Person Record
Images
Metadata
Name |
Blake, Stephen Palmer |
Other names |
Captain Stephen Blake |
Born |
30 Jul 1822 |
Birthplace |
West Cambridge,Middlesex,Massachusetts,U |
Deceased |
11 Feb 1910 |
Deceased where |
Biscayne, Dade, Florida, USA |
Father |
Blake, Ellis Gray |
Mother |
Wyman, Ann Elizabeth |
Places of residence |
1869 sea captain house Massachusetts Ave. near Pond Lane |
Notes |
Stephen Palmer Blake, first son of Ellis Gray Blake, who was born March 21, 1796, and Ann (Wyman) Blake, who was born November 9, 1804, was born July 30, 1822, at West Cambridge, Massachusetts. His early education was obtained in West Cambridge schools. In 1835 his father moved to Lexington in order to give his children the benefit of study at the Lexington Academy where Stephen attended with his older half-brother, Oliver, and the three next youngest children. This academy closed in the fall of 1837 and they attended the North District school that winter. In the spring of 1838 the family returned to West Cambridge. Through acquaintance with Captain John F. Bowers, who attended the Baptist church in Lexington with the Blake family, Stephen was allowed in 1838 to sail with him as cabin boy, and a seafaring life began which continued till June, 1871. The first voyage in the brig Mars, from Boston, July 18, 1838, via Richmond, Virginia, to Antwerp, Liverpool, thence to Mobile and to New York, occupied eleven months. The second mate on this voyage, Samuel Sparks, is mentioned in Richard H. Dana's widely-read book Two Years Before the Mast. Stephen's ardor for the sea was not dampened by the experiences of this first long voyage, for it was followed by three more with Captain Bowers, who died at sea on the fourth of these voyages. Faithful and prompt attention to duty as it presented itself from day to day, and a close observance of the excellent principles taught by his family and by Captain Bowers, who was a God-fearing man and one who never failed to observe Sunday worship on board ship, caused Stephen to rapidly advance in his career. A letter which his father wrote late in the night before the day he sailed on his first voyage has been carried by him from that day to this. From ordinary seaman to second mate and first mate, progress was rapid, for he had no inclination to be content with the average sailor's life. Navigation was carefully studied under the guidance of friendly officers. It was with the instruments of Captain Reuben Hopkins, of West Cambridge, that he learned to take observations of the sun. Captain Gorham P. Low of Gloucester, Massachusetts, of the Moscow, on a voyage to Sumatra instructed him how to "work out time" at sea. In January, 1849, as mate of the brig Pauline, a small vessel of 149 tons, Captain Leonard French, master, a perilous and long voyage was taken via Cape Horn to San Francisco. The vessel was much too deeply loaded, in the desire of the owners to get profitable returns from a good-sized cargo on arrival at the land of gold, and it was almost miraculous that the voyage was made in safety, so many narrow escapes from foundering were experienced. The voyage was 204 days in length, to San Diego, California, and the boisterous weather drove the small craft many hundreds of miles out of her course. Upon his arrival at San Francisco in the summer of 1849, the gold fever and the love of adventure caused him to take a vacation from sea life, and he spent the next six years in California, largely in Sutter County, taking a voyage, however, to the Sandwich Islands, December, 1852, in the brig Zoe, returning in March, 1853. He was visited in California, among others, by his brother Nelson, by Cyrus Wood, who afterward married his sister Harriet, and by Frank Seth Frost of West Cambridge. He became well acquainted with General John Bidwell of Chico, and named his second son after him. Among other exciting occupations, that of capturing live grizzly bears for menagerie purposes was one of the most interesting, and he secured some uncommonly fine specimens which were sold at good figures. The sea was his chosen life, however, and he returned to New York in 1855 in the clipper ship Witchcraft, Captain Freeman. He soon advanced to be master of vessels, making his first voyage as captain in the bark Vernon from Boston to Trieste, thirty-two days, which was owned by Horatio Harris & Co., of Boston. Among other shipowners for whom he sailed were Thomas Curtis, Isaiah Goddard, Daniel Draper, and Alpheus Hardy. The latter controlled the bark Volunteer by charter, and Captain Blake made eighteen trips across the Atlantic in her, in the fruit traffic, and one voyage to New Orleans. His wife with his sons Ellis and Bidwell accompanied him on four of these Mediterranean voyages, and the New Orleans one. Captain Blake was a stern disciplinarian at sea, and required the same prompt obedience from his men that he had practiced himself. His voyages caused him to double Cape Horn twice, Cape Good Hope twice, and to sail hundreds of thousands of miles in vessels of all sizes up to a steamer of 3,000 tons. He was master of one steamer, Andalusia, owned by Leary Brothers, New York, of 2,200 tons. His narrowest escape from being wrecked was when coming into Boston Harbor in the brig Montezuma, Captain Ben True, of Newburyport, from Matanzas, Cuba, February 5, 1843; "Northeast snow storm. We passed inside of the rock (Egg Rock) on which Minot's light house now stands. Cohasset light was in sight, and depth seventeen fathoms, perhaps one and one-half miles off shore, when the vessel passed inside of Minot's Ledge, between the large rock on which the lighthouse now stands, and the line of rocks off the Cohasset shore." A full account of all his sea experiences would make an interesting book. During the Civil War he was in the government transport service for nearly the full period of the great struggle. After the Chicago fire of 1871 he permanently gave up the sea, and for seventeen years was occupied in the business of the Dake Bakery, of which his brother Nelson was one of the owners. During this period his home was in Lombard, Illinois, where he was prominent in the management of the affairs of the town, being for some years one of the town council. In 1888 he removed to Lake Helen, Florida, with his wife, his son Ellis, wife and child, and his daughter Elizabeth, leaving his son Bidwell in Chicago, who was employed in electrical work. There he engaged with his son in orange-growing, in which his brother Nelson, then of Chicago, and later of Arlington, was also interested for a number of years. Since the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth to Mr. Albert B. Hurst, he has made his home with them, and at the present time (1908) is living at Biscayne, Florida, where Mr. Hurst has recently gone into business. Captain Blake joined the Baptist Church in 1859. He was baptized by Rev. Samuel B. Swain, D.D., in Spy Pond at the foot of what is now Linwood Street. He has been deacon in the Baptist church at Lake Helen, Florida, for many years. Captain Blake has always been a great reader of good books, is an excellent Bible student, and is a man of positive convictions. In personal appearance he is of medium stature, sinewy in build, long of stride, and his features, like those of his sister Sophia (Blake) Wood, who died February 1, 1905, resembled those of his father, while the other members of the family partook more of the Wyman features of their mother. He married, October 29, 1856, Abby Thorning Wood, at West Cambridge, Rev. Dr. Swain officiating. She was born at Lexington, December 22, 1834, and died at Lake Helen September 6, 1896. Children: 1. Ellis Gray Blake, born at West Cambridge, August 16, 1857, married, September 25, 1883, Mary Ann Pierce, born at Truxton, New York, October 21, 1857, of Harvard, Illinois, daughter of Alpha Stone Pierce, who was born in Truxton, New York, June 4, 1818, and who died in Harvard, Illinois, December 23, 1882, and Diantha Elizabeth (Bliss) Pierce, born at Truxton, New York, June 27, 1822, and died at Harvard, Illinois, October 9, 1899, and who were married at Truxton, New York, January 6, 1846. Child: i. Stephen Pierce Blake, born at Lombard, Illinois, June 14, 1885. Ellis G. Blake is now growing oranges, grapefruit and peaches at Lake Helen, Florida, having seventy-five acres under cultivation. His son Stephen is a student in Stetson University at DeLand, Florida, and is also a teacher at this time (1908) in the junior department. 2. Stephen P. Blake, Jr., born at West Cambridge, January 15, 1862; died December 10, 1862. 3. John Bidwell Blake, born May 7, 1864; married, May 28, 1891, Martha Wadsworth Claflin of Lombard, Illinois. No children. John Bidwell Blake is now in the employ of Holabird & Roche, architects, Chicago, as electrical engineer. 4. Helen Blake, born at West Cambridge, August 7, 1866, died January 16, 1868. 5. H. Sophia Blake, born at West Cambridge, August 18, 1869; died October 25, 1869. 6. Elizabeth Adams Blake, born November 12, 1871; married July 11, 1896, at Lake Helen, Florida, Albert Baxter Hurst, who was born at Brownhelm, Ohio, March 4, 1871. Children, all born at Lake Helen, Florida: i. Helen Hurst, born January 13, 1897; ii. John Blake Hurst, born July 6, 1899; iii. May Elizabeth Hurst, born July 11, 1903. William Richard Cutter, ed., Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs ... of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume 4, 1908, pages 1984-1985 |
Spouse |
Abbey Thorning Wood, m. 29 OCT 1856 |
Children |
Ellis Gray Blake 1857 – 1930 Stephen Pierce Blake 1862 – 1862 John Bidwell Blake 1864 – 1923 Helen Blake 1866 – 1868 Helen Sophia Blake 1869 – 1869 Elizabeth Adams Blake 1872 – 1950 |
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2023.5.21 - Tray
Carved wood tray. Recessed center carved with sylized leaf motifs; surrounded on two ends by carvings of oak leaves and acorns. Written on wood on bottom: Lizzie A. Blake, Dept. 25-83. Made by Elizabeth Adams Blake Hurst (b. 12 Nov 1871 - Arlington, MA, d. 22 May 1950 - Miami FL), daughter of Capt. Stephen Palmer Blake, in 1883 at age12. Dimensions: length:10 1/8", width: 7 1/8"; height: 1".
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