USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 45
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delightful companion among congenial friends. His religious views are evangelical, but broad, liberal, and charitable. In his domestic relations he is a tender and devoted hus- band, and a kind and indulgent parent.
M ILLIKEN, DENNIS LIBBY, of Waterville, Maine. Born in Scarborough, Cumberland County, on the Ist of February, 1804. His parents, Allison and Jane (Libby) Milliken, were blessed with a family of nine children, consisting of seven sons and two daughters. Dennis was the second child and the eldest son. Bright, active, excitable, and of good impulses, he belonged to the better class of boyhood. Having acquired the rudiments of an English education in one of the common-schools of his native neighborhood, he supplemented it by a course of more advanced studies in the academy at Gorham. There he exemplified fondness for reading and craving for useful knowledge.
Necessity soon turned the thoughts and energies of the young student into purely business channels. The world was before him, and he must carve his own way through it to success and affluence. For this task his natural and acquired powers were abundantly competent. When about the age of twenty-one, he embarked in trade at Scarborough, near the boundary between that town and Gorham. Two years of various experience led him to transfer himself and business to Gardiner, in which he continued to reside for the next ten years. Business at Gardiner was not so profitable as he had anticipated. Asso- ciation with others in sundry operations resulted in failure and loss. The firm debts, which, though not large, still constituted a heavy burden for any one of the partners, he himself voluntarily assumed, and subsequently discharged. This rare act of sound com- mercial morality was of no small advantage to him in following transactions.
In 1836 Mr. Milliken removed to Burnham, where, in company with Jacob South- wick, he purchased a tannery. The superintendence of the new enterprise and of the affairs connected with it engrossed the major part of his time and thoughts for the ensuing fourteen years. Careful management and persistent energy reaped rich returns. Twice the tannery was consumed by fire, but the loss was so judiciously covered by safe insur- ance that the conflagrations proved to be but slight and temporary checks to the career of prosperity. Encouraged by this gratifying success, Milliken & Southwick in 1850 bought a large area of wild lands in Alton and its vicinity, and erected in Alton, on the river known as the Dead Stream, a tannery, with the requisite outbuildings. This also turned out to be a lucrative undertaking. Not long afterward Mr. Southwick died, and the Burnham and Alton tanneries passed into the exclusive possession of Mr. Milliken and two
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of his brethren. In later years the Burnham establishment was sold. Of that in Alton, Mr. Milliken became the sole proprietor, and continued in that relation to the day of his decease. While conducting the tanning business in Alton, he was also extensively engaged in lumbering operations.
In 1853 Mr. Milliken removed to Waterville, of which he was thenceforward a permanent resident. In October of the same year he was elected a director of the Water- ville Bank, and in July, 1856, was made its president. This office he held until 1865, when it was reorganized under the title of the Waterville National Bank. Again elected to the presidency, he retained it until the affairs of the institution were wound up. Characterized by scrupulous and unswerving integrity, he was not less remarkable for the clearness and strength of his judgment in all matters submitted to him for decision.
Positions of public trust and responsibility were naturally offered to Mr. Milliken by his shrewd and sagacious fellow-citizens. In 1840 he was returned to the Legislature of Maine by the voters of Burnham as their representative. In 1843 he was elected to membership in the Governor's Council. In 1848 and 1849, under the Chief Magistracy of Lot M. Morrill, he again occupied a seat in the same body. In 1862 he represented the citizens of Waterville in the lower House of the Legislature, and in 1863 and 1864 sat in the State Senate as one of the members from Kennebec County. In 1869 he was appointed one of the State Board of Commissioners for the equalization of town bounties. In all these relations he performed the appurtenant duties with signal and faithful ability, and to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. Trusts of different character also sought his acceptance. For one year he held the post of president of the Androscoggin and Ken- nebec Railroad Company. During the last twenty years of his life he was one of the trustees of Waterville College, which in 1867 exchanged its ancient title for that of Colby University.
As a politician, in the true sense of the word, Mr. Milliken was observant, reflective, and patriotic, and uniformly exemplified due interest in current political events and theories. In the earlier years of his life he acted with the Democratic Party, and supported the policy and Administration of President Andrew Jackson. But as the selfish and rapacious designs of the slave-power revealed themselves in later years, he promptly identified himself with the adherents of the Free-soil movement, who sought to preserve the Territories, then opening to settlers, from the injustice of slavery, and for the homes of freemen only. When the irrepressible conflict between the antagonistic systems of free and slave society culminated in attempted secession, and in war for the perpetuity of National union, he was one of the firmest patriots in the country. Every reverse to the National arms he felt as a personal pain ; every success as an occasion of individual glad- ness. In the darkest hours of the terrible struggle his faith in the eventual triumph of the Government never faltered. His sympathies and assistances were unstintedly poured
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out in aid of the great political party to which the salvation of American nationality, insti- tutions, and greatness is so largely due.
As a Christian, Mr. Milliken intelligently and cordially accepted the spirit and teach- ings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and aimed to express both in his daily life. To him Chris- tianity was more than a theory-more than a creed. It was a life-a life of true ethics, of lofty ideals, of practical excellences. He never engaged in discussions about it, but did cherish decided doctrinal preferences. Charitable to Christians of all denominations, he himself held the opinions entertained by the Unitarians. Of large frame, tall, and sym- metrically proportioned, of excellent constitution and temperate habits, his health was continuously good until the last two or three years of his life, which closed on the 28th of October, 1879. Singularly candid and impartial, his placid aspect denotive of calm reason and high wisdom ; of generous instincts, and zealous for the preservation of the natural and acquired rights of all classes, he was also remarkably beneficent. The slave, the criminal, the vicious, and the neglected were all embraced within the circle of his judicious philanthropy. Hand and purse were always open to the demands of humanity and reli- gion. Wealth, under his direction, became a fountain of blessing to multitudes. In all that pertains to social welfare he was decply interested. Instinct, observation, experience, and knowledge garnered from various historic fields united to make him a firm and devout believer in the growth of human happiness and greatness. Friends who knew him intimately detected and appreciated the elements of power that were imbedded in his character, and saw (like the poet Gray) that they only lacked opportunity to develop themselves with grandeur, benignity, and brilliance.
Dennis Libby Milliken was married in May, 1829, to an estimable lady named Jane Larrabee, who survived him. The fruit of their union, two sons and two daughters-all of whom are married-survived their honored sire.
P
AINE, ALBERT WARE, of Bangor. Born in Winslow, Maine, August 16, 1812. The name of his father was Frederick Paine. His mother, Abiel, bore the maiden patronymic of Ware. They emigrated from Foxborough, Massachusetts, to Maine in the early portion of the nineteenth century.
The lineal descent of the Paine family has been made the subject of painstaking and exhaustive investigation. Mr. Paine himself is the author of a work entitled the " Paine Genealogy," in which he has followed its fortunes for many centuries, with enthusiastic yet scientific devotion. From this volume we learn that the name of the family was gradually changed from Paganus, a word which primarily signifies a country-
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man, and secondarily an unbeliever, from the fact that faith in heathen mythology lingered in rural districts long after it had been supplanted by belief in Christianity at the urban centres of society. Pagan, the Norman form of Paganus, is manifestly but an Anglicized abbreviation of it. The same remark holds good of the further modifications, such as Pagen, Payen, Payne, and Paine. Payson and Pyson are also lateral offshoots of the name, springing from the parent stock-just as all the filial patronymics ending in son have sprung from their respective paternal appellations. Mr. Paine further shows that all the families bearing the name are historically of Scandinavian origin, and that they entered England with William the Conqueror, after centuries of residence in Normandy.
Albert W. Paine received the usual preparation for college in the scholastic institu- tions of the neighborhood in which he was reared, matriculated at Waterville College (now Colby University), and graduated therefrom with the Class of 1832. The profession of law offering peculiar attractions, he commenced the study of its principles, history, and methods, in the office of the Hon. Thomas Rice. He also prosecuted his researches under the tuition of Governor Samuel Wells. Three years of thorough devotion to this work procured his admission to the bar in 1835. Since then he has been a member of the legal brotherhood resident in Bangor.
Mr. Paine's erudition and abilities are of higher order than the average of his profes- sion. In 1835 he was also admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington. Numerous clients have sought his assistance from the date of his entrance upon active business, and have kept him in diligent toil. One special branch of knowl- edge in which he soon excelled was that pertaining to land-titles. His fame as an excellent real-estate lawyer and conveyancer was firmly established. Whether as fiduciary agent or as attorney in charge of weighty and momentous suits, he has distinguished himself. With law and equity he is equally familiar. His practice has been large enough to tax all his powers, important enough to satisfy his ambition, and lucrative enough to meet every pres- ent and probable demand.
In the years 1868 and 1869 he held the post of Bank and Insurance Examiner, which office he resigned and held that of State Insurance Commissioner for three years, after having by his efforts secured the establishment of that department. ' In 1874 he occupied the position of Tax Commissioner. Each of these offices requires a true and wide knowl- edge of political economy, of statistical facts, and of social equity. Such a knowledge is eminently useful to promoters of wise legislation, and has served both Mr. Paine and the State by enabling him to procure the enactment by the Legislature of several valuable statutes on different subjects. Among these are the statutes regulating the Savings Banks and Insurance Departments. But chief in importance in this line is the act making accused parties in criminal proceedings legal witnesses in their own defence. This he caused to be originally introduced into the Legislature of his State in 1859, and persistently
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advocated at every succeeding session until 1864, when success crowned his efforts. Until this was accomplished, in no court in the United States or England was this privilege granted to the party accused. However innocent, he was liable to the severest penalty of the law, without being allowed to testify a word in his own defence before the jury. As abhorrent as this doctrine now appears to every one, yet until then it was the universal law of all English-speaking people. Fixed in his purpose of doing away with this barbarity, Mr. Paine pursued the subject as above related, until success attended his efforts and Maine was redeemed from the charge. He then, by various contributions to the Boston press, called the attention of others to the subject, and as a result of his efforts he had the pleas- ure of being present in the Massachusetts Legislature when the matter was successfully introduced there, and afterward enacted under the active leadership of Hon. John Quincy Adams, then a member. Thus inaugurated, the law at once became popular, and has since been adopted by all or nearly all the States of the Union, and finally by the U. S. Con- gress, and the Parliament of Great Britain and the British Provinces. As a genealogist, he has rendered excellent service to the many members of his wide-spread family, and also to society by providing a part of the material necessary to scientific study, to judicious legis- lation, and to efficient government.
During his professional life he has been a frequent contributor and correspondent. of. the periodical press of the day, and held many offices of a corporate and public character, among which are the presidency of the Maine Telegraph Company, Alderman, etc. He was one of the principal parties in effecting the organization of the National Insurance Convention, at New York, in 1871, and was an active participator in its proceedings. He is also a member of the Maine Historical Society and of the Historical Society of Bangor.
In 1840 Mr. Paine was married to Mary Jones Hale, a lineal descendant of the Rev. John Hale of Beverly, Massachusetts, who recounted the facts of the abnormal spiritu- alistic phenomena occurrent in the New England colonies in 1692, and subsequently. Cotton Mather transcribed much of Hale's unexceptionable work into his "Magnalia," Book vi. The reader, he quaintly remarks, " hath now to do with a writer who would not for the world be guilty of overdoing the truth in a matter of this importance, and a writer who was not incapable of altering his judgment when satisfied that he was in error." Four daughters are the fruit of Mr. Paine's marriage with Miss Hale.
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OHNSON, GEORGE EDWIN, Belfast, Maine. Born in the town of Albion, Kennebec County, Maine, on the 14th of November, 1839. His parents, Elbridge and Mary A. Johnson, still survive, and reside in the old family mansion. He is the second of seven brothers, of whom five are yet living. One is a citizen of China, Kennebec County ; two are residents in the State of Massachusetts ; and another, Dr. Samuel W. Johnson, is a practising physician in the city of Belfast.
The earlier years of Mr. Johnson were passed on the parental farm. Shortly before the attainment of legal majority he removed to Dover, New Hampshire, and there held the position of a teamster in the lumber establishment of Thomas H. Cushing, from March until August, 1860. Then he returned to Albion, and devoted his energies for the follow- ing year to earnest study in the high-school. With commendable ambition, he and a younger brother named Warren G. entered upon a course of instruction necessary to pre- pare themselves for matriculation at college. In the winter of 1861-2 Mr. Johnson utilized his acquirements by teaching school in the Downs district of Albion township. The ensuing summer months were spent in agricultural labors on the farm of his former teacher, Mr. L. B. Crosby. Resuming study, he completed preparation for college at the Skowhegan Academy in the summer of 1862. The sums needed to defray student expenses were derived from teaching in his own and contiguous towns. The purpose to acquire a collegiate education was subsequently abandoned in consequence of the death of his brother, who had enlisted in defence of the imperilled nationality and constitutional govern- ment of the American people, and who died while engaged in his truly patriotic enterprise.
The Hon. E. Boardman, by whom the materials of this brief biography have been collected, states that in the spring of 1863 Mr. Johnson entered the office of E. K. Boyle, the county attorney of Waldo County, as a student of law. To the legal profession he had previously resolved to consecrate his life, and had already inade some progress in pre- liminary studies. Mr. Boyle then resided in Unity village. In the winter of 1864 he changed his abode for one in Belfast. Thither the student accompanied him, and remained in his office until June, 1865.
Mr. Johnson was admitted to the bar of Waldo County in 1864. In June of the following year he returned to Unity, and began the practice of his profession. Twelve months sufficed to convince him that the sphere of activity was too narrow and unremun- erative, and induced him to enter into copartnership with A. G. Jewett of Belfast. This connection lasted until December, 1866, and was then dissolved by mutual consent. Inde- pendent practice in the same city, until October, 1869, established the reputation of Mr. Johnson, and issued in partnership relations with his old preceptor, E. K. Boyle. The
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association then formed lasted until March, 1872, when he was elected Judge of the Police Court of the city of Belfast for the term of four years. On the expiration of this period Judge Johnson was appointed to the same position for another term of four years by Governor Connor, under the provisions of an amendment to the State organic law, which made it mandatory that such functionaries should be appointed by the Governor and Council. In this post he remained until September, 1877, when he was chosen prosecuting attorney for Waldo County, by the highest number of votes cast for any candidate on the same ticket. This office he held until the. Ist of January, 1881.
During the six years of his judicial experience not one of Judge Johnson's decisions was reversed by the higher courts. This fact in itself is a complete attestation of ability, learning, and probity. Nor did he, throughout the thirteen years of his official life, neglect professional business. Manifold and arduous as public duties were, he thoroughly cared for private matters. "Always be prompt" was one of the rules adopted for personal guid- ance at the outset of his professional career. "Never deceive or knowingly mislead a client" was another of even superior ethical worth. Strict adherence to these excellent instructions has contributed in no small measure to his professional success, to the general confidence in his sterling integrity, and to the political prefcrments bestowed upon him by the public.
The civic honors of Judge Johnson began in March, 1879, with his election to the Belfast City Council as alderman from his own-the First-ward. Twice returned to the same position, he usefully adorned it until the close of his last aldermanic year, when he was elected to the mayoralty of the corporation. Since then he has been twice chosen, and that unanimously, to the chief civic dignity, which he now so honorably sustains.
George E. Johnson was married on the 5th of June, 1869, to Albina, daughter of the late Colonel Henry Mudgett of Albion.
PPLETON, JOHN F., of Bangor. Born in Bangor, August 29, 1838. He was the eldest son of Chief Justice Appleton of the Supreme Court of Maine.
John F. Appleton's preparation for college was obtained in the high- school of his native city. Entering Bowdoin College in 1856, he graduated from it in 1860. Natural taste and hereditary aptitude inclined him to enter upon the duties of the legal profession, for which he was fitting himself as a student in the office of James T. Rowe of Bangor, at the time when the National flag was fired upon at Fort Sumter. The loyal men of the nation at once sprang to arms in order to avenge the
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dishonor, and to raise the Stars and Stripes in triumph over a united and prosperous country. Mr. Appleton did not join them in the mere enthusiasm of youthful impulse, but from the deepest convictions of patriotic duty. Raising a company for the Twelfth Maine Regiment, he was commissioned as its captain, and sailed with it, in the Butler expedition, to the Department of the Gulf. There he participated in the Lafourche expedition up the Teche to Alexandria. Returning down the Red River from thence to Morganzie, he crossed the Mississippi with the victorious army under General Banks, and assisted in the investment of Port Hudson.
Captain Appleton was one of the coolest and most daring officers in the army. No danger, however imminent, appalled him while in the discharge of duty. His conscientious and calculating courage was the subject of admiration, both of friend and foe. This was strikingly conspicuous in the determined assault upon Port. Hudson on the 27th of May, 1863. One of his brother officers thus described it in his correspondence :
"While our soldiers were struggling through the thorns and underbrush, cut down by rebel bullets at every step, a small detachment of men reached the ditch in front of the rebel works, and there a few brave men, the remnant of a brigade, exhausted, stopped. But Captain Appleton alone, among ten thousand men who fought that day, mounted the rebel parapet, and stood there, facing the whole rebel army, a mark for a thousand rifles-stood there powerless, except to die. The following evening, while talking the affair over, he told me that at the time of his greatest danger this passage occurred to him with great force, and he found strength in dwelling upon it : 'Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of our Heavenly Father; and ye are of more value than many sparrows.' A Confederate officer told me, after the surrender, that as he saw that young man standing there so calm and brave, lie could not bear to see him die, and he told his men not to fire upon him."
A still greater strain was put upon his bravery when called upon to assume the com- mand of a colored regiment. His associates objected to it, and social ostracism, to some extent, was certain to be one of the consequences. Mere animal courage is utterly insuffi- cient in such a conjuncture of affairs. The individual obliged to choose his course needs the support of sound moral principles and the impulse of conscientious conviction. Cap- tain Appleton had both. Trampling on the singularly unreasoning prejudice, prevalent in portions of the army, against the military employment of colored men, convinced of its rightfulness and expediency, and persuaded that its influence on the issues of the war could not fail to be beneficent, he accepted the commission, nobly discharged his duties until his services were no longer necessary, and then returned with brilliant and unsullied reputation to his friends.
Colonel Appleton entered upon professional pursuits after his return from the army. In 1869 he was appointed U. S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, and was confirmed by the U. S. Senate. Declining health, however, compelled him to relinquish
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his judicial position. The fatigues and anxieties connected with his splendid patriotic ser- vices had undermined his constitution, developed latent tendencies to consumption, and eventually brought him to the grave. He died at the home of his father in Bangor, on the 12th of August, 1874. His brevet as General for gallant and distinguished services must have been some slight compensation for his sufferings ; but of infinitely greater value than that was the esteem in which he was held by his brethren of the legal fraternity. All of these heard of his demise with emotions of profound sorrow, and hastened to express their high appreciation of his generous disposition, exalted sense of honor, unblemished integrity, and symmetrical character ; to voice their admiration of his intellect, and their confidence that his career as citizen and lawyer, had he been spared, would have been brilliant ; to tell of the pride they felt in his military record, and in the ability and courage which had brought such honor to his State and so much good to his country.
UTTING, JONAS, LL.D., of Bangor, ex-Judge of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. Born in Croydon, New Hampshire, on the 3d of Novem- ber, 1800.
The early days of this eminent jurist were passed in heroic and success- ful struggle with honorable poverty. Wholly dependent upon his own exertions for support, he yet managed to prepare himself for admission into Dartmouth College before the close of his nineteenth year. In 1819 he matriculated at that historic institution, and before doing so, travelled half the distance between his home and Hanover on foot, bearing his wardrobe upon his shoulders. Graduation with such aspirants to culture is, under ordinary conditions, simply a matter of time. After that epoch he decided on the adoption of the legal profession, and studied law under the auspices of Henry Hubbard of Charlestown, New Hampshire, and afterward under those of Reuel Williams of Augusta, Maine.
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