u.s.s. Providence - 1778 John Peck Rathbun, Captain October 1982 The Rathbun-Rathbone-Rathburn Family Historian Volume Two. Number Four. October 1982 Letter From the Editor This issue completes the Historian's continued help, I am confident we can ily data in their areas. John Rathbun of second year. Our membership now ex­ keep building on this record of accom­ Lansing, Mich., has sent an extensive ceeds 270, slightly more than the 267 plishment. package of genealogical material col­ we recorded in 1981 . We had hoped to Enclosed with this issue is a renewal lected by his late father. Frank E. Rath­ reach 300, and we will continue our form for 1983. We hope and trust that bun of Coventry, R.I. , has copied doz­ efforts to reach this goal. you will renew your membership, and ens of Rathbun-Rathbone cemetery in­ We are so confident that our mem­ we ask that you send your checks as scriptions, and Betty Bonawitz of bership will grow, we have decided promptly as possible. Groton, N.Y., has transcribed family again to reduce the price. The rate for Also enclosed is a letter outlining a data in the public library at Norwich, N.Y. 1983 will be $17 - a 15 percent reduc­ proposal to erect a marker near the Some of you have still not responded tion from the present $20 figure, and graves of our immigrant ancestors, John to our continued pleas for your own fam­ considerably less than our original $25 and Margaret Rathbun on Block Island. ily records. Our genealogical section is subscription rate. We need your help to finance this idea. about to begin the fifth generation, and Last year, in the October issue, we Please read the letter carefully and let we desperately need all your data to printed our association's 1981 financial us know what you think. make the family record complete. report, estimating our costs for the final I would like to offer special thanks to An important role of the Historian is to three months of the year. The 1982 fi­ my "staff members" whose efforts have record the present-day activities of nancial report will be published in the been indispensable to the magazine's Rathbuns, Rathbones and Rathburns January 1983 issue so we can have a success. and their families. Please let us know of more exact accounting. My wife, Hazel, checks my writing for births, deaths, marriages, job changes As the magazine's founder and editor, errors and inconsistencies, types all my and honors in your family or those you I am personally very satisfied with the copy into readable form for the type­ see in your local newspapers. Share results of our first two years. In addition setter, and carefully checks the galley your good news, and sad, with your to our articles on past and present family proofs and page proofs. cousins in our family association. members, we have continued publica­ My son, Frank, edits my copy for style For example, we have received word tion of our genealogy beginning with and accuracy, reads the galleys, de­ that some 135 descendants of John K. John and Margaret Rathbun of Block signs the pages and painstakingly and Laura (Howell) Rathbun gathered Island, and with this issue have reached pastes up the final layout to make July 10 at Fitzgerald, Ga., for their an­ the end of the fourth generation. This "camera-ready" pages for our printer. nual family reunion. Among those pres­ year, we donated $270 - $1 for each His wife, Janice, keeps track of our ent were three of our members-Reba member - to the Block Island Historical financial records, deposits and keeps Rathbun Reeves, Susie Carter Baston Society for its new museum. With your track of all incoming checks and pays and Ann Paulk. The 1983 reunion has our bills as they come due. been scheduled for next July 2. John All three of them help me paste on Rathbun was the son of Hallet' Rathbun mailing labels , insert the (Thomas&-5-4 Ebenezer' William2 John') magazines and make the mailings. and his third wife, Augustine Kramer. Last, but far from least, Cousin Rob To all of you, thanks once again for Published quarterly by the Rath­ Rathbun of Kentucky, who lives too far your continued support. bun Family Association at 11308 away to help prepare the magazine, Popes Head Road, Fairfax, Va. devotes much of his spare time check­ 22030 . Telephone: (703) ing vital statistics, cemetery records, 278-8512. census data and other sources of infor­ mation on our family, helping us put Frank H. Rathbun together an accurate and complete his­ Editor & Publisher tory of the Rathbuns, Rathbones and MRS. JOY ROBINSON of Brill, Eng­ Robert Rathbun Rathbums in America. land has become our first "international" Research Director Special thanks also to all our mem­ member. She joined our association Hazel J. Rathbun bers whose financial support has made after spending a weekend in August with Assistant Editor the Historian possible, and to those who Frank and Hazel in Fairfax, Va. Mrs. Frank H. Rathbun III have, and are, sending in family rec­ Robinson is a descendant of the famous Production Manager ords, pictures, obituaries and other ma­ Rathbones of Liverpool, and with her Janice A. Rathbun terial on the family. twin brother, Philip Rathbone, has prom­ Business Manager I am especially grateful to those who ised to provide material for a story on are making special efforts to collect fam- these illustrious cousins. 50 Several States Have Towns Named for Family Members At least seven small towns in the bun (WilliamSThomas ~ Samuel' John'). United States have been named for Rathbone, Mich., is also a tiny cross­ members of our family, but only one is roads hamlet, with two stores and a large enough today to appear on a road church. It is located in Saginaw County, map - the city of Rathbun, Iowa. and may have been named for Justus H. There is also a town of Rathbun in Rathbone, founder of the Knights of Pennsylvania; small villages named Pythias. We will have a story on him in Rathbone in New York, Colorado, Michi­ one of our 1983 issues. gan and Ohio; a Rathbun Gulch in Rathbun Gulch, Idaho, is located on Idaho, and a Rathbun School District in the North Fork of the Salmon River near New York. Lost Trail Pass, along the route taken by Rathbun, Iowa, the largest and most Lewis and Clark in 1805 on their way to famous of these communities, is in Ap­ the Pacific Ocean. It was brought to our panoose County. It made headlines in attention by C.C. Comell, one of our August 1971 when President Richard members, who could not determine its Nixon dedicated nearby Rathbun Dam, The Town Hall of Rathbone, N. Y. namesake. (This would make a good a $25.5 million structure which created research project for any member living Rathbun Lake. The 11 ,OOO-acre lake is or traveling in that area.) the state's largest, and has been de­ The Rathbun School District is (or veloped as a vast recreational area. 1842 and built the first store and hotel. was) in the town of Hanover, Chau­ The city was laid out and platted in General Rathbone (1780-1861) was tauqua County, N.Y. Its name may have 1892 by the Pacific Star Coal Company, the son of Moses' Rathbone (Joshua' been changed over the years. It was which then sold it to the Star Coal Com­ Jonathan3 John'·'). He was an early named fOr Demarcus Rathbun (1788- pany of Streator, III. Charles H. Rathbun settler of Oxford, in Chenango County, 1878), a son of SolomonSRathbun (Job' was secretary and general manager of N.Y. , where he owned a paper mill and Joshua3 John'·'). He was one of the ear­ Star Coal, and the company named the served in the local milita. He became a liest settlers in Hanover, in April 1831 , new city after him. He was born in 1846, brigadier general in 1807. and is buried there in the old Rathbun the son of Hubbar<f Rathbun (Hubbards Rathbone, Colo., is located in the Cemetery. Job' Benjamin3 Joseph' John'). northeast corner of Summit County, at If anyone knows of other towns Rathbun, Pa., a small hamlet in Elk the headwaters of the Prue River and at named for members of our family, County, was founded about 1860 by the base of Grey's Peak. The area please let us know and we will report it in George Washington" Rathbun (GeorgeS underwent a mining boom in the 1890s, a later issue. Job' Benjamin3 Joseph' John'). He was and a post office was created there in a first cousin of the father of the founder 1893. It was named for Estes G. Rath­ of Rathbun, Iowa. bone, then the fourth assistant post­ George Washington Rathbun was master-general of the United States. For Your Information bom in 1807, and became a blacksmith. In 1893, the town had 500 inhabitants, Several of our members have As a young man in New York, he de­ but has since disappeared from the map received mailings from Beatrice veloped one of the first iron cookstoves and has lost its post office. Bayley of Sterling, Pa., offering a 7 to bum anthracite coal, and moved to Estes G." Rathbone (Horace Aaron" "Rathbun Family Heritage Book" Allentown, Pa., to be near charcoal fur­ DavidS John' Joshua3 John'·') was an for $27.85. Your editor bought a naces for casting his stoves. He later important figure in turn-of-the-century copy several years ago and found sold his patents to the large Rathbone America, and we will devote a story to it to be merely a collection of gen­ and Sard Stove Company in Albany, him later.