Jeremiah Pharoah – Montaukett Whaler

Introduction

On July 31st of 1924, the Sag Harbor Express published an article on Jeremiah Pharoah, described as a “bold mariner” who lived in Indian Fields in Montauk with his wife Alloosa Tallman and their son (also named Jeremiah). It is said that Jeremiah spent nine years and five years away from home on whaling expeditions.

Historians believe that Jeremiah knew Samson Occum, the reverend who helped migrate Montauketts and other Algonquians from eastern Long Island to Wisconsin to form Brothertown. An old lawbook that Samson used was given to Jeremiah as a journal.

His home was described as a mix of aspects from wigwam and eighteenth-century European styles. This could have been a thatch wigwam with a windowpane and some nailed construction or a small wood-frame house with the absence of a foundation, cellar, or chimney.

Despite meeting his wife Alloosa at Nantucket and finding employment there, they moved and lived at Indian Fields in Montauk, far from economic opportunities, but they may have chosen to live out their lives there because their heritage played an important role in the construction of their identity. It is not known if or when Jeremiah and Aloosa left Indian Fields. His birth and death date are unknown, but it is likely that he is buried at an unmarked plot in Indian Fields Cemetery at Montauk.