USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > Historical collections of Piscataquis County, Maine, consisting of papers read at meetings of Piscataquis County Historical Society, also The north eastern boundary controversy and the Aroostook War, V. I > Part 13
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After his last service he returned to Groton, and in 1781, he, with his father and another brother, removed
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to Norridgewock, Me., and settled on lots C and D in that town. He lived here for more than twenty-five years, married, and raised up a family.
In 1806 his son Jonas came over into Piscataquis County, and took up the northwest corner lot in number 3, range 6, now Dover, cleared a part of it and got it under cultivation. He and his brother Luke were here most all of the time working on the land and building a house until 1808, when their father Zachariah moved in with his whole family.
It was from this family that the first death in the town of Dover occurred. Luke, the oldest brother, while attempting to tow a raft of logs across the river to the mill in Foxcroft, in the fall of 1807, was drowned. He was in a boat and was towing the logs, and it is thought that he got ensnarled in the rigging, lost his balance and fell overboard. His body was not recovered until the following spring, when it was found lodged on some rocks at the Great Falls; it was buried on the bank of the river not far from the eastern end of the present Dover bridge.
When Zachariah Longley came to Dover in 1808, he settled on the northwest corner lot, on which his sons had made improvements, and he lived there the remain- der of his days. On his trip from Norridgewock he brought with him a bushel and a half of potatoes, and these he planted on his new farm, from which was obtained the great yield of seventy bushels.
The second son, Jonas, met with an untimely death, in December, 1811. He started out with his dog fox- hunting; it is probable that he strayed farther away from home than he intended, and traveled so far that he was overcome with exhaustion, and died from exposure. It is hardly possible that he was lost at the time of his death, as his body was found on the Woodbury hill, not
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far from where James Woodbury afterwards built his house, and in plain hearing of the sound of the falls. His track showed that he was taking a straight course for the falls.
Zachariah Longley had quite a large family. Among his children were Betsey, who was the second wife of Eli Towne, the first settler of Dover; Susan, who married Isaac Blethen; and Sylvanus, who remained a resident of Dover until his death. Sylvanus was one of the committee elected by the plantation in 1816 to present the petition to the General Court, when it was voted to petition the Legislature of Massachusetts for an act of incorporation under the name of Manley, "in honor of the brave Commodore Manley." The act was not passed on account of some opposition.
Mr. Longley held various offices under the plantation organization : In 1812 he was elected one of the com- mittee to see how much the plantation was in debt; in 1813 he was a fish-warden, highway surveyor, tithing- man, and a member of the committee to lay out a bury- ing ground; in 1814 a member of the school committee ; in 1816 and 1817 a tithingman; and in 1817 a highway surveyor.
In July, 1824, he conveyed his farm near the village to his son Sylvanus and the following year, June 28, 1825, he died. His widow Betsey survived him a number of years. He was undoubtedly buried in the Dover village cemetery, but his grave is unmarked and cannot be located to-day.
Mr. Longley received a pension under the first act granting pensions to Revolutionary soldiers, and his widow received a land bounty from the State of Maine after his death.
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JEREMIAH ROLFE. Аввот.
Mr. J. M. Marshall in his history of Buxton says: "It was asserted, on the authority of Nathaniel Gorham, and has been reported by others, but on what authority I am not informed, that the town of Buxton, in proportion to the number of her inhabitants, furnished more soldiers to the Continental army than any other town under the government of Massachusetts Bay." It was in this old York County town, in the year 1759, that Jeremiah Rolfe was born. Nothing is known of his ancestry; one Samuel Rolfe was one of the early settlers of the town, being located there as early as 1751. John was another of that name, who came there early. Jeremiah was undoubtedly the son of one of these settlers.
Mr. Rolfe lived in Buxton up to the time of his enlistment in the Continental Army, which took place late in 1781 or early in 1782. The only official record of his service is under the name of Jeremiah Ralf, and this dated from March 1, 1782, twelve months, in Col. Benjamin Tupper's (10th) regiment. In his applica- tion for State bounty, dated September 20, 1836, he states: "I enlisted as a private in the year 1781 for three years into Captain Abbot's Company & Col. Tupper's regiment, and received an honorable discharge. The said regiment was in the Mass. Line, for which ser- vice I am now a pensioner of the United States upon the Maine Agency." Mr. Loring's statement in his history of Piscataquis County that, "He fought on the field of Saratoga and after Burgoyne surrendered, marched with Gen. Gates to South Carolina," is clearly incorrect, as we have Mr. Rolfe's own statement that he did not enlist until 1781.
After the close of the war he lived for a short time in Rochester, N. H., but soon moved back to his native
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State, and settled in Buckfield. On April 2, 1799, he bought a parcel of land in the town of Paris, being lot 29, in the 7th range, and probably settled there at about that time, for the following year, 1800, the records show that he was one of the officers of the town, being elected a tythingman. In Paris he cleared a good farm, and while there was more or less prominent in the affairs of the town.
It was in 1808 that Mr. Rolfe first came to Piscata- quis County. He settled in Foxcroft and cleared up a part of the Daniel Buck lot. He lived in Foxcroft only four years, when he sold out his interests, and in 1812 located in Guilford. He lived in the latter town until 1818 on what is now known as the Webber farm, and then removed to Abbot, where he spent the remainder of his days. Here he cleared up one of the finest farms in the county, located about one mile south of Abbot Village, and under his diligent and skilful tilling it became one of the most productive agricultural properties in the locality.
If there was nothing else to rescue his name from oblivion, one thing alone will preserve and perpetuate his memory ; that is the apple which bears his name-the Rolfe.
The following is a sketch of its origin :
A small part of the land bought by Mr. Rolfe when he settled in Abbot had been cleared and cultivated, and a former owner had planted some apple seeds taken from the variety known as the Blue Pearmain. When these seedlings became large enough to transplant, the farm was in the possession of Mr. Rolfe. He presented twelve of the small trees to Rev. Thomas Macomber of Guil- ford, who set out eleven of them on his own homestead, and the twelfth Mr. Macomber gave to his son, who lived on a farm adjoining his father's. The son's farm came
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into the possession of the father before any of the trees came into bearing. Curiously enough, the one tree out of all the seedlings which produced fruit of any par- ticular merit, was the one planted on the son's farm; and many were the apple-hungry youngsters chased from under the young tree by the Elder's good wife in her efforts to preserve enough of the fruit for a sample for the old folks.
The apple is medium to large, yellowish in color, shaded and striped with red, flesh white, fine-grained, tender and juicy. Withal a most luscious fruit.
The original tree is dead, but a sprout which sprang up from its roots developed into a hardy tree, and this is still alive and bearing fruit on its native soil. The apple was first called the Rolfe and then for a time was called by some the Macomber, owing to its being first grown on the Rev. Macomber's farm; but gradually the name Rolfe supplanted the other, and to-day Rolfe is the only name by which the apple is known.
In his later years Mr. Rolfe was familiarly known as "Uncle Rolfe." He died at his home in Abbot April 1, 1841, at the age of 82 years.
An obituary notice in The Piscataquis Observer says: "He was one of the first settlers of Abbot. He endured every hardship and privation of which human nature is susceptible, and was a very industrious citizen. The best days of his life he spent in the struggle with the mother country for Independence and Liberty-his heart burning with the love of country; he manifested it by periling his life in the faithful performance of a soldier. He aided in securing the blessings that Columbia's sons now enjoy, and lived long to admonish them not to depart from the virtues of their fathers ; and at the event- ful hour of death, though in much pain of body, met his faith with composure and resignation, and went
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down to the grave like a shock of corn that is fully ripe, and is gathered to the sepulchre of his fathers."
ISAAC ROYAL. DOVER.
Unfortunately, records and documents relating to the early history of our navy and the men who served in it, have not been so carefully preserved as those relating to the army, and to obtain official records of the service of ordinary seamen is very difficult and oftentimes impossi- ble. Each individual state kept the records of its sol- diers, but the sailors for a single ship were often recruited from widely scattered points, and the only record of their names was the roster kept on board the vessel, and in some instances this has been lost.
That Isaac Royal, the subject of this sketch, was a sailor, or rather a cabin-boy, under the command of John Paul Jones, is well settled. Many are still living who have heard the story told by his sons, as told to the sons by Mr. Royal himself, yet no official proof is now obtainable.
Diligent search has been made, and correspondence had with all those members of the family whom it was thought might be able to furnish information regarding the ancestry and place of birth of Isaac Royal, but it has been impossible to obtain any data; but it seems more than probable that he was born in New Hampshire, at or near Portsmouth. The family Bible which is still in the possession of a descendant, gives the date of his birth, March 10, 1765.
Probably the memory of no one of those early settlers of this county who served their country in the war of the Revolution is better preserved in this locality, than that of Isaac Royal; quite likely from the fact that he served under that eminent naval hero, Paul Jones.
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Popular local tradition has it that he served with Jones on the Bon Homme Richard and took part in the cele- brated fight with the Serapis, but those of Mr. Royal's descendants who best remember the stories of his service, as told by him, which have been handed down to the present generation, fail to recollect anything ever related by him about that great fight. Take all the facts obtain- able and compare them with the history of John Paul Jones and of his several commands, it seems quite con- clusive that Mr. Royal was a cabin-boy on the Ranger, and that his service was confined to that ship.
Mrs. Mary L. Proctor of Maynard, Mass., is a descendant who seems to have the history of her ancestor best preserved in memory, and she writes: "I got the impression when I was very young that the Royals came from New Hampshire. *
* * * I have always understood that my great grandfather (Isaac Royal) enlisted as a cabin-boy at the age of twelve years, on board John Paul Jones' vessel, the Bon Homme Richard." Mrs. Proctor is undoubtedly correct, except that the ship was the Ranger instead of the Richard. A large part of the Ranger's crew was recruited in Ports- mouth, and she sailed from that port November 1, 1777; at that time Mr. Royal would have been twelve years old, so this corresponds with the family tradition of his enlistment at the age of twelve.
The crew of the Bon Homme Richard numbered three hundred and seventy-five, but not more than fifty of these were Americans, and these fifty were nearly all exchanged prisoners from England. There is a complete roster of the Richard in existence, including the cabin- boys, and the name of Isaac Royal does not appear there. So while we must somewhat reluctantly deny him the honor of being a member of that celebrated ship's crew, the honor of having served on the Ranger, the ship
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which first caused an English ship of war to lower her colors to an enemy of equal or inferior strength, is hardly a lesser one.
No official roster of the crew of the Ranger is in existence, hence it is impossible to determine authorita- tively the service of all those who made up her comple- ment of sailors and apprentice boys.
The story of the cruise of the Ranger, bearing the official dispatches to our commissioners in France, con- taining the news of Burgoyne's surrender, the prizes captured by her, and the fight with the Drake, are mat- ters of history of which there is no need of repeating here. Those were the stirring scenes in which Isaac Royal in his humble position as a cabin-boy, took part.
Maclay, in his History of the Navy, in describing the make-up of the crew of a war frigate at the time of the Revolution, says of the cabin-boy: "Then came that institution peculiar to sea life known as the 'boy.' He was employed chiefly as a servant to officers and messes, but in time of battle he was called a 'powder monkey,' for then he was required to bring ammunition from the passing scuttles to the guns. The captain of a frigate usually had both a steward and a boy who acted as his servants, while the lieutenants, purser, surgeon and sail- ing master were entitled to one boy each. * *
One boy was allotted to the gunner, boatswain and a few others as a special favor, while a man and a boy were appointed to a certain number of midshipmen."
The following story was told to me by a great grand- son of Isaac Royal, who said it was one of the many told him by his grandfather, John Royal. Mr. John Royal had heard it related many times by his father Isaac. "At one time when I was a cabin-boy with John Paul Jones, we were cruising in English waters and fell in with an English merchant ship, at night, and anchored
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near her. I think we were flying the English flag. In the early morning Capt. Jones invited the English captain on board for breakfast. The Englishman accepted the invitation and came to our ship with several of his offi- cers. While at breakfast, Jones, unbeknown to the Englishmen, ordered the American flag to be run up to the masthead. Breakfast over the visitors were escorted on deck and Capt. Jones, directing their attention to the colors, said, 'Look at the handsome flag at the masthead, the colors under which I sail.' They did so, and to their intense chagrin and wrath saw the stars and stripes. They were made prisoners, and their vessel was taken as a prize."
Very little can be learned about Isaac Royal prior to his settlement in Dover. He was married to his wife Tabitha probably in 1786; their first child, Olive, was born May 7, 1787. In 1806 he was a resident of Frank- fort, Me., and it is quite likely that this was his first place of settlement in this State. The fact of his resi- dence in Frankfort is established by a reference to the family record of the son, John, which record states that he, John, was born in Frankfort, July 18, 1806.
Isaac Royal settled in Dover about the year 1810, possibly a little earlier, on lot 12, in the 10th range, and partially cleared the farm now (1909) owned by Lincoln Dow. He brought with him his family of ten or eleven children, and the first land cleared was the field south of the present house of Mr. Dow.
He lived only a few years after his settlement in Dover. He died of typhus fever November 20, 1816, and is buried on the land that he first cleared when he came to Dover. The grave has never been desecrated by the several owners, and although at times the land all around it has been cultivated, the plow has never turned these hallowed sods since the time when that which was
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mortal of Mr. Royal was placed there. One daughter, Dorcas, who died April 1, 1814, at the age of about sixteen years, is buried beside him.
Mr. Royal was the father of eleven children: Olive, Jacob, Mitchell, Isaac, Ephraim, Dorcas, Eunice, Lucy, Esther, John and Richard.
In 1896 some of the public spirited citizens of Dover thought that the village cemetery would be a more fitting resting place for the remains of Mr. Royal than the field where they had lain so long. An article was inserted in the warrant for the annual town meeting for that year, to see if the town would vote to remove them to the vil- lage cemetery and erect a suitable stone to mark the spot. The town voted so to do, and appropriated fifty dollars to purchase a monument. After this action by the town, communication was had with some of the liv- ing descendants, and it was discovered that it was one of the last expressed wishes of Mr. Royal that he be buried in the field that he had labored so hard to redeem to cultivation, and at their request his wish was respected.
ELEAZER SPAULDING. FOXCROFT-DOVER.
Eleazer Spaulding was born in Pepperell, Mass., Janu- ary 21, 1759, was the son of Eleazer, and was the oldest of a family of seven children. He enlisted in the Con- tinental Army as a private April 25, 1775, in Capt. Asa Lawrence's company, Col. William Prescott's regiment, of the Massachusetts Line, and served at this enlistment three months and eight days. Later he reenlisted in the same regiment, and his total service was about two years. He was in the battles of Bunker Hill and White Plains.
In 1778 Eleazer Spaulding, Sr., with his four sons, Eleazer, Josiah, John and Seth, moved to Norridgewock in the District of Maine, and were among the early set-
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tlers of that place. In 1784, Eleazer, Jr., married Sarah Spaulding, the daughter of Lemuel Spaulding. He reared a family of eight children, all of whom were born in Norridgewock. In 1806 he removed to Foxcroft with his family and became one of the first three settlers of the town. For a number of years the place was called Spauldingtown, from the three brothers, John, Eleazer and Seth, who were the three first settlers.
Eleazer, with his two brothers above mentioned, built the first dam and erected the first saw and grist-mill in Foxcroft. Col. Joseph E. Foxcroft, the proprietor, con- tracted with John Spaulding and Abel Blood in 1805 to build the dam and mills, and in 1806 Mr. Blood sold out his interests to Eleazer and Seth Spaulding, and the three brothers completed the contract, which was to have the mills in operation on or before January 1, 1807. This was the first dam across the Piscataquis River.
When one stops to consider the difficulties encountered in undertaking such a contract he will then understand something of the character of these sturdy pioneers who settled our territory. Hardly a horse could be had to haul the timber for the dam and mills ; every timber and board was hewed and prepared by hand; all the machinery and hardware used in the construction were brought up from Bangor, and for about twenty miles the road was nothing but a trail through the forest, not passable for wagons; there were no bridges across the streams and bogs; the load was hauled on two long shafts, the ends of which dragged on the ground; and the horse stuck fast in the mire, or the load dumped into a stream, were not infrequent occurrences. Yet, in spite of all these obstacles, the dam and mills were completed within the contract limit.
When Eleazer Spaulding came to Foxcroft he settled on lot number 11, near the falls, where the village
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now is, and built himself a log house. Within a very few years after the completion of the dam and mills all the Spauldings sold out their interests in Foxcroft and settled in Dover. Eleazer took up lot 27, in the center range, Perham's survey, located on the south side of the river about two miles east of the present village. Here he cleared up a farm, erected comfortable buildings, and lived the remainder of his days. During the last few years of his life he lived in the family of his son Joseph, to whom he deeded his farm in consideration of his life maintenance.
He died April 19, 1850, aged 91 years and three months, and his remains rest in the Dover village ceme- tery. In 1818 he received a pension for his Revolu- tionary services.
SAMUEL STICKNEY. BROWNVILLE.
Samuel Stickney was the son of William Stickney and Mary (Sawyer) Stickney, and was born in . Rowley, Mass., May 13, and baptized in Bayfield May 16, 1762. He was the eighth of a family of nine children.
Mr. Stickney enlisted in the army four times. His first enlistment was July 6, 1778, as a fifer in Capt. Simeon Brown's company, Col. Nathan Wade's regi- ment, for six months. This was for service at Rhode Island. He was discharged at East Greenwich, R. I., at the expiration of his service. His second enlistment was as a sergeant in Capt. Benjamin Peabody's company, Col. Jacob Gerrish's regiment, October 14, 1779; was discharged November 22, 1779, and was allowed one month and nineteen days' service, which included eleven days' travel home, which was a distance of two hundred and twenty miles.
Mr. Stickney again enlisted July 31, 1780, and this
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time for the town of Bradford, Mass., and marched from that place July 24, 1780, and arrived at Springfield July 30, and then marched to camp the day following in Capt. Moses Greenleaf's company, where he enlisted. He is described as eighteen years old; stature five feet, nine inches ; complexion ruddy. This enlistment was for six months and he was discharged at West Point, Decem- ber 16, 1780, and was allowed five months and four days' service, giving him travel home, two hundred and forty miles. On August 4, 1781, he again entered the service as a fifer in Capt. John Robinson's company, Col. William Turner's regiment. He served until November 27 of that year in Rhode Island, when he received an honorable discharge with the rank of major.
After his army service he returned to his home in Rowley, and on May 11, 1784, he married Irene Rawlings of Newbury. Not long after his marriage he removed to Newbury and resided there until the death of his wife, which occurred in September, 1787. Two chil- dren, Irene and Samuel, were born to them. Soon after the death of his wife he removed to Bradford, Mass., and on April 29, 1792, he married Patty Atwood. He moved from Bradford to Ware, N. H., before 1799.
He came to Brownville, Me., in 1809, and was an early settler here. By his second marriage he had eleven children, making in all thirteen, all but three of whom lived to grow to manhood and womanhood. When he came to Brownville he settled on the farm that is known to-day as the Stickney place, about a mile east of the village, on the road to Lake View, and that farm is still occupied (1909) by one of his direct descendants, Clinton Stickney, a great grandson.
Mr. Stickney was a man of strong physique, although not of great stature, and many stories are told of his great endurance and strength, many of which have
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undoubtedly lost nothing in their repetition. He was the first mail-carrier between Brownville and Bangor, and some of the tales of the great loads carried by him are remarkable. On one of his trips, it is said, he car- ried on his back from Sebec to Brownville an old-fashioned hand-loom. When he commenced his duties as mail- carrier the trips were made on foot, and on one occasion as he started to step over a fallen tree, an old she bear rose up from the other side and was about to attack him .. He had nothing with which to defend himself, but on his shoulder he was carrying a bag of potatoes; this he threw, striking the bear full in the head, causing her to beat a hasty retreat. He then gathered up his potatoes and went on his journey unmolested.
He resided in Brownville until his death, which occurred January 9, 1835, at the age of 72 years and eight months. He had lived long enough to see that which was a wilderness when he settled there, grow into a prosperous community, and from his homestead on Stickney Hill he could look down onto the village, where, when he came to make a home for himself, there were only two or three buildings.
His wife Patty survived him over ten years, residing with her son Simeon on the old homestead. In 1840 she received a pension as a widow of a Revolutionary soldier. She died October 2, 1845; aged 73 years. They are buried in the Brownville village cemetery, and a suitable monument marks their last earthly resting place.
ASA STURTEVANT. DOVER.
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