Elias was born in New London CT in 1810. No information could be found about his parents. In approximately 1843 he married Sarah Adeline Hempstead (1812-1892), daughter of George Washington Hempstead (1783-1866) and Sarah Hempstead (1778-1866), in Norwich CT. No record has been found of Elias and Sarah having had any children. Census data show that in 1850 Elias, occupation “mariner,” was living with his wife in New London. By the time of the 1860 census Elias and Sarah were living in New London together with Sarah’s parents, George and Sarah. His occupation is listed as that of “seaman.”
AOWV records ten voyages for Elias on six different ships, all with a home port of New London. However, he served as master on only one of these voyages:
JONES (AS1723): (ship, altered to bark in 1839, 338/336 tons, length 98 ft., place and date when built unknown, broken up in New London in 1842?). “The Jones, a British ship captured in 1814 during the war of 1812, made sixteen voyages after joining the New London fleet in 1822” (Colby, p. 7). On March 4, 1839 JONES sailed for Patagonia on its penultimate voyage, with John Green (AM2300) as master and Elias Dart as a member of the crew. Although the crew list does not record Elias’ position on the vessel, his name appears directly below that of the master, indicative that he was probably the first mate. Sometime during the voyage John Green left the ship for an unknown reason and Elias took over as replacement master until the completion of the voyage on January 10, 1841 (Dennis Wood Abstracts, 1-279). Thomas W. Williams was the agent for this voyage. AV07844
In addition to one previous voyage of JONES (1837-1838), Elias served on the crew of these other New London ships: ANN MARIA (AS0879) for its 1828-1829, 1829-1830, 1830-1831, and 1832-1833 voyages, GEORGIA (AS1468) for its 1833-1835 voyage, FLORA (AS1369) for its 1841-1843 voyage, FRIENDS (AS1418) for its 1843-1845 voyage, and BENGAL (AS0968) for its 1850-1856 voyage.
Elias died in New London on March 20, 1864 and both he and his wife, as well as her parents, are buried in New London’s Cedar Grove Cemetery. His Find a Grave listing shows images of what appear to be two different gravestones. One is a joint one with his wife with the following inscription: Elias Dart – died March 18, 1864 – Aged 54 years – Sarah A. Hempsted [sic] – wife of Elias Dart – died Jan. 10, 1892 – Aged 80 years. The other is a more weathered-looking stone with just “Elias” engraved on its curved top. Sarah’s listing shows an identical stone with “Sarah” on top, in addition to the one in common with her husband. The relationship of the two individual stones to the common one has not been determined by this writer.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
Maija M. Lutz
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
March 2025