{"id":54209,"date":"2019-11-20T11:52:43","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T16:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=54209"},"modified":"2024-04-23T10:46:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T14:46:21","slug":"old-newspapers-tell-story-behind-18th-century-ancestors-hat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/old-newspapers-tell-story-behind-18th-century-ancestors-hat.html","title":{"rendered":"Old Newspapers Tell Story behind 18th Century Ancestor\u2019s Hat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about doing research on the 1683 Jackman-Willett House in Newbury \u2013 and uncovering the background story of an 18th<\/sup> century felt hat. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts (SDFSN) organized a group of local researchers to document the true history of the 1683 Jackman-Willett House (JWH) located on Cottage Road in the Old Town section of Newbury, Massachusetts. The house was originally located next to the First Settlers Cemetery on Route 1A. It was moved in 1982 and became the headquarters for the SDFSN.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: cover of the book \u201cThe 1683 Jackman Willett House.\u201d Credit: The Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The research helped produce a book, The 1683 Jackman Willett House<\/a> by Edward Gerrish Muir and Susan York Gagnon, which was published in May 2019.<\/p>\n

I was part of the team that furnished genealogy and family history about the JWH. I utilized the old newspapers in the Newburyport Archival Center<\/a> and GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A newspaper clip in the Newburyport Herald<\/em> entitled \u201cHistorical Society to Get Ancient Hat\u201d caught my attention.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newburyport Herald (Newburyport, Massachusetts), 14 May 1947<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to this article, William H. Plummer presented a black felt tricorn hat owned by his ancestor Simeon Plummer (1740-1819) to the Historical Society of Old Newbury. Simeon lived in the Jackman-Willett house with his wife Sarah Jewett.<\/p>\n

I contacted Ed Gerrish Muir and he immediately followed up with the historical society (now the Museum of Old Newbury<\/a>). The old relic is still there in safe keeping.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Simeon Plummer\u2019s tricorn hat. Credit: Museum of Old Newbury.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I continued to ferret out more on the old hat and discovered Simeon had a cousin who was a local felt maker and hatter. His name was Seth Storer Plummer (1773-1805) and he lived on Washington Street in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with his wife Eunice.<\/p>\n

In 1799 Seth promoted his hat business in a newspaper ad, announcing that he had taken the shop \u201cformerly occupied by Mr. Moses Chase, in Amesbury, near Powow River Bridge.\u201d At this location \u201che manufactures, and keeps constantly for sale, HATS of all kinds at the lowest prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newburyport Herald (Newburyport, Massachusetts), 11 January 1799, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found that in 1767 Moses Chase was granted a small lot near Theodore Hoyt\u2019s shipyard (Ferry Road) to build his hat shop. Seth may have speculated that he could attract attention by dropping Moses\u2019 name in his 1799 newspaper ad. Moses was known as the \u201chat pioneer,\u201d popular for his \u201cbell-top beavers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that year, Seth placed a second ad announcing a new location \u201cformerly improved by Samuel Blake, in Merimack Street, opposite Hoyt\u2019s wharf,\u201d promising \u201cHats of every description\u201d and \u201cCASH given for FURS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newburyport Herald (Newburyport, Massachusetts), 1 November 1799, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seth named his own son Moses \u2013 but sadly, Moses was institutionalized as a \u201clunatic,\u201d and incarcerated in Ipswich jail. Genealogist Peg Plummer made a good point: the old saying \u201cmad as a hatter\u201d came out of the hat-making industry and mercury poisoning, because hats made of felt were produced with mercury nitrate and the exposure to the vapors caused symptoms of lunacy.<\/p>\n

Genealogy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simeon Plummer<\/strong> (1740-1819), son of Joshua Plummer (1708-1764) and Sarah Plummer (1720-1756). Joshua Plummer and Sarah Plummer were first cousins: Joshua son of Joshua Plummer (1668-1723) and Elizabeth Dole (1679-1738); Sarah daughter of Benjamin Plummer (1699-1743) and Keziah Storer (1697-1743), daughter of Colonel Joseph Storer (1648-1730) of Well, Maine, distinguished for his bravery in the Indian wars, and known for \u201ckeeping keeles and bowles\u201d stocked in his tavern. Apparently, the Indian attacks did not hinder the tipplers.<\/p>\n

Simeon Plummer served under Captain Benjamin Gates\u2019s company in Colonel Rufus Putnam\u2019s 5th Massachusetts regiment. He farmed on the Jackman-Willett property and left his mark on Newbury as the proprietor of \u201cLongfellow corn,\u201d known to be hearty and tasty.<\/p>\n

Simeon\u2019s wife, Sarah Jewett Plummer<\/strong> (1740-1805), daughter of Captain George Jewett (1708-1776) and Hannah Lambert (1706-1799) of Rowley, Massachusetts. According to town records, Captain Jewett was \u201cthe strongest man ever known in Rowley.\u201d He served as Quartermaster of Captain John Pearson\u2019s Troop of Horse and he was one of the nine Jewetts in Rowley who fought in the American Revolution.<\/p>\n

Simeon and Sarah had five children; their daughter Edna (1781-1824) and her husband Samuel Danforth (1781-1824) lived in the Jackman-Willett House and made restorations.<\/p>\n

Seth Storer Plummer<\/strong> (1773-1805), son of shipwright Seth Plummer (1736-1801) and Esther Mitchell (1739-1807), daughter of shipwright Joshua Mitchell (1714-1761) and Esther Swett (1714-1756).<\/p>\n

Seth Plummer<\/strong> (1736-1801), son of Benjamin Plumer (1699-1743) and Keziah Storer (1697-1743). He served under Captain Joseph Ilsley, Captain Stephen Jenkins, Jacob Gerrish\u2019s Regiment, and he was a foreman in the Company of Carpenter Artificers under the command of Captain Jacob Low in 1778-1779.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> The original structure of the Jackman-Willett House was built by James Jackman in 1683. The house and property went to his son, Richard Jackman, who married Elizabeth Plummer. Please visit the Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury Site<\/a> where you will find information about memberships, how to purchase a copy of the book, and the tour schedule for the Jackman-Willett house.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Berry writes about research on the 1683 Jackman-Willett House in Newbury that uncovered the background story of an 18th century felt hat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":54237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12557],"tags":[12,48535,1067,1165,48537],"class_list":["post-54209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-stories","tag-genealogy","tag-jackman-willett-house","tag-massachusetts","tag-newburyport","tag-the-sons-and-daughters-of-the-first-settlers-of-newbury-massachusetts"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/photo-1120-2019-featured-graphic-plummers-hat.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54209"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98737,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54209\/revisions\/98737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}