the daughter of Captain Nicholas Brown, a privateer and successful mariner who married twice and had 14 children with his second wife Lucy Lamprey. At least four sons became shipmasters, and two daughters married shipmasters one of them being Abigail. She was born in 1788 and died sometime after 1819, the date the portrait was painted.
Eliphalet Noyes Woodbury, born in 1783, was the son of Caleb Woodbury of Salisbury. He may have become acquainted with Abigail through maritime connections with her father. The couple published their intention to be married on November 12, 1814.
Three months after their marriage, Captain Woodbury was lost at sea in January 1815. Little is known about the ship or voyage. This would have been a devastating blow for the 27-year-old Abigail as she was three months pregnant with their child.
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Anna Alexander Woodbury (shown here) was baptized in August 1815. One likes to think that with her mother's large family, she grew up among aunts, uncles and cousins. However, we know nothing of her life until 1841 when she married Captain Isaac Newton Knapp of Newburyport. Knapp went to sea at age thirteen and had a long and successful career as master of several Newburyport ships.
Anna gave birth to two daughters, Abby Woodbury Knapp who died at age four, and Anna Lawrence Knapp who was born in 1847. Captain Knapp married for a second time in 1854 so Anna died sometime between 1847 and 1854.
It is due to the generosity of Anna Lawrence Knapp that we have a glimpse into this family whose lives were struck by tragedy. Anna Knapp was the donor of the portraits of her mother, her grandparents, and her great grandfather Captain Nicholas Brown, as well as other artifacts from the family.
The portrait of Captain Woodbury was painted between 1811 and 1814, perhaps at the time of his marriage in 1814. The other portraits were painted in 1819 and all are attributed to Newburyport artist Moses Dupre Cole based on similarities to known, signed Cole portraits.
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The story of Nicholas Lattime (1777-1822) is quite different. Lattime, French by birth from Port le Brean, was an orphan. He ran away from the orphanage and was adopted in Amsterdam where he apprenticed himself, at fourteen years old, to an Amesbury, Massachusetts shipmaster.
With his emigration to America and his marriage to Polly Woodwell in September 1806, Lattime (also sometimes referred to as Lattimer) made Newburyport his home.
Polly was the daughter of Gideon Woodwell who owned a shipyard on Water Street beginning about 1762.
In the next eleven years the Woodwells produced fifty-two vessels. The shipyard was inoperative during the American Revolution but resumed production in 1783.
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Nicholas Lattime (1777-1822) |
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Through his connection to the Woodwell family, Nicholas Lattime became the patriarch of a large family of mariners, cordwainers, shipwrights and ship outfitters who lived in Joppa, “down along” the Merrimack River.
This oil on canvas portrait was painted in Amsterdam by either Carolus or Nicholas Delin in the early 19th century. The Delins were patronized by numerous Newburyport shipmasters. It is interesting to note the fouled anchor pin, originally the seal of the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain. The gold earring was worn by seafaring men who had seen the world and travelled around the Horn, the extreme tip of South America.
In 1822, Lattime drowned at Curacao in the West Indies while serving as mate on the sloop Polly. The painting was a gift to the museum by the Lattime and Lattimer families.
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(Photo credit: Bob Watts.) |
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Annual Garden Tour:
Painters, Plant Sale and Photo Contest Added!
Newburyport’s Museum of Old Newbury will host its 2021 annual in-person, “hybrid” garden tour June 12 & 13, 2021, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The theme for this year’s tour is, Sowing the Seeds: A Season of Renewal and will feature nine gardens located in the Newburyport and Newbury. Artists, a photo contest and plant sale will also be part of the weekend.
We are delighted to welcome the Band of Brushes back as a special feature of this year's Garden Tour. One garden in particular includes a working artist's studio with breathtaking views of the Great Marsh.
The Band of Brushes is a group of artists who paint together 'en Plein air,' a French expression meaning in the open air, working to capture the elusive light of day.
Participating artists share a love of nature and work in their preferred medium (oil, watercolor, pastel and acrylic) and include Dorothy Aham, Michelle Champion, Grace Daly, Karen Fitzgerald, Mary Francis, Christine Molitor Johnson, Fran Kaplan, Kris Munroe, Janice Reynolds, MaryAnn Varoski and Mary Carolyn Webber. All reside in various cities and towns north of Boston including the Newburyport area and Southern New Hampshire.
The popular plant sale, including items propagated from the Cushing House's own gardens (featuring iris, hosta and other perennials), will take place in the museum's nursery, located in the back garden on the Fruit Street side. It will be open Saturday and Sunday, June 12 & 13, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Send us your photos! Snap and send your favorite photos from select gardens. Close ups of an exceptionally stunning flower, sweeping views of crisp cut lawns or an artistic take on hardscaping are just a few ideas we would welcome. Include your name, town you live in and the number garden you are at, then mail to: info@newburyhistory.org or text to 617.429.2217. We will feature all in upcoming newsletters and on our website.
This year’s event will feature a digital program book that you can view on your mobile device. It will include information on each garden and the owner, as well as lunch suggestions.
The Museum of old Newbury is taking precautions to help make this a safe in-person event. At this time, masks are required and access will be limited in order to allow for social distancing of six feet.
All proceeds from the event benefit the museum’s education programs and preservation projects.
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Puzzle Me This...
Alas, Poor's Tavern is No More
Eight generations of the Poor family made their home on Newbury Neck. Captain Jonathan Poor kept a tavern here until 1806 when the opening of the Boston and Newburyport Turnpike diverted travel to the new route. The old house and tavern was taken down in 1890.
Click on image to begin.
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Miss a Recent MOON Program? Watch here. |
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Thanks to the wonder of the Zoom platform, all of our programs are recorded and available online shortly after presentation. Visit our website for upcoming events, previous recordings, including the four 2020 Virtual Garden Tours, our Annual Meeting, children's and holiday programs, as well as all episodes of "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!"
In lieu of a printed program book, we will be featuring monthly events here, as well as maintaining a complete list on our website: www.NewburyHistory.org.
All of our virtual programs are free, however donations are gratefully accepted to help defray speaker fees.
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A Rose by Any Other Name is Not as Sweet as Cindy Brockway
It was a crowded Zoom session as Lucinda Brockway took everyone on a virtual stroll under the pear trees and between the rows of boxwood and roses in the Cushing House
upper garden.
With her delightful style and extensive knowledge, she brought viewers back in time to when apples and pears supplemented meager family incomes in the 19th century. She then visited the addition of twenty-seven varieties of roses in 1877, followed by larkspur, phlox, iris and even more roses in 1897. Fences and summerhouses joined the mix in 1934. In 1965 and again in 1995 the gardens were revitalized by dedicated volunteers.
Lucinda, like the Cushing House garden, is a treasure. Watch the program here.
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"Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!" Completes First Year of Programs |
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Jack Santos, Custom House Maritime Museum, and Colleen Turner Secino, Museum of Old Newbury, completed a full year of "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!" programs on Friday, May 14, 2021.
The historical trivia show features 8 questions, plenty of banter and the random chance to win some great prizes. Turner Secino shares, "Newbury area historical trivia and working with Jack Santos? Yeat Yeat, I'm the lucky one!"
Watch all the fun here, and add next week's show (Friday, May 28, 2021) to your calendar and plan to join us at noon by Zooming in here.
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REGISTER:
Thursday, June 10, 2021 @ 7:00 p.m.
The East India Marine Society Museum was one of the most influential collecting institutions in 19th-century America.
"Collecting the Globe" presents the first in-depth exploration of the Museum, the precursor to the internationally acclaimed Peabody Essex Museum (PEM).
Join PEM Associate Curator George Schwartz as he explores the practices of collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting a diversity of international objects and art in the early United States.
This is a virtual event. Register here and a Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Registration closes at 4:30 p.m. on day of the event.
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REGISTER:
Thursday, July 1, 2021 @ 7:00 p.m.
The First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist and the Museum of Old Newbury kick off the July 4th holiday with a virtual community reading of Frederick Douglass's impassioned 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Lend your voice to this powerful participatory event.
The reading will be followed by a discussion led by humanities scholar Edward Carson. Carson, an independent historian, is also Dean of Multicultural Education and a member of the history department at The Governor's Academy, Byfield, Massachusetts.
This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This is a virtual event. Register here and a Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Registration closes at 4:30 p.m. on day of the event.
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Something is Always Cooking at the Museum
Beautiful, warm weather in the middle of May calls for a light, refreshing meal. Ruth Yesair's chilled soup served with a toasted baguette meets those specifications perfectly.
Crabmeat Soup
1/2 pound fresh lump crabmeat or frozen Alaska King crab
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and quartered
3 shallots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, 4 reserved for garnish
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Clean crabmeat for shells and tear into bite-size pieces. In a small bowl, sprinkle crabmeat with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Place tomatoes in food processor fitted with a blade or a blender. Add shallots, garlic, basil and mint. Process until puréed. Transfer mixture to large bowl and add remaining ingredients. Blend well and adjust seasoning to taste. Cover and chill for 3 to 4 hours. Ladle chilled soup into bowls and spoon crabmeat into middle. Garnish with reserved basil leaves. Serves 4 to 6.
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During this difficult period of COVID-19, we rely on your support more than ever. We continue to develop new, online programs for you to enjoy and keep us connected and look forward to in-person events as protocols for safety loosen. We hope, if you are able, that you will consider a donation to the museum. Thank you for your continued support.
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Museum e-Newsletter made possible through the
generosity of our sponsors:
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Museum of Old Newbury
98 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-462-2681
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