The Cabot family is one of the Boston Brahmin families, also known as the "first families of Boston".

History

Family

The Boston Brahmin Cabot family descended from John Cabot (born 1680 in Jersey, a British Crown Dependency and one of the Channel Islands), 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 Latin, caput means "head", and the Rev. George Balleine writes that in Jersey the "cabot" is a small fish that seems all head. In French, once a commonly spoken language in Jersey, "cabot" means a dog, or a military corporal, "caboter" is to navigate along the coast, and "cabotin" means "theatrical".

Rise to prominence

John Cabot (born 1680 Isle of Jersey) and his son, Joseph Cabot (born 1720 in Salem), 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. (born 1746 in Salem), George Cabot (born 1752 in Salem), and Samuel Cabot (born 1758 in Salem), 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 (1795) and Bingham v. Cabot (1798), 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 (born 1850 in Boston) 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. (born 1902 in Nahant) 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 (born 1903 in Washington, D.C.) was the 64th Governor of Connecticut. George's great-great-great-great grandson, George Cabot Lodge II (born 1927, son of Henry Cabot Lodge) 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. (born 1784 in Boston) 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 (born 1815 in Boston) was an eminent surgeon, whose daughter, Lilla Cabot Perry, was a noted Impressionist artist. His son, Godfrey Lowell Cabot (born 1861 in Boston) founded Cabot Corporation, the largest carbon black producer in the country, used for inks and paints. Godfrey's son, John Moors Cabot (born 1901 in Cambridge), 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 (born 1898 in Brookline), was cofounder of America's first mutual fund and "Harvard's [Endowment] 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 (Judge Cabot of the Boston Juvenile Court; Stephen Cabot, headmaster of St. George's School, Middletown, R.I.; Dr. Hugh Cabot, dean of Michigan University Medical School ) along with the Pennsylvania branch of the Order of the Founders 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."

Members

Cabot family network

Associates

The following is a list of figures closely aligned with or subordinate to the Cabot family.

Businesses

The following is a list of companies in which the Cabot family have held a controlling or otherwise significant interest.

Philanthropy Institutions & Miscellaneous Non-profits

Buildings and historic sites