Cabot family


The Cabot family was part of the Boston Brahmin, also known as the "first families of Boston".

History

Family origin

The Boston Brahmin Cabot family descended from John Cabot, who emigrated from his birthplace to Salem, Massachusetts in 1700.
The Cabot family emigrated from Jersey, where the family name can be traced back to at least 1274. In Jersey, the Rev. George Balleine records that the Cabot is a small fish that seems all head.

Rise to prominence

John Cabot and his son, Joseph Cabot, became highly successful merchants, operating a fleet of privateers carrying opium, rum, and slaves. Shipping during the eighteenth century was the lifeblood of most of Boston's first families. Joseph's sons, Joseph Cabot Jr., George Cabot, and Samuel Cabot, left Harvard to work their way through shipping, furthering the family fortune and becoming extraordinarily wealthy. Two of the earliest U.S. Supreme Court cases, Bingham v. Cabot and Bingham v. Cabot, involved family shipping disputes. In 1784, Samuel Cabot relocated to Boston.

George Cabot

George Cabot and his descendants went into politics. George Cabot became a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, and was appointed but declined to be first Secretary of the Navy. His great-grandson, Henry Cabot Lodge was also a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1893 until his death in 1924. In the 1916 election, Henry Cabot Lodge defeated John F. Fitzgerald, former mayor of Boston and the maternal grandfather of John, Robert and Edward Kennedy. George's great-great-great grandson, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was also U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1937 to 1943 and from 1946 to 1953, when he lost to John F. Kennedy in the 1952 Senate election. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. went on to be the U.S. Ambassador to United Nations under President Eisenhower and ambassador to South Vietnam under President Kennedy. He was 1960 vice presidential candidate for Richard Nixon against Kennedy–Lyndon B. Johnson. George's other great-great-great grandson, John Davis Lodge was the 64th Governor of Connecticut. George's great-great-great-great grandson, George Cabot Lodge II ran against the successful Edward M. Kennedy in the United States Senate special election in Massachusetts, 1962.

Samuel Cabot

From John Cabot's grandson, Samuel Cabot's side, Samuel Cabot Jr. furthered the family fortune by combining the first family staples of working in shipping and marrying money. In 1812, he married Eliza Perkins, daughter of merchant king Colonel Thomas Perkins. Samuel Cabot III was an eminent surgeon, whose daughter, Lilla Cabot Perry, was a noted Impressionist artist, and son, Godfrey Lowell Cabot founded Cabot Corporation, the largest carbon black producer in the country, used for inks and paints. Godfrey's son, John Moors Cabot, a great-great-grandson of Samuel, was a U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, Colombia, Brazil, and Poland during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administration. Another great-great grandson, Paul Codman Cabot, was cofounder of America's first mutual fund and "Harvard's Midas."

Boston Toast

The widely known "Boston Toast" by Holy Cross alumnus John Collins Bossidy features the Cabot family:

''Kabotchnik v. Cabot''

In 1923, Harry H. Kabotchnik and his wife Myrtle petitioned to have his family name changed to Cabot.
Some prominent Cabots of Boston along with the Pennsylvania branch of the Order of Founder and Patriots, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania counter-sued to prevent the change.
Judge Charles Young Audenried eventually ruled for the Kabotchniks, as there was "nothing in the law to prevent it."

Notable members