Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume IV, Part 29

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 29

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Dr. Charles Jewett is a grandson of Jona- than and Hannah (Hale) Jewett, and a son of George and Sarah (Hale) Jewett. His grand- parents removed from Massachusetts to Maine about 1800, and were among the early settlers of that state. His father was a native and a lifelong resident of the state of Maine. The representatives of the Hale family, of which his mother and grandmother were members, include many men of note in public affairs. The name in the early records appears as Heale, Heales, Hailes, Held, Heald and Hales. The latter name was borne in England by three distinct families, those of Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire and Kent.

Dr. Charles Jewett was born in Bath, Maine. He received his early education in the high school of his native town, and in 1864 was graduated from Bowdoin College with the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts. Three years later his alma mater conferred upon him the de- gree of Master of Arts, and in 1894, the cen- tennial year of the college, the degree of Doc- tor of Science. In 1868 he began the study of medicine. He attended a course of lec- tures in the Long Island College Hospital, and succeeding courses in the University Medical College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, and was graduated from the latter named institution in 1871 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation he located in Brooklyn, New York, and engaged in practice, which for a time was of a general character, but in later years has been confined to gynecology and obstetrics, in which specialties he is known throughout the world. In recognition of his attainments he has been called to many im- portant positions. In 1880 he was appointed

professor of obstetrics in the collegiate de- partment of the Long Island College Hos- pitals, and in 1900 succeeded to the professor- ship of gynecology. He is also gynecologist and obstetrician to the hospital. For many years he has served as consulting obstetrician to the Kings County Hospital, has been con- sulting gynecologist to the Bushwick Hospital since 1894, to the Swedish Hospital since 1906, and was recently appointed consulting gyne- cologist to the German Hospital, Brooklyn. He has also been for several years consulting surgeon to St. Christopher's Hospital, and a member of the board of trustees of the Brook- lyn Eye and Ear Hospital. Though busily oc- cupied with a large private practice and the duties of college and hospital positions, Dr. Jewett finds time to take active part in the work of the many professional societies of which he is a member. He holds membership in the Medical Society of the County of Kings, of which he was president for three years, 1878-80; the Brooklyn Pathological Society ; the Brooklyn Gynecological Society, of which he was president in 1893; the New York Ob- stetrical Society, of which he was president in 1894; the New York Academy of Medicine; the Medical Society of the State of New York; the American Academy of Medicine; the New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Association, of which he was vice-president in 1891-93; the American Gynecological Society, of which he was vice-president ; the Associated Physicians of Long Island; the Brooklyn Medical So- ciety ; the Associated Physicians of the City of Greater New York; the Red Cross So- ciety ; the American Society for the Advance- ment of Science; the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity ; the University Club; the Hamilton Club and the Federation of Churches. He en- joys the distinction of having been made an honorary member of the Gynecological Sec- tion of the Royal Society of Medicine of Great Britain and of the Detroit Gynecological So- ciety. He was honorary president of the Pan- American Medical Congress in 1893, and was one of the founders of the International Peri- odical Congress of Gynecologists and Ob- stetricians. Dr. Jewett has made many con- tributions to medical literature, which are well known as standard works. The titles of his own volumes are: "Essentials of Obstetrics." and "A Manual of Childhood Nursing." He was editor of "Practice of Obstetrics, by American Authors," and the writer of several of its chapters. He was a contributor to "American Textbook of Obstetrics," Hamil- ton's "System of Legal Medicine," Keating &

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Company's "Clinical Gynecology," Foster's "Handbook of Therapeutics," and was one of the collaborators of the "American Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics." A large number of monographs and professional papers, read before the leading medical societies, have been published in the medical journals and in pamphlet form.

Dr. Jewett married, in 1868, Abbie E. Flagg, of New Hampshire, since deceased. Children : Harold F. and Alice H. Dr. Harold F. Jew- ett, embracing the profession of his father, located in Brooklyn, New York, and is meet- ing with marked success as a physician and a gynecologist.

BENNETT The surname Bennett or Ben- net is of ancient English ori- gin and history, derived from the personal name Benedict, of Latin origin. It was in general use as early as the reigns of Edward II and Edward III in England. Among the early forms of spelling we find Fitz Benedict, Benediscite, Bendiste, Bendish and Bennett. The ancient seat of the Bennett family of England was the city of Norwich. Various branches have coats-of-arms.

(I) Nathan Bennet, as this branch of the family has spelled the name for many gen- erations, settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He married Nancy Benner. Among their children was Josiah, mentioned below.

(II) Josiah, son of Nathan Bennet, was born in New Brunswick, January 30, 1815, in the same house in which his son was born, in the parish of Harvey, Albert county. He died in 1864. He was a farmer all his active life, living on the homestead at Harvey and in Caledonia. He married, in 1840, Annie Ol- son, born in New Brunswick, January, 1822. Children : I. William, born in Harvey, Sep- tember 12, 1842. 2. Martha, Harvey, May 5, 1845. 3. Eben Homer, Harvey, June 20, 1848, mentioned below. 4. Mary W., Cale- donia, January, 1851. 5. Sarah J., Caledonia, January, 1854. 6. Robert Watson, Caledonia, September, 1857. 7. Peter W., Caledonia, February, 1861. 8. Josephine, Caledonia, Jan- uary, 1864.

(III) Dr. Eben Homer, son of Josiah Ben- net, was born June 20, 1848, in the parish of Harvey, Albert county, New Brunswick. He attended the public schools of his native place and graduated from the New Brunswick Nor- mal School 1870. He taught for the next three years in the public schools, then began the study of his profession in the Jefferson

Medical College, of Philadelphia, Pennsylva- nia, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in the class of 1875. He took post- graduate courses in New York City and at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Mary- land. He was also a special student under Professor Simons, of Baltimore, in the subject of clinical microscopy. He began to practice in Bryant, Illinois, in November, 1875, and six months afterward, May, 1876, he came to Lubec, Maine, where he has continued to the present time in general practice as physician and surgeon. He is a member of the County Medical Society, the Maine Medical As- sociation and the American Medical Asso- ciation, and has been president of the county society and vice-president of the state society. He is a member of Wash- ington Lodge, No. 37, Free Masons, of Lu- bec. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the school board and for many years was superintendent of schools. He mar- ried, February 3, 1873, Annie Wealthy, born November 3, 1855, died May 11, 1892, daugh- ter of William Conley, of Deer Island, New Brunswick. Children: I. Cecelia Millicinth, born October 28, 1876, attended the public schools of Lubec, graduate of the Portland high school and as trained nurse at the Bos- ton City Hospital in 1902; married, 1902, C. E. Watts, of Windber, Pennsylvania. 2. Mame Seely, December 1, 1879, attended the public schools of Lubec, graduated Lubec high school class of '96, Colby Academy at New London, New Hampshire, in 1897, Bates College, in 190I; assistant in the Bates College library for two years; graduated from the Farming- ton (Maine) Normal school in 1904; teacher in the Lubec high school for three years ; grad- uated from Teacher's College, Columbia Uni- versity, New York, in the class of 1908. 3. Grace Lee, May 30, 1883, graduate of the Lubec high school, took a course at the Farm- ington Normal school; married, 1908, Ralph H. Preble, of Portland, Maine. 4. Da Costa Fitzmaurice, June 4, 1895, graduate of the Lubec high school and the Hebron Academy ; student in the University of Maine, class of 1909.

PENLEY It is a course of great profit and pleasure to study the char- acters and lives of those individ- uals who stand forth in bold relief as leaders in literature, politics, and in the stern com- petition and activity of business life. Among those of the two latter named classes belong Hon. Albert Manchester Penley, a descend-

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ant of one of the oldest families of Danville, members of which have been prominent and influential in the management and develop- ment of the various communities in which they settled, and have left descendants and repre- sentatives to follow in their steps.

(I) Joseph Penley, was born in Gloucester- shire. England, July 13, 1756. One day, while visiting his elder brother, a hatter, in Lon- don, he strayed down to the docks, was seized by the press gang, hurried on board a warship, which sailed without allowing him the slightest opportunity to communicate with his friends. While the vessel was cruising off the Maine coast, angered at having received a flogging for some trifling offense, he, with a messmate, stole the ship's boat and came ashore. Though closely pursued, they suc- ceeded in escaping. He enlisted in the Amer- ican army in the war that shortly followed, served several years, and settled near its close in Freeport, Maine. He married Esther Fogg and among their children was a son, John, see forward.

(II) Captain John, son of Joseph and Es- ther (Fogg) Penley, was born near Strout's Point, in Freeport, then included in the town of North Yarmouth, May II, 1782. He was a boy of ten when the family removed in 1792 to Pejepscot. Although his opportunities for acquiring an education were very slight, he improved them to such an extent that his busi- ness career did not suffer in the least from the disadvantages under which he labored. His entire life was spent upon a farm, and some- times he owned and operated as many as eight or ten, but the purchase and sale of horses and cattle was the occupation in which he was specially interested and to which he gave much attention during the fourscore years he lived in Danville. He was one of the pioneers in the now important industry of sending Maine cattle to the Brighton market, and one of his droves was the second driven out of the state to that market. He was an active factor in the management of the Lewiston Falls Bridge Company, for forty years the most important of the local corporations, and in 1847 was one of the organizers of the Auburn Bank, which was first named the Danville Bank, and long continued one of its directors. He repre- sented the town of Danville in the legislature in 1824 and 1838, and was repeatedly elected to various municipal offices, in all of which he gave entire satisfaction to his townsmen and constituents. He was an attendant of the Free Baptist church near his homestead, gave liber- ally of his time and money toward the care

and repair of the building and of the burying- ground adjacent, during his life, and at his death bequeathed to it $1,000. He was a man of exemplary character, sterling integrity, just and honorable in all business transactions, kind and considerate to the poor and needy, and was esteemed by all who had the honor of his acquaintance. Captain Penley married (first) in 1802, Desire Dingley, by whom he had thirteen children. Married (second) in 1834, Julia A. Wagg, by whom he had five children, namely: I. Louisa V., married Asa Garcelon. 2. Hattie E., married S. T. Davis. 3. Caroline M., married J. W. Peables. 4. Al- bert M., see forward. 5. Winfield S. Captain Penley, who won his title by many years' serv- ice in the state militia, died January 13, 1873, in his ninety-first year.

(III) Albert Manchester, son of Captain John and Julia A. (Wagg) Penley, was born in Danville, July 22, 1847. He was reared on the home farm, and his education was ac- quired at the Edward Little Institute and Maine State Seminary. For two years after completing his studies he served in the capa- city of school teacher, after which he turned his attention to the farm, conducting opera- tions thereon until January 1, 1874, when he purchased the meat and grocery interest of L. F. Chase in the mercantile house of Chase & Peables, and formed the firm of Peables & Penley, which continued until Mr. Penley re- tired, January 1, 1883, a period of nine years. The following September he engaged in the same business on his own account at No. 98 Maine street, Auburn, which he has continued to the present time. In addition to this he has been a director of the Auburn Foundry Company from 1883, and its president since September, 1890; a director of the Auburn Loan and Building Association since its or- ganization; a director and treasurer of the Androscoggin Land Association since its for- mation in 1887; a director and president of the Penley Cemetery Corporation, organized in 1889. Mr. Penley has always been staunch in his advocacy of Republican principles and candidates, and has frequently been selected for positions of official trust. He served as warden of ward 4 of Auburn from 1872 to 1874; member of the common council, 1880- 82; alderman, 1884; member of the Republi- can city committee, 1883, and was its chair- man in the important campaign of 1884; over- seer of the poor from 1883 to 1885; mayor, 1887, re-elected in 1888; in 1889 was chosen to fill a vacancy in the officer of overseer of the poor until 1891, when he was elected for

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three years, and in 1890 was chosen one of the superintending school committee of Au- burn, and continued in that capacity for ten years, and also one of its representatives to the legislature for two terms, 1891-93. In 1897 he was appointed to fill an unexpired term as county commissioner by Governor Llewellyn Powers, serving thus for one year. He was then elected for a short term of two years, and in 1900 was elected for a full term of six years. In 1893 he was elected a trustee of the Auburn Savings Bank and has served to the present time (1909). Mr. Penley is also prominently connected with brotherhood associations ; is a Knight of Pythias, a Knight of Honor since 1887, grand dictator of the order in Maine in 1885, and a member of the Supreme Lodge in 1886-87. He joined Tran- quil Lodge of Free Masons in 1873. King Hiram Chapter, Dunlap Council, and Lewiston Commandery, 1874; Lewiston Lodge of Per- fection, 1880; Portland Council of Princes of Jerusalem, Dunlap Chapter Rose Croix and Maine Consistory, S. P. R. C., 1881 ; received the thirty-third and highest degree in Masonry in 1888, creating him sovereign grand in- spector-general of the Northern Masonic Ju- risdiction. In 1875 he assisted in organizing Ancient Brothers Lodge, and was its master from 1876 to 1878. He was high priest of Bradford Chapter in 1878-79, thrice illustrious master of Dunlap Council from 1880 to 1882, commander of Lewiston Commandery from 1882 to 1884, and thrice potent grand master of Lewiston Lodge of Perfection from 1887 to 1889. He has served as senior grand war- den in the Masonic body in 1895; was grand high priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chap- ter of Maine from 1892 to 1894; was grand master of the Grand Council of Maine, Royal and Select Masters, from 1889 to 1891. He joined Aleppo Temple, Boston, September 15, 1887, and is a member of Kora Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Lewiston, of which he was a charter member in 1891 and served as poten- tate in 1905. Mr. Penley has always resided in "Old Danville," and in 1890 built one of the handsome residences of Auburn, on the corner of Maine and Elm streets. He is a man of strong personality, generous impulses, and possesses the faculty of winning and re- taining friends to an unusual degree. Mr. Penley married, at Deering, Maine, October 18, 1875, Georgia A., daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Fickett) Pennell, of that town. Children : Georgia Maryett, married Samuel Stewart, of Lewiston, Maine, in 1900; two children, Evelyn E. and Ruth F .; John Albert,

married Ethel F. Lindsay, of Lewiston, Maine ; Julia Lida. The family are attendants of the Congregational church of Auburn.

WILLS The genealogists appear all at sea in tracing the ancestral line of the descent of the Wills of Somer- set county, Maine, and by reason of the ease by which the three surnames, Wills, Willis and Mills, are confounded, it has proved futile to make any reasonable connection in the sec- ond, third, fourth, fifth and sixth generations. It is presumed by the family and supported by tradition that the immigrant ancestor was Thomas Wills, of Exeter, England, who was granted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Kittery, Maine, in 1677, and who mar- ried for his second wife, in 1669, Lucy, daugh- ter of James (who died before 1650) and Katherine (Shapleigh) Treworgy, and widow of Humphrey Chadbourne. She was born in Kittery about 1632 and married as her third husband Hon. Elias Stileman, of Portsmouth. They had a daughter, Sarah, who married John Gear, and a son, Thomas Jr., a mariner, who married Sarah, daughter of Walter Ab- bott, of Portsmouth. Supposing that Thomas Jr. was born in 1675, the third generation would be 1705, the fourth 1740, the fifth 1770, the sixth 1795, and the seventh 1824. Assuming this, we place Ruel Wills as of the seventh generation. If this is not the Ameri- can immigrant ancestor of Ruel and Fred J. Wills, we find one Samuel Wills, of Hartford, Maine, who was married November 28, 1688, to Mary (Taylor) Love, widow of William Love, of Salmon Falls, Maine. She died be- fore 1695 and her husband, Samuel Wills, sold to "his late wife's brother, John Taylor, of Hampton, the estate of William Love."

(VII) Ruel Wills was born in Mercer, Somerset county, Maine, in 1824, and died February 10, 1903. He received a common school education and learned the shoe manu- factory business. He was for many years a member of the shoe manufacturing firm of John F. Cobb & Company. He married (first) Rhoda Millet, sister of John F. Cobb's first wife, 1849. His wife died 1859. In 1860 he married ( second) Lavina Millet, sister of his deceased wife. She died 1861. In 1862 he married (third) Esther, daughter of David and Patty (Robinson) Corliss, of Hartford, Maine. His children were: I. Herbert, born September, 1863, Auburn, Maine. 2. Carrie, born July 30, 1865, in Auburn, married Gil- bert Hersey. 3. Fred Irving (q. v.). 4. Ar- thur A., born Auburn. 5. Elmer, born Turner,

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June 1, 1871. 6. Albert, born Turner, Octo- ber 27, 1872. 7. Perley, born Turner, May 28, 1874. 8. Ernest, born Minot, December 25, 1879. All born in state of Maine.

(VIII) Fred Irving, second son and third child of Ruel and Esther (Corliss) Wills, was born in Auburn, Maine, December 19, 1867. He was but eight years old when he was bound out to a farmer, who cultivated a large farm and here worked and received his board, clothes and short winter terms at school until he was sixteen years old, when he worked for a grocer, receiving for his first year's work his board and one hundred dollars, with a liberal increase from year to year. · When he had reached his majority, he had accumu- lated a considerable sum of money, which he invested in the grocery business in Lewiston, Maine, which he was still carrying on in 1909. In addition to this business he was passenger and exchange agent for the Atlantic liners running between Boston, New York and other American ports to all parts of Europe. He affiliated with the Masonic fraternity; with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Sons of St. George. His political affiliation is with the Republican party, and his religious home the Protestant Episcopal church. He married, June 19, 1889, Nettie A., daughter of John and Alice (Hartley) Gar- ner, of England, and their children, Carrie Alice and Russell Garner, were born in Lewis- ton, Maine.

This name is not of fre- MERRIFIELD quent occurrence in Amer- ica, but was common in Devonshire, England, where at one time its bearers were of considerable distinction and owners of large landed estates. The name is probably a contraction of St. Mary's Field, there having been in England a village of this name, which was also given to a bridge and used to describe an estate. John Merrifield ap- pears in the list of passengers on a ship which left England for America in 1635, and he was probably the ancestor of all those bearing the name in this country.

(I) Simeon Merrifield was probably born in 1718 or 1720. He enlisted under Major John Storer, in Wells, Maine, in 1740, and sailed for Boston in a transport, March 24 of that year, to join the Louisburg expedition under Pepperell. As far as can be ascertained his children were: Simeon, who settled in Wells near the South Berwick line, Samuel and William.

(II) William, son of Simeon Merrifield, was

born in 1747. He settled on the Sanford Grant, where he cleared a fine farm, which has been held by his descendants since that time. He married, December 6, 1771, Hepzi- bah Furbush, and as far as is known their children were: Nathaniel, see forward; Will- iam, born February 16, 1774; Jacob, January 4, 1776; settled in Sanford, married Lucy Ricker and had a numerous family.

(III) Nathaniel, eldest child of William and Hepzibah (Furbush) Merrifield, was born September 21, 1772. He resided in Lisbon, Maine. He married Furbush, and had

children : Jacob, see forward; William, Abram, Nathaniel, Margaret, Rhoda and Re- lief.

(IV) Jacob, son of Nathaniel and

(Furbush) Merrifield, was born in Lisbon, Maine, about 1800. While still a young man he removed to Waterville, Maine, where he followed the occupation of a lumberman. He was married to Esther, born in 1812, a daugh- ter of Tristram and Miriam (Nason) Ricker, the former a farmer. They had children : George Alpheus Lyon, see forward; Helen M., born January 28, 1841; three who died in in- fancy ; Tinnie, born June 7, 1849, is living in Falls Church, Virginia; Clara Isabel, born April 20, 1851. Of these children only George Alpheus Lyon and Tinnie are living at the present time (1909).

(V) George Alpheus Lyon, eldest child of Jacob and Esther (Ricker) Merrifield, was born in Waterville, Maine, March 1, 1839. At that time the family were living in the little cottage long occupied by the late Rufus Nason (a relative of the Merrifield family), now standing on Upper Maine street. Mr. Merri- field was named for the Hon. George Evans, a noted politician of that time, and the Hon. Alpheus Lyon, an early resident of the town. His education was acquired in the public and high schools of his native town and in the Waterville Liberal Institute. He was engaged until 1865 in the boot and shoe business in Waterville, wholesale, retail and manufactur- ing branches, and in that year went to Wash- ington, District of Columbia, where, through the influence of the Hon. H. Hamlin, he was appointed to a clerkship in the United States pension office, June 5, 1865. He rose through the various grades until he now holds the position of principal examiner, under an act of congress creating that office. He is one of the few persons enjoying the distinction of having served continuously in the United States pen- sion office at Washington for a period of over forty-four years. He has resided in Falls

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Church, Virginia, for thirty-four years, going to Washington on the morning of every legal business day. Mr. Merrifield is Republican in politics. The town of Merrifield, Fairfax county, Virginia, was named in his honor. He is a director of the Falls Church Bank and Trust Company, and president of the Falls Church Improvement Company. He is a member and deacon of the Falls Church Congregational Church, a member of the Waterville (Maine) Lodge, No. 33, Free and Accepted Masons, a member of the Congre- gational Club of Washington, District of Col- umbia, and was its president, secretary and treasurer for a number of years. Mr. Merri- field married (first) September 22, 1868, El- len Augusta King, of Washington, District of Columbia, who died March 21, 1892, and had children : Edith Octavia and Everett Platt. Edith Octavia married the Rev. Arsene B. Schmavonian, of Constantinople, Turkey, where they now reside, and where he is pas- tor of an Armenian Congregational church. He was educated at the Divinity School in Hartford, Connecticut, and lived for a time in Falls Church, and in Hyde Park, Massa- chusetts. Their children are: Gregory, born in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1900, and Mar- garet Virginia, born in Constantinople, Tur- key, August 16, 1908. Mr. Merrifield married (second) September, 1898, Martha Frances, born in Oakland, Maine, daughter of George Rice, of West Waterville, Maine; Mrs. Merri- field died January, 1907. He married (third) January 16, 1908, Margaret Gray, daughter of William Buckner and Margaret (Gray) Dickenson, and granddaughter of William and Jane (Buckner) Dickenson, the latter a native of Caroline county, Virginia.

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Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume IV, Part 29

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