USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Cumberland County, Maine > Part 81
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Mr. Knight has been twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth S. Sawyer, daughter of Nelson Sawyer, of Westbrook; and by this union there were four children, all of whom died in infancy. He wedded for his second wife A. Eugenia Haskell, youngest daughter of Edmund Haskell, and by this marriage has one child.
Mr. Knight supports the Republican party in politics, and although he has never aspired to official prominence he takes a deep interest in public affairs. He is a member of Temple
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Lodge, No. 86, A. F. & A. M., and Sacca- rappa Lodge, No. 11, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Westbrook, and has been officially connected with the administration of these organizations. As a business man and a citizen he is highly esteemed and re- spected, and in social circles his genial dis- position and hearty good fellowship make his company enjoyable and welcome upon all oc- casions.
ILTON A. HALL, Assistant Superintend- ent of the Maine Central Railroad, having his office at Portland, Me., was born at Westmoreland, Cheshire County, N. H., December 15, 1842. He comes of English antecedents, his earliest ancestor in America, George Hall, having left Devon- shire, England, the place of his nativity, in 1636. Coming to New England, he settled in Taunton, Mass., which he made his permanent home. Mr. Hall's paternal grandfather, Elijah A. Hall, was a pioneer settler of West- moreland, N. H., where he was industriously engaged for many years as a tiller of the soil, and where his children, including Romeo E. Hall, the father of Elton, was born.
Romeo E. Hall engaged in agriculture dur- ing his earlier years, but abandoned that occu- pation to enter into mercantile business, in which he continued until his decease, in March, 1873, at the comparatively early age of fifty-five years. He married Mary, the daughter of Uzziah Wyman, a pioneer settler of Westmoreland; and she preceded him to the other side, dying in March, 1870. Two children were born of their union; namely, Elton A. and J. Wesley, the last named of whom died in this city in April, 1886.
Elton A. Hall was reared and educated in the town of his birth, where he completed the high-school course. He was subsequently em- ployed for a while in his father's store, being afterward engaged for a few years in the woodenware trade. After acquiring a knowl- edge of telegraphy in Westmoreland, at the Cheshire Railway office, he secured a position as train despatcher at St. Albans, Vt., on the Vermont Central Railway. Six years later Mr. Hall came to Portland, accepting a simi-
lar situation with the Maine Central Railway Company, and continuing thus engaged from October 1, 1875, until appointed assistant superintendent of the road in 1892. He has control of the trains on all divisions of the road, embracing some eight hundred miles of railway, and has proved himself a capable and faithful official. Mr. Hall joined the Masonic fraternity while a resident of Vermont, and is now a member of Atlantic Lodge, Greenleaf Chapter, of Portland, and the Council at St. Albans, Vt.
On November 16, 1870, the marriage of Mr. Hall with Miss Sarah J. Knight, of Westmoreland, N.H., was solemnized. Six children have been born to them, namely : Walter and Harry, who died; Arthur, who is now a clerk in the office of the General Man- ager of the Maine Central Railway; Hattie; Edith ; and Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are both esteemed members of the Free Street Baptist Church of this city. They reside at 46 West Street.
H. FOSTER SMITH, a prosperous wood and coal dealer of Gorham, was born in that town, August 30, 1844, son of Edward T. and Margaret H. (Foster) Smith. The family is of English origin. Mr. Smith's great-grandfather, the Rev. Peter Thatcher Smith, the first minister in Wind- ham, Me., was the son of the Rev. Thomas Smith, first minister of Portland, Me. The Rev. Peter Thatcher Smith resided in Wind- ham for many years. His son, John T. Smith, Mr. Smith's grandfather, who was born in that town, purchased in 1796 from the heirs of Major William Tyng - one of the heirs, Sarah Tyng Smith (the wife of the Rev. Thomas Smith), being his grandmother -a tract of three hundred acres of land in Gorham, granted them by the General Court of Massa- chusetts Bay. On this he cleared a good farm, and there resided for the rest of his life. A part of this property is now owned by his grandson. He was a Colonel in the militia, and during the War of 1812 was placed upon waiting orders in Portland, but saw no active service. He was an industrious and highly estcemed citizen and a member of the Con-
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gregational church. He raised a family of six sons.
Edward T. Smith, Mr. Smith's father, was born in Gorham, and reared to agricultural life. He resided upon the home farm during his whole life, and was a successful farmer and a worthy, upright man. He died April 20, 1885, aged seventy-seven years. His wife, Margaret, who was a daughter of Will- iam H. Foster, of Gorham, became the mother of two children - Mary D. and E. H. Foster.
E. H. Foster Smith commenced his educa- tion in the common schools of Gorham, and completed his studies at the academy. After working a few years with his father upon the farm, he adopted seafaring as a means of liveli -- hood. He followed the sea for twelve years, at the expiration of which time his father de- sired him to take charge of the farm. He re- sided at the homestead engaged in farming until 1886, when he repaired and moved into the Foster house, the early home of his mother in the village. In 1891 he established him- self in the coal and wood business, which he has since conducted. In 1879 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Bertha Humphrey, daughter of Captain Calvin Humphrey, of Yarmouth, and has one daughter, Ethel H. Smith.
RANK A. CHUTE, a prominent citi- zen of Harrison, actively engaged in farming, was born in the adjoining town of Naples, Cumberland County, on Feb- ruary 25, 1827. His parents were William C. and Rozanna (Mayberry) Chute; and his pater- nal grandfather, Thomas Chute, was one of the pioneer settlers of Windham.
William C. Chute was born in that town and continued to live there until his marriage, when he removed to Otisfield. He was engaged in farming in that place until Decem- ber, 1826, going at that time to Naples, where the remaining years of his life were spent on a farm. His wife, formerly Ro- zanna Mayberry, was born in Windham. She died in December, 1831. They were the parents of eight children, of whom a brief account follows : Mary married Calvin Brown, and both are now dead. Thomas married a
Miss Wyer, of Harpswell, Me. (both deceased). Caroline S. first became the wife of Robert King. After his death she married Edward Kilmer; and, being a second time left a widow, she removed to Texas, where she married a Mr. Packing. Both have since died. James was twice married, his first wife being Ellen Mann, his second Jane Cole, who survives him and is now living in Naples, Me. Edward P. died at eleven years of age. Newell married Miss Mary Jane Chaplin ; and they are living in Bridgton, Me. Frank A. Chute is a resi- dent of Harrison, as above mentioned. Will- iam Chute, who married Miss Emily Steward is dead; and his widow resides at Gorham, Me.
Frank A. Chute, now the youngest living child of his father's family, received a good common-school education, and continued to re- side with his parents until he was twenty- three years of age. At that time he went to . work on the York & Cumberland Canal, where for the next few years he was employed during. the summers; and during the winters he worked at different places in this county. He then went to the town of Naples and purchased a farm. After eight years spent in improving and conducting that property, he removed to Waterford, Me., where he followed farming for seven years. In partnership with his son, he then came to Harrison and bought the old Deacon Bray farm, containing about one hun- dred and sixty-five acres of well-improved land. Mr. Chute and his son here devote their atten- tion to general farming, at which they are very successful.
On September 24, 1853, Mr. Chute was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth J. Hall. She was born in Bridgton, April 4, 1 829. After her birth her parents, Thomas and Mary (Riggs) Hall, removed to West- brook, where they lived until their deaths. Mr. Hall was a farmer. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Chute; namely, Quincy M. and Cora B. Quincy M. Chute, born November 30, 1854, has already been referred to as in partnership with his father. He is well-known throughout this county, hav- ing held a number of town offices. For a num- ber of years he has served as Chairman of the Board of Selectmen of Harrison, and he is now the Representative from this district to the
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State legislature. He married Miss Melissa D. Lewis, of South Harrison, and they have four children, respectively named: Blanche A., Roland H., Walter D., and Philip A., all of whom are living at home. Cora B. Chute, born September 14, 1863, is the wife of John Witham, who is engaged in farming on a place near her father's.
In political views Mr. Chute and his son are stanch Republicans ; and, true to the duties devolving upon them as citizens, they make it a point to be present at town meetings, in which public interests are the topic of discus- sion or in which important questions are to be voted upon. Fraternally, Mr. Chute is a member of Mount Tyron Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Waterford; and he and his son are members of Harrison Lodge, No. 41, Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, of Harrison village. Mr. and Mrs. Chute are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, whose house of worship is but a short distance from their farm.
OLONEL JOHN C. COBB, a prom- inent member of Cumberland County bar and one of the leading lawyers of Maine, was born in Westbrook, Me., March 3, 1837, in that part of the town which is now the city of Deering. His an- cestors were of English descent, and had been for several generations prosperous New Eng- land farmers, the father and grandfather being both natives of Westbrook. His mother, Mary Stuart, was of Scottish ancestry; and her father, James Stuart, was one of the early settlers of Windham.
Colonel Cobb was only four years of age when he lost his father, and when he was ten years old he was by the force of circumstances thrown entirely on his own resources. His education was obtained at the usual country- town schools, including the high school, and later at Westbrook Seminary. While still a mere boy in years, beginning at sixteen, Colonel Cobb was a successful teacher in the common and high schools in different parts of the State, and in this way paid many of the ex- penses attending his literary and professional education. He read law with Chadbourne &
Miller in Portland, and at the age of twenty- three was admitted to practice before the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. Immedi- ately after coming to the bar he began to practise law in the city of Rockland, where he remained until the outbreak of the Rebellion.
In answer to President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thousand men the young at- torney enlisted as a private in Company H, Fourth Maine Regiment Volunteers in April, 1861. He was soon after promoted by elec- tion, receiving commission as First Lieu- tenant. In the first battle of Bull Run, July 22, 1861, the company under his command was on the extreme right of the line, and was the last company save one to leave the field. This and the company commanded at that time by Captain Smith moved to the rear together.
In August, 1861, Lieutenant Cobb was compelled by severe illness to leave the ser- vice. He returned to Windham, Me., where, soon recovering his health, he at once re-en- listed, and went on recruiting service; and on December 10 of the same year he was again mustered into the United States service as First Lieutenant of Company D, Fifteenth Maine Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was assigned to service in the Department of
the Gulf ; and Lieutenant Cobb proceeded with Butler's expedition in the ship "Great Re- public " to Ship Island, and soon after took part in the capture of New Orleans, April, 1862. During the summer of 1862 Lieu- tenant Cobb was on duty at Carrollton, La., and at New Orleans until October of that year, when he was ordered by General Butler to Fort Pickens, Fla., in charge of the State prisoners - Major Monroe, ex-Mayor Stith, and the members of the city of New Orleans Finance Committee. On his arrival at Fort Pickens he was detached for staff duty, and for many months served on the staff of Major Allen of the Second United States Artillery, commandant of the fort. While there Lieu- tenant Cobb filled the positions of Acting As- sistant Commissary of Subsistence, Acting Assistant Quartermaster United States Army, Adjutant of the Post, and Treasurer of the Post.
In May, 1863, he was relieved from staff
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duty in order to rejoin his regiment and pro- ceed to New Orleans, and from there in a race after General Taylor, who was operating in the rear of General Banks, threatening his base and communications. Banks's army was then before Port Hudson. This object having been accomplished, the regiment returned, and went into camp at Carrollton, La .; and Lieutenant Cobb was appointed Assistant Ad- jutant-general by General Huston, Banks's chief engineer, who was then in command of
the forces (about eight thousand troops of all arms) on the right bank of the Mississippi above New Orleans. General Huston, how- ever, did not give his personal attention to the command, but remained at New Orleans, and left matters in the immediate charge of Lieutenant Cobb, who issued in the General's name such orders as he saw fit from the head- quarters at Carrollton.
While engaged in this service, Lieutenant Cobb was ordered by General Banks (Com- mander of the Department of the Gulf) to raise, organize, equip, examine, and recom- mend the officers for commission for a regi- ment of engineers, one of four such regiments then and thereafter to be raised in that depart- ment for that branch of the service. Of this regiment the second, Lieutenant Cobb was commissioned Colonel in August, 1863, with the distinct understanding between his friend, Major Huston, General Banks, and himself that, as soon as the four engineer regiments were ready for the field, Colonel Cobb was to be commissioned Brigadier-general and placed in command of the Engineer Brigade. Before this was consummated, however, de- partment commanders were changed and plans disturbed. General Banks ordered Colonel Cobb with his command to Brashear City, La., there to construct such fortifications as would enable them to hold the place with a small force and take care of railroad communica- tions. This place had been common fighting ground for some time, which was amply evi- denced by the destruction of property every- where apparent. One day it was in the pos- session of the Confederates, the next in the possession of the Federals. It was in this condition when Colonel Cobb was ordered with his regiment of raw recruits to take com-
mand of the post, build suitable fortifications, and look out that the Confederates did not gobble him up. It was an unhealthy, unin- viting, and dangerous place; and an order by telegraph for Colonel Cobb to proceed with his command to New Orleans, there to con- struct fortifications, was a welcome one.
From November, 1863, to June, 1864, Colonel Cobb was in command of the post at Matagorda Island, which consisted of engi- neers, artillery, cavalry, and infantry; and for about three of the eight months he commanded a brigade in the Thirteenth Army Corps, or from the time of the arrival of the corps at Matagorda Island until it left to join General Banks in the Red River expedition. He was also during this period chief engineer of the coast of Texas. In June of 1864 he pro- ceeded to Port Hudson, where he reconstructed the rebel works after their surrender. He was next ordered to Mobile Bay, where he took an active part in the capture of Fort Gaines. He and his command next moved to Mobile Point to conduct the approaches to Fort Morgan, where they were under a constant and galling fire from the fort. For more than two weeks, until its surrender, they furnished daily and nightly fireworks of shot, shell, grape, and canister. After the fall of this fort in November, 1864, Colonel Cobb and his command were for some time engaged in repairing the fortifications.
Soon after this he was again detached from his command, and appointed to serve on a mil- itary commission at New Orleans. Here he was engaged five months. Major DeWitt Clinton practised before this commission as judge advocate for the government ; and many important cases were tried, involving the per- sonal liberty of numbers of citizens and valu- able property. Many of the ablest attorneys of the South-west appeared before the com- mission as counsel in these cases.
In the winter of 1864-65 Colonel Cobb was appointed to the command of five regiments, with headquarters at New Orleans. He re- mained here until the spring of 1865, when he accompanied General Canby and staff to Mobile, where he resumed command of his old regiment of engineers until he was promoted by General Canby to the command of the En-
ROBERT TRICKEY.
JAMES TRICKEY.
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gineer Brigade of the army, and Division of West Mississippi. In this position he took part in the siege and capture of Mobile. After its surrender his command was engaged until June, 1865, in reconstructing the rebel earthworks and lines of defence around the city.
The Rebellion had now collapsed ; and Colo- nel Cobb, having seen over four years' contin- ual service, tendered his resignation to the War Department, and exchanged the conflict of arms for the contests of the forum, recom. mencing the practice of law at Windham, Me. There he filled various municipal offices, and represented the town in the State legislature, where he served on the joint Committees on Military and Legal Affairs. Early in the year 1871 he established a law firm at Portland, Me., with Judge Fabius M. Ray, an old schoolmate, under the name of Cobb & Ray. This was continued for five years.
Colonel Cobb has a large and lucrative law practice, and is frequently connected with large business interests. He is often engaged in the promotion of enterprises calling for energy and experience. He is a member of Presumpscot Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Eagle Chapter and Portland Commandery, Knights Templars; also of Beacon Lodge, Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows; and of Ivanhoe Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
In September, 1859, Colonel Cobb married Hannah M., daughter of Samuel M. Hawkes, of Windham. They have a family of seven children. The eldest, Albert Clifford, is en- gaged in the practice of law in Minneapolis, Minn., being a member of the firm Cobb & Wheelwright; Frederick H., another son, is also engaged in the practice of the law, and is in partnership with Colonel Cobb at Port- land, under the firm name of John C. & F. H. Cobb.
OBERT TRICKEY, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, is a sub- stantial farmer and one of the fore- most citizens of South Portland, Cumberland County, Me., a fine representative of the native-born residents of this place, where his birth occurred March 29, 1818. He
comes of Welsh antecedents, being, it is said, the lineal descendant of one of three brothers bearing his family name that emigrated from Wales to America about 1700, and settled in York County, Maine. They were of a hardy race, noted for their great strength. It was said that either one of them could hold two men at arm's length; and their descendants, even to the present generation, have in large measure inherited a vigorous physique.
Mr. Trickey himself, though now in his seventy-ninth year, wields the axe with his old-time dexterity, frequently going to the woods to cut down trees, getting out lumber logs, and chopping and splitting limbs and branches for fuel. His paternal grandfather, Zebulon Trickey, Sr., was born at Falmouth, now Deering, this county, being there reared to maturity, as a youth working early and late on the homestead which his father had wrested from the wilderness. He lived there a few years after his marriage with Rebecca Skillin, of Cape Elizabeth, but subsequently removed to that part of the Cape which is now South Portland, where he purchased a very large tract of wild land, a portion of which he cleared. Here he erected the first dwelling on the home farm now occupied by his grandson Robert. He became in the course of time one of the leading agriculturists of this place; and he also followed ship building, remaining here until his demise at a ripe old age. He was an old-time Whig in politics, and both he and his estimable helpmeet were valued members of the Orthodox church. They reared a family of five girls and two boys, all of whom grew to adult life, Zebulon, Jr., being the father of Robert.
Zebulon Trickey, Jr., was the eldest child born to his parents, his birth occurring Febru- ary 7, 1767, while they were residing on the old Trickey homestead in Falmouth, now Deering. He was very young when brought to South Portland, where he was reared and educated. He began as soon as old enough to assist in felling forest trees, and did his full share in clearing and improving a farm, which eventually became his own. He continued in farming pursuits, but was also engaged in lum- bering, forming a partnership with Thomas Seal, of Westbrook, and J. Bailey, of Sacca-
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rappa, although he continued his residence here. After many years of successful business he sold out his lumber interests to his part- ners, thereafter living retired until his decease, August 23, 1847.
He was married December 15, 1799, to Miss Lucy Skillin, daughter of Samuel Skillin, of this town, and they became the parents of seven children, of whom the following is the record : Rebecca, born February 15, 1801, died February 17, 1804; Samuel, born May 20, 1803, died unmarried January 2, 1881; John, born Jannary 17, 1806, died a bachelor June 17, 1884; James, born April 12, 1809, who died January 2, 1891, unmarried, was a leading citizen, being very prominent in town affairs, having served as Treasurer and Select- man for many years besides representing his town in the legislature for four terms; Ed- ward, born May 16, 1814, married Martha Bond, of Indiana, and they are now living on a farm in 'Westbrook; Robert, the next in order of birth, and unmarried, is the subject of this sketch; and Lucy E., born September 15, 1824, also single, resides with her brother Robert on the old homestead of her grand- parents.
Robert Trickey obtained a good practical education in this his native town, and since leaving school has continued to occupy the homestead, where he is still carrying on gen- eral farming. He has about two hundred acres of land, eighty of which are under culti- vation ; and besides this he owns fifty acres in Deering, one-half being tillage land. In poli- tics Mr. Trickey is an earnest supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, and, relig- iously, is a firm believer in the doctrines of Universalism. A man of good principles, noted for his integrity, he has the esteem and respect of the entire community, and holds an honored position among the leading citizens of South Portland.
OP RANK S. STALEY, who has been a resident of Bridgton for a quarter of a century, is a native of Yorkshire, Eng- land, having been born November 27, 1840, in the parish of Brighouse, being a grandson of Francis Staley, a distinguished military
man. His parents, Andrew and Edna Staley, had the following children : Benjamin; John ; Frank S. ; Ellen, wife of J. Harry Burgess ; Andrew; and Betty, wife of George Willis. The father, who was born in 1800, passed away on February 26, 1890, his wife having pre- ceded him to the better land in 1871, at the age of sixty-two years. He was a contractor of railroad and turnpike work, and carried on a good business for many years.
Frank S. Staley attended school until about twelve years of age, when he was bound out to learn the trade of wig-making and hair-work- ing, remaining with his employer two years. The following two years he shifted for himself, laboring in different places and at various em- ployments. Enlisting then in the Thirty- fourth West York Rifle Company, he served two years as a private, being then advanced to the rank of Corporal, in which he served another four years. He was then promoted to the rank of Sergeant, and remained with the company until 1868, when he came to this country, taking passage on the steamer "North American." Locating at Lewiston, in this State, Mr. Staley was employed in machine shops and cotton-mills for about two years, when he went to Westbrook, where he worked . for a short time in a mill. The next year he found employment in a barber's shop, learning the trade, which he followed for a few months as a journeyman in Bridgton, whither he came in 1871. Mr. Staley then commenced business on his own account, opening a barber shop, which he has since conducted with satisfactory financial results. In his political views he is identified with the Democratic party ; and, so- cially, he is an active member of the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows.
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