Lydia Cary Athearn was the younger daughter of Edward Cary (a native of Charlestown, Massachusetts) and Lydia Hussey, widow of Hezekiah Barnard. Her brother, James, was a well-known Nantucket ship captain, sailing to China several times before his death there in 1812. Lydia Cary married her first cousin, James Athearn, in 1807, and in 1818 she and her family were the first occupants of the Pacific Bank's newly built structure, which had living quarters for the Cashier's family on-site. When her husband became President of the bank in 1837, they moved to a house on Centre Street where the north half of Sherburne Hall is now located. It was in this home that the Athearns hosted the wedding of Lydia's orphaned namesake niece, Lydia Athearn Cary, on January 1, 1838, when she married the son of an Episcopal clergyman. From this private ceremony grew St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Nantucket. Lydia moved with her husband to Boston sometime following her husband's bankruptcy in 1843, where she lived with her daughters. Shortly after her husband's death, she purchased property on the site of her old home on Nantucket (which had since burned in the Great Fire of 1846), as well as some additional Nantucket properties.
Lydia Cary Athearn was the younger daughter of Edward Cary (a native of Charlestown, Massachusetts) and Lydia Hussey, widow of Hezekiah Barnard. Her brother, James, was a well-known Nantucket ship captain, sailing to China several times before his death there in 1812. Lydia Cary married her first cousin, James Athearn, in 1807, and in 1818 she and her family were the first occupants of the Pacific Bank's newly built structure, which had living quarters for the Cashier's family on-site. When her husband became President of the bank in 1837, they moved to a house on Centre Street where the north half of Sherburne Hall is now located. It was in this home that the Athearns hosted the wedding of Lydia's orphaned namesake niece, Lydia Athearn Cary, on January 1, 1838, when she married the son of an Episcopal clergyman. From this private ceremony grew St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Nantucket. Lydia moved with her husband to Boston sometime following her husband's bankruptcy in 1843, where she lived with her daughters. Shortly after her husband's death, she purchased property on the site of her old home on Nantucket (which had since burned in the Great Fire of 1846), as well as some additional Nantucket properties.
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