Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III, Part 21

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III > Part 21

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

(III) Edward, son of Eli Webb, was born at Windham, December 27, 1760. He removed to Gorham, where he died November 18, 1846, and was buried in Gorham not far from Newhall. He was a soldier in the revolution under Captain Benjamin Walcott, Colonel Thomas Marshall's regiment, and served three years. He was in the Saratoga campaign and spent the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge, and fought in the battle of Monmouth. He married, May 10, 1787, Sarah, born June 18, 1761, died August 28, 1850, daughter of Will- iam Bolton, of Windham. Children: I. Will- iam, born June 16, 1788, died October 5, 1841. 2. Lydia, January 1, 1790. 3. Asa, November 4, 1791. 4. Eli, June 30, 1793, mentioned below. 5. Mary, July 23, 1795, died April 16, I834. 6. Rachel, February 14, 1797, died March 28, 1822. 7. James, March 7, 1798, died 1881. 8. Thomas, June 14, 1800, died April 17, 1850. 9. Solomon, October 30, 1801. 10. Sarah, January 30, 1803.

(IV) Eli (2), son of Edward Webb, was born in Gorham, June 30, 1793, died in Port- land, January 31, 1877. He moved to Port- land when a young man and resided there the remainder of his life. For many years he was street commissioner of Portland. He was a staunch Whig and a great admirer of Henry

Clay. He was a prominent figure in the busi- ness life of Portland during the early part of the last century. Soon after his marriage he bought the house at 106 State street, which was afterward called the Dean House, and lived there for some years. About 1830 he sold his State street house and later purchased a house on Casco street, where he lived the remainder of his life. He married, in Wind- ham, January 30, 1820, Mary, born July 26, 1795, died May 5, 1861, daughter of John and Abigail (Witham) Cobby. Children: I. Lu- cinda, born May 3, 1821. 2. Ellen, March 30, 1823. 3. Nathan, May 7, 1825. 4. Dexter, August 6, 1828. 5. Mason Greenwood, July 24, 1832, mentioned below. 6. George Dexter, May 14, 1835. 7. Charles Davidson, May 17, 1837.

(V) Mason Greenwood, son of Eli (2) Webb, was born in Portland, Maine, July 24, 1832. He was for many years, and until the last six months of his life, engaged in business on Commercial street, Portland, as a wholesale flour dealer, at one time being associated with General Samuel J. Anderson, the firm name being Webb & Anderson. Upon General An- derson's retirement to become president of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad Com- pany, Mr. Webb formed a partnership with C. B. Varney under the firm name of M. G. Webb & Company. This firm was dissolved in 1870, Mr. Webb retiring on account of ill health. The business was continued under the name of C. B. Varney & Company, and is still being carried on at the old stand. In the fall of 1870 Mr. Webb left Portland, ho- ping to find a more congenial climate in Kan- sas, but after six months' residence in Fort Scott, Kansas, died there March 28, 1871. He married, in Portland, December 4, 1862, Eliza- beth N., born in Norridgewock, Maine, Jan- uary II, 1839, daughter of Solomon W. and Mary Ann (Niel) Bates. She still resides in Portland. Children : I. Richard, born No- vember 19, 1863, mentioned below. 2. Mary, December 28, 1865. 3. Edward Cloutman, October 18, 1867.

(VI) Richard, son of Mason G. Webb, was born in Portland, November 19, 1863. He graduated from Portland high school in 1881 and in 1882 entered Dartmouth College as a sophomore, graduating in the class of 1885. He read law in the office of Holmes & Pay- son in Portland, and was admitted to the Cumberland bar in 1887. He immediately en- tered into the general practice of his profes- sion, which he has ever since carried on alone. He was for four years a member of the su-

II55

STATE OF MAINE.

perintending school committee of Portland, from 1889 to 1893. He was assistant county attorney from 1893 to 1897 and a member of the legislature two terms, 1899 and 1901, in his latter term being a member of the house committee on apportionment, and also a mem- ber of the judiciary committee. In politics he is a Republican, and in 1908 was a delegate from the first congressional district of Maine to the Republican National convention at Chi- cago. He is a member of the Cumberland Bar Association and the American Bar Association, Maine Historical Society, Maine Genealogical Society, Loyal Legion, Lincoln Club, Frater- nity Club, Cumberland Club, and is president of the First Parish (Unitarian) Society. He married, in Portland, February 15, 1893, Sara Evenina, born in Brooklyn, New York, May 17, 1867, daughter of Louis Drake and Isabel (Brigham) Brinckerhoff. They have no chil- dren.

WEBB The patronymic assigned to this article is scattered in every county in Maine. Included among those greatly distinguished have been Judge Nathan Webb, of the United States district court; Hon. Lindley M. Webb, and a first lady in the land in the person of Lucy Webb, who was the wife of President Hayes and was of Massachusetts posterity. It crisscrossed way back in the eighteenth century into the family of Benjamin Franklin, his sister marrying a Webb and came to Maine to reside. The name colloquially meant a weaver. The old couplet ran,

"My wife was a webbe, And woolen cloth made."

In medieval records we find the name Elyas le Webbe, hence it has great historical reach. From it comes the Webbers and Websters. Michael Webb, who by his name must have had an Irish mother, was in Bridgton, whilom called Pondicherry, Maine, along in 1794. We do not know the name of his wife unless it may have been the mother of the next subject, Annie Leonard, who was from James Leon- ard, of Dighton, Massachusetts, the one who received an allotment of land by the King Phillip deed in 1672.

(II) We are assuming, and it by no means is a gratuitous assumption, for Michael Webb was the only male adult bearing the name in Bridgton at the time James Webb was born, whose mother we know was Annie Leonard, was a son of said Michael. James was born in Bridgton, March 19, 1796, and died No-

vember 28, 1825. He was tinsmith by trade and lived in Bucksport, Maine. He married Harriett King Shaw, born July 18, 1800, whose ancestor was an early settler in Portland and was shot by the Indians. They had Annie Leonard, who married Thomas C. Farris, and Jahaziah S.

(III) Jahaziah Shaw, only son of James and Harriett K. (Shaw) Webb, was born in Bucksport, Maine, October 28, 1824. After such schooling as the town afforded, he came to Bangor in young manhood and became a confectioner and baker. Subsequently he en- gaged in the cooperage business, under the firm name of Farris & Webb, and for forty years this was one of the most substantial and solid firms of Bangor; they were extensive manufacturers of barrels and conducted a gen- eral cooperage business. Mr. Webb continued in that business until his death, February II, 1890. He was a Republican in politics. He married, in 1881, Evelyn Treat, born near Colorado Springs in the territory of Colorado, 1862, but came east when a child, daughter of Miles F. and Nancy (Colburn) Hartford, of Winterport, Maine. Miles F. Hartford was a ship carpenter by trade ; his parents conducted farming operations near Unity, Maine. Chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Webb: Edwin J. S., died at the age of five; Mary Louise, Anna Leonard and Jahaziah S. The three latter named reside with their mother in Bangor, Maine.

CRAM The name of Cram is unusual in this country. It is spelled Cramme in the early records. This family was among those who settled in Maine before the revolution, and though not numerous it is distinguished for the high average of intel- ligence of its members, who in most instances were among the prominent citizens of the localities they inhabit.

(I) John Cram, twelfth child of Burkart and Barbary Cram, of New Castle-on-Tyne, England, was born there, 1607, emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, 1635, and in 1639 was with the first settlers in Exeter, New Hamp- shire, being one of the signers of the Com- bination, soon after the settlement of that town. In 1650 he removed to Hampton, and settled on the south side of Taylor's river (now Hampton Falls), near the site of the Weare monument, and there died, March 5, 1681. On the books at Hampton Falls his death is recorded thus : "Good Old John Cram one Just in his Generation." His wife,

1156

STATE OF MAINE.

Hester Cram, died at Hampton Falls, May 17, 1677. Their children were: Joseph, Benja- min, Thomas, Mary and Lydia.

(II) Thomas, third son of John and Hester Cram, was born in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, died there between the years 1734 and 1738. He married, December 20, 1681, Elizabeth Weare, born in Newbury, Massa- chusetts, January 5, 1658, died in Hampton Falls previous to 1722. They were the par- ents of five children, among whom was Thomas.

(III) Thomas (2), son of Thomas ( I) and Elizabeth ( Weare) Cram, was born in Hamp- ton Falls, New Hampshire, November 9, 1696, died there in August, 1751. He married Mary Brown, born in Hampton Falls, 1696, died there, March 31, 1756. They were the par- ents of ten children, among whom was Daniel. (IV) Daniel, son of Thomas (2) and Mary (Brown) Cram, was born in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, March 28, 1724, died in Standish, Maine, March 13, 1815. He mar- ried Sarah Green, born in Hampton Falls, died in Standish. Six children were born to them, among whom was Levi.

(V) Levi, son of Daniel and Sarah ( Green) Cram, was born in Standish, Maine, 1776, died in Windham, Maine, March 16, 1816. He married, in Standish, December 20, 1801, Anna Butterfield, born in Standish, November 5, 1781, died in Windham, March 25, 1856. One of their eight children was Andrew.

(VI) Andrew, son of Levi and Anna ( But- terfield ) Cram, was born in Windham, Maine, April 8, 1809, died in Deering, Maine, May 26, 1884. He was a merchant and farmer in Westbrook and Deering. He married, in Westbrook, December 20, 1831, Caroline Estes, born in Falmouth, Maine, November 13, 1813, died in Deering, February 23, 1872. Children: Orlando B., Algernon S., Mel- ville G., Abby C., married John W. Burrill, of Lynn, Massachusetts : Silas H., Andrew L., Charles F., Amanda E., died unmarried ; George E., died in infancy.

(VII) Orlando Bridgman, eldest son of Andrew and Caroline ( Estes) Cram, was born in Westbrook, Maine, March 13, 1833, died in Portland, January 1, 1906. He was employed on various railroads in Maine, finally entering the construction service of the Maine Central, where he remained nearly forty-five years, completing his fiftieth year in the rail- road service in 1903. In politics he was an Independent. He was a member of Maine Lodge, No. I, and Machigonne Encampment, No. I, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,

and Rockamucook Tribe, No. 22, Improved Order of Red Men, of Portland. He married, November 24, 1859, Lucy J., born in Fal- mouth, Maine, June 5, 1834, daughter of Isaac and Minerva (Shaw) Leighton, of Fal- mouth. One child, Harry L.

(VIII) Harry Lorenzo, only child of Or- lando B. and Lucy J. (Leighton) Cram, was. born in Deering, Maine, February 7, 1871. He was educated in the public schools of his- native town and graduated from the high school in 1888. Soon afterward he took a position in the office of the Maine Central Railroad in Portland, and was in the service of that road until 1899, as a clerk and sten- ographer in the general freight department. Afterward he was stenographer to Hon. Clarence Hale, and while filling this position: read law, and in 1904 was admitted to the bar, since which time he has been in active practise in Portland. In politics he is a Re- publican. In 1906 he was elected to the com- mon council of Portland, and the following year was reelected, and was made president of the board. In 1908 he was elected alder- man from Ward 9. He is a member of Deer- ing Lodge, No. 183, Free and Accepted Ma- sons; past sachem of Rockamucook Tribe, No. 22, Improved Order of Red Men ; mem- ber of Fraternity Lodge, No. 6, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; being elected noble grand for the year 1909 ; member of Lebanon Commandery, No. 220, Knights of Malta, and of the Economic Club. Mr. Cram is interested in church work, being a member of the Port- land Society of the New Jerusalem. Mr. Cram married, in Portland, September 24, 1895, Florence Bertha, born in Portland, April 25, 1870, daughter of James and Mar- garet J. (Sawyer) Greenhalgh. One child, Edith Greenhalgh, born March 30, 1897.

ALLAN The Scottish element in Amer- ican history has been dominant on every battle plain of the Re- public. The distinguishing traits of the Scotch are grit and hard-headedness. The motto of one of the clans was "Hold fast, hold firm, and hold long." These qualities of ad- hesiveness to an ideal are what makes the Scotch people so successful in a land respon- sive to well-directed industry.

(I) Major William Allan was born in Scotland in 1720, and came to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1749, and died there in 1790, a septuagenarian. He was an officer in the Brit- ish army. The French name of Nova Scotia was Acadia, meaning a pollock, and when the

II57

STATE OF MAINE.

territory was granted to Sir William Alexan- der, secretary of state for Scotland, it was called by its present name. Major Allan, ta- king his young wife and two children, went to this new land of promise, hoping to better his condition. He served as an officer in the French war from 1754 to 1763, and received a large grant of fertile, alluvial land, which the poor, deported Acadians had with much labor banked, in order to protect it from the inroads of the bay. In a few years he became wealthy and prosperous, his labor being per- formed by the Acadians, who for a time be- came servants of the conquerors. He was a member of the colonial legislature, and his children became connected by intermarriage with the best families of the province. In re- ligion he was an Episcopalian, and was a man of energy and intelligence. He married Isa- belle, daughter of Sir Eustace Maxfield. Chil- dren : John, Mary, Elizabeth, William, James, Jean, Winkworth and Isabelle.

(II) Colonel John, eldest son of Major William and Isabelle ( Maxfield) Allan, was born in Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, January 3, 1746, whither his parents had repaired for refuge during the rebellion. The youth was brought by his father to Halifax when three years old. It is intimated that he received his education in Massachusetts, as he was thor- oughly educated according to the standard of that time. During the events leading up to the moving of the Acadians, many Bostonian gentlemen went to Nova Scotia on business, and it is thought quite likely that a man of Major Allan's means would be desirous to have his ambitious son well educated, and it was during his residence in Massachusetts that he probably imbibed his liberal notions of self-government, and was how he later was led to side with the colonists in their troubles. The father probably placed John in charge of one of the Massachusetts men who came to Cumberland with General Winslow. His father gave him a part of his large domain in Cumberland county, which was called "In- vermary." It was located seven miles from Fort Cumberland, on the Bay Verte road. Besides his own mansion, there were smaller ones for the Acadian peasants who did the work. He was clerk of the sessions, and clerk of the supreme court, and representative to the provincial assembly until his seat was for- feited by non-attendance. John was born amid tumultuous surroundings in old Scot- land, and his whole life was pre-eminently a military one, striving for the life of the na- tion in which he had cast his lot. Mr. Allan

was an outspoken man, and his open expres- sion of sympathy with the Americans brought him direful consequences, and he was driven from his patrimonial estate, seeking an asylum in the United States. He took his final de- parture from his favorite Cumberland, Au- gust 3, 1776, in an open boat, with a few companions, the party encountering a stormy passage along the Bay of Fundy. On the 13th they entered Machias harbor, and were warmly welcomed by the inhabitants thereof. In November he went by boat to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and thence by stage to Bos- ton. He there conversed with the patriot Samuel Adams, and proceeded to New York on horseback, where he had an interview with Washington. His journey was beset with many dangers, as the country was full of Tory soldiers. He was received by congress in session at Baltimore, by whom he was ap- pointed superintendent of the eastern Indians, and colonel of infantry. Having received full instructions from John Hancock, he left for Boston on the 17th of March. Murdock, the historian of the province, says of him: "If the traditions I have heard about John Allan are correct, he could not have been much over twenty-one years old in 1775. 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 Sco- tia, in 1775, were confined to the Acadian French, who resented their conquest, the In- dians who were attached to them by habit and creed, and the settlers who were emigrants from New England."

After his departure, Colonel Allan's house in Cumberland was burned by the British, with all its contents. His family, consisting of a wife and five little ones, fled from the scene of devastation with scarcely any cloth- ing, and hid themselves in the woods three days without food. Mrs. Allan crawled up to the smoking ruins of her once happy home, and found some potatoes baked, or rather burned. On these she and her children sub- sisted till found by her father, Mark Patton,. who took them home. His house was sur- founded by the British, who demanded the immediate surrender of the rebel's wife. She was carried to Halifax a prisoner, leaving their children with their grandfather. She was taken before the governor, who demanded that she reveal her husband's hiding-place. She absolutely refused for several days, but finally told her persecutors that he had escaped "to a free country." She was confined in durance

1158

STATE OF MAINE.

vile for eight months, separated from her hus- band and children. She was small in stature, delicate in constitution, and ill adapted to bear such rough usage. She often was insulted and suffered from the insolence and brutality of her keepers. Colonel Allan organized the expedition up the St. Johns river for the pur- pose of ascertaining the condition of the In- dians and making them allies. He fought the battle of Machias, August 13, 1777. He kept a depot of supplies at Machias for the Indians, and the set of books in which he kept the ac- counts with each tribe are in the archives of Massachusetts. As the supplies were some- times short, he was obliged to deny the In- dians and his life was often in danger. Hardly any situation could be more precarious than having to appease a lot of half-starved Indians and keeping them loyal to our side when the British emissaries were sending them messages and offering them everything they wanted if they would join the Royalists. It is impossible to estimate the importance of Colonel Allan's work in this department and his diplomacy and tact in dealing with the iconoclastic redskins. It averted us much bloodshed, and saved the East from falling into the hands of the British. In the fall of 1780 a famine seemed imminent at Machias, supplies were not forthcoming. Colonel Al- lan had sent in vain to Boston, his letters to the government were numerous and urgent, and the Indians were threatening to desert. Finally he went to Boston, in the hope to re- lieve the delicate situation. He left his sons, William and Mark, as hostage. They re- mained with the Indians a year or more, liv- ing on fish and parched corn. They suffered many hardships, and were in a wretched con- dition when they finally reached civilization, ragged, dirty and covered with vermin. The boys were great favorites with the Indians, learned their language, and always had an attachment for them in after years, and aided them in many ways. The British were very bitter against the colonel, and often sought his life. An attack was made upon him at Machias, in the house now occupied by Oba- diah Hill, by an Indian incited by the English. A friendly Indian came into the room where Colonel Allan was seated, and soon another Indian came in, and, advancing toward the colonel, brandished a huge dirk knife. The friendly Indian, who had foreknowledge of the affair, sprang from behind the door and felled the hired assailant. The Indians frequently baffled the English in their attempts to cap- ture him.

In 1784 he began a mercantile business on Allan island, near Lubec. This was not suc- cessful, as his generosity of heart led him to trust everybody. In 1792 twenty-two thou- sand acres of wild land were granted him by the government of Massachusetts, now the town of Whiting, Maine, but the family never realized much from it. The colonel had been greatly impoverished by the war, and felt the pinch of poverty in his declining years. In 1801 congress conveyed to him, on his repre- sentation that he had lost ten thousand dollars by joining the American cause, two thousand acres of land in Ohio, where the city of Col- umbus now stands, but this, like the other grant, proved of little value to the family, owing to its remoteness and they having dis- posed of it too early. The colonel was in- terested in the adoption of the federal con- stitution, and worked assiduously for it, and was particularly concerned in the eastern boundary dispute, always contending that the Magaguadavic was the true St. Croix, and was much dissatisfied with the settlement of the line, believing that the island of Grand Manan should have gone to the United States. In personal appearance he was tall, straight as a gun-barrel, and inclined to portliness in his later years. He had dark-brown hair and blue eyes. His religion was the Sermon on the Mount, carried into practical, every-day life. He died February 7, 1805, nearly a sexagenarian, and was buried under the old elms and spreading chestnut-trees on the island in Lubec harbor on which he had lived, and which bears his name. Over thirty of his descendants served in the Union army during the civil war. Of his great services in hold- ing together the Indians for our side, nobody disputes, and he is among the revolutionary worthies entitled to the lasting gratitude of his countrymen.

(III) Mark, second son of Colonel John and Mary (Patton) Allan, was born in Cum- berland, Nova Scotia, March 31, 1770, and died September 22, 1818. As a youth, he shared with his mother many hardships in Nova Scotia, and was a hostage with the In- dians during his father's journey to Boston to obtain needed supplies for the starved red- skins. He learned their woodland ways and their language, and was ever their friend and counselor. He married Susan Wilder, born in 1774, died in 1852. Children : Susan, Anna, Mary, Lydia, Elizabeth, Jane, John, Theophilus Wilder, Sally, William, Patton, Abigail and Ebenezer.

(IV) Theophilus Wilder, second son of

J. D. Allan

1159

STATE OF MAINE.

Mark and Susan (Wilder) Allan, was born April 28, 1804, and was a lumber manufac- turer. He was of an upright and exemplary character, and was a follower of Thomas Barnes, who first preached Universalism in Maine. He married Martha R. Sargent, of Portland, Maine, born in 1808, died in 1865. Children : Nelson S., Martha Ann, Theo- philus, Harriet L., who married the Rev. A. J. Rich, and was mother of Edgar J. Rich, gen- eral counsel of the Boston and Maine rail- road; John Davis, Susannah, Elizabeth L. and William R.

(V) John Davis, third son of Theophilus W. and Martha R. (Sargent) Allan, was born in Dennysville, Maine, March II, 1839. His schooling was acquired in his native town and at the academy at Milltown, New Bruns- wick. He worked for his father in the lum- ber business as a clerk until 1860. In 1865 he went into the hotel and livery business, and operated stage-lines from Cherryfield to East- port. In January, 1902, he purchased a tract of land and sawmill and engaged in the manu- facture of lumber until 1906. Since 1906 he has been out of active business, and is en- joying a limited leisure at his beautiful home at Dennysville, surrounded by every comfort. He is a member of Crescent Lodge, F. and A. M., of Pembroke ; a Republican in politics.

He married (first) Margaret S., daughter of John H. Hersey, of Pembroke, Maine, July 15, 1860; she died in 1873. Married ( second) in 1874, Emma J., daughter of Levi K. Cor- thell, of Addison, Maine; she died in Decem- ber, 1903. Married (third) October 19, 1904, Mrs. Nellie S. Hussey, of California, who was a Dyer before marriage; she was born in Unity, Maine, March 20, 1849; she had one son by her first husband, Ralph H. Hus- sey, who married Margaret Gordon; resides at Tonopah, Nevada. Children of John Davis and Emma J. (Corthell) Allan: I. Herbert Hayes, see forward. 2. Fannie Louise, born in September, 1881, died 1897. 3. Walter Maxwell, born in January, 1886.

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

Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III, Part 21

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe Publication date: 1909 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 818

Author: Little, George Thomas, 1857-1915, ed; Burrage, Henry Sweetser, 1837-1926; Stubbs, Albert Roscoe
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 818