Family
The early merchant barons of Salem intermarried endlessly. George Crowninshield married Mary Derby, sister of Elias Hasket Derby, who married in 1761 Elizabeth Crowninshield, George Crownshield's sister. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married (eloped with) Captain Nathaniel West of Salem; their marriage ended in an ugly, very public divorce in 1806 (West v. West). Elizabeth was awarded a great sum of alimony, and moved to Danvers, where she inherited a country seat from her father, Elias. Her sister, Anstiss Derby married merchant Benjamin Pickman. The son of Benjamin Pickman and Anstiss Derby was Hasket Derby Pickman, Harvard Class of 1815, who died the same year he graduated from college.
Elias Hasket Derby's father was merchant Richard Derby (1712–1783). Richard's second wife was Sarah Langley Hersey (1714–1790). She was the widow of Dr. Ezekiel Hersey of Hingham, and Derby was her second husband. On his death, she used the large fortune Derby left her to endow Derby Academy in Hingham.
Read more about this topic: Elias Hasket Derby
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken. Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is turning three hundred years
On our cisatlantic shore
For family after family name.
We’ll make it three hundred more”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“If a family lives in harmony, all its affairs will prosper.”
—Chinese proverb.