USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume III > Part 57
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Sullivan Woodman was highly respected by his fellow-townsmen and was elected re- peatedly to positions of trust and responsi- bility in the town. He served on the board of selectmen six terms between the years 1850 and 1870. All his life he was as deeply interested in religion and as zealous in the work of the church as was his father.
"Having belonged to two church associa- tions, John Woodman's circle of acquaint- ances was large and wherever known he was
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
recognized as a godly man. He was punc- tual to his engagements, whether civil or religious. The Bible was his life and the altar his delight. His door was ever open to the traveler and his hand to the poor and needy. He found supreme happiness in the companionship of good men, and ministers in particular. He aided the missionary in his travels and rejoiced in the victories achieved by the Gospel. In his dying moments he thought it was the Sabbath morning, and shutting his eyes upon the world around him, presented his last request to the Lord for the dear people of God and the dear young converts recently added to the church."
He died Saturday, May 26, 1849, aged 82, and was buried in the Woodman Hill Ceme- tery on Monday following.
The children by his first wife, Abigail Merrill, were: Samuel, John, Merrill, Na- than and Caroline.
The children by his second wife, Hannah Bates, were Abigail, Isaiah (died young), Isaiah, Mary, Sarah, Sullivan, Caroline and Brittania.
ISAIAH WOODMAN.
Isaiah Woodman, the third child of John Woodman by his wife, Hannah Bates, was born in Minot, Maine, September 12, 1806.
He was one of the leading citizens of the town of Minot for many years, and of the city of Auburn, Maine, for about twelve years of his life. He was moderator of the town meetings of Minot during a long period of years; a member of the board of selectmen in 1844, 1845 and 1855, and repre- sentative from Minot to the State Legisla- ture in 1855. In 1846 he was chosen a mem- ber of a committee of three to purchase a town farm for Minot. He represented the city of Auburn in the State Legislature in 1874 and occupied seat number 122 in the
House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House, W. W. Thomas, Jr., appointed him a member of the committee on reform schools at that session.
In his boyhood days he attended the school in the little school building standing across the road from his father's house. As he once explained, there was no bell to call the school to order. When the master appeared it was considered time for pupils to enter the building. If they failed to do so, a knock on the window or a voice at the door soon brought them in. The boys were seated on one side of the room and girls on the other. The back seat ran the whole length of the room and as one of the boys expressed it, "The big boys hogged the whole of it." The master kept in his desk a ten-cent piece fastened to a string. As an incentive to better work he allowed the "champion of the day" to wear it home around his neck. It became the permanent property of the one who wore it home the largest number of times.
On Sundays, ministers came from various places to hold religious services in the school house.
By persistent industry and shrewd man- agement of his financial affairs, he became the owner of a large and valuable estate. He took great interest in public affairs and was a well-known figure far and wide in all movements for the betterment of the com- munity in which he lived. He was long an outspoken advocate of temperance and a strong anti-slavery man, and on the side of other reforms. He was a great admirer of Charles Sumner and followed with deepest interest and hearty approval his arguments in the United States Senate in support of the abolitionists. His admiration for Mr. Sumner was so great that he had a large portrait made of him and hung it on the wall of his living room. This portrait was
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bequeathed to his grandson, Willard W. Woodman, to whom he gave encouragement and helpful advice while he was preparing to enter Bowdoin College.
Isaiah Woodman was brought up under the rigid orthodoxy and discipline of the puritan faith. He had in his library a printed copy of Rev. Samuel Willard's sermons, which were delivered before the year 1700. Passages in this book, marked by him dur- ing his reading, revealed the stern and repel- lent nature of the doctrine preached in those early times. All about him there was a growing tendency to accept whatever form of religious thought showed "more affection to God and more tenderness toward man." Isaiah, and his wife, Mary, who was a Meth- odist, accepted the more liberal view and be- came affiliated with the Universalist de- nomination.
Mary Boynton Ayer, wife of Isaiah Wood- man, was born in Standish, Maine, May 23, 1805, and moved to Minot with her mother when she was fifteen years old.
The children of Isaiah and Mary Wood- man were six in number, five sons and one daughter: George Sullivan, Willard Wood- bury, Flavius Mellen, Laura Duffs Wood- bury, John, and Nathan Prime.
The oldest son, George Sullivan Wood- man, lived in Auburn, Maine. He was regis- ter of probate for Androscoggin County from 1861 to 1880; city clerk of Auburn, 1868 to 1878; mayor of the city of Auburn, 1881, 1882, 1883; treasurer of the Auburn Savings Bank, 1876 to 1882; and president of the bank in 1891 and for several years thereafter.
FLAVIUS MELLEN WOODMAN.
Flavius Mellen Woodman was the third son of Isaiah and Mary Boynton (Ayer) Woodman. He was born February 9, 1837, in the house built by his great uncle, True
Woodman. There was a great snowstorm the night before, which covered the ground with banks of snow, reaching to the tops of the doors and the windows. It was neces- sary for his father to tunnel out of the house to reach his stable and his barns.
Mellen Woodman rarely used his first name, Flavius, and was generally known and referred to as Mellen Woodman. He first went to school in the school house located a few rods north of his home, near the highway. The building stood in one of the fields of the farm, on the east side of the road, which to this day is known as the "school-house field."
In 1861 he bought a farm of Thalismer Bearce, near the foot of Brighton Hill, in Hebron, Maine, partly in Hebron and partly in Minot. The house, the barns, and land on the north side of the road were in Hebron ; the fields across the road from the house in Minot.
He married, February 20, 1862, at West Minot, Maine, Edith Olevia Bearce, the daughter of Asa and Lucy Greenwood (Bridgham) Bearce, of Minot, Maine. The ceremony took place in the parsonage of the officiating clergyman, Rev. Amos Hitchings, Universalist minister at West Minot, in the presence of Mrs. Hitchings' two adopted daughters. Willard Woodbury Woodman was born in the house in Hebron mentioned above.
Mellen Woodman and his wife lived on the farm in Hebron until 1870, when they moved to Auburn. Their stay in the city was brief, for the next year he purchased of his father the old homestead in Minot and again took up farming midst the scenes of his boyhood days. He prospered in his agri- cultural enterprises and from time to time purchased more land. His land holdings now embraced the homestead farm of about two hundred acres, the Poole place of one
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hundred acres, and several smaller tracts of land in the neighboring town of Hebron.
Not long after the death of his father in 1885, he moved with his family to the farm recently purchased and located at Stevens Mills, within the city limits of Auburn. He lived here for nearly twenty years, but spent much of his time during the summer months on the old homestead on Woodman Hill. He still continued to use the Poole place as pasture land for cattle.
Early in the morning of October 26, 1904, his house and farm buildings were destroyed by fire. Mr. Woodman nearly lost his life in his efforts to save the horses and cattle. He did succeed in rescuing three horses and a pair of oxen. All the rest of the live stock, including three horses and eleven head of cattle perished. After the loss of his farm buildings at Stevens Mills, he sold the land and moved into the city, where he lived for several years in an attractive home on Goff Hill. But the call of the land and life in the open was too strong to resist, so he returned to the homestead on Woodman Hill, built a new barn and took up again the usual routine of work on a large farm.
The lure of political life and public office made no appeal to him. Twice, however, he was prevailed upon to serve on the board of selectmen of the town of Minot, the years of 1885 and 1886.
He was interested in amateur theatricals and from early youth to past sixty years of age took part in the presentation of plays in Hebron, in Minot and in Auburn.
He had twice lived and worked in the city, but failed to find there that sense of independence and contentment which life in the country afforded. No other calling but farming had any attractions for him. The spirit of his pioneer ancestors was in his blood. The human qualities which enabled those sturdy pioneers to endure the long
task of clearing forests and hewing out a homestead in the wilderness still lived in him and were the "links of life that bound him to the soil."
The year 1912 was a busy and successful one for him so far as material prosperity is concerned. He had planted extensively in the spring and harvested bountiful crops. But the serious illness of his youngest son, John, was a source of much anxiety to him. In December he began to fail in health, and his wife thought it best for both of them to go to live with their youngest daughter, the wife of Dr. William E. Fairbanks, of Lewis- ton, Maine, where he could receive all the care and medical attention possible. A few weeks later he had an apoplectic shock and died January 24, 1913.
Flavius Mellen and Edith Olevia (Bearce) Woodman had seven children, five sons and two daughters. The first child, a son, died in infancy. The names of the children who lived to maturity are: Willard Woodbury, Laura Olevia, Fred Bearce, Arthur Mellen, Grace May, and John. Six of their grand- children are college graduates.
Willard Woodbury Woodman, son of Fla- vius Mellen Woodman, is a member of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower De- scendants. He gained admission to the So- ciety by right of his mother's descent from William Brewster, Myles Standish, John Alden and Stephen Hopkins, who were pas- sengers on the "Mayflower" on its voyage which terminated at Plymouth in New Eng- land in December, 1620. The marriage of Willard Woodbury Woodman and Alice Leona Paine took place in Gorham, Maine, June 30, 1891, at the home of the bride's par- ents, Phineas Ingalls and Ellen Frances (Hobson) Paine, in the presence of members of the family and a few friends. The officiat- ing clergyman was Rev. George W. Reyn-
Alice Leona Nordman
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olds, pastor of the First Parish Church in Gorham.
Alice Leona Paine was born at Steep Falls, Limington, Maine, June 6, 1865. When she was ten years old, her parents moved to Gorham, Maine. After complet- ing her studies in the public schools of Gor- ham, she devoted herself with much enthu- siasm and with a marked degree of success, to the study of music and painting in the city of Portland, Maine. In a letter, written many years afterwards by her teacher in vocal culture, Mrs. Jennie King Morrison, expressing her high regard for Mrs. Wood- man's character and ability, and recalling the pleasant associations of those early years, she says: "Alice Leona Paine pos- sessed a sympathetic mezzo-contralto voice of good quality and a very pleasing person- ality. She was a member of the Hayden Society of Portland, Maine, Herman Kotz- schmar, conductor, and was much in de- mand for solo work." She sang for many years in the choir of the First Parish Church in Gorham, Maine, and, at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the town in 1886, she took a prominent part in the musical part of the program. After moving to Peabody, she sang in the chorus of the "Salem Oratorio Society" for sev- eral seasons and in the musical organiza- tions in Peabody.
She joined the Congregational Church in Gorham in early life, and transferred her membership to the South Congregational Church in Peabody after moving there. She was a member of the King's Daughters in which she took deep interest ; was a mem- ber of the Peabody Benevolent Society, one of the oldest charitable organizations in Essex County ; a member of the Essex Con- gregational Club ; a member of the Peabody Woman's Club, and served as director and chairman of committees at different times ;
a member of the "Order of the Eastern Star"; a member of the "General Israel Put- nam Chapter of the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution" of Danvers; and a mem- ber of the Gorham High School Alumni Association of Boston.
During the school and college life of her children, she was ever ready to enter heart- ily into all their undergraduate activities, whether they were social affairs or those of an educational nature. She was of gra- cious and unassuming manners ; possessed a sunny and vivacious disposition ; was cor- dial and hospitable to all and took a deep interest in all things which affected the wel- fare of her friends.
Mrs. Woodman died at her home, No. 5 King Street, Peabody, February 23, 1928, after an illness of several weeks duration and was buried in the family lot in Gor- ham, Maine.
The School Board of Peabody paid a sym- pathetic tribute of respect to her memory in the following "Resolutions in Memo- riam":
The members of the School Board of the City of Peabody have learned with deep sorrow of the pass- ing of Alice Leona Woodman beloved wife of our esteemed High School Principal, Willard W. Wood- man. The School Board resolves that in the passing of Mrs. Woodman, the School Board has lost a de- voted friend, the Home a Christian Mother, the Church a zealous worker, and the Community a vir- tuous citizen.
ALBERT ROBINSON, Superintendent. ROBERT A. BAKEMAN, Mayor.
SCHOOL BOARD
PATRICK M. CAHILL RICHARD E. LYNCH
ROBERT F. JOHNSON . JOHN J. MCCARTHY
JOHN T. KEENAN LOUIS P. P. OSBORNE
Mrs. Woodman's paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of Plymouth County, several of them being "Mayflower" passengers and prominent in the early his- tory of Cape Cod towns. Her progenitors
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in the maternal line were early settlers of the town of Rowley in Essex County, Mas- sachusetts, her immigrant ancestor, Wil- liam Hobson, being the son of Henry and Jane (Carr) Hobson of Yorkshire, England.
Willard Woodbury and Alice Leona (Paine) Woodman were the parents of three children: Willard Paine, Karl Ayer, and Alice Lucette.
WILLARD PAINE WOODMAN.
Willard Paine Woodman was born De- cember 3, 1893, in Gorham, Maine. He ob- tained his elementary education in the pub- lic schools of Peabody, Massachusetts ; grad- uated from Peabody High School in the class of 1912, and entered Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, in the fall of the same year. He joined the Alpha Delta Phi Fra- ternity and lived in the chapter house, hav- ing as his room mate John W. Robie, grand- son of Governor Frederick Robie. He was a member of the College Glee Club for four years, and was leader of the club his senior year; was a member of the college chapel choir and of "Masque and Gown," his sopho- more, junior and senior years; took part in the commencement play, sophomore and senior years ; was assistant manager of the Bowdoin Tennis Association his sophomore year, and manager his junior year ; treasurer of the Maine Intercollegiate Tennis Asso- ciation, junior year ; member of the 'varsity tennis team, senior year; member of class baseball and football teams, freshman and sophomore years ; member of the "Board of Managers," junior year. He received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1916, and during the fall was associated with the firm of Ginn & Company, book publishers, Bos- ton, Massachusetts. In January, 1917, he was elected a teacher in the high school at Keene, New Hampshire. At the close of school in June, he enlisted in the Regular
Army at Portland, Maine, as a private in the 2d Company, Coast Artillery Corps, and was stationed at Fort Williams, Portland, Maine. He soon was transferred to Camp Dix, New Jersey, where he was commis- sioned on the 26th of October, second lieu- tenant Coast Artillery Corps and was re- assigned to Fort Williams. On December I he was sent to Fort Monroe, Virginia, and received the commission of first lieutenant, Coast Artillery Corps, on April 2, 1918.
From April 15 to June 21, 1918, he was stationed at Fort Standish, Boston, Massa- chusetts, then served until October 31 as unit supply officer and adjutant of the Pro- visional Battalion, Coast Artillery Corps Troops, Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts. He was then assigned as post quartermaster at Fort Standish, where he remained until November 7. He received his orders for over- seas duty while commanding Battery A, 28th Artillery, Fort Strong, Boston Harbor, but the orders were cancelled on account of the Armistice. From November 2, 1918, until March 31, 1919, he was post quarter- master and commanding officer at Fort Standish, and on April I returned to Fort Strong as staff officer. On August 15, 1919, his resignation was accepted and he was honorably discharged.
While stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia, he married Eleanor Ellen Williamson, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Harriet M. (York) Williamson of Portland, Maine. Dr. Wil- liamson, his wife, and his mother, who were wintering in Florida at the time, attended the wedding, which was solemnized March 29, 1918, in Washington, District of Co- lumbia.
Eleanor Ellen Williamson was born Au- gust 30, 1894, in Gorham, New Hampshire. When she was six years old, her parents moved to Portland, Maine. After complet- ing the course of studies required by the
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public schools of Portland, she continued her education at Fairmount Seminary, Wash- ington, District of Columbia, and at Mrs. Coates' School in New York City.
Her father, Dr. Walter Darwin William- son, was one of the leading physicians and surgeons in the city of Portland, and was a prominent member of the State and county medical societies of the State of Maine and of the American Medical Society. He was born, March II, 1863, in Milan, New Hamp- shire, the eldest son of Stephen Edward and Ellen Eleanor (Ellingwood) Williamson. He obtained his early education in the pub- lic schools of Milan and at Bridgton Acad- emy, North Bridgton, Maine. In 1885 he entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of Vermont and was graduated in the class of 1888. After a post-graduate course at the Medical School of New York City, he returned to Milan and followed his profession there for six months, when he re- moved to Gorham, New Hampshire, and continued in the practice of his profession there for several years. On February 15, 1890, he married at Milan, New Hampshire, Harriet Maria York, the daughter of Dennis Bawn and Ellen Elizabeth (Hamlin) York, of Milan, New Hampshire. In 1900 he re- moved with his family to Portland, Maine, where he built up a lucrative practice and continued to reside there till his sudden death on June 2, 1918.
After his discharge from the army, Mr. Woodman was employed as salesman and assistant service manager by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Boston, 1919 to 1921, during which time he attended the Goodyear Tire Repair School at Akron, Ohio, and lectured to schools, Rotary clubs, and chambers of commerce on the topic of "Tire Conservation." He was employed, 1921 to 1928, by Diehl and Putnam, Ford
agents, at Wellesley, Massachusetts. Since 1928 he has been employed by the Kendall Manufacturing Company, and at the pres- ent time is the eastern territory branch tex- tile representative of the Kendall Mills Divi- sion of that company. His headquarters are at Utica, New York, the general office of the company being at Walpole, Massachusetts.
Since his marriage he has made several changes in his place of residence. He lived in officers' quarters at Fort Strong, Massa- chusetts, 1918-19; in Boston, Massachusetts, 1919 to 1921; Newton Centre, Massachu- setts, 1921 to 1924; Waban, Massachusetts, 1924 to September, 1928; Utica, New York, since September, 1928. While residing in Massachusetts, he was a member of the Bev- erly (Massachusetts) Men's Singing Club, 1916-17; a member of the Highland Glee Club, Newton Centre, Massachusetts, 192I to 1924 ; a member of the Longwood Cricket Club, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1923; a member of the Newton Centre Squash Ten- nis Club, 1921 to 1928; first lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Coast Artillery Corps, 1921 to 1930. He is a member of the Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Keene, New Hampshire, and a member of the society, "The Alden Kindred of America."
In 1933 Mr. Woodman and his wife trans- ferred their church membership to the First Presbyterian Church in Utica, New York, and their daughter, Harriet Paine Wood- man, joined the church at the same time with them. She was born in Boston, Massa- chusetts, March 24, 1921. Until she was three years old, she had three great-grand- mothers living: her great-grandmother Williamson, great-grandmother Paine, and great-grandmother Woodman ; and until she was ten years old, her great-grandmother Williamson and great-grandmother Wood- man were living.
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KARL AYER WOODMAN.
Karl Ayer Woodman, the second son of Willard W. and Alice Leona (Paine) Woodman, was born in Gorham, Maine, February 15, 1896. He attended the public schools of Peabody, Massachusetts, and graduated from the high school June 25, 1914. While the exercises of graduation were being conducted that evening in the City Hall, the great "Salem Fire" was rag- ing near by, and the windows of the hall were lurid with the flames and smoke which seemed to fill the whole eastern sky. Dur- ing his high school course, he played on the baseball team, and was elected president of his class each year. In the fall of 1914, he entered Bowdoin College. He was a mem- ber of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity; a member of "The Friars," an honorary junior society ; a member of the 'varsity baseball team, his freshman, sophomore and junior years ; a member of the B B B Club, com- posed of men who wore the Bowdoin "B"; a member of his class baseball team, his freshman and sophomore years; a member of his class football team, freshman year; a member of the college Glee Club, his sopho- more and junior years; a member of the chapel choir, junior year.
He had the honor of being one of the five men, selected by his class for "Presenta- tions," at the annual Ivy Day exercises in 1917. His brother, Willard, had been hon- ored thus in June, 1915, as had his father before him on his Ivy Day in 1887. In June, 1917, he was chosen a member of the student council, which is the official executive and advisory body of the Associated Students of Bowdoin College.
Soon after the United States entered the World War, Captain Sherman A. White, of the Regular Army, was detailed to Bowdoin College as instructor in military science and tactics, and a student battalion was organ-
ized. Karl Ayer Woodman was appointed by Captain White sergeant in Company D of the Senior Division Reserve Officers' Training Corps of Bowdoin College, to rank as such from the 18th day of April, 1917. On June 4 he enlisted at Brunswick, Maine, in the 10th Company, Maine Coast Artillery Corps; July 16th Captain White sent the following letter to Washington from the Mobilization Camp, Syracuse, New York: "To the Adjutant General of the United States Army, Washington, District of Co- lumbia. Mr. Karl A. Woodman is well known by me, having been a member of the Bowdoin College Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He is a man of high character, abil- ity and zeal, and has the necessary qualifica- tions for a commission in the United States Army." Signed, S. A. White, Captain of Infantry, United States Army.
He was appointed, July 21, 1917, corporal in the Ioth Company of the Maine Coast Artillery by Colonel William O. Peterson ; on the 25th of July he was mustered into Federal service and was stationed at Fort Preble, Portland, Maine. During the latter part of August, men from the Coast Artil- lery of Maine and Rhode Island were trans- ferred to the IOIst Regiment of United States Engineers, stationed at Camp Went- worth in Boston, in order to bring the regi- ment up to its full strength. Corporal Wood- man was among those transferred, the 25th of August, from the Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Preble, Maine; he was appointed corporal in Company A of the 10Ist Engi- neers and was stationed at Camp Went- worth until the regiment left for France four weeks later.
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