Polynesian Family Links

MY FAMILY LINKS TO POLYNESIA by Wayne Dixon It’s no wonder that the Pinkham name is linked to the islands of the sea. The surname may have originated on the British island known as the Isle of Wight which is a fitting beginning for those who later ventured from Nantucket to the South Seas. Richard Pinkham of Dover, New Hampshire, was the first forebear to land on American shores with Captain Wiggins in 1633 and records show that he signed the 1640 government founding document. His children spread from Maine to Massachusetts, including Nantucket Island in 1680. I am descended through my Grandmother, Bertha Pinkham Dixon, from those who went to Maine. Others who went to Nantucket Island in Massachusetts intermarried with other Quaker families of the island, including the Folgers, Macys, Mitchells, Coffins, Gardners, Delanos, Swaines, and Starbucks who all took up whaling as an occupation. According to historian Alexander Starbuck, this endeavor began quite by chance when a whale came close to the island and was resourcefully harvested for its oil and blubber. From then on the Nantucket men went out to sea in search of more whales, a venture immortalized by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. One whaler kinsman by marriage, Timothy Folger, was Benjamin Franklin’s cousin, who described the warmer water Atlantic Gulf Stream that Franklin later famously mapped for posterity. Farther asea these kinsmen went in search of whales all across the Atlantic into the Pacific where they, too, left their mark on the map. These Yankees rounded South America’s Cape Horn by 1791. Mayhew Folger, son of William Folger and Ruth Coffin and uncle to abolitionist Lucretia Mott,rediscovered Pitcairn Island in 1806 to rescue the last survivor of the Bounty rebels against Captain Bligh. Another Folger, Captain Elisha Folger,crossed the Equator in 1818 into Micronesian waters to sight today’s white sands Baker’s Island, although it was named New Nantucket by Obed Starbuck in 1825. Were these men homesick or not? Today Baker Island is part of the Phoenix group of the wildlife preservation islands of Kiribati, although during World War II it saw plenty of action. This Obed Starbuck got around to other islands including Starbuck Island of the former Equatorial Islands, now known as the Line Islands, also part of Kiribati. Obed visited South Sea islands Niutao and Vaitupu, and spent time mapping Tuvalu. Kinsman Richard Macy occupied himself discovering Macy’s Island, and possibly Sydney’s Island. Or was that James C. Swain? Even Jeremiah Reynold’s 1828 report to the United States House of Representatives could not untangle their claims to fame. And where was Loo Choo Island? Somewhere off the coast of Japan? Thanks to Amelia Earhart, everyone knows where Nikumaroro Island is, where Earhart crashed headed for Howland Island. According to rumor her cosmetic kit was found there with her broken mirror compact. It was either Captain Joshua Gardner or Joshua Coffin who named this spot Gardner Island, kinsmen all and on the same ship owned by Gideon Gardner in 1825. Joshua’s kinsman James Coffin had already been credited with finding Enderby’s Island in 1823 aboard the “Ganges.” What about Edward Gardner of Wake Island fame, or even George Washington Gardner’s credit for his 1824 discovery of Maria Island? What about whaler Valentine Starbuck who transported the last King of Hawaii, Kamehamea II to London in 1823? Unfortunately the king never made it home, stricken with measles. And Valentine was sued for not bringing home the whales. But Valentine was not forgotten, having an island named for him. But no historian should miss Lucius Pinkham who left San Francisco for Honolulu and found a job in a hardware store. Through hard work, perseverance, and the favor of President Woodrow Wilson he was appointed governor of Captain Cook’s Sandwich Islands which by then had declared its independence as the Territory of Hawaii in 1913. If by chance you visit Waikiki and book a skyscraper hotel room, you can thank the Pinkham clan for Lucius’ planning the Ala Wai Canal that made it all possible, draining the swamps of Honolulu. If you should have a Starbuck’s coffee in hand as you walk Waikiki’s sand, remember poor kinsman Valentine Starbuck, stuck with all that debt. At least he had an island named in his honor, Starbucks Island, and his surname survives in your hand. How many can claim that?