Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net
Copyright 2011 by Jeremy DEntremont
All rights reserved
First published 2011
e-book edition 2012
Manufactured in the United States
ISBN 978.1.61423.845.4
DEntremont, Jeremy.
Ocean-Born Mary : the truth behind a New Hampshire legend / Jeremy DEntremont.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-239-7
1. Wallace, Mary Wilson, 1720-1814. 2. Wallace, Mary Wilson, 1720-1814--Homes and haunts--New Hampshire. 3. Londonderry (N.H.)--Biography. 4. Henniker (N.H.)--Biography. 5. Legends--New Hampshire. 6. Dwellings--New Hampshire--History. 7. New Hampshire--History, Local. 8. New Hampshire--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--Biography. 9. New Hampshire--History--1775-1865--Biography. 10. Pirates--New England--History--18th century. I. Title.
F44.L8D36 2011
974.203--dc23
2011018585
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PREFACE
In his 1937 book The Hurricanes Children, popular author Carl Carmer wrote of the Ocean-Born Mary story, When I heard all this for the first time, I thought somebody had just made up a fancy story for me that had few words of truth in it. But nowIm not sure where truth ends and fancy begins. At any rate, many folks in New Hampshire love to tell this story on winter evenings before their birch-log fires, or on their porches on summer evenings when the stars are very bright above the mountaintops.
Theres no doubt that the story of Ocean-Born Mary had its basis in a factual 1720 incident, but as its now often told, its laced with embellishments. Most writers on the subject have followed the famous advice given to Jimmy Stewarts character in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
One of my goals as I began work on this book was to bring to light whatever nuggets of truth I might be able to surgically extract from the legends that have coagulated around the folktale. Lovers of romance and mystery might fear that this operation could kill the patient and leave us with a cold collection of a few names and dates. On the contrary, the truth of Ocean-Born Mary is fascinating in its own right.
The storys tangents provide us insight into colonial American history and the rich history of the Ulster Scots, or Scotch-Irish, who came to New England around the year 1720. As it turned out, my investigative trail led me to evidence that the real pirate captain who plundered Marys ship may have been a much more impressive character than the fictionalized version who appears in most tellings of the story. I felt like I had unearthed pirate treasure when I arrived at my conclusions on the subject.
I also set out to examine the birth and growth of the more fanciful elements of the story as its now usually told. A popular new twist on an old story can quickly supplant old versions as the truth, particularly when you have a character like L.M.A. Gussie Roy, the man who engineered and capitalized on the revision of Ocean-Born Mary into a romantic ghost tale.
Gussie Roy was not an ill-intentioned man. In fact, his imaginative storytelling probably sparked a love of American history and antiques in some of his listeners. I would like nothing more than to go back in time to enjoy one of Gussies spooky tours of his house in Henniker, New Hampshire, that he lovinglybut wronglypromoted as the Ocean-Born Mary House.
I dont pretend for a second that this book will stop the story from being told and retold with still more embellishment. Facts are fixed, but folklore is notits a dynamic process that never reaches a final destination. I especially enjoy the New Hampshire historian J. Dennis Robinsons summing up of the Ocean-Born Mary story: Drip, drip, drip, the legend pounds away at the facts, one drop at a time, eroding away the annoying bits of truth and keeping one more popular New England folk tale alive.
Humans are creative storytellers by nature, and the tales we tell help to define our culture. I enjoy a good romantic pirate story as much as the next person, and Im not closed-minded when it comes to the paranormal. I believe, however, that we should try to keep our history, legends and ghost stories separate.
Im far from the first person to point out that the bulk of what has been written about Ocean-Born Mary, especially in the last few decades, is either distorted or out-and-out fiction; J. Dennis Robinson, Andrew Rothovius, Alice V. Flanders and Fiona Broome, among others, have written well-informed articles on the subject.
Most of my conclusions are not very different from theirs, but its my hope to flesh out the true story and chronicle the evolution of the legend in greater detail than whats already been written. This is a wonderful case study in the development of a legend over time.
I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who provided pieces, large and small, of this fascinating historical puzzle. I particularly wish to thank Martha C. Taylor, Barbara Gratton, Jim McElroy and all of the kind people of the Henniker Historical Society, who were cheerfully helpful and provided much valuable material.
Thanks also to the Tucker Free Library in Henniker; Kendall Koladish at the Leach Library in Londonderry; David Lee Colglazier and Marilyn Ham of the Londonderry Historical Society; Wesley G. Balla of the New Hampshire Historical Society; Alden OBrien of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum in Washington, D.C.; Marjory OToole of the Little Compton (RI) Historical Society; the Keene Public Library; the Portsmouth Public Library; Donna Gilbreth of the New Hampshire State Library; the Boston Public Library; the Dartmouth College Library; Fiona Broome; Bob and Terry Stamps; Dick and Anne Keigher; Tom Manchester; Phillip Seven Esser; James Garvin; Timothy Hughes; Lynn Bassett; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich; VlOnica Roberts; and William Marshall, who helped solved the Great Puzzle of the Dates. I also want to thank Jeffrey Saraceno, Ryan Finn and The History Press for helping to make the preparation of this book a pleasure.
And, of course, thanks as always to my wife, Charlotte Raczkowski, who has graciously (for the most part) humored my incessant babbling about Ocean-Born Mary for the past several months.
I remember learning about Ocean-Born Mary for the first time close to half a century ago from Keith Ringer, my childhood buddy back in Lynn, Massachusetts. He and his family toured the so-called Ocean-Born Mary House in Henniker several times, and I can recall his excitement about the purported ghost there. I dedicate this book to Keiths memory.
