Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine, Part 73

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

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In the fall of 1844 he attended a meeting of prominent citizens, including John A. Poor, to consider the question of building a railroad to Montreal. This was the inception of the great enterprise in which he afterward had an active interest. Four years after becoming the law partner of its chief promoter, J. A. Poor, in 1851, he made an extensive tour of Europe and acted as the correspondent of the Railroad Journal of New York, writing chiefly of the railroad systems of Europe. Upon his return he was appointed on the staff of Gov- ernor Hubbard, whose election he had ear- nestly advocated before his departure. In 1855 he edited the Argus for John Appleton, who was Secretary of Legation at London ; and in 1856 he was appointed, by Governor Wells, Reporter of Decisions, and edited the forty- first and forty-second volumes of the Maine Reports. The next year he formed a law partnership with Nathan Clifford, which was very congenial to both parties, and which con- tinued until Mr. Clifford was appointed to the United States Supreme Bench, January 12, 1858.

About this time Mr. Adams was elected editor of the Eastern Argus, much against his will, as he preferred the practice of law, at which he had been successful, to editorial work ; but he was finally persuaded to accept

the place through the advice of friends whose opinions he did not wish to disregard. After a time he acquired a half-interest in the paper, and in 1866 he became its sole owner. Mr. Adams has been editor of the paper for more than thirty-nine years, during all of which time it has been an able and outspoken advo- cate of Jeffersonian Democracy, to support which it was established in 1803. The Argus never gives out any uncertain sound : it is true to its principles and is ready to defend them at all times. Of late years much attention has been given to the news department of columns, and it now ranks as the leading newspaper of the State.

In 1877-78 Mr. Adams was elected to the legislature at Augusta, serving on the Finance Committee during both terms. The second year he was nominated by his party for Speaker of the House, and received every Democratic vote. He was one of the origi- nators of the Maine Press Association, in which he takes great interest, and is usually the' leading spirit both in its summer excur- sions and winter reunions, always entertaining his editorial brethren with great cordiality. Mr. Adams is justly held in the highest re- spect and esteem in the community in which he resides and throughout the fraternity of which he is an honored and brilliant member. In business and in social life his honesty of purpose, lofty character, and his kind and gentle nature have won him admirers and warm personal friends among all classes with whom he associates.

Mr. Adams married Miss Adele S. Hobbs, daughter of William Whitman Hobbs and Sarah Farrington (Merrill) Hobbs, of Nor- way, April 18, 1867. This union has been blessed by the birth of five children - Susan Merrill; Sarah Whitman; John Milton, a very promising young man who died at the age of fifteen ; Adele Hobbs; and Charles Henry.

Nathan Adams, Jr., father of the subject of this sketch, was born January 28, 1788. March 17, 1817, he married Susan, daughter of Ezekiel Merrill, who was born at Andover, Me., being the first white child born in that town. Mr. Nathan Adams, Jr., became possessed of the old homestead of his father in Rumford, where he lived until his death, Jan-

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uary 26, 1830. He was a soldier in Captain Wheeler's regiment, and was called out for the protection of Portland in the War of 1812. Nathan Adams, Sr., of the sixth generation of the Adams family in America, was in his early manhood a resident of Andover, Mass. He held the rank of First Lieutenant in a company raised in Andover for service in the War of the Revolution. Afterward he came to Maine, and was a prominent and early settler of East Andover, Me., later moving to and develop- ing the home at Rumford, where he resided until his death. (For further facts concerning the Adams family see "History of Rumford," by Lapham, 1890, Augusta.)

UGUSTUS J. HASKELL, a native resident of New Gloucester, Cumber- land County, Me., is the owner of the Haskell farm near the village of Upper Gloucester, which he carries on in a capable and efficient manner. He was born on January 28, 1845, son of Jabez and Hannah (Griffin) Haskell, and is a grandson of Will- iam B. Haskell, who settled in New Glouces- ter in the pioneer days of this town. The grandfather's place is known as the Whitman farm. He remained there until 1855, and then removed to Livermore, Me., where he ended his days.

Jabez Haskell was born in New Gloucester on June 8, 1805. At twenty-five years of age he purchased the farm now owned by his son, and he spent the remainder of his life there. In addition to his farm work he did a large amount of freighting with ox teams between New Gloucester and Portland. He died on October 2, 1869. His wife, Hannah Griffin, was born in Freeport, Me., on October 5, 1804. Five children were the fruit of their union, namely: Priscilla G., who was born February 8, 1831, and died September 30, 1833; Martha F., who was born July 23, 1834, married W. F. Milliken, now living in Portland, Me., and died on August 5, 1870; Julia E., who was born October 12, 1835, married Israel T. Merrill, now residing in China, Me., and died on October 6, 1866; Augustus J. ; and Thomas G., who was born September 19, 1846, married Miss Alice

Wormwood, died in Auburn, Me., on Septem- ber 1, 1886, his widow now living in Yar- mouth, Me. Mrs. Hannah Griffin Haskell died on November 28, 1870.

Augustus J. Haskell acquired a good com- mon-school education. He remained with his parents until he attained his majority; and after his marriage, in company with his brother, he took charge of the old homestead. A little later, however, he purchased his brother's interest; and he is now the owner of one hundred and seven acres of productive farm land. He has made various improve- ments, and carries on mixed husbandry with good results, making a specialty of his milk business. On an average he keeps twelve milch cows, which give about sixteen gallons of milk daily. This he ships to the Portland market. He also raises each year a limited amount of stock.

On January 1, 1871, he was united in mar- riage with Mrs. Emma A. Goding, widow of Charles Goding, of Auburn, Me., and a daughter of Seth and Hannah (Rowe) Lane. Her father, who was a prosperous farmer of New Gloucester, died on September 24, 1875. Mrs. Haskell is now the sole survivor of a family of seven children. She was born on August 14, 1847. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Haskell, a son named Ernest, was born June 4, 1882, and died on June 19, 1882.

In politics Mr. Haskell is a Republican, and has always been a faithful adherent of that party. He is a member of the Grange, or society of farmers, at Auburn, Me., and also of the New Gloucester and Danville Fair As- sociation, of which he has served as Director for seven years, and was President in 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Haskell are active members of the First Congregational Church of New Gloucester.

ENRY AUGUSTUS SHOREY, a well-known Maine journalist, resid- ing in Bridgton, Cumberland County, was born in Waterville, Me., April 3, 1840. He is the eldest son of Francis Warren Shorey, also a native of Waterville, and a grandson of Reuben Shorey, a native of Somersworth, N.H.

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Reuben Shorey married Mary Warren, who was nearly related to the family of General Joseph Warren, the gallant patriot among the earliest of the slain at Bunker Hill in the war of the Revolution. Grandfather Shorey died at Waterville, whither he removed early in his married life, at about eighty-five years of age. His widow survived him, dying in the same town at the age of ninety-five. Six ehil- dren were born to them - Joseph, James, Franeis Warren, Henry Augustus, Reuben, and a daughter who died in infancy.

Franeis Warren Shorey was by voeation a blacksmith, learning the trade in Waterville. In 1842 he removed with his family to Bath, where he continued in the business until his death in 1854, at the age of fifty-four. He married in Waterville Mary Jane Ricker, the daughter of Joseph Ricker, the village tailor, a native and lifelong resident of Waterville. She outlived her husband, dying at the age of sixty-five in Bridgton. Eight children were

born to them - Hannah Ricker, Sophia Penney, Henry Augustus, Frazier Trott, Winfield Seott, Francis Warren, and a son and daughter dying in infancy.

The subject of this sketeh, Henry Augustus Shorey, was reared in Bath, attending the pub- lic sehools until the age of fourteen, when- the death of his father and the family needs ren- dered it necessary for him to withdraw from the schools and seek employment. At that early age he apprentieed himself to the print- ing business in the establishment of the weekly newspaper known as the Eastern Times, thus laying the foundation for his sub- sequent successful career as publisher and editor. He continued in the Bath printing- offices for seven years, following the fortunes of the Eastern Times in various changes and consolidations until he became of age in that eventful year of 1861, when

" Charleston's frowning cannon

Rang their challenge to the fray,"

and he was among the very first in Bath to enter his name as a reeruit upon the rolls of the old "Bath City Grays," which afterward became Company A of the Third Maine Regi- ment. But, in the rigid medical examination ordered just prior to going into camp, the

"pale-faced" printer's boy was among those thrust aside as not being considered suffi- eiently robust for military duty.

Keenly disappointed and much dispirited, he eagerly watched his opportunity to enter one of the later regiments. In October, under the adviee of Governor Washburn, he engaged in recruiting service; and, with his recruits going into eamp at Augusta the latter part of November, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant of Company B, Fifteenth Maine Volunteers, his parchment bearing date De- eember 7, 1861. For four years and seven months he shared the privations and fortunes of this regiment, participating with it in all its eampaigns and varied experiences. With it he followed Farragut and Butler to the capture and subsequent oceupation of New Orleans; spent three successive summers in the region of the malaria-infected swamps of the Missis- sippi ; was with Banks in the expedition to the southern coast of Texas, being in command of the boat's crew which first landed and re- stored the "stars and stripes " to Texas soil after its being so dramatically unfurled by Twiggs; was, with his regiment, a participant in the severe marches and desperate engage- ments of the Red River expedition in Western Louisiana; with the Nineteenth Corps joined Grant's forces on the Potomae in 1864; was with Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley in the fall of that year, and with his eommand under Hancock was on the mareh from Win- chester toward Lynchburg when the tidings of Lee's surrender was received.

He commanded his company in the Great Review typifying the close of the war and the coming of peace, May, 1865, and then, with his regiment, proceeded to Georgia and South Carolina, where for a full year longer he was engaged in the troublous and exciting advent- ures of the reconstruction period, not being finally mustered out until July, 1866. He was successively promoted from Second to First Lieutenant and Captain, and brevetted Major "for meritorious services during the war" " in Mareh, 1865. He also served for a considerable period as Adjutant of his regi- ment. While in South Carolina he held the important post of Provost Marshal for the counties of Georgetown and Horry, and for a

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period was commanding officer of a subdis- trict in Northern South Carolina, embracing the counties of Chester, Laurens, York, Union, and Spartanburg, in a period of gen- eral disorder midway between the withdrawal of military and the re-establishment of civil government. He served as Judge Advocate of a Military Commission at Columbia, S.C., trying some noted criminal cases, and also held a number of important detached appoint- ments.

Returning home in 1866, having married Miss Ida D. Currier in 1864, he at once re- sumed his old vocation, the printing business. Spending a few months in the book-publishing house of John Wilson & Son, Cambridge, Mass., he in 1867 returned to Bath, and with Elijah Upton purchased the Bath Daily Times and American Sentinel (weekly). For three years they pursued this business, then sold the establishment; and a little later Mr. Shorey fitted up a new establishment for job printing and the publication of the Maine Temperance Advocate. This was continued until 1870, when he removed the materials to Bridgton, Cumberland County, where he established the paper which he has successfully conducted for a period of over a quarter of a century, and which is recognized as one of the most in- fluential weeklies of the State, having an ex- tensive circulation.

Major Shorey is a lifelong temperance man, and has actively engaged in that work. Sign- ing the abstinence pledge as a mere boy, he became active in the temperance organizations in his minority. For several years he was Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Maine, Inde- pendent Order of Good Templars, with a mem- bership of thirty thousand; for two terms was the chief officer of the Order in Maine, known as Grand Worthy Chief Templar; and repre- sented Maine in the Supreme Councils of the Order at St. Louis, Mo., Louisville, Ky., Detroit, Mich., etc. He has been a Mason and Odd Fellow since 1864, and is a member of the Pythian fraternity, etc. For a dozen years he was President of the Maine Odd Fel- lows' Relief Association. He was charter member and Adjutant of the first Grand Army Post organized in Maine, and was immedi- ately appointed on the staff of the Order's

first Commander-in-chief, and empowered to establish a sufficient number of Posts to warrant the formation of the Department of Maine, which he did. He has twice held the position of Assistant Quartermaster-general for the Department of Maine.

Major Shorey was a member of the Gov- ernor's staff (rank of Lieutenant Colonel) in 1873, and was one of the Trustees of the Maine Insane Hospital during the successive administrations of Governors Sidney Perham, Nelson Dingley, and Selden Connor. He has been more or less interested in politics all his life, an active participant in the caucuses and conventions of his party, and has had con- siderable experience as a presiding officer at political gatherings, State and county temper- ance conventions and mass meetings. Under the administration of Collector Lot M. Morrill (1878) Major Shorey was invited to a position in the Portland custom-house, was promoted to the position of weigher and gauger under the collectorship of Colonel F. N. Dow, was removed for political reasons upon the advent of a collector appointed by the first Cleveland administration (1886), and upon the return of his party to power was reinstated under the provisions of the civil service rule which permits the restoration of an honorably dis- charged soldier "separated from the service for no fault of his own." He served as the sole weigher and gauger of the port of Port- land for four and a half years. Under the second Cleveland administration he was in June, 1895, again removed ; and the place was filled by a Democratic appointee of Collector Deering.

In 1889-91 Major Shorey and his son and brother were associated together in the publi- cation of the Bath Daily Times and American Sentinel. For the most of this period his eld- est son was editor of the papers, receiving more or less assistance from the father. For a dozen years Major Shorey has been Secretary and Historian of the Fifteenth Maine Regi- mental Association; and in 1890 he prepared and published an elaborate and expensive work, "The Story of the Maine Fifteenth," which was received with much favor by the press and public. The first edition is entirely exhausted, and a second edition is soon to be issued.

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The Major has a charming home at Bridg- ton, with an estimable wife and five children, and is just now resting upon his laurels and happy in the enjoyment of home comforts.

OHN R. TWITCHELL, for many years in the wholesale grocery business in Portland, Me., late of the Twitchell, Champlin Company at 252 Commercial Street, Merrill's Wharf, died on February 29, 1896. He was born in Bethel, Oxford County, Me., son of John and Roxanna (Howe)

Twitchell. His father, a contractor and builder, was born in Sherborn, Mass., in 1800. His paternal great-grandfather, Cap- tain Peter Twitchell, was a Revolutionary hero. (See "History of Oxford County.")

At the age of fifteen, after attending Gould Academy in Bethel, John R. Twitchell came to Portland as clerk for his brother in the firm of Davis, Twitchell & Chapman, where he re- mained eight years, his natural capacity devel- oping by experience till he was able to as- sume business responsibilities for himself. In 1862 he formed a partnership with Mr. J. P. Champlin ; and two years later they pur- chased the grocery business of his first em- ployers, the firm name being changed to Twitchell Brothers & Champlin. Afterward the company was known under the style of Twitchell Brothers, Champlin & Co. The corporation designated as the Twitchell, Champlin Company was formed in 1890. They own the wharf on which the stores and factories are located, and they do a large wholesale business besides running a canning factory. In Boston, on the corner of Bowker and Sudbury Streets, they have another flour- ishing house, under the same firm name.

In politics Mr. Twitchell was a Republican. Nominations were tendered him, but he never held any public office. He, however, served the Board of Trade as Secretary, and at one time was President of the Mercantile Library Association. He was a Knight Templar of the Portland Commandery, and a member of the Cumberland Club. He also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Unity Lodge.

He married in 1863 Miss Angie B.

Marble, daughter of Stephen M. and Alura (Bonney) Marble, and is survived by his wife and two children, namely: Gertrude M., a graduate of Smith College, twenty-three years of age; and Arthur C., twenty years old, now a Sophomore in Williams College. An- other son, Frederick, died at the age of six years. The family attend the First Unitarian Church, and live at 20 Deering Street in this city.

ON. WILLIAM WARREN LAMB, broker and real estate dealer, a na- tive resident of Westbrook, Me., was born February 27, 1837, son of John and Lucy (Leighton) Lamb. He is a member of one of the old families of this Io- cality, his great-grandfather, William Lamb, who lived in ante-Revolutionary times, having been a pioneer settler of Westbrook. He lived to be a very old man ; and his son, Will- iam, Jr., a native of this town, attained an advanced age. William Lamb, the younger, reared a large family ; and John, the father of William W. Lamb, was one of the older chil- dren.

John Lamb, born in Westbrook in the early days, when farming was the chief industry of the place, followed that occupation as a life pursuit. Working untiringly and living frugally, 'he amassed considerable property. He was an honest man, with hearty ways and a genial disposition, and was very popular. In politics he was a stanch Whig. He died at the age of seventy-eight. His wife, a na- tive of Windham, Me., died February 29, 1896, at the venerable age of eighty-eight years. She was a member of the Congrega- tional church, as was her husband. Ten chil- dren, seven sons and three daughters, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lamb. Of these the following are living: Emily J., wife of Ho- ratio Daniels, of Westbrook; William Warren, the subject of this sketch; Mary E., wife of Benjamin Webber, of Westbrook; Merrit, a farmer of Westbrook, who married Miss Olive Smith, of this town; John W., a farmer in Sioux City, Ia., who married Miss Minnie Howell; and Anna R., wife of W. S. Sweet, of Westbrook.

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William Warren Lamb acquired his educa- tion in the schools of his native town. He was for some time engaged in trade in West- brook, and twenty years ago began to deal in real estate. Much of the best property in the east end of the city has passed through Mr. Lamb's hands, and he has laid out for building purposes fully two hundred lots. He owned at one time one hundred acres of land within the limits of the city proper, and two-thirds of this he has devoted to building purposes. An important factor in the financial progress of Westbrook, he was one of the founders of the Westbrook Trust Company, a banking in- stitution organized in 1890 with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, which has since been augmented to three hundred thousand dollars.

He has also been intimately connected with the political life of the place, taking an active part in public affairs as a Republican. He was the first Postmaster at Cumberland Mills and a member of the Board of Selectmen of Westbrook in 1874 and 1875. In 1889 he was elected to the House of Representatives, and in 1891 was re-elected, serving four years in all. He was a member of the legislature when Westbrook was awarded a city charter, being a zealous worker for the passage of the bill; and he has been a prominent mem- ber of the City Republican Committee for years.

In 1862 Mr. Lamb was married in West- brook to Susan Smith, a native of Lovell, Me., daughter of Thomas and Sarah Smith, both of whom died in Lovell. Three children have blessed this union - Nellie, who died in childhood; Alice, wife of Wingate C. Tit- comb, a carpenter of Westbrook; and Frank W. Lamb, M.D., a graduate of the medical department of Bowdoin College, who took a post-graduate course of study at Bellevue Hospital, New York City, and is now practis- ing medicine at Tilton, N.H.

A leader in business and political circles, Mr. Lamb is also prominent in several social Orders. He is a Chapter Mason and Knight Templar, belonging to Lodge No. 186, of Cumberland Mills, and to St. Albans Com- mandery, Knights Templars, of Portland, and is a member of Ammoncongin Lodge, No. 76, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also

of Presumpscot Valley Lodge, No. 4, Knights of Pythias. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb attend the Congregational church.

HARLES W. ALLEN, of the firm of F. O. Bailey & Co., 46 Exchange Street and corner of Middle and Market Streets, Portland, was born in Poland, Me., on November 28, 1848. His parents were William P. and Lucy H. (Porter) Allen, the former of whom was also a native of Poland, the mother being born in the town of Paris, Me. William P. Allen, who was a son of William Allen, followed the combined vocations of a farmer and carriage manufacturer throughout the active period of his life. He died in 1858. His wife, Lucy H. Porter, who was a daughter of Charles Porter and grand-daughter of Charles Porter, Sr., is still living. Of their five children two survive - Ray Hamilton and Charles W. The first named married William Buxton, of North Yarmouth, after his death, which oc- curred in 1882, becoming the wife of Ed- ward J. Hoadley, of Hartford, Conn.

Charles W. Allen received his education in the public schools of Norway and at the Ed- ward Little Institute of Auburn, Me. On leaving school in 1866, at the age of eighteen years, he came to Portland to take a position as clerk for F. O. Bailey. Three years later he bought an interest in the business, and since then has continued in partnership with Mr. Bailey. Mr. Allen married Miss Ida G. Neal, a daughter of Alvin and Emily E. (Woodside) Neal, who were formerly resi- dents of Portland, but are now living in Lex- ington, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have one son, Neal Woodside Allen. In political views Mr. Allen is a stanch Republican. Among the various fraternal organizations with which he is affiliated are: Ancient Land- mark Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Mount Vernon Chapter, Portland Commandery; Unity Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and the Portland Club. He and his wife are members of the Universalist church. Mr. Allen is now erecting a substantial residence at 149 Pine Street, where the family will make their home after its completion.

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ENRY P. SPURR, a leading member of the farming community of Otis- field, was born in Otisfield, October 9, 1825, son of Enoch and Lavinia (Gamman) Spurr, both natives of Otisfield. His paternal grandfather, also Enoch Spurr, came to Otisfield from Massachusetts, and settled on a farm near the present residence of his grandson. He was a patriot of the Revolution, one of the sturdy farmers who, to fight for independence, left, as Whittier puts it,

" The plough 'mid furrow standing still, The half-ground corn grist in the mill, The spade in earth, the axe in cleft."

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine, Part 73

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