Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III, Part 86

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 86

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at Bucksport and at Gray's Commercial Col- lege in Portland. He studied civil engineering in the office of Green & Danforth in the lat- ter city. In 1869 he entered the employ of General George Thom, of the United States engineering corps, and was engaged in harbor improvements and in removing obstructions at various places along the New England coast. While engaged in this work he held the position of inspector. In 1874 he returned to Dover and was elected clerk of the courts, assuming the duties of that office January I, 1875, and serving continuously till the present time (1908). Besides his official duties Mr. Flint has large farming interests and owns one of the finest and most extensive apple orchards in the state. He is a Republican in politics, and attends the Congregational church. He belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and to the Royal Arcanum. On August 15, 1872, Henry B. Flint married Caro E. Emery, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Emery, who was born in Bangor, Oc- tober 28, 1852. Three children were born of the marriage: I. Robert, born April 13, 1873, died June 21, 1876. 2. Edgar T., born June 2, 1877, at Dover, Maine, obtained his edu- cation in the schools of Dover and at Foxcroft Academy, the medical department of the Uni- versity of Vermont, and Baltimore Medical College. He began the practice of medicine at Fort Kent in Aroostook county, and is now settled at Mars Hill in the same county. 3. Charlotte Woodman, born at Foxcroft, Maine, April 15, 1882, was educated in the public schools and at Foxcroft Academy. She also took a musical course at Dana Musical Insti- tute; Warren, Ohio, and at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She has taught school in Sebec and Jackman, Maine, and is now supervisor of music in the public schools of Guilford.

There are two ways of THATCHER spelling this name, with the middle t and without. The Thachers claim that their method is the true and ancient one. But this probably belongs to that large class of surnames, like Webster, Fletcher, Fisher, Fuller and their counterparts, which were derived from an occupation; al- though in primitive times, when everybody had to be a jack-of-all-trades, it might be thought that the process of thatching roofs would hardly have been a distinctive craft or business.

Still, if the occupations of farmer and car- penter, which must have been of almost uni-

versal application, could furnish patronymics, why not thatcher? The family, whether they use the middle t or not, appear to have made an excellent record in this country, for they began with some early ministers of distinc- tion, and have since included judges of the supreme court and other men of rank.

The first of the name of whom we can find any record is the Rev. Peter Thacher, who lived in the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury at Sarum, England, where he was rector of the parish of Saint Edmund's for the space of nineteen years. He was a man of talent and possessed a liberal and independent mind ; but he dissented from the established church, and being harrassed by the spiritual courts, he resolved to turn his back on ecclesiastical per- secution and migrate to New England, but the death of his wife altered his plans. The pur- pose of the father was destined to be carried out by the eldest son, who subsequently be- came the Rev. Thomas Thacher, minister of the church at Weymouth, Massachusetts, and the first pastor of the Old South in Boston, whose pulpit he was filling at the time of his death in 1678. Rev. Thomas Thacher seems to have been quite a remarkable man. He was only fifteen when he arrived in this coun- try, June 4, 1635, but he had the good fortune to become an inmate of the family of Rev. Thomas Chauncey, afterwards president of Harvard College. Young Thacher not only achieved distinction in the pulpit, but he studied medicine as well, and united the voca- tions of physician and clergyman, a useful combination in those days. He was a man of great learning, and President Stiles speaks of Mr. Thacher as the best Arabic scholar known in the country, and states that he composed and published a Hebrew lexicon. Mather says he was a most incomparable scribe, and there are yet extant monuments of Syriac and other Oriental characters in his handwriting, which are hardly to be imitated. Rev. Thomas Thacher seems to have been a man held in the highest veneration by his fellows, and his death inspired Eleazer, an Indian student at Harvard, to write an elegy from which the following extract is taken. Although the verse is conventional, it is perhaps worthy of note as coming from a red man in the year 1678.

"Thacher, 'tis virtue that thy name endears, Virtue, that climbs beyond the starry spheres. To men of station, and of low degree,

- Thy faith shines forth like heacons o'er the sea. Thy cross of suffering thou shalt hear no more, Temptations, perils, sorrows, all are o'er, Death, the destroyer, died-the last of foes- And life renewed, to life immortal grows."

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Rev. Thomas Thacher left a long line of ministerial descendants. His youngest son, Rev. Peter Thacher, was for forty-seven years the beloved pastor of the church at Mil- ton, Massachusetts. His son, Rev. Peter (2) Thacher, was for thirty-five years in charge of the church at Middleboro, Massachusetts. His son, Rev. Peter (3) Thacher, preached at Attleboro, Massachusetts, for forty-three years, or until his death, which occurred Sep- tember 13, 1785, in the seventieth year of his age. Perhaps the most noted Rev. Peter of all was Rev. Peter Thacher who received his doctor's degree from the University of Edin- burgh. He was the eldest son of Oxenbridge Thacher, who was a grandson of Rev. Peter (1). Dr. Peter Thacher had his first pastor- ate at Malden, Massachusetts, but in 1785 was called to the Brattle Street Church in Boston. He was one of the earliest members of the Historical Society, and belonged to nearly all the literary and charitable institutions then ex- isting in New England. Two of Dr. Peter Thacher's sons, Thomas Cushing and Samuel Cooper Thacher, also became ministers, the first at Lynn, and the second in Boston. There were also many collateral relatives who were clergymen. In fact, it is doubtful if any fam- ily in the country has furnished more preach- ers of the Gospel.

(I) Samuel Thatcher, the ancestor of the following line, was admitted freeman at Watertown, Massachusetts, May 18, 1642. No relationship is known to exist between him and Rev. Thomas Thacher, mentioned in the introduction, but the fact that they were con- temporaneous settlers in the new world, and bore the same rather unusual surname, would indicate that they might have sprung from the same English stock a few generations back. The date of Samuel Thatcher's birth is un- known, but he died November 30, 1669. The inventory of his estate amounted to a little more than six hundred and seventy-five pounds, a comfortable property for those days. Samuel Thatcher was a deacon, served sev- eral times as selectman, and held the office of representative in 1665-66-68-69. Deacon Thatcher left a widow, Hannah, whose maiden name is unknown; two children: Hannah, born October 9. 1645; Samuel (2), whose sketch follows. Hannah Thatcher was mar- ried to John Holmes, but she had died previ- ous to April 16, 1682, the date of her mother's will. This will was proved April 3, 1683.

(II) Samuel (2), only son of Deacon Sam- uel (I) and Hannah Thatcher, was born Oc- tober 20, 1648, lived at Watertown, Massa-

chusetts, and died October 21, 1726. He was a lieutenant, and was admitted freeman April 18, 1690. His wife Mary, whose maiden name is unknown, died August 17, 1725. Children: 1. Mary, August 1, 1681, died the next May. 2. Samuel, April 8, 1683. 3. John, January 22, 1685-86, married Elizabeth Morse. 4. Anna, April 30, 1688, died July 22, 1690. 5. Mary, September 17, 1690, mar- ried Joseph Child. 6. Hannah, December 10, 1692. 7. Abigail, June 6, 1694. 8. Mercy, January 2, 1697-98. 9. Sarah, November 30, 1699, died June 13, 1727. 10. Ebenezer.

(III) Ebenezer, third and youngest son of Lieutenant Samuel (2) and Mary Thatcher, was born March 17, 1703-04, lived at Water- town, Massachusetts, and died in 1757. Jan- uary 27, 1731-32, he married Susanna Spring, and they had seven children: I. Samuel (3), whose sketch follows. 2. Sarah, February 20, 1733-34. 3. Mary, December 27, 1735. 4. Ebenezer, August 20, 1737, died in October, 1741. 5. Susanna, July 3, 1739. 6. Sarah, October 3, 1741, died September 3, 1749. 7. Ebenezer, January 15, 1742-43.

(IV) Samuel (3), eldest child of Ebenezer and Susanna (Spring) Thatcher, was bap- tized November 5, 1732, lived at Cambridge, Massachusetts, which town he represented in the legislature, and died in 1792. On Septem- ber 3, 1753, he married Mary Brown, of Lex- ington, daughter of James and Jane (Bow- man ) Brown, who was born August 13, 1735. Children: 1. Susanna, 1755, married Jesse Putnam. 2. Ebenezer, born and died in 1759. 3. Mary, 1767, married Thomas Mayhew. 4. Elizabeth, 1771. 5. Samuel (4) whose sketch follows. 6. Ebenezer, 1778, married Lucy F. Knox. Ebenezer Thatcher, the youngest son, was graduated from Harvard College in 1798, moved to Thomaston, Maine, where he became a lawyer, militia officer and judge of the court of common pleas. He afterwards removed to Bingham, where he died June 12, 1841. The second of Ebenezer Thatcher's children, Com- modore Henry Knox Thatcher, was graduated from West Point in 1827, and commanded the frigate "Colorado" at the storming of Fort Fisher.

(V) Honorable Samuel (4), second son of Samuel (3) and Mary (Brown) Thatcher, was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, July I, 1776, and died at Bangor, Maine, July 18, 1870. In 1793, when a youth of seventeen, he was graduated from Harvard College. He studied law with Hon. Timothy Bigelow, of Groton, Massachusetts, settled first at New Gloucester, Maine; removed to Warren in

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1800, where he lived till 1833, at which time he moved to Brewer; he spent his last years in Bangor. He represented the town of War- ren in the state legislature for eleven years, and was representative to congress for two terms, 1803-07. He was sheriff of Lincoln county from 1812 to 1821, and was one of the founders of Warren Academy. January 15, 1800, he married Sarah Brown, daughter of Reuben and Molly (Howe) Brown, of Concord, Massachusetts. She was born in Concord, December 17, 1776, and died at Bangor, Maine, September 22, 1851. Five children, but one of whom survived their father : I. Harriet Howard, born at Warren, Maine, May 28, 1801, died at Bangor, June 23, 1865. 2. Elizabeth, born at Concord, Massachusetts, April 1, 1803, died at Warren, June 23, 1827. 3. Samuel, born at Warren, February II, 1805, lived at Bangor for some years, removed to Saint Anthony, Minnesota, in 1851, where he died August 31, 1861. He was much esteemed, and a promoter of every good work in his native state. He married Elizabeth L. P. Johnston. 4. George Augus- tus, whose sketch follows. 5. Benjamin Bus- sey, born in Warren, October 8, 1809, was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1826, studied law and had an office in Boston, but he relinquished his profession in order to devote his time to literary pursuits. He was a constant contributor to magazines and news- papers, and wrote well on many subjects. He died in Boston, July 14, 1840.

(VI) George Augustus, second son of Samuel (4) and Sarah (Brown) Thatcher, was born at Warren, Maine, August 24, 1806, and died at Bangor, Maine, December 1, 1885. He moved to Bangor in 1822 and was clerk for George W. Pickering till 1826, when they entered into partnership under the firm name of George A. Thatcher and Company. In after years Mr. Thatcher was associated with other firms till he retired from active business in 1847. He joined the First Con- gregational Church in 1828, and was chosen deacon in 1840, and for many years was trustee of the Bangor Theological Seminary. He was originally a Whig and afterwards a Republican in politics, and served as assessor for several years. He was early identified with the anti-slavery and temperance movements in Bangor. October 1, 1832, he married Re- becca Jane Billings, daughter of Caleb C. and Nancy (Thoreau) Billings, who was born June 23, 1813, died October 27, 1883. Chil- dren : 1. George Putnam, born July 14, 1833, lives in California. 2. Frederick Augustus,

September 25, 1835, died January 10, 1838. 3. Charles Alfred, May 16, 1837, gave his life for his country; he died at Red River, Lou- isiana, November 26, 1864, while in command of the United States steamer, "Gazelle." 4. Benjamin Bussey, April 21, 1839, was a mer- chant in Bangor ; has been representative and held other official positions; married (first) Mary E. Walker, born August 19, 1842, died January 12, 1875; married (second) Decem- ber 4, 1877, Charlotte P. Walker, sister of his first wife ; they have two children: George T. and Lottie May; Benjamin B. Thatcher died June 3, 1906. 5. Caleb Billings, November 5, 1840, lives at Bangor. 6. Sarah Frances, June 7, 1842, deceased. 7. Henry Knox, whose sketch follows.

(VII) Henry Knox, youngest of the six sons of George Augustus and Rebecca J. (Billings) Thatcher, was born at Bangor, Maine, August 3, 1854. He was educated in the schools of his native town, and was gradu- ated from Harvard College in 1877, and from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia in 1881. He began the practice of his pro- fession at Cambridge, Maine, in 1882, and moved to Dexter, Maine, in 1885, where he has been located ever since. Dr. Thatcher is one of the leading physicians in that region, and has a large and constantly increasing practice. He is a Republican in politics and attends the Congregational church. He be- longs to Penobscot Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Dexter, and to Saint John Royal Arch Chapter. January 17, 1882, Dr. Thatcher married Annie Ross, daughter of Hugh and Ann Ross, of Bangor. They have one child, Henry David Thoreau, born July 12, 1884. The son was educated in the schools of Dexter, and was graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1905. In 1907 he married Mary MacNamara, of Orono, and is now living at Wharton, New Jersey, where he is a civil engineer. They have one child, Anna Rebecca, born July 12, 1908.

Here is another Maine fam- WASGATT ily who have filled to the full the measure of usefulness, as soldiers, preachers, physicians, seamen and farmers, and their record in all stations of life is an enviable one. The name is German, from which country their ancestors came.

(I) Davis Wasgatt, born March 11, 1751. enlisted in the Continental army, and fought in the revolution. He married Rachael Rich- ardson, born November 27, 1752, died June 30, 184I. The husband died November 27,

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1843. Children : Davis Jr., Rachael, Cor- nelius, Jameson, Rufus, Sarah H., Rufus, Hanna R., David R., Asa and Margaret D. (II) Rev. Asa, seventh child and sixth son of Davis and Rachael (Richardson) Wasgatt, was born at Mt. Desert, Maine, August 19, 1793, died January 24, 1879. He was a Meth- odist minister, and in the war of 1812. He married Sarah Gott, born August 23, 1796, died December 29, 1855. Their children were : Asa Jr., Rhoda Haines, Sarah E., Thomas A., Cornelius, Delia Gott, Deborah, Mary Berry, David, Charles Wesley, E. Spurling and Na- thaniel G. Two living at the present time : Rhoda H., at Bar Harbor, now in her eighty- sixth year, and Cornelius, of Everett, Massa- chusetts.

(III) Charles Wesley, son of Rev. Asa and Sarah (Gott) Wasgatt, was born in Somerville, Mt. Desert, Maine, July 27, 1837, died May 6, 1898. He followed the sea in early manhood as man and master until 1830, when he retired to a farm in his native town, on which he resided for the remainder of his life. He was very prominent in his section, holding important offices, and acting as ad- ministrator of estates. He was a shrewd and successful business man. He married Marga- ret Gray, born July 31, 1841. Children: I. Charles R., chief bookkeeper at Kittery navy yard ; married, 1896, Mabel Moore, of Kittery ; have one child, Hazel. 2. Vernon G., as- sistant treasurer of Bar Harbor Banking and Trust Company; married, November, 1895, Caro Richards, of Bar Harbor; four chil- dren : Margaret, Boyd, Asa, Richard. 3. Lotta, widow of Dr. Byron D. Spencer, of Bangor; resides at Surry, Maine, with her mother ; one child, Doris. 4. Rowland J., see forward.

(IV) Rowland J., youngest son and child of Charles Wesley and Margaret (Gray) Wasgatt, was born March 9, 1873, in Ells- worth, and attended the common schools, fin- ishing his education in Bucksport Seminary in 1892. He received his professional train- ing at Hahnemann Medical College, and was appointed house surgeon of the Hahnemann Hospital, Philadelphia. Prior to this he taught school in Addison and Greenville, Maine. In 1897 he began the practice of medicine at Union, Maine, coming to Rockland, that state, in 1898, where he has since resided. In 1903 he took a post-graduate course at the New York Homeopathic Medical College, and in the spring of 1906 studied at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. He is a mem- ber of the American Homeopathic Society, the

Hahnemann Alumni Society, and Maine Ho- meopathic Society, of which he was president in 1907. Dr. Wasgatt has an extensive and profitable practice, and is accounted very skill- ful as a physician and surgeon. He belongs to Aurora Lodge, No. 50, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; King Solomon Temple, No. 8, Royal Arch Chapter; King Hiram's Coun- cil, No. 6, Royal and Select Masters; Clare- mont Commandery, Knights Templar, of Rockland; and Rockland Lodge, No. 1008, Benevolent Protective Order Elks. He mar- ried Josephine, daughter of Joseph E. Nicker- son, of Orrington, Maine, June 27, 1906. One child, Mary, born April 9, 1907.

WALKER From what part of England the Walkers of New England came is not definitely known, as the name is common to many counties of old England and the first of the family who settled in the colonies of Massachusetts Bay or of Plymouth appears to have been Robert Walker, who came to Lynn (Saugus) 1630, with the first settlers of that place. The "Widow" Walker and her sons and nephews appear as passengers on the ship "Elizabeth" at Hingham, Massachusetts Bay, in 1634, son, Samuel, was one of the passengers and at once joined his father at Lynn, while the other cousins went to Plymouth colony, or as far south as Taunton, which was at the time of its first settlement part of the town of Dor- chester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, but after- wards included in the Colony of Plymouth. Samuel Walker, another immigrant, appeared at Woburn, Middlesex county, 1655, as a tax- payer. According to an affidavit made by himself and his son, Samuel, April 2, 1661, he was born in England about 1617, and he is recorded as having held public office in the town of Woburn. There is some confusion in these records, by reason of the father and the son having the same baptismal name as one of the sons of Richard, who also lived in Reading about the same time, and it does not appear that the two Samuels were always des- ignated by naming the father. Samuel of Wo- burn was an innkeeper, and was given a license to sell liquors, his license being granted by the county court in April, 1662. He re- sided for a time in the town of Reading, ad- joining Woburn, and his children by his first wife were born in that town, hence the con- fusion with Samuel (2), son of Richard of Plymouth, 1630, who also lived at Reading and had many children. Samuel, the original immigrant to Woburn, does not appear to be

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in any way related to Richard of Lynn. His wife's name was evidently Ann, and their names are recorded as having been dismissed to the church at Reading, March 26, 1650, and to have ceased to be members of that church on their return to Woburn in 1654. His children by his first wife were: Samuel, born in Woburn, 1643; Joseph, 1645; Israel, 1648; John, 1649; Benjamin, 1651. The chil- dren of Samuel (2) (son of Richard of Lynn, Reading, and finally Lynn, where he died and was buried May 16, 1687) were: John, born in Reading in 1665; Samuel, 1669; Timothy, 1672; Isaac (q. v.), 1677; and Ezekiel, 1679.

(I) Captain Richard Walker, founder of this line, is first found of record at Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1630, when he was ensign of the local military company. As the settlers of that town were English, there is no doubt that he was of the same nativity, but the place of his birth is unknown, and its time can only be approximated. The time of his death is indicated by the record which shows that he was buried at Lynn, May 16, 1687, when his age is given as ninety-five years, indicating that his birth occurred about 1592. He was made a freeman in 1634 at Lynn. In 1631 the neighboring Indians threatened the infant settlement and Ensign Walker was in service on guard. One night he heard a noise in the forest near him and felt an arrow pass through his coat and buff waistcoat. He dis- charged his gun into the bushes, and it was burst by the heavy charge it contained. He gave the alarm and returned to his post, after which he was again fired at. The next day an assemblage of men made a demonstration which frightened away the marauders for some time. In 1637 Mr. Walker was a mem- ber of the committee which made division of the common lands of the community, and in 1638 he received an allotment of two hundred acres, upland and meadow. In 1645 he ac- companied Robert Bridges and Thomas Mar- shall in negotiating with Lord de la Tour and Monsieur D'Aulney, governors of French provinces on the north. As regard for his services in this expedition Lieutenant Walker received four pounds sterling. In 1657 he was one of those who deposed as witnesses against the claim to Nahant of Thomas Dex- ter, who had purchased it from an Indian for a suit of clothes. In 1678 he was one of the selectmen, then called "the Seven Prudential Men." The name appears in the muster roll of the Honorable Artillery Company of Eng- land in 1620. Upon the petition to the general court made by the new troop of Lynn, formed

in 1679, that he be its commander (which petition was granted), he is called "Captain Walker." He was by occupation a farmer. His wife, Sarah, was the administratrix of his estate. He had two sons and two daught- ers, and may have had others. The elder son, Richard, born in England in 1611, was at Reading in 1635, and represented that town several times in the general court. The other receives extended mention below. His daugh- ter, Tabitha, was married March II, 1662, to Daniel King; and the other, Elizabeth, mar- ried Ralph King, March 2, 1663.

(II) Samuel, younger son of Captain Rich- ard Walker, was born in England and came with his father to New England in 1630. He settled first in Reading, which was originally Lynn Village, and removed thence to Woburn (formerly Charlestown Village), where he is found of record in a tax list of 1655, and again February 25, 1662, having been ap- pointed a surveyor of highways at a town meeting of that date. He was selectman in 1668. He was a maltster, and in 1662 re- ceived the first license to sell spirits granted in Woburn. It seems that his good nature at one time overrode his judgment, as it is of record that he was fined ten shillings for sell- ing to a notorious toper, the latter being fined five shillings at the same time for being drunk. That he was a man of character and standing is evidenced by the fact that he was one of a committee appointed at a meeting held March 28, 1667, empowered to divide the public lands. For this service the committee received seven acres for themselves in addition to the several allotments to them as individuals. He died, November 6, 1684, aged about seventy. His first wife, whose name is unknown, bore him seven children, namely: Samuel, Joseph, Hannah (died at four months), Hannah, Is- rael, John, Benjamin. His second wife, Ann, was the widow of Arthur Alger, of Scarbor- ough, and daughter of Giles Roberts, of that place. She died in Woburn, March 21, 1716. She was the mother of Mr. Walker's two youngest children, namely: Isaac and Ez- ekiel.

(III) Isaac, sixth son of Samuel Walker and grandson of Captain Richard Walker, of Saugus (Lynn), 1630, was born in Woburn, Middlesex county, Massachusetts Bay Colony, November 1, 1677. He was one of the pro- prietors of the town of Penacook, established as a town under the direction of the general court of Massachusetts, all the territory after- wards set off as New Hampshire being then in Norfolk county, Colony of Massachusetts

STATE OF MAINE.

Bay, and he built a log house on the lot ap- portioned to him, which, being the strongest and most capable of withstanding any assault from the Indians, was made the garrison house of the little colony, and in this house lis son Isaac Jr. died the same day that his relative. Rev. Timothy Walker, died (Septem- ber 1, 1781 ). Ile married, February 20, 170.4, Marjory Bruce, and had five sons, all born in Woburn, namely: Isaac, 1707; Ezekiel, 1709: Timothy, 1711 ; William, 1715; Samuel, I723.

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Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III, Part 86

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