USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harrison > Centennial history of Harrison, Maine > Part 49
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Mrs. Walker lived and retained her health and general faculties about twenty years after her husband's decease. She still improved many opportunities for attending upon the sick neighbors, and comforting them by kind minis- trations. While thus visiting a sick lady in the neighbor- hood, she contracted a violent cold, resulting in pneumonia, from which she died on the 22nd of October, 1878, in the eighty-ninth year of her age. Charles and Sally ( Barbour) Walker had six children :
EDNAH, b. in Falmouth, Nov. 9, 1810; married Oct. 15, 1832, Elias Howard of Harrison. They had a son: Elias Howard, Jr., b. June 27, 1835; married June 24, 1859, Mary Ann, daughter of Hon. Jeremiah Parker of Gorham, b. Oct. 2, -; children: Parker, b. May 15, 1860; Charles A., b. Feb. 25, 1862; Harry, b. June 7,
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1865, all died in infancy. Jennie, b. Oct. 18, 1872. Fred H., b. Apr. 17, 1877; married Rosanna Gladu, b. in 1882; married Sept. - , 1902; children: Parker, b. May 30, 1903. Fred Leon, b. Mar. 15, 1905. Mrs. Mary Ann Howard died Apr. 5, 1907. Elias Howard and family reside in Westbrook.
Elias Howard, first husband of Ednah, was drowned from a canal boat, near Mast Cove in Long Pond, October 20, 1834. She was married 2d, May 8, 1839, to Jonathan Whitney of Bridgton, b. Apr. II, 18II. They had a son :
I. Charles Andrews, b. May 16, 1841; married Sept. 3, 1870, Julia Sturgis Roby of Harrison (b. June 28, 1850). Children: Roscoe Howard, b. May 9, 1875 ; married June 6, 1896, Edith M., b. June 8, 1877, daughter of George W. and Nancy Z. Holland Tra- cy ; they have a daughter, Dorothy M., b. Oct. 25, 1904; they reside in Harrison. Franklin Elwood, b. Apr. 17, 1877; unmarried. Jonathan Whitney died Apr. 27, 1888. Ednah (Walker ) Whitney died Aug. 3, 1891.
Lois, b. in Westbrook, Aug. 18, 1812; died in Harrison, Mar. 7, 1830.
HENRY, b. Sept. 5, 1814; migrated to Pennsylvania about 1840; thence to Indiana, where he settled at Liberty Mills, Wabash Co. He married Olive Knoop; although a prosperous farmer, he was noted as a skilled me- chanic all his life.
SUSAN, b. Feb. 17, 1816; married John Burnham of Har- rison. They moved to Pennsylvania about 1840, and re- sided there, and in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, N. Y., and in Busti, in the same county, where they lived many years. Their last years were spent with their old- est son, Charles N. Burnham of Cameron, Mo. (See Burnham family.)
CHARLES BARBOUR, b. Jan. 17, 1820; married Abby May- berry of Casco, daughter of Maj. Richard Mayberry, and resided in Harrison, Casco and Windham; then moved to Mass., where they resided at Cambridge
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and Neponset, at which latter place he finally settled, and was employed during the last years of his life as a skilled mechanic in a large manufacturing establish- ment. He was distinguished for natural musical gifts of a superior order, especially for a remarkably pure and deep bass voice. He was for a time, about 1862, a leading member of Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Company of Boston, widely noted in America and in Eng- land. Mr. Walker was educated in the faith of the Free- will Baptist denomination, but in middle life, he embraced the doctrinal beliefs of the Second Adventists, and was all his after life, a firm and consistent adherent of that faith, and was always noted for his sober and pure char- acter as a Christian. He died in Neponset, Mass., Jan. 2, 1872. Their children were :
I. Richard Henry, b. in Harrison, Me., Jan. 27, 1843; married Lydia -; lived in Maine, Boston, and in Brooklyn, N. Y. He was a banker and collection attorney in New York City and died there Dec. 27, 1895. They had two children: Charles Barbour and Gracie. Charles B. Walker married Mabel of Ottawa, Can .; they reside in Montclair, N. J., where he is a prosperous electrician.
2. Susie Elizabeth, b. Aug. 21, 1847 in Harrison, Me. She resided with her parents and died in Neponset, Mass., Aug. 9, 1890. Mrs. Abby J. Walker died in Neponset, June 9, 1904.
ELIZABETH ELLEN, b. Apr. II, 1828; married Granville Fernald of Otisfield, Mar. 26, 1854, and lived in Har- rison, and in Washington, D. C., nearly all her life. Her last days were spent with her daughter at South Water- ford, where she died Jan. 6, 1908. For children, see Fernald family.
JOHN WALKER, b. in Falmouth, Sept. 3, 1791 ; died Nov. 24, 179I.
EUNICE WALKER, b. in Falmouth, May 4, 1793; married Bela Dawes. (See Bela Dawes family.)
ELIZA WALKER, b. in Falmouth, June 28, 1798; married in 1821, Joshua Howard. (See Howard family.)
G. F.
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WASHBURN FAMILY.
CHARLES WASHBURN was born in Kingston, Massa- chusetts, August II, 1788. He was a twin brother to Icha- bod Washburn, the founder of the celebrated wire-making business in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were of the ninth generation in direct descent from Governor Brad- ford of the original Plymouth Colony.
Charles graduated from Brown University in 1826, stud- ied law in the office of Levi Whitman, Esq., of Norway, and settled in Harrison the same year, opening an office for the practice of his profession as a member of the Cum- berland Bar. He married Zibeah Cary Blake, daughter of Grinfill and Mehitable (Brett) Blake, at Harrison, Novem- ber 30, 1826. She was descended from John Alden and John Carver, of the Plymouth Colony.
Mr. Washburn, by his native talent, his learning in the law, and his character as a citizen, won a very respectable position among the lawyers of the county, and was highly esteemed by the people of the community of towns in which he practiced his profession. He was rather tall, handsome of face and form, of gentle manners, and possessed the true attributes of a gentleman. From a natural defect of his right arm he was obliged to write with his left hand, but his handwriting, much of which is extant, is very ele- gant, and unusually legible for a lawyer. Mr. Washburn represented his district (Bridgton and Harrison) in the Leg- islature of Maine in 1830. His political faith was of the Whig persuasion.
In the year 1836, Mr. Washburn gave up his law prac- tice at Harrison, and removed to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he became a member of the wire-making company of which his brother Ichabod was the head. In that busi- ness he was concerned as a partner for many years. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1851, as a Representative from the City of Worcester. He died in 1873, aged seventy-seven years.
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To Charles and Zibeah Cary Washburn were born nine children, as follows :
CHARLES FRANCIS, b. in Harrison, Aug. 23, 1827. He re- ceived his education mostly in the public schools of Harrison. He removed early in his life to Worcester, Mass., with his father's family, and was, later in life, Vice President and Secretary of the Washburn & Moen Wire Manufacturing Company for many years, hold- ing the position until his death, which occurred July 20, 1893. He possessed much of his father's suavity of manner, and a witty, vivacious type of intellect, an inheritance largely from the Blake side of his ancestry. He was ardently attached to the town of his birth, and to the memory of the people whom he knew, and en- joyed the semi-occasional visits to Harrison very much. He is remembered as a correspondent of the Bridgton News on themes pertaining to his boyhood life in Harri- son. He married Mary E. Whiton in Sept., 1855, and they had eight children, as follows: Charles Grinfill; James Whiton, died young; Philip Moen; Miriam Whiton; Robert, a lawyer ; Henry Bradford; Reginald; Arthur. GRINFILL, b. in Harrison, May 16, 1829; died Aug. 18, 1829. LUCIA BLAKE, b. in Harrison, Oct. 29, 1830. She married Rev. George Henry Clark at Worcester, Mass., and died at Savannah, Ga., 1859. Her remains were buried at Worcester. Her husband died at Summit, N. J., Mar. 31, 1906, in the 87th year of his age. Their children were : Charles Washburn, unmarried; George Henry, Jr., mar- ried, and lives in Newark, N. J.
GRINFILL HARRISON, b. in Harrison, April 20, 1833; died young.
GEORGE ICHABOD, b. in Harrison, May 26, 1835; died un- married, 187 -.
HENRY BRADFORD, b. in Harrison, March 10, 1837; died young.
MAURICE, b. in Harrison, July 25, 1839; died in 1842. ZIBEAH CAROLINE, b. in Worcester, Mass., April 15, 1843. MAURICE, b. in Worcester, Mass., Aug. 9, 1845; died Aug., 1845.
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ZIBEAH CAROLINE WASHBURN married Ed- ward Otis Rockwood in 186 -. Their children were as follows :
HENRY BRADFORD, died Feb., 1896.
ANNA WASHBURN, married - Ward.
GEORGE ICHABOD, married Ellen Cheever of Worcester, Mass.
EDITH, married Harry Norris; has two children and re- sides in Staunton, Va.
EDWARD, JR., drowned in Round Lake, N. Y.
ELIZABETH ; died young.
CHARLES GRINFILL WASHBURN, eldest son of Charles F. and Mary (Whiton) Washburn married a Miss Slater. He is a patent lawyer. They have children.
PHILIP MOEN WASHBURN, third son of Charles F. and Mary (Whiton) Washburn, born in Worcester, was educated for the church, and was Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Colorado Springs. He married Miriam Phelps, daughter of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, of Brooklyn, New York. He died in 1898, and his wife died in 1903. They had two daughters, Mary and Miriam.
G. F.
WATSON FAMILY.
JAMES WATSON, one of the very first settlers in Bridgton before incorporation in 1895, was son of Eliph- alet Watson who came from the old Plymouth colony to Gorham and married Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. John Phinney. They had ten children. (See history of Gor- ham.)
James Watson was born in Gorham Fort, Aug. 3, 1761. He married first, Mary Davis; second, Mary, daughter
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of John Carsley of Gorham, a sister of John and Nathan, the pioneers. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and came from Gorham about the same time as the Carsleys, and built a house on the Pond road, about a mile south of the village which is believed to have been the first or one of the first two houses in town. It was destroyed by fire a few years ago. The children of James and Mary Wat- son :
MERCY; married David Potter Kneeland, Jan. 21, 1817. (See Kneeland family.)
MARY F., b. in Harrison, July II, 1794; married Gee Har- mon.
ISAAC, b. June 27, 1796; married Betsy, daughter of Jon- athan and Susanna Packard, Oct. 7, 1823. He was a stone mason and lived in Harrison Village where their seven children were born:
Two infant children b. in 1823 and 1824; both deceased.
3. Susan P., b. Mar. 28, 1825; married Heber Kim- ball, Sept. 14, 1845; lived in Harrison many years and died there Their children were: Hor- ace, who resides with family at North Bridgton. Charles, residence in Massachusetts; and Etta, who graduated from Farmington Normal School and was a successful teacher in the public schools; present residence unknown.
4. Charles H., b. Oct. 1, 1827; married Ann Reed of Lowell, Mass .; has resided in Cape Elizabeth; had several children; was a machinist.
5. Alpheus P., b. Sept. 27, 1829; died July 2, 1832.
6. Albert N., b. June 10, 1833; married Ann Goodwin of Somersworth, N. H., lived in Portland; had chil- dren; he was a machinist.
7. Mary L., b. Apr. II, 1836; married Charles Hutchin- son of Wells, Me.
LEVI, b. in Harrison, Nov. 1, 1801 ; married Hannah, daugh- ter of Elder Samuel Lewis, Apr. 21, 1825, and moved East. They had children.
SALLY, b. July 6, 1803; married Ebenezer Cookson.
ROBERT, b. July 6, 1806; died in Harrison; unmarried.
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Coleman Watson, a nephew of James, lived many years in Harrison and was a cooper by trade. He was twice married, the second wife was Paulina Tuttle; married June 13, 1847. Mr. Watson died April 2, 1849. He had a daughter who married a Billings of Gorham.
WESTON FAMILY.
The Westons of Harrison are the direct descendants of JOHN WESTON, who came from England in 1644, he being a lad of only ten. He resided first in Salem, Massa- chusetts, and later in Reading. He died in 1723, leaving four sons : John, Samuel, Stephen, and Thomas. The lat- ter married Elizabeth -, and settled in Reading, Massachusetts. Their second son, Joseph, was born in 1698. He married Sarah -, and lived for a time in Reading, where five children were born. Then he came to Maine, where he married for a second wife, Mrs. Mary Vickery of Cape Elizabeth, by whom he had five children. The second son of this Joseph was also named Joseph, and was born in 1724. He moved to Gorham with his brother Thomas, and as early as 1749, was a member of a committee to run out the line between Gorham and Narra- gansett, No. I (Buxton). He was a prominent citizen of Gorham, dying there on July 10, 1770. On September 3, 1755, he married Katherine, daughter of Daniel and Jane Mosher of Gorham, and they had five children : James, Joseph, Zachariah, Thomas, and Sarah. Thomas, their fourth child, was born in Gorham on December 4, 1764. He married Esther Turner of Otisfield, and settled in that town on the old home place. They had eleven children : Hannah, Sarah, James, Elisha, Catherine, David, Margaret, Susannah, Esther, Susannah, and Rebecca.
DR. S. LOTON WESTON
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JAMES WESTON, third child of Thomas and Esther (Turner) Weston, was born in Otisfield in 1798, and mar- ried Sukey Spurr of Otisfield on November 25, 1825. They settled in Harrison on the farm where J. Wendall Weston now lives, and their children were as follows :
SAMUEL LOTON, b. Mar. 11, 1830; married H. Elizabeth Mead of North Bridgton, Mar. II, 1863; died in Har- rison, June 19, 1896.
OCTAVIA W., b. Feb. 18, 1827; married Major P. Stuart of Harrison, May 24, 1850 ; children : Rebecca, James W., Dana M.
ZEBULON, b. Feb. 18, 1834; was a graduate of Union Col- lege in 1858; married Martha Greenman of Mystic, Conn., Apr. 10, 1866; resides in Brockton, Mass., where he is the owner of an edge tool manufactory known as the Tuck Mfg. Co. He is a leading citizen of the place, has been a councilman, and is one of the trustees of the City Library.
JAMES WENDALL, b. Oct. 20, 1836; married Sarah Robie of Harrison, Jan. 20, 1863 ; she died July 23, 1863, and he married for second wife Sarah A. Chase, April 3, 1868. Children: Albert W., Lester, and Annie R.
SAMUEL LOTON WESTON, oldest son of James and Sukey (Spurr) Weston, was born in Harrison, March II, 1830, and was educated in the common schools, and Bridgton Academy. He taught many schools in Harrison and adjoining towns, beginning at the early age of seventeen. Determining to become a physician, he attended the Maine Medical School, graduating therefrom May 20, 1854, after which he still further pursued studies to fit him for his chosen vocation. He began to practice in Casco, where he remained but a short time, there being a better opening in Waterford, to which place he removed in May, 1855. He remained there until July, 1859, when he removed to Bolster's Mills, settling on the Harrison side of the river. He made that his permanent home, remaining there until
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his death, excepting the short time that he spent in Chicago. He was a successful physician, and had a large practice covering the larger part of Harrison and Otisfield, and extending into other towns to some extent.
He took a great interest in educational matters, always advocating with all his energy whatever measures he be- lieved would be for the advancement of the cause of edu- cation, especially in the common schools. He was Super- visor of Schools in 1861, and in 1864 was chosen as a member of the Superintending School Committee to fill a vacancy for one year. In 1867, he was chosen as a regular member for a three years' term, and served again in 1870-72. He was again elected in 1877, and served continuously for nine years, making a service of seven- teen years as a school official. The town never had a more competent and efficient member of its school board, nor the cause of education a better friend than he proved him- self to be. He was also much interested in Bridgton Acad- emy, of which institution he was a member of the Board of Trustees from 1867 to 1896, having been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. John E. Dunnells.
During his short residence in Waterford, he was elected to the position of Town Clerk. In 1864, he was chosen as Town Clerk of Harrison, and served in that capacity for seven consecutive years. It spoke well of his standing in the town that he was elected over a competitor who was a faithful official, and was supposed to be one of the most popular men in town. He would doubtless have con- tinued to hold the office longer if it had not been for a local issue that was made so prominent that it had a marked in- fluence in the selection of a part of the town officers. The careful and accurate records in the doctor's neat and legible handwriting bear witness to his faithful service. Occa- sionally will be found a verbatim copy of some document with some striking peculiarity, especially in spelling, or grammar, branches in which the doctor was very proficient.
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He became interested in the Harrison Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company early in its existence, believing that it offered to the inhabitants of the town a safe method of insurance, and one by which they would be enabled to save a large amount of the money which they were then paying to outside companies. About 1877, he was elected as Secretary, Treasurer, and Agent of the Company, which then had assets of $5,095, there having been but little change in several years. The doctor had radical ideas in regard to fires and insurance, which he did not hesitate to express publicly, and put into practice in his management of the affairs of this company. He firmly believed that there were many incendiary fires, a condition that was partly due to over-insurance by the agents, and was very careful as to the risks which he took - so much so, in fact, as to cause complaint, and, in some cases, withdrawal from the company. But there were comparatively few assess- ments, there being one continuous stretch of twelve years during Secretary Weston's administration when there were none, the income from the new policies issued being suffi- cient to pay all losses, and other expenses incurred during that time. The doctor was a "pusher," and "pushed" the affairs of the company so energetically that in six years the assets had increased thirty-four per cent, being $6,772 in 1883.
Largely through the efforts of its efficient Secretary the limits of the company were extended to include the town of Otisfield, and later a still larger territory. In 1890, the assets had increased to $12,402, a growth of about ninety per cent in seven years. In 1896, the statistics showed the capital to be $23,572. During the succeeding year, when the company was largely managed by the doc- tor's efficient and capable wife upon lines which had been marked out by her husband, there was a surprising growth, the assets at the close of that year having reached $32,759, an increase of some thirty-eight per cent in one year. In
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this connection it is but fair to say that Mrs. Weston as- sisted her husband very much in his fire insurance business, especially during the last few years of his life, and did the greater part of it during his absence in Chicago. She was thoroughly familiar with all its details, and succeeded her husband as Secretary and Treasurer, serving in that capacity as long as her health would permit her to do so.
Dr. Weston was a most radical temperance man, preach- ing total abstinence on all occasions. Very many thought that he was radical beyond reason, but none ever had oc- casion to say that he did not rigidly practice all that he preached. He was an active member of several temperance organizations, and was ever ready to raise his voice in behalf of the cause, condemning in the strongest terms intemperance of all kinds. He was a ready and effective speaker, always going straight to the point that he aimed at, and dealing "sledge-hammer blows" at whatever stood in his path, not only in the temperance cause, but in all things which he advocated. No one ever had any reason to misunderstand Dr. Weston's position on any public question in which he took an interest.
He was not over friendly to secret societies, having an antipathy to the principle of secrecy upon which they were all founded. He was, however, much impressed in favor of the beneficiary principle which is made so prominent by the Odd Fellows, and joined Cumberland Lodge at Bridgton. He was initiated, and took the three de- grees, but never took any active interest in the work of the lodge, simply keeping up his membership during his life. Apparently he liked the charitable work of the Order, but was not favorably impressed with the work in the lodge room. He became much interested in the Grange movement in its early days. He was one of the charter members of Crooked River Grange, and was its first Sec- retary. He entered into the work with much zeal, and was a "power" in Crooked River Grange as long as he
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was able to attend the meetings. He did not endorse all that the Grange did, and never hesitated to speak plainly in regard to whatever met his disapproval, but his loyalty to the organization was never shaken. Until his death he was ever a faithful, working member of Crooked River Grange, and the same can also be said of his wife, who was a woman of rare ability, and an earnest worker in the organization. Probably no two members did more to keep up the interest, bridge over the difficulties, and light up the dark days of the existence of this Grange than did Dr. and Mrs. Weston. They never faltered, and were al- ways among those who pressed forward, no matter how dark the outlook.
In politics, the doctor was a Republican, and, as in all things else, he was radical in his politics. For many years he was most emphatically a "dyed-in-the-wool" Republican, who could always be relied upon to vote his party ticket without question, but in the later years of his life there came a time when he took exceptions to some of the doings of his party, and especially in regard to the course of some of the officeholders and candidates toward the temperance question. He freely expressed his opinion in regard to these matters, and fearlessly "cut" his ticket whenever he thought that it contained names of men who were unworthy of his support - "slashing" it to quite an extent on more than one occasion. On national issues, however, he always remained a loyal member of the Republican party, and a firm believer in the principles which it advocated.
He was most emphatically a good citizen, standing firm- ly for what he believed to be right, and always active in behalf of whatever he thought would benefit his town, or the community in which he resided. At about the time that he took up his residence at Bolster's Mills, the matter of establishing a public library was being agitated, and he at once championed the measure, becoming a leader in the movement, and doing everything that he could for its
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success. He not only believed in having a library, but he believed in establishing it on business principles, and on a firm basis. Hence he was instrumental in having it made a legal corporation, and started in such shape that the mem- bers would have no future trouble in carrying on its busi- ness. He became from the very start, a leading spirit in the organization, and was always active in all enterprises which were calculated to add to the usefulness of the li- brary. He was always anxious that it should contain not alone the books that would interest and amuse, but also those which contained information on all topics, and which would be continually available as works of reference. In town matters he was always active, and his ability made him prominent whenever he favored, or opposed, any meas- ure. He never advocated any measure in order to be pop- ular, but because he believed it to be right, and when he worked for any project he always did it with "all of his might."
He was a good and obliging neighbor, a kind and gen- erous man. Although very determined and "set" in what- ever he advocated or opposed, he was a most jovial, social, whole-souled man, a man who was well read, and well posted in regard to all public questions, and with whom it was a pleasure to converse. He had a keen sense of humor, and always enjoyed a good story, or a witty saying. He thoroughly believed in the old saying in regard to laugh- ing and growing fat, thoroughly enjoying an entertainment of a humorous nature, provided that it was clean and proper. He was prominent in musical matters, and was usually a leader in singing at all public entertainments where he was present.
On March II, 1863, he married H. Elizabeth Mead, daughter of Thomas H. Mead of North Bridgton, who proved a most efficient helpmate, doing much to assist her husband in many of the enterprises in which he engaged. Dr. and Mrs. Weston were prominent figures in whatever
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