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Lot Essay
The arms are those of Pickman, as borne by Benjamin Pickman (1708-1773), merchant of Salem
As Salem's richest citizen and one of the wealthiest in the Colony of Massachusetts, Benjamin Pickman was a member of the "codfish aristocracy." Having made his fortune in the fisheries, he reputedly painted each stair of his house with a gilt codfish, in honor of his trade.
Pickman was an active patriot in the period leading up to the Revolution. In 1765, he held the important office of Chairman of the Committee to Protest the Stamp Act.
Pickman's influence and interests also extended to civic, literary and religious matters. He was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and a Colonel in the Essex Regiment. He helped finance the 1745 Louisburg Expedition that captured the French fortress in Nova Scotia and secured the fisheries trade. In 1749, in return for his assistance, the Province of Massachusetts Bay gave Pickman a silver covered cup engraved with his arms, now in the Essex Institute (illustrated here). His interest in literary matters led to the formation of the Social Library, a forerunner to the Salem Athenaeum.
Pickman was a leading member of the First Church in Salem and a driving force behind the split of the church into the First and North Churches in 1772. The cause of the break was over the succession of Reverend Thomas Barnard, yet the split was not acrimonious as in many other congregations. When a minority five-twelfths of the congregation supported the candidacy of Dr. Barnard Jr., they resigned from the First Church and erected a new church on North Street. As part of the division, the North Church received five-twelfths of the church assets, including silver. This tankard, originally given to the First Church in 1759, thus was transferred to the North Church in 1772. Pickman also gave a baptismal basin to the North Church that year. He gave a monetary bequest to be distributed to the poor of the church, and legacies to Rev. Thomas Barnard and Rev. Thomas Barnard, Jr., the pastors who were the source of the split within the church. (The churches and silver were reunited in 1924.)
Other members of Pickman's family made donations to the North Church. His son, William Pickman, donated a pair of English mugs in 1772. His son-in-law, Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, donated the Samuel Minott tankard in 1805 (lot 59), and his daughter-in-law, Mary Pickman, donated a pair of Revere mugs in 1802. (See: Jones, op. cit, pp. 433-35; Exercises in Commemoration of the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Gathering of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts, 1930, pp. 56-64)
CAPTION: Benjamin Pickman (1708-1773), by John Greenwood
Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem
CAPTION: A silver cup by William Swan, Boston, 1749, presented to Benjamin Pickman by the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem
As Salem's richest citizen and one of the wealthiest in the Colony of Massachusetts, Benjamin Pickman was a member of the "codfish aristocracy." Having made his fortune in the fisheries, he reputedly painted each stair of his house with a gilt codfish, in honor of his trade.
Pickman was an active patriot in the period leading up to the Revolution. In 1765, he held the important office of Chairman of the Committee to Protest the Stamp Act.
Pickman's influence and interests also extended to civic, literary and religious matters. He was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and a Colonel in the Essex Regiment. He helped finance the 1745 Louisburg Expedition that captured the French fortress in Nova Scotia and secured the fisheries trade. In 1749, in return for his assistance, the Province of Massachusetts Bay gave Pickman a silver covered cup engraved with his arms, now in the Essex Institute (illustrated here). His interest in literary matters led to the formation of the Social Library, a forerunner to the Salem Athenaeum.
Pickman was a leading member of the First Church in Salem and a driving force behind the split of the church into the First and North Churches in 1772. The cause of the break was over the succession of Reverend Thomas Barnard, yet the split was not acrimonious as in many other congregations. When a minority five-twelfths of the congregation supported the candidacy of Dr. Barnard Jr., they resigned from the First Church and erected a new church on North Street. As part of the division, the North Church received five-twelfths of the church assets, including silver. This tankard, originally given to the First Church in 1759, thus was transferred to the North Church in 1772. Pickman also gave a baptismal basin to the North Church that year. He gave a monetary bequest to be distributed to the poor of the church, and legacies to Rev. Thomas Barnard and Rev. Thomas Barnard, Jr., the pastors who were the source of the split within the church. (The churches and silver were reunited in 1924.)
Other members of Pickman's family made donations to the North Church. His son, William Pickman, donated a pair of English mugs in 1772. His son-in-law, Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, donated the Samuel Minott tankard in 1805 (lot 59), and his daughter-in-law, Mary Pickman, donated a pair of Revere mugs in 1802. (See: Jones, op. cit, pp. 433-35; Exercises in Commemoration of the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Gathering of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts, 1930, pp. 56-64)
CAPTION: Benjamin Pickman (1708-1773), by John Greenwood
Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem
CAPTION: A silver cup by William Swan, Boston, 1749, presented to Benjamin Pickman by the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem