SAMUEL SHETHAR (1827-1897)
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Sam Shethar must have been a remarkable man, as his life story indicates that he worked himself up from a beginning of genteel obscurity in far upstate New York to being a great success in New York City. He was born on March 26, 1827 in Geneva, Seneca Co., N.Y. His mother died when he was six, and his father when he was only 10. Of his five full siblings, only one other lived to adulthood, and he was killed in the Civil War. The motherless, fatherless teenage Sam then set off for New York City in the 1840s (his obituary says he was only 14 years old when he started this journey). He started out as an apprentice for the hat business, Swift & Hurlbut. From this humble beginning, he worked his way up to owner of the hat company, becoming an archetypal New York City merchant, active in banking, the railroads, and other important pursuits and passions of the time.
YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD
Sam spent his young boyhood in Geneva, New York, in the Finger Lakes area. His father, John Shethar, was born in December 1797, and he was the oldest child of James Smith Shethar and Mary Collins, and was born and brought up in upstate New York. Sam was the great-grandson of the Revolutionary War hero, Captain John Shethar, who first moved the family to the region from Connecticut, where the Shethars had first settled in the New World.
Sam was baptized at St. Luke's Episcopal Church along the Genesee River in Rochesterville, N.Y., the day after Christmas, 1830 when he was almost 4 years old. As mentioned above, his mother, Sarah Ensworth Shethar, died at the age of 36 when little Sam was only six years old, just a few weeks after her youngest child was born (who also did not survive more than a few months). He never knew his two older siblings, an older brother also named Sam, and a sister Sarah, both of whom died before they reached age 2, one before Sam was born, and one when he was only an infant. A younger brother, James, and a younger sister, another Sarah, both died as infants. But one brother, George, who was five years younger than Sam, did survive infancy. His father remarried less than a year after Sam's mother died, to Melinda Millard, born in 1804. Three children were born to this union, two of whom, John and Mary Melinda, who lived past toddlerhood (another son, Edmund, died shortly after birth), who were nine and 11 years younger than Sam.
But again, tragedy struck the family, when Sam's father died in December 1837, at age 39; he didn't even live to see his youngest child born. His stepmother was left with four children to take care of, with Sam the oldest by far, at age 10. (Many years later, in about 1860, Melinda married again, to Samuel H. Bushnell). Sam's stepmother told the lad stories of a Mr. John Swift, from their town of Geneva, who had made a success in the hat business in New York City, and when he was a teenager, Sam asked her to let him go to New York City, too, and ask this Mr. Swift for a place in his business as an apprentice, and she agreed. So just four or five years after his father died, Sam set off for Manhattan, knocked on the door of Swift & Hurlbut (then at 207 Pearl Street), and asked for an apprenticeship. John Swift said he could work there as long as worked hard and learned the business. He must have been a real go-getter, because before he turned 30 years old, Sam was a member of the firm, and later, its head. By this time, the hat enterprise was known as Samuel Shethar & Nichols.
Sam was baptized at St. Luke's Episcopal Church along the Genesee River in Rochesterville, N.Y., the day after Christmas, 1830 when he was almost 4 years old. As mentioned above, his mother, Sarah Ensworth Shethar, died at the age of 36 when little Sam was only six years old, just a few weeks after her youngest child was born (who also did not survive more than a few months). He never knew his two older siblings, an older brother also named Sam, and a sister Sarah, both of whom died before they reached age 2, one before Sam was born, and one when he was only an infant. A younger brother, James, and a younger sister, another Sarah, both died as infants. But one brother, George, who was five years younger than Sam, did survive infancy. His father remarried less than a year after Sam's mother died, to Melinda Millard, born in 1804. Three children were born to this union, two of whom, John and Mary Melinda, who lived past toddlerhood (another son, Edmund, died shortly after birth), who were nine and 11 years younger than Sam.
But again, tragedy struck the family, when Sam's father died in December 1837, at age 39; he didn't even live to see his youngest child born. His stepmother was left with four children to take care of, with Sam the oldest by far, at age 10. (Many years later, in about 1860, Melinda married again, to Samuel H. Bushnell). Sam's stepmother told the lad stories of a Mr. John Swift, from their town of Geneva, who had made a success in the hat business in New York City, and when he was a teenager, Sam asked her to let him go to New York City, too, and ask this Mr. Swift for a place in his business as an apprentice, and she agreed. So just four or five years after his father died, Sam set off for Manhattan, knocked on the door of Swift & Hurlbut (then at 207 Pearl Street), and asked for an apprenticeship. John Swift said he could work there as long as worked hard and learned the business. He must have been a real go-getter, because before he turned 30 years old, Sam was a member of the firm, and later, its head. By this time, the hat enterprise was known as Samuel Shethar & Nichols.
MARRIAGE & FAMILY
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Sam Shethar married Frances Theodosia Coffin in New York City in 1851, when he was 24 and she was 22. Frances was born on December 12, 1828, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the third of six children of Charles Gorham Coffin and Theodosia Van Norden Coffin. The Coffin family was a Nantucket whaling family, while the Van Nordens were originally from New Jersey; they were Loyalists during the Revolutionary War and were resettled in Nova Scotia after the war by the British. All of Charles and Theodosia's children were born in Yarmouth, but at some point, the family moved to New York City. How Sam and Frances met is unknown; through much of Sam's career, Frances's brother, Charles H. Coffin, was an important collaborator, but whether this collaboration came before and led to Sam's introduction to Frances, or whether the wife came first and then the brother-in-law business partner, it is not known.
Sam and Frances had six children, three sons and three daughters, all born in New York City. The family's home was mostly at 13 West 36th Street in Manhattan; Sam also bought a farm in the Mt. Kisco area (Westchester County) after he became successful. (In fact, there is still a "Shether Road", named after Samuel Shethar, in the area. His son, Prentice, at some point wrote to the mayor of Mt. Kisco pointing out the incorrect spelling, but the mayor said it was too late to change it.)
Of the six children, the oldest, Norman, born in 1852, died right before he turned 24, and the second child, Miriam, born in 1854, died as a teenager. The other four, Edwin (my great-grandfather), Frank (despite the name, a girl), Maud, and Prentice, all grew up, married, and had children.
Frances died on February 8, 1978, at the age of only 49. Her oldest living child (Edwin) was then 19, and the youngest (Prentice) only 11 years old. Frances's older sister, Miriam Chase Coffin Ferrand, who was probably then a widow and had no children), helped raise the children still at home, and in her old age, lived with her nephew, Prentice. Sam never remarried.
Sam and Frances had six children, three sons and three daughters, all born in New York City. The family's home was mostly at 13 West 36th Street in Manhattan; Sam also bought a farm in the Mt. Kisco area (Westchester County) after he became successful. (In fact, there is still a "Shether Road", named after Samuel Shethar, in the area. His son, Prentice, at some point wrote to the mayor of Mt. Kisco pointing out the incorrect spelling, but the mayor said it was too late to change it.)
Of the six children, the oldest, Norman, born in 1852, died right before he turned 24, and the second child, Miriam, born in 1854, died as a teenager. The other four, Edwin (my great-grandfather), Frank (despite the name, a girl), Maud, and Prentice, all grew up, married, and had children.
Frances died on February 8, 1978, at the age of only 49. Her oldest living child (Edwin) was then 19, and the youngest (Prentice) only 11 years old. Frances's older sister, Miriam Chase Coffin Ferrand, who was probably then a widow and had no children), helped raise the children still at home, and in her old age, lived with her nephew, Prentice. Sam never remarried.
MORE ABOUT THE HAT BUSINESS
Obituary
Obituary of Samuel Shethar, from The Evening Post, Friday, March 11, 1897, page 3:
"Samuel Shether died at home, 13 West 36th Street, yesterday [sic]. Mr. Shethar was born March 26, 1837 in Geneva, N.Y. He came to New York City at 14 years old to take clerkship in the firm of Swift & Hurlbut, wholesale manufacturers and commission merchants in the hat business. He became a member of the firm about 1855, and subsequently its head, the business being continued under the name of Samuel Shethar & Nichols. Since his retirement from active business in 1879, he had led a quiet life. Mr. Shethar had been connected in an official capacity with many large railroads and had also been a prominent and active spirit in the construction of several. Mr. Shethar became a member of the Lotus Club of the American Geographical Society and a member of the National Academy of Design and of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was one of the original stockholders of the Fifth Avenue Bank, of which he had been a director for many years. Mr. Shethar leaves two sons and a daughter."
His obituary in the New York Times mentions that he was a "staunch Republican".
Samuel Shethar is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, with a number of other Shethar and Coffin family members.
"Samuel Shether died at home, 13 West 36th Street, yesterday [sic]. Mr. Shethar was born March 26, 1837 in Geneva, N.Y. He came to New York City at 14 years old to take clerkship in the firm of Swift & Hurlbut, wholesale manufacturers and commission merchants in the hat business. He became a member of the firm about 1855, and subsequently its head, the business being continued under the name of Samuel Shethar & Nichols. Since his retirement from active business in 1879, he had led a quiet life. Mr. Shethar had been connected in an official capacity with many large railroads and had also been a prominent and active spirit in the construction of several. Mr. Shethar became a member of the Lotus Club of the American Geographical Society and a member of the National Academy of Design and of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was one of the original stockholders of the Fifth Avenue Bank, of which he had been a director for many years. Mr. Shethar leaves two sons and a daughter."
His obituary in the New York Times mentions that he was a "staunch Republican".
Samuel Shethar is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, with a number of other Shethar and Coffin family members.