Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Rath, James Arthur December 21, 1870 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr jessicanorr@gmail.com December 21, 2011, 2:37 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd. Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

JAMES ARTHUR RATH, Welfare Worker. Organizer of the Palama Settlement and its 
director for twenty years, James A. Rath has been a factor in the growth of 
this social service institution from a small beginning to its present 
important place in community life.
  On March 1, 1905, Mr. Rath and his wife arrived in Honolulu and both entered 
into the work at Palama, which at that time was called Palama Mission, and 
consisted of a small chapel, maintained as a branch of the Central Union 
Church and the Hawaiian Board of Missions. Mr. Rath early recognized the need 
for an expansion of the mission’s service and introduced new lines of work. In 
1910 the mission was separated from the Central Union Church and the Hawaiian 
Board and incorporated under the name of the Palama Settlement, a non-
sectarian welfare organization.
  The settlement now operates eleven baby clinics, a general dispensary, eye, 
ear, nose and throat clinics and other clinics where twenty Honolulu 
physicians and surgeons give their time for the care of the poor. Twenty-two 
visiting nurses carry the message of health into the poor homes of Honolulu, a 
gymnasium and large swimming tank are maintained, and clubs for young and old 
have been formed. Under the direction of Mr. Rath a new plant has been erected 
on Palama St. at a cost of $400,000.
  James A. Rath was born Dec. 21, 1870, in Hyderabad, India, the son of James 
and Elizabeth (Baker) Rath. Both his father and grandfather were in the 
British army and fought in the Crimean War. Mr. Rath was educated in military 
and private schools of India, and in 1904 was graduated from the Y.M.C.A. 
College in Springfield, Mass., with the degree of B.H.
  He was a member of the revenue police in India from 1888 to 1892, was in the 
commissariat, transport and supply department of the British army until 1900, 
and in 1901 acted as assistant secretary of the Y.M.C.A. in Bombay.
  Mr. Rath is a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Commercial Club, 
Public Question Club, American Economic Association, American Sociological 
Association, National Conference of Social Work and the National Federation of 
Settlements. In 1904 he married Ragna Katherine Helsher of Concord, Mass., and 
they have five children, James A., Jr., Ragna Elizabeth, Henry Vincent, 
Margaret Evelyn and Robert Helsher Rath.


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