Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, again featuring the Hopkins family line, and offering diary entries from family friend Isabella Cass. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” again featuring a group of California pioneer families.

To recap: In Part 2 I recalled “Diary of Young Girl Recalls Gilded Age,” describing life in the Menlo Park, California, estate “Sherwood Hall” owned by Mrs. Mary Frances (Sherwood) Hopkins, widow of California railroad magnet Mark Hopkins.

Both Mark and Mary were direct descendants of Mayflower passengers William Bradford, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins.

Isabella Cass, author of the diary, was a guest of the Hopkins family in 1884-1885 along with Mrs. Hopkins’s niece, Miss Mary “May” Kellogg Crittenden (1862-1941), daughter of Hiram and Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden, a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins. Her full lineage is referenced in Part 1.

May married Timothy Hopkins, the adopted son of Mary Hopkins, on 28 November 1882.

Fine Dining, Gilded Age Style

When Mark Hopkins died, he left a fortune and Mary was dubbed “America’s richest widow.”

“Sherwood Hall” was among the many palatial homes she would acquire. Isabella Cass’s diary also mentions her visits to Mary’s Nob Hill, San Francisco, California, mansion.

The extravagant lifestyle Cass observed in her hostess’ and monied friends’ mansions never bored her.

One couple mentioned often in Cass’s diary entries was Mr. and Mrs. Jared L. Rathbone.

Mrs. Rathbone was born Maria Alejandra Atherton in Valparaíso, Chile, to American shipping and merchant magnet Faxon Dean Atherton and his wife Dominga Guadalupe Goñi Prieto.

Cass writes:

May and I went (drove horse carriage) down to the Palace Hotel and stayed a long time with Mrs. Rathbone in her pretty room. She showed us some of her paintings. She wore a crushed strawberry-colored wrapper, and a white-crepe handkerchief draped about her head.

Here is an image of Mrs. Rathbone.

Maria married Jared Lawrence Rathbone (1844-1907), born to the first elected mayor of Albany, New York, Jared Lewis Rathbone, and his wife Pauline Noyes (Pinney) Rathbone, who later married Senator Ira Harris, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln’s.

Jared L. Rathbone was a Union Civil War major. When he was 17 years old, President Lincoln appointed him to West Point. Below is a photo of Jared when he was at West Point.

I found Jared’s obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle. He died on 2 May 1907.

According to the obit: Major Jared L. Rathbone was founder of the Burlingame Country Club; owner at one time of the Palo Alto ranch which became the campus of Stanford University; Consul general to Paris during Cleveland’s administration from 1881 to 1891; Aide-de-camp to Lieutenant General Schofield from 1866 to 1873; West Point graduate; and native of Albany New York.

This obituary notes:

Major Rathbone has for years been a notable figure in the more exclusive club circles, in the Army set, and among the wealthy fanciers of fine horses.

His elder brother Major Henry Rathbone was seated in the box at Ford’s Theatre with President Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln was assassinated.

In another entry from her diary, dated Friday, 9 January 1885, Isabella Cass describes attending a dinner party given at the home of Gov. Stanford.

Gov. Stanford, born Amasa Leland Stanford (1824-1893) to Josiah and Elizabeth Hannah (Phillips) Stanford, married Jane Elizabeth Lathrop (1828-1905), daughter of Dyer and Jane Ann (Shields) Lathrop.

Jane Elizabeth was godmother to Timothy and May Hopkins’s daughter Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, born in 1887. When Lydia was christened, Jane Elizabeth presented her godchild with a necklace with the letters of her name “Lydia” set in diamonds. In these circles you are never too young for bling!

The special guests at the Stanford’s 9 January 1885 dinner party were: three of Mrs. Stanford’s nieces, Jane Monteath Wilson Lathrop, Aimee Gardner Lathrop, and Christine Monteath Dunn Lathrop; and their mother Harriet Monteath Wilson Lathrop, wife of Daniel Shields Lathrop.

In her diary, Cass records:

As I was introduced to the [three] Misses L[athrop], the eldest came forward and spoke with me. She had graduated from Albany under Minnie [Mae McLean Kammerer] and was very fond of her. Lt. Cotton was there and escorted me out to dinner.

Another attendee at that dinner party was Mr. Herbert Charles Nash, first English tutor for Leland Stanford Jr., and later Mr. Stanford’s secretary and the first librarian of Stanford University.

Cass writes about the fabulous fashions and jewels worn by the ladies:

May wore a black velvet skirt, with panels of red satin, on which were raised velvet feathers and an uncut red velvet jacket trimmed with gold coin pendants, and large hoop earrings, such as we see in the pictures of oriental women, and broad plain gold bracelets, and coin necklace. She looked magnificent. Mrs. Hopkins wore dark blue silk, with fringe and trimmings of iridescent beads and filagree and the biggest sapphires in her ears, and bracelets. I wore my pink dress. Mrs. Major Rathbone wore white and a cross of black and gold with pearls and miniatures, which was the gift of Marie Antonette to a friend.

Another line in this diary especially caught my attention. It will be covered in my next story:

Friday Dec. 26, 1884

I went with May [and Mrs. Rathbone] to the occultist and then different stores.

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Fake Wills & Forged Bibles Lay Claim to Mark Hopkins’ Huge Estate
• The Gilded Age Palace: What Mark Hopkins Bankrolled
• Mad Scramble to Claim Mark Hopkins’ Riches: A ‘New Gold Rush’
• Pedigree, Pearls, and Pooches: The Hopkins Saga Continues
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part I
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part II
• America’s Richest Widow Restores Church and Cemetery of Great Barrington, MA
• Moss’ Hoax: A Scam for the Hopkins Fortune
• More Legal Battles over the Mark Hopkins Railroad Fortune
• Scams to Get the Hopkins Fortune: Seances, Table Tipping, and Slate Writing
• More Hopkins Saga: Minister’s Wife Battles Edward Searles
• Kin of America’s Richest Widow Battle Edward Searles in Probate Court
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 48 (part 1)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 48 (part 2)