Introduction: Buried pirate’s treasure! Talking ghosts! Eccentric (crazy?) treasure hunter! Melissa Davenport Berry has quite a tale to tell. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Halloween is coming, and to kick off the spooky season I serve up a tale of Lynn, Massachusetts, Yankee eccentric Hiram Marble (1803-1868). He still captivates the minds and imaginations of thousands via his excavation into a cave – prompted by spiritual mutterings from beyond promising him a pirate’s treasure!
Hiram Marble (son of Revolutionary War soldier Aaron and Rebecca Putman Marble), along with his wife Arminda Cummings/Comings (daughter of Captain Free and Abigail Dresser Cummings), toiled for years to unlock a mysterious treasure. After he was gone, his son continued the search.
Here is an article with some illustrations and a very long headline from the Boston Herald in 1925 proving that the power of Hiram’s enterprise still gives hope to someday discover riches. The headline reads:
Dungeon Rock, Still Hiding Private Gold, to Be Reopened: Into Solid Walls of This Weird Cavern in Lynn Woods Reservation, for Many Heart-Breaking Years, Hiram Marble and His Son Edwin Dug Foot by Foot in Vain Effort to Reach Hoard of Freebooter Tom Veal, Who, Tradition Says, was Entombed There with His Shiny Doubloons by an Earthquake – Now Rusty Door Will Swing Again.
This article reports:
Digging, digging, digging, at the slow rate of a foot a month, through the unyielding rock; twisting this way and that at the directions of the “spirits” whom Marble claimed guided the search; never losing faith, but always sublimely confident that the next turn would reveal the treasure, father and son labored day in and day out almost three decades, but all in vain. The Marbles have been dead nearly 50 years. This strange story has been given fresh interest by the announcement from the Lynn Park Department that once again old Dungeon Rock will be opened for public inspection.
Pirate gold!
Shining gems and piled-up Spanish doubloons buried deep in the lost treasure cave!
Gloomy galleries questing far into the heart of the living rock where pirate captain [Tom Veal] and legendary hoard, entombed by an earthquake, lie buried!
Thirty years of patient toil, inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, by the 10 fingers of one old man – his tools, when death stilled his hand, taken up by his son, who, inspired by faith in spirit messages and convinced that he could find the treasure, hammered and chipped and blasted and dug in a vain endeavor to reach it.
Such is the amazing story of Dungeon Rock, Lynn, which, after having long been closed to public access, is to be reopened this week. It is a tradition, dimly known, which has been handed down from generation to generation and which in romantic interest outrivals the most ingenious narratives of fiction.
Before I dive into the spectral, here is a little genealogy and background.
Hiram and his wife Arminda both descend from sturdy old New England stock. Their ancestorial lines sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, served in the early colonial wars, and endured both Salem’s Quaker and Witchcraft persecutions.
Familiar surnames include Longfellow, Brewster, Prince, Trask, Eastey, Fuller, Very, Mayo, Southwick, Towne, Proctor, Thorndike, Peabody, and Hutchinson.
Here is Hiram’s obituary, published in the Worcester Palladium on Wednesday, 18 November 1868. I include some additional genealogy in the narrative.
This article reports:
We learn from the Salem papers that Mr. Hiram Marble, known for his labors at “Dungeon Rock” in Lynn, died at his residence there on Tuesday, the 10th inst., aged sixty-five years. Mr. Marble was a native of Charlton, Worcester County. He was a son of Aaron Marble [son of Enoch and Abigail (Holland) Marble], who many years ago went from Sutton with his brother Thaddeus, and set up scythe manufacturing in that part of the town of Charlton, long and familiarly known as the “Mill Ward.” Hiram, not having a turn of mind for mechanical pursuits, gave his attention to other matters, and tried his hand at several callings, but was not over-successful in any way. He married a daughter [Arminda] of Capt. Free Cummings [son of Captain Free and Alice (Gould) Cummings] of Charlton, and for several years kept the public house [Noble’s Hotel] at the “North Side,” so called, with apparent success to himself and satisfaction to all who had occasion to call there. What seems truly marvelous in his career is the fact that he was a confirmed atheist in his belief till a short time before leaving Charlton, when, some eighteen years ago, he became an ardent believer in spiritualism, and moved to Lynn and commenced labors upon “Dungeon Rock” in search of treasures which (he claimed to be spiritually advised) was hidden by [Thomas Veal, pirate]. During these many years he has labored, drilling and blasting that huge rock with unabated zeal, manifesting undoubted belief in his spiritual advisors to the end. His seemingly strange operations have attracted multitudes of visitors to that place, all of whom were cordially received and entertained by Mr. Marble in his narrative of past progress and future prospective anticipations.
The Worcester Palladium article continues:
The deep winding chasm in that vast pile of granite reveals the persistent effort with which he has persevered in this marvelous delusion in search of treasure. Various methods were adopted to procure funds to prosecute the work, one of which was a scrip issued by him promising to pay when able, and taken by visitors and others who chose to aid him. Thus has he lived, labored, and died, but to what purpose on “Dungeon Rock,” who can tell?
Get out the popcorn, more to come…
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Note on the header image: Dungeon Rock Pirate’s Treasure. Credit: Melissa Davenport Berry.