May 17, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series about the founders of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and their descendants, showing more photos of the island’s annual “Main Street Fete.” Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series on the scions of the founders of Nantucket, Massachusetts, featuring photographs from the “Main Street Fete” held on the island annually to raise funds for the Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
Each year Nantucket sets the clocks back to a time when town criers served up the news, ladies in petticoats hosted tea parties, and whaling captains sailed the globe.
The Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) has a rare collection of photographs dating back to the early 1900s. All photos are courtesy of NHA.
Most of the fete-going characters are descendants of Nantucket’s early settlers. Several sported Quaker garb, while others preferred the more modern tails. I hope you find familiar kin among these faces.
Here is a group of Quaker women posing in 1925 at the Main Street Fete on the steps of the Robert F. Gardner homestead. In this photo we see (sitting first row on steps, left to right): Sarah Bunker Winslow, daughter of Captain Perry and Mary Ann (Morrow) Winslow; and Nellie Judkins, possibly daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Mitchell) Judkins; (seated in chairs, left to right): Hattie B. Sylvia (parents unknown); Susan “Susie” Emma Brock, daughter of mariner George and Charlotte (Coleman) Brock; Lucretia Macy Gardner, one of the many offshoots born to Robert Folger and Lucretia Folger (Macy) Gardner; (standing, left to right): Sarah “Saddie” Macy, aunt of Clinton T. Macy, son of Hiram and Maud (Thomas) Macy; Hannah Hamlin/Hamblin, possibly daughter of John and Sarah (Crocker) Hamblin; and Mrs. Adelaide “Addie” Wilson (Gibbs) Bates, daughter of Albert Wilson and Mary (Weeks) Gibbs, married Perry Winslow Bates.
Here is a photo from the Main Street Fete in 1935.
In this photo we see Mrs. Fred V. Fuller, wearing a period dress once worn by Quakeress Mrs. Hannah Ballenger (Leedom) Sharp, daughter of Benjamin Jones and Priscilla (Ballenger) Leedom, married Benjamin Sharp. Read more on this family: Nantucket Scrapbook Shows Mayflower Lines (part 1).
The next photograph was taken on the front steps of Mrs. Ditmar’s home located at 98 Main Street in Nantucket, built in 1834 by Mrs. Ditmars’ grandfather, whale oil merchant Benjamin F. Coffin, son of Jared and Hepsabeth (Swain) Coffin, who married Mary Crosby, daughter of Matthew and Lydia (Coffin) Crosby.
This photo shows (from left to right): Mrs. Etta Louise Francis, daughter of Edwin Wixon and Annie Francis, married George Washington Francis; and Mrs. Mary Coffin (Worth) Ditmars, born to Frederick and Marianna (Coffin) Worth, married John Ditmars.
In this collage of the 1927 Main Street Fete we see (top row, left to right): The Shearing Cart. A famous Nantucket institution with B. Cheater Pease driving Elise Pond and Mrs. Bernice Foye; and Deep Sea Sailors. Old Nantucket salts Benjamin Williams, Walter N. Chase, John Cross, George A. Grant, Stephen Hussey, Joseph Fisher, and Edgar Wyer; (middle row, left to fight): Two Peggies. Miss Peggy Walter and Miss Peggy Little; Buying a Flower. Nantucket’s oldest resident John W. Cook and Miss Sarah Mills of Chicago; The Wishing Well. With Misses Mary Killen and Lucille Ring.
I could not resist adding this last photograph: a gathering of Nantucket’s early settler offshoots at the Perry House on 115 Main Street.
In this photo we see (left to right): Mrs. Jane (Coffin) Perry, daughter of Charles Gardner and Eliza (McArthur) Coffin, married Edward Wing Perry; Mrs. Sarah (Wyer) Easton, daughter of Christopher and Priscilla (Coleman) Wyer, married jeweler and silversmith James Easton of Rhode Island; (seated) Judge Thaddeus Coffin Defriez, son of Captain Henry John Inman and Elizabeth Ann (Coffin) Defriez, married Eliza S. Dillingham (2nd wife); James Benton (parents unknown); (seated) Mrs. Susan N. (Smith) Dunham, daughter of Alfred and Lydia Smith, married James Cochran Dunham; Mrs. Catherine (Wyer) Starbuck, daughter of Christopher and Priscilla (Coleman) Wyer, married Mathew Starbuck, son of Joseph and Sally (Gardner) Starbuck; Mrs. Sarah Macy (Gardner) Cathcart, daughter of Oliver C. and Hannah (Macy) Gardner, married Charles S. Cathcart, son of Seth and Anna (Swain) Cathcart; (seated) Captain David C. Baxter, son of Captain Reuben and Love (Briggs) Baxter, married Mary J. Hussey and 2nd Martha S. (Potter) Gardner, widow of Roland Gardner; whaler and merchant Eward Wing Perry, son of Nathan and Lydia (Hathaway) Perry, married Jane Coffin; (seated) Mrs. Eliza S. (Dillingham) Defriez, daughter of Albert and Olive (Godfrey) Dillingham, married Judge Thaddeus Coffin Defriez; Mrs. Martha S. (Potter) Baxter, daughter of John and Olive (Fish) Potter, married 1st Roland Gardner and 2nd Captain David Baxter; Mr. James Cochran Dunham, son of Ebenezer “Eben” and Mary Margaret (King) Dunham, married Susan Norton Smith.
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Note on the header image: flag of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Credit: NuclearVacuum; Wikimedia Commons.
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I enjoyed reading the information and the photos of early Nantucket settlers. Thanks.
Thank you Franklin! I am glad you enjoyed the pictures and post. I appreciate you taking the time to reach out.