I am indebted to my good friends and colleagues here in Marquette, and to Northern Michigan University for the Peter White Scholar Award and the sabbatical, which made it possible for me to complete this book.
Thanks to Amy Smith Borash, who read through these pages with pen in hand, miraculously righting all that I got crooked, confused, or listing to starboard.
The map of Newburyport in this book was created by Newburyport artist Susan Spellman, with whom I attended grammar school (from the very beginning she excelled at art, and the nuns clearly liked her best, even Sister Robert Marion); and it has been wonderful to reconnect after too many years with one of my favorite old-time hockey rink rats, Susan's husband, Jay McGovern.
Special thanks to Joyce Abugov, who over the years has sent me newspaper clippings, photographs, and books about Newburyport. Whenever I return to Newburyport, Joyce, her daughter Michaella, and their excellent Labrador Neo, have always offered me shelter in their beautifully restored Federalist home. And this too calls to mind the memory of Ross Benjamin Scott.
Finally, this book is dedicated to my brothers Peter and Michael, and my sister Elizabeth. Without you, my new world would be a most dismal and solitary place.
end.