USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Cousins and Littlejohn's islands, 1645-1893 > Part 4
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Cousins and Littlejohn's islands, 1645-1893 > Part 4
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In 1835 Jeremiah Mitchell was appointed guardian for Hezekiah Hill Sr. who had become "non-compos-mentis" at
45
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1830 For house numbers see map, page i.
IB
Charlotte
14
Ebenezer Cleaves aged 57
Jane
12
Jane
Sarah G.
10
John ? 31
Joseph
5
Andrew
1
Willard
27 ?
Annah
46
Ebenezer Jr .?
25 ?
XVI
Moses H.
23 ?
John Doyle
aged 49
Aaron
21
Lydia
45
Rebecca
19 ?
Lucy
22
Sarah D.
17?
Elmira
20 ?
Charlotte ?
15 ?
Eliza
17
Ann ?
13 ?
Deborah
15 ?
IIIA
Dorcas
12
Hezekiah Hill Sr.
76
Lydia
9 ?
Eunice
72
Edward R.
8 ?
? ?
Jane
7
V
John L.
5
Hezekiah Hill Jr.
50
XIX
Charlotte
35
Jacob Hill
41
? ?
Phebe
37
VIA
Hannah
15
?John Hill
28
Sally
13
Dorothy
24
Enos
11
Hannah
b ?
Henry
9
VIIB
Loisa
7
Eleazer Hill
66
Mary Jane
5
Hannah
69
Rufus
2
Lucy ?
30
XXI
Eleazer ?
27
Lydia Hill
?
Jane
25
Lydia ?
23 ?
J. Green Merrill
21
David?
22 ?
X
James R.
6
Jacob Hamilton
48
Levi Cleaves
25 ?
Mary
39
Nicy
20
Diana
16
Eli Orlando
1
46
Elmira ?
29 ?
the age of 81. Mitchell sold all of Hill's estate to John Cut- ter for $3,614. John Cutter was the husband of Elizabeth Bucknam Loring, the daughter of Richmond and Lucretia (Bucknam) Loring. He sold the eastern half of the Col. Jonathan Mitchell farm to Hezekiah Hill Jr., and all the rest in common to John Cutter Jr., Ammi Ruhamah Mitchell and Samuel Groves. This included 100 acres on Cousins and 93 acres on the western end of Littlejohn's. At the same time Lydia Hill sold them her dower right in the David Hill farm- house.
John Cutter was a grandson of the Rev. Ammi Ruhamah Cutter. He was part owner of a saw-mill at Gooch's Falls. His son John Jr. was born in 1809 and committed suicide in 1841.
As there were several Ammi Ruhamah Mitchells in Yar- mouth at that time, it is difficult to say which one was the partner of Cutter and Groves. He may have been a brother of the above Jeremiah and if so he worked in the shipyards driving a yoke of oxen. It is said of him that when he yelled at his oxen he could be heard for two miles.
Samuel Groves was the son of a Samuel Groves of Bruns- wick or of Yarmouth about whom nothing is known unless he is the Samuel Groves of Pownalborough who was a priv- ate in Capt. Samuel Dunn's Company, Col. Edmund Phin- ney's 31st Regiment and who enlisted May 11, 1775. The son married Hannah, the oldest child of Jacob Hill, probably soon after his arrival on Cousins. They built a new house on the site of the old Bucknam-Hill house near Sandy Point, and raised a family of eleven children. They lived in a "gar- rison house" which stood on the property while the new house was being built and in which their daughter Lavina was born.
In 1836 most of the property owners of all the Islands in the Bay sold "mining privileges" to the Portland, Scar-
47
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1840 For house numbers see map, page i.
IB
Jane 22
Ebenezer Cleaves
Sarah
20
aged 67
Joseph
15
Andrew
11
Ebenezer Jr.
35
Rebecca
7
Mary Ann
?
Diana Cleaves 26
Alfred
10?
Moses Cleaves
A. True
8?
Moses
b
Ebenezer III
6 ?
Annah
56
Darius
4?
XVI
Mary
2?
John Doyle
aged 59
Orietta
b
Lydia
55
Ann ?
23 ?
Eliza
27
IIIB
Deborah
25
Samuel Groves
34
Dorcas
22
Hannah
25
Lydia
19 ?
Lavina
3
Edward R.
18
Samuel Jr.
1
Jane
17
V
John L.
15
Hezekiah Hill Jr.
60
XIX
Charlotte
45
Jacob Hill
51
? ?
Phebe
47
VIIB
?Sally Green
23
John Hill
38
Enos
21
Eliza
30
Henry
19
Hannah
10 ?
Loisa
17?
Eleazer G.
9
Mary Jane
15 ?
Emerson D.
4
Rufus
12
Susan
b
Charles
6
Hannah
79
XXI
X
Aaron Cleaves
31
Jacob Hamilton
58
Eliza
26
Mary
49
?
Charlotte
24
Lydia Hill ??
48
Jane ?
borough and Phipsburg Mining Company for $1 each. They were to get royalties on anything mined, but so far as is known nothing was ever done about it.
Hezekiah Hill Jr. sold the eastern half of the Col. Mit- chell farm to John Hill who now owned 153 acres on Cous- ins assuming that he had by then recovered the 43 acres he had sold to Joseph Merrill. This made his acreage second only to that of Jacob Hamilton.
The following year Cutter, Groves and Mitchell sold their Littlejohn's property to Aaron Cleaves, son of Ebene- zer. Aaron was a ship captain and was planning to marry soon Eliza Hamilton (1814-1884), daughter of James3 (Am- brose2, John1) and Mary (Webber) Hamilton of Chebeague.
In 1840 Cutter, Groves and Mitchell dissolved their part- nership, Mitchell selling out and Groves buying all but the 22 acres known as Bucknam Field (Stockin Field) which went to Cutter. When the latter committed suicide on Au- gust 23, 1841 his property went to his brother Richmond Lor- ing who sold it in 1842 to James Stockin and Nathaniel Gooch, for $1000, with rights to part of the barn. Nothing has been found about these men but they may have lived in a small house or cabin on this property.
The next twenty years passed very quietly for the little community on the two islands. The only occurrences to mark the passage of the years were the regular increases in the families, a few marriages and deaths.
About 1840 was held the last of the old style "musters" of the North Yarmouth militia. These musters were gala carnivals and everybody from many miles around came to enjoy the festivities. Probably most of the Island people went to this last one.
Jake Hill increased his farm on Littlejohn's by buying a 21 acre strip along the southwest boundary from his son- in-law, Samuel Groves, for $346.50 in 1840.
49
Three years later John Hill sold to the Town of Yar- mouth a small piece of land for a cemetery. Ebenezer Cleaves and Lydia Doyle who died in that year were the first to be buried there. Ebenezer's gravestone read.
Rest here dear husband in thy cold bed Till Christ shall raise the sleeping dead With the blest at his right hand
May you and I together stand.
Lydia's stone reads :
Happy soul, thy days are ended All thy mourning days below Go by angel guards attended To the sight of Jesus go.
The reason for calling her days "mourning" ones is not ap- parent, unless she had been in poor health. The seven or eight of her brothers and sisters who had lived beyond child- hood were still living on Chebeague. She had nine children all of whom were alive and all but two of whom married. Some time later her husband remarried. His second wife's name was Jane and she outlived him.
Aaron Cleaves sold the Littlejohn's property to his brother Ebenezer in 1843 and went to live on Chebeague, al- though he did not buy property there until several years later. It is probable that Lydia Hill and some of the Cleaves had been living in the Littlejohn's house continuously, even when it was owned by Cutter, Mitchell and Groves. At any rate, Ebenezer lived there for the next three years. He and his wife Mary Ann had six children all of whom were prob- ably born before 1840.
Moses Cleaves' wife died and he married her sister Char- lotte Hamilton. Their first child died soon after its birth the following year. They removed to Rockport, Mass. In 1843 Ebenezer Cleaves bought from the other heirs of his
50
father the Cousins Island property and moved there from Littlejohn's. At about the same time he sold the Little- john's farm-except 12 acres-to Joseph Bibber of Freeport for $750. Nothing is known of the Bibbers but they may have lived on Littlejohn's for the next several years.
Enos Hill, son of Jacob, who was insane and often had to be kept in a strait-jacket died in 1844 at the age of 25. His gravestone reads:
To die and leave this world of pain Of sickness and of woe, To die and be with Christ is gain Which Earth can never know.
Two years later another of Jacob Hill's sons, Henry, died. His epitaph is:
Sweet is the sleep of those who rest Within the Christian's tomb No tear can there disturb the breast Or suffering pierce the gloom.
Another to be taken by death, in 1847, was Eliza Doyle at the age of 34. Her stone reads :
Dearest Eliza thou hast left us; Here thy loss we deeply feel, But 'tis God that hath bereft us He can all our sorrows heal.
Nathaniel Gooch sold his half share in Bucknam Fields in 1848 to Joseph Chenery for $525. This is another about whom nothing is known.
About this time Hezekiah Hill Jr. died and was buried beside his wife in the Yarmouth Cemetery. He left no will so his heirs appointed John Hill of Sweden, Oxford County, attorney, to settle the estate. John may have been a brother or a son of Hezekiah. The 50 acre farm on Cousins was sold to Edward R. Doyle, a son of John Doyle. The 48 acres on
51
the east end of Littlejohn's was sold to Jonathan Soule and his son Henry Augustus in 1851 for $1039. The Soules prob- ably built the farmhouse in which the Sawyers now live in the summers. The only ones known to have lived on this part of the Island before were Totman and Creighton and their dwelling was probably rather crude. Jonathan Soule was a nephew of Mrs. Deborah (Soule) Hamilton of Che- beague. He sold his share in this property to Henry in 1856.
In 1848, the year of the Mexican War, Joseph Hamilton, Jacob's son, brought his bride, Nancy Hamilton of Che- beague to his new home on the crest of the island. He had recently bought about 80 acres on the southeast side of the main road from his father and built a house on the crest of the ridge.
Mrs. Eleazer Hill died in 1849 at the ripe old age of 88 years just a few months too soon to see her granddaughter Adeline, John's daughter. Her tombstone reads:
While my soul in heaven is blest
My body in this grave shall rest
And in my Saviour's trumpet sound Arise to glory from the ground.
This year Eleazer G. Hill, John's son, and True Cleaves, Ebenezer's son, went to the gold fields of California to earn their fortunes, but came back not much better off than when they went. Later Eleazer served in the Civil War.
In 1852 Ebenezer Cleaves sold 20 acres on Cousins to Rufus, a son of Jacob Hill, for $500. This piece lies north of Edward Doyle's place and the northeastern boundary ran "sixteen feet northeast of and parallel to" the side of the barn.
About this time a family named Cotton lived here. They were probably servants of one of the families: Lewis and Jane Cotton and their daughter Henrietta who died in 1852 aged 16 and who was buried in the cemetery. There were probably other children.
52
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1850 For house numbers see map, page i.
IB
Ebenezer Cleaves
Jr. aged 45 ?
Mary Ann ?
Alfred ?
20 ?
A. True 18
Ebenezer
16 ?
X
Jacob Hamilton 68
Mary D.
59
Sarah
30
Andrew
21
Rebecca
17
Annah 66
Samuel Groves Sr. 44
Hannah
35
XI
Lavina
13
Samuel Jr.
11
Nancy 22
Olive
9
Janette
b
Jacob
6
Henry
4
XVI
John Doyle
aged 69
Phebe
b
Jane
John L. ? 25
V
XIX
Edward R. Doyle
27
Jacob Hill
61
Eliza
20
Phebe
57
Loisa ?
27 ?
Jane ?
25 ?
Rufus
22
John Hill
48
Eliza
40
?Hannah
20 ?
XXI
Eleazer G.
19
Emerson
14
Susan
10
Margaret
7
Fannie
4
Addie
1
Darius
14?
Mary
12?
Orietta
10
IIIB
Joseph Hamilton
25
Alvin
2
?
VIIB
Charles
16
Joseph Bibber ?
53
Two years later Joseph Green Merrill bought an acre near the present wharf on Cousins from John Doyle and sold it to Jacob E. Sawyer of Chebeague. The latter, who was Harold's grandfather, built a house there. His wife Sarah was the sister of Nancy Hamilton, and they had a four year old son Calvin.
In 1854 also, Edward Doyle sold his 50 acre farm to Rufus and Charles, the sons of Jacob Hill, and Rufus sold Charles one half share of his 20 acres so that each of them owned half of a 70 acre strip along the southeast shore from the narrows to John Hill's land. Both of them were married about this time: Rufus to Sarah Ann Holt and Charles to Mary Jane Turner.
When Andrew Hamilton, the son of Jacob Hamilton mar- ried Amelia Curit his father sold him 50 acres on the west end of Cousins and built a house. However, his married life was very short. He enlisted for the Civil War and was a private in Company G. of the 25th Maine Infantry. He was mustered in in 1862 at the age of 33 and mustered out in 1863. As veteran of Company E of the 20th Infantry he was again mustered in in January 1864 and died the following April 30th. His property was put up for auction and sold to Samuel Groves. He and his wife had a daughter Mary born about 1862.
John Hill lost his second son Emerson in 1860 at the age of 24. His epitaph is:
How short the race our son has run Cut down in all his bloom
His course but yesterday begun Now finished in the tomb.
About this time Sylvanus Baker came to the islands and bought an acre in 1860 from Jake Hill on the southeast shore of Littlejohn's where he built his home. This place was long known as Baker's Head. It now belongs to Mrs. Dickerman.
54
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1860 For house numbers see map, page i.
IB
VIIB
Ebenezer Cleaves
John Hill
58
aged 59 ?
Eliza
50
Ebenezer ?
26 ?
Eleazer G.
29
Mary ?
22 ?
Emerson D.
24d
Orietta ?
20 ?
Susan
20
Margaret
17
II
Rufus Hill
32
Sarah Ann
29
Darius
5
IX
Edward Talbot
27
IIIB
Samuel Groves Sr.
55
Hannah
45
X
Jacob Hamilton aged 78
Olive
19
Jacob
16
Henry
14
Jane ?
42 ?
Alvin
12
Annah ?
76
Phebe
10
Homer
8
Joseph Hamilton 35
Alice
3
Nancy
32
Jane Hannah
b
Janette
10
Samuel Groves Jr.
21
Gilbert
5
Ellen
18
Dennis
3
Alzirus
b
Hattie
b
V
Lorenzo Hamilton
25
Charles E. Hill
26
Lovina
23
Mary Jane
22
Maria
b
Edgar Eugene
1
Annah
76
Fannie
14
Addie
11
John F.
8
Henry R.
b
Sarah
20
Mary ?
b ?d
Mary D. 69
XI
Octavius
6
Edwin
8
55
XIII
XVIII
Andrew Hamilton 31
Henry A. Soule ?
?
Amelia Mary ?
XIX
Jacob Hill
71
XIV
Jacob Sawyer
37
Sarah
36
Calvin
10
XX
Serena
5
Sylvanus Baker
51
Smith
3 ?
Mary
43
?Charles
23
Robert
18
George
15
John Doyle
79
Jane
?
Edward R.
37
XXI
Eliza
30
Joseph Bibber ?
John E.
3
? ?
XVI
Mary
12
Asa
10
Phebe ? ?
67
Georgina
1
56
The house Baker built - the "Yellow house" - still stands but originally it was back among the appletrees.
Baker and his wife, Mary, already had a family of six or more children, the youngest of whom at this time was 10 years old. Their eldest daughter, Sarah, lost no time in get- ting married - within a year or so of coming to the Island she married Edward Talbot who had recently come to Cous- ins from Nova Scotia.
At least two of Baker's sons served in the Civil War and he himself enlisted in the Navy in 1862. Robert was a vol- unteer in the Navy in 1864 at the age of 22. George O. falsi- fied his age, giving it as 18 although he was only 16 when he enlisted. He was in the 1st Battery of the 1st Mounted Ar- tillery. He was mustered in on December 31, 1861 and was killed in action May 13, 1863 at the age of 18.
Sylvanus was also steward in charge of a fleet of vessels of the Coast and Geodetic Survey which vessels were win- tered between the point of Littlejohn's and the Cousins Is- land wharf.
Edward Talbot was also in the Coast and Geodetic Sur- vey during the Civil War, or shortly thereafter. He was sail- ing master on the schooner Meredith under Lieutenant Alex- ander Wadsworth Longfellow, brother of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. They were off the Florida Coast and elsewhere.
He bought an acre on Cousins near the present bridge from John Hill and he and his bride lived in the house now owned by Mrs. Widing. Their daughter Mary Bell was born in 1861 and died in her second month. Her tombstone reads:
Budded on earth to bloom in Heaven.
In 1862 Samuel Groves Jr. bought one acre from his father not far from the latter's house and built his own home where he took his bride Ellen V. Ross of Chebeague and their son, Alzirus.
57
This year also, Joseph Bibber sold the west end of Lit- tlejohn's to George W. Hamilton of Chebeague who had wife Emma and sons George and William and a daughter. They lived here for over 20 years.
Nancy Hamilton's brother Lorenzo Hamilton and his wife Lavina had been living with Joseph and Nancy but in 1862 they built the "Ridge House" and moved over there, al- though they didn't buy the ten acres on which the house stood for ten years.
Next year the house of Jacob Hamilton burned and he went to stay with his son Joseph, but he outlived his home by only six weeks. Two years later Joseph bought from the other heirs of his father the 100 acres which remained of the original 200 acres. Joseph's aunt Annah was living with him and Nancy at this time. It is told of her that she, who was nearly blind, said she had swallowed a darning needle. No one believed her, but later she complained of a sore in her thigh. They investigated and found the needle there.
Joseph's sister Jane was a missionary at Boone Hill in the South, and another sister Rebecca was in Boston until the later years of her life. His sister Sarah and her husband and stepson, Jesse and George Shackford, lived with Joseph and Nancy.
In 1865 Henry Augustus Soule sold the eastern end of Littlejohn's to Jacob Sawyer who soon afterward sold about 1/4 acre of it to Mrs. Lydia Soule the widow of Henchman Soule who was a second cousin to Henry A. Soule. She built the present house by the shore and she and her family spent several months of every year there until her death in 1891.
Jacob Sawyer, at the same time, sold his acre on Cousins to Albert Cotton who was another who had served during the Civil War. He had been a private in Company G of the 25th Maine Infantry. He was mustered in on October 14,
58
KNOWN INHABITANTS OF 1870 For house numbers see map, page i.
IB
XI
Ebenezer Cleaves
aged 69 ?
Nancy
42
? ?
Edwin
18
Gilbert
15
Dennis
13
Hattie
10
Elizabeth
8
Annah
86
XII
Lorenzo Hamilton 35
Lavina 33
Woodbury
9
Octavus
5
Aletta
b
Samuel Groves Sr. 65
Hannah
55
XV
Albert Cotton
39
Alvin
22
Phebe
20
Mary
Homer
18
John
Octavius
16
Alice
13
Jane Hannah
10
IV
Samuel Groves Jr.
31
Ellen
28
Oscar William
6
Alzirus
10
Samuel O.
7
XVII
Emma
4
Lydia Soule
aged 60
Thaxter
1
? ? ?
II
Cyrus K. Goud
39
Sarah Ann
39
Darius Hill
15
Henry Hill
10
Elias Hill
8
Clifford Hill
6
Georgia Goud
b
IIIB
Henry
24
Elizabeth
Effie
XVI
Edward R. Doyle
47
Eliza
40
John E.
13
Wallace
6
Joseph Hamilton 45
59
V
XVIII
Charles E. Hill
36
Jacob Sawyer
47
Mary Jane
32
Sarah
46
Edgar Eugene
11
Calvin
20
Charles
8
Serena
15
Ida
6
Smith
13
Elmer
4
Georgina
11
George
b
XIX
VIB
Jacob Hill
81
Edward Packer
30
? ? ? ?
Susan
30
Herbert
3
Julia
b
Sylvanus Baker
61
VIIB
John Hill
aged 68
Eliza
60
Eleazer G.
39
Laura
2
Addie
21
Mary
22
John F.
18
IX
XXI
Edward Talbot
37
George Hamilton
Sarah
30
Emma
George
8
George
Zora
4
William
Flora
2
dau.
53
Charles ?
33
Robert
26
Elizabeth
20
Margaret
27
Asa
20
XX
Mary
60
1862 at the age of 31 and mustered out with his company on July 10, 1863. He was married to Elizabeth Pleadwell who died several years before his death in 1878. They lived near the wharf. Their children are said to have been: Sarah Jane who went to Taunton, Mass .; Mary; John A .; Delia, who went to California, and Frank who was helper at the light- house at Cape Elizabeth and married the keeper's daughter.
In 1866 Rufus Hill died. His grave stone reads :
Dearest Father thou hast left us Here thy loss we deeply feel But 'tis God that hath bereft us He can all our sorrows heal.
His widow, Sarah, sold her share in the 50 acre farm to Charles Hill, her brother-in-law, and bought his half share in the 20 acre piece. She soon afterward married Cyrus K. Goud who, with his brother Charles, had recently come to Cousins from Andover. Cyrus was a blacksmith and a "fiddler", and he played for the dances which were frequent- ly held at the various houses on the Islands.
At that time an important industry in the region was clams. Clams were then used extensively for bait and brought a good price. Most of the young men of the Islands made a good living at clamming. They sold their shucked clams at the stone wharf on Chebeague where many barrels of shucked and salted clams were bought and sold daily. In addition to the local use of clams for bait, many barrels were shipped away. It is told of Homer Groves that his favorite clamming ground was the cove to the east of Sandy Point. He threw his clams into a skiff, then, as the tide came in, he sat in the skiff and shucked the clams. When he was done the tide had carried him ashore and he didn't have a long row home as did most of the others who went to more dis- tant grounds.
61
About this time Edward Packer came to the Islands from England and married John Hill's daughter Susan. Dur- ing the past few years she had been away from home work- ing in a factory. They built their home on the site of the original Eleazer Hill house.
In 1867 John Doyle sold 15 acres to Lorenzo Hamilton and 3 acres to Albert Cotton. The former piece is the hay field lying southwest of the road to the wharf just below the Edwin Hamilton house; the latter is the major part of Har- mony Hill.
The following story is told of John Doyle about this time. (The name was pronounced as if spelled Dial and they had a dog named Watch.) Someone wanted to sell him a clock but he said: "What do I want of a clock? I have eight dials and a watch."
After Samuel Groves had bought Stockin Field from Stockin and Chenery in 1867 he owned all of the north shore from John Hill's land to the neck leading to the end of the Island - within 24 acres of the land originally owned by William R. Bucknam. The following year he sold one half of the homestead he had bought of Mrs. Andrew Hamilton to his son Henry who married in 1873 Adeline, the daughter of John Hill.
About this time Robert Baker married and he and his family lived in Mr. Talbot's house near the bridge on Cousins.
In 1870 John Doyle died and his property - after sever- al changes - went to his sons John and Edward, apparently in equal shares, although the deeds are not clear.
This year Mrs. Charles Hill gave birth to triplets but only one of the babies lived. They named him George.
In 1872 Capt. John Hill died. His heirs sold all of his property to his widow and she resold it to some of the chil- dren. Her stepson, Eleazer, was given the 43 acres which
62
is now the Talbot farm; Susan Packer was given the 24 acre lot that was the original purchase of Eleazer Hill where she and her family lived; the youngest child, John F., who was a minor at the time of his father's death was given, later on, the remaining 86 acres. Fannie, Margaret and Adeline did not buy any land then. Margaret bought some later.
Fannie Hill was in love with Ambrose Hamilton of Che- beague, but her family objected to their marriage as they thought her too young. Ambrose went to Massachusetts and married someone he met there. So Fanny married Ephraim Hamilton son of John and Jane (Curit) Hamilton. But after Ephraim's death in 1923 she married Ambrose whose wife had recently died.
Alvin Groves brought his young bride, Serena Sawyer, daughter of Jacob, to the house on the west end of Cousins a half share of which his father had recently sold him. Their married life was very brief for Serena died giving birth to a daughter, Anne, the next year at the age of 18. Anne died at the age of three. Serena's gravestone reads:
Fond hearts here loved thee More than words can tell We gazed on thy face 'Twas a silent farewell
Anne's stone reads :
Oh child the empty cot is ours But thine the sunshine and the flowers
Alvin later remarried and lived on the mainland.
Jacob Hill died in 1873 at the age of 84 and his heirs sold his homestead on Littlejohn's to Samuel Jr., Henry and Alvin Groves.
Samuel Groves Jr. bought from his father ten acres of land adjoining that on which his house was built and lying along the northeast boundary of the Packer property. The deed for this gives boundaries which indicate that the one
63
acre previously sold to Samuel Jr. was included in this sale, although this fact is not specifically indicated.
This was the year that a Lyceum was started by a group of the younger men on Cousins Island under the leadership of B. F. Noble, the school teacher. They met at the school house and everyone attended including the girls.
The children of Samuel Groves Sr. had begun to leave home for their own homes on the mainland. The only ones who stayed on Cousins were Henry and Samuel Jr. and La- vina Hamilton.
Sylvanus Baker died in 1875 at the age of 67. His heirs sold Baker's Head to Smith Sawyer, Jacob Sawyer's son, and to William Bates who had probably come to the Island some time before. Sawyer and Bates lived in the yellow house for several years.
In 1877 Ebenezer Cleaves sold 35 acres on Cousins and 12 acres on Littlejohn's to Mrs. Cordelia C. Prince, who with her husband and daughter, Lizzie, had been living in the brick house since 1873, at least, for in that year Lizzie taught school here. In 1875 she married Calvin Sawyer and they continued to live with her parents.
Ebenezer Cleaves' first wife, who had been the mother of all his children, died and he married before 1877 an un- known Emily who had come from California. She apparently married him merely for what she could get. After a short time she left him, taking with her everything she could carry away. She went to Chebeague where she later married "Uncle Jack" Hamilton. Ebenezer wrote a poem about her, copies of which poem he distributed widely. He also asked Gilbert Hamilton to read it at a Lyceum meeting. Gilbert thought it better not to do so. The first verse is:
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