USA > Maine > York County > Parsonsfield > A history of the first century of the town of Parsonsfield, Maine > Part 30
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JOHN MERRILL,
Father of John I. Merrill, deserves more than a passing mention among those who gave a sterling reputation to the town of Parsonsfield, in the first part of the present century. He was born in Newbury, Mas-
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sachusetts, in 1780, and when a youth of seventeen, in company with an older brother, drove an ox-team from his home to Parsonsfield (the road from Limerick being rough, and mostly through a wilderness). He returned to Newbury the same year, but a few years later went again to Parsonsfield, settling on " Merrill's Hill," between the villages of the " Middle " and "North Roads."
In 1803, he married Miss Mary Mills, daughter of John and Mary Mills, of Effingham, New Hampshire. Their married life was a notable example of successful industry, of praiseworthy frugality, of generous hospitality, and of domestic comfort. They were happy in their family of one son and seven daughters, all of whom were of the highest repu- tation from their early years.
Sarah, the eldest, married Simon Brown and settled in Parsonsfield. Rebecca married Henry Merrill, and also settled in her native town. Mary married Doctor William B. Pike, of Cornish, Maine, where she resided until her decease. Mehitable died in early womanhood, unmar- ried. Abigail married Richard Horn, and settled in Roxbury, Massa- chusetts. Cynthia W. was twice married, her last husband, Albert Batchelder, esquire, still surviving her. They also lived in Roxbury. John Jay Merrill married Harriet Josephine, daughter of Colonel Josiah Browne, of Rockingham County, New Hampshire, in 1850. Annette married Reverend Doctor David H. Lord. They lived some years in Michigan, but now reside in Brooklyn, New York. Only John Jay and Annette, the youngest two, are now living.
The mother, after a life of devotion to the interests of her family, and of pure Christian example to the community around her, died in 1837. The father, after a long life of successful thrift, that made him one of the wealthiest men of his town, died in January, 1857, leaving a stainless character as an additional and most valuable legacy to his chil- dren and friends. Hs is still remembered by old persons as among the original and active supporters of that excellent academical institution, ·" Parsonsfield Seminary."
·
JOHN JAY MERRILL,
The only son of John and Mary Merrill, was born in Parsonsfield, April 16, A. D. 1821 .* His early life was passed in the midst of the
* On the farm now occupied by a cousin, Joseph Merrill, the oldest man in the town.
GEO. H. WALKER & CO. BOSTON
John J Merrill
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HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
most healthful influences of New England society. Fortunate in the careful training of intelligent and watchful parents, and educated under the tuition of Rev. Hosea Quimby, the first " Preceptor of Par- sonsfield Academy," then in its first brilliant glow of success. He developed the sterling qualities of honesty, business capacity and quiet reflection, which have distinguished his later career, on a broader field of life.
In 1846, he established himself in Roxbury, now Boston, engaging in the building lumber trade extensively, and in the purchase and sale of real estate in the suburban towns of Boston, as well as within the limits of the old city. By these and other methods, which his active insight and close observation of the progress of business around him, enabled him to use to his just advantage, he has acquired large wealth, without ever losing the reputation for honorable dealing and unsullied integrity, which he acquired in early life. His sympathies are active, and have been, through life, always shown to struggling worth, whether in the ambitious student or the humble laborer; while his judicious conservatism has ever kept him from giving any encouragement to the communistic tendencies, developed in later times in a portion of the laboring masses. His private charities have been bestowed with liber- ality, and his aid has been freely given to many feeble religious socie- ties. He has been the recipient of frequent official honors, and the dis- charge of duties devolving on him has always justified the confidence his friends reposed in him. In his worldly success he has maintained the same simplicity of habits that distinguished his early life, harmo- niously blending the just man of business with the manners of the Christian gentleman.
Promptly patriotic when our country called for active sympathy and financial aid, he allied himself with the republican party, and still remains an active member of the same. It is understood among his friends that he intends making a liberal donation to some institution of learning in Maine, which will make a fitting close to an honorable career.
SIMON BROWN
Was descended from English ancestry. His paternal grandparents came from England, and settled in Hampton, New Hampshire, where
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HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
his father was born. His parents, Simon Brown and Sally Brown, set- tled in the west part of Parsonsfield, near " the city," where the sub- ject of this sketch was born, October 2, A. D. 1802. From the com- bination in his parentage of the strength and firmness of the Old and New England character, young Brown inherited a vigorous constitution of body and an active and ambitious mind ; and while he improved the former in the healthy labors of the farm, he assiduously cultivated the latter through all the limited means obtainable in the newly planted settlement, where the district school was one of its earliest institutions. Studious by nature, he acquired a solid education from such books as he could procure, and by thoughtful reflection upon all suggested subjects.
His application to general reading and study was a prominent feature of the whole life, and although too retiring to parade his learn- ing, it was an instructive pleasure to his intimate acquaintances to listen to the discussion of any matter upon which he had read and reflected.
He taught school successfully for a number of winters before his marriage, working upon the farm during the farming season, or going abroad for larger wages than he could realize at home. During those years he wrought in laying the foundation of the first cotton-mills at Saco, and at garden-farming in the vicinity of Boston ; always com- mending himself to his employers by his intelligence and correct habits.
In 1826, he married Miss Sarah Merrill, daughter of John and Mary Merrill, a most worthy wife and mother, who died in 1868. Their children were: Harriet, who married Clark Merrill; Annette M., who married Samuel Stanley, now deceased ; Martha, also deceased; Sarah C .; Etta E., the wife of Rev. I. P. Quimby, and John M. Brown, a practicing lawyer of Boston, Massachusetts.
They lived, some years after marriage, on the farm now occupied by Captain Joseph Merrill, then purchased and removed to the "Joseph Blazo Farm," on the "North Road," one of the most attractive and productive of that favored region, only a half-mile distant from "the seminary," where their children were educated. He lived here as a successful farmer and dairyman (also engaging in quite extensive lum- bering operations in Albany, New Hampshire), until about 1856, when'
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GED. H. WALKER & CO. BOSTON
Simon Brown
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his wife acquired her father's homestead, in the distribution of the large estate he left, and they removed to that place.
Mr. Brown's whole life was an example of quiet industry, patient thought and constant efforts for his family's welfare. He was by nature and habit much interested in sustaining the common-school system, and in promoting the means of obtaining an advanced educa- tion, such as " Parsonsfield Seminary " afforded to his own children, and to great numbers of other favored pupils.
His religious opinions were best exemplified by a life of just dealing with others, by devotion to the best interests of his family, by regarding the rights of all, while never willingly yielding to what he believed unjust, and by that strict yet cheerful sobriety, which marks the best character of the husband, father and neighbor. He was liberal in aid of religious worship, and in 1853 contributed largely to the new Free Baptist Church, at North Parsonsfield, and was selected by his co- contributors to erect the same. Thus he spent a life of active labor, until near his death in 1884, at the age of eighty-two years, leaving behind him respect for his memory among his friends and acquaintances, and the sincerest love of his surviving children.
SAMUEL LOUGEE
Was the first settler at East Parsonsfield, coming there from Gilman- ton, New Hampshire, and selecting a home as early as 1778, but not moving to town with his family until 1780. On this place his son Taylor, born January 3, 1784, lived after him, married a Watson, and had two sons, Samuel and Thomas. Samuel resides near the old home yet. His wife dying, he next married a Tibbetts and had by her two sons, Greenlief and Sylvester, the latter now residing in Effing- ham, New Hampshire, where he has reared quite a family of children, among them a lawyer and two physicians, Doctor George E. Lougee, of Freedom, New Hampshire, being one. This wife dying, he mar- ried a third time, a Miss Hayes, and two sons were theirs, Hayes and Cyrus. Mr. Taylor Lougee moved to Effingham Falls, New Hamp- shire, in 1840, and there died.
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GILMAN LOUGEE,
An older brother of Samuel came to Parsonsfield about the same time. It is said they arrived in June, 1778, and first builded a log-house at the foot of " Mudgett's Hill," so-called. He was deacon of the first church formed in Parsonsfield. After making a clearing he went back to Gilmanton and brought a bundle of apple-trees on horseback to this town. Several of them are now standing, and one, which bears annu- ally, measures nine feet around its trunk. This farm has been kept in the family ever since. Mr. Lougee was killed while working in a clay pit, by the falling of a rock, on September 29, 1788.
With these two brothers came a third, John Lougee, who lived and died here.
GILMAN LOUGEE,
Whose portrait here is seen, is the grandson of Gilman before men- tioned, and son of Gilman Lougee, 2d, who married Mary, daughter of John Buzzell, August 19, 1810. He was born January 8, 1817. His father died when he was but fifteen years of age, leaving a widow and eight children,-Gilman the oldest son. Possessed of very little prop- erty, the burden came heavily upon him, but with that energy and enterprise, which has ever characterized the man, he pushed his way onward and upward, met and overcame all obstacles, furnished a home for his mother and the family, and married Miss Almira B. Richardson. Their children were Juliett, Mary Ann, Amelia, Delphina, Hugh Bartis, Louisa and David G. Mr. Lougee was the first to bring from Canada horses to supply the home market. In this business he engaged in 1847, and has followed it occasionally until the present time. For the most of his life he has been engaged in agriculture, in buying and sell- ing horses, cattle and sheep, and has made life a success. In politics a republican and in religious preferences a Free Baptist. He has held various town offices, and is esteemed as a man of integrity and moral worth, a good citizen and a valued neighbor and friend.
His sons, Hugh Bartis and David G., both reside in town.
GEO.N.WALKER & CO BOSTON
Gilman Longer
GED. H. WALKER & CO. BOSTON
Zahn CM. Brown
JOHN M. BROWN EsQ.
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HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
JOHN M. BROWN,
The son of Simon and Sarah Brown, was born at the "North Road " village, April 15, A. D. 1839. His boyhood and youth were spent upon his father's farm, and in attendance upon the school, at " Parsonsfield Seminary," where he prepared to enter college in an advanced class. During his school days he developed the habits of industry and close attention to all his undertakings, which have marked his later life and which he carried into the schoolroom, when he became the successful teacher of youth in his native district and in adjoining towns of Maine and New Hampshire.
In 1861, he commenced the study of law in the office of Messrs. Ayer and Wedgwood, of Cornish ; subsequently attended, for a term of two years, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the close of which he was admitted to the bar of York County. He began the practice of his profession as partner of Emery S. Ridlon, then of Kezar Falls, Parsonsfield, with whom he continued a year. He soon after opened a law-office in Boston, and resided in Stoughton.
His character as a citizen and lawyer is thus outlined by an old friend, Edwin W. Wedgwood : -
"Soon after his removal from Maine, Mr. Brown was appointed by Governor Rice, a Trial Justice for Norfolk County. In that capacity, he had jurisdiction of a large portion of the civil and criminal cases originating in the town of Stoughton and its vicinity. His careful weighing of testimony, patient investigation of all the points which each case presented, and fixed purpose to render justice to all parties, made his opinions respected, and but few appeals were ever entered in his court.
" While residing at Stoughton, he married Miss Fannie Sackett, the only child of Almeran and Sophia L. Sackett, of Westfield, Massa- chusetts.
"After four years, he resigned his office of magistrate, purchased a valuable farm in the charming town of Milton, to which he removed, and where he now lives, continuing his law practice in Boston and the adjacent counties of Middlesex and Norfolk, where he has been a suc- cessful practitioner, both in the state and federal courts. He has given much attention to marine law, and is good authority upon questions
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arising under it, while his faithful study of jurisprudence, as a science, and familiarity with the rules of the various courts, have secured him a fine reputation as a lawyer of general practice.
"As a republican in politics, he is candid in support of his opinions, just in his judgment of others, and devoted more to the general wel- fare than to any mere partisan success. He has never lost sympathy with and for ' the people,' and holds strenuously to the New England doctrine of individual independence of thought and action, subject only to the laws of God and the restraints which well-regulated society imposes.
" But it is not in the ardent contests witnessed in the courts, nor in the successes won in the strife of a great city, that we see him at his best. To witness the simplicity of his early life, expanded and trained to a manly love of rural enjoyment, we must go with him to his delightful suburban home, where from the flower-embowered cottage we go out amid green fields and fruit-laden orchards, see the well- cared-for domestic fowls and animals, and the luxuriant vegetation ripe for the harvest; and feel a part of the inspiration which surround- ing scenes impart, and from which he draws his constant supply of life-giving energy."
DOMINICUS RICKER,
Youngest son of Deacon Dominicus and Susanna (Perkins) Ricker, was born in Parsonsfield, May 14, 1823. Here he remained for many years, marrying in 1848, Miss Caroline E. Thompson, daughter of George Thompson of this town. In 1864, he sold the farm on Ricker's Mountain, and moved with his family to Biddeford, where he remained about ten years, when he again purchased a farm in his native town where he now resides. Although he has always been engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, yet he has been prominently identified with the inter- ests of the towns in which he has resided during a large portion of the time since he attained his majority. As a school teacher he has ever taken high rank-having taught fifty-four terms of school. The admir- able tribute paid him by Horace Piper, Esquire, in his paper on the schools of Parsonsfield, page 44, renders any further comment on this subject unnecessary.
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GEO. H. WALKER & CO LITH . BOSTON
Dominicus Picker
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Notwithstanding his absence from town for so many years of his active life, yet he has served as superintending school committee of Parsonsfield twelve years, as selectman four years, as treasurer one year and as representative from Parsonsfield and Cornish, in 1887. During his residence in Biddeford, he was President of the Board of Aldermen in 1867 and 1868, one of the assessors in '69, '70, '71 and '72, and chairman of the board for two years. He also was a representa- tive from the city of Biddeford to the Legislature in 1873.
These facts show far more than words from the pen of any friend of the true merit of the man, and one thus esteemed, honored and trusted needs no further commendation. In religious views and professions, he is a Baptist, and in politics a democrat, yet no creed, dogma, doc- trine, faith or policy circumscribes or controls his friendships, or causes him to accord to others less than he claims for himself,-an honesty of purpose and a broad freedom of expression and action.
REVEREND EDMUND GARLAND.
BY REV. JOSEPH RICKER, D. D.
Since the meagre notice of this college graduate of the town (see page 60) was put in print, further and more circumstantial facts have come to hand which, in justice to their subject, are here summarized.
Edmund Garland was born in Parsonsfield, February 15, 1799, and died in Granville, Ohio, April 3, 1886, at the ripe age of eighty-seven. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1828, at Andover in 1831, and went thence to Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life. His sermons are represented as having been "models in nicety of construction, clear- ness in deduction and ease of application." His chosen field of labor. embraced, more especially, "destitute churches and neighborhoods." Colleges and seminaries of learning, moreover, found in him a true and constant friend. Toward laying the foundation of these he was espe- cially helpful, wise in his plans, indefatigable in his labors and scrupu- lously honest in his aims. He served his generation well, and in the ripeness of wisdom and of years slept with his fathers.
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HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
ELISHA WADLEIGH
Was born in a garrison house in Kittery, Maine, on the fifteenth day of February, 1769, and died in Parsonsfield on the third of July, 1872, aged one hundred and three and one-half years.
His parents were too poor to bestow on the son anything outside of existence, and therefore, in those early and troublous times, with father in the war of the Revolution and the struggle great for sufficient sub- sistence to keep body and soul companions, his education and advan- tages were none, attending school but one day in his life. After attaining his majority, he married Miss Sally Smith of Berwick, and removed to the town of Parsonsfield as early as 1798 or '99, and took up a farm subject to all the inconveniences and hardships of those early days. Inured to hard work and harder fare, with a physical endowment the envy of ordinary men, jovial and happy, determined and resolute withal, he met the privations and endured the hardships with a manly zeal and spirit, and with his good wife gallantly bore the full share of all the toils and burdens of pioneer life. His political affiliations were from the earliest with the democratic party, voting that ticket for over seventy-five years.
He retained his mental faculties to a wonderful degree. In the last year of his advanced life his memory of early events was keen and accurate. Always easy in conversation, he retained that faculty till the last. Despite the circumstances attendant upon his early life, his attainments were fair, reading considerable and retaining what he read. Of his family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, all are gone save one, the youngest, Mrs. Catherine Wedgwood, of Newport, Maine.
PRAY.
Samuel Pray, who lived on Beach Ridge, in Berwick, was of the second generation in this country. Joseph, son of Samuel and Dolly Pray, was born in Berwick in 1739. Married Bethsheba Brackett and settled in Lebanon. To them were born five children, three sons and two daughters, who lived to manhood and womanhood. The eldest daughter married Tobias Fernald, of Berwick. The second daughter married Jabez Ricker, of Waterboro. One son, Nathan, married Alice
GEO.H.WALKER & Co. LITH. BOSTON.
ELISHA WADLEIGH.
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Horr, of Lebanon. The second son Samuel, died in 1806, aged twenty- two years.
Tobias, the oldest son, born March 23, 1775, married Sally Gowen, of Lebanon, and settled in Parsonsfield in 1800. To them were born three children, two sons and one daughter. Isaac, born November 5, 1800, Rebecca, born May 20, 1802, and John, born January 24, 1804. The sickness of relatives in Lebanon called Mr. and Mrs. Pray to that place. They rode on horseback and she contracted a severe cold,- fever followed and she died November 19, 1806, aged twenty-eight years.
Mr. Pray married a second time Miss Mary Young, of Wolfboro, daughter of John and Sally Young, in January, 1809, and they had four children two sons and two daughters. Mr. Pray died April 20, 1835, and Mrs. Pray, April 17, 1859.
Isaac Pray married Zipporah Dearborn, daughter of Jeremiah and Ruth Dearborn, December 15, 1828. They had one son, John Cole- man. She died March 15, 1830. He married for his second wife, Sarah Goldsmith, of Ossipee, and they are both now living, he eighty- seven years, she eighty-four years of age.
John Pray married Elizabeth Dearborn, daughter of Jeremiah and Ruth Dearborn, November 28, 1833. They had two children. She died April 20, 1844, and he married June, 1846, Mrs. Hannah (Gold- smith) Nute, of Ossipee, and they have one daughter Hannah E., who is referred to by Mr. Piper, page 46. Mr. and Mrs. Pray are both living-he at the age of eighty-three years. These two brothers mar- ried sisters for their wives at both marriages. They are men of strong character, with minds well balanced, upright and straightforward, industrious and frugal, hospitable, conscientious and kind. John sold to his brother Joseph the home place in 1839, and moved to East Par- sonsfield, purchasing the Taylor Lougee place, where he yet resides.
Their sister Rebecca married James Brown, of Ossipee, in 1833.
The sons of Tobias, Joseph and Samuel, by his second wife deserve more than a passing notice.
JOSEPH PRAY
Was born December 10, 1810, in Parsonsfield, and died in Woodstock in March, 1868.
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HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
He was educated in the common schools and North Parsonsfield Seminary. In early life he commenced teaching, which he followed during the winters until 1835, and ever after was much interested in educational matters during his active business life in Parsonsfield. He was a member of the superintending school committee for many years.
In 1835, he went to Kennebunk and was employed on the ledge, taking the job of building a pier, and on October 26, 1836, by a prema- ture blast, he received an injury to his eyes from which he never recov- ered. By this, he was rendered entirely unable to perform labor for about two years. Returning to his home he, as soon as he could labor, engaged in farming, and in 1839 purchased the home place of his brother John. Here he remained until 1851, when he made purchase of a place at East Parsonsfield of James W. Weeks, and there con- tinued in agriculture until 1854, when he entered into trade in com- pany with Nathaniel Pendexter, in dry goods and groceries and the manufacture of ready-made clothing. This partnership ceased in 1857, and in June, 1858, he removed to Woodstock and continued in the same kind of business until his death. He was a man of much energy and enterprise, but his great misfortune was a serious hindrance to his success. He was never married.
SAMUEL PRAY
Was the youngest brother, born March 3, 1819, and was quite schol arly, improving every opportunity for the acquirement of an educa- tion. He early became a teacher of common schools in his native town, then went to Calais, Maine, where he continued in the business of teaching until 1845, when he went to Iowa, where he remained until his death in 1851.
Their sister Sarah was never married. Nancy married Albert Rand, of Parsonsfield, and is now a resident of Dover, New Hampshire.
DEACON ELISHA WADLEIGH.
Elisha Wadleigh, junior, son of Elisha and Sally (Smith) Wadleigh, was born in Parsonsfield, September 15, 1801, and resided on the farm where he was born until he was "gathered to his fathers " at the ripe age of seventy-four years.
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Geo.H.Walker & Ca. Lith. Boston.
Chirhe Hadleigh funer
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In early life he became a member of the Freewill Baptist church, and about 1840 was installed deacon, which office and position he filled until his death.
He married Miss Mary, daughter of Caleb Burbank, of Parsonsfield, who survived him but a few years. Three sons and a daughter were the fruit of this union. He was hospitable in the extreme, his home and heart ever open, cordial and pleasant, always recognizing the source from which flowed all his blessings ; love, reverence and thank- fulness not only making their impress upon the man and beaming from his countenance, but in turn making their impress upon those with whom he associated. He was a man of sound judgment and discretion, one of the best of townsmen, citizens and neighbors; a husband ever faithful; a father indulgent, exemplary, kind and generous; a son whose duty to his aged parents was always performed as a service of love, and a noble Christian, to whom the precepts of His Holy Word, governing and controlling his life, were not a grievous burden but a joyous service.
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