423. Charles⁷ Ramsdell (John⁶, John⁵, Jonathan⁴, Jonathan³, Isaac², John¹) was born in Nantucket, MA 7 January 1804.

He married twice. He married Mercy Fisher 15 March 1826 in Nantucket, MA. Mercy was born 1812. Mercy died 26 February 1846 in Nantucket, MA, at 33 years of age. He married Eliza C. Lamb 6 December 1846 in Nantucket, MA. Eliza was born 1825 in Nantucket, MA. Charles Ramsdell served as a Captain aboard the ship General Jackson sometime in the 1840's. Charles is very likely the young seaman recently immortalized by the book "The Heart of the Sea" which chronicles the sinking of the whaler "Essex" in 1819 and subsequent trials of it's crew.

"For Pollard and Ramsdell, it was the bones ñ gifts from the men they had known and loved ñ that became their obsession," writes Philbrick. "They stuffed their pockets with finger bones; the sucked the sweet marrow from the splintered ribs and thighs." For shipwrecked sailors, cannibalism in the face of certain starvation was an awful but accepted act. The survivors of the Essex spoke openly of it from the day they were rescued. But Philbrick lets us glimpse the physic toll that lingered after the men returned to Nantucket. "They had all suffered terribly, but it was Pollard and Ramsdell - found clutching the bones of their dead companions - who had come the closest to complete psychic disintegration. (More)

Charles Ramsdell and Mercy Fisher had the following children:

725 i. Charles⁸ Ramsdell was born about 1827.

726 ii. Phebe Ann Ramsdell was born in Nantucket, MA May 1833.

727 iii. Warren Fisher Ramsdell was born in Nantucket, MA November 1837. Warren died 10 August 1838 in Nantucket, MA, at less than one year of age. He died of a violent fever.

728 iv. Frederic William Ramsdell was born in Nantucket, MA May 1838. Frederic died 23 January 1845 in Nantucket, MA, at 6 years of age. He died of Croup.

729 v. James I. Ramsdell was born in Nantucket, MA 18 July 1844.

730 vi. Marietta Ramsdell was born in Nantucket, MA 1849.

Charles Ramsdell and Eliza C. Lamb had the following child:

731 vii. Infant Ramsdell was born in Nantucket, MA 28 August 1847.

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