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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, October 13, 2013, pg. 18. There is special exhibition being held this entire month at the Klemm Gallery at Sienna Heights University in Adrian featuring the photography of the late Mary Joe (Romanchuk) Young (1934-1992) of Albion. Mary Joe was a photojournalist for the Albion Evening Recorder for many years and also the Battle Creek Enquirer. I encourage our readers to make the excursion sometime this month to see this exhibition. It is open Tuesdays through Fridays in October from 9 am to 4 pm, and on Sundays from noon until 4 pm. Call (517) 264-7860 for further information. The website is www.studioangelico.com. Overlooking Riverside Cemetery is the millpond of the Kalamazoo River. It is still used by fishermen today, as well as kayakers and canoeists. There are a variety of fish that can be found in its waters, but there are no whales there "last I looked." I mention that because on the hill in the cemetery overlooking the millpond in Section 21 is buried a whale ship captain: Seth Worth. Seth (1798-1874) was a native of Nantucket, Massachusetts. His parents were Uriah and Elizabeth (Mayhew) Worth. His ancestors were among the original settlers of Nantucket back in 1662. Uriah was the son of Christopher, the son of Jonathan, the son of John, the son of the original Worth settler William. The men in the family were whalers by profession and the family trade was passed down from generation to generation. Numerous accounts about the Worth's can be found in various sources on the internet and other sources. The Worth's Islands Latitude 80 43' North and Longitude 151' 30' East is named after a relative of Seth, Captain William Worth. Also related to the Worth's was the Macy family which intermarried in various generations. There is much information about these families on the internet. Seth served as a Captain on a whaling ship in his younger days. He later became a tailor, and then a merchant running the family store for about 20 years. In 1828 he married Merib Macy of the Macy whaling family. In 1830 the couple purchased the Robert Hussey house at 12 Westminster St. there in Nantucket and lived there for eight years. This home is still standing today as an historical site. The family moved to Michigan, but unfortunately Seth's wife died in 1856. He subsequently remarried, this time to Lydia Macy (I'm assuming a sister of his first wife) who helped raise the children of the first wife. Seth died on March 6, 1874 at the age of 76 and was buried here in Riverside alongside of his first wife. Lydia later moved to Grays Harbor, Washington. How did Seth and his wife happen to end up in Albion and be buried at Riverside? I don't know, as no newspapers have survived listing any obituary giving us details. But Seth's mother was a Mayhew, and Ira Mayhew was an early Albion College president, whose ancestry also traces back to Nantucket. Whatever the case, from our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of the broken tombstone of Captain Seth Worth and his first wife Merib in Riverside Cemetery. Notice his title says "Cap't" on the stone, signifying his occupational role, rather than being a military veteran. Special thanks to researcher Norma Feller for her help with this article.  The broken tombstone of Captain Seth Worth All text copyright, 2024 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
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