Grandpa Was a Whaler

A Story of Carteret Chadwicks

A survey of the Chadwick family of the Northeast and North Carolina, who played a pivotal role in the development of the regional commerce. The narrative focuses on the period from around 1725 and just after the Civil War.

Researcher Amy Muse, a direct descendant of the Chadwicks on her mother’s side, first published Grandpa Was a Whaler in 1961. It became the first thorough research document on the earliest history of whaling in America in 1681 and the involvement of the Chadwick family over the years in whaling and ocean-going shipping. The narrative focuses on the period from around 1725 and just after the Civil War, from Massachusetts to North Carolina and, in particular, to Carteret County, North Carolina, where the Chadwicks established residency.