USA > Maine > York County > Parsonsfield > A history of the first century of the town of Parsonsfield, Maine > Part 31
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BRACKETT.
The first settler of this name was John Brackett, son of James Brackett, of Berwick. He came to Parsonsfield in the year 1800, mar- ried Betsey Fogg and they had two children, Anna, who married Silas Cartland, born April 13, 1801, and John, born June 4, 1803. Mr. Brackett died April, 1803, aged about twenty-nine years, and soon after a brother of his, James Brackett, junior, came and after a time married the widow of John, and reared a family of three children, ames, Susan and Elizabeth. The two latter were the wives of Doctor Samuel M. Bradbury, of Limington,-Elizabeth now living. James married Miss Betsey Barker, of Limerick and reared a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, now all gone save the youngest, Miss Ann C. Brackett, of Lawrence, Massachusetts. James was a man of sound judgment, an industrious citizen, who served the town as one of its municipal officers faithfully, a kind and indulgent husband and father, a worthy townsman, neighbor and friend. He died in 1848, at the age of forty-three, surviving his father but three years.
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HONORABLE JOHN BRACKETT, 2D,
Whose portrait here appears, as before mentioned the son of John and Betsey (Fogg) Brackett, was an active, energetic business man, of more than ordinary mental endowments. His early life was passed on the home farm, making the most of the limited privileges for improve- ment which the location afforded. In early manhood, he learned the trade of house carpenter, which business he followed in part for many years. He was for a few years, prior to his marriage, a resident of Dover, New Hampshire, but on March 23, 1827, he married Miss Jemima B. Lord, daughter of Reverend Wentworth Lord, of Parsonsfield, and made his home in the eastern portion of the town, where he resided nntil his death. Here they reared a family of four children, John W., piano manufacturer in Boston, Massachusetts ; Cyrus F., professor of physics at Princeton ; Susan E., wife of Alfred Brown, of Wolfboro, New Hampshire ; and Emily, who resides on the home place.
Mr. Brackett was quick and decided, independent and unyielding, shrewd, secretive and circumspect, easy and entertaining in conversa- tion, yet never satisfying the morbid desires of the inquisitive, nor indulging in display or ostentation. He was early a democrat and later a republican, yet as both served well his townsmen as their ser- vant in important positions for many years, and was county treasurer for several years. He was a good financier and one of the best of neighbors and friends. In religious views, he and his estimable wife were Baptists, being active members of that denomination from their early lives. Mr. Brackett died in 1886, aged eighty-three years. His wife died seven years previous.
THE SANBORN FAMILY.
The progenitor of the family in this country was a certain John San- born, who was born in England about 1600, married a daughter of the Reverend Stephen Bachilor, had three sons, and died in England, leaving his widow and her sons to the care of her father. Mr. Bachilor took Episcopal orders, but was ejected for non-conformity, retired to Holland, and thence to America, taking his daughter and her three sons with him. They came over in the ship "William and Francis," Captain Thomas, and landing at Boston June 5, 1632, went directly to
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Lynn, where another daughter, the wife of Christopher Hussey, was then living.
They remained here five years, the old gentleman, then over seventy years of age, acting as pastor of a church he had organized without regular installation. Difficulties in the church, in part owing to the eccentricities of Mr. Bachilor, made a further sojourn here unpleasant, and taking his company with him, then increased by Mr. Hussey's family, he removed to Ipswich, from there to Newbury, and in 1638 settled in Hampton. Here he was regularly installed pastor of the first Congregational church, and remaining a few years finally returned to England, probably accompanied by his grandson Stephen, dying at the ripe age of more than a hundred years.
In Hampton then, the widow and her two sons, John and William Sanborn, lived and died, and for nearly a century few, if any, of their descendants had passed the limits of the colony. For the purposes of this work it will be sufficient, and lack of space compels us, to give only the lineal descent to the original settler in Parsonsfield.
JOHN SANBORN
Was born in Newmarket, New Hampshire, March 20, 1763. (His father moved to Gilmanton in 1764.) Mr. Sanborn moved to Parsons- field in 1787, and took up the farm now owned by his grandson, Charles F. January 18, 1789, he married Hannah Batchelder, of Hampton and they had eight children, five sons and three daughters. He was a man of great strength of character, a strict disciplinarian in his family, and had a decisive way of speaking which earned for him the soubriquet of "Sir John." His son
LUTHER SANBORN
Was born in Parsonsfield, April 30, 1803. He lived there for sixty- two years, dying April 27, 1865. Mr. Sanborn was the seventh of the nine children of John and Hannah . (Batchelder) Sanborn. His father came to Parsonsfield just a hundred years ago, and settled, and built the house where his grandson, Charles F. Sanborn, now resides. It is the same house, somewhat remodeled and improved, in which
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Luther Sanborn was born and lived and died. He lost his mother when he was twelve years old, and his father ten years later.
In 1826, he married Sally Hayes, a daughter of John and Temper- ance Hayes, of Limerick. To her, one of the best of wives and mothers, he owed much of his happiness and success in life.
Mr. Sanborn early displayed great business ability and capacity for affairs. In connection with Mr. Harvey Page, who still remains with us in the enjoyment of a hale and hearty old age, in 1836, he com- menced buying cattle for the Brighton market. The business was a success from the first, and was continued for many years, in fact, in some form as long as he lived. He did a large and lucrative trade also in sheep and lambs.
The Mt. Eagle enterprise, a local matter of considerable importance, after many experiments and bad management, was taken in hand by Mr. Sanborn and developed into a steady and satisfactory business, which, first and last, has brought a good deal of money into the town and distributed it where it would do the most good.
Between 1828 and 1844, seven children were born to him, four daughters and three sons, all of whom survive him except the youngest, a daughter, who died in infancy.
Mr. Sanborn occupied several public positions of honor, but of no remarkable emolument, during his career. As a military man he was commissioned ensign, lieutenant and captain, respectively and succes- sively. All these between 1823 and 1828. In 1829, he resigned these accumulated honors, and was " honorably discharged " from the ser- vice. He was known and addressed ever after as Captain Sanborn. Military laurels won in the state militia never fade nor grow stale and unprofitable.
In 1858, and again in 1859, he was elected to the Legislature from Parsonsfield and Newfield. In 1863, he was elected to the Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Honorable Nehemiah Colby. He was re-elected Senator in 1864, and again in 1865. In his capacity of legislator, he served his town and district faithfully and well. During the Civil War, he strongly sustained the government by his voice, his vote and his money.
He died suddenly of heart disease, April 27, 1865, and lies buried in
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the family cemetery near the house, beside his wife, who survived him twelve years, and his little daughter Mary, who twenty years before him had entered the "Silent Land."
The engraved portrait of Mr. Sanborn, prefixed to this sketch, is by Stuart, of Boston, from a photograph made at Augusta while he was in the Senate, and is considered a good likeness of the man.
In some respects Mr. Sanborn was a man above the common. His intellect was acute and strong. He had a strong will. His judgments of men and things were nearly always sound and sure. Long experi- ence and a habit of close observation had trained his faculties to great practical perfection ; and no man's counsel and advice, in a wide neighborhood, were more frequently sought and followed to advantage than Captain Sanborn's. He took great interest in local affairs and exercised a good influence therein.
Universally known to be capable, efficient and trustworthy, many trusts were confided to his care, many estates put into his hands for settlement, many last wills and testaments came to him for probate and execution. He had rare sagacity, a way of minding his own busi- ness, and a wise reticence of speech. He had a happy faculty of settling differences and difficulties that sometimes arise between friends and neighbors. He was a Christian man, and tried to live by the Golden Rule. He loved his home, his friends and his native town with an unchanging love, and through all his life did what he could to promote their best good and highest interests. He was the soul of hospitality, and no waif or wayfarer went hungry or uncared-for from his door. He had many of the best characteristics of his race, a certain - largeness of mental structure, a nobility of thought and motive, a terse- ness of expression, and a just balance of all the faculties appeared in him and gave color and tone to the impression his individuality made upon. all who knew him.
But enough is said to show in some measure what he was: an affec- tionate husband and father, an enterprising and successful man of business, a useful citizen, a kind neighbor and an honest man.
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HONORABLE CHARLES F. SANBORN.
Charles Franklin Sanborn, a member of the tenth generation of the family in this country (Charles F.,10 Luther,9 John,8 the first settler in Parsonsfield, John,7 Benjamin,6 John,5 Richard,4 John,3 John,2 John,1 who was born in England as early as 1600, and died there prior to 1632), is a resident on the farm selected by the paternal grandfather, John, as early as 1787, and occupies the same house, remodeled some- what, that was built by said pioneer. It is one of the best and most attractive farms in town, and has ever been kept under good cultiva- tion, never better than under its present management. The buildings are large and commodious, and an air of plenteous prosperity and afflu- ence greets the beholder. He is the second son of Luther and Sarah (Hayes) Sanborn. In early life, besides the labor incident to- farm life, he taught several terms of winter school and was employed in Massachusetts for one or two years, but yielding to the urgent desire of his parents, he returned and made his home here.
November 30, 1864, he married Miss Esther, youngest child of Samuel and Louisa (Downing) Wiggin, and four children have been theirs. The second, a little daughter, died in early childhood. The others, a son, Luther Edwin, and two daughters, Alta May and Ida Lou, with himself and estimable wife constitute the family. He is a man reserved yet positive, quick and sensitive yet modest and reticent, a firm and steadfast friend, anxiously endeavoring to be governed by the princi- ples of justice, propriety and uprightness, seeking more the approval of an enlightened conscience than the applause of others. This is recognized by all with whom he comes in contact, and he is therefore highly appreciated and trusted. He has never sought political' prefer- ment, but has, by his friends, been pressed into positions of honor and trust. He has served in both branches of the Legislature and has been a town officer for several years. He was born September 12, 1835.
HORACE R. CHENEY,
Only son of President O. B. Cheney, D. D., of Bates College, was born at Parsonsfield, Maine, October 29, 1844. He graduated from Nichols' Latin School in 1859, and from Bowdoin College in the class of '63.
trace Cherry
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b. F. Sanborn HON . CHARLES F. SANBORN.
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Bates College began its work in the fall of the same year, and Mr. Cheney was the first tutor. In this position he remained three years. During this time he founded the college library. He was deeply inter- ested in this work, and spent much time in soliciting subscriptions and obtaining books.
Having chosen the profession of law, Mr. Cheney studied in the office of Senator Boutwell and Judge French of Boston, and graduated from Harvard Law School. After but two years' practice in the office of A. A. Ranney, Esquire, of Boston, he was appointed Assistant Dis- trict Attorney for Suffolk County. At the end of three years, he resigned this position, and devoted himself to the general practice of law in Boston until his death, which occurred in Philadelphia, Decem- ber 13, 1876.
Mr. Cheney was twice married. His first wife, who died in 1871, was Miss Virginia P., daughter of Colonel Joseph K. Wing, of Bloom- field, Ohio. In 1874, he married Miss Mary E. Chace, of Valley Falls, Rhode Island. She and their only daughter are still living.
In The Bates Student for April, 1877, we find a sketch of Mr. Cheney, written by his friend and associate in the college, Professor J. Y. Stanton, from which we take the following :
When I entered upon my duties in the college, Mr. Cheney was not quite twenty years old. He had been a member of the College Faculty one year as Tutor of Latin, and without any special preparation for work in his department, he had become a critical teacher of Latin, doubtless one of the most thorough in the state. . . . With my knowledge of what he accomplished, I feel authorized to say that the college never has had a more deyoted or more efficient servant than was Mr. Cheney, during his brief connection with it. .. .
About eleven years elapsed from the time of his leaving the institution to his death. One year was spent in regaining his health, which had become seriously impaired. Three years he gave to the study of law at Harvard Law School, and in the office of Senator Boutwell and Judge French. Seven years he was engaged in the practice of law in Boston, two in the office of Mr. Ranney, three as Assist- ant District Attorney, and two after he resigned that office.
His success in his profession was remarkable. While he was Assistant Dis- trict Attorney, a prominent Judge of Massachusetts said of him: "Mr. Cheney is. one of the most promising lawyers in this Commonwealth." In the second year of his office, he was granted leave of absence for three months. The Boston Journal, speaking of the term of court before his departure for Europe, said: "During the present term, within the six working days, Mr. Cheney has disposed
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of ninety-six cases, which is unparalleled in the record of the court." The year closing June 20, 1876, his practice amounted to over eight thousand dollars, not including much unfinished business. . . .
His early development was not in an extraordinary degree due to books or to other foreign aids, but to a force within which impelled his mind to activity. When I first knew him, scarcely more than a boy in years, his language was sim- ple and forcible, and his habitual manner of expressing himself, in conversation and in writing, was marked by the ease and perspicuity which are seldom seen, except as the result of years of practice.
He had accumulated a valuable law library worth three thousand eight hun- dred dollars, and in his profession he was a very faithful student. He made all the preparation for his cases in court that time would allow, and like all faithful students, he always felt driven by his work. George E. Smith, Esquire, of Bos- ton, who studied with Mr. Cheney, and has succeeded to his business, says of him: "He always looked up himself all the details of his cases, and performed all his work in a wonderfully careful and thorough manner." . . .
While Assistant District Attorney, he shared the duties and responsibilities with his superior, each assuming the management of the business for a month, alternately. It is gratifying to the friends of Mr. Cheney to know that he was always above the suspicion of compounding felonies, or being deterred from the fullest performance of his duty by any influences of wealth or position.
Speaking of his integrity and fearlessness in the discharge of duty, the Bos- ton Traveler said:
"Assistant District Attorney Cheney is adding daily to his first-rate reputation. In tlie Hapgood case the prisoner expected that by pleading guilty his wealth and social position would enable him to escape with a fine, instead of being sen- tenced to imprisonment, as poor adulterers are, but Mr. Cheney was not disposed to assent to any such arrangement, and Hapgood was sent to the House of Cor- rection for eighteen months."
And again:
"The argument of Assistant District Attorney Cheney in the Parker trial yes- terday, was, perhaps, the best that this efficient and talented prosecuting officer has ever made in a similar case. It was a model of conciseness, brevity and eloquence, and all who listened to it must have been fully convinced that the speaker earnestly believed in the justice of the cause for which he pleaded, and was determined to do all in his power to see that the law was impartially admin- istered. The shallow sophistries of the attorney for the defendant, and espe- cially the absurd pretence that tlie bar-keeper was the proprietor of the lunch- room where the liquors were seized, were clearly exposed and destroyed by the telling logic and irrefutable argument of the Attorney. In the brief space of twenty minutes, he went through the finely spun web of Mr. Bradley's remark- able argument, unraveling its ridiculous pretences and exposing its cunning
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deceit. It was, in short, an argument of unusual ability and power, and Mr. Cheney may well be congratulated for having dared to face aristocratic public opinion, and in something more than a metaphorical sense, to beard the lion so manfully in his den."
In this connection, I take the liberty of quoting from a private letter from Honorable Charles R. Train, Attorney General of Massachusetts.
"From the time Mr. Cheney became Assistant District Attorney until his death, I knew him thoroughly and watched him with increasing interest day by day. He had made rapid progress, and had he lived would have very early become a leader at the Suffolk bar. He was an enthusiast in his love of the pro- fession, a fine legal scholar, and seemed to me to possess all the elements required to ensure success as a nisi prius lawyer. He (if one may be allowed the expres- sion) was faithful and indefatigable to a fault. I loved him as a younger brother for his sterling qualities of mind and heart, and was overwhelmed by the news of his death which I had never anticipated."
In the society of strangers I think Mr. Cheney was reserved, but to his friends he was cordial, sincere and confiding. He died so much beloved by them all, that no one of them could trust his impartiality in speaking of the virtues of his heart.
ELISHA SMITH WADLEIGH,
Son of Elisha, junior, and Mary (Burbank) Wadleigh, occupies the old homestead, on which Elisha Wadleigh settled during the last years of the past century. He is one of the prominent farmers and success- ful business men of the town. He has within a few years remodeled and enlarged the farm house and buildings, planted shade trees, grad- ing and making attractive and pleasant the grounds. It is here his life has been thus far passed, a large part of which has been devoted to caring tenderly for the aged grandparents, and later the father and mother, reaping the reward of pecuniary blessings in addition to the greater, of duty faithfully done, and it is here he intends to pass the remainder of his years. During the past thirty years, he has served on the board of superintending school committee of the town twelve years, and is at present, as several times before, its chairman.
He was born December 6, 1830, and married Mrs. Josephine Lord, July 3, 1879.
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EDWARD C. CHAMBERLIN,
Son of Joseph Chamberlin and grandson of Benjamin Dalton, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, November 4, 1844. When about one year old, his parents removed to Parsonsfield. Lived in Parsonsfield until February, 1864, having received an education sufficient to enter upon mercantile life, when he went to Portland, Maine, and there, after some difficulty, obtained a situation as clerk in the retail dry goods house of Samuel B. Gowell. Remaining about two years with this house, he was sought for by the firm of J. R. Corey & Co., where he remained eleven years, becoming very successful as a clerk, making many friends and acquaintances throughout the city and surrounding towns. This last firm becoming obliged to give up business, Mr. Chamberlin, with Mr. C. C. Millett and X. John Little, purchased the stock and entered into a co-partnership, September 1, 1876, under the firm name of Millett, Chamberlin & Little, remaining together as part- ners four years, when Mr. Chamberlin retired from the firm. In Octo- ber, 1880, Mr. Chamberlin and Mr. T. F. Homsted formed a co-partner- ship and entered into the dry goods business again at 451 Congress Street, under the firm name of Chamberlin & Homsted, where they have carried on a very successful business up to the present time.
After being in Portland one year, he became a Christian and united with the Seaman's church, where he found it a delight to do Christian work among the seamen for three years.
In 1870, Mr. Chamberlin was married to Miss Mary E. Twitchell, of Bethel, Maine, and after two years they both united with the Plymouth church (Congregational), when soon after, Mr. Chamberlin was chosen and elected deacon and remained in that office a number of years until the church was dissolved. Mr. Chamberlin was also superintendent of the Plymouth Sunday-school for two years, and for the same term of years was superintendent of the Sunday-school at Allen's Corner, Deering, Maine. He was also an active member of the Portland Young Men's Christian Association for many years. After the dissolution of the Plymouth church, Mr. Chamberlin and wife united with the Williston church, where he is now an active member.
CEO.H.WALKER & CO. DOSTON
Edward bo. Chamberlin
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GEORGE W. BENSON,
The eldest child of James M. and Anna (Clark) Benson, was born in South Parsonsfield, Maine, January 17, 1816, and died suddenly of heart disease in Lawrence, Massachusetts, April 12, 1859.
For a few months of his youth, he was in Bangor as clerk in a lum- ber office, and he taught at one time in Dixmont; but his first school was taught when fifteen years of age.
He began his preparation for college in Hopkinton, N. H., but spent his last year at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire, under the late Doctor Cyrus Richards. He entered Dartmouth Col- lege in 1837, and graduated in 1841. He ranked well as a student, being in the first third of a class of more than seventy members, not- withstanding he was broken in health during the last two years of his college life.
He was a very fine penman, and by teaching writing schools in con- nection with day schools three months in the winters, he was able him- self to meet the greater part of his college expenses, and so greatly lessened the burden which would otherwise have fallen upon the family at home. It was no doubt the exposure to the inclemencies of the weather on Cape Cod, where he taught school two winters, which broke down his health and planted the seeds of disease which carried him to an early grave. After his graduation he taught, very success- fully, the Academy in Hopkinton, N. H., in the meantime studying law with Honorable Matthew Harvey, of Hopkinton, and Honorable Samuel Fletcher, of Concord, and also six months in the Cambridge Law School. He was admitted to the bar in Concord, New Hampshire, in the autumn of 1844, and was married the same year to Maria, eldest daughter of Honorable William Tenney, of Hanover, New Hampshire. In April, 1845, he had an opportunity to engage in teaching in Cox- sackie, Green County, New York, and with his wife taught there three years.
In the spring of 1848, he removed to the then new town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he at once engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. He was elected town clerk in 1850, which office he held three years; and when the town became a city, in 1853, he was con- tinued in the same office one year or more. Afterward he held the
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office of city solicitor for one and a half vears. He was also appointed one of the Associate Justices of the Police Court by the late Governor George N. Briggs.
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