Whipping up a cauldron of "sauce" after a little "healing," eh?

The summary of an 1875 letter from a man in San Francisco to his mother and sisters in Salem, Massachusetts:  "Letter discusses Hooper's work as a 'magnetic healer,' his wife's healing, and his preparations to enter the sauce business."

Good thing Hooper wasn't born a few centuries earlier (or, at least, that he didn't practice his potentially "witch-like" activities in his hometown were he alive in the days of the Salem Witch Trials).

Don't mess with a ghost ship...

In the summary section of a card:  "Material concerning the 1990 attempt of the trimaran Great American to challenge the San Francisco-to-Boston record of the clipper ship Northern Light.  Great American was co-skippered by Marblehead sailor Rich Wilson."

One needn't wonder long on the outcome of the endeavor when glancing at the subject section:  "Clipper-ships," "Sailing," "Shipwrecks."

Great American II

The two-member team attempting to break the 1853 record of Northern Light (76 days and six hours) were tossed in the turbulence of a storm not far west of Cape Horn (that is, just before rounding the southern bend towards Boston) and Great American capsized on Thanksgiving Day (later being turned upright by the storm--a first in recorded history).  The ship was lost, the two men were saved, and Northern Light kept its record until 1993 when Wilson and a different shipmate broke the standing record on Great American II (completing the journey in 69 days, 20 hours).

For more on the 1990 event, see Rich Wilson's telling of the adventure.

200 years later and Obediah still can't shake that "alkie" label...

In the early-1800's records of the Society for Suppressing Intemperance (in Massachusetts):  "Contains minutes of committees, list of drunkards and a copy of the constitution."

A one-line tale of old.

Being a lover of stories--no matter how brief or mundane--the summaries of the manuscript and logbook cards I'm currently seeing are a thrill.  For instance:

Topsfield Indian claim, 1701.  "16 June 1701 in which John How and Isaac Peabody stated that a Moses Parker & an Indian named Sam English came to town & tried to influence them w/ threats, to pay more to the Indian for their land."

Only the necessities...

Based on the catalog card, it's unknown whether these are highlights or truly the sole possessions contained in the 1791 estate inventory of Moses Brown.  Either way, the summary is brief:  "Lists house, part of Brig Essex [a ship], kitchenware, and cow."