USA > Maine > Somerset County > Embden > Embden town of yore : olden times and families there and in adjacent towns > Part 10
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Herbert Savage had another land transaction in middle Embden, farther down the road on Lot 68, southeast of the Sand Pond which Joseph Gage of Augusta bought of the proprietors. After Gage's death, Herbert and Rufus Savage, who wrote him- self as a bricklayer, purchased the farm Aug. 28, 1832, for $250. Abigail Gage, widow, Dr. Franklin Gage, Robert C. Vose and Caroline G. Vose, all of Augusta, were signers of the deed. Prob- ably Rufus Savage resided there but had a law suit in 1837 by which Herbert got a judgment of $190.52 against him.
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These brothers, Herbert and Rufus Savage, out of Embden belonged to a venturesome group. Rufus went to Pennsylvania, as several Embden and Anson people were then doing. Herbert married Hulda Jones and was "a horse trader and shipper." After the birth of his youngest daughter, Henrietta (1841-1921) he went to Massachusetts and lived near his youngest brother, Jacob, who was prospering as a marble dealer at Boston. While definite records are missing, it seems certain that Herbert, Rufus and Jacob and a sister, Mary Ann who married David Salley of Madison, were all the children of Herbert and Polly Savage, the latter a daughter of old Mariner Jacob's household on the island. By her second marriage with Randall Waugh of Embden, Polly had a daughter, Lois D. Waugh. The Waughs resided on Atkinson hill.
During his Embden and North Anson residences the younger Herbert Savage's family included Mandane Van Duren (1822- 1912), who married a Holmes and had two daughters: Louise (Mrs. O. T. Gray) of Hyde Park and Evie (1841-1919) who was Mrs. Martin V. Pratt of Evansville, Wis .; Salome, who married in .1843 Charles Hapgood at North Anson; and Henrietta W., who in 1866 at Hudson, Wis., married George K. Redmond formerly of Embden. Their son Leo I. Redmond of Racine, is prominently identified with the Masonic order there. Mark and others that died in childhood belonged also to the family of Herbert and Hulda Savage.
The Savage mill on Seven Mile Brook was deeded April 14, 1825, by Jacob Savage to Jacob, Jr., (1782) his son - who married Eliza Cates and resided later at Bloomfield - and to Herbert, husband of his daughter Polly. It comprised five acres south of the Brook, bounded east by the farm of John Moor, Esq., and south and west by Lemuel Williams. The conveyance covered "the banks of said Seven Mile Brook and the privileges across said brook and the grist mill situated on the northerly side of Seven Mile Brook together with all the land on the south side of said brook behind land owned by John Moor, Esq., and land supposed to belong to Esau Savage together with the privileges of erecting and repairing all dams necessary to said
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mill and privilege and erecting and repairing said mill and all the land necessary to occupy the same conveniently."
This property, thus described, was then conveyed on Sept. 12, 1825, to David H. Patterson, Esq., of Madison. Esau Savage (1803-1861) was a son of Jacob and went to Waterville. His daughter, Mrs. Helen H. Leavitt graduated at Coburn Classical Institute in the class of 1848. Born on Savage Island, at the home of her grandfather, she married John Leavitt in 1853 and at the time of her death was the Institute's oldest living gradu- ate. Three children-Mrs. T. J. Dailey and Mrs. John Dix Allen of Somerville, Mass., and Miner LaH. Leavitt - survived her. Esau's wife was Nancy Stanley. They had a son, Asher Savage of Fairfield, who owned Flora Temple "the fastest horse in America at that time."
Ephraim Savage, another son of the Anson pioneers, was a land owner in the neighborhood of this Embden mill. He was a resident of Anson in 1807 when he purchased of Nimrod Hinds for $90, 163/4 acres of land and an island of three acres, but was of Embden in 1819 when he sold the island to Moses Williams, for $25 and of New Portland in 1832 when for $600 he quit claimed to Moses Williams, Jr., four tracts of land in that vicin- ity, where Capt. Joseph Knowlton and Capt. Asahel Hutchins were also owners.
A creditable page in the records of the Savage families belongs to Jacob 2nd (1790-1876) and his descendants, a younger son of Isaac and Deborah (Soule) Savage. He was near to manhood when his parents moved from upper Embden to Anson. Down the road from the Cutts farm and near the Kennebec lived Sam- uel Getchell, a neighbor - of the family that was identified with the early history of several towns along the river - and his daughter Mary. Jacob 2nd married her. Packing their belong- ings on an ox cart when he was 35 years old they started for Savage hill in Concord. Their oldest daughter, Parthenia (1813-1907), who became Mrs. Nathan Healey of Concord, car- ried her twin brothers, Samuel and Isaac (1820) on horseback in her arms. The other children were Jotham (1815-1898), Chandler (1818-1908), Christopher Columbus, (1822), Amon (1825-1909), Edward (1829), Harriet (1830), Sullivan (1833)
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and Nathan H. (1836). That was the background of a Concord family whose children and grandchildren have been useful citizens in Concord, Embden, Bingham, Anson and elsewhere.
Chandler Savage married Susan J. Berry, daughter of a pio- neer from Barnstead, N. H., and lived in Anson, Concord and Bingham. Their children were Mark (1843-1906), an extensive trader at Bingham, who married first Emily F. Leadbetter and then Sarah Marita Houghton; Winslow N. (1845-1912) of Mon- tana; Edwin R. (1850-1919) of Montana; Rose (Mrs. Charles Ames) of Dover, N. H .; Oscar E. of Ogden, Utah; Gardiner W. (1856) ; Lizzie W., born in 1858 (Mrs. Charles F. Leadbetter of Denver) ; and Olestin W. (1862-1921) whose wife was Althea D. Lane. Roy M. Savage, son of Mark, is a well known resident of Bingham. Gardner W. Savage was a resident of North Anson, where he had charge of the central office of the Farmers' Telephone. He resigned that position after 13 years on account of his health. Many patrons never knew that the man who patiently responded to their calls day after day was totally blind. His faithfulness in times of sickness and unfail- ing efforts to serve subscribers won him friends up and down the Kennebec Valley, wherever his pleasant, courteous voice was heard.
Rev. Samuel Savage had one son, George E. (1845-1922), who married Ellen M. Boyington soon after she taught school in his district in Embden and boarded at his father's house. They resided at North Anson and then at Norridgewock. "Clum" Savage's wife was Mary Ann Gould, daughter of William W. and Nancy (Hill) Gould of Embden. Their children were a son and daughter - Sumner, a Concord farmer, and Josie (Mrs. George Berry). Isaac Savage (1820-1906) married Jane Daniels and lived in Embden, New Portland and Madison. Among their chil- dren were Owen, who married Lydia Butts of New Portland, and has lived at North Anson ; May E. (1857-1922) ; and Lucinda of Madison.
Nathan H. Savage married Sarah Jane Gould, a sister of Mrs. "Clum" Savage, and was a Concord farmer but lived at Nor- ridgewock and then at Madison. Charles J. Savage, years ago driver of the Anson-Concord stage, is their oldest son. He and
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his wife, Lussana G. Taylor, reside at Norridgewock. His brother, Wilbur H. (1866-1899), died at Savannah, Ga., while an artilleryman in the Spanish-American War. There were two sisters - Georgia E. (Mrs. Jared Bates) of Beckwith, Calif., and Vesta L. (Mrs. Edwin L. Wescott) of Madison. Jotham Savage was a resident of North Anson. His son Frank J. Savage was corporal in the 10th Maine Volunteers of the 60's. Amon Savage and his first wife, Rosetta Maynard (1825-1863), of Embden were also of Concord, where he lived more than 60 years. His second wife was Mary A. Felker (1842-1921), daugh- ter of Valentine Felker. There were several children by the first marriage - Anne S. (Mrs. William F. Hayden) of Providence, R. I .; Emma who married and lived at Lincolnville, Henry, Charles H., and Addie G. (Mrs. Robert Woods) of North Anson.
The names of Savage residents of Embden and adjacent towns are by no means exhausted in the roster already given. They include sons and daughters of other pioneers and are too nu- merous to put down here. Bryant Savage (1831-1904) half a century ago owned the Elias Cleveland farm that included a sawmill site on the road to the foot of Embden Pond. He was born at Madison, a grandson of James, Jr., and Esther (Moore) Savage. His wife was Philomel Cleveland (1833-1889) of Emb- den, a granddaughter of Pioneer Luther Cleveland. Alice M. of Skowhegan, widow of Risden D. Baker, Forrest E. (1857- 1881), and Horace, a twin brother of Madison, later of Portland, were their children. Horace, recently referred to, died at the Odd Fellows Home in Auburn, Maine, (of which he was the first inmate) October 10, 1928.
Robert Savage (1832-1903), shoemaker and Civil War vet- eran, resided at North Anson but was known to every Embden lad whose shoes he tapped. He was a son of Robert Savage (1801-1874), also of North Anson, and grandson of that Joseph Savage, who ventured with a farm on the east side of Embden pond in the 1830's. Newman A. Savage, brother of Robert R., was also a shoemaker and a Civil War veteran.
Long years ago Senator Lot M. Morrill of Maine, was visiting Dublin. Remarking upon the beauty of a certain street he was informed that it was principally the property of the Savage
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family in America. On his return he related this to one of the Savage heirs at Augusta. Steps were taken toward the recovery of this estate that for over a century had been held by the Chancery Court, its original value having been nearly $3,000,000. There was naturally great interest in this fortune by the hun- dreds of Savage heirs in Maine and Massachusetts. Eventually the services of an eminent Boston lawyer were engaged. Hopes of sharing the fortune were high. The property, including a bleachery, had been bequeathed by James Savage of Dublin, in the final clause of his will, which read: "This will shall be read on the 20th day of June in every year, as long as water runs or grass grows, or until the legal and rightful heirs in America shall claim the same."
The heirs of this James Savage were two sons, James and Isaac, and two daughters, all of whom migrated to America driven thither by religious persecution. One account, however, says this James of Dublin was a bachelor and that the heirs were two nephews and two nieces. The two women settled at Newton, Mass., but the men pushed on into the Maine wilder- ness. James was killed and scalped by Indians but Isaac's family located at Woolwich and Wiscasset, one of whom was James, whose sons have already been mentioned. The Dublin James Savage, when very old and infirm, arranged his affairs in the interest of his kindred and set out for America. He died at Newton soon after arriving there. While the line of descent was altogether clear, many difficulties were encountered in iden- tifying the various claimants. The laws of Great Britain, as well as aversion to awarding a huge fortune to residents across the Atlantic, were added obstacles and the Savage descendants in Maine and Massachusetts waited in vain for their heritage.
Few of the Savage name are left in the Embden of the present day. But, members of this large and excellent family were bone and sinew of the wilderness era of the town. Their arduous industry and that of their successors figured much in making the local civilization. Their descendants, who have migrated numerously to distant parts, even to California and Oregon and to the Southern States, have many reasons for looking backward with pride and admiration.
CHAPTER VIII
FOUR CORNERS AND IN BETWEEN
Over by Embden's northeast corner, where the Kennebec - near its greatest water power - thunders and seethes toward a placid bay; over by its northwest corner where the expanding prospect compasses Lexington and Concord hills; and also close by its two southern corners along the lower reaches of Seven Mile Brook, where fertile Embden acres balance the New Port- land and Anson landscape with artistic nicety, are homestead sites of another populous clan of yore - the Williamses.
On the northeast corner, Pioneer Jacob (1760-1814) mul- tiplied and prospered. His family was closely related to the stock from which came Gen. Seth Williams (1822-1866) of Au- gusta, adjutant general of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War. These were all from a brother Benjamin, in the second generation of the American family. A mile or so below the town's southeast corner, snugly located in an angle made by Seven Mile Brook and the Kennebec, was Lieut. Lemuel Wil- liams (1751-1820) written "Elemuel" in earlier days. Where Jacob was out of Barnstable, Mass., Lemuel, a son of Timothy, was out of Easton, Mass., via Woolwich. Lemuel's branch - descended from a brother, Nathaniel of the second American generation - throve greatly in numbers and in citizenship.
Jacob and children dwelt quite exclusively in the northeast, moving, however, into Concord and towns beyond and, of course, eventually to more distant places. Lieut Lemuel's family of An- son, while supplying several scions to that town, branched rap- idly into West Embden. Moses Williams (1780-1858) - said to have been the first white native of Anson - resided seven years at Industry, where he married Martha Butler (1788-1858) but took his growing brood to New Portland and then to the south- east corner of Embden. There they became the central family in a famous neighborhood. Moses died there and his farm of islands and upland, purchased in 1811 and on from Amos Tay- lor, Ephraim Savage and Capt. Samuel Hutchins, parcel by
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parcel, was tilled also by sons and grandsons. Their house right between roads from "The Falls" and from "North Village" at the point of junction, is a landmark.
John Williams (1787-1820), another of Lieut. Lemuel's sons, married Betsey Savage of Augusta, and resided by Seven Mile Brook on the McLean farm out of Anson. One of John's children went to Embden. This was Col. Lemuel Williams (1813-1895), affectionately known as "Uncle Lem." He and his wife, Julia H. Albee (1816-1902) had a family of five, some born on Lot 129 well up toward Black hill and near the Foss farm. One of "Uncle Lem's" sons, Fairfield Williams, (1839) in 1928 a resident of Madison, married Hannah H. Cragin in 1863 and before many years had his farm on the re- maining corner of the town - far up in the northwest, on Lot 167 south of Hancock Pond. He and his wife were an educated and widely respected couple.
But the households of Williamses dotted Embden every way one crossed or recrossed its six miles square. Not the least of them was the rooftree of John Hilton, by the Fahi, with his wife Lucinda Williams, sister of Moses and John above, and his nine children. There were Williamses, also, in near-by New Port- land. Capt. Samuel Hutchins and David W. Hutchins on either side of Seven Mile Brook, were sons of Mercy (Williams) Hutchins, of Beverly, Mass. Zephaniah Williams, who had a pioneer seat on New Portland Hill, was probably of this Beverly family, as, perhaps, was Joseph Philbrick Williams, of New Port- land, out of Avon, Franklin county. Joseph's son, Warren. Wil- liams (1839-1914) had a notable career at Fallon, Nev., as a large stock raiser and state senator. His brother, Eugene L. Williams, practised law at Reno.
Almost adjacent to Lieut. Lemuel, but in Madison, was a sis- ter, Sebel, (1748-1834) wife of Stephen Walker. Standing at his front door in present day Anson, Benjamin F. Walker, glimpsing the over-river location of the Stephen farm, tells of the Walker spring there, where his ancestor quaffed before the Westons purchased. From that point issued a large family of children, by blood Williamses as much as Walkers. One of them Nathaniel Walker (1791), then of Madison, married Hannah
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Hunnewell, of Solon, on March 18, 1811, and went to Embden to live on a farm west of Abraham Rowe. Alfred Walker, a prosperous brother, lived in New Portland, later in Anson. One of their sisters, Olive Walker, married the pioneer Ben- jamin Gould. Their children and grandchildren lived numer- ously in Embden.
There were many others of Williams stock on the upper Ken- nebec. Most of them - perhaps all - were originally of one family. Its English ancestor was Richard Williams (1606- 1688) of Taunton, Mass., whose people before him for many generations had lived in England and Wales. Tradition was that Roger Williams, of Rhode Island belonged to the same Wil- liams family.
The Woolwich ancestor was Timothy Williams (1714-1770) town clerk and militia officer at Easton, Mass., before he fol- lowed his sons to lands they had located in Maine. This was in 1764, when the Williams family had been in America a century and a quarter. Timothy and wife, Elizabeth (Brettun) Wil- liams (- ..... 1794), settled on a farm in the neighborhood of Montsweag Stream, about two miles west of Wiscasset. The Samuel Goulds, Elijah Grants, Alexander Grays, Ebenezer Hil- tons, James Savages and Solomon Walkers - whose children peopled many Somerset towns - had, in the main, preceded the Williamses there.
Thus Woolwich for 50 years and more became "home" to Timothy's children and kinsmen. His son, Lieut. Lemuel of North Anson, died there while on a visit. Another son, Timo- thy, Jr., (1745-1813) married Miriam Thompson as the first wife and lived on the old Williams homestead. Nathaniel, the second oldest son (1747-1799) was a tanner and lived near the Walkers at Montsweag. His wife, Susannah, widow of James Gray, was Capt. Solomon Walker's oldest daughter (1752-1792). The de- scendants of these two Woolwich brothers (Timothy and Na- thaniel) scattered far and not a few of them went to other towns in Maine. Col. Timothy Williams, son of Timothy and Miriam (Thompson) Williams, settled first at Starks in 1828 and then migrated to Rockland where he operated extensively in lime quarries.
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Lieut Lemuel Williams was a remarkable man with fiber of an empire builder. He was the Easton Timothy's youngest son and three years older than his Madison sister, Sebel Walker. When his parents packed out of Easton, Lemuel was 13 years old. His education was naturally limited to the meagre facilities of the frontier but his youthful spirit was exemplified when in March, 1775, he joined a company of Minute Men at Woolwich. The Montsweag neighborhood had been responsive to patriotic dis- cussions which absorbed the colonies at that period. This Com- pany of Minute Men had been drilling and, when word was re- ceived of the clash at Lexington and Concord, made ready for vigorous service. It was the first Revolutionary War unit that crossed the Kennebec River from the East. Arriving at Ports- mouth, N. H., the day the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the company hastened on to Boston and bivouaced at Mystic, June 20, 1775. It was detached to Arnold's expedition, but on ac- count of lack of provisions got no farther than Augusta.
Continuing in the army, Lemuel Williams was in the battles ยท of Long Island and Harlem Heights the next year but by 1777 he had been made a lieutenant in Capt. John Wiley's company, Michael Jackson's line regiment, and was back at Montsweag Stream recruiting. While there he married Anna Hilton (1758- 1850), a daughter of Lieut. Moses Hilton and a niece of Joseph Hilton, the elder, who had a large family in Embden. Three days after his marriage Lieut. Williams was ordered away to Boston. From there he went with the company to oppose the advance of Burgoyne, was in several hard fought battles and then wintered at Valley Forge.
He located at Anson about 1781, but had been on an exploring trip up the river two or three years previously, perhaps with his wife's first cousins, John and Ebenezer Hilton. Lemuel located his farm in the vicinity of what was much later Patterson bridge and near those two kinsmen. When the town of Anson was in- corporated he was chosen town clerk and first selectman, having certified the inhabitants of the town on a warrant to Esquire Dinsmore to hold their first town meeting at the home of John Moore, Jr. He was repeatedly re-elected, but served also at various times as collector, constable and surveyor. Among his
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particular interests were the public schools. His wife survived him, by 30 years. In 1844 she was granted an annual pension of $261.67. She and her husband were beloved as much at Wool- wich as at Anson. Their marriage emphasized the close asso- ciations of the Williams and Hilton families. Her brother, Mor- rill Hilton, who had been a sergeant in the Capt. Wiley Com- pany, married Anne Williams, the youngest sister of Lemuel.
Their good old fashioned family of 18 children and 97 grand- children has few local parallels in the annals of that prolific day. The oldest child, Moses, was born in 1780, the youngest about 1810. Of these 19 children, 11 married, and their progeny now number thousands in many parts of the land. The list of grandchildren follows with the towns where they were born :
Moses and Martha Butler, 7, in Industry; William (1781- 1839), and Ann Gray, of York, 13 in No. Anson, 1 in Madison ; Lemuel (1783-1846) and Dolly Dinsmore, of Augusta, 9 in No. Anson, 3 in Athens; Elizabeth and Ephraim Sawyer, 8 in Emb- den ; Sevia, also called Alvirah (1786-1839) and William Rogers, 6 in Anson ; John (1787-1820) and Betsey Savage, of Augusta, 7 in Anson; Lucinda and John Hilton, 9 in Embden; Simeon (1793) and Mary A. Tibbetts, of Embden, 5 in Madison ; Joseph (1797-1843) and Abigail Spooner, 12 in New Portland; Morrill (1799-1879) and Fatima Albee, 8 in Madison; Rachel (1802) and Thompson H. Withey, 9 in Starks (1802). Total, 97.
As the list indicates Embden residents out of Lieut. Lemuel's family were Moses; Elizabeth (1784-1871), wife of Ephraim Sawyer (1772-1848) whose farm was the modern Lisherness place, adjoining Moses Williams; and Lucinda. Simeon Wil- liams married an Embden girl but his home was in Madison.
The Moses Williams neighborhood had a distinctive place in the Embden of that day. Prominent townsmen resided all around and an influential neighborhood of New Portland pio- neers was just across the brook. It was only a short distance to "The Falls," or East New Portland where there were interest- ing people among farmers and villagers. Moses himself was recognized in town management. He was collector of taxes and constable for two years from 1816, covering the period when Ephraim Sawyer, his brother-in-law, was selectman and justice
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of the peace. When Moses wearied of the farm, his son, Henry Williams (1810), came forward to carry on and with his wife, Katherine Merry (1819-1897), maintained the standards of the pioneer home. She was from New Vineyard, a daughter of Asa Merry and Sally Bartlett, with relatives at North Anson. "Aunt Kate" was quite as vigorous a character as her husband.
An old story emphasizes their religious convictions, which in- cluded strict observance of morning prayers. The hired man was required to attend, but "Uncle Henry" was never forgetful about starting the day's work early. The end of his morning prayer was: "John yoke those oxen - Amen."
Their sons and daughters were: Joseph M. (1844-1922) ; Martha (1846-1884), Mrs. James L. Wentworth, of Embden; Rhoda M. (1851-1870), Mrs. Asa M. Daggett; William H. (1853- 1910) ; Alice, (1857), Mrs. Henry Haskell; Charles (1859-1888) and Jennie M. (1861-1921), Mrs. George N. Gordon.
By his marriage with Julia Albee (1815-1902) Lemuel Wil- liams, nephew of Moses and son of John Williams, of Anson, al- lied himself with pioneer households on Seven Mile Brook. Her sister, Betsey (1811-1899) was the wife of Given Campbell and mother of a bright group. Her father, David Albee (1788- 1825), was a veteran of the War of 1812. Lemuel was a "brick and mortar mason" in his younger days and worked much at his trade. He moved to Embden in the early 1840's, after his oldest son, Fairfield, had been born. His next son, John C. (1842), who married Caroline C. Salley of Embden, daughter of Isaac, Jr., was a native of the town. His other children were: Anna H. (1846), Mrs. George Mantor, also born up near the top of Foss hill; Augusta (1848), Mrs. C. W. Wyman of Dead River; and Francis A (1852-1874), the first wife of George W. Standish of Flagstaff.
Lemuel returned to Anson and was on a farm, first south of the town line on the road to Embden Pond. He was elected a member of the Maine legislature for 1859-'60, a service that his sons Fairfield and John remembered vividly because they re- mained at home that winter to "look after the home and chores," having the care of a large stock of cattle, horses and sheep. "Uncle" Lem, a man of striking personality, stood over six
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