Nutfield Genealogy: Drowne

Showing posts with label Drowne. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Weathervane Wednesday - Weathervane by Shem Drowne, at the Massachusetts Historical Society

I have seen another Shem Drowne weathervane recently, and just last week the Boston Globe announced a Southeby's auction of a newly discovered sixth weathervane by Drowne! This is fantastic news about the earliest documented weathervane maker in the United States. Shem Drowne (1683 - 1774) is most famous for his grasshopper weathervane above Faneuil Hall in Boston, and very few weathervanes have been documented to be his work. These six weathervanes are among the most prized in the US. To discover a new one is historical!

The sixth Drowne weathervane discovered recently was a copy of the Faneuil Hall grasshopper and originally was installed on Peter Faneuil's house in Boston. Later it was installed on a barn in New Hampshire (location has not been disclosed) for many years, and then owned by a family in New Jersey. Experts have traced the provenance of this weathervane back to Shem Drowne. The story is fascinating and you can read about it HERE at the Boston Globe (subscription might be needed) or HERE in a shorter version at an antiques website. It will be auctioned by Southeby's in New York City on January 23, and is expected to fetch over $300,000!

The archer weathervane photographed here for this blog post resides at the Massachusetts Historical Society. It originally was installed over the Province House in Boston around 1716, and it depicts an indigenous person with a bow and arrow. This symbol was inpired by the Native American figure on the Massachusetts Bay seal (1629). Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote "Legends of Province House" and featured "Drowne's Wooden Image" as a gilded weathervane. Did you read Johnny Tremaine (by Esther Forbes) as a child? The first paragraphs feature this weathervane, too, and mention its glass eye!

Province House was built in 1679 for Peter Sargeant, a Boston merchant. It was later the royal governor's residence (for the following royal governors: Samuel Shute (who signed the Shute petition for Nutfield), William Shirley, Thomas Pownall, Francis Bernard, Thomas Gage, and William Howe). When the new Massachusetts State House was built after the Revolutionary War the Province House was donated to the Massachusetts General Hospital, but destroyed in a fire by 1864. The weathervane and the royal coat of arms survived the fire. You can still see the brick front steps that were part of this house on Province Street in downtown Boston.

A descendant of the founder of the Massachusetts General Hospital donated this weathervane to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1876. In 1991 it was on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts alongside the Faneuil grasshopper weathervane during a restoration of the Old State House. This archer weathervane used to hang in the lobby of the Massachusetts Historical Society, but now it is on the wall in an office, out of public view.

Fortunately, one of my good college friends is a fellow at the Massachusetts Historical Society. With her assistance I was able to visit this weathervane in the private office. It is one of the few weathervanes I have been able to visit up close, instead of using a zoom lens on a camera or binoculars! There are guided art tours of the Massachusetts Historical Society every Saturday at 10am, free to the public, which includes seeing this weathervane. Please contact the MHS for more information about the tour.

Drowne’s other five weather vanes are the famous grasshopper above Faneuil Hall, the weather cock on top of the Congregational Church in Cambridge, a weathercock on display at the Museum of Old Newbury, and the banner shaped weathervane on the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston. I have not seen the Newbury weathervane (yet!). Only three are still installed outdoors, the rest are part of indoor collections.

My genealogical connection to Shem Drowne has inspired me to start blogging about local weathervanes, and weathervanes from all over New England, and sometimes around the world. At this date in 2023 I have written about almost 500 weathervanes, and Vincent has photographed nearly all of them (I try but I'm not as good a photographer). Many people following my blog have wondered why a genealogy blog features weathervanes. Now you know!

The Drowne family lived in Kittery, Maine, where Shem was born in 1683. His father, Leonard Drowne, an immigrant from England, was a shipbuilder. He moved his family from Kittery, Maine to the safety of Boston during the French and Indian War. Leonard is buried at the Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in the North End. It was here, in the North End, that Shem Drowne began his trade as a tinsmith. He was also a deacon at the First Baptist Church, where many of my other ancestors belonged, and can be found in the marriage and church records at this same time period.

Here is a genealogical chart showing my kinship to Shem Drowne, weathervane maker.

Walter Abbott m. Sarah Steward

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I I

Elizabeth Abbott m. Leonard Drown m. Mary Abbott m. William Caverly

I I

Shem Drowne m. Katherine Clarke Elizabeth Caverly m. Thomas Wilkinson

James Wilkinson m. Hannah Mead

William Wilkinson m. Mercy Nason

Aaron Wilkinson m. Mercy F. Wilson

Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Munroe

Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Bill

(my grandparents) Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Roberts

Also, Mary Drowne, a sister of Shem Drowne, born about 1693 and died 24 January 1732, married on 24 April 1712 to James Kettle, my 7th great grand uncle, brother to Jonathan Kettle (1681 - 1764) my 7th great grandfather. That makes Mary Drowne my 7th great aunt by marriage, as well as my first cousin 8 generations removed.

For the truly curious:

Blog posts about Shem Drowne's weathervanes:

1. Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/weathervane-wednesday-genealogical.html

2. First Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/weathervane-wednesday-another-shem.html

3. Old North Church, Boston, Massachusetts https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/weathervane-wednesday-very-historic.html

A weathervane by Thomas Drowne (Shem Drowne's grandson): https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/08/weathervane-wednesday-happy-4th.html

Massachusetts Historical Society https://www.masshist.org/

Museum of Old Newbury https://www.newburyhistory.org/

A great book! Yankee Weathervanes by Myrna Kaye, New York: E.P. Dutton.

A journal article: Baker, Daniel. "The Grasshopper in Boston.", New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 49, no. 1 (January 1895), 24-28.

Two webpages with the news of the newly discovered sixth Shem Drown weathervanes, a copy of the famous Faneuil grasshopper:

Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/11/metro/faneuil-hall-grasshopper-weathervane-had-long-lost-twin-its-going-up-auction/?event=event12

Antiques and Arts Weekly https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/sothebys-to-offer-shem-drowne-grasshopper-weathervane-january-23/

Check out the page with the grasshopper weathervane at Sotheby's website: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/important-americana-2/the-highly-important-faneuil-family-molded-copper

Click here to see nearly 500 weathervane posts! https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday - Weathervane by Shem Drowne, at the Massachusetts Historical Society", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 18, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/01/weathervane-wednesday-weathervane-by.html: accessed [access date]).

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Boston Landmark

I post another in a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday. This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe. Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting. Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too! If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in Boston, Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #356? Scroll down to find the answer.

This weathervane is located on the cupola above the Old State House, 102 feet above the intersection of Washington Street and State Street in Boston, Massachusetts. This old building was built in 1713 by the Province of Massachusetts Bay’s Royal Governor Joseph Dudley. This was a government, and governor appointed by the British crown. That is why you can see the symbols of the monarchy, the lion and the unicorn, at the front of the building. Today, this building houses a museum run by the Bostonian Society, and the basement is the State Street subway stop on the blue and orange lines.

This historic weathervane may have been made by Boston coppersmith Shem Drowne, but it has never been proven to be attributed to him. [To see four other weathervanes made by Shem Drowne, who is my family tree, see these links: Faneuil Hall, Old North Church, the Museum of Fine Art, and the Cambridge First Church]. In 2008 the cupola was restored and the weathervane was re-gilded. When the weathervane was being restored, it was examined by Myrna Kaye, the author of the 1975 book Yankee Weathervanes. Her findings can be read at this webpage: http://oldstatehouseweathervane.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-we-learned.html A slide show, with photos of the re-gilding process on the weathervane, can be seen at this link: http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/Old_State_House_repair?pg=2

This weathervane is the "swallow tail" or “long-john” style of banner (with two long tails) that was popular in the 18^th century. Shem Drowne’s weathervane on top of the Old North Church is also in the “long johns” style. There are several weathervanes in this part of Boston, including ones at Faneuil Hall (a grasshoppen) and Quincy Market (a bull), because the waterfront used to be right in this part of downtown. Weathervanes were useful for shipping, navigation, and weather forecasting.

Click here to see all the Weathervane Wednesday posts!
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Boston Landmark”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 28, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/weathervane-wednesday-boston-landmark.html: accessed [access date]).

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Shem Drowne Weathervane

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly. I started out by publishing only weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding interesting weather vanes from all over New England. Sometimes these weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are very unique. Often, my readers tip me off to some very special and unusual weather vanes.

Today's weather vane is from somewhere in the Boston area.

Do you know the location of weather vane #330? Scroll down to see the answer...

This is the third weathervane I have featured here at "Weathervane Wednesday" by my distant relative Shem Drowne. You can click on the links below to see his other famous weathervanes on top of Faneuil Hall and the Old North Church. This weathervane is above the steeple of the First Church in Cambridge, at 11 Garden Street in Harvard Square. This church is located right on the common and is visible from Massachusetts Avenue.

This gilded weathercock is very typical of other 18th century weathercocks, with the full tail feathers and the glass eye. This weathervane was originally made in 1721 for the New Brick Church on Hanover Street in Boston's North End. It was bought in 1873 for the First Church in Cambridge.

The First Church in Cambridge was established sometime in the mid 1630's. The famous Puritan Rev. Thomas Hooker was the first minister, before he took some of his flock with him to found Hartford, Connecticut. This stone church is the sixth meetinghouse of the congregation, built in 1872.

The photo above was sent to me by reader Betty Fredericks. That's her husband, Robert "Bob" Pacheco, in the photo when he was serving as sexton of the First Church of Cambridge. During his term as sexton the weathercock was removed for restoration and re-gilding. You can see in the photo how big the cock is (almost six feet).

Shem Drowne's grasshopper weathervane over Faneuil Hall: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/weathervane-wednesday-genealogical.html

Shem Drowne's weathervane over the Old North Church, Boston:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/weathervane-wednesday-very-historic.html

The First Church of Cambridge website: http://www.firstchurchcambridge.org/

Click here to see the entire Weathervane Wednesday series of posts!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Shem Drowne Weathervane", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 27, 2017, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/weathervane-wednesday-another-shem.html: accessed [access date]).

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Weathervane Wednesday ~ Happy 4th Anniversary to Weathervane Wednesday AND Another Weathervane by cousin Thomas Drowne

This is the 4th Anniversary of Weathervane Wednesday! I wrote my very first weathervane post on August 24th, 2011, and today I am posting my 222nd weather vane.

This is an on-going series of blog posts on local weathervanes I post every week on Wednesdays. Some of the weather vanes are whimsical, some are historical, but all are interesting. Often my readers tip me off to some very unique and unusual weathervanes from their own areas! If you know an interesting or historical weather vane, please let me know.

Today's weathervane is from Boston, Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weather vane #222? Scroll down to see the answer!

Today's weathervane was photographed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. You can find it at the entrance to the new American wing. It is the third time I've posted a weathervane by my cousins in the Drowne family of Boston and Kittery, Maine. You can see a post about Shem Drowne's (1683 - 1774 ) famous grasshopper weathervane on the top of Faneuil Hall at this link HERE, and a link to his weathervane atop Boston's Old North Church HERE.

Shem Drown was born in Kittery, Maine in 1683. He was the son of Leonard Drown (1646 - 1729). Leonard Drowne married first to Elizabeth Abbott about 1675. So I guess that makes Leonard my 7th great grand uncle by marriage? Shem would be my step cousin?

Thomas Drowne, Leonard's grandson, wrote a slip of paper about his father making the famous Faneuil Hall grasshopper in 1742, and put this paper inside dated 1755. The grasshopper weathervane apparently fell off during a great earthquake and was replaced by Thomas. You can read more about that at the link below.

And so son Thomas Drowne was also a tinsmith and made weathervanes, just like his famous father. This one featured above is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts. Not bad, 'eh?

My blog post about Shem Drowne's Faneuil Hall grasshopper weathervane
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/weathervane-wednesday-genealogical.html

My blog post about Shem Drowne's weathervane atop of Boston's Old North Church
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/weathervane-wednesday-very-historic.html

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
http://www.mfa.org/

UPDATE 3 May 2017 -

The 1805 Newbury First Parish Meeinghouse
photo restored by Wayne Chase

I have received new information about this weather vane from Wayne Chase. This weathervane stood above three different meetinghouse buildings in Newbury, Massachusetts. It was originally on the First Parish Meetinghous built in 1669. It was then installed atop the 1805 meetinghouse. "The weathervane survived a fire that destroyed this building on January 25th in 1868". It was placed on the new church building built in 1867, but in 2008 it was sold "to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for $575,000. A replica is now atop the spire."

This is a growing trend in New England. Parishioners at churches that are historic, yet over 100, sometimes nearly 300 years old, face growing costs for repairing, restoring and renovating old wooden churches, steeples, roofs and additions. Some churches have sold their historic communion silver, stained glass windows, or valuable books to fund these renovations.

Please read this newspaper article from the time of the weathervane sale:

Brian R. Ballou, "For Struggling Newbury Church, weather vane a gift from above", Boston Glove, posted 25 February 2009, accessed May 3, 2017 http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/25/for_struggling_newbury_church_weather_vane_a_gift_from_above/?page=full

It is interesting to note that the sign and the data base at the Museum of Fine Arts does not reflect the fact that this weathervane came from the church in Newbury, Massachusetts. The photo of the 1805 meetinghouse (above) was restored by Wayne Chase, and you can see the rooster weather vane above both steeples in both images (above and below).

from Wayne Chase, unknown origin

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Happy 4th Anniversary to Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 19, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/08/weathervane-wednesday-happy-4th.html: accessed [access date]).

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A very historic weathervane, and a celebration

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Weathervane Wednesday!

I posted my very first weather vane on 24 August 2011. It was the gilded centaur seen at Mack's Apples in Londonderry, New Hampshire. I never thought I'd still be posting weather vane photos two years later, but this is the 110th photo on my blog.

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly, usually of weather vanes in the Nutfield, New Hampshire area, but sometimes they can be from anywhere. Occasionally they are elsewhere in New England, or very historical weather vanes from anywhere else. Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, but all are interesting. Often, my readers tip me off to some very unique and unusual weather vanes, too! Today's weather vane is from Boston, Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weather vane #110? Scroll down to the bottom to see the answer!

Today's weather vane is from the top of the steeple at the Old North Church in Boston. This is the church, and the famous steeple where the signal lights were hung for Paul Revere on the evening of 18 April 1775, when he set out on his famous ride to raise the alarm that "The Redcoats were coming!" This church is very difficult to photograph from the narrow streets. Below you can see church steeple photographed from the 33rd floor of 60 State Street, Boston (the old "Bay Tower Room" restaurant).

This weather vane is a six foot swallow tailed banner, made in 1740 by my relative Shem Drowne. Shem's father, Leonard Drown, married my 7th great grandmother, Mary Abbott, as her third husband. Only four surviving weather vanes can be attributed to tinsmith Shem Drowne. You can read more about Shem Drowne, our genealogy, and his most famous weather vane, the Faneuil Hall grasshopper, at this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/weathervane-wednesday-genealogical.html

The Old North Church website http://oldnorth.com/site/

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

UPDATE: 1:22pm 20 August 2013
An email from reader Bill Olsen of Plymouth, Massachusetts
"August 25, 1954 High winds destroyed the spire of the Old North Church in Boston, which was the location of where the lanterns were hung during Paul Revere's ride. It was a replacement spire, after a hurricane in 1804 destroyed the original."

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Genealogical Connection!

UPDATED August 3, 2018 (see below)

Are you wondering why I started my Weathervane Wednesday series?

What have weather vanes to do with genealogy?

Shem Drowne (1683 – 1774) is my first cousin 8 generations removed. He is most famous as the artisan who made the grasshopper weather vane atop of Boston’s Faneuil Hall. This is a beloved landmark in Boston, and is reproduced on souvenirs, Christmas ornaments, jewelry, postcards and you-name-it. However, he was by trade a tinsmith. He produced ordinary objects out of tin for household use, cups, pails, lanterns. The stuff no one particularly remembers. If it weren't for his giant grasshopper, we wouldn't know much about Shem Drowne the tradesman.

Weather vane #101
The famous grasshopper above Boston's Faneuil Hall

Besides the weather vane at Faneuil Hall, the famous grasshopper, there are other well-known weather vanes around Boston attributed to Shem Drowne. Nathaniel Hawthorne used Shem Drown as the main character in his story “Drowne’s Wooden Image” in his book Mosses from an Old Manse. In this book, Hawthorne styled Drowne as a carver of figureheads and ornamental wooden decorations. However, Shem Drowne never made a wooden pump head, like the image of the mythical Admiral Vernon in the book.

Drowne’s other weather vanes are the Indian Chief now on display at the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the weather cock on top of the Congregational Church in Cambridge. He also made the banner shaped weathervane on the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston.

How do we know that Shem Drowne made the famous grasshopper? In 1852 the weather vane was removed for repair. Inside there was a slip of paper, barely legible, which read:

SHEM DROWNE MADE ITT

May 25, 1742

To my Brethren and Fellow Grasshoppers

Fell in y'e year 1755 Nov 15th day from y'e Market by a great Earthquake ... sing ... sett a ... by my old Master above.

Again Like to have Met with my Utter Ruin by Fire, but hopping Timely from my Publick Situation came of with Broken bones, and much Bruised, Cured and again fixed....

Old Master's Son Thomas Drowne June 28th, 1763. And Although I now promise to Play ... Discharge my Office, yet I shall vary as ye wind.

From the Boston Daily Advertiser, December 2, 1852

The Drowne genealogy:

Generation 1: Leonard Drown, born about 1646 in Penyn, Cornwall, England, died 31 October 1729 in Boston; married first about 1675 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Elizabeth Abbott, daughter of Walter Abbott and Sarah Steward (my 8x great grandparents). She was born about 1652 in Portsmouth, died on 5 May 1704. Leonard and Elizabeth had nine children. ~~He married second to Mary Abbott, sister of Elizabeth, on 4 November 1707 in Boston. Mary was the widow of William Caverly and also the widow of Thomas Guptill.~~ Mary is my 7^th great grandmother, through her daughter Elizabeth Caverly, who is my 6x great grandmother. See the chart below if you are confused!

This makes Leonard Drown both my 7^th great grand uncle by marriage, ~~and also my Step 7^th great grandfather.~~

Generation 2: Shem Drowne, born 4 December 1683 at Sturgeon Creek, Kittery, Maine, died 13 January 1774 in Boston; married on 18 September 1712 in Boston to Katherine Clarke, daughter of Timothy Clark and Sarah Richardson. She was born 6 April 1687 in Boston, died 21 April 1754.

Also in Generation 2: Mary Drowne, sister to Shem, born about 1693, died 24 January 1732; married on 24 April 1712 to James Kettle my 7^th great grand uncle, brother to Jonathan Kettle (1681 – 1764) my 7^th great grandfather. That makes Mary Drowne my 7^th great aunt by marriage, as well as my first cousin 8 generations removed.