Capt. Ezra Vinal, Died at Sea

My seaside hometown of Scituate, Massachusetts has a Maritime and Mossing Museum that features not only fascinating displays about the 19th-20th century Irish mossers, but exhibits on Scituate seafarers from earlier times as well.

A fabulous oil painting of a sea captain was identified to me on one visit only as Capt. Vinal. I was hoping it might be a sea captain ancestor of mine (we have the same rosy cheeks), but later discovered he was Capt. Ezra Vinal, who had died at sea. I have no Ezra Vinals in my direct line but wanted to find out if we are related. I was named after a Polly Vinal after all! (I'm so glad they didn't name me Polly Vinal FitzGerald ––"Just call me Pollyvinyl: tough but resilient.")

I consulted FindAGrave, where a C. Krueger had written a short biography with basic citations, and uploaded three images: two pages from the printed vital records of Scituate, and a death announcement from the 14 September 1821 issue of the Haverhill [Mass.] Gazette, which states: "On his passage from St Jago to Boston, Capt. Ezra Vinal, of Scituate, aged 47."[1]  Krueger's biography gives Ezra's birth as 20 January 1774, in Scituate, child of Joseph and Thankfull. He gives Ezra's death date as 16 August, 1821 and says his body is buried at sea. Seems fairly solid, and no reason to doubt it so far.

The published Scituate Vital Records mention only one Ezra Vinal in the deaths: "VINAL, Ezra, Capt., _____, 1821, a. 47, at sea." So far, so good! Of course we'll want to check with the original records, but as a guideline we're okay for now. There are quite a few Ezras in the births, but only one born anywhere near 1774, and that is the son of Joseph and Thankful, as Krueger has mentioned.   Joseph Vinal and Thankfull Vinal (sic) were married on 8 November 1763. The Scituate VRs also provide the marriage of "VINAL, Ezry [int. Ezra] and Polly Hammon [int. Hammond] on 27 October 1800, citing the records of the First Church of Scituate. [2] 

So let's add a bit o' conflicting information to stir things up a bit. Strap on your cerebral seat belts. Deane's History of Scituate mentions only one Ezra Vinal, a captain, in a family sketch. Deane's syntax is often confusing and ambiguous and sometimes downright incorrect. In this case he writes, "[Vinal] Joseph, married Martha Jenkins 1745. Children, Joseph 1749, Asa 1753, Martha 1756, Capt. Nathaniel (whose son is Dexter) and Capt. Ezra, who died at Matanzas, leaving children in Scituate." [3]   

What? Different parents, different birth date, different time frame! So what is going on here? Is this a different Capt. Ezra, with each Capt. Ezra Vinal only mentioned once in each source? Or are there just serious errors in our sources?

Ezra #1 was born 20 January 1774, son of Joseph Vinal and Thankfull Vinal who were married 8 November 1763. Both events are listed in the Scituate VRs. His death in 1821 at 47 reported in the newspaper is consistent with this date of birth.

But that conflicts with

Ezra #2, Deane's Ezra, the son of Joseph Vinall and Martha Jenkins who were married in 1745. This Ezra is not listed in either the published vital records or the Scituate town records online at Ancestry.com. [4]  He would have born about 30 years after their marriage if he were 25-ish when he married Polly. Yet Deane says these are his parents. But I propose that he just morphed the children of two Joseph Vinals together and attributed the parents of Ezra #1 incorrectly, thereby creating massive confusion in online trees and forcing people like me to untangle it all. This is not the first time Deane has inconvenienced me in this manner!

Krueger mentions an article in the Columbian Centinel but provides neither any detail from it nor a citation. I located the article he referenced: "Died...On his passage from St. Jago to Boston, Aug. 16, Capt. Ezra Vinal, of Scituate, aged 47, master of sch. Indus." [5]   So this is where we get the exact date of death, Ezra's age, and his ship, as well. [6]   

Another article reveals a bit more: "Deaths...On the 16th ult. on his passage from St. Jago to Boston, Capt. Ezra Vinal, of Scituate, master of schooner Indus. He has left a wife and family to lament his untimely exit, and irreparable loss. Capt. V. was an industrious and enterprising member of the community, and an experienced and correct navigator. Although death has arrested him in his mortal career, far from his family and friends, and consigned his remains to a watery grave, they still have the consoling asurance, that he was a firm believer in the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and a convert to the truth of that divine precept, which declares that "every one and in every nation that feareth God and worth righteousness, is accepted of him."[7]   

In June of the year he died the New York National Advocate printed a notice: "At Quarantine, schr. Indus, Vinal, from St. Thomas." [7]  And in another revealing article, from September, we read, "Arrived at Quarantine, sch. Indus, Wilkinson, (late Vinal, who died 5 days out) 29 days from St. Jago de Cuba, cargo sugars, to P. and T. Curtis.––Schr. Hope, Briggs, for Boston, sailed 9 days before. Capt. Mayhew, of Schr. Native, died day before the Indus sailed. It was very sickly at St. Jago." [8] 

So where is Matanzas? Let's keep digging. If you go look at family trees on Ancestry.com not only will you find the same confusion about Ezra's parents, but also about his place of death. Quite a few of those trees supply a place of death as "Matanzas, Sea, Sulawesi Tengah, Indonesia."  Well, like St. Jago [Santiago], it turns out that there was more than one place by that name.

Carribean Map courtesy of
http://www.caribseek.com/Caribbean_Maps/large-caribbean-map.shtml

There is a Matanzas in Indonesia, but there is also one in Cuba, a much more likely destination for Capt. Ezra in general, and consistent with the St. Jago mention in the articles, just at the opposite end of the island. We researchers need to be so careful about information found in public trees! They are created by people who vary greatly in the attention they pay to detail. Add to that the fact that sometimes software will auto-complete a locality for you and you end up with Indonesia instead of Cuba! Don't think that just because you see this information in more than one tree it must be true. Incorrect information proliferates as quickly as correct!

So, summing up, C. Krueger's information was correct, but we could not know that without investigating his incomplete sources and resolving the conflicting information from Deane. We now know that Ezra Vinal, son of Joseph Vinal and Thankfull Vinal, born 20 January 1774, was captain of the schooner Indus when he passed away, enroute to Boston from St. Jago (Santiago), Cuba. He left behind a wife and family. I'd want even more corroboration, through land and probate, church and other records, but the above is enough to prove that Deane was mistaken.

His death was likely caused by illness, not accident, as evidenced by the repeated quarantining of ships during that summer. Diseases of the time for which a ship would be quarantined might be cholera, yellow fever or even plague! A ship would be detained in total for 60-65 days. [9] 

His grandparents were my 6th great grandparents: Jacob Vinall, stonecutter, born 1700, and Elizabeth Simmons. [10]  Our calculated relationship is 2nd cousin 5x removed. I guess those rosy cheeks are mere coincidence!

_________________________

1. C. Krueger, "Capt Ezra Vinal (1774-1821) – Find A Grave Memorial," no cemetery given, but the note "Body buried at sea," memorial #88781603, added 19 Apr 2012; Find A Grave, Inc. (http"//www.findagrave.com : 13 May 2013). Krueger cites both the Scituate published vital records and the two newspaper articles in his sources, though he does not state where he viewed the articles.

2. Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts to the year 1850 (Boston: 1909; reprint, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1976), 1:386 (birth of Ezra); 2:459 (death of Ezra); 2:312 (marriage of Joseph and Thankfull); and 2:310 (marriage of Ezra and Polly).

3. Samuel Deane, History of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1831 (Boston: 1831; reprint, Scituate: Scituate Historical Society, 1975), 365. Deane is known to have inaccuracies in his history, and his family descriptions can get very grammatically complicated and confusing. 

4. "Scituate Town Records, with Births, Marriages, and Deaths," database with digital images, Scituate Town Clerk, 19th century transcription, from Holbrooke microfiches; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 14 May 2013.

5. "Died," Columbian Centinel, 12 September 1821, p. 2, col. 4, digital image, "Newspaper Archives"; GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 13 May 2013).

6. "Deaths," Boston Commercial Gazette, 13 September 1821, p. 2, col. 4, digital image, "Newspaper Archives"; GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 13 May 2013).

7. "Shipping," New York Advocate, 14 June 1821,  p. 2, col. 4, digital image, "Newspaper Archives"; GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 13 May 2013).

8. "Shipping News," Boston Commercial Gazette, 10 September 1821, p. 3, col. 4, digital image, "Newspaper Archives"; GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 13 May 2013).

9. "Quarantine," webpage; Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine : 13 May 2013).

10. Vital Records of Scituate, 1:388.

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Capt. Levi's Unfortunate Love Life

Capt. Levi spent most of his time living in towns that no longer exist. They have been decommissioned, the land taken in order to create Quabbin Reservoir in Central Massachusetts. It is the largest man-made body of water used exclusively for drinking water in the world, apparently. It was created in the 1930s in a massive, Big-Dig type engineering feat which razed four towns, dammed a few rivers and voila! drinking water for Metropolitan Boston forever. They took down every single building and tree in the area. They disinterred and then reinterred every body in every cemetery. It was quite a wild few years and there have been couple of interesting books written on the subject. There is even an ever-dwindling group of folks who lived in those towns that get together for coffee every month to reminisce.

Capt. Levi was born in Eastham, on Cape Cod in 1785. He moved to this area with his wife, Betsey, somewhere between 1811 and 1815. Betsey was his first wife, but not apparently his first love. A marriage intention was published for him and another woman in 1807. She married someone else a few months later, so I can only assume that Levi was ditched! Maybe he was at sea too much and she got bored.

Levi and Betsey married in Eastham in 1809. Soon thereafter, land records show a spurt of activity when Levi purchased land in Dana (Worcester County) and Enfield (Franklin County). By 1815 the good Captain and his not-so-good wife had moved to Dana. It seems an odd place for a sea captain to set up housekeeping. Very odd, and it set off warning bells when I first learned of his residence so far inland, especially since I knew he was still actively sailing. Was he perhaps worried about the War of 1812, trying to keep his family far from any potential danger? Or was he trying to get away from everyone he knew because he discovered his wife was a wild woman? 

I had been searching for birth records for Levi and Betsey's children and found nothing, so I ended up writing a genealogy proof argument for the birth their son Franklin in Phase One of my report to the client. Levi was married again in 1822 to a lady named Palace, so I assumed that Betsey had passed away. I didn't find her death, but I didn't find much at all in Dana/Enfield at that time so I didn't think much of it.

Divorce was very rare in the early 18th century, so I was thrilled to find out that Betsey hadn't died, they had been divorced! Anyone who reads my Facebook page will remember the scandalous behavior of Levi's wife that I posted about a month ago. In 1815-1816, poor Levi was at sea for eleven months on a "voige." Six months after he returned from the coast of Africa, Betsey was "taken to bed with a son." Levi gets various people to testify as to her dastardly behavior (and with young children in the house). Betsey failed to show up for court appearances and in 1820 they were divorced.

Here is a little transcription of some of what Betsey was up to. The most alarming page is in terrible condition and I can't read it, especially at the critical point, but I'll show you what I could pick out.

said Libellant avers

that he has faithfully performed towards the said Betsey, all the

duties on his part, by the marriage covenant enjoined. And said

Libellant further avers that the said Betsey, regardless of the

duties on her part by the marriage covenant enjoined, did,

on the first day of February one thousand eight hundred and

sixteen, at a place called Dana, in said County of Worcester

and at divers other times as well before as since, at said Dana

with one Chandler Wood and divers other persons to said Li=

=bellant unknown, commit the crime of Adultery. Where=

=fore said Libellant prays this Court that said bonds of matri=

=mony may be disolved.” ...




I Samuel Pike of Petersham County of

Worcester and commonwealth of Massachusetts

being of lawful age do testify and declare that

according to the best of my recolection Capt.

Levi W. XXX of Dana and county afore

said did come home from the cost of africa

about the eleventh of April in eighteen hundred

and sixteen and was gone on his voige about

eleven month and in about six month

and twenty-three days from the time that Capt.

XXX came from the cost of africa the said

XXXs wife was brought to bed with A

son. And sum time in the month of April

before mentioned when Capt. XXX was absent

Chandler Wood of Petersham came into my

[name?] and told me that if I would go with

him to his house that he would sho me

A curiosity and I went with him and on

the way to the barn Wood told me to go in

to the barn which was in plain sight of

Capt. XXX’s house and [^it] was about at noon

day and Wood told me that in A few minuits

I should see A white cloth come out of

Capt. XXX’s house and be hung up or swoung

about in sight of the barn that I was in and

Wood went to the out side of the barn in

sight of XXXs house and in about fifteen

minuits, I saw A white cloth come out

of XXXs house and was flourished about back and

forth in front of the barn that I was in for

A number of minutes...


I Joseph Giddings of Dana in the County of Worcester

of Lawful age [illegible, possibly “do testify” or “do declare?”]

and say that according to the

best of my recollection Capt. Levi W. XXX of Dana

left home in Dana where his wife was there Living and

went as I supposed a voyage to sea in the year 1815

about the first of May and returned to sd Dana the 11th

of the [April?] 1816 Mrs. XXX sometime following to that

informed me of her situation that is that she was

then in a state of pregnancy by one Chandler Wood of

which was a common opinion she wished

me not to divulge the same which I [supposed? promised?] by a

[????] in her [conduct?] she [libi] was[wished [??]

to procure a abortion of her state of corruption [s]

following I was requested to attend her in [??] [??] which

he was delivered of son which I should say was full

grown
                           Joseph Giddings

Wow! OK, I know Levi was away a lot, but you know that's going to happen when you grow up in Eastham amongst sea captains and fishermen. Betsey was baaaaaaaaaaad! I'd like to search the court records for who got the children, etc., but alas, time...

A couple of years later, in June of 1822, Levi recovered his pride and married Palace, in Phillipston, Worcester County. By December Palace had died! I need to check back in my notes, and need way more time from client to follow all of these lines, but I believe that Palace had a son James XXX, so perhaps she died in childbirth and Levi had been dallying with her before the wedding day. Jeez! So much for Puritanical New Englanders.

In 1824 Levi married another Eastham woman, Lydia. They went on to have at least five children, the youngest of whom was born in 1837 when Levi's children by Betsey were already having children of their own, and Levi was 52. Levi and Lydia lived together in Enfield until Lydia died in 1857. Levi stayed on in his home, sharing it at the end of his life with a man named Collis, who apparently looked after him in his old age. Levi died in 1864.

When the area needed for Quabbin was razed, some houses were just destroyed, but others were dismantled and rebuilt. Capt. Levi's house actually dates from 1767, pre-Revolution, and it was moved to Amherst, where my son is now attending college! I haven't had a chance to photograph it myself yet, but here are two photos from the web, one while it was still in Enfield (they went around and photographed the towns extensively before razing) and one as it stands now.

I hope to be able to tour it someday!

Capt. Levi's Voyages

The Friendship

Ship built in Salem 1792, with a sparred length of 171 feet, carrying 342 tons. Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum

(see "Salem, Massachusetts City Guide, Maritime History 1776-1812" at www.salemweb.com/history/maritime)

Client research has led me into the world of early nineteenth century Maritime Massachusetts and it has been a lot of fun getting familiar with it. I won't mention Capt. Levi's last name because it is being done for a client and until I present him with the info, I don't think I should publish my findings as such. But it doesn't matter anyway.

The client originally contacted me saying he had a painting in his possession that shows a ship at sea. On the back it was labelled "Brig William Gray, [the captain's name], Palermo, Sicily 1824. He wanted to know how this happened to descend to him. He knew only of a great grandmother Jennie, with the same maiden surname, but had no information on her at all. My task was to see if she was related to the captain. That was phase one. I discovered that she was the granddaughter of the captain. Her father's birth was not registered where it should have been, so I prepared a very detailed genealogical proof argument using a ton of indirect evidence. I spent most of the report talking about Jennie's father because he migrated somewhat frenetically and changed his occupation, too, making it difficult to track him. The client enjoyed my narrative report (I used it in my certification portfolio) and requested phase two, more detail on the captain.

This a poster available for sale at 1st-artgallery.com.

Capt. Levi was born in Eastham, on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, in 1785. His roots extend back to Mayflower and early Plymouth Colony folks. He is easily eligible to join both Mayflower Society and SAR if he chooses. The information about his earliest immigrant ancestor places him in Scituate for a while, so I'm probably his distant cousin. I find this amusing.

Levi was a master mariner and it looks to me like his father was as well. One or both are listed many times in newspaper notices of voyages to Europe, South America, the Carribbean and the Eastern seaboard from about 1793 1o 1828. His father passed away in 1811 when Levi would have been 26 years old, perfect age to take on the job of master mariner. I imagine he had been sailing with his father all during his teenage years, but cannot find any proof of that.

This is not a period of abundant records, especially for those sailing out of the port of Boston.  The country was young and agencies to regulate commerce were just getting established. The Custom House, which created and housed what records did exist, burned in the 1890s and they were lost. I looked for something similar to Lloyd's Register, but there is nothing that early for US maritime activity. There are records out there, but to find them would greatly exceed the amount of hours we contracted for. Maybe it'll be a phase three... In addition to the paucity of records, life on the high seas was wild and woolly with multiple dangers from impressment to piracy and war. With embargos and capitalism gone wild, people made up their own rules. And rule-breakers don't like to keep records.

In an undated article in American Heritage Magazine, "Portrait of a Yankee Skipper," which I found at http://www.americanheritage.com, Archibald MacLeish tells about the life of his great grandfather, Capt. Moses Hilliard. He is lucky enough to have inherited a boatload haha of documentation from him. Capt. Hilliard was a "buyer and seller of goods of all kinds, from castor oil and cowitch through rum, coffee, and cotton to garden seeds of curious kinds and the best stockings and shawls to be purchased on the Paris market; he was a dealer in foreign exchange in a number of currencies, including, together with the Russian and the usual European varieties, the complicated coinages of the Spanish Main ...He was a sea lawyer skilled in the filling out of bills of lading in quadruplicate, one to he sworn to before consul or judge affirming United States ownership and three to be sent home, each one in a different vessel; he was a student of long-range and short-range markets in a number of Atlantic ports, a close observer of world affairs (particularly wars), a diplomat of sorts (especially at his own table), a master-rigger, a bit of a doctor, his own laborious secretary, a pleasant companion to his passengers, and a good bit of a man of the world wherever the world might be—in Demerara or New York or Paris.

According to the newspaper notices, father and/or son travelled up to 1812 or so to the following ports: Havre de Grace, France; Jamaica; Les Caves, Haiti; St. Thomas; Lisbon, Portugal; Cadiz, Spain; Montevideo, [Uruguay]; and Laguira [Venezuela]. Later voyages seemed to stick to the Eastern seaboard and included such ports as Savannah, Baltimore, New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, Richmond and Mobile. They sailed in romantic sounding ships called schooners and brigs. The newspapers kept careful track of how many days it took them to make a trip and there was a lot of competition to make a trip as quickly as possible. This, of course, only added to the other dangers.

Here's a notice from 29 March 1804 from the Boston Gazette (thanks genealogybank.com, I love you): “Wines, Lemons, & Salt, &c. Now landing from sch. Jane, Capt. XXX, from Cadiz, and for sale by E. W. Reynolds. No. 19, Long-Wharf –– 100 qr. casks excellent old Sherry Wine ; 50 boxes Lemons, 180 hhds [hogsheads] Salt ; 40 doz. red Morocco Skins ; a few jars excellent Olives. In Store –– 100 bbls. Bread ; a few cases half pint Tumblers, and boxes Hamburgh Window Glass ; a few boxes Dutch Toys. Also, For New York and Norfolk, the sch. Jane ; will sail in 10 days. For Freight or Passage apply as above. march 19.”

There's so much to learn about Levi that I could just study him and his trips for years! I have gotten really, really bogged down with this research because I'm a bad business person and have don't want to stop investigating. It's just too much fun. I did stop, however, a few months ago (!) and am now compiling. I'll write more about Levi in future posts.