Robert S. Rantoul

Robert S. Rantoul was born in Beverly, MA on June 2, 1832 to Robert Rantoul, Jr. and Jane Elizabeth (Woodbury) Rantoul. He was well educated from a young age and in 1853 received a bachelor's degree from Harvard, which he followed up with a law degree in 1856. After being admitted to the Massachusetts Bar, he practiced law under Charles G. Loring. In 1858 he represented the town of Beverly in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. On May 13th of that same year he married Harriet C. Neal, with whom he would eventually have nine children. In 1865 he was appointed by President Lincoln to be the Collector of the Port of Salem; he held this position until 1869. In the 1880s he again became active in politics, serving as Salem's representative in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1884-1885, and serving on Salem's Board of Alderman in 1880 and 1888. Rantoul had unsuccessfully run for Mayor of Salem in the past, but his political positions allowed him to mount a successful campaign to get elected in 1890. He served as Mayor of Salem from 1890-1893, during which time he wrote and spoke frequently on issues of local importance including expansion of trains and roads, management of water and waterways, and fire and crime prevention, among others. Rantoul's political associations mutated over the course of his life; in his first turn as a Massachusetts State Representative he was a Democrat; by the time he served for Salem in 1884, his allegiance had moved to the Republican Party. After leaving the Mayor's office, Rantoul was selected to be a presidential elector on the Palmer and Buckner ticket in 1896.

After 1896 Rantoul's focus began to turn from the political to the historical, which corresponded to his professional association with the Essex Institute. He served as Vice-President and eventually as President until 1904. During his time at the Institute, Rantoul was responsible for maintaining professional relationships with other historical societies and organizations, including the Massachusetts Historical Society, as well as assisting with research inquiries and acquiring new materials. In addition, Rantoul used his time at the Institute to further his own scholarly pursuits, such as publishing pamphlets and articles on the Woodbury family genealogy, the history of Salem and of its ports, the first cotton mill in the United States, and other varied topics. Although Rantoul officially resigned as President of the Institute in 1904, he continued to work with and for the Institute for several more years. He died on May 1st, 1922 at his home in Beverly Farms, at the age of 90.

http://phillipslibrarycollections.pem.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15928coll1/id/1100 I.S. 1/3/2018