USA > Maine > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the state of Maine > Part 69
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Patrick MeNamara was born in Ireland. He accompanied his parents to America when a boy, and has since resided in Rockland. His wife Sarah was born in Thomaston, Me. They are the parents of three children, namely --- William L., Edward A., Agnes P.
Edward A. McNamara was educated in the public schools of Thomaston, including the high school, from which he was graduated in 1892. In the following year he became a clerk for E. L. Dillingham & Co., general merchants at Thomaston, in whose employ he continued for several years, remaining subsequently in that of Mr. E. L. Dillingham, who was then the sole proprietor of the business. After being ten years in that one store Mr. MeNamara engaged in mercantile business for himself in Thomaston, April 1, 1903-it is now seven months since- and has thus far been very successful. He is a Democrat in politics, and is now serving in his fourth consecutive year as a Selectman of Thomaston. He served in the legislative ses- sion of 1901 as Representative from the dis- trict comprising the towns of Thomaston, Friend- ship, and Cushing and the plantations of Mar- tinicus Isle and Criehaven; and, having been re-elected, is now (in 1903) serving liis second terin in the House. Mr. McNamara is a mem- '
ber of the Roman Catholic church. Personally popular, he commands the confidence and good will of his constituents in his legislative district, whose interests he has done his best to serve.
HARLES ALBERT CROCKETT, who is actively identified with . many of the leading industries of Rockland, was born in that part of the city known as Juniper Hill, November 16, 1842. He is a son of the late Captain Robert and Lucy (Achorn) Crockett and a descendant in the fourth generation of Jonathan and Elioenai (Robbins) Crockett. A more ex- tended account of his ancestors may be found in connection with the sketch of his brother, Amos F. Crockett.
After completing his course of study in the schools of Rockland, Charles A. Crockett, like a majority of the boys brought up in a seaport town, went to sea, shipping before the mast in a coasting vessel. He afterward sailed to New York with a cousin, Captain Elisha Crockett, who commanded the schooner "Naumell." His next trip, which was to North Carolina, was made in the schooner "Josialı Achorn," commanded by Captain John Merrill. He subsequently went with his father, Captain Robert Crockett, to Europe, making the voyage in the ship "Cavalier." After sailing with his father three years, Mr. Crockett sailed for three years as master of the schooner "Delaware," and during the following eight years was engaged in coasting in the schooner "R. C. Thomas," which he had built for his own use. In 1874 he retired from seafaring, and settled in Rockland, where he engaged in business with his brother, Amos F. Crockett. becoming junior member of the firm of A. F. Crockett & Co., lime manufact- urers and dealers in wood, coal, and ship- chandlery. When this firm became incor- porated as the A. F. Crockett Company, the senior member of the former firm was made its president, and Charles A. Crockett became vice-president, a position that he has since held. The line quarries in which he and his brother Amos were interested were ro- cently sold to a syndicate known as the Rock-
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land & Rockport Lime Company, in which Mr. Crockett is a stockholder and an officer, being superintendent of the quarries under its control. Politically, Mr. Crockett .is a stanch Republican, and takes a deep interest in city affairs, although he has never held public office. Fraternally, he is a Knight of Pythias.
Mr. Crockett married May 6, 1873, Eva HI. Fiske, who was born in Rockland, Me., in 1854, daughter of Captain Moses and Harriet S. (Ingraham) Fiske. Mr. and Mrs. Crockett have one child, Monira L., who was born in Rockland, June 24, 1876.
Mrs. Crockett's father, Captain Moses Fiske, son of Benjamin and Roxanna (Harrington) Fiske, of Camden, Me., was born in 1817. On January 23, 1848, he married Harriet S. Ingraham, who was born May 30, 1829, daugh- ter of Joseph and Nancy (Spear) Ingraham. Her grandfather, Deacon Job Ingraham, was born in Gloucester, Mass., September 15, 1755. When a young man he came to Maine and settled on what is now the northernmost lot in South Thomaston, at the head of the bay, and there resided until his death, November 27, 1834. On May 13, 1778, he married Lucy Tolman, who was born June 11, 1760, and died in August, 1846. Her father, Isaiah Tolman, was born in Stoughton, Mass., May 28, 1721, and came with his family to Maine in 1769. He took up five hundred acres of wild land around the pond that was long known as Tol- man's Pond, but is now called Chikawauka Lake. Ile cleared a farm, and lived there several years; but after his retirement from active pursuits he settled at Matinicus, where he passed his remaining days. He was twice married, his second wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Robbins, being the mother of Lucy Tolman.
Joseph Ingraham, father of Harriet S., was born December 29, 1782, in South Thomaston, Me. Nancy Spear, whom he married on Octo- ber 9, 1804, was born March 29, 1783. Her father, Captain Jonathan Spear, was a native of Braintree, Mass. He married first a Miss Dexter, who died in early life, leaving one child. He married, second, a Miss Brown, and removed from Smithfield to the old Fort, now Thom-
aston, where she died, leaving no children. He married third, in November, 1762, Mar- garet M. Dougle, who was born in Thomaston, Me., March 12, 1746 (O. S.). She died Sep- tember 22, 1811, and he outlived her but a few days, dying on October 10. They were the parents of nine children, of whom Nancy, who became the wife of Joseph Ingraham, Mrs. Crockett's maternal grandfather, was the eighth.
UGUSTUS LEDYARD SMITH, A.B., A.M., the present Representative in the Maine Legislature from the towns of Madison, Solon, and Athens (Som- erset County), was born in the old historic city of Salem, Mass., May 20, 1862. His father was the late Hon. Augustus Ledyard Smith, of Ap- pleton, Wis., formerly a State Senator of Wis- consin, representing the district in which Apple- ton is located.
Mr. Smith's grandfather, Augustus W. Smith, L.L.D., was the third president of Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn. Mr. Smith's mother, in maidenhood Edna Jewet Taylor, was a daughter of Benjamin F. Taylor, of Provi- dence, R.I.
When an infant of two years, the subject of this sketch accompanied his parents to Apple- ton, Wis., where he later became a student in the preparatory department of Lawrence Uni- versity. His more advanced studies were com- pleted at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., where he was graduated in 1883 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Returning to Appleton, Wis., he became associated in busi- ness affairs with his father, who was president of the First National Bank there, and also took up real estate and insurance, to which branches of their mutual interests he gave his personal attention. This association lasted five years, at the end of which time the younger Mr. Smith, with the view of learning the art of pulp and paper manufacture, became a workman in the mills at Combined Locks, Wis., and subsequently in those at Alpena, Mich. Having in two years acquired a thorough knowledge of the different processes of this manufacture, Mr. Smith ro- ceived from the Manufacturing Investment
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Company of Appleton the appointment of super- intendent of their sulphite pulp plant at Apple- ton. This position he held until 1893, when he came to Madison, Me., as manager of the company's plant here, as well as of that at Ap- pleton. In 1899 the company sold out to the Great Northern Paper Company, which to the manufacture of sulphite pulp added that of paper, erecting a paper-mill at Madison. The president and general manager of the company is Mr. Garret Schenck, of Boston, Mass. As his assistant Mr. Smith has charge of the com- pany's plants at Madison and at Millinocket, Me.
Mr. Smith is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the Society of the Sons of the Rev- olution and also of that of Colonial Wars. In September, 1902, he was elected Representative to the Legislature for a term of two years from the district comprising the towns of Madison, Solon, and Athens, to which reference has been already made. In 1SS6 he received the degree of Master of Arts from Wesleyan University.
Mr. Smith is a capable business man of large administrative capacity, as evinced in his man- agement of the important concerns under his charge. Of scholarly tastes and agreeable dis- position, he is very popular in the community in which he makes his home.
He was married September 30, 1885, to Au- gusta Adams Ogden, of King's Ferry, N.Y., and has two children, Edna Taylor and Ellen Adams.
EONIDAS PETTINGILL, proprietor of a flourishing manufacturing industry at North Monmouth, Kennebec County, has been a resident of this town for nearly fifty years. He was born in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Me., June 23, 1840, son of John A. and Mary (Billings) Pettingill, both his parents being' natives of the old Pine Tree State. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Pettingill, was an early settler of Leeds, Me., whence he removed to Monmouth. He was of English ancestry.
John A. Pettingill, who was born in Leeds, resided for the greater part of his life in Mon- mouth, where he was occupied as a farmer and manufacturer. He died in October, 1867. His
wife Mary, who was a daughter of Elkanah and Catherine (Morse) Billings, of Chesterville, Me., is still living.
Leonidas Pettingill at the age of nine years accompanied his parents to Monmouth, and his education was chiefly acquired in the public schools and at Monmouth Academy. His industrial activities were early directed to farm work, and he soon gained a respectable knowledge of agriculture, by which he became self-supporting, Having a strong mechanical bent, however, he turned his attention, at the age of eighteen, to the manufacture of shoe pegs in North Monmouth. In 1879, he entered into a partnership with R. E. Swain, under the firm name of Pettingill & Swain, in the manufacture of dowels, which connection lasted four years, the business being carried on at North Monmouth and Leeds successively. In 1SS4 Mr. Pettingill established himself in business alone at North Monmouth, where he has since' remained. His factory is well equipped with modern machinery, the motive power, water, being derived from Wilson's Pond. His output consists of box shooks, apple barrels, and dowels. The concern em- ploys about eight men the year around. Mr. Pettingill is also the proprietor of a saw-mill and box shook factory at Greene, employing five men, and turning out long and short lum- ber besides box shooks. In both of these en- terprises he has met with gratifying success. He is a member of the Masonic order, belong- ing to the Monmouth Blue Lodge. In poli- tics he is a Democrat. Mr. Pettingill mar- ried, in 1861, Adeline A. Prescott, a native of Monmouth, and daughter of the late Ebenezer Prescott of this town. Mrs. Pettingill's mother was Fannie Webb.
RANK EUGENE SLEEPER, A.M., M.D., of Sabattus, widely known among the medical fraternity of Androscoggin County, is a member of an old New England family, and traces his genealogy back to prerev- olutionary days. He was born in Lewiston, Me., September 12, 1846, the fourth child of Ebenezer Herrick and Sarah (Nash) Sleeper. Dr. Sleeper's
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first paternal ancestor in America was Thomas1 Sleeper (born in Bristol, England, in 1607, died July 30, 1696), who came to this country and settled in Hampton, N.H., in 1640. By his wife Joanna, who died in Kingston, February 5, 1703, at the age of eighty years, he had seven children. Aaron,2 the sixth child, was born February 20, 1661, and died May 9, 1732. He was twice married. By his first wife, Eliza- beth Shaw, whom he married on May 23, 1682, he had seventeen children. By his second wife, Sarah, he bad two children. His second son, Moses3 Sleeper, who was born on January 22, 1685, and died at Kingston, January 13, 1754, married on January 9, 1714, Margaret Sanborn. She was born on March 20, 169S, and was a daughter of Captain Jonathan San- born, of Kingston, N.H., who was, according to the Sanborn genealogy, the twelfth child of Lieutenant John1 Sanborn.
David+ Sleeper, who was born at Kingston, N.H., in 1721, and died on October 18, 1786 (or 1780, as stated in History of Chester), was the son of Moses3 Sleeper and the great-grand- father of Dr. Frank Sleeper. In the Revolu- tionary Rolls of New Hampshire, vol. i., David Sleeper is recorded as a private in Captain Ed- ward Everett's company in 1776. Tradition says that he was Captain in the local militia, of which two of his sons were members. It is said that father and sons responded to the alarm at Lexington on April 19, 1775, and were with Colonel Prescott's regiment at Bunker Hill on the 17th of June following, in which battle one of the sons was wounded .* David Sleeper's first wife was Margaret Scribner, whom he married on November 24, 1743, and by whom he had three children, born in 1744, 1746, and 1748. Shortly after their marriage they moved to Sandown, N.H., where the wife died. David Sleeper's second wife was Ruth James, born on March 29, 1735, and died on July 6, 1823. He had nineteen children, of whom thirteen sons and two daughters lived to grow up.
Nathan5 Sleeper, the eighteenth child of David Sleeper, was born in Chester, N.H., August 13, 1777, and died in Lewiston, Me., on February 17, 1860. Ile came to Lewiston from New
* Nathan Sleeper. He died a few months after the battle, and, according to a custom then prevailing, the name " Na- than " was given to the next son born.
Hampshire, where he had learned the carpenter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of seven years. at the end of which time he became what was then known as a master framer. Before coming to Maine he worked for some time in Vermont. In 1799, while going through Lewiston on his way to Belfast, he stopped at the house of Squire Herrick. There he remained. The following year he built the old Squire Herrick house, which is still standing on the road from Greene to Lew- iston. He was in the War of 1812 as a Lieu- tenant and Captain. In 1800 he married Mary Ham, who was born on June 4, 1782. and died on April 5, 186S. She was a daughter of Tobias and Elizabeth (Herrick) Ham. Her maternal grandfather was Major Israel Herrick. a native of Topsfield, Mass., who resided in Me- thuen and Boxford Mass., and afterward came to Lewiston. He was a Lieutenant in 1745. and served through nineteen campaigns in the French and Indian wars, leaving the army in 1763 with the rank of Brevet Major. He also fought at the battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolution.
Nathan's son, Ebenezer Herrick6 Sleeper. the father of Dr. Frank Sleeper, was born on Sep- tember 22, 180S, and died on August 14. 15$1. He was a prominent contractor and builder in Lewiston, and built a number of handsome structures, among them the Free Baptist church. Of that religious body he was for many years a member. On February 15, 1838, Ebenezer H. Sleeper married Sarah, daughter of Colonel John and Sarah (Read) Nash. They had four children, namely: one that died in infancy: Helen, born on September 27, 1839, who mar- ried May 2, 1861, George S. Plummer, of Au- gusta. Me .; Ilorace, born on January 30, 1841. who died on November 9, 1SS4; and Dr. Frank Eugene, of Sabattus. Horace Sleeper mar- ried on February 22, 1867, Genevra Bisbes. of Lynn, Mass. They had two children: Frank Ellsworth Sleeper, born on December 7, 1567: and Helen Eliza Sleeper, born December 19. 1874, who married Dr. Shurtleff, of Plymouth. Mass. To George S. Plummer and Helen Sleeper Plummer was born a son, Frank G .. November 10, 1866, who died February 23. 1867.
Dr. Sleeper's mother, Mrs. Sarah Nash Sleeper. was born October 19, 1816, and died December
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9, 1892. She was a descendant of James' Nash, who was living in Weymouth, Mass., in 1628. Samuel+ Nash, a great-grandson of James' Nash, lived in Abington, Mass. Samuel's son, the Rev. Samuel Nash, was born in Abington in August, 1744. He was a member of the second class (1770) that was graduated from Brown Uni- versity. During his college course and after his graduation he taught school in various places. Subsequently he studied theology, and on October 4, 1773, was licensed to preach in Stoughton, Mass. He settled in New Boston, now Gray, Me., and was the first minister or- dained over the Congregational church there. He was a Selectman of the town and one of its most prominent citizens. He died there in 1821. His wife was Fannie Esterbrook, of Warren, R.I. They had eight children, the sixth a son, Colonel John6 Nasli (born on Feb- ruary 15, 1789, died on September 19, 1847). who married on December 5, 1811, Sarah Read, daughter of Daniel Read, the first postmaster of Lewiston. Colonel John Nash was the maternal grandfather of Dr. Frank Sleeper. The follow- ing sketch of Dr. Sleeper is from the Webster Herald, November 29, 1901 :-
"Dr. Frank E. Sleeper was born in Lewiston, September 12, 1846. He attended the common schools of that city, and received the first diploma ever granted to a graduate of the Lewiston High School. Entering Bates Col- lege the following year, he graduated in the class of 1867, which was the first class to gradu- ate from that college.
"Having taught school in various places with marked success during his college course, he was retained in Bates for one year as tutor of Latin and Greek. While here he began the study of medicine, and received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Maine Medical School at Bowdoin College in 1870. In this year, also, he was honored by the degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him by Bates College.
"In the autumm of 1870 he removed to Sabattus (a suburb of Lewiston), and entered upon the practice of medicine, gaining in a short time a reputation for remarkable skill in his profession, and also the entire confi- denee of the people to whom he has ministered,
which has remained unshaken unto the pres- ent day.
"Soon after coming to Sabattus. he married. and took up his residence in the house which is now the home of Edwin Woodside. later moving into the so-called Jewell house. living here until 1878, when he built the beautiful residence which he now occupies, at the foot of Sabattus Lake.
"Dr. Sleeper's life has been a very busy one since he became a resident of Sabattus. Although the extent of his business and the many demands upon his time from the Ma- sonic and other societies in which he has bonne a distinguished part have called him from his home with unremitting frequency. he kas proved to be one of Sabattus's strongest citi- zens, and has contributed largely to the efforts in the way of progress that have made the vil- lage what it is. He has never consented to hold any town office except on the scht board, with which he has served for ciasy years, and this exception through his zed! 5: see the promotion of the educational interests of the town.
"He served for two years as a mente: of the Lewiston Common Council. Councilman from Ward One. He was elected State Sezast from Androscoggin County in 1886 by a major- ity over his opponent which pleasingly atteste i to the popularity which he had attained.
"During the autumn of ISSS he was re- elected to the Senate, and served his second term, as he had his first, to the complete sa :- isfaction of his constituents. His ability as a legislator marked him as one of the sky men of the State, and there is no doubt but what he would have been placed on the Exec- utive Council had he not declined the nomina- tion. At the close of his term, however. he returned to his practice of medicine. which he had been obliged in a great measure to negleet while serving in the Legislature ..
"Dr. Sleeper is at present a member of the County Medical Society, a Fellow of the Amer- ican Academy of Medicine, a member of the American Medical Association. a member of the consulting staff of the Central Maine General Hospital, and secretary of the Lewiston Board of United States Pension Examiners.
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" His career in the orders and secret socie- ties to which he belongs is one of which any man may well feel proud. His sterling integrity and recognized ability as a public speaker have secured to him promotion in nearly every branch that he has taken up. The principal of these societies are the Masons, Odd Fellows, Pilgrim Fathers, and Order of Eastern Star.
" He joined the Odd Fellows in 1881, both lodge and encampment, and has been an hon- ored member since that time. He was one of the charter members of Lakeside Chapter, Order of Eastern Star. He was a charter member of Pioneer Colony, No. 35, United Order of Pilgrim Fathers, has passed all the chairs of Pioneer Colony, and has been its treasurer constantly since that time. For the past seven years he has been a Supreme Trustee from Maine and a member of the Board of Directors.
"But it.is in his Masonic career that he is best known. As the author of the Monitorial portion of the " Maine Royal Arch Text-book" and as the recipient of the honors that have been so thickly crowded upon him by that order, few Masons in New England can produce such a record.
"He has held among many others these Masonic offices: Master of Webster Lodge (which he organized), twelve years; District Deputy Grand Master, three years; Senior Grand Warden, Deputy Grand Master, Grand Master of Masons in Maine (by unanimous elee- tion serving two terms), Grand Lecturer of the Grand Lodge, High Priest of King Hiram Chapter, Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Areh Chapter of Maine and its Grand Lecturer, Thrice Illustrious Master of Dunlap Council Royal. and Select Masters, Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, Commander of Lewiston Commandery Knights Templar, Right Emi- nent Grand Commander of the Grand Com- mandery of Knights Templar, Thrice Potent Grand Master of Lewiston Lodge of Perfec- tion, A. A. S. R., and was created a Sover- eign Grand Inspector-general, thirty-third de- gree, in the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors-general of the thirty-third and last degree of the Ancient Accepted Scot-
tish Rite for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, at Boston, Mass., September 18, 1900."
Dr. Sleeper has been twice married. His first wife was Almeda L. Gile, whom he mar- ried on October 27, 1870. She was born on October 20, 1846, and was a daughter of Colonel Daniel C. Gile, of Chicopee, Mass., formerly of Lewiston. She died August 12, 1878, leav- ing a daughter, Winifred Sarah Sleeper, born on January 26, 1876, who is still living. Another daughter, Helen Catherine Sleeper, born on September 23, 1873, died August 22, 1874. Mrs. Helen Nash Sleeper, Dr. Sleeper's present wife, whom he married on February 2, 1SSS, was born in Lewiston, January 12, 1860, and is a daughter of Ami R. Nash, Esq. By this marriage there have been two children, twins, born on Septem- ber 5, 1890, Arthur Horace Sleeper and Frank Eugene Sleeper, Jr. Arthur Horace Sleeper died at the age of eight months.
APT. NATHANIEL W. COLE, who was for a number of years agent of the Edwards Manufacturing Company, of Augusta, was born in Newbury- port, Mass., that city being also the birth- place of his father, Robert Cole. His mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Daniels, was a native of Londonderry, N.H. Captain Cole was the last survivor of a family of five children. His father, who was a sailor, died at the age of thirty-seven years, Nathaniel then being a lad of nine. His mother died at fifty-one, in 1853. After two or three years of schooling (his mother being left with but little means to support the family), he went to work in a cotton-mill in Newburyport, begin- ning with such simple work as so young a hand could do, applying himself energetically and faithfully, winning promotion and increase of wages from time to time, until he reached the age of nineteen, when he thought to better himself by seeking a new field of labor in the State of Maine. He worked in a Hallowell mill about a year, and then in November, 1854, came to Augusta to take the position of over- seer of the Kennebec Manufacturing Company, then the owners of the cotton-mills of that city, the first of which was built in 1845-46, others
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being opened later. In 1861, the opening year of the Rebellion, his patriotism asserted itself in the form of military ardor and activity. He raised a company of soldiers, which became Company B of the Eleventh Maine Regiment of Volunteer Militia, enlisted for three years to defend the Union. He went out as First Lieutenant of the company, and later was pro- moted to be its Captain. He took part in the battles of Williamsburg and Fair Oaks and in the siege of Yorktown.
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