On offer is a rare and one-of-a-kind love song of sorts, a scrapbook of the people, places, and vessels that make up the allure of the sea and the life of a steamboat Captain. The book is question is a fantastic scrapbook featuring roughly 400 illustrations spread out of over 145 pages. There are also hundreds of clippings from newspapers, magazines and books and over 20 photographs pasted onto thick paper. The owner of the book and creator of this wholly unique book is the Steamboat Captain Charles Edwin Good, captain of the steamer ‘Rose Standish’. Charles E. Good was a steamboat Captain for... View More...
On offer is a unique record of a sailing captain's journey along the eastern seaboard of the United States. The leather-bound volume measures 5.75 inches by 3.5 inches and contains 120 pages. It is 100% complete. The notes are written in pencil but can still be read after all these years. The cover, binding and pages are all in good condition. Charles H. Bacon was born in 1815 in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. He passed away in 1902 at the age of 86. His obituary in the Hartford Courant, dated December 17, 1902 stated: "...Captain Bacon was one of the best known sea captains in this vicini... View More...
On offer is a sensational, original post Civil War era 1868 - 1872 Captain's log book and journal handwritten by Massachusetts mariner George Sylvester Chase (1833-1877). Born and raised in the Cape Cod town of Yarmouth, later to New Bedford his registration for the 1863 Civil War draft listed his occupation as a "mariner at sea whaling" with the 1870 census shows him "at sea" and living in New Bedford. Their family was well noted in Deyo's History of Barnstable County as his father was the noted Cape Cod Baptist minister Enoch E. Chase (1804-1887). Captain Chase at age 35 woul... View More...
On offer is an original, historically significant and absolutely superb first-hand account of an army officer travelling in 1840s Europe. Was he a tourist or was he a spy? His journal takes the form of a pocket notebook measuring 7.25 inches by 4.75 inches. There are 54 pages and they are 100% complete. The handwriting is copperplate. It is hard but not impossible to read. The journal's contents more than make up for its condition. The covers have separated from the book. The pages themselves have separated into their several sections but all are present. The pages are not numbered but there a... View More...
On offer is a small but fascinating 30 page book of handwritten weather observations and meteorological observations from the very end of the 19th century, from an author on board the Dutch steam ship ‘Java’. From July 31st to November 15th, 1895, the book records various quantitative and qualitative observations about the weather as the steamer travels from the Port of Amsterdam, around the Andalusian Peninsula, through the Strait of Gibraltar, across the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal and ending up in Padang in what is now West Sumatra in Indonesia, and what was then part of the Dutch... View More...
James M. Sherburn's name when googled immediately brings up a site regarding the "James Sherburne Cemetery, where besides others, is buried the wife of James M. Sherburn, James himself and as the following list shows many if not all their children: Capt. James M. Sherburne DIED Nov. 10, 1867 age 56 ys. 11 ms. Betsey C. (Blake), wife of James M. Sherburn, DIED April 20, 1854 ae 41 y’rs 6 mo & 20 d’s. Adele, Dau. of Capt. James M. & Betsey C. Sherburne DIED Apr. 9, 1869 ae 19 yrs. 22 dys. Charles H., son of Capt. James M. & Betsey C. Sherburn, DIED Sept. 14, 1855 ae 9 y’rs 9 mo. & 9 d’s. Eme... View More...
On offer is a fascinating, though enigmatic and curious 1810 manuscript ship's log of Captain Thomas Clarke's return voyage from Russia and Norway to Bristol, Rhode Island on the ship "Narragansett". Dated September through December 1810 in many ways this is a typical 'Age of Sail' ship's log book classically filled with daily data required of all formal logs: weather, winds, sail settings, navigational details and entries related to observations and events on and about the ship in this interesting and unusual east to wet trans-Atlantic voyage in an early 19th Century merchant vessel, ... View More...
On offer is an absolutely outstanding collection of diaries from one family that span 33 years. These diaries paint a warm and intimate look at the life of a very fine woman and here family. In addition, there are 2 account books that cover a 12 year period. The dates, sizes, completion and general condition of the volumes are as follows: Diary 1868 measures 6'x3', has 60 pages, is 100% complete and in good condition; Diary 1869 measures 4.75 x 3.0, has 60 pages, is 100% complete and in fair condition, covers are missing; Diary 1870 measures 4.75 x 3.0, has 60 pages, is 100% complete and in go... View More...
SPRINGFIELD MASSACHUSETTS. Good. 1885. On offer is an interesting group of three [3] original manuscript diaries for 1885, 1886 and 1887 handwritten, as identified in two of the three books, by C. L. Rice of Springfield Massachusetts. Research leaves little doubt that this was Caroline Laura Rice, wife of Reverend William Rice. The noteworthy [see the BIO NOTES below] Reverend Rice was born on March 10th about 1821 and Caroline born in 1820. While she did not write every day, between the three books there are about 373 pages making for them an average of one third full each. Illness may... View More...
On offer is an interesting original manuscript diary handwritten by 16 year old Caroline Sophia Campbell Stewart of The Cottage Limpsfield Surrey who writes in 1891 from January to august 11th then 2 pages of entries for 1892 and then January 1898 sporadically to April 3rd 1898. When she writes Caroline does a fine job noting her daily activities and the details of acquaintances including: ice skating, rounders, whist, missionary parties, luncheons, servants, the weather, tobogganing, lunch at the Churchill's, reading to the servant Lennell, catching cold etc., making for a delightful record [... View More...
On offer is unique and quite rare diary/journal written by a young woman in pre-Civil War America. The book itself is a mixture of diary and journal created by Carrie C Browne a young woman attending the Tuscarora Female Seminary. It is important to note that the term 'seminary' in the 19th Century did not have any religious connotation. It signified an institution of higher learning. It was started by a wealthy farmer named Alexander Patterson in 1847 and it educated young women for almost twenty-five years before closing. Carrie Browne was likely about 15 or 16 years of age when she began th... View More...
On offer is a superb archive of 59 original manuscript multi-generational family of diaries spanning the civil war era through the early 20th century. The Carrington Family Diaries, 1867 - 1913. All 59 diaries from members of the Carrington Family of Colebrook, Connecticut. The patriarch, Edward, Sr., wife Sarah Ann Terry Carrington, sons Edward C. Jr. (died in the Civil War) and Edwin T. and daughters Sarah and Kate. Edward Sr. died in 1878 and Sarah Ann Terry Carrington died in 1881. Both are buried in the Colebrook Center Cemetery in Colebrook, Connecticut. Sarah Ann Terry Carrington (mothe... View More...
On offer is a fascinating piece of 1885 handwritten manuscript Americana being a diary by a young man who appears to be the son of a ship owner of increasing commerce and a detailed look at a serious high wheel bicyclist. The diary begins in New York on January 1st when he apparently arrived with the Bark Haydn Brown of Boston which his father had part ownership. He writes about the Bark going into dry-dock, being towed to 31st pier in New York and loading oil. He most of his time New York and particularly Brooklyn and attends theatre, opera and other events. Watches "100's, thousands skat... View More...
On offer is a fascinating, hand-made diary that was written in 1882 in rural New Hampshire by a middle-aged woman from a well-known New Hampshire family, who marries a prominent New Hampshire Colonel, businessman and politician. Substantial internal context clues clearly indicate that this journal was written by Cassandra Swasey Stevens (1818-1901). Cassandra was the descendant of two important early New Hampshire families. On her father?s side, Cassandra was a descendent of Ebenezer Swasey, and on her mother?s side she was a descendant of Daniel Ladd. In 1846, Cassandra became the second wife... View More...
On offer is a superb, original, historically significant manuscript diary and relic of the Civil War handwritten by noted Chaplain John Wesley Adams, born in Townsend, Massachusetts in 1832, the seventh generation ancestor of the Presidents Adams. On December 5, 1863 Mr. Adams was commissioned chaplain of General Gilman Marston's original command, "The Fighting Second". Devoting himself to social and moral welfare of his comrades, Adams was renowned for the care of his men. Side by side he participated in the battles at Bermuda Hundred, Point of Rocks, the second engagement at Fair Oak... View More...
On offer is a fascinating glimpse into the world of the mid-19th-century American West. The author of this diary is Charles Blodgett Waggoner. He was born in 1849 in what later became Logan County, Oklahoma, and lived in the small community of Marshall, OK. Waggoner passed away in 1929 at the age of 79. He was 24 when he began this diary. Waggoner worked around town as a handyman. His diary details his daily activities, people he interacts with, and various jobs he works on. "Nice day. Cool. Worked on Sumers Drug Store all day. Went home at night and Sis & Peter & children had come. Stayed at ... View More...
On offer is the original manuscript 1886 diary handwritten Chas. T. Hoff as noted by his personal hand stamp and ephemeral pieces [also indicate his wife as Laura A. Hoff] in the pouch pocket. Dated Carey Ohio, Mr. Hoff, a town assessor, was 38 years old on May 20, 1886 Charles does a super job of detailing the life of a rural Ohio man and his family. Visitors, business meetings, friends and family are named and should provided local collectors and historians of Central Ohio a wealth of genealogy and observations. The entries typically describe the work he did on a farm and as a builder or car... View More...
On offer are two [2] original 1864 Civil War era handwritten diaries kept by Charles E. Sleeper of Rye New Hampshire. Interesting and enigmatic, Mr. Sleeper kept the two books, one being sporadic with blocks of time missing while the other having been shared it seems by Mr. Sleeper and an unidentified partner. The shared book is almost fully written while the former is perhaps 50% written. Both include daily weather, election news, local news, yellow fever deaths, specified local events and a great deal about the Navy Yard where Mr. Sleeper spent a great deal of time. [While the name of the na... View More...
On offer are the original 1892, 1900, 1901 and 1902 manuscript diaries handwritten by Charles G. Reade of Dayton Ohio. Charles worked for a newspaper and eventually became a preacher. He loves attending the concerts, plays and operas but that seems to lessen as his life as a preacher brings more fervor than his entertainments. In the early diary Charles is dating Nora Boltin then in 1901 he marries Nora and in 1902 has a baby boy. The diaries are full of handwritten entries for every day so you get a good deal of writing and information concerning Charles life. Here are some snippets: 1892"... View More...
On offer is a super detailed Civil War era diary by a circuit-rider school teacher who we believe was a Charles J. Peterson of Philadelphia who details his visits, stays, 'scholars' and local events of the area he serviced in central New York state. The author has connections to the area as he mentions births and funerals specifically related to him and his family. This diary will prove a wealth of genealogical and historical first hand information in central New York State specifically Oneida and Chenango counties. Each day begins with where our author will sleep that night. He also records t... View More...
