Edward was born in Glastonbury CT on March 7, 1818. He was the son of Samuel and Sally House. A House family history book (see Sources) provides considerable information about some of Samuel’s and Sally’s six children, but for the two youngest children, Edward and his older brother John, it shows only their dates of birth (John 9/1/1814) and death (John 5/9/1874, Edward (7/15/1852). The 1850 census for Glastonbury shows John and Edward living with their parents, both of the sons listing their occupation as “sailor”.
Edward served as a member of the crew for two voyages on the ship GENERAL WILLIAMS (AS1445), home port Stonington CT, for its 1843-1845 and 1845-1848 voyages.
With that experience under his belt, he became master for one voyage of a whaling ship with New London as home port, a voyage destined to result in the death of the master and the replacement master within 18 months.
VESPER (AS2557): (ship, 321 tons, length 111 ft., built in Newbury MA in 1827, condemned and sold in Hilo, Hawaii on April 1, 1861). Edward was the master when she sailed on June 19, 1851 for the North Pacific. Starbuck records, “Captain House was killed by a whale; Mr. [Paul] Burch [AM5704], who assumed command, died at Honolulu November 27, 1852”. VESPER’s crew list for this voyage shows Paul’s name after Edward’s, possibly signifying Paul as mate. Paul was succeeded by —- Lopes (AM3156). Dennis Wood Abstracts 2-210 and 2-216 list Edward as master of the voyage but make no mention of his or Paul’s death or the change of command. VESPER returned to New London on April 4, 1855, presumably under the command of Capt. Lopes. Colby does not record Edward in the book’s list of New London whaling masters. Williams & Barnes was the agent. AV15129.
Edward’s date of death at sea is recorded as July 15, 1852. A memorial stone at St. James Cemetery in Glastonbury shows the dates of birth and death of John and below him those of Edward.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text. Also, a family history book entitled at the top of the page “House”, p.398-9, found online.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
April 2026