Obed Macy: Journal 6

1840 8^m { Maniel Eneas home took fire by hot Ashes         (see page 38) 9^th9^m { Roland Coleman^s Wood home took fire by hot ashes 17∙10 John Brown^s house took fire by Ashes 19∙10 James Athearn Candle house the damage^v _{very great} [??fling] 1841 5∙1^m Henry Swift candle C[???] Chmy [CHIMNEY] took         fire this morning at 4 o'clock, which caused an         alarm, but no damage done. 13∙10 Eunce [EUNICE] Lawrence Wood house burnt down_^ by ashes 24∙1∙1842  67  False alarm of fire      

Page     78∙∙ The difficulty of the times 79∙ Circus is here 79 Meetings of various description, Temperance, Anti Slavery   "  Sheep Shearing, Soldiers, Superior Court &c &c 80∙ Camels Launched 81 The difficulties between this country & England settled 81 Sperm oil sold at 65 Ct' ⅌ [CENTS PER] gallin [GALLON] 82∙83 Slavery convention, Town meetings &c 83∙ Ship Phebe, Camels, &c 84 Ship Constitution Carried out by Camels   "  The Tariff established 85 Valuation of ships out & Camels & Steam Boat      Treaty settled between the US. & England 86 Camels acct of from the Islander 86 Ship Peru brt [BROUGHT] in by the Camels 87 Ship Daniel Webster brt [BROUGHT] in by the Camels 87 Vineyard folks disappointed . . . 87 Remarkable draught 88 Some acc^t [ACCOUNT] of the death of_^ Abigail wife of Obed Macy, see 89 88 Some rain 88 Sett out Blackberry vines in the Goat yard 89 The Camels took out the Ship James Lopar 90 Ch^s [CHARLES] L Remond had 2 lectures in our Mg [MEETING] house 91 Some rain. -- 91 Ship Orbit lost 91 Ship Rambler brought in by the Camels

1) A record of the most remarkable events kept by Obed Macy. No. 6 -------------------------------------------------------- 1838. 17^th12^m [17 DECEMBER] A slight fall of snow this morning, followed by some rain, with wind southerly, which afterward changed to the westerd, then to NW. and came over clear and very pleassent for the season. -------------------------------------------------------- 17 Ship Atlantick [ATLANTIC] _^ Thom^s [THOMAS] Russell arrived at the Wharf in safety with 1702 barrels of Sp^m. [SPERM] Oil. to P&B Gardner. David Jones and James Athearn. -------------------------------------------------------- 1^st1^m1839 [1 JANUARY 1839] Nothing remarkable has occurred for some time back. The Children as usual on the commencement of the year, are industriously employed among their their friends and acquaintance, expresing their wishes, in order to recieve their tokens of respect -------------------------------------------------------- 10^st1^m [10 JANUARY] The weather in generally pretty moderate for th's season of the year. Some flights of snow but in no instance, the depth has not exceded two inches. We have very little rain for three months back, And the coldest weather has not exceeded 15 above Zero. The harbor has been lightly covered with Ice 2 or 3 times but not so as to prevent the Steamboat from passing through it. On the whole the winter thus far has been quite moderate. -------------------------------------------------------- Agreeably to the common practice at this time in the year, when very little business is doing out of doors. Many people employ themselves in attending different societies. Some to promote right education in Schools, Others to encourge the Abolition of Slavery, and meetings on various other subjects which on the whole occupies nearly the whole of the evening.

2)

23^rd∙11^m∙1838. [23 NOV 1838] Died in Ghent, near Hudson, formerly of this place John Macy formerly of this place; and great grandson of Thomas Macy whose family was the first English that settled on Nantucket.

He was in the 91^st year of his age, and the oldest Macy that we have any account of. He had 19 children, 54 Grandchildren, and 59 Great grand children; of whom were living at the time of his death 11 children, 37 Grandchildren and 47 Greatchildren.

19^th∙1^m∙1839∙ [19 JANUARY 1839] Day weather continues in a most remarkable manner. Such a drought never was know [KNOWN] at this season of the year. We have _^had some light showers but very little on the whole. Many people are quite out of rain water, even such as have Cisterns and are obliged to bring their water to wash with from the springs, such such an instance had never been noticed in the first month of the year.

It is likely that many wells will be out of water before the springs rise. . .

The weather also continues uncommonly moderate generally sufficiently cold to freeze the streets but very moderate on the whole. Carpenders & Painters are daily at work in the open air --

No snow to obstruct the out doors business.

16^th. [16 JANUARY] The Brig Halcion, Donnall, of and from Bath for Charleston S.C struck in the Point rip, beat of over the Rip during the night and went ashore to the eastward of Great Point Light next morning; Crew and part of the cargo (bricks and hay) saved. Vessel bilged. The Brig and the Cargo were sold yesterday (19^th) Bid off by Jo^s. [JOSEPH] H Nickeron [NICKERSON] a ^

20^th∙1^m∙ [20 JANUARY] Last night the wind came at NW and blew a violent gale, it look more like Winter than it had been. This And the cold increase rapidly

This morning, the Ther^m [THERMOMETER] stood 6 ° .

Schoon [SCHOONER] Enterprize S Swain arriv'd [ARRIVED] this morning from Boston. had met with some damage & almost coverd [COVERED] with Ice. Abel Hay^s - and Ge^o. [GEORGE] Washington left at the same not yet arrived, both in sight coming.

3) 1838 23.1 Winter has set in. This morning the Snow 5 or 6 inches deep, & snowing the wind at N to NW In the afternoont he wind increased to a gale and Snow squalls, & cold concludes the day. 24th. The cold increased during the night very much. This morning it was extreme cold. The Thurr. [THERMOMETER] down to 5 [degrees] below zero. The ice covered the harbor and made out as far as the Bar, all last night. -------------------------------------------------------- The brig Halcion spoke of in the preceeding page in the late gale was wrecked to peices and drifted ashore to a considerable distance. The most of the cargo was taken out. -------------------------------------------------------- Arrangements are making, and likely to be carried into effect to establish a line of Telegraph from the Cliff to Tuckennuck [TUCKERNUCK] thence to Cape Poge thence to Woods Hole, which is generally united with and likely to be carried into effect. The undertaking will be carried on mostly by the Ship Annans. Anticipations are strong that if it is established it will result to the advantage of the community at large. -------------------------------------------------------- 25th. Sudden changes in the weather, today the wind is South and warm, the snow melts fast but not rain. 26. In the fore noon wind at SSE and moderate in the afternoon and evening following, the wind increased to a heavy gale, and the rain poured down in torrents, and proved the greatest fall of rain that has been for three months preceding, or perhaps in six months. In the evening it blew tremendously, a proper old fashion SSEer. The mills and old fences received some damage. In the above mentioned afternoon a town m.g. [MEETING] was held to see if the town would memorialize the Legislator against the repeal of a late law regarding the selling of spirituous liquor. The house was nearly full. The subject was largely treated on a number of able speeches were delivered against the repeal, A small number appeared in favor of the repeal. It was finally Voted by a large majority in favor of the repeal.

4) 1839. The storm spoke of in Page 3 raged violently in New York, the damages sustained there was estimated at 800.000$. By the accounts receive it was a perfect Hurricane, blew off the tops of many chimneys, and the roofs of some, and others were almost ruined, one man only was killed by the fall of a post on him. The tide came in beyond any former time in memory of man. It fill [FILLED] all the lower streets, some three feet in depth, so that boats were used to pass & repass in the streets to save their floating property. The Cellars were filled with water on all the lower part of the City, to the destruction of much property. A thourough [THOROUGH] investigation had not been made, it was believed by many that the loss of property will ammount [AMOUNT] to 1000.000$, including the damage to the Shipping and Wharves, which was great in some cases. It was apprehended that Vessels on the Coast, which no doubt there were many , received much damage. {Some additional remarks of the effects of the storm {may be seen in page 7. ------- 2d 2m/o It has of late been much talked of that the people of this place required a more convenient place than the Town hosue to hold their meetings in. There has gotten to be so large a number of societies, that it is almost every evening that a Meeting is held some where without the accomodations required to make the Meetings comfortable. Some of the societies have hitherto had the use of the Atheneum, but some of the members of that Institution now object to any meeting being held there in future except it be for Scientific or Literary purposes and urge that their Chartered privilege extends no further, others express their opinion quite to the contrary, these conflicting opinions caused some discussion. Now to obviate these difficulties a Town meeting was held at the above date. A large portion of the Inhabitants being opposed to what was contemplated by many, to wit, either to enlarge the present town house, or build a new one. There opposite opinions brought together a very