Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

A slight correction to your article on the history of the West Tisbury Library. When Professor Shaler proposed the idea of a public library in the fall of 1890, the Rev. Caleb Rotch canvassed the area residents for financial support. By December the Dukes County Library Association formed, Caleb Rotch as president, and until July 1892 the library was in the Dukes County Academy. In the summer of 1892 the Mitchell house was purchased and the library moved into that building. In 1893 it became the West Tisbury Free Public Library.

The Rev. Caleb L. Rotch was born at Chilmark in 1855 and graduated from Harvard University. He served as a minister at the church in Stoughton. He also performed marriages for some of his relatives at the West Tisbury Church, such as for my husband’s parents.

William J. Rotch was first cousin to Caleb and is often called the father of West Tisbury. However, as far as is known, he had no part in the establishment of the library.

Catherine M. Mayhew, Vineyard Haven

The writer is the genealogist for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.