Nathaniel Silsbee Jr.

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Nathaniel Silsbee Jr.

| image =

| caption =

| state_house =

| district =

| term_start =

| term_end =

| preceded =

| office2 = Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts

| term_start2 = 1858

| term_end2 = 1859

| predecessor2 = William S. Messervy

| successor2 = Stephen Palfrey Webb

| term_start3 = 1849

| term_end3 = 1851

| predecessor3 = Joseph S. Cabot

| successor3 = David Pingree

| order4 = Member of the Salem
Board of Aldermen

| term_start4 = 1851

| term_end4 = 1852

| birth_date = {{birthdate|1804|12|28}}

| birth_place = Salem, Massachusetts

| death_date = {{death date and age|1881|7|9|1804|12|28}}

| death_place = Milton, Massachusetts

| nationality =

| birthname =

| party = Whig

| parents = Nathaniel Silsbee
Mary Crowninshield

| relations = Jared Sparks (brother-in-law)

| spouse = {{marriage|Mary Ann Cabot Devereux
|1829|1881|reason=died}}

| children =

| residence =

| alma_mater = Harvard College

| profession =

| website =

}}

Nathaniel Silsbee Jr. (December 28, 1804 – July 9, 1881) was a Massachusetts businessman and politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and twice as the Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, and was for many years the treasurer of Harvard.{{Citation |author=Essex Institute| title = Essex Institute Historical Collections |volume=XV |issue=July and October 1878 (Nos 3, 4) | page =304 | publisher=The Essex Institute| location = Salem, Ma. | year = 1878}}

Early life

Silsbee was born on December 28, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was the son of former U.S. Senator Nathaniel Silsbee and Mary ({{nee}} Crowninshield) Silsbee. His sister, Mary Crowninshield Silsbee, was the wife of Jared Sparks, the 17th President of Harvard College, and another sister, Georgiana Crowninshield Silsbee, was the wife of Francis Henry Appleton and Henry Saltonstall.{{cite book |title=Report of the Harvard University Class of 1869 |date=1919 |publisher=Harvard University |page=1 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report/kiZOAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA1 |access-date=10 December 2024 |language=en}}

His paternal grandparents were Sarah ({{nee}} Becket) Silsbee and Capt. Nathaniel Silsbee, and his maternal grandparents were Mary ({{nee}} Derby) Crowninshield and Capt. George Crowninshield, one of Salem's wealthiest merchants.{{cite book |last1=Wagner-Wright |first1=Sandra |title=Ambition, Arrogance & Pride: Families & Rivals in 18th Century Salem |date=26 April 2023 |publisher=Bublish, Inc. |isbn=978-1-7354132-1-1 |page=5 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ambition_Arrogance_Pride/i6W7EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT5 |access-date=10 December 2024 |language=en}} Among his extended family were maternal uncles, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Williams Crowninshield, U.S. Representative Jacob Crowninshield,{{cite book |last1=Salem |first1=Peabody Museum of |title=One Hundredth Anniversary of the Building of "Cleopatra's Barge" 1816-1916: Catalog of the Commemorative Exhibition Held at the Peabody Museum ... July 17-September 30, 1916 |date=1916 |publisher=Peabody Museum |page=10 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/One_Hundredth_Anniversary_of_the_Buildin/galAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA10 |access-date=10 December 2024 |language=en}} and George Crowninshield Jr., who owned Cleopatra's Barge, the first yacht to cross the Atlantic.{{cite book|last1=Crowninshield|first1=George|title=The Story of George Crowninshield's Yacht, Cleopatra's Barge: On a Voyage of Pleasure to the Western Islands and the Mediterranean, 1816-1817|date=1913|publisher=Private Print.|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofgeorgecro1913crow|page=[https://archive.org/details/storyofgeorgecro1913crow/page/19 19]|access-date=June 29, 2017|language=en}}

Silsbee graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. degree in 1824 and an A.M. degree in 1862.

Career

Silsbee served as the 5th Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts,{{Citation|last=Capen|first=Naphen| title =The Massachusetts State Record and Year Book of General Information 1850, Vol. IV| page = 279 | publisher=James French| location = Boston, MA | year = 1850}} from 1849 to 1850,{{Citation|last=Capen|first=Naphen| title =The Massachusetts State Record and Year Book of General Information 1851 Vol. V| page = 297 | publisher=James French| location = Boston, MA | year = 1851}} and, again, as the 11th Mayor of Salem from 1858 to 1859.{{Citation|last=Hurd|first=Duane Hamilton| title =History of Essex County, Massachusetts: with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Volume 1, Issue 1| page = 225 | publisher=J.W. Lewis & Co.| location = Philadelphia, PA | year = 1888}}{{Citation|last=Hurd|first=Duane Hamilton| title =History of Essex County, Massachusetts: with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Volume 1, Issue 1| page = 227 | publisher=J.W. Lewis & Co.| location = Philadelphia, PA | year = 1888}} From 1851 to 1852, he was also a member of the Salem, Massachusetts Board of Aldermen.{{Citation|author=Salem City Council| title =Municipal register, for 1867| page = 18 | publisher=City of Salem| location = Salem, MA | year = 1867}}

He was also a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the Essex district in 1833, 1846 and in the extra special session called in 1848 to choose presidential electors. He also served as treasurer of Harvard College from 1862 to 1876 during the presidency of Thomas Hill and Charles William Eliot.

Personal life

File:Salem Harbor Fitz Hugh Lane.jpeg oil on canvas, 1853. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]

On November 9, 1829,Salem Marriages - Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 page 295 Silsbee married Mary Ann Cabot Devereux (1812–1889), a daughter of Humphrey Devereux and Eliza ({{nee}} Dodge) Devereux, in Salem.{{cite web |last1=Institution |first1=Smithsonian |title=Mary Ann Cabot Devereux (1812-1889), (painting) |url=https://www.si.edu/object/mary-ann-cabot-devereux-1812-1889-painting%3Asiris_ari_169022 |website=www.si.edu |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=10 December 2024 |language=en}} Her brother was Adj. Gen. George Humphrey Devereux (father of Arthur F. Devereux). Together, they were the parents of:{{cite book |title=The New England Historical and Genealogical Register |date=1920 |publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society |pages=206-208 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_England_Historical_and_Genealogi/wihAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA207 |access-date=10 December 2024 |language=en}}

Nathaniel Devereaux Silsbee (1830–1912), who married Mary Stone Hodges, a daughter of George Hodges, in 1856.
Mary Crowninshield Silsbee (1840–1928), who married Frederick Augustus Whitwell, a son of Samuel Whitwell, in 1861.
William Edward Silsbee (1845–1908), who never married.

He was also a collector of art, and acquired the 1853 painting, Salem Harbor, from the artist Fitz Henry Lane.{{cite web |title=Salem Harbor |url=https://collections.mfa.org/objects/33831 |website=collections.mfa.org |publisher=Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |access-date=10 December 2024 |language=en}}

Silsbee died in Milton, Massachusetts on July 9, 1881.