Arthur R. Railton of Edgartown, author and historian, died Thursday, May 19, 2011 at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. He was 95. His wife, Marjorie, died in 2000.
For 28 years Mr. Railton was the editor of the Dukes County Intelligencer, a publication of the Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society, since renamed the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. At the age of 91, he wrote the 440-page volume titled, “The History of Martha’s Vineyard: How We Got to Where We Are.”
Mr. Railton is survived by his sons Stephen of Charlottesville, Va.; Peter of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Mark of Hingham; and his daughter, Janet, of Olathe, Kan.; and by eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters Elsie Rushton of Salem, N.H.; Nancy Jones of South Dennis; and Dorothy Fisher Dickie of Milford, N.H. Another sister, Ruth Gordon of Edgartown, died in 2010.
His funeral service was held at the Old Whaling Church on Main Street in Edgartown, not the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home as previously announced, on Tuesday, May 24, at 11 am. Burial followed in the New Westside Cemetery, Edgartown.
Donations may be made in Arthur’s memory to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, P.O. Box 1310, Edgartown, MA 02539.
