John was born in Westerly RI on March 30, 1794, apparently the son of Lyman Hall about who no further information was found. John married Nancy Babcock, born on November 29, 1803, on September 23, 1826 in Westerly. A Daughters of the American Revolution book lists Nancy as a DAR descendant through Marian Hall. John and Nancy had several children. His Find A Grave site lists five surviving children: Eunice (1828-1910), John (1829-1916), Frances (a family history, The Babcock Genealogy, shows her as Maria) (1832-1910), Daniel (1840-1929), and Lyman (1842-1923). Westerly census reports record John’s occupation as “mariner” (1850), “retired ship master” (1860), and “farmer” (1875).
John died in Westerly on October 4, 1876. He is buried in River Bend Cemetery in Westerly. On his gravestone “Capt” precedes his name. Providence’s Evening Bulletin obituary of John (10/14/1876) provides additional information about his life. It records that he died in the house in which he was born and where he spent the better part of his life, in the Lotteryville section of Westerly, close by the Pawcatuck River “near the sea”. He participated in the War of 1812, serving on a guard boat that protected the harbor of Stonington (the adjacent town in Connecticut) leading to some minor incidents with the British. He sailed on trading, sealing and whaling expeditions, leaving whaling for good in 1846. Later he served on packet boats running between Westerly and New York. Nancy survived him by about fifteen years, dying on August 31, 1891.
John served as master for two voyages on two ships with New London as home port:
CALEDONIA (AS1024): (ship, 445 tons, length 112 ft., built in Philadelphia PA in 1809). CALEDONIA sailed on September 28, 1835 for the Falkland Islands and returned on March 19, 1837. Dennis Wood Abstract 1-120. Colby records Stonington as home port of CALEDONIA. Thomas W. Williams was agent. AV02181
GEORGIA (AS1468): (ship, 343 tons, length 102 ft., built in New York NY in 1805, registration surrendered on March 19, 1849 and broken up that year). GEORGIA sailed on October 18, 1838 for the So. Atlantic, returned on July 1, 1839. Sailing with it as tender was the schooner AMAZON (AS0856) with Samuel Gardener (AM2066) as master. Wood Abstract 1-213 records how the voyage ended: “At Rio May 10, 1839 Crew in state of mutiny bound home … returned in consequence of her crew refusing to do duty.” Thomas W. Williams was agent for this voyage, but Decker says the agent was Haven & Smith. A05752.
John also served as master for three voyages on two ships with Stonington as home port: FREE GIFT (AS1416) for its 1830 voyage and PENGUIN (AS2167) for its 1831 and 1832 voyage.
New London Crew Lists shows John as a member of the crew of MARY ANN departing on May 1823. However, AOWV shows only one possible ship named MARY ANN (AS1878) but it was withdrawn in 1832. Decker does not show an 1823 voyage.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
December 2025