USA > Maine > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the state of Maine > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
Mrs. Vesta Lowell Burbank since the death of her husband continues to reside in Lewiston.
TON. CYRUS W. DAVIS, of Waterville, is a native of the town of Buxton, York County, Me., son of Cyrus Davis by his second wife, Harriet A. Pratt. He was born September 25, 1856, being the youngest in a family of seven children. His father, Cyrus Davis, who was born October 3, 1812, and died March 9, 1902, was the ninthi and youngest child of John and Patience (Irish) Davis.
The branch of the Davis family to which Mr. Davis belongs was founded by Robert Davis,
one of the early inhabitants of Barnstable, on Cape Cod, Mass., of whom he is a descendant in the seventh generation. The line is Robert,1 Josiah,2 3 4 John,5 Cyrus," Cyrus W.
Robert Davis was a resident of Yarmouth in 1643. In 1650 he settled in Barnstable, where he died in 1693. His will mentions his wife Ann and nine children. The names and birth dates of eight children of Robert Davis are given in the vital records of Barnstable printed in the "Mayflower Descendant," vol. iv .. 1902, p. 222. The sixth child was Josialı,2 born in September, 1656, further mentioned as follows, p. 223: "Josiah Davis and Ann Tayler married June 25, 1679." "Their son Josiah, born in August, 16S7." The printed record includes also (p. 225), under "Josiah Davis and Mchita- ble, his wife," "Their son Josiah was born 2 Aug. 1718."
Otis's "Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families" has this record: "Josiah3 Davis, son of Josiah,2 married July 10, 1712, Mchitable, daughter of Edward Taylor, of West Barn- stable." Their son Josiah,+ whose birth date is given above, married in 1745 Thankful Mat- thews, and married, secondly, May 3, 1759, Thankful Gorham, daughter of Ebenezer+ and Temperance (Hawes) Gorham (Otis's " Barnsta- ble Notes"). Her father, Ebenezer Gorham, was son of James,3 and grandson of Captain John2 Gorham (Ralph1), who married, in 1643, Desire Howland, daughter of John1 and Eliza- beth (Tilley) Howland. Three ancestors of Thankful Gorham, it will be noted, came over in the "Mayflower" in 1620, namely, John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, and her father, John Tilley.
Josiah+ Davis and his second wife, Thankful (Gorham) Davis, came from Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and settled in Gorham, Cum- berland County. John Davis, born in Barn- stable in 1761, married in Gorham, Me., in April, 1789, Patience Irish. She was born in Falmouth, Me., January 31, 1770, the daughter of James Irish, Jr., and his wife, Mary Gorham Phinney. Her paternal grandfather, James Irish, Sr., came to Maine from England, and settled at Falmouth (now Portland) about the year 1711. In the year 1724-25 he was Sergeant in a military company which was sent to the
J
1
Very Truly Yours Cyrus Zi Danes
35
1762744
AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Penobscot River and Bay under the famous Indian fighter, Colonel Thomas Wentworth. In 1738 he removed to "Narragansett, No. 7" (now Gorham), where he died at the age of about fifty years. James Irish, Jr., his fourth son, born in Falmouth, Me., in 1736, died in IN16. He married in March, 1756, Mary Gor- han Phinney, who was born in Gorham, August 21. 1736, and died in 1825. She was the daugh- ter of Captain John' and Martha (Colman) Phinney. Her father, a native of Barnstable, M. ... was the first settler of Gorham, and she was the first white child born there. Her grand- father, Bacon John3 Phinney, was son of John2 Disney and grandson of John1 Phinney, im- phgrant, who was in Plymouth as early as 1638, and who some years later removed to Barnsta- E. on Cape Cod. John2 Phinney, of Barnsta- ble, born in Plymouth in 1638, married August 10 1664. Mary Rogers. She was the Mary, bom in 1614, daughter of Lieutenant Joseph2 Hogere who came to Plymouth with his father, 1. anas Rogers, in the "Mayflower" in 1620. Davis ("Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth," Grand edition, 1899, Appendix) states that Laph Rogers daughter Mary married John I e bey (another way of spelling this surname, bin Phinney being meant], and removed to 1 ...- tham." (See also " Mayflower Descendant," vol. iii .. p. 254.) John2 Phinney, of Eastham, Was a sollier in King Philip's War.
Jamie's Irish, Jr., was a soldier in Captain Hart Williams's company, in Colonel Edmund Phin- .1 - Thirty-first Regiment of foot, and served . D'unbridge, Mass., in General William Heath's zade, General Putnam's division, under Gen- .!! Washington (Massachusetts Archives, vol. 31. part ii., p. 217). It is elsewhere related t him that in the year 1777, when he was Having in the Revolutionary War, the sup- ist of a large family of children devolved mon the mother, the Mary Gorham Phinney et ah carlier time. Her courage and resources wate equal to the emergency. Obtaining cot- ton from Falmouth, she spun and wove it by hat, and returned it to the dealer in Falmouth, receiving in payment for her labor the excess in valne of the woven product over the raw cotton. "I need to ride to and from Falmouth (now Portland), fourteen miles distant, on horseback,
over a rough and, probably for the most part, lonely way.
James Irish, Jr., and his wife Mary had nine children. The youngest of these, James Irish, third, born in 1776, known as General Irish from his rank in the State militia, was one of the prominent citizens of Cumberland County in the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1819 he served as Senator in the Massachusetts Legislature and in 1820 as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Maine. Later on he was Surveyor-general of the public lands and State Land Agent. In 1814 he marched · with his brigade to the defence of the city of Portland. He was a younger brother of Mrs. Patience Irish Davis.
John Davis died in 1845, his wife Patience in 1854. They had nine children: Sally; Thank- ful; James; Rebecca; Temperance; Martha: Mary; Solomon; and Cyrus, above named, father of Cyrus W.
Cyrus Davis, of Buxton, was three times mar- ried. By his first wife, Martha Chase, he had one son, Cyrus Augustus; and by his second wife, Harriet A. Pratt, he had six children, five sons and one daughter: Oscar Pratt; Edward C .; Joseph B .; Martha G .; George C .; and Cyrus W., of Waterville, Me ..
Cyrus W. Davis was educated in the common schools of his native town and at Gorham Acad- emy, which he attended in 1870. At the age of nineteen he began his business career as a clerk in the dry-goods store of E. & H. Banks, of Biddeford, Me., and five years later estab- lished himself in trade in company with S. Smith, Jr., at Waterville. He has resided in this city continuously since 1SSO. For the past twelve years he has been engaged in brokerage business, being head of the firm of Davis & Soule, which has offices both in Waterville, Me., and in Boston, Mass. Public-spirited, loyal to the interests of his adopted city and to State and county, he has held, though he has never sought for, public office. In 1900 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the lower house of the State Legislature for the biennial term 1901 and 1902; and at the recent election, Sep- tember, 1902, he was re-elected for 1903 and 1904. In his first term as Representative he served on the Committee of Ways and Means,
-
36
AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
also on the Committee on Insurance and Mer- cantile Affairs. He received at both sessions of the Legislature all the votes of his party for Speaker of the House. In 1903 he was appointed on the Ways and Means, Salary and Banking Committees. It was he who introduced the first resolution in regard to the re-submission of the fifth amendment of the State Constitu- tion, touching the manufacture and sale of in- toxicating liquors. He gives earnest thought to public questions, and, forming his own opin- ions, expresses them in a clear and decided way. In March, 1903 (now four months since), he was elected Mayor of Waterville.
In his religious faith and affiliations Mr. Davis is a Baptist. He is a Mason of the thirty-second degree, being Past Master of Waterville Lodge, No. 33, a member of Teconnet Chapter, R. A. M., No. 52, and is now Generalissimo of St. Omer Commandery of Waterville.
He was married in 1879 to Flora E. Philbrook, daughter of Joseph Philbrook, contractor and builder of Lisbon Falls, Me. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two children: Harold P., born at Water- ville, March 6, 1SS7; and Russell W. Davis, born June 13, 1892.
OSEPH WHITNEY THOMPSON, a re- tired merchant of Bangor and a Grand Army veteran, was born in Thorndike, Me., July 24, 1833, son of David and Eunice (Files) Thompson. His father, a na- tive of Gilford, N.H., born July 24, 1790, died in 1874, at the age of eighty-four years.
His mother, who was a daughter of Samuel Files, was born in Gorham, Me., in 1808, and died in 1863. They had eight children- Samuel F., Abbie, Levi. Ada, Sarah, Margaret, Joseph W., and William H. Abbie married Joseph Larrabee, and had three children- Frank, Sarah, and Phebe. Levi married El- mira Perkins, and had two children, Mary and William D. Ada became the wife of William Fogg, of Scarboro, Me., and the mother of one child, Mary. Sarah married George W. Day, of New York, and had five children-David, Ada, Emma, George, and Lizzie. Margaret is now the widow of Joseph Heath and the mother of three children-Marcia, Vesta, and Charles.
William H. married Abbie Davis, and has two children, Fred E. and Cora F. Of the above named children of David and Eunice Thomp- son, Abbie, Levi, and Ada are now deceased. Phebe, daughter of Mrs. Abbie Thompson Larrabee, married Charles Morrell, of Scar- boro, Me.
Joseph Whitney Thompson was educated in his native town of Thorndike. After com- pleting his studies he learned the carpenter's trade in Bangor, where he followed it for some three years as a journeyman before attaining his majority. He then went to work in a store on Broad Street, Bangor, kept by Robert Dun- ning. Here he remained until October 1, 1861,; when he enlisted for three years in the Twelfth Maine Volunteer Infantry. His service at the front was under General Butler at New Orleans and in all the engagements under that general in Louisiana; in the battle of Irish Bend, on the Mississippi River, under General Banks; and at the forty-eight days' siege of Port Hud- son. He was then stationed for a time at Post Butler, being afterward ordered to New Or- leans. Subsequent to this he took part in the James River expedition, participating in the battle of Deep Bottom, near Petersburg, Va., and being then encamped for some time in the vicinity of Washington. Under Sheridan he fought in the Shenandoah campaign, taking part in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Creek, and Fisher's Hill. His last army service was in the neighborhood of Savannah, Ga., and he was honorably discharged in April, 1866. En- listing as a private, he won promotion in 1864 to the rank of Orderly Sergeant, afterward be- coming First Lieutenant, and in 1865 being promoted to Captain, and commanding his company for the last six months of his term of service.
After the war, returning to Bangor, he en- tered the employ of Bragg & Westcott, grocers, with whom he remained for four years. Hav- ing by that time acquired a good knowledge of the business, he engaged in it for himself, taking as partner Nathan P. Kellogg, the style of the firm being Thompson & Kellogg. After the death of Mr. Kellogg, in 1893, Mr. Thomp- son continued in business alone until 1899. He then retired with a competency, and has
١
37
AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
since been engaged in no active business pur- suits. He is a member of the Loyal Legion.
He was first married March 14, 1857, to Marcia Bragg, a daughter of Elijah Bragg, of China, Me. She bore him two children, namely: William, who died November 23, 1861; and Frank B., who died January 15, 1863. The mother, Mrs. Marcia C. Thompson, died Octo- ber 9, 1860. In September, 1861, Mr. Thomp- son married for his second wife Mary Coffin, daughter of Richard and Margaret (Howe) Coffin. Of this marriage there are three chil- dren, all of whom were born in Bangor, namely: Charles F., born June 15, 1869; Eugene, June 3, 1871; and Joseph H., October 21, 1874. Mr. Thompson is a member of Post Hannibal Hamlin, G. A. R., of Bangor.
Charles F. Thompson, his eldest son, is a book-keeper in the employ of the S. S. Pierce Company of Boston, and resides in East Milton, Mass. He married Nathalie Robinson, daugh- ter of Charles Robinson, of Bangor. Eugene and Joseph H. Thompson are in Los Angeles, Cal., in the hotel business.
Samuel F. Thompson, elder brother of Joseph W. Thompson, was born in Thorndike, Me., in the year 1824. He was a house carpenter by trade, and it was under his direction and tuition that Joseph acquired his knowledge of carpentry. He was one of those who gave up their lives for the preservation of the Union. Enlisting in Company I, Twelfth Maine Regi- ment, he went out as Lieutenant, was promoted to the rank of Captain after being in the ser- viee two or three months, and was killed at Winchester, September 19, 1864, being then in his forty-first year. His wife was Sylvesta S. Jones, born in Brooks, Me., a daughter of Samuel and Nancy (Sherman) Jones. They had five children, three of whom died in in- fancy. The other two, who are now living, are Henry G., to whom further reference will be made in this sketch, and Edwin S., born in Thorndike, Me., 1844, who married Emma W. Day, of Pembroke, Me. Edwin has one child, Samuel Day, who is unmarried.
Henry G. Thompson, son of Samuel F. and Sylvesta S. (Jones) Thompson, was born in Brooks, Waldo County, Me., July 5, 1842. At the age of three years he accompanied his
parents to Bangor, where he was subsequently graduated from the high school. His studies completed, he learned the trade of house car- penter, and followed it up to the time of the Civil War. He then enlisted for three years in Company B, Twelfth Maine Regiment, in which he served till April 18, 1866. Taking part in Sheridan's famous Shenandoah cam- paign, he fought at Winchester, Cedar Creek, and Fisher's Hill, in the last-named battle receiving a wound in the foot, which, however, was not severe. After the war he returned to Bangor, and went to work as a wood moulder for Dole & Foog, wood moulding manufacturers, with whom he remained for twenty-three years. He has since followed his trade of carpenter. In politics a Republican, he has for some time taken an active part in public affairs. For six years he was building inspector, for seven years in the city government as Alderman and Councillor, and for the last four years he has been school agent. He is a member of B. H. Beale Post, No. 72, G. A. R., of which he was Senior Warden for one year; of St. Andrews Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; and Oriental Lodge, No. 60, I. O. O. F .- all of Bangor.
He married, in 1867, Mazala A. Franks, a native of Blue Hill, Hancock County, Me., and daughter of Nelson Franks. She died in 1890, having been the mother of three children, namely: Rena S., born in Bangor, Me., June, 1869, who married John A. Bacon and has two children-George and Henry; Nora E., born in Bangor in 1871, who is the wife of Sumner E. Perry, of Presque Isle, but has no children; and Walter, born in Bangor in 1882.
EUEL WILLIAMS SOULE, of Augusta, Me., Ex-United States Consul to Canada, is a native of Phillips, Franklin County, Me. Born in 1840, son of William, Jr., and Rebecca (Hardy) Soule, he is a lineal descendant of George Soule, one of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims, who landed on Plymouth Rock December 21, 1620.
The ancestral line, traced by one of the family who is interested in genealogieal matters, is: George,' John," Joshua," Joseph, Joshua," Will-
38
AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
iam,6 William, Jr., Reuel Williams being of the eighth generation. George Soule married Mary Becket ("or Bucket," says Winsor in his His- tory of Duxbury). It has become known in recent years that John Soule was twice married, that his first wife was Rebecca, daughter of Moses Simmons, who came in the "Fortune" in 1621, and his second wife was Esther, widow of Samuel Sampson and daughter of Lieutenant Samuel Nash. (See New England Historical and Genealogical Register for 1898, page 76, for evidence given in will of Lieutenant Samuel Nash, and Plymouth County records for mar- riage of John Soule and Esther Sampson in 1678.)
Joshua3 Soule, son of John and Esther, was born at Duxbury in 1681. His grandson, Joshua5 Soule, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, migrated from Duxbury, Mass., to Bristol, Me., and in that place later in the same year his son William" was born. In 1772 or 1773 the family removed to Avon. William Soule, Jr., son of William," was born in Avon in 1802. He was by occupation a farmer, and was also minister of the Christian church. He died in Phillips at the age of sixty-seven. His wife, Rebecca Hardy, daughter of Jesse Hardy, a farmer of Phillips, surviving her husband, at- tained the age of seventy-one or seventy-two.
Reuel Williams Soule was the seventh in a family of eight children. Educated in the schools of his native place, he subsequently taught school several years. Going to Boston in 1860, at the age of twenty, he remained there two years as a clerk in the employ of Jordan, Marsh & Co. In 1862, the second year of the Civil War, he volunteered his services to his country, enlisting as a private in Company D, Twenty-eighth Maine Regiment, for nine months, and went South. He was promoted to Sergeant, having been previously postmaster of the regiment. He was at the siege of Port Hudson and in other engagements, serving one year. After his return from the war he was engaged in business for several years at Phil- lips as a dealer in general merchandise. For four years he held the office of postmaster, receiving the appointment during President Grant's first administration. The ensuing nine years he was steward and treasurer of Kent's
Hill Seminary in Readfield, Me. Leaving that place, he became treasurer of the State Asylum for the Insane at Augusta, continuing in the position for three years. For the next five years he carried on a fruit and produce business in Augusta. Appointed under President Har- rison's administration United States Consul in Canada, he served in that capacity for four years. Returning to Augusta in 1894, he again engaged in mercantile business, dealing in fruit and also in house-furnishing goods.
A man of good business capacity and experi- ence and faithful in positions of trust, he now gives his attention chiefly to directing the activities and promoting the interests of his. house-furnishing establishment and various stock companies, with which he is prominently connected. He is trustee of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill.
In politics Mr. Soule, it is scarcely needful here to add. is a Republican. He is a comrade of Seth Williams Post, G. A. R., of Augusta, and a Mason of high degree, belonging to Au- gusta Lodge and the Commandery of Knight Templars.
He married, in 1864, Mary Baker, daughter of Russell Baker, of Phillips, Me. He has two sons, Ulysses Grant and Arthur N., both natives of Phillips. Ulysses Grant Soule is married, and has three children: Pearl, Inez, and Sadic. Arthur N. Soule married Rissa Blackman, of Pittston, Me., and has one child, Reuel Blaine Soule.
ENRY MARTIN BLAKE, A.M., M.D., known throughout Western Maine as one of the skilful physicians and surgeons of Kennebec County, has been settled for practice upward of twenty- five years in his native town of Monmouth, about fifteen miles above Lewiston. Born November 29, 1836, son of Epaphras K. and Clarissa (True) Blake, he is of the fourth gen- eration of his family in Monmouth, his great- grandfather, Phineas Blake, Sr., having re- moved hither from Epping, N.H., shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, or about the year 1786, the province of Maine then being a part of the State of Massachusetts.
1
39
AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
The first ancestor in America of this branch of the Blake family came from England in the seventeenth century, and settled in the southeastern part of New Hampshire, not far from the present town of Epping. The wife of Phineas Blake, Sr., was Ruth Dearborn, daughter of Samuel Dearborn. of Epping,- and sister of General Henry Dearborn of the Revolution, afterward Major-general and See- retary of War under President Jefferson.
Phineas Blake, the younger, came with his father to Monmouth, and here remained a resident. His son, Epaphras K., the Doctor's father, was born and brought up in Monmouth. Though he owned and occupied the old home- stead, he did not make agriculture his principal occupation, his tastes and abilities inelining him more to business pursuits. For over forty years he was general agent for the Dunn Edge Tool Company, of North Wayne, then Oak- land, his territory at first being the whole of Northern Maine, a part of New Brunswick and of New Hampshire.
Henry M. Blake was fitted for college at Monmouth Academy and the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill. Entering Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in 1858, he was graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1862, after completing the usual four years' course. His Master's degree he received from his Alma Mater in 1865, the intervening period having been improved by him both as teacher and student. For a short time after leaving the Wesleyan University, he taught in the Acad- ciny at Limerick, Me. After that he was successively master of a grammar school in Bath, Me., and principal of the high school and seminary at Monroe, Wis., in the latter place remaining two years. On his return to Mou- mouth in 1865 he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. D. E. Marston, then a well-known physician of that town. For two years, 1867-68, he attended the Medical School of Maine, connected with Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, and after that completed his medical course at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, receiving his diploma in 1869. In Readfield, where he first opened his office and began practice, he stayed for about seven years, removing then to the old
home town of Monmouth, where he remains at this day, successfully devoting himself to the duties of his profession and enjoying a wide popularity.
He is a member of the Maine Medical Asso- ciation and the Kennebec County Medical Society. For about eight years he served as a member of the school board of Monmonth. and for over a quarter of a century he Las been one of the trustees of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Woman's College at K -: s Hill, having been during the greater part the time a member of the executive committee of the board. He attends the Methods: Episcopal church at Monmouth, and is chair- man of the board of trustees. He is & m- ber of the Masonic fraternity and of the Patrons of Husbandry, belonging to Monmouth Grange. In politics he is a Republican.
Dr. Blake married August 19. 1863. Miss Frances C. Pierce, daughter of the late Descon Daniel Pierce, of Monmouth. Two children. Fred E. and Bertha, were born of this ualen. Both are graduates of Maine Wesleyan Sa- inary and Woman's College at Kent's Hill. the daughter being also a graduate of the School of English Speech and Expression in Boston.
Mrs. Blake was born in Monmouth, June 6. 1836. She died at her home in that town. May 27, 1902, after a painful illness of a ist weeks' duration, a disease of the brain iol! "- ing a severe lameness which had confined kes to the house for several months. As expressei in a brief memorial pamphlet, "Mrs. Blake possessed an unusual purity of sentiment ani charm of character. She was naturally loving and sympathetic, broad-minded and chari ::.- ble. Few women ever lived in a community so many years with so little criticism. TE: envy and disparagement which are the als inevitable accompaniments of social elevation were never awakened by her conduct. A more retiring disposition than hers could not be easily found. The social obligations of the wife of a professional man were dischatzed gracefully but modestly, and with perfeet free- dom from ostentation and self-assertion." She was enthusiastic in temperament, but so quiet in her enthusiasm that it was known only by
40
AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
those most intimately associated with her. Her strong, well-balanced mind was devel- oped by study of the best in literature and current thought. She was a member of the Cumston Library Association. Her interest in the work of the church and in literary mat- ters continued unabated almost to the end, or, "until she became so weakened that her mind utterly failed to act, her intellect maintained its accustomed keenness."
The Pierce family has been prominently identified with the interests of Monmouth for nearly a century, scarcely a position of impor- tance in the town or church existing that has not been filled by one of that name. The Hon. Nehemiah Pierce, her grandfather, was in his day one of the most widely known men in the State.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.