Joseph Peabody

Joseph Peabody was born in Middleton, Massachusetts, on December 9, 1757. He was the ninth of twelve children. His parents were Francis Peabody and Margaret Knight Peabody. At the age of 8, he was sent to his sister’s farm in Boxford, Massachusetts. There he worked with his sister Ruth and her husband Joseph Curtis, staying with them for nearly a dozen years. At the age of twenty, he made a decision that would change the direction his life had seemed to be taking. He went to Salem and signed on to Elias Hasket Derby’s privateer Bunker Hill. This opened up the sea as his lifetime career. During the Revolutionary War, Peabody made eight voyages on privateers. He and other crew members of the vessel Fish Hawk were captured and imprisoned on board a ship which was anchored of the coast of Newfoundland. While he was imprisoned, Peabody attended an informal school led by another prisoner. In between two later voyages, he was tutored by Rev. Elias Smith of Middleton for a year in the reading, writing and the art of polite conversation. This was the entirety of his formal education.

In 1791, Joseph Peabody married Katharine Smith, the minister’s daughter. By this time, he had been promoted to first mate following his defense of the ship Ranger against pirates of the coast of Virginia, and after two more voyages, being given command of a vessel owned by Jonathan Gardner Jr. of Salem. He retired from the sea in 1793, entering into successful partnerships as a merchant with Thomas Parker and Gideon Tucker. Katharine died in 1793. A little more than two years later, Joseph married her sister Elizabeth. This couple had children: Joseph Augustus, Charles, Francis, Francis, George, Charles Frederick and Catherine.

Joseph built and owned eighty three ships in his lifetime. He engaged in the China trade and continued the pepper trade between Salem and Sumatra. He used his wealth for philanthropy and was the wealthiest sea merchant in Salem between the Embargo of 1807 and his death in 1844.

The Peabody family lived at 136 Essex Street in Salem during three seasons of the year. In the summer months, they moved to Danvers and lived on a farm known now as Glen Magna. Joseph Peabody also owned a wharf and a counting house near the intersection of present day Derby Street and Hawthorne Boulevard.

Joseph Peabody was noted for his prudence and strong will, as well as his foresight. There is an account of an election campaign by one of his descendants where a bit of a different picture was painted. The candidate was asked: “Be you Augustus Peabody Gardner?” “Yes sir.” “Be you the grandson of Joseph Peabody of Salem?’ “No, sir. I am his great grandson.” “Be you as mean as he was?”  Unfortunately, we don’t have the answer to this question!

Joseph Peabody died on January 5, 1844, at the age of 86. He was buried at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Chapel Ave, Lot 49, Grave 7.

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Photo: AmericanAristocracy.com

Sources Consulted:

• Crowninshield, William. Captain Joseph Peabody: East India Merchant of Salem (1757-1844): A Record of His Ships and of His Family. Edited and compiled by Walter Muir Whitehill. Salem: Peabody Museum, 1962.
• McAllister, Jim. "Joseph Peabody: One of Salem’s Wealthiest Men." Salem News, March 11, 2013.
• Wikipedia.