was in consequence of the intolerance of the early Puritans that these
ancestors had been obliged to flee from the State of Massachusetts, and
to settle upon this island, which, at that time, belonged to the State
of New York.

For many years the Quakers, or Friends, as they called themselves,
formed much the larger part of the inhabitants of Nantucket, and thus
were enabled to crystallize, as it were, their own ideas of what family
and social life should be; and although in course of time many "world's
people" swooped down and helped to swell the number of islanders, they
still continued to hold their own methods, and to bring up their
children in accordance with their own conceptions of "Divine light."

Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell were married during the war of 1812; the former
lacking one week of being twenty-one years old, and the latter being a
few months over twenty.

The people of Nantucket by their situation endured many hardships during
this period; their ships were upon the sea a prey to privateers, and
communication with the mainland was exposed to the same danger, so that
it was difficult to obtain such necessaries of life as the island could
not furnish. There were still to be seen, a few years ago, the marks
left on the moors, where fields of corn and potatoes had been planted in
that trying time.

So the young couple began their housekeeping in a very simple way. Mr.
Mitchell used to describe it as being very delightful; it was noticed
that Mrs. Mitchell never expressed herself on the subject,--it was she,
probably, who had the planning to do, to make a little money go a great
way, and to have everything smooth and serene when her husband came