USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harrison > Centennial history of Harrison, Maine > Part 46
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one with over seventy thousand, from a country with only five million inhabitants to one with over seventy-five mil- lion, an increase of over fifteen hundred per cent. When he was born the first cast iron plow had just been intro- duced, and was being regarded with great disfavor because it was claimed that the iron would poison the soil and spoil the crop. Now the wooden plows, which were then uni- versally used, are only a memory, and can only be found in museums where they are looked upon as wonderful relics of a by-gone age.
"Uncle Stephen" was a most jovial, companionable man, true to the characteristics of the Tebbetts's as set forth by Ridlon: "They were good story-tellers, had good stories to tell, were artful word-painters, and reveled in irony. They possessed an inexhaustible fund of humor that was irresistible when in full swing. They feasted on a plate of sharp jokes, and would laugh until the flood gates of their tears became unfastened." Another writer has said of "Uncle Stephen" when he was nearly ninety-nine: "His mind is clear and active, and in conversation he is very en- tertaining, for he is jolly and abounding in original jokes and pithy sayings. Indeed, a half hour's talk with him at any time is a specific for a bad case of blues." To this the writer can heartily say amen, for there was no better intellectual treat for him than to have a chance to converse with "Uncle Stephen ;" to listen to that outspoken, whole- souled laugh ; and to look upon the jolly, kindly face of the old gentleman when in animated conversation. His daugh- ter, with whom he spent his last years, says that during the five years that he was a member of her family, she never heard him utter a word of complaint of any kind.
His wife died on August 13, 1889, at the age of eighty- seven, after which the old gentleman's daughter, Mrs. Olive Whitney, kept house for him some years, but during the last few years of his life he made his home with his daughter, Mrs. A. P. Ricker. During the summer pre-
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ceding his death he made a trip to Lynn, Massachusetts, to visit his daughter, Mrs. Nellie Gammon, and he stood the journey without a drawback, although it was made during a heated period when many younger people were prostrated. On the next day after his return from his trip he felt so well that he walked down into the Village twice. The indirect cause of his death was a fall several weeks before, from the effects of which he never recovered. He died on March II, 1897, at the age of ninety-nine years, seven months, and twelve days.
He had a family of thirteen children, six only of whom outlived him. The children of Stephen F. and Lucy (Bas- ton ) Tebbetts were as follows :
MARSHALL, lived in Harrison for many years, enlisting from this town in the 23rd Regt., and was discharged for dis- ability. Later he moved to Sabattus, where he died some years ago, leaving a family.
LUCY, died young.
STEPHEN, died young.
LUCY ANN, married George McLucas, lived in Hiram, where she died some years ago, leaving a family.
OLIVE, married a Green, by whom she had one son, Henry ; secondly, she married Eleazer Whitney of Harrison, by whom she had one son, Freeman E. Her husband died many years ago, and she is now living a widow near the Village.
MARY H., died unmarried when a young woman.
JOHN B., was in California for a time in his early life; returned to Harrison, married Lizzie, daughter of Joseph Fogg, and lives on the Waterford road a short distance from the Village. Has one son, Walter W., living at home.
MIAL, lived in Harrison for a time, then moved to Denmark, where he now lives, having a family.
ALBERT, died young.
HENRY, died young.
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ELLEN F., married a Gammon, and lives in Lynn, Mass. FANNIE T., married Alvin P. Ricker of Harrison, and lives at the Village. Has two daughters, Josephine P., and Jessie I., both of whom are living at home.
CHARLES F., died of diphtheria in Windham, Me., when a young man.
During his whole lifetime Stephen Tebbetts was the same bright, humorous, quick-witted man that I have endeavored to describe, the very incarnation of fun and good humor, the life of the community in which he resided, and a gen- eral favorite with old and young. Many are the anecdotes extant showing these characteristics. His fund of humor, repartee, and sharp jokes seemed to be inexhaustible, and it was very seldom that any one had the good fortune "to get ahead" of him in a contest of quick wit.
A certain resident of the town had the misfortune to have a very unprepossessing face, but he was an exceed- ingly careful and particular man, especially in regard to the tools that he worked with. One day when he was work- ing on the streets at the Village, rain came on to such an extent that the crew quit work before noon. This man stepped into Uncle Stephen's shop with his shovel, which he was carefully wiping. Said he: "Mr. Tebbetts, I would like to leave my shovel here till afternoon so that it will be in a dry place. I pride myself on keeping it nice and bright. I can see my face in it any time." "Is that so," replied Uncle Stephen; "Then I don't blame you for wanting to leave it. For God's sake put it down just as quick as possible."
On another occasion there was a certain poor man carry- ing on a small business at the Village. He got into debt, and the claim was put into the hands of Lawyer Strout for collection. The larger part of the people seemed to sympathize with the man, and, in order to put him out of the reach of the lawyer, and to give him a chance to
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save the little property that he had, they assisted him to leave town "between two days," with his family and pos- sessions. Mr. Tebbetts was one of the leaders in what was done, and, being an expert cooper, had been a very handy man in assisting in boxing the goods. The lawyer did not know what had happened till his would-be victim was beyond his reach, and was very angry at what had been done. He learned of Mr. Tebbett's activity in the matter, and before he had taken time to "cool off," sought the cooper shop, and began to berate the owner for the part that he had taken, ending with the assertion: "It seems that you sympathized with that miserable scoundrel enough to help him get away in the night so as to escape paying his just debts." "Sympathize with him," returned the old gentleman ; "Why that's nothing. Why, Strout, I'd do as much for you any time."
This same quick wit, and keen sense of the humorous was inherited by the children, and numerous anecdotes are related of them, especially of Marshall and Mial. The former was possessed of a true "Tebbetts nose," and was in no wise ashamed of it. On one occasion, when only a boy, he was driving the horse that was "towing" a canal boat on the old Cumberland and Oxford Canal, near South Windham. It chanced that one of the residents of that village had a nose which was simply "immense," and eclipsed Marshall's as the sun would eclipse the moon. Marshall spied Hanson on the tow-path coming towards him, and as he caught sight of that nose it did not take him long to grasp the humor of the situation. As they neared each other he went as far as possible to one side, and turned his nose away with his hand. "There, Mr. Hanson," said he, "I guess you can get by if you are careful." Of course the men on the boat were convulsed, but Hanson was so mad that he swore that he would lick the boy if he could catch him. But he was too nimble for the old gen-
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tleman, and used to tell the story with much gusto in after days.
Mial Tebbetts was also blessed with a genuine "Tebbetts nose," and like his older brothers was not at all ashamed of it. He stammered slightly at times, but like his father he was quick witted, and was seldom beaten in joking. At one time when a young man he was working for Daniel Mayberry, a former prominent resident of Harrison, who took great delight in joking with him. One day there was company at dinner, and Mayberry thought that he would have a little fun with Mial for their entertainment. All sat at the same table, and during the progress of the dinner Mayberry was seen to be gazing intently upon his would- be victim. Soon he observed to him: "Mial, did you know that there was a place on the end of your nose that you have not washed?" Quick as a flash Mial replied: "May- berry, I think it's t-too bad to twit me about what I c-can't help. I w-washed out as f-far as I could reach." Of course there was a roar of laughter, and none laughed louder than Mayberry.
On another occasion Mial was hauling a lot of hoop poles from South Harrison, and the man who cut them was helping him load them. They were badly cut and very uneven in length. The owner of the land came along, and stopped to chat with Mial who was an old acquaint- ance, as was also the man who cut the poles, whom we will call Joe. In the course of the talk Mial observed: "Did you know that Joe was an awful good man to cut hoop poles?" The man replied that he did not know that he was any better than the average. "Yes he is," replied Mial, "He always cuts them all of a length, just like these. They are all the way from n - nine to t - twenty-seven feet."
Timothy Tebbetts, a younger brother to Stephen, who was the only one of the family that survived the old gen-
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tleman, was for a long time a resident of Rangeley, leading man, and for many years was one of the Selectmen of the town. Several of his descendants are now to be found among the business men.
THOMES FAMILY.
Mclellan, in his "History of Gorham," tells us that Thomas Thomes was an inhabitant of Falmouth Neck, as early as 1716, but there seems to be no record of his an- cestors, though the supposition is that they came from England, and were members of the old Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. This Thomas Thomes built and lived in a house in Clay Cove. He and his wife, Elizabeth, united with Parson Smith's church in 1738. In 1721, Mr. Thomes received a grant of land on the Neck, which his son Thomas sold in 1765, to John Thomes of Falmouth. Thomas and Elizabeth Thomes had three sons, Joseph, John, and Thom- as, all married, and each one's wife was named Mary, but there is no known record of the dates of their births or marriages.
THOMAS THOMES, son of Thomas and Elizabeth, married Mary -, and lived in Falmouth for more than twenty years, joining the church there in 1743. They moved to Gorham about 1763, and took up and cleared land on "Fort Hill" road. In clearing the land they found a large apple tree, and it is stated that it was without doubt the first one in the town of Gorham. This tree must have been of immense size, and it is told on what is considered to be good authority that one year seventeen barrels of cider were made from the apples that were gathered from it; and after the tree began to decay there was a hollow
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in its trunk sufficiently large to contain a good sized per- son, and on more than one occasion served to do so as a shelter from a storm. Mr. Thomes died in Gorham, De- cember 16, 1790; his wife died there, December 13, 1796. It appears that all of their children were born in Falmouth. There is no perfect record, but as far as known it is as follows :
BETTY, baptized in Falmouth in 1743.
GEORGE, b. 1745; married Lydia Brown, April 6, 1780. SAMUEL, b. 1747; married Sarah Lombard, Dec. 23, 1779. CHARLES, b. 1750; married Anna Gray, Sept. 1, 1782.
AMos, b. 1755; married Mehitable Burnell, Dec. 20, 1781, and moved to Pearsontown, afterward Standish.
COMFORT, b. ; married Andrew Cates, Oct. 6, 1785.
SUSANNA, b. ; married James Gray, Jan. 2, 1791.
GEORGE THOMES, son of Thomas and Mary Thomes, went from Falmouth to Gorham with his parents, and lived at West Gorham. He married Lydia Brown of Windham. Their children were as follows:
BETTY, b. March 1, 1781; married Joseph Brown, Nov. 5, 1801.
EZRA, b. May 18, 1782 ; moved to Harrison, where he lived with his brother-in-law, Joseph Plaisted. He was one of the Selectmen in 1807-8; died unmarried in Harri- son, June 16, 1818.
MARY, b. Dec. 20, 1783; married Jacob Emerson of Har- rison, and lived in that town, first near the residence of the Lakin brothers, and then on the farm where Fred Russell now lives, which was the permanent home of the Emersons. Her husband was one of Harrison's pioneers, and was for many years one of its prominent men. He was known as "Major Emerson" from hav- ing been commissioned as a Major in the old militia about 1830, and was for many years one of Harrison's town officers. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson had a family of eleven children, as follows: Mary, b. May 1, 1806, mar-
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ried Sewall Berry of Saco, and lived and died in that city ; George, b. Sept. 17, 1807, lived at home unmarried, and died Feb. 8, 1890; Amos, b. May 5, 1809, was drowned in Carmel, Me., in 1835; Lydia, b. Dec. 21, 1810, died June 1, 1826; Robert, b. Nov. 5, 1812, went to sea and was never heard from; Nancy, b. Oct. 16, 1816, lived at home unmarried, and died Feb. 15, 1877; William, b. Feb. 17, 1819, was a blacksmith, and died in Portland, Oct. 8, 1844; Silas, b. April 24, 1821, went to California, in 1841, and died there many years ago; Carlos, b. Nov. 10, 1823, married Clarissa Harlow of Paris, went to Illinois, and later to California, where he died several years ago; Lovina, b. May 4, 1825, married Elias Hanscom of Biddeford, and died in Harrison some years ago. Mrs. Emerson died Sept. 30, 1859; her hus- band on Aug. 7, 1865.
WILLIAM, b. Feb. 13, 1787; married, first, Sally Plaisted, Mar. 18, 1817, and secondly, her sister Hannah Plais- ted, Mar. 17, 1854. Mr. Thomes went to Harrison in his early days, and started to clear a farm in the southern part of the town, but sold out his claim to his brother, Amos, and returned to Gorham, where he lived on the home farm of his father. He had two daughters, Mi- randa, and Octavia, both children of the first wife. He died in Gorham, Sept. 3, 1861.
AMos, b. Oct. 30, 1788; married Abigail Higgins of Stand- ish, Mar. 29, 1810, and lived in Harrison.
EUNICE, b. Dec. 20, 1790; married Joseph Plaisted, Dec. 5, 1820, and moved to Harrison, living on "Plaisted Hill," on the farm where Frank Chaplin now lives. They had three children; Harriet C., b. Oct. 12, 1823, mar- ried Jonathan Fogg of Harrison, and died in Bridgton : Eliza, b. Oct. 22, 1825, married Edward Hall of Naples, and is living in that town; Sumner S., b. Mar. 10, 1831, lived in Boston many years, and was found dead by the side of the road somewhere in Maine several years ago.
LYDIA, b. Nov. 22, 1795; married Jeremiah Staples of Bux- ton, Sept. 24, 1821.
NANCY, b. June 3, 1799 ; married Zebulon Johnson in 1821 ; lived in Harrison, in that part known as South Harri-
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son, the house where they lived having been uninhabited several years. They had a family of eight children : Mary, b. June 28, 1822, died in infancy; Robert, b. July 17, 1823, lived for many years in Boston, where he was for a time Superintendent of So. Boston Horse Rail- road and an influential man in politics; Lydia E., b. Sept. 25, 1825, was a cripple and lived at home, dying Mar. 12, 1888; Cyrus C., b. Mar. 13, 1828, married Al- mira Sylvester of Bridgton, lived in Harrison till 1885, farming, dealing in stock, and marketing, then moving to Bridgton where he died Jan. 12, 1897; Francis M., b. Feb. 15, 1830, married Helen Clark, and lives in Lincoln, Me., his wife having died several years ago; Mary E., b. July 24, 1832, died in infancy ; William R., b. June 24, 1834, married Frances Edwards, lived in Boston for a time, then returned to Harrison where he died Oct. 31, 1877; John M., b. May 21, 1837, was in business in Boston many years, being in company with his brother Robert, then sold out and moved to Bridgton, where he now resides, living a retired life on the place where his brother Cyrus formerly lived.
CHARLES THOMES, son of Thomas and Mary Thomes, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and when he returned to his home he travelled on foot from Peekskill, New York, to Gorham, Maine, making the journey in nine and a half days. He married Anna Gray, and lived on Fort Hill in Gorham, Maine, where he died November 25, 1833, and his wife on July 14, 1824. They had nine children, as follows :
COMFORT, b. April 19, 1765; died unmarried Feb. 7, 1857. JAMES, b. Nov. 27, 1786; married Abigail Libby of Gor- ham, Feb. 28, 1819; lived in Harrison, and had chil- dren, of whom hereafter.
SUSANNA, b. July 3, 1788; married Stuart Green, Feb. 28, 1819; died in Hiram.
MARY, b. Dec. 16, 1789; married Joshua Roberts, April 15, 18IO.
JOB, b. May 19, 1791; served in the War of 1812, and died unmarried, Dec. 7, 1843.
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HANNAH, b. Oct. 12, 1793; died unmarried.
MARTHA B., b. June 17, 1795; married Cyrus Hamlin, April 29, 1846.
STEPHEN H., b. April 13, 1797; married Abigail Twombly, Mar. 24, 1833; and secondly, Ann Berry.
JOSEPH C., b. Aug. 26, 1800; married Catherine Bacon, Nov. 15, 1829; died May 22, 1859.
AMOS THOMES, son of George and Lydia (Brown) Thomes, was born in Gorham, Oct. 30, 1788, and married Abigail Higgins of Standish, May 29, 1810. There is no certain record of the date of his settlement in Harrison, but it is supposed that it was immediately after his mar- riage in 1810. The list of polls in 1805, found in another part of this book shows that he was not a resident at that time.
He settled in the south part of the town on a farm that his brother, William Thomes, had begun to clear up. It adjoined the farm where Stevens Ingalls had resided for several years, was long known as the "Col. Thomes Farm," and has for some dozen years been the residence of J. Howard Randall. Early in life he built the substantial two- story farm house that was so long his residence, and later was built the one-story house which was the home of his son, Marshall. This put the houses in the condition that they are now in, excepting repairs and improvements which have been made by the present occupant. Mr. Thomes was an independent and forehanded farmer, and for a long series of years carried on the most extensive farming operations in the town, being the owner of a large tract of excellent farm land, as well as much valuable timber land.
Although his farm operations were on a scale which would be very large, even in these days, they were at a time when farm machinery was unknown, and when every- thing had to be done by "manual labor," or work with the hands. Instead of the grass being mowed with a machine,
COL. AMOS THOMES
MRS. ABIGAIL ( HIGGINS) THOMES
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with the driver riding across the field behind a pair of horses, it was done by men with the old fashioned hand scythes, and a scene that I have many times heard described was the mowing in Col. Thomes's fields. In those days men did not wait for the dew to dry off, but had to start in bright and early when the grass was heavy with the wet. A dozen or more men could be seen slowly marching across the field of grass, steadily swinging their scythes, keeping time as if keeping step to music - except occasionally when there would be a frolic caused by some one trying to drive his next neighbor "out of his swath" - and this would be kept up for hours. The raking was all done by hand, and with the small hand rakes, not even a "drag-rake" being known when Col. Thomes was in his prime. Let the farmer of the present time imagine the job of raking a large field of heavy grass with the common hand rakes. The plowing was all done with oxen, and it was not an unusual sight to see four, six, or even eight heavy oxen drawing a big "breaking-up" plow for days in succession, an acre per day being considered a good day's work for a plowing team. All farm operations were on a scale that would be considered very primitive by the progressive farmers of today, but they were on the largest scale of anything in Harrison, and a small army of men was employed, especially in harvesting times, and the crops that he would gather in were worth a small fortune in those days. His operations had gradually been extended, and the buildings had been added to and enlarged until there were two large barns for the hay and cattle, a good sized stable for the horses, and extensive outbuildings, containing the corn chambers, the hog-pens, and work-shops, all standing across the road from the houses, and giving positive proof of the extensive operations of a thrifty farmer. The whole farm plant on that side of the road was burned on August 18, 1883, and made what was the largest conflagration ever seen in town up to that time, calling a great crowd from far and near,
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this being after the Thomes's had sold out, and the farm was in the hands of Jas. H. Hamilton.
During the whole of his long and active life in Harrison, Amos Thomes was one of its leading men, being chosen as a delegate to the convention in Portland in 1819, for fram- ing the Constitution of the coming State of Maine; was chosen on the Board of Selectmen as early as 1813, and serving seventeen years in that capacity, his last term being in 1841; was Moderator at nine annual town meetings, and served on the Superintending School Committee one year. In 1835, he served in the State Legislature, having been elected from the classed towns of Harrison and Otisfield as a Whig, over Deacon Charles Walker, Democrat.
In the days of the militia, of "trainings," and of "general musters," he was commissioned as Colonel of the militia, thus receiving the title which stuck to him as long as he lived. Ever after that he was known to all as "Colonel" Thomes, comparatively few knowing him by any other name. At that time no man in town was more extensively known than he. The "Colonel" was an upright and honorable man, and one that was greatly respected by his townsmen, though some gave him the reputation of being rather a "hard" man. Somewhat stern in his manners, he was looked upon with fear by some of his neighbors and work- men until they succeeded in penetrating through the cold exterior to the tender heart that beat beneath. One of his neighbors used to relate an incident that showed the nature of the real Colonel Thomes, as he was to those who used him well, and always dealt squarely.
This man, in common with others, thought, as the "Co- lonel" was so stern and unyielding in appearance, that he would not willingly grant favors to common men. One day he received a sudden summons to the bedside of a favorite brother who had met with a terrible accident in a saw mill some fifteen miles away. He did not at that time own a team, and made all haste to hire one of some
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more fortunate neighbor. He went to one after another, but it happened that all had some use for their teams which was regarded as of more importance than to assist this man to reach the bedside of a dying brother, one man even making the excuse that his son had got to go to a dance that night. He returned home disheartened and discour- aged, having tried all but Colonel Thomes, who had several good horses. After reaching home and thinking over the matter a short time, he told his wife that, as a last resort, he "was going to try Colonel Thomes." He found the old gentleman near his house in company with his eldest son, and at once made known his want, briefly telling of the terrible news that he had received, and of his ill luck in getting a team. The old gentleman did not even wait for him to finish before he turned to his son and said: "Mar- shall, you go and harness that horse, and you be quick about it, too." The team was at once forthcoming, and the neighbor reached the bedside of his brother before he passed away. On his return with the team he asked for the bill, and was greatly surprised when the owner replied: "There is no bill; you are entirely welcome to the use of the team." That man had an entirely different opinion of Colonel Thomes ever after that time, never having occasion to change it in the least.
For many years before his death the old gentleman did but little manual labor, but he never lost his interest in the farming operations, nor his anxiety that all should be carried through successfully. He was much inclined to worry lest something should happen to injure the crops, especially while they were being harvested. When wet weather threatened in the haying season it is said that he could not sleep, and would sometimes get so anxious that he would arise in the middle of the night and walk up and down the road for a long time, "watching the weather."
Amos Thomes died at his home in Harrison on March 21, 1870. His widow survived him several years, accompany-
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ing her son Samuel to Bridgton, where she died on August 24, 1885, at the age of ninety-three years. She was another of the remarkable pioneer women of Harrison who lived to a great age, and retained all of their mental faculties to the last. Mr. and Mrs. Thomes had a family of six children, as follows :
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