USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Cousins and Littlejohn's islands, 1645-1893 > Part 3
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Cousins and Littlejohn's islands, 1645-1893 > Part 3
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Jacob
?
Elizabeth
16?
Susannah
5
?Lucy
14 ?
Nathaniel
3
John
12?
Richmond Loring
47
Mary
10?
Lucretia
41
Rachel
4
Samuel
20
Jacob
3
Richmond
18
Annah
1
Elizabeth B.
16
VIIA
Mary
14
William Weeks
William
11
William
aged 12
Lucretia
9
? ?
Reuben
6
VIII
Nicholas
3
Col. Jonathan
Mitchell
aged 61
?William Bucknam
38
Sarah
61
?Sarah
Orthniel
20
Elizabeth
16
Dummer
16
Rachel
14
?Hannah
14?
Dorcas
13
X
Samuel
10
?Daniel Mitchell
41
William
7
Mary
33
Sarah
6
Lewis
8
Jeremiah
5
Mary
5
Lucretia
2
Daniel
2
29
IIIA
reserving of one half of the house by Bucknam meant that Bucknam still lived there it was pretty crowded by 1793 when Hezekiah bought the rest of it as there were seven children in each family at that time. Hezekiah celebrated the purchase of the rest of the house by having all of his chil- dren baptized on August 22.
Eleazer Hill was born on June 17, 1763. He too, served in the Revolution. He was a private in Captain Edward Spar- row's Company, Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment in Rhode Island. He enlisted July 13, 1779 and was discharged Decem- ber 15, 1779, a service of five months and six days. He was unmarried when he came to Maine but in 1788 he married Mrs. Hannah Hanaford Green, who, by her former husband Joseph Green, had a daughter Sarah born in 1785. Eleazer bought 24 acres of land from William Bucknam for his home, in the same year as his marriage. This piece lay between Hezekiah's and Rowland Hamilton's properties and was bordered on the southwest by the land of Weeks.
Their first child was born the next year and they named him Jacob after his grandfather. Their family grew rapidly as there was a new baby every year or two: Mary 1791; Hannah, 1792 ; Susanna, 1793 ; Elizabeth, 1794 ; Dorcas, 1796; Lucy, 1800; John, 1802; Eleazer, 1803; and Jane, 1805-ten children in seventeen years. Hannah was baptized in 1793 at the same time as her cousins.
The Hezekiah Hills kept pace with them. There were eight children by 1793: Hezekiah born in 1780; Ebenezer, 1782; David, 1784; Dorcas, 1786; John, 1788; Sarah, 1790; Rachel, 1793; James, 1795 ; Charles, 1798, and Anne, 1800 - ten children in twenty years. (The dates for all but Hezekiah Jr., James, Charles and Anne are guesses.)
Eleazer Hill bought from William Weeks the 43 acres adjoining his 24 acres. The date of purchase is unknown but Weeks bought 20 acres on the mainland in 1793, so that it
30
may be assumed that it was about that time that the sale occurred. However it was not until 1803 that the present house was built.
The year 1793 was marked by the establishment of a postoffice in the town of North Yarmouth, so that the prob- lem of mail was the same as it is today during the winters, for the inhabitants of the Islands.
On November 23, 1795 the council of the First Church cited Rowland Hamilton's son John "4th" to appear to ans- wer to complaints against him for scandals, but as the mat- ter was "cordially settled", the complaints may have been false.
It was within the later decades of the eighteenth century that six sons of James Doyle of Salem went from that town to Harpswell where they had a farm near the Brunswick line. In 1797 one of them, Elijah, left the farm and came to Cousins Island. He did not buy any property but perhaps built his home on rented land on the southwest end of the island. He had served for three months in the Revolution in Captain James Curtis' Company having enlisted on May 17, 1775. Nothing further is known of him except that he had a family consisting of John who was born in 1781, Lizzie, Dav- id and Jotham. Nothing further is heard of any of them ex- cept John who with his family continued to live here.
In 1798 the heirs of Rev. Nicholas Loring sold the south- west section of Cousins for $596.75 to Mrs. Hannah Russell, widow of Dr. Edward Russell. At the time of Mrs. Russell's purchase the Loring property was divided "for quantity and quality" by a line running South 44 degrees West to the shore from a point on the dividing line of John Lewis' land 100 rods from the southeast shore. The acreage of the south- western half which was sold to Mrs. Russell is uncertain but probably contained about 70 acres. The northwest half which was the share of the Solomon Lorings contained 90 to 100 acres.
31
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1800 For house numbers see map page i.
IA
Sarah Green
15
?Richmond Loring
Jacob
11
aged 62
Mary
9
?Lucretia
56
Hannah
8
Reuben
21
Susanna
7
Nicholas
18
Elizabeth
6
Charles
14
Dorcas
4
IIIA
Hezekiah Hill
46
VIII
Eunice
42
Col. Jonathan
Hezekiah
20
Mitchell
76
Ebenezer
18
Sarah
76
David
16
? ?
?Dorcas
14
X
?John
12
Mary Mitchell
aged 48
?Sarah
10
Benjamin
14
?Rachel
7
Asa
12
James
5
Sarah
9
Charles
2
Anne
b
XXI
V
Roland Hamilton
68
Mary
?
Allen
17
Rachel
19
Lydia
15 ?
Jacob
18
Dorcas
11 ?
Annah
16
William
9
Hannah
7 ?
VIA
Rhoda
5 ?
Eleazer Hill
36
Nathaniel
3
Hannah
39
Stephen
b
?Samuel Pettingill
41
Hannah
?
Samuel
13 ?
?William
Lucy
b
32
At the turn of the century we find that the Grays had probably left Cousins Island. Mrs. Gray had died in 1783 and Andrew remarried in 1786, so that he may have gone to the mainland to live at that time. At any rate, the children sold out their rights in the Cousins Island property to their uncle Richmond Loring.
William Bucknam and his family have gone and Heze- kiah Hill and his family are living in the old Bucknam home- stead. Rowland Hamilton is still living and has eight chil- dren although Lucy may have died and Elizabeth, John and Mary have married and left home to live on the mainland. Eleazer Hill and his wife have eight children and are plan- ning a new home on the land purchased from Weeks.
Col. Jonathan Mitchell and some of his family are still living in their farmhouse near the present church, and Mary Lewis Mitchell and her family are living in the Lewis farm- house near the quarry.
The Doyles seem to be the only ones living on the south- west end of the Island.
In 1800 Hezekiah Hill bought the remaining 22 acres be- longing to William Bucknam. This piece was known for many years as Bucknam's Field (now Stockin Field) and lies along the north shore east of Sandy Point.
There is some evidence that a family of Pettingills lived on Littlejohn's where the father, Samuel must have built the farmhouse near the present bridge before 1800. He and his wife, Hannah (Cole) Pettingill had several children one of whom was Allen, born in 1783; another was Lydia born probably about 1787 who married Hezekiah Hill's son David, and another was Stephen who is said to have been born on the Island in 1800. Samuel apparently was taxed in 1823 with a farm of 50 acres on the west end of Cousins Island, but there is no record of such a farm. He was living on Crotch Island (Cliff) in 1830.
33
CHAPTER V
In 1803 the heirs of Elizabeth Bucknam Gray began to sell their share of Littlejohn's. One tenth or about 18 acres went to Hezekiah Hill, who bought another tenth in 1808. To Hezekiah's son David went a tenth in 1808 and a sixth' in 1812. They sold a fourth tenth to Allen Pettingill.
In the meantime Eleazer Hill had built his new house in 1803 when John Hill, his son, was a year old.
In 1805, Rowland Hamilton's son, Jacob, bought 100 acres from Solomon Loring's heirs, this being the west point of the Island up to Madeline Point. He probably had a house near the latter point.
Rowland Hamilton's daughter had married Beals Thomp- son about 1802 but it was not until 1806 that he bought the Lewis farm from Mrs. Mary Mitchell. Until that time they had lived with her family, but as they acquired a family of their own they needed more room. They lived in the old Lewis farmhouse until 1818 when they sold the place to Jacob Hamilton and went to Gray, Maine.
David Hill married Lydia Pettingill, Allen's sister about 1806 and their first child, Lydia, was born the next year. They probably lived with her people on Littlejohn's from the time of their marriage. They were living in the farmhouse in 1810 when their daughter Narcissus (Nicy) was born.
In 1807, when John Doyle married Lydia Hamilton of Chebeague, he bought 70 acres of Mrs. Russell, and brought his bride home to the house where he and his father had been living. Their first child, Lucy, was born within the year as was the custom.
About this time Mrs. Eleazer Hill's daughter Sarah Green married Silas Merrill who was born in Freeport on October 4, 1784, but whose parents are unknown. He had a half brother William born in Falmouth on December 20,
34
1281081 1776. Sarah died in 1809 in giving birth to their son, Joseph Green Merrill. The Hills took the child to bring up and Mer- rill went to Paris, Maine, where he soon remarried - his second wife being a cousin of Richmond Loring.
This same year also saw the death of Rowland Hamilton at the age of 72. Soon afterwards Mrs. Hamilton had bap- tized a boy named William whom Rowland and she had adopt- ed. On May 21, 1809 it was voted by the First Church that "the request of Mrs. Mary Hamilton be granted that she have leave to offer their adopted son William for baptism on her account and that Rev. Mr. Dutton be requested to ad- minister the ordinance to him at the lecture he proposes to preach this week at Beals Thompson's."
Jacob Hamilton bought up the shares of his sister Annah and of his half-sister and -brother Mary Elwell and John Hamilton "4th", in the 50 acre homestead of their father. He also bought 20 acres in the west corner of the Lewis farm from Beals Thompson.
Hezekiah Hill bought the south half of the orchard on his place from the heirs of Elizabeth Bucknam Gray who had kept it ever since the original division of Samuel Bucknam's estate.
In 1812-14 the United States was at war with Great Brit- ain again and many ship owners of the region became pri- vateersmen.
The owners of Littlejohn's, which up to now had been held in common, divided the Island into two parts along the old line of 1730-31. Richmond Loring took the northeast end of 88 acres and the Hills and Pettingill took the southwest end of 93 acres. Then Pettingill sold his 18 acres and David Hill sold 15 of his to Hezekiah Hill. David's remaining land was the west end of about 30 acres. The old wall marking David's boundaries, of which traces remain, is shown on the chart and other old maps running from a short distance east of the point in a broken line past the farmhouse to the north
35
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1810 For house numbers see map page i.
IA
Lucy
10
John
8
Eleazer
7
Jane
5
IIIA
Hezekiah Hill
aged 55
VIII
Eunice
52
?Col. Jonathan Mitchell
aged 86
?Dorcas
24 ?
? ?
?John
22 ?
?Sarah
20 ?
X
Beals Thompson 33
Rachel 29
Samuel
7
Mary Jane
5
Joseph Green
2
Hannah
b
- Mary Hamilton
?
Jacob
28
XVI
Annah
26
Elijah Doyle ? John Doyle
29
VIIB
Eleazer Hill
46
Hannah
49
Elmira
b ?
J. Green Merrill
1
XXI
Jacob
21
Mary
19
David Hill
aged 26
Hannah
18
Lydia
Lydia 3
Susannah
17
David?
2?
Elizabeth
16
Dorcas
14
Narcissus
b
?Rachel
17
James
15
Charles
12
Anne
10
V
Lydia
25
Lucy
2
Lucretia Loring ? Reuben ?
Hezekiah
30
36
shore. Hezekiah's land lay along the main division line, the south shore and this old wall.
Richmond Loring sold 40 acres to Jacob (Jake) Hill the eldest son of Eleazer Hill. This piece lies along the main division line and includes the north field point. The north- east boundary runs as follows: "Beginning at a stake and stones 3 rods South 30 degrees West from where a stream of fresh water enters salt water at high water mark on the south side of the Island. Said stream has been known and called by the name of Littlejohn's drinking place for perhaps 60 or 70 years past." Thence running South 38 degrees East to the shore and from the stake North 38 degrees West to the northwest shore.
Jake Hill built the farmhouse on the north side of Little- john's where he and his wife Phebe brought up their family of eight children.
His grandson, Samuel, Groves told Mrs. Prescott that. when Jake went there to live the drainage ditches were al- ready in the field and that no one knew when they had been dug. That means that Richmond Loring did not know and that consequently they had been there when Samuel Buck- nam Jr. had come to the Islands. The most logical guess is that Totman and Creighton had put them in, as they were the only persons so far as known who lived on Littlejohn's in the early days.
In 1814 Richmond Loring died and left his island prop- erty to his son Reuben who later bought his mother's share also.
In 1817 Col. Jonathan Mitchell died and his heirs sold his farm on Cousins to Hezekiah Hill, who at some time within the next ten years gave the southwest half of it to his son Ebenezer. Ebenezer had married Lucy Hamilton of Chebeague where they brought up their family of nine chil- dren. He died before 1829 and never lived in the Mitchell farmhouse which was destroyed at some time prior to 1855.
37
The following year Jacob Hamilton bought the remain- ing 70 or 80 acres of the Lewis farm from Beals Thompson for $780, and, with his nephew Nathan Clinton, Jr. and his sister Rachel Thompson sold their old home to Hezekiah Hill Jr. There is nothing to indicate that Rowland's daughter Lucy was alive or had living children at the time of this pur- chase so it may be assumed that she died unmarried some- time between 1781 and 1818.
Hezekiah Hill Jr. and his bride Charlotte settled in the house that was to be the home of Hills almost continuously for the next century. His children, all of whom must have been born in that farmhouse on the southeast shore of Cous- ins, cannot be named. At the time of his death in 1849 his heirs sold his property and all their names are listed. How- ever, all of his living brothers and sisters and the children of those who were dead are included so that there is some confusion. Those not otherwise identified are: Hezekiah F. Pittee; Mary Jane the wife of William Budd of Portland; Sarah C. Hooper and Anna H. Hill of Rockport, Mass., who may have been daughters of David Hill; the deceased wife of Ambrose Hamilton of Cape Elizabeth; Rhoda P. York of Portland; Lucinda Doughty of Falmouth, and Sarah Ann, the wife of Charles O. Towne.
In 1820 the State of Maine was separated from the State of Massachusetts and assumed independent statehood.
In 1822 a boat was run to North Yarmouth and the Is- lands from Portland by Captain Seward, Portland. He had put a steam engine in a flat bottomed boat and named her the "Kennebec" but the people along her route called her the "Horned Hog".
38
MAP *3. GOUSINS AND LITTLEJOHN S ISLANDS IN 1820
Reuben Loring
Hezekiah Hill Sr.
N
Hezekiah
Eleazer Hill Jr.
Hill
+
0
Eleazer
Hi
Lucretia Loring
Jacob Hill
Hezekiah Hill.Sr.
9
Hezekiah Hill Sr.
David Hill
Jacob Hamilton
John Doyle a
CHAPTER VI Church and School
The First Church in Yarmouth was Congregational and was founded in 1730. Perhaps the best known of the early ministers was the Rev. Ammi Ruhamah Cutter. Many boys of the period were named for him - at one time there were three Ammi Ruhamah Mitchells in town. Another famous minister was the Rev. Nicholas Loring who was ordained in 1736. He owned property on Cousins Island but lived in a garrison house on Broad Cove.
For many years the First Church was the only one in the town. Then the Methodist Church was established and later, in 1793, the Baptist Society was established.
The inhabitants of the Islands were for the most part faithful and dutiful members of the First Church, travelling to town every Sunday, even from Chebeague. Occasionally a parishioner was requested to attend more regularly and sometimes one was excommunicated for deserting to one of the other churches. One of these was Mrs. Ambrose Ham- ilton of Chebeague. She became a Methodist.
During the summer it was common practice for one of the pastors of the First Church to preach "Lectures" at someone's house on the various Islands at which times the young children would be baptized. The Cousins Island Lec- ture was frequently in August and that of Chebeague was often in September.
An island minister by the name of Cotton was here about 1870 and he was anxious to have some of the children named for him. He was successful in at least two cases: Aletta Cotton Hamilton born in 1870, the daughter of Lor- enzo Hamilton, and Alvira Cotton Groves born in 1871 the daughter of Samuel and Ellen Groves.
Later most of the Cousins Islanders became Baptists and toward the end of the nineteenth century they built the pres- ent chapel.
39
About 1825 a school was established on Cousins. The schoolhouse stood on the crest of the Island somewhat east- erly of the present location of the chapel. At first there was apparently only one term that ran for about twelve weeks during the winter. One of the early teachers was Eliza Dennison who married John Hill. It will be noticed that many a teacher found husband or wife on the Island.
Eliza's sister Margaret also taught here for one term but didn't like it so did not return.
In 1857/8 George F. Henley taught 26 pupils for 12 weeks. The agent was James Hamilton, probably of Che- beague.
Later there were three terms - Spring or Summer, Fall and Winter. Usually a teacher lasted only one term but a few were able to carry on for a longer period. The pupils were difficult to handle especially when there were a few boys who were as old as the teacher. Frequently a boy would spend the summer fishing or at other employment and spend the winter at school even after he passed his twentieth birth- day.
In 1870 Mrs. M. E. Larabee taught the Fall term of 40 days, having 25 pupils. Perez G. Drinkwater was hired for the Winter term but after 20 days he left for "reasons un- known" to the School Board. The boys were too much for him. Seth Benson of North Paris, Maine, was hired to finish out the term.
Lizzie Prince taught the Fall term in 1873 and two years later she married Calvin Sawyer. Edwin Pratt was here for the winter term.
B. F. Noble who was teacher about this time was an ex- ception to the general run of instructors. In addition to teaching during the week, he preached the sermons on Sun- days. He started a "Lyceum". In 1883 when scarlet fever attacked the Samuel Groves family he took care of them all.
40
1
He was probably here for more than one term, but the rec- ord has not been found. He was well liked by everyone.
In 1877/8 George W. Hamilton of Littlejohn's was the agent and the three terms were taught by Lena L. Pittee, Fannie E. Noble and J. H. Mountfort. Rosa E. Littlefield of Auburn was here in 1878 for one term and Ellen Blan- chard for another. Ellen later married Dennis Hamilton and her sister Louise married Dennis' brother Gilbert.
The Summer term of 1880 was taught by Frances S. Skillings and the winter one by H. B. Mountfort who later married Ida Hill.
Edward Packer was the agent for 1882/3. One of the teachers that year was unsatisfactory, the other was Clara B. Gooding. All three terms of the following year were taught by Lena J. Pinkham so she must have been a good teacher and able to handle the pupils. She later married Woodbury Hamilton.
The teachers for 1884/5 were Edith J. Webber, Nellie Lambert, L. P. Sturdivant; for 1886/7 they were Ethel Chip- man, Annie Gooding, Susie A. Arey. For the latter year Joseph G. Merrill was the agent. Next year Henry Groves was the agent and Nellie M. Smith and Edwin R. Merrill were the teachers. The number of pupils this year was less than twenty.
Next year Edgar Eugene Hill was the agent and one of the teachers was Carrie E. Wilson whom he later married. This year Horace B. Mountfort tried a second term.
The winter term of 1890 was taught by Lizzie Hamilton daughter of Joseph and Nancy Hamilton and she continued to teach in the next school year.
The teachers for the years 1892-1896 were: Jennie Q. Bucknam, Gertrude F. Whitcomb, Harriet Grant, Clara E. Berry, Gertrude F. Whitcomb, Daisy Twort, Lou E. Loring, Clara Berry again, Elsie M. Dolloff and Marion S. Coan. Some
41
were good and some were bad. Those particularly remem- bered are the ones known as "whippers". These were the teachers who had to use the wooden ruler hard and often to keep any semblance of order. Such a one was Miss Dolloff. In her class were the bad boys, Raymond Talbot, Fred Tay- lor, Seth Groves and Harold Sawyer. Nearly every day after school they were lined up for a licking. But she was rather fond of Emery Sawyer so, after whipping the other three and sending them out, she would tell Harold she wouldn't punish him if he promised to be good the next day. Of course he did but next day he would again be the chief cause of friction. He was afraid the other boys would find out that he wasn't being whipped and that they would make up the deficiency.
The school continued until the World War but after that time there were not enough pupils on the Islands to make it worth while and the children went to Yarmouth for their schooling.
42
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1820 For house numbers see map, page i.
1A
Reuben Loring
Diana
6
Charlotte
4
Lydia ?
Jane
3 ?
Sarah
b
IIIA
Annah
36
Hezekiah Hill
aged 66
Eunice
62
XVI
James
25
John Doyle
aged 39
Charles
22
Lydia
25
Anne
20
Lucy
12
V
Hezekiah Hill Jr.
40
Deborah
5 ?
Charlotte
25
Dorcas
2
?
XIX
VIIB
Eleazer Hill
56
Jacob Hill
31
Hannah
59
Phebe
27
Elizabeth
26
Sally
3
Dorcas
24
Enos
1
Lucy
20
John
18
XXI
Jane
15
David Hill
36
J. Green Merrill
11
Lydia
?
X
David
12
Jacob Hamilton
38
Nicy
10
Mary D.
29
?
10 ?
Elmira
Eliza
7 ?
Hannah
6
Eleazer
17
Lydia
13
43
CHAPTER VII
Present day tax payers may be interested in the amounts paid a century ago. In the tax list for 1823 occur the names of the land owners on Cousins and Littlejohns and among them were Hezekiah Hill who paid $20.72 for 160 acres and at least one house; Jacob Hamilton paid $14.67 for nearly 200 acres and at least one house ; Eleazer Hill paid $10.06 for 67 acres, and Jacob Hill paid $4.93 for 40 acres.
When John, the next to the youngest son of Eleazer Hill, married Dorothy Pinkham (?) in 1825, all the other children of Eleazer except Dorcas, Eleazer and Jane were married and gone to their own homes. John probably lived in his father's first home until the latter's death in 1832. He was a ship captain and farmer and became relatively wealthy, al- though he was not always fortunate. He bought shares in a ship and she was wrecked on her first voyage.
He bought the westerly half of the Col. Mitchell farm from the estate of Ebenezer Hill in 1829, paying $285 for it. The northeastern boundary of this piece is the stone wall just east of the present chapel. Two years later he sold this property to Joseph Green Merrill, the son of his half sister Sarah Green Merrill. Although there is no record of its re- turn, it later belonged to John again.
David Hill died in 1826 and his widow sold their land on Littlejohn's to her father-in-law for $336.83. She reserved the dower right and continued to live there for several years more.
Reuben Loring sold his Cousins Island property to an Ebenezer Cleaves this same year. There was said to be 48 acres in the piece but it is nearer 55 acres, actually. This includes not only Blaney's and Cornfield Points but also about 20 acres lying south of Hezekiah Hill's land and north- east of the land of Hezekiah Jr. The whole piece was con- sidered to be 48 acres until 1877 when it was divided into
44
two parts containing 35 and 20 acres respectively. The first piece (at the end of the Island) remains 35 acres in modern deeds; the second piece has been said to contain various amounts at different times. In 1799 it was called 11 acres, in 1818 it was 19 acres, in 1852 it was 20 acres and in 1877 it was said to contain 16 acres (probably a typographical er- ror.)
Ebenezer5 (Ebenezer4, Ebenezer3, Ebenezer2, William1) Cleaves who had come to Cousins Island before 1825 was born in 1773 and was married to Jane Cleaves of another family. He replaced the old Gray-Loring house with the present brick building. Of his many children, all of whom were probably born prior to his arrival, the following are of interest. John (1799-1880) married Anne, the youngest daughter of Hezekiah Hill. Ebenezer Jr. continued to live on the Island and we shall hear of him later on. Levi mar- ried Narcissus (Nicy) the daughter of David Hill and they lived with her mother on Littlejohn's until about 1829 after which they removed to Rockport, Mass. Moses H. married two daughters of Jacob Hamilton: Diana (1814-1842) and Charlotte.
On December 22, 1832, Eleazer Hill, William R. Bucknam and an Ezra Perry "died suddenly", but the cause is un- known. Eleazer left a will in which he gave all of his Cous- ins Island estate to his youngest living son, John, with the provision that John care for his mother and allow his sister Jane to have a room in the house until her marriage.
The summer of this year was an extraordinary one as on August 14th frost killed the corn on the mainland and August 25th was so cold that people had to wear overcoats.
John Hill waited a year after his father's death before marrying his second wife, Eliza Dennison, the school teacher.
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