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DAN HARRIS MEETS THE PRESS


Endnotes - Comments

Note A. Microfilm records of ships' logs at the New Bedford Whaling Museum reveal that Mercator Cooper was the master of the vessel Manhattan of Sag Harbor, NY, on a Pacific whaling voyage from 1843 to 1846 on which Japanese castaways were rescued. Cooper was also the master of the vessel Levant of Sag Harbor on a similar voyage from 1851 to 1855. Dan Harris was a crew member on the latter voyage rather than the earlier one. Evidently, the accounts of the two voyages became intermingled over time. (Return)

Note B. These diary entries all appeared in the same newspaper article. It was one of only four newspaper articles discovered that refer to Dan Harris as "Dirty Dan." All of them appeared after his death. The other three will be found among his obituary notices. (Return)

Note C. This sum was approved at the May Term of the Board of County Commissioners. Evidently, Dan had been paid in scrip for some work done for the county and had been destroyed in the burning of his house. (Return)

Note D. The hotel was located at the Northeast Corner of Harris and 4th Streets. The dock was just north of the hotel at the foot of 4th Street. To See a plat map of Fairhaven, the floor plan of the hotel and photos of the hotel and dock click (Illustrations), otherwise, click (Return)

Note E. This is the first ad to appear for the Fairhaven Hotel. (Return)

Note F. The location of Dan Harris's second building has yet to be determined.(Return)

Note G. Evidently, the editors of the Reveille were unaware that Robert Knox, et. al., never paid the $920 balance of the $1,000 purchase price for the lots they bought to build a mill and Dan Harris had to sue them. (Return)

Note H. Dan Harris later managed the hotel himself. In a letter to his nephew, Benjamin F. Harris, Jr., written in January 1885 he revealed that he could not leave it even long enough to go to the bank. (See "Dan Harris Speaks for Himself" under the sidebar caption "Access Booklets.") (Return)

Note I. See a second reference to Dan's plan to build an opera house in the first obituary notice. (Return)

Note J. The $6,000 check may have represented the payment for Dan Harris's last Fairhaven lot sale, which he made from Los Angeles just six weeks before he died. Mattie Shorb, wife of Doctor A. S. Shorb, was one of the two witnesses to the signing of the deed for this transaction. (Return)

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