Name Edward Holyoke Died June 16, 1876, Cuba | Spouse Mary Tileston Hemenway Education Harvard University | |
Born April 25, 1805 ( 1805-04-25 ) Salem, Massachusetts Children Three daughters and one son Parent(s) Father - Dr. Samuel Hemenway and Mother Sarah Upton | ||
Edward Augustus Holyoke Hemenway (April 25, 1805 – June 16, 1876) was an American self-made merchant from Boston, Massachusetts.
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Early years
He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the eldest son of Dr. Samuel Hemenway and Sarah Upton of New England descent. His siblings included George Washington (1807-1830), Samuel Charles (b. 1809), William (b. 1811), and Charles (b. 1818). At the age of 13, he started working in Boston as a clerk in Robinson & Parkers’ dry goods store. Though his baptismal name was Edward Augustus Holyoke Hemenway, in honor of Edward Augustus Holyoke, the eminent physician with whom his father studied, as a young man, Hemenway shortened his name to Augustus Hemenway. He graduated from Harvard University.
Career
He went to work for Benjamin Bangs, a wealthy shipowner and merchant in Boston, and for a few years was his agent and partner in South American trade. Hemenway became owner of extensive silver mines in Valparaíso, and lived there for eight years. He owned a township in Washington County, Maine, where pine was cut on his own land, sawed into lumber at his own sawmill in Machias, and carried to Cuba, where he owned a sugar plantation, or to Valparaíso on his own ships, which returned to Boston with copper and nitrate of soda. He spearheaded the commercial enterprise of the US with the west coast of South America. When he went to Chile, he established his own business by 1838. He established many large silver mines, reaping huge profits. He was extremely hard working and ensured that all details of his business were personally attended to by him, including the loading of ships. This overwork resulted in a nervous breakdown in 1860; he spent 14 years in a Connecticut sanatorium recuperating.
Personal life
On 2 June 1840, he wed Mary Tileston Hemenway (1820-1894), daughter of Thomas Tileston, one of the wealthiest merchant/mariners of New York City. Their daughters were Charlotte Augusta (b. 1841, d. 1865), Alice (d. in infancy), Edith Hemenway Eustis (1851-1904), and Amy Hemenway (1848-1911) who was married to Louis Cabot. Their son, Augustus Jr. (1853-1931) was married to Harriet Lawrence. Edward Clarke Cabot, Louis' brother, designed a summer home for Hemenway at Manchester-by-the-Sea. Hemenway died in 1876, while on a trip to Cuba. He was a philanthropist and his wife continued this tradition after his death with large contributions to American archeology.