USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 28
USA > Maine > Aroostook County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 28
USA > Maine > Hancock County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 28
USA > Maine > Washington County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 28
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine > Part 28
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Jacob D. Murray passed his early years in Limerick, and attended the town schools. At the age of nineteen he went to Massachusetts, and there obtained employment on a farm, where he received nine dollars per month in wages. Going back to Limerick subse- quently, he worked for a Mr. Clark for two
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years. Then he went to Cambridgeport, where he was employed in a brickyard. From Cambridgeport he went again to Limerick and then to Bangor, where he worked for a year in a wood and brick yard. Returning again to his native town, he was married there on December 27, 1836, to Mary McKusick, who was born in Limerick. In February, 1837, he removed to Parkman, to which he came with a two-horse team, having but little furniture. Taking up a hundred acres of un- cultivated land in the north-western part of the town, he built upon it a log house, in which he lived for three years. Then he built a frame house, that was his dwelling until 1858, a period of sixteen years, at the end of which he came to his present farm. He has now a hundred acres of arable land, with farm buildings in good condition and well adapted for their purposes. Here he is chiefly occu- pied in general farming, while he has traded more or less in wool and hides.
Mr. and Mrs. Murray have four children, as follows: Francis Simon, who lives in Park- man; Sarah H., the wife of Josiah Prince, of Sangerville; Mary Elizabeth, the wife of James L. Bennett, of Guilford; and William K. Murray, of Parkman, who resides with his father. Francis Simon Murray was twice married. The first marriage was contracted with Lavisa French, of Parkman, who became the mother of four children - Minnie, Allie, John B., and Cora. After her death, which occurred in 1888, he entered the second mar- riage with Tilda Sunders, of Parkman, who has had no children. On August 9, 1877, Will-
iam K. Murray married Miss Mary I .. Holt, of Dexter, by whom he is the father of five children; namely, Lester D., Daisy G., Mil- dred I'., Edna G., and Garnet A. - all living. Lester D. wedded Ara Clark, of Kingsbury, Me., with whom he now resides in Sanger- ville.
Mrs. Mary Murray, who was a devoted member of the Free Will Baptist church, died on October 22, 1896. Mr. Murray has been a Deacon of the church for over forty years, and is one of its oldest members. He was Town Treasurer for two years, Selectman one year, and Tax Collector for several terms. Esteemed as a man of sound judgment, he has been appraiser for several estates in the town. In politics he is a Republican, having gone into that party from the old Whig party.
ROFESSOR LLEWELLYN M. FELCH, the principal of the normal department of the Ricker Classical Institute at Houlton, Aroostook County, is a man of scholarly attainments, and possesses in a marked degree the talent, tact, and abil- ity required to insure success as an educator. He was born November 4, 1859, in Linneus, this county. A son of Danforth and Mary H. (Howe) Felch, he belongs to an old and well-known New England family, whose an- cestors assisted in settling and improving a portion of York County, Maine. His pater- nal grandfather, Abijah Felch, removed from York to New Limerick in this county, of which place he was a pioneer. Danforth
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Felch, though but a young lad when he ac- companied his parents into the heavily wooded country from which the little town of New Limerick was reclaimed, began at once to as- sist in clearing the land, and afterward made farming his life occupation, his homestead being in Linneus. Of his five children, Llewellyn is the only son.
Receiving his elementary education in the district scho ls of Linneus, Llewellyn M. Felch at the same time was well trained in the various branches of agriculture. Having a natural love for books, he early determined to increase his knowledge by study and with that end in view he attended the Houlton Academy (now the Ricker Classical Institute) and the Lewiston High School, and was subse- quently graduated from Dirigo Business Col- lege. Ambitious to still further fit himself for the profession of a teacher, and as his father was an invalid and in straitened cir- cumstances, he taught in the district schools for several terms in order to earn enough to pay his expenses through a course of pedagogy. In 1885 he was graduated from the Farming- ton State Normal School, after which he de- voted two years to the study of languages with private tutors, and was for a time assistant in the "Little Blue School " for boys at Farm- ington. From there he went to Nebraska to become the principal of the high school in Riverton. This situation he afterward gave up to accept his present position in the Ricker Classical Institute. In 1889 an appropriation of one thousand dollars per year for a period of ten years having been secured from the
State legislature for a normal department in the institute, said department was opened, and a three years' course established. Since then, under the Professor's admirable super- vision, its efficiency has each year been in- creased and its enrolment augmented, there being at the present time about sixty students. The curriculum includes the same studies in pedagogics that are required in other training schools for teachers; while in the model school each student is enabled to acquire practical experience in applying the theories taught. The supporters of the normal depart- ment have endeavored to have it incorporated as a State Normal School in Aroostook County, and through their efforts a bill was fruitlessly sent to the legislature for that pur- pose. Its successful passage, however, is looked for in the near future.
Professor Felch has a wide reputation as a microscopist, and for the past two or three summers he has been the instructor in micro- scopy at the Martha's Vineyard Summer In- stitute. He has also added to his small salary by acting as the Aroostook County agent of Ginn & Co., Boston publishers, and has been so successful in introducing their works into the schools of this section of the State that the firm would gladly give him a handsome salary to become their permanent agent. Though he has had flattering offers from other educational institutions, he deems it his duty to remain in his present field of labor for a while longer. On June 20, 1885, he was married to Augusta, daughter of George Holley, of Farmington, Me. He has
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four children; namely, Pansy, Rachel, George HI., and Lauran L.
APTAIN EBEN L. HIGGINS, a retired ship-master of Eden, Hancock County, and one of the oldest sur- viving ex-members of the Maine legislature, was born where he now resides, April 8, 1808, son of Nehemiah and Ursula (Leland) Hig- gins. The grandfather, Levi Higgins, moved from Cape Cod to Mount Desert in 1767, when his son Nehemiah was two years old. Having settled in Eden as a pioneer, he acquired a large tract of land, and cleared and improved a good farm. Upon this property, which now constitutes the splendid estate owned by Mrs. Bowen, he resided for the rest of his life.
Nehemiah Higgins when twenty years old began to clear the farm on which his son now resides, first occupying a log cabin and later a one-story frame house. He improved a large portion of the property for tillage purposes, and carried on general farming and stock-raising until his death, which occurred in 1818 at the age of fifty-one years. Ursula Higgins, his wife, was a daughter of Lieutenant Ebenezer Leland, who served as an officer in the Ameri- can army during the Revolutionary War and afterward settled on the Isle au Haut. Nehe- miah and Ursula Higgins reared two sons - Eben L. and Benjamin L. Benjamin L. mar- ried Louisa Moxley, of Philadelphia, and had a family of twelve children. Of these, Ellen, Zenas H., Eben L., Frank, Lizzie, and Rose are living. Eben L., Benjamin's son, and
his wife are caring for the Captain in his old age.
Eben L. Higgins, the subject of this sketch, attended the district school until he was four- teen years old. Then his seafaring life began. At the age of sixteen he crossed the Atlantic, and he became a captain at twenty-four. His first voyage as master netted him two thousand five hundred dollars. During his successful career he visited ports in nine different countries and every important port of entry in the United States. At one time he owned an interest in seventeen vessels. In 1845 he erected his present residence, cutting the timbers on his own premises, and hewing and fitting them himself. Since he aban- doned the sea, he has devoted his time to carrying on the homestead farm, a portion of which he sold advantageously to summer resi- dents some time ago.
Captain Higgins married Hannah D. Hamor, of the well-known Mount Desert family. She became the mother of two chil- dren : Eveline C., who died at the age of twenty-one; and Ansel B., who was acciden- tally scalded to death when a year old. The Captain and his wife cared for and educated several orphan children of this locality. Mrs. Higgins died September 10, 1893, after a wedded life lasting nearly sixty-six years. The Captain was Town Treasurer for many years, and he also served in the capacities of Clerk and Selectman. At one time he held the three offices simultaneously, and it de- volved upon him to receive and distribute the individual dividend declared during President
EBEN L. HIGGINS.
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Jackson's administration. His first Presiden- tial vote was given to Andrew Jackson in 1832. He was a member of the Maine legis- lature of 1839, which had to cope with the north-eastern boundary difficulty, known as the Aroostook War. The Democratic party has had his unwavering allegiance since he became a voter. Foremost in all movements designed to benefit the town, he was one of those who secured for it the Mount Desert Bridge. Of the original proprietors of the bridge he is the only survivor. Well preserved and active, he regularly attends the Episcopal church at Bar Harbor. In 1896 he presented the Bap- tist church of Eden with a bell, in memory of his father, mother, and wife, who were mem- bers of that church.
OHN R. POLLOCK, of Guilford, the agent of the Piscataquis Woollen Com- pany, was born December 22, 1839, in Barrhead, County of Renfrew, Scotland, the youngest of the eight children and the seventh son of Robert and Helen (Ramsay) Pollock. The father, a native of Mearns, County of Renfrew, Scotland, was a relative of the poet, Robert Pollock, the author of the "Course of Time," His wife, Helen, who was born in the town of Shettleston, County of Lanark, Scotland, belonged to the well-known Scotch family of Ramsays, to which the world is in- debted for another poet, Allan Ramsay. Both parents were strict Presbyterians, and died in that faith.
His father having died when he was two
years old and his mother when he was ten, John R. Pollock had to work for his living from his early boyhood. Influenced by an older brother, who was living in America, he left his native land on October 8, 1855, and arrived in Boston exactly a month later. He first found work in the Manchester Woollen Delaine Mills in Manchester, N. H., and re- mained there until 1860. He was then en- gaged as a wool sorter for the South Berwick Woollen Company at South Berwick, Me. In 1860, at the first call for troops, he went to Portsmouth and enlisted in Company K, Sec- ond New Hampshire Regiment. After serv- ing for more than his term of enlistment he spent some time in Amesbury, Mass. He was then employed by Mr. Robinson, the pro- prietor of the Dexter Woollen Mills at Dex- ter, Me., and subsequently had charge of the woollen department of the Bates Mill in Lewiston. While he was there the Guilford Mills, which were afterward destroyed by fire, were erected and leased to a Mr. Taylor, who managed them for a short time. When Mr. Taylor vacated them, Mr. Pollock obtained a lease of them, and afterward successfully oper- ated the plant for five years. He then leased a second mill at Orland, Me., and was requested by the selling agent to lease the woollen-mills at West Buxton for a short term of years. When the lease of the Buxton Mills expired, the Guilford Woollen Mill had become in- volved. Mr. Pollock, with some of the pub- lic-spirited citizens of Guilford, leased the plant, and soon had it in successful operation. During the last years of this lease the Piscat-
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aquis Woollen Company was organized and put in working order. The company's officers are: J. R. Pollock, agent; H. Douglas, treas- urer; and D. R. Straw, Z. L. Turner, M. L. Hussey, and F. S. Stevens, directors. The shares are evenly divided. Mr. Pollock super- intends the works. He was also one of the leading men who established the First Na- tional Bank of Guilford, and is now one of the largest stockholders of the institution and a member of its Board of Directors. A typical self-made man, he is worthy of a place in the front rank of the business men of Piscataquis County.
Mrs. Pollock is a daughter of Joseph Jack- son, late of Monson, Me. She and her hus- band took a trip to Scotland a short time since. While he has not forgotten the land of his birth, he is entirely loyal to his adopted country. He is a thorough Republican in both the partisan and general sense of the word, and a lover of the free institutions of America. He has taken an active part in all good movements pertaining to the advance- ment and growth of Guilford. Mr. and Mrs. Pollock had one child, William, who died in 1882, aged nineteen years. They have a pleasant home in the pretty village of Guilford.
IRAM F. WEYMOUTH, Town Auditor of New Portland, son of Samuel and Fannie (Norton) Wey- mouth, was born in Freeman, Franklin County, Me., January 30, 1830. His grand- parents, Samuel and Ann (Smith) Weymouth,
resided in Kennebunk, Lisbon, and Freeman. Grandfather Weymouth, who was a farmer, died in Freeman. The father, born in Lis- bon, Androscoggin County, Me., conducted a store in the town of Freeman for about forty years. He died April 19, 1871, aged seventy- nine years. His wife, who was born in Edgartown, Dukes County, Mass., died in 1880. They had a family of eleven children, namely : Sophia, now residing at Fort Col- lins, Col., the widow of John H. Weymouth; Mary, residing in Melrose, Mass., the widow of Captain David K. Kenniston; Almira L., the widow of Amasa Niles, late of Freeman, Me .; Levi N., who died in Oregon in 1852; Hiram F., the subject of this sketch; Francis, who died in Abilene, Kan., about the year 1884; Charles D., who died in Somerville, Mass., in 1893; Emily V., who died in Exeter, N.H., in 1872; Elbridge G., who died young; Eugene S., residing on the old homestead in Freeman; and Josephine M., a resident of Revere, Mass., and the widow of John Yeaton.
Hiram F. Weymouth was educated in the common schools near his home and in the academy and high schools of Farmington, Kingfield, and Phillips, Me. While attend- ing school he also taught for several terms. When he attained his majority he sought em- ployment in Boston, Mass., and worked for a year in a lead-pipe factory. In 1851 he went to Port Byron, Ill., and was there engaged for six months in teaching school. He then made one of a company of twenty-six men who started for Oregon by the overland route.
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They had thirteen wagons, one hundred and fifty head of loose cattle, and a few horses. They left Rock Island, Ill., March 30, 1851, for Iowa City, which was then the capital of Iowa. Thence they travelled to Ccdar Rapids, Des Moines, and Council Bluffs; and on May 5, 1851, they crossed the Missouri River, en route to Omaha, Neb., which was then an Indian village. Buffalo were plenti- ful in the West at that time, and herds of one hundred or more frequently came in sight as they travelled through Nebraska. On July 4, 1851, they reached Fort Laramie, Neb. Thence they crossed the Rocky Mountains, and entered the Salt Lake valley. After travelling in the Utah valley for two hundred miles, they came to the junction of three roads, leading severally to Salt Lake City, Sacramento, and into Oregon. They pene- trated to The Dalles, Ore., crossed the Cascade Mountains, and reached Salem, August 10, 1851. Among the stations at which they stopped were Fort Hall, Utah, and what is now known as Boisé City, Idaho. On the journey it was their custom, when camping for the night, to make a stockade of their wagons, in which the cattle were corralled to save them from marauding Indians. From Salem, Ore., Mr. Weymouth went to Wyreka, Cal., where he was for two years engaged in packing with mules. There was considerable trouble with the Indians during this time. From April, 1853, to March, 1854, he was with the party with which he had started out, mining on Greenhorn Creek. On April I, 1854, they embarked in a steamer from a
point north of San Francisco, and, reaching San Juan del Sur, they crossed to Nicaragua Bay, took the San Maun River to San Juan del Sur, and thence travelled by steamer to New York City. Mr. Wcymouth arrived in Freeman, Me., May 9, 1854. Shortly after his marriage he purchased a farm at East Wilton, Mc., and devoted himself to its cul- tivation until 1864. He then sold it, and purchased the Captain Parker farm in New Portland, the second oldest homestead in the township. On this farm he has since made many improvements. He has some two hun- dred acres of good land in the homestead, and owns besides considerable timber and pasture land. Hc is engaged in general farming, stock-raising, and dairying to some extent, and transacts probate business in the town of East New Portland. He has been president of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of East New Portland for the past four years. Mr. Weymouth was one of the first to attempt to introduce the Spanish merino sheep in this township. At one time with three others he paid as high as a thousand dollars for a ram. In politics he is a Democrat. He was on the Board of Selectmen for eighteen years, and was chairman of the board for ten years. In 1892 he was elected Town Auditor. He rep- resented this district in the State legislature in 1867 and 1868.
Mr. Weymouth was married August 8, 1854, to Susan H. Burbank, of Freeman, Me. She was born September 9, 1832, daughter of Nathan and Martha (Niles) Burbank. Mr. Burbank was a farmer of Freeman. Mrs.
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Weymouth died March 9, 1893. She was the mother of the following children: Martha Ella, who lived but six years; J. Herbert, who died young; Leola F., now the wife of A. W. Starbird, a millman of Miami, Fla .; Fred A., residing in Huntington, W. Va .; H. Arthur, a ranchman of Arizona; and Frank L., who is with his father. On Febru- ary 17, 1897, Mr. Weymouth was married to Mrs. Julia A. Farmer, of Temple, Me., a daughter of Joel and Deborah (Tripp) Chandler and the widow of A. W. Farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Chandler died in Temple. Mr. Wey- mouth is a member of Lemon Stream Lodge, No. 55, I. O. O. F., of New Portland. He attends service at the Union church in East New Portland, while Mrs. Weymouth is a member of the Baptist church.
EACON IRA ROWE, one of Dover's able farmers, was born in this town, December 2, 1825, son of Ira and Jemima (Blake) Rowe. The first of the fam- ily to settle in Piscataquis County was James Rowe, Deacon Rowe's grandfather, who was a native of New Hampshire, and for a time resided in Waterville, Me. In 1810 he moved to Atkinson, and a short time later located upon a tract of wild land in South Dover. Grandfather Rowe's first habitation, mainly built of stakes driven into the ground, served him until he was able to erect a log cabin, which was finally succeeded by a sub- stantial frame house. After clearing his farm he improved it as fast as circumstances
would permit; and he also engaged in cut- ting, hauling, and manufacturing lumber. In these early days Bangor, the nearest market and supply depot, was reached by a primitive road through the woods; and the settlers were forced to undergo many hardships in market- ing their products and securing the necessities which they could not raise. On one occasion James Rowe, accompanied by his son, went to Bangor to collect some money due him, leav- ing his family without any meal, which was the principal article of the pioneer's larder. Not being able to find his debtor and know- ing that the meal must be immediately forth- coming, he sought and found employment ; and with the money so earned he purchased a sack of meal, which his son and another boy carried home, a distance of thirty miles. In spite of these drawbacks James Rowe became prosperous through his industry and persever- ance, and lived to be seventy-two years old. He assisted in organizing the first Free Will Baptist society in Dover, and was one of the Deacons. In politics he was a Democrat, and he served as a Selectman and in other town offices. While residing in Waterville he married Hannah Hussey, and reared a family of ten children, none of whom are now living. His wife was about seventy-two years old when she died.
Ira Rowe, Deacon Rowe's father, was born in Waterville, January 27, 1798. He as- sisted his father in clearing the farm, acquir- ing a practical knowledge of agriculture, which he afterward followed with energy dur- ing his active years. He was one of the
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organizers of the Free Soil party in Dover, and took a deep interest in political affairs. In religious belief he was a Free Will Bap- tist, and he served as the first clerk of that society in this town. He died October 4, 1887, aged eighty-nine years, eight months, and eight days. His wife, Jemima, who was born in Hampton Falls, N. H., January 12, 1799, became the mother of thirteen children, two of whom died in infancy. Those of them who lived to maturity were: Miranda, born February 10, 1821, who died March 11, 1892; James, born March 22, 1824, who died March 22, 1881; Ira, the subject of this sketch ; Dearborn, born April 14, 1827, who resides in Minneapolis, Minn .; Jemima, born Jan- uary 26, 1829, who is residing in Dover; Hannah, born October 28, 1830, who died November 21, 1855; Colby, born June 22, 1832, who is a resident of Kansas; John, born June 17, 1834, who resides in Foxcroft; Christina, born June 7, 1836, who died March 16, 1851; Harvey, born July 5, 1838, who lives in Minneapolis; and Joy, born Novem- ber 27, 1840, who resides in the State of Washington. The mother died March 10, 1864, aged sixty-five years, one month, and twenty-eight days.
Ira Rowe, the subject of this sketch, com- pleted his education with a short course at the Foxcroft Academy. He earned and gave to his father the sum of five hundred dollars pre- vious to his majority. Subsequently he was engaged in farming and lumbering for him- self. His first land purchase was an unim- proved tract of one hundred acres. Later he
bought an adjoining tract of the same area, with good buildings. He resided in South Dover until 1896, when he moved to his pres- ent farm in Dover, containing one hundred and forty acres. The property, which he keeps under a high state of cultivation, con- tains well-constructed buildings. Politically, he acts with the Republican party, and he has been a member of the Board of Selectmen for five years. He is deeply interested in the moral and religious welfare of the community, and has been a Deacon of the Free Will Bap- tist church for a number of years.
In 1856 Deacon Rowe was joined in mar- riage with Elizabeth Hart, who was born in Atkinson, February 4, 1833, daughter of Peleg and Eliza (Dunning) Hart. Of this. union were born three children, namely : William A., December 12, 1857, who died August 30, 1881 ; George L., December 9, 1858, who died December 28, 1883; and Eliza M., October 9, 1862. On August 28, 1886, Eliza M. Rowe married Herbert J. Merrill, a prosperous farmer of Garland. They have one son, George H. Merrill, born September 6, 1888. Mr. Merrill is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Dexter, and of the Patrons of Husbandry in South Dover.
EORGE H. EATON, of the firm of Henry F. Eaton & Sons, lumber manufacturers and dealers in Calais, Me., was born March 14, 1848, in Milltown, N. B., a son of Henry F. and Anna Louisa (Boardman)
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Eaton. He comes of ancient and substantial Colonial ancestry, being a direct descendant in the seventh generation of Jonas Eaton, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts somewhat more than two hundred and fifty years ago, about 1642, and with his wife, Grace, was living at Watertown in March, 1647, and not long afterward settled in Read- ing, Middlesex county, Mass.
Henry F. Eaton was born November 22, 1812, in Groton, Mass., where his parents, Jonas and Mary (Corey) Eaton, were residents for many years. His early educational advan- tages were such as were afforded by the coun- try schools of his day. Naturally studious, with keen mental faculties, he, however, mas- tered far more than the common branches of learning, and in course of time became a schoolmaster of note, whose very presence indicated a man of dignity and mental attain- ments. Having natural musical ability and a sweet, strong voice, he took pleasure in instructing and leading the village choir of the Congregational church, with which he united, after making a public confession of faith, when but thirteen years old. On at- taining his majority he established himself in the lumber business, having his mills on the St. Croix River and his home in Milltown, N. B. He bought standing timber, and went himself into the logging camps in order to become acquainted with every detail of the business. During the early part of his life as a lumberman he was a member of the firm of John McAdam & Co. His brother, Joseph E. Eaton, was for a time in partnership with
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