Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the state of Maine, Part 43

Author: New England Historical Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Boston, New England historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 998


USA > Maine > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the state of Maine > Part 43


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· In Masonic circles he is a member of Messa- lonskee Lodge, F. & A. M., Drummond Royal Arch Chapter, Mount Lebanon Council, and a demitted member of St. Omer Commandery, Knights Templar. He has been High Priest of his own chapter, and for a number of years District Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Maine, Grand Scribe, Grand King, and Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Maine, and is at present Grand Representative of the Grand Chapter of New York.


He has been cliief of the Oakland fire depart- ment, and was a charter member of Court Mes- salonskee, Independent Order of Foresters, and its first Chief Ranger.


He was elected Representative to the Legis- lature in 1879 and again in 1SSO by the Repub- licans of Waterville and West Waterville.


Mr. Goulding was united in marriage to Mary Pauline Holt, of Skowhegan, Me. They have ore daughter, Louise, the wife of Edward D. Cole, now residing in Boston, Mass.


LLIOT JOHNSON BEAL, of Readfield. Kennebec County, agriculturist, orchard- ist, and dairyman, was born in what is now Farmingdale, Me., October 8, 1853. His parents, Samuel B. and Mary (Folsom) Beal. are now living, hale and hearty, the father. who is a native of Anson, Me., being in his eighty- seventh year, and the mother, a native of Stark, Me., in her seventy-sixth. They reside in Readfield. Samuel B. Beal owned and resided on a farm in Augusta for nearly forty years.


The subject of this sketch was about seven years old when the family removed to Augusta. and he was there brought up on the parental farm. At the age of fourteen he began work- ing during the summer at quarrying stone and at the trade of stone-mason. while during the winter he attended school. When he was twenty years old, he began industrial life on his own account, and was employed during the winter seasons for some eleven years in logging in the woods, following his trade of stone-mason in the summer. In the latter capacity he subsequently entered the employ of the Edwards Manufacturing Company. of Augusta, with which he remained for three years. Afterward for seven years he worked as stone-mason for the Maine Central Railroad. and then came to Readfield and resided for & year on a farm near Kent's Hill. In the spring of 1897 he settled on his present farm, which is well located, and contains one hundred and fifty acres, much of it under good cultivation. In his orchard he raises some excellent fruit. his apples being mostly of the Baldwin variety. Since coming to Readfield Mr. Beal has closely identified himself with the interests of the town, of which he is already regarded as one of the substantial and progressive citizens.


Mr. Beal was married April 5, 1885, to Zilla FB. Webber, who was born in Georgetown, Me.,


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daughter of Albert R. and Angie L. (Trask) Webber. He has one child, a daughter, Angie M., born in Augusta, May 7, 1889.


Mr. Beal is a member of Lafayette Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Readfield, which he served for two years as Senior Warden and for one year as Junior Deacon. Mr. Beal and his wife are both members of Read- field Grange, Patrons of Husbandry.


Mrs. Beal comes of patriotic ancestry. Her great-grandfather Trask was a Revolutionary soldier, her grandfather Trask fought against England in the War of 1812, and her father; was a veteran of the Civil War. Albert R. Webber was born in Georgetown, Me. After serving three years as a cavalryman in the Union army, he enlisted in the United States navy, and was one of the crew of the "Monongahela" until the close of the war. He died April 15, 1892. . His wife, Mrs. Beal's mother, who was born in Alna, Me., is now living in Brunswick, Me. Though in her seventy-first year, she has retained her mental and physical powers to a remarkable degree.


Mr. and Mrs. Beal have made many friends in Readfield since settling here, their social, neighborly qualities contributing greatly to their popularity.


LBION PARRIS CRAM is a citizen of Mount Vernon, Me., who has per- formed good service for his town as a public official and as a promoter of its business interests. He was born in Mount Vernon, October 28, 1838, son of Upham Timothy and Nancy (Smith) Cram. His father, Upham T. Cram, was born in New Sharon, Me., being a son of Joseph Cram of that town.


John Cram, the immigrant progenitor of the family of this surname in New England, was probably in Boston as early as 1635. In 1637 he was granted sixteen acres of land at Muddy Brook, now Brookline, Mass. A few years later he was in Exeter, N.H., whence he removed to Hampton, N.H., where he died in 1682. He left two sons, Benjamin and Thomas, and two daughters.


Upham T. Cram came to Mount Vernon about 1824, and was here engaged in mercan-


tile business for a number of years. He then removed to Readfield Depot and thence to Readfield Corners, in each of which places he conducted a store. His death occurred in Lewiston, Me., in 1880, from injuries re- ceived while travelling on the Maine Central Railroad. His wife Nancy was born in Mon- mouth, Me. Their children were: Albion (first), who died in 1832; Albina A .; Benjamin J .; and Albion Parris.


Albion P. Cram was reared in his native town of Mount Vernon, acquiring his edu- cation in the public schools. Subsequently he attended the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill and still later the Warren Johnson School at Topsham, Me. Entering his father's store, he early acquired a knowl- edge of mercantile life and business methods. At the age of eighteen he entered the employ of Calvin Hopkins, then a well-known mer- chant at Mount Vernon, for whom he was clerk for several years. In 1860 he entered into partnership here in the mercantile busi- ness with Mr. M. S. Mayhew, under the firm name of Mayhew & Cram. After this con- nection had lasted for seven years, Mr. Cram sold out his interest in the enterprise, and with Mr. True French founded a similar busi- ness under the style of Cram & French, which they carried on in Mount Vernon for a similar period of seven years. Mr. Cram then became by purchase the sole proprietor of the business. He enjoys in a high degree the confidence of his fellow-citizens, both in Mount Vernon and in the surrounding towns, and he was called to represent the towns of Mount Vernon, Readfield, Fayette, and Vienna in the State Legislature of 1897. He served for five years as. Treasurer of the town of Mount Vernon. for ten years as Town Clerk, and for two years as Town Auditor. He is now, and has been for thirty-five years, justice of the peace. His political affiliations are with the Republican party; and he belongs to Minnehonk Lodge, No. 131, I. O. O. F., of Mount Vernon.


Mr. Cram married, first, Susan M. Fletcher, of Mount Vernon, who bore him two children: Melville F., of San Francisco: and Nellia A., the widow of Orman French, late of this town. He was united to his present wife, Lora V.


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Walker, of Mount Vernon, in 1866. Of this union there are five children, namely: B. Ralph, who resides in Mount Vernon, and is now in partnership with his father; Charles MI., who is employed in the census department of the national government at Washington, D.C .; Archer P., who is in the pension department at Washington; Margaret E., a student in Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts; and Lora A., who is at home with her parents. B. Ralph, Charles M., and Archer P. are col- lege graduates.


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· HENRY TRUE, of North Fayette, a prosperous representative of the agri- cultural interests of Kennebec County, was born in Peru, Me., April 30, 1836, a son of Moses and Eleanor Q. (Kyle) True. He is a great-grandson of Thomas True, a native of New Hampshire, who died in Fayette, Me. Edward True, grandfather of J. Henry, was born in the Granite State, and accompanied his parents to Fayette, where he subsequently resided. He was a Revolutionary soldier. The founder of the family in America was Henry True, an Englishman, who came to this country in the seventeenth century, settling in New Hampshire.


Moses True was born in Fayette, and here spent his life as a farmer. His wife Eleanor was born in Peru, Me. Their children were M. Francis, Mary D., John II., Sadie E .. Ed- ward M., Charles E., Moses W., A. K. Olin, and W. Fiske True.


J. Henry True came to Fayette with his parents from Peru, Me., when he was nine years old. He attended the public schools of this town and afterward the Maine Wesleyan Sem- inary at Kent's Hill, Me. In early manhood he taught school for several winter terms; but his chief occupation in life has been agri- culture, which he has followed very success- fully. His farm, consisting of one hundred and fifty acres, is in a flourishing condition, that attests the practical knowledge and steady industry of its proprietor, whose prosperity is due to his own efforts for self-advancement, and is not the result of chance or extraneous assistance. Mr. True is a director and secretary


of the Fayette Creamery Association, whose plant is at North Fayette.


On September 10, 1862, Mr. True enlisted as a private in Company E, Twenty-fourth Maine Volunteer Infantry, a nine months' regi- ment, and on the organization of the company was elected First Lieutenant. From December 16, 1862, to May, 1863, he served as Captain of his company, the regiment being of the Nine- teenth Army Corps, stationed in Louisiana under General Nickerson. Subsequently he was detailed as Post Commissary to General Banks's staff, as such doing duty at Bonnet Carré, La. After receiving an honorable dis- charge from the army, Mr. True went to Ver- mont, and was there engaged for a time in the copper mining industry. Later he tried farm- ing in New Hampshire, but before long went to Portland, Me., where, however, he spent a short time. He became a resident of Fayette in 1872, and has since resided here. He is a charter member and was one of the organizers of Starling Lodge, No. 156, P. of H., which he served also ten years as Master.


In 1859 Mr. True married Helen E. Brown. a daughter of Cyrus and Lucretia Brown. of Fayette, Me. She bore him five children: C. Harry, who is a resident of the State of Mon- tana; Winnie O., who is now Mrs. R. A. Bry- ant, of Kent's Hill, Me .; Birdie E., wife of W. W. Farrington, of Fayette, Me .; Kate M., wife of G. W. Farrington, of Livermore Falls, Me .; and Charles W., who resides in Boston, Mass.


Mrs. Helen E. True died October 30, 1875: and on December 25, 1877, Mr. True married for his second wife Mrs. Zelia E. Bryant, a native of Fayette, Me., and daughter of Benjamin and Aurilla (Hayes) Bryant, of that town. By her first marriage to Thomas Perkins Mrs. True has one child, Charles E. Bryant, living in Derry: N. H.


ICTOR BRETT, City Clerk of Bangor. was born in Oldtown, Me., October 17, 1851. Through his father, the late Judge Ezra C. Brett, he comes of old Plymouth Colony stock, being a representa- tive of the eighth generation of the family founded by William Brett, one of the original


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proprietors and settlers of West Bridgewater, and tracing his ancestry in three lines to the "Mayflower"-namely, in two lines to John and Priscilla (Mullens) Alden and in one to Francis Cook. The Brett line is: William,1 Nathaniel,2 Seth,3 Simeon,+ Rufus,5 Ezra," Ezra C., Victor.8


The wife of Nathaniel Brett (married in 16S3) was Sarah, daughter of John and Sarah (Mitchell) Hayward and grand-daughter of Experience Mitchell and his wife Jane, who was a daughter of Francis Cook, one of the Pilgrim Fathers.


Seth3 Brett married in 1712 Sarah' Alden, daughter of Isaac3 Alden and grand-daughter of Joseph,? son of John1 and Priscilla. Simeon Brett, son of Seth and his wife Sarah, was, therefore, an Alden descendant in the fifth generation, Victor being of the ninth.


Rufus . Brett, son of Simeon, married Susanna Cary, daughter of Zechariah and Susanna (Bass) Cary and a descendant of John and Priscilla Alden through their daughter Ruth, who mar- ried John Bass. Hence the second Alden line is: John,1 Ruth2 Alden Bass, Samuel3 Bass, Jonathan' Bass, Susanna5 Bass Cary, Susanna" Cary Brett, Ezra? Brett, Ezra Carys Brett, Victor? Brett.


The Hon. Ezra Cary8 Brett was born in Poland, Me., July 29, 1821. After his gradu- ation from Gorham Academy he taught school several terms. He subsequently studied law, and after his admission to the bar settled in Oldtown, where he built up a good practice. He served for twelve years as Clerk of Courts for Penobscot County and twelve years as Judge of Bangor Municipal Court. These positions he filled with ability and fidelity, and until the time of his death, June 10, 1894, he was actively identified with the legal pro- fession. Judge Brett married Jane Norton, who was born in Livermore, Me., July 14, 1822, and died June 3, 1894, one week only intervening between their deaths. Of their five children, three are now living, namely- Victor, Amelia, and Mary Alice.


Amelia? Brett was born in Oldtown, Me., November 4, 185S. She inarried William H. Stickney. They have two children, namely: Ruth, born March S, 1SSS; and Imogene, born


November 20, 1890. Mary Aliceº Brett, born in Oldtown, Me., December 31, 1860, married Walter L. Head, of Bangor. Mr. and Mrs. Head have three children, namely: Alden F .. born January 7, 1895; Francis, born Septen)- ber 19, 1896; and Elizabeth, born May 2, 1901.


Victor? Brett attended first the common schools of his native town, subsequently study- ing the higher branches at Westbrook Semi- nary, where he was graduated in 186S. En- tering Tufts College in the class of 1872, he left that institution in the Junior year, and in 1874 he received his diploma at the Albany Law School. He then continued his law studies in the office of Wilson & Woodward in Ban- gor, remaining with that firm until 1875, when he was admitted to the Penobscot County bar. Beginning at once the practice of his profes- sion, Mr. Brett continued it until 1876, when he was elected City Clerk of Bangor, a position that he retains at the present time.


Mr. Brett married December 29, 1875, Miss A. Lillian Ames, daughter of Charles Ames, of Bangor. Their only child, Howard10 Brett, was born in Bangor, November 13, 1876.


ON. ELIPHALET ROWELL, president the Hallowell Savings Institution. of Hallowell, has resided in this town for over sixty years, coming hither from Livermore, where he was born May 28, 1822. His parents were Abijah and Sophia W. (Warren) Rowell, the father a native of Liver- more. Me., and the mother of Watertown. Mass.


His maternal ancestry has been traced back to 1630, when the founder of the Warren family settled in Watertown, Mass. Moses Warren. Mr. Rowell's grandfather, served in the Revo- lutionary War, as did also three of his brothers. They all fought at Bunker Hill.


The subject of this sketch laid the foundation of his education in the common schools of Liver- more and at Hallowell Academy, coming to Hallowell in his seventeenth year. Here also he served an apprenticeship to the printer's trade under T. W. Newman, then publisher of the Maine Cultirator and the Hallowell Gazette, and, after learning it, taught school for a while.


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Subsequently he became associated with Mr. Newman as a partner in the publishing business, and finally became sole owner and editor of the Hallowell Gazette, which he continued to pub- lishi until 1866, when he sold out the business. In 1864 he was appointed by President Lincoln a paymaster in the United States army, with the rank of Major, and served as such for about eighteen months, or until the close of the war, his service ending June, 1865. On his return home lie was appointed Postmaster of Hallowell, which office he held subsequently for twelve consecutive years. His business ability. by this time generally recognized, led to his obtain- ing without solicitation the position of super- intendent and treasurer of the Maine Industrial School for Girls at Hallowell, which he held for seventeen years, beginning with 1877. Enter- ing public life, he became a member of the Board of Aldermen of Hallowell, was elected Mayor of the city in 1890, and served for one year, and was four times elected as Representative to the State Legislature. Having qualified himself for the legal profession, he was appointed by the Governor of Maine Judge of the Municipal Court of Hallowell, which office he held for six years, from 1891 to 1897. For fifteen years he has been president of the Hallowell Savings Bank, having also been a director of that insti- tution for the past forty years. In these various and responsible positions Judge Rowell has shown great natural ability and a comprehen- sive knowledge of affairs. He has fought his way upward to a prominent position in the com- munity, and compelled success by means of his unfaltering perseverance and intelligent appli- cation to the matter in hand, in whatever cir- cumstances he has been placed; and it can be said of him that he is in the best sense a " self- made man" and one of Hallowell's most enter- prising and public-spirited citizens.


He was married December 2, 1844, to Ellen F. Smith, daughter of the late Captain Samuel Smith, formerly a well-known sea captain of Hallowell. Judge Rowell has two surviving children: George S., who lives in Portland, Me .; and William W., who resides in Minneapolis, Minn. Those deceased are: Edmund P., Lizzie Warren, Linnie Pray, Nellie Frances, and Lillie Porter.


Mrs. Rowell died October 27, 1897, after a happy married life of fifty-three years.


Judge Rowell professes the Baptist creed, having joined the First Baptist Church in Hallo- well in June, 1841. He belongs to the Loyal Legion of the United States and to John B. Hubbard Post, No. 20, G. A. R., State of Maine. of which he has been several times Commander. In politics he is a Republican. He has always been a man of strong convictions, never lacking the courage to declare them.


HARLES MILLIKEN, of Augusta, re- tired hotel keeper and lumber mer- chant, now in his eighty-second year, is a native of Scarboro, Cumberland County. He was born November 20, 1821, son of Allison and Jane (Libby) Milliken, and is the only survivor of a household group of nine children, seven sons and two daughters, namely -Mary. Dennis L., Ann S., Abner, Peletiah, Daniel, William, Charles, and Elias.


The account given in Ridlon's "Saco Valley Settlements" shows that they were of the fifth generation of the family founded by John Milli- ken, whose name first appears on the records of Scarboro in 1719. In a list of members of the Scots Charitable Society of Boston printed in 1896, one "Hugh Mulligan" is set down among the twenty-eight characterized as " resi- denters in towne and countrie," thirteen others being recorded as "strangers." The spelling of names often varied in those days.


Says Ridlon, "John Milliken, traditionalized a son of Hugh of Boston, may have been born in Scotland, as no record of such event has been found in New England." He married Eliza- beth, daughter of John and Mary (Wilmot) Alger, of Boston, born in 1669, baptized in 1687 at the First Church in Charlestown, where she was living with her uncle, Nathaniel Adams. They resided many years in Boston. In old documents he was styled "John Milliken, house- carpenter, of Boston." After the death of John Alger he became possessed, in right of his wife, of extensive lands at Dunston, in Scarboro, Me.


Nathaniel Milliken, son of John and Elizabeth, settled at Scarboro about the year 1730, and


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CHARLES MILLIKEN.


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later on was chosen Deacon of the Second Parish Church of Scarboro. He was by occupation a tailor. He reared eleven children. Jonathan Milliken, born in 1733, son of Nathaniel and his first wife, Sarah Munson, married in March, 1753, Esther Harmon. Of this union were thirteen children, Allison, above named, being the eleventh. Born June 3, 1775, he married December 7, 1800, Jane, daughter of Peter Libby, of Scarboro, and his second wife, Anna Lazzel, of Kennebunk. Her father was a de- scendant in the fourth generation (John,3 Matthew2) of John1 Libby, who came to New England about the year 1630, and later was for many years one of the principal planters of Scarboro, Me.


In 1826 Allison Milliken, with his family, set- tled on a farm near the present city of Gardiner. He died there in November, 1853. He was a useful and respected citizen. In politics he was a Jacksonian Democrat.


Charles Milliken was seven years old when his parents removed to Gardiner, Kennebec County, some fifty miles distant from their former home. Here he attended school, and after his school days were over began the active work of life, being variously employed until he was twenty-five years of age, when he engaged in the lumber business in company with his brother Elias, the firm being C. & E. Milliken. They carried on a successful business in Hallo- well for a number of years, the partnership con- tinuing till 1872, when he sold his interest to his brother.


In that year Mr. Milliken purchased the hotel property in Augusta known as the Augusta House. The house was built of brick, and well built, in 1831, at a cost of twenty-six thousand dollars. Changing owners in 1854, it was im- proved and refurnished, and for the next few years was kept by Major Baker as a first-class hotel. A stock company, first one and then another, afterward came into possession thereof, and further improvements were made. Mr. Milliken, after acquiring the property, devoted liis energies to hotel-keeping, and made, it is said, an excellent landlord and a very popular one, showing himself possessed of unusual qual- ifications for the management of a large and well-appointed hostelry. Selling the Augusta


House property in 1890, he then retired fror business activities.


He married in 1846 Rebecca S. Bangs, daugh- ter of Bela and Thirza (Smiley) Bangs, of Sid- ney, Kennebec County, Maine. Her father was born at Brewster, Cape Cod, Mass., in 1791, son of Captain Dean6 Bangs (Ezekiel,5 Edward,+ Captain Edward,3 Captain Jonathan,2 Edward1) and his wife, Eunice Sparrow. On the maternal side he was grandson of Isaac Sparrow and his wife, Mary Hopkins, who was the daughter of Ezekiel Hopkins, of Harwich, Mass., a lineal descendant in the fifth generation of Stephen Hopkins, one of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims. The line was Stephen,1 Giles,2 Stephen,3 Stephen,+ Ezekiel5 (Bangs Genealogy).


OHN EARL BRAINERD has resided in Winthrop from the time of his birth, which took place here December 6, 1823. His parents were Oren and Sarah (Earl) Brainerd, the father, a lifelong resident of Winthrop, the mother a native of North Berwick, Me. Mr. Brainerd is descended from the old colonial family of this name, which, according to the genealogist, was founded by Daniel Brainerd, who came to New England in his boyhood, and settled in Haddam, Conn., about the year 1662.


In the following century (about 1760) Ben- jamin Brainerd, father of Oren, migrated from Haddam, Conn., to the district of Maine, lo- cating himself in Winthrop. He taught the first school in Winthrop, and he figured quite conspicuously in local public affairs, serving as a member of the Board of Selectmen of the town. In 1779, many years before Maine acquired the dignity of Statehood, he was one of the representatives from that dis- trict to the Massachusetts General Court. Oren Brainerd, John E. Brainerd's father, who was a well-known citizen of Winthrop in his day, served as a soldier in the American army during the War of 1812.


John Earl Brainerd pursued his elementary studies in the Winthrop public schools, and, after attending the Monmouth (Me.) Academy for a short time, he engaged in teaching school. During the years 1847, '48 and '49 he followed


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the occupation of a commercial traveller in the States of Pennsylvania and Maryland. He has, however, devoted the active period of his life chiefly to agriculture and to the settle- ment of estates.


Mr. Brainerd was originally a Whig in poli- ties, but joined the Republican party at its formation, and for many years participated prominently in town affairs. He was for a number of years a member of the Republican Town Committee: for six years he served as Selectinan, during three years of that time being chairman of the board; for five years he was Collector of Taxes: and in 1891 he represented the towns of Winthrop, Belgrade, and Rome in the lower branch of the Maine Legislature. He is now serving his fourth consecutive terin as Justice of the Peace. He was a trustee many years, and for two years president, of the Kennebec Agricultural So- ciety. For three years he was a member of the State Board of Agriculture. His activity has not been confined wholly to secular affairs, as he takes a lively interest in religious mat- ters. For a period of sixty years he has been a member of the East Winthrop Baptist Church, of which he has been clerk since 1853. On September 17, 1902, he was elected for the forty-sixth time treasurer of the Bowdoinham Baptist Association, which holds its sessions annually.




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