A Sea Chest…some Lacquer Dishes…Stories of Sea Journeys…
and a JOURNAL!
“Bampop”
Horace Fletcher Howland (1879-1957)
Son of Francis Hathaway Howland
Grandson of Williams Howland
Practically every family has a grandfather who relates an oral history from prior generations.
The Howland children – descended from Williams Howland and his son Francis Hathaway – were no exception.
Only these stories might be more exciting than some…”Bampop” regaled them with tales of
Sea Voyages Around the World
The real possibilities of Shipwrecks or Mutinies
Williams’ wife aboard ship, who had a set of male clothing on hand in case of Pirates
The stories piqued their imagination, but seemed even more real because they also had
a Sea Chest, some Lacquer Dishware… and a Journal!
My husband, Mark, is a 5th Generation descendant of Williams Howland.
(Williams – Francis Hathaway – Horace Fletcher – John V – John – Mark)
In the mid-2000’s Mark’s aunt told us of the existence of a Journal
which her step-mother had typed from copies passed down through the years.
After reading just a few pages, I was “hooked”!
Women at Sea in the 1850’s – who knew?
Clipper ship trips around the world?
A child aboard?!
It was all fascinating.
But most intriguing were Sarah’s words themselves.
Beautifully written, they not only tell of a journey, but of an era
with connections to events and customs of the time
and her feelings as she passed through.
What an absolute treasure!
“Something should be done to preserve and share this,”
we often told ourselves.
“A book, perhaps?”
But life gets busy, and journals get put aside…
Then the pandemic of 2020 brought things to a halt.
A perfect time to transcribe these typewritten words into a usable format,
and in so doing, research the various topics along the way.
It was a journey in itself.
And when done, we spent a month in a cottage at the Connecticut shore to say,
“Now what?”
A book seemed too static …
and as we drew the timeline and the various tangents…
a website seemed the perfect solution.
So here it is…