USA > Maine > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the state of Maine > Part 32
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The lumber firm of Lawrence, Phillips & Co., of which he became a member in 1890, was merged about two years later in the Lawrence, Newhall & Page Company, of which from the date of its incorporation he has served as treas- urer, being also a director of the company. He is a director in two street railway companies, the Portland & Brunswick and the Waterville & Oakland, and was active in the forwarding of the construction of both lines. He belongs to the Masonic order, having membership in Siloam Lodge of Fairfield. Teconnet Chapter and St. Omar Commandery, of Waterville, and Kora Temple Shrine of Lewiston Council at Oakland.
He married September 29, 1870, Miss Jennie L. Philbrick, a native of Phillips, Me., and daughter of Merchant Philbrick, late of Houlton. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Page in the early years of their wedded life. Of ong, Castine M., they have been bereft. The sur- viving child is a daughter, Camilla M. Uni- versalists in religion, Mr. Page and his family attend and help to support the church of that denomination in Fairfield.
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ORRILL N. DREW, lawyer, pres- ent Representative to the Legis- lature from Portland, was born in Fort Fairfield, May 17, 1862, his parents being Jesse and Clarissa (Welling- ton) Drew. The founder of his branch of the Drew family in New England was John1 Drew, who appeared in Plymouth about 1660, and who is supposed to have been a son of William and grandson of Sir Edward Drew, knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 15$9. John1 Drew was born in England in 1642. He married in Plym- outh, about 1673, Hannah, daughter of John Churchill (" Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth "). The line of descent under present consideration is John,1 Nicholas,23 Stephen,+5 Jesse," Morrill N. The children of John1 and Hannah Drew were: Elizabeth, born 1673; John, 1676; Samuel, 1678; Thomas, 1681; Nicholas, 1684; and Lem- uel, 1687.
Nicholas2 Drew by his first wife Abigail had four children: Joshua, born 1709; Josiah, 1711; Nicholas (the next in this line of descent), born in 1713; Lemuel; 1715. By his second wife, Rebecca Morton, he had: Joanna, born 1717: Lucy, 1719; James, 1721; and Abigail, 1723. By a third wife, Lydia Doggett, he had Rebecca, born 1731.
Nicholas3 Drew married in 1730 Bathsheba Kempton. His children, nine in number, were: Abigail, born 1737; Abigail, 1739; Lois, 1741: Nicholas, 1743; Josiah, 1745; Abbet (?), 1747; Samuel, 1749; David, 1752; and Stephen, 1754.
Stephen+ Drew removed from Middleboro, Mass., to Bucksfield, Oxford County, Me., about 1800, being one of the early settlers there. He married Jerusha Bryant, and they had Stephen, Josiah, Lewis, Bathsheba, and two other children. He died in 1825.
Stephen Drew married March, 1805, Anna Bisbee, who bore him five children: Aurilla and Phidella (twins), born June 7, 1806; Jesse, Sep- tember 21, 1808: Louisa, November 23, 1810; and Molly, April 13, 1813 .- They resided in Turner, Me.
Jesse" Drew removed from Turner to Aroostook County in 1858, settling at Fort Fairfield, where he was residing at the time of his death in 1892. A steadfast Republican, he took an active part in politics, was influential in the counsels of
his party, and held various offices of trust. By his first marriage in May, 1834, to Hannah T. Phillips, he had children as follows: Hannah Gorham, born July 27, 1835; Franklin Mellen, July 19, 1837; Delphina M., November 24, 1839; Anna P., January 8, 1842; and George E., March 3, 1845. On December 21, 1857, he married for his second wife Clarissa Wellington, who bore him two children: Gertrude H., born July 21, 1859: and Morrill N., born May 17, 1862, whose name begins this article.
Mrs. Clarissa Wellington Drew, whose parents were Joel and Clarissa (Blake) Wellington, of Monticello, Me .. was a descendant in the seventh generation of Roger1 Wellington, born about 1609 or 1610, a planter of Watertown, Mass. Roger Wellington married Mary, eldest daughter of Dr. Richard Palgrave, of Charlestown. He died March 11, 1697-8. His children were: John, born July 25, 1638; Mary, February 10, 1640-1; Joseph, October 9, 1643; Benjamin, born about 1646; Oliver, born November, 1618; Palgrave, born about 1653, became a physician in Water- town, and died October 22, 1715. The succeeding ancestors in this line were as follows :-
Joseph- Wellington, the date of whose birth is given above, married June 6, 1684, Elizabeth Straight. Their children were: Elizabeth, born April, 1685; Thomas, November 10, 1686; Mary, October 7, 1689; and Susannah, February 5, 1691-2.
Thomas3 Wellington married for his first wife Rebecca Whittemore, who died in 1734. Ilis will was proved December 24, 1759. He had five children: Rebecca, born in 1709; Joseph, 1711: Thomas, 1714: Susannah; and Elizabeth.
Thomas+ Wellington, Jr., of Waltham, Mass., married March 13, 1734, Margaret Stone. He died November 4, 1783. He had a family of fourteen children, namely: Thomas, born Decem- ber 12, 1735: Elizabeth, March 14, 1735-6; John, October 25, 1737: Susanna, September, 1738; Jonathan, July 27, 1740; Samuel; No- vember 6, 1742; Josiah, April 4, 1745; William, July, 1746; George, October 21, 1749; Rebecea, November 6, 1752; Susanna, May 29, 1755; Thaddeus, April 5, 1758; Sarah, April 10, 1760; Joel, April 21, 1763.
George5 Wellington, born as above noted in 1749, was a Revolutionary soldier. He mar-
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ried December 24, 1772, Lucy Pierce. He re- moved to Jaffrey, N.H., and afterward to Cav- endish, Vt. His wife died April 29, 1793. They were the parents of six children as follows: Ephraim, born September 29, 1773; Lydia, November 28, 1775: Lucy, September 18, 1777; Leonard, born March 5, 1780, who died in Rindge, N.H .; John, who settled in Albion, Me .; and Joel, who married Clarissa Blake, they being the parents of Clarissa, born July 14, 1824, who became the wife of Jesse Drew, and died October 27, 1867.
Morrill N. Drew was educated at Bates Col- lege and the Boston University Law School, graduating from the latter institution in 1885. Beginning practice in Fort Fairfield, he resided there until 1893. During the years 1887, 1SSS, 1889, and 1890, he was State's Attorney for Aroostook County. He has been three times elected to the State Legislature, for the sessions of 1891, 1893, and that of the present year, 1903. .
Mr. Drew married December 20, 1892, Louise S. Davis, daughter of the Hon. Jesse and Mary A. (Woodberry) Davis, of Lisbon, Me. He has one child, Jesse Albert, born at Portland, Me., August 6, 1896.
9P IDWARD PAYSON PAGE, Representative from Skowhegan in the lower branch of the Maine Legislature during the ses- sions of 1901 and 1903, has resided in Skow- hegan since 1871, and is well known as one of the leading business men of the town. He was born in Norridgewock, December 26, 1846, son of Horatio Nelson Page and his wife, Hannah Page. His father's birthplace was Readfield, Kennebec County, Me .: and his mother's, Win- throp, in the same county, where his maternal grandfather, Sewall Page, was among the early settlers. His father's father was Simeon Page.
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Edward Payson Page was educated in the . . public schools, high school included, of Nor- ridgewock and at the Maine Wesleyan Seni- nary, Kent's Hill. Removing to Skowhegan in 1871, he became identified with the lumber in- dustry and the banking business, in both of which he is actively interested at the present time. For thirty years he has served as treas- urer of the Skowhegan Savings Bank, and for a
quarter of a century has been a director of the First National Bank of Skowhegan. He is also a trustee of the Skowhegan Savings Bank, presi- dent of the Skowhegan Electric Light and Power Company, and treasurer and a director of the Skowhegan Pulp Company. For some time he was the treasurer of the Kennebec Log Driving Company.
On the Republican ticket at the State election in September, 1900, he was chosen Representa- tive to the Legislature from Skowhegan.
He was married June 10, 1879, to Lizzie M. Randall, of Vassalboro, Me., daughter of James D. Randall. of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Page have two children, Blin W. and Edna C. The family attend the Congregational church. Mr. Page is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
APTAIN CHARLES HENRY WELLS, who after a long and adventurous life has returned to his native city of Hal- lowell, to spend a few years of well- earned leisure, was born here January 1, 1833, son of Solomon E. and Louisa (Batten) Wells. The original patronymie of his family is said to have been de Welles, and was borne by a follower of William the Conqueror, who founded the English family of the name.
Solomon E. Wells was born in Connecticut, from which State he accompanied his parents to Hallowell, Me., when about seven years old. When of an age to become self-supporting he learned the baker's trade, which he followed in Hallowell for many years subsequently. He died here in 1SS7 at the advanced age of eighty- five. His wife Louisa was born in Salem, Mass., in 1805, and during the War of 1812, when she was a child of seven, removed with her parents to New Hampshire, this migration being due to their fear that Salem would be bombarded by a British fleet. Though ten years old when the battle of Waterloo was fought, she is still living, being now in her ninety-seventh year, and is one of the most respected residents of Hallowell and one of the oldest in Kennebec County. She and her husband were the parents of five chil- dren, namely-Aroline, Charles, Julia, Lewis, and Frank.
/ Charles H. Wells acquired his formal educa-
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tion in the common schools of Hallowell. While still a boy an event occurred three thousand miles away that changed the whole current of his life, as it did that of thousands of others- the discovery of gold in California. The dazzling reports from the new El Dorado that found their way, through various channels, to the rustic hamlet in which he lived, excited his youthful imagination; and in 1851, at the age of eighteen, he said farewell to home and friends, and joined the great throng of gold seekers, making the journey to California via Panama. Going on his arrival to the mines in the northern part of the State, he remained in that region for two years, engaged in mining, store-keeping, and other occupations. He then returned home by the Nicaraguan route. His long journey had given him a taste for adventurous and seafaring life, and so, instead of settling down to some routine employment on shore, he went to sea in 1854 as a sailor before the mast. He soon showed great aptitude for his laborious and dangerous calling, and with laudable ambition set himself to acquire not only a practical grasp of seamanship, but also a knowledge of navigation. Thus in 1863, while in Scotland, he became the master of an American bark, the "Colonel Ledyard," which he conimanded for several years subsequently. Then for a while he tried a spell of shore life, conducting a ship-chandlery business and store- room in Glasgow, Scotland. He next entered the employ of the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, of which Russell & Co., of Shanghai, were agents, and sailed in 1870 as captain of one of their vessels, under the English flag, from Liverpool to Shanghai. He remained with this company until 1876, commanding successively several of their steamers and trading on the Chinese coast and on Chinese rivers. In the year just named the company sokl out to the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company, and he has remained in the employ of the latter down to the present time. He last returned from Asiatic waters in 1900, and has since re- sided in Hallowell, being still enrolled among the company's servants, though on extended shore leave.
He was married in 1860 to Emilie Bergmann, a native of Hamburg, Germany, and he and his wife are the parents of three children: Louisa,
who is the wife of Frank Russell, of Jackson- ville, Fla .: Georgia E. and Julia M., who reside in Hallowell.
In politics Captain Wells is a Republican of independent proclivities. Of a quiet, modest. and unassuming character, he has many friends among the citizens of his native town. some of whom remember him as he was in his boyhood days; and both he and his wife are popular members of Hallowell society.
HARLES E. DEARING, of Gar liner. Kennebec County, a Grand Army vet- eran, who has taken a prominent part in local affairs, was born in Web-ter. Androscoggin County, Me., October 30. 1537. His parents were John and Caroline Pers: Dearing, the father a native of Lisbon, Me .. and the mother of Topsham. His paternal grandfather was Deacon Samuel Dearing. an carly settler of Lisbon, Me. John Dearing. who was for many years a stage driver between Augusta and Brunswick, Me .. died in 1847. His wife Caroline long survived him, dying Novem- ber 30, 1SS2.
Charles E. Dearing spent his boyhood days. until reaching the age of ten years, in Webster. Androscoggin County. He then left the pa- rental roof-tree, and came to Gardiner. to make his home with his maternal uncle, Joseph Perry. with whom he resided until reaching maturity. During this period he attended the common and high schools of Gardiner, and acquired the foundation of an education that was afterward supplemented by the knowledge born of experi- ence and observation.
Under his uncle, Mr. Perry, he learned the nia- chinist's trade, and subsequently worked at it for a while in Boston, Mass., to which city he went after attaining his majority. Being sent for by his unele to take charge of the latter's machine shop, he returned to Gardiner, and was foreman of Mr. Perry's factory for a num- per of years. This industrial period of hislife was interrupted by the Civil War; for in July. 1862, he enlisted in Company B, Sixteenth Maine Volunteer Infantry, and with this regi- ment joined the Army of the Potomac. With it he took part in the battles of Fredericksburg.
تعدلاهـ
سمعد
50 فرد
٠٠ ١٣٤٥٠٫
LYNDON OAK.
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Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Captured in the first day's fight at Gettysburg, he was sub- sequently sent to Belle Isle Prison, at Richmond, Va., where he was confined for three months. On September 30, 1863, he was paroled and taken to Annapolis, Md., remaining there till June 1, 1864, when he was exchanged, and re- joined his regiment. Subsequently he parti- cipated in various battles, among them Weldon Railroad, where in the woods he was again cap- tured, but, escaping, rejoined his colors. Mus- tered out at Arlington Heights, June 5, 1865, he returned to Augusta with the regiment. Mr. Dearing then resumed work as foreman of his uncle's machine shop, and, after continuing in that position for some years, was taken into partnership, and remained a member of the firm for two years subsequently. He then retired, owing to failing health, and has since been engaged in agriculture, having resided on his present farm in the town of Farmingdale since 1SS7.
Mr. Dearing is a Republican in politics, and has held town office at various times. For eight consecutive years he was a member and chair- man of the Board of Selectmen of Farmingdale, and he also served in the City Council of Gardi- ner while residing in that city. He belongs to Heath Post, No. 6, G. A. R.
He was married October 7, 1869, to Emma White, of Pittston, Me., daughter of Deacon David A. and Soplironia (Macomber) White of that place. Her children are- Albert Clement (deceased), Ernest Wilder, and Marion Perry. Mr. Dearing and his family belong to the Con- gregational church, of which he has been a trustee for a number of years, and also a Dea- con. His sympathies and aid are readily en- listed in every good cause.
HE OAKS OF GARLAND .- The Oaks of Garland are descendants of Nathaniel1 Oak, who was born about 1645, probably in Wales, but of English stock, a writer of 1826 calling him an Englishman. He came as cabin boy on a vessel wrecked on the Massachusetts coast, he being the only survivor of the wreck. There is no evidence that he was related to any other early families of that name in America.
He wrote his surname "Oak," using "Oake" once in a great while. His children were bap- tized as "Oak," and all retained that spelling excepting his son Jonathan, who during the later years of his life added an's to it. All the descendants of John2 Oak have retained the original form of the name; and some of the de- scendants of George2 Oak and Nathaniel2 Oak have continued to spell their name with three letters, although a large majority of them write the name either "Oaks" or "Oakes."
In 1692 Nathaniel Oak, who lived in that part of Marlboro, Mass., that was set off as Westboro in 1717 and later became a part of Northboro, served in the garrison. In 1707 he performed similar duties, and as one of the Goodnow gar- rison took part in a fight with the Indians. He married first, December 14, 1686, Mehitable Rediat, daughter of John and Ann Rediat. She was born in Sudbury, Mass., in 1646, and died November 25, 1702, leaving no children. He married second, May.20, 1703, Mary Holloway. who was born in Concord, Mass., February 25. 1682, a daughter of Adam and Hannah2 (Hay- ward) Holloway. Her father was born about 1653, married March 5, 1681, and died June 7. 1733. His wife, Hannah Hayward, was the widow of Jacob Farrar, who was killed August 22, 1675, by the Indians. Nathaniel1 Oak died February 17, 1721. Through his five sons he has over ten thousand registered descendants.
John2 Oak, the sixth in order of birth of a family of eight children, was born in Marlboro. Mass., March 16, 1715. He purchased a farm. and built a house near Northboro village. He was a prosperous man, but died at the early age of thirty-seven, in September, 1752. On November 2, 1742, he married Susanna Allen, daughter of Ephraim Allen. She was born August 21, 1723, and died May 6, 1814. She was of English ancestry and a descendant in the fifth generation of Walter Allen, the line of descent being Walter,1 John," Samuel,3 Ephraim,+ Susanna.5 Walter1 Allen was born in England before 1601. In 1640 he emigrated to New England with his first wife, Rebecca, to whom he was married in 1634, and settled in Newbury, Mass., where his death occurred. July S, 1681. He married second, in 1678, Abigail Rogers. John2 Allen came to America with his parents.
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He married first before 1654, and his wife, whose Christian name was Sarah, died in 1702. She was the mother of all his children. His second wife, Mary, died in 1727. Samuel Allen was born in Sudbury, Mass., April S, 1658. He married first, January 4, 1684, Jane Ross. The Christian name of his second wife was Abigail. Ephraim+ Allen was born in Westboro, Mass., about 1691, and died February 15, 1776. On November 28, 1716, he married Susanna Beacon, who was born October 2, 1695. Their daughter, Susanna? Allen, survived her first husband, John2 Oak, and in 1754 married John Butler, of Shrews- bury, Mass. In 1766 they went to Winchester, N.H., where she died in 1814.
Nathaniel3 Oak, born in Westboro, Mass., May 16, 1751, died in Exeter, Me., March 15, 1840. He was but an infant when his father died, and he was brought up in Shrewsbury, Mass., until quite a large boy. Going then to Bolton, Mass., he passed several years at the home of his uncle Nathaniel, and also lived for a while with some cousins in Winchendon. To the Lexington alarm, April, 1775, he quickly re- sponded, and served twelve days in a company of minute-men raised by his father-in-law, Cap- tain Benjamin Hastings, in. Bolton. From 1776 to 1790 he lived in Winchester, N.H., where most of his children were born. In 1790 he removed to Chelsea, Vt., living there until 1839, when he went to Exeter, Me., to make his home with his youngest son. There, on a Sunday in 1840, he expired suddenly in church. He was a man of robust physique and of a jovial tem- perament, and was well known and liked by everybody. He married first, June 2, 1773, Susanna Hastings, and second, Mrs. Elizabeth Gates. Susanna Hastings, his first wife, was born in 1748, a daughter of Captain Benjamin Hastings, of Bolton, Mass.
Captain Hastings was born before 1723, but nothing is known of his parents, a fact that is rather strange considering his prominence. He had a distinguished record in the Revolutionary War and in the French and Indian War. In 1755 and 1756 he served for forty weeks and three days as an Ensign in the company of Cap- tain Joseph Whitcomb, and in 1759 went on the expedition to Crown Point as Captain of a company in the regiment of Colonel Abijah
Willard. He was Captain of the company of Bolton minute-men that marched to Lexington, April 19, 1775: and on April 27, 1775, he re- enlisted. In 1780 he was appointed to procure recruits for the Continental army. He held various local offices, and was quite influential as a citizen. The date of his death is unknown. Captain Hastings married May 12, 1743, in Watertown, Abigail Sawtelle, who was born April 12, 1719. Her father, Richard Sawtelle, who married Abigail Whitney, was born in Shirley, Mass., April 21, 1689, and died in 1760. He was a son of Enoch and Susanna (Randall) Sawtelle and grandson of Richard and Eliza- beth Sawtelle. Richard Sawtelle emigrated from England to America at an early day, and served in King Philip's War.
Benjamin Hastings+ Oak was the eldest of nine children. Born in Winchester, N.H., March 3, 1776, he died April 26, 1842, in Gar- land, Me. On going to Vermont at the age of fourteen years, he was a boy of remarkable strength; but during an athletic eontest with older people, held in a hayfield for charitable purposes, he injured himself, and was never well again. He served as musician in the United States army for a year or two, in 1799 being in the Second Regiment of Heavy Artillery, sta- tioned at New London, Conn. Leaving the ser- vice, he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, first as a clerk and later on his own account. From 1807 until 1812 he was Town Clerk of Chelsea, Vt., and in 1810 he represented that town in the State Legislature. From 1812 until 1826 he was proprietor of a hotel in Boscawen, N.H., the birthplace of most of his children. In 1826 he went to Exeter, Me., and in 1830 he pur- chased a farm in Garland, Me., where he spent the remaining twelve years of his life. On De- cember 23, 1804, at Chelsea, Vt., he married Hannah Smith, who was born in 1779 in Wal- pole, N.H., and died in 1853 in Garland, Me. She was a daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Smith. Her father was born before 1759, and died after 1826.
The children of Benjamin+ Hastings and Hannah (Smith) Oak were: Susanna Hastings5 Oak, Genett" Oak, Henry Laurens" Oak, Lyndon3 Oak, Lorenzo5 Oak, Lebbeus" Oak, and Edson Lang® Oak. Susanna Hastings5 Oak, born in
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Chelsea, Vt., May 26, 1808, died, unmarried, March 6, 1896. She was a successful teacher for many years, beginning in Garland in 1828, and was a woman of exceptional education and culture. From about 1850 she lived in the family. of her brother Lyndon, devoting her energies largely to church, mission, and chari- table work.
Genett" Oak, born January 22, 1810, died April 25, 1810.
Henry Laurens® Oak, born in Chelsea, Vt., October 29, 1811, died, unmarried, at Au- gusta, Me., June 13, 1893. In youth Laurens was the most jovial of the family, a leader in athletic sports and a skilful musician. In middle age, though highly respected and one of the most successful farmers, he was unsocial and eccentric. In old age his eccentricity became insanity, and he spent the last ten years of his life in the asylum at Augusta.
The Hon. Lyndon" Oak, teacher and merchant, born in Boscawen, N.H., September 22, 1816, died in Garland, Me., February 17, 1902. He was educated in the common schools and at Gorham Seminary, where he was subsequently an instructor for twelve years. He continued his professional career for many years, and as an educator met with praiseworthy success. In 1848 he founded the Garland High School, in which he taught the first term, and was so inter- ested in its continuance that he personally guar- anteed the salaries of the teachers for the next thirteen years. For a long time he served most efficiently as superintendent of schools in Gar- land, doing much toward advancing the educa- tional status of the town. He was very promi- nent in the establishment and early manage- ment of the Maine State College, now the University of Maine, at Orono, and served for twenty-two years as one of its board of trustees, six years being president of the board. On reaching the legal limitation of age, he retired. He was a member of the State Legislature at different times from 1843 until 1867, serving in both branches of that body, and had the distinc- tion of being the first member ever elected to the House on a straight anti-slavery, or "Liberty party," ticket. When the Liberty party was merged in the Free Soil party, he became one of its stanchest adherents, continuing to support
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