^ / -^- \ c°V" •^ • 4 "oV £' ^ * A^ *0> o, 4* 'il°« ^ v **j^w> o. -5,0^ ,o^ t -^- **b, ^ 0°"°* "^ 4 0* *** *7*j /\ .To' 0° \/*-^\*^ -^ e/^n o^M#^» V V^ o* »H°, o* aP *y^' > v *L°A*:+ '^ a0 ,4 O ^ 1 ^ "^ -"«^^^ 4 Oft ^ o *k b$ & o, °^ • « ° A V, * • i i • ^ * o^ aP % »**•* > V *L!^'* o. ,o * AX r^. ^^?r - A o > .«L^^^ ^ ^ O^ 4 -°« o0 A •^ v " ^> - . • ' \.^ .-is&te V,^ ' * d* * H ° ° A V, * • '- 1 " HE BEARETH 5ABI A BUGLE OR HUNTER'S HORN, ' GARNI5HED AND FURNISHED ARGENT. TRIBE HATHAWAY DESCENDENTS OF THOMAS HATHAWAY AND HIS WIFE MOLLY GILBERT ^-?c^ BY CHARLES F. HATHAWAY NEW YORK. N. Y. %> GOTHAM PRESS, N. Y. 3\b4£tL A3 Tribe Hathaway &9lM> HOME OF THE HATHAWAYS New Bedford, Mass. n| HE dwelling from which the picture shown above was taken was built in New Bedford, Mass., by Thomas Hathaway in 1772, and al- though he was a Tory, and at the breaking out of the war fled to Nova Scotia, it was a mark for the British soldiers in 1 778, although it was not much damaged. This is the Thomas Hathaway who moved to Yates (formerly On- tario) County, N. Y., with Jemima Wilkinson, in I 789, and who furnished nearly all the funds to establish her colony in that district. Hettie Green, "the richest woman in the world," was also born in this house. INTRODUCTORY. In this brief skeich of the Hathaway tribe, I shall dwell principally upon the histories of those whose portraits appear herein, and as the record of all the great names of colonial days can be found in any history of those times, I shall merely make the connecting link of our line with the pilgrims and other noted men and women whose names are associated with the early history of this country. I shall also add a few of the more important of the thousands of notes I have made of the name, so that some other enterprising chap who, in the future, desires to go deeper into the record of the family, may have considerably more than the writer had, to start him on his journey of research. The immediate branch of the Hathaway family most interesting to the writer, is that branch which descended from the Thomas Hathaway who, in company with the Jemima Wilkinson colony, moved to Ontario County, N. Y., in the year 1 789. He was born in New Bedford, Mass., in 1 731, and died in Jerusalem, Yates Co., 1 798, aged 67 years. In 1 764, he married Molly Gilbert, the daughter of Col. Thomas Gilbert, a woman of rare beauty, intelligence, motherly affection and whole-souled wifely and womanly attributes. By this marriage ihere were four children, Thomas, Jr., Gilbert, Mary and Elizabeth, all of whom accompanied their father to Ontario County. Although he was not the oldest son, nearly all of his father s vast estate was willed to him, and at the breaking out of the war he was one of the wealthiest men in New England. The dwelling shown in the picture on the preceding page, was the first three-story building ever constructed in New Bed- ford, and was occupied by Thomas Hathaway and family as a residence. It overlooked the bay, on the opposite side of which is Fairhaven, the birthplace of Henry Huddleston Rogers (the oil magnate), whose grandmother, I am reliably informed, was a Hathaway. Although Thomas Hathaway's immedi- ate family was composed of himself, wife and four children, the size of the house compared more favorably with a good sized country hotel. But as nearly all of his father's property was willed to him, it should be so, for the reason that his brothers, sisters and other immediate relatives were compelled to look to him for their shelter and maintenance. Until the breaking out of the war, Thomas Hathaway followed the occupation of shipbuilding, but at the opening of hostilities he fled to Nova Scotia, remaining there with the family of Col. Thomas Gilbert, his father- in-law, for six years, with the exception of 1 3 months, during which time he served on a British man-of-war. Before leaving his home, he placed his family in his country residence near New Bedford, where his wife devoted herself to their four children. September 5, 1778, the British burned New Bedford. Mrs. Hataway v believing her husband's loyalty to the 4 crown her safeguard, made no attempt (except to hide her plate) to protect herself and family, but she was treated with violence and so shocked that her health failed, and in 1 783 died, soon after her husband's return. Col. Thomas Gilbert, the father of Molly Gilbert, was the eldest son of Nathaniel Gilbert and Hannah Bradford; therefore, the Hathaways mentioned in this booklet were descendants of Thomas Gilbert, the loyalist, who, on his mother's side, was a descendant of Gov. Bradford, the second Chief Magistrate of Plymouth Colony. These Hathaways were also related to Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh. Molly and Deborah Gilbert were sisters. The latter was married, but left no children. They were sisters of Col. Bradford Gilbert — born in 1 746, who married Mary Tisdale, Nov. 21, 1776. Wealthy Gilbert, the daughter of Hannah Brad- ford and Nathaniel Gilbert, married Ebenezer Hathaway, a relative rvf Thomas Hathaway, the subject of this sketch, making two lines of connec- tion with Gov. William Bradford. DIRECT LINE. Arthur Hathaway was born in England and came to America in 1630. He is mentioned as being at Marshfield, Mass., in 1643, and at Lakenhem (Plimpton) in 1656. On November 2nd, 1652, he married Sarah Cook, daughter of John Cook, of the Mayflower. John Cook married Sarah Warren, the daughter of Richard Warren, also of the Mayflower. Among other children, Arthur and Sarah Hathaway had a son named John, born September 17th, 1653, who was twice married. His second wife was named Patience (surname unknown), by whom he had a son named Jona- than, born June 23rd, 1697. This last-named Jonathan Hathaway mar- ried Abigail Nye, June 15th, 1721, by whom, among other children, he had a son named Thomas Hathaway, who married Molly Gilbert, and who is the principal subject of this sketch. Arthur Hathaway, Married Nov. 2, 1652, Sarah Cook, Came to Am. in 1 630. Sarah Cook, dau. John Cook, B — of the Mayflower. John B — D — Cook, married Sarah War- D — ren, dau. Richard War- ren, also of the Mayflower. John Hathaway, Married, Sept. 29, 1 696, Patience — , 2d wife (surname unknown). B-Sept. 17, 1653 B— D— D— Jonathan Hathaway, Married, June 15, 1721. Abigail Nye, B— June 23, 1697. B— D— D— Thomas Hathaway, Married, Oct. 1 7, 1 767, Molly Gilbert, B— Sept. 18,1731-32 B— Dec. 2, 1739. D— 1798 D— 1783. Gilbert Hathaway, Married Feby. 4, 1810, Mary Hurd, B-April 30, 1772 B- April 12, 1785 D— May 31, 1857 D— May 8, 1857 Bradford Gilbert Hurd Hathaway, Married, 12—24, 1837, Catherine A. Shear, B— Jany. 8, 1814. B-Aug. 10. 1816 D-Aug. 25, 1887. D-M ay 7, 1894 Children of Bradford G. H. Hathaway and Catherine A. Shear; Mary Adelia, B— March 30, 1839 D-Feby. 12, 1894 Estell Maria, B-Oct. 1, 1840 D— Nov. 29, 1907 George Maltby, B-June 22,1842 D-Apr. 1903 Charles Frank, B— May 7, 1854 At the close of the Revolution, Thomas Hathaway returned from Nova Scotia, and joined his family at New Bedford. His wife, as we have already stated, died soon after his return, and the American forces having been victorious, his home and birthplace afforded a poor asylum for a Tory who had declined to take up arms against the mother country, and who had fled to avoid being forced to fight with the colonists. From an exhaustive study of the conditions existing at the close of the v/ar, as well as the character and subsequent movements of Jemima Wilkin- son, I am perfectly satisfied that she foresaw the plight these Tories, who fled to Nova Scotia, would, upon their return, be in, and she originated her combined religious and colonizing project, for the very purpose of afford- ing all such an opportunity of getting away from the very offensive and oppressive environments with which all Tories who came back from Nova Scotia found themselves surrounded. This explanation of the origin of Jemima Wilkinson's project has not, to the writer's knowledge, ever before been advanced, but it is certainly correct, else why did Thomas Hathaway sell all of his vast estate at so great a sacrifice to join this religious expedition of a fanatic woman, who, although as beautiful as she was brilliant, had no social standing? Thomas Hathaway was an aristocrat with a line of an- cestors as great and as grand as any in the colonial days. He had married one of the grandest and noblest women of her day — Molly Gilbert, who traced her ancestry back to Otho Gilbert, of England, the father of Sir John Gilbert, and to William Bradford, the grandfather of Gov. William Brad- ford. Thomas Hathaway could also trace his own ancestry back to the "Church of Rewardine within the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire," wherein was mounted the "very ancient coat of arms" of the Hathaway family, which bore the insignia "He beareth sable a Bugle or Hunter's horn, garnished and furnished argent." And back of these ancient days, the Hathaways are spoken of in Rudder's History of Gloucester (Sidney), page 527 as "there was an ancient family of the name of Hathaway, in the County of Gloucester," a descendant of which "ancient family" named Richard Hathaway, came from the River Wye, about the year 1880, and settled in Needham, Mass. This is the only Hathaway who ever came to this country since Arthur Hathaway came with the English settlers in 1630. Then, if not to escape the taunts and insults of his old friends and associates, why did he desert the town of his birth and childhood, sacrifice his property and join this new religious project? All the orthodox religion the Hath aways, all combined, ever possessed, would not justify the maintenance of a pauper s pew in a mission church, and the only Hathaway that was ever seriously charged with having religious predelictions, was Deacon Abraham Hathaway, and there is no evidence that he was severely afflicted. The unwritten history of Thomas Hathaway is truly pathetic. Blessed with great wealth and a family name second to none in colonial times, he and his devoted wife, Molly Gilbert, had just completed and moved into the then beautiful mansion shown on the 3d page of this booklet, when the war, which had been long threatening, broke out, and for six years he was separated from his wife and children. Loyal to his country and the crown, he could not conscientiously join the rebel movement, and therefore fled to the family of his father-in-law, Col. Thomas Gilbert, who had taken up his residence on the St. John River, in Canada, and returned at the close of the war to witness the death of his devoted wife as the result of violence from the King's soldiers. For all his wealth and social standing, he must have been a very dejected and miserable man. So much for one's loyalty to his country. So, with the remnants of his family and fortune, he left all of the comforts of his massive home and former environments, to go to Yates (then Ontario,) and after experiencing all of the hardships of pioneer life, was stricken down with fever and died, a few years after, in a log cabin, which was located on or near the little stream that empties into Keuka Lake, at Branchport, and not more than a half mile below the "Friend's Home"— the latter at this date (August, 1907.) is still standing in a fair state of preservation. Thomas Hathaway was remembered by men that were very old when the writer was a boy, as a very energetic, dignified, precise and "starchy" chap of middle age. His dress was always of the colonial pattern, made of broadcloth having a greenish tint, and provided with solid gold buttons and immaculate lace at the collars and cuffs. On all state occasions he was very attentive to Jemima, and possibly at other times, for he was a widower and she a beautiful maid — why should he not have been? His children were Thomas, Gilbert, Mary and Elizabeth. Gilbert was the grandfather of the writer, and was born in New Bedfod, Mass., April 30, 1772, and died and was buried at Rock Stream, N. Y., May, 1857. GILBERT HATHAWAY Gilbert Hathaway married Mary Hurd, daughter of Richard Hurd and his wife, Mary Lacy, who was the daughter of Judge Lacy, of Litchfield Co., 8 Connecticut, from whence the Hurd family moved first to Sandgate, Vermont, and from there, in the year 1808 to Rock Stream, N. Y., then known as "Hurd's Corners." The Hurds were all fighters and took part in all the wars of their day on the American side. One of the Hurds was a general, and Richard Hurd, the father of Molly, served thirteen years in the Vermont Legislature as representative of Sandgate, Vt. 1 hey originally came from England, and an ancient Richard Hurd was tutor to the children of the Prince of Wales. The genealogy of this branch of the family is still being pursued, but have not car- ried it to the same degree of perfection that we have reached with the Bradford, Gilbert and Hathaway branch. Gilbert Hathaway and his wife, Mary Hurd, resided at Rock Stream during nearly all of their married life. In early times, when "gineral trainin' " was in vogue, Gilbert Hathaway kept a hotel at Rock Stream, and was always an extensive land owner. He was, as his portrait indicates, a man of the cold steel type, very careful and conservative in all of his business transactions and close with money matters. He built and ran the first sail boat on Senaca Lake that ever carried passengers and freight, and in 1 797 had the honor of carrying as royal passengers Louis Philippe, afterwards King of France, and his two brothers, from Geneva to Watkins, while they were en route from Niagara Falls to Philadelphia. The follow- ing incident will serve as an example of his shrewdness, which was related to the writer by Mr. William Sharp, of Rock Stream, who, many years ago, was a member of the firm of Barnes & Sharp, which conducted a general merchan- dise business at Rock Stream, N. Y. Gilbert Hathaway was owing Barnes & Sharp a small balance, which had been standing for some time. One day Mr. Hathaway entered the store and asked to look at their broadcloths, and intimated he wished to buy a suit. After the selection had been made and the price fixed, Mr. H asked Mr. Sharp if he would not like to take a fine milch cow in trade. As those were the days of exchanging commodities for other commodities, Mr. Sharp readily consented, and made an appoint- ment to look the cow over, and was well pleased with her at the price de- manded, and believed he had made a good exchange in disposing of a suiting for the price of a cow. When the cow was delivered Mr. Hathaway re- quested Mr. Sharp to give him "a little receipt so he would have something to show for the transaction." This Mr. Sharp readily made out and handed to Mr. H , who carefully placed it in his pocketbook and departed. Some weeks later he presented this receipt for amount involved in the sale of the cow, ana asked to have it credited on his account, which, of course, being a receipt for cash, had to be thus credited, and an old debt was thus discharged at a price for the cow that he could not have secured but for the hope of « new sale of a broadcloth suit of clothes. Gilbert Hathaway, made up as he was of that stern Puritan stock, was always, even to his last days, as primp, prim and precise in his habits and dress as the highest educated and most severely disciplined army officer, and fully as courageous. Bradford, his eldest son, was the daredevil and disturbing element of the family, and gave "Uncle Gilly" no end of cencern, and thus, after death, when his will was read, it bequeathed "my son Brad- ford one dollar." His other children were submissive and highly respectful, and patiently waited "Uncle Gilly's" death for their share of his large estate, but Bradford, full of the courage of his father, and the fighting daredevil impetuosity of the Hurds, demanded and received, at the end of costly litiga- tion "for labor performed," a large share of the estate, but not so great in respect to the number of acres, as the other children received. During the litigation between "Uncle Gilly" and his son Bradford, an altercation ensued, and the latter very disrespectfully and quite forcibly laid hands on his aged father, to find himself the next instant insensible upon the ground from a well- directed and good, stiff blow on the head from the "old man's" cane. May first, 1857, found Gilbert Hathaway and his devoted wife, with whom he had so long and happily lived, in excellent health for people above their eightieth year, but the wife was stricken down and suddenly died, May 8, 1857, and so firmly set were the ties of affection that, although without any apparent malady, Gilbert Hathaway followed in the wake of the departed soul who, for so many years, had been his constant companion, adviser and shoulder to shoulder worker — May 31, 1857. MARY HURD HATHAWAY Mary Hurd, as stated, was the daughter of Richard Hurd and Mary Lacy, who, in turn, was the daughter of Judge Lacy, of Litch- field County, Connecticut. As an evidence of the dignity and social standing of Judge Lacy, I recall when I was a very young boy, having heard my father and relatives of his time and age, frequently talk of a visit Judge Lacy and his family paid "Hurd's Corners", (Rock Stream) during the early part of the Nineteenth Century, and before the epoch of railroads, when people traveled by stage and private convey- ances. Vermont in those day was the horse mart for the great centers of the east, and especially New York City, which then had a population of 200,000, and her horses, like those of the Arabs, were noted the world over for their blue blood, thorough breed and beauty. No wonder, then, that Judge Lacy's coming was a wonderful event. I never see in Central Park, New York, a beautiful, gorgeously bedecked, prancing team, but what it recalls the picture engraved upon my memory by this story of Judge Lacy' trip from Litchfield, Conn., to Hurd's Corners and back again. So great was the event that Hurd's Corners, which was then one of the places for "Gineral 10 Trainin,' ' called out her guards and fired a salute in honor of Judge Lacy and Richard Hurd, Sr. (who was, as the story now occurs to me, quite lame) the two ancestors of Mary Hurd, and some members of their respective families. Mary Hurd was a beautiful woman, possessed of a violent temper and all kinds of determination. I recall a tale told by my eldest sister, Mary, Mary Hurd Hathaway to the effect that when my mother (a very mild-tempered woman) had occa- sion to employ a little switch in the universal s&heme of discipline then em- ployed, she (my sister) would without cause except to attract the attention of her grandmother, give vent to unearthly yells, and her grandmother, hear- ing Mary's screams, would cry out across a 1 2-acre field to my mother, "Yes, n that's right; beat her poor little flesh, and when she dies, remember the bruises you are now inflicting." To a mother who loves her children, this reminder is all-sufficient, and, of course, mother would instantly desist, but the scheme work- ed so well that my sister revealed it to my brother and another sister, all of whom were much older than the writer. So, thereafter, when either of the three were about to get a "trimming," by conspiracy, the whole three would begin in concert to howl, which was certain to bring forth a vigorous and not altogether refined protest from grandmother. It was said of her that no woman in the land had such beautiful jet-black eyes, evidences of which will be found by referring to her portrait on page eleven. As an evidence of her determined character, the following incident is interesting. My father once sustained a severe cut in the abdomen, which exposed the intestines. 1 his wound was inflicted in a personal encounter with another young man of about his age, who was so badly wounded that little hope for his recovery was entertained, so my grandmother, with a com- mon needle and a silk thread, sewed up the wound, secreted my father in a log barn eleven miles from her home, and at midnight would start and travel the distance on horseback to administer to the wants of her boy, which she contin- ued to do until both belligerents were out of danger. No woman was ever a more devoted wife and mother, or of greater aid, or a better companion to a husband, than Mary Hurd was to Gilbert Hathaway, and this brings me to the story of my father's life. BRADFORD GILBLRT HURD HATHAWAY Bradford Gilbert Hurd Hathaway was the eldest child of Gilbert Hathaway and Mary Hurd, but how he, through infancy, ever survived that name, no one but Molly Hurd could ever explain, and "Brad" Hathaway himself, after enduring this burden for 76 years, suddenly died without even as much as a glimmer of information as to how he became exposed. That is to say, if father ever knew after whom or for what reason the burden was fastened upon him for life, he was wise enough not to mention the fact, lest the others of his tribe might become infected. So it was left to the author to dig out these facts. Having already shown the lines of descent, anyone can now readily account for the name. "Bradford," of course, is from William Bradford, second Governor of Plymouth Colony; "Gilbert", from Col. Thomas Gilbert, and "Hurd," the maiden name of his mother. Bradford (I have often heard my great relatives say) "was born with several veils over his face." What this means, or what significance it has, I do not know, except, when a little boy, it was told to me by these great aunts and other aged relatives, that a person so born, possessed the power of seeing into the future, and forecasting coming events, and upon this subject, as it relates to my 12 father, I shall have something to say before this chapter is closed. At an early age, he developed two distinct traits of character — deviltry and inventive genius, and if the latter had been properly applied, he would have left much more in the way of invention to commemorate his existence. During my father's early school days the first steam engines were in- Bradford Gilbert Hurd Hathaway vented, and having learned their modus operandi, he decided to build one after his own ideas, and secretly went about the task. Cooking stoves, in those day, were rare household commodities, but my grandfather, at great cost, had caused a stove to be shipped to him from Troy, N. Y., by boat and ox team, and installed it in his home at Rock Stream. It being the only stove 13 in the neighborhood, grandmother, of course, was very proud and choice of it, but young Bradford had conceived a very different idea as to its proper utility. Having completed his engine, he restlessly awaited an opportunity to give it a trial, and the chance came when, on the following Sunday, his parents, con- trary to their usual custom, determined to attend church. Taking the iron tea kettle, he partly filled it with water, securely fastened the lid, attached one end of a pipe to the spout and the other end to his engine, turned on the steam, and away his machine flew at a terrible clip. Boy-like, my father was so deeply engrossed with the operation of his engine that he did not notice the return and entry upon the scene of his mother, who, upon catching a glimpse of his high-speed engine, gathered up her skirts after the fashion of a ballet dancer and did a semi-circle stunt about her stove, exclaiming as she did so, "Oh, my God, my son, you'll bust my stove, you'll bust my stove; stop that infernal machine, I pray you, stop it at once," with which fervent prayer my father reluctantly complied. In those puritanic days the blue laws were in vogue, and to hunt or fish on Sundays was a heinous offense against law and order, and the person caught on a Sunday with a gun or rod was summarily and severely dealt with. The great passion of the Hathaways. has ever been to fish and hunt, and my father did not propose to allow the blue laws to interfere with his inbred cravings to hunt even though the day hap- pened to be the first in the week. He therefore set to work to construct a gun which could be concealed. He first set a steel drill perpendicularly and se- curely in an oak block, surrounded by a frame several feet in height. In this frame was a cross piece which could be made to slide up and down, and in the centre of this cross piece was a steel point. He next procured a piece of steel for the gun barrel and "centered" it at both ends. One end of this bar of steel he placed upon the point of the drill and the other was entered by the steel point in the cross piece above. He then took a "half hitch" with a leather strap about the barrel and fastened the ends to two spring poles which he had secured on each side of the frame. After his day's work was over, in company with his mother, he would repair to the barn, where he had fitted up the above described drill, and while his mother would pull at one spring pole, he would operate the other and direct the drill. This operation would, of course, keep the barrel revolving very rapidly back and forth on the point of the drill, until the hole was half way through the piece of steel, when he reversed ends and continued as before. When the two holes met they were so perfectly in line with each other that the barrel dropped down over the drill. He then rigged up a machine for "cutting" the barrel. That is, to cut creases on the inside of the barrel in such a manner as to give a twist to the bullet as it is discharged from the gun. This accomplished and the handle 14 made (for it was a cane gun he was making, which could be carried in the leg of his trousers), he was greatly in need of some ornamentation, and to mani- fest his gratitude for his mother's help in working the spring poles, he delib- erately helped himself to her silver spoons, with which he mounted the handle. With his gun he was a sure shot, and to the day of his death he could place a ball squarely through the head of a chicken while it was standing in an> portion of the yard. During the Pike's Peak craze, this gun was stolen, and "Rub" Jones, one of my father's school-boy friends, found it in possession of a stranger on the streets of San Francisco, forcibly took it from him and returned it to my father. Again, my uncle borrowed this gun, and when it was time to return it, refused to give it up, as he claimed my father was indebted to him. The result was a law suit in which something over $1,000 was expended by the litigants, but the gun was restored to its maker. When my father died, this gun and a desk which he constructed from "curly maple", were the only things he left to me and I prize them both so very highly, that I sincerely hope my descendants will as carefully preserve them for many years to come as I have cared for them since they have been in my possession. My father was the inventor of the first combined separator for threshing grain ever made, and applied for and received a patent in 1853, during which year, he exhibited this machine at the Crystal Palace Fair in New York, and received a medal for his invention. For many years he manufactured this machine at Rock Stream and made a great deal of money therefrom. He built the shop at Rock Stream in which these machines were made and he also built all of the machinery and tools with which they were con- structed. The lathes had wooden beds mounted with iron ways upon which the tail blocks were moved back and forth. The engine and boiler were of the upright pattern and of 20 H. P. capacity. In connection with his machine shop, he built a foundry and saw mill, the latter being provided with an upright saw, all of which were very primitive when compared with like mach- inery manufactured at this time, but for his day and especially in the estimation of country folk, my father was considered a wizard in mechanism and came naturally by all of his mechanical knowledge and skill, for he had no theoret- ical knowledge or training. He was a tall, powerfully built man with large bones, hands and feet and possessed the courage of a lion, the strength of a giant and the temper of the devil. He inherited his mother's jet black eyes and hair, the latter being so very thick, there was no room for it to lie down, so it stood up like the quills of a porcupine. Although he was quick tempered and often resorted to violent language in the presence of his family, he was a great lover of his home and children to whom, and to others, he was generous to a fault. While in business at Rock Stream, he did the most of his trading is at Watkins, and I have known of his missing his train on several occasions, but instead of remaining over night, he would walk the distance of seven miles, so he could be at home with his family. During the war with the south, we did not have an abundance to eat or to wear. I remember a night when father started out of the house with something in his arms ; mother begged him not to take it away, and I heard him say, "Catherine, it is true this is the last bit of flour in the house but -(uttering an oath, for he carried a perpetual license to use curse words) no sick child in this community shall go without bread as long as we have a crumb in this house." At another time, when quite advanced in years, a neighbor with whom he had always been on very friendly terms berated him with but slight if any cause. Now it happened my father owned the only jack screw in the village, the use of which, on the following day, this disrespectful neighbor had great need. Being ashamed of his unmanly conduct and fearing to personally ask for this jack screw, he attempted to get some neighbor to borrow it for him. Failing in this, he plucked up courage to ask my father for the screw, and notwithstanding the insult, the neighbor s request was at once granted. In sickness, my father was a natural nurse and was greatly concerned over the condition of any neighbor whom he learned was ill. Being of a very nervous temperament, he was a poor sleeper and there- fore spent many nights administering to the wants of neighbors who were seri- ously ill. For a time, when quite a young man, he clerked in a large mercan- tile house in New York, and although at that time not acquainted with my mother, after marriage, they learned that at the very time my father was clerk- ing in New York, my mother was living with a wealthy aunt in the same city. While, owing to his father's wealth my father could, no doubt, have taken a college course, his education commenced at the district schools and ended at Hobart College where he attended for a short season. Mechanism, and not book learning, was by nature his, and under such circumstances, adopted attainments are of little value. In my younger days I have often wondered why father should have left New York and returned to the heart of rural environments, but as years gather about my head, I see that he was wise. Life is a tremendous struggle at best and verges upon slavery when one :s obliged to serve some one else. He had a good home and his father was rich so what was the use of his joining the struggling, surging mass of humanity who infest the business districts of New York? "With such mechanical ingenuity", many acquaintances have asked, "why did he not leave Rock Stream and go where his skill would be in greater demand and where his inventions would have made him more famous?" But I now see that father was right, he knew his limitations as well as his ability. There is where nine tenths of the failures occur. This is, in not knowing one's limitations. My father's life long neigh- 16 bor, Mr. DeWitt Warner, father of the Hon. John DeWitt Warner, used to say, "it is much better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a rat,' so that no doubt, accounts for my father's long stay in the little village of Rock Stream. Father loved life and all that nature draws about it, excepting death, of which he was in mortal dread. He loved animals, birds, children, music and flowers, and made pets of many of God's little creatures. Two little brown birds came back each spring from the South for a number of years together and built their nest, or reinhabited the old, reared their young and ate crumbs from my father's hand. My father would await the coming of these little friends as eagerly and wistfully as could any child, and when they did come, he would announce that event as joyfully as one could express the return of a loved, but long absent friend. The spring at last came when they did not return, and a perceptible quiver of the lip was noticeable, as this fact was made known to his family. I relate these things because it is the little things that mirror the souls of men and because I wish to prepare the reader for that which is to follow, for with all of his goodness of heart, for all of his love for everything in life and nature that is beautiful, grand and inspiring, he was an infidel. He believed in nothing beyond the grave "and for that rea- son," he often remarked, "I want to stay on earth as long as I can." No God, no harp, or heaven was an incentive for the good he did (and much of it he did) but he did it simply and solely for the pleasure it afforded him in so doing. So that, on this score, he might be considered a selfish man. That he was gifted with the power of seeing into the future, I have no doubt. Many times I have been trudging along by his side while he was going in the direc- tion pointed out to him to find some person he wished to see, when all of a sudden he would stop, wheel about and go in the opposite direction to the side of the person he desired to see. In 1 862 my brother George enlisted and went to the front. He was short and thick set. Not many months after he left home, father insisted that, "A little short fellow who was very dear to us was coming home to die." He could not make up his mind that it was George, in fact, said it did not appear to him that it was George. But who else could il be that was "A little short fellow?" Time soon told who it was. It was our own dear cousin, "Johnnie Simmons," who came home from the war ill and soon after died, and he tallied exactly with the description father so repeatedly gave of the person that came in a vision to him. Father was one of the few who could quite as well enjoy a joke told about himself as if told of another. He was always delighted to have a house full of visitors, but never enjoyed returning the visits. Nothing pleased him more than to have a dance at our house for the young people, or to have a crowd come when he was not expect- ing them. His meeting my mother was a case of love at first sight, and after 17 her departure from the family with whom she had been visiting, he soon fol- lowed in his father's best turn out, to her home and, according to the custom of the times, begged her father, for his daughter in marriage, which request was duly granted and preparations for the wedding at once began. Father was born January 8th, 1814; was married December 24th, 1837, and died August 25, 1887, and was buried by the side of his father and mother in the cemetery at Rock Stream. He was engaged on the day of his death building a fence and took hold of a post to straighten it. He gave it a sudden jerk and without a murmur, fell dead. The following poem relative to father's belief and death was written by my sister, Mary A. Archer: IZZJ POEM Father is dead; the summons came just at the close of day. In usual health and while at work, he was suddenly called away To a land unknown, unseen, untried, where we have been taught to say, If we enter it, we must believe and the debt of nature pay. Too well he knew the last was so ; to him all else was doubt ; The deep, dark mystery of death, he deemed past finding out. And who shall say if he were wrong? Who knows just what is right? Who knows if in the "far beyond" it is blissful day or night? We all may hope not one can know what lies beyond the grave; And all who choose may think, believe, Christ came our souls to save. But, if he thought 'twas otherwise, let Charity's mantle fall; 'Tis a clever cloak and helps to hide the shortcomings of us all. CATHARINE ADELIA SHEAR HATHAWAY Catherine Adelia Hathaway, the wife of Bradford G. H. Hathaway, was the daughter of Reuben Shear and wife, whose maiden name was Lucinda Piper, the daughter of Abner Piper. Reuben Shear was of German extraction, of very mild temperament, and of great activity. In early days he was a merchant of considerable wealth, but his most successful avocation seems to have been that of performing his part of the task of perpetuating human specie, for with the aid of one faithful 18 wife, he brought 1 3 little Shears into this sinful world. I have not been able to learn much about the Shear family, although I occasionally run across the name, but hope some day to give more time to the study of their genealogy. It is sufficient for this brief history of the Hathaways, to say that my mother was one of God's noble women. In her religious beliefs, she was directly the Catharine Adelia Shear Hathaway opposite of my father, for she was a Methodist in all the name implies. She was a devoted wife and a loving, kind and gentle mother, who never failed to pray for and with her children when she retired and to offer a short prayer of thanks upon arising. For a long period she was a great sufferer from some of the many female complications but after doctoring with many prominent 19 physicians of her time and receiving no relief, she was suddenly relieved from her misery and was comparatively healthy during her later life. She was born August 10th, 1816 and died May 7th, 1894, and rests in the Rock Stream cemetery by the side of her husband, with whom she lived for nearly fifty years. Mary Adelia Hathaway Archer Mary Adelia Hathaway was the eldest child of Bradford G. H. Hathi way and Catherine Adelia Shear. She was a pretty child and a beautiful, kind hearted, sympathetic and affectionate woman. The name Mary was from Mary or Molly Gilbert, her great-grandmother on her father's side, and Adelia from her mother. As a girl, she was bright, full of life and love for 20 all that was beautiful. She was talented in excess of her girlhood associates and possessed a natural aptitude for music and verse which, if they had been cultivated, would have reared her high above the field in which she J-ibored during her entire life. Her whole nature was ablaze with a zeal for broader fields and greater opportunities than those which fall to the lot of a talented woman imprisoned during life in such an isolated country hamlet as Rock Stream. Why a woman so beautiful and talented, gifted with such pro- nounced individuality, must endure a life-long burial in such an unknown portion of the earth as that place appearing upon no map, but named Rock Stream, is one of the curses which nature inflicts upon its own. Had Mary Hatha- way, when she was of marriageable age, resided in New York, she could have had her pick of the greatest and best men of that city, but the irony of fate confined her during life to the drudgery of ordinary household labor including the ironing board and wash tub, which duty was the last she ever performed. As energetic and faithful in these mean occupations as she would have been in more exalted fields of labor, she, despite of her ill health, de- termined to do the family washing at the usual hour, on the usual Monday, during which operation, she contracted pneumonia and died suddenly a few days later, uttering as the life left her body these words, "Jim, I am dying." "Why, Mate, no, you are not," was her husband's reply. "Yes, Jim, I am dying, be good to Fred. Good bye," and all was over. "Jim" was her hus- band; James M. Archer to whom she was married in 1860. There was only one child, Fred C. Archer, who at this time, 1 909, is chief of the accounting department of the United States Express Co., No. 555 West 23rd Street, New York. Mary Hathaway Archer was born at Rock Stream, N. Y., March 30, 1 839, and died February 1 2, 1 894, and her remains are interred in the Archer lot in the Rock Stream cemetery. The following poem was written by Mary Hathaway Archer, at the death of Harry B. Hathaway, in- fant son of Charles F. Hathaway. Only a little flower, plucked by the way. Given in Thy keeping as it were for a day. Only another lambkin gathered in the fold, Only another cherub walks the "Streets of gold." Only another sunbeam peeping through the cloud. Darling little Harry wrapt in his shroud. Only another mother plunged in deepest gloom. A little loved one sleeping in the silent tomb. 21 Estelle Maria Hathaway was the second child born to Bradford G. H. Hathaway and his wife Catherine. The name Maria was that of her father'? sister, but no one seems to know from whom the name Estelle was taken. She was a mighty good, kind hearted girl and with her sister Mary, her childhood life was as happy and sunny as any young life could be. She was a hard work- er and gave the better part of her life to the duties that crowded upon her in Estelle Maria tlathaway her parents' home. Although many opportunities of marriage to well to do men presented themselves, she declined all such and devoted herself, until quite advanced in years, to the care of her parents. She was born at Rock Stream, N. Y., October 3, 1840, and died at Muncie, Ind., November 29. 1907, c.nd is buried in Beach Grove Cemetery, near said city. 22 George Maltby Hathaway was the first boy born unto Bradford and Catherine Hathaway and of course it was the greatest event of their lives, for it was a boy they expected and wanted on the two former occasions. George was named after his uncle by marriage, George Simmons, and Maltby was in honor of his father's great friend whose surname was Maltby, and who for George Maltby Hathaway many years was a merchant at Dundee, N. Y. With a boy and two girls, the Hathaway-Shear union struck, and for a period of eleven years the baby busi- ness was tied up. In the estimation of his parents, no event ever before took place that, in any particular, compared with the coming of this long expected and much prayed for first born boy, and he and his sister Mary were the "its" 23 of their hour. George was a good boy and as good looking as they made them and he grew up to be a handsome, gentlemanly, well cultured and highly groomed man. It always seemed to be a case of mutual admiration at first sight between all the handsome refined ladies he met and himself, for an army of such were his friends. His first great move was to enlist as a soldier and then regret very much for having done so, for George was a much better eater and sleeper than a fighter. His military record was not as creditable as were the records of his ancestors,— the Hurds. The instant his ear caught the sound of artillery, he at once affirmed the debatable subject, "the pen is might- ier than the sword," and to exemplify his decided convictions upon this point, he accepted a clerkship in the war department at Washington, where he served his country to a greater advantage than his courage would have permitted him to have served it with a musket. The war over, George returned and his father was so delighted to have him home again, that he took him in as a full Hedged partner in the manufacture of plows at Rock Stream, underline firm name of "Hathaway & Son", which was dubbed by his associates as "Pa and Pard." It was a standing joke that was passed around to the effect that "Pa made and sold the plows and Pard spent the proceeds." George was a great lover of home and his mother's apple pies, and on many occasions returned to his native hive to support his parents, but the rule was somehow always reversed. As a mechanic, he was fine and could make anything from a watch to a Corliss engine and on all occasions executed his work in beautiful form. He was a fine workman and good inventor. He helped design and put the machinery in the first sub-marine monitor ever put to a practical test, called the "Peace- maker," which went down with two Herald reporters on board, in New \ ork harbor, and failed to come up, but the reporters by a miracle, and more dead than alive, managed to get through the hatch and float to the top. 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