USA > Maine > Oxford County > Buckfield > A history of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, from the earliest explorations to the close of the year 1900 > Part 21
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Noah Prince
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
HON. CHARLES 11. PRINCE.
Charles Henry Prince, second son of Noah and Sarah ( Far- rar) Prince, was born on the Prince farm in Buckfield, Maine, May 9, 1837. He was educated in the common and high schools of Buckfield where, in 1861, he was appointed postmaster, and in 1862 raised Co. C. of the 23d Regiment, Maine Volunteers, of which he was captain during its term of service.
In 1866 Mr. Prince removed to Augusta, Ga., where he was cashier of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Bank, and Superin- tendent of schools under the A. M. A. He was a member of the Georgia Constitutional Convention and also of the Forty-first Con- gress. He was a delegate to the national convention in Philadel- phia which nominated Grant for his second term; to Chicago where Hayes was nominated, and to Cincinnati where Garfield re- ceived the nomination.
Mr. Prince was Postmaster at Augusta for twelve years and of him Alex. H. Stephens wrote to President Grant: "Capt. Prince, though a very decided and strong Republican, is a per- sonal friend of mine and as he has made the best Postmaster that Augusta has had in twenty years, my suggestion is that he be re- tained. I think the people of Augusta would prefer him to any other man of his party."
The Springfield Republican said of him: "He is that anom- aly, a reputable carpet-bagger, who has illustrated the truth that an honest northerner can make a place for himself in any southern state."
Augusta papers said on his retirement: "Capt. Prince has been an able and courteous officer and has the whole city for his friends." "Our people will regret to part with him."
Mr. Prince returned to Buckfield in 1882 where he engaged in trade and was for some years superintendent of schools. He was a member of the Maine Senate of 1901 and, at the time of his death, April 3, 1912, was a brush manufacturer.
Mr. and Mrs. Prince were staunch members of the Baptist church.
He married Jan. 30, 1859. Eunice A., daughter of Lorenzo and Lucy ( Harris) Atwood, born Oct. 5, 1838 at Avon, Mass. Her parents moved to Buckfield in 1842. They had four chil-
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dren: First, Ellsworth, named for Col. E. E. Ellsworth of the New York Zouaves in the Civil War, whose tragic death occurred at Alexandria, Va., while tearing down a Confederate flag, born March 30, 1861, died May 3. 1866; second, Henry Charles, born Feb. 26. 1866, married Mellie J. Keene ; third, Josephine Louise, born Sept. 17, 1868, married Albert Foster Drummond of Water- ville, Sept. 25, 1889. Children: Louise, born Oct. 25, 1891 : Prince A., born Jan. 23, 1893 ; Katherine S., born Sept. 26, 1894: Clark, born April 5, 1900; fourth, Lucy Atwood, born Aug. I. 1874, married at Waterville, Oct. 18, 1897, John E. Shearman of Portland, born at Keswich, England, April 18, 1871, children : Evan John, born April 2, 1900 and Josephine, born Mar. 12, 1903.
Augusta Marion Prince, daughter of Noah and Sarah Farrar Prince, was born in Buckfield, Nov. 23, 1831. She attended the schools in Buckfield and afterward entered the Oxford Normal Institute at South Paris where she took high rank. After teach- ing in various places, she was married in 1852 to A. Hamilton Thayer of Paris, where they settled, where her only child, Charles H. Thayer was born and where her husband died in 1868. In 1873 she married Thomas E. Stearns and moved to Snow's Falls in Paris.
In 1881 the family removed to Cambridge, Mass., where, zealously espousing the movement for no license, at that time the paramount issue in Cambridge, she at once became a co-worker with the temperance women of the city. In 1883 she was presi- dent of the Cambridge W. C. T. U. and in 1886 the Union pre- sented a petition to Mayor Russell urging her appointment as the first police matron of Cambridge, which position she accepted only after a personal appeal from the mayor. How satisfactorily she performed this service was effectively expressed by Capt. Murray of Station I in a conversation with the present mayor regarding the appointment of her successor.
"Do the best you can, you cannot expect to find another Mrs. Stearns."
Beloved and esteemed by all who ever knew her, Mrs. Stearns died suddenly at her home in Cambridge on March 15, 1904.
Capt. Charles H. Prince
Henry C. Prince
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
HENRY CHARLES PRINCE.
Henry Charles Prince, son of Charles H. and Eunice Atwood Prince, was born in Buckfield, February 26, 1866. He com- menced his education in the common schools of Buckfield and later attended Hebron Academy and Coburn Classical Institute and en- tered Colby College but did not complete the course, returning to Buckfield after one year to enter into business with his father. In the early spring of 1887 he went west being located in Kansas and the Indian Territory for four years. In the spring of 1891 he re- turned to Waterville and in company with E. T. Wyman bought the Waterville Mail. In 1896 the firm started the Waterville Eve- ning Mail, the first daily paper to be published in that city. A little later he bought out his partner and ran the paper success- fully until 1905 when he sold the business and purchased the Bul- letin plant in Madison, which he still continues to run.
In 1910 Mr. Prince was appointed State Librarian, serving until February, 1912, when he was removed to make room for one of the same political faith as the governor. In January, 1913, there coming another change of administration, Mr. Prince was re-appointed, serving until February, 1915.
Mr. Prince has always taken active interest in city and town affairs, serving in the city government three years while in Water- ville, for two years being president of the Common Council, He also served on the Board of Registration and was a member of a committee which had charge of the construction of one of the large grammar school buildings there. In Madison he also served on a building committee for a new school building and has taken an active part in the meetings of the Board of Trade.
Mr. Prince joined the order of Knights when in Kansas in 1889, being transferred to Havelock Lodge, Waterville, in 1892. He has held nearly all of the offices in the lodge and also in the Uniform Rank. He is also a member of the Sons of Veterans and the Modern Woodmen. He joined the society of the De- scendants of the Mayflower in 1913, tracing back the Prince ancestry to Elder William Brewster.
In 1893 Mr. Prince married Miss Mellie J. Keene of West Poland, and they have two children, Ellsworth, born July 20, 1895, and Ilelen, born June 3, 1900.
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ALBION W. SMALL, PH.D., LL.D.
Albion Woodbury Small, the son of Rev. Albion K. P. and Thankful ( Woodbury) Small was born in Buckfield, Maine, May IIth, 1854. When he was four years of age his parents moved to Bangor, Maine ; he was in the public schools of that city until he was fourteen, when his parents moved to Portland, and during the next four years he was in the high school of that city. The following years he was a student at Colby University, Waterville, Maine. Then he completed the three years' course in Newton Theological Institution in 1879, and during the years 1879-81 he was a student in the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig, using the vacations for travel over large portions of Europe, and follow- ing his university study with a period of investigation in the Brit- ish Museum. In June of 1881 he was married in Berlin to Frau- lein Valeria Von Massow of an old Prussian land-owning family. Before returning from Germany, on the recommendation of Pres- ident Robbins, Mr. Small was elected Professor of History and Political Economy at Colby University, and began his work in September, 1881. In 1888 he was granted leave of absence for one year, spending the time at Johns Hopkins University and re- ceiving the degere of Doctor of Philosophy in 1889. During the following summer, on the nomination of President Pepper, Mr. Small was elected as the latter's successor to the presidency of Colby University. In 1892 he was invited by President Harper to the headship of the department of Sociology in the University to be founded at Chicago. He accepted the position, beginning his work in the following October. Since that time he has been engaged as an instructor of graduate students, as a writer upon the subject of Sociology, and as editor of the American Journal of Sociology, which is now entering upon its twenty-first annual volume. His chief books are: "General Sociology," published 111 1905: "Adam Smith and Modern Sociology," 1907; "The Cameralists," 1909; "The Meaning of Social Science," 1910, and "Between Eras," 1913. The degree of LL.D., was conferred upon him by Colby College in 1900. His only child is Mrs. Hayden B. Harris, whose husband is a member of the firm of Harris, Forbes & Company, New York City.
Albion W. Small, LL.D.
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SEBA SMITII.
Next to Governor Long, the most famous son of Buckfield is Seba Smith, the younger, who was born here, according to the town records, Sept. 14. 1792. His father's family moved to Buckfield from Turner shortly after the first United States census was taken in 1790. The births of four children are recorded here -the last in 1796. The family removed to Bridgton probably at the same time as did Samuel Andrews who was a connection by marriage. That was in 1799. The census of 1800 shows that both families resided in Bridgton at that time. We have been thus particular as to the poet's birth, because it is said that his gravestone states that he was born in 1802. This may be an error in copying or a typographical error, but in any event is not cor- rect. Young Smith before he left Buckfield showed the bent of his mind toward literature. It is said that his uncle. Lieut. Jasiel Smith and his grandmother, Anna Crossman Smith, had great influence in determining his future literary eminence. He worked his way through the high and preparatory schools and also through college and graduated at Bowdoin in 1818 and settled in Portland, where he went into journalism. In 1823 he married Miss Elizabeth Oakes Prince of Yarmouth, a lady of literary tastes and accomplishments, who became more famous as a writer of poetry, one would think from reading the encyclopedias than her husband. In 1829 Seba Smith began the publication of the Portland Courier, the first daily newspaper in Maine. Into its columns one by one, almost unnoticed, at first, appeared many lit- tle gems of poetry, and some of these were considered of sufficient literary merit to be reproduced in the school readers of a later period. One was a scene the poet witnessed while a boy in his native town. The burving ground connected with it is situated on the Paris Hill road in the westerly part of the town. His poetical productions were overshadowed by the "Major Jack Downing Letters" that began to appear in the Courier, and which caught the popular fancy so that the author soon found himself famous. Mr. Smith was the originator of that class of literature, later so well represented by P. V. Naseby, Josh Billings and Artemus Ward. The latter particularly took Smith as his model. Smith removed to New York where he thought to have a wider scope for his abilities. His "Way Down East" though widely read, did not equal the interest aroused by the Downing Letters. He wrote be-
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sides these, which appeared in book form, other works. His later career did not attract so much notice in the literary world as his earlier course had done. He died in 1868 and is buried near the little village of Patchogue, Long Island. A dozen years ago it was called by a New York newspaper reporter, "an abandoned graveyard of the long ago." On a storm-worn marble slab, about four feet high and three feet wide, was the following inscription :
"Sacred to the memory of SEBA SMITH, Poet and Scholar. Born in Maine, September 14th, 1802. Died in Patchogue, July 28th, 1868. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1818, and was the original "Major Jack Downing." Also author of "Way Down East," of "New Elements of Geometry." "Powhatan," and many other works. He was well beloved !"
HON. FRANCIS O. J. SMITHI.
Francis Ormond Jonathan Smith was born at Brentwood, N. H., Nov. 23, 1806. He fitted for college at Exeter and was pre- pared to enter a junior class but instead of taking a college course he began the study of the law. His parents having removed to Portland, Me., he completed his legal studies in the office of Fes- senden & Deblois. The senior member of the firm was Gen. Samuel Fessenden, one of the very best lawyers in the state at that period. He afterwards became the leader of the "Liberty Party" and for several years was its candidate for governor. Smith was admitted to the Cumberland Bar in March, 1826, before he was twenty years old and at once took a leading position among the lawyers of the state and acquired an extensive practice.
He became intensely interested in politics and espousing the cause of Gen. Andrew Jackson for President in 1828 he contrib- uted many pungent articles to the press under the nom de plume of "Leonidas." These writings attracted wide attention. As in
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1824 Maine voted in 1828 for John Quincy Adams for President, but the State then voting by districts for electors. the Cumber- land district was carried for Jackson, principally through Smith's efforts. Besides his attacks upon the Adams administration through the newspapers, Smith had taken the stump, where he showed himself well adapted for such political work.
General Jackson was elected, though John Quincy Adams' ad- ministration had been most successful financially and a large sur- plus was accumulated in the United States Treasury which was afterwards distributed to the different towns throughout the country. John Quincy Adams was our most learned President.
In 1831 Smith was elected to the lower house of the Maine Legislature and the next year to the Senate. The Presidential election of 1832 aroused all Smith's energies. He assisted in the organization of Jackson clabs, addressed meetings and was a pro- lific writer for the "Eastern Argus" which was recognized as the leading Jackson organ in New England and was called by the national leaders of the party, "The Star in the East," which after the election when Maine had first been carried by the Jackson party was applied to the state. Smith was rewarded by an elec- tion to Congress, then in his 26th year. He was twice re-elected. Before he had attained such prominence in politics, he had pub- lished several works and a book against lotteries. This last pub- lication raised a storm of denunciation from the promoters of such schemes.
While in Congress he was the Washington correspondent of the Argus and at different times was connected with several newspapers, two of which he started. Smith was chairman of the commerce committee of the National House and a resolve was submitted to it for an appropriation for a telegraph line be- tween the capital and the Northern cities-the first project of the kind in the world. Unfortunately, Smith became interested financially in establishing such lines in the country which forced him to give up his political career and tied up his resources and involved him in litigation, thus preventing his carrying out other projects and particularly in regard to the Buckfield Branch Rail- road, elsewhere fully treated. The suit he had brought in the telegraph matter was not determined till after his death when a judgment was rendered for his estate for nearly half a million of dollars. With such a sum at his command when he took up his
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residence in the fifties in Buckfield, no such lamentable conse- quences, with the financial distress and ruin to so many of its citi- zens would have occurred. In 1840, Smith re-entered politics as an opponent of his party's policy and the astonishing result of Maine going that year "hell-bent" for Governor Edward Kent, and "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too" has been attributed largely to Smith's efforts and influence. The early death of President Har- rison and the defection of Tyler to the party's political enemies, prevented Smith being appointed to a high position. In 1848 Smith again came into public notice as a champion of Gen. Zachary Taylor for President who was elected but Maine did not as in 1840 follow Smith's lead-the Liberty party polling a suf- ficient number of votes to prevent it. For several years after this, Smith appears to have taken no part in politics, but when the country began to ring with the shouts of "Freemen, Fremont and Dayton" in 1856, he espoused the popular cause which was defeated by the vote of Pennsylvania being given ( some said by unfair means) to James Buchanan. When the Rebellion broke out in 1861, Smith appears to have had little faith in the govern- ment being able to preserve the Union by force of arms and hav- ing been elected to the Legislature from Portland where he had removed from Buckfield, he advocated in a speech of great elo- quence, that in the event of the Southern States succeeding, Maine should be annexed to Canada. He had purchased the Portland Advertiser and as its editor he took position against the vigorous prosecution of the war and in favor of settling the dif- ferences between the North and South by compromise. It was the great mistake of Smith's political life. The loyal business men of Portland resented his course and that of Hon. George Evans, a former Whig United States Senator often called the Daniel Webster of Maine, who entertained views similar to Smith's, and the Portland Press was established. Both these great men disappeared from public view and thousands of people to-day in our state scarcely know anything about them.
As a lawyer in the conduct of cases in court, Smith had few equals and no superior. As a writer he was clear in expression, energetic and forcible and possessed just the style to catch and hold the popular interest, especially in a great crisis, when the passions of men are excited by real or fancied wrongs. As a speaker, he had a grace of manner, a charm of delivery, an easy
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Benj. Spaulding, Jr.
Ben Spaulding
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
flow of language and a clear and melodious voice. He could move his bearers to denunciation or pity ; to laughter or to tears. Before prejudice had destroyed confidence in him, there was no man in Maine who could sway an assembly with equal force.
His public career is an interesting study for old and young. In some respects he reminds one of AAaron Burr, but unlike Burr he would always lead in whatever matter he was engaged and could bear no rivalry. He was the truest of friends, but the sternest of mortal foes. Of charming manners and of extensive general information he was always a social favorite. Probably as an all-round man, writer, speaker. lawyer, business man and politician, he had not his equal in his day in New England. On his 21st birthday, Mr. Smith had married Miss Julia L. Bartlett of Kingston, N. H., an accomplished and beautiful lady of fine literary attainments. People of culture found in their " Forest Home" in Deering, near Portland, an attractive resort. She died in 1853 and he afterwards married Miss Ellen Groton of Bath. He died Oct. 14, 1876 from heart disease and was buried in the Eastern cemetery, Portland. He had caused to be cut on a city missionary's monument the following which was undoubtedly his ideas of man's duty to man :
"Peace on Earth to Men of Good Will."
BENJAMIN SPAULDING, JR.
Benjamin Spaulding, Jr., was born in Chelmsford, Mass., August 15. 1768. He moved with his father's family to Buck- town when ten years old. His first wife was Myrtilla Robinson of Sumner, daughter of Increase and Rebecca Robinson. They were married Oct. 15, 1790 and settled in the village on the road leading to Paris Hill. The house they lived in is said to be the first frame house in the place. He was much in public life. For many years he held the offices of treasurer and one of the board of selectmen and assessors of the town. He was unanimously elected representative to the General Court in 1812 and was re- elected in 1813, 1814, 1815 and 1816. He was also elected repre- sentative to the Legislature of Maine in 1821, 1823, 1824 and 1827. He served a term as county commissioner. His wife died Oct. 1, 1816 and he married second, Mrs. Mary (Sturtevant ) Bumpus, Nov. 6, 1817. He had nine children, seven by his first
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wife and two by his last. Three of his children were much in town office and two of them were town clerks. He died Feb. 18, 1858 in the 90th year of his age.
The Gospel Banner printed an obituary notice from which the following is taken: "No man ever lived in the town more re- spected, venerated and beloved and none ever died more generally lamented than Father Spaulding. He was prudent and temperate in all his habits. He was honest in principle, pure in mind and motive and of strict integrity. He possessed a mild and amiable disposition and was always seeking to make those around him happy. His habitual uprightness, honesty, goodness and ability secured him the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens, who many times raised him to the highest honors and offices within their gift: These offices he filled with honor to himself and with credit and usefulness to his constituents."
BENJAMIN SPAULDING.
Benjamin Spaulding, oldest son of Sidney and Eliza G. (At- wood ) Spaulding, was born in Buckfield, June 15, 1836. He married Mary Barrett of Sumner. Mr. Spaulding did not seek his fortune away from his native town. He early began business as a trader and has been very successful. For many years he was in company with Dea. Win. H. Atwood and since the latter has deceased, the business has been carried on by Mr. Spaulding and his two promising sons, Benjamin, Jr., and Gilbert Barrett Spaulding. Mr. Spaulding has held several town offices. His integrity is proverbial. No man now living in Buckfield is more highly respected and honored.
WILLIAM C. SPAULDING.
William Cole Spaulding, third son and fourth child of Sidney and Eliza G. (Atwood) Spaulding, was born in Buckfield, June 18, 1841. He was brought up on his father's farm, but on reach- ing his majority he went to Fort Fairfield in Aroostook County and engaged in the hardware business. In July, 1865, he mar- ried Lovina Jane, daughter of John Sterling, Esq., of Halifax, Nova Scotia and two years after they settled in Caribou where he has since resided. Mrs. Spaulding was born in Halifax, April
William C. Spaulding
Cyrus C. Spaulding
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
14, 1842, and died, March 31, 1904. William C. Spaulding is one of the solid men of Eastern Maine. He has followed the same business in which he first started and has been eminently success- ful. Of high character and sterling worth, he is an honor to the town which gave him birth and the community in which he lives.
He died quite suddenly at his home July 6, 1915, deeply lamented by all who knew him. No better man ever lived.
He had two children, John Sterling, born July 21, 1869. He married Harriet Louise Burpee of Fort Fairfield. He died at Caribou, Dec. 15, 1896. His other son, Atwood W. Spaulding, was born in Caribou, Jan. 6, 1873. He graduated at Columbia Institute, N. Y., in 1892 and on his return home, engaged in the hardware business with his father. In 1898 during the Spanish war he was military secretary of Governor Powers, which posi- tion he filled in a very able manner. He is a member of all the principal secret societies of his section and is very popular with all classes.
COL. ALBERT D. WHITE.
Albert D. White, son of Josiah and Rachel ( Robbins) White of Dedham, Mass., was born in Freedom, Me., July 17, 1808. He came to Buckfield from Winthrop and engaged in the tanning business. He married April 2, 1837, Miss Lydia B. Harlow of this town. Mr. White was an energetic and a resolute man and being naturally fitted to command usually succeeded in accom- plishing whatever he undertook. He rose from private in the militia to the rank of colonel. As an officer of the law, he had scarcely his equal in the county. In politics, Col. White was a Whig and later a Republican and upon him, Zadoc Long, the leader of the Whigs in this section of the state in the thirties and forties largely depended to carry out the party projects and keep the party machinery in good working order. When the Whig overturn in Maine occurred in 1840 by the election of Hon. Ed- ward Kent for governor, Col. White was rewarded by the ap- pointment of sheriff of the county. His administration was vig- orus and effective, especially in the enforcement of the liquor laws. Fearless in the discharge of duty, he won a reputation for faithful service that lasted him through life. The defeat of Henry Clay for President in 1844 was a severe blow to Col. White and to Zadoc Long.
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