This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Research Library at the Nantucket Historical Association. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the internet.
Summary
Collection includes two letter-journals addressed to Mary Ann Russell Mount. One written by her mother, Mary Hayden Russell, on board the ship Emily, captained by her husband and Mary Ann’s father, Laban Russell; and another written by Mount’s husband, Forman Marshall Mount, a British captain, during the last ten days of a voyage ending in Liverpool, England.
Collection Details
- Collection Number:
- MS83
- Title:
- Letter-Journals of Mary Hayden Russell and Captain Forman Marshall Mount
- Date(s):
- 1823-1827
- Creator:
- Russell, Mary Hayden, 1784-1855., Mount, Forman Marshall, -1827.
- Extent:
- 2 items
- Repository:
- Nantucket Historical Association
- Language:
- Material is in English.
Information for Users
Restrictions to Access: No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use: No usage restrictions.
Copyright Notice: Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation: [identification of item], in the Letter-Journals of Mary Hayden Russell and Captain Forman Marshall Mount collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
Acquisitions Information:
Folder 1 a gift of Mrs. June Badger in 1975 (Acc. 1975.98).
Sensitive Materials Statement:Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Nantucket Historical Association assumes no responsibility.
Subject Headings
-
Topical Term
- Ship captains' spouses.
- Ship captains.
- Whalers (Persons).
- Seafaring life.
- Whaling.
Biographical Information
Mary Hayden Russell (1784–1855) was the daughter of Abishai and Merab Pinkham Hayden of Nantucket. She married Captain Laban Russell (1780–1847) in 1802. Mary Hayden Russell was one of the first women to go on a whaling voyage. She and her twelve-year-old son, William, accompanied Captain Russell on the ship Hydra during its 1817-20 voyage. She and her younger son, Charles, sailed with her husband on another whaling voyage on the ship Emily 1823-1824. Their older son, William, was boatsteerer on the same voyage.
Captain Forman Marshall Mount (–1827), a British captain, was the husband of Mary Ann Russell Mount (1803–), daughter of Captain Laban and Mary Hayden Russell.
Scope and Content
Collection includes two letter-journals addressed to Mary Ann Russell Mount. The first, 1823-24, is written by her mother, Mary Hayden Russell, on board the ship Emily, captained by her husband and Mary Ann’s father, Laban Russell. The volume provides detailed accounts of storms at sea, the perils of whaling, and the customs and dress of Pacific Islanders they meet on the voyage. The second volume, before 1827, was written by Mount’s husband, Forman Marshall Mount, a British captain, during the last ten days of a voyage ending in Liverpool, England. Topics of this volume include bad weather, poetry, and missing his wife and family.
Contents
Folder 1 Letter-Journal of Mary Hayden Russell, 1823-1824
Includes transcripts.
Folder 2 Letter-Journal of Captain Forman Marshall Mount, before 1827
Processing Information
Finding aid by Ashley Miller in May 2022.
Materials in this collection were digitized with support from Connie and Tom Cigarran.