USA > Maine > Oxford County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Oxford and Franklin counties, Maine > Part 37
USA > Maine > Franklin County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Oxford and Franklin counties, Maine > Part 37
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HARLES M. COOLIDGE, M.D., a popular physician of Waterford, Me., was born in Canton, this State, September 25, 1864. He is the son of Dr. Charles A. and Sarah Nancy (Fos- ter) Coolidge, and a grandson of John Cool- idge, originally from Livermore, Me., who settled in Canton at an early date and spent his life there, engaged in agriculture.
Charles A. Coolidge was born in Canton, Me. For some time during his student days he taught school in the vicinity of his home ; and after he received his medical degree he began to practice in Weld, Me. He was sub- sequently engaged in professional work in North Livermore, but later returned to his native town, where he is now in active prac- tice. Mrs. Coolidge is a native of Weld, Me. She is the mother of three children: Martina Eliza, who died in infancy; Henry E., who was at one time principal of the North Berwick High School, now a practising attorney at Lis- bon Falls, Me .; and Charles M., who, as already noted, has adopted his father's calling. Henry E. Coolidge married Miss Josephine O. Dearborn, of Canton, Me.
Charles M. Coolidge was graduated from the Nichols Latin School of Lewiston in the class of 1884 and from the medical department of Dartmouth College in the class of 1887. When ready to enter on his life work he opened an office in North Waterford village, where he now resides, and in the short space of a decade has established an extensive prac- tice, his circuit embracing Waterford, Stone- ham, Albany, and Lovell. Dr. C. M. Cool- idge is widely known and highly esteemed, and though younger than many of his confrères has the confidence of all who know him.
He was married February 21, 1886, to Miss Ida H. Manning, who was born in Eaton, N. H., September 24, 1860, the daughter of Dr. William A. and Nancy (Atkinson) Man- ning. Dr. Manning, now deceased, was one of the best known physicians of his day,
practising in Eaton, N. H., and in Stone- ham, Me. His wife is now living in Eaton, N. H. Mrs. Coolidge died March 14, 1895, leaving one child - Marion Allegra, born April 20, 1891.
Dr. Coolidge is prominent among the Re- publicans of Waterford, and has held several offices of trust. He has served on the School Board' three years, and is now Supervisor of Schools. As a Mason he belongs to Mount Tire'm Lodge, No. 132, A. F. & A. M., of Waterford Flat; and as a Knight of Pythias he is a member of Hiawatha Lodge, No. 49, of Stoneham, Me.
APTAIN EDWARD M. ROBIN- SON, who is successfully engaged in the furniture and undertaking busi- ness in Phillips, his store being 3 Beal Block, was born in South Sebec, Piscata- quis County, Me., October 21, 1833, a son of Benjamin Franklin and Betsey C. (Russell) Robinson. Benjamin F. Robinson, who was a descendant of one of Scotland's sturdy sons, was born in Ellsworth, Me .; and his wife, who was of English origin, was born in Norridge- wock, Me. The family name was formerly Robinston, which has been changed to the more euphonious spelling of to-day.
Jonathan Robinson, the father of Benjamin F., was a native of Vermont, whence he re- moved to Maine. During his years of active labor he followed the business of a mill- wright, besides carrying on the farm which he owned in Sebec. He was the father of seven children; but of that number only one re- mains, Paulina K., the widow of J. G. Joy, of Sebec, Me. Jonathan Robinson lived to the venerable age of ninety-six years.
During the greater part of his years of toil Benjamin F. Robinson worked with his father as a millwright, but finally purchased a farm in Sebec, where he spent the remainder of his life. Of the eleven children born to him and his wife, Betsey, six are living, namely : Leonard R., in Bath; Edward M .; Ira, in Bath; Albert A., in California; Mary, the widow of W. Troy, in Willimantic; and Carrie, the wife of F. Wittum, of Gardiner, Me. Their father died in 1882, aged eighty-
EDWARD M. ROBINSON and grand-daughter, FAYE R. HAINES.
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two years, and their mother in 1862, aged fifty-six years.
Edward M. Robinson not only acquired a practical district-school education during his home life, but formed habits of industry, being required to perform such tasks as usually fall to the lot of the farmer's boy. When he reached the age of seventeen he went to Machias as an apprentice to his uncle, Dean S. Robinson, a millwright, with whom he re- mained four years. From about 1854 to the beginning of the Civil War he was employed at his trade in different places in the Prov- inces and in Cherryfield and Lewiston, being engaged on the Androscoggin mill in the last- named place when the first call was issued for volunteers to put down the Rebellion. He responded promptly by enlisting in Company E of the Fifth Maine Volunteers, of which Mark H. Dunnell was Colonel, Edwin Sawyer, of Lisbon Falls, being Captain of the com- pany. We are indebted to the May, 1896, issue of the Rangeley Lakes for the follow- ing account of his war service. April 27, 1861, less than two weeks after the fall of Sumter, saw him signing the enlistment papers as a member of Company E, Fifth Maine Volunteers. The regiment was mus- tered in at Portland, Robinson being ap- pointed Third Sergeant in Company E. (The Captain says that no honor which has been conferred upon him since has ever given him the supreme satisfaction he felt at that time, and adds that he couldn't have felt prouder if he'd been made Brigadier-general. ) "August 15, 1861, he was promoted to Second Lieuten- ant of Company E, for "meritorious conduct at the battle of Bull Run." In May, 1862, he was promoted to First Lieutenant of Com- pany C; and in March, 1863, his unflagging bravery won him the Captaincy of Company C.
Now Company C was made up of dare-devil fellows, known as the "Saco roughs." The men had been unmanageable from the first, and weren't growing any better as time wore on. Several captains of this particular com- pany had one after another given up the task and gone home. The bluff old colonel of the regiment grew tired of appointing captains for Company C after a while, and finally said, "Well, I'll appoint some one this time that
I'll be d -- d if they'll drive home "; and he appointed Lieutenant Robinson.
The first day he took command, there was a little episode which settled matters once and for all. Company C was doing picket duty in front of Richmond. As the column marched along the line the three last men dropped off at each post. The Captain told the men that, after the line was covered, they could shift around, so that comrades who messed together might be with each other, adding that he couldn't stop to sort them out then, with the rebel line popping at 'em from the other side of the river. It happened that Private -, one of the ringleaders, was told off with two fellows from a different mess ; and he flared up in an instant. He gave his rifle a fling toward the river, declaring with an oath that he wouldn't submit to any such thing. Scarcely had the rifle struck the ground when he him- self was stretched senseless by a blow with the back of the Captain's sword. For a time it looked as if he would die; but eventually he pulled through, and begged not to be court- martialled. "I won't court-martial you," said the Captain, " if you'll settle down and behave yourself. But remember this : I'm going to be Captain from now on. You've been Captain long enough." And, when he discovered that he'd found his master, he developed into a model soldier.
May 3, 1863, at the battle of Fredericks- burg, Captain Robinson received three flesh wounds, but did not leave the company. May IO, 1864, at the battle of Spottsylvania Court- house, he was shot through both legs, and was forced to go home. After remaining home eight months he raised a new company, which was mustered in at Augusta, and sent to the front to join the Nineteenth Corps. This corps was broken up, and his division sent South, entering Savannah just as Sherman was marching out. He was in Augusta, Ga., at the time Jeff Davis was hurried through the city in the night; "and it was well for Davis that our boys didn't know he was in the city," says the Captain.
After the declaration of peace Captain Robinson was appointed Provost Marshal, administering the oath of amnesty to those who desired to go into business again, and
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aiding in many ways the war-stricken State. He was detailed, soon after his appointment, to search out the hiding-place of a vast amount of Confederate specie, which had been spirited away from Richmond. The specie was found in tobacco boxes sealed with the letters "C. S. A.," and amounted to fifteen million dollars.
Fortunes were made in those after-the-war times in ways more rapid than honest, and the Captain had an opportunity which in the hands of a less honest person would have yielded mighty good returns. There was reason to believe that a certain ex-rebel Major and paymaster had, locked up in his safe, certain Confederate property ; and Cap- tain Robinson and one of his Lieutenants went down with a detail of men to see about it. The old Major told thein that there was noth- ing contraband in the safe, and he would gladly open it for them but that the key was not there. "All right," said the Captain ; "we'll have a team come up and carry the safe down to headquarters, where I guess they'll find a way to get into it." The old rebel saw they meant business, so he called the Captain and the Lieutenant aside, and said, "There is fifteen thousand dollars in Con- federate gold and silver in that safe; and, if you fellows will say nothing about it, you can divide one-half of that pile between yon." "Do it, Cap'n, do it!" exclaimed the Lieu- tenant. But the Captain wasn't the man to tarnish his record and break his oath to the government. So the end of it was that the fif- teen thousand dollars went to headquarters. Following is a list of the battles in which he took part, which form a fitting close for this account of his military career: first Bull Run, Va., July 21, 1861 ; West Point, Va., May 6, 1862; Gaines's Mill, Va., June 27, 1862; Charles City Cross-roads, Va., June 29, 1862; second Bull Run, Va., August 30, 1862; South Mountain, Md., September 14, 1862; Antietanı, Md., September 17, 1862; first Fredericksburg, Va., December 12, 1862; second Fredericksburg, Va., May 2, 1863 ; Salem Heights, Va., May 4, 1863; Gettys- burg, Pa., July 3, 1863; Funkstown, Md., July 12, 1863; Rappahannock Station, Va., November 7, 1863; Locust Grove, Va., No-
vember 27, 1863, Mine Run, Va., November 29, 1863; Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1863; Spottsylvania Court-house, Va., May 10, 1864.
His grandfather was one of six brothers who served in the Revolutionary War, and he him- self is one of six brothers who went to the front' in 1861. Singularly enough, three of the earlier generation were killed in service, and but three of the later generation lived to come home at the close of the Rebellion.
Captain Robinson was mustered out Febru- ary 16, 1866, and soon after the close of the war was granted a pension of ten dollars a month, which was subsequently increased to twenty and still later to twenty-four. The year following his return from the war he worked at his trade; but the wounds he had received caused him considerable trouble, and he gave up work as a millwright, and opened a furniture store in Anson village. He came to Phillips in 1872, and in company with his father-in-law, James M. Adams, purchased the Barden House, which they conducted for a year or so, and then sold it to Sam Farmer. He then secured work on the Beal Block, which was begun about that time. After that was completed he again took up the furniture business, to which he added undertaking, hir- ing a portion of the post-office building for the purpose, but six months later removing to his present quarters in the Beal Block. On De- cember 8, 1859, Mr. Robinson married Miss Loreda M. Adams. They have one child, Ilda M., born September 1, 1860.
Mr. Robinson, like his father, has always been a stanch Republican. He cast his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont. The only town office of importance in which he has served is that of Town Treasurer. He is one of the Directors of the Union National Bank, and has been for sixteen years a Trustee of the Phillips Savings Bank. In 1862 he be- came a member of Somerset Lodge, No. 34, A. F. & A. M., of Skowhegan, Me., but later took a dimit, and is now a member of the Blue Mountain Lodge, No. 67; Franklin Chapter, No. 19, of Farmington, Me .; Pil- grim Commandery, Knights Templars, No. 19, of Farmington; Korah Temple, Noble Order of the Mystic Shrine, of Lewiston. He
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is also a member of Mount Saddleback Lodge, No. 92, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Phillips, and Chairman of its Board of Trus- tees; a member of the Loyal Legion, State of Maine; and of the Union Veteran League of Lewiston; likewise of Cushman Post, No. 87, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is the present Commander. He is an attendant of the Universalist church.
HARLES E. HOLT, a prominent member of the legal profession in Norway and a native of Fryeburg, Me., was born March II, 1835, son of Joseph and Mehitabel (Miller) Holt, and grandson of William and Esther (Frye) Holt. William Holt, a native of Massachusetts, served as a musician in the War of 1812. He went to Fryeburg, and purchased a farm when that town was practically new, and continued to live there until his death, at the age of sixty years. His wife, Esther (Frye) Holt, was a daughter of Simon Frye, and a descend- ant of one of the pioneer families of Fryeburg. She taught school in her younger days. Her children were: William H., John, Joseph, Thomas K., Mary, Esther, and Sophia. She lived to be seventy-seven years old.
Joseph Holt was born November 25, 1808. He learned the trade of a tinsmith, and started in business for himself at Fryeburg. Subse- quently, owing to the failing health of his parents, he sold out, assumed their debts, and cared for them until their death. In recom- pense for these sacrifices he received the homestead, which he afterward sold, and bought a saw-mill, grist-mill, and a farm at West Denmark. He also built a store there, and all together did a large business. After- ward he became the owner of three other farms. In politics he was a Democrat, and served the town as Selectman. His religion was Universalism, and he was a member of the Masonic fraternity. His wife, Mehitabel, whose birth occurred February 17, 1812, bore him seven sons and two daughters, of whom Frank B., the youngest, died when two years old. The others, who are living, are: Charles E., Joseph A., Jones B., Alvah M., L. Cor- delia, William H., Esther A., and John W.
After attending the Fryeburg and Bridgton Academies, Charles E. Holt read law with Major D. R. Hastings, of Fryeburg, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1861. He at once opened an office in Denmark, where he remained until 1873. Then he removed to Bethel, and four years later came to Norway. Here he entered into partnership with Alvah Black, one of the leading lawyers of Oxford County, with whom he was connected until Mr. Black's death in 1882. Beginning in Oc- tober of that year, he and A. S. Kimball did business together for three years. Since then Mr. Holt has practised his profession alone. During his residence in Norway he has taken a very active part in the legal and financial affairs of the town ; and his counsel is sought by a large clientage, who place implicit faith in his legal acumen. A man of studious habits, he has one of the largest and best se- lected law libraries in Oxford County. Dur- ing the Civil War Mr. Holt served as enlist- ing officer. In 1864 he was appointed, by General Rufus Ingalls, clerk of the Quarter- master Department at City Point, Va. He was among the first to favor the removal of the County Building from Paris Hill to South Paris. He is now one of the Board of Di- rectors in the Norway National Bank. Since coming to Norway he has purchased and fitted up a fine house on Pleasant Street, in which he now resides.
On May 26, 1877, Mr. Holt was united in marriage with Miss Lavina B. Ames, daugh- ter of Colonel Nathaniel and Roxanna L. Ames. Colonel Ames was born in Brown- field, Me. On starting in life for himself he purchased a new and practically uncultivated farm, on which he erected a log house. Later, after clearing up a portion of the land and get- ting a start, he erected a frame house and other necessary buildings. He was a Colonel in the State militia. At the time of his death he was seventy-four years old. His wife, who made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Holt. died June 19, 1896, eighty-nine years of age. Colonel and Mrs. Ames had a son and three daughters; namely, Amanda M., Maria L., Lavinia B., and Charles H. Mr. Holt is a member of the Democratic County Committee. While in Denmark he held the office of Select-
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man, and he has served Norway in the same capacity since his arrival. He is an esteemed Mason, having membership in Mount Moriah Lodge, of Denmark; in Union Chapter, No. 36, Royal Arch Masons; in Oxford Council, Royal and Select Masters, of Norway; and in Portland Commandery, Knights Templars.
IRAM P. ELLIOTT, of the firm of Elliott & Bartlett, spool manufact- urers of Lynchville, in the town of Albany, Oxford County, Me., was born in Salmon Falls, N.H., December 24, 1833. His parents were Russell F. and Mary Jane ( Whitehouse) Elliott.
Russell F. Elliott was born in Salisbury, Mass., in March, 1812. For a number of years he was intimately connected with manu- facturing industries, at first as superintendent of a large woollen-mill at Salmon Falls, N. H., and later as superintendent of the Hosea Crane manufacturing plant at Ports- mouth, N. H., which had a large annual output of underwear and hosiery; and he was subse- quently for a long time conductor on what is now the Eastern Division of the Boston & Maine Railroad, The latter part of his life was spent in retirement at Fall River, Mass., where he died at the advanced age of eighty- two. His wife, a native of Salmon Falls, N.H., died in May, 1890, at the age of eighty-one.
Mr. and Mrs. Russell F. Elliott had seven children, six of whom grew to maturity; namely, Anna A., Hiram P., Emily Jane, George, Mary E., and Celia. The sixth child, Celia, first, died in infancy. Anna A. Elliott, born in March, 1831, married Colonel John P. Emerson, a dry-goods merchant, who died in 1871. She is now living in Paw- tucket, R. I. Emily Jane, born in October, 1835, married Ferdinand Reed, and had three children. Mr. Reed and his family have all passed to the world beyond, the mother and three children having died within thirteen months. George Elliott is in the mill with his brother, and lives in North Waterford, Me. He married Ella C. York, and has one child, Wallace H. Mary E., born in June, 1837, is the wife of George W. Woodcock, a
cook in Pawtucket, R. I. Celia, born in 1842, is the wife of Ferdinand Tisdale, a painter of Pawtucket, R. I.
Hiram P. Elliott, the elder of the two sons, was educated in the common schools of Ports- mouth, N.H. At the age of nineteen he began to learn the business of spool-making at Fall River, Mass., where he worked some five years ; and the six years following he was em- ployed in the same way in Central Falls, R.I. He then took charge of the factory of J. K. Malley, of which he was foreman ten years; and he next started a small spool-mill of his own at East Stoneham, Me. A year later he removed to Lynchville, in the town of Albany, Me., and started the mill in which he is now interested, with Jonathan Bartlett as partner. This venture proved very successful; and the firm now has a large business, keeping a num- ber of men constantly employed. They man- ufacture spools for the noted Rhode Island thread firm of J. & P. Coats, and have a ca- pacity of four thousand gross or more a week. Mr. Elliott's business career has been marked by energy, application, and upright dealing. Starting without capital, he has built up a successful business, and is now enjoying the fruits of his labor, with the esteem of all with whom he is brought in contact.
He was married November 5, 1861, to Pris- cilla Brownell, daughter of Edward and Re- becca (McCumber) Brownell. She was born September 5, 1844. One child has blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Elliott, Mildred T., born May 29, 1871, now the wife of W. H. Kilgore, who is a merchant of North Water- ford, Me, and the Postmaster of that place.
Mr. Elliott is prominent in local politics, favoring the Democratic side. He is an Odd Fellow in high standing, belonging to Oxford Lodge, No. 161, of North Waterford, Me. Mrs. Elliott attends the Congregational Church of North Waterford.
HARLES G. SAWYER, one of Wil- ton's most highly respected citizens, whose empty sleeve attests more eloquently than words his service in defence of the Union, and recalls to memory the dark days of the Rebellion, was born at
.
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the foot of Moosehead Lake in the town of Greenville, Me., April 13, 1832, son of Isaac and Sarah (Hayford) Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer's grandfather, Joel Sawyer, who was for many * ¿years a resident of Saco, Me., died in that town at the age of eighty years. His chil- dren were: Henry, Ephraim, Ellison, Frank, Isaac, Mercy, and Ruth.
Isaac Sawyer, Mr. Sawyer's father, was born in Saco in February, 1798. In young man- hood he worked upon the river, and, saving his earnings, bought a homestead. Finding that he needed more land, and not being able to purchase it near his native town on account of the sharp advance in prices, he decided to become a pioneer in the region about Moose- head Lake, where land was cheap and of good quality. Purchasing one-half of a township near the foot of the lake at twenty-five cents per acre, he moved his family to Monson, fourteen miles distant, where they remained until he had provided a shelter for them in the wilderness.
He subdivided his tract, selling a portion of it to other settlers, and, retaining the rest for himself, cleared and improved one hundred and sixty acres into a good farm. The land proving exceedingly fertile, he tilled the soil successfully, also engaging quite extensively in lumbering ; and he later erected a good set of frame buildings. He was a man of powerful physique, and is known to have once carried upon his back and in his hands a half-barrel of flour, a small pig, and some packages of groce- ries several miles over a narrow path from the store to his home. In politics he was in his latter years a Republican, and he was a Methodist in his religious views. He lived to reach the advanced age of nearly ninety years. In his youth he enlisted for service in the War of 1812; and while destroying the bridge at Plattsburg, N.Y., he sustained a severe injury which caused him more or less trouble in after life. His wife, who was be- fore marriage Sarah Hayford, became the mother of six children; namely, Sarah A., Mary J., Lewis, Maria, Charles G., and Susan A., all of whom grew to maturity. Mrs. Sarah H. Sawyer lived to be seventy- nine years old. She was a Congregationalist in her religious belief.
Charles G. Sawyer, the fifth child and the special subject of the present writing, ac- quired a practical education, although the school facilities in the vicinity of his boy- hood's home were not of the best. When a young man he bought his father's homestead property, which contained one hundred and sixty acres ; and he carried it on for ten years, during which time he cleared forty acres more for tillage purposes, and erected a new dwell- ing in place of the old one which had been destroyed by fire. Selling his farm he moved to the city of Bangor, where for a short time he kept a restaurant, later engaging in the meat and provision business with J. P. Taylor until going into the army. In September, 1864, he enlisted as a private in Company L, Thirty-first Maine Infantry, under Captain D. D. Brock; and he served until the close of the war. In the last charge in front of Petersburg, April 2, 1865, he received a gun- shot wound in the left arm, which completely shattered the bone, making amputation neces- sary; and after his discharge he returned to Bangor.
When sufficiently recovered to again engage in business pursuits, he opened a grocery store, which he carried on for two years; and on selling out he bought a farm of ninety acres, which he conducted for five years. He then sold his farming property, and, removing to Wilton, engaged in the canning business, packing in a superior manner grecn corn. apples, berries, beans, and lamb, employing in the busy season as many as one hundred hands. These goods acquired a wide reputa- tion in the metropolitan markets for the high standard of excellence which was maintained in their production, and for ten years he car- ried on a large and profitable business. In connection with that he established a general store, which he conducted upon the site of the present town hall : and he continued in trade until 1883, when he sold out and retired from business. In 1880 he bought a tract of land situated upon an elevation near the foot of Wilton Lake, and erecting a large two-story house with mansard roof, together with a com- modious stable, graded and beautified the grounds, thus making a handsome and attrac- tive homestead. The location is healthful,
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