Starbuck History

NEW YORK PATTERN

Having good craftsmen among them and experience in building (this was their
fourth town) they soon set up workshops and began the present Milford Haven,
which was planned after the pattern of New Amsterdam, now New York. You may
see the nucleus of the idea to this day in the three straight streets running parallel
to the water-front, joined by three short streets at right angles. It was not a good
plan for the site on the cliff, because the short streets had to climb up at gradients
which daunt even a modern motor car. The long streets have now changed their
names, but were originally called Front, Middle, and Back Street.

Greville remained a staunch friend, jeopardizing his own fortune for the
advancement of the scheme. His reputation in after days was dubious but his
letters to the Quakers show how far more attractive a character he was than has
been supposed. He reaped no personal benefit from his disinterested efforts, but
had the happiness of seeing the town grow and thrive. The community went on
whaling for another 50 years because, as one of them said, it brought "a vast
quantity of coin drawn from the bottom of the great deep."

Milford Haven is a much larger place today (1957) and it appears likely that in days
to come tall derricks, tankers, and pipe-lines will appear upon its edges. Filled, this
time, with oil taken from the depths of the earth and just as eagerly welcomed.

NOTE:

(The east anglian connection is almost certainly erroneous by present day
research in records and what we now know about the Starbuck family- there are
therefore possible errors in other areas of this account as does differ in some
ways from others I have read. It is however of great interest as it covers the how
and the why that the Whalers should move themselves back to the U.K. - It does
give one the idea that they all came back but that is not so as demonstrated by the
number of descendents in the U.S. to this day who are descendents of the original
pioneers.

EAST ANGLIAN ORIGIN

Their story is an heroic one.

Edward Starbuck, a leading Friend in East Anglia,

(refer to note at end)

tired of persecution, had set sail with his family from this country in an open boat in
1651, hoping to find liberty of conscience in the New World. They landed in New
England, settled, and were joined by other Friends. Becoming whale-fishers they
prospered greatly and built themselves a town. But later their unothodox views
about baptism made them once more a target for persecution and they were
compelled to move.

So they sailed off again and came to Nantucket Island. Here they landed, made
friends with the Indian Chief Saskan, purchased part of the island, and having built
a second town, busied themselves with trades and agriculture as well as whale-
hunting. Soon they were exporting their whale-oil to light the lamps in London
streets.

Nearly a hundred years passed peacebly. Then came the rude alarm of war and the
revolt of the American colonists. Nantucket remained neutral, but the whaling
ships could not sail to Britain and the little community, which was loyal to the old
country, saw itself pillaged and plundered on every side.

After petitioning the authorities of both parties for protection and finding none they
resolved to move once more. And this time they chose Nova Scotia, still under
British rule, as their refuge. But all was to no purpose. Enemies of various kinds
attacked them and the little town they had built was soon in dire distress, for their
oil was now contraband of war and could not be sent to their agents in London, nor
could their schooners venture out to sea.

So this small body of Quakers, unable either to remain in Nova Scotia or return to
Nantucket, and with thousands of gallons of oil on their hands, held a solemn
meeting. There they decided to send a deputy to the Old country. He was Samuel
Starbuck, great-grandson of the pioneer. How or why we do not know, but this
young man met Charles Francis Greville, nephew to Sir William Hamilton.

Greville had a dream project. Visiting his uncles's estates, which lay along the edge
of the sea in Pembrokeshire, he had been struck by the idea of converting the quiet
creeks at the adjoining villages of Milford and Nangle (where the lighthouse now
stands) into a great harbour for deep water vessels: in fact, of turning the little
fishing villages into a naval base. His uncle had mentioned the matter to members
of the Government, and all concerned were agreeable.

VALIANT WHALERS

One problem remained - who should do the work? And then someone brought him
news of the valiant Nantucket whalers whose envoy was in town and whose skill
and workmanship had brought them renown in the late American colony. He invited
Samuel to "take a bit of mutton" with him at his house on the north side of
Paddington Green.

Samuel accepted the invitation and, before the meal was over, had agreed to return
at once to Nova Scotia and offer the community of Friends sheltering there the
work of building a port which might become the centre for their business as whale
fishers. All expenses were to be borne by the British Government, which was soon
warmly interested.

The whalers accepted the offer and, having made a few wise provisos, set sail. The
men, to the number of 182 came in their 13 schooners, while the women and
children were brought over in British vessels. They arrived at Milford in the autumn
of 1793 and were housed in neighbouring mansions.

Greville, in the meanwhile had arranged with Sir William Hamilton and others to
have artisans ready and bricks, timber, and stone upon the spot so that building
could begin forthwith. Quays were the first thing constructed, then an inn, then
docks, and lastly, houses and a meeting house.

"Tell me how Wales was made so happy as to inherit such a haven," said
Shakespeare, speaking of Milford long ago; and the haven, though no more a
placid creek with villages along its banks, is still beautiful and peaceful. It is,
indeed, one of those ancient places which, owing to some allusion in poem,
history or fiction, though small and insignificant in space or time, are securely
fixed in the the country of the spirit.

Built of prosaic brick, the town faces a magnificent expanse of blue water, its
street a little tame and drab, but its sea-promenade a fine stretch of road where
the stranger may walk eithe rto the ancient inn (which Nelson visited) or else
may visit the lighthouse and hear a very ancient and historic tale. For it was
near the lighthouse that Henry, Earl of Richmond, the first of England's Tudor
Kings, returning from exile in Brittany, landed to claim the crown

Milford was a tiny village in those days. The town was really founded in the year
1793 by enterprising Quaker fishermen from Nantucket Island. Men who spent
their years chasing the whale or taming the uncultivated earth of their island
home.

Thinking of them the stranger visiting Milford may walk up the town to see the
old Meeting House which still stands back in a quiet street Iit is a simple, well-lit
room, furnished with an oak rostrum and few narrow benches. Trees wave
outside the windows, for there is a high walled leafy yard where you may see,
half buried in grass, headstones bearing the initials of Grandmother Abigail
Starbuck and her husband Samuel, as well as many others - Folgers, Colemans,
Mayhews, whose names still linger.