FROM OFF ISLAND: The Story of My Grandmother

Capt. James Cleaveland brought home a bride from Australia to Martha's Vine-yard in 1852. This is the story of the way she met the snubs and disapproval, of how she moved out on her mother-in-law and made her own friends, of a 5-year's voyage with her husband, of parenthood, of returning to the island and keeping her husband out of entangling alliances. Based on old records, papers, family notes, and ships' logs. Good authentic material of whaling days, of boats under sail, of island life that was quick to condemn and slow to commend, and of Irish Mary's pluck.