May Nason

Notes:

Also called Martha Mary Nason.

May married Harry Hartshorne Seabrook on 2 Nov 1881 in Montclair, Essex, New Jersey. Harry (son of Henry Hendrickson Seabrook and Therese Walling) was born on 23 Oct 1859 in Keyport, Monmouth, New Jersey; died on 9 Apr 1930 in New York, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Alice Darracott Seabrook was born on 30 Jul 1890 in White Plains, Westchester, New York; died on 2 Mar 1979 in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 31 Dec 1815, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Notes:

Manufacturer and inventor. Said to have coined the term "radiator," he received a number of U.S. patents for hot water and steam heating.

"NASON.--On Wednesday, 11th inst., at Montclair, N.J., in the 57th year of his age, JOSEPH NASON, of the firm of Joseph Nason & Co., New-York, and formerly of the firm of Walworth, Nason & Co., Boston. The remains will be taken to Boston for interment. Funeral services will be held at his late residence in Montclair, N.J., on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 3 1/2 P.M. Carriages will await the arrival of 2 P.M. train from foot of Barclay st. Return trains at 5 and 5:55 P.M. Boston papers please copy." [New York Times, 13 Dec 1872, p. 5]

"Mr. [James Jones] Walworth was first married in 1837 to Miss Elizabeth C. Nason, daughter of Leavitt Nason, and sister of Joseph Nason, his early partner." [Men of Progress: One Thousand Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, compiled by Richard Herndon, ed. Edwin M. Bacon. Boston: New England Magazine, 1896.]

Joseph married Sarah Clark Darracott on 18 Jun 1844 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of George Darracott and Sarah "Sally" Clark) was born on 13 Nov 1815 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died on 11 May 1892 in New York, New York; was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Leavitt married Nancy Guild on 3 Apr 1808. Nancy (daughter of Jacob Guild and Chloe May) died on 3 Mar 1842; was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Shared with his son-in-law Joseph Nason, U.S. patent 1,261, 26 Jul 1839, for an "Argand Gas-Burner."

The handwritten registry that records his death in Boston on 13 Jul 1865 calls his occupation "gentleman" and names his parents William and Mary.

"George Darracott, one of our Directors, died on the 13th day of July last, in his 81st year. He was born Oct. 6, 1784, and was of Norman-English descent, his ancestors having resided for many generations in Devonshire, England. Commencing business on a moderate scale, he soon developed a taste for mechanical ingenuity and improvements. In 1826, he projected the Marine Railway for the merchant service of Boston, the construction and management of which during a period of nine years were intrusted to his care. He superintended the affairs of the Boston Gas-Light Company for sixteen years. He was a member of the Board of Health at a time when the visitation of the yellow fever at this port caused a serious alarm, and he assisted in adopting the most efficient measures to stay its ravages. He served at another time of excitement, in the introduction of the Voluntary Fire Department, as an assistant engineer. He was a Director of one of the public institutions of the city, a Representative to the General Court, and President of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Of the latter, he was one of its early and prominent members; he was long associated in the management of its affairs, displaying great intelligence and persevering industry. He exhibited the same devotion to the interests of the Bunker-Hill-Monument Association, of which he was Director for thirty-four years, and, in 1840-1843, was a member of the Building Committee; in 1835, with Mr. Thorndike and Mr. Hammond,he made a long and laborious calculation of the cost of the work remaining to be done, on two different plans, by calculating the contents of each stone in every course to be laid, and estimating the cost thereof, for which service the Committee received a special vote of thanks on the part of the Corporation." [Proceedings of the Bunker Hill Monument Association at the Annual Meeting on Monday, June 18, 1866, citation details below.]

George married Sarah "Sally" Clark on 18 Jan 1807. Sarah (daughter of James Clark and Mehitable Lambert) was born on 6 Aug 1787; died on 16 Jun 1859 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 27 Aug 1784, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Notes:

The birthdate of "August 6, 1787" is clearly visible on her gravestone at Mount Auburn.

Nathaniel married Abiah Hartshorn on 26 Apr 1764 in Walpole, Norfolk, Massachusetts. Abiah was born about 1747 in of Walpole, Norfolk, Massachusetts; died on 16 May 1833 in Walpole, Norfolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Possibly a daughter of Joseph Hartshorn and Hannah Foster, although she appears in no records of their children.

Jacob married Chloe May on 1 Jan 1781. Chloe (daughter of Nathaniel May and Sarah Blackman) was born on 6 Sep 1764 in Stoughton, Norfolk, Massachusetts; died on 27 Mar 1848 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts; was buried in Old Parish Cemetery, Norwood, Norfolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 26 Mar 1848

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1753

Notes:

Delmar Lowell's 1899 Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America says of William Darracott, second husband of Mary Lowell, that:

* He and Mary were married 25 Dec 1783.

* He was previously married to Sarah Earle, and after the death of his second wife Mary Lowell, he married again a third time.

* He died 16 Oct 1806.

* He "came to this country about 1742. Before this, he commanded a packet, plying between Hull, England and Boston, Massachusetts. His father was Sir _____ Darracott of Biddeford, Devonshire County, England. The same coat, now used by the family, is carved over the door of the Knight Templars in Malta, which indicated nobility."

A John Darracott was in fact mayor of Bideford, Devon in 1687 -- see Alexander G. Duncan, "Bideford under the Restored Monarchy," Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art 47:306, 1915, page 331. So there may be something to gentry origins for the Darracotts.

Also, for what it's worth, the Bunker Hill Monument Association obituary for George Darracott, son of William Darracott and Mary Lowell, says he was "of Norman-English descent, his ancestors having resided for many generations in Devonshire, England."

But the dates here seem out of kilter.

The Boston record of the Wm Darracott who died 16 Oct 1806 says he was 53 years old, thus born about 1753.

The 1894 Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing Boston Births from A.D. 1700 to A.D. 1800 shows a William Darracott born in Boston 24 Apr 1754, son of William and Sarah Darracott. This seems much more likely to be the William Darracott who died in 1806.

If Mary Lowell had married the first William Darracott, and we're to believe that he came to New England around 1742 after a period of commanding a cross-Atlantic packet, then Mary Lowell would have been marrying a man roughly 30 or more years older than her. Possible, but (to our mind) less likely than marrying a man four years younger than her.

It seems to us far more likely that Mary Lowell's husband was the second William Darracott, and that the first wife named Sarah attributed to him by Delmar Lowell was in fact this William Darracott's mother. Whatever the case, it seems crystal-clear that only the older William Darracott could have been born in Devon, as the birth of the younger one is shown by multiple records to have happened in Boston.

William married Mary Lowell on 25 Dec 1783. Mary (daughter of Michael Lowell and Abigail Coney) was born on 14 Jan 1750 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1756

James married Mehitable Lambert on 21 Dec 1783 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Not the Mehitable Lambert who was a daughter of Thomas Lambert and Anna Lord. That Mehitable married Samuel Lancaster on 24 Aug 1784.