Professional Research & Maritime Historian, Author, & Conservator

Gov. Read Elding

Pirate Biographies– Gov. Read Elding of the Bahamas

Not only was half-African Read Elding a pirate captain, he also was the British Governor of the Bahamas between the years 1699-1701. In 1695 he came to Boston from Barbados (where he was born) to marry Hannah Pemberton. The Pembertons, who were friends and associates of the Mathers, ranked among the most prominent families in the area and Hannah's uncle was such a highly regarded divine, that his portrait became one of the first to be published in the colony.

 

Hannah and Governor Elding's daughter, Hannah, was reared in the Bahamas but eventually sent back to Boston. Perhaps the social and political havoc piracy continued to cause in this part of the Carribean had made it too dangerous for young women of her class. Whatever the reason, records show that Hannah Elding married the gunsmith, Samuel Miller, in 1728. The fact that Samuel and his father, Alexander, had at various times, both been elected Constables indicates that the Millers, like the Pembertons, must have enjoyed a certain social standing themselves. In fact, the few genealogical notes unearthed on this family show that they were related to Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire, as well.

 

There is a rather large Elding clan in Maine who trace their ancestry back to the first few years of the 18th century and are, no doubt, the descendants of one of Hannah's two brothers. Centered primarily in the Buxton area, the following is a list of families into which Elding/Elden women married.

 

    Kimball

    Barrady

    Bryant

    Sloan

    Came

    Davis

    Lufkin

    Milliken

    Bradbury

    Chase

    Palmer

    Andrews

    Danforth

    Rich

    Files

    Morey

    Hanson

    Powers

        

 

 

Researched and Written by Mario de Valdes y Cocom.

    Woodman

    Lowell

    Townsend

    Hughes

    Pitt

    Phenix

    Robinson

    Frances

    Innes

    Summers

    Darrah

    Odell

    Dunn

    Foss

    Leonard

    Harmon

    Kendall

    Rowe

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