Descendants From Benjamin F. Dillingham and Lydia Howes – as written by Esther Howes in 1977
- Thomas Howes b. 1590 – England d. 1665 m. Mary Burr Dennis, MA
- Joseph, b.1630 – Eng. d. 1695 m. Elizabeth Mayo Dennis, MA
- Samuel, b.1653 d. 1723 m. Rebecca (?)– Dennis
- Joseph, b.1690 d. 1750 m Elizabeth Paddock
- Joseph, b.1718 d.1787 m Ann Vincent
- Joseph 3rd, b.1751 d.1806 m. Hannah Hopkins (6th gen. Mayflower – Stephen Hopkins)
- Nathan, b. 1792 d. 1868 m. Lydia Sears (6/1817) – 16 children
- Lydia b. 1818 m. Benjamin F. Dillingham of Brewster
9. Benjamin Franklin Dillingham b. ca. 1840 (was marooned with broken leg near Honolulu) m Emma Louise Smith 1869 – dau. Missionary, Lowell Smith.
10. Walter b. ca 1869 m Louise (had 4 ? children)
11. Benjamin III now in Australia (1977)
*11. Lowell, still head of companies. (1977)
11. Gaylord, killed in Airforce plane twoo weeks before end of WWII
11. Daughter – name not known
10. Harold m. Margaret (had 5 ? sons)
10. Marion m. John Erdman, a missionary (had 4 Dau.)
10. Mary Emma m. Walter Frear who was Chief Justice of the Islands and its 3rd Governor. Daughter Virgina Frear Wild
8. Silas b. 1825 m. Priscilla Lord
8. Joseph b. 1833 d. 1878 m. Abby Sears Hedge
9. Hettie Hedge b. 1874
9. Nathan Anson b. 1857 d. 1921. m. Helena Wilson Ellis
* The Dillingham family land is Mokuleia (3,000 acres), a 90 minute drive from Honolulu. Walter had a ranch named “Crow Bar” and he raised polo ponies. Lowell raises cattle on his ranch “La Pietra, on the slopes of Diamond Head. “La Pietra” was modeled after the Florentine Palace where Walter & Louise Dillingham spent their honeymoon. (Mrs. Jane Barrows Tatibouet #12, now lives on Dillingham land; 3075 La Pietra Circle, 808-923-4533 – she is gggdau. of Silas Howes #8
http://www.scsra.org/library/oahurwy.html
The Oahu story began with a broken leg. In 1865 Benjamin Franklin Dillingham was thrown from a horse on Oahu, while the ship on which he served as first mate was in port. The ship left him behind to recover and the resourceful Dillingham, born in Massachusetts, became something of a naturalized Hawaiian during his forced stay. His first job was as a clerk for H. Dimond & Sons hardware merchants; in 1869, he bought out the entire firm. Fifteen years later, he had brokered his holdings into a new firm, the Pacific Hardware Company, and had accumulated, along with his wealth, some interest in property on the west side of Oahu and a cadre of influential associates. The Oahu of his day was an island paradise whose sole role in the world's economy was as a trading stop for ships. Impressed by early experiments in agriculture and ground water wells, Dillingham visualized an Oahu rich with agricultural developments and products to ship around the world. But how could he convince others that Oahu's vast empty land should be cultivated? And even if he did how would he move products from inland to port.
Dillingham proposed to build a railroad - narrow gauge, of course, to reduce first cost. He was granted a franchise by King Kalakaua in 1886, and officially opened the first nine miles on the King's bithday, November 16, 1889. Oahu Railway's initial roster showed two Baldwin-built 4-4-0's and nine passenger coaches built by Carter Brothers of Newark, California. Revenues were meager in the first years from small shipments of the little existing crop production. But Dillingham's plan was eventually validated, because the availability of the railroad to ship products from land to harbor did promote sales of the land and induced new agricultural ventures. Of course, Dillingham furthered the process along, and incidentally added to his personal wealth, by organizing and investing in such ventures as the Ewa Plantation (Oahu's first sugar plantation, laid out in 1890) Kahuku Plantation, Waialua Agricultural Company, Haleiwa Hotel, and the Oahu Sugar Company. The Oahu Railway was built to reach each of these facilities over the course of the 1890's. When profit was insufficient to pay for extension of the line as far as Kahuku in 1897, Dillingham issued bonds to finance construction. These bonds were due in 1927, but the company was able to pay them off in 1923 out of excess revenue - and still pay a stock dividend that year as well! As Dillingham projected, the island's sugar and pineapple production (including that of the Dole Pineapple Company) became ample enough to be both an important facet of the Hawaiian economy and a satisfactory source of revenue for the railroad which had made it all possible.
Benjamin Franklin Dillingham 
http://www.oahurailway.com/Pages/bfd.html
Benjamin Franklin Dillingham fell off a rented horse, and the history of modern Hawai‘i was changed forever. Dillingham was a New Englander, born on Cape Cod in 1844, and he went to sea at the age of 14. After a series of adventures—including capture by a Confederate raider—and a rapid rise in rank, he landed in Honolulu as first mate aboard the bark Whistler in 1864. He was 20. After breaking his leg in the topple from the horse, he was carried to the American Marine Hospital in Nu‘uanu to heal. The Whistler sailed without him, and <v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><v:path o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></v:path><o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype><v:shape id=_x0000_s1026 style="MARGIN-TOP: 52.25pt; Z-INDEX: 1; LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 6in; WIDTH: 156pt; POSITION: absolute; HEIGHT: 204.75pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-wrap-distance-left: 0; mso-wrap-distance-right: 0; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-vertical-relative: line" type="#_x0000_t75" o:allowoverlap="f" alt=""><v:imagedata o:title="bfd_cleaned" src="file:///C:/WINDOWS/TEMP/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg"></v:imagedata><w:wrap type="square"></w:wrap></v:shape>Dillingham was an ex-seafaring man, ashore for good.
After recuperating, he found work at a local hardware store. An entreprenurial spirit bubbled within, and in a few years he had borrowed some money and was the store’s owner. He also married the daughter of a local missionary and started a family. Frank Dillingham’s businesses—the hardware operation and later a large dairy—struggled with heavy obligations for decades, and he was constantly searching for a “big score” that would finally eradicate his debts and provide for his family.
That score was the Oahu Railway & Land Company, a narrow-gauge operation that established sugar as a phenomenally profitable crop on Oahu. The primary line headed west from the main station in downtown Honolulu, eventually stitching together sugar plantations in Aiea, Waipahu, Ewa, Waianae, Waialua, and Kahuku. A later branch wending its way to the center of the Island served the pineapple plantations around Wahiawa. For almost 60 years—from 1889 to 1947—OR&L trundled both freight and passengers around the island, creating great fortunes not only for the Dillinghams, but for many others as well. This book is the story of that line.
