Benjamin Franklin Snow (1806 - 1866)

Born 18 Dec 1806 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Clark (Gooding) Snow — married 3 Oct 1837 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Died 19 Dec 1866 at age 60 in Honolulu, Oahu, Kingdom of Hawaii

Biography

According to "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988," available only from Ancestry.com or Ancestrylibrary.com, Benjamin F. Snow was born on 18 December 1806 at his parents' home in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. He was the son of Prince Snow, Jr. (1770-1838) and his first wife, Elizabeth (Skillings) Snow (1772-1809). ^[1] Nowhere else has a documented record of Benjamin F. Snow's birth and his parents been found.

Ben Snow lost his mother at under 3 years old. His father remarried to Lucy Hartt, 1780-1864, in 1811. He decided that he, like many of his Massachusetts Snow cousins, would go to sea. As a young Mariner, he made his first trip on a whaling vessel that reached Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii, in December 1826. He became a skilled master Mariner, specializing in whale-hunting, a major source of fuel in that period and apparently was very successful.

Master Mariner Benjamin Franklin Snow, 31 years old, married Miss Elizabeth Clark Gooding on 3 October 1837 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. ^[2] She was just 3 years younger than her husband, having been born on 28 December 1809 in Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. She was the daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth (Hartt) Gooding of Boston. ^[3] She was his distant cousin as his maternal grandmother was a Clark and also related to his father's 2nd wife via the Hartt family.

The couple had at least 2 sons & 1 daughter:

1. Rev, William Franklin Snow, b: 13 Dec. 1838: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; d: 11 Jan 1871 in Lawrence, Essex, Mass., USA. ^[4]
2. Mary Elizabeth Snow, b: 13 May 1843 in Boston, Mass; d: before 1864 ^[5]
3. Thomas Gooding Snow, b: 11 Mar 1851 in Honolulu, Hawaii, OR Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA..^[6]

A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Benjamin F. Snow was a master Mariner who worked his way up to become a Yankee Clipper Sea Captain, sailing from Boston around Cape Horn to Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii, as a whaling-ship's officer. He doubtlessly had a second "home" in Honolulu where his younger son is said to have been born in 1851. He was sometimes accompanied to Hawaii by his wife and children as attested by a Hawaiian Immigration Record dated June 19, 1848, stating that Captain Benj. F. Snow, age 41, was sailing to Boston from Oahu, Hawaii, on the American barque Mary [named for his daughter?], accompanied by wife E.C. Snow, 30, and 2 children: W.F. Snow, 9 1/2, and Mary E. Snow, 5 years old. Additionally several documents later state that his younger son, Charles G. Snow, was born in Honolulu in 1851. ^{[7] [8]}

Captain Snow died in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, on 19 December 1866. It was both his 60th birthday and also marked the 40th anniversary of his first arrival in Hawaii in 1826 as a young sailor. ^[9] He was buried at the Oahu Cemetery, Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii. His Find A Grave Memorial has a photo of his gravestone noting his birth place and death date at exactly 60 years old. ^[10]

His wife of 35 years survived his passing. Elizabeth Clark (Gooding) Snow passed away in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, on 25 May 1891 at 81 yrs., 4 mos, & 27 days old. Her death certificate cites "Atrophy of the Liver" as leading cause of death. ^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 for Benjamin Franklin Snow on the Blaikie Family Tree on Ancestrylibrary.com Free viewing at a US Public Library.
2. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHK8-59V : 28 July 2021), Benjamin F Snow, 1837. Note: Her maiden name was mistranscribed as "Goodwin" but other records make it clear it was "Gooding".
3. ↑ Details for Elizabeth C. Gooding on FamilySearch
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #189946148 William Franklin Snow
5. ↑ Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 for Benjamin F Snow; Boston Births Registered: 1800-1849 On Ancestrylibrary.com - not all in alphabetical order. Free view at a US public library or by paid $ subscription to Ancestry.com.
6. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHM2-JXP : 10 November 2020), Thomas Gooding Snow, 11 Mar 1851; citing Birth, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009362.
7. ↑ Hawaii, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1843-1898 for Benj. F. Snow; Hawaii Manifest Records, 1843-1898: 1848. On Ancestrylibrary.com or Ancestry.com]
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHXG-KLS : 14 January 2022), Thomas G. Snow in household of Elizabeth C. Snow, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm . States Thomas born in Hawaii
9. ↑ The Friend newspaper, Honolulu, Hawaii, Vol. 18, No. 1, Jan. 1, 1867, pg. 1
10. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #106581973 Capt Benjamin Franklin Snow
11. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH39-X92 : 10 November 2020), Elizabeth C. Snow or Gooding, 25 May 1891; citing Death, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004273437.

• Sources for Benjamin Franklin Snow on FamilySearch; cites 11 sources

• "Death Article" The Friend (Honolulu, Hawaii), 1 January 1867, p. 8, col. 2; digital images, The Hawaiian Mission Houses Digital Collections (http://hmha.missionhouses.org/ : accessed 15 February 2022). Archived on the Internet Archive WayBack Machine. The Friend newspaper, Honolulu, Hawaii, Vol. 18, No. 1, Jan. 1, 1867, pg. 1

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106581973/benjamin-f-snow : accessed 13 June 2022), memorial page for Benjamin F. Snow (unknown–19 Dec 1866), Find A Grave: Memorial #106581973, citing O'ahu Cemetery, Honolulu, Honolulu County, Hawaii, USA ; Maintained by David Blewster Knight (contributor 47958606) .