USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > Centennial history of Norway, Oxford County, Maine, 1786-1886, including an account of the early grants and purchases, sketches of the grantees, early settlers, and prominent residents, etc., with genealogical registers, and an appendix > Part 34
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Mr. Holt married, May 28th, 1850, Nancy W., daughter of Henry and Nancy Cutler, of Winchester, and resides there while doing busi- ness in Boston. They have four children. The oldest son is with his father in business, the second a student in Harvard College, and the youngest, a lad of twelve years, is with his parents.
JOHN L. HORNE.
John L. Horne was born in Milton, New Hampshire, November 8th, 1824, and was the son of Daniel and Jane (Lennon) Horne. He received his education at Wakefield, New Hampshire. He learned the tanning art, and was engaged in this business one year in Rochester, New Hampshire, and two years in Wolfboro, before he came to Norway in September, 1852. Here he bought out the large tannery of Mark P. Smith, and enlarged and improved it as stated elsewhere. Under his able management, it became one of the leading industries of the village and town. It was this business, which required the transfer of large quantities of freight, more than anything else, perhaps, that determined the construction of the Norway Branch Railroad. Though the Norway
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Tanning Company has succeeded Mr. Horne in the ownership of the tannery, yet there has been but little change in the management of its business, he retaining a large interest in the concern, and being its chief executive. Mr. Horne's family record will be found elsewhere.
FREELAND HOWE.
Freeland Howe, chairman of the centennial committee, was born in Sumner, Maine, December 5th, 1833. He attended the common schools, fitted for college, and for one year was a student in Colby University. He then left college to engage in teaching. He taught schools in various parts of Maine, New York, and Virginia. He was teacher of penmanship at Westbrook Seminary for several terms. He also spent several years in canvassing for maps and books. In 1863, he came to Norway and engaged in the insurance business, which has been his chief occupation since that time. He has also engaged more or less in real estate operations. He has ever taken a deep interest in the village and town of his adoption, and been among the foremost in introducing improved facilities for the transaction of business. He is a trustee of the Savings Bank, and a director of the National Bank.
CHARLES P. KIMBALL.
Charles Porter Kimball lived at home, dividing his time between the farm, his father's carriage shop and the district school, until he was eighteen years old. Then he bought his time of his father, giving his notes for one hundred fifty dollars per year for three years, and went to work in his brother's carriage shop at Bridgton. Here he added to his earnings by working evenings, wooding cast-iron plows, so that he was able to attend school about four months in each year, and still pay his father's notes. In 1847, he commenced business in Norway Village, having but little money of his own. The late Dr. Theodore Ingalls, who had taken an interest in him, loaned him one thousand dollars to start business with. He remained in Norway, doing a large business, until 1854, when he removed to Portland, where he remained until 1875, when he removed to New York and joined the great carriage house of Brewster & Company. He did an extensive business in Portland, and achieved a wide reputation. He was alderman in 1860, again in 1861,
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and President of the Board. £ He was a decided war Democrat, and worked earnestly for the Union cause, and for the good of the families of departed soldiers. He was a member of the Democratic State Con- vention holden in Augusta in June, 1861, and when the resolution declaring that the war was a failure and ought to stop was passed, he, with thirty or forty others, denounced its action as treasonable, left the hall, and organized another convention, which nominated General Charles D. Jameson for Governor, who received a much larger vote than Ex-Governor Dana, the regular candidate. He was several times candidate for Representative, Senator, Sheriff, etc., but, his party being in a minority, he was not elected to any of these offices. He was Sur- veyor of the port of Portland in 1866, was long an active member of the Maine Charitable Association, and its President for several years ; was also President of the Board of Manufactures until he left Portland. At the Democratic Convention in Bangor in 1869, over which he pre- sided, he received every vote as candidate for Governor, but positively refused to stand, and forced the convention to nominate another candi- date; but in 1871, he received a unanimous nomination for Governor, and was a candidate that year, and also in the famous Greeley campaign of 1872.
After the close of the campaign in 1871, Governor Perham showed his appreciation of his political opponent and life-long friend, by appointing him one of the United States Centennial Commissioners from Maine. Mr. Kimball removed to New York in 1875, and resigned as Commissioner from Maine; but the United States Centennial Com- mission requested Governor Tilden to appoint him to fill a vacancy in the New York Commission, which he did, so that he presented his resignation from Maine and his commission from New York to the same meeting. He was then and continued to be a member of the Executive Committee, and no one familiar with the centennial can over-estimate his services. In 1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland, United States Consul at Stuttgart, Germany, a position he now holds.
His first wife, Mary Porter, was a native of Turner, and a niece of Governor William King, and of General Philo Clark, and an estimable woman; she died in April, 1870. He was married the second time in
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1875, to a daughter of the late Henry F. Getchell, formerly of Anson, but then a wealthy resident of Chicago, and was so pleased with the business prospects of that city that he determined to make it his future home. He at once contracted for an immense carriage factory, and moved to Chicago in the fall of 1876. He is now at the head of one of the largest carriage establishments in the world. He was mainly instrumental in organizing the society of the Sons of Maine, and was chairman of the committee that gave the grand Maine banquet in June, 1881. His attachment to his native State, county, and town is still unabated.
BENJAMIN BIXBY MURRAY JR.
General Benjamin B. Murray, son of Rev. Benjamin B. Murray, was born in Norway, June 19th, 1828. He received an academical edu- cation and studied the profession of law. Having been admitted to practice, he settled in Pembroke, Maine, where he still resides. When the war of 1861-5 broke out, he was holding the position of Judge- Advocate on the Staff of Major-General Butler of the First Division of Maine Militia, and was placed upon duty in Bangor in April, 1861, and assisted in organizing the regiments raised in Eastern Maine. He afterward recruited a company for the 15th Maine and was commis- sioned Captain of Company A. The 15th regiment was ordered south and landed at Ship Island in April, 1862. From thence it went to New Orleans. The career of this regiment is well known. In August, 1862, Captain Murray was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, and in the autumn following was placed in command. The regiment served in Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, and was in the Red River Expedition of 1864. . The same year, his regiment assisted in driving General Early's army from the vicinity of Washington and took part in the cam- paign of the Shenandoah Valley. This year he was appointed Colonel. His regiment was again sent south, and Colonel Murray was appointed Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of the South. He re- mained in the service until July, 1866. He was twice breveted, the last time as Brigadier-General. After leaving the volunteer service, he was appointed Captain in the regular army and ordered to New Orleans for duty, but on account of impaired health, he declined the appointment.
GEO.N. WALKER & CO. LITH, MOSTOH.
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He was afterward appointed Deputy-Collector of Internal Revenue for the 5th Maine District. He was a member of the State Senate in 1869 and renominated for a second term, but declined on account of having been appointed to succeed General John C. Caldwell as Adjutant-Gen- eral of Maine. He was elected to this office six times, serving until 1876. In the summer of 1876, he was appointed special agent of the United States Treasury, and later in the season, was appointed Assis- tant Financial Agent in London, England. He went to London in charge of ten millions in United States bonds, and remained there until 1877, assisting in refunding the National debt. During that time, he assisted in negotiating the sale of bonds amounting to more than a hun- dred millions of dollars. On his return, he was elected to the Legisla- ture, and in March, 1878, he was appointed Marshal of Maine, serving in that capacity for four years.
General Murray married, March 28th, 1853, Fanny G. Farnsworth, who was born August 13th, 1828. They had one son, Elmer F., born April 10th, 1857, died August 26th, 1861.
FRANKLIN MANNING.
Franklin Manning was born in Limington, Maine, January 12th, 1808. Early in life he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was associated in the stove and hardware business at Portland with Nathan Winslow, and, later, with his brother-in-law, George H. Cheney, for several years prior to 1838, when he moved to Paris, Maine, and thence to Syracuse, New York, in 1841. He returned to Maine during the winter of 1846-7, settling at Norway, where he took charge of a large mercantile business and iron foundry conducted under the firm name of Brown & Company. The goods for their store, and the supplies and machinery for the foun- dry were transported by team from Portland. To the manufacture of stoves and farm castings was soon added that of iron hinges upon an extensive scale. Branch stores for the sale of their wares were also established at Bethel, Maine, and Gorham, New Hampshire.
Mr. Manning was married in 1833, to Miss Sophia Cheney, daughter of Colonel William Cheney of Newport, New Hampshire. She will long be remembered for her high social qualities, and Christian charac- ter. Mr. Manning was very active in all matters pertaining to the
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welfare of the town, particularly in educational, temperance, and relig- ious works, and in whatever he engaged, devoted to it the most untiring energy. His labors in the temperance cause were enforced by example, and he never lost an opportunity of speaking in its behalf. On the completion of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad to Montreal, Mr. Manning made a visit to that city, where he contracted the typhoid fever, from which he died after his return to Norway, on the 29th of September, 1853.
The family removed to Portland in January, 1854. His widow sur- vived him many years, dying at the residence of her son Prentice in that city, May 26th, 1884.
An extended notice of his death which appeared in the Norway Advertiser of October 13th, 1853, says of him: "As a man he was genial and social, and his intercourse with the world was unexception- able. He lent no countenance to oppression of whatever name, or under whatever garb it appeared, while he was an earnest and zealous advocate of what he deemed the right, and did not fear to avow his principles in private and in public, or to defend them on all proper occasions. As a friend, he was warm in his attachments and confiding in his nature. In his deportment, he was dignified yet modest and unassuming and in all his associations he was influenced only by high and honorable motives and true nobleness of character."
HENRY W. MILLETT.
Major Henry Woodhouse Millett, son of John Millett, was one of the most active and influential men the town has ever produced. He was promoted through the various grades in the State militia, until he was elected Major, and he was ever an active, efficient, and popular officer. He was Deputy Sheriff for eighteen years, and for one term, Sheriff of the County. In politics he was an ardent Whig until the organization of the Republican party, which party he joined from the start, and was one of its most valuable supporters in the town and county. In 1859, he was elected a member of the Maine Legislature. This was the year when Norway asked to have a portion of the terri- tory in Paris, next to the Paris line, and owned by citizens of Norway, set off from Paris, and annexed to Norway, and never was a case before
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the Legislature more adroitly managed, and never was success more signal and overwhelming. He was a great organizer, and his affability and kindness made everybody his friend. He had been in the Legisla- ture less than two weeks, when he knew every member, and could call them by name. Though suffering all winter from asthma, which often obliged him to sit up all night, he was always pleasant, and by his wit and exhaustless fund of anecdote, he kept everyone about him in good humor. He was appointed postmaster at Norway Village, by President Lincoln, and was holding that position at the time of his death. His wife was Sarah, daughter of Henry Rust, and granddaughter of the proprietor of Rustfield.
SUMNER H. NEEDHAM.
Sumner Henry Needham was the son of Evi and Maria (Latham) Needham, and grandson of John Needham, the revolutionary patriot and early settler in this town. He was born here March 2d, 1828. His parents subsequently moved to Greenwood, and later to Bethel. Mr. Needham spent his early years upon his father's farm, but when he became of age, he went to Lawrence, Massachusetts, and engaged in mechanical work. He was a member of the Lawrence Light Infantry, and early in the spring of 1861, he enlisted in the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment to go to the defence of the national capital. The history of that regiment in its passage through Baltimore, on Friday, the 19th of April, is well known. Mr. Needham was one of the first struck down by the mob, was taken to the Lombard Street Hospital in that city, and died a week from the Saturday following, being among the first martyrs of the war. He was a member of the Universalist Church in Lawrence, and the next day after his death, the following resolutions were passed by the church : -
Resolved,-That the Universalist congregation of this city hear with heartfelt sorrow of the death of Brother S. Henry Needham, whose presence we shall miss from our worship and whose excellent character and worthy life have endeared him to his brethren and friends.
Resolved,-That we tender our sympathies to his afflicted wife, and will be mourners with her as his brothers and sisters, pledging ourselves to the country for which he so nobly gave his life.
Mr. Needham had served several years in the Lawrence Light Infan- try, and had been First Lieutenant, but he had resigned and re-enlisted
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in 1860, and was serving as corporal at the time of his death. His remains were conveyed to Lawrence by Adams' Express, and he was accorded such a funeral as rarely falls to the lot of a humble citizen. The State and city governments were present, and a very impressive sermon was preached by his former pastor. A monument suitably inscribed was erected to his memory in the city of his adoption.
DAVID NOYES.
David Noyes, then a minor, came from Winchendon, Massachusetts, to Norway in 1804. His elder brother, Ward Noyes, had then been a resident of the town four years. David Noyes had a good education for the times, and soon after he came, he engaged in teaching school win- ters, being engaged in other pursuits during the summer. In 1810, he commenced teaching at the Village and was employed here five years, teaching the town school in winter and terms of private school in sum- mer. He tells us that he had eighty or ninety pupils in winter and about forty in summer. In 1815, he left teaching and commenced to clear up the farm where he ever afterward lived. This is now the well- known Gibson farm, situated near the center of the town. Beside farm- ing, Mr. Noyes was much engaged in surveying land, often being associated in this work with Uriah Holt, Esq. Among his other sur- veys in this county, he lotted out and prepared a plan of Hamlin's Grant, now a part of Woodstock, which plan is recorded with Oxford Records. He was a Justice of the Peace and a conveyancer of real estate, and served as County Commissioner for the County of Oxford. He was often elected to office in Norway and was always regarded as a faithful and efficient town officer. Mr. Noyes also fitted up his dwelling- house as a tavern, and continued to entertain travelers until the building of the railroad rendered a house of entertainment at that place no longer necessary. It has been stated in another place, that there was formerly much through travel between Portland and the towns on the Upper Androscoggin and Connecticut. Rivers, and hotels along the route, more especially before the liquor traffic was prohibited, did a thriving business.
Toward the close of his life, Mr. Noyes prepared and had printed a history of the town of Norway, a volume of two hundred and fourteen
GEO. H . WALKER & CO. LITH. BOSTON
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pages. Its array of facts and incidents does much credit to his obser- vation and memory of men and things, although the matter is crudely put together. His facts are not arranged in chronological order, and not being indexed the work is not of easy and ready reference. It has been found valuable in the compilation of this volume, and has often been referred to. It speaks well for the town that Mr. Noyes' book was written by a resident of Norway, printed in Norway upon paper manu- factured at Norway, Steep Falls, and bound in Norway by Noyes & Beal, book-binders. Mr. Noyes married Hannah, daughter of John Needham, of Norway, and reared a family whose names will be found elsewhere.
ROBERT NOYES.
Robert Noyes was born in Portland February 25th, 1811, came to Nor- way in 1843, and opened a book-bindery. At that time he purchased a gore of land, extending along the main street from the present boundary of Beals Hotel lot, and along the North side of Cottage Street to his pres- ent residence, and back a sufficient distance to make up the four acres. He paid for this piece of land, seven hundred and fifty dollars. When the street was opened, running north from the hotel to the depot, Mr. Noyes gave the land across his lot, and ten dwelling-houses have been built upon it along this street. Mr. Noyes has done a large amount of work in his day, and his work has always been honest. He served an old-fashioned apprenticeship in Portland, being indentured at fourteen years of age, and serving until twenty-one. He thus became master of the business in all its details. His shop is a little old-fashioned, and his tools are not the most improved, but he can still do a good job. Mr. Noyes enjoys the fullest confidence of his fellow-citizens, and of the regions round about. He has served several years as President of the Norway Savings Bank, and has managed its affairs with integrity and prudence.
A. OSCAR NOYES.
Amos Oscar Noyes, son of Amos F. Noyes, was born in Norway, March 6th, 1837. He was long in the drug business in the village, and was as well and favorably known as any man in town. Since his death,
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the business has been conducted in his name by his widow. He was a prominent Mason, was for many years an officer in Oxford Lodge, a member of Portland Commandery of Knights Templar, and of the intermediate Masonic bodies. He was a Mason in a higher sense than the mere name; his daily life and conduct were in strict accord with the principles of the order. He was also Knight of Pythias. He was a trustee in the Norway Savings Bank, and for several years, treas- urer of the town. He was for many years local agent of the Canadian Express Company. He married Miss Anna Chase, of Fryeburg, and his family record will be found in another place.
JOSHUA PARSONS.
Colonel Joshua Parsons died at the residence of his son-in-law, Thomas J. Howard Esq., in Auburn, October 13th, 1884, aged over eighty- eight years. He was born in Norway, July 25th, 1796, and was the son of Deacon William Parsons, our early settler. In early life he served as an apprentice to his brother, Henry R. Parsons, at South Paris, where he learned the trade of carding and cloth-dressing. In 1817, he estab- lished himself at West Minot, where he continued to make his home, until the time of his death. He carried on his original business until 1843, when he built a grist-mill, which he carried on until his retire- ment, several years before his death. The mother of Colonel Parsons was Abigail Millett. He married, in 1819, Sybil Bridgham, daughter of Captain John Bridgham, who was Captain of a company in the War of the Revolution. Colonel Parsons represented Minot in the Legis- lature in 1833, and in 1839 was elected to the Maine Senate. At that time he was Whig in politics, but when that party went out of exist- ence, he became a Democrat. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace, and procured many pensions for the old Revolutionary veterans. He held various places of trust and honor in Minot, having been town clerk, treasurer, and chairman of the board of selectmen. Such implicit confidence was placed in his integrity and good judgment, that he was frequently called upon as a referee in disputed matters between his fellow-townsmen. In religious belief he was always a Universalist, and was upright in his dealings, and led a peculiarly pure and upright life.
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He was a gentleman of the old school, polite and affable to all with whom he came in contact. He lived with his wife fifty-eight years, until she deceased in 1877. At the time of his death, five of his chil- dren resided in Auburn-Solomon, John W., and Jeffrey Parsons, of the firm of Parsons Brothers, millers, and Elizabeth and Ann C., wives of T. J. Howard and B. F. Howard. Another son, Albion, is a miller in business in West Concord, Vermont, and Frank Parsons is a travel- ing salesman.
SOLOMON PARSONS.
Solomon Parsons was born in Norway, the son of Deacon William Parsons, educated at the common schools and Hebron Academy, and then learned the trade of a carder and cloth-dresser. He then went to Western Pennsylvania and engaged in business there. In a short time he returned to Maine and engaged in lumbering and trade at Sebec. After a few years the business was transferred to Bangor. While in Sebec, he served as Senator from Piscataquis County, and afterward as Representative from Bangor. He was a prominent citizen of Bangor, frequently serving as a member of the City Government, and was highly esteemed as a man. In his business, he was successful. His only sur- viving son is a successful and thrifty farmer in Presque Isle, Aroostook County, owning and cultivating one of the best farms in the Aroostook Valley. He has no children, and at his decease, the male line in this branch of the family will become extinct. The only other surviving child of Solomon Parsons is Clara Prentiss Parsons who resides unmar- ried in Belfast.
LUTHER F. PINGREE.
Luther Farrar Pingree Esq., son of Hoyt Pingree and grandson of Stephen Pingree, was born in Norway, May 25th, 1813. He spent his minority in working upon the farm and in attending the district schools. He then served an apprenticeship as a machinist and pattern maker, and since that time has gained honorable distinction as a mechanic and inventor. He has received numerous diplomas and medals for useful inventions and also for superior work, both from Associations and from the Patent Office. Among the products of his skill are steam engines,
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carriages, mills for the manufacture of lumber, models for the Patent Office, and he is himself the patentee of artificial limbs which eminent surgeons have pronounced the best in the world. He has always been a practical worker, but has also been a close student in the natural sciences, literature, and music, which have been the pastime and delight of his life. He was interested in military affairs, served out four com- missions in the old State Militia; was on duty as aide-de-camp and orderly officer when the troops were recruited for the " Aroostook War," and was among the first to enlist in Maine for service in the war with Mexico. He has had membership in several mechanical and charitable associations and is a prominent Odd Fellow. He was a citizen of Port- land for thirty-five years. He now resides at Ferry Village, Cape Elizabeth. For family records, see Pingree Family.
WILLIAM REED.
William Reed, son of Daniel and Lydia (Cook) Reed, was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, November 3d, 1775. He came to Rustfield in 1792, in the employ of the proprietor, Henry Rust Esq., of Salem. In 1801, when the first post-office was established in town, he was appointed postmaster, and held the office for over forty consecutive years. He put in operation the first tannery in town, and subsequently opened a general store at the village, where he traded many years. In 1807, he built and occupied the house which has since been changed into the Beals Hotel. Mr. Noyes says of him: "He remained in the post-office about forty years, and was a vigilant and faithful officer. He also con- tinued to keep a store of goods, and traded largely for that day. He engaged extensively in farming, and in all kinds of business was a very energetic and persevering man." He died November 5th, 1848.
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