USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume II > Part 28
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son, of Littlefield, who was a soldier in the revolutionary war, 1757-1847, and Anna Lan- don, 1760-1849. Nancy McNeil was daughter of Captain William and Hulda (Augor) Mc- Neil. He was the son of Archibald and Saralı (Clark ) McNeil. For many generations these families resided in Connecticut.
The following line of Warren
WARREN which appears very early in Watertown, Massachusetts,
has a branch in Grafton, which is now repre- sented by a prominent family in Westbrook, Maine.
(I) John Warren came to America probably in 1630, in the fleet with Sir Richard Salton- stall. He was then forty-five years of age. He settled in Waterbury, Massachusetts, was admitted freeman, May 18, 1631, and was se- lectman from 1636 to 1640. In1 1635 he and Abraham Browne were appointed to lay out all highways, and to see that they were rc- paired. His homestall lot in 1672 contained twelve acres. He also owned seven other lots. amounting to one hundred and seventy-six acres. October, 1651, he and Thomas Ar- nold were cach fined twenty shillings for an offense against the laws concerning baptism. March 14, 1659, he was to be warned for not attending public worship; but "Old Warren is not to be found in town." April 4, 1654, he was fined for neglect of public worship, four- teen Sabbaths, each five shillings-total three pounds ten shillings. May 27, 1661, the houses of "Old Warren and Goodman Hammond" were ordered to be searched for Quakers. Mr. Warren seems to have agreed in religious sen- timents with Dr. John Clark, of Newport, Na- thaniel Briscoe Sr .. who returned from Water- town to England. Thomas Arnold, who moved from Watertown to Providence. They were probably all Baptists. John Warren married, in England, Margaret - -, who died No- vember 6, 1662. He died December 13, 1667, aged eighty-two. His will, dated November 30, proved December 17, 1667, mentions the following children, all born in England : John, Mary, Daniel, Elizabeth.
(II) Captain Jolin (2), eldest son of John (1) and Margaret Warren, was born in Eng- land, in 1622. and settled in Watertown with his parents. He was made a freeman May 18, 1645, selectman in 1676. His will, dated Jan- uary 12, was proved February 22, 1703. He married, July 11, 1667, Michal, widow of Richard Bleys, and daughter of Robert Jenni- son. She died July 14, 1713. Her inventory amounted to one hundred and fifty pounds
three shillings. The children of Captain John and Michal were: Margaret, Sarah, Eliza- beth, Mary, John, Grace, Samuel.
(III) John (3), eldest son of John (2) and Michal (Jennison ) ( Bleys) Warren, was born in Watertown, May 21. 1678, and resided in Weston. His estate was administered upon by widow Lydia, July 29. 1726. His inventory footed £391, 4s., IId. He married first, Abi- gail IJastings, born December 8, 1079, daugh- ter of John and Abigail ( Hammond) Ha- stings. of Watertown. She died July 19, 1710, and he married second, May 14, 1711, Lydia Fiske. She survived her husband and mar- ried second, in Weston, June 17, 1730. Benja- min Harrington. Children of John Warren were: John, Sarah, Samuel, Thomas, David, Benjamin, Abigail and William.
(IV) Captain Samuel, second son of John (3) and Abigail ( Hastings) Warren, was born March 18, 1704. and died January 26, 1775. Samuel Warren removed from Weston to Grafton in 1730, as is shown by the follow- ing extract from the church record: "S. War- ren is a person free from public scandal and (in charity ) is meet for church communion." Signed, "William Williams, pastor of the church in Weston." He was one of the origi- nal members of the First Church of Grafton, and his daughter Sarah was the first white child baptized there. Tradition says he bought his land of the Indians. He built his first house of logs, some distance south of the house now standing built by his grandson John. He commanded a company that inarched for the relief of Fort William Henry, March 25. 1757. He married, at Weston, Au- gust 26, 1728, Tabitha Stone, daughter of Joseph and Sarah ( Waite) Stone. Children : Samuel, Sarah, Rebecca, Abigail, John, Ta- bitha, William. David, Joseph and Martha.
(V) Captain Joseph, fifth son of Captain Samuel and Tabitha (Stone) Warren, was born April 22, 1745, and died July 19, 1808. In February, 1763, he was a private in Captain Ebenezer Cox's company, in His Majesty's service. He was sergeant in Captain Luke Drury's company that marched from Grafton to Lexington, April 19, 1775. In April, 1776, he was second lieutenant in Captain Nathaniel Sherman's company, Colonel John Goulding's regiment. August 1, 1777, he commanded a company which marched to the relief of Ben- nington, and again August 16, and in Sep- tember. He married, March 28, 1765, Lois Lyon, born 1746, died February 7, 1816. Chil- dren : Samuel, Jobn, Sally, Tabitha, Lois, Phila and Delphia.
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(VI) Jolin (4), second son of Captain Jo- seph and Lois (Lyon) Warren, was born No- vember 28, 1767, and died June 17. 1828. He left home soon after attaining his majority, and began to clear and pay for a farm in New Hampshire. This farm he soon sold, and in the year 1798 formed a partnership with Jona- than Wheeler. About 1815 he withdrew from the firm of Wheeler, Warren & Chase, and retired to his farm where his father and grand- father had lived from time to time. By pur- chase he added many acres more, and about the year 1804 he built the house now standing. As a business man he was systematic and clear-headed; and a balance sheet still in ex- istence shows his methodical habits. After his retirement to his farin he was much interested in town affairs. He had a marked domestic taste and was of a mirthful temperament, and his neighbors enjoyed his jokes and were fond of repeating them. He once sent a boy. not overbright, to the mill to have sonie grain ground. Before the boy left for the mill Mr. Warren told him that the miller was a very sharp man, and he must see that the miller did not cheat him. When the boy returned from the mill, Mr. Warren asked him what success he had had and if the miller had treated him all right ; the boy replied that the miller, when he thought he was not looking, took some of Mr. Warren's grain out of the hopper and put it with his own. "Then what did you do?" asked Mr. Warren. "When he was not looking I put it back again," replied the boy. The miller was often reminded by Mr. Warren of his trying to cheat a poor half- witted boy. John Warren married, May 20, .1797, Polly Chapin, who died June 4, 1804; he married second, October 14, 1804, Susan- nah Grout, who was a woman of rare wisdom and force of character. She was born in 1780 and died December 23, 1837. Children of first marriage : Mary C., John A. and Caroline F. Children of second wife: Sally H., Anna G., Joseph D. (died young), Jonathan M., Samuel A., Susanna C., Joseph A., Samuel D., Sally E., Adelia M. and Hannah L.
(VII) Joseph A., fourth son of John and Susannah ( Grout) Warren, was born in Graf- ton, June 17, 1815, and died in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, June, 1903. He was educated in the common schools, and learned the car- penter's trade. In 1841 he went to Wau- watosa, Wisconsin, where his elder brother, Jonathan M., had a flour mill and was a promi- nent citizen. Joseph A. was a pioneer settler, an industrious and respected business man. He bought a farm in 1839 on which he lived until
his death. He was a Republican from the formation of that party until his death. He was one of the founders of the Congregational church in Wauwatosa, and contributed liberal- ly toward the building of the house of worship erected there. He married first, in 1836, Sarah H., daughter of Ebenezer Potter, of Fitzwill- iam, New Hampshire. Children : 1. Maria S., married H. R. Hayden, of Hartford, Con- necticut. 2. John E., mentioned below. 3. Sarah H., who died in 1864. He married sec- ond, Harriet F. Green; children : 4. George H., who died in 1860. 5. Harriet F., who died in 1880. 6. Carrie G., still living in Wauwa- tosa.
(VHHI) John E., only son of Joseph A. and Sarah H. ( Potter) Warren, was born in Graf- ton, Massachusetts, 1840, taken by his parents to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, in 1841, and edu- cated in the public schools. After leaving school he taught for two winters and farmed the remainder of the year. At the outbreak of the civil war he responded to the first call for volunteers and enlisted in Company B, First Wisconsin Infantry, a three months regiment, and served in the Harpers Ferry region dur- ing the term of his enlistment. After the ex- piration of his term of enlistment he again en- listed in the Seventh Wisconsin Battery Light Artillery, and remained with it till the close of the war. He saw much active service; he participated in the battle of Falling Water, Virginia, July 2, 1861, the Siege of Island No. IO, in March, 1862, the battle of Parker's Cross Roads, West Tennessee, and Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi. At the last-named place he and four comrades were captured and taken to Andersonville prison where he was kept five months. Three of those taken with him died in consequence. Mr. Warren served in the ranks, also as first sergeant, of the bat- tery, and near the close of the war was detailed to take charge of a battery manned by negroes, but the close of hostilities prevented his being commissioned, and he was discharged July, 1865. He returned to Wisconsin, where he remained only a year, and in the fall of 1866 he came to Maine and entered the employ of his uncle, Samuel D. Warren, who owned and operated what is known as the Cumberland Mills, formerly the property of Day & Lyon. Here he was engineer and mechanic for some time, then general assistant, and in 1884 was made agent and general manager and has now (1909) filled those places for a quarter of a century. Mr. Warren is a Republican and was the first town treasurer of Westbrook after its division into the towns of Westbrook and
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Deering. He was representative in the state legislature in 1873-74, and a member of the board of aldermen of the city of Westbrook four terms. He is a member of the Congrega- tional church and one of its deacons, and is a trustee of the Maine Missionary Society and the Bangor Theological Seminary. He be- came a member of Cloudman Post, G. A. R., in 1884.
John E. Warren married, November 18, 1869, Sarah Harriet Brown, born September, 1842, daughter of Silas and Elizabeth Brown, of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Children: 1. Jo- seph A., mentioned below. 2. John B., died in 1882. 3. Mortimer, graduated from Bow- doin College and later from Johns Hopkins University as a doctor of medicine, and is now in New York city. 4. Lois, wife of Winfield S. Shaw. of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(IX) Joseph A., eldest child of John E. and Sarah H. ( Brown) Warren, was born in Westbrook, September 10, 1870. He attended the Westbrook schools and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating from the latter in 1892, with the degree of civil engi- neer. Soon after graduation he entered the employ of S. D. Warren & Company, as engi- neer, and is now mill manager. He is a Re- publican and was a member of the common council of Westbrook in 1898-99 and 1900, and mayor of the city in 1901-02-03. He married, June, 1896, Georgia Pottle, born in Kittery, 1872, daughter of Rev. Abel and Martha E. Pottle, the former of West Maine Conference. Children : Sally, Martha, Jeanette, Georgia and Josephine.
The family of Wilson have been WILSON resident in Maine from early pioneer times, as early as per- haps 1635, and descendants of the immigrant have been honored and influential citizens of the region of his settlement for almost two centuries and a half.
(I) Gowen Wilson, immigrant, and the an- cestor of a numerous progeny, is traditionally reputed as having been from Scotland. Some have said that he came from Paisley, but it is impossible to trace this statement back to its source ; however, it seems to have been handed down from early times. He was born in 1618 and resided early in Kittery, Maine. Informa- tion about him is very limited, and affords very slight ground for any inferences. He had a son and a daughter, who apparently were born between 1650 and 1660. From this it can be reasonably inferred that Gowen was born be- tween 1615 and 1635. He was a member of
the town of Kittery in 1647, which sets the date of his birth back before 1625, presuma- bly. So that the indications arc that Gowen Wilson settled in Kittery at some time between 1635 and 1647-unless he came over with his father, of which there is no evidence. Jan- uary 19, 1658, land was allotted by the town to Gowen Wilson ; this grant contained twen- ty-four acres. Fifteen years later he received a second grant of twenty-one acres. The rec- ord was as follows: "Kittery ye 12th of June 1673-at a lcagall town meeting for ye granting of lands in ye lower part of ye river and town of Kittery there was granted unto Gowen Willson and his heires forever an ad- dition to his house lot Joyning to Richard En- dles. This is a true copie taken out of the origenall, Aprell 30 1674-as Attest Francis Hook." "Measured and layd out unto Gowen Wilson his additional grant dated June 12, 1672-between his house lot and Richard En- dles house lot a hundred and sixty poles in length North East from Spruce Creek, and ·one and twenty poles in breadth with Richard Endles sd lot and ye Goose Case on ye South East, and Contains one and twenty acres, I say layd out this 20 of December 1678
per me John Wincoll Survr" This land is situated at the junction of the Norton road with the main road up the creek. Gowen Wilson was one of the men who signed their submission to the government of the Mas- sachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. In June, 1674, and in June, 1675, he was elected to the board of selectmen of the town. The next mention of him is in 1680, when he and Enoch Hutch- ins made an inventory of the estate of John Phillips. He signed a deed of gift to his son- in-law, Andrew Haley, June 2, 1684. Gowen Wilson died between 1684 and 1686. On Au- gust 6, 1686, one of his sons signed his satis- faction with his portion of his father's estate, which shows that Gowen had died some time previously. Nothing is known of the wife of Gowen Wilson-not even her name. The ab- sence of mention of her in the settlement of his estate shows that she was dead at that time. Three children are mentioned : John, Joseph and Deborah ; as living after the death of their father.
(II) Sergeant Joseplı, son of Gowen Wil- son, was probably born between 1650 and 1665. The first mention of him in any records is dated March 2, 1672, when he and his brother John were witnesses to a deed from Jonathan and Mary Mendum to John Fenwick. It is worthy of note that on this paper Joseph Wil- son signed by making his mark, while John
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Wilson wrote his name. The next mention of Joseph is the following: "Measured and layd out unto Joseph Wilson his grant of 20 acres of land dated June 12 1673-at ye head of the Eastern Creek a hundred and sixty pole in length East North East and twenty pole in breadth North North-west and bounded with Enoch Hutchens land South South-east, John Wincoll Survr." This was the first land owned by Joseph Wilson in Kittery. Succeeding this there were several grants located in three dif- ferent places in the town. Joseph Wilson also possessed a considerable estate now owned by the heirs of the late Colonel Gowen Wilson, of Kittery. The first mention of Joseph Wilson in this vicinity is in 1682. In 1685 he obtained twenty acres at this place, ten of which has been mentioned as granted to him in 1682. The next grant to him was made in 1694 and laid out in 1697. In 1699 he was granted forty acres more, and in 1703 he had still other grants of twenty-four and six acres. The orig- inal forty-five acre lot which belonged to Gowen Wilson is marked on a map of that time as "Sergeant Wilson's Home Lot." An inventory taken after the decease of Joseph Wilson credits him with one hundred and eighty-six acres of land. Besides these hold- ings he owned quite extensively in sawmills. At the time of his death he owned one-half of a large mill, in partnership with Elihu Gunni- son Jr. and Andrew Haley. He was also an owner in two other mills. One of these mills was on Spruce creek, one on Goose creek, and the other north of Crocketts Neck at a place now called "the mill dam." Joseph Wilson held various offices in Kittery from time to time. He was chosen surveyor of highways and fences in March, 1694, and was re-elected yearly until 1699. In 1697 "Sargt. Joseph Wilson was appointed one of a committee of five to supervise the construction of a meet- ing house, probably the first building erected in Kittery expressly for a church." A record of other service to the town is as follows: "At a Legall town Meeting held at Kittery, May 24th 1699 Lt John Shapleigh was Chosen Moderatr for the sd day John Heard Joshua Downing and Joseph Wilson were Chosen to Set with ye Selectmen for to Allow of all grants of Land that be Made this day." Jo- seph Wilson was elected to the board of select- men of Kittery in 1703-04-05. The last record of him as an office holder in the town is in 1708, when he was again chosen surveyor of highways and fences. Joseph Wilson's mili- tary title was held in the organization of the
people of the town for protection against the Indians. The town records contain no refer- ences to these matters, but it is known from unofficial papers that throughout the town suitable houses were chosen in which a half dozen or so of the nearby families took refuge in times of trouble with the Indians. An old map shows a building marked "Mr. Wilson's Garrison," and this is proof that Sergeant Wilson kept such a house. His title did not come from this, however, for his son Joseph maintained a garrison but had no military title, and Sergeant Wilson's widow, Hannah Wil- son, also kept a garrison house. Sergeant Wilson died probably in the early part of 1710. He died suddenly, and in such a manner as to require a coroner and a jury, as shown in a list of funeral charges, but in what manner he died there is neither record nor tradition. The inventory of Sergeant Wilson's estate shows property valued at £619 15s. 8d., a very comfortable estate for those times. Of the two hundred and forty-one names on the list of freeholders of Kittery in 1711, only sixty-four had a yearly income of ten pounds or over. The receipts from Sergeant Wilson's estate are stated to have been ten pounds. In a deed he is described as a "house-wright" or car- penter.
Joseph Wilson married Hannah, daughter of Richard Endle, about 1682. He was then about thirty years of age, and his wife some years younger. Children : Hannah, Joseph, William, Ruth, Gowen, Agnes, John, Rebecca, Deborah, Mary, Anna and Elizabeth. Sergeant Wilson's widow Hannah was appointed admin- istratrix of his estate, May 10, 1711. A record of an accounting rendered by her in 1714 is on the probate books of York county. She had set apart for her use about thirty acres of the Goose creek property. There are rec- ords from time to time of several sales and purchases by her-partly in connection with her position as administratrix of her husband's estate, and partly on her own account. The reason of her being chosen in 1722 to set up a garrison house was probably done because that place was the best situation for a garri- son house in the vicinity, and not on account of any special ability on her part as an In- dian fighter. These things rather indicate, however, that she was an energetic woman, not living in that quiet inactive manner which, perhaps, might have been expected of a wom- an in her position. She died in the early part of the year 1748, aged above eighty years. Ad- ministration upon her estate was granted to her
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eldest son, Joseph Wilson. Her appraisement, dated July I, 1748. showed a total of prop- erty valued at [212, old tenor.
(III) Gowen (2), fifth child and third son of Sergeant Joseph and Hannah ( Endle ) Wil- son, was born in Kittery, January 29, 1690. He received a fourth part of the real estate of his father and also became the owner of a tract of land on the west side of Spruce creek containing sixty acres which was a part of three hundred acres granted Hugh Gunnison. In 1748 he sold this Spruce creek property, and it does not seem that he ever became perma- nently located in Kittery. Gowen Wilson moved from Kittery to Falmouth some time between the years 1730 and 1736. He seems to have been a quite extensive dealer in real estate in Kittery, for the records show that his transactions were not in the nature of ac- quisitions for his own personal use. They seem rather to have been for investment only. At the time of his removal to Falmouth he still owned a considerable quantity of land in his home town, but during the succeeding ten years he sold it all-or very nearly all. On account of the damage to the records of Cum- berland county by the fire at Portland in 1866. it is very difficult to get any official knowledge of the acts of this man in Falmouth. In one deed made while he resided at Falmouth he is described as a "carpenter"; in another as "gentleman." In 1735 Gowen Wilson was taxed eleven shillings and eight pence in Fal- mouth, which was the amount of two poll taxes. thus indicating that lie owned a slave or noadman; on real estate one shilling eight pence ; and on personal property one shilling and six pence, says a local historian. He came from Kittery to Stroudwater, and was a mill- wright. His great-grandson stated that he was the master workman of the first mill on Presumpscot Falls in Falmouth. December 28, 1736, he received title to the lot for which he was taxed in 1735, and it was the third land record transfer made by Messrs. Waldo & Westbrook at Stroudwater. This place he sold soon after, and seems to have removed to Presumpscot Falls. He had grants of land easterly of Allen's Corner. The proprietors' records of the common and undivided lands show that on March 30, 1737, he had a sixty- acre lot laid out to him in that vicinity, ad- joining one hundred acres of land purchased by Nathaniel Locke. In October, 1740, Gowen Wilson obligated himself at the "Court of Gen- erall sessions of the Peace Held at Falmouth" to keep a ferry over the "Pezumpscott River near the Great Works," that is, near the mills
erected by Waldo & Westbrook at the Falls. For the privilege of keeping this ferry he . bound himself, his heirs and administrators to pay or cause to be paid unto the treastirer of the town or his successor in said office ten shillings per annum for rent of the same and as an acknowledgment of their right in and to the same ferry. Gowen Wilson died in 1773, aged eighty-three. There is no record in Kittery of his marriage, but October 10, 1730, "Anne, the wife of Gowen Wilson owned ye Covenant, and Baptized" seven children : Gowen, Mark, Ichabod, Hannah, Sarah, Joan- na and Olive.
(IV) Gowen (3), eldest child of Gowen (2) and Anne Wilson, was born in 1716, and died in 1754. He married, in Falmouth, Oc- tober 31, 1739, Martha Sargent, at which time both were residents of Falmouth.
(V) Major Nathaniel (1), eldest child of Gowen (3) and Martha ( Sargent ) Wilson, born in Falmouth, November 28, 1740, died October 28, 1818. He resided easterly of Al- len's Corner in Falmouth. Ile was a patriot soldier in the revolution, and a monument to his memory stands on the southerly side of Al- len avenue, in Portland. His revolutionary rec- ord is as follows: Nathaniel Wilson, second lieutenant, Captain Joseph Price's (Third) company, Colonel Peter Noyes's (First Cum- berland company) regiment, of Massachusetts militia ; list of officers chosen by the several companies in said regiment ; ordered in council February 1, 1777, that said officers be commis- sioned; reported commissioned February 1, 1777; also second lieutenant Captain Jesse Partridge's company of Volunteers : list of offi- cers of Cumberland County Militia ; commis- sioned April 9, 1778. He married. April 3, 1762, Ann Huston. She died, and he married (second) Ann March, of Scarboro, who lived to be one hundred and three years of age. There were nine children by the first wife and by the second, one child, John.
(VI) Nathaniel (2), eldest son of Major Nathaniel (1) and Ann (Huston) Wilson, was born in Falmouth, August 22, 1763, and afterward resided at North Falmouth, where he died October 15, 1835. He married, Jan- uary 27, 1789, Sarah Pride, of Westbrook, born August 17, 1767. Family tradition has it that Sarah Pride was a woman of strong character, and headed a genuine temperance movement in the community of her residence by stopping the sale of liquors in the tavern which was conducted by the earlier generations of Wilsons at the ancestral home for the ac- commodation of travelers to and from Port-
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land. The marriage of her daughter Martha was always referred to as "Sally Pride's tem- perance wedding," and from her day no liquors for use as a beverage were ever allowed in the house. Nathaniel and Saralı Wilson had ten children : Cyrus, Elmira, Priscilla, Anna, Na- thaniek Joseph, Olive, Hannah, Caroline and Martha.
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