USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > A history of Peaks Island and its people : also a short history of House Island, Portland, Maine > Part 3
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Their children were: John, born in 1763, who married, in 1789, Lucy Snow, daughter of David Snow, of Orleans, Mass., a soldier of the Revolution. Elizabeth, born in 1766, married Capt. James Sawyer, and died in 1799, aged 33 years. Sarah, married, in 1789, John Fabyan, who was her cousin, born in 1766. He was the son of Joshua, Esq., and Sarah (Brackett) Fabyan, of Scarborough. John Fabyan lived at Scarborough, had fourteen children, and died at Leeds, Me., about 1833, aged 67 years. Patience, born in 1775, and died, unmarried, March 10, 1794, aged 19 years. Mary, born in 1776, and married, in 1796, Joseph Reed. He was an intelligent and respected citizen. They were the grand- parents of Hon. Thomas B. Reed.
The children of John and Lucy (Snow) Brackett were: Jane H., born in 1791, married Capt. Charles Bradbury, in 1825, had no chil- dren, and died in 1826. John, Jr., born in 1794, and married, in 1817, Mary A. Hadlock. Mary S., born in 1796, married, in 1816, George D. Welch, and, in 1848, Ira Hilborn,
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of Minot. Thomas, born in 1799, who died in 1819. David, born in 1800, who died in 1804. Sally C., born in 1802, who married Francis B. Smith, in 1826, but had no chil- dren. Lucinda S., born in 1804, who married Benjamin Welch in 1825. Almira, born in 1807, and died in 1819. James S., born in 1810, who married Ann Margaret Jones, sister of William T. Jones, in 1838, and had but one child, James W. Brackett. James S. Brackett died in 1839, aged 29 years, and his wife died in 1850, aged 37 years. The youngest child was Henry M., born in 1812, who married Sarah M. Hadlock, in 1833, but had no chil- dren. John Brackett died Dec. 1, 1835, aged 72 years, and his wife, Lucy, died June 15, 1842, aged 75 years.
The children of Joseph and Mary (Brack- ett) Reed were: Mary B., born in 1800, who married Walter S. Hatch in 1821. Elizabeth S., born in 1802, who married, in 1823, Nath- aniel S. Millett. Thomas B., born in 1803, who married, in 1838, Matilda P. Mitchell, and died in 1887, aged 83 years. Joseph, Jr., born in 1806. Jane, born in 1807. Smith, born in 1809. William, born in 1811. Daniel, born in 1813. Lydia W., born in 1814, who married Abraham T. Sterling, in 1841, and
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Emily P., born in 1819, who married, in 1841, William S. Trefethen. Joseph Reed died April 1, 1852, aged 82 years, and his wife, Mary, died Nov. 13, 1860, aged 84 years.
The children of John, Jr., and Mary A. (Hadlock) Brackett were: Seth H., born in 1818, married, in 1843, Elizabeth A. L. Libby, and died in 1877. Sarah H., born in 1821, married Joseph Trefethen, in 1838, and died in 1868. He was a nephew of Henry Tre- fethen, of House Island, and died in 1884, aged 69 years. John Thomas, born in 1823, married Eunice A. Randall, in 1846, and died in 1894. Samuel H., born in 1825, married Sophia Cressey, in 1854, and died in 1875. William S., born in 1827, married Adelia P. Harmon, in 1850, and died in 1886. Elijah E. H., born in 1830, and died in 1837. Henry E. H., born in 1832, married, first, in 1856, Julia E. Ilsley, and second, in 1858, Margie Clif- ford. James G. H., born in 1835, and died the same year. Albert, born in 1836, and died in 1840. Gilman L., born in 1840, married, in 1862, Mary Ann Libby, and lives on the island. Mary A., born in 1842, and died in 1847. Epps G. H., born in 1846, married, in 1867, Mary E. Rice, of Cranberry Isles.
John Brackett, Jr., lived at one time on
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Island Avenue, near the Parsons' land, west side of the island. The cellar of his house can still be seen on the east side of the Ave- nue. He, with Henry Parsons, built the stone wall that is now near the cellar. John Brackett, Jr., died May 21, 1869, aged 75 years, and his wife, Mary A., died May 18, 1880, aged 79 years. The heirs of John Brackett, Jr., own about forty-five acres of land on the island between the Welch and Hilborn land and the Trott line in front of the Bay View House, across the island, from shore to shore.
George D. and Mary S. (Brackett) Welch had one daughter, Almira B., who married William T. Jones for his first wife. George D. Welch died Oct. 26, 1828, aged 33 years, and his wife, Mary S., died Sept. 24, 1871, aged 75 years.
Benjamin and Lucinda S. (Brackett) Welch had five children: Benjamin, Jr., born in 1827. Lucy Elizabeth, born in 1828, and married James J. Knowlton in 1849. Susan Jane, who died young. Mary Adeline, born in 1831, who married, in 1852, Charles S. Adams, who died in 1880, aged 54 years. George Deake Welch, born in 1833. Lucinda S. (Brackett) Welch died in 1837, aged 33
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years. Mrs. Adams lives at Peaks Island. Her two brothers and sister live in California.
Henry M. Brackett died Nov. 1, 1871, aged 59 years. His widow, Sarah M., who was a niece of John Brackett, Jr.'s, wife, married, in 1877, Dr. James Torrington, and they reside in the house on the south side of the island. She came from the Cranberry Isles and was the daughter of Samuel, Jr., and Eunice (Richardson) Hadlock, of Bass Harbor. She is the oldest resident of the island, and was born in 1815. The house in which she lives was built by Henry M. Brackett, about 1836, and the house at the south of it was built by Seth H. Brackett, his brother, about 1853, which was the first boarding-house built on the island. There was formerly a wharf and landing near these houses, to which the steamers ran regular trips, but it has fallen to decay and is now gone.
Mrs. Mary A. (Welch) Adams is the only one of the Welch and Hilborn heirs living on their land here. Their possessions amount to about eighty-five acres and run from shore to shore, but not in a straight line. It extends from the Union House to Greenwood Garden and is a public playground for all. The cot- tage lots are all leased. The house in which
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she lives was formerly called the "children's house," because their mother died when they were young and left them the house. They were always spoken of as "the children." The house has been rebuilt, but originally it was a house that was taken down at Cape Eliz- abeth and brought to the island about 1829.
The dwelling-house of James W. Brackett, in Greenwood Garden, was built by his mother, Mrs. James S. Brackett, in 1847. He owns the Garden and the land back, holding its width, to the back shore, amounting to over forty acres. Mrs. Torrington owns all the land, excepting three lots which she has sold, beyond James W. Brackett's to the southeast shore. She has about ninety acres of land in her lot.
The descendants of Thomas Brackett, of Peaks Island, own, altogether, about two hun- dred and sixty acres of land on the island that they and their ancestors have owned for two hundred and sixty years. It came from George Cleeve, the first settler of Portland, and is a record of constancy of which the family have a right to feel proud.
"O land that once my fathers trod, O sires I cannot see! May I your future make as dear As you the past to me! "
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TROTT.
The Trott family were among the earliest to make Peaks Island their home. Benjamin Trott and his wife, Thankful Brackett, prob- ablv moved there in 1762.
John Trott, the first of the name at Old Falmouth, was probably the son of Samuel and Marcia Trott, and grandson of Thomas Trott, of Dorchester, Mass. He was born Dec. 20, 1700, and was there before 1725. His
name was Lydia. He had thirty acres of land granted him, on the eastern side of Long Creek in 1727, three acres more the next year, and in 1729 ten acres additional. Their children were: Abigail, born in 1725, and married, in 1743, William Pitman. Benjamin, born in 1726, who died young. John, born in 1727. Lydia, born in 1729, and married, in 1757, Solomon Avery. Thomas, born in 1731, and married, in 1759, Sarah Knapp. Deliver- ance, born in 1733, who died young. Mary, born in 1735. Benjamin, born in 1737, who married, in 1761, Thankful Brackett and went to Peaks Island, and Deliverance, born in 1738, who married, in 1755, Mathew Tobin.
Thomas Trott was a cordwainer, and in 1761 bought a farm at Windham, where he moved soon after. He was selectman there
1
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in 1774-'76, '77 and '80, and in the Revolu- tionary War was captain of the town company of militia. He died there in 1821, aged 90 years, and his wife in 1837, aged 97 years.
Benjamin Trott had sons Benjamin, Jr., and Joshua, and daughters Betsey, who married Daniel Bartlett, of Freeport, in 1707; Mary, who married Samuel Rand; Abigail, who mar- ried Samuel Woodbury, and Thankful.
Benjamin Trott, Jr., married, in 1799, Susannah Bartlett, and their children were: Samuel, who married, in 1835, Jane B. Par- sons. Benjamin, who married Ann Bennett, in 1824. Thomas B., who married, in 1840, Deborah Lincoln. Betsey, who married, in 1824, David White. Sarah Ann, who married George Trott, in 1835, and Lydia, who mar- ried, in 1826, Obadiah Eastman.
Joshua Trott married, in 1799, Elizabeth Bartlett, and had the following children: William; Daniel, who married Saral Bartol, in 1835; George, who married, in 1835, Sarah Ann Trott, his cousin; Jane, who married Michael Rawley, in 1826; Polly, who married John Rawley, in 1825, and Sally, who mar- ried, in 1827, Abraham Murray.
One of the mothers of the island, of poetic turn of mind, made the following rhyme about
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the marriages of the daughters of this family, by which those now grandfathers remember their names :
"John Rawley married Polly, Mike married Jane, Abraham Murray married Sally, I am sure they needn't complain."
WOODBURY.
The Woodbury family were among the early people of Peaks Island. Samuel Wood- bury, the first of the name there, probably came from Beverly, Mass., at latest, early in this century. He married Abigail Trott, daughter of Benjamin and Thankful (Brack- ett) Trott, who, no doubt, was born on the island. It is thought that Samuel Woodbury was at first a farmer for, or tenant of, Col. John Waite. Later there was probably an arrangement made with Colonel Waite's heirs that after the payment of a certain sum, in installments, the Woodburys should have a deed of the Waite land. The children were: Benjamin, who married Lydia Avery, in 1813, had a son, Robert, and died on Long Island. William, who married Thankful Rand, a sis- ter to Samuel Rand, and died on the island. James, who married Lucy Johnson, in 1833, a sister to Alexander Johnson, Jr., who had a
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daughter, Eliza Jane, who married Bradley P. Wallace, in 1854, and a son, James F. Wood- bury. James Woodbury died at Long Island. Francis, born in 1801, never married, but after his father's death was always called "Sam," and who died Oct. 6, 1861, aged 60 years. Joshua, who never married. Charles, born in 1802, who married, first, Ruth Day, of Phipsburg, Me., in 1825, who died in 1868, aged 63 years. He married, second, Cynthia Doughty, in 1869, and died Nov. 24, 1870, aged 68 years, and left descendants. There were two daughters, Nancy, who married Mr. Hatch and died about 1832, and Thankful, who never married. William lived where the Oceanic House stands and Charles nearly to Evergreen Landing.
They labored many years, having in view the payments for the land. Samuel Wood- bury lived in a log house that stood where the "Wallace house" stands, on Island Ave- nue, south of Trefethen's Landing. Joshua and Francis Woodbury built the present house there over sixty years ago. Before 1820 Joshua, Francis, and James Woodbury moved to Cushings Island, near White Head, but their title to the land not being satisfactory they removed their house from the island. This may account for the cellar found there.
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As early as 1834 William, James, Francis, and Joshua Woodbury divided the land, al- though they had no deed of it. This may have been done to divide also the responsi- bility, so that each would pay but their share. Samuel Woodbury and his wife lived to be very old people and died on the island. The tradition is that he was an honest, uneducated, and hard-working man.
The Waites' two-ninths of the island was inherited by the two daughters of Col. John Waite, Nancy, who married Nathaniel F. Deer- ing, and Lucy, who married Capt. Samuel McLellan. In 1839 Nancy W. Deering con- veyed her undivided half to Lucy Mclellan, and in 1840 she deeded all to Alexander John- son, Jr., for a consideration of $1,500.00, and received a mortgage in return to secure pay- ment. Johnson, the same day, sold about thirty acres at Evergreen Landing to John Sterling, of House Island, and two days after- wards sold Francis Woodbury twenty-eight square rods, over fifty-eight acres, at the west- ern end, next to the Trott line. This left the strip through the middle at Trefethen's Landing and back of it. Two years later (1842) Henry Trefethen, of House Island, bought of Lucy McLellan the unpaid note of
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Johnson's, with unpaid interest, for $502.72, he giving a quitclaim deed to the land. In 1847 Trefethen deeded the land to Francis Wood- bury for $500. Alexander Johnson, Jr., mar- ried Lydia N. Woodbury, in 1824, and after dis- posing of all interest in Peaks Island moved to Long Island, and was soon after drowned.
The land known as the Francis Woodbury farm is the land he purchased of Johnson in 1840. It was a strip forty-seven and one- half rods wide on the Trott line, extended from shore to shore, and consisted of over fifty-eight acres. Then there was a right of
way across it. This farm was divided equally between six heirs and assigns, lengthwise, in 1865. These six parts were owned by Thank- ful Woodbury, Charles and Henry Trefethen, Jr., Simeon Skillings, Eliza Jane Woodman, Emily P. Trefethen, and William Woodbury. There was an irregular piece of land from the original farm on the western end, containing two and one-half acres, that William Wood- bury had bought in 1849.
The unhappy termination of Joshua Wood- bury's life, in about 1838, brings us back to the family's effort to purchase the land. The time arrived when Joshua and Francis were to make their last payment, as they supposed,
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and get their deed. They sold a pair of oxen which they could hardly spare to get the money, and went to the city to get their deed. They were unsuccessful, but all the reasons, perhaps, are not now perfectly under- stood, and they returned to the island some- what disheartened. Joshua expressed the opinion that they never would get the deed. The two brothers and their sister, Thankful, were living in the Wallace house. Joshua and Francis went out fishing on Saturday, and Joshua felt badly about his troubles on his return. They left their fish in their boat over Sunday that they were to carry to the city on Monday, as was their custom. Sun- day the sister went out into the woods, and while she was away Joshua urged Francis to go to the boat to look after the fish, which he did. While both were gone he went to the barn and on the scaffold cut his throat to end his troubles, which had unsettled his mind. He was a man who made a practice of reading his Bible every Sunday. He believed that he had not been justly dealt with, and the disappointment he could not stand. His death shocked the people of the island, and it is told as the most horrible event that has yet happened among them. The older people
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remember these brothers as well-meaning but uneducated men, and by many it is believed that if they had been more accustomed to matters of business their affairs might have turned out differently. Of such men
" Be to their faults a little blind, Be to their virtues very kind."
PARSONS.
Henry Parsons was an early resident of Peaks Island. He was born June 24, 1782, and when he was eighteen years of age his father was drowned. He came from Glouces- ter, Mass., and first went to the island in 1804, and at that time there were but four houses there. He had probably just married Sarah Sawyer, a daughter of Samuel and Hannah Sawyer, of Cape Elizabeth, and she died Feb. 27, 1830, aged 49 years. He mar- ried her sister, Hannah Sawyer, in 1832, and she was born June 4, 1795, and died Jan. 5, 1865, aged 69 years. He died on the island, Jan. 4, 1862, aged 79 years. Their children were: Samuel S., born in 1805, married, first, in 1826, Jane Holden, sister of the late Charles Holden, Esq., and second, in 1854, Catherine Lincoln. Mary F., born in 1806, married, in 1833, Nathaniel S. Millett, and died Dec. 4, 1896, aged 90 years. Jane B., born in 1808,
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and married, in 1835, Samuel Trott. Henry, born in 1810, married, in 1840, Eleanor Bartol, of Lisbon. Charles, born in 1813, married, in 1835, Eliza Lincoln. Martha, born in 1816, and died the next year. Sarah, born in 1819, never married, and died in 1846, aged 26 years. John S., born in 1834, married, in 1858, Ellen Johnson, and James T., born in 1835, and married, in 1866, Frances A. Simonton, of Cape Elizabeth. The last two of the children were by the second wife and they are living at South Portland.
Henry Parsons first bought land on Peaks Island in 1828, which was about four acres on the south side of the Waite line, but on the side of the hill, which he purchased of Ben- jamin Trott, Jr. In 1834 he purchased nearly three acres more, of John Brackett, Jr., by the same line, near Brackett's house, and five and two-thirds acres on the shore, making altogether nearly thirteen acres, which is still owned by his family.
JONES.
William T. Jones was a prominent citizen of Peaks Island in his time. The story of his life is one of credit to him. He was left an orphan at twelve, and at fourteen walked from
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Portsmouth, N. H., to Boston to seek his for- tune, where he soon found employment in a tavern, where Capt. John Brackett, Jr., first met him. He wished to come to Portland with Captain Brackett in his vessel, which was consented to as he took a fancy to the boy. This was about 1832. He learned the cooper's trade and spent several winters in Cuba at work at that trade. He established the cooper business on Peaks Island and his shop was where the Union House stands. In 1840 he married Almira B. Welch, daughter of George D. Welch and granddaughter of John Brack- ett. She died in 1841, aged 22 years. He married again, in 1848, Eliza A. Chamberlain, daughter of Abia and Sibyl (Merrill) Cham- berlain, of Scarborough. Her grandfather, Joshua Merrill, was an officer in the Revolu- tionary Army. She came to Peaks Island in 1847 as a school-teacher, has lived on the island about fifty years, been closely identified with its progress, and enjoys the respect and esteem of not only her neighbors and friends but many who have been her guests from all parts of the country.
Mr. Jones, in 1855, altered his cooper shop into a restaurant and was the pioneer in the business on the island. In 1860 he built the
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Union House, which he and his wife kept until his death, and his wife has continued the business since. The Union House, since first built, has been enlarged and for many years was the house of the island.
Mr. Jones was a man of marked ability and a leading and enterprising citizen. He was prominent in the formation of the Peaks Island Steamboat Company, which built the steamer Express in 1871, and established regular communications with the city for the entire year. He died suddenly, in 1880, aged 62 years, a respected and honored man. Jones Landing was named for him and the name should never be changed.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Jones are : Ellen Tappan, who married Christopher Way; James Brackett, who married Paryntha M. Salter, of Burlington, N. S .; Winthrop Stan- wood, who married Arietta Foster, daughter of the late Dr. Thomas A. Foster; Alice Eliza, a school-teacher in Portland; Herbert Abia, who married Flora M. Salter, of Burlington, N. S., and four children who died young.
SKILLINGS.
The Skillings family came from Cushing's Island. Robert F. Skillings went to Peaks
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Island in December, 1843. He was born in 1819, married, in 1842, Harriet F. Trefethen, and had nine children. His brother, Simeon Skillings, Jr., went to the island about 1860. He was born in 1818, married, in 1848, Nancy E. Sterling, and had eight children. Their sister, Sarah A. Skillings, was born in 1821, married, in 1843, Smith C. Hadlock, who came from the Cranberry Isles, and they have lived on Peaks Island about fifty years. They are children of Simeon and Nancy (Adams) Skillings, who were married in 1812, and went about that time to live on Cushing's Island, on land that she inherited from her great- grandfather, General Jedediah Preble. They had eight sons and four daughters, all born on that island. He acquired six-sev- enths of the island, and about 1860 the whole title passed to Lemuel Cushing.
Nancy Adams, wife of Simeon Skillings, was the daughter of Francis and Nancy (Preble) Adams, married in 1786, and grand- daughter of Jedediah, Jr., and Avis (Phillips) Preble, of Castine. She was the great-grand- daughter of General Jedediah and Martha (Junkins) Preble, of Falmouth Neck.
Simeon Skillings, of Cushing's Island, was the son of Simeon and Mary (Skillings)
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Skillings, married in 1769; grandson of Ed- ward and Mary (Mills) Skillings, married in 1732; great-grandson of Josiah and Elizabeth (Lydston) Skillings, married in 1708; great- great-grandson of John and Elizabeth Skill- ings, and great-great - great-grandson of Thomas and Deborah Skillings, who came to Old Falmouth as early as 1651. Thomas Skillings, the first of the family, died in 1667.
STERLING.
The Sterling family have been identified with House and Peaks Islands about seventy- five years. The name was originally Starling and was changed after coming to House Island.
The first of this family known to us was Joseph Starling and his wife, Mary, who set- tled at New Marblehead, now Windham, Me., about 1750, and proceeded to clear land for a home. Here he had six daughters and one son, Josiah, born. They probably moved from Windham about 1765, and may have gone to Bristol, Me., where he died about 1780. His son, Josiah, was born in Windham, Jan. 29, 1762, and married, Nov. 2, 1783, Mary Tre- fethen. She was the daughter of Henry Tre- fethen, and was born at New Castle, N. H.,
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Nov. 28, 1763. She died Feb. 12, 1838, aged 74 years. Josiah Starling died Dec. 28, 1832, aged 70 years. They probably lived at Friend- ship and, perhaps, at Monhegan Island. They had eight daughters and five sons.
John Sterling, son of Josiah, was born in Friendship, May 4, 1785, and married, Dec. II, 1804, Patience Browe, who was born in Bristol, Me., July 5, 1784. She died Dec. 3, 1853, aged 69 years. He married, for his second wife, Mrs. Experience (Higgins) Fogg, in 1856, who died at Freeport. He died Aug. 10, 1870, aged 85 years.
John Sterling's children were all by his Josial
first wife, and were as follows: Luther, born in 1807, and married, in 1828, Philena Gove. Seth B., born in 1809, and was lost overboard from the schooner Experiment, in 1835, off Cape Sable. He was 25 years of age and left a widow, Mary Trefethen, at Portsmouth, with two sons, Thomas and Seth. Mary, born in 1812, and married John Blake, in 1829. Caro- line, born in 1814, married, in 1831, Samuel Rines, and she died July 16, 1841. John, born in 1816, and died in 1835, aged 19 years. Patience, born in 1819, and married Robert Robinson. Elizabeth, born in 1821, and mar- ried Nathaniel Harrington. Phebe, born in
€.
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1823, and married, in 1848, Isaac N. Sylvester. The youngest was Alpheus G., born in 1828, married, first, Maria L. York, in 1853, and second, Adelia D. Scott, in 1873. He lives on the old home place on House Island.
John Sterling came from Monhegan Island to House Island about 1822, and bought one- quarter part of the island, where he moved and carried on the fishing business. He bought the Edward Mansfield house on Peaks Island, about 1824, for his oldest son, Luther. This house is now owned by Seth B. Sterling, and is on Island Avenue. Luther Sterling married, in 1826, Elizabeth Cudworth, of Bristol, who was born in 1800 and died in 1888, aged 88 years. He lived the most of his life on Peaks Island, and was a seafaring man. He had nine children: Nancy Eliza- beth, born in 1826, and married, in 1848, Sim- eon Skillings, Jr .; Luther A., born in 1829; John T., born in 1831 ; Joseph C., born in 1833 ; Seth B., born in 1835 ; James H., born in 1837; William A., born in 1839; Robinson E., born in 1842, and Melvin C., born in 1844.
Luther Sterling saw the fight between the Enterprise and Boxer from Monhegan Island in 1813. He was a boy of nine years of age at the time. He said that at the time of the
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