James F. Athearn was a man surrounded by Lydias: his grandmother/aunt, his mother, his wife…even his twin sister! His family was the first to live in the cashier's apartment attached to Nantucket's Pacific Bank, and he lived on the island until sometime after the Great Fire of 1846. His house on Centre Street was the last to be burned/dynamited on the west side of that street during the conflagration.
He was in partnership with his sister Lydia's husband, Edward H. Barker; together they owned two whaling ships and a steam rope walk (which blew down only a couple of years after it was built). In 1849 he set out for the gold fields of California—like many Nantucket men, including the founder of Folger's coffee, James Athearn Folger (named for the father of James F. Athearn). When James was unsuccessful in selling the Barker & Athearn ship "Japan," the whaling vessel was eventually broken up in San Francisco.
After going bankrupt in 1858, James F. moved with his oldest son, also James, and daughter-in-law, to Atchison, Kansas. He enlisted in the Union Army at age 51, and served as a commissary sergeant before being discharged after a few months in the Field of Shiloh by Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant, due to "old age and general debility." According to his last surviving son, he was in Kentucky working on oil wells when he died, far away from all his family members.
He was in partnership with his sister Lydia's husband, Edward H. Barker; together they owned two whaling ships and a steam rope walk (which blew down only a couple of years after it was built). In 1849 he set out for the gold fields of California—like many Nantucket men, including the founder of Folger's coffee, James Athearn Folger (named for the father of James F. Athearn). When James was unsuccessful in selling the Barker & Athearn ship "Japan," the whaling vessel was eventually broken up in San Francisco.
After going bankrupt in 1858, James F. moved with his oldest son, also James, and daughter-in-law, to Atchison, Kansas. He enlisted in the Union Army at age 51, and served as a commissary sergeant before being discharged after a few months in the Field of Shiloh by Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant, due to "old age and general debility." According to his last surviving son, he was in Kentucky working on oil wells when he died, far away from all his family members.
James F. Athearn was a man surrounded by Lydias: his grandmother/aunt, his mother, his wife…even his twin sister! His family was the first to live in the cashier's apartment attached to Nantucket's Pacific Bank, and he lived on the island until sometime after the Great Fire of 1846. His house on Centre Street was the last to be burned/dynamited on the west side of that street during the conflagration.
He was in partnership with his sister Lydia's husband, Edward H. Barker; together they owned two whaling ships and a steam rope walk (which blew down only a couple of years after it was built). In 1849 he set out for the gold fields of California—like many Nantucket men, including the founder of Folger's coffee, James Athearn Folger (named for the father of James F. Athearn). When James was unsuccessful in selling the Barker & Athearn ship "Japan," the whaling vessel was eventually broken up in San Francisco.
After going bankrupt in 1858, James F. moved with his oldest son, also James, and daughter-in-law, to Atchison, Kansas. He enlisted in the Union Army at age 51, and served as a commissary sergeant before being discharged after a few months in the Field of Shiloh by Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant, due to "old age and general debility." According to his last surviving son, he was in Kentucky working on oil wells when he died, far away from all his family members.
He was in partnership with his sister Lydia's husband, Edward H. Barker; together they owned two whaling ships and a steam rope walk (which blew down only a couple of years after it was built). In 1849 he set out for the gold fields of California—like many Nantucket men, including the founder of Folger's coffee, James Athearn Folger (named for the father of James F. Athearn). When James was unsuccessful in selling the Barker & Athearn ship "Japan," the whaling vessel was eventually broken up in San Francisco.
After going bankrupt in 1858, James F. moved with his oldest son, also James, and daughter-in-law, to Atchison, Kansas. He enlisted in the Union Army at age 51, and served as a commissary sergeant before being discharged after a few months in the Field of Shiloh by Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant, due to "old age and general debility." According to his last surviving son, he was in Kentucky working on oil wells when he died, far away from all his family members.
Family Members
Siblings
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