Complex sentence: Whilst in Nantucket he met and married his first wife, Lydia, but within a year of marriage both she had died and his only daughter died the following year cast a "shadow over his whole life".
Split into simpler sentences: Whilst in Nantucket he met and married his first wife, Lydia, but within a year of marriage both she had died and his only daughter died the following year. This cast a "shadow over his whole life".