Mary Catherine Stanley A Seafaring Woman

Mary Catherine Stanley

1847 – 1920

A Seafaring Woman

Mary Catherine Stanley is my third cousin three times removed.  We both descend from Sans Stanley (1702 – 1796) from Beverly, MA and his wife Mary Charder who was from Marblehead. I have started researching my Standley/Stanley line that originated in Beverly and Marblehead and ventured to the Cranberry Islands off the coast of Maine.  That in itself I find to be very interesting story. The Cranberry Isles is a small grouping of five islands south east of Mount Desert Island. Most of the inhabitants of the Island were fisherman.  Some lived there year round and some returned to their homes in Massachusetts during the winter months.  I have been to the Cranberry Islands several times and walked around their homesteads. Most of the family that lived in Maine removed the “d” from their name while those in Marblehead were known as Standley.

 Mary Catherine never resided in Marblehead but I found her to have a most interesting and adventurous life, a woman ahead of her time and her life story needs to be shared. In 2001 The Great Cranberry Island Historical Society decided it was time to tell the story of Carrie Richardson and a play was written about her. It seems, just as I found, the Islanders found “a real mystique to her life.”  While they were researching her life a local resident was looking through a dumpster and in a box under an old rope, found some of Carrie’s letters and papers, it was as if Carrie had arranged this and wanted her story told.

Mary Catherine was known as “Carrie” or “Caz” throughout her life.  She was the first of ten children born to Enoch Boynton Stanley and Caroline Guptill on November 3, 1847 on Large Cranberry Island. She grew up and attended schools on Cranberry Island but as a young girl she would accompany her father on his fishing vessels making trips to Boston and Gloucester in the fall to deliver their cured fish and to return with supplies they would need for the winter.  As most people did at this time Enoch changed his profession depending on the economy and season. He would spend part of the time fishing in Maine and then go to Boston or New York.  This gave Carrie the opportunity to leave the island and attend college in Boston.  This was rare for girls at this time; it was just the beginning of believing that women were worthy of an education.  It is unknown what college she attended or what her studies entailed. She was an excellent writer and wrote many poems but never lost her love of the sea. One of the courses she studied was Celestial Navigation, most likely the only woman in the class.

It is assumed that while she was in Boston she met Meltiah Richardson and at the age of 23 on August 3, 1870 Carrie married Capt. Meltiah Jordan Richardson who was twenty years older than Carrie.   He called her ”Cass” and she called him “Mell.” Carrie was his second wife, his first being Sarah Hadlock Spurling, (another large family living on Cranberry Island), who he married in 1833.  They had 4 children and then were divorced. 

Capt. Richardson was born June 22, 1828 in Tremont, ME and he became a fairly successful master of coasting and ocean going vessels.  After he married Carrie she started going to sea with him. While it wasn’t common for a wife to travel with her husband it was not unheard of either.  This was the height of the Victorian era, when the deck of the ship and its crew were considered unfit for women and mingling with the crew was frowned upon.  Most of the seafaring wives stayed down in a cabin mending clothes, reading, writing journals, embroidery and occasionally they would perform basic paperwork duties of the ship, including keeping the log. But not Carrie, because of her education and course work in Celestial Navigation she was very helpful on the seas. Prior to having Carrie on board most of Meltiah’s navigation was done by dead reckoning and a lot of prayers, I assume. In 1874 Meltiah had a three mast schooner of 283 tons built in Southwest Harbor by Henry E. Newman.  He named her Carrie M. Richardson.  

Carrie and Meltiah had their first son, Emery Willard Richardson on July 22, 1873 at Cranberry Island. Having a baby did not stop Carrie from taking to the seas.  The small family often traveled together.  It was around 1876 that Carrie began to tire of the seafaring life.  She wrote a letter to her father in which she debates whether she would continue to join her husband on his trips.  She was developing new interests and in addition to her writing she learned to play the piano. She did make several short trips with Mell for the next few years but mainly just to Boston.  On one trip she returned with a new box piano.

In 1883 things would change for the Richardson family.  Carrie and Meltiah had left on a voyage leaving Emery, ten years old and enrolled in the Great Cranberry School in the care of Carrie’s parents.  Carrie and Mell were in Boston when they received word that Emery had contracted a sudden fever and died on October 8, 1883.   Records show that in the same year, most likely out of grief Meltiah sold his boat. 

The next two years were hard for the family as Mell’s health began to deteriorate.  He and Carrie left Cranberry Island when he bought shares on a grocery business in Boston.  This life was not for him as he began drinking and his health continued to decline.  They were shocked when in 1888, five years after Emery’s death and at the age of forty, Carrie discovered she was pregnant. They moved back to Cranberry Island and back into the crowded Stanley House.  Charles Emery Richardson was born into a troubled marriage on  January 14, 1885 at Cranberry Island.  He was known throughout his life as “Peter.”  He became a lobsterman and died July 14, 1971.  Carrie brought him up as best she good but he proved to be a troubled child.

Meltiah was not happy with his life especially fatherhood at the age of sixty.  He did some fishing on local boats but never commanded his own vessel.  He developed dizzy spells and was entrenched in misery. His drinking continued to be a problem.

On May 23, 1902, Carrie’s younger brother Arno was leaving the Stanley residence, early in the morning when he noticed the body of Meltiah floating in the water.  Meltiah had a key in his pocket which led family to a locked trunk in the house.  Inside the trunk was a signed document requesting the treasurer of the Portland Savings Bank turn everything in his accounts over to Carrie. At the age of 73, Meltiah had committed suicide by leaping off the Stanley dock.  He is buried in the Stanley Cemetery next to his son Emery.

Carrie moved on with her life and for the next nineteen years entrenched herself in the daily life on Cranberry Island. Letters that were found show her to be tough minded, witty and extremely intelligent.  She became a clerk in the Union Meeting House and fought to get it reopened after it closed in the early 1900’s.  She also battled to protect the Stanley Cemetery when the land was sold. Carrie lived out the rest of her years in the Stanley House collecting books and hymns and writing poetry.  She died October 11, 1920 at 72 years of age.  The Stanley House is still standing today. 

A quote from an article about Carrie:  “ She had to be brave and she was. She was extremely well rounded and had female instincts at some points and male instincts at another.  She was always willing to take the challenge.”

One of her poems which was found in a letter she wrote home:

When far away my friend you go,

Will you one thought on me bestow

And let your memory oft retain

The hours we’ve spent on C. Isles Maine

Remember me when far away

As I will every think of thee.