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Coffin plate · primary-source record

Joseph Holbrook

9 Sep 1799 – 24 May 1866

One of 3 coffin plates transcribed on a single archive page

Editorially verified

At-a-glance facts

Record type

Coffin plate

Date of death

24 May 1866

Date of birth

9 Sep 1799

Age at death

66 years, 8 months, 15 days

Plate found in

Massachusetts, United States

The coffin plate

Inscription transcription

Joseph Holbrook.
Born in Wellfleet, Mass. September 9th 1799.
Died in South Boston, May 24th 1866.
Aged 66 Years 8 Mos. 15 Ds.
Transcribed from the original coffin-plate photograph.

Researcher's notes

These coffin plates were found in Boston, Mass USA.

I went and had a hunt for the Holbrook family in the United States Federal Census on Ancestry.com. I found several individuals of interest as you can see below.

1870 United States Federal Census

FieldValue
NameTemperance Holbrook
Estimated Birth Yearabt 1804
Age in 187066
BirthplaceMassachusetts
Home in 1870Boston Ward 7, Suffolk, Massachusetts
RaceWhite
GenderFemale
Post OfficeSouth Boston

1850 United States Federal Census — about Joseph Holbrook

FieldValue
NameJoseph Holbrook
Age51
Estimated Birth Yearabt 1799
Birth PlaceMassachusetts
GenderMale
Home in 1850Wellfleet, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Mayo's Beach Light House, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Mayo's Beach Light was finished in 1838 and exhibited a fixed white light visible for 12 miles. The lantern originally held ten lamps and reflectors.

Joseph Holbrook was appointed first keeper of Mayo's Beach Light at a salary of $350 yearly. During Holbrook's first four years at the lighthouse there were three shipwrecks in the vicinity, including the 270 ton brig Diligence. In 1839 Holbrook counted over 700 vessels passing the lighthouse.

In 1842 Holbrook complained that "The very wretched manner in which the house was built renders it almost uninhabitable; the walls always and the roof continually leaky."

Holbrook explained that the house, which had no foundation, was set two feet below the surface of the beach. This caused the cellar to be continually flooded with seawater. Two of Holbrook's children died in their first four years at the lighthouse, a tragedy that the keeper blamed on the unhealthy conditions. Keeper Holbrook believed that the lighthouse had been erected in a "very shameful manner."

Sources consulted

  • 1870 United States Federal Census
  • 1850 United States Federal Census

Record submitted by

Original contributor unknown — Was it you? Let us know

Source & citation

Source type
Original photograph
Provenance
From the Ancestors at Rest archive — founded 2004 by Brian and substantially built out across two decades by Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy.
Transcribed by
Ancestors at Rest archive — original contributor not recorded.
Last verified
2026-05-12
Permalink
/records/coffin-plates/holbrook-joseph-1866/
Image vs transcription
Both — original photograph and shared transcription on this page

Citation: "Coffin plate of Joseph Holbrook (9 Sep 1799 – 24 May 1866)," transcribed and contributed to the Ancestors at Rest archive (https://ancestorsatrest.com/records/coffin-plates/holbrook-joseph-1866/ : accessed [your access date]).

One of several separate coffin plates transcribed together on a single Ancestors at Rest archive page; see related records below for the others.

The original contributor of this record is not preserved in the archive. If you transcribed this plate, please get in touch so credit can be restored.

Related records

These coffin plates were transcribed together on one archive page. They are separate plates, not one shared plate, each with its own photograph.

More from the archive

Matched automatically from the archive’s name and place indexes — research leads, not confirmed relations.

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