The Old Ship Meetinghouse

Hingham, Massachusetts ~ May 6, 2006

Interior, photos, and history

A drawing from Thomas Joy and His Descendants

Wikipedia / The Old Ship Church history page

Where does the name come from? The huge wooden beams inside are reminiscent of those used in ship-building. I didn't get a chance to see the inside, because it was late in the day when we visited.

"The Old Ship Church is the oldest meetinghouse in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States" [see The Old Ship Church link above] and is "the only remaining 17th century Puritan meetinghouse in America." It is also famous for its hammerbeam roof, constructed in a bold Gothic style. The Washington Post said, "Within the church, 'the ceiling, made of great oak beams, looks like the inverted frame of a ship.' "

At least two of my immigrant ancestors, Thomas Joy and his wife, Joan Gallop, are buried behind the church along with ancestors of Abraham Lincoln and are still listed on web sites as notable burials in the churchyard. I'll post photos of the cemetery in future blog entries. After arriving in the New World in 1635, Thomas Joy, a carpenter, made his home in Boston, where he built wharves and a number of other buildings. Although styled as "a carpenter," he in fact became one of the area's most prominent builders and architects. He built the first Town-House (Town Hall) in Boston "from his own design," which we know from an extant contract dated 1657. The Town House burned down in 1711 and was replaced by The Old State House.

The building of the Town-House in Boston took place after Joy's return to Boston. He had moved to Hingham (about 12 miles from Boston) about 1646 to enlarge a grist mill and establish a sawmill, and had stayed for a number of years. He had been persecuted in Boston by Governor Winthrop because Joy had signed a petition to grant suffrage to a greater number of men than had been allowed under the colonial government which, "since 1631 had restricted the right of suffrage to the members of the local Puritan churches, excluding more than three-fourths of the adult male population from any participation in public affairs." [Thomas Joy and His Descendants, p. 14, by James Richard Joy.] Thomas Joy had acquired property in both locations, but died in Hingham in 1678.

Thomas died a few years before the 1681 construction date given for The Old Ship Meeting House, but it has many features of Boston's first Town House, which Thomas Joy designed and built. The 1681 Old Ship replaced a "first rude meetinghouse." I don't see Thomas Joy listed anywhere in conjunction with the design of The Old Ship Meetinghouse, but his influence was certainly felt and emulated.

I would also like to honor the memory of Bradner (Brad) Petersen, and thank him posthumously for compiling and writing the book, Ancestry of the Jameson,Gilbert, Joy, Skinner and Related Families, which has been and continues to be such a tremendous resource for me.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Kate . . .

Sheryl says, "Somewhere between blogging and scrapbooking and learning about Cascading Style Sheets, there must be a common denominator about organization and expression."

Kate says, "I wish there were a Quote of the Day board I could post this on, because it contains a key to life. I'm sure of it."

Sheryl says, "T. katii, do you want me to set up a blog for you? I know how now :-p"

A rock fish in Newport

I LOVE watching fish under water, and I'm learning to take pictures of them. Here's a nice rock fish of some kind at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, March 11, 2006. Taking pictures is much easier when you're out of the water and the fish is behind glass, but someday I want to learn how to take pictures while snorkeling. I think I finally figured it out as far as the aquarium pictures go. Hopefully next underwater viewing, more of the images will be in focus.

Lee and I drove down from Astoria on an incredibly beautiful windblown day. The sea was high, the waves were crashing and foaming. The photos don't do justice to the day, but I'll try to post some soon anyway. The Oregon coast is stunning.

The Flavel House Museum, Astoria, Oregon

This is one corner of the Flavel House, one of Astoria's most prominent and most attractive landmarks. One of the things I find most interesting about it is that it was built about a year before my grandmother's house in Corona, but about "that much" more ostentatiously.

If a moulding was 8 inches tall in her house, it was 10 inches tall in the Flavel house. I haven't measured, I'm just saying the Flavel House, although in about the same style, was a little more showy. I think by square footage, Grandma's house was a lot bigger, but I don't know for sure. Looks can be deceiving and I'm not used to measuring property. Her house, built by her grandfather, George Lewis Joy, was considered "the finest house in Corona." It also had a lot of land with it, and fruit trees. The Flavel house was certainly that to Astoria. Well, what happened to Grandma's house will take a lot longer to tell than I want to write tonight, and it's best left for other posts, but its destruction is one of the reasons I wanted to tour this house in Astoria - in some way, it must give a similar impression to the one given by her place in its heyday, which was over before I was born. I always wondered what the house had looked like, felt like, and been like to live in. And I've always regretted what happened to it.

It's hard to get a picture of the whole Flavel house without getting the power lines. Today I opted for a partial view and no wires. I've posted more pictures of the Flavel House in one of my web albums.

Dad's resting place in Prescott, Arizona

This is where Dad's ashes are interred in the memorial garden next to the Methodist Church in Prescott, Arizona. His marker is on the far left.