Of Maryport, Cumberland County, England and Vineland,
Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States of America.
From material gathered by the late Captain Inman Sealby
in collaboration with Dr. J. W. Crerar, of Maryport.
Compiled by Elena J. Darling
PART FOUR
1. "John Sealby, Blitterlees" Children i. Thomas, bapt. 24 Mar., 1597. ii. Richard, bapt. 22nd July, 1609. 2. "Thomas, son of John Sealby, bapt. March 24th, 1597. Married. Name unknown but she was buried Feb. 2nd, 1666." Children "Thomas, son of Thomas Sealby, bapt. May 21st, 1625, Md. Name unknown but she was buried Oct. 14th, 1690." Their son Thomas mentioned below, (4) was bur. 21 Mar, 1732. 3. "Richard son of John Sealby, bapt. July 22d, 1609. It appears
from the Parish Book of records that the said Richard Sealby being a Schoolmaster and intended for the church had committed a felonious crime upon the Sea Banks but made his escape without punishment July 23rd, 1628. It appears also by authentic information that he was a Schoolmaster in Buckinghamshire after he left Cumberland. That his son James entered himself a Student of Law in the Middle Temple in 1647, and was buired Oct. 27th, 1688. Richards marriage wanted. Wills his second Wife, Dec. 11th, 1655 with a large fortune." Children i. "Rebecca, bapt. Dec. 17th, 1656." ii. "James the noted Sergeant Sealby was bapt. Jan. 20th, 1657. Buired April 29th, 1724. Married Mary Alston, oldest daughter of Rowland Alston of Odell in Bedfordshire." Children (a) "Mary died an infant." (b) "Thomas James Sealby the Testator was bapt. Oct. 20th, 1717. Buired Dec. 4th,1772. He left his property to the heir at Law if he could be found." iii. "Hannah, bapt. Mar. 25th, 1659." iv. "William, died 1733." v. "Mary." 4. "Thomas Sealby of Blitter Lees, afterward of Isell Old Park. Buried 21st March, 1732." Children i. Thomas, died an infant." ii. "Sarah, bapt. 16 Feb, 16S9. S. R." iii. "Isabella, bapt 21st Aug. 1693. Married Wm. Raper, Nov. 23rd, 1727." Children, surname Raper. (a) "Thomas, died an infant." (b) "John, bapt. May 1st, 1730. Had issue one son and 4 daughters, all living, one of the daughters married William Longcake." (c) "Joseph, bap. 10th July, 1736. Had issue one son and one daughter, living." iv. "Abraham (5), bapt. 8th March, 1695." v. "Mary, bapt. Sept. 5th, 1703. Mar Greenup" Issue "John." 5. "Abraham, Bapt. 8th March, 1695. Mar Frances Iredell, Aug. 28th, 1721." Children i. "Thomas, (6) bapt. 9th July, 1734." ii. "Mary, bapt.25th Jan., 1736." iii. "Frances, bapt. 15th Dec., 1741." iv. "John, 21st Nov., 1744." v. "Sarah, bapt. 13th May, 1747." vi. "Abraham, bapt. July 31st, 1750." vii. "Susan, bapt. 11th Sept., 1753." 6. "Thomas (Sealby) Bapt. 9th July, 1734. M. Mary Rerson, Oct. 16, 1763." He was one of the Assessors who signed a Poor Rate document at Holn Cultram, 12th Dec. 1640. Children i. "Thomas Sealby, Claiment, bapt, 21st January, 1768." ii. "John Sealby (7), born March 9th, 1770." (Quotation marks above indicate information copied from an old manuscript.) 7. John Sealby, born 9th March, 1770, died 10th July, 1837, in his 67th year. He was "the Village Blacksmith at Tallantire, 4 miles from Maryport; many years ago an old man who was a native of that place and about the same age as your grandfather, said they were boys together and he knew them all and that Mrs. Ismay, your grandfather's sister, when a young woman used to strike the big hammer for her father. She was a big, strong woman." (Letter from Wm. Stoddart, 1928.) He married Mary Inman who died 15th March, 1837, in her 67th year and is buried in Maryport churchyard with her husband. Their stone being next that of Mrs. Ismay and her family. Children i. Joseph (8), born about 1793; died 8th Dec. 1866. ii. Mary, born 28th Oct., 1806; died 15th June, 1869; married 7th April, 1836, Joseph Ismay, born 24th April, 1004; died 11th Jan., l850. (See Ismay line, Vol. xxix, p. 79.) Miss Selkirk who died in 1926 at the age of ninety-seven, said there were but the two children as given above. 8. Joseph Sealby, born about 1793, died at Ropery House, near Maryport, 8th Dec., 1866, at the age of 73 and is buried in St. Mary's churchyard, Maryport. He was a draper in Crosby St., where he owned the shop occupied in 1913 by Councilman Hardy, and the adjoining shops "which attracted the attention of all visitors by reason of the fact that alone in all Maryport they possessed a flagged front. For those were the days of the Maryport petrified kidneys immortalised by Dickens" -- according to the Maryport News. The original shop was returned to the family in later years through its purchase by Captain Sealby. Associated with him in the business were his two sons until the elder went to Liverpool and the younger to Carlisle and eventually to the United States. He married Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Agnes (Postlethwaite) Inman, born 1790; she died 9th May, 1859; aged 69 and is buried with her husband in St. Mary's churchyard. At the time of his death a warm tribute was paid in the Maryport Advertiser to the character and citizenship "of a deeply regretted fellow-townsman of whom it was said his natural amiability of temper rendered him incapable of making an enemy." Children i. John Inman, born about 1829, died at Ladstock, Thornthwaite, Keswick, 4th Feb., 1913, aged 84 years; buried Maryport, with the Rev. J. A. Richards officiating. He began his business career in his father's drapery shop, leaving to join his cousin Thomas Henry Ismay, founder of the White Star Line, of Liverpool. He became cashier of the Company, retiring only after its amalgamation with the American Lines about 1896, when he took up his residence at Ladstock. His uprightness of carriage and energy were said, at that time, to be remarkable. He developed an active interest in public matters; was churchwarden, school manager, Keswick school governor, a member of the Cockermouth Board of Guardians and Rural District Council, and a sturdy conservative. He obtained the extended water supply from Braithwaite to Thornethwaite and reconstructed the old vicarage into the mansion it was at the time of his death. He "was for many years agent in M'port for the Shipwrecked Sailors and Fishermen's Society; they paid in so much a year, there being so much paid to the family in case of a member being lost at sea, and also to clothe and succour shipwrecked sailors; this brought him in close personal touch with the seafaring community, especially the wives who mostly paid in the money. He always performed his duty in such a kind and sympathetic manner that all the seafarers and their wives looked upon J. I. Sealby as their guide, philosopher and friend." (Letter of Wm. Stoddart, 1928.) He was a member of the Freemasons' Lodge up to the time of his death and for many years the senior member. He married Frances Asbridge, born about 1830, the seventh daughter of Peter Collin Asbridge of Maryport; she died at Carlisle, 12th Oct., 1916, aged 86 years and was buried at Maryport. There were no children. ii. Joseph (9), born 30th Dec., 1831, died 24th Feb., 1883. 9. Joseph Sealby, son of Joseph and Sarah (Inman) Sealby, was born 30th Dec., 1831, at Maryport, Cumberland, England; he died 24th Feb., 1853, at Jersey City, New Jersey, U. S. A., and was buried on the 12th March following in St. Mary's churchyard, Maryport. He was with his father in the drapery business for several years before, and at, the time of his marriage to Maria Lucock, born 4th June, 1836, at Plumbland, Cumberland, the daughter of Robert Lucock of Bewcastle and his wife Mary Crone of Gilcrux. The Maryport Advertiser gives this account of the wedding: --"At Crosscanonby on the 30th October, l861, by the Rev. R. Dugdale, Mr. Joseph Sealby, Junr., Maryport, to Maria, youngest daughter of the late Mr. Robert Lucock of Aspatria. The bride was attired in a white dress of glace silk, with flounces of white lace; head dress or orange blossom and myrtle, and long veil of rich lace. The four bridesmaids, the Misses Clark of Warwick Bridge, and the Misses Ismay of Maryport -- had all dresses of white Tarletane, head dresses of scarlet wreaths and white veils. A large company assembled at Mr. Elliot's Furnace House, to breakfast, and were joined there by the wedding party. After breakfast the happy pair proceeded with the express train to London. The satisfaction of the people on the consumation of this happy event was manifested by a great display of flags and bannerets extending across the streets, with mottoes expressive of the good wishes of the people. We are glad to find that Mr. Sealby considerately remembered the poor or the occasion, by distributing about 30 pairs of good warm sheets. The employees of the establishment, 13 in number, were regaled with an excellent tee-total supper at Mrs. Bell's confectioner, to celebrate the nuptials of their young master." Writing to Captain Sealby, 16th Oct., 1935, William Stoddart, of Doncaster, said: -- "The Sealbys were punctilious attenders at St. Mary's Church and as we were the same and as our pews were not far apart we got a good view of each other at least once a week. Your father always wore a large well trimmed beard and walked with
a fine graceful stride and looked very like a soldier, had it not been for his beard, but it had to pass. When the volunteers started in 1859, your Father and Uncle J. S. were amonst the first to join. I have seen them on parade many a time; I think your father was a Sergeant. I would be over 20 when your Father left M'port so I have a distinct recollection of him as well as your uncle J. I. Sealby who left M'port about the same time. I remember your uncle Jos. Lucock quite well, he carried on Brick and Tile works at Broughton Moor, he was quite a familiar figure in M'port, he used to attend St. Mary's Church regular on Sunday evenings and sat in the Sealby's pew. He was a member of the Freemasons, his name and also that of your Father is displayed on the board, in the Lodge, which gives the names of all the Masters since the foundation ofthe Lodge in 1823; they are about 1860; I was Master in 1881-2, 20 years after them. Sealby, like Stoddart is a real Cumberland name. There used to be for many years, a vessel named the Sealby in the Irish coal trade, she was one of Capt. Johnston Melmore's fleet, I have seen her dozens of times. I should think there is little doubt but she was named after your family, she has gone to her rest many years ago." About l873, Mr. Sealby, in company with W. J. Robinson, came to the United States to open the American branch of the White Star line at Jersey City. Here, he established the first home and, in 1874, a second one in Vineland on the Menantico Creek where he built a story and a half house; on the adjoining property Mr. Robinson built a similar one. Following the death of her husband in 1883, Mrs. Sealby with her six younger children -- the two older sons had already gone to sea -- returned to England, where, partly at Aspatria and partly at Manchester, the family remained until, in 1898, Mrs. Sealby once more settled in her Menantico home and eventually at 6th and Montrose Sts., Vineland, where she died 20th Sept., 1907, and was buried in Siloam Cemetery. Children i. Inman (10), Captain, born 23rd Oct., 1862, at "The Ropery," Maryport. Died 4th Dec., 1942, Philadelphia, Penna., U. S. A. ii. Robert Lucock (II), born 3rd Dec., 1863, Maryport. iii. Sarah, born 27th July, 1865, Maryport; married, Brooklyn, N. Y., 30th Oct., 1912, James Doan Thompson, a painter and decorator, born 4th March, 1872, New York City; died 19th Feb., 1931, son of James and Emily (Osborne) Thompson. Mrs. Thompson at present, 1946, is residing with her sister Mrs. Watkins, at Fritchley, Derbyshire, England. iv. Maria Josephine, (Mimi), born 13th Oct., 1868; married 20th Sept. 1883 at Christ Church, Manchester, England, as his second wife, William Allen Watkins, born 8th Dec., 1852, at Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, died 30th March, 1929, at Fritchley, the son of William Watkins, a noted Quaker of his day, and his wife Ann Kirkham. Mr. Watkins gave up his business as wholesale provision merchant in Liverpool and settled in Derbyshire as tutor, coaching pupils for University, making a study of early Christian history. He made several visits to Rome to study the inscriptions and so on, on the Catacombs. Mrs. Watkins resides at "Lindfield" Fritchley, Derbyshire, England, having previously lived at Liverpool, Manchester, Aspatria, and Maryport, England, and in Jersey City and Vineland, N. J. v. Annie Inman, born Carlisle, England, 4th Feb., 1870; died, Fritchley, Derbyshire, England, 4th Dec., 1937. vi. Joseph Lucock, born Carlisle, England, 13th Jan., 1871; died, Vineland, N.J., 25th Feb., 1933. His early education he received in Vineland, presumedly at Cooper's Mill and Spring Road schools where his elder brothers had gone, but with the return of the family to England, his studies were completed there. He had wanted, as had his brothers before him, to follow the sea, but the need of him at home served as a preventive to his ambition. After the return to Vineland, he worked for Oscar L. Becker, as carpenter until he entered the Borough Electrical department where he remained for the last twenty or more years of his life, becoming an invaluable member of the organization. In speaking of him, Mayor Samuel Gassell said: -- "A man of rare capabilities in the understanding of his work and the men under him, of deep and tender feelings, of unfailing gentleness and patience, and unbreakable courage." He was a member of the Masonic Lodge. He married 2nd Nov., 1903, at Trinity church, Vineland, Caroline A. (Young) Crowther, born 25th Dec., 1869, at Ollerton Hall, Nottinghamshire, England, the daughter of Joseph Broadbear and Mary (Leverton) Young, and widow of Amos Crowther, Manchester, England, who died in 1901. She resides at the Masonic Home, Burlington, N. J. No children. vii. John Inman (12), born, Manantico Road, Vineland; N. J., 28th Feb., 1876. viii. Wilton Woodville, born, Jersey City, N. J., 13th April, 1881; married 12th April, 1910; Ann Baxter, born 21st March, 1882, daughter of Charles and Catherine Baxter, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Residing in 1946, at
768 Franklin Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A. No children.
PART FIVE
10. Inman Sealby, Captain, was born in the Maryport family home where his great uncle, Thomas Henry Ismay, of the White Star Line, had lived as a, child. The Maryport Advertiser for Oct. 31, 1862 states "At 'The Ropery' on the 23rd inst., the wife of Mr. Joseph Sealby, of a son." In 1869 Mr. Sealby removed his family to Carlisle and in 1871 young Inman entered the old Grammer School of that town, where sires of Cumberland County had sent their sons since 1264, its roster containing the ever-recurring names of Senhouse, Blamire, Sealby, Ritson, Postlethwaite, Elliott, Lister, Asbridge, Inman, Lucock and Wood from around Maryport, and those of the well-known families from other sections of the county. Here, mathematics were still taught by the uncomprising aid of a heavy ferules, when that form of instruction was being given, the boys, especially the older ones, loitered outside in the courtyard waiting to see how the lesson had been born and ready to jeer the weakling. The day nine-year old Inman received such teaching, he came from it white lipped and a bit shakey as to knees, but went swaggering down the court and joined in a game of marbles. His hand was too swollen to close and an injury had been given which resulted in the permanent crippling of his little finger, yet he had lived up to his code, and therein spoke the man to be. Four years later the Sealbys were settled in a new home on the Menantico Creek, at Vineland, New Jersey, and he was attending the raw country school on Cooper's Mill road, where life long friendships were formed and the days passed uneventfully. The simple pleasures of church and school entertainments were broken, once, by the appalled joy of flinging a dead cat at a fellow student and having it land, instead, in the lap of a visiting dignitary. In 1817 a return was made to Jersey City from where, in July of the next year Inman Sealby boarded the ship "Aminta" at Brooklyn and sailed for Liverpool and the coveted life of a seaman. This began on 5th Oct. when, as the youngest of five apprentices, he joined the barque "Esmeralda"(1) of the White Star Line at South Shields bound for Newcastle, N. S. W., Valparaiso, Pisagua. and Iquique. Before the fifteen months of apprenticeship were served he had put into Callao(2) had a touch of the war between Chili and Peru and was in Liverpool again in time to sail for a Christmas in New York. The remaining four years of apprenticeship were spent on the "Dawpool", shipping to Melbourne, Calcutta, Sydney, and San Francisco with salt, horses or general merchandise. With these gears behind him, in rapid succession came the "Arabic", "Copley", "Hoghton Tower", the "Oceanic" and the China trade, with promotion keeping pace, -- making him by the time he was in command of his own vessel, the youngest captain in the service of the White Star Line. In 1895 Captain Sealby returned to San Francisco and joined the "Coptic" as her commander.(3) Three years later he was once more in Australian waters commanding the "Prusic" and the "Suevic"; in 1903 he joined the "Corinthic" for two years in the New Zealand trade, prior to Mediterian service on the "Cretic" and "Canopic". Captain Sealby won international fame through his seamanship and heroism when his ship, the great liner "Republic" was struck in a fog by the Italian S.S. "Florida"(4) and sunk. The Government authorities of the three countries involved, completely exonerated him, but pending these investigations Captain Sealby took up the study of admiralty law at the University of Michigan.(5) His graduation in 1812, was followed by a year in Europe before taking up legal duties in San Francisco, first with Morrison, Dunn & Brobeck, then in partnership with Hunt Hill. This phase of his career was brought to a close in 1917 when he took command of the German vessel O. J. D. Ahlus, renamed the "Montecello" and went through the Panama Canal to New York where, being a naturalized citizen, he received an appointment as Lieut-Commander, U.S.N.R. and made three voyages carrying troops to the war zone. In 1917 and 1918 he was appointed chairman of the Committee in Ship Damages, Newport News and Norfolk, Va., for the United States Shipping Board; after the armistice he was appointed member of a special committee under Mr. E. J. Palen(6) to proceed to Paris and arrange shipping matters for the Board, -- a commission which settled him in Rotterdam a goodly portion of the time. At the end of five years of constructive work on the Shipping Board, his task finished, Captain Sealby retired from active public life, to spend the years in travel, in England with his sister Mrs. Watkins, or in the quiet of his Vineland "Lodge" on the Menantico. Here, being intensely interested in New Jersey wild life of every kind, he busied himself in converting his holdings into a refuge not only for birds and small game but in collecting and cultivating the native plants and trees. He also took an unobtrusive but definite part in all civic concerns and reforms. In 1937 he succeeded Dr. Edwin H. Van Deusen as president of the Vineland Historical Society and was vice-president of the Cumberland County Friends of the Hancock House, positions he held until his death. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge, of the Connaught Club of London, the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, the Seven Seas Club, and had the distinction of being a member of both the Royal Navy Reserve and the United States Navy Reserve. With the coming of the Second World War, Captain Sealby by then beyond the age for renewed sea service, turned his energies into British War Relief work. Work more than once interrupted temporarily, by summons to Washington to confer personally with the President upon the condition of foreign harbors and their entrances, -- and was interrupted permanently, on the 4th of December 1942, by summons from a greater Commander. Upon the 13th of October Captain Sealby had gone to St. Mary's Hospital, in Philadelphia, for observation and treatment; there he remained, keenly interested in the progress of the war, in the personal concerns of his friends even talking cheerfully of his plans for the coming summer, -- and yet it has been said that during the long, quiet hours of the lengthening weeks "He must have heard Time's winged chariot hurrying, near and hearing, was undismayed" -- strong in the knowledge of loyal service given, of heavy tasks well borne and an abiding faith in his God. 11. Robert L. Sealby was born at "The Roperty", Maryport, England, 3rd Dec, 1863, where he lived until the family removed to nearby Carlisle in 1869, four years later crossing the water to Jersey City, N. J., U. S. A., to settle in Vineland, N.J. in 1875. He too attended the little Coopers Mill and Spring Road Schools until the family's return to Jersey City, where he was entered in the No. 4 Public School for two years. Being a Sealby, there was sea-salt in his blood so that at the age of sixteen he, as had his brother, joined the White Star Line. Of these first years he wrote, -- "My time was in -- for those days -- a, large passenger ship. We used to carry passengers to Australia under conditions that would appall the good folk who travel today. One thing; about it was that those who made the trip out, remained there, as they would not repeat the experience on a trip back. We had large crews and good chanty men, and at time those chantys come back, not as you hear them on the radio, but when the wind is high and a crack of thunder to give it zip. We had a magpie crew once, great chanty men, and one capstan chanty they gave -- I never heard it before or since, -- but have never forgotten the choras, 'And its hame, dearie, hame; oh its hame I want to be. My topsails are hoisted, and I must out to sea; For the oak, and the ash, and the bonnie birchen tree. The're all a growing green in the North Countree.' That, on a stormy night, used to bring on an attack of homesickness to the passengers, -- and a bottle of grog for the singers." He served as an officer on the ship "Houghton Tower", the bark "Mary Moore", S. S. "Volo", S. S. "Corso", bark "Norseman", bark "Philip Nelson", S. S. "Douro", S. S. "Britannic", S. S. "Republic", bark "Lottie Stewart", S.S. "Norma", bark "Parnell", S. S, "Aramac", schooner "Canomie", bark "Valparaiso", S. S. "Arawatta", S. S. "Wodonga", and S. S. "Koonawarra", retiring due to eye trouble as captain in December, 1897. The next six years were spent at Coolgardie, West Australia, where he was on the administrative staff of the gold mines "Lady Charlotte Group"and "Burbank's Birthday Gift"; also on the Committee of Coolgardie Racing Club, 1900 to 1903. From then until 1908 he was in Kalgoorlie on the staff of the "North Kalgurli" and "Brookmans Boulder" mines; a member of "Tattersalls Club" and a racehorse owner. The succeeding two years he was associated with the "British Mexican Developement Company" in Mexico City; in 1911 to Tampa, Florida, U. S. A. for two years; then Brisbane, Sydney and Saratoga, Australia, where he was in the real estate business until his retirement in 1930. During the first World War he saw active service from the 16th of March 1916 to the 2nd of April, 1920, as sergeant in the 53rd Battalion, Fifth Division, Australian Imperial Experditionary Force. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Golden Thistle No. 840 Grand Lodge of Scotland, of the Coolgardie Club, the Kalgoorlie Club, the American Club, Mexico, and the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society, Vineland, N. J. Mr. Sealby married, the 12th of May, 1924, at St. Matthews Church, Manly, New South Wales, Winifred Kingsford Smith, born 15th November, 1880, at St. George, Queensland, Australia, the daughter of William Charles and Catherine Mary (Kingsford) Smith. Mrs. Sealby is an active and ardent member of The Sydney Anti-Vivisection Society and the World League for the Protection of Animals and is also a valued contributor to the publications of both organizations. "Ladstock", their home in Saratoga, New South Wales, is named after that of Mr. Sealby's uncle John Inman Sealby, at Keswick, Cumberland, England.
(To be concluded)
1. See "Captain Sealby As I knew Him." by Henry Hands, in the Vineland Historical Magazine, Vol. xxviii, No. 1-2.
2. Through a typographical error the name was misspelled "Callas" in the article by Mr. Hands.
3. "Captain Inman Sealby -- Skipper and Friend" by Captain Leighton Robinson, Vineland Historical Magazine, Vol. 28, p. 41. Lindsay Campbell, of San Francisco in describing him at this time wrote he had "the courage of about four bulldogs, a good head . . . and not even James Hamilton Lewis maintained, for the amusement and recreation of the wind, a pinker or more luxuriant or better known crop of whiskers than did Captain Sealby, Commander of the liner "Coptic."
4. "Captain Inman Sealby." By Jack Binns, Vineland Historical Magazine, Vol. 28, p. 48. One of the passengers stated later: -- "There was nothing overlooked, nothing done in panic. Why, when we were standing out on deck many of us with nothing but our wet nightgowns clinging to us, the stewards came around and served hot coffee to everyone. . . . They were all as cheerful as though no danger threatened, and Captain Sealby made a point of passing among us, in between all his other duties, every few minutes, heartening everybody up, -- telling of the boats that were coming and there was not the slightest chance of our not being saved. He was almost jovial about it. I think he saved a lot of people from going crazy."
5. "Captain Inman Sealby at the University of Michigan Law School." By Henry M. Bates. Vineland Historical Magazine, Vol. 28, p. 51.
6. "Inman Sealby - The Companion." By J. F. Marias. Vineland Historical Magazine, Vol. 28, p. 54.