Jimmie,
His name was Weston Howland. He lived in New Bedford. He stopped sailing when he was in his 30's and ran a ship's chandlery. Seeing the inevitable demise of the whaling industry and hearing about the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania he began experimenting with ways to refine crude oil. He succeeded and built one of the first commercial oil refineries on Fish Island in New Bedford. He would have become an oil tycoon if the refinery hadn't exploded and burned to the ground.
And, yes, we have shamelessly hijacked this thread. Unless perhaps John Squire is also related to my g-g-g-grandfather.
