Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume IV, Part 27

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: 896

USA > Maine > Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume IV > Part 27

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).

(II) Benjamin, son of Richard and Lydia (Chandler) Higgins, born July, 1640, died March 14, 1691. He married, December 24, 1661, Lydia, daughter of Edward Bangs. Chil- dren : Ichabod, Richard, John, Joshua, Lydia, Isaac, Benjamin, Samuel, Benjamin. The youngest child, Benjamin, married Sarah Free- man, a member of one of the choice old Ply- mouth families. Thomas, the second of the fourteen children of Benjamin and Sarah (Freeman) Higgins, married Abigail Paine, a woman of great religious faith, and their first child, Philip, purchased three miles of land near where the city of Bath now stands, and was the ancestor of most of the members of the Higgins family in that part of Maine.

most Higgins

1785

STATE OF MAINE.

(III) Richard (2), son of Benjamin and Lydia (Bangs) Higgins, was born October 15, 1664. He married, 1694, Sarah Freeman, of England. Children: Joshua, Eleazer, Theo- philus, Jedediah, Zaccheus, Esther, David, Reuben, Moses and Abigail.

(IV) Reuben, son of Richard (2) and Sarah (Freeman) Higgins, was born 1709. He married Children : Abigail, Han- nah, Reuben, Esther and Isaac.

(V) Reuben (2), son of Reuben (I) Hig- gins, was born June 24, 1739. He removed from Cape Cod to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, at quite an early date. He married Children : Hannah Morton, Thankful, Reuben, Sylvanus, Eleazer, Mariah, Frances, Henry, Abigail, twin of Henry.

(VI) Eleazer, son of Reuben (2) Higgins, was born at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, July 8, 1772, died of billious colic at Yarmouth, No- vember 19, 1826. He was a man who had in- herited all the sturdy qualities of his ances- tors, and was of great influence in every com- munity in which he lived. He was one of the successful shipbuilders of Portland, and fol- lowed this work later on at Yarmouth. He purchased a farm in Gray, which his son managed, and Eleazer continued in active busi- ness and was superintending the building of a ship when his last sickness overcame him. He married Susanna Dyer, of Cape Elizabeth, born June II, 1777, died November 3, 1837. Children : I. Amos, born April 22, 1797, see forward. 2. Charlotte, born June 18, 1804, died February 28, 1875. 3. Arthur, born Feb- ruary 8, 1808, died February 6, 1888; mar- ried Susan Perley, of Gray, who bore him children : Martha, Orrin and Susan. 4. George, born June 29, 1809. 5. Charles, born May 20, 1811, died April 19, 1883. 6. Alvin, born May 12, 1813, died 1890. 7. Elias Smith, born March 29, 1815, became a very successful manufacturer of carpets in New York City. 8. Eleazer, born May 2, 1817, died January 3, 1855. 9. Ellen, born April 14, 1820. 10. Na- thaniel, born December 18, 1825, died January IO, 1882.

(VII) Amos, son of Eleazer and Susanna (Dyer) Higgins, born April 22, 1797, died in Charleston, Maine, 1870. He was a very faithful student in the common schools, and early in life saw that there were fine openings in the new towns of his native state. With the same pioneer spirit which had caused many of his family name to make grand successes in life by removals into new conditions, he went to Garland, Maine, bought wild land, built a log cabin and began the work to which

was devoted his entire life, farming. In 1884 he changed this farm for one in Charleston and there he lived the remainder of his days. In politics he was a sturdy Republican, and ever took a deep interest in all national affairs. He was a very faithful member of the Free Baptist church, and was never absent from church services unless detained by some seri- ous illness. He married Sarah Hamilton, born at Yarmouth, died at Charleston. Children : I. Sarah Jane, married Hazen Tilton, of Charleston ; four children: Fred, Helen, Ben- jamin and Ann Tilton. 2. Ann H., married E. B. Page, of Charleston ; children : Melissa, Peter and Jennie Page. 3. Amos, married Flora Wilbur ; children : i. Alvin, superintend- ent of the Hartford Carpet Works at Thomp- sonville, Connecticut; married Mary Stewart, of New York, and has two children: Flora and Grace Higgins; ii. Edward. 4. Alvin, married Nellie Clapp, of Charleston; he is a retired salesman and resides in New York. 5. Smith, married (first) Mattie Hitchborn; children : Addie, Henry, Minnie, Frank, Sadie, John and George Higgins; married (second) Louise Lougee, and has a son, Ralph; Smith Higgins is a farmer of Charleston. 6. Char- lotte Ellen, born in Garland, 1839, was grad- uated from Rutgers Female Institute, New York City, where she afterward taught for several years; she married (first) in 1866, E. D. Sargent, M. D., of Washington, Vermont, now deceased; one child, Mabel E., deceased ; married second, in 1878, the Rev. H. R. Howes, of China, Maine; two children: i. Stella A., born in East Burke, Vermont, July 8, 1879, graduated from Higgins Institute, Charleston, and from Bridgewater Normal in Massachusetts, and is now a teacher in New- ton Center, Massachusetts; ii. J. Herbert, born in South Woodbury, Vermont, December 5, 1880, married, in 1906, Edith M. Hatte, of Machias, Maine; they, with the Rev. and Mrs. Howes, reside in Charleston. 7. John H., see forward. 8. George, was superintendent of the Higgins Carpet Works, New York City; enlisted in the Union army, was wounded and honorably discharged from the service in con- sequence of his injuries; he married Maria Terry ; children : Olney, Arthur, and a daugh- ter Lulu, deceased; George Higgins died in New York City. 9. Charles, died unmarried at age of twenty-four. Three other children, daughters, not mentioned.

(VIII) John H., fourth son and seventh child of Amos and Sarah (Hamilton) Hig- gins, was born in Charleston, May 28, 1841. At the age of sixteen years he concluded his

1786

STATE OF MAINE.

attendance at the old Charleston Academy, and going to New York he entered the employ of E. S. Higgins & Company, a well-known car- pet manufacturing concern of which his uncle, Elias S. Higgins, was the senior partner. Hav- ing diligently applied himself to the task of mastering every detail of the business during the first five years of his connection with it, he was advanced to the position of manager and retained that responsible position for a period of twenty years, directing its affairs with marked ability and advancing still fur- ther the high reputation enjoyed by the firm. Severing his connection with that concern about the year 1882, he engaged in religious work as an evangelist, and subsequently re- turning to Charleston, he devoted a number of years to evangelistic and pastoral labors in small communities which were unable to sup- port a settled minister. In 1891 he purchased the farm adjoining his homestead in Charles- ton, and removing the old buildings, proceeded to erect what is now known as the Higgins Classical Institute, a regularly incorporated in- stitution of the state of Maine, for the promo- tion of Christian education and instruction of youth in the languages, arts and sciences. The building was completed and dedicated in 1901 and opened as a preparatory school for Colby College. This institution, which has a force of five regular instructors and a capacity for two hundred and fifty students, comprises a main building and a dormitory erected at an' ap- proximate cost of one hundred thousand dol- lars, with grounds comprising twenty acres, and it is thoroughly equipped for its intended purpose, having every facility necessary for the carrying out of advanced educational meth- ods. The highest standard of scholarship is maintained, and being an endowed institution, the expense to students is confined to the actual cost of board and other dormitory expenses. There are the courses of study, the college preparatory or classical, the English, and the teachers' training, or normal. The school pro- vides also a well-defined course in music and harmony. Mr. Higgins is president of the board of trustees, chairman of the executive committee and of instruction and instructors. The efficient principal of Higgins Classical In- stitute is Linwood L. Workman, A. B. In adding the Higgins Classical Institute to the list of Maine's preparatory schools its titular founder has displayed a spirit of wisdom and generosity, the benefits of which cannot be too highly estimated. In 1906 Mr. Higgins re- linquished active ministerial work, and is now living in retirement at his home in Charles-

ton. He is a member of the Baptist church, and a Prohibitionist in politics. His labors in the interests of religion and education have left an indelible impress upon the lives of the men and women of his native state, while in his own town he is universally loved and es- teemed.

In 1865 Mr. Higgins married Fanny E. Perley ; she died January 8, 1867, leaving one daughter, Fanny M., who died in March, 1872. In October, 1868, he married Emma L. Perley, a sister of his first wife. She died in January, 1894. Of this union there were six children, three of whom died in infancy. The survivors are: Florence Ellen, born May 18, 1879. Ethel May, born December 6, 1880, was graduated from Mount Holyoke College and studied two years at Colby ; married Por- ter Beck, formerly a professor at Colby and now engaged in the real estate business in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; they have one child, Elizabeth Emma, born July 22, 1908. Alice Emma, born December 14, 1882, married Od- ber Boadway, formerly of Charleston and now of New York. They have one daughter, Lu- cille, born in Charleston, December 30, 1903. On March 12, 1895, Mr. Higgins married for his third wife Mrs. Ellen McCully (nee Har- vey), widow of Judge Lawrence McCully, late of Honolulu, Hawaii. She is a daughter of Greenleaf P. and Abigail Lois (Dexter) Har- vey, of Corinth, Maine. Her grandfather was Francis Harvey, and her great-grandfather, · James Harvey, served as a sergeant in the revolutionary war, and as major in the state militia. Her first husband, the late Hon. Law- rence McCully, of New York, was a graduate of Yale College, a lawyer of distinction and a justice of the Honolulu supreme court. In 1855 he went to Honolulu and resided there until his death. Judge and Mrs. McCully had an adopted daughter, Alice, graduate of Hig- gins Classical Institute, who is now the wife of Francis William Smith, of San Francisco, and has one child, Frances Ellen, born Octo- ber 1, 1906.

(For preceding generations see Richard Higgins I.) (III) Benjamin (2), youngest

HIGGINS child of Benjamin (1) and Ly- dia (Bangs) Higgins, was born at Eastham, Massachusetts, September 15, 1681. He married, May 22, 1701, Sarah, daughter of Lieutenant Edmund and Sarah (Mayo) Freeman. She was a descendant of Thomas Prince, who came in the "Fortune," 1621, became governor of the Plymouth Col- ony, and married Patience, daughter of El-

1787

STATE OF MAINE.

der William Brewster. Benjamin and Sarah Higgins had fourteen children: Priscilla, born November 17, 1702; Thomas, June 24, 1704; Sarah, July 13, 1706; Paul, June 25, 1708; Reliance, May 13, 1710; Elizabeth, April I, 1712; Experience, January 31, 1714; Benja- min, March 1, 1716; Thankful, October 28, 1717; Zaccheus, August 15, 1719; Solomon, September 8, 1822; Lois, August 6, 1723; Isaac, July 12, 1725; Freeman, see forward.

(IV) Freeman, youngest child of Benjamin and Sarah (Freeman) Higgins, was born at Eastham, July 28, 1727. He married, Novem- ber 13, 1747, Martha, daughter of Timothy and Martha Cole. She was descended from Daniel Cole, who was in Plymouth about 1633. He was constable, selectman and town clerk. Freeman Higgins married (second) Thank- ful (Hopkins) Paine, July 14, 1757. His children by his first marriage were: Timothy and Apphia. By his second marriage the chil- dren were: Twins, born April 9, 1758; one named Martha died young, and the other, named Thankful, married, November 12, 1783, Thomas Stoddard Boardman; Zedediah, April II, 1760; Priscilla, born March 1, 1762; Mary, August 9, 1764 ; Elisha, November 9, 1766.

(V) Elisha, youngest son of Freeman and Thankful (Hopkins) (Paine) Higgins, was born in Westbrook, Cumberland county, Maine, November 9, 1766. He married Lucy Stevens, of Westbrook, a descendant of Cap- tain Isaac Stevens, who kept the first hotel on Steven's Plains, and this celebrated hos- telry was kept successively by his descend- ants, Zachariah B. Stevens, Esq., selectman of the town 1824-27, and his son, Samuel B. Stevens. The Stevens name is among the most honored in the town of Westbrook. Elisha Higgins was a carpenter and builder and a useful citizen of the town.

(VI) Charles, son of Elisha and Lucy (Stevens) Higgins, was born in Westbrook, Cumberland county, Maine, in 1809. He was brought up to the trade of tinsmith, a business complimenting that of his father, and his pro- clivity, inherited and cultivated, was to affiliate with the Whig party, which party received his fullest support up to its dissolution in 1852, when he joined the Free Soil party, which in 1856 merged into the Republican party led by Fremont, and so thoroughly crystalized and tempered by Lincoln. He married Catherine Mitchell, born in Westbrook, Maine, 1812, and they removed to Bath, Maine, where Charles Higgins carried on his trade of tinsmith and removed after the birth of their son Algernon Sidney, to Turner Village, and thence to Au-

burn, and soon after across the river to Lew- iston.

(VII) Algernon Sidney, son of Charles and Catherine (Mitchell) Higgins, was born in Bath, Maine, March 6, 1834. He was edu- cated in the primary schools of Turner Vil- lage and Lewiston and afterward was grad- uated at the Lewiston Falls Academy. Mr. Higgins has been in educational affairs all his life. He began teaching in Lewiston at an early age. In 1854 he was called to Hunting- ton, Long Island, New York, to take charge of the village school. Largely through his efforts the village districts were consolidated, and a union school, centrally located, was erect- ed. This school promptly became the leading school in that section. It was conducted in the New England educational spirit, and many of the methods of instruction introduced sur- vive to this day. This school embraced pupils of all ages, from the primary to the high school, and its graduates who entered college at that time took a high rank. Mr. Higgins has always had original ideas in education. It was in this school that he organized a juvenile agricultural society, out of its pupils. It was modeled after the county fair. Every fall the pupils exhibited the product of their work in the field, shop and home. These annual fairs attracted wide attention. Each year the scope and interest extended, and the village on Fair Day wore a holiday appearance. Mr. Higgins believes that if he had remained and carried out this idea to its legitimate conclu- sion, the subject of manual training, now so prominent in the educational world, would have been early practically and economically solved. In the fall of 1864 Mr. Higgins took charge of the grammar school on Mountjoy Hill, Portland, Maine. Here he remained only one year. Then he was selected to organize public school No. 29, Brooklyn, New York. This then was the latest addition to the Brook- lyn schools. Now these schools number over one hundred and sixty-five, exclusive of high and special schools. He remained at No. 29 for eight years, when the principalship of a larger school becoming vacant, the authorities thought his success merited a transfer to pub- lic school No. 9. He remained principal twelve years. He introduced several improve- ments in subjects or method of instruction which so commended themselves to the educa- tional authorities that they now form part of the course of study in all the schools of the city of New York. Influenced by both money and friendship, at the end of twelve years in public school No. 9, Mr. Higgins resigned and

1788

STATE OF MAINE.

became the advertising manager of a large Broadway firm in New York. Here he re- mained twelve years. He did not, in the least, lose his interest in the schools, nor after a few years his official relations with these, for the Hon. David A. Boody, an honored son of Maine, then mayor of Brooklyn, appointed him a member of the school board. He served as such for nearly eight years. He was largely instrumental in securing the passage by this board and subsequently by the legislature of the teachers' retirement act under whose pro- visions teachers may be retired on half salary after a fixed period of acceptable services. A change in the affairs of the firm with which he was connected determined him to return wholly to the schools. When this was known, the school board promptly elected him assistant superintendent of schools for the city of Brook- lyn. This was in 1898. In this capacity he served until 1892. In that year an amended act of consolidation brought the adjoining cities into closer relations with New York. Their boards of education were abolished and the school system was administered by a board of forty-six members, made up of a fixed num- ber from New York and each of the neigh- boring cities. Under this board and dealing more directly with the intellectual part of the school, was a board of superintendents, com- posed of the city superintendent of schools and eight associate superintendents. To this board Mr. Higgins was unanimously elected. Here he served until the spring of 1906, when, on his application, though still in good health, he was placed on the list of retired superintend- ents.

Mr. Higgins was one of the organizers of the Maine State Association of Teachers. He has been a member of the National State, County, City and Town Teachers' associations all through his active school life, believing strongly in the organizations and associations of those engaged in the same profession.

Mr. Higgins married, August 1, 1857, Sarah Maria, daughter of Ezra and Jane A. (Brown) Conklin, of Huntington, Long Isl- and; she died in 1897; she was a descendant of the Conklins who came from England and were among the very earliest settlers of Long Island. Captain John Conklin came from Not- tingham, England, to Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, about 1636, and in 1655 removed to Southold, Long Island. Before he came to America he was a manufacturer of glass in Nottinghamshire, carried on that business in Salem, Massachusetts, in connection with

his sons who had immigrated with him, and they were the first glass manufacturers in America, and recorded in early land grants as "Glassimen." The children of Algernon Sid- ney and Sarah Maria (Conklin) Higgins are : Algernon Sidney Jr. and Myra Burgess Hig- gins. Algernon Sidney Higgins Jr. is a prac- ticing physician at 11 Kingston avenue, Brook- lyn, New York. He married M. Ida Preston ; children : Edith, died young; Harold Preston and Marjorie Higgins. Myra Burgess Hig- gins married Frederick H. Baldwin, and re- sides at 150 Sixth avenue, Brooklyn, New York. To them were born two children: Frederick Rhey and Olive Natalie Baldwin. Mr. Higgins makes his home with his daugh- ter.

He was made a Mason in Jeptha Lodge, at Huntington, Long Island, in 1864. After re- moving to Brooklyn he affiliated with Mistletoe Lodge, No. 647, of which he is still a member. When he had been a Mason for twenty-one' years he was eligible to the Masonic Veterans. This body he promptly joined and is a member to this date. Mr. Higgins is a charter member of the Montauk Club, of Brooklyn, and with the exception of about a year has been its secretary since its organization in 1889. In that year was or- ganized the Berkely School for Girls, a large and flourishing school near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The Hon. David A. Boody, whose biography will be found in another volume, has been its president, and Mr. Higgins its secretary since its organization. Thus has Mr. Higgins, like thousands of the sons of Maine, done and is still doing credit to his native state.

(For preceding generations see Richard Higgins I.) (IV) Benjamin (3) was the

HIGGINS son of Benjamin (2) Higgins. He had Eleazer, Theophilus, Jedediah and Reuben.

(V) Eleazer was a son of Benjamin (3) Higgins. The name of his wife was Sarah. (VI) Eleazer (2) was the son of Eleazer (I) and Sarah Higgins. Children : Eleazer, Joseph, Enoch, Jedediah, Richard, Sarah and Hannah.

(VII) Jedediah, fourth son of Eleazer (2) and Sarah Higgins, was born in 1733, lived in Truro, Massachusetts, and was the head of that branch of the family. He married Phoebe, daughter of Azubah Paine. Chil- dren: Jedediah, Mary, Joseph, Hannah, and several others.

1789

STATE OF MAINE.

(VIII) Israel Higgins was born in South Truro, Cape Cod, and was probably a son of the above Jedediah and Phoebe (Paine) Higgins. He removed to Bar Harbor, Maine, about 1776, and settled near Eddy's brook, formerly called Salisbury brook. The first mention of his name in the Mount Desert plantation records is that in 1776 a road was laid out between Ebenezer Salisbury and Is- rael Higgins, north from the main road to the salt water and the landing. He held re- sponsible offices in the plantation and town of Mount Desert and also Eden, and he was alto- gether one of the leading citizens of the island. He died November II, 1818. He married Mary Snow, of Cape Cod; children : Henry, Stephen, Deborah, Israel (died in infancy), Oliver, Israel, Jonathan, Zaccheus, Seth, Mercy and Mary.

(IX) Israel (2), fifth son of Israel (I) and Mary (Snow) Higgins, was born on Mount Desert Island, March 5, 1778, and lived at Bar Harbor. He was a master mariner and drowned at sea. He married Polly Hull, and she died February 26, 1818. Children : Jona- than, Samuel, Eliza, Stephen, Charlotte, Royal Grant, Warren and Sophia. Polly Hull was a daughter of Samuel Hull, a sea captain from Derby, Connecticut. Captain Hull settled on the south side of Hull's Cove, Mount Desert, before 1789, where he kept a store and built a number of vessels. He was the chief citizen of the little village and the cove was so named for him. He took an active part in the or- ganization and business of the towns of Mount Desert and Eden. The first town meeting was held at his house and he was chosen the first selectman. In 1797 he paid a tax of fifteen dollars and ninety-four cents. John Hull, mint master of Massachusetts, and Commodore Isaac Hull was of this line, and Hull, Massa- chusetts, was named for the family.

(X) Captain Royal Grant, second son of Israel (2) and Polly (Hull) Higgins, was born January 31, 1809, at Bar Harbor, and died in 1873. He was a sea captain, follow- ing the foreign trade and commander of a United States coast survey vessel. He mar- ried (first) Sarah F. Suminsby, of Eden, Maine. Married (second) Mary Frances Snow, born at West Eden, December 25, 1839, and who is now living at Bar Harbor. Chil- dren of first wife: Harriet Ann, Leander and Florence. Children of second wife: Ella F., Royal G. and Stephen W.

(XI) Dr. Royal Grant, the eldest son of Royal G. (1) and Mary F. (Snow) Higgins,

was born in Bar Harbor, September 11, 1867, and educated in the public schools, and at the East Maine Methodist Conference Semi- nary at Bucksport from which he was grad- uated. He entered the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, graduating therefrom with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and was interne at that institution for one year. He began to practice at Princeton, Indiana, remaining thereat ten years, when he came to Bar Harbor, where he is engaged in gen- eral practice. He took a post-graduate course at the New York Homeopathic Medical Col- lege in 1903. He is an Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Mason, being a member of the Bar Harbor Blue Lodge, and a Republican in poli- tics. On February 21, 1894, he married Kath- erine (Grant) Little, of Philadelphia, daugh- ter of Thomas Little, a builder and contractor. One child, Royal Grant, born February II, 1895, at Princeton, Indiana, who is now in the public schools of Bar Harbor.

(For preceding generation see Robert Fletcher I.) (II) Francis, son of Robert

FLETCHER Fletcher, was born in 1636, in Concord, Massachusetts, and remained with his father in that town. He became a large land owner, being the pos- sessor of seventeen lots of land in Concord, amounting to four hundred and thirty-seven acres. He was admitted freeman in 1677, and in the same year was reported "in full com- munion with ye church in Concord." In De- cember, 1661, he was one of the signers of a petition to license men to sell wine. He mar- ried, August 1, 1656, Elizabeth, daughter of George and Catherine Wheeler. She died June 14, 1704. Their children were: Sam- uel, Joseph, Elizabeth, John, Sarah, Hezekiah, Hannah and Benjamin.

(III) Joseph, second child of Francis and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Fletcher, was born April 15, 1661, at Concord, Massachusetts. He was married June 17, 1688, to Mary Dudley, who died April 27, 1701. Their children were: Joseph, Benjamin, Samuel, Mary, Francis and Jane.

(IV) Samuel, third child of Joseph and Mary (Dudley) Fletcher, was born Novem- ber 30, 1692, at Concord. He was married January 18, 1721, by Justice Minot, to Abigail Hubbard, and they were the parents of the following children: Jonathan, Mary and Ebe- nezer.

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 IV, Part 27

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: 896

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: 896