I am curious as to where my Hathaway ancestors lived. There were many different Hathaway facilities in Southeastern Massachusetts. My most recent Hathaway ancestors lived in Wareham, MA and also in neighboring Rochester.
Wealthy Cowing Hathaway 1809-1863
Wealthy Hathaway married Harvey Bradford in 1832 and had two children. Harvey died in 1841. It may be easiest to start at the end of Wealthy’s life and work back. Here is Wealthy in 1860 in Rochester:
Wealthy was living with her young married daughter Hanah Bradford Snell who was married to Isiah Snell. Wealthy was my third great-grandmother. The order on the Census listed Elisha Bumpus, Blacksmith, Ephraim Gammons Master Farmer, Lydia Pierce and Alden Rounseville, Miller. The first row mentions of the Census shows the house and the second row shows the family. So that means that the 70 year old Lydia Peirce was living in the same house as Isaiah Snell – possibly with a grandchild John King. Here is an 1857 map:
At that time Isaiah’s father lived on Snipatuit Road. A Rounseville and EK Gammons are shown on presetn-day Rounesville Road. I don’t see Phipps or Bumpus on the map and I don’t see A Gillmore on the Census. It could be that Isaiah Snell and his mother-in-law Wealthy were living in the Gillmore house.
Wealthy in 1855
In 1855 Wealthy and her daughter Hannah were living in the house of Mercy Snow. Here is an 1856 Map:
This shows Ira Clark. J. Pierce is probably Josiah South of Snow’s Pond. Barnabas Douglas is probably the Douglass to the SW of Snow’s Pond on the map above. Seth and Israel Cowen are shown on the preceding page of the 1855 Census. There are two Snow houses shown on Neck Road, so Wealthy was probably living in one of them. I don’t know what Est means after the N Snow house. My ancestor Otis Snell after moving from Snipatuit Road, moved to where the N Snow house is shown on the map. I don’t know if he lived in the same house or had a new house built.
In 1850 Mercy Snow was living in this house on Neck Road:
This could be the N Snow from the map above – my first guess for where Wealthy was living in 1855.
Wealthy in 1850
Wealthy was living in Rochester in 1850 with her mother Experience and sister Priscilla, but her two children Henry and Hannah were born in Wareham. Her son Henry was a ‘Nailor’. He likely worked at a local Nail factory.
Experience was her mother – Experience Cowing Hathaway. Priscilla may be a sister of Wealthy. With the Pierce’s listed in this Census, it makes me think that this may be in the Pierceville section of Rochester/West Wareham.
Names listed in the 1850 Census around Hathaway are Nicholus Snow (see above), Dennis Pierce, Dennis A Pierce, Robert Pierce, Moses Pierce, Jonathan King, Experience Hathaway, Nerberg? Morse, Isaiah Cobb, John Pierce, George Pierce, James Nickerson, Branch Pierce and Milton Reamy.
On this 1857 map, I wanted to show Pierceville on the left and a Nail Manufactory and various iron works on the right. M Reamy must be Milton Reamy. He is importantant as the Census says he was born in Virginia and has a unique surname compared to the common names of the area. N Morse may be the Morse in the Census. R Pierce may be Robert Pierce of the Census and G Pierce may be George Pierce of the Census. Of interest also is the N [I now realize this is R] Hathaway House. The Hathaway House was on what is now High Street in Rochester.
[Note: As per below this Hathaway House was the house of Wealthy’s sister Ruth A Hathaway and perhaps formerly her parents – Joseph Hathaway and Experience Cowing Hathaway.]
Here is another map from 1856:
Actually, it is a map with overlays. This area is called Horse Neck on the Map and the house is the Ruth Hathaway House. The road branching off to the Store to the East of the Hathaway House is currently Pierce Street.
The Horse Neck area reminds me that I had transcribed an deed fromWealthy Bradford to George Pierce on my Bradford Web Page:
The above deed was the last listed below:
Part of the problem is with the spelling of her name. I would have spelled it Wealthy.
I was hoping the first deed in the list above would explain it all, but it didn’t:
The same Cobbs were mentioned. This time Alvin Drake is mentioned. It looks like Wealthy Bradford and George Pierce were selling some land to these Cobbs.
This land is described as being on the South side of the Road leading from Alvin Drake’s to Wareham. The lot started at Alvin’s property and went East. So that is fairly specific. The middle Branch of the Sippican River must be the one near the Hathaway House in the Map above.
1859 Deed from George Pierce to Ruth Hathaway
Here Ruth buys land for $65:
This deed gives some more specifics as to whereWeathy’s land was.
Probate Records for Ruth A Hathaway 1863
Here he see Ruth died 22 June 1863:
Hopefully this will tie things together. Unfortunately, Wealthy had died on 11 April 1863. That left as Ruth’s heirs,
- Henry C Bradford and Hannah T Snell both of Rochester
- Caroline C Cobb, Artemus C Cobb, Lucy F Cobb and Mary A Cobb all of Middleborough
It gets better because Ruth had a will.
That must be Ruth’s signature. A little faint, but it was the day before she died. In the will, Ruth mentions her mother, Experience Hathaway and her sister Priscilla Hathaway. Here are the stones that Ruth requested at the Union Cemetery:
Now I know where my fourth great-grandmother Experience Cowing Hathaway is buried. This stone states that Ruth died May 22, 1863, but that cannot be right as she signed her will June 21, 1863.
Here are the heirs:
The Last Deed for Ruth A Hathaway
The property was sold in 1863 and recorded in 1866:
George Pierce ended up buying the property for $175.
So now I know:
- Three of the places where Wealthy Hathaway Bradford lived after her husband died. I assume that her husband may also have been a Nailor and lived in the area, but over the Wareham line.
- I found what appears to be the house where Wealthy grew up. This was in current day Pierceville on current day High Street. I don’t think there is a house there now but I can check. I find it very satifsying to find out where my ancestors lived for some reason. I knew some Hathaway’s growing up and just wrongly assumed that this Hathaway ancestor lived in the area where they lived.
- I found out some more about Ruth A Hathaway and the Cobb family.
- I found a photo of three Hathaway grave stones at the Union Cemetery in Rochester. This is a place I would not have expected to look for Hathaway’s.
Any More On Joseph Hathaway (1771-1815)
With my recent success, I’m tempted to look further back a generation to Joseph Hathaway. With Joseph, I’ll start right off with the Probate:
I see a letter in the file from 1835, twenty years after Joseph’s death. Here we get into some family intrigue. All the children of Joseph are going against the administrator of Joseph’s estate.
The children a claiming that the administrator, Jonathan Cowing was not administering properly. I don’t think that the children got the money from the sale of the property that they should have and that Jonathan also sold property that he was not authorized to sell. At least that was the claim.
A Rare Mention of Harvey Bradford
Interesting to me is that Harvey Bradford was still alive at this time. He is said to be of Rochester. However at the time he was married in 1832 and in the 1840 Census, Harvey was listed as being in Wareham. Here are some of the people that he is enumerated near:
This version is easier to read:
Here is Experience’s signature to the fact that Jonathan Cowing could be administrator of the Estate:
So that explains why Experience did not sign the letter above from 1835 against Jonathan who was probably her brother.
Joseph’s Inventory
Inventories are interesting as they give a glimpse into what an ancestor owned. This one is a bit difficult to read:
At the top of the list is a cow worth $20. This was quite a bit of money for the time as several acres of land could be bought for less than this. The cow and steer totaled $54. He had an axe and a broad axe. I believe a broad axe could be used for turning lumber into planks or wood or dimensional wood for house framing.
Experience Hathaway’s Dower
It appears that it was the custom to set off part of the lands of the deceased husband to support the wife:
Here Joseph’s inventory was determined to be five hundred and thirty dollars. Land set off for his wife, Experience was appraised at one hundred and seventy six Dollars and sixty six cents and two [thirds?]. This was likely a quite generous amount and enough for Ruth to live on also. It looks like Experience also got the house. So that should mean that Ruth Hathaway was living in her father Joseph’s house.
As far as the 1835 letter above, I have not yet found the outcome of that.
Probate for Experience Hathaway 1855
Experience left a will:
It seems like Priscilla and Ruth Ann made out better than Wealthy. They got the house and Wealthy got $1. My guess is that Priscilla and Ruth Ann took care of their mother and Wealthy was unable to as she was raising her two children. The children of her daughter Lucy Cobb got 25 cents each.
Joseph Hathaway Deeds
Joseph Hathaway was born in Wareham before the Revolutionary War:
Here is a deed where Joseph buys property in Rochester from Manter in 1791 when Joseph was 28.
We find that Grafton Manter of Rochester was a Cordwainer. That is a shoemaker. Joseph of Wareham was a blacksmith. He managed to save or somehow get $450 dollars to buy this large property.
The deed mentions 55 acres adjacent to Elijah Caswell’s Lands. It also mentions some fresh meadows and meadowish lands by the East Branch of the Sippican River and by Thomas Bassett’s meadow. This house could be the same one that Ruth Ann Hathaway lived in. The extra Meadow land would have been further to the East.
Two More Joseph Hathaway Deeds in Rochester
After Joseph bought this large property in Rochester in 1797, he married Experience Cowing in Mattapoisett in 1801:
In the first deed in 1809, Joseph sells off his Sippican River East Branch property to John Morse.
The land was 15 acres. The deed mentioned a deceased John Goodspeed and an Isaac Savery.
The 1856 Map shows an N Morse which is probably part of the area sold to John Morse. Joseph is now called a yeoman, so perhaps he gave up the blacksmith profession. The deed was first made in 1802, a year after Joseph married Priscilla Cowing and then recorded later.
Here is the next deed:
Joseph paid $100 to William Pierce for this land.
This agreement was on 1 August 1806 and recorded 1815. This was probably the land that went to Joseph’s daughter Wealthy Hathaway Bradford – my 4th great-grandmother. Wealthy’s sister Lucy also seemed to have a legal right to this land, so perhaps the land went to her also. That may be why Wealthy only got $1 in her mother’s will.
Summary and Conclusions
- I had fairly good luck in finding the Rochester locations where my Hathaway anestors lived.
- Wealthy Hathaway was born in 1809 and grew up on High Street, Rochester to the West of Pierce Street. She married Harvey Bradford in 1832. He was from Wareham. An 1835 letter implied that the family lived in Rochester. However, the 1840 Census has Harvey Bradford and family in Wareham.
- Harvey dies in 1841, leaving Wealthy as the single mother of two children. In 1850, Wealthy lived with her mother Experience and sister Priscilla in the house where she grew up on High Street. In 1855, after the death of her mother, Wealthy was living on Neck Road with her daughter Hannah at the home of Mercy Snow. In 1860, Wealthy lived with her daughter Hannah who was now married to Isaiah Snell and living on Snipatuit Road.
- In a twist, Isaiah Snell’s father was living on Snipatuit Road. He sells his house to his son Isaiah and buys what appears to be the house and/or property where Mercy Snow previously lived.
- My ancestor Joseph Hathaway born 1771 in Wareham buys land in Rochester and apparently moves there in 1779. He also buys land near this land in 1806 which ends up going to Wealthy. Wealthy’s sister Lucy also has a claim on this land.
- When Joseph dies in 1815, he leaves his house to his wife Experience. However, the children are unhappy with the way that the property is administered by Experience’s brother Jonathan Cowing.
- When Ruth Ann Hathaway dies, she is interested in erecting a headstone for her beloved mother Experience and her sister Priscilla. These headstones are still standing today in the Union Cemetery in Rochester, MA.
- In 1858, Wealthy sells the land her father bought for $100. She only gets $10 for the 20 acres of land. I assume that part of this $10 went to her sister Lucy’s children.
- This research was greatly aided by an 1856 Map that gave names on the houses in the area.