May 6: Birthday of Robert E. Peary (1856)
Prayer Idea
Pray for explorers who are making new paths for those who follow them.
History Note
Robert Peary was born on May 6, 1856, in Cresson, Pennsylvania. His father died when he was three, and his mother took him back to her native Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in civil engineering.
Peary joined the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps in 1881. He became fascinated with Greenland and started making trips there. The Navy gave him leaves of absence to pursue Arctic exploration.
In 1887 Peary hired Matthew Henson to be his valet. Henson, born in 1866, had also lost his parents as a child, and he started working on a sailing ship at age 12. Henson and Peary became close friends through their work together over decades. Henson’s sailing ability, his survival skills, and his ability to communicate with the indigenous people of the Arctic made him a vital contributor to Peary’s exploration attempts.
Robert Peary married Josephine Diebitsch in 1888, and she accompanied him on two trips to Greenland. Their first child, Marie, was born there. An Inuit woman made a fur suit for Marie, and her parents honored her by giving their daughter the middle name Ahnighito.
During the early 1900s, people from several countries were attempting to reach the North Pole and the South Pole. American explorer Frederick Cook, who had previously traveled to Greenland with Peary and set Peary’s broken leg after an accident, claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1908. However, he lost much of his documentation in Greenland, and his claim has been disputed.
In 1909 Robert Peary led his fourth attempt to reach the North Pole. Matthew Henson joined him, along with four Inuit men—Ooqueh, Ootah, Egingwah, and Seeglo. On April 6, 1909, they calculated that they reached the North Pole after traveling for weeks across water and over ice. The U.S. Congress recognized their achievement in 1911.
More recent research has concluded that they may not have reached the exact location of the North Pole. They may have been short of their goal by a few dozen miles. If they did reach it, Matthew Henson was most likely the first person to arrive.
Robert Peary died in 1920.
Members of Peary’s 1909 expedition at the site they thought to be the North Pole. Photo courtesy the National Archives.
Learn More
This is a 1910 recording of Robert E. Peary speaking about the exploration of the North Pole and his 1909 expedition. Please Note: Peary makes a reference to ‘Eskimo country’. Many Inuit today consider this name pejorative.
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