George Douglas Freeth, Sr. (1 Viewer)

Well, his son was much more famous as a surfing pioneer. But George Freeth Sr. is commemorated in the name of the Laysan apapane. My question is do you have any biographical dates on him?

The only dates I have are from The Eponym dictionary of Birds.

see here: https://books.google.de/books?id=En...oKHVhEBkEQ6AEIJDAB#v=onepage&q=Freeth&f=false

E.g. he was governor of Laysan in 1892

For me it would be interesting to find his exact date of birth and date of death.

Some more on his life here, but no dates.

Englishman George Douglas Freeth Sr. was married to Elizabeth K. Green on December 16,1879. He was not listed as living with his wife and children on the 1900 US census but may have been on Laysan?
http://www.belfastforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=19778.0 .
He was commissioned a Royal Naval Reserve midshipman on April 2, 1873 on the ship Conway. On a genealogy site I do not have access to it says 1855-1914.
http://www.birdpop.org/docs/pubs/Pyle_2011_Nomenclature_of_the_LAHC.pdf .
HBW Alive Key to scientific names has fraithi / fraithii
Capt. George Douglas Freeth, Sr. (?b. 1854- fl. 1892) US Gov. of Laysan, Hawaiian Is., guano-mine owner (subsp. Himatione sanguinea).

I've found two more hints

George Freeth, Sr., like his father-in-law, was English-born and bred. The son of Major General James Holt Freeth of the British Royal Engineers, George, Sr., and his brother Edward, took to the sea, both men rising to the level of Master Mariner. Each would captain ships, with George Freeth, Sr., often sailing routes between Hawaii and San Francisco, as well as from Honolulu to Layson Island in the Pacific.

Click to expand...

http://files.legendarysurfers.com/surf/legends/ls05_freeth_verge2001.html

Major General James Holt Freeth was the second son of General Sir James Freeth and Harriot Holt. He was born in Chelsea, London and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1834. He married Louisa Margery Armstrong, who was born in Canada. They had seven children.

Click to expand...

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64951930

So we have a possible birth date: 1854

Melanie, I don´t have any notes of any Mr. Freeth at all ... but from what I can tell (after some googling) ...

Captain George Freeth (fl. 1890-94) was (as far as I understand it) manager of the Guano works on Laysan, Hawaii, as well as Governor of the same Island, ... his full name was George Douglas Freeth (a k a ditto Sr.), married to Elizabeth K. Green (like Mark noted) [and their son, and namesake of his father was the "anglo-hawaiian" also called "irish-hawaiian" (!) surfer, Champion swimmer, Life Guard, surfer-legend, the "Father of Modern Surfing" etc. George Douglas Freeth Jr. (1883 - 1919)]

Regarding "Senior" see the following links (even if I assume you´ve seen them); here, here and here (p.375)

Take it for what it´s worth ... if of any use? But maybe it gives ju a hint on where to go from here?

Good luck finding him!

Björn

Note that there apparently was a: "George Freeth, charged with shooting W. L. Smith on the 17th of August 1857" in Baltomore/Maryland, USA. If related in any way is unknown to me.

PS. Maybe you should ask Andrew Esposito (here) he seems to know a lot, and I mean a lot, regarding hawaiian birds!

PPS. And what a coincidence! While fumbling about, randomly searching, trying to write the above, as a pure surprise Mr. Esposito suddenly signed in and turned up, here on the Etymology forum! See thread Henry C. Palmer ... (here). Ask him!
--

mb1848 said:

Englishman George Douglas Freeth Sr. was married to Elizabeth K. Green on December 16,1879.

Click to expand...

If Geni here is correct Elizabeth Kailikapuolono Freeth née Green. And as his brother Capt Edward Henry Freeth was born Apr. 15, 1853 Gosport, Gosport Borough, Hampshire, England I assume he was born as well around this time in the same area.

Maybe from here from England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915:

Name: George Douglas Freeth
Birth: Jan 1855 - Elham, Kent

Click to expand...

Hello everyone,

Most of the immediate family of George Douglas Freeth, Snr is buried in Oahu Cemetery, Honolulu. His wife, Elizabeth Kailikapuolono (sometimes abbreviated as Kaili) Freeth, née Green (married 1879) is also buried there. Her father was William Lowthian Green, one time Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Hawaii and geological author.

George Freeth, Snr became a Citizenship of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1880
George Freeth, Snr relocated with his family from Laysan Island to Honolulu around 1893/1894. The infamous Max Schlemmer took over as Manager on Laysan in 1894 after being an employee of Hackfeld Guano in Honolulu in 1892 and was a Police Captain during the overthrow in 1893.

It was in Waikiki where George Douglas Freeth, Jnr surfed with board riders including the legendary Duke Kahanamoku. There is more about his short life in the Epilogue of Killing Paradise.

I agree that George Freeth, Snr had four sons and two daughters. Here is the link if you've not already found it:

http://bit.ly/2l33p1e

The sons buried in Oahu Cemetery are:

Alexander Rupert Freeth (b:1885)
Erick A. Freeth (b:1899)
George Douglas Freeth, Jnr (b:1883)
William Armstrong Freeth (b:1880)

The daughters are not buried in the family plot. Their likely names are:

E. Marjorie Freeth (Clark)
Dorothy Freeth (Campbell)

I think the reason George Freeth, Snr is not in the family plot is that he and Elizabeth got divorced:
Divorce: E K Freeth v G. D. Freeth 2695

http://bit.ly/2kkEd97

I’ve not found the divorce date as yet but I think it is likely after Erick was born – 1900 or later. There seems to be an ‘inter-family’ tie between the Freeth and the Clark families. Marjorie Freeth married Ralph Evans Clark 26/5/1915 and Douglas William Freeth (Grandson of George Freeth, Snr) married Evelyn Kawahinemakai Clark 21/7/1928. It could be co-incidence.

I cannot confirm the dates of b:1855, d:1914 for George Freeth, Snr. but it is likely to be proven correct with more investigation.

On a lighter note, Rothschild's dedication to George D. Freeth for the Laysan Honeycreeper was originally misspelt as fraithii ! Although it has been 'corrected' over time, following nomenclature rules, the misspelling is still valid as the original name.

http://bit.ly/2kl2onW

I know this is a long post – there is more on the whole Laysan/guano mining/politcs scenario but it’s a little off topic so we can start another thread if there is interest. I’ve also left out info where I’ve found conflicting dates.

I hope this helps – thanks for the opportunity to join the dicussion.

A

In the original description Rothschild does not mention Governor Freeth. He also misspelled the name.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27658713#page/122/mode/1up . Rothschild only mentions Palmer his collector. Obviously fraithii came from Palmer who was on Laysan. Elizabeth K. Green's father wrote about geology. She was a young mother on an island with few people and no shopping or restaurants etc. We know that she collected birds on Laysan.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/119748#page/7/mode/1up .
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/119748#page/5/mode/1up .
Curator Brigham mentions Palmer.
I believe that the person interested in nature on Laysan at that time was Mrs. G. B. Freeth. The bird is named for her. I wonder if a native Hawaiian speaker pronounces Freeth as Fraith? I was married to a native Hawaiian woman who like Mary Poppins and Saint Francis wild birds would fly and land on her finger. God's truth.

Hi Andrew,

thanks for your long reply. It might be also of interest why he have died so early when his death was indeed in 1914. By the way what about the snail Potadoma freethi? It is also named on George Freeth, Sr. or to someone of his family?

Melanie said:

By the way what about the snail Potadoma freethi? It is also named on George Freeth, Sr. or to someone of his family?

Click to expand...

The snail was described as Melania freethii by John Edward Gray in 1831 - [OD]:

Fernandoo Poo, dedicated to Colonel Freeth, through whose kindness I received these and many other shells.

Click to expand...

No apparent geographical connection, and well before George Freeth, Sr, was born, thus.

Also see Pyle, 2010, here:

While Palmer and Munro were on Laysan they were assisted by George D. Freeth, manager of a guano-mining operation there and an amateur naturalist. ...

Click to expand...

mb1848 said:

... I believe that the person interested in nature on Laysan at that time was Mrs. G. B. Freeth. The bird is named for her.

Click to expand...

Mark, I doubt Rothschild would have coined the (masculine) name "Fraithii" if he inteded it for Mrs. Freeth.

Calalp said:

Also see Pyle, 2010, here:
Mark, I doubt Rothschild would have coined the (masculine) name "Fraithii" if he inteded it for Mrs. Freeth.

Click to expand...

He would certainly not but, given he apparently did not know the correct name of his dedicatee, he might conceivably have ignored other things.
However, Rothschild published Palmer's journal in 1893 in his Avifauna of Laysan and the neighbouring islands [here], and there it is quite clear that the person who helped, in the present case, was indeed G. D. Freeth, Sr.:

The island is a simple atoll with a lagoon in the centre, which Mr. Freeth (the governor of the island and manager of the Guano Company) tells me has comparatively little water in it at the present time
[...]
Mr. Freeth took me to the guano-field on the tram-line he has built
[...]
June 17. — Have spent the day catching and skinning birds ; I will not try to give a description of their habits until I have seen more of the birds ; there are so many that it makes one quite confused. A most touching thing occurred : I caught a little red honeyeater [Himatione freethi. — W. R.] in the net, and when I took it out the little thing began to sing in my hand. I answered it with a whistle, which it returned and continued to do so for some minutes, not being in the least frightened.
[...]
Mr. Freeth has just told me his little boy caught one of the Finches
[...]
Mr. Freeth has done everything he possibly could for me, and I have a nice lot of specimens.
[...]
I am now trying some insect-powder Mr. Freeth gave me.
[...]

Click to expand...

mb1848 said:

He was commissioned a Royal Naval Reserve midshipman on April 2, 1873 on the ship Conway. On a genealogy site I do not have access to it says 1855-1914.

Click to expand...

Taphrospilus said:

Maybe from here from England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915:

Click to expand...

According England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 mentioned here...

Name: George Douglas Freeth
Death: dd mm 1914

Click to expand...

...it could be correct that he returned to UK after his divorce and died in the year 1914. So 1855-1914 seems to be possible without having seen the original documents Ancestry is referring to. But here he was born 1854 and Hythe, Kent.

Taphrospilus said:

But here he was born 1854 and Hythe, Kent.

Click to expand...

Ditto [here]. 15 Dec 1854.

"Mark, I doubt Rothschild would have coined the (masculine) name "Fraithii" if he inteded it for Mrs. Freeth"!! So obvious. Laurent I should have read Avifauna of Laysan.

The Eponym Dictionary of Birds claims:

Laysan Apapane Himatione freethii Rothschild, 1892 EXTINCT [Original spelling of scientific name = Himatione fraithii]
Captain George Douglas Freeth (DNF) was the American Governor of Laysan (1892) in the Hawaiian Islands. . Earlier (1890) he had been granted the right by the Kingdom of Hawaii to mine guano on Laysan in return for a royalty, but this badly affected the island's ecosystem. Rothschild originally used the incorrect spelling fraithii as the binomial, and many authorities believe must take priority as the valid scientific name.

Click to expand...

Somehow I feel still not 100% clear the life dates. Maybe this round?

George Douglas Freeth