Voyages: 1861-1871
Ship: Valetta, Annie W. Weston
Sally Freeman Dawes was born in Duxbury, MA, and is the daughter of Bradford and Waity (Winsor) Freeman. She grew up on her father’s farm on Standish Street in South Duxbury. In 1842, she married Capt. Josephus Dawes (1819-1910), one of three seafaring brothers from the Island Creek area of Duxbury. Letters written by Sally to her husband during their first two years of marriage demonstrate her desire to go to sea and her longing for her husband’s company. These letters are also a wealth of information about the voyages of other mariners’ wives from the town. Josephus Dawes was a very successful captain and, after boarding with her family for a few years, purchased a house for his wife and family at 158 Tremont Street. In this home, they raised their children: Eunice (b. 1848), Wilfred (b. 1849), and Frank (b. 1854).
The first mention we have of Sally going to the sea is from her son’s memoirs, which begin with his voyage aboard the Valetta in 1861 and mention his mother. She made a more extended voyage (1869-1871) aboard the clipper ship Annie W. Weston. Also onboard this trip was her son, Fred, as second mate, son Frank, as a seaman, and daughter, Eunice. Eunice fell in love with the ship’s English steward, Henry Tanner, and once onshore, they married and opened a restaurant in Haverhill, MA.
An interesting event occurred during Sally’s time on the Annie W. Weston. The ship was chartered to bring supplies to Howland’s Island in the Pacific Ocean. Today, Howland’s Island is best known for its association with the aviator Amelia Earhart. In 1937, Earhart was to have re-fueled on the island during her trans-world attempted flight. She never arrived. In 1869, however, the island had only recently been discovered to hold a cache of fertilizer made of dead coral and was occupied by a few men mining the resource. Sally Dawes was the first woman known to have stepped foot on the island, almost 70 years before Earhart’s fateful flight.
Sally Freeman Dawes died at age 71 and is buried in Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury, MA. Her sister, Nancy Freeman Soule; sister-in-law, Eliza T. Clark Freeman; and three of her sisters-in-law also appear on this list.
Sources:
Dawes Family Collection, DAL.MSS.004
