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Ebenezer Tarbox aka Ebenezer Thorndike, Inventor of the Lobster Trap, 1808, Part 2

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Yesterday, in part 1, the somewhat complicated ancestry of Ebenezer Tarbox was examined.

The research question is: Why did Ebenezer Tarbox legally change his name to Ebenezer Thorndike?

Let’s begin with Ebenezer’s coming of age when he married Mary (Polly) Richards on 8 November 1804 in Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts.

The immediate question with no answer is why Ebenezer was 25 miles from home in Lynn, Massachusetts and married clear on the south side of Boston.

Later in life, Ebenezer Jr., as he was known for many years, was a wealthy merchant. Why he was in Weymouth is unknown, but later histories say that Ebenezer Thorndike of Swampscott and Charlestown invented the lobster trap in 1808.

From the Southwest Harbor Public Library Digital Archive:

The American lobster trap was invented in 1808 by Ebenezer Thorndike (1782-1877) of Swampscott, Massachusetts, a shoemaker who had a dried fish business and a fish market in Charleston, Massachusetts. The invention of the lobster trap was said to have made him a very rich man.

“The lobster catch along our coast has been large and profitable for many years. The trapping of lobsters was first practiced at Swampscott in 1808 by Ebenezer Thorndike, who had twelve pots.” – “History of Essex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men,” Volume 2, edited by Duane Hamilton Hurd, J.W. Lewis & Company, 1888, p. 1486.

From Golf in Maine on Facebook:

Lobster traps have a rich history in New England. Invented in 1808 by Ebenezer Thorndike, a shoemaker from Swampscott, Massachusetts, these traps transformed lobster fishing from a casual catch into a billion dollar industry.

In Swampscott: Historical Sketches of the Town, by Waldo Thompson describes the method fishermen used to catch lobsters before Ebenezer’s invention:

Previous to the year 1808, men and boys would wade in the water, amongst the rocks, and capture lobsters, which were very plenty in these days. . . . About the year 1808 Ebenezer Thorndike invented and used a lobster pot or trap, the first used in the State, and began catching lobsters for the market.

Here he sowed the seeds of industry, from which he reaped an abundant harvest. He was engaged in shoemaking, fishing and lobstering. . . For several years, commencing in 1817, Captain J. F. Story, W. Phillips and Cyrus Washburn ran a lobster smack to and from Charlestown, for Mr. Thorndike, who had a lobster market there.

For a more detailed description of lobster traps, or lobster pots as they are also known, New England Style has a detailed article.

These anecdotes identify Ebenezer’s early occupations as a shoemaker from Lynn (but don’t identify him as a Tarbox), a fisherman, and then a lobster merchant.

He built his trap in 1808 when he was still clearly and legally a Tarbox and Ebenezer’s and Mary (Richards)’ children had birth names of Tarbox.

However, Mary died about 21/22 January 1822 or 1823 (death records in Lynn, Massachusetts note both years) in Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

It is significant to note that by 19 August 1823, Ebenezer Tarbox Jr. was administrator of the estate of Thomas Brackett, mariner, deceased.

Mary Godshall, born c1795, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts married (1) Thomas Brackett on 24 June 1818, also in Salem. No death record has been found for Thomas Brackett, but he is found in the 1820 census and dead by May 1823.

On 4 May 1823, Ebenezer Tarbox Jr. and Mary (Godshall) Brackett filed marriage intentions with Ebenezer a resident of Charlestown and Mary of Boston.

On 7 February 1824, The Massachusetts Legislature passed an act allowing certain persons legal name changes. Among those people are Ebenezer Tarbox and his children, Nathaniel, Ebenezer and Catherine, residents of Charlestown, all to be legally known as Thorndikes.

On 12 June 1824, Mary G. Tarbox was listed in another act of legal name changes and she was to be known as Mary G. Thorndike, also of Charlestown.

From these dates and the marriage date of Ebenezer and Mary in 1823, it would appear that Ebenezer made one petition sometime in early 1823 and then filed a second petition after he and Mary married in May 1823.

Petitions in this era are supposed to be filed with the legal change papers in the Massachusetts State Archives. A request has been made, as the petition would state the reason for requesting a name change, but does it still exist?

Why did Ebenezer Tarbox Jr. choose this time to legally change his name? Perhaps he grew up knowing that Ebenezer Sr. might not have been his birth father. It seems unusual that only Ebenezer Jr. ventured to a life away from Lynn, although he returned to Swampscott (set off from Lynn in 1852) in later life.

His mother had died several years earlier, but the man who raised him didn’t die until 1827.

Land records prove that Ebenezer maintained ties to Lynn and his siblings. There are a number of deeds tying Ebenezer Thorndike to John Heath, to property owned by Ebenezer Tarbox Sr. and to other Lynn residents.

Census Timeline:

1810 – Possibly Ebenezer Tarbox with a family and male over 45, Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts

1820 – Ebenezer Tarbox, 3rd Parish, Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts

1830 – Ebenezer Thorndike, Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts

1840 – Not found.

1850 Eben Thorndike, Mary, Edward [Eckford], Francis H. and Clara Godshall, Boston, Ward 11, Massachusetts; oil manufacturer, $30,000 in real estate

1855 – Ebenezer Thorndike, Mary and Clementine Godshall, Swampscott, Essex, Massachusetts; no occupation

1860 – Ebenezer Thorndike, Mary and Clementine Godshall, Swampscott, Essex, Massachusetts; oil dealer

1865 – Ebenezer Thorndike, Mary G. and Clementine Godshall; landlord

1870 – The family isn’t found in 1870. However, Ebenezer was clearly alive as his will mentioned his deceased son, Nathaniel, who died in 1876.

Ebenezer Thorndike left a will dated 1876 and a codicil. His estate was valued at about $30,000. His wife, Mary, predeceased him.

He named his heirs as sons Francis H., Eckford A. and deceased son Nathaniel. He left bequests to Francis, Eckford, granddaughter Catherine H. Emery [only child of his son Ebenezer B. Thorndike, who died in 1863.]

Sadly, the wording of Ebenezer Thorndike’s 1876 will gave his whole estate to Baxter Perry, in the trust and confidence that Ebenezer’s directives would be followed.

Twenty year’s later, Eckford A. Thorndike of Buffalo, Erie, New York filed a petition with the Essex County Court:

Note a sentence in the middle of page 1:

3 March 1897: All of the estate except said real estate on Blaney Street was converted or misused by Mr. Perry so that nothing remains but the land in Swampscott.

At that time, the following heirs were still living:

Widow Mary G. Thorndike, deceased
Francis H. Thorndike, son of Boston, Massachusetts
Eckford A. Thorndike, son, of Buffalo, New York
Mary G. Grove, daughter of petitioner Eckford, of Buffalo, New York
Clara W. Grove, daughter of petitioner Eckford, of Buffalo, New York
Sarah E. Thorndike, widow of Nathaniel, of Boston, Massachusetts
Catherine H. Emery, granddaughter, of Boston, Massachusetts

By 1897, the value of Ebenezer Thorndike’s estate was said to be only between $3500-$4000 because that is what the one house was worth.

This was an inauspicious end to the hard work and success that Ebenezer Thorndike enjoyed in life.

Back to the petitions to change the Tarbox family to Thorndikes in 1824 – what did the Massachusetts State Archives find?

After a very quick turn around time to my response, both the law permitting Ebenezer’s name change PLUS his original petition were found.

The last page is his petition, but the reason Ebenezer gave for wanting the name change is general – “respectfully represents hat, having family connexions of the name of Thorndike, he is desirous of changing his name to that of Ebenezer Thorndike. . . .”

It still leaves open the question about Ebenezer’s birth father. Ebenezer Tarbox, married to Mary (Holt) (Larrabee) Tarbox at the time of Ebenezer Jr.’s birth, was legally his father.

However, the circumstances of Mary being 12 years older than her husband and the baby born just two months after their marriage leaves open the possibility that Ebenezer’s birth father might actually be a Thorndike.

Tarbox

12 for ’26: FamilySearch Full-Text Search BSOs – George Rogers Tarbox (1818-1895)

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While researchers are often chided not to follow BSOs (bright shiny objects) down rabbit holes, it is sometimes good to embrace them and go with the flow.

This month’s 12 for ’26 is not a single family, but an opportunity for me to try out FamilySearch’s ever-expanding record collection accessible through full-text seaech.

Today’s BSO is George Rogers Tarbox (1818-1895), one of my 3X great grandparents who was born in New Gloucester, Cumberland, Maine, but who lived in Lowell and Newburyport, Massachusetts, Nashua, New Hampshire and then Robbinston and Calais, Washington, Maine, where he died and is buried.

Through the years, I’ve learned much about George, his life and his family. I also learned that George was the first in his family to become a businessman rather than a farmer. Based on places he lived, he also seemed to prefer city life to the quiet countryside.

I wasn’t sure if I’d learn anything new about George, but decided to use full-text search for records in Massachusetts, Maine and even New Hampshire, since he lived there for a short time.

Massachusetts records only turned up a couple of land records and the death record of George’s son, Horace, in 1914, all of which I had. No results came up for New Hampshire. However, Washington County, Maine records now include some court documents.

First, George was sued by the estate of George B. Burns, deceased for refusal to pay off promissory notes and the court ordered that George’s goods be seized to the amount of $1000 to cover the three notes!

There was more economic trouble for George as there is a 30-page court file dated 1875 regarding the purchase of marble, which was the business he was in.

The details in the file are quite boring, but the bottom of this first page is an exciting discovery:

The signatures are all different, leading me to believe that are all original to the men involved in the court case. That means I now have an image of George Tarbox’s handwriting! A fun find!

Further finds:

George Tarbox had another business set back with a judgment against him in January 1859 for the sum of $102.92.

George kept the court system busy. In 1858, he sued a steamboat company for ruining 100 barrels of calcined plaster to be transported from Eastport to Portland, Maine. The jury found in George’s favor.

In 1858, two men were convicted for breaking and entering his business shop.

In January 1870, the sheriff was ordered to seize $150 worth of George’s goods to satisfy a debt.

In April 1869, George sued Catherine Burns, who was guilty and sentenced to 30 days in jail plus costs.

In November 1868, George was sued as the trustee of Simeon Briggs for debt.

In March 1854, a man was convicted of stealing George’s overcoat in Cumberland County, Maine.

There might even be a few other records in this set of results. However, they are very very poorly transcribed even when the handwriting is excellent. With overlapping court sessions and continuances, I might have missed one or two cases.

To be fair to George, most of the cases in which he was a defendant were connected to his plaster and marble business, not to his personal life.

It’s also necessary to mention that from 1873 to 1879, the United States entered a depression that lasted longer than the Great Depression sparked by the stock market crash in 1929.

I’d say my finds are not a bad first attempt at chasing BSOs down the full-text search rabbit hole. As an aside, it’s going to take me a while to save all theses documents, especially the one court case that is 30 pages long!

Tarbox

An Old Photo & a Rabbit Hole

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Sometimes, one expectation is held at the beginning of a genealogical search, but an unexpected event happens along the way.

It’s been years since I thought about this original old photo, given to my great grandmother, Nellie Tarbox Adams, in the early 1890s.

In faded writing just above Eastern Portrait Co. is the message “How do aunt Nell.”

This little girl, dressed to the nines, looks to be about 2 years old when her picture was taken c1892 in Calais, Washington, Maine, where the extended Tarbox family was living.

My great grandmother, Nellie, had one sister and three brothers. Her sister, Elizabeth, had two daughters, but they were born in the 1870s and early 1880s, so too old to be this little girl.

Her brother, Ollie, married but had no children. Her second brother, Horace, had one daughter born in 1881, so again too old to be this little girl.

That leaves her third brother, Charles Franklin Tarbox who married Cleantha “Cannie” Cochran. They had four children – George, born 1882, Oliver, born 1884, Othelia Fay, born 30 August 1890 and Helen Louise, born 4 April 1904.

The only child this could be is Othelia, who went by Fay during her life. Although I never met Fay, she died on 9 August 1984 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, several years after I began the genealogy hunt.

However, my cousin Charles Chadwick, did keep in touch with her via letters. I didn’t have this photo in my possession at the time – Charles had it. Otherwise, I would have directly asked her if it was her baby picture.

Although I have no document to confirm it’s her, I am firmly convinced that I’m right. I thought I’d take another look at Fay and her family just in case my photo turned up somewhere.

Instead, I went down a different rabbit hole. Fay’s younger sister was Helen L. Tarbox, born 4 April 1904 in Calais, Washington, Maine.

I followed some of the links to her and learned that her middle name was Louise.

I also hadn’t been able to find her after the 1920 census when she was at home.

She had apparently moved down the highway to Bangor, Penobscot and married James Alexander “Alex” Dunning. Helen died in Bangor on 10 June 1982.

James and Helen were the parents of one daughter, Diane Elaine, born October 1938, probably in Bangor. This was exciting – a new, fairly close cousin. Diane had married Francis J. Almeter on 6 June 1959 in Maine. They moved frequently due to his military career, but retired in Illinois.

Unfortunately, Frank died in 2019 and Diane just last year on 8 July 2024. However, I was able to locate a child and have reached out to share information.

I’d love to share information with this person because I have a couple of original family photos I’d love to gift, one being great grandmother Cleantha Cochran.

You never know where a rabbit hole will end!