Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine, Part 64

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

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February 10, 1871, Mr. Bennett was united in marriage with Georgia A. Gardiner, of Old Orchard. Miss Gardiner's father died when she was a child; and her mother, formerly Matilda Cuthbert, who was a native of Scot- land, married Benjamin Milliken, of Old Orchard, in which place the daughter grow to womanhood. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, of whom two are liv-

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ing - Lilla Irene and Bessie Mildred, both with their parents. The other child, a bright boy called Neddie, lived but six brief sum- mers.

Mr. Bennett votes with the Republican party, but is not an aspirant for office. He is well advanced in Masonry, belonging to Port- land Lodge, No. I, A. F. & A. M., of which he is Past Master, and was at the head of its one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary; is Past High Priest of Greenleaf Chapter; a member of Portland Council; . St. Alban Commandery, No. 8, Knights Templar, of which he is present Eminent Commander; and all the Scottish Rite bodies up to the Consis- tory, having attained the thirty-second degree in Maine Consistory, holding various offices. He is a member of Maine Lodge, No. 1, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and has served as an official in various capacities; belongs to Ivanhoe Lodge, Knights of Pythias; is Past Sachem of Samoset Tribe, No. 32, Indepen- dent Order of Red Men; and was one of the original members of the Portland Athletic Club. He is a member of the Maine Genea- logical Society and of the Maine Charitable Mechanics' Association. Mr. Bennett is one of the Parish Committee of the New High Street Swedenborgian Church, of which his family also are members. He has a handsome residence at 16 Elm Street.

IDNEY BECKWITH STEWART, who has been connected with the Grand Trunk Railroad at Portland since September 22, 1857, the last thirty-three years being yardmaster, was born March 31, 1839, at Newport, N.S., being a son of Dunbar Douglas and Mary (Wier) Stewart. His near ancestors were prominent members of the legal profession, his paternal grandfather, James Stewart, having been a noted attorney in Maryland and subsequently Chief Justice of Halifax, N.S., which position he held at the time of his death.

Dunbar D. Stewart was born at Halifax, N.S., where he was educated and admitted to the bar. He afterward settled in Newport, where he was one of the leading lawyers for many years, continuing to practise his pro-

fession until his death. He was twice mar- ried, his first wife bearing him six children. After her death he married Miss Wier, who was a native of Newport, N.S., whither her father removed about the middle of the eigh- teenth century, taking advantage, with many others, of certain royal grants of land, which were made at that time for the purpose of at- tracting colonists. She died at St. John, N. B., at the age of fifty-two years, having borne him ten children.

Sidney Beckwith Stewart obtained the rudi- ments of knowledge in his native town, com- ing thence to this city with his mother and family, when eleven years of age, and com- pleting his education in the schools of Port- land. Five years later his mother returned to her former home, he remaining here. After an initiatory business experience in some of the city stores, he entered the Grand Trunk Railway office, where he found employment for . a time, being made yardmaster in 1863, when but twenty-three years of age. He has since had entire charge of all the employees of the yard and supervision of the cars and freight, his duties being especially onerous in the winter season, when the ocean steamers dis- charge here, instead of at Montreal, the freight being all shipped over this road. The business has grown rapidly since Mr. Stewart assumed his present position, the number of tracks having been increased from four to eleven, with a corresponding increase of work and responsibility.

Mr. Stewart is well known in the Masonic circles of this city, being a member of Atlan- tic Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Greenleaf Chap- ter, and of the Portland Council.

Mr. Stewart's first wife, whose maiden name was Adelia V. Haskell, died a few years after her marriage, leaving one child, Arthur S., who is now with the Rumford Falls Paper Company at Rumford Falls. On September 4, 1883, Mr. Stewart formed a second matri- monial alliance, being wedded to Miss Jessie Elliot, a daughter of Charles Elliot, of Lawrencetown, N. S. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are active and faithful members of the Second Parish Congregational Church of this city. They have a comfortable home at 160 Cumberland Street.

PROF. LUCIAN HUNT, MRS. CAROLINE HUNT.

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EORGE R. WINSLOW, a veteran farmer of Casco, Me., where for upward of sixty years he has en- gaged in the cultivation and conduct of the farm on which he resides, was born in Free- port, another Cumberland County town on the coast, December 25, 1816. His parents, Isaiah and Phœbe (Pride) Winslow, were na- tives of Westbrook, Me.

James Winslow, the grandfather of George R., was a farmer in the town of Westbrook, this county. Isaiah Winslow, son of James, learned the trade of a shoemaker, in which he was engaged, when his father did not need his assistance on the farm, until he came to Casco in 1820. He purchased a farm near the one now owned by his son; and during the re- mainder of his life he followed general farm- ing, also working at carpentry to a limited extent. His death occurred when he was seventy-one years old. His wife, whose maiden name was Phœbe Pride, lived to be an octogenarian, dying at eighty-one years of age. Eleven children were the fruit of their union, namely: Elizabeth Ann, born January 21, 1812, now deceased; Francis, born November 4, 1814, residing in the State of Washington; George R. ; Esther, born February 24, 1818, who died in infancy; Mary Jane, born December 10, 1820, living in Bridgton, Me. ; Isaiah P., born January 23, 1825, now living in Hiawatha, Kan .; Harry, who was born April 27, 1827, and died October 5, 1828; Miram P., born August 24, 1829, living in Chicago, Ill. ; Noah, born April 22, 1832, who died in 1892; Josiah, born March 15, 1834, a resident of Westbrook, Me. ; and a child that died in babyhood.

George R. Winslow remained with his par- ents until he attained his majority, and during his home life acquired a good practical com- mon-school education. When he started out for himself he purchased the farm on which he resides, and where he has since been suc- cessfully engaged in general farming, during a part of the winter seasons having worked at lumbering. This farm contains about seventy- five acres of well-improved land; and besides his stock he raises each year good crops of such staple products as hay, grain, potatoes, and fruit.

At twenty-six years of age, on December 25, 1842, Mr. Winslow was married to Miss Sybil A. Dyer, who was born at Sebago, Me., and was a daughter of Daniel and Martha Dyer. Mr. Dyer was a native of Sebago, and his wife of Limington, York County. He was a prosperous farmer in the town of Sebago, Cumberland County. Mrs. Sybil A. Winslow died on September 2, 1891. She was the mother of ten children, all of whom received the advantages of a good common-school edu- eation. Vernon E., Mr. Winslow's eldest son, born October 12, 1843, died September 28, 1868. Dennis E., the second, born Sep- tember 8, 1845, was killed on March 22, 1861. Edgar B., born January 19, 1849, married Miss Matilda Edwards, and is living in Casco. Lunetta Winslow (now deceased), born May 18, 1851, married Levi G. Small, who is liv- ing in Gray, Me. Anson I., born June 28, 1855, married Miss Addie Tenny; and after her death he formed a second marriage with Miss Ellen Edwards, with whom he is living in Casco. Hattie, born August 1, 1858, is the wife of Lyman Proctor, of Casco. An- thony T., born June 28, 1860, marricd Miss Jennie Shaw, and lives in Otisfield, Me. Randall, born September 3, 1862, died July 8, 1863. George N., born March 4, 1866, married Miss Ilvina Snell, who has borne him four children; he lives with his father, and has charge of the farm. Annie, born Febru- ary 16, 1868, died June 22, 1871.

Mr. Winslow has always been a supporter of the Democratic party. He is a member of Manama Lodge, No. 40, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Mechanic Falls, Me. He and his family are attendants of the Univer- salist church.

ROFESSOR LUCIAN HUNT, A. M., is a New England man in the fullest sense of the term, his birth having occurred in Vermont, the substantial foundation for his liberal education having been laid in New Hampshire, his de- gree of A. M. obtained in the Wesleyan Uni- versity of Connecticut, and many years of his professional life spent in the States of Massa- chusetts and Maine, the town of Gorham, in

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Cumberland County, Maine, being in these latter years his place of residence.

The name of Hunt is very ancient, being known all over the civilized world, the Amer- ican family originating in England, whencc the emigrant ancestor came to Massachusetts, locating in Amesbury. Subsequently three brothers bearing this patronymic removed to New Hampshire, two of them, Humphrey and William, going to Guilford, the other, Philip, removing to Sanbornton. There he married and reared a family of twelve children, his son Philip, the eldest-born, inheriting the home- stead. He, too, married there; and, of the eleven children born to him and his wife, An- thony Colby, father of Professor Hunt, was the seventh in succession of birth.

Anthony C. Hunt was a farmer by occupa- tion, carrying on his labors in different places, residing a few years successively in Gilman- ton, Sanbornton, and the Weirs. When but eighteen years old he married Mary Chase, who was of nearly the same age, and was the daughter of Parker Chase, then of Deerfield, N. H. While this young couple were living in Sanbornton, their daughter Sarah and their eldest son, Lucian, who lived but five years, were born. In 1815 Mr. Anthony C. Hunt, in company with several others from that place, among them Mr. Parker Chase, with several of his sons and daughters and their families, removed to Woodbury, Vt., where they lived in a most primitive style for some years. Mr. Hunt first built a rude log house in the midst of the primeval forest; and here Lucian, named for the little son they had buried, was born, and here he spent his first years. The settlement flourished but a few years, the distant markets, the severe priva- tions, and the scarcity of the necessaries of life driving the colonists to more civilized regions, Anthony C. Hunt and his family spending a few years in the neighboring town of Cabot before returning to Sanbornton, where both he and his wife passed their rc- maining days, he dying at seventy-five years of age, and she living to the venerable age of eighty-seven.

Lucian Hunt was from his earliest years fond of books and study, and after his removal to Sanbornton Bridge he had an excellent

opportunity for satisfying his intellectual am- bitions. Under the wise instructions of the Rev. Enoch Corser, for those times a classical scholar of more than ordinary gifts and attain- ments, he began to study Latin, commencing with the grammar in the spring, and in the fall of the same year finishing Virgil's ÆEneid, which he reviewed the following winter during his first term as a teacher in the public schools. He was also a pupil for a time of Professor Dyer H. Sanborn. At the carly age of sixteen Lucian Hunt began teaching, his first school being in the Bay Hill District, Northfield, where he was again engaged for the second winter. He then was urged to take charge of the school in the centre of Northfield; but, as this was a partic- ularly hard position, his friends advised him to decline. Nevertheless, he accepted the in- vitation, and taught three winters, meeting with eminent success, resigning then to take a school in Natick, Mass., where he taught three winters, being subsequently a teacher in. Kingston, Mass., for a year. During all of this time the future Professor was earnestly continuing his studies, reading Latin far beyond the college requirements and mak- ing notable advancement in Greek, French, and German, besides pursuing the English branches, paying his own way, as he did later in going through college, being neither harassed by debts nor by charitable donations while taking his college course. When his funds were too heavily drawn upon, he went to Boston during the summer, and there carned enough to take him through the ensuing col- lege year. He was graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in 1863.

Mr. Hunt was for a time undecided as to his future career, being somewhat inclined toward the study of law, but finally accepted the charge of the academy at Marlow, N. H., a school which was apparently fast approaching its dissolution. Under his enthusiastic ad- ministration new life was infused, the number of pupils, which at first barely numbered a score, being increased during the second year to one hundred and forty ; and, had the capac- ity of the building been greater, it would have reached two hundred, as one class was refused admittance owing to the limited accommoda-

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tions. This was partly due to Professor Hunt's success in procuring competent assist- ants, Miss Mary Clough being his preceptress and the Hon. George C. Hubbard the teacher of mathematics. Many men since prominent in literary, professional, and political circles have been pupils of Professor Hunt, being students either at this academy or in some of the other schools which he has had in charge, among the number worthy of mention being Judge Hardy, the Hon. Mr. Hammond, the late Sanborn Tenney, Professor of Natural History at Williams College, President An- drews of Brown University, and Rufus Will- iams, Professor of Chemistry at the English High School in Boston.

Professor Hunt afterward taught two years in the academy at Standish, this State, going thence to Boston, where he was engaged for several years in the Eliot School. His health becoming impaired, he then rested from his labors two years, when he accepted the principalship of Powers's Institute at Bernardston, Mass., which he resigned five years later to take charge of Lawrence Acad- emy in Falmouth, Mass., which was then in the lowest ebb of existence. His experience at Falmouth was very similar to that in Mar- low, the academy being brought up to a high standard of efficiency, the town experiencing a salutary revival of interest in educational matters. After twelve years of excellent ser- vice Professor Hunt left that school in charge of a former pupil, and for the next two years he was the principal of McCollom Institute at Mount Vernon, N. H. Having spent nearly forty years in teaching, he then relinquished his calling in order to devote himself more ex- tensively to literary pursuits. In 1888 he set- tled in Gorham, where he and his estimable wife are happy in the companionship of their books and their many friends. Mrs. Hunt was formerly Caroline Higgins. She is a na- tive of Standish, this State but their marriage was celebrated at their present residence in Gorham on June 22, 1863. Her father, the late Enoch F. Higgins, was a Colonel in the State militia and a soldier of the War of 1812.

In 1880 Professor Hunt delivered the cen- tennial address at Northfield, N. H., celebrat-

ing the incorporation of the town. This address was published in pamphlet form and in the Granite Monthly of New Hampshire. He has since written a "History of Northfield, N. H.," of which a Philadelphia firm are the publishers. Professor Hunt is a Trustee of McCollom Institute and of the New Hamp- shire Conference Seminary in Tilton, where at the semi-centennial he was one of the after-dinner speakers. He also made an inter- esting address at the centennial anniversary of the birth of Saul C. Higgins, of Gorham, being introduced by Governor Robie.

The library of the Professor is one of the most valuable private collections of books in New England, embracing some three thousand choice volumes by standard authors, among them being the works of French, German, and other foreign authors, written in their native language, the complete historical works of Prescott, Allison, Grote, Bancroft, Gibbon, and Macaulay ; Rawlinson's "Herodotus"; Thucydides ; Parton's "Life of Andrew Jackson ; Emerson's works; Plutarch's "Lives "; Boswell's "Life of Johnson "; Irving's works; Correspondence of Daniel Webster, and of Carlyle and Emerson; Macaulay's "Life and Letters "; the novels of Thackeray, Dickens, Bulwer, Scott, George Eliot, C. Brontë; a fine edition of Shakspere ; Homer's Iliad; Goethe's Faust; the works of Chaucer, Butler, Gray, Dryden, Cowper, Burns, Keats, Beaumont and Fletcher; Ossian; and nearly a complete set of the Latin classics, Ovid, Cicero, Juvenal, Tacitus ; a "Life of Washington " in Latin: and Schiller in the original.

SA P. REED, M.D., a physician in active practice in Naples, is of Eng- lish descent. He was born in South Bridgton, Me., November 16, 1856, son of Matthew W. and Hannah H.

(Miller) Reed. Matthew W. Reed, who was a native of Danvers, Mass., born in 1818, set- tled on a farm in South Bridgton, Me., in 1848, and there spent the rest of his life. He died February 11, 1892. His wife, a daugh- ter of Robert and Lucy Miller, of Denmark, Me., is still living in South Bridgton, being

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now seventy-eight years of age. They were the parents of seven children, of whom five are deceased. The survivors are: Asa P., the subject of this sketch; and Wilbur M., who resides on the homestead at South Bridgton.

Asa P. Reed received his carly education in the elementary schools and the high school of South Bridgton. Upon leaving school he was engaged in farm work on the homestead for a while. In 1886 he went to Champlin, Minn., where he spent some time managing a general store. In 1887, with his brother Wilbur, he engaged in the manufacture of coats at South Bridgton for Boston firms. Meeting with success in this occupation he pursued it for five years. At the end of that time he had saved money enough to carry out his purpose of qualifying himself for the medical profes- sion. In 1892 he sold his interest in the business to his brother, and entered the office of Dr. H. D. Torrey, of South Bridgton, with whom he pursued a course of study, at the same time attending Tufts Medical College, Boston. He received his diploma in June, 1895; and after a few months' practice in Boston he came to Naples, Me., as the suc- cessor to Dr. C. Y. Lord. Here he is fast acquiring a reputation for a thorough knowl- edge of the latest and best methods of medical practice. A part of his scant leisure is use- fully devoted by him to writing medical articles for household journals.

Dr. Reed was married June 25, 1881, to Miss Nellie M. Sawyer, a native of Naples and daughter of Charles R. Sawyer. In poli- tics he is a Republican. He is not an aspirant for office, his professional work requiring all his time and attention. In religious matters Dr. and Mrs. Reed hold liberal views.

AMES. M. SMALL, a prosperous farmer of Freeport, Cumberland County, Me., was born in Bowdoin- ham, this State, March 26, 1827, being a son of Ephraim Small, who was born and reared in the same place. Mr. Small's pater- nal grandfather, Ephraim Small, Sr., was one of the early settlers of Small Point, and after his marriage with the daughter of one of the thrifty farmers of Sagadahoc County he be-

came a pioneer farmer of Bowdoinham. Ob- taining a tract of timbered land, he cleared and improved a good farm, his wife being a helpmeet in the true sense of the word, spin- ning and weaving the household linen as well as the family clothing, even her wedding dress being of her own manufacture. They reared a family of nine children, bringing them up to habits of diligence and prudent economy.

Ephraim Small, Jr., grew to man's estate in Bowdoinham, or, as it was then called, Hard Scrabble, succeeding to the occupation and the homestead of his father. He continued a tiller of the soil during his years of activity, round- ing out a full period of years on the old home farm. He married Miss Anna Higgins, who bore him eleven children, seven boys and four girls, all of whom grew to maturity; and the following are yet living: Annie, Richard, Elizabeth, James M., and Gilbert.

James M. Small received his education in his native town, and there learned the trade of a ship carpenter, following that vocation for many years thereafter. On May 4, 1857, in view of his approaching marriage, Mr. Small came to Freeport, where he purchased his present farm of one hundred and fifteen acres. On the 29th of the following July he married Mrs. Mary Jane (Curtis) Curtis, the widow of John T. Curtis, who had died leaving her without children. Mrs. Small was born at Freeport, Me., September 9, 1831. Hler parents, Melzar and Ruth (Woodman) Curtis, both lived to the age of seventy-four years. They had three children, namely : Henry Cur- tis, born November 3, 1828; Mary Jane (Mrs. Small) ; and Eliza, who was born September I, 1833, and married George W. Warren, of this town, who served three years in the late Civil War. Mr. Curtis was a man of sterling integrity, quite prominent in local affairs, being one of the most earnest adherents of the Whig party. He and his wife were very liberal-minded people. His father, David Curtis, was born in Harpswell in 1763, and died June 14, 1843. He was married March IT, 1788, to Jane Curtis, of High Head, and had six children.

Mr. Small was an active participant in the late Civil War, serving under Captain George W. Randall in Company G, Twenty-fifth

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Maine Volunteer Infantry. After his dis- charge from the army, at the expiration of his term of service, he resumed his agricultural labors, in which he has continued successfully until the present time, accumulating a com- fortable property through his untiring industry and intelligent management of his affairs. He is an active member of the Baptist church, in which he has faithfully performed the duties of a Deacon for the past ten years. Mr. and Mrs. Small are the parents of five children, of whom the following is a brief record : Walter M., born June 22, 1859, is a carpenter, living at Freeport ; Henry E., born July 7, 1861, a carpenter by trade, lives at Rumford Falls ; Frank L., born June 3, 1865, is now chief engineer of the power station of the electric railway running from Hampton to Old Point Comfort, Va. ; Mrs. Laura E. Randall was born January 17, 1868; and Mrs. Mary E. Curtis, born December 28, 1873, resides in Freeport.

A LONZO LIBBY, prominent in West- brook as a farmer, stock breeder, and milk dealer, belongs to a family that for many generations have been residents of Cumberland County. He was born in the town of Gorham, Me., on February 5, 1841, son of Andrew and Sophronia (Small) Libby, and grandson of Edward and Jane Libby.

Andrew Libby was a native of Gorham, born April 2, 1800. He was an educated man, and for a number of years was employed as a school teacher. Following that he conducted a general store in the town of Gorham, and died there in 1848. In his political views he was a Whig, while he was an attendant of the Congregational church. His wife, Sophronia Small, was a daughter of Francis Small, of Limington, York County. They had eight children, of whom six are living, namely : Melissa, who married Oren Babb, of West- brook; Sophronia, who successively married George E. Cole, of Limington, and Alonzo Chapman, of Naples, Me .; Alonzo, the sub- ject of this sketch; Henrietta, the wife of B. M. Edwards, of Portland; Laura F., who married Alonzo Cook, of Malden, Mass. ; and Mary A., the wife of Fred Walker, of Eliza- beth, Me.

Alonzo Libby was educated in the public schools of Gorham and at the Limington Academy. Soon after leaving school he went to Little Falls in the town of Gorham, and there learned the trade of a shoemaker. In 1861 he enlisted in Company Q, First Maine Regiment. After returning to civil life, he secured a position in the paper-mills of Grant, Warren & Co. (now S. D. Warner & Co. ) at Cumberland Mills, where he remained a few years. Following that he went to Davenport, Ia., where he conducted a grocery business for about six months. In 1864 he returned to Westbrook and took up farming and stock breeding, at which he has since been very suc- cessful. He makes a specialty of the breeding of fine horses and cattle. At his home in Westbrook he has eighteen head of Wilkes, Elector, Almont, and Mambrino Patchen bred horses, and about sixty head of pure bred Jer- sey and Ayrshire cattle. His barn is a model in its convenient and orderly arrangement. His real estate includes a large grass farm, on which he cuts about two hundred tons of hay each year.

Mr. Libby married Miss Alice Anna Boothby, of Buxton, Me., a daughter of Levi and Mary Ann Boothby. Their union has been blessed by the birth of four children, of whom three are now living. They were : Alice Jo- sephine, a teacher in the high school building in Westbrook; George Johnson Libby, who died at the age of fifteen years, when a student of the high school ; Sarah Boothby, a student of the Westbrook High School; and Ella Bart- lett, who attends the Westbrook Grammar School. The family are attendants of the Congregational church. Mr. Libby casts his vote with the Republican party. He was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen for the old town of Westbrook in 1874 and 1877. For the past fifteen years he has been one of the Trustees of the Maine State Agricultural So- ciety, and he is a Trustee of the Cumberland County Horticultural and Agricultural So- ciety. He is one of the Directors and founders of the Rigby Trotting Park Associa- tion of Portland, Me., and was one of the associate managers of the New England Fair in 1895. Mr. Libby is a prominent Mason of this section, and has taken the thirty-second

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine, Part 64

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