USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford, Volume III > Part 28
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Franklin Swift was born at "Rockland," the family estate in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, July 30, 1857. Choosing the navy he ob- tained an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, passed all mental and physical tests, and in 1880 was graduated and assigned to duty. He was on active sea duty on different war ships for about fifteen years, and during that period made two cruises on mer- chantmen, one to South America, the other to France. These cruises were made by courtesy of the Navy Department in order to give the young officers merchant ship experience. At the outbreak of the Spanish- American War he was in command of the United States fisheries steamer, "Fish Hawk," that vessel being quickly converted into a gunboat, and Lieutenant Swift sailed as her commander. But he soon fell a vic- tim to malarial fever, was relieved of his command and finally placed upon the retired list. Prior to his retirement he had been connected with important work done by those two departments of the government, whose work, while not spectacular, is most valuable, the Coast Survey and Fisheries.
Lieutenant Swift retired to a beautiful home on the St. John's river in Florida, and there developed orange and grape fruit orchards which were beginning to be very profitable when he was called away. Here he always came in the intervals of duty, for he was frequently called on for service, he not being retired through years. He was in command of both the "Fish Hawk" and "Albatross" in the interests of the fisheries' commission in the Pacific ocean. He commanded the "Albatross," the larger of the two vessels, for three years, one of those years being spent in Alaskan waters by order of President Roosevelt, who desired expert reports on the salmon fisheries of that Northwestern possession, and upon the canning business. After his return from this special expedition he was relieved of the command of the "Albatross," ill health again thwarting his desires. The vessel had been loaned by the Government to Professor Aggasiz for deep sea dredging in the Pacific ocean, in the interest of science, and by request of the great scientist, Lieutenant Swift had been detailed as her commander. When finally it was found
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that he could not take the post, he was asked to name a commander under whom the ship sailed. What made this a greater disappointment was the fact that he had spent several months preparing the "Albatross" for the new work she was to do. Such was the character of the duty which fell to the lot of Lieutenant Swift, and while not showy or sensa- tional, it was very often work of a character requiring the special skill and training he possessed. His displayed sound judgment and unusual executive ability in the post he filled, and he literally "died in the har- ness," being in command of the "Fish Hawk" when on November 10, 1906, at Charleston, South Carolina, his final summons came.
Lieutenant Swift married, 1893, Louise Meyer, daughter of General Adolph Meyer, of New Orleans, who for a long time represented a Louisiana district in Congress. Mrs. Swift accompanied her husband on all his cruises on the "Fish Hawk" and "Albatross," after he was placed in command.
CLARK WILLIAM HOLCOMB.
While the iron industry flourished contemporaneously with whaling in New Bedford, being first promoted by Taber & Grinnell in 1847, the boiler and machinery industry did not start until later. Bradley, Lewis & Holcomb were the forerunners of the New Bedford Boiler and Machine Company, now owned by Clark W. Holcomb, the original plant dating its existence from February 16, 1871. When Gilbert Bradley withdrew from the firm of Bradley, Lewis & Holcomb, the remaining partners, Joseph S. Lewis and Henry A. Holcomb, continued the business, manu- facturing boilers and making a specialty of a patented steam-heating system. Later Mr. Lewis withdrew, Mr. Holcomb reorganizing the business under the firm name, New Bedford Boiler and Machine Com- pany, and successfully continued it until succeeded as owner by his son, Clark William Holcomb.
Mr. Holcomb is a great-grandson of Jehiel Holcomb, of Westfield, West Parish, Massachusetts, and a grandson of Henry Holcomb, of Westfield, later a merchant of New Bedford; and a son of Henry A. Hol- comb, born in Swansea, Massachusetts, January 9, 1846, died in New Bedford, March 10, 1916. He was educated in the public schools of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and began his business career as a clerk in his father's grocery in New Bedford. From mercantile life he passed into the ranks of manufacturers, and became prominent in the business world in which he moved. In addition to the ownership and management of the New Bedford Boiler and Machine Company, he was for many years interested in other enterprises, and aided in the establishing of new industries and mills. He was a director of the Bennett Manufacturing Company, and connected with other activities of the city operated by individuals. He was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and was held in high esteem as a business man and citizen. He
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married Clare J. Best, of Albany, New York, who survives him, a resi- dent of New Bedford. Mrs. Holcomb is a daughter of Christopher Guy and Elizabeth Amelia (Jackson) Best, both natives of England, both deceased. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Holcomb: Bessie B., married A. J. Cook, of San Francisco, California ; Clark William, of fur- ther mention : Maria, married Ross C. Rich, of Watertown, New York; Helen, married C. W Shurtleff, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts ; Clare, mar- ried Walter E. S. Tanner, of Providence, Rhode Island.
Clark William Holcomb was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, August 28, 1871, and is now a resident and business man of his native city. After finishing high school study he entered the employ of the Bennett Mill, learned the cotton mill business thoroughly, and for nine years remained in that employ, becoming overseer of carding. On the retirement of his father in 1897, he succeeded him as owner and man- ager of the New Bedford Boiler and Machine Company, No. 42 Front street, a business that he yet conducts most successfully. He has never withdrawn from the cotton manufacturing industry, but has large inter- ests therein, and is president of the Greene & Daniels Company of Paw- tucket, Rhode Island, manufacturers of cotton yarns. He is also a direc- tor of the First National and Morris Plan banks of New Bedford, and is one of the energetic, progressive, public-spirited business men who have put New Bedford in a proud position among manufacturing cities. He is a Republican in politics, in religious faith a Unitarian, in fraternity a member of the Masonic order and of the Elks, his clubs the Wamsutta, Brooks and Country of New Bedford, the To Kalon of Pawtucket, Wan- namoisett of Providence, and Old Colony of Cape Cod. When the lib- erty loan "drive" of 1917 was on, he was appointed by the Federal Re- serve Board as vice-chairman of the committee in charge, and also served as vice-chairman of the 1918 Red Cross membership campaign. To both the Liberty Loan and the Red Cross he gave freely of his time and ex- perience, contributing largely to the success of both.
Mr. Holcomb married in New Bedford, May 20, 1893, Clara Bell Murphy, of New Bedford, daughter of Robert and Alice (Slatter) Mur- phy, her father born in Stockport, England, January 28, 1838, dying in New Bedford, Massachusetts, February 11, 1900. Alice (Slatter ) Murphy was born in Stockport, England, December 17, 1847. She survives her husband, a resident of New Bedford. Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb are the parents of a daughter, Vira, born November 6, 1894, married Allen P. Winsor, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts ; and a son, Henry Clark Holcomb, born December 2, 1904, now attending Friends' Academy.
HORATIO HATHAWAY.
This name in early times was written as it was usually pronounced, Hodaway. According to Swift's Barnstable four of the name came over : Arthur, who settled in Marshfield, and afterward removed to Dartmouth ;
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John and Joseph, of Taunton ; and John, of Barnstable. J. D. Baldwin, in the N. E. H. and G. Register, volume xxxii, page 92, has Arthur Hath- away coming to America in 1630 from one of the Welsh counties of Great Britain and settling in Plymouth and appearing to have remained there ; gives him a son, Arthur, Jr., whom he has marrying in Duxbury in November, 1652, Sarah Cook; there two of their children were born, and thence they removed to Dartmouth soon after 1655. It is with some of the descendants of Arthur Hathaway, the Dartmouth settler, this article is to deal. It should be borne in mind that Dartmouth originally was about thirteen miles square and included the present towns of Dart- mouth, Westport, New Bedford and Fairhaven. It was bought of the Indians in 1652. At the division of Dartmouth in 1787 New Bedford and Fairhaven formed the township or town of New Bedford and Fairhaven bearing the name of New Bedford. They were divided into separate townships or towns in 1812. New Bedford, the metropolis, as it were, of Dartmouth, takes its date from 1761, when the first house east of the county road was built by John Lowden ; nearly a hundred years prior to this, however, the settlement of Dartmouth had been made at Russells Mills by the Russells, Ricketsons, Slocums, Smiths and others; and at Acushnet on the east side of the river by the Popes, Tabers and Jen- neys. It may be of interest, too, to note here that all of the original purchasers of Dartmouth were passengers in the "Mayflower," but no names of those who came in that vessel were among the early settlers there. Out of the thirty-six original purchasers of the town, its owners in 1652, perhaps only five or six became settlers. The lands were taken up mostly by Friends or Quakers, not particularly identified with the Puritans. This much for the early home country of the Hathaways.
(II) Arthur Hathaway, Jr., was in Marshfield in 1643, and in what is now Plympton in 1656. In 1660 he and Sergeant Shaw were appointed by the court of Plymouth to put those who had lands in Dartmouth in some way for the levying and paying of the tax levied upon Cushna. In 1664, on the incorporation of the town, he was on the grand inquest, and had previously been appointed to such. He was many times selectman, etc., from 1664 until 1684, his name disappearing from the records in 1688. He married, November 2, 1652, Sarah, daughter of John Cook, he of the "Mayflower" (married Sarah, daughter of Richard Warren, of the "Mayflower"). Their children were: John, born September 17, 1653; Sarah, born February 28, 1656; Thomas, of further mention ; Jona- than, born in 1671; Mary, became the wife of Hammond ; Lydia, died June 23, 1714; Hannah, became the wife of - - Cadman.
(III) Thomas Hathaway, the second son of Arthur Hathaway, Jr., was a Quaker. He died in 1748. He married Hepzibeth Starbuck, of Nantucket, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Coffin) Starbuck, the latter named the great preacher. Mary (Coffin) Starbuck was the daughter of Tristram Coffin, and was married at seventeen years of age. She was accustomed to attend town meetings and took an active part, "was a
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Deborah among the people, for little of moment was done without her ;" "usually began her remarks with some allusion to her husband as 'my husband thinks'." In 1701, during a religious visit of the celebrated English preacher, John Richardson, she was converted to Quakerism and became a "mighty instrument" through which large numbers were brought into the faith. Tristram Coffin was the son of Peter and Joan Coffin, born in Brayton, Devonshire, England; married Dionis Stevens ; immigrated in 1642 and lived at Salisbury, Haverhill and Salisbury, and in 1662 removed to Nantucket; was patriarch of the town. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway: Antipas, born October 5, 1698, married, Sep- tember 13, 1729, Patience Church, of Freetown; Apphiah, born May 13, 1701, married, October 18, 1718, Adam Mott, son of Jacob Mott, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island; Pernal, born June 3, 1703, died October 6, 1715; Elizabeth, born October 18, 1706, married, June 27, 1727, John Clerk, of Rhode Island; Mary, born October 3, 1709, married, Novem- ber 7, 1734, Thomas Kempton ; Thomas, born December 5, 1711, married, January 25, 1750, Lois Taber ; Nathaniel, born June 23, 1715 ; Hepzibeth, born March 18, 1718, married Samuel Wing, of Sandwich ; Jethro, of fur- ther mention.
(IV) Captain Jethro Hathaway, son of Thomas Hathaway, was born in July, 1720, and died June 15, 1803. The Hathaways were exten- sive landowners, derived from John Hathaway, who held a share in the eight hundred acre division. Their lands were situated on both sides of the Acushnet river, commencing about half way from New Bedford to Acushnet. Jethro Hathaway, as well as his father and grandfather, was a prominent man in the early history of Dartmouth, and the handwriting of the former, who was one of the committee on surveys from 1758 to 1773, is remarkably handsome and rarely equalled by the professors of penmanship at the present day. Captain Hathaway married, September 3, 1741, Hannah West, daughter of Stephen West. She died September 26, 1798. He married for his second wife Judith Howland. His children were: Elizabeth, born April 3, 1742; Stephen, of further mention ; Clark, born October 21, 1747, married, June 17, 1770, Lois Akin.
(V) Stephen Hathaway, son of Captain Jethro Hathaway, was born February 28, 1743, and died November 4, 1825. On August 9, 1764, he married Abigail Smith, daughter of Humphrey and Mary (Wilcox) Smith, and to them were born fourteen children, viz. Humphrey, of further mention ; Jethro, born September 13, 1766; Mary, born December 20, 1767, married, November 26, 1800, John Taber ; Hannah, born June 22, 1769, married, June 11, 1791, Thomas Nye, Sr .; Thomas, born January 30, 1771, died in Saratoga in 1793; Rebecca, born August 18, 1772, mar- ried David Dillingham in 1792, and died in 1848; Abigail, born March 15, 1774, married, October 10, 1793, Weston Howland, and died in 1867; Stephen, born September 4, 1775, married Lydia Swain, daughter of Thaddeus and Ruth (Huzzy ) Swain, and died July 1, 1822; Hepzibeth,
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born April 13, 1777, married, September 1, 1802, Pardon Howland ; Alice, born November 13, 1779, married, September 24, 1800, Asa Russell, and died February 12, 1802; Nathaniel, born February 18, 1781, died at Charleston, October 26, 1802; Elizabeth, born December 9, 1782, mar- ried, November 10, 1805, Jireh Swift, Jr .; George, born in 1787, married Eliza Lyon; Silvia, born September 28, 1790, married, December 18, 1811, Gideon Nye.
(VI) Humphrey Hathaway, son of Stephen and Abigail (Smith) Hathaway, born April 13, 1765, died May 2, 1821. He married, December 27, 1787, Abigail Smith, daughter of George Smith. Children: Hum- phrey, born in 1790, died in 1805; Ezra, born in 1793, was drowned at sea in 1810; Thomas S., born in 1796, died in 1878; Nathaniel, of further mention ; Andrew, born in 1801, died in 1828, married Ruth Dillingham; Francis S., born in 1803, died in 1869; Alice, born in 1806, married, in 1826, Elisha Haskell, and died in 1880; Humphrey, born in 1808, died the same year. Of these, Francis S. and Thomas S. were prominent and rich merchants of New Bedford.
(VII) Nathaniel Hathaway, son of Humphrey and Abigail (Smith) Hathaway, was born in 1798, and died October 27, 1836, aged thirty-eight years. He was a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1818. He and his brothers engaged in the merchant trade; he was one of the sub- stantial men of his day, as evidenced by the records of the various enter- prises and institutions of the city. He married Anna Shoemaker, born in 1794, and died September 2, 1833, aged thirty-nine years. Children : Caroline, born in 1822, married, in 1841, Samuel Griffiths Morgan, and died in 1883 ; Richard, born in 1824, died in 1826; Elizabeth, born in 1827, married Joshua C. Stone, of Boston, and died in 1903; Francis, born in 1829, married, in 1854, Susan (Shoemaker) Paxson; Horatio, of further mention.
(VIII) Horatio Hathaway, son of Nathaniel and Anna (Shoe- maker) Hathaway, was born May 19, 1831, in the old Hathaway home- stead at the corner of Elm and Purchase streets. He prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and in 1846 entered Harvard University from which institution he was graduated four years later. A year or two after he went in the merchant ship "Horatio" on a voyage to China and was absent about two years. The firm of which Mr. Thomas S. Hathaway was a member was originally composed of the three brothers, Nathaniel, Thomas S. and Francis S. Hathaway. They were importers of tea and other eastern products and the business grew to be a success- ful one. Francis S. Hathaway spent much of his early life in China attending to the interests of the business there. He died in 1869 and bequeathed his property, considered a large one for those days, equally to his brother, Thomas S., and the heirs of his brother Nathaniel. Mr. Horatio Hathaway became possessed of a considerable fortune at the death of Thomas S. Hathaway, in 1878. Outside of Mr. Hathaway's
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connection with the tea business in his earlier years he had cares that the management of a large estate entailed which made him a very busy and active man. He was at one time appointed treasurer of the Potom- ska Mills, but with his other duties found it to be too exacting and resigned after a brief trial.
Early in his career Mr. Hathaway took a lively interest in all ques- tions which concerned the civic welfare of the city. His sound discre- tion, executive powers and broad culture gave him the confidence of his fellow-citizens and he was sought for places of trust in the city govern- ment. In politics he was first a Whig, and when the Republican party was organized joined its ranks, and ever remained a most loyal and con- servative adherent. Mr. Hathaway was a member of the city council of New Bedford in 1866-67-68-69-77 and president in 1868 and 1869. In this capacity his voice was always on the side of wise economy. In 1869 he was a candidate for mayor and was defeated by George B. Richmond.
Mr. Hathaway's opinions on all questions of finance and economy were always held as authority. He was president and a director of the Acushnet Mills and Hathaway Manufacturing Corporation. He was a director of the Mechanics' National Bank, the Potomska Mills and the Wamsutta Mills, and also a member of the board of investment of the Institution for Savings. He was also interested in other manufactories in New Bedford and Fall River. It was one of Mr. Hathaway's strong- est personal characteristics that he would never accept any position which he had not sufficient time or opportunity to properly attend to, and he never attempted any work which was not thoroughly performed. He was known to be a man of most conservative opinions. His tastes were of marked simplicity and his manners were always unaffected and unpretentious, and courteous to a marked degree. He was preeminently a man of scrupulous honesty and in his business transactions preferred to appear to disadvantage rather than to resort to any kind of deception. He always maintained a high standard of morals and had the courage to live and act up to his convictions in the face of any opposition.
Mr. Hathaway was actively interested in the founding of St. Luke's Hospital, its president from its inception and a liberal contributor to its support until his death. He also gave liberally of his time and means to other charitable organizations of New Bedford. He was a constant attendant and member of Grace Church. He formerly attended the Uni- tarian church, but its modern liberalism was not in accord with his tastes. His benefactions to Grace Church and the parish house were most liberal. He was senior warden of the church for many years prior to his death.
In 1859 Mr. Hathaway married Ellen Rodman, daughter of Samuel Rodman. Children : Samuel Rodman, born in 1860, died in 1863; Ellen Rodman, born in 1862; Elizabeth, born in 1864, married, in 1899, Charles Osmyn Brewster, died in 1913, and their children were: Horatio Hath-
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away, born in 1900, and Elizabeth, born in 1903; Thomas Schuyler, whose sketch follows; Horatio, born in 1870, married, in 1898, Mabel Lovering, daughter of Henry M. Lovering, of Taunton ; one child, Lover- ing, born in 1898.
THOMAS SCHUYLER HATHAWAY.
Thomas Schuyler Hathaway, son of Horatio and Ellen (Rodman) Hathaway, was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, December 5, 1866, and there yet resides, a man of influence and worth, highly regarded for his sterling attributes of character and his manly, upright life. He pre- pared for college in Friends' Academy, New Bedford, going thence to Harvard in 1885, pursuing there a four years' course ending with gradua- tion, Bachelor of Arts, class of 1889. From graduation until 1895 he was in the office employ of the Acushnet and the Hathaway Mills, then became his father's assistant in the management of his business affairs, father and son continuing closely associated until the former's death, March 25, 1898.
In addition to continuing the management and administration of his father's estate, Mr. Hathaway has accepted the presidency of both the Hathaway Manufacturing Company and the Page Manufacturing Com- pany, and a place on the directorate of the Acushnet Mills Corporation, The Morse Twist Drill and Machine Company, the Mechanics' National Bank, the Union Street Railway, and the New Bedford and Onset Rail- way, all of New Bedford; the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company of Fall River ; the Pocasset Manufacturing Company, of Fall River, and the Mount Hope Finishing Company of North Dighton, Massachusetts. He is a trustee and member of the board of investment of the New Bed- ford Institution for Savings and has other interests of lesser importance. He is a lifelong Republican, locally active in party affairs, and in 1890 and 1891 was a member of the common council. He is a vestryman of Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, and a member of the Wamsutta, Country and Yacht clubs of New Bedford. His out-of-town clubs are the Somerset, Union and Harvard of Boston; the Harvard and New York Yacht of New York City. Yachting is his favorite sport and recreation. He is chairman of the New Bedford Committee of One Hun- dred on Public Safety, organized for war precautionary measures, and is interested in various local organizations, charitable and philanthropic. He is vice-president and serves on the board of trustees of St. Luke's Hospital, is vice-president of the New Bedford Branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and in all forward movements his aid and support can confidently be relied upon.
There are people yet living in New Bedford and vicinity who always received choice teas from Horatio Hathaway, he being engaged in the China trade. As a graceful memorial to his father, Mr. Hathaway con-
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tinues this practice and chests of choicest tea are regularly delivered to those who long ago established the practice of having their favorite beverage from the Hathaways.
Mrs. Ellen (Rodman) Hathaway, widow of Horatio Hathaway, is yet a resident of New Bedford, three of her children living with or near her, Miss Eilen R. Hathaway, Thomas Schuyler Hathaway, and Horatio Hathaway, Jr., of Dedham, Massachusetts.
WILLIAM H. HAND, JR.
William H. Hand, Jr., the well-known naval architect of New Bed- ford, Massachusetts, where he is highly honored as a public-spirited and progressive citizen, comes of a family that has for many years been associated with naval matters generally. He is a son of Captain William H. and Sarah S. (Wilcox) Hand, the former an officer in the navy during the Civil War and the senior captain in the United States R. C. S. at time of his death.
William H. Hand, Jr., was born at Portland, Maine, December II, 1875. He attended the local public schools of his native city, completed his course in the grammar grades in 1890, and graduated from the high school in 1894, having been prepared for college there. He then entered Brown University, where he devoted himself to the study of naval archi- tecture and engineering with the class of 1898. Upon thus completing his studies, Mr. Hand at once began the practice of his profession, and met therein with a very gratifying success. His best known work is the development of the Hand-V-Bottom boats, which are known in all parts of the world. For twenty years he has been active in his line and in that time has designed and built many fine craft, the performances of which have brought him wide renown and a large business. With the entrance of the United States into the great world war, talent, experi- ence and training such as that possessed by Mr. Hand have been at a high premium, and most men in his line are now working for the govern- ment in connection with its great shipping program. Of these Mr. Hand is one, and he is now engaged in this, one of the most important of all services to his country and to the cause of liberty throughout the world. He acted as district officer for the United States Shipping Board Emer- gency Fleet Corporation in starting the ship building program in New England, and is now the naval architect for the naval aircraft factory at the Philadelphia navy-yard, where flying boats are being built. Mr. Hand is a member of the Wamsutta Club and the New Bedford Yacht Club, and is a prominent figure in social circles in this city.
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