Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I, Part 36

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I > Part 36

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

(III) Aaron, son of Joseph Coburn, was born at Dracut, May 27, 1700, and died in the same town, February 24, 1745. He married (published December 9, 1722) Mercy Varnum, daughter of Thomas and Joanna (Jewett) Varnum, of Dracut, born April 17, 1702, died 1785. Thomas Varnum, father of Mercy, was born in Ipswich, November 19, 1662, died in Dracut, September 7, 1739; married, Novem- ber 10, 1697, Joanna, daughter of Nehemiah and Exercise ( Pierce) Jewett, of Ipswich, who was born May 8, 1677, and died April 6, 1753. Thomas was son of Samuel Varnum, who came to New England about 1635 with his parents, George and Hannah Varnum, settled in Ipswich, and married Sarah Langton. In 1664 he purchased a tract of land on the Mer- rimac river and removed to Chelmsford and later came to Dracut, becoming one of the first two settlers of the latter town, the other being Edward Coburn. Two of his sons were killed by the Indians while crossing the Merri- mac river in a boat, November 18, 1676. The two families, Coburn and Varnum, were al- ways intimately associated, and were much in- termarried during the earlier generations. Children of Aaron and Mercy (Varnum) Co- burn: I. Hannah, born March 22, 1724, mar- ried (published September 12, 1744) William Foster, of Chelmsford. 2. Deborah, born Sep- tember 24. 1727, died July 21, 1824; married (published November 29, 1753) Daniel Co- burn, born January 23, 1724, died May 12, 1755. She married second (published August 24, 1767) Timothy Coburn, who died June 15, 1781. 3. Aaron, born March 6, 1731; married, November 6, 1755, Phebe Harris, of Hollis, New Hampshire. 4. Eleazer, born March 4, 1735, mentioned below.

(IV) Eleazer, son of Aaron Coburn, was born at Dracut, March 4, 1735. He married (intention dated at Dracut, November 1, 1760) Bridget Hildreth, daughter of Robert Hil- dreth, of Dracut, and granddaughter of Ma- jor Ephraim Hildreth, a prominent citizen of that town. She was born at Dracut, May 16, 1737. They lived in that part of Dunstable which was afterwards set off as Tyngsboro, where their children were born. He served in the revolution, being a private in Captain But- terfield's company, Colonel David Green's regi-

ment, that marched on the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775; also in Captain John Ford's company in 1776, marching from Chelmsford, July 25, 1776, discharged at Albany, New York, January 1, 1777. In 1790, after the death of his oldest son and the marriage of three of his daughters, he moved with his re- maining family to Lewiston, Maine, where his wife's brother, Paul Hildreth, had settled. In. 1792 they came to Canaan, Maine, where the second daughter, Deborah, wife of John Em- ery, lived. She and her husband received them in their home, and John Emery, who was one of the early settlers of Canaan, gave his father-in-law fifty acres of the grant he himself had received from the Kennebec Com- pany. Eleazer Coburn soon built a log house near the Emerys, where the family lived till Eleazer (2d), at the time of his marriage, built the first frame house on the same spot. The children of Eleazer and Bridget married and settled round them, and they passed their old age in the home of their son Eleazer. Eleazer Coburn died May 7, 1810. His wife survived him twenty-six years, and died in her one hundredth year, September 18, 1836. She is remembered as an old lady, lovely in face and character, deeply pious, and very affectionate towards her numerous grandchil- dren, by whom she was adored. In her last years she was blind, but was always alert in mind and quick in sympathy. Her room was the first place sought by the grandsons return- ing from the woods or from college, and they received from her unstinted sympathy with all their interests. When she died she was mourned as if she had been a young mother. Children of Eleazer and Bridget (Hildreth) Coburn, born in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts: I. Bridget, March 12, 1762; married Dr. Shat- tuck, and settled in Vermont; died April 18, 1824. 2. Deborah, December 23, 1763; died June 23, 1853; married, January 9, 1786, John Emery, son of John and Mary (Mon- roe) Emery; he was born in Acton, Massa- chusetts, November 20, 1753, and died Febru- ary 26, 1848. 3. Esther, November 1, 1765, died January 9, 1846; married, 1796, Ephraim Bigelow, son of James and Mary (Sawyer) Bigelow, born March 23, 1772, died January 10, 1838. 4. Sally, born October 7, 1767, mar- ried John Pierce, and moved to Starkboro, Vermont ; married (second ) Potter. She was living in 1845. 5. Aaron, September 10, 1769; killed by a fall from a tree, Jan- uary 13, 1790. 6. Prudence, January 16, 1772; married, May 10, 1794, Robinson Lan- der, son of Freeman and Thankful ( Hinckley)

158

STATE OF MAINE.

Lander; lived in Lewiston and Skowhegan, died in Skowhegan, September 20, 1851. 7. Rachel, November 8, 1774; died April 12, 1822 ; married Samson Parker, who was born April 2, 1768, and died August 25, 1851. 8. Eleazer, February 24, 1777, mentioned below. 9. Robert, July 29, 1780; married Mary Par- ker, sister of Samson, in 1805, died March 8, 1862. She was born December, 1785, and died September 17, 1856. He was a Baptist minister, and lived in Newport, Maine. 10. Betsey, May 15, 1785 ; married John Whittier, lived in Cornville, died November 5, 1855. He was born February 13, 1784, and died Novem- ber 2, 1861.

(V) Elcazer (2), son of Eleazer (1) Co- burn, was born in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, February 24, 1777, and when fifteen years old came with his father's family to that part of Canaan, Maine, which was afterwards Bloom- field, and is now included in Skowhegan. He went to work for Samuel Weston, afterwards his father-in-law, at that time the principal surveyor of the region, and a leading man in the community. He learned of him the sur- veying business, and became one of the most prominent land surveyors of his day. The vir- gin forests of the state were just beginning to find a market, and as a preliminary to sale, needed to be "run out." For this service he had exceptional qualifications, and was in the front rank of his profession. He was an expert as to the relative value of the various sections he was employed to explore and sur- vey, and was enabled to make choice purchases at the low figures then charged by the State. In 1830, in partnership with his sons Abner and Philander, he began lumbering on the Kennebec river, and the firm under the name of E. Coburn & Sons conducted a prosperous business. The business was continued after the father's death under the name of A. & P. Coburn.

Eleazer Coburn, or Squire Coburn, as he was generally called, was for forty years one of the most prominent men of his section, a position which he owed to his strong com- mon sense, his business sagacity, and his un- usual force of character. With scanty early education, he made the best use of his oppor- tunities, and was counted among the best in- formed men of his day. He studied the legal books in the library of his father-in-law, which fell to him at the death of the latter, and be- came well versed in the principles of the law. He was appointed justice of the peace when a young man, and at a period when it was not customary to call on ministers for that service, .

he performed many marriages. He was se- lectman of Canaan 1800, 1802-9, and first selectman 1811 and 1813. He was first select- man of Bloomfield the year it was incorpor- ated, 1814, and also in 1815 and 1816. For many years he served the town on its most important committees. He represented his dis- trict in the general court of Massachusetts in 1812, 1813 and 1814. When Maine became a state in 1820 he was a member of the con- stitutional convention at Portland, and was sent to the Maine house of representatives 1820-21-26-29-31. He was connected with the Federalist and Whig parties in politics. He was on the board of trustees of Bloomfield Academy, and was trustee of Waterville Col- lege from 1836 till his death.

Eleazer Coburn was a man of great natural ability, and of remarkable personality. He was an active and exemplary member of the Baptist church, and one of its chief pillars. He was one of the foremost in organizing a temperance society in Bloomfield, and was its president for several years. He was presi- dent of the County Temperance Society, and said he considered it the most honorable office he ever held. He was the first president of the first agricultural society in the county. In his later years he was an ardent Abolitionist, and at one time went with a friend to make abolotionist speeches in neighboring towns. It is said that he was a more ready and effective speaker than any of his sons. He possessed a shrewd wit, and was a hearty laugher, as were all the family. As a father he did not practice the stern discipline usual in his gen- eration, but was gentle with his younger chil- dren, and like an older brother with his grown- up sons, advising with them on terms of equality as they came into manhood. He was kind hearted and liberal, and many stories are told of his sometimes quixotic generosity. He had the faculty of attaching his friends to him, so that many years after his death he was spoken of by aged men in terms of tender af- fection. He died at the age of sixty-eight, January 9, 1845.

He married, January 18, 1801, Mary Wes- ton, daughter of Samuel and Mary (White) Weston, and granddaughter of Joseph Weston, one of the first two settlers of Canaan. (An account of the Weston family is given else- where.) She was a strenuous worker, as she had need to be to conduct her household. Be- sides her fourteen children, thirteen of whom lived to maturity, several boys were brought up in the family. A sister of her husband, with two sons, found a home there, as well as the

159

STATE OF MAINE.

aged grandmother. The tailoress was in the home nearly the year round, and the shoe- maker spent several weeks there each fall. The family. was seldom less than twenty, and there, was always room for another. The mother, like her neighbors, spun and wove her own blankets, sheets and towels, made her own butter, cheese, candles, soap, &c., and knit her family's hosiery. No wonder she learned to use every moment, and in her old age was never seen without work in her hands. With all her labors she found time to go to church regularly and to minister to the needy of the community. She died in the home of her sons A. & P., December 21, 1860.

Children of Eleazer and Mary ( Weston) Coburn, all born in Bloomfield (now Skowhe- gan) : I. Nahum, born October 8, 1801, died October 28, 1822. 2. Abner, born March 22, 1803, mentioned below. 3. Fidelia, born Feb- ruary 2, 1805; married at Waterloo, Canada West, October 6, 1847, Rev. John S. Brooks, died at York, Sierra Leone, Africa, January II, 1850. She was educated at Winthrop Academy, and was for a number of years a suc- cessful teacher in her home town. . She was for seven years, 1842-49, a missionary among the fugitive slaves in Queen's Bush, Canada. In 1849 she went with her husband as a mis- sionary to the Mendi in West Africa, but died of fever before reaching her station. She was a woman of strong character, vigorous in mind and body, devotedly religious and self-sacrific- ing to the limit of endurance. 4. Philander, born February 19. 1807, mentioned below. 5. Eliza, born February 6, 1809; married, May 7, 1829, Isaiah Marston, son of Kenelom and Lucy ( Bates) Marston, lived in West Water- ville and Skowhegan, died in Skowhegan, March 12, 1874. She had children, born in West Waterville : i. Erastus Wheeler, March 14, 1830, married May 7, 1861, Mary S. Fiske, (second) Addie Page Snothen. ii. Alonzo Co- burn, January 6, 1832, married, November 14, 1877, Della G. Keelor. iii. Fidelia Coburn, May 14, 1834, married, May, 1862, Calvin R. Hubbard, died March 4, 1867. iv. Elvira Coburn, May 26, 1837, died February 18, 1876. v. Mary Coburn, May 4, 1839, married Albert H. Weston, December 25, 1878. vi. Julia Ann, January 9, 1841, married, January 14, 1867, William H. Long, died July 7, 1887. vii .- Helen Eliza, May 2, 1844, died May 31, 1865. viii. Charles Albert, May 26, 1851, mar- ried, October 4, 1876, Sarah P. Steward, died December 3, 1905. 6. Elvira, born February 5, 18II, died July 17, 1867. 7. Alonzo, born December 6, 1812, married, January 30, 1877,

Vine W. Osgood, daughter of John Coffin Os- good, of Eaton, New Hampshire, died Novem- ber 19, 1882. She died in Skowhegan, June 28, 1900. He prepared for college in Water- ville and China academies, graduated from Waterville College 1841, and from Harvard Law School in 1845, formed a law partner- ship with his brother Stephen under the name of A. & S. Coburn, with an office in their na- tive town, but soon left the practice of law and settled upon a farm. He was exemplary in his life, honorable and charitable, always ready to extend a helping hand to the needy. 8. Sam- uel Weston, born July 14, 1815, mentioned be- low. 9. Stephen, born November 11, 1817, mentioned below. 10. Eleazer, born February 9, 1820, married, April 15, 1845, Eleanor Leighton Emery, daughter of Levi and Lydia (Leighton) (Flagg) Emery. He was a lum- berman and farmer, and settled on the home farm, where he died March 10, 1850. His wife, born September 16, 1820, married ( sec- ond) Charles K. Turner, April 16, 1854, died September 25, 1892. 11. Charles, born March 5, 1822 ; fitted for college at Waterville Acad- emy, graduated from Waterville College in 1844 with a brilliant record; was principal of Bloomfield Academy the fall term of 1844, died October 30, 1844. 12. Mary Weston, born September 30, 1824, died April 21, 1874. She was preceptress of Bloomfield Academy for several years, while her brothers, Stephen and Charles, were principals. After the death of her father she lived with her brothers Ab- ner and Philander, keeping the home for them. 13. Sylvanus Pitts, born March 5, 1827; went to California in 1849, was engaged in mining and other occupations till 1854, when he . bought a ranch at Santa Clara, and went into the thoroughbred Durham cattle business. In 1864 he removed to a ranch on Pomponia Creek, and in 1868 came to Pescadero, and went into company with his nephew, E. W. Marston, in the stage coach and livery business. He died unmarried at Pescadero, California, January 18, 1874. He was a man of integrity and a loyal friend. 14. Sarah Pitts (twin), born March 5, 1827, died August 28, 1827.

(VI) Governor Abner Coburn, second son of Eleazer (2) Coburn, was born in that part of Canaan now embraced in Skowhegan, March 22, 1803, and resided during the whole of his busy and eventful life within a few miles of his birthplace. From his Puritan an- cestors he inherited a robust constitution, sound practical sense, and mental powers of a high order, and he was taught from child- hood the distinctively Puritan virtues of in-

...

11 43

160

STATE OF MAINE.

tegrity and industry. In his young days every mian was expected to live by the labor of his hands. Agriculture was the almost universal occupation, and in the interior of Maine the clearing of land, the making of new farms, and the building of new homes called for a life of unceasing toil by all. As soon as Abner Coburn was old enough he began to make himself useful in the miscellaneous labor of the farm, and he continued throughout his life to be an exceedingly industrious man. For education, he had what the district school could give him, supplemented by a few of the first terms of Bloomfield Academy. Before he was twenty he was doing a man's work on the farm, and teaching school in the winter at $10 per month, and "boarding round." He learned surveying of his father, and when he was twenty-two years old began to work on his own account as a surveyor.

In 1830 Eleazer Coburn and his sons Abner and Philander began lumbering operations on the Kennebec river, their first purchase of timber lands being made at that date. The business was continued under the name of E. Coburn & Sons until 1845, when the father died, and the firm was reorganized as. A. & P. Coburn. Few business firms in Maine were so widely known as this one, or did so large a business. It may be safely said that no firm was more successful, or won a more enviable reputation for sagacity and business integrity. For a generation the Coburn Brothers were known as leading business men from the source to the mouth of the Kennebec. Many men in Northern Somerset, who began to work for them as boys, grew grey in their em- ployment. These hardy, intelligent lumbermen gave to their chiefs a loyal service such as few employers have received, and no employers have been more worthy of such service. Some who began as boys in their employ became men of property, and independent operators. They gave a start in business to a large num- ber of men who became successful, and kept others from failure and ruin by helping them over hard places and setting them on their feet again, thus saving them to the business interests of the community. The firm of A. & P. Coburn did not obtain prosperity by sharp practices, or unworthy competition with others or wild speculation, but by sane and legitimate business methods, through industry and forethought. The secret of their success in the land and lumber business lay in their rare judgment in buying, and their tenacity in holding when times of disaster came. They pursued the policy of buying lands whenever

they could to advantage, and holding them, regardless of the ups and downs of the market. They foresaw the growth of New England under the stimulating influence of railway de- velopment, and they knew that Maine timber lands would have an increasing value as years went by. Thus they came to be the largest landowners in the state, possessing at one time seven hundred square miles. They also ac- quired many thousands of acres of valuable land in the West, in Michigan, Wisconsin, Da- kota and Washington.

Speaking of the remarkable credit enjoyed by this firm, a Boston business man said: "I never saw anything like it. I knew the Co- burns when I was selling goods in the Kenne- bec Valley in the Forties. There was hardly any money in the region, but it seemed to me that nearly every local storekeeper and well- to-do farmer had a piece of paper, signed A. & P. Coburn, which they held to be as good as money, and which had been given for produce for the lumber camps. Indeed, I think they were used as currency. Everybody had confi- dence in them." These notes were all paid. It is said that when Abner Coburn was governor he on more than one occasion affixed A. & P. Coburn to a bill which the legislature had enacted, so accustomed was he to signing the firm name.

The Coburns became interested in railroad enterprises in 1854, when they led a subscrip- tion for the Somerset and Kennebec Railroad Company for the purpose of building a line to Skowhegan. From the first, one or the other of the brothers was a director of this road, and for several years prior to its perpetual lease to the Portland & Kennebec, Abner Co- burn was its president, becoming afterwards a director of the consolidated line. After sev- eral years of conflict with the Maine Central Company, the Portland & Kennebec was con- solidated with it under the name of Maine Cen- tral, and Abner Coburn became one of the directors of the new company. In 1875 he was made president of the Maine Central Railroad Company and managed the road in the inter- ests of the stockholders, regardless of those who wished to make it subservient to other purposes, notably that of bolstering up the al- most bankrupt Eastern Railroad. His manage- ment of the Maine Central was a model of economy and efficiency. In 1878, after serving three years, he resigned the presidency.

The great service which Governor Coburn, as he was generally called, rendered Maine in the development of its railroad system cannot be overestimated. For more than a quarter of

161

STATE OF MAINE.

a century he devoted time and money to it, when the general opinion was that it was a misfortune to be a stockholder in any of the four corporations east of Portland which now make up the great system known as the Maine Central. In the darkest hours of the enter- prise he more than once attested his faith by pledging his private fortune to meet its obliga- tions. One incident of this kind is narrated as follows: Soon after one of the consolida- tions by which the present Maine Central was built up, there came a period of hard times. Business fell off, and the company had a large floating debt, the holders of which were im- portunate for payment. In their perplexity and distress it occurred to one of the members of the Board to apply to Governor Coburn. Several of them went to see him at his home, and laid the case before him, saying that they saw no way but for him to endorse the paper of the Maine Central for $200,000 at once, and for $500,000 later if necessary. The governor said not a word nor asked a question until the spokesman had finished, and then he simply asked them for the note, which he signed. The confidence which he inspired quieted the anx- iety of the creditors, and the crisis was over. The manager of one Savings Bank holding a large amount of the corporation paper, who had been urging payment with great persist- ency, said: "Give me Governor Coburn's en- dorsement and you can have the money as long as you wish." It was given, and the man- ager was satisfied. In connection with their land enterprises and otherwise, the Coburns were interested in several western railroads, among them the Northern Pacific.

At the incorporation of the Skowhegan Bank, the first bank in the town, in 1833, Mr. Coburn was one of the directors, and he sub- sequently became its president. When it was reorganized in 1863 under the National Bank- ing Act as the First National Bank, he was made president, which position he held throughout his life. He was also president of the Skowhegan Savings Bank from its organi- zation in 1869. A large amount of his time and thought were given to these institutions, and they profited greatly by his financial wis- dom and experience.

Mr. Coburn took a deep interest in political affairs. His family connection was with the Federalist party, and he cast his first vote for President for John Quincy Adams in 1824. Later he became a Whig. He served three terms in the Maine house, 1838, 1840 and 1844, being a member of the following committees : Finance, North-eastern boundary, banks and

banking, state lands and state valuation. In 1852, when General Scott was the Whig can- didate for the presidency, Mr. Coburn was on the electoral ticket. When the Whig party was broken up, he became a Republican, being among the founders of that party in the state. In 1855 he was a member of Governor A. P. Morrill's council, and in 1857 of the council of Governors Hamlin and Williams. He headed the electoral ticket when Abraham Lin- coln was elected President in 1860. In 1862 he was the Republican candidate for Governor, and was elected, receiving 42,744 votes to 32,108 for Bion Bradbury, Democrat, and 6,764 for General Jameson, War Democrat. Governor Coburn filled the office during the trying year of 1863. He was one of the loyal war Governors, who held up the hands of Lin- coln in those troublous times. He was gov- ernor in fact as well as in name, and there was no power behind the throne. The busi- ness of the State was conducted on strict busi- ness principles, with the same integrity which characterized the man in all the relations of life. Although this course gave dissatisfaction to some and made some enemies among poli- ticians, he adhered rigidly to it, and in after years even those who had differed from him at the time, admitted that the State never had a more efficient administration than Governor Coburn's.

He did not always act according to custom, but followed his own judgment, based on his ideas of right and justice. The following in- cident illustrates his independent methods. The First Maine Cavalry had lost several of its field officers, and was in such a condition that promotion in the regular order did not appear to him to be expedient. He listened to the arguments of the different parties concerned, and after a few days announced the nomina- tion of two young officers not the oldest in rank to the first places in the regiment. "I have carefully looked the matter over," was his reply to all protests. "I know these men ; their appointment is the best thing for the regiment." The sequel proved that he had acted wisely, and the regiment under its new leadership brought honor to the State.

Governor Coburn's message to the legisla- ture was practical, and showed careful thought concerning the needs of the State, and appre- ciation of the awful issues of war that were hanging in the balance. He said: "The total quota of troops demanded of Maine up to this time by the War Department, amounts to something less than the number we have actu- ally furnished. The patriotism of our state

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I, Part 36

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe Publication date: 1909 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 802

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 802