e-Newsletter | May 28, 2021 |
|
The Wheelwrights of Newburyport
By Jack Santos
|
|
The Reverend John Wheelwright |
|
Interesting stories about Old Newbury families abound.
This one involves merchants Abraham and Ebenezer Wheelwright.
Abraham and Ebenezer have a long family line that goes back to The Reverend John Wheelwright. John was Mary Hutchinson’s brother-in-law and was ousted in 1637 from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for supporting her challenge to the male dominated puritan church hierarchy.
John subsequently migrated to New Hampshire (one of the first to set that precedent, even before income taxes!), founding Exeter, and then again to Wells, Maine, escaping as the Bay Colony extended its reach.
|
|
Later in his life, all was forgiven. He led the Hampton, New Hampshire church, as well as the Salisbury church. He is buried in the Old Burial Ground in Salisbury.
His grandson, Captain John Wheelwright, led the protection of Wells, Maine, against native American attack. He paid dearly with the kidnapping of his children by the Abenaki. One of the kidnapped Wheelwrights (Esther, shown here) went on to live under the guardianship of the governor of Quebec, became a catholic nun, and was elected mother superior of the Ursuline convent in Quebec City! She refused to return to New England and her family.
|
|
Ursuline convent where Esther Wheelwright spent her life in Quebec. |
|
A generation later, Jeremiah Wheelwright of Portsmouth was documented as having two slaves, which he left in his will. His son, also Jeremiah, married Mary Davis of Gloucester, taught in Ipswich, and eventually settled in the area in the late 1700s.
Jeremiah’s (the younger) daughter Tamzine Wheelwright married William Eustis. Tamzine and William’s daughter (also Tamzine) married George Donner and met her fate at the infamous pass in California named after the Donner Party.
With the advent of the American Revolution, it was Jeremiah that signed up as assistant commissary under Benedict Arnold, for the attack on Quebec City. He went as a civilian because his age (mid-forties) made him too old to formally enlist. He was part of the 1100-man contingent sailing on 10 ships from Newbury Port harbor.
At the same time, his son Abraham Wheelwright signed up to fight under Commander Israel Hutchinson of Danvers. He fought at Boston (Dorchester Heights), New York (Battle of Long Island, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Washington), Trenton, and Princeton. He also crossed the Delaware with General Washington. He was one of the few Revolutionary War soldiers that had his photo taken, in the 1840s. He died in 1850, at the age of 92.
|
|
Jeremiah Wheelwright, circa 1830, "lost at sea" and Abraham Wheelwright (1758-1850). |
|
Abraham’s father (Jeremiah) died after he returned broken and diseased from the Quebec campaign, while Abraham returned from the war to become a privateer. Abraham, along with his brother Ebenezer, used his knowledge of the Caribbean to start a thriving trade business in Newburyport. Between the two brothers, they owned over 30 ships from 1790-1830, sections of Ferry Wharf (part of which still stands today) and stores in Market Square and at 11 State Street.
Abraham built what is today Brigham Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Center – his brother’s house was two doors down on High Street.
Later, Ebenezer’s son William, lived in a home built in between the two – which became home to the Newburyport Society for the Relief of Aged Women upon his wife, Martha Bartlet Wheelwright’s death. It is now a private home.
William is famous in his own right as a great industrialist in Chile – and, in addition to his Newburyport home, lived in Valparaiso and London. He is still known today for the “Wheelwright Scientific Scholarship” awarded annually to a deserving Newburyport High School senior. Ebenezer’s son, also Ebenezer, was the author of “A Salem Belle – a Tale of 1692” which was the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.”
|
|
The Wheelwrights are renowned as a “Boston Brahmin” family, but their roots are deep in Newburyport. Abraham’s son Jeremiah was lost at sea in 1830, off the coast of Maryland.
He left behind a son, George Wheelwright, who went on to become a businessman in Boston and Baltimore, established a publishing business and settled in Jamaica Plain.
Abraham’s great grandson (Edmund March Wheelwright) was a founder of the Harvard National Lampoon, became a Boston-based architect and was responsible for the design of numerous city buildings and structures, many still standing today (such as the Longfellow – “Salt-and-Pepper Shaker” - Bridge).
And Abraham’s great-great-grandson, George Wheelwright III, founded Polaroid corporation. George, Edmund and many other Wheelwrights are buried in the family plots in Oak Hill Cemetery.
|
|
Salt-and-Pepper Shaker Bridge, designed by Edmund March Wheelwright, looking across the Charles River on the Cambridge side to Boston, Mass. |
|
The Wheelwrights are just one example of a family history that has deep ties to Newburyport, and a broader impact beyond. Many others remain to be discovered and told, often through events like “If This House Could Talk” – which occurs during Yankee Homecoming. The Museum of Old Newbury is a great place to begin to find those stories.
Jack Santos, local amateur historian, will be giving a talk later this year at the Custom House’s popular First Friday. It will focus on the Wheelwrights and Abraham’s years as officer of the Newburyport Marine Society. Watch Jack later today on “Yeat Yeat, Don’t Tell Me!”…Zoom in here.
|
|
June is Join* the MOON Month!
The Museum of Old Newbury (MOON) is kicking off a membership drive for the month of June. As we finish up our year-long electrical project and move to a new, less restrictive post-COVID world of gatherings and get togethers, the MOON is getting ready to welcome visitors and members back.
We have many levels of membership (see all the choices here), but the most popular is the family level. For just $60 a year, you and your family members enjoy free admission to the museum; free use of the library and archives (by appointment); 10% discount at the museum book shop; subscription to the e-newsletter, 98 High; invitations to special members-only events; and discounts on museum programs and events, such as the special Garden Tour promotion going on now (buy one ticket at $25 and receive a second for free). The 42nd Annual Garden Tour is an in-person event set for Saturday, June 12 and Sunday, June 13, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It features eight lovely locations scattered through Newbury and Newburyport.
Additional membership levels include more and more benefits. We hope you will consider "Joining in June" to not only help us preserve Newburyport’s only National Historic Landmark, but give us the opportunity to share the many treasures and stories of Newburyport’s long and varied past.
*Or renew!
_____________________________________________________
Annual Garden Tour: Tickets Available Now
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 eight gardens located in the Newburyport and Newbury. Artists, a photo contest and plant sale (cash or check only) will also be part of the weekend.
TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED ONLINE; TICKETS MAY BE PURCHASED ONSITE DURING THE WEEKEND VIA YOUR PHONE OR TABLET. (An e-booklet link with addresses, garden owner information, lunch suggestions and more will be sent with your confirmation email.)
|
|
Kristen Fehlhaber (left) and Sue Labay (right) proudly show off their hard work in Miss Margaret Cushing's Parlor. (Photo credit: Bob Watts.)
|
|
Coming Back to the Cushing House
Although we are still waiting on some final elements of the electrical project to be completed, staff members have been able to work part-time at the museum as we face the major task of putting our house back together.
Some rooms have been more affected than others during this major construction project, especially our basement and lecture hall, and in order to preserve the historic fabric and integrity of Newburyport's only National Historic Landmark, all work was done through the floorboards.
As you can imagine, collections were packed and stored and innumerable pieces were moved. We are systematically working our way through the rooms and cleaning and returning them to normal. Along the way, we will make some interpretive upgrades to include recent acquisitions.
Interim staff members Kristen Fehlhaber and Sue Labay have begun the initial clean in the first floor period rooms. They have worked with care, energy and passion to recreate a sense of order. Our efforts will continue over the summer months.
Special thanks are due to Kristen and Sue for their remarkable progress and their untiring efforts. We will keep you apprised as we move closer to an opening later this year.
|
|
The jewel of the Cushing House dining room, also known as the china closet, is dusted, organized and absolutely stunning. (Photo credit: Bob Watts.)
|
|
|
|
Puzzle Me This...
On the Case!
The museum has many pieces in its collections representative of the Age of Sail and the treasures brought back from foreign ports.
This intricately carved ivory calling card case was made in China and dates from the late 19th century. These cases for visiting cards or calling cards were typically carried by women and men and were an indication of their social status.
Click on image to begin.
|
|
Miss a Recent MOON Program? Watch here. |
|
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.
|
|
Zoom in for today's "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!" |
|
You've read his research, now meet the man!
History comes alive with your hosts, Jack Santos, Custom House Maritime Museum and Colleen Turner Secino, Museum of Old Newbury, on the bi-weekly trivia show "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!"
Each episode features 8 questions, plenty of banter and the random chance to win some great prizes.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
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 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.
|
|
Something is Always Cooking at the Museum
Not only a terrific side dish, but Jane Wild's vegetable roast would make a great (and healthy) wrap sandwich!
Roasted Vegetables with Feta
1 pound Red Bliss potatoes, cut in half
1 large red onion
3/4 pound baby carrots
1/2 pound green beans, cut in 2-inch lengths
1 head cauliflower, florets only
2 red or green bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup combined oregano, marjoram, thyme and rosemary
1/3 pound feta, crumbled
Preheat oven to 475ºF. Combine all vegetables in a large bowl with the olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs. Mix well with hands or wooden spoon. Spread vegetables evenly in large rimmed baking sheet covered with foil. Roast on center rack of over for 15 to 20 minutes, or until vegetables are slightly browned. Remove from oven and sprinkle with feta cheese. Return to oven and roast for 5 minutes more, or until feta is soft. Serves 4 to 6.
|
|
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.
|
|
Museum e-Newsletter made possible through the
generosity of our sponsors:
|
|
|
Museum of Old Newbury
98 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-462-2681
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
