The Whaling Web: Nantucket, Neutrality, and Neighbor History

With A Research Guide For Neighbor Historians

The story of Nantucket’s whaling industry neutrality during America’s War of Independence is deeply compelling, particularly as explored in “Nantucket’s Revolutionary Balancing Act – Neutrality, Whaling, and Survival” In a bid to preserve vital whaling trade routes with Europe, the island carefully maintained a diplomatic tightrope—remaining neutral while surrounded by conflict.

Imagined Map Nantucket: Whale

If your ancestors participated in the whaling trade, your research shouldn’t stop with their names. Trace the lives of their neighbors, shipmates, and fellow congregants—especially if they were Quakers on Nantucket. Their community bonds, occupational networks, and shared religious experiences tell a richer, more nuanced story. Ask yourself: how did this community rebuild after the Revolution? And how did Nantucket reclaim its role as a global whaling hub?

Neighbor History goes beyond genealogy—it’s about uncovering who your ancestors lived and worked with. By following occupational, geographic, and social threads, you’ll find a deeper understanding of their world.

As a Neighbor Historian, you can uncover invaluable historical context by diving into the personal and communal networks of Nantucket’s whaling era. Your ancestor’s story is part of a complex tapestry woven by their shipmates, neighbors, and beliefs.

To illustrate, consider this evocative excerpt from Nancy Shoemaker in CommonPlace: “Perhaps Dorothy Bradford, wife of Plymouth Colony governor William Bradford, did not commit suicide by jumping off the Mayflower when anchored in Provincetown Harbor... but, made dizzy and breathless by whalebone bodies bound too tight, lost her balance to fall among the whales swimming in the water below.”

In “Oil and Bone: Whale Consumption in the Lives of Plymouth Colonists,” the origins of New England’s whaling industry are traced back to the 17th century, linking colonial life with the broader maritime economy of Europe. Dorothy Bradford’s possible baleen corset highlights how even fashion carried echoes of the sea. When we explore professions such as the whaling in detail, new layers of history come appear giving us the capacity to understand the meaning of details, or imagine in the case of the writer.

Researching your ancestors neighbors and the whaling industry here’s a research strategy tailored for that role: