USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I > Part 48
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Dolor Davis, immigrant of this DAVIS Davis family, was one of the most prominent pioneers of both col- onies. His posterity is very numerous, and among them have been some very distin- guished men, namely : Hon. John Davis, gov- ernor and United States senator, and Hon. John D. Long, governor, congressman, and secretary of the navy. Dolor Davis married in county Kent, England, March 29, 1624, Margery, daughter of Richard Willard, of Horsemonden, county Kent, yeoman. She was baptized there November 7, 1602, and died
before 1667. Accompanied by his wife, three children and Simon Willard, his wife's bro- ther, Dolor Davis came to New England and settled prior to August 4, 1634, in Cambridge. Simon Willard was one of the founders of Lancaster: he was captain of foot in 1646, major in 1654, and at his death in 1673 "the colony lost one its most distinguished mem- bers."
Dolor Davis was a carpenter and master builder. He received his first grant of land in Cambridge, June 4, 1635, and others later. He removed to Duxbury, August 5, 1638-39, and was admitted a freeman and granted land there in 1640. He was a resident of Barn- stable in 1643 and was admitted a freeman there June 2, 1646. He was honored in Barn- stable with various public offices, including those of highway surveyor and constable. He and his wife were dismissed from the Duxbury to the Barnstable church August 27, 1648. In 1656 he left Plymouth colony and returned to Massachusetts Bay, and purchased in Con- cord one hundred and fifty acres with a house thereon. In 1666, however, he returned to Barnstable, and died there in June, 1673. His will was dated September 13, 1672, and proved July 2, 1673. It mentions sons Simon and Samuel as already having their portions; el- dest son John; son-in-law Lewis and Mary his wife; and daughter Ruth Hall. Children : I. John, born in England about 1626, to whom was bequeathed the Concord homestead. 2. Mary, born in England about 1631. 3. Eliza- beth. 4. Lieutenant Simon, married Mary
Blood. 5. Samuel, mentioned below. 6. Ruth, born in Barnstable, March 24, 1645.
(II) Samuel, son of Dolor Davis, was born in England or Cambridge about 1635. He married, at Lynn, January II, 1665-66, Mary Meadowes, who died at Concord, October 3, 1710. He married (second) October 18, 17II, Ruth Taylor, who died August 6, 1720. He was admitted a freeman March 21, 1689-90. He settled in that part of Concord that became Bedford, and his farm was on the back road from Concord to Bedford. He divided his real estate among his sons before his death by deeds. Children : I. Mercy, born October 27, 1666, died December 18, 1667. 2. Samuel, June 21, 1669, mentioned below. 3. Daniel, March 16, 1673, married at Concord, April 27, 1699, Mary Hubbard; resided at Bedford; died February II, 1741. 4. Mary, August 12, 1677, married, April 26, 1699, John Stearns. 5. Eleazer, July 26, 1680, married, May 7, 1705, Eunice Potter. 6. Lieutenant Simon, August 9, 1683, married, 1713, Dorothy
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John A. Davis
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-; removed to Rutland about 1720; died February 16, 1763; buried at Holden. 7. Stephen, March 20, 1686, married, March 26, 1713. at Concord, Elizabeth Fletcher ; resided at Bedford. '
(III) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (I) Davis, was born at Concord, June 21, 1669. He resided at Bedford and Chelmsford, and was one of the early proprietors of Town- send. He married. March 2, 1697, Abigail Read, who died January 13, 1709. He mar- ried (second) about 1710, Mary Law. Chil- dren of first wife: I. Abigail, born January 27, 1698. 2. Mary, November 18, 1700. 3. Samuel. October 3. 1703, mentioned below. 4. Jacob, July 8, 1707, settled in Lunenburg. 5. Eleazer. 6. Stephen. 7. John. Children of second wife: 8. Lydia, December 4, 1716. 9. Martha. IO. Deliverance, November 27, 1722.
(IV) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2) Davis, was born at Bedford, October 3, 1703. He settled in Lunenburg, perhaps in the part that became Townsend. He was fence viewer of Lunenburg from 1731-1736, hog reeve in 1733. He seems to have been a carpenter by trade. He married (first) Sarah and (second) January 13, 1746-47, at Lunenburg, Rebecca Larkin, of Groton. He died in 1775 at Lunenburg, leaving a widow, Margaret. Children : I. Samuel, born March 20, 1730, died young. 2. Sarah, December 7, 1732, died February 10, 1737. 3. Samuel, June 7, 1735. 4. Joseph. May 20, 1738, mentioned below. 5. Submit, married 6. Han- nah, mentioned in will.
(V) Joseph, son of Samuel (3) Davis, was born at Lunenburg, May 20, 1738. He was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain Samuel Stone's company of minute-men, Colonel Will- iam Prescott's regiment, at Lexington. He served in 1776 in the Ashby company, in New York. He settled in Townsend in the part set off as Ashby, and at one time owned what is now the centre of Ashby. Later in life he removed to Maine and had a farm there. He died in Maine. He married, at Lunenburg (intention dated October 22, 1757), November 8, 1757, Elizabeth Foster. Among his chil- dren were: Reuben, born at Ashby, December 23, 1783. died December 1, 1835; married Hannah Emerson Walker. Polly, married Wheeler, and resided at Townsend. Heald, mentioned below.
(VI) Heald, son of Joseph Davis, was born at Ashby, Massachusetts, in 1792, died at Lubec in 1860. He was a farmer and mason by trade. He settled in Lubec, Maine, in 1818.
He served in the war of 1812 and took part in the battle of Plattsburgh, New York. He married Mary Barnes, of Bath, Maine, born in 1800, daughter of Joseph Barnes, who was a soldier in the revolution in Colonel Strout's (Eleventh Massachusetts) regiment and was a pensioner of the United States when he died in 1836. Children: Eben Adams, Mary Ann, Frances Maria, William H., Emily Fow- ler, Sybil, John Albion, mentioned below.
Joseph Barnes, of an old New England family, lived at Harpswell, Maine. He was a soldier in the revolution at the age of six- teen and served three years, being mustered out at West Point; was late in life a pen- sioner. His grandmother was of Scotch des- cent. He married Lydia Thompson, whose sister Susan married a Captain Kent of the British army. Barnes and Kent both settled after the war at the Three Islands, Grand Manan, Maine. Children of Captain and Susan Kent were: Jonathan, Samuel, Joseph, Polly, Hepsibah, Elizabeth, Susan and Nancy, and both of the latter married Cheneys of Grand Manan. Barnes settled finally at Lu- bec, Maine, and died there. He was buried in the Lubec burial ground. Children: I. Moriah (twin), married Thompson. 2. William (twin), died unmarried. 3. Mary, married Heald Davis. 4. John, lived in New York and followed the sea for a livelihood.
(VII) Captain John Albion, son of Heald Davis, was born at Lubec, April 10, 1832. He attended the public schools of his native town. He began as a cabin boy to follow the sea, then shipped as cook and finally as able seaman. He was second mate of a ship four years after he began to follow the sea in 1848, and in 1855 was a master mariner. For a period of forty-five years he followed the sea and he is one of the best known skippers of Lubec. He left the sea to engage in business with his son-in-law, Bion Moses Pike, of Lu- bec. The firm name is Davis & Pike, whole- sale dealers in cured and pickled fish of all kinds and in salt. The firm has built up a flourishing trade, shipping their goods to all parts of the country. In the civil war he was appointed an ensign in the United States navy by Hon. Gideon Welles, secretary of the navy, and from that time until 1865 he was in the service, mostly in the Farragut and West Gulf squadrons, in the Cape Fear district off North Carolina. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of William H. Brawn Post, No. 138, Grand Army of the Republic, and past commander and a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of America, De-
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partment of Maine; of Washington Lodge, No. 37, Free and Accepted Masons, of Lubec. He is a member of the Christian church. He married Ann Maria Comstock, born May 21, 1832. Children: 1. Nelson Rexford, born 1857, died 1872. 2. Lizzie Comstock, Febru- ary 5, 1862, married Bion Moses Pike, of Lubec. 3. Mary Davis, October 28, 1870, married Irving W. Case, of Lubec.
ALLAN According to the deductions of antiquarians and others who
have investigated the origin of surnames, the names Allan and Allen appear to have come from the same remote source ; but Allen generally is given an English origin, while Allan, so far at least as it relates to the particular family here considered, is distinctly Scotch, and is traced to Alan, high constable of Scotland and lord of Galloway and Cun- ninghame, and who died A. D., 1234.' In this place, however, no attempt is made to trace the Allan pedigree through the several generations anterior to that of the American ancestor, the period of whose life was three score years and ten, and the scene of which was laid chiefly in Scotland and British America; but there was at least one among his descendants whose life and deeds were intimately associated with the early history of America in general and the province and subsequent state of Maine in par- ticular, as will appear to the reader of these pages.
(I) Major William Allan, the immigrant an- cestor and progenitor of the family here treated, was born in Scotland about the year 1720, and died in Nova Scotia about 1790. He was a gentleman of means, education and high social position, an officer in the British army, and tradition has it that his rank was that of major. Little indeed is known of his early life except what is learned from a family record in his own handwriting, and from which free quotation is made in these annals. He married, July 9, 1744, Isabella, daughter of Sir Eustace Maxwell, of Scotland, gentleman, and at the time of the birth of his eldest son was living temporarily in Edinburgh Castle, to which fortress his family with others had sought refuge during the troubles of the re- bellion, and while England and France were engaged in warfare both at home and in their colonies on this side of the Atlantic ocean. In 1748 the treaty of Aix la Chapelle estab- lished a temporary peace between the contend- ing powers, but it was at best armed peace and one during which both governments used every means and energy to strengthen their
colonial positions. On her own part the Brit- ish power at once began to devise ways and means to provide for a large number of sol- diers and sailors then recently discharged from home service, and to this end arranged for a system of colonization of the province of Nova Scotia, which although nominally a British province was inhabited by only a few neutral French and Indians. Liberal provis- ions were made for all who would settle there, and in 1749 under the inducements then of- fered Major William Allan with his wife and little son John, the latter then four years old, sailed in company with more than two thou- sand others for America. It has been assumed that when William Allan came to this country he was still an officer of the British army and was on half pay. He remained in Halifax about three years and in the latter part of 1752 was at Fort Lawrence, on the neck which connects Nova Scotia with New Brunswick, where he may have been commander, but more probably was a subordinate officer ; and he re- mained there until 1759. It is believed that Major Allan served as an officer through the French and Indian war from 1754 to 1763, when the treaty of Paris marked the over- throw of the French dominion in America. About that time he received a large grant of fertile land, became a farmer, and in a few years acquired considerable wealth. His farm was cultivated chiefly by the labor of French Acadians, who became for a time servants to the conquerors of their own territory. He was a member of the colonial legislature and fulfilled the duties of several offices of trust and honor. His nine children received edu- cational advantages and eventually became connected with the best families of the prov- ince. In religious preference he probably was of the Church of England, and undoubt- edly a man of great determination and energy. His wife died in 1767, and he married a second time, and died a few years after the close of the revolution. In a record of his family writ- ten by himself he thus mentions the death of his first wife: "1767. Isabel Allan (wife of William Allan Senior), Departed this life about the Turn of the Night between the 30th & 3Ist of August, 5 minutes before 12 o'clock." His children: I. John, born Janu- ary 3, 1746. 2. Mary, August 16, 1747, died December 22, 1747. 3. Elizabeth, December 25, 1750, married, August 27, 1772, John George Pyke. 4. William, October 27, 1752, died October 4, 1806, married, in 1787, Sarah Dixson ; removed from Halifax to Fort Cum- berland. 5. George, September 30, 1754, died
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May 19, 1804. 6. James, August 25, 1756, died November 1, 1757. 7. Jean, April 10, 1759, married, February 7, 1775, Thomas Cochran. 8. Winckworth, November 21, 1760. 9. Isabel, July 23, 1762.
(II) Colonel John, eldest son and child of Major William and Isabella (Maxwell) Al- lan, was born in Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, January 3, 1746 (O. S.), and died at Lubec Mills, Maine, February 7, 1805, aged fifty-nine years. The following narrative of his life is taken largely from "A Memoir of Col. John Allan," by Mr. Frederic Kidder, printed 1867. He came to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his parents in 1749, and October 10, 1767, mar- ried Mary Patton, born February 3, 1746, died June 8, 1819. He was a representative in the provincial parliament of Nova Scotia from 1770 to 1776, when he was obliged to flee for refuge to the United States, his ideas of free- dom having made him obnoxious to the Brit- ish government, who offered rewards for his apprehension. He came to the states in the autumn of 1776. Proceeding to Philadelphia, he had several interviews with General Wash- ington and also waited upon congress. He was soon after appointed colonel of infantry and superintendent of eastern Indians, and throughout the war was stationed at Machias, Maine. He remained at his post until 1783, when he commenced a mercantile business, which not succeeding well he turned his at- tention to agriculture and continued in that pursuit until the time of his death.
Such, then, is a very meagre glance at the career of one of the notable characters in our early national history, with none of the side- lights of his eminent services in behalf of American liberty, nor of his private life as a citizen of one of the important states of the federal union. Of his boyhood little is known, although his letters and public utterances give evidence of superior education, and it is known that he possessed a good understanding of English history, was versed in French, hav- ing acquired that knowledge from the Aca- dians among whom his youth was spent; and besides these he was quite familiar with sev- eral of the Indian dialects, which knowledge was of much value to him in his capacity of superintendent of the eastern Indians. It is thought that some part of his younger life was spent in Boston, where doubtless under the patrioticinfluences of Massachusetts public men he learned the lesson which impelled his own later action ; but however this may have been the fact remains that upon his return home after a somewhat extended absence there
was an estrangement between his father and himself on account of political questions, for the former remained loyal to the mother coun- try during the revolution, while the son gave his greatest energies in behalf of the cause for which the American colonies were contending.
About the time of the death of his mother Colonel Allan became acquainted with Mary Patton, and it is related that on one occasion she went into his father's store, with a skein of thread hanging loosely about her neck. He playfully attempted to take it off, but she re- sisted and a merry struggle followed. From that time they became intimate friends and were married October 10, 1767. It is sup- posed that after his marriage his father gave him a part of his large estate, and he began life in farming and mercantile pursuits. His farm, known as "Invermary," was one of the best in the counties of Cumberland and West- moreland and included three hundred and forty-eight acres of land ; and besides his own dwelling it contained several country houses occupied by French Acadian families as ten- ants, two large and four small barns. He also held several important public offices, among them that of justice of the peace, clerk of the sessions and clerk of the supreme court. In 1770 he was elected representative to the pro- vincial assembly and held that office until 1776, when his seat was declared vacant be- cause of his non-attendance. At that time his mind was made up to join the colonies in re- sisting the oppressions of the mother country, and his actions and utterances impelled the provincial authorities to take measures for his apprehension on the charge of treason to the king. Thus threatened he fled to the states, but not until after he had visited the Indians and secured for the colonies the co-operation of a large number of the Mic-Mac tribe. Leav- ing Cumberland early in October, 1776, he came to Machias, Maine, later went to Boston and on November 29 started on horseback for Philadelphia, and on Sunday, December 22, dined with Washington at headquarters. He was received by congress early in January, 1777, and gave that body a full statement of affairs in the provinces. Soon afterward he was appointed superintendent of the eastern Indians and commissioned colonel of infantry, and having received instructions from John Hancock left Baltimore for Boston, arriving in that city February 3, 1777.
After he fled to Maine the British authori- ties put a price on Colonel Allan's head, of- fering one hundred pounds for him "who has been deeply concerned in exciting the said
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rebellion." In writing of Colonel Allan's al- liance with the Americans, the historian Mur- dock says: "As he had no New England ancestors his escapade must be attributed to ambition, romance or pure zeal for what he thought was just and right. For the feelings against the crown in Nova Scotia int 1775 were confined to the Acadian French who resented their conquest, the Indians who were attached to them by habit and creed, and the settlers who were emigrants from New England." When the British sacked Cumberland Colonel Allan's house was one of tlie first to be de- stroyed, his wife was made prisoner and taken to Halifax and imprisoned for six months, separated from her children. She was sub- jected to many insults and indignities, her finest apparel taken and worn by the wives of soldiers and paraded before her eyes. After returning to Boston Colonel Allan remained there about three months then went back to Maine and assumed the duties of his office of superintendent of Indian affairs and entered actively into all of the military operations which were carried out in that region; and from that time until the close of the war his life was one of constant motion, full of dan- ger and frequently subject to covert attack from bitter enemies, whites and red men alike. He was a fearless leader and very capable officer and perhaps no one man in all the province did more than he or sacrificed more than he for the American cause; and when peace was again restored and he gave an ac- count of his stewardship it was found that his transactions were perfectly honest and his character was without blemish. After the war he returned to Boston, resigned his office and closed his accounts with the government. In 1784 he settled permanently in Maine and in the next year began mercantile business on what was named for him "Allan's Island," near Lubec. But he appears not to have pros- pered in business, for he was so constituted that it was a thing almost impossible for him to press a debtor for payment, hence his for- bearance cost him considerable money, and at the end of about two years he closed out his mercantile establishment and went to Lubec Mills, where he died. In 1792 about twenty- two thousand acres of wild land was granted him and his associates, the tract being within what now is the town of Whiting, but the soil was hard and barren and of comparatively little real value to the grantees. In 1801 con- gress made him a grant of about two thousand acres of land in the then territory of Ohio, on a part of which the city of Columbus is built
up, but this yielded him but little pecuniary advantage.
During the later years of his life he was seri- ously afflicted with bodily ailments, largely the effects of his years of privation and ex- posures incident to his public service, and he died as he had lived, a courageous and hon- orable man, a soldier and patriot. He mar- ried, as has been mentioned, October 10, 1767, Mary Patton, who bore him nine children : I. William, born Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 23, 1768, died March 6, 1814; married Alice Crane, born 1770, died 1841. 2. Mark, born Cumberland, Nova Scotia, March 31, 1770, died September 22, 1818; married Susan Wil- der, born 1774, died 1852. 3. John, born Cumberland, December 23, 1771, died October 3, 1863 ; married Mehitable Crane, born 1779, died 1846. 4. Isabel Maxwell, born Cumber- land, October 23, 1773, died July 12, 1829. 5. George Washington, born Cumberland, March 13, 1776. 6. Horatio Gates, born Machias, Maine, June 13, 1779, drowned October 30, 1837; married Charlotte Crane, born West Point, New York, September 25, 1782, died December 19, 1840. 7. Anna, born Machias, April 16, 1781, died Boston, August 21, 1783. 8. Elizabeth, born Machias, April 16, 1781, died Whiting, Maine, June 22, 1863. 9. Winckworth Sargent, born Lubec, Maine, May 31, 1788, drowned October 2, 181I.
(III) George Washington, fourth son and fifth child of Colonel John and Mary (Patton) Allan, was born in Cumberland, Nova Scotia, March 13, 1776, drowned at sea August 24, 1806. He married Mary Cutts Hart, born 1779, died 1864. Children : I. Theodore Cutts, born December 26, 1803, died 1865; married Nancy Hall and had two children, Theodore M., born February, 1844, and Mary, born April, 1847. 2. John George, born April 5, 1805, died 1824. 3. Mary Elizabeth, born March 15, 1807.
(IV) Mary Elizabeth, only daughter of George Washington and Mary Cutts (Hart) Allan, was born March 15, 1807, died at North Lubec, Maine, in 1892. She married Colonel George Comstock, born April 19, 1799, and had seven children: 1. Hiram, born February IO, 1828, died April 30, 1900; married Mary E. Brown. 2. Mary Ardelia, December 20, 1829, died August 8, 1849. 3. Ann Maria, May 21, 1832, married Captain John Albion Davis (see Davis). 4. Theodore Allan, May 3, 1834, died April 10, 1888. 5. Eurilla Eliza- beth, January 8, 1838, married Alfred Small. 6. Lucia Emily, May 8, 1843, died February 16, 1878. 7. Sarah Jeannett, June II, 1845.
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CASE Case is an ancient English surname, derived it is thought from the An- glo-Norman word meaning hazard and of the same class of surname as Hazard, but the more reasonable derivation is from the Latin Casa, meaning a house or cottage. The name is found in the Hundred Rolls in the thirteenth century.
(I) William Case, immigrant ancestor, was born in England. He came to the United States shortly after the revolution and be- came a school teacher. He acquired the trade of shipwright and engaged in business at Lu- bec, Maine, as a ship builder. He also kept a general store in that town. Children : I. Solomon Thayer, born December 18, 1833, mentioned below. 2. William. 3. Eben. 4. Joseph. 5. George. 6. Increase, moved to Wisconsin in 1869; he had two sons in the civil war, John W. in the Sixth Maine, who was wounded in the leg, and Alonzo, who lost an eye in the service. 7. Thomas, went to Massachusetts. 8. Samuel, went to Oregon, became an Indian agent for the United States government, and died there. 9. Mary, mar- ried Dr. Frank Adams and lived in Litch- field, Maine, where he died. 10. Charles, went to Washington, where he died.
(II) Solomon Thayer, son of William Case, was born at Lubec, Maine, December 18, 1833, died in 1903. He married Lorena Leighton, born March 23, 1835. died June 16, 1908, at Lubec, daughter of Mark Leighton, born 1809 at Lubec, a farmer, descendant of the Leigh- ton family of New Hampshire, prominent from the earliest settlement at Dover and vi- cinity and at Kittery, Maine, and vicinity. Children : 1. Irving Wardwell, born at Lubec, February 19, 1866, mentioned below. 2. Mary E., born January II, 1868, married John Muholland, of Lubec; children: Gretchen, Francis, Lorine, Ivan M. 3. Charles Her- man, born July 26, 1872. 4. Annie Baker, born January 20, 1876, unmarried, a teacher in the public schools of Haverhill, Massachu- setts.
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