USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume III > Part 98
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Joseph P. Bass is a lineal descen- BASS dant of Deacon Samuel and Anne Bass and John and Priscilla (Mul- lins) Alden. Deacon Samuel Bass came to
New England with his wife, Anne Bass, in 1630, and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he lived until 1640, when he removed with his family to Braintree (now Quincy). Deacon Bass, according to Thayer's Gene- alogy, was a man of strong and vigorous mind, and was one of the leading men of the town for many years. He represented the town in the general court twelve years.
Hon. John Alden was one of the Pilgrims of Leyden who came in the "Mayflower" to Plymouth, in 1620.
(II) John, son of Deacon Samuel and Anne Bass, was born in Roxbury, in 1632, and was married to Ruth Alden, daughter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, December 3, 1657.
(III) John (2), son of John (I) and Pris- cilla Alden Bass, married Abigail Adams, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Adams. Jo- seph Adams was a brother of the father of John Adams, president of the United States.
(IV) Samuel (2), son of John (2) and Abigail Adams Bass, married Sarah Savil, August 15, 1723, by whom he had one son, Samuel, born September 29, 1724.
(V) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2) and Sarah Savil Bass, married Anna Rawson, Oc- tober 30, 1746.
(VI) Samuel (4), son of Samuel (3) and Anna Rawson Bass, was born August 22, 1747, died February, 1840. He married Eliza- beth Brackett, September 29, 1772.
(VII) Samuel (5), son of Samuel (4) and Elizabeth Brackett Bass, was born in Brain- tree, Massachusetts, in 1777, and died in Ran- dolph, Vermont, November 24, 1850. He was married to Polly Belcher, who was born in Randolph, Massachusetts, in 1786, and died in Randolph, Vermont, January 2, 1864.
(VIII) Samuel (6), son of Samuel (5) and Polly (Belcher) Bass, was born in Braintree, November 15, 1805, and died in Randolph, Vermont, October 17, 1862. He married Margaret Parker, daughter of Joseph Parker, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, by whom he had two children-Samuel, born October II, 1833; and Joseph Parker (q. v.).
(IX) Joseph Parker Bass, son of Samuel (6) and Margaret Parker Bass, was born in Randolph, Vermont, September 24, 1835. He received his education in the common schools and academy at Randolph. In 1854 he com- menced work as clerk in a dry goods store in Lowell, Massachusetts. He engaged in the same business for himself in 1860, removing to Bangor in 1863, where he continued in the dry goods business until 1870. He then en-
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gaged quite extensively in buying and selling timberlands and city real estate, and has in- vested in both.
In 1866 Mr. Bass was married to Mary L. March, of Bangor, who died in 1899. Mrs. Bass was the daughter of Leonard and Mar- tha laighton March, both of whom were members of prominent families in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where they were born. Mr. and Mrs. March removed to Bangor in 1833. Mr. March was one of the prominent business men of eastern Maine, and was a member of the firm of Jewett & March, who carried on a large lumber business on the Penobscot and St. John rivers.
Mr. Bass was a member of the Republican party until 1873, in which year he was elected mayor of Bangor by the Democrats. He has been a member of the city government of Bangor, and represented the city in the legis- lature in 1876. He was a member of the Board of World's Fair Commissioners of Maine to the Chicago Exposition in 1893, and was also chairman of the executive committee of that board. He was president of the East- ern Maine State Fair Association for twelve years, and was a director of the Bangor Gas Light Company for several years. He is a director of the Second National Bank of Ban- gor.
Since 1879 Mr. Bass has given his principal attention to publishing the Bangor Daily and Weekly Commercial, and has been president and treasurer of the J. P. Bass Publishing Company since its incorporation in 1904. when it succeeded J. P. Bass & Company. The Commercial. in line with a great many other newspapers thirty years ago, was for some time published as a Democratic p per, but for the last few years both the Daily and Weekly Commercial have been conducted as Indepen- dent Democratic newspapers.
Mr. Bass was very much interested in the building of a railroad into Arcostook county, and through the Commercial an1 personally was active in impressing the public with the importance of having a road into this county built wholly in Maine. He was the first sub- scriber to the stock of the Bangor & Aroos- took railroad, subscribing for $52,500 worth of the stock. He was a director in this com- pany and in the Bangor & Aroostook Con- struction Company for four years, when he disposed of his stock to the other members of the syndicate. Mr. Bass has been a mem- ber of the Maine Lumbermen & Land Owners' Association, and has also been chairman of the executive committee and of the committee
on legislation of this association since its or- ganization.
Mr. Bass is a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants of Massachusetts, and of the Society of Mayflower Descendants of Maine. He is a member of the Tarratine Club of Bangor. He resides on High street, Bangor, passing the summer seasons at his cottage in Bar Harbor.
SHEPHERD
General Russell Benjamin Shepherd was born at Fair- field, Maine, September 14,
1829, and for a period of something like forty years was one of the most prominent men in Maine history, civil, military and industrial. His young life was spent on his father's farm, where he was brought up to work, and where he attended the district school of the town and there laid the foundation of his later splendid classical education. His father was Job Shep- herd, a thorough-going and prosperous farmer of Fairfield, a man of considerable prominence in local affairs and at one time a member of the lower house of the state legislature. He married Betsey, daughter of Captain Abithar Richmond. of revolutionary fame; a fighting Quaker, who unlike the great majority of those of his religious faith had no conscien- tious scruples against bearing arms, and he fought with true patriotic zeal and earned the rank and commission of captain. But after the return of peace he held fast to the teach- ings of his sect and even declined the pension which was offered him in consideration of his services as a soldier of the revolution. Job Shepherd, too, was a Friend and an honest follower of the teachings of that faith.
Besides attending district school General Shepherd was a student at Bloomfield Acad- emy, and graduated from there, then taught school several terms and at the same time kept up his own studies in private in order to pre- pare himself for college. He matriculated at Waterville (now Colby) College for the reg- ular course, and was graduated in 1857, cum laudc. During his course he identified himself with student life in its best and true spirit, took an active part in all of the pastimes with which the student body then indulged itself, was prominent in social and literary circles and appears to have enjoyed an especial popu- larity with students and faculty alike. After leaving college he again took up the work of teaching, not, however, with the intention of making a profession of pedagogy, but rather as a means of maintaining himself while pre- paring to enter the profession of law, upon
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which he then was determined and already was making preparations to do by sys ematic study under competent direction. In 1858 he became a student in the office of a Bangor lawyer of repute, and in 1860 became a mem- ber of the Penobscot bar. This was just previous to the outbreak of the civil war, and soon after passing the examina ion for ad- mission to the bar he gave up the idea of en- tering practice immediately and devoted his attention to recruiting and organizing the Eighteenth Regiment of Maine Volunteer In- fantry, of which he was elected adjutant with the rank of lieutenant. When organized and equipped for service the regiment was ordered to the front and attached to the second corps under General Hancock, afterward under Gen- eral Humphries. In 1862 he was promoted major for gallantry in action and in 1864 was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and afterward colonel of First Maine Regiment of Heavy Artillery. As colonel he continued until the close of the war, when he was made brigadier- general by brevet.
During his army service General Shepherd participated in many hard-fought battles, among the many of which may be mentioned Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, To- topotomy Creek, Welden Railroad, Hatcher's Run, Sailor's Creek and Petersburg. After the general muster out following the fall of Richmond and Lee's surrender at Appomat- tox. Virginia, Colonel Shepherd's regiment was retained in service for some time on ac- count of troubles on the Mexican border, and it was not until September, 1865, that his com- mand was finally discharged and the men re- turned to their homes. However, in 1866 he again went south, but on this occasion with a more peaceful mission in hand. He then pur- chased a cotton plantation in Georgia, lived there until 1873. then came back to Maine and settled permanently in Skowhegan, where he afterward became one of the most prominent and influential figures in the industrial and po- litical history of the town. The plantation in the south he retained until the time of his death, and always found that region a favorite resort, especially during the winter months. Soon after settling at Skowhegan, in company with Lewis Anderson, he built the afterward famous Coburn Woolen Mills, one of the most completely appointed establishments of its kind in the state of Maine. This business en- terprise proved highly successful to its foun- ders from a financial standpoint, and their partnership relation was continued until 1899, when General Shepherd retired from all ac-
tive pursuits. But this is not the only large industrial or business undertaking with which he was identified and which made for the sub- stantial growth and permanent welfare of the locality in which he lived, for in 1896 he was one of the prime movers of the enterprise which led to the organization and operation of the Somerset Traction Company, of which he was the first president, a large stockholder from the beginning and afterward owner of almost the entire stock of the corporation. For twenty-five years he was president of the Sec- ond National Bank of Skowhegan. and also was president of the Skowhegan Pu'p Com- pany, the Skowhegan Water Company, and otherwise was largely interested in a financial way in other institutions and interests of the town and county. He was a member of the board of trustees of Colby University, the University of Maine, the Maine State Insane Hospital at Augusta and Bangor, and a mem- ber of the executive committee of the Maine State Agricultural Society. He served two years as a member of the lower house of the state legislature, two years in the state sen- ate, and in 1878 was a member of the gov- ernor's council. In political preference Gen- eral Shepherd was a strong Republican and was counted among the most influential men of his party in the state. In 1876 he was a delegate to the National Republican conven- tion that nominated Mr. Hayes for the presi- dency. Not less prominent was his connec- tion with the Masonic order. holding mem- bership in the various subordinate bodies of the craft and frequently serving in an official capacity in each of them. He was a member of Somerset Lodge, F. and A. M .. Somerset Chapter, R. A. M., Mt. Moriah Council, R. and S. M., and of DeMolay Commandery, K. T. He also was a member of the Union Veterans' Union, and always took a deep inter- est in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic.
General Shepherd married (first), June 23, 1865, Helen M., born Bingham, Maine, October 29, 1834, daughter of William and Lucinda Rowell. She died in January, 1891, and he married (second), January 11. 1892, Mrs. Edith S. Goodwin, daughter of Nathan D. and Emily (Barrell ) Stanwood. She was born in San Francisco, California, but her father was a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts. By her first marriage Mrs. Shepherd had one daugh- ter, Margaret Stanwood Goodwin, now wife of Francis Wayland Briggs. General Shep- herd died without issue, but his memory is en- shrined in many hearts.
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There are various immigrants
BAXTER of the Baxter name in New England, which in England in remote times probably had a common ancestor, but a connection between them has not yet been established. The paternal ancestor of the Maine family appeared in Lebanon, Connecti- cut, just outside of New London, early in the eighteenth century.
(I) Simon Baxter, in 1721, was a young man in the employ of Joseph Bradford, a leading man of New London, Connecticut, who had large holdings in the near towns. The tradition is that Simon Baxter was a kinsman of Rev. Richard Baxter, of ,"Saint's Rest" fame. Simon Baxter married, in Leba- non, April 6, 1721, Abigail, a daughter of Richard Mann. To them were born seven children. She died and he married (sec- ond) 1741, Rebecca Burge, to whom were born four children, two of whom grew to maturity. In 1729 Joseph Bradford gave Simon Baxter a homestead of thirtx-six acres in Hebron, a town adjoining Lebanon, to which place he removed, and where he died, December 26, 1778, aged eighty-one years. Just when or where Simon Baxter was born has not been determined, but the name is fre- quent in old London. He doubtless came to New London seeking a fortune of his own. No connection has been made between him and Gregory Baxter, of Braintree, Thomas Baxter, of Cape Cod, nor Thomas Baxter, of Westchester, New York. He added to his homestead many other acres, and in spite of the hard times of the wilderness and the In- dian wars accumulated and maintained a competency.
Children of Simon Baxter : I. Abigail, born 1721, married, 1743, Thomas Powse. 2. Richard, born 1723, married, 1751, Dorcas Tillotson ; had several children in Hebron, and finally removed to Thetford, Vermont, where the family name continued. 3. William, born August 15, 1725, see forward. 4. David, born 1727, was living in 1749; probably died un- married. 5. Simon, born 1730, married, 1749, Prudence Fox; resided in Hartford, Connecti- cut, Alstead, New Hampshire, and finally in Norton, Nova Scotia. His sympathies were with the King during the revolutionary war. He left a numerous family of like able men and women, who occupy positions of eminence in Canada and the States. 6. Margaret, born 1732, married, 1770, John Nicholas Willireck, in Bolton, Connecticut, and soon removed to "Susquehanna" --- probably Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. 7. Elizabeth, twin of Margaret,
died in infancy. 8. Aaron, a soldier in the rev- olutionary war. 9. Nathan, a soldier in the revolutionary war. Also two children died in infancy.
(II) William, son of Simon Baxter, was born August 15, 1725. He was "captivated" in the illfated expedition against Havana, Cuba, in the summer of 1762. He was a sol- died in Captain (afterward Major) Hierley's company, of Middletown, Connecticut. The roll of this company is published by the Con- necticut Historical Society: "French and In- dian War Rolls," Vol. X, p. 308. The regi- ment of General Lyman sailed from New York about the middle of May, and William Baxter was reported with four weeks' service, so we may conclude that he was "captivated" soon after the arrival of the forces in Cuba. Had it not been for the destruction by fire of the Andover (Cnnecticut) church records, more information could have been obtained of him and his family. He married and had five chil- dren, who grew to maturity in the vicinity of Andover, Connecticut : I. Elihu, born Decem- ber 18, 1749, see forward. 2. William, mar- ried, May, 1786, Deborah, daughter of Peter Buell, of Coventry, Connecticut, and left a family ; he died August 25, 1832, a pensioner of the American revolution. 3. John, married, November 2, 1778, Hannah Petty, of Alstead (Surrey), New Hampshire. 4. Hiram, a sol- dier in the revolutionary war, and died soon after. 5. Damaris, married, 1785, Jason Her- rick, of Pittsfield, and died 1838, aged seventy- six years.
(III) Elihu, son of William Baxter, was born December 18, 1749. After a brief resi- dence in Lebanon, New Hampshire, he re- moved across the Connecticut river to Nor- wich, Vermont, where he spent his remaining days. He married, December 19, 1776, in Hanover, New Hampshire, Triphena, daugh- ter of Captain William Taylor, formerly of Coventry and Mansfield, Connecticut. Chil- dren : I. William, born 1778, married Lydia Ashley. 2. Ira, born 1779, married Arsena Sprague. 3. Elihu, born 1781, see forward. 4. Triphena, born 1783, married Josiah Root. 5. Chester, born 1785, married Hannah Root. 6. Lavina, died young. 7. Erastus, born 1787, married Lucy Freeman. 8. and 9. Lavina and Climena, twins, died in youth. IO. James, married Caroline Baxter, a cousin. II. John, born 1792, married Harriet Lothrop. 12. Zilpha, born 1797, married Dr. William Sweat. 13. Harry, born 1799, married Sophronia Steel. 14. Statira, born 1803, married Horace Shepherd. 15. Hiram B., born 1807.
Elike Bapter.
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(IV) Dr. Elihu (2), son of Elihu (I) Bax- ter, born Norwich, Vermont, April 10, 1781, died Portland, Maine, January 3, 1863. He became an eminent physician, settling in Gor- ham, Maine. He married (first) Clarissa Simms, February, 1806, who was drowned while crossing the Connecticut river, on horse- back, on April first following. He married (second) August 17, 1807, Sarah, daughter of Jared Cone, of Bolton, Connecticut, and Co- lumbia, New Hampshire ; she died in Portland, Maine, June 27, 1873, aged eighty-five years. Children : 1. Hiram, born 1808, a physician in Kenduskeag, Maine, where he died, 1894; married Maria J. Jones; four children. 2. Hartley W., born 1811, married, 1837, Jane Felch; he was lost at sea, 1840, leaving a son, James Hartley, who married Emma Nash. 3. Elizabeth W., born 1813, married Henry Good- ing ; she died 1842; four children. 4. William H., born 1817, married, 1859, Mary A. Jack- son; two children. 5. Sarah Adams, born 1820, married, 1842, Joseph M. Barry; two children ; married ( second) Thomas Radden ; three children. 6. James Phinney, born March 23, 1831, see forward.
(V) James Phinney, son of Dr. Elihu (2) Baxter, was born in Gorham, Maine, March 23, 1831. His school advantages were excel- lent, and, reared in a home where education and piety were regarded, a culture day by day came into his growing mind and charac- ter. These advantages were abundantly im- proved. His education was obtained in the public schools of Portland and the academy of Lynn, Massachusetts, then a famous school of learning, followed by a special course of study in languages and literature. The law was first selected as a profession, but there was a fas- cination about a business career which he was unable to resist and he became one of Maine's "Captains of Industry," adding much to the prosperity of his native state. In spite of the engagements of a business career, he has ever been busy as a writer. In young manhood he was a contributor of both prose and poetry to the Home Journal, Shillaber's (Mrs. Part- ington) Carpet Bag, Godey's Lady's Book, and the Portland Transcript; and, while never giving up writings of the lighter vein, he has acquired an international reputation as an his- torical investigator and writer. His bibliogra- phy is extended. The most notable work among several published in the Maine His- torical Society Collections is The Trelawny Papers. These "Papers" refer to early settle- ments and affairs on the Maine coast. They were found in an English homestead many
years ago, and after many vicissitudes found their way to the Maine Historical Society. These "Papers," with notes by Mr. Baxter, are most valuable to the student of New Eng- land history ; other works are "The British In- vasion from the North," based upon the "Journal of Lieut. William Digby, 1776-1777," treating the campaigns of Generals Carleton and Burgoyne; "The Pioneers of New France in New England"; "Sir Ferdinand Gorges and his Province of Maine"; and "A Memoir and Voyages of Jacques Cartier." Mr. Baxter, several years ago, in a European library, dis- covered in manuscript the narrations of the several voyages of Cartier to the St. Law- rence. These narratives were written in 1534. Mr. Baxter caused each individual page of the manuscript to be photographed and then trans- lated the same, and by his exhaustive study of the manuscript and the times of Cartier, has produced a noteworthy volume. The bibliogra- phy of the subject shows no stone unturned. The volume takes its place among the stand- ard works on early American history. In 1885-86 he spent more than a year in English and French archives, searching for docu- ments relating mostly to Maine history of which he had transcripts made by copyists in his employ. At the same time he was making with his own hand a large collection of ex- tracts from documents partially relating to the same subject. The late Eben Pulsifer, of Bos- ton, was also for several years exclusively in his employ, making transcripts from the Massachusetts archives of documents relating to Maine. He had besides in his employ a copyist in the Provincial archives for addi- tional material. He has also had the old court records of York, now so dilapidated, copied and indexed. His collection of transcripts now number nearly forty large volumes, con- taining about twenty thousand pages of man- uscript. Of these seven volumes have been already published in the Maine Historical So- ciety's Documentary History of Maine, and when completed the work will be a monu- mental one. Mr. Baxter is also an adminis- trator of historical institutions. He has been many years president of the Maine Historical Society, Portland; also, of the New England Historic-Genealogic Society; and an active councilman and contributor to the American Antiquarian Society, and American Historical Association, besides being an honorary mem- ber of many American and European literary and historical bodies. Mr. Baxter enjoys his- torical occasions, and is often invited to ad- dress them.
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Mr. Baxter has known of honor in his own city, having been six times elected mayor of Portland. He bestows much attention upon beautifying the already beautiful city of Port- land, and especially in developing its park system. Ile is a man of affairs. His per- sonal interests are many, and he is associated with others in great corporations either as president or director. He is a member of the board of overseers of Bowdoin College, and is actively interested in other educational and benevolent institutions. He has been honored by Bowdoin College with the degree of M. A. and Litt. D. A few years since Mr. Baxter presented to the city of Portland a public library building; and also has purchased his father's homestead in Gorham, where he him- self was born, which he has converted into a museum, and has erected adjacent thereto a library building for its citizens. These bene- factions evidence his abiding interest in the betterment of the people. Mr. Baxter is a man of many interests, to which he devotes himself with untiring zeal.
Through Sarah Cone, the mother of James Phinney Baxter, his ancestral lines run into some of the most notable families of Connecti- cut. The Cone ancestry itself makes him kin of the Loomis, Wright, Hungerford, Spencer, Chauncy, Rose and Goodrich families; and through the mother of Sarah Cone, in kinship with the Wells, Butler, Standish, Blackleach, Curtice and Edwards families. Among his notable ancestors was Governor Thomas Welles, whose fame was wide and deep in the hearts of his Puritan subjects.
Mr. Baxter married (first) September 18, 1854, Sarah K. Lewis, daughter of Ansel and Jane M. (Campbell) Lewis, of Portland, Maine. She died January 12, 1872. He mar- ried (second) April 2, 1873, Mehetable Cum- mings Proctor, daughter of Abel and Lydia P. (Emerson) Proctor, of Peabody, Massa- chusetts. There were eight children by the first wife, and three by the second. Children : I. Florence Lewis, born July 20, 1855, died September 10, 1857. 2. Hartley Cone, born July 19, 1857, married, September 29, 1886, Mary Lincoln. Children: Sarah Lewis, born February 9, 1890, Ellen Lincoln, August 22, 1891 ; John Lincoln, May 28, 1896; Emily West, May 7, 1898. 3. Clinton Lewis, born June 29, 1859, married, February 8, 1882, Caroline Paulina Dana. She died April 21. 1888. Married (second) October 14, 1891, Ethel Fox. Children : Cara Dana, born April 21, 1888; Anna Fox, November 8, 1892, died August 12, 1894; Ellen Fessenden, May 7,
1894. 4. Eugene Raddin, born January 12, 1862, married, June 25, 1890, Anna E. Pike, San Francisco, California. 5. Mabel, born May 17, 1865, died October 22, 1865. 6. James Phinney, born February 27, 1867, mar- ried, October 8, 1890, Nelly Furbish Carpen- ter ; children : James Phinney, born February 15, 1893; Nelly Furbish, born May 19, 1906. 7. Alba, born May 9, 1869, died February 12, 1873. 8. Rupert H., born July 26, 1871, mar- ried, June 3, 1896, Kate Depuy Mussenden, Bath, Maine; children: Mary Lincoln, born April 11, 1891 ; Lydia Mclellan, February 7, 1907. 9. Emily Poole, born July 15, 1874. 10. Percival Proctor, born November 22, 1876. II. Madeleine Cummings, born January 26, 1879, married, October 9, 1907, Fenton Tom- linson ; child: James Baxter, born September 2, 1908.
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