History of Nantucket, (Nantucket County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

George Whiting Flagg, painter, was born in New Haven, Conn., June 26, 1816; son of Henry Collins and Martha (Whiting) Flagg. He was a brother of the painter, Jared Bradley Flagg, and of the Rev. Edward Octavus Flagg. In 1824 he removed with his family to Charlesten, S.C., and studied art in that city, and in Boston, Mass., with his uncle Washington Allston. In 1832 he had painted several pictures that attracted the attention of critics, and aided by Luman Read of New York city he studied in Europe, 1835-38. He lived in London, 1838-44 and in the latter year opened a studio at New Haven, Conn, afterward removing to New York city. He was elected an honorary member of the National academy of design in 1842 and an academician in 1851. His principal paintings before his European study were: A Boy Listening to a Ghost Story; A Young Greek; Jacob and Rachel at the Well; Murder of the Princes; and a portrait of bishop England; those during his London sojourn: The Match Girl; Haidee; and The Scarlet Letter; and those of his later life: Laying of the Atlantic Cable; Landing of the Pilgrims; Washington Receiving His Mother's Blessing; The Good Samaritan; Columbus and the Egg and portrait of Washington Allston. He died at Nantucket, Mass., Jan. 5, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Ferdinand Cartwrtght Ewer, clergyman, was born in Nantucket, Mass., May 22, 1826. He was graduated at Harvard in 1848 and the next year went to California, where he engaged in journalism. In 1852 he determined to take orders in the Protestant Episcopal church, in which he had been baptized while a boy in Nantucket, although his parents were Unitarians, and he was ordained a deacon in 1857 and a priest in 1858. He was rector of Grace church, San Francisco, 1858-60, when failing health induced him to return to the east, and he was assistant minister at St. Ann's, New York city, 1860-62, and rector of Christ church, 1862-71. His introduction of ritualistic forms in the church services disturbed the conservative members of his congregation, and his followers organized St. Ignatius church. Here he had full liberty and his church became the exponent of high-church methods in religious worship and ritual. He received the degree of A.M. from Harvard in 1868, and that of S.T.D. from Columbia in 1876. He published Two Eventful Nights, or the Fallibility of Spiritualism Exposed (1856); Sermons on the Failures of Protestantism (1869); Catholicity in its Relation to Protestantism and Romanism (1878); The Operation of the Holy Spirit (1880); Grammar of Theology (1880). He died in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 10, 1883.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John B. Macy, representative, was born in Nantucket, Mass., March 26, 1799; son of Francis and Elizabeth (Brown) Macy; grandson of Francis and Judith (Coffin) Macy, and a descendant of Thomas Macy, the emigrant. He was married to Mary, daughter of Sylvanus and Susan (Rand) Russell of Nantucket. He removed to New York city in 1826, and thence, in the same year, to Buffalo, N.Y., where he had large land interests. He resided in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1842-45; was one of the founders of Toledo and other cities in Ohio, and in 1845, having purchased land in Wisconsin, he removed to Fond du Lac in that state, and was instrumental in founding several towns in Wisconsin. He was a representative from Fond du Lac in the 32d and 33d congresses, 1851-55. He was lost by the burning of the Niagara on Lake Michigan, Sept. 24, 1857.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Mitchell, astronomer, was born in Nautucket, Mass., Dec. 20, 1791. He was one of the "birthright" members of the Society of Friends, as were also his ancestors for a century before. He was prepared to enter Harvard college, but the war of 1812 prevented, and he taught school for several years and developed a taste for astronomy in association with Walter Folger . He was for many years cashier of the Pacific bank at Nantucket, where from the cupola of the bank building and from observatories in the yard, he and his daughter Maria made long series of observations in connection with the coast survey studies of the figure of the earth. He furnished time and rated chronometers for the whale ships; he also gave lectures in Boston and other cities as means of support for his large family. The last eight years of his life were spent with his daughter at the observatory of Vassar college. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Brown university in 1848 and by Harvard in 1860. He was an overseer of Harvard, 1857-65, and chairman of the committee of the observatory. He was a member of various scientific societies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He contributed articles on astronomy to the American Journal of Science and other publications. He died in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., April 19, 1868.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor