USA > Maine > Oxford County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Oxford and Franklin counties, Maine > Part 19
USA > Maine > Franklin County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Oxford and Franklin counties, Maine > Part 19
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a daughter of Dr. John Gordon. Caleb died in 1861; and his wife, formerly Miss Eliza Russell, of Lovell, is now living in Lovell Centre. Mary was the wife of Abel Heald, of Lovell (both deceased). Timothy died at the age of twenty-three. Mehitable is the wife of Samuel Gilkey, a carpenter of Portland, Me. Henrietta and Harriet were twins. The for- mer, now deceased, married Thomas Tibbetts, who lives in Groveton, N. H. Harriet mar- ried Abel Heald, and is now a widow living in Lovell. Horatio is the subject of this sketch.
Horatio Stearns in his early years received a limited common-school education. He re- mained with his parents, caring for them in their old age, and after their departure only left home in answer to the call for the defence of the Union. In September, 1862, he en- listed in Company H, Twenty-third Maine Regiment, under command of Captain Noyes. Fortune shielded him from the rigors of war ; for his regiment was stationed for a while in Washington, and then placed on guard duty along the Potomac. Here a soldier on picket dropped occasionally, picked off by the bullet of a rebel in ambush ; but the regi- ment engaged in no serious battle. Mr. Stearns received his discharge at Portland, Me., July 15, 1863, and returned home. Selling the parental farm at Lovell Centre, to the ownership of which he had succeeded, he purchased a farm in Colebrook, N. H., where he lived some four years. He then sold that estate and bought the farm on which he now resides, which was known as the Caleb Stearns place, Caleb Stearns being his brother. Mr. Stearns owns some three hundred acres of land, and is engaged in general husbandry. He has a small dairy and raises some stock. His homestead is beautifully situated, and he takes pride in keeping the place in such condition that it delights the eye of the traveller.
In April, 1863, he was married to Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Sarah Brackett. Her father was a farmer of Colebrook, N. H. Mrs. Stearns was born in Hillsborough. She died in January, 1872, leaving three children. The eldest, George, who was born April 18, 1866, is principal of the high school in Rumford, Me., and is one of the prominent men of the town, having served as First Selectman and
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held other public offices of trust. He married Miss Mertie A. Butters, of Stoneham, Me., and has one child, Luzetta. The second son, Herbert, was born October 17, 1868. The third, Fred, who was born October 21, 1869, lives with his father, who is practically retired from active work, leaving to him the manage- ment of the farm. He was married in Septem- ber, 1894, to Miss Daisy Hall, of Lovell, Me., a daughter of Isaac and Samantha Hall. Mr. Hall also is a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Stearns have one child, Sarah B., born March 26, 1896. Mr. Horatio Stearns is a stanch Republican. He is an active worker in the Congregational church, of which he has long been a member. His son Fred belongs to the Sons of Veterans of Lovell Centre.
ORACE B. PRESCOTT, a well- known and much respected resident of New Sharon, was born here, on the paternal homestead, September 2, 1812, son of Samuel and Eliza (Mayhew)
Prescott. Mr. Prescott's grandfather, Samuel Prescott, lived in New Sharon until about ten years before his death. He then moved to Hallowell, Me., where he died. On Febru- ary 8, 1781, he married Miss Betsey Whittier, whose children by him were: Benjamin, Sam- uel, Betsey, Mary, Nancy, Warren and Clarry. Ile was a Revolutionary soldier, and he after- ward received a pension from the government for valuable servcies rendered in the war. At one time he was a resident of Epping, N.H., where his son Samuel was born. He afterward moved with his family to Winthrop, Me., and a short time later to New Sharon, where in 1806 he and his son Samuel bought the present homestead. He was a strong be- liever in democracy, and carried his belief into his politics. His religion was that of the Baptist church.
Samuel Prescott, the father of Horace B., received his later education in the schools of the town. He subsequently became a school teacher, and was Town Clerk and Selectman for a number of years. On October 7, 1810, he was married to Eliza Mayhew, a daughter of Hebron Mayhew, of Martha's Vineyard, Mass. They had eight children; namely,
Theodore, Horace B., Irving M., Calvin S., Samuel D., Gustavus G., Elizabeth C., and George B. The only survivors are the subject of this sketch and Gustavus G. The latter has been for the last forty years a resident of Bos- ton, Mass., where he is engaged in the milli- nery business.
Horace B. Prescott received his education at the public schools of his native town and at Farmington Academy. At the age of eighteen years he engaged in school teaching, which he afterward continued for twelve years. He then went into the lumber business in Somer- set and Piscataquis Counties, and followed it for about ten years. On October 18, 1838, he was married to Cordelia Johnson, a daughter of Robert Johnson, of North Yarmouth, Cum- berland County. They had five children - Caroline E., Henrietta C., Ellen A., Alice A., and Lissie May. Ellen A., who is the only one living, married George Mclaughlin, and has two children, namely : Horace P., born November 9, 1879; and Alice May, born January 1, 1883. Mrs. Prescott died Septem- ber 6, 1894.
Mr. Prescott is a Republican in his politi- cal belief, and belongs to the Congregational church. He has been a Justice of the Peace for forty years and Judge of Probate for nine years. He was elected to the State legislature in 1850, and was a member of the Council in 1863, and again in 1869. He now carries on general farming and stumpage. His fine farm of three hundred and ten acres originally con- tained but one hundred and twenty-five. Like his father, he has a fondness for cattle; but, unlike him, he is not a dealer in them. How- ever, he owns a number of fine Jersey cows and some handsome horses.
USTIN E. McINTIRE, a retired lum- berman and cattle dealer of Waterford, Oxford County, Me., was born in North Reading, Mass., July 22, 1837, son of Richard G. and Fanny (Cross) McIntire. Hezekiah McIntire, Mr. McIntire's grand- father, who was a native of North Reading. removed thence to Norway, Me., where he settled upon a farm, and resided there for the rest of his life.
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The family is evidently of Scottish origin. There is a tradition that the Highland clan of MacIntyre was descended from the MacDon- alds. Sullivan's "History of the District of Maine," published in 1795, records the fact that, at the time of the Civil War in England in the middle of the preceding century, Oliver Cromwell defeated the troops from Scotland who fought for King Charles I. in the north of England, and, taking them prisoners, after- ward sent them to America, the "Donalds and M'Intires" being among those thus trans- ported. They settled in Maine, in what be- came the second parish of York, and was called Scotland. Rufus M'Intire, a descendant, was a member of Congress. One Philip McIntire -- whether of that branch of the family or not is unknown to the present writer - was doubt- less the progenitor of all of this name in Read- ing, Mass., where he settled at an early date in the North Precinct. The "History of Reading" mentions a son, Philip, born in 1666; John, in 1679; David, in 1688; and others. His posterity intermarried with the Haywards, Flints, and other prominent fam- ilies of that vicinity. They seem to have in- herited an unusual share of martial and pa- triotic spirit, as six of the name from the old town of Reading are recorded as having served in the French and Indian wars, 1745, 1759, and 1760, seven in the Revolution, and four- teen from North Reading fought under the stars and stripes in the War of the Rebellion.
Richard G. McIntire, father of Mr. McIn- tire of Waterford, Me., was born in North Reading, where in his youth he learned the shoemaker's trade, which was his principal occupation through life. He resided for a while in Norway, Me., but eventually returned to his native town in Massachusetts, where he followed his trade for many years. Becoming interested in the reform movements of the day, he connected himself with a temperance society in North Reading. His religious faith was of the liberal type, and led him to attend the Universalist church. He died at his home in North Reading, June 30, 1879, survived a few years by his second wife, now deceased, who had no children. IIis first wife, Fanny Cross, a native of Pelham, N. H., died in 1845. She was the mother of four children, as follows:
George, who is no longer living; Justin E., the subject of this sketch; Fanny, who died at the age of seven years; and Maria, who is the widow of John Washburn, and resides in Boston.
Justin E. McIntire acquired in his boyhood but a limited common-school education, as he practically began to support himself at the age of seven years. For some three years the little lad did such work as he was able to do upon farms in Norway; and he then learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for four years. After his marriage he settled upon a farm in the neighborhood of his present prop- erty. Later he went into the meat business, opening a shop in Harrison and running a cart upon the road. He was thus employed for about three years, at the expiration of which he bought his present farm, and, continuing in the meat trade, also followed farming for about sixteen years. He then engaged in buying cattle, which he shipped to Brighton, Mass., and was for five or six years in partnership with Newell A. Trafton. The firm of McIn- tire, Trafton & Co. then began to deal in pulp wood, which they shipped to Cumberland Mills, a business which proved exceedingly profitable; and, after remaining at the head of this firm for ten years he withdrew from active business pursuits, and has since lived practi- cally in retirement. He owns five hundred acres of land situated in Waterford and Nor- way, and, as a means of passing his leisure time, busies himself by cultivating a small farm.
As a self-made man who started in life with- out capital and with only his own energy and ability to depend upon, Mr. McIntire stands at the head of an honorable class in this locality; and his successful career is well worthy of a much more extended account. As a worthy, upright, and conscientious citizen he is held in the highest repute by the farmers and busi- ness men of Oxford County, among whom he has a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He is connected with Oxford Lodge, No. 61, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of North Waterford. In politics he supports the Demo- cratic party, and for two years he served with ability as a member of the Board of Selectmen. On October 24, 1857, Mr. McIntire was
JAMES MORRISON.
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married to Amanda Johnson, who was born in Norway, September 17, 1834, daughter of Ira and Mary (Towne) Johnson, the former of whom is a retired business man of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. McIntire have two children, namely : Leslie E., who was born September 5, 1858, married Edith R. Sawin, and resides in Waterford; and Bertrand G., who was born October 27, 1866, married Alice Sawin, and resides with his parents. The sons married sisters, whose father, Thomas H. Sawin, was formerly a prosperous farmer of Waterford. Messrs. Leslie E. and Bertrand G. McIntire are well-known cattle buyers, who carry on a large and profitable business in this county.
ON. JAMES MORRISON. - James Morrison was born in Madrid, Frank- lin County, Me., March 14, 1841. His father was Captain James Morrison, who was born in Candia, N.H., February 10, 1814, and was a descendant of that numerous Scotch-Irish clan of Morrisons a part of whom migrated from the north of Ireland, and settled in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the latter part of the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries. The immigrant ancestor of this branch of the Morrison clan was Daniel Morri- son, who lived in Newbury, Mass., in 1690. His descendants afterward lived in Candia, Epping, Tilton, and Sanbornton, N.H., and in Palermo and Madrid, Me. The wife of Captain James Morrison and the mother of the subject of this sketch was Mary Leach Doten, born in Buckfield, Oxford County, Me., May 13, 1807.
Reared on the frontier of North-western Maine, without wealth to aid or experience to guide, James Morrison from his youth was largely dependent upon his own resources for any advancement beyond the sphere of ordinary back-woods life. When he was six years of age his parents moved into the town of Phillips ; and most of the time from then until he was twenty-one was spent in the laborious work of the farm and mill, with the usual limited privilege of attending the country dis- trict school. Always desiring something be- yond this, he would save up the earnings from
odd jobs, and occasionally attend a term at the village high school. No seminary was within reach, no college opened wide its doors; and the larger part of his educational capital was acquired, unaided and alone, by "burning the midnight oil."
Surmounting difficulties which would have discouraged many, he became a very successful teacher, and was thus engaged at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. At twenty- two he enlisted in the Second Regiment, Maine Cavalry, and served in the Department of the Gulf. He was at New Orleans, Thibodeaux, and Brashear City, La., Pine Barren Creek and Milton, Fla., Pollard, Ala., and the taking of Mobile, and was with the cavalry detachment that led the Sixteenth Army Corps up through Alabama, and occu- pied the city of Montgomery.
Honorably discharged after the close of the war, he came home, resumed the occupation of teacher, and began the study of law. He was admitted to the Franklin County bar in Sep- tember, 1869, was superintending School Committee, and one of the Selectmen of Phillips for about twelve years, represented the Phillips district in the legislature of 1877, was elected Senator from Franklin County in 1878 and 1879, serving one term as Chairman of the Committee on Legal Affairs and one term on the Judiciary. He was ap- pointed Judge of Probate for Franklin County by Governor Robie in 1883 to fill a vacancy, elected for four years in 1884, re-elected for another term in 1888, again in 1892, and again in 1896. The close of this last term will make seventeen years' continuous service as Judge. He continued in the active prac- tice of law for about five years after admission to the bar; but failing health, the result of malarious fever contracted in the South, com- pelled him to partially abandon office life and practice. Preferring to be a live farmer rather than a dead lawyer, he has in late years devoted his energies to agriculture, only occa- sionally taking an important case at law. By pluck, economy, and perseverance he has suc- ceeded where many others have failed, and has become one of Franklin County's promi- nent stock raisers. He is also interested to quite an extent in timber lands.
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A thorough Republican from Mr. Lincoln's time, Judge Morrison has labored incessantly to uphold the principles of his early and only political faith. He served six years on the Republican State Committee, and has since done considerable work in the field and on the stump. A total abstainer, he is a radical temperance advocate, practises what he preaches, and believes in the Maine law.
On March 14, 1871, he married Miss Louisa E. Chick, of Madrid. She was born at said Madrid, December 14, 1850. The result of this union is three children, namely : two girls, Grace Winnifred, born January 25, 1872; Cassandra Mary, born September 20, 1880; and a boy, born August 10, 1884, in the midst of the political campaign of that year, and named for James G. Blaine.
EMUEL W. JACKSON, who died at his home in Paris, Oxford County, Me., May 25, 1885, is well remem- bered by the inhabitants of the town as a prosperous farmer and a man of sterling integrity. He was born April 1, 1818, and was a son of Lemuel and Nancy (Foster) Jack- son. His father was born in Paris, March 17, 1784, and his mother in Newry, Me., May 5, I 792.
Mr. Jackson's great-grandfather, who also bore the name of Lemuel, was among the first settlers of Paris, here taking up his abode in 1782, when he was somewhat advanced in years, and had accumulated quite a little fortune for those times, being a successful man of business. He had previously bought several entire proprietary rights in this terri- tory, "No. 4," as it was known, paying for the land in cash; and he brought with him a considerable sum of money, fourteen hundred dollars in silver, representing a much larger amount in the depreciated currency of the day. He was a great help in the new settlement. Making subsequent purchases, he became the largest landholder in the town, owning more than one-eighth of the entire acreage, includ- ing the whole site of South Paris, where he erected the first mill in 1793. The first log house was also built by him. His influence was almost unbounded; and he may be said to
have been the father of the town, being in so many respects the foremost citizen. He was one of the seven members of the Baptist church in Middleboro, Mass., who received letters of dismissal to join the church in Paris, Me. He married Jemima Sampson, daughter of Seth and Ruth (Barrows) Samp- son, of Plympton, Mass.
Their son, Lemuel Jackson, second, the grandfather of Lemuel W., was a hard-work- ing and successful farmer. He spent his life in Paris, where he died April 12, 1816. The first frame house erected in town was built by him in 1789. He married for his first wife Susanna Hammond, and by this union had five children - Lemuel, Jr., the third of the name; Sylvanus; Benjamin; Charity; and Jacob.
Lemuel Jackson, third, the father of the special subject of this. biographical notice was a man of good business abilities. He was engaged in general farming throughout his life here in Paris. His wife, Mrs. Nancy Foster Jackson, bore him seven children - Charity N., Harriet S., Lemuel W., Ezekiel C., Hannah F., Vesta H., and Abner F., the three now living being Ezekiel, Hannah, and Abner. Mr. Lemuel Jackson, third, died in September, 1830; and Mrs. Jackson was mar- ried a second time to Thomas Frost, of Bethel. She died in 1860. In religious views the early representatives of the Jackson family were Baptists, and in politics they were Dem- ocratic.
Lemuel W. Jackson, whose name appears at the beginning of this sketch, was the third child and eldest son born to his parents. He grew to manhood in Paris, and was educated in the schools of this town. When only twelve years old he began to work out, and from that time on he practically supported himself, attending school only in the winter months. He devoted his attention to general farming, at which he was successful; and in time he acquired a good property. In 1873 he purchased the farm to which he removed three and a half years later, and from that time forward during the remaining years of his earthly life he was engaged in its cultiva- tion. His death, at the age of sixty-seven years and two months, was mourned by many
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outside his immediate circle. As one of the old residents of the town, an honest, upright man, he was widely known, and was honored and respected by all. In religion he was a Methodist, and for over forty years he was a member of the South Paris church. Politi- cally, he was a Republican, and a strong ad- vocate of the temperance cause. The Jackson homestead is now owned by his widow, who leases it.
Mr. Jackson was first married on March 26, 1840, to Miss Hannah B. Lunt, a daughter of John Lunt, of Woodstock. She was born in March, 1813, and died July 29, 1868, aged fifty-five years. Five children were the fruit of their union, namely: Asaph K., born April 13, 1841, now living in South Paris; Lewis L., born February 25, 1843, residing in Gor- ham, N.H .; Eliza J., born September 24, 1845, who died March 28, 1868; Lemuel W., Jr., and Alice J., twins, born May 18, 1851, the latter of whom died August 23, 1860, and the former on August 3, 1894. On Novem- ber 18, 1869, Mr. Jackson was joined in mat- rimony with Miss Evelina A. Hackett, who was born in Minot, Me., October 28, 1827, daughter of William and Hannah N. (Brad- bury) Hackett.
Mr. Hackett was born in Minot, Me., Sep- tember 5, 1792, and his wife in Bowdoinham, Me., June 23, 1795. He was a stirring, ener- getic man, and engaged in farming and lum- bering in Minot throughout his life. Five of their nine children are living, namely: Jacob M. Hackett, a lumberman in Augusta, Wis .; Lucius W., a general business man of Au- burn, Me ; Edwin A., a farmer on the old home place in Minot; Samuel W., residing in Biddeford, and engaged in the threefold occu- pation of a cooper, carpenter, and farmer; and Evelina A., Mrs. Jackson. The departed are : Horatio N., who died in 1838, at twenty years of age; Charles M. F., who died in 1838, at eight years of age; Frances M. S., who died in 1856 at twenty-four; and Flora R., who died in 1867 at thirty. Mr. Hackett died at his home in Minot, Me., November 18, 1871, survived by his wife, who died October 28, 1873. They were Universalists in religion, and in politics he was a Jeffersonian Demo- crat. In early womanhood, after completing
her course of study in the high school, Mrs. Jackson taught school for a time. Later she engaged in the millinery business, which she followed successfully in Biddeford for two and one-half years and in South Paris for fifteen years.
REEMAN ANDREWS, a successful agriculturist and a prominent citizen of Lovell, Oxford County, Me., was born in this town, September 3, 1845, son of Thad- deus B. and Hannah E. (Farnum) Andrews. He is a representative of one of the old fami- lies of this vicinity, his ancestors having been among the original settlers of Lovell. They were so numerous at one time that there was a school in the district where Mr. Andrews now resides, which comprised a teacher and forty scholars, all of whom were of blood relation- ship, and most of them actual members of the Andrews family.
The paternal grandfather, Mr. Freeman An- drews, was Issacher, who was born in Lovell, November 23, 1788, and here spent his life in general agricultural pursuits. He and his wife, Mary D. Bemis, a native of Fryeburg, Me., became the parents of five children, namely : Jacob, who was born September 23, 1815, and whose decease occurred December II, 1852; Thaddeus B., born April 11, 1818; Sallie, who was born April 1, 1820; Thomas H., born February 22, 1824; and Mason H .. born April 17, 1832. Mr. Issacher Andrews passed away December 2, 1870, at his home in Lovell, at the venerable age of eighty-two years, having survived his wife very many years, she having departed this life October 14, 1847.
Thaddeus B. Andrews was their second son. Having grown to manhood, he settled first on a farm in the eastern part of Lovell; but he subsequently removed to the estate now occu- pied by his son Freeman, and here engaged in husbandry during the remainder of his life. He wedded Mrs. Hannah E. Farnum Durgin, a native of Hiram, Oxford County, Me. She was the widow of William Durgin, who had lived only a short time after his marriage. As the wife of Mr. Andrews she became the mother of six children, namely: William
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Henry, who died in infancy; Freeman, of whom further mention is to be made; Mary, who still lives in Lovell, the wife of A. S. Kendall, a farmer and mason: Caroline, who is now the wife of A. D. Rowe, a husbandman of Lovell; Sarah and Hannah, who both died in infancy. Mr. Thaddeus B. Andrews died on May 25, 1868, at the age of fifty years, one month, fourteen days, and his wife on April 8, 1891, aged seventy-one years, one month, and six days.
Freeman, growing to manhood as an only son, was early called to help his father in the lighter labors of the farm, and for that reason obtained but a limited education in the dis- trict schools. He remained at home until the attainment of his majority, when he worked out for two months. Longer than that he could not well be spared. He accordingly re- turned, and assumed the management of the homestead, caring for his parents until their decease; and here he has ever since followed general farming. The farm now consists of about eighty acres, a part of which he devotes to the cultivation of garden vegetables and a part to stock raising and dairying. Mr. An- drews also owns one hundred and fifteen acres of wild land in the same township.
He was first married on November 25, 1880, to Miss Fannie Durgin, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Durgin, of Hiram, Me., to whom she was born in Porter, November 26, 1852. Mr. Durgin was a farmer of that town. Both he and his wife are now deceased. On February 9, 1882, Mr. Andrews was called upon to mourn the loss of his first wife; and on December 3, 1891, he wedded Mrs. Susia Bemis Brackett, widow of Dennis Brackett, late of Lovell, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Bemis, both of whom are still living. Her father is a farmer of Stow, Oxford County, where she was born November 26, 1855. By her first husband, who died about a dozen years after their marriage, she had three children, namely: Nelson B., born March 30, 1875, now deceased; Bert W., born January 4, 1879, and who now resides with the subject of this sketch; and James R., who was born June 12, 1880, and who now makes his home at the same place. The second marriage of Mr. Andrews has been blessed in the birth of
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