USA > Maine > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the state of Maine > Part 67
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MRS. ADALINE HAMLIN STETSON was born in Bangor, Me., a daughter of the Hon. Elijah L. Hamlin, a citizen of prominence. On November 13, 1845, she married George Stet- son, as mentioned in the history of the Stetson family, given in connection with the sketch of Hayward Stetson. Mr. and Mrs. Stetson became the parents of four children, all of whom were born in Bangor, namely-George H., Edward, Isaiah K., and Mary A. George H. Stetson, born November 15, 1846, married in 1870 Nettie Ames, by whom he has three children, namely: Millie M., born April 5, 1873, wife of S. W. Thaxter; George F., born December 14, 1874, a graduate of Bowdoin College; and Eugene H., born June 10, 1SS1, died in 1902. Edward Stetson was born June 22, 1854. He married Edith Lobdell, and they have one son, Clarence C., born March 11, 1884. Isaiah K. Stetson was born April 3, 185S. On November 30, 18S2, he married Clara C. Sawyer, by whom he has two chil- dren, namely: Ruth W., born July 22, 1884; and Irving G., born November 23, 1SS5. Mary A. Stetson, the youngest child of Mrs. Stetson, was born April 24, 1860. She married April 10, 1883, Thomas F. Taylor, of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have three chil-
dren, namely: Margaret, born October 25. 1SS4; George S., born May 22, 1886; and Fen- ton, born March 22, 1887.
ILLIS IRVIN CAIN, one of the lead- ing men of the town of Clinton, Ken- nebec County, was born in this town, May 23, 1855, son of Daniel and Betsey (Chase) Cain. He is a grandson on the pater- nal side of Moses Cain, born in 1800, who was a son of Edward Cain. Moses Cain came to Clinton at an early day, and engaged in farm- ing and lumbering. His wife was Mary Miller.
Daniel Cain was born in Clinton, February 28, 1823, and was a lifelong resident of this town, where he was engaged in agriculture and lumbering, making a specialty of the cord- wood industry. He was one of the best known and most respected citizens of Clinton. and took a prominent part in public life, serving the town as Selectman and at one time being Representative in the Legislature for the towns of Clinton, Benton, and Winslow. In politics he was a Republican. His death occurred in 1898. His wife, Mrs. Betsey Chase Cain, was a native of Blanchard, Me., and a daughter of Francis Chase, of that town, and his wife Betsey. The children of Daniel and Betsey (Chase) Cain were as follows: Evelyn (dead); Frank (dead : Willis I., Oscar H. (dead), Charles S., Leslie L .. Eugene, Daniel E., Harriet, Josephin. A., Marcellus.
Willis Irvin Cain was reared to man's estate in his native town of Clinton, attending school at Morrison's Corner. The education thus ob- tained in the common school he has since supplemented by reading and practical ex- perience in the affairs of life. He early ac- quired a knowledge of agriculture, in which he has been engaged for a number of years up to the present time. For several years he was a dealer in hay. Forming a partnership in 1891 with Melvin Webber, he entered into business as a general merchant. The firm of Cain & Webber has since built up a thriving trade. Mr. Cain has served the town in the office of Selectman. He has also been chairman of the Republican Town Committee of Clinton. Ac- tive and enterprising, of sound judgment and
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reliable public spirit, he has done his part in advancing the best interests of the town, and possesses in a high degree the confidence of his fellow-townsmen. In the Maine Legislat- ure of 1900 and 1901 he was a member of the House, representing the towns of Clinton, Benton, and Winslow, having been elected by the largest majority ever known in that dis- trict, and serving on the Committee on Tem- perance and Claims. He has been a member of the Baptist church for fifteen years. He belongs to Pine Tree Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Clinton; and Sebasticook Lodge, F. & A. M., of Clinton; also to Clinton Grange, P. of H.
Mr. Cain was first married January 11, 1880, to Mary E. Spearin, of Clinton, Me., daughter of Joseph and Abigail Spearin. She bore him two children, Virgil Irvin (now deceased) and Florence Linda Cain. Mrs. Mary Ella Cain died January 22, 1901. Mr. Cain married for his second wife, June 11, 1902, Nellie Maud Luce, a former resident of Waldo, Me.
ENJAMIN P. J. WESTON, one of the leading men of Madison, Somerset County, is a native of the town, his birth having occurred here, August 13, 1841. His parents were Benjamin and Ann S. (Jewett) Weston, and he is a great- grandson of Joseph Weston, one of the pioneer settlers of Skowhegan. The origin of the Wes- ton family is said to have been traced back in England to the time of William the Con- queror. John Weston came from Buckingham- shire, England, to Salem, Mass., in 1644. He was thirteen years of age, and it is supposed he came without any relatives. From Salem he went to Reading, where he married, in 1653, Sarah Fitch.
In 1772 Joseph Weston, of Concord, Mass .. arrived with his family near the present city of Skowhegan, being the first settler there. He was an expert boatman, in which capacity he accompanied Arnold's expedition up the Kenne- bec River in the attack on Canada. ITis young- est son, Benjamin, was a pioneer settler in Madi- son, coming here in 1786, when the country round about was practically a wilderness.
Benjamin Weston, second, son of the Benja- 1
min above named and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Madison and spent his life here, being extensively engaged in farming and lumbering. His brother Nathan drove the first logs from Moose River, rafting them across Moosehead Lake and then driving them down the Kennebec River. These men were among the pioneers of the great Maine lumber industry. Benjamin Weston (second) married Ann S. Jewett, who was born in Skowhegan, daughter of Pickard and Ann (Wyman) Jew- ett. Her mother was the first female infant born of white parents in that section of the State north of Waterville. They had thir- teen children, of whom but two are now living, namely: Benjamin P. J .; and Clarence A., who resides in Portland. Thomas H. Weston, brother of Benjamin P. J., served at one time in the Maine House of Representatives.
Benjamin P. J. Weston acquired the elements of his education in the public schools of Madison, and subsequently attended the Maine State Seminary of Lewiston, since merged into Bates College. Taking naturally to the lumber in- dustry, he has followed it since with marked success, at the same time carrying on agri- culture.
As an active, enterprising, and successful busi- ness man Mr. Weston has obtained a high place among the citizens of this locality. He has been prominently connected with various use- ful and important enterprises, and is a director in several woollen-mills, of which he was a pro- moter, and the construction of which he also superintended. For a number of years he has been engaged in the manufacture of building brick. He has also served as vice-president of the Madison National Bank. For some thirty years he was clerk and treasurer, and is now a director, of the Norridgewock Falls bridge over the Kennebec River, which connected Madison with Anson, Me .; and he was chair- man of the committee which constructed the new bridge, built in 1902, spanning the river between Madison and Anson, which became a free bridge in June of the same year. Mr. Weston has been director for some years of the Somerset Railway. His capacity as a man of affairs and his personal probity being widely recognized, it may be surmised that he has not
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escaped public office. When a young man, he served as Selectman of Madison for several terms. He has also been Town Auditor and Agent. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Weston married in 1866 Emily H. Baker, of Bingham, Me., who lived but four months after her marriage. He married in 1869, for his second wife, Sarah J. Dinsmore, daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Skilling) Dinsmore, of Madison, Me. Of this union have been born five children-Nathan A., Ernest C., Charles P., Benjamin T., and Susan H.
A member of the Congregational church at Madison, Mr. Weston contributed largely to the erection of the present church edifice. He is the fortunate possessor of one of the most comfortable and pleasantly situated rural homes in the State.
ELDEN K. FULLER, who is connected with his son Charles H. Fuller in the management and proprietorship of Fernside Dairy, in the town of Nor- ridgewock, Somerset County, Me., is a native of Freedom, Me .. having been born in that town, January 14, 1842, son of Edmund and Ann (Sibley) Fuller. He is a grandson of Jonathan Fuller, who was born in Newton, Mass., in 1767. Jonathan's wife was Hannah Bradstreet, born in Rowley, Mass., October 1, 1777.
Edmund Fuller was born and reared in Albion, Me. He settled in 1846 in Freedom Village, where he engaged in business as proprietor of a grist and saw mill, continuing thus occupied until his death in 1852. He was a Selectman of the town of Freedom for a number of years. His wife, Ann Sibley Fuller, who was born in Free- dom, was a daughter of William Sibley, one of the first settlers of that town, taking up his abode at the Beaver Hill Plantation, as it was then known, in 1804. Growing up with the place, he became one of its leading citizens, carrying on a farm of seven hundred acres and being widely known as a breeder of sheep and a successful orchardist. The children of Edmund and Ann (Sibley) Fuller were as follows: Chris- topher C., William S., Judith, Edmund A., and Selden K., of Norridgewock.
Selden K. Fuller, after attending in his boy-
hood the common schools of Freedom, became a pupil at the Freedom Academy, where he was graduated in 1860. Subsequently he taught school for a while. In 1865 he removed from Freedom to what is now the town of Oakland, Kennebec County, and there engaged in agri- culture, this being about two years after his marriage. After a short residence in Oakland he tried farming in China, Kennebec County, but subsequently returned to Freedom, and resided on the old homestead from 1872 to 1891. In October of the year last named he came to Norridgewock, of which town he has since been a resident. While living in Freedom he served one term as a member of the School Committee, one term as Town Treasurer, and three years as Town Clerk.
He was married September 27, 1863, to Susie P. Harris, who was born in Stonington, Conn., a daughter of Benjamin N. and Lucy A. (Brown) Harris. Mrs. Fuller's father was a native of New Hampshire, and her mother of Connecti- cut. Among her ancestral relations on the maternal side she numbers General Pendleton, a Revolutionary soldier. Benjamin N. Harris, Mrs. Fuller's father, was one of the early prac- titioners in Massachusetts of modern dentistry, following that profession in different towns, in- cluding Boston, and subsequently in Water- ville, Me. Mrs. Fuller's mother has a claim to distinction as the first graduate from the medi- cal school for women in Boston, which in 1873 was merged into the Boston University School of Medicine. She was one of the pioneer woman physicians of New England, practising medicine in Rockport and Boston, Mass., and later in Waterville, Me., where she died.
Mr. and Mrs. Selden K. Fuller have one child, Charles H., who was born in Freedom, Me., November 11, 1864. He was educated in the public schools of Freedom and at Freedom Academy. He is a member of Somerset Grange, P. of H., at Norridgewoek. He married Mrs. Esther C. Worger, of Pawtucket, R.I., whose parents were Charles and Cornelia A. (Bennett) Winslow. Her father was a native of Taunton, Mass., and is said to have been a direct descend- ant of Edward Winslow, the third Governor of Plymouth Colony.
The names of his ancestors, however, being
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unknown to the present writer, the line cannot here be given. Governor Edward Winslow, born in 1595, was a son of Edward Winslow, of Droitwich, England. English records show that a Thomas Winslowe was living in Oxford County as early as 1443, about fifty years before Column- bus discovered America.
Both Mrs. Selden K. and Mrs. Charles H. Fuller are members of the Norridgewock Village Improvement Society. Mrs. Seklen K. Fuller is president of the Congregational Ladies' Thim- ble Society, which she has served as president since its organization several years ago. Active in every good work, whether for the material or moral welfare of the community, they are as highly esteemed as they are widely known, the family, indeed, being one of the representa- tive and substantial families of the town.
APTAIN FRANK F. CURLING, a public official of the town of Thomaston, was born in South Thomaston, Me., July 21, 1849, son of Captain Sanders and Almira R. (McLellan) Curling. His father, a native of Kent, England, came to this country when he was ten years old, unaccompanied by parents or guardians. He grew up in Thomas- ton and became a seafaring man, following the occupation of mariner for nearly half a century, being master of different vessels. By his first wife, whose maiden name was Almira Robinson, he had several children, of whom but one now survives, Helen A., who is the wife of Eugene A. Dizer, of Thomaston, Me. Of the children of his second wife, Almira R. MeLellan, there are two now living, Frank F. and Carrie M. The latter is the wife of Charles A. De Costa, of Liv- erpool, England. Captain Sanders Curling re- tired from the sea in 1875, settling in Thomaston, where he made his home until his death in 1891. He was well known, particularly among the maritime. population of the town, and was highly esteemed.
Frank F. Curling in his youth attended the public schools of Thomaston, including the high school. In 1866, at the age of seventeen, he went to sea with his father, under whose direc- tion and command he acquired his first knowl- edge of seamanship. Afterward he sailed with
Captain John B. Henry of the ship "William A. Campbell." Of this vessel he subsequently be- came master, and in it he crossed the Atlantic Ocean sixty-seven times. He was also master at different times of the "Frank F. Curling." the "Harvey Mills," and the "Joseph S. Spin- ney." His teri of service as master of these four vessels covered the period from 1874 to 1891, the year of his father's death and of his own retirement from the sea. Captain Curling was appointed to his present position as Collector of Taxes for the town of Thomaston in 1894. and has since creditably performed its duties. In politics he is independent. He is a member of Orient Lodge, No. 15, A. F. & A. M., and Henry Knox Chapter, R. A. M., both of Thom- aston; also of Claremont Commandery, at Rock- land, Me., and Kora Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Lewiston, Me.
Captain Curling married May 14, 1871, Ar- dell Benner, of Thomaston, Me., daughter of Herman and Louisa (Russell) Benner. He has two children: Louise B., who resides in Thom- aston, at home; and Frank F., who is a resident of Providence, R.I.
LLEN HACKETT, a leading manufact- urer and prominent business man of Pittsfield, was born in Strong, Frank- lin County, Me., being a son of Reuben. D. and Rebecca (Pinkham) Hackett. The father, an early preacher of the Free Baptist denomination in this State, was born in Pitts- field. The mother was a native of Strong, Me. It has been said, we know not on what authority, that the Hackett family was founded in this country by an immigrant from Scotland named McHackett, who settled in the neigh- borhood of Lewiston, Me. However that inay be, this surname in its present form, as shown by existing records, has been borne in various parts of New England from early colonial times. Captain William Hackett, of Ames- bury and Salisbury, Mass., mariner, was mar- ried in 1667 to Sarah Barnard. Names of his children -- among thein being Ephraim, William, and other sons-are given in Hoyt's " Old fami- lies of Salisbury and Amesbury."
Richard Hackett, grandfather of the subject
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of this sketch, was a Revolutionary soldier, credited, it is said, to Pittsfield, Me. A "Rich- ard Hacket of Salisbury" is mentioned in "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the War of the Revolution," as Sergeant of a detach- ment that marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775.
Allen Hackett, the special subject of this sketch, resided in Strong, Franklin County, until reaching his fifteenth year, acquiring his education in the public schools. Though be- ginning life on his own account without any great store of book knowledge, he had the qualities of manhood essential to success, and his early industrial experience has perhaps been of more value to him than would have been a college education without it. Coming to Pittsfield with his parents in his fifteenth year, he here obtained employment in a saw- mill, and continued thus engaged for a number of years, thereby gaining a good knowledge of the lumber manufacture. Taking advantage of this knowledge, he engaged in the lumber busi- ness for himself, forming a partnership in 1866 with Going Hathorn, under the firm name of Hathorn & Hackett, which connection lasted for several years. Afterward selling out his interest to Mr. Hathorn, Mr. Hackett went, in '1870, to Madison Bridge, Me., where he bought an interest in the water-power on the Kennebec River. Three years later he became a member of the firm of Hathorn, Foss & Co., manufacturers of orange boxes at Lambert Lake, Washington County, Me. Of this firm he continues a member at the present time. They now have mills at Danforth, Oakfield, and Blaine, Me., the three plants being engaged in the manufacture of orange boxes, of which they ship about three million annually to Italian and Sicilian packers. In 1875 Mr. Hackett sold his interests in the water-power at Madison Bridge. At one time he had an interest in nineteen thousand acres of timber land in Nova Scotia.
Mr. Hackett married, in 1857, Mary A. Spaulding, of Clinton, Me. She died March 13, 1859, aged twenty-four years. In 1859 he married for his second wife Tryphena Witham, of Pittsfield, Me., she being a daugliter of Asa Witham, who was born in Madison, Me., and
who came to Pittsfield in 1838, engaging here in agriculture. Of this second marriage there have been seven children, of whom five are now living: Fred L., a resident of Bangor, Me .; Jennie M., wife of Frank Randlett, of Pittsfield; William E., of Skowhegan; Frank A., who resides in the town of Blaine; and Alice A., wife of H. L. Spaulding, of Pittsfield. The two deceased are Willie and Lillian M.
Mr. Hackett, having a natural talent for mechanics, has invented various useful and labor-saving devices connected with saw-mill work. He has taken out in all nine different patents. At the present time he is serving as president of the Sebasticook Water Power Com- pany. He is a Republican in politics. A Free Mason, he belongs to the blue lodge of Pitts- field, the R. A. Chapter and the De Molay Com- mandery at Skowhegan, Me. A self-made man, he owes his success to his own efforts, and en- joys the confidence of the business community.
R EUBEN S. NEAL, a Grand Army vet- eran and prominent citizen of Farm- ingdale, was born in this town, March 1, 1837. His immigrant progenitor, John1 Neal, who came from Ireland, settled in Scituate, Mass., "in 1730 or carlier." John Neal, Jr., was baptized in Scituate in 1730; Jane Neal, in 1732; Martha, 1734; and George, in 1738. "The family removed to Maine." (Deane's History of Scituate.) Joseph Neal, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in George- town, Sagadahoe County, Me. His father, John Neal, was an early settler of Litchfield, Me.
Julius Neal, who died in 1842, was born in West Gardiner. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Seavey, was a native of Georgetown. She was a daughter of Reuben Seavey, a Rev- olutionary soldier, for whom Mr. Reuben S. Neal was named. Of the children of Julius and Sarah (Seavey) Neal but two survive: Reuben S., whose name begins this sketch; and Mrs. Sarah E. Sampson, a widow, of Hallowell.
Reuben S. Neal passed his boyhood on his father's farm in Farmingdale, his education being acquired in the common schools and high school of Hallowell. At the age of eighteen he went to sea, and he subsequently spent about
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twelve years at intervals as a sailor in different vessels, making foreign voyages and for a part of the time serving as officer. In 1859 he went to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He was engaged for about a year in gold mining in California, and then made his return trip by way of Cape Horn.
Soon after the breaking out of the Civil War he enlisted, September 20, 1861, in the First Maine Cavalry, with which he was attached to the Army of the Potomac, serving under Generals Stoneman, Pleasanton, Gregg, and Sheridan. Under these commanders he participated in some of the most noted battles of the great struggle for the Union, among them Brandy Station, Mine Run, Fredericksburg, second Bull Run, and Cedar Mountain.
Captured at Brandy Station, he was sent to Libby Prison, where, however, he had the good fortune to remain but three days, at the end of that time being paroled and rejoining his reg- iment. He was honorably discharged Novem- ber 24, 1864, and, returning to Maine, settled on his present farm in Farmingdale, where he is meeting with gratifying success as an agri- culturist.
He is a member of the John B. Hubbard Post, G. A. R., at Hallowell, and also belongs to the lodge of Free Masons there and to a grange of the P. of H. Mr. Neal has long taken a prom- inent and useful part in public affairs. He was for two years a Selectman of Farmingdale. He also served as Road Commissioner. For six years he was a County Commissioner of Kenne- bec County and for two years chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. Elected to the State Legislature as Representative from Farmingdale, Pittston, and West Gardiner, he served one term, giving general satisfaction to his constituents. He has also held minor offices.
January 30, 1877, Mr. Neal married Elizabeth F. Cannon, a native of Farmingdale and daugh- ter of William W. Cannon, of that place. Of this union there have been two children, both sons: Judson B. (deceased) ; and William J., who resides in York, Me.
Mr. Neal has had an active and strenuous career, having taken part in two of the most striking events in our national history, the placer mining of gold in California and the
Civil War. He has seen life in foreign countries and in the more remote parts of his native land. but he still thinks that the old home-the town of his birth, in the old Pine Tree State-is the one spot on earth in which to spend his remain- ing years of life.
ILLIAM II. HATCH, Deputy Collector of Customs at the port of Thomas- ton, was born in this town. August 8, 1832, son of Roland and Charlotte B. Brack- ett) Hatch. His father, Roland Hatch, who was a native of Marshfield, Mass., came when a boy, with his father, Briggs Hatch, to Noble- boro, Me. His wife Charlotte was a native of Bristol, Me. Their children were: Mary J .. William H., and Arthur J., William H. being the only one now living.
William HI. Hatch, after attending the public schools of Thomaston, began industrial life as a clerk, working successively for different firms in Thomaston, Rockland, and Boston. Mass. In 1849 he began to learn the trade of tinsmith in Rockland, serving an apprenticeship with J. P. Wise, a well-known hardware dealer of that place. In 1854 he engaged in the hard- ware business for himself in Richmond, Me .. under the firm name of Keene & Hatch, his partner being Waite W. Keene. This business was carried on in Richmond for some three years. In 1857 the firm removed to Thomas- ton, where they continued it for three years longer, Mr. Hatch then purchasing his partner's interest. Mr. Hatch subsequently formed a partnership with Nathaniel Liscomb, conducting a hardware business for four years in Thomaston under the style of N. Liscomb & Co. At the expiration of that time, or in 1864, he sold out to his partner, Mr. Liscomb, and in the fall of the same year became a partner of Captain James Henderson in the hardware business of J. Henderson & Co. This concern was carried on until the death of Mr. Henderson in ISSS. Mr. Hatch, having purchased his partner's in- terest, carried on the business alone for a year. and then sold out to Messrs. Hinckley and Webber, who afterward conducted it for several years. In 1889 Mr. Hatch went to Fort Payne. Ala., where he was engaged for a short time in
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the real estate business. In 1890 he started a hardware store at Cardiff, Tenn., organizing the Cardiff Hardware Company, of which he was manager. In 1891 he was appointed assignee for the Rushmore Hardware Company, of Fort Payne, Ala., and held this position until he had wound up its affairs. He was for a time manager of the DeKalb Hardware Company, of Fort Payne, Ala., which concern subsequently removed to Everett, Wash. Mr. Hatch after- ward went himself to Everett, and there incor- porated the Pacific Hardware Company, of which he was manager. Two years later he disposed of his interests in Everett and returned to Thomaston, Me. Mr. Hatch then engaged in the manufacture of soap at Rockland, being the principal owner of the Rockland Soap Man- ufacturing Company, incorporated. The plant was later removed to Thomaston, being shortly afterward closed out. Appointed to his present position as Deputy Collector of Customs at Thomaston in 1899, Mr. Hatch has since held that position, filling it in a thoroughly capable manner. A Republican in politics, he served for ten years in the office of Selectman, during eight years of the time being chairman of the board. For a number of years also he was a member of the Republican Town Committee of Thomaston.
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