Mystery & History In A Yard Sale Find - Part One

I am a lover of old things, I love history and I really love a good mystery. One of the things I enjoy picking up at yard sales and flea markets are old books. I like the way they look and use them as decor in my house. So when I found a few old books at a church yard sale I bought them for a dollar a piece. What I thought was just a normal old book that was going to look great sitting on my bookshelf turned into a wonderful surprise and a mystery once I opened the front cover and saw the inscription and drawings.

I've found books with inscriptions before because they were often given as gifts in the past. However, I've never found a book with drawings in them, especially as good as these. On the inside cover was the drawing with various guns and a pennant in the corner with P.P.S. and the year 1900 on it. The book has a published date of 1897 so I knew the drawing was actually from that time. On the first blank page next to the inside cover is the inscription: F. Norton Hatch Powder Point School Duxbury, Massachusetts April Fifth Nineteen Hundred. The drawings and inscriptions didn't stop there though.

Once you turned the page was a very detailed drawing of a ship titled U.S. Converted Yacht Pathfinder. On the top of the page written in smaller print is Mr. Edward Barry U.S.S. Marcellus. I can just imagine this boy, F. Norton Hatch reading this book titled 'The Spy' and drawing and dreaming about ships.

There were still a few more writings and drawings left in this J. Fenimore Cooper book full of mystery. In the back of the book was one last drawing of a ship and the roster of pupils at the Powder Point School and also the members of the Football and Baseball teams for the year of 1899-1900.

The other book, another J. Fenimore Cooper titled 'Red Rover' didn't have any of the wonderful drawings that 'The Spy' had. Although it did have a simple inscription "Captain Norton Hatch' Christmas 1896 From His Mother.

I never imagined when I bought some old books at a yard sale that I would find a story in the book. Who was F. Norton Hatch. Who was Mr. Edward Barry? Is Captain Norton Hatch the same person as F. Norton Hatch. Was the Pathfinder a real ship? What was the Powder Point School? I had a ton of questions and wanted to find out more.