DOCSLIB.ORG

Portrait of Elias Hasket Derby, 1800-1825 Peabody Essex Museum James Frothingham (1786-1864) Salem in History, 2006 Eldredge Print Portrait of Elias Hasket Derby, C

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Portrait of Elias Hasket Derby, 1800-1825 Peabody Essex Museum James Frothingham (1786-1864) Salem in History, 2006 Eldredge Print Portrait of Elias Hasket Derby, C Portrait of Elias Hasket Derby, 1800-1825 Peabody Essex Museum James Frothingham (1786-1864) Salem in History, 2006 Eldredge Print Portrait of Elias Hasket Derby, c. 1800-1925 James Frothingham (1786-1864) Boston Oil on canvas Gift of the Derby Family M353 H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T This is a posthumous portrait of Elias Hasket Derby (1739-1799), who was born into a family of seamen and merchants in Salem, MA. By making shrewd and bold business decisions during the years of the American Revolution (1776-1784) and the early Federal period, Derby became America’s first millionaire. At the out- break of the Revolution, Derby owned a fleet of seven vessels, but four were quickly captured by the British. A staunch patriot, Derby gave money and supplies to the Continental army and converted his remaining three ships to privateers. This status allowed ship owners to arm vessels and to attack ships from a country desig- nated as the enemy. In return, privateer owners received a share of the cargo taken, and the government claimed the rest. As the owner of privateers, Derby increased his fleet to 85 vessels that captured 144 enemy ships. Following the war, American merchants were eager to enter into the lucrative China trade, which the British denied its American colonies. Derby was at the forefront of this economic opportunity; he sent the first New England ship, the Grand Turk, to China. Though he never went to sea, Elias Hasket Derby amassed one of the largest maritime fortunes in America. A R T H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T Bostonian James Frothingham began his artistic career as a portraitist in the Boston and Salem region, and was influenced heavily by painter and mentor Gilbert Stuart, who possessed a swift, freely brushed style of portrai- ture. Here, Frothingham depicts Elias Hasket Derby as successful at home as well as at sea. References to his maritime ties are represented by the maps on the desk and by the seascape through the adjacent window. This portrait is painted in the tradition of the time, with somber colors, a formal, stiff pose and, and abstract drapes positioned behind the subject. Derby is shown as a master of his environment, a fitting commemoration for an important and influential man. SAMPLE GUIDING QUESTIONS • What objects do you see in this painting? If these objects all belong to Derby, what might they suggest about him? What might his profession be? • How important was this profession during the years following the Revolutionary War? Why? • When was this portrait painted? At what point in his life do we see Derby? Does he appear to be young, middle-aged, or old? • Why do people want to have portraits? Why do you think Derby’s portrait was painted? • What does this portrait tell us about the importance of China Trade entrepreneurs to the people in the early Federal period? SUGGESTED LEARNING ACTIVITIES • Ask students to make a chart of objects in this painting, and in the second column, brainstorm how the objects relate to the main in the painting. • Compare this portrait with that of William Pepperell. How does each artist suggest that the subject is a successful man in the 18th century? How are the men depicted as successful in different ways? • Compare this portrait with that of a successful entrepreneur today. What does each suggest about the subject and society’s values? • Ask students to work in pairs and create portraits of each other. Include “props” or images, objects, etc. that help to tell viewers something about the subject. 2003 Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks: 3.5, 5.32, USI.1, USI. 5 Peabody Essex Museum Salem in History 2006.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Salem Maritime National Historic Site
    SALEM MARITIME NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE . MASSACHUSETTS ble for Salem to provide more men and ships channels of trade to Africa, Australia, and The same year the Grand Tur\ was dis­ by Hawthorne as a customs officer have been for privateering than any other port in the South America were explored. After the dis­ patched to the Cape of Good Hope and upon preserved. In the southeast room of the Cus­ United Colonies. From the beginning of covery of gold in California, Salem shipown­ her return, in 1785, was started on a voyage tom House are exhibits and panels which 1776 to the end of 1782, Salem averaged 50 ers were among the first to reap profits from that took her through the Indies and across illustrate and interpret for you the fascinating vessels continually at sea preying on enemy the trade around Cape Horn to San Francisco. the China Sea to Canton. These were but the history of Salem's oceangoing commerce. shipping and engaging enemy ships. However, the great increase in the size of first of a succession of voyages made into dis­ At the end of the war, the energy that had vessels which came with the decade of the tant seas before 1800. After this period of The Derby House been shown in privateering found an outlet in clipper ship, 1850-60, brought Salem's mari­ glory there followed a century of neglect, until THE Derby House, now the oldest brick a worldwide search for new markets. Pio­ time cycle abruptly to a close. Her land­ the sea walls of Derby Wharf were recon­ dwelling in Salem, was erected in 1761-62, neering voyages were made by Salem ship­ locked harbor was too shallow to accommo­ structed by the National Park Service in 1938.
    [Show full text]
  • Salem Maritime National Historic Site Massachusetts
    Salem Maritime National Historic Site Salem Maritime Massachusetts National Park Service Official Map and Guide - Large Print U.S. Department of the Interior 8 2 9 6 4 5 7 Orientation Center 3 Hatch’s Wharf Derby Wharf About Your Visit Salem Maritime National Historic Site is on Derby 1 Street, Salem, Massachusetts, 20 miles northeast of Boston. Groups may receive special service if advance arrangements are made at the site. For Your Safety Central Wharf Every effort has been made to provide for your safety, but you should be alert around the water- Touring the Site front and on the wharves. Watch your children. The wharves at Salem Maritime National For More Information Historic Site stretch out into the salt waters of Salem Salem Maritime National Historic Site Harbor, testifying to the city’s former dependence on the 174 Derby Street sea. The once-busy wharves and the buildings facing the harbor Salem, MA 01970 are remnants of the shipping industry that prospered in www.nps.gov/sama Massachusetts Bay’s oldest seaport well into the last century. The old waterfront area was designated a National Historic Site in 1938 because of the importance of commercial shipping to the early U.S. economy, the signifi- cance of the port of Salem (once the Nation’s sixth largest city), and the quality of the surviving seaport features. 1 Derby Wharf (1762), Hatch’s Wharf (1819), and Central Wharf (1791) are typical of the many wharves that once lined Salem Harbor. They were covered with dozens of warehouses—14 on Derby Wharf alone.
    [Show full text]
  • Emp, An& Juapoleon
    gmertca, , ?|emp, an& JUapoleon American Trade with Russia and the Baltic, 1783-1812 BY ALFRED W. CROSBY, JR. Ohio Sttite University Press $6.50 America, IXuaata, S>emp, anb Napoleon American Trade with Russia and the Baltic, 1783-1812 BY ALFRED W. CROSBY, JR. On the twelfth of June, 1783, a ship of 500 tons sailed into the Russian harbor of Riga and dropped anchor. As the tide pivoted her around her mooring, the Russians on the waterfront could see clearly the banner that she flew — a strange device of white stars on a blue ground and horizontal red and white stripes. Russo-American trade had irrevocably begun. Merchants — Muscovite and Yankee — had met and politely sounded the depths of each other's purses. And they had agreed to do business. In the years that followed, until 1812, the young American nation became economically tied to Russia to a degree that has not, perhaps, been realized to date. The United States desperately needed Russian hemp and linen; the American sailor of the early nineteenth century — who was possibly the most important individual in the American economy — thought twice before he took any craft not equipped with Russian rigging, cables, and sails beyond the harbor mouth. To an appreciable extent, the Amer­ ican economy survived and prospered because it had access to the unending labor and rough skill of the Russian peasant. The United States found, when it emerged as a free (Continued on back flap) America, Hossia, fiemp, and Bapolcon American Trade with Russia and the Baltic, 1783-1812 America, llussia, iicmp, and Bapolton American Trade with Russia and the Baltic, 1783-1811 BY ALFRED W.
    [Show full text]
  • Salem Maritime Activity After 1800
    Contents Page Establishment and Location 3 Historical Background: Early Maritime Significance of Salem . . 3 The Derbys And Their Maritime Pursuits: Founding the Derby Fortune 4 The Derbys during the Revolutionary War. 5 Privateers and Letters-of-Marque 5 The Grand Turk and The Astrea 6 Search for New Trade Routes and Markets. 7 The East India and China Trade . 7 Salem Ships During the Napoleonic Wars. . 11 Salem Maritime Activity After 1800 . . 14 The Salem Custom House and Nathaniel Hawthorne 14 How to Reach The Site 15 Service to the Public 15 Richard Derby, 1712-83. Reproduced from a portrait by Henry Sargent. Courtesy of the Essex Institute THE COVER The Grand Turk, a ship of 300 tons, was a Revolu- tionary privateer and the first American merchant- The National Park System, of which Salem man to reach the Cape of Good Hope. It was Maritime National Historic Site is a unit, is built for Elias Hasket Derby during the winter of 1780-81, and was one of the most famous vessels dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, ever to sail from Salem. This photographic illus- and historic heritage of the United States for tration is a reproduction of a painting made by a the benefit and enjoyment of its people. Chinese artist at Canton in 1786 on a punchbowl presented to the captain of the ship on his departure for Salem. The original punchbowl is in the Peabody Museum of Salem. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE jj Salem Maritime National Historic Site Establishment and Location From the start, the English colonists of Salem turned to the sea for a livelihood.
    [Show full text]
  • Free Trade & Family Values: Kinship Networks and the Culture of Early
    Free Trade & Family Values: Kinship Networks and the Culture of Early American Capitalism Rachel Tamar Van Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2011 © 2011 Rachel Tamar Van All Rights Reserved. ABSTRACT Free Trade & Family Values: Kinship Networks and the Culture of Early American Capitalism Rachel Tamar Van This study examines the international flow of ideas and goods in eighteenth and nineteenth century New England port towns through the experience of a Boston-based commercial network. It traces the evolution of the commercial network established by the intertwined Perkins, Forbes, and Sturgis families of Boston from its foundations in the Atlantic fur trade in the 1740s to the crises of succession in the early 1840s. The allied Perkins firms and families established one of the most successful American trading networks of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and as such it provides fertile ground for investigating mercantile strategies in early America. An analysis of the Perkins family’s commercial network yields three core insights. First, the Perkinses illuminate the ways in which American mercantile strategies shaped global capitalism. The strategies and practices of American merchants and mariners contributed to a growing international critique of mercantilist principles and chartered trading monopolies. While the Perkinses did not consider themselves “free traders,” British observers did. Their penchant for smuggling and seeking out niches of trade created by competing mercantilist trading companies meant that to critics of British mercantilist policies, American merchants had an unfair advantage that only the liberalization of trade policy could rectify.
    [Show full text]
  • Nathaniel B, Actuarial 2017
    Nathaniel Bowditch: A Great Early U.S. Mathematician and Navigator, Who Earned his Living Through Insurance M. A. (Ken) Clements and Nerida Ellerton Illinois State University Presented at Illinois State University Actuarial Research Event May 5, 2017 We start with a quiz: What were the most Populated U.S. “cities,” in 1700, 1790, and 1800? [Source: Internet (for 1700) and U.S. Census, for 1790, 1800] 1700 Boston, 6 700; New York, 4 900; Philadelphia, 4 400. 1790 1800 Philadelphia 49 000 Philadelphia 62 000 New York 33 000 New York 60 000 Boston 18 000 Baltimore 26 000 Charleston 16 000 Boston 25 000 Baltimore 14 000 Charleston 19 000 Salem, MA 8 000 Salem, MA 9 500 In 1800, Salem had the highest mean per-capita income of any urban center in the United States. Elias Derby, of Salem, was, reputedly, the nation’s richest person (Peabody Essex Museum, undated). He is said to have been North America’s first millionaire. Salem had become famous for something more than its notorious witch trial. It was well known for its lucrative shipping links to India, and its contributions to the spice trade. Elias Hasket Derby (1739-1799) Elias Hasket Derby, at one time (from a painting by James reputedly North America’s richest Frothingham (1786-1864) person, established a school of navigation in Salem for young seamen He hired competent teachers, and many young men availed themselves of this opportunity. [Phillips, J. D. (1947). Salem and the Indies: The story of the great commercial era of the city. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Derby Wharf, Salem, 1915 Peabody Essex Museum Philip Little (1857-1942) Salem in History, 2006 a Relic of History, Old Derby Wharf, Salem, C
    A Relic of History, Old Derby Wharf, Salem, 1915 Peabody Essex Museum Philip Little (1857-1942) Salem in History, 2006 A Relic of History, Old Derby Wharf, Salem, c. 1915 Philip Little (1857-1942) Salem, MA Oil on canvas Gift of Philip Little 107515 H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T “Throughout its history Salem has proven to be a city of industrious people. In response to global and local conditions, Salemites have transformed their economy in order to survive and prosper.... During and after the American Revolution... Salem engaged its ships and wealth in the China trade.” This short period of time marked the most prosperous of Salem’s rich history. Merchants like Elias Hasket Derby (1739-1799) took tremendous risk to send ships to foreign ports, and they were rewarded with tremendous wealth. “Reeling from Jefferson’s embargo, the War of 1812 and a consolidation in the ports of the United States in the 1820s, the port of Salem lost significance and revenue and was forced to reinvent itself once again.”1 This time, Salem turned to industry. Ships that once brought forth fine goods and spices from around the world now carried coal and raw materials that were loaded onto train boxcars and shipped to factories. The once-golden name of Derby and his wharf were covered in soot and by 1915; only magnificent Federal Period mansions, street names, and relics served as reminders of Salem’s short, but illustrious “Great Age of Sail.” A R T H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T Much of Little’s work was inspired by the land, sea, and history of Salem and New England.
    [Show full text]
  • Report on the Elias Hasket Derby House
    Prepared by Marjorie Brake Ross, M.A., Architectural Historian Instructor and Consultant in the Decorative Arts PREAMBLE Historic preservation is essential to the appreciation of our heritage. An accurate presentation, as a background for understanding the way of life of the period, is essential to visual education. To offer a true picture it is necessary to be knowledgeable on the subject and to faithfully recreate what the documents state. The history that is in houses arouses interest in our* past. The research is time consuming and a labor of love. Those without exper- xenee in the field know little of the difficulties encountered. It is « not enough to read vast amounts of ma.ter.ial. It is also necessary to know the subject in order to avoid misinterpretation of what is read. To throw light on the lives of our early settlers one must be careful to present a complete picture and to be historically correct. In view of these facts it is shocking to find the Elias Basket Derby Bouse in such a deplorable state of inaccuracy. The lack of documentation is appalling. A complete picture of the Colonial way of life in Salem is not available to us at this time, but a careful study of the records brings to light much about the old brick mansion on the waterfront and the way t in 'which it was lived in during the last years of the third quarter of 2 2. Although the documents on the pre-China Trade era are sometimes frustatingly meager and incomplete, there is enough material available to make possible an accurate restoration of this, oldest brick dwelling house remaining in Salem.
    [Show full text]
  • James Bowdoin: Patriot and Man of the Enlightenment
    N COLLEGE M 1 ne Bowdoin College Library [Digitized by tlie Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/jamesbowdoinpatrOObowd 52. James BowdoinU^ Version B, ca. i 791, by Christian GuUager Frontisfiece JAMES BOWDOIN Patriot and Man of the Enlightenment By Professor Gordon E. Kershaw EDITED BY MARTHA DEAN CATALOGUE By R. Peter Mooz EDITED BY LYNN C. YANOK An exhibition held at the BOWDOIN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART Brunswick, Maine May 28 through September 12, 1976 © Copyright 1976 by The President and Trustees of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine Front cover illustration: Number 16, James Bozvdoin II, by Robert Feke, 1748, Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Back cover illustrations: Number 48, Silhouette of James Bowdoin II, by an Unknown Artist, courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society; Number 47, signature of James Bowdoin II, from Autografh Letter, Boston, 1788, per- mission of Dr. and Mrs. R. Peter Mooz. This exhibition and catalogue were organized with the aid of grants from the Maine State American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and The First National Bank of Boston. Tyfesetting by The AntJioensen Press, Portland, Maine Printed by Salina Press, Inc., East Syracuse, Nezv York Contents List of Illustrations iv Foreword and Acknowledgments, r. peter mooz vii Chronology xi JAMES BOWDOIN: Patriot and Man of The Enlightenment, gordon e. kershaw i Notes 90 Catalogue, r. peter mooz 97 Bibliography 108 Plates III List of Illustrations Except as noted, the illustrations appear following the text and are numbered in the order as shown in the exhibition. o. 1. Sames Bozvdoi/i /, ca. 1725, by an Unknown Artist 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Elias Hasket Derby” Has Been in Fact a Name Almost As Popular As Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh
    KING DERBY The genealogical record is exceedingly complicated and confusing, as “Elias Hasket Derby” has been in fact a name almost as popular as gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 1707 Elias Hasket Derby was born to Richard Derby and Martha Hasket. HDT WHAT? INDEX KING DERBY ELIAS HASKET DERBY 1712 Abraham Redwood, the father, arrived on the North American continent. We don’t know whether he initially settled his family in Newport, in Salem, or somewhere between these two towns. However, we know that Friend Abraham Redwood, the son, would grow up in Newport on Rhode Island’s Aquidneck Island. As a young man may well have gotten his education in Philadelphia. Following the death of his father and his older siblings, he would come into immense wealth as the owner of the sugar plantation “Cassada Garden” in Antigua and its large population of slaves. Richard Derby was born in Salem. 1739 August 16, Thursday (Old Style): Elias Hasket Derby was born to Richard Derby (1712-1783) and Mary Hodges in Salem. 1752 The Elias Hasket Derby who had been born in 1707 died. 1761 By this point John Jack, the former slave of Benjamin Barron in Concord, having purchased his freedom out of his deceased master’s estate, had also purchased out of this estate “four acres of plow land in the great or common field so-called.” Adjacent to this he also purchased two acres of another party, and eventually he 1 would possess a total of 8 /2 acres. His home was near Merriam’s Corner on a path close to the ridge.
    [Show full text]
  • Patriotism, Profit, and the Derby Privateers
    Clancy 1 Archived thesis/research paper/faculty publication from the University of North Carolina at Asheville’s NC DOCKS Institutional Repository: http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/unca/ University of North Carolina at Asheville Patriotism, Profit, and the Derby Privateers: Patriotic Capitalism in the American Revolution A Senior Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the History Department In Candidacy for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in History By Alan O. Clancy Clancy 2 Abstract In the Revolutionary War, the Americans had no means to combat the naval supremacy of the British Royal Navy. With limited funds at their disposal, the Continental Congress authorized private merchant vessels to act as privateers in the hopes of interrupting British trade. One such merchant was Elias Hasket Derby, who operated a modest merchant house in Salem, Massachusetts. Throughout the course of the war, Derby made a fortune by participating in Patriotic Capitalism, which brought a surge of capital and material goods into the fledgling nation, a practice that was of benefit both to Derby and to society as a whole. This paper will demonstrate Derby’s Patriotic Capitalism through a case study of the careers of two of his vessels, the Oliver Cromwell and the Grand Turk. Clancy 3 “As the whole Continent is so firmly united, why might not a number of vessels of war be fitted out, & judiciously stationed, so, as to intercept & prevent any supplies going to our enemies; and consequently, unless they can make an impression inland they must leave the country or starve.”1 --Josiah Quincy to John Adams, 1775 With the opening shots of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the thirteen American Colonies declared war on the naval superpower of the era, Great Britain, without a professional navy of their own.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix A: Members of the Wadia Family Mentioned in the Book
    APPENDIX A: MEMBERS OF THE WADIA FamILY MENTIONED IN THE BOOK Generation 1: Lowji Nusserwanji (1702–1774) Generation 2: Maneckji Lowji (1722–1792) Bomanji Lowji (1722–1790) Generation 3: Framji Maneckji (1750–1804) Nusserwanji Maneckji (1754–1814) Jamsetji Bomanji (1754–1821) Pestonji Bomanji (1758–1816) Hormasji Bomanji (1766–1826) Generation 4: Jehangir Nusserwanji (1786–1843) Nowroji Nusserwanji (1789–1828) Nowroji Jamsetji (1774–1860) Bomanji Hormusji (1808–1862) Ardashir Hormusji (1812–1882) © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 287 J. Rose, Between Boston and Bombay, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25205-2 288 APPENDIX A: MEMBERS OF THE WADIA FAMILY MENTIONED IN THE BOOK Generation 5: Maneckji Nowroji (1809–1837) Jehangir Nowroji (1821–1866) Dossabhoy Merwanji (1807–1865) Dhunjibhoy Merwanji (1810–1869) Cursetji Merwanji (1813–1869) Hirjibhoy Merwanji (1817–1883) Ardashir Cursetji (1808–1877) Generation 6: Rustomji Hirjibhoy (1837–1871) APPENDIX B: DESCRIPTION OF DADY NUSSERwaNJI’S DAKHMA BOMBAY COURIER, SATURDAY APRIL 7, 1798 In its present state it offers to view a plain circular wall, about forty feet in diameter; with an opening to the East by a small iron door. Within is a stone platform built with a small declivity from the wall, towards a circular pit in the center about ten feet in diameter. The platform is divided into two concentric ranges, each of which is again divided into about 30 radial compartments adapted to the exposure of as many bodies; the superior row near the wall for adults the lower near the pit for children; from each of these compartments small channels are hewn in the stone to convey the feculances into the cavity below.
    [Show full text]