Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about descendants of the merchants and mariners who prospered in Salem, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Today, I continue my series examining the descendants of prominent maritime figures from Salem, Massachusetts, with a particular focus on the Derby and Crowninshield families and related lineages.

To recap: Part 1 introduced shipping magnate Elias Hasket “King” Derby (1739-1799), who in 1761 married Elizabeth Crowninshield (1736-1799), the sister of another shipping magnate, George Crowninshield – who earlier had married Elias’s sister, Mary Derby. These marriages strengthened the alliance between their families and consolidated their fortunes.

Here is a portrait of Elias.

And here is a portrait of Elizabeth.

Elias and Elizabeth had seven children who all lived to adulthood and left many descendants. Their offspring married into the Coffin, Barton, Pickman, West, Brown, Fitch, and Bomford family lines. For readers tracing these complex family trees and wondering what does once removed mean in genealogy, the Derby and Crowninshield connections offer a perfect example of how intergenerational relationships can branch and overlap through time.

Below is a portrait of one son, Elias Hasket Derby Jr., and his wife Lucy (Brown) Derby, along with four of their children. Elias Jr. followed his father into shipping and trade and left descendants who married into the Catlin, Alden, Strong, Mason, Fuller, and Abbott family lines.

An article published in the Worcester Telegram in 1956 covers Elias Derby’s many successes including his ship the Grand Turk, one of America’s greatest privateers and Elias’s answer to the British warships.

The article notes that the Grand Turk and her 22 guns made prizes of no less than 16 British vessels laden with cargoes.

Derby Brothers’ Contributions to the American Revolutionary War

Along with Elias, the Worcester Telegram article also references his brother, Captain John Derby (1741-1812), who died without issue but nevertheless was an important figure in the Derby dynasty. Like all the Derby men, John played an instrumental role in the American Revolutionary War.

The article reports:

It was a Derby ship, the swift little 62-ton schooner Quero commanded by Capt. John Derby, a younger brother of Elias, which the Provincial Congress dispatched to England with their version of the engagement at Lexington, so that the British people would not get a prejudiced view of the action.

Captain John set sail on April [29], four days after the Royal Express packet Sukey cleared Boston, and 29 days later was in London, [12 days] before the Sukey arrived with General Gage’s dispatches. And to wind up the war in good shape, it was Captain John in the Astrea who brought the first news from Europe to America that a peace treaty had been signed.

Captain John Derby continued to serve his country during the Revolutionary War. He is on record as part-owner of the privateers Rover and Oliver Cromwell, and master of Patty and Astrea.

Derby Home

Elias’s first home in Salem is now part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

Regarding this house, the Worcester Telegram article states:

Still standing in Salem is Derby House, a wedding present in 1762 to Elias from Richard Derby, his crusty, sea dog of a father. It is the oldest brick house in Salem and looks out over Salem Harbor and the now bare expanse of Derby Wharf. Elias lived here with his bride until about 1778, when he sold the house to one of his shipmasters, Capt. Henry Prince.

A Paul Revere Relic Made for Elias and Elizabeth Derby

Below is a pair of silver canns (mugs) made by Paul Revere for Elias and his wife Elizabeth, whose interlaced script monogram, EHED, is engraved on the front of each.

Derby First to Practice Profit Sharing

Here is an interesting piece of intel published in the newspaper.

This article reads:

Elias Derby, of Salem, Mass., was the first millionaire in the United States who practiced profit-sharing with the sailors of his merchant ships.

Captain Richard Cleveland provides testimony of this claim in his A Narrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises, published in1842.

One Last Tidbit

Derby acted as a merchant agent on behalf of Captain Joseph White and the crew of the privateer sloop Revenge, who seized the brigantine Anna Maria – a British vessel transporting assorted goods – as well as the sloop Polly.

Below is the advertisement from the Continental Journal announcing a sale of the vessels’ cargo (and the Anna Maria itself) conducted by Walter Bartlett, auctioneer at Derby Wharf. The cargo items included sugar, cotton, ginger, Barbados rum, and Madeira wine.

Captain Joseph White was murdered in 1803 by a member of the Crowninshield family. For further information, please refer to the links provided below.

The Order of the Star and Sail, a new lineage society, is making waves! The captain of this new organization is Michael R. Denney, the Acting Historian General and Elder General of the Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Create a free account at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.

Note on the header image: scene along the Salem, Massachusetts, waterfront, c. 1770–1780, by Balthasar Friedrich Leizelt. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

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• Scions of Salem Merchants and Mariners (part 1)
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• Salem Uproar over Dilapidated Tombs, Part II
• Salem Uproar over Dilapidated Tombs, Part III
• Salem Uproar over Dilapidated Tombs, Part IV
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• A Spooky Real-Life Murder Mystery for Halloween, Part II
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