Finding Aid - Peabody Essex Museum

MSS 74: Silsbee Family Papers
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Nathaniel Silsbee (1748-1791) was born on November 9, 1748 to William and
Joanna (Fowle) Silsbee. Nathaniel married Sarah Becket on November 1, 1770. During their
twenty-one years of marriage, Nathaniel and Sarah had eight children, four of whom lived to
adulthood: Nathaniel (1773-1850); Sarah (1777-1840); William (1779-1833); and Zachariah Fowle
(1783-1873). The Silsbees lived at the Elkins House on Derby and Turner Streets in Salem,
Massachusetts, circa 1779 to 1783. In 1783 they moved to a house Nathaniel had built on Daniels
Street. Nathaniel was the owner or part owner of several vessels which sailed between Salem and
the West Indies. Nathaniel died on June 25, 1791 in New York.
Nathaniel Silsbee (1773-1850) was the eldest child of Nathaniel (1748-1791) and Sarah
(Becket) Silsbee. Forced to end his schooling due to the financial failures of his father, Nathaniel
went to sea in 1787 at the age of fourteen. Six years later he was given command of Elias Hasket
Derby's Sloop Sally. Nathaniel continued commanding Derby vessels until 1795 when he purchased
a quarter of the Schooner Betsy. Prosperous enough to become a shipping merchant, Nathaniel
continued mastering his own vessels until 1801 and thereafter placed his brothers William and
Zachariah in charge of his ships. Nathaniel continued owning vessels in partnerships such as Stone,
Silsbee, and Pickman and Silsbee and Devereux. Stone, Silsbee, and Pickman was originally formed
in 1798 by Nathaniel and his two partners, Robert Stone and Dudley Leavitt Pickman for the
purpose of purchasing ships and the sale of imported cargo. Although he continued to be a partner
of Stone, Silsbee, and Pickman until the 1840s, Nathaniel actively retired from shipping when he
commenced his political career.
Nathaniel's political career began with his election to the United States House of
Representatives in 1817. He served there until March 3, 1821 when he refused re-election. From
1821 to 1823 Nathaniel served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and from 1823 to
1825, in the Massachusetts State Senate. In 1826 Nathaniel was elected to the United States Senate
to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Senator James Lloyd. Nathaniel was re-elected to
the United States Senate in 1829 and would serve until March 3, 1835. Nathaniel retired from public
life at the end of his Senate term.
Nathaniel married Mary Crowninshield in 1802. Their son Nathaniel (1804-1881) was
mayor of Salem from 1849-1850 and 1858-1859.
Edward Augustus Silsbee (1826-1900) was the son of Zachariah Fowle and Sarah
(Boardman) Silsbee. He was involved in the East India trade early in his life, employed first in the
Neal and Company counting house, later as a supercargo on the Windsor Fay, and as master of the
Ships Columbia and Syren. After retiring from the sea in 1853, he traveled in Europe, collecting
notes on literary and poetical figures (most notably Shelley), lecturing and writing articles. He died,
unmarried, in Boston, Massachusetts in 1900.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The Silsbee Family Papers contain the personal papers, business papers, and shipping
papers for four generations of Silsbees. The collection includes the shipping papers of Nathaniel
Silsbee (1748-1791). It also includes the papers of: his sons, Nathaniel (1773-1850), William, and
Zachariah; grandson Nathaniel (1804-1881) and; great-grandsons Nathaniel D. (b. 1830), William
Edward, Francis Henry, George Z. and Edward Augustus. The papers have been organized into four
series.
Page 2
©2012, Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum