Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words
February 1831
This time was noted by me. I was 12 ½ years old. M. M.
In February 1831, Maria assisted her father with the viewing an annular eclipse from their home at 1 Vestal Street. The observations allowed William Mitchell, with Maria’s help, to determine the longitude of the house. Maria would note the above in his journals many, many years later.
And from her youngest brother, Henry Mitchell, himself a hydrographer:
These observations of the eclipse . . . had for practical object the determination of the longitude if the house is Vestal Street where the chronometers of whale-ships were carried to be rated and set to Greenwich time. Mr. Mitchell came in time to be the rater of all the chronometers of a fleet of ninety-two whale ship, requiring observations of every fine day of the year.
JNLF
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