Charles Henry Wilbur papers

File — Box: Multi-collection Box

Identifier: 003-02-16

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection includes 69 letters to and from Wilbur, his mother, sister and brother in law, his friends, and two whaling agents, as well as a variety of other people involved in the life and death of this whaleman from New Jersey. The correspondence in this collection begins during Wilbur’s naval service in 1864 and continues through his whaling career and into the next generation of his sister's family, ending in 1916. It includes correspondence between members of his family and the U. S. State Department following his apparently accidental death in Talcahuano, Chile.

This collection appears to be that of Wilbur's sister, including a few letters that were given to her by his mother. Included also are a few miscellaneous letters and papers relating to the family business and personal life from the years after Wilbur's death. Also included in this collection is a rough transcript of a journal kept by George G. Webb on board the Bark Noble of New Suffolk, NY, voyage of 1843-1846, for the period July 31, 1843 - June 15, 1844. The location of this original journal is unknown, although a different logbook for the latter portion of this voyage is housed at the Library of the Mystic Seaport Museum.

Finally, the collection includes miscellaneous clippings and ephemera, including a copy of Wilbur’s obituary, his biography, and his discharge papers.

Dates

1843 - 1916

Creator

Abraham Barker (Bark) (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

PPL believes this collection is in the public domain. Users of this item are responsible for determining copyright restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

Charles Henry Wilbur was born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1842. Throughout his life, he maintained close ties with his family, and wrote regularly.

Wilbur's whaling career spanned 13 years. He served on three voyages of the New Bedford whaler, Young Phenix, from 1864 until 1869, when discouraged, he left the ship on the island of Mauritius and returned home. After three years' work in a neighboring foundry, he returned to the sea in 1872, this time on the Bark Seine of New Bedford. His letters talk of his railroad trip in Chile from Talcahuano to Conception, and of the men who deserted from the voyage ("a poorer set of things I never see"). He includes details of whales taken, and is proud to report his boat has gotten more whales than all of the boats together. As the voyage fills and he thinks of home, he muses that when he returns "I think I will try and get Henry Ward's place...It would suit me as well as whaling." Apparently he didn't, because 1875 finds him at sea again, on the New Bedford bark Abraham Barker. His last letter from that voyage, and in fact, his last letter, is addressed to the agents for the vessel, J. and W. R. Wing of New Bedford in April, 1877, explaining why he feels compelled to leave the voyage. He says the captain, Otis Thacher, "is about as fit for Master of a Whaling Ship as I am for a Minister..." Wilbur is discharged by the American Consul at Talcahuano on May 8, 1877, and in July, apparently drowns in a local river while in the employ of the railroad company. The despair of the family at home is felt in the letters written to the State Department, and to the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes, in hopes of determining the details of his death, the place of his burial, and the fate of his personal effects. Eventually a chest of personal papers is returned to the family, no doubt the source of the letters written to Wilbur by friends and family while he was at sea.

Extent

.2 Linear Feet (1 manuscript box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is organized into four series. The first includes Wilbur’s personal and business correspondence, along with correspondence from other Wilbur family members after his death. The second series includes bills and receipts. The third includes miscellaneous ephemera and papers, and the fourth series contains a single photograph.

Custodial History

Acquired as part of the Paul C. Nicholson Whaling Collection. Materials appear to have been in the possession of Wilbur’s sister and were later purchased at auction.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased with funds from the Nicholson family as an addition to the Nicholson Whaling Collection.

Related Materials

003-01-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Logbooks, Providence Public Library. Includes a journal of the Abraham Barker from 1866-1879 (on which Charles Henry Wilbur was a crew member), as well as earlier logbooks from ships on which Wilbur later worked including the Young Phoenix and the Seine. These materials are available online at https://archive.org/details/providencepublicnicholson

KWM #4, Reel 1, [Abraham Barker (bark) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Otis Freeman Thatcher and then Alden T. Potter, kept by Charles H. Wilbur and Otis F. Thatcher on voyage from 26 Oct. 1871 - 4 Nov. 1880]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

KWM 835A, [Young Phoenix (Ship) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Austin Smith, keeper Charles H. Wilbur, on voyage 16 July 1867 - 30 October 1867]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

KWM 835B, [Young Phoenix (Ship) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Daniel Sherman, keeper Charles H. Wilbur, on voyage 12 November 1867 - 22 April 1871]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

ODHS 681, [Seine (Bark) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Edward P. Shiverick, kept by C. H. Wilbur on voyage 3 June 1872 - 2 July 1875]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

ODHS 771, [Antelope (Bark) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Isaac Wrisley, keeper Charles H. Wilbur on voyage 15 March 1860 - 7 October 1861]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

ODHS 772, [Antelope (Bark) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by George Taber, keeper Charles H. Wilbur, on voyage 31 October 1861 - 12 October 1863]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Processing Information

Previously part of general Nicholson Whaling Manuscript Collection, Subgroup 16. Processing by Judith Lund in 2008 with additions made to the finding aid by Janaya Kizzie in 2014. The decision to reprocess the subgroups as individual collections was made by Jordan Goffin in 2018. The collection was reprocessed by Angela DiVeglia in 2021.