USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume II > Part 54
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tended, at Roxbury. Soon afterward he be- came adjutant-general of Massachusetts, in which office he continued until 1843. In 1847 he was elected mayor of Roxbury, and was re- elected every subsequent year until his death, in July, 1851. In 1829 the first movement was made by some gentlemen in the vicinity of Boston for a systematic cultivation and pro- motion of the arts of horticulture : for this end they formed a society-the first in New Eng- land-and General Dearborn became its first president. While holding this office he be- came intensely interested in the project for a rural cemetery, and Mount Auburn cemetery stands as a monument to his industry and taste. Forest Hills, also, is largely of his erec- tion, and Dr. George Putnam, in his address before the city government of Roxbury, on the Life and Character of General Dearborn, said: "You know well how much our own 'Forest Hills' owes to him ; his whole heart was in that pious work; his genius presided over its progress ; it was to him a sacred labor of love-strictly that. Fitly and beautifully the laborers there replenish daily the marble vase of flowers which they have promptly placed at the foot of his grave-not only the token of their affectionate remembrance of him, but a memorial also of his tender and disinterested thoughtfulness for all the dead who should be borne there and all the living who should resort there, to mourn, to meditate or to wor- ship." He was emphatically the friend of in- ternal improvements, and on this subject his sagacity was almost prophetic and his zeal amounted to enthusiasm. He followed Wash- ington in the general idea, which that great man announced as early as 1784, of connecting the Atlantic with the Great Lakes by multi- plied means of communication ; and he was early and indefatigable in his endeavors to in- duce the people of Massachusetts to act upon this idea by constructing a railroad from Bos- ton to the Hudson. The Great Western rail- road owes to him a debt of gratitude which cannot well be overestimated, for he was one of its first and best and most efficient friends. "It is the most remarkable commercial avenue which was ever opened by man. There is no parallel in the proudest days of antiquity ; and instead of the possibility of its ever being rivaled in any country, it will itself be tripli- cated in extent, for the true and ultimate terminus is to be on the Pacific ocean ; and the · splendid Alexandria of the Columbia river will become the entrepot for the products of this vast continent, of China and India and of Europe and Africa." This he wrote in 1838.
At a great railroad convention held in Port- land in 1850, he said: "It is but twenty-five years since I proposed that a railroad should be constructed from Boston to the Hudson, and that a tunnel be made through the Hoosac Mountains. For this I was termed an idiot ; an idiot I may be, but the road is made and the tunnel through the Hoosac Mountain is in course of construction." Hon. A. W. H. Clapp, of Portland, who married the only daughter of General Dearborn, in speaking of the wonderful accuracy and tenacity of the general's memory, said that during the railroad convention above mentioned, at which there were many delegates from the British prov- inces, among them an aged British admiral, whom the general had never seen, in the midst of an eloquent oration on the value of high- ways of communication between different lands and nations, he wandered off and described with great power and pathos a country and people somewhere long before, where the yel- low fever or the cholera was raging to such an extent that almost everybody who had the power to escape went away; but one young officer who was fully at liberty to go volun- tarily stayed by the natives and fought death, disease and horrors until the plague was over. Then, turning to the old admiral, whose tears were streaming down his face, General Dear- born welcomed him as the hero of his tale to an American audience. Mr. Clapp said that later in the day both men met at his house and, when introduced, the admiral asked Gen- eral Dearborn where he learned the particu- lars of that story ; the general answered that he had read them in an obscure paper of New Brunswick twenty-five years before, and the moment he heard the name of the admiral all the details came back to his memory.
He was eminently an industrious man; be- sides the attention which he gave to his offi- cial duties and his disinterested labor to pro- mote social progress and public improvements, he worked hard at home; he filled his leisure hours with study, and his information was re- markable for its variety and extent. This, as well as his facility in writing, is shown by a glance at the list of books which he wrote, many of which were never published ; among those which have been given to the public are the following: "Dearborn's Memoirs on the Black Sea, Turkey and Egypt," with charts, three volumes; "History of Navigation and Naval Architecture, with an account of the Coast Survey of the United States," two vol- mmes ; "Monography of the Genus Camelia, from the French of the Abbe Berlese," one
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volume ; "Treatise Pastel from the French," one volume. Among the unpublished manuscripts are: "Journal from 1816 to 1851," 39 volumes; "Life of Major-General Dearborn," eleven volumes; "Mission to the Seneca and Tuscarora Indians," four volumes ; "Tours to Illinois in 1839 and 1840," one vol- ume ; "An Account of the Reconnoissances and Surveys of routes of canals between Boston Harbor and Hudson River," four vol- umes; "Sketch of the Life of Major-General Dearborn, with his account of the battle of Bunker Hill and a volume of maps," two vol- umes; "Life of Commodore Bainbridge," one volume : "Work on Entomology," one volume ; "On Grecian Architecture, with drawings," two volumes: "Writings on Horticulture," three volumes; "Massachusetts Horticultural Society and Mount Auburn," eighteen vol- umes ; "Account of Forest Hills cemetery ;" "Letters to his father while in Lisbon," six volumes : "Writings on various subjects," sev- en volumes ; "Addresses, reports, etc.," one volume : "Life of Jesus Christ," two volumes ; "Life of Colonel William Raymond Lee," two volumes: "Journal while in Congress," one volume; "Account of Ancient Painters and Paintings," translated from Pliny, one volume. This list is not complete, but it shows plainly the learning, taste and industry of General Dearborn. In a centennial address which he delivered at Roxbury, he paid a worthy tribute to the character and services of John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians; and later mani- fested an ardent desire to see a monument erected in Forest Hills to the memory of this distinguished man. As early as 1811 General Dearborn was appointed by the authorities of Boston to deliver the annual Fourth of July address; it was full of fiery indignation at the insults and wrongs from Great Britain, and contained a glowing desire for such a monu- ment to be erected upon the Charlestown hills as should commemorate the idea which gave birth to a nation destined to be the most powerful on earth; from that day until the completion of the monument he was untiring in its advocacy. A society was formed with Webster as its president and Everett as its secretary, who labored for years with match- less eloquence for this great work ; the act of incorporation named Dearborn as chairman of the committee to solicit subscriptions ; he was chairman of the buildings committee for many years, and Judge Warren's history of the pro- ceedings and debates, the dinners and suppers, the committee meetings and speeches of the eight men whom he calls the brightest galaxy
that the country could produce-Webster, Story, Everett, Dearborn, J. C. Warren, Amos Lawrence, General Sullivan, and George Blake-fills a large volume of most interesting reading. General Dearborn was a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, by inheritance, and was the president of the General Society of the Cincinnati from 1848 to 1851.
He was married at Salein, May 3, 1807, to Hannah Swett, daughter of Colonel William Raymond and Mary (Lemon) Lee, the latter a daughter of Dr. Joseph Lemon, of Marble- head. They had one daughter, and two sons, Henry George Raleigh and William Lee. Gen- eral Dearborn died while visiting his daughter in Portland, Maine, July 29, 1851, and was buried at Forest Hills, Roxbury. The city council of Roxbury was called together as soon as his death was known, and immediate measures taken to testify their respect to his memory. The chambers of the city govern- ment were draped in mourning for three months, and besides adopting appropriate reso- lutions commemorative of the worth of the de- ceased, and of the loss which the city had sus- tained by his death, the council voted that a public address should be delivered at a future day, upon his life, character and public serv- ices. In September Dr. George Putnam per- formed this service, and a portion of the clo- sing words seems a fitting conclusion to this sketch : "And now his diligent and useful life on earth is closed; he whose name has been associated with that of our city for so many years has departed from amongst us. He will be missed very much ; we shall miss his earnest spirit and speech, his full mind, his ready and kindly sympathies. We have lost a man, a veritable full-grown man, a goodly type of an Anglo-Saxon manhood; one who in not a few points of excellence and greatness was the foremost man of us all. * *
* His stately and venerable form will be seen no more in our streets or high places ; it has gone to its selected home, the spot which his care fitted up and his genius embellished for so many. Lie lightly upon his bosom, ye clods of the valley ! for he trod softly upon you, in loving regard for every green thing that ye bore! Bend benignantly over him, ye towering trees of the forest! and soothe his slumbers with the whisperings of your sweetest requiem, for he loved you as his very brothers of God's garden, and nursed you and knew almost every leaf on your boughs. Guard sacredly his ashes, ye steep stony cliffs that gird his grave! for ye were the altars at which he worshiped
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the Almighty One who planted you there in your strength."
(VII) Julia Margaretta, daughter of Gen- eral Henry A. S. Dearborn and wife, was born January 25, 1808, in Roxbury, and was mar- ried June 23, 1834, to Hon. Asa William Henry Clapp, of Portland, Maine, at her fa- ther's seat, Brinley Place, Roxbury, and died at the Clapp mansion, Portland, June 3, 1867 (see Clapp, VII), leaving one child, Mary Jane Emerson Clapp.
Henry Bodwell, immigrant
BODWELL ancestor, was born in Eng- land in 1654. He was a sol- dier in King Philip's war in 1676. He was pressed into the service August, 1676, and took part in the battle of Bloody Brook. His left arm was broken by a musket ball and he was surrounded by Indians, but seizing his gun in his right hand and swinging it about him he mowed a swath through the savages and es- caped. He was admitted a freeman in 1678. He resided in Newbury a short time, and his eldest child was born there in 1682. He re- moved to Andover, where he was living in 1685, and finally to Haverhill, where in 1693 his father-in-law, John Emery, of Newbury, gave him and his wife one hundred acres of land. In 1712 he was living in Haverhill, a renowned hunter and a terror to hostile In- dians. He is said to have shot an Indian on the opposite bank of the Merrimac, when the enemy, deeming himself out of range, was making insulting gestures. Bodwell's Ferry and Bodwell's Falls were named for him.
He married, May 4, 1681, Bethia Emery, daughter of John Jr. and Mary (Webster) Emery, of Newbury. Sergeant John Emery Jr. came to Newbury in 1635; married Mary Webster, daughter of John and Mary ( Shats- well) Webster, October 24, 1648; was select- man 1670-73; juror 1675-76; appointed to carry the votes to Salem in 1675-76; tithing- man in 1679; owned eighty acres of land at Artichoke or Raspberry River, of which half was given him by his father and some is at the present time owned by his descendants. Emery's mill was on the site now known as Curzon's Mills at Newburyport. Emery was admitted a freeman May 30, 1660; his will was dated August 3, 1793 ; his wife died Feb- ruary 3, 1709 ; children : i. Mary Emery, born June 24, 1652; ii. Hannah Emery, born April 26, 1654 ; iii. John Emery, born September 12, 1656, died July 14, 1730; iv. Bethia Emery, born October 15, 1658, mentioned above; v. Sarah Emery, born February 26, 1660; vi.
Joseph Emery, born March 23, 1663, died at Andover, September 22, 1721; vii. Stephen Emery, born September 6, 1666; viii. Abigail, born January 16, 1668; ix. Samuel Emery, born December 20, 1670; x. Judith Emery, born February 5, 1673 ; xi. Lydia Emery, born February 19, 1675; xii. Elizabeth Emery, born February 8, 1680; xiii. Josiah Emery, born February 28, 1681, married Abigail Moody. Children of Henry and Bethia Bodwell: I. Bethia, born June 2, 1682. 2. Mary, April I, 1684. 3. Henry, January 27, 1685 (twin). 4. Josiah, January 27, 1685 (twin). 5. Abigail, January 15, 1686. 6. Henry, November 6, 1688; son Henry married Mary Robinson ; their son Joseph married Mary How; their son Hon. Joseph R. Bodwell, born June 18, 1818, resided at Methuen until 1852, removed to Maine and became governor of the state; died December 15, 1887. 7. James, January 16, 1691. 8. Daniel, born February 14, 1693, men- tioned below. 9. Sarah, December 1, 1694. 10. Hannah, September 1, 1696. 11. Judith, April 4, 1698. 12. Ruth, December 2, 1699. 13. Child, born July 10, 1701.
(II) Daniel, son of Henry Bodwell, was born February 14. 1693, at Haverhill. He married Elizabeth Parker, of Haverhill. Chil- dren born at Haverhill: I. Tiffin, born Sep- tember 28, 1718. 2. Elizabeth, February 17, 1719-20. 3. Daniel, January 22, 1721-22. 4. John, December 27, 1723, mentioned below. 5. Ruth. 6. Abigail, married Nathaniel Ladd and resided at Coventry, Connecticut. 7.
Samuel. S. Mary. 9. Parker.
(III) John, son of Daniel Bodwell, was born in Haverhill, December 27, 1723. He re- sided in Haverhill and Methuen, Massachu- setts, a town adjoining. Child, Captain Jolin, mentioned below.
(IV) Captain John (2), son of John (1) Bodwell, was born in Methuen, January 16, 1752. He removed from Methuen to Shap- leigh, Maine, where he died November 19, 18II. He was representative to the general court in Massachusetts, and afterward a rep- resentative and senator in the Maine legisla- ture. He married Miriam White, born Sep- tember 27, 1758, died December 21, 1825, daughter of John and Miriam Hoyt (Hazen) White, of Haverhill. ( See White family here- with.) He was a soldier in the revolution, in the Fifth Methuen Company, under Colonel Samuel Johnson of the Fourth Essex Regi- ment at Andover, March 26, 1776. He re- ceived his commission as captain, April 3, 1776. He was also in Colonel Jacob Gerrish's regiment in 1778. Children: 1. John, born
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October 14, 1776, mentioned below. 2. Miriam, born June 4, 1778, died May 16, 1848; mar- ried Daniel Wood.
(\') John (3), son of Captain John (2) Bodwell, was born October 14, 1776. He re- sided in Shapleigh, Maine, and was a promi- nent citizen. He was representative and sena- tor in the Maine legislature. He married, De- cember 9, 179 , Sally James. Children : I. Elisha, born December 6, 1797, married Polly Wood, born August, 1798; children : i. Jolin F., born December 15, 1823, married Sarah Jane Bragdon, born February 25, 1823, and had Eliza F., born December 8, 1845, died October 8, 1847, and Sarah, born June I, 1850; ii. Enoch W., born January 9, 1827. married Sarah J. Garvin, born November 12, 1827 ; iii. Sarah, born July 12, 1829, died 1849; iv. Phebe H., born April 18, 1831, died April 23, 1847. 2. John White, born September 2, 1800 ; mentioned below. 3. As, born January 3, 1804, married Temperance Hilton, born September 26, 1809. 4. Ursula, born March II, 1806. 5. Miriam White, born September 13, 1809, married Increase Sumner Kimball, born August 7. 1803; children : i. John Bod- well Kimball, born March 24, 1832, died young ; ii. Sumner Increase Kimball, born September 2, 1834; iii. Miriam White Kim- ball, born June 13, 1836; iv. Maria H. Kim- ball (twin), born June 13, 1836, died De- cember 18, 1836; v. Helen Maria Kimball, born August 30, 1839; vi. Mary Emily Kim- ball, born August 11, 1842; vii. John Bodwell Kimball, born August 24, 1843; viii, Sarah Bodwell Kimball, born September 7, 1845; ix. Elizabeth Frances Appleton Kimball, born Oc- tober 29, 1847. 6. Araspes, born February 4, 1812, married Maria Jenkins ; children : 1. Sarah, born April 5, 1842; ii. Joan, born April 8, 1843. 7. Horace, born October 4, 1816, a brigadier-general in the militia; married Eliza Brackett, born September 17, 1817; cliil- dren : i. John Brackett, born October 5, 1838; ii. Mary Elizabeth, born April 5, 1840; iii. Miriam Brackett, born February 9, 1842; iv. Phebe M., born December 23, 1843; v. Julia M., born December 3, 1845 ; vi. Horace Jeffer- son Dallas, born March 7, 1848. 8. Sally Be- linda, born March II, 1819, married Lewis Wentworth, born in Somersworth, August 27, 1817. 9. Mary Ann, born June 14, 1821, mar- ried David Grant, born February 13, 1819; children : i. John Bodwell Grant, born Febru- ary 8, 1845, died January 23, 1847; ii. Jolin Bodwell Grant, born June 22, 1849. 10. Jolın E., born February 19, 1824, married Louisa Jane Goodrich, born January 26, 1829; chil-
dren : i. William Albion, born June 28, 1847; ii. Amos Dinsmore, born September 24, 1848; iii. Increase Sumner Kendall, born February 8, 1850.
(VI) General John White, son of John Bodwell, was born September 2, 1800, in that part of Shapleigh now Acton, Maine. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, and left home before reaching his ma- jority to enter the employ of General Elisha Allen, his grandfather, as clerk in his general store in Sanford, Maine. As a young man he demonstrated unusual ability and good judg- ment, and won the confidence of his employer to such an extent that when he resigned the office of postmaster in 1820 in order to serve as presidential elector, young Bodwell, though but twenty years of age, was appointed to fill the vacancy and was postmaster until April, 1821, when General Allen, having performed his duty as elector, was reappointed postmas- ter. Before 1825 General Bodwell removed to Kennebunk and engaged in trade, but re- turned to Sanford after a few years, and re- sided in the Clark house in that town during the remainder of his life. He possessed mili- tary talent of a high order and rose rapidly from the ranks to the command of a brigade. He was successively quartermaster, brigade quartermaster, major and aide to the briga- dier-general, and at the age of twenty-six was commissioned brigadier-general himself, and served with distinction many years.
General Bodwell was a natural mechanic and was fond of cabinet-making, at which he worked occasionally. He was postmaster from 1841 to 1846, and for two years member of the Sanford school committee. The history of Sanford says of him: "Whatever came from his hands was well done. He carried on gardening and farming on a small scale, and was interested in fruit raising. Garden sauce and apples were his specialties. His orchard extended southeast from Nasson's Hill, was the best cultivated in town, and his hand- picked gilly-flowers, sheep-noses, goose-eggs, Baldwins, greenings and russets were the best fruits the inarket afforded. In his field and orchard he was neat, orderly and methodical, as elsewhere. As an illustration of his method- ical manner, we may instance his manner of planting corn and potatoes in straight rows in perfect squares, so that whichever way seen they appeared to be almost mathematically straight. It was frequently remarked that if a six-inch cannon ball should be shot at a row lengthwise, it would cut down every stalk of corn growing in that row. He was one of the
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first, if not the first, to cultivate tomatoes for table use. When first cultivated they were a curiosity and an ornament."
He married, November 10, 1823, Julia Ann, born September 26, 1806, died April 20, 1875, daughter of General Elisha Allen. Children born in Sanford: I. Elisha Allen, born Jan- uary 10, 1826, died May 12, 1827. 2. Elislia Allen, born May 2, 1829, married Grace Eliza- beth Robinson; he died August 13, 1853, at Sanford. 3. William Henry (twin), born De- cember 31, 1834, mentioned below. 4. Henry William ( twin), born December 31, 1834, mar- ried Elizabeth Tebbetts and (second) Almira Richardson ; he died August 9, 1873, at San- ford.
(VII) William Henry, son of General Jolın White Bodwell, born in Sanford, December 31, 1834, died July 20, 1866. He received his edu- cation in the public schools of Sanford, and learned the trade of shoemaking, which he fol- lowed most of his active years. He had to give up active labor and business about a year before his deatlı. In politics Mr. Bodwell was a Democrat ; in religion an orthodox Congre-
gationalist. He married Eliza Bennett, born in Sanford, 1836. Children born in Sanford : 1. Lillian Frances. 2. Nellie Maria. 3. Ab- bie Julia. 4. William J., born February 19, 1864, has been connected in some capacity with the Sanford Mills since he was ten years old and is now superintendent of the printing department ; married, April 21, 1886, Emma, daughter of George Haigh; children: Edward L., Donald R., Nellie M. 5. Stillman A. 6. Charles Allen, mentioned below.
(VIII) Charles Allen, son of William H. Bodwell, was born in Sanford, September 4, 1857, and was educated there in the public schools. He learned the trade of block print- ing in the Sanford mills, where he worked until 1886. He then established himself as a contractor and builder, and for many years las invested freely in real estate in his native town. He was one of the prime movers in building the electric railway between Sanford and Springvale and had charge of its construc- tion ; he also built the electric road from San- ford to Cape Porpoise, and was actively en- gaged in promoting and building electric rail- ways until 1900. He has been superintendent of the water works since they were constructed in Sanford, and he built the water works in the town of Bridgton, Maine, in 1902, and is president of the Bridgton Water & Electric Company of that town. He has been president and manager of the Sanford Light and Power Company since 1903. He had the contract for
the water works at Berwick in 1901 and still has charge of it. He was superintendent of the Mousam River railway, the Sanford and Cape Porpoise railway; is director of the Building and Loan Association of Sanford. He was one of the organizers of the Sanford Bank and was a director several years. In politics Mr. Bodwell is independent. He is a member of Springvale Grange, Patrons of Husbandry.
He married, August 30, 1877, Annette S., daughter of Moses H. Libby, of Sanford. Children born at Sanford : I. Stillman A. born October 25, 1880, educated in the San- ford public schools and Westbrook Seminary ; partner in the firm of Bodwell Brothers, elec- tricians, and has charge of the Sanford Elec- tric Light & Power Company ; married Maud E., daughter of Joseph and Mary (Slingsby) Northrop. 2. Lillian E., born March 3, 1884, attended the public schools of Sanford and Shaw & Gray's Business College at Portland ; stenographer with the Keith Shoe Company of Springvale, Maine. 3. Vernor C., born May 5, 1885, educated in the Sanford schools and Brewster Academy of Wolfborough, New Hampshire, graduating in the class of 1906; in partnership with his brother in the firm of Bodwell Brothers, electricians. Married, April 15, 1908, Nellie B. Garvin, of Hartford, Con- necticut.
William White, immigrant an- WHITE cestor, was born in 1610 in Eng- land, and is said to have come from county Norfolk. He landed at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1635, and with others settled in Newbury. In 1640 he removed to Haver- hill, where he was one of the first settlers, and a grantee of the Indian deed of Haverhill, dated November 15, 1640. It is said that this deed was both written and witnessed by him. He married (first) Mary - -, the mother of his only child. She died September 22, 1681; he married (second), September 21, 1682, Sarah Foster, widow, who died in Ips- wich in 1693. He died September 28, 1690. He had one child, John, mentioned below.
(II) John, son of William White, was born about 1639 and resided in Haverhill, where he died January 1, 1668-69, aged twenty-nine. He married, in Salem, November 25, 1662, Hannah French, who married (second) Thom- as Philbrick. According to a provision in the will, the care of the only son devolved upon the grandfather, William White. The only child was John, mentioned below.
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