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Originally published in the Historic Nantucket, Vol 38, no. 4 (Winter 1990), p. 59-61

"Christmas Eve I took the part of Santa Claus at the Methodist Church," wrote Frank H. Macy, a Main Street storekeeper, on January 6, 1878; "next day went to Sconsett with the crowd, in the evening, took the part of the night before, at the Unitarian...."

Celebrating Christmas, A Look Back
By Gayl Michael

How did Nantucketers spend Christmas in the last century? The answers to this question lie in the memoirs, letters, diaries, and greeting cards that have been supplanted today by telephone conversations and the obligatory annual newsletter. The eighteen hundreds were a period rich in elaborate written communication which resulted, no doubt, from a pervasive loyalty to family and friends, no matter how great or small the distance that separated them. Here is a holiday sample excerpted from many different sources in the NHA Research Center collections. The spelling and syntax have not been modernized.

"We, together with the rest of the Quaker City, did not take much notice of Christmas except that Collins brought in a fine Turkey, which we enjoyed alone with our little family - But in chestnut and many other Streets, there was a plenty of new things to be seen if there had been room for the thousands to parrade. The Christmas tree was lighted up (& the Gas extinguished) with 50 candles - much to the amusement of the children & the older ones too. It was nearly to the top of the wall, & pendant on its branches many curiosities hung - But all this would have been poor entertainment to some of us but for the tea, coffee, fried and stewed oisters - chicken sallad, hot biscuit, cake & preserves. All together it was a pleasant social company-"

Written in 1858 from Philadelphia to a relative on Nantucket, this letter reveals that families were celebrating the Christmas holiday before the Civil War and, unlike other major American cities, Philadelphia seems to have adopted the Christmas tree years before the custom became commonplace. An 1825 edition of Philadelphia'sSaturdoy Evening Post described "trees visible through the windows, whose green boughs are laden with fruit, richer than the golden apples of Hesperides, or the sparkling diamonds that clustered on the branches in the wonderful cave of Aladdin."

Somewhat less eloquent in description, Nantucket resident Arthur H. Gardner, editor of the Nantucket Journal and member of the Massachusetts legislature, 1891-92 and 1900-1904, kept a diary from 1864 to 1867. At age ten, he recorded for December 25: "Had a knife presented to me." Certainly, this gift was very much appreciated by young Arthur who considered it worthy of mention.

His diary, characteristic in style and content of a young man, is typical in its brevity. In addition to the entry for Christmas he also wrote for that same year: December 9 "Froze in the house last night."; December 13 "Charly went home, I went skating." December 31 "Charlie Tracy, Jamie Reyot and myself had a tree with fourteen presents on it, it has rained hard all day."

Again, as in the letter penned in 1858, there is mention of a Christmas tree—a custom that adds to our cultural heritage, binds us to our past, and helps us to realize that Christmas, as we celebrate it, would not be possible without the rich contribution of the immigrants who came to America, especially during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Several letters written to Dr. Benjamin Sharp in Philadelphia by his friends on Nantucket also help us to learn how nineteenth-century islanders observed these customs during the latter part of the century.

"Christmas eve I took the part of Santa Clause at the Methodist church," wrote Frank H. Macy, a Main Street storekeeper, on january 6, 1878; "next day went to Sconsett with the crowd, in the evening took the part of the night before, at the Unitarian after that went to the dance, the next night went down to Reb. Smiths with Susie Winslow and talked the days work over, that we did Christmas,...."

We assume that Macy and most of the other Nantucket merchants, decorated their store windows with items for gift giving and ingredients for delicious Christmas dinners. No doubt island merchants supplied many of the items mentioned in the following letter to Dr. Sharp received from Catherine (Wyer) Starbuck, Matthew Starbuck's wife in which she described her celebration of Christmas in 1898 in a private Main Street home that is now the Homestead.

"You know I am a member of the famous S.H.E. Club - We resolved when we first formed to meet every Christmas and partake of a Christmas dinner at each others houses - This was our 12th meeting. We met with Sister Perry - When we first met we allowed no outsider to be with us - but as time went on we had friends or kindred to come home to pass the holidays and consequently included them - So now we invite the Parson and wife if he has one - Quite fortunately our new minister has one - so they were included with Horace Easton -My Horace was invited but declined -You know he has lost his hearing and it wearies him very much to watch the motion of the lips in a large Company - Well as I said before we met with Sister Perry. At 1/2 past 6 we were invited out to dinner - The table was beautifully decorated with holly branches and flowers. At each plate was a dinner card; and a bunch of pinks from you, which we all most heartily thank you for. We drank to your health and that all the great Blessings, This world can e're give, We heartily wish you,And long may you live."

"There were 14 of us - some in the 90's some 80's, some 70's and some 60 and 2 perhaps in the 50's. A goodly company dressed in their best and looking very happy. 1st course Oyster soup. 2nd Roast turkey and all the fixings. 3rd Ice cream - Cake - 4 fruit and coffee -We always club together and purchase something silver or cut glass to present to the hostess - This year we bought a silver cold meat fork -1 presented it when the coffee was being sipped & fruit eaten -You see it came from afar over the cold and had quite an experience before reaching its destination!! Considerable romance. After the meal was over we returned to the dining room - the gas was turned out - only light was from hall and fire. The yule log with pine boughs burned brightly. We seated ourselves in a circle and told ghost and feiry stories - some told reminiscences of younger days - conundrums etc. At nine Oclock Mrs. Perry went across the hall then open[ed] the west parlor door and called us to come. There was the room brilliantly lighted - A beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the center - all full of Christmas presents baskets of candy - pictures of our celebrated army and navy heroes etc. So we Od! and Ah'd! and admired and munched candy awhile, then returned to the East parlor where we sang Christmas Hymns - Songs of various kinds -At ten Oclock we arose joined hands sang Auld Lang Syne and departed to our homes, all saying this is the very bestest Christmas of all the Christmases."

Yet, beneath all the holiday gaiety, to a close friend an islander might admit to mental and physical fatigue caused by preparations for December 25, as did Mary Eliza Starbuck, later a founder of the Nantucket Historical Association, when writing to Dr. Benjamin Sharp on December 18,1878. ".. .1 was reading the Autobiography [Mills Logic] but the thickness of the book and the fineness of the print appalled me. However I may read it bye and bye after the Christmas hurry is over. We -Miss Baxter, Mrs. Milaram and I, with some of the Sunday School children have been at the vestry all the evening decorating it with cedar. It looks very pretty, better then ever before but it is very wearying work. I am very tired now but it is for Christmas, so I think we need not mind a little inconvenience."

Inconvenience was an understatement to those who went to sea. Those brave men and women, who dealt for years with loneliness and the always present danger of the merciless ocean, tried to make the best of their situation especially at Christmas, which was often just another working day. Their journals help us to understand how they spent this holiday far from family and friends. Perhaps some other whaling wives were as fortunate as Mary Chipman Lawrence, who was with their daughter on board her husband Samuel's whaleship, the Addison, out of New Bedford, when she recorded in 1857:

"Christmas Day reminds us of home and friends. Minnie wished to hang up her stocking as usual, and as I had a tin of candies which her grandpa put up for her, Santa Claus managed to fill it very well. We sat down to a Christmas dinner of two roast turkeys, sweet and Irish potatoes, boiled onions, stewed pumpkin, and cranberries, pickles, and a nice Indian pudding made of milk and eggs. Had a goat killed for the benefit of those living in the forecastle, to which, I should think, they did ample justice, as there are but two legs remaining...."

Arranging a Christmas dinner in the South Pacific required a year's advance planning. Nancy (Wyer) Grant, wife of Captain Charles Grant, liked to tell their grandchildren that, one year, Grandpa invited the captains and wives aboard ships spoken to try to converge for a gam at a predetermined place off New Zealand. On Christmas Day, with eight vessels standing by, Nancy and Charles hosted a festive dinner featuring roasted pig. Whether a ship's company observed Christmas depended upon the generosity of owners or master, as Eldred E. Fysh learned aboard the Coronet (1837-39) out of London, England. His 1837 entry reads: 'This being Christmas day, there was no work done and the Capt. gave the men the means of making themselves as comfortable as they could do." However, William Morris Davis had the opposite experience aboard the Chelsea (1834-36) of New London, Connecticut, a year or two earlier. He wrote:

"But this is Christmas. I wish the world a merry christmas, but there is no use in wishing a merry christmas to that unfortunate race, generally known and vulgarly called Blubber Hunters, they have not wherewith to make a merry Christmas this with us is plain fryday only that occasionally some one bawls out "I wish you a merry Christmas."

Perhaps whalemen were not refined in their celebrations of Christmas; they nevertheless conveyed the holiday spirit to their shipmates.

While adults at sea or ashore might label Christmas as hectic or inconvenient, children regard it as a time to put schoolbooks aside and mind their conduct so as not to jeopardize Santa's arrival. S. J. Nevins, however, had more than sugar plums dancing in his head in 1877, as he later recalled:

"There never was any question about Christmas Day being a holiday in its fullest sense at home, and no matter how busy a youngster might be kept on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, when there was no school, he was sure to have Christmas Day to himself.

"If there was ice of sufficient thickness to permit skating on Christmas Day, which was rarely the case, the boys of the former localities (North -Shorers and Millhillers) made good use of the sport on Mitchell's Ditch, a narrow strip of water which commenced in the rear of the Watson Burgess house on Union Street and ran through properties of John Winn and Capt. Joe Hamblin, down as far as Pete Cushman's lot on Fayette Street, where it ended. Twas after a heavy fall of snow during Christmas week, Charlie Veeder--big-hearted Charlie Veeder, always kind to the smaller boys, as good as gold and a natural leader--addressed us at recess on the day following the storm.

" 'Boys,' he said, 'we're going to have a hard fight this afternoon. It means that everybody, large and small, must make snowballs during the remainder of recess. I have received permission to store them in the ante-room where we hang our hats and coats. Every boy is expected to make six snowballs and make them right. Obed C. (Coffin) will inspect each snowball and give it the finishing touches.' Joe Enas.. .locked the ante-room door shortly after the ringing of the school bell calling the scholars to the school room. And what a session followed! Before it was half over, the sound of voices in the front yard announced the arrival of the enemy at our very door. Looking out of the windows we could see the enemy drawn up in line....

"Charlie Veeder was the first boy through the door, and he received the full force of the first volley. But the entire school was behind him, and instantly the fight was on in earnest. A wicked fight took place at this point - the fiercest I had ever witnessed. [The two teams chased each other through the streets and eventually ended up on Main Street.]

"Finally the windows in the stores along the south side of Main Street commenced to go, particularly those of Nathaniel Coggeshall, and the storekeepers, with brooms and other 'persuaders' tookahand in the affair. That settled it, of course, and barring a few fist fights, the battle was over.

"And the next morning - what a sight. There wasn't a boy absent from the schoolroom, but there were many who ought to have been in bed. I think Ned Greene fared as badly as any. He had been hit over the eye by a 'bullet' which left a deep gash. There were many others who bore marks of that fracas and will no doubt recall the fight as one of the fiercest on the records of school fights.

"Assessments were levied to raise sufficient cash to repair the damage to the school windows, and there were a few who wanted to challenge the enemy for a Christmas Day battle either at Mill or Fisher's Hills, but that's as far as it ever went in my time."

Alliston Greene remembered that both children and adults enjoyed winter activities on Nantucket in his Fragrant Memories -Recreation and Entertainment (1947).

"There were the 'entertainments' in Atheneum Hall, always before a full house, admission 25 cents, children 15 cents, 'doors open at seven'! "There were dances in Wendell's Hall. These were family affairs where chaperons were unnecessary. A winter without a 'course of dances' in Wendell's Hall was almost a failure.

"When the weather was favorable, 'sliding' on 'quarter-mile and Sunset Hill kept every boy and girl with a sled happily and healthfully occupied. Orange and Main street were not as good-too much 'traffic'. Skating on Lily Pond in town and on Washing Pond, out of town, was taken advantage of every spare hour. One day 'Pete' and I skated the entire length of Hummock Pond, from the North Head to South Shore, and back.

"Then there were the meetings of the Philomathean Society, the Christmas 'doings', and all the exercises in connection with the lodges, clubs, schools, churches, etc.

"No, Nantucket boys and girls of 60 and 7C years ago were not dependent upon "America" for recreation and entertainment. To be sure there was no telephone, no radio, no automobile, no electric lights, no movies, nothing! according to modern ideas; but we got along somehow and some of us are still in the game."

Nantucketers, insular yet neighborly, made the most of Christmas as is evident from their memories, letters, diaries, and journals. And for all children at heart, Christmas is a sentimental time when we peruse the fabric of our past, particularly the written past. It is here that we discover our ancestors were no less caught up in the spirit of Christmas than we are today and, as always, use the closing of each year to spread good cheer and friendship.