USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume I > Part 70
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(IX) Natt Thurston, son of Nathaniel Thurston Abbott, was born in Shapleigh, No- vember 18, 1872. He attended the district school and the Lindsey high school of Shap- leigh Corner, fitting for Dartmouth College,. where he was graduated in the class of 1892. He was principal of the Shapleigh high school and superintendent of the schools in Shap- leigh for two years; principal of the high school at Madison, Maine, for a year ; princi- pal of the Newton (New Hampshire) high school two years. He studied in the Boston University, left to continue teaching for a time, and continued later at Boston University Law School, graduating in 1902. He was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, Au- gust 26, 1902, and to the Maine bar Septem- ber 15, 1903. He began to practice in the town of Sanford, Maine, where he has had his office to the present time. He has devoted four days a week to his duties as instructor in the Boston University Law School. He has enjoyed an excellent practice, besides achiev- ing much success as a teacher. His experi- ence as a pedagogue has been of great value to him in his position in the law school. He has a wide acquaintance among the lawyers of New England. He is now professor of law in Boston University Law School, and chairman of the administrative board. He is a member of the Springvale Lodge of Free Masons ; Sagamore Tribe of Red Men, of San- ford; and the Baptist church of that town. He married, September 5, 1898, Lulu O. Dal- ton, born Acton, Maine, June 8. 1880, daugh- ter of Benjamin F. and Annie L. Dalton, of Shapleigh. They have one daughter, Doro- thy, born May 22, 1907.
The amount of work a man ABBOTT performs and the degree of success which crowns his ef- forts depend in a large measure on his natu- ral aptitude for the task he selects. The prin-
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cipal subject of the following sketch undoubt- edly had an inherited genius for the profes- sion in which he finds himself so happily and successfully engaged, and unrequiting appli- cation to his professional duties has placed him among the leading physicians of his spe- cial line.
(I) Alonzo Abbott, a descendant from Sir William Chase, of Cheshan, England, a mem- ber of the court of King Henry the VIII, was born in 1834, at Sullivan, Maine. The first ancestor to come to this country was Aquilla Chase, who settled in Massachusetts. Alonzo Abbott at a very early age was adopted by Shimuel Abbott, with whom he grew to man- hood. He was educated in the public schools and at Hamden Academy. He is by occupa- tion a wholesale granite dealer, and resides in Hancock. In 1860 he married Maria B. Mer- cer, who was born in 1832, daughter of Rob- ert and Nancy Mercer, whose parents were of Scotch-Irish descent. Three children were born of this marriage: Nancy M., who mar- ried Galen H. Young; Edville Gerhardt, who receives extended mention in the following paragraph; Charles H., who married Flora Foss.
(II) Edville Gerhardt, second child of Alonzo and Maria B. (Mercer) Abbott, was born in Hancock, November 6, 1871. He re- ceived his early literary education in the pub- lic schools of Hancock and at the East Maine Conference Seminary at Bucksport, Maine, where he was graduated in 1889. For the following six years he was associated with his father and brother in the granite business, hav- ing general supervision of their quarries on Mt. Desert Island. He entered the medical department of Bowdoin College in 1895, from which he graduated in 1898. Subsequently he was appointed house physician to the Maine General Hospital, where he served one year. The following year was spent in Boston and New York, studying the specialty of ortho- pedic surgery. Still desirous of attaining the utmost knowledge and the greatest degree of skill in his profession, he went abroad and continued his course in orthopedics, passing one year in the Fredrich Wilhelm Univer- sität, Berlin. Returning to the United States in 1891, he opened an office in Portland, and from that time until the present he has de- voted his whole attention to the one subject of orthopedic surgery. His success in his profession has been remarkable and his prac- tice is very large and covers an extensive field. After returning from his work in Europe, not being satisfied with his literary attainments, he
re-entered Bowdoin College, pursued the reg- ular courses and received the degree of Bach- elor of Arts. With a further desire for a more intimate acquaintance with literature, he still continued his studies in this institution and two years later received the degree of Master of Arts promerito. He is at the present time surgeon-in-chief to the Children's Hospital; orthopedic surgeon to the Maine General Hos- pital; visiting surgeon to St. Barnabas Hos- pital; consulting surgeon to the Sisters' Hos- pital, and instructor in orthopedic surgery in the Maine Medical School, Bowdoin College. His activities have not ended with his pro- fessional successes, but he has been connected with various enterprises and has interested himself in all civic questions. He is a mem- ber of several Greek letter fraternities, a mem- ber of the Cumberland County Medical So- ciety, Maine Medical Association, American Medical Association, and frequently contrib- utes articles to the leading medical journals of the country. He is also interested in busi- ness affairs and his early experience has been invaluable. He is a director in the Fidelity Trust Company, member of the Board of Trade, and connected with various corpora- tions. In politics, to which he has devoted considerable time with no small benefit to his party, he is a staunch Republican.
Dr. Abbott married, March 14, 1891, Sara Sargent, of Prospect Harbor, born July 12, 1868. She traces her ancestry to William Sargent, of Bristol, England, whose name first appeared in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1678, on which date he received a grant of land. He married Mary Duncan, daughter of Peter Duncan, of Gloucester, June 21, 1678. They were the parents of nine children. Epes Sar- gent, seventh child of William and Mary (Duncan) Sargent, born 1690, married (first) Esther Maccarty, in 1720. They were the parents of nine children. Benjamin Sargent, ninth child of Epes and Esther ( Maccarty) Sargent, born 1736, came to Gouldsboro, Maine. Among his children was a son Ben- jamin, who married Betsey - -, who bore him nine children. Samuel Sargent, eldest son of Benjamin and Betsey Sargent, born May 24, 1794, married Sarah Moore, January 6, 1820, and nine children were born to them. Benjamin Sargent, son of Samuel and Sarah (Moore) Sargent, born February 26, 1830, was a lawyer of Prospect Harbor, Maine. He married, October 16, 1865, Frances Hancock, and they were the parents of Sara Sargent, aforementioned as the wife of Dr. Edville G. Abbott.
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The Burnhams of both Old BURNHAM and New England trace their ancestry remotely to A. D. 1010, when their ancient patronymic was de Burnham, and so continued until A. D. 1080, when the prefix de was dropped ; and they are descended from one Walter le Veutre, who accompanied William the Conqueror into Eng- land, A. D. 1066. He was cousin-germain of Earl Warren, who received from the con- queror large estates which had belonged to Saxon nobles, among which was the manor of Burnham. This manor was enfeoffed by Earl Warren to his kinsman Walter le Veutre, wlio from that fact afterward was called Wal- ter de Burnham. Such, in brief, is the origin of one of the ancient families of England, and one which in New England dates from the early colonial period, from the year 1635, when three immigrant brothers-John, Thom- as and Robert Burnham-came from England and sat down in that part of the mother town of Ipswich then known as Chebacco Parish, and which now is the town of Essex, in the county of the same name, and the colony of Massachusetts Bay. These immigrant broth- ers were sons of Robert and Mary (Andrews) Burnham, of Norwich, Suffolk, England, and it is with the family and descendants of John Burnham that we have particularly to deal in these annals.
(I) John Burnham is first mentioned in Ipswich in the year 1639, although he is known to have been there at least two and perhaps four years earlier. He is described as a carpenter, and his name appears in the list of those allowed to have votes in town af- fairs; and he was there in the early days when the planters were in constant fear of the Indians, and when the officers of the train- band were ordered by the general court "to maintain watch and ward every day, to cause all men to bring arms to the meeting house, and see that no person travelled above a mile from his dwelling, except where houses were near together, without some arms." In 1637 John Burnham was one of seventeen young men of Ipswich who marched to Salem and there joined the forces raised in the colony to wage war against the Pequot Indians. In 1643 the town settled with the soldiers who had served against the Indians, paying "12 dollars a day (allowing for the Lord's day in respect of the extremity of the weather) and the officers dubble." For his service on this occasion John Burnham received three shillings. His name also appears in "a list of persons that have right of commonage, accord-
ing to law and order of the towne." John Burnham bought of Humphrey Griffin a two- acre lot, adjoining John Fawns', and sold the same to Anthony Potter, January 4, 1648. The records also show that John Burnham and his wife Mary conveyed to Samuel Ayers "a dwelling house and lot one and a half acres, which was Anthony Potter's, who bought them of Deacon Whipple, who bought them of Will- iam Lampson, to whom the same was granted." According to Burnham genealogy, John Burn- ham was born in 1618 and died November 5, 1694. The baptismal name of his wife was Mary, and she bore him four children : John, Josiah, Anna and Elizabeth.
(II) John (2), son of John (I) and Mary Burnham, is mentioned as a .voter in 1692, and in the same year is mentioned as one of the signers of the Proctor petition. Accounts of him, however, are meagre, unsatisfactory, and frequently misleading. One writer men- tions him as Deacon John Burnham, and says that by wife Sarah he had four sons, John, Jonathan, Thomas and Robert, and four daughters, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth and Han- nah.
(III) John (3), son of John (2) and Sarah Burnham, was born in 1738, in Chebacco Par- ish, Ipswich, Massachusetts, came thence to Falmouth, Maine, in 1760, and is said to have built the first wharf in the town, on the site where now stands Burnham's wharf. The old wharf was burned by Mowatt in 1775, but it was rebuilt by John Burnham, who also is said to have erected the first house in the town after the destruction of the settlement by the British, in 1775. By the burning of Fal- mouth he lost five hundred and fifty-three pounds, representing the value of his property which was then destroyed. In 1780 he was a member of the first constitutional conven- tion of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and January 23, 1786, he was one of the sign- ers of the petition for the incorporation of Portland, and also was one of the founders of St. Stephen's Church. He was one of the foremost men of his time in the town, a cooper by trade and a curer and packer of fish by principal occupation. He died in Portland, of yellow fever, July 29, 1798. His wife was Abigail Stickney, by whom he had a large family of eight sons and five daughters, nearly all of his sons being seafaring men.
(IV) Josiah, son of John (3) and Abigail (Stickney) Burnham, was born in Portland, Maine, January 23, 1770, and died there in 1843. For several years he was a merchant at Freeport and afterward a prosperous farmer
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at Durham. In the latter town he also car- ried on a coopering business and sent his wares to market in Portland. He took a prominent part in affairs of the town and served in various public capacities in Durham, where he was a surveyor of land, justice of the peace, and for several terms represented the town in the general court of Massachu- setts. In 1834 he returned to Portland and lived there until the time of his death, less than ten years afterward. He married four times, his first wife being Lucy Berry, by whom he had three sons, John, Josiah and George, and two daughters, Harriet and Lucy. Harriet married Alfred Soule, of Freeport, and Lucy became wife of Perez Burr, also of Freeport. Josiah Burnham's wife Lucy died in 1808, aged forty-five years. His third wife was Eleanor Jameson, who had a daugh- ter, Eleanor Jameson, who married Lieutenant Arnold Burroughs, of Boston.
(V) George, third son of Josiah and Lucy (Berry) Burnham, was born in Durham, Maine, August 20, 1801, and died in Port- land, October 10, 1884. He went to Port- land in 1825 and in 1828 established himself in business as a cooper, in the same shop which his grandfather, John Burnham, built in 1776. Besides his cooperage he owned a fleet of vessels and engaged extensively in the fisheries and also carried on trade with the West Indies. In 1828 the governor and council appointed George Burnham to the office of inspector of fish at Portland, and he discharged the duties of that position for the next forty-four years. He was an ener- getic and successful business man, having little inclination for public office, yet in political as well as in the business life of Portland he exercised a strong and healthful influence for many years. In 1828 he married Margaret Burr, of Freeport, born May 16, 1807, died March 25, 1885, daughter of Perez and Me- hitable (Weber) Burr, of Freeport. (See Burr.) Five children were born of this mar- riage: Margaret (married Louis Dennison), George, Perez B., Josiah and John E., of each of whom mention is made in this narrative.
(VI) George (2), eldest son of George (I) and Margaret (Burr) Burnham, was born in Portland, Maine, January 31, 1831, re- ceived his education in the public schools of that city, and after leaving school entered the employ of George F. Lewis, the pioneer packer of hermetically sealed goods in Portland. He applied himself industriously to his work there for six years and during that time gained a thorough understanding of the business in
every detail. In 1851 he engaged to work for one year for Samuel Rumery, and in March of the following year became a partner with his former employer, under the firm name of Rumery & Burnham. This relation was main- tained until January, 1867, when the partner- ship was dissolved and Mr. Burnham became senior partner of the firm of Burnham & Mor- rill and began a business which since that time has become one of the largest and most suc- cessful enterprises of its kind in New England, and one which for the proper conduct of its operations in its principal and auxiliary branches has for several years been incor- porated under the name of Burnham & Morrill Company. As packers and distributors of their products, whether meats, fish or vegetables, the old firm of Burnham & Morrill established a reputation for quality of goods and busi- ness integrity which gave it a peculiar and fortunate standing in trade circles throughout the country, for back of the firm's representa- tions was the ample guarantee of unquestioned integrity, reinforced and strengthened by the unconditional provision that damaged goods would always be replaced with perfect goods, or no payment would be received from the customer. Such was the business standard set up by the old firm of Rumery & Burn- ham, and that standard always was maintained by the successor firm of Burnham & Morrill, and also by its successor, the Burnham & Morrill Company, as now known in all busi- ness and trade circles throughout the world. For nearly half a century Mr. Burnham de- voted his energies entirely to the advancement of his business interests, but during more re- cent years he had withdrawn somewhat from arduous pursuits to enjoy the comforts of life honestly gained and well deserved. He still re- tained the presidency of the Burnham & Mor- rill Company, to which he was chosen at the time of its organization, but the responsibilities of business management were entrusted to younger men. For many years also he was president of the Merchants' National Bank of Portland, and when that institution merged in the Portland Trust Company he became a member of the board of directors of the latter corporation. And besides these interests he for many years had been financially identified with various railway, water transportation and gas companies, as well as with other public utilities. He died January 1, 1909.
(VI) Perez Burr, second son of George (I) and Margaret (Burr) Burnham, was born in Portland, Maine, May 5, 1835, and acquired his education in the public schools of that city.
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After leaving school he was for several years employed as clerk for a wholesale grain and flour firm, and went from that position to a place in the management of the cooperage, fishing and coast trading enterprises carried on by his father and brother George. How- ever, in 1861, early in the war, he enlisted in Company A of the First Maine Infantry and went with the regiment to the defenses of Washington and there did guard duty until the expiration of the three months' term of his enlistment. On his return home he soon acquired a partnership interest in the business conducted by his father and brother, and who about that time increased their operations by becoming importers and exporters ; and the re- lation thus formed was continued until 1872, when he withdrew and became partner in the firm of Burnham & Morrill, of which firm and its business mention is made in the last preceding paragraph. He continued actively with the latter firm until 1903, and then re- tired from business pursuits, although at vari- ous times he has been interested in other im- portant enterprises in and about Portland. He is a Republican in politics, loyal in his alle- giance to party and its principles, but has taken little active interest in public affairs, although he did serve one year as member of the board of aldermen from ward six, Port- land. Mr. Burnham is a member of the Cum- berland and Country clubs and of the Bram- hall League. He married Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of Captain William Tritton and Mar- garet Rebecca (Baker) Best. Her father was a master mariner living at Robbinston, Maine. Five children were born of this marriage: Harold C., who married Mabel Earl and has one child, Perez B., who married Anna Smart and has four children; Margaret, who died at the age of seventeen years; George, who mar- ried Alice Ellsworth and has one child; and Amy Jameson, who married Lowell M. Palm- er Jr. and has two children.
(VI) Josiah, third son of George (I) and Margaret (Burr) Burnham, was born in Port- land, Maine, October 23, 1840, and died De- cember 7, 1905. He was educated in the pub- lic grammar and high schools of Portland and during a part of his student life was a classmate with Judge Joseph Symonds and the late Thomas B. Reed. He early became identified with the packing business in which his brother was engaged. When the firm of Burnham & Morrill incorporated as the Burn- ham & Morrill Company, May 1, 1892, the original partners became members of the suc- cessor company, and Perez B. Burnham and
Josiah Burnham became interested as stock- holders and also actively associated with the business management. From the time the company was organized until his death, Josiah Burnham was general manager, and also be- came vice-president of the company on the death of his younger brother. He had entire charge of the packing department of the fac- tory in Portland and also at several of the corn factories in different parts of the state. He possessed a full knowledge of the practical details of the business and devoted his atten- tion earnestly and untiringly to the promo- tion of the vast company interests involved, and with most gratifying success, for he was a capable, thorough and progressive business man. In September, 1862, then less than twenty-two years old, Mr. Burnham enlisted as a private in Company A of the Twenty-fifth Maine Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Francis Fessenden, commanding. He was mustered into service for nine months, September 29, 1862, at Portland, and was mustered out at that city July 10, 1863. He was a comrade of Bosworth Post, G. A. R., a Free and Ac- cepted Mason, and for many years a member of the Cumberland Club. In religious prefer- ence he was a Congregationalist and in poli- tics a strong Republican. He was a man of culture and refined tastes, and during the later years of his life, in seasons when the demands of business were less exacting, it was his custom to travel and allow himself some rest and freedom from the responsibilities put upon him during the busier portions of the year. Indulging himself in this direction, he made several trips abroad in company with his wife, whose love of art and generous tastes have been shown in so many ways in Port- land, and especially perhaps in her commend- able efforts in behalf of the decoration of the schoolrooms of the city, and whose sympathies and generous disposition have been shown so unselfishly in her many charitable deeds and gifts. Mr. Burnham was a man of very quiet habits, loving home and its associations more than all else. His whole nature was generous, charitable, and his mind always turned to the brighter side of life, and he always seemed to enjoy the happiness of others and contrib- uted to it in every way ; it was a real pleasure to meet him and greet him, for he was per -. fectly sincere in all which he said and did, not at all inclined to seriousness in social life, but of cheerful, sunny disposition, which illumined every circle he entered and gave added pleas- ure to every occasion. Such was the man, and such was his nature, and the world was
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made better by his correct life and example. His endeavors in business were rewarded with gratifying success, and as he received, so also he gave, but quietly were his benefactions be- stowed, in order that attention might not be drawn to himself. It was quite evident for several months previous to his death that Mr. Burnham felt more than usual the exactions of business upon his strength and was con- scious of the fact that his health was fast being impaired. In September, 1905, he went to Poland Spring for rest, and remained there several weeks, then returned to his home and afterward visited his office nearly every day. On the day before his death he went out for a drive, and the end came almost unexpectedly, and before the family physician could reach his bedside. The house in which Mr. Burnham was born was burned in the "great fire" of 1866, and the house in which he lived during the later years of his life stood on land origi- nally a part of the house lot of the pioneer Burnham family. At South Paris, Maine, on March 28, 1871, Josiah Burnham married Mary Stone, who was born in Limerick, Maine, April 26, 1849. Her grandfather was Joseph Stone, of Harvard, Massachusetts, who mar- ried Mary Tounge, and had one child. Elisha Fullam Stone, son of Joseph and Mary (Tounge) Stone, was born in Harvard in Oc- tober, 1824, and died in 1900. In 1850 he re- moved to South Paris, Maine, and in 1861 was appointed postmaster there. He served five terms in that office and then was appointed special agent in the mail service of the post office department of the federal government, serving until his death, in 1900. Elisha Fullam Stone married Miriam Marcia Townsend, born January 9, 1825, daughter of William and Sophia (Dole) Townsend. The children of this marriage were Mary (Mrs. Burnham), Georgia Washburn, William F., Lila Kent, Jessie E. and Harry B. Stone.
(VI) John E., fourth and youngest son of George (I) and Margaret (Burr) Burnham, was born in Portland, Maine, January 31, 1843, and died in that city. He was given a good education in the public schools and grad- uated from the high school. . He began his active business career as junior member of the original firm of Rumery & Burnham, where he gained a thorough knowledge of the busi- ness of that house which served its useful pur- pose in later years, when he was junior partner of the successor firm of Burnham & Morrill, and still later in connection with the greater operations of the Burnham & Morrill Com- pany, in which he was largely interested and
of which he was for many years one of the most active and efficient members. Although the youngest of the four brothers who were so largely instrumental in the great enterprise now operated by the Burnham & Morrill Com- pany, John E. Burnham was in certain re- spects the most energetic man of them all in promoting the interests of the company and in increasing its business in every direction. He possessed splendid business capacity, reached his decisions quickly, and his judgment was rarely at fault. And withal, he was one of the most popular men in Portland, well known and highly respected in all business and social circles, for he was a man of unquestioned in- tegrity and of the highest character. His in- terest in the city and the welfare of its insti- tutions was both earnest and genuine, and his name always was counted in the list of those who could be relied upon to give material sup- port to all honest measures proposed for the public welfare. Selfishness was a quality en- tirely foreign to his nature, and he held in utter contempt all that savored of hypocrisy and sham. Mr. Burnham was a Republican of undoubted quality, although he never sought political preferment for himself, but few men were better informed in regard to political matters than he, and his mind was a veritable storehouse of knowledge for the free use of whomsoever felt inclined to draw on it for information, and he always was tolerant of the opinions of others when they were honestly held and presented. He was a careful student of political economy, with ample argument to support his views, but he never forced his opinions on others unless the occasion de- manded, and when it did his hearers were fre- quently amazed with the fund of facts and figures which this modest and unassuming man had at command and which he could use with such telling effect. Mr. Burnham was a member of the Cumberland Club, Atlantic Lodge, No. 81, F. and A. M., and of the Knights of Pythias; but aside from the Cum- berland Club he was not active in the affairs of either of the other orders of which he was a member. For a man of wealth and position, he was of remarkably quiet disposition, de- voted to his family, and especially to his sister, with whom he lived for many years and until her death. The full list of his benefactions probably never will be known, for he never spoke of them, although they are known to have been many and frequently generous in amount. With his large wealth he was able to do good in many ways of which the public knew nothing, and when his benevolences were
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