The Hoars and more
I’ve started a new series, Relatively Tangential, whereby I go on breathless explorations, navigating through coincidences and in and out of rabbit holes and trying (usually failing — but not today!) to determine whether I’m related to someone from history.
This time we’re talking about the Hoars, which have “Rockwood” (my maiden name) peppered in their family tree. This prompted a search on Massachusetts Historical Society’s site for “Rockwood”.
Oodles of hits, including:
A photo of Theodore Roosevelt in his Rough Rider uniform, taken by George Rockwood … who I’m convinced I’m related to.
Rockwood Hoar Papers, 1835-1949
Heather Rockwood … yeah, another one! And not only that, but she’s written about some of the same stuff I’ve doodled and written about! (Lucy Flucker Knox, the Adams family, etc.)
Let’s dive into the chaos…
1 / George Hoar
This whole thing started because I came across George while reading President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, by CW Goodyear. I knew his middle name was Rockwood and I was curious.
Except it’s not Rockwood. It’s Frisbie.*
James Garfield and some anti-Grant guys tapped George Hoar to lead the 1880 Republican National Convention. Past president Ulysses S. Grant was in contention for the nomination, as were James Blaine and John Sherman. The crowd went wild for Garfield, who was not running.
Hoar let the applause for Garfield go longer than for the other candidates.
Garfield protested: “I rise to a question of order…. No man has a right, without the consent of the person voted for, to announce that person’s name, and vote for him, in this convention. Such consent I have not given—”
[ Rap, rap, rap went Hoar’s gavel to shut him up ]
Years later, Hoar reflected: “I recollect the incident perfectly. I had to interrupt him in the middle of his sentence. I was terribly afraid that he would say something that would make his nomination … or his acceptance impossible, if it were made.”
In any case… it’s George’s brother who had the middle name Rockwood…
2 / Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar was Ulysses S. Grant’s Attorney General for like a minute before he resigned (or was asked to resign?).
His Wikipedia entry says that “Hoar came from a long line of Puritan ancestry. His family had emigrated to America in 1640, initially settling in Braintree, Massachusetts.” My family emigrated to America in 1630 (via Dorchester) and after some undisclosed period of time “removed thence to Braintree.”
The Rockwoods and Hoars were in Braintree at the same time!
That has to mean something, right?**
THEORY #1
These old-timey people frequently had weird middle names that turned out to be last names of their family members (mom’s maiden name and whatnot). I’m obviously related to Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, though in a very tangled and many-times removed kind of way.
The second time I came across Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar was reading Lincoln, by David Herbert Donald. I know I came across him before that, but I can’t remember which book. Benjamin Butler had some sort of a beef with him. I don’t remember why, but I’m on Ebenezer’s side. Butler seems like kind of a tool.
THEORY #2
Maybe some long-ago Rockwood in Braintree was besties with a Hoar and from then on, they used “Rockwood” as both middle and first names as a tribute!***
3 / Roger Sherman
Their grandpa was Roger-Freaking-Sherman?!
OK, I know nothing about Roger Sherman except that he was part of the Committee of Five that John Hancock appointed to write the Declaration of Independence. He’s been popping up here and there lately, which is what made me realize I know nothing about him. So much so, that I’ve added him to the list of people I’m going to talk about in a Revolutionary War presentation I’m giving this summer. (Stay tuned!)
Sherman was the only person to sign all four Big Important Documents (the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution).
Also, it’s worth noting that Roger Sherman was fifth cousin, three times removed from brothers William Tecumseh Sherman and John Sherman (the Ohio Icicle) … both of whom were in this book. (John Sherman because that’s who James Garfield was supposed to be getting the Republicans all excited about!)
OBSERVATION
OMG WHAT IF I’M ACTUALLY RELATED TO THE HOARS IN A WAY THAT MEANS I’M ALSO RELATED TO ROGER SHERMAN?! This would be the second time discovering I’m related to someone while working on a presentation about that someone! Hypothetically speaking, of course. This might all be nonsense.
4 / Rebecca Minot Prescott Sherman
Rebecca was Roger Sherman’s second wife. I was beyond delighted to read that Betsy Ross invited her to sew three stars on the flag, but then equally devastated to realize that the source isn’t really substantiated. Womp-womp.
5 / Rockwood Hoar
Rockwood is his first name!? The “Rockwood” has to have some sort of family relevance… dontchathink?
THEORY #3
What if a Rockwood did something truly heroic and for generations, the Hoars continued paying tribute? It could happen — it happened with Kermit and the Carows and resulted in so many Kermits Roosevelt!
Theodore Roosevelt’s second wife was Edith. Edith’s dad was a partner at Kermit & Carow. The Kermit was Edith’s uncle (more like a father figure to her dad than a brother-in-law). According to family lore, her uncle helped her dad out of a huge financial bind. When asked how he’d ever repay him, Kermit suggested naming his first born son Kermit. He did, but the baby died. So they named their second child Edith Kermit Carow. She kept Kermit even after she married … and gave it to her second child (her favorite). And he gave it to his child. Who gave it to his child. Who gave it to his child — Kermit IV, who goes by Kermit Roosevelt III.
The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President, by Edward F. O’Keefe
THEORY #5
I just really didn’t want to work on what I was supposed to be working on and went on a wild goose chase for the thrill of it.
No… that can’t be right.
But also…
One of the Hoar brothers served in Grant’s cabinet and either resigned or maybe was asked to resign and then later the other Hoar was in charge of the whole convention to decide whether the Republicans wanted Grant to be their candidate again?! That alone is kinda cool, right?
The Hoars were staunchly anti-slavery.
So was Roger Sherman.
I would be honored to be related to them.
The Hoars were a prominent family with loads of Wikipedia entries! Lots of politicians in Massachusetts. And they were teeming with Samuels, including the Samuel in this family tree’s dad Samuel… who fought in the Revolutionary war… etc.
An Ebenezer Rockwood is in John Quincy Adams’ diary! And I’m not talking about Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, ‘cause he wasn’t even born yet!!
15 March 1802
The clerk in the probate-office mentioned to me that a young Man by the name of Rockwood, now at Harvard College, and to graduate next summer, wishes to be received as a student in my office.
Ebenezer Rockwood
I’d previously scoured my copy of A History of the Rockwoods: From the Time They First Emigrated to This Country to the Present Time, 1855 for Hoars — but I did not think to look for Ebenezers!
Found one! But he was born in Groton on August 13, 1746. A little old to be going to college in 1802. (Were “returning students” a thing back then? Probably not.)
He was the son of Elisha & Elizabeth (Adams) Rockwood (who I am a descendant of).
According to Find A Grave, he studied medicine at Harvard and graduated in 1773.
He was a surgeon in the Revolutionary War.
He and his wife Mary Emerson**** had nine kids, including …
Another Ebenezer Rockwood
This Ebenezer Rockwood:
was born on June 2, 1781.
graduated from Harvard College after studying law.
was (get this!!) law partners with Samuel Hoar!! (See?!?)
died on May 5, 1815.
When Samuel’s son was born on February 21, 1816, he named him Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar… after Ebenezer Rockwood … who had died nine months earlier.
🤯🤯🤯
And now I’m doing the math and regretting my emoji choice. Ebenezer Rockwood was just 34 years old when he died.
😭😭😭
THEORY # 6 — and (spoiler!) this one is the winner!
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar and I are not related — but my ancestor was his dad’s law partner!
See?? My 6x great uncle (right…?) was law partners with Roger Sherman’s son / Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar’s dad.
Put another way: I’m related to the guy who was law partners with the father of the guy who shut James Garfield (my favorite!) right up so he didn’t talk his way out of being nominated as a presidential candidate!
*If you’re wondering if this sent me off on a tangent researching pies and Frisbees, yes. Yes, it did. Apparently, George’s friends called him Frisbie! How cute is that?
**While thinking about all of this and assuming I have to be related to them, I thought about how there are lots of Lincolns in Massachusetts that came from England but they are not all related (like Abraham Lincoln wasn’t related to Revolutionary War hero Benjamin Lincoln)… and then I see that their dad was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts which means nothing at all BUT STILL!!
***My use of “peppered” was probably an overstatement. Without really trying, I found three Rockwoods: Ebernezer Rockwood Hoar, Rockwood Hoar, and Rockwood Hoar Foster.
****Her brother Rev. William Emerson was Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandfather, something I’m pointing out mainly because Ralph Waldo Emerson came up in another recent post (scroll to the bottom). Also, one of Samuel and Sarah’s other kids was engaged to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s little brother … but he died before they married.
Tangentially Related…
Other incoherent ramblings about people that maybe I’m related to. Or maybe not.
I have a few theories…