Zeph. W. (Zephaniah Walter) Pease

Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Zephaniah Walter Pease was a newspaper editor, local historian, and author whose writing stayed closely tied to the city and its seafaring past. Records from Indiana University describe him as editor of The Morning Mercury in New Bedford, and library catalogs credit him with major historical works on the city.

His best-known book, The Catalpa Expedition (1897), recounts the famous rescue of Irish political prisoners from Western Australia. He also wrote and compiled substantial works including History of New Bedford and other books centered on the people, institutions, and memory of coastal Massachusetts.

Sources located during this search agree that he died in 1933, though some records list his birth year as 1860 while library catalogs for his books give 1861. Because of that small conflict, it is safest to say he was born in the early 1860s and spent his career documenting New Bedford's history with the eye of both a reporter and a storyteller.