USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine > Part 59
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
Mr. Gibbs was united in marriage in 1857 with Miss Augusta Bangs, of Bridgton, and became the father of two children - Rudolf R. and Nellie E.
In his political affiliations he is a sound and trustworthy Republican. He has served the community in various offices of responsibility. He was elected to the State legislature in 1867, and re-elected the following year. While a member of that body he cast his vote for Lot M. Morrill as United States Senator. In 1869 he was elected to represent his. dis- trict in the State Senate, and served so ac- ceptably that he was honored with a re-elec- tion in 1870. He was Postmaster of Bridgton from 1871 to 1885.
B ION BRADBURY, whose death in July, 1887, left a marked vacancy in the foremost legal and political circles of the State of Maine, was born at Biddeford, York County, this State, December 6, 1811. He was a son of Jere- miah and Mary Langdon (Storer) Bradbury and grandson on the paternal side of a captain in the Revolutionary army.
Jeremiah Bradbury, the father of Bion, was a native of Saco, Me. He studied law, and after his admission to the bar settled first at Biddeford, afterward removing to South Ber- wick. While a resident of the latter town he
received from President Madison the appoint- ment of Collector of Customs for the port of New York, a post which he held until 1820, when he was appointed Clerk of the Courts. This latter appointment necessitated his re- moval to Alfred, Me., where he resided dur- ing the twenty years of his incumbency as clerk. His last place of residence was Calais, Me., where he died in 1848. His wife was a daughter of Captain Seth Storer, of Saco, and grand-daughter of Mrs. John Storer, a sister of Governor Langdon, of New Hampshire, one of the signers of the Declaration of Indepen- dence.
Bion Bradbury prepared for college in Gor- ham and South Berwick Academies, and was graduated from Bowdoin in 1830. The fol- lowing year he was principal of Alfred Acad- emy, the teacher's calling being but a step- ping-stone to his profession. He began to study law in the office of Daniel Goodenow, of Alfred, continued his course in the office of William Pitt Preble, of Portland, and was - admitted to the bar at Alfred in May, 1834. In July of the same year he opened an office at Calais, and soon formed a partnership with Anson G. Chandler, which lasted till 1838, when Mr. Chandler was appointed to the ju- dicial bench. In 1842 Mr. Bradbury began his political career, being elected to represent the Calais district in the lower house of the State legislature. He was appointed Collector of Customs at Eastport, Me., in 1844, and was reappointed by President Polk and by Presi- dent Pierce, serving also during the last term, 1849 and 1850, in the lower house as Repre- sentative from Eastport. In 1856 he was a member of the National Democratic Conven- tion held at Cincinnati, and in 1858 was the candidate of the Democratic party in the Sixth District of Maine for Congress, being defeated by a bare majority. In 1860 he was delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in Charleston, S.C., and was subsequently a member of the convention held at Baltimore. Those were portentous times, and Mr. Brad- bury arrayed himself with those who were re- solved that the integrity of the country and the supremacy of national organic law should be maintained. In 1862 he was elected to the State legislature as a war Democrat from
ALBERT W. BRADBURY.
425
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Eastport by the unanimous vote of both great political parties, patriotic citizens, regardless of party, having equal confidence in his prob- ity and public spirit. In 1865 he was a can- didate for Governor of Maine, and in 1874 he was nominated by his party at Portland for Congress. He was a member of the National Democratic Convention held in Cincinnati in 1880, being delegate at large from Maine, and was Chairman of the delegation. Throughout the period of his political activity Mr. Brad- bury maintained his professional practice, and after his removal to Portland in 1864 devoted his time almost exclusively to legal work. An energetic and elegant forensic orator, he was skilful in the cxamination of witnesses, persuasive and convincing to a jury. In politics his opinion and counsel were much respected by his party, and in the legislature he was known as an able debater.
Mr. Bradbury married October 25, 1837, Alice Williams, daughter of Johnson Will- iams, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; and seven children were born of their union, five of whom attained maturity. They were as follows: Albert W., further named in a separate sketch; Bion, Jr .; Mary Langdon, widow of Charles C. Wells, of Portland; Alicc, wife of the Hon. Charles E. Libby ; and Marcia Dow, wife of Edward C. Jordan, civil engineer of Portland.
OLONEL ALBERT WILLIAMS BRADBURY, son of Bion and Alicc (Williams) Bradbury, was born in Calais, Me., in 1840, and had barely reached his majority when he entered on the military career which he completed with so much honor, winning the title which he now bears. His carly youth was passed in East- port, and, having fitted for college at the Uni- versity Grammar School of Providence, R.I., he was graduated from Bowdoin in 1860. In 1861 he began to recruit for the First Maine Battery of Mounted Artillery, and was mus- tered in as Second Lieutenant in December of that year, subsequently passing the grades of First Lieutenant, Captain, Major of First Maine Mounted Artillery, and Brevet Lieu- tenant Colonel of volunteers. He was in ac- tive service during the entire war, serving first
in General Butler's Department of the Gulf, under the immediate command of General Godfrey Weitzel, and subsequently in the Nineteenth Army Corps, first under command of General William B. Franklin, later of Gen- eral Emory.
At the approaching expiration of his three years' term of enlistment, during which he was constantly in the field, he re-enlisted his entire command. In the winter of 1864 he went to Augusta to recruit, and, after a stay of thirty days, was ordered to join Burnside, who sent him to an artillery camp ncar Wash- ington for guns and horses. He was afterward placed in command of Fort Lincoln with a battalion of one-hundred-days' men. Colonel Bradbury was next placed in command of Forts C. F. Smith and Strong on the southern side of the Potomac, with two battalions of one- hundred-days' men, reporting to General De- Russey. On July 4, 1864, he was ordered from Arlington Heights to Washington, and then to Fort Stevens, where Jubal Early was making his demonstrations against Washing- ton, and had command of a long line of fortifi- cations. Soon after this General Emory of the Nineteenth Army Corps came up from the Department of the Gulf, and made application for Colonel Bradbury to be ordered to his com- mand. The Colonel was in Sheridan's army in the valley of the Shenandoah, and partici- pated in all the battles of that brilliant and successful campaign. He was Chief of Artil- lery of the Nineteenth Army Corps, and was later appointed, in general orders by General Sheridan, Chief of Artillery of the Army of the Shenandoah.
Colonel Bradbury's brilliant military career closed July 24, 1865, when he was mustered out of service; and he immediately entered on the work of the profession in which he has since distinguished himself, reading law in the office of his father. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, and became associated with his father, under the firm name of Bradbury & Bradbury. This firm conducted an cxten- sive business in the State and Federals courts till the death of the senior member in the summer of 1887. Subsequently Colonel Brad- bury was City Solicitor, and later he was a member of the firm of Bradbury & McQuillan.
426
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
He is now the United States District Attorney, appointed by President Cleveland. He is a man of rare mental capacity and great execu- tive powers, a leader in whatever sphere of ac- tion may claim him. Politically, he is a member of the Democratic party, taking an ac- tive interest in State and national affairs; and he has delivered addresses on many important political occasions in Maine and in other States.
OHN S. WHITE, of Portland, Me. A man never quite belongs to the great public or his acquaintances, but only to the extent of certain external duties and observances required of him from these sources. In this respect he pays the penalty of position or acquired reputation outside of his immediate family circle, but more truly outside of himself. However humble the in- dividual, it is himself, the Ego, which about fills the horoscope of his life and life experi- ences, however trifling and unimportant these may be to outsiders. From this point of view a work of the character of the volume now in hand is one of remarkable interest, because one's own biography affords the most enter- taining reading he can possibly be favored with; and, second only to this, his life is re- corded in living print for the gratification of generations in the family line yet unborn. Herein lies the great value of this work, a family record, or record for the family, which makes it fairly excusable for the biographer to indulge in the rare privilege of talking unre- servedly about himself, relating the minor in- cidents, accidents, and experiences of his life to interested and appreciative readers.
The subject of this sketch was born in Port- land, October 27, 1838. He is the son of Mary Y. and Darius White, parents whom he honored and revered, both of whom sprang from old Colonial ancestry. On the mater- nal side he belongs to the oldest native family of New England that was not of original stock, being a descendant of Thomas Young, of Scituate, Mass., who married Sarah, daughter of Peregrine White, the first child of European extraction born in New England.
After a somewhat turbulent boyhood, such
as is incident to boys who are "all " boys, being of a venturesome and adventurous spirit, which led him, at least on two occasions, into "scrapes" or accidents, which came near ter- minating his then very brief existence, he began to prepare for the serious business of life. He attended the primary, grammar, and high schools of his native city, and entered Waterville College (now Colby) in the class of 1861. He remained in college only one year, and then commenced the study of law in the office of Fessenden & Butler, of Portland, completing his legal studies at the Law School of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
He was admitted to the Cumberland bar July 17, 1860, and, after two years' practice in Portland, enlisted as a private August 2, 1862, in Company E, Seventeenth Maine Regiment, of which company he was appointed Orderly Sergeant, August 10. His military career was brief, he being discharged for disability in the following spring, and sent to Trinity Hospital, Washington, and after -- ward to Calvert Street Hospital, Baltimore, where he was laid up for some time. After recovering his health he made a trip to the interior of Mexico during the period of the Maximilian War, and, there losing his little available capital, was obliged to start for home, tramping the highway for many weary miles, night and day, during which he came near being shot as an (alleged) "d-d Frenchman" by a party of guerillas, many bands of whom were then encamped in the woods along the route. While on this tramp, he met one day two horsemen riding toward him, who, on coming up, halted for a chat or for some other purpose. One of them said he was a Colonel in the Confederate service. By a singular coincidence, within one month from that date the subject of this sketch met the same gentleman, astride the same horse, five thousand miles away from that spot, cross- ing the Mississippi on a ferry-boat, then run- ning from Winona, Minn., to the Wisconsin side of the river.
Obtaining passage from Vera Cruz to New York, Mr. White left Mexico, and shortly after his return to the States moved to Chicago and opened a law office there. He met with good success. The times were booming then,
427
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
especially in a place like Chicago; but, re- ceiving from his father an offer which prom- ised to be more immediately profitable, he returned to Boston, and took charge of a branch concern there, and remained in the business from 1866 to 1888.
Mr. White has never confined himself so closely to business or the law as to be unable to use his energies in other directions. He has done a great deal of newspaper and lit- erary work. Before commencing the practice of law he was connected with the Evening Courier, a Portland war paper; and in July, 1864, he revived the old Maine Temperance Journal, and kept it alive till the funds, fur- nished more liberally by the Hon. John M. Wood than by the subscribers, gave out. Before this date and after, he did considerable service in the eause of prohibition and tem- perance, lecturing throughout Maine, Illinois, and other States. From 1884, for eight or ten years, he took a, conspicuous part in the promotion of prohibitory legislation and for the advancement of the Prohibition party. He served as Chairman of the State Commit- tee, and was nominated for various county and State offices. Aside from this he never took . any active part in politics.
During his business career and for busi- ness purposes he travelled very extensively through the Western and Southern States, and also made a brief trip to Europe, journeying through England, France, and Italy. In 1894 he published a book entitled "Humanics," which met with flattering success, having at least gone through a large first edition. Mr. White is still a young man, or thinks himself so, and has not, as he believes, reached the end of a somewhat active career. He has re- sumed the practice of law, and is now domi- ciled in one of the most beautiful summer residences in Maine, on the shore of Long Lake, Naples.
OHN W. TRUE, one of the leading farmers of New Gloucester and a man well known throughout the county, was born in this town on August 4, 1848, son of Winthrop and Ophelia T. (Gooding) True.
Winthrop True, a native of New Gloucester, was a shoemaker. On account of poor health he abandoned his trade and took up farming, which he followed with success until his death, on September 9, 1874. His wife Ophelia, now an octogenarian, being eighty-one years old, makes her home with her son, John W. True. They were the parents of four children, of whom the first-born died in infancy. The others were: Lucy E., John W., and Annie T. Lucy E. is the widow of John Cunningham, now living in New Gloucester. Annie T. is the widow of Elisha C. Newcomb, and lives in Malden, Mass.
John W. True first attended the common schools, and afterward the Bailey School of New Gloucester. In 1868 he went to Boston, where he obtained employment driving an ex- press wagon. After working at this for four and a half years, he became a clerk in a gro- cery store of that city. Two and a half years later, when his father died, he returned home and took charge of the old homestead, on which he has since resided. Since coming into the ownership of the farm, he has made marked improvements, setting out orchards and bring- ing the land into a higher state of cultivation. It now contains about two hundred and ten acres of land. Besides general farming, he gives considerable time to raising stock ; and he keeps a dairy of fifteen cows, whose milk he ships to Portland. He also makes a spe- cialty of raising light brahma chickens.
He was married on July 17, 1873, to Miss Carrie Murdock, born in Cambridge, Mass., March 1, 1848, daughter of Horace and Sarah (Harris) Murdock, both now deceased. Her father was station agent at Wendell, Mass., for a number of years. When he retired he went to Springfield, Mass., where he died. Mr. and Mrs. True have four children. They are: Albert D., born December 6, 1874, now attending college; Bertha O., born June 13, 1877, attending school in New Gloucester; George W., born March 9, 1881, also at home ; and Louise E., born March 22, 1891.
The Republican party has ever found in Mr. True a loyal supporter of its principles. From 1877 to 1892, and again in 1895, seven- teen years in all, he has held the office of Selectman. In 1892 and 1893 he served as
428
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Town Clerk. He is now President of the State Pomological Society, a Trustee of the Cumberland County Agricultural Society, and a member of the New Gloucester Grange So- ciety. Mr. True, his wife, and their two oldest children are members of the Congrega- tional Church of New Gloucester.
A® ERIAL D. LANE, a prominent farmer and dairyman of Yarmouth, was born in East Gray, Cumberland County, November 14, 1834, son of Captain Joseph H. and Miranda (Merchant) Lane. Mr. Lane's grandfather was an early settler in East Gray. Joseph H. Lane was born at the homestead in that town. In early man- hood he followed the sea, becoming an able ship-master. It is related of him that upon
one memorable occasion in his seafaring life he was the only one of fourteen who was saved from a wreck. After thirteen years of sea life he abandoned it, and was occupied in farming for many years after. His last days were passed in retirement in Yarmouth, where he died at the age of seventy-nine years. His religious belief was that of the Universalist denomination, while he was a Republican in politics. His wife, Miranda, became the mother of six children, as follows: Alvin A., who resides in Portland; Charles M., who occupies the old homestead; Frances E., now Mrs. True, of Yarmouth; Aerial D., the sub- ject of this sketch, who is the eldest living; Lucretia, who died at the age of thirty-three; and Caroline M., who died at the age of eleven years. The mother lived to the age of seventy-nine.
Aerial D. Lane received his education in the schools of his native town and New Gloucester. At the age of twenty years he began to follow the sea, becoming second mate and later first mate of the barque "Meldon." After three years spent on shipboard he gave up the life of a sailor, preferring to try his fortune on terra firma. In 1859 he went to California, where he engaged in mining. From there he went to Boisé City, Idaho, then but a small mining camp. He remained in the West for thirteen years, at the expiration of which time he returned home, and in 1873
bought the farm where he now resides. The property originally consisted of sixty-five acres. By industry and good management he has since enlarged it to one hundred and twenty acres. It is now a valuable farm, de- sirably located and well improved. He raises large and superior crops, and his dairy products are considered among the very best to be found in Yarmouth. He also finds it profitable to keep from ten to fifteen graded Jersey cows, handling them with the utmost care. He keeps his buildings always in good repair. His residence, an interesting old structure of Colonial times, is in good condition. He is one of the progressive and wide-awake farmers of Yarmouth, pursuing his daily duties with spirit and energy, and meriting the substantial prosperity he enjoys. He is well informed upon the general topics of the day, and he ranks in social importance among the leading residents of the locality. In politics he is a Republican ; and he is a member of Ligonia Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Portland.
In 1872 Mr. Lane was united in marriage to Elizabeth S. Hayes, of North Yarmouth. She is a daughter of David and Lydia (Par- sons) Hayes, both of whom were natives of North Yarmouth. Her grandfather, John Hayes, was an early settler of that town and a prominent man in his day. David Hayes was a prosperous farmer and a representative citizen. He died November 5, 1851, aged forty-two. He was liberal in his religious views and a Republican in politics. He married a daughter of David Parsons, who was also a successful farmer of Yarmouth. Mrs. David Hayes reared a family of eight children, seven of whom are now living, and are as fol- lows: William, Lucy C. (now Mrs. Luf- kin), Frank E., Elizabeth S. (now Mrs. Lane), Frederick A., Arexine G., and John. The mother lived to the age of seventy-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Lane have four sons ; namely, Joseph H., Ebenezer D., Beecher T., and Forrest D. Mrs. Lane is a very pleasing and hospitable lady. To her supervision must be credited the excellent quality of butter pro- duced at the Lane dairy. Both the Lane and Hayes families are among the oldest and best-known in Cumberland County. The
429
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
family attend the First Congregational Church, of which Mr. and Mrs. Lane are members.
HARLES AUSTIN KENNARD, of Portland, where he has resided for the last thirty-six years, a citizen of sterling worth, was born in Bridg- ton, Cumberland County, October 28, 1839, the youngest son of Nathaniel and Abby (Wales) Kennard. His grandfather, Edward Kennard, was a resident of Limington, but subsequently removed to Bridgton when Na- thaniel was a small lad.
Nathaniel Kennard, son of Edward, was engaged a large part of his life in agriculture, but also did a good business as a manufacturer of wagons and agricultural tools. He was a veteran of the War of 1812-14, serving as Drum-major of the Thirty-third Massachusetts Militia Regiment, and taking part in the battle of Plattsburg. Peace being concluded, he again settled down to farming and mechanical pursuits. His wife, Abby, was a daughter of Thomas Wales. Her father was a seafaring man, who met his death in the pursuit of his calling, his vessel being run down at sea in a gale. Mr. and Mrs. Kennard had eight children, four of whom still survive, namely : Benjamin F., now a resident of Portland ; James E., also a resident of this city; Eliza- beth S., who became the wife of Osborne Fernald; and Charles A., whose name appears at the head of this sketch. Amanda P. be- came the wife of Walter Corbett, of Newport, R. I., and both she and her husband have passed away ; Abby (deceased) married J. T. Shattuck; Mary E. died at the age of thirty years. Mrs. Nathaniel Kennard died in 1869, and her husband in 1868. They were both members of the Baptist church.
Charles A. Kennard spent five precious years of his boyhood on an island far removed from educational advantages, devoid even of a primary school. He subsequently attended North Bridgton Academy, pursuing his studies with the object of fitting himself for college. The breaking out of the Civil War, however, changed all his plans. Filled with patriotic ardor, he was only prevented from going to the front with the earliest regiments raised in
this State, by a violent attack of typhoid fever; but on his recovery he wasted no time, giving up a fine position to enlist as private in Company B, Twenty-third Regiment, Maine Volunteers, and serving to the end of the term of enlistment. His greatest regret connected with his military experience is that, the regi- ment's term of enlistment having expired just before the battle of Gettysburg, they de- clined an opportunity afforded them to volun teer for a share in that momentous struggle, which was the turning-point of the war, and, filled with a desire to see their kindred, once more availed themselves of their privilege of returning home.
After the war was over, he came to Port- land and found employment with Emery & Fox, large outfitters in the West India trade, loading and fitting as many as one hundred vessels a year. Leaving them he next en- gaged in the printing business for about a year, at the end of which he secured the con- tract for sprinkling the streets of the city, which enterprise he managed for eighteen years, giving general satisfaction. He began this business with only one horse, but on his retirement from it he had forty-four horses and a large number of employees. During his management of this important branch of the municipal service he introduced a new and improved system, his own patent, which he subsequently supplied to other cities, Ot- tawa, Canada, being one of the larger munici- palities to appreciate and profit by his in- ventive genius. Mr. Kennard was engaged largely at one time in the trade with Cuba. He also invested to a considerable extent in building and real estate.
In politics he has always been a Republi- can, and he was once prevailed upon to accept service for one term as a member of the Com- mon Council; but, not desiring public honors, he has since refrained from active politics. His fidelity to his party is tempered only by a manly independence which reserves the right to "scratch " the name of any candidate who in his opinion is unfitted for the position with which the name is associated on the ticket.
Mr. Kennard was married at the age of thirty years to Miss Etta Holden, daughter of Benjamin T. Holden, of Otisfield, this State.
430
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Their home for some years has been at 150 Federal Street, opposite Lincoln Park. Mr. Kennard is now retired from active business pursuits. By diligence and economy he has achieved a fair competency, which it may be hoped he has many years to enjoy, being but little past the prime of life. Throughout his active career it has been his custom to extend ready aid and counsel to those battling with the tide of adversity, and more than one human bark has he rescued from the rocks of business failure and the quicksands of despondency to set a straight course for the haven of success. His helping hand has also rescued from the gutter many a wretched victim of drink, who, by his friendly counsel and such aid as medical science could bestow, has been delivered from the fatal bondage of a master habit, to become once more a useful member of society. Mr. Kennard has followed close the Golden Rule, believing that the highest object of this earthly existence is to build character for the limit- less life beyond the veil.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.