Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine, Part 28

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 722

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ability, Mr. Sinnett has the genial and hearty disposition that the sea seems to bestow upon its votaries, and is very popular on Orr's Island as well as on Bailcy's Island, where his family has lived so long.

TEPHEN SCAMMAN, a citizen of South Portland (formerly Cape Elizabeth), is a native of Maine, having been born in Saco, York County, October 29, 1831. He is a direct descendant in the sixth generation from Hum- phry Scamman, who was born about 1640, and was "accepted into the town of Saco as an inhabitant," June 12, 1680. Humphry Scamman and his family were captured by the Indians in 1697, and kept prisoners in Canada until the close of King William's War, when he returned to Saco, where he died on Janu- ary 1, 1727.

Freeman Scamman, the grandfather of Stephen, was a pioneer of Saco. He was born May 1, 1750, and was married June 2, 1772, to Elizabeth Kimball, of Wells, this State. Very soon after their union they set- tled in Saco, taking up a large tract of heav- ily timbered land, which they partly cleared. he becoming one of the leading farmers of that locality. Their eleven children were born on the Saco homestead, Richard, Stephen's father, being the second child and the eldest son.

Richard Scamman was a lifelong resident of Saco, and was numbered among the able and prosperous farmers and most prominent citi- zens of the community in which he lived and died. He was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth Small, of Biddeford, with whom hc was united on January 1, 1799, died March I, 1814, leaving seven children, none of whom are now living. On March 13, 1815, he mar- ried Mrs. Mary Moon, nee Brown; and she also bore him seven children, two of whom have passed to the life immortal. The record of the others is as follows: Thomas M., born March 13, 1823, now a blacksmith in Yar- mouth, married Elizabeth M. Grant, and they have four children; Daniel F., of South Port- land, born August 7, 1826, married Martha J. Parsons, and they are the parents of two chil- dren ; Stephen is the special subject of this

sketch; Emily R., born December 28, 1838, was married January 1, 1881, to John E. Small, who is a conductor on the Boston & Maine Railway, and resides at Portsmouth, N.H .; and Elizabeth, born January 5, 1817, is the widow of Albert Sawyer, of Saco, and has three children.

On leaving the Saco schools, Stephen Scamman became a clerk for Ezra Scamman, who was engaged in the trucking business in Portland, continuing in that capacity until admitted to a partnership in the business, which was carried on successfully until 1860. In that year Mr. Scamman established himself in the grocery business on Market Street, Portland, being senior member of the firm of Scamman & Colby. A short time afterward he sold his interest, and opened a store on Congress Street, where he remained until 1868, when he disposed of that establishment in order to establish himself in business at Cape Elizabeth, where he had resided for eight years. Here, near the rolling-mills, he opened a store for the sale of groceries, in which he had an excellent trade until 1875, when he sold out, and retired to his present homestead, and has since devoted his time to the care of his personal interests. He has been conspicuously identified with the affairs of the town during his residence here, serving with ability in various official capacities, including that of Selectman for nine consecutive years, from 1876 until 1885; Town Treasurer during the years of 1893 and 1895; and in 1887 representing his Democratic constituents in the State legislature.

The maiden name of Mr. Scamman's wife, to whom he was married November 1, 1855, was Ellen S. Dyer. She was born in Port- land, December 22, 1837, daughter of Nathan and Mercy Dyer. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Scamman has been brightened by the birth of five children.

ERRANUS C. HANSON, after thirty years and more of city life, years of activity and responsibility, has re- turned to the home of his boyhood, Windham, Mc., and is here engaged in farming and lum-

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bering. He is a native of Cumberland County, having been born December 21, 1839, in Bridgton.

His grandfather, Ezekiel Hanson, was an early settler of Windham, coming here when a young man, and buying one hundred acres of land, and engaging in mixed husbandry, living on his farm, which was located near Duck Pond until his demise at the age of eighty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Plummer, bore him eleven children, five of them being sons; and of these Edmund, the third son, was the father of Verranus. In politics Ezekiel Hanson was an old-time Whig, and both he and his wife attended the Congregational church.

Edmund Hanson was born on the old home- stead in Windham, March 19, 1808, and, as soon as old enough, began working on the home farm. Some time later he removed to Bridgton, where he carried on farming until 1845, when he returned to the place of his birth, and here engaged in the livery business. He died in 1884. In politics he was a strong Republican and an earnest worker for his party. He married in April, 1833, Rachel Smith, daughter of Daniel Smith. She was a native of Bridgton, born December 19, 1813. They became the parents of six children, five of whom are now living - Franklin D., Newell P., Mary E., Verranus C., and Melvin H. Franklin D. Hanson, born September 13, 1834, was twice married. His first wife, Loretta Hilton, of Bridgton, died, leaving one child, Annie; and his second wife, Alice Foster, of Sweden, Me., bore him five chil- dren - Minnie, Howard, Fred, Ethel, and

Albert. Newell P. Hanson, born May 14, 1836, married Charlotte Freeman, of Wind- ham, and has seven children, five being now living - Frank, Fred, Henry, George, and Howard. Mary E. Hanson, born April II, 1838, has been twice married, her first hus- band having been George Dennett, of Brown- field, and her last, Thomas Nelson. She has had two children, but one of whom, Charles Dennett, is now living. Melvin H., born October 11, 1851, married Hermie Jackman, of Portland, and has two children - Edmund and Bertha. The mother was a member of the Congregational church.

Verranus C. Hanson was educated in Wind- ham. In early manhood he went to the city of Portland, where he learned the blacksmith's trade, at which he worked for eleven years. Going thence to Boston, Mass., he continued his trade in that city for five years; and on April 28, 1873, he was appointed on the city police force. He continued in active service until January 3, 1892, when he was retired on a pension, which he will receive annually as long as he lives. On November I, the same year, Mr. Hanson returned to Windham, and has since lived on his farm. A man of great energy and enterprise, in addition to general farming, he is engaged in the lumber, wood, and coal business, and on his farm has a cider- mill and a threshing machine, both of which he makes good use of in their seasons. In politics he is a steadfast Republican, support- ing the principles of his party by voice and vote.

Mr. Hanson has been twice married. His first wife, Annie Crossman, of Portland, left two children - Andrew E. and Verranus C. On November 26, 1890, Mr. Hanson married his present wife, Edna Leavitt, daughter of Judge George Leavitt, of Machias, Me. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson are liberal in their religious views.

AMES A. MILLIKEN, of Westbrook, Me., foreman of the Portland Wooden- ware Company's mills at Duck Pond, was born in the adjoining town of Scar- boro, May 7, 1852. His parents were Joseph L. and Mary (Goodrich) Milliken. His pa- ternal grandfather, Frederick R. Milliken, who was a practical farmer, was a Democrat in politics and a Methodist in religious belief. He was twice married, and by his first union had five children, two of whom - namely, John and Samuel - are still living. He married for his second wife Phebe Foss, and reared one son, Frederick, who still survives.

Joseph L. Milliken, Mr. Milliken's father, was born in Scarboro, and in his early years there followed the trade of shipwright. Later in life he moved to Aroostook County, where he purchased a farm, and engaged in farming for several years. Afterward he returned to

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his native town. He was an industrious and temperate man, leading a useful life. He was a supporter of the Demoeratie party, and had no religious preference. His wife, Mary Goodrich, became the mother of nine children, and, of these, three are living, namely: Fred W .; Samuel K .; and James A., the subject of this sketeh.

James A. Milliken received his education in the public sehools of Searboro and Wind- ham; and when a young man he became a fireman on board one of the steamers plying between Portland and Boston. After being thus employed for two years, he went to the boiler works of Quinn & Co., of Portland, where he remained for five years. For the next year and a half he worked at the Portland stove foundry; and he then became a partner in the Co-operative Stove Company of Port- land, which coneern later moved to Biddeford, Me., where he remained in their employ for two years. He was next engaged in the foundry business in Massachusetts two years, at the expiration of which time he returned to Portland. Twelve years ago he became en- gineer at the Portland Woodenware Company's factory, a position which he ably filled for ten years ; and some two years sinee he was ad- vanced to the post of general foreman. The factory is situated at Duek Pond in West- brook, and employs from thirty-five to forty men, who are engaged in manufacturing pails and tubs in large quantities, producing an average of twelve hundred pails per day, which find a ready market in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, their tubs being sold principally in Maine.

Mr. Milliken was married to Rhoda Cannell, daughter of Heman Cannell, of Gorham, Me., in 1871, and has had eight children, six of whom are living; namely, Maggie M., Daisy G., James R., Graee, Carrie, and Joseph C.

Mr. Milliken is a thoroughly eapable and reliable steam engineer, and his present posi- tion at the Portland company's factory bears testimony to his complete mastery of the busi- ness in which he has had so many years of ex- perience. He supports the principles of the Republican party in politics, and attends the Union Church, like his father having no relig- ious preferenee.

ILLIAM T. STUDLEY, wholesale dealer in fish, 30 Commercial Street, Portland, was born on the island of Monhegan, Lincoln County, Me., January 2, 1828, son of William and Nancy (Trefetheren) Studley. William Studley was a prosperous farmer, and was also engaged to some extent in fishing. He died at the age of eighty-three years. His wife, Naney Trefeth- eren, was the great-grand-daughter of Henry Trefetheren, originally from New Hampshire, who settled on the island of Monhegan, and beeame its sole proprietor. At his death he divided the island between his son and his two sons-in-law. William Studley and his wife were the parents of a large family, ten of whom grew to maturity.

William T. Studley received a common- sehool education on the island, and worked for his father until of age, when he went to Gloucester, Mass., and engaged in the fishing business, remaining four or five months. While there he encountered many of the dangers that seem to lie in wait for Gloucester fishermen in particular, being lost once in a dory, but fortunately reseued by a fishing- vessel. Mr. Studley eventually returned to Monhegan, and was there engaged for some time in fishing with his father. In the fall of 1866, a few months after the great fire in Portland, he removed to Cumberland County, taking up his residenee in South Portland, where he has ever sinee made his home. During the next two years he was actively engaged in the fisheries, being Captain and owner of the "Moneda." In July, 1868, he sold his vessel and fishing tackle, and opened the establishment on Commereial Wharf, of which he is now the proprietor, trading in salt and fresh fish, and shipping lobster to other ports. He has a large line of local custom, and also an extensive trade in New York City and State, his business having grown with the new growth of the eity. He is a plain business man, who has won success by the exereise of a thorough knowledge of his line of trade and honest dealing with all with whom he is asso- ciated. He has some financial interests out- side his regular business, and is now Prcsi- dent of the Loan and Building Association of South Portland,

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Mr. Studley and Lucy F. Pierce, of China, Me., daughter of Rufus and Nancy (Studley) Pierce, were married in October, 1852, and first kept house on Monhegan. Seven chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Studley, of whom four are living; namely, Charles A., Willie A., James E., and George W. The youngest son, George, is studying medicine in Portland, having completed a course of study at Bowdoin College. The three elder sons are in business with their father.

In politics Mr. Studley is a Republican, and takes an active interest in public affairs, but is not an aspirant for office, his business cares engrossing his time and energy. He is a member of Ligonia Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Portland, and of Mich- igan Encampment, and belongs to South Portland Lodge of Knights of Pythias, of which he was a charter member; and he was also a charter member of the Order of the Golden Cross. Mr. and Mrs. Studley are strong supporters of the Methodist Episcopal church, of South Portland, to which they be- long, Mr. Studley having been on the church Board of Trustees for a number of years; and they are also interested in promoting the Christian religion in a broader sense. Mr. Studley is an ardent advocate of prohibition, and lives up to his principles, never using tobacco or any kind of intoxicating liquor. A man of high moral character, honest and progressive, he is a citizen of whom Portland may well be proud, the sort of man that makes the best fibre and sinew of the Commonwealth.

ON. WILLIAM WIDGERY THOMAS, JR., of Portland, Me., ex-Minister to Sweden and Norway, is a gentleman who has acquired distinction in the diplomatic service, and has won laurels as an author and public speaker. He is a son of the venerable Hon. William W. Thomas, Sr., of whom a special sketch with portrait and some account of his ancestry appears in this volume, and a brother of Gen- eral Henry G. Thomas, United States Army. On his mother's side he is descended from Dr. John Goddard, of New Hampshire, who declined a United States Senatorship.

William W. Thomas, Jr., was born in Port- land, Me., in 1839. He received his earlier education in the public schools of this city, entered Bowdoin College in 1856, and was graduated with the highest honors in 1860. During his college course, at the age of eigh- teen he taught a winter district school for three months and a half in a little red school- house near the shore of Cape Elizabeth.

Immediately after graduation he commenced reading law, but in the spring of 1862 left his studies, and, as United States Bearer of Despatches, carried a treaty to Turkey. Ile became Vice-Consul-general at Constanti- nople, then Acting Consul at Galatz in the Principality of Moldavia, and before the close of the year was appointed by President Lin- coln one of the thirty "war consuls" of the United States, and sent to Gothenburg, Sweden. For his services as Consul he re- ceived from Secretary William H. Seward "the special thanks of the Department of State." Resigning his Consulship, he re- turned to America in the autumn of -1865, was admitted to the bar in 1866, and at once won distinction as an advocate.

. Mr. Thomas, during his three years' resi- dence. in Sweden, acquired the Swedish lan- guage, and became familiar with the history, manners, and customs of the people. On his return to his native land he persistently ad- vocated Swedish immigration to Maine, and presented the first definite, practical plan for the purpose. The legislature of 1870 passed an act authorizing this plan to be tried. Mr. Thomas, receiving the appointment of Com- missioner of Immigration, proceeded to carry it into effect. He visited Sweden, recruited a colony of fifty-one Swedes, sailed with them over the ocean, led them up the St. John River in flatboats, and on July 23, 1870, founded the prosperous settlement of New Sweden in the primeval forest of his native State. Here he lived in a log cabin with his Swedish pioneers for the better portion of four years, directing all the affairs of the colony until its success was assured. The colony has rapidly increased, and has constantly at- tracted Swedish immigration into Maine and the other New England States. In 1895 Maine's Swedish colony numbered fifteen

WILLIAM WIDGERY THOMAS, JR.

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hundred souls, owning real and personal prop- erty worth three-quarters of a million dollars, while fifteen hundred more Swedish immi- grants wcre settled in other parts of the State. New Sweden appropriately celebrated the de- cennial and the quarter-centennial anniversa- ries of its settlement, and on both occasions Mr. Thomas was the orator of the day.

The city of Portland elected Mr. Thomas a member of the Maine legislatures of 1873, 1874, and 1875. In the first session he madc his mark as an able and courageous debater, and in the two later sessions he presided over the House as Speaker. He was also Senator from Cumberland County in 1879, but de- clined a renomination. In 1875 he was Presi- dent of the Maine State Republican Conven- tion, and in 1880 a delegatc to the memorable Republican National Convention at Chicago, which nominated General Garfield for thc Presidency. On July 4, 1883, he delivered the oration at the quarter-millennial celebra- tion of the founding of Portland by his own ancestor, Cleeve. Mr. Thomas had already been appointed Minister Resident to Sweden and Norway; and on July 19, the cve of his departure for his foreign post of duty, the sympathy and good will of his fellow-citizens found expression in a public dinner given to him under the auspices of the Cumberland bar and the merchants of Portland.

Mr. Thomas resided at Stockholm as Amer- ican Minister until the close of President Arthur's administration in 1885. Hc was the first Minister to Sweden to address the King in his own language, the first to hoist thc American flag at Stockholm, and the first to effectively assist in starting a linc of direct steamships between Sweden and the United States.

On leaving the Northland, Mr. Thomas was honored by a public farcwell banquet given him by many of the first citizens of the Swed- ish capital at the Pavilion of Hasselbacken in the Royal Deer Park. The Pavilion was decorated with American flags, and the band of the Royal Second Life Guards played American national airs.

In 1887 he again visited Sweden, and mar- ried Dagmar Elizabeth, daughter of Ragnar Törnebladh, Knight and Nobleman, Member

of the Upper House of the Swedish Parlia- ment, and Manager of The National Bank of the Kingdom of Sweden. Thc year after, Mr. Thomas was orator at the great Swedish celebration at Minneapolis, wherc more than forty thousand Swedes assembled to commem- orate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the first Swedish settlement in America, New Sweden on the Delaware, founded by Gustavus Adolphus. This was the largest gathering of the Swedish race that has ever taken place on the American continent.

In March, 1889, Mr. Thomas was appointed by President Harrison Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Sweden and Norway. He and his young Swedish wifc were welcomed back to the Northland with distinguished honors by both King and people. During his second term he helped secure the appointment of a Swedish jurist as Chief Jus- ticc of Samoa under the Treaty of Berlin, and a Norwegian statesman as member of the Trib- unal of Arbitration between the United States and Great Britain on the question of the fur- seal fishcries in Behring Sea. On September 14, 1890, on the deck of the American man- of-war "Baltimore," lying in the harbor of Stockholm, Minister Thomas, in an eloquent address, delivered the honored ashes of the great Swedish-American, John Ericsson, to the King and people of Sweden.

During Mr. Thomas's second term a frcer market for American products was opened in Sweden, the Riksdag voting in 1892 to reduce the duties on both grain and pork by one-half. It was at his own suggestion, made to the De- partment of State in 1890, that Mr. Thomas received instructions under which he com- menced negotiations with the governments of the United Kingdoms that resulted in the full and satisfactory extradition treaties of 1893 between the United States and both Sweden and Norway.

Mr. Thomas is an attractive public spcakcr, and from the political "stump " or lecture plat- form has addressed large audiences in nearly all the Northern States in both the English and Swedish languages. He is also widely known as an entertaining writer. He pub- lished in 1869 a translation of an historical novel, "The Last Athenian," from the Swed-

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ish of Victor Rydberg, for which he received the special thanks of the King of Sweden and Norway; and he has written many spirited articles for Harper's Monthly, the Cosmopoli- tan, and other magazines and periodicals. His greatest literary work, however, is “Sweden and the Swedes," a richly illustrated volume of seven hundred and fifty pages, published in 1892 in both America and Sweden, printed in both the English and Swedish languages. This book has met with a flattering reception

and large sales on both sides the Atlantic, and is characterized by the Swedish press as "the most correct and at the same time the most genial description of Sweden and its people ever published in any language."

Mr. Thomas is a keen follower of the chase and a lover of all outdoor manly sports. He has laid low the bear in the backwoods of Canada and the elk in the forests of Sweden. On September 29, 1893, when hunting in company with the Emperor of Germany and King Oscar on Hunneberg Mountain in Sweden, Mr. Thomas had the good luck to shoot four noble elk, as large and grand as the moose of America. During this hunt Em- peror William was exceedingly gracious toward the American Minister, frequently chatting and jesting with him in the most un- conventional and democratic manner ; and soon after his return to Berlin the Emperor sent to Mr. Thomas his portrait "as " (to use the Em- peror's own words) "a token of special sym- pathy and a souvenir of the personal meeting with you on the Hunneberg hunt." The painting is inscribed by the Emperor's own hand, " Wilhelm, Imperator Rex."

Mr. Thomas was recalled from the Swedish and Norwegian mission by President Cleve- land in 1894. At a farewell audience Mr. Thomas was presented by King Oscar with his portrait, a magnificent life-size painting, per- sonally inscribed by the King. On his return to America in October, he was welcomed back to his native land by a public reception and banquet, given in his honor by the leading Swedish-Americans of the State of New York at the house of the Swedish Engineers' Club in Brooklyn.

During the winter of 1894-95 he delivered addresses upon "Sweden and the Swedes" in

more than fifty cities and towns, in sixteen different States of the Union. He was every- where greeted by large and enthusiastic audiences, frequently numbering several thou- sands. In many cities he was honored by public receptions and banquets, United States Senators and Governors of States presided at his meetings, and his entire lecture tour from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains was one continued ovation.

Of Mr. Thomas it can with truth be said that no other native American ever acquired so intimate a knowledge of Sweden and the Swedes. None ever accomplished so much by both tongue and pen in making Sweden and the Swedes known and honored throughout America, and none is more widely known or more highly respected by the Swedes in both the Old World and the New.

Mr. Thomas is a member of the Maine His- torical Society, the Swedish Geographical So- ciety, His Majesty King Oscar's Shooting Club, the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, the Idun (a Swedish literary club), the Portland Fraternity Club, and he was one of the founders of the Portland Yacht Club.

Mr. Thomas has led a life of many-sided ac- tivity and of honorable achievement. Though but of middle age, he has been lawyer, legis- lator, founder of a community, Consul, dip- lomat, orator, and author; and in all he has been a success. He has contributed to the common weal, and has been an important factor in social advancement.

An excellent portrait of this practical hu- manitarian may be seen on a preceding page.

EON L. HALE, M.D., an active prac- titioner of medicine, surgery, and dental surgery on Chebeague Island, in the town of Cumberland, Me., was born. in Westbrook, Cumberland County, June 26, 1854. He is of Colonial stock, whose progenitor came to this country from England at an early period, and settled in Es- sex County, Massachusetts. A more extended notice of the immigrant ancestor may be found in the "History of Newburyport, Mass."

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine, Part 28

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Company Number of Pages: 722

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 722