Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III, Part 61

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 61

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1695, he files a petition for relief, and presents the bill for professional services of Dr. Hum- phrey Bradstreet, which reads: "Bill for curing Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, who was wounded while moving a family who had been taken from Newbury by the Indians, £12-6-9." March 1, 1696, the town granted to Stephen Greenleaf four or five rods on the flats, from Watt's cellar spring to Ensign Greenleaf's and Mr. Davidson's grant, from high-water mark to low-water mark, to build a wharf and a place to build vessels upon on certain con- ditions; one was that it come not within ten or twelve feet of the spring. On the fifth of March, 1696, Captain Greenleaf addressed the following petition to the general court: "The petition of Captain Greenleaf, of Newbury, Humbly Showeth: That upon the Seventh of October last, about three o'clock in the after- noon, a party of Indians surprised a family at Turkey Hill in said town, captured nine per- sons, women and children, rifled the house, carrying away bedding and dry goods. Only one person escaped, and gave notice to the next family, and they to the town; upon the alarm your petitioner with a part of men pursued after the enemy, endeavoring to line the river Merrimack to prevent their passage, by which means the captives were recovered and brought back. The enemy lay in a gully hard by the roadway, and about nine at night made a shot at Your Petitioner, and shot him through the wrist, between the bones, and also made a large wound in his side, which would have been very painful and costly to your petitioner in the cure of them, and have in a great measure utterly taken away the use of his left hand, and wholly taken off from his employment this winter. Your petitioner therefore honorably prays this honorable court that they would make him such compensation as shall seem fit; which he shall thankfully acknowledge, and doubts not but will be an encouragement to others, and possibly to re- lieve their neighbors when assaulted by so barbarous an enemy, And your petitioner shall ever pray

"(Signed) Stephen Greenleaf."

"March 6-Read and voted that there be paid out of the province treasury to the Peti- tioner the sum of forty pounds." The coat which Captain Greenleaf wore in his pursuit of the Indians is still preserved by his descend- ants, together with the bullet which was ex- tracted from his wound. This is said to be the only instance in which the Indians at- tacked, "captivated," or killed any of the in- habitants of Newbury. He married (first)

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October 23, 1676, Elizabethi, daughter of Will- iam and Joanna ( Goodule) ( Oliver) Ger- rislı, of Newbury, born September 10, 1654, died August 5, 1712; (second) 1713, Mrs. Hannah Jordan, of Kittery, Maine, who died September 30, 1743. His ten children, all by the first wife Elizabeth, were: Elizabeth, Daniel, Stephen (died young), William, Jo- seph, Sarah, Stephen, John, Benjamin and Moses.

(IV) Stephen (3), fourth son of Stephen (2) and Elizabeth (Gerrish) Greenleaf, born in Newbury, October 21, 1690, died in 1771. It has been supposed that Stephen removed to Woolwich from Newbury about the year 1720, but it now appears he had intermediate residence between Newbury and Woolwich. In 1720 but slight beginnings had been made in the settlement of the district, the Indian war soon began and drove out, it is said, every one who had entered. It would appear that he moved first to York, Maine, from Massa- chusetts, probably about 1720-21, then farther east to Falmouth, about 1731, as by the rec- ords there we find: "Stephen Greenleaf, Mari- ner, York," bought lot and house in the pres- ent Portland in 1731. "Stephen Greenleaf, Pound Keeper," Back Cone, Falmouth, March 26, 1734. "Stephen Greenleaf, of Falmouth, and Mary, wife sells title in Mill stream and Mills in Falmouth," in 1736. Stephen Green- leaf had conveyance of his land in June, 1738, in Woolwich. "Stephen Greenleaf paid for killing a Wild-cat," May 1, 1743. Richard Greenleaf, his son, sells land "improved and possessed twenty-nine years last past," in 1767. It also appears upon the records that "Stephen Greenleaf, York, Coaster, et all" bought a right in land in Monsweag Bay, in 1729, including the tract on which he afterwards lived. Land conveyances being acepted, under conditions, as evidence of residence, it would appear that 1738 was the time of his taking up his resi- dence in Monsweag, now Woolwich. He mar- ried, October 7, 1712, Mary Mackres, born in 1691, died in Woolwich in 1771, aged eighty. They had eight children: Enoch, Richard, Samuel, Ebenezer, Lydia, Stephen, Joseph and Mary.

(V) Joseph, sixth son of Stephen (3) and Mary ( Mackres) Greenleaf, born in York, Maine, July 2, 1727, and died in 1772. Jo- seph Greenleaf was commissioned June 3, 1745, in the First Company of Artillery from York county, Maine, Captain Peter Staples, afterward commanded by Captain Richard Mumford, First Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Sir William Pepperell at the

capture of Louisburg. He was also mar- shal of a court-martial, June 23, 1745. Jo- seph Greenleaf entered, September 24, 1750, Captain James Thompson's company, in the Boston service, ranging the woods, and served until November 1, 1750. He was also a pri- vate, April 30, 1757, in Captain Jonathan Williamson's company, District of Wiscasset, Mainc. Also ensign, August 9, 1757, on a re- turn of officers belonging to the Massachusetts forces, commanded by Colonel Joseph Frye, which was in the capitulation of Fort William Henry. Joseph Greenleaf is one of the signers of the petition of inhabitants of the Kennebec river for protection, July 21, 1760. He mar- ried, about 1752, Dorcas Gray, who survived him and married ( second) Lieutenant Moses Hilton. Their intention was filed March 22, 1781, and the marriage was solemnized by Thomas Moore. The eight children of Jo- seph and Dorcas were: Ebenezer, John, Mar- tha, Sally, Rachel, Joshua, William and Ly- dia.

(VI) John, second son of Joseph and Dor- cas (Gray) Greenleaf, was born on Gewnky Neck, in Woolwich or Wiscasset, Maine, No- veniber 6, 1755, and died June 5, 1846, aged ninety-one. The name of John Greenleaf, of Pownalborough, Maine, is on a certificate of enlistment dated June, 1776, signed by him- self and others, who promised to march to New York and continue in service till Decem- ber I, 1776, unless sooner discharged. He joined the American army at New York in the early days of the revolution, and served as a soldier at Valley Forge in the memorable winter of 1777-78. He was also in the en- gagements at Brandywine, Long Island, White Plains and Fishkill. June 3, 1778, he began a term of service of nine months from his ar- rival at Fishkill. He was in Colonel McCobb's (First) regiment, raised by resolve of April 20, 1778, from Pownalborough (Wiscasset), Maine. Return made by Brigadier-General Charles Cushing. In the description list of men enlisted from Lincoln county for the term of nine months from the time of their arrival at Fishkill, he is described as follows : "Age 22; stature 5 ft. 7 inches; complexion. light." From town of Pownalborough, Cap- tain Decker's company (First Regiment), time of arrival at Fishkill, June 19. After his serv- ice in the revolutionary war he returned to Wiscasset and married. Early in the spring of 1782 he and his brother Ebenezer, with their wives, together with Joshua, another brother, went to the Sandy river, where each took up a farm of productive and valuable land.

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The first two settled in the town of Starks, and Joshua located immediately opposite there, in Mercer. A few years later a younger brother, William, and four sisters, Martha, Sally, Ra- chel and Lydia, married, settled and resided in the vicinity. John Greenleaf possessed con- siderable property at the time of his death. He had great caution, was very prudent and exact in his dealings, but gave liberally to the poor. His remains lie in the old family bury- ing-ground, beneath the soil he once tilled. He married, December 29, 1781, Anna Pierce Roberts, of Wiscasset, born 1761, died April 27, 1853, aged ninety-two. They had twelve children : John, Sarah, Anthony, Levi, Jo- seph, William, Stephen, George, Cyrus, Joshua, Rachel and Elias.

(VII) Stephen (4), sixth son of John and Anna Pierce (Roberts) Greenleaf, born in Starks, August 26, 1794, died in Starks, Octo- ber 15, 1881, aged eighty-seven. After com- pleting his studies in the district school, he and his brothers William and George went to Wiscasset Academy, where they received thorough instruction for three years, from 18II to 1814. While pursuing his studies, August, 1814, news came that the British were threatening to enter the mouth of the Kenne- bec river. He at once started on foot for home to join the militia company of his brother, Captain John. Contracting a severe cold, he was confined several days to his bed with fever. After recovering, he "scoured up" his father's old "fusee," which he carried in the revolutionary war, and started for the scene of action with the company in the capa- city of clerk and orderly sergeant. Before the end of his service of sixty days the British abandoned their project, and the militia were dismissed.

For twenty years or more after the war he was a successful school-master. He and his brother William bought the two farms just north of Starks Village in 1817, one of which he owned and occupied to the time of his death, a period of sixty-four years. He was a justice of the peace for nearly fifty years, and being a fine penman, he was sought by his townsmen to a considerable extent to draft deeds and other legal documents. He was a man of extensive reading, and kept in touch with events and current topics till the end of his life. In politics he was (as was each of his seven sons) a staunch and prominent Democrat, and did not fail to vote the straight ticket for more than sixty annual elections. He held the several town offices of town clerk, treasurer, school committeeman, selectman,

and so forth, for many years, and was a mem- ber of the house of representatives in the state legislature in 1837. He was familiarly known to his townsmen and friends as the "Squire," and was addressed as Esquire Greenleaf. In person he was five feet and nine inches in height, and very erect; his weight about one hundred and sixty pounds ; his eyes blue ; his forhead high and full; his hair fine, silky and dark, and held its lustre to the time of his death. He was exceedingly agile, and when past seventy-five years of age he was as spry as most boys. As an instructor, husband and father he was greatly beloved. As a towns- man he was highly and universally esteemed, and enjoyed the full confidence of his neigh- bors and acquaintances, who sincerely mourned his loss as that of an honest and good man. He married (first) 1819, Rhoda, daughter of John Metcalf, of Anson. She died July 27, 1823, and he married ( second) May 6, 1826, Fanny, daughter of Robert and Lydia ( Williamson) Taylor, of Starks. She was born February 16, 1805, died February 12, 1895, aged ninety. "Aunt Fanny," as she was lovingly called, survived her husband fourteen years, living with her faithful and devoted daughter, Mrs. Lydia Greaton, when she peacefully entered her eternal home. To her children she was a beacon-light, always shining brightly to point out the way of life and those paths of peace which she so serenely trod. Blest with a voice of rare quality, pur- ity and volume of tone, the worshipers of the sanctuary had many years been led in their devotions by the sweet influence of her heart- felt songs; and it was remarkable that in her later years the voice of song remained to her in a great degree. Many of the older resi- dents can remember her as she appeared in early life, possessing unusual beauty and a tall, graceful carriage, both of which she re- tained in her later days-her sunset of life- which was so calm and beautiful, and in peace- ful harmony with that long line of years in which her children will always fondly love to dwell. Their storehouse of memory is well filled with "precept upon precept" of her teachings of wisdom, and "line upon line" of love and devotion. Fortunate, indeed, are they in such possessions, and the loftiness of her pure and noble character, the gentleness and loveliness of her ways, will be to those she has left behind to follow her as a bene- diction of a life of a noble and generous woman. To Stephen and Rhoda (Metcalf) Greenleaf was born one child, Cyrus Metcalf. To Stephen and Fanny (Taylor) Greenleaf

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were born nine children : Enoch, Lincoln, Wakefield, Rhoda, Lydia, Gason, Mary Mooers, George, Charles and Levi, whose sketch follows.

(VIII) Levi, ninth child of Stephen (4) and Fanny ( Taylor) Greenleaf, was born in Starks, December 30, 1849. Ile received his early education in the public schools, and later attended Bloomfield and Anson academies one year each and then fitted for college at Nich- ols Latin school, Lewiston. After teaching two years he entered the junior class at West- brook Seminary in 1872, and graduated with the class of 1873. He was a successful and competent teacher in the public schools. In March, 1874. he began the study of law in the office of Hon. S. S. Brown, then at Fair- field, and was admitted to the bar in Somerset county in April, 1876. He at once opened an office at Solon. In 1878 he removed to Pitts- field, and in 1884 to Lewiston, where he re- mained until May, 1895, when he settled in Portland, where he now resides. His course in life shows that he has inherited a fair share of the energy and ability that distinguished his long line of ancestors and the Greenleaf fam- ily generally, and he has been successful in his profession and has filled various political offices. In 1879 he was elected county attor- ney for the county of Somerset, which office he held one term, then of three years. While a resident of Pittsfield he also held the offices of chairman of the board of selectmen, assess- ors, etc., and was a member of the superin- tending school committee of that town for several years, resigning when he removed therefrom. He is a member of the Cum- berland bar and of the State Bar Association of Maine. In politics he is a Democrat of un- swerving fidelity and is active and well known throughout the state in political circles. He assisted in the compilation of the "Genealogy of the Greenleaf Family," whose chief com- piler, James Edward Greenleaf, thus speaks of him in the preface of that work: "To Levi Greenleaf, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, formerly of Lewiston, now of Portland, Maine, I am especially indebted for assistance in pre- senting the descendants of Joseph, the son of Stephen, son of Stephen Jr., a branch omitted from Chart XXIII of the book published in 1854, and of which my collection was frag- mentary, unconnected, and seemingly hope- lessly obscure. He has generously given largely of his valuable time, and most faith- fully pursued and followed out to a conclusion the various and somewhat at times myth-like clues in the line of genealogical chains, until

at last is presented a record of rare fulness and completion." Ile is a prominent Odd Fel- low, and has held the offices of senior warden, chief patriarch, and high priest, of Worumbus Encampment, No. 13, and is a member of the Grand Encampment of Maine. He married, October 3, 1878, Adelaide, eldest daughter of Charles and Melissa M. (Russell) Mason, of Bethel (see Mason, VIII). She was born August 22, 1854, and died in Portland, Jan- uary 17, 1905. They had no children.

(For preceding generations see Edmund Greenleaf I.) (III). John, third son of

GREENLEAF Stephen and Elizabeth (Coffin) Greenleaf, was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, June 21, 1662, and. died in Newbury, May or June 24, 1734. He was admitted to the First Congre- gational Church in Newbury, with his first wife, Elizabeth (Hills) Greenleaf, January 31, 1696. He was buried near the north corner of the "Oldtown" meeting-house. He married (first) October 12, 1685, Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Hills, of Newbury. She died August 5, 1712. He married (second) May 13, 1716, Lydia, widow of Benjamin Pierce, and daugh- ter of Major Charles Frost, of Kittery, Maine. She died May 15, 1752, aged seventy-eight. The children of John and Elizabeth (Hills) Greenleaf were: Elizabeth, Jane, Judith, Dan- iel, John, Parker, Samuel, Martha, Benjamin and Stephen.

(IV) Daniel, eldest son of John and Eliza- beth (Hills) Greenleaf, was born December 24, 1690, in Newbury, where he lived, and died February, 1726, drowned on Newbury bar. He married, November 17, 1710, Sarah Moody, and they were the parents of Eliza- beth, Martha, Jane, Sarah, David, Jonathan, Parker and Mary.

(V) Hon. Jonathan, second son of Daniel and Sarah (Moody) Greenleaf, was born July, 1723, in Newbury, where he resided, and died May 24, 1807. His father was drowned when he was but a little above five years of age, and his mother was left in very destitute circumstances, with a large family of children. At seven years of age he was apprenticed to Edward Presbury, and learned the trade of ship-carpenter. He carried on the business of ship-building in person for about twenty years, and after this carried it on more extensively, and accumulated a large estate. From about the year 1768 to 1792 he was much in public life, and the stirring scenes of the revolution engaged his energies. For the whole of that time he sustained some public office. Sep-

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tember 26, 1774, he was unanimously chosen to represent the town of Newburyport in the general court. He was a member of the con- tinental congress at the commencement of the war. June 2, 1786, he was made one of the governor's council for Essex, and was elected senator, February 1I, 1788. In the Massa- chusetts assembly for the ratification of the federal constitution, he and Hon. Benjamin Greenleaf were among the "yeas." He was made ensign February, 1762, in Captain Joshua Coffin's company, Newburyport, first company in the regiment, Colonel Joseph Ger- rish second regiment militia. March 25, 1767, he was commissioned captain in Colonel Jona- than Bagley's regiment, Lieutenant Caleb Cushing. He was on the Lexington alarm roll, in Captain Isaac Hull's company, Colo- nel Thomas Gardner's regiment, which marched April 19, 1775, from Medford. Mr. Greenleaf was a well-built man, about five feet high, of spare habit, not inclining to cor- pulency. He had a high forehead, a large aquiline nose, full dark-hazel eyes, and rather prominent front teeth, which he retained to the last. In dress he followed the peculiar fashions of gentlemen of the day. He was a religious man from early life, becoming a member of the church about the time of his marriage, in 1744. For many years he was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church at Newburyport. Nothing but absolute necessity kept him from public worship on the Sabbath, and he was scarce ever known to omit regular morning and evening family worship. He married, in 1744, Mary, daughter of Edward Presbury. She died May, 1807, a few days previous to her husband. They lie buried near the eastern gate on "Burying Hill." Their children were: David, Jonathan, Mary, Simon, Sarah, Moses, Enoch, Catherine and Richard.

(VI) Captain Moses, fourth son of Hon. Jonathan and Mary ( Presbury) Greenleaf, was born May 19, 1755, in Newbury, Massa- chusetts, and died in New Gloucester, Maine, December 18, 1812. He learned how to build ships in his father's shipyard, but at the age of nineteen entered the American army as a lieutenant, and in 1776 was commissioned cap- tain and served until nearly the close of the war. He enlisted as a private July 8, 1775, and was discharged November 1, 1775. He was lieutenant in Captain Moses Nowell's com- pany from November 1, 1775, to January I, 1776, his residence being Newport. He was commissioned lieutenant by legislative enact- ment, June 29, 1776. He was second lieu- tenant in Captain Moses Nowell's company,

January 29, 1776; first lieutenant in Captain John Peabody's company, Colonel Michael Farley's regiment, and also in Colonel Eben Francis' regiment. He marched to join a regi- ment August 9, 1776, raised in the defense of Boston. February 3, 1777, he became captain in the militia. He retired November 6, 1776, and was captain February 20, 1777, and was again commissioned captain June 1, 1777. This commission was confirmed by congress September 6, 1779. He was in Colonel Tup- per's Eleventh Massachusetts Regiment from January 1, 1777, to December 31, 1779; cap- tain in Colonel Benjamin Tupper's regiment, January 25, 1778; captain same regiment (Fif- teenth) April 5, 1779, in West Point service; captain in same regiment from January I to October 15, 1780; captain September 15, 1780 ; also October to December, 1780, at the Huts, near West Point, in Colonel Tupper's regi- ment. He retired with the rank of captain in the Eleventh Massachusetts Regiment, Jan- uary, 1781. In the same year he began ship- building in Newburyport in connection with his father, and from that time till the year 1790 they built twenty-two ships and brigs. Their shipyard was a little south of the Lower Long Wharf, Moses Greenleaf and his brother Enoch both occupied the large old house "up the yard." In November, 1790, he removed with his family to the then Province of Maine, and settled at New Gloucester, where he was engaged in farming till his death. Captain Greenleaf was made a Mason in St. Peter's Lodge, Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1778. Washington Lodge, No. 10, a traveling lodge in the revolutionary army, was chartered Oc- tober 6, 1779. He was worshipful master of this lodge in the field, July 6, 1780. Older brethren had often heard him remark that he had many a time commanded the commanding general of the army in the lodge meetings, for General Washington frequently attended, and always came as a private member without ceremony. He was instrumental in establish- ing Cumberland Lodge, Maine. Captain Moses Greenleaf married, September 17, 1776, Lydia Parsons, who was born in Newbury- port, Massachusetts, April 3, 1755, and died in New Gloucester, Maine, March 21, 1834, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Parsons, of New- buryport, who married, December 14, 1731, Phebe Griswold, who was born April 22, 1716, daughter of Judge John Griswold, who was the grandson of Matthew Griswold, born 1620, died 1698, who emigrated to New Eng- land in 1639, and settled in Windsor, Con- necticut, and afterward at Saybrook and

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Lyme, Connecticut. Matthew Griswold mar- ried, October 16, 1646, Anna Walcott, daugh- ter of Henry Walcott, of Windsor. He was one of three brothers, Edward and Thomas being the other two, sons of George Griswold. All three brothers emigrated from Kenilworth, in the county of Warwick, England. Of this remarkable family it appears that twelve were governors of states, thirty-six high judges (most of them distinct persons from any of the governors), and many of them eminent men. The children of Moses and Lydia ( Par- sons) Greenleaf were: Moses, Clarina, Par- sons, Ebenezer, Simon and Jonathan.

(VII) Hon. Simon, third son of Captain Moses and Lydia ( Parsons) Greenleaf, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 5, 1783, and died in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, October 6, 1853. James Edward Greenleaf's "Genealogy of the Greenleaf Fam- ily" states that Simon Greenleaf "Received an academic education at the Latin school in New- buryport, under the tuition of Mr. Michael Walsh, who was well known in his day, and for many years of the early part of the pres- ent century, as the author of the 'Mercantile Arithmetic,' which was not only a popular text-book, but a counting-house companion. At the age of eighteen he entered on the study of law with Ezekiel Whitman, Esq., then of New Gloucester, Maine, but afterwards of Port- land, and a judge of common pleas. He was admitted to the bar in Cumberland county, in 1805, opened an office first in Standish, then in Gray, and in 1817 at Portland, Maine. He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1817, at Bowdoin College, and was also in that year an overseer of the college. At Gray, being the first lawyer in the place, he soon acquired a very considerable practice, which he retained and enlarged by his fidelity and skill. As his family increased he de- sired to extend the range of his business and increase his emoluments, and in 1818 removed to Portland. At that time the two leading members of the bar had been drawn aside from their profession into public life. Judge Mellen was in the United States senate, and Judge Whitman in the house of representa- tives ; and Mr. Orr, who had a large practice in Cumberland county, was also in congress. This encouraged the accession of other promi- nent men to Portland; of these were Mr. Greenleaf and the late Judge Preble, who came the same year. Mr. Greenleaf was not disappointed ; his business and his fame in- creased, and the larger and more cultivated society, and its superior advantages in other

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Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III, Part 61

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