William Gurdon Saltonstall (1831-1889)
Merchant & Financier, of 30 Fairfield Street, Boston & Beverly Farms, Massachusetts
He was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Having been a supercargo and ship master, on the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, he commanded two gunboats in the Union Navy. During the blockade off the Carolinas, he won commendation for "gallant conduct" and in the Little Washington affair he was referred to as a "brave officer". He retired from the Navy as an Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Commander and was later made a Companion of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. After the war, he became a merchant and was appointed Treasurer of both the York Manufacturing Company and the Everett Mills. He was a Director of the New England Bank, Bell Telephone, and the Boylston Insurance Company. In 1867, he married Josephine, daughter of John Clarke Lee, of Lee, Higginson & Co., and they had four children. In 1884, he commissioned Peabody & Stearns to build his home (see images) at 30 Fairfield Street, Boston, and he kept a summer home at Beverly Farms.
