JOHN BUFFETT and JOHN EVANS
Marriages and Births
TO RETURN to John Adams and his small community. Five or six years had
passed since the visits of the _Briton_ and the _Tagus_, and during
that time the fact of the island being inhabited, and by whom, had
become more widely known. About the year 1819 the East India Company’s
ship _Hercules_, Captain Henderson, made a call at the island and left
some useful and much-needed gifts for the islanders, consisting of
carpenters’ tools, large iron boilers, etc., etc., the last mentioned
being used chiefly for the purpose of boiling down salt water to obtain
salt.
In the month of October, 1823, an English whaleship, the _Cyrus_,
Captain Hall, visited Pitcairn Island. John Adams, being now somewhat
advanced in years, and beginning already to feel the infirmities of
age, expressed to Captain Hall the wish that he could find among the
ship’s crew someone to assist him in the arduous task of trying to
impart instruction to his young people. The captain listened kindly,
and promised to do what he could. Calling his men around him, he made
known to them the wishes of the old man, and asked if any of them would
be willing to accede to his request. After a few minutes’ hesitation,
John Buffett, a young man twenty-six years of age, stepped forward and
volunteered his services. Being bound by no home ties, he counted it no
great sacrifice to remain.
Buffett had in early youth been apprenticed to a cabinet maker in
Bristol, his native place. Of a roving disposition, a sea life
especially possessing a peculiar fascination for him, he left his early
trade to serve on board His Majesty’s ship _Penelope_, and again on
the _Impregnable_. He was shipwrecked in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and
afterwards cast away on the coast of California, where he was received
and cared for in the kindest manner by an old Spanish _comandante_ in
the place. The latter made every effort to persuade Buffett to make
his home in California, but he decided not to do so, and from thence
he made his way to Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, where he joined
the _Cyrus_. At last, after his many adventures, he arrived at Pitcairn
Island, where, accepting his captain’s proposal, he resolved to end his
days among the people with whom his lot was now cast.
Among his shipmates on board the _Cyrus_ was a youth about nineteen
years of age, named John Evans, a native of London. For love of
Buffett, he determined to remain on the island, and for this purpose
he ran away from the ship. Being of very small build, he contrived to
hide himself in the hollow stump of a tree until the vessel had sailed,
and it was safe for him to make his appearance. As there was no help
for it, Evans also was allowed to become a member of the community.
Not many months passed before both Buffett and Evans sought in marriage
the hands of two of the island maidens. Buffett met with no opposition
to his suit, and, in due time, was united in marriage to Dorothy, a
daughter of Edward Young. Evans did not obtain such ready favor when he
requested of John Adams the hand of his daughter Rachel. The old man
did not approve of the young people’s entering the marriage relation
at too early an age, and Evans was barely nineteen; besides, the
disparity in age of the two young persons was another obstacle in the
father’s view, the young woman being the older by some years. However,
the matter was referred to the daughter for decision. Her answer came,
quick, short, and decided, “Try it, daddy.” He at length consented, but
not without misgivings regarding her future happiness, and his paternal
blessing was not withheld when the twain stood up to be made one, being
wedded with a ring formed of the outer circle of a limpet shell.
[Illustration: THE CHAPEL.]
It may prove interesting to some readers to know the names of those
others whom John Adams united in the bonds of matrimony. The service
was performed according to the rites of the Church of England. The
parties were, of course, the sons and daughters of all the mutineers
who left children, and their names are as follows: Matthew Quintall to
Elizabeth Mills, Arthur Quintall to Katharine McCoy, Daniel McCoy to
Sarah Quintall. These two last mentioned young men one day swam off to
a rock at a considerable distance from the shore, and there agreed to
seek each one the other’s sister for a wife. The rock received, from
that incident, its name, _Táné M’á_, _i. e._, “The place of the men’s
agreement.” Thursday October Christian, son of Fletcher Christian, and
the first born on the island, married Susan, the girl of fifteen who
came in the _Bounty_. The others were: Charles Christian, married to
Sarah McCoy; Edward Quintall, to Dinah Adams; George Young, to Hannah
Adams; William Young, to Elizabeth Mills, widow of Matthew Quintall,
who met his death in some unknown manner. Most of the young men went
out one day in their canoes to fish. They were mostly within speaking
distance of each other, but as Matthew, or Matt, as he was called, was
not seen tending his canoe, the others supposed that he was lying down
in it. It was afterwards discovered that the canoe was, and had been
no one knew how long, floating about without an occupant. The body had
sunk, and was never again seen.
The following story is told to show the binding force with which a
promise was regarded in those early days: George Adams, the only son of
John Adams, had, when quite a youth, “conceived an attachment for Polly
Young, but she declared that she would never marry George.” On Captain
Beechy’s visit to the island, Adams referred the case to him and the
other officers. Their opinion was that the young girl’s determination
was made before she was old enough to know her own mind, and would
be more “honored in the breach than the observance.” Polly, however,
viewed the matter in a different light, but confessed that her opinion
of her lover was considerably altered since she declared she would not
have him. Subsequently they were married, perhaps not “in haste,” but
Polly repented “in a hurry,” for she discovered all too soon that a
home with George did not mean a “woman’s paradise.”
One gold ring, the property of Edward Young, played an important part
in the wedding services performed in those days, and continued to be
used until somewhere in the forties.
Only four of the children of the mutineers died unmarried. One of them,
Johnny, the only son of John Mills, the mutineer, came to his death by
an awful fall from a high, rocky cliff, where he had gone in search of
birds’ eggs. His injuries were such that he died before he could be
conveyed to his home. The poor lad was only fourteen years old when
the sad accident occurred. Two of the sons of Edward Young, Robert
and Edward, both died shortly after the return of the community from
Tahiti in 1831, while Fletcher Christian’s only daughter, Mary, died of
dropsy, on Norfolk Island, about the year 1865. A daughter of Quintall,
having strayed from the path of virtue, was so harshly treated by her
brother that when she had an opportunity she left the island. The
captain of a passing vessel, being informed of the matter, and learning
the wish of the unfortunate young woman, kindly allowed her a passage
on his ship. She was taken to the island of Rurutu, where she was most
kindly received. One of the chiefs of the island made her his wife, and
she eventually became the mother of a numerous family.
Such were the early loves and marriages between the children of the
original settlers. Families of healthy, vigorous children were raised,
and over them all John Adams presided, much after the fashion of the
patriarchs of old, and was looked up to and respected as a father by
the growing community, who had the utmost confidence in the wisdom of
his counsels and teachings. At the time of Captain Beechy’s visit in
the _Blossom_, in 1825, the community numbered twenty-six adults and
thirty-five children, making a total of sixty-one persons. During a
period of thirty-five years there had been twenty-seven births, and of
the original settlers from the _Bounty_ there remained only John Adams
and five of the Tahitian women. These six, with the addition of Buffett
and Evans, made eight of the adult population.
When it was first ascertained that the _Blossom_ was a man-of-war,
great fears prevailed among the little community lest the ship had come
to convey Adams a prisoner to England. But they were soon reassured.
The captain and officers hastened to explain that their coming was
for an altogether different purpose. When they realized that their
fears were groundless, and that there was no danger of the old man’s
removal, the female portion of the community crowded around him and
embraced him in the most affectionate manner. Especially touching
it was to see the way in which Hannah Young clung to her father and
embraced him, weeping, even, in the fullness of her joy when she
understood that he was not to be taken away.
[Illustration: GROUP OF ISLAND MAIDENS.]
During the whole stay of the _Blossom_ her captain and officers were
most hospitably entertained by the simple-hearted islanders. The young
women especially, who inherited from their Tahitian mothers a strong
love for flowers, made it their pleasant duty every morning to adorn
the caps of the officers with freshly-made wreaths of sweet-smelling
flowers. The visitors were charmed with the open, simple manners of
all the islanders, but observed that “the same marked difference
between the sexes prevailed here as in all the islands of the Pacific,
notably at meals, the women were not allowed to sit down with the men;
and when the captain and officers passed their remarks and opinions
respecting the difference observed between the sexes, their words were
resented, as seeming to interfere with long-established custom.” (It
was not so much a “marked difference between the sexes” as a feeling
of unaccountable shyness that prevented the women in those early times
from sitting down to the same table with strangers. At the present day
most of the island women, inheriting the same dispositions from their
mothers, when an occasional visitor happens to share their hospitality,
would much prefer to “stand and wait” than act the part of hostess by
sitting down with their guests.)
The day was invariably begun and ended with prayer and praise to the
divine Father for His mercies and His preserving care, each and every
family engaging in a short service of worship by parents and children,
nor was a day considered as rightly begun if their first duty to their
Creator was omitted. This right custom has ever been, and still is,
religiously observed by their descendants. Captain Beechy and his
officers had the opportunity during their stay of attending divine
service on the Sunday. That day was very strictly kept. There was
complete cessation from work; no fires were made, all the cooking being
done on the Saturday, that nothing of a worldly nature might interfere
with the sacred duties of the day of rest. In the public worship on
Sundays, Buffett assisted Adams in reading the service, the especial
part allotted him being the sermon, “some sentences of which were read
over two or three times,” to catch the attention of his hearers, and
also to help to impress the words on their memory. Buffett also acted
as schoolmaster, and “found the children both willing and attentive
scholars.”
When the _Blossom_ left the island, the tearful, affectionate farewells
told how the hearts of all the islanders had been won to their
visitors, whose pleasant stay and cheerful companionship had been such
a bright spot in their quiet lives, and was to form ever after one of
their most delightful and pleasing recollections.
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