Doxsee Page 2

Doxsee Clams: A Family Tradition

The Doxsee family has been a leader in the seafood industry in New York and along the Mid-Atlantic coast for over a century. Mr. James Harvey Doxsee and his brother-in-law Selah Whitman started the company known as the Doxsee Clam & Seafood Canning Company in Islip, NY shortly after the Civil War in 1865. One year later it was the first Long Island Company to produce canned hard shell clams.

The First Factory at the Maple Street Dock in Islip 1865 Doxsee Factory (311x200)

In 1892 the American Institute in New York awarded it’s Medal of Excellence to J.H. Doxsee and Son for their Clam Juice. In 1900, after the Great South Bay shellfish harvest had collapsed, James's oldest son, Henry, moved to Ocracoke, N.C. and established a business that is still in operation today. By 1905, the clam cannery in Islip had closed, and John Doxsee, another of James' sons, began setting fish traps in the ocean. After initially operating in Islip, this business was moved to Meadow Island near Freeport. In 1933, John’s sons, Bob, Sr. and Spencer, began installing fish nets in the ocean and moved the business to its current location in Point Lookout. Bob, Sr.’s son Bob, Jr. took over the helm of the family company in the 1960's and he continues to serve as the company’s President today. Bob Jr.’s daughter Beth has been involved with the family business since the 1980's and is currently managing the firm’s prepared product line.

A snapshot of James Harvey Doxsee --Founder of Doxsee Clam and Seafood Canning Company

James Harvey Doxsee (164x235)

The following excerpt and photograph were taken from a biographical sketch of James Harvey Doxsee that appeared in a newspaper article whose byline stated: From Gardener’s Cottage, Islip, December 7, 1901

"Born in the village of Islip three-quarters of a century ago, where he has always resided, time, indeed, has dealt most kindly with James Harvey Doxsee, Islip’s best-known citizen, whose rugged countenance is well remembered by every visitor to this place. Although having passed the seventy-sixth milestone along Life's pathway, he is still as active as most men half his years. His physical condition is practically unimpaired, while his mental faculties continue to grow bright with age, and he daily discharges the many duties that devolve upon him with the vim of a schoolboy in the first flush of vigorous manhood."