Obadiah Newcomb Bush

BIRTH: 28 Jan 1797, Penfield, Monroe County, New York, USA
DEATH: 09 Feb 1851, (aged 54)
BURIAL: Body buried at sea, Specifically: Died upon a ship, body thrown overboard

Through his son, Reverend James Smith Bush, he is the great-grandfather of U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, the great-great-grandfather of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and the great-great-great-grandfather of current U.S. President George W. Bush.

Obadiah Newcomb Bush, an American merchant, was the son of blacksmith Timothy Bush, Jr. and Lydia Newcomb.

He left home during the War of 1812 and married Harriet Smith, the daughter of Dr. Sanford Smith and Priscilla Whipple Smith, in Rochester on November 8, 1821. They had seven children.

In Rochester, Obadiah was employed as a schoolmaster and was also a well known abolitionist. He served as vice president of the Anti-Slavery Society and was on a committee to nominate candidates for justice of the peace.

His brother Henry, a manufacturer of stoves, was also well known for his involvement in abolitionist activities.

He was a participant in the Underground Railroad, and even petitioned the New York state Legislature to secede from the Union in a protest against slavery. The Rochester Daily Advertiser accused him of encouraging anarchy.

Eventually he and Henry and possibly another brother or two went off to find their fortunes in the California Gold Rush of 1849. After two years of toiling in California he began passage home, by ship, to retrieve his family in New York. However, he died aboard ship and was given a sea burial.