Arthur Storer of Maryland: His Astronomical Work and his Family Ties with Newton

Newton Isaac , Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica (London, 1687), 495.

The two most comprehensive, recent biographies are Westfall Richard S. , Never at rest: A biography of Isaac Newton (Cambridge, 1980) and Christianson Gale E. , In the presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and his times (New York and London, 1984).

Specific references appear below to Stukeley William , Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's life, edited by White Hastings A. (London, 1936).

Work in progress.

Nichols John , The history and antiquities of the county of Leicester (4 vols, London, 1795–1811), iii, Part I, 68–71, 228–9, and iii, Part II, 954–8. Reprinted, Wakefield, 1971.

Public Record Office, PROB II/408.

Arthur Storer stayed with William King and family in London in 1678 just before sailing for Maryland. In the light of that, it is interesting to note a portion of Babington's will: “And to my Nephew William King Silkweaver the summe of twenty pounds I haveing lately given him fifty pounds towards his setting upp att London” (PROB II/408 folio 3).

Nichols , History, iii, Part I, 228. Also, Cossington, Leics, register for 25 March 1613, shows that Katherine daughter of Adrian Babbington was christened. Dates throughout this paper are given on the old style (Julian) calendar, except that the new year is taken to begin on 1 January.

Blagg Thomas M. and Wadsworth F. A. (eds), “Nottinghamshire marriage licences”, Index library of the British Record Society, lviii (1930), 189, shows that on 15 Feb. 1640/41 Edward Storer par. St Peter's, Nottingham, Gent., was married to Katherine Babbington of Bunney, Spinster. The marriage, however, must have taken place in some other parish for a search in the Nottinghamshire Archives Office of microfiches of the registers for Nottingham St Peter, and Bunney, and also of Bishop's transcripts revealed nothing relevant for the period 1640–45.

Buckminster Leics , St John the Baptist register shows that on 10 June 1644 Edward Storer was buried, and on 20 Feb. 1644/5 Arthur son of Edward Storer was christened. This register is in the process of being filmed at the Leicestershire Record Office.

The same register shows than on 15 Jan. 1614/5 Edward son of Edward was christened.

The same register shows that on 18 July 1647 William Clarke and Cathy Storer were married.

Lincolnshire Archives Office (hereafter cited as LAO), LCC Wills 1682/11/465: William Clarke.

Venn John and Venn J. A. , Alumni Cantabrigiensis (2 parts, Cambridge, 1921–54), Pt I, i, 344.

Grantham Lincs , register, shows that on 27 July 1625, Joseph son Mr Ralph Clarke, was christened.

LAO, LCC Wills 1690/220: Joseph Clarke.

Stukeley , Memoirs, 45.

Ibid., 45.

Ibid., 37–38.

Stukeley must surely be mistaken if he is referring to Dr Joseph Clarke, William's brother, as deceased. He is speaking of a period of time no later than 1670, and William referred to his brother Joseph in his will made in 1671.

Stukeley , Memoirs, 50.

Katharine was mentioned in Humphrey Babington's will and in Arthur Storer's will. See refs 6 and 69.

Westfall Richard S. , “Short-writing and the state of Newton's conscience, 1662”, Notes and records of the Royal Society, xviii (1963), 10–16, p. 13.

Isaac Newton was born 25 Dec. 1642 and Edward Storer, judging from his memorial referred to below in ref. 31, was born between 22 Oct. 1641 and 22 Oct. 1642.

Leicestershire Record Office, Wills, 1712: Ed. Storer, Gent of Buckminster.

LAO, Leadenham/Par. 1/1. This register for 18 April 1647 shows the christening of Susanah fillia Thome Key, and LAO, Belton by Grantham/Par. 1/1 register for 10 April 1671 shows that Edward Storer, gentleman married Susanna Key, eldest daughter of Mrs Key, of Leadenham, widow.

Venn and Venn , Alumni Cantabrigiensis (ref. 14), pt 1, iv, 170.

See ref. 69.

The correspondence of Isaac Newton , ii, ed. by Turnbull H. W. (Cambridge, 1960; hereafter: Newton , Correspondence, ii), 389.

The inventory is with the will. See ref. 25.

Nichols , History, ii, Part I, 127.

Fane W. R. searched the registers of Buckminster, Leics, in 1906. In his papers at LAO (FANE 6/11/2 and 3/29) are transcripts of portions of the Buckminster register.

Newton , Correspondence, ii, 502.

Westfall , Never at rest , 477, and Christianson , In the presence of the Creator, 239.

The mathematical papers of Isaac Newton, v, ed. by Whiteside D. T. (Cambridge, 1972), 622.

Bordley James Jr , The Hollyday family of Maryland (Baltimore, 1962), 12. This book contains tantalizing but unsubstantiated details about Anne and Arthur Storer. These have been reiterated and added to in a recent biography by Lou Rose and Michael Marti, Arthur Storer of Lincolnshire, England, and Calvert County, Maryland: Newton's friend, star gazer, and forgotten man of science in seventeenth-century Maryland (Dunkirk, Maryland, 1984). I have restricted myself to those items for which Bordley gives references.

Skordas Gust , The early settlers of Maryland: An index to names of immigrants, compiled from records of land patents, 1633–1680, in the Hall of Records, Annapolis, MD (Baltimore, 1974), 470.

Bordley , The Hollyday family, 12.

Maryland State Archives, Prerogative Court (Wills) 1, 509–10: James Trueman, 1 November 1672.

Bordley , The Hollyday family, 11.

Maryland State Archives, Prerogative Court (Wills) 4, 230–2: Robert Skinner, 13 December 1683.

Bordley , The Hollyday family, gives reference as Wills, Calvert Co., Lib. 13, fol. 703 (1713–14).

LAO, B.T.S/E./f 61. Also Christianson , In the presence of the Creator, 583, cites the Boothby Pagnell, Lincs, register for 24 August 1665, as showing that Francis Bacon of Grantham Attorney married Katherine Storer of Boothby Pagnell on St Bartholomew's Day.

LAO, B.T.S/E./f 56 shows for Grantham, 4 February 1640/1, the christening of Francis, son of Francis and Blaunch Bacon.

Loc. cit. includes these two burials: 23 August 1677 Ann daughter of Francis Bacon, and 29 November 1678 Katherine daughter of Mrs Katherine Bacon.

Loc. cit. shows that on 7 July 1685, John Vincet and Katherine Bakon were married.

LAO, LCC Wills 1715/1/171: John Vincent.

Christianson , In the presence of the Creator, 583, says Catherine Vincent died in November 1727, according to the parish records of St Wulfram's Church, Grantham.

LAO, LCC Wills 1728/368: Catherine Vincent.

Stukeley , Memoirs , 46. Seven years may not be accurate. Westfall , Never at rest, 56, cites Conduitt's memorandum of a conversation with Newton in 1726 from which four-and-a-half years seems to be a better estimate of the time Newton lived with the Clarkes in Grantham.

Stukeley , op. cit., 45.

Ibid., 51–52.

Ibid., 46.

Ibid., 19.

Westfall , “Short-writing” (ref. 23), 14.

Rose and Marti , Arthur Storer (ref. 36), 17–18.

See ref. 39.

See ref. 41.

Newton , Correspondence, ii, 269–72.

LAO, Presentation Deed 1660/1 (reg 32 f4d).

Newton , Correspondence, ii, 269–72.

Ibid., 272–5.

Ibid., 275–80.

Ibid., 280–5.

Ibid., 368–72. It was just about this time (18 May 1681) that Humphrey Babington signed an agreement with Trinity College to pay for the completion of their Library building.

Ibid., 387–93.

A biography of Henry Jowles, a prominent member of the Maryland judiciary and legislature, a planter, surgeon, and doctor, appears in A biographical dictionary of the Maryland legislature 1634–1789, ii (Baltimore, 1985).

Bordley , The Hollyday family (ref. 36), 11–12, points out that “Dr Truman's home was a plantation of 700 acres, called in his will ‘Indian Creek and additions’”, and “in the patent granted in 1658 it is described as being located ‘on the south side of Patuxent River, just after the river bends to flow [east]’ into Chesapeake Bay”.

Maryland State Archives, Prerogative Court (Wills) 6, 68: Arthur Storer, 10 January 1686/87.

Maryland State Archives, Prerogative Court (Inventories and Accounts) 9, 225–6: Inventory of Arthur Scorer [sic], 1686/87.

Rose and Marti , Arthur Storer (ref. 36). The book unfortunately contains several mistakes and undocumented claims. Chapter 1, for instance, begins with the gratuitous statement, “Arthur Storer and Isaac Newton were both born at Woolsthorpe …”. Later on, much is made of the supposition that Arthur was an apothecary. This idea, taken from an earlier unsubstantiated source ( Bordley , The Hollyday family), is further embellished by saying that Arthur's father, “Arthur”, had also been an apothecary. The authors even refer to Arthur starting his apprenticeship with his stepfather.

Newton , Correspondence, ii, 269–72.

Storer spoke of using books by Wing and Gunter in his letter of 26 April 1683 ( Newton , Correspondence, ii, 393), but the only book he completely identified was “the Seaman's Calendar per Henry Phillipps Anno 1660”. I have examined Henry Philippes, The seaman's kalender (Amsterdam, 1676) and used Philippes's tables for their stated epoch of 1660.

Loc. cit. (ref. 62).

Loc. cit. (ref. 63).

This was explained by Turnbull H. W. in Newton , Correspondence, ii, 274, note (1). The fact that Turnbull's formula (1) should read tan Ψ = tan τ/sin φ rather than tan Ψ = tan τ sin φ is not important if Ψ is disregarded.

Loc. cit. (ref. 64).

Westfall , Never at rest, 278–80.

Loc. cit. (ref. 65).

Newton , Principia (1687), 495 and 497.

Newton , Principia (1687), 495. The observer was identified as Thomas Brattle by Morison S. E. , Harvard College in the seventeenth century (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), 220–1.

Marsden Brian G. , Catalogue of cometary orbits (Cambridge, Mass., 1979) provides the elements from which the ephemeris was computed.

Oppolzer T. R. , Canon of eclipses, trans. by Gingerich O. (New York, 1962).

Newton , Correspondence, ii, 387–93.

The elements of the orbit were supplied by Yeomans D. K. . They are, for the purposes of this paper, virtually identical to those published by Yeomans D. K. and Kiang T. , “The long-term motion of Comet Halley”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, cxcvii (1981), 633–46.

Hoffleit D. with Jaschek C. , The bright star catalogue (New Haven, 1982).

Hughes D. W. and Drummond A. , “Edmond Halley's observations of Halley's comet”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xv (1984), 189–97.

Hevelius Johannes , Annus climactericus (Danzig, 1685), 120–9.

Yeomans D. K. , private communication. The elements used were those referred to in ref. 85.

Freitag R. , Halley's comet — A bibliography (Washington, D.C., 1984) provides, so far as is known, a complete set of references to published observations of the comet. I have examined many of those for 1682.

Philippes , The sea-mans kalender, has already been alluded to in ref. 73. The other books cannot be definitely identified without their titles. The one by Vincent Wing could have been his Astronomia Britannica (London, 1669) which contains a dedicatory verse by Babington.

Hodgson J. , “An account of some eclipses”, Philosophical transactions, xxiv (1704), 1630–8.

The names of the planets appear in brackets in these quotations because Storer used symbols for the planets and the days of the week.

The positions of the planets come from Gingerich Owen and Welther Barbara , “Planetary, lunar, and solar positions, new and full moons, A.D. 1650–1805”, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, lix S (1983).