USA > Maine > Oxford County > Bethel > History of Bethel : formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890, with a brief sketch of Hanover and family statistics > Part 13
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At the breaking ont of the late war he held the rank of captain, but was soon promoted to brigadier-general of volunteers. In that rank he served with the Army of the Potomac in the Virginia Peninsular campaign. Took part in the siege of Yorktown and battle of Williamsburgh. For gallant services in the latter he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the Regular Army. For like ser- vices in the battle of Fair Oaks he was brevetted colonel. General Grover was at the battles of Savage Station, Glendale, and Malvern Hill. In the northern Virginia campaign of eighteen hundred and sixty-two he took part in the action at Bristoe Station and second Bull Run. From December thirty, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, to July, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, he commanded a division of the Nineteenth Corps in the Department of the Gulf and partici- pated in the occupation of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson, where he commanded the right wing of the besieging army. From August to December, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, he commanded a division of the Nineteenth Corps in the Shenandoah campaign and on October sixteenth, he was brevetted major-general of volunteers for gallantry at the battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill.
It will be noticed that General Grover received no less than four brevet promotions during the war, all for conspicuous bravery. For a short time in the latter part of eighteen hundred and sixty- two, he commanded a brigade in the defences of Washington, and to this brigade belonged the Twenty-third Maine Regiment, in which were many Bethel men, and none of us will forget how cor- dially he greeted his former acquaintances, and how, when he was ordered away to the Gulf, we regretted his departure. Bravery always excites admiration, and in all the armies of the United States during the late war, there was no braver spirit than that which possessed and animated the fine and soldierly form of General Cuvier Grover. After the war, he took command of a regiment of regular cavalry, and as already stated, was most of the time on the frontier. The immediate cause of his death was hemorrhage of the lungs arising from pulmonary abscess, after having been a sufferer from nervous prostration for many years, unquestionably due to his long and faithful field services during the late war, and great ex- posures to which he was subjected at different times, as shown by the testimony of members of his staff and medical officers of the army. In particular was he a great sufferer from facial neuralgia due to extraordinary exposure during General Bank's Red river
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campaign. He died at Atlantic City, whither he had retired vainly hoping for improved health, June sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five. The official organ of the War Department had the following notice of General Grover's death :
"Brevet Major General Cuvier Grover, Colonel of the First United States Cavalry, a distinguished officer, died at Atlantic City, June sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five. A native of Bethel, Maine, he entered the Military Academy from that State July first, eighteen hundred and forty-six, and graduated fourth in his class, July first, eighteen hundred and fifty. He was promoted Brevet Second Lieutenant First Artillery, afterwards assigned Second Lieutenant. Fourth Artillery March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-five ;. transferred to First Lieutenancy Tenth Infantry September seven- teenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, promoted Captain Tenth Infantry. He was on the Utah expedition of eighteen hundred and fifty-seven-eight, and on frontier duty at Fort Union, New Mexico, at the breaking out of the war. April fourteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, he was made Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and served with the Army of the Potomac in the Virginia Peninsular campaign. He took part in the siege of Yorktown and the battle of Williamsburg in eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for gallantry in this battle. For like services at the battle of Fair Oaks he was brevetted colonel. Gen- eral Grover was at the battles of Savage Station, Glendale and Malvern Hill, and in the Northern Virginia campaign of the same year, he took part in the action at Bristoe Station, and the battle of Manasses (second Bull Run). From December thirty, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, to July eighteen hundred and sixty-four, he commanded a division of the Nineteenth Corps in the Department. of the Gulf, and commanded in the engagements of Irish Bend and Vermillion Bayou (both victories), and participated in the siege of Port Hudson, where he commanded the right wing of the besieging army. From August to December, eighteen hundred and sixty- four, he commanded a division of the Nineteenth Corps in the Shenandoah campaign, and on October sixteenth, was brevetted major-general of United States volunteers for gallantry at the bat- tles of Winchester and Fisher Hill. He was wounded at the battle of Cedar Creek on the same day. From January to June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, he was in command of the District of Savannah, and in March, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, he was
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brevetted Brigadier-General and Major-General of the United States Army. He was mustered out of the volunteer service August twenty- fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and most of the time after, was in active service on the frontier. July twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Thirty-eighth United States Infantry, and in eighteen hundred and seventy, assigned to the Third Cavalry. December second, eigh- teen hundred and seventy-five, he was promoted to the Colonelcy of the First Cavalry and held that position at the time of his decease. He was buried at West Point with military honors."
TALLEYRAND GROVER.
Professor Talleyrand Grover was the son of Dr. John Grover, and was born in Bethel, August twenty-nine, eighteen hundred and twenty-two. He graduated from Bowdoin College in eighteen hnn- dred and forty-three, and was among the first in a large class. During his college course he taught sometimes in the winter vaca- tion, and was a very capable and successful teacher. He taught one term in Bean's Corner, a school considered rather difficult to manage, but he kept it through without trouble. He had great facility in acquiring languages. After graduation he was Principal of Gould's Academy for a term or two and then opened a school for young men in Camden, New Jersey. In eighteen hundred and fifty-one, he was elected professor of rhetoric and modern languages in Delaware College, and spent sometime in Europe to qualify him- self for that position ; he was subsequently transferred to the pro- fessorship of ancient languages and literature. Earnest in his desire for higher attainment and accomplishment, he visited the north of Europe late in eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. He was taken fatally sick at Upsala, Sweden, and died there June fourth, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine. He received kind and delicate attentions at the hands of strangers whom he easily made friends, during his sickness, who also took charge of his interment. He was zealously devoted to his work as a teacher, and was highly successful. His death at so early an age was deeply deplored. He was never married.
ISRAEL KIMBALL, JR.
It is always pleasant to speak of such a man as Israel Kimball, Jr., because pleasant things can be said of him without fear of
IRA C. KIMBALL.
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adverse comment and without exposing the writer to the charge of favoritism. Such men as he are the salt of the earth, and the world is better that they have lived. He was honest, industrious, frugal and thrifty. He had an abundance of charity, but he bestowed it with discrimination and judgment. He despised shams in whatever form they were presented. He excelled in everything he undertook and as farming was his chief employment, he was one of the very best in town. He studied it in all its branches, and sought for the best results in which he generally succeeded. Inheriting the broad acres of his father at Middle Interval, he kept the farm in the highest state of cultivation. He was a man whom everybody re- spected, and in whose integrity every one had the fullest confidence. He never sought office much, preferring to devote his whole time to the care of his farm, but he was often elected on the Board of Selectmen and urged to serve. In this position, he always acquitted himself with honor and to the entire satisfaction of the people of the town. In the neighborhood and town, he was peaceable and a peacemaker ; in his family he was kind and indulgent, and to visitors or strangers within his gates, he was courteous and hospitable. I speak from knowledge, having spent many pleasant hours beneath his roof-tree. His wife, Sarah (Webber) Kimball, was a most excellent woman, a model Christian mother, and an ornament to her sex. The lives of this couple were a constant inspiration to the people of the town, leading them onward to higher attainment in all that pertains to domestic and country life. Mrs. Kimball survived her husband quite a number of years, and both attained to a good old age.
IRA C. KIMBALL.
One of the most successful men of Bethel and one whose name was ever the synonym of integrity and honor, was Ira Crocker Kimball. He was the son of Israel Kimball of Middle Intervale, and was brought up on his father's farm. He came to Bethel Hill quite early and engaged in trade. His store was the northerly one of the block which was burned in war time, and which has been rebuilt. He lived in a house north of the store which was after- ward occupied by Winslow Heywood and which was destroyed by fire the same time as the store. Afterward Mr. Kimball bought, remodeled and occupied the house on the corner of the Common and Church street, which was afterward occupied and is still the property
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of William E. Skillings. In this store, Mr. Kimball had a long and successful business career. He also engaged in outside business, dealing somewhat in wild lands and became forehanded. He was somewhat conservative in his views and acts, always proceeded with deliberation, but his sound judgment was rarely at fault, and his well balanced mind could generally be relied upon in matters of business, or upon the public issues of the day. He aided in organ- izing the Republican party in the town and county, and in the councils of the party his views had great weight. He was the first Republican elected to the Legislature from Bethel, and while not a talking member, his opinions upon questions of party policy were sought after and generally heeded. He rendered substantial aid in organizing the Universalist society in Bethel, and in erecting the church edifice, and was ever one of its most faithful and active members. In war time, his loyalty to the government was given without reserve and his eldest son enlisted early and served nearly throughout the struggle. Mr. Kimball's health soon after began to fail and he went South hoping to regain it, but the disease had taken too firm hold and soon carried him away.
JOHN KIMBALL.
Deacon John Kimball was born in Pembroke, New Hampshire, in seventeen hundred and eighty-three. In eighteen hundred and thirteen, he came to Bethel and married Lucia, daughter of Eli Twitchell. He was by occupation a farmer, a quiet, undemonstra- tive man, yet a man of sterling character and worth. He was best known as chorister at the Congregational church for nearly two generations. He had a smooth voice of remarkable depth and fullness, and in the singer's gallery he was ever master of the situa- tion. When he sang bass, his daughter, Delinda Chapman, the soprano, and Mrs. Susie True the alto, it would have been extremely difficult to have found better music in any country choir. For many years his residence was nearly opposite the academy, and he and his wife were well known to the students attending. He died March the second, eighteen hundred and sixty-three.
SAMUEL BARRON LOCKE.
The ancestor of the Locke families who have lived in this town was William, who came early to this country from England and
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settled in Woburn, Massachusetts. Numbers of his posterity have lived in New Hampshire and among others was James, the father of the subject of this notice. Samuel B. Locke married Hannah, daughter of William Russell of Fryeburg, and before coming to Bethel, had lived in Thetford, Vermont, Lemster and Newport, New Hampshire, and in Fryeburg, Maine. His fourth child was born in Fryeburg in seventeen hundred and ninety-five, and his sixth in Bethel in seventeen hundred and ninety-seven, therefore the family must have come to this town between these two dates. He settled on Sunday river on the farm still owned and occupied by his descendants. He was by occupation a millwright and a man of much energy and capacity. He was a natural mechanic, and his uncommon ability in this direction was inherited in a greater or less degree by his sons. The improvement of water power by the erec- tion of mills of various kinds, occupied much of his mind and time, and such a man is always a valuable acquisition to any new settle- ment. He erected mills on the Sunday river in Bethel and also in what is known as Ketchum, and was employed by various parties to build mills in other places. About the year eighteen hundred and six- teen, fires in the woods killed vast quantities of timber which, if not utilized at once, would decay and be spoiled. This induced Mr. Locke to buy a tract of land, and erect mills on the outlet of certain ponds in Greenwood and Woodstock, which outlet has since borne the name of Alder river. These mills have since that time borne the name of the builder and owner, and are situated in Greenwood about half a mile from Bethel south line. Though spending much of his time at the Greenwood Mills, Mr. Locke continued to reside in Bethel, where he cleared up a good farm. He was of a philoso- phical turn of mind and far in advance of his time, in his ideas of the natural sciences, and even in matters pertaining to natural and revealed religion. He was somewhat eccentric in his habits, and stories of his peculiarities have come down to us, doubtless greatly exaggerated.
JOHN LOCKE.
Dr. John Locke was not born in Bethel, but his parents moved here when he was a child, and he spent his youth and early manhood here. He was the son of Samuel Barron and Hannah (Russell) Locke and was born in Lempster, New Hampshire, February nine- teenth, seventeen hundred and ninety-two. He came with his
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parents to Fryeburg, and from there to Bethel, when he was four years of age. He was remarkably precocious, and at that early age when most boys think of nothing but eating, sleeping and play, he was studying the problems of nature presented in the lavish display around him. He showed strong native talent especially in the direction of mathematics and the natural sciences. He was a great lover of nature in all her moods. He studied botany in the fields and woods bordering the Sunday and the Androscoggin rivers, and became proficient without the aid of books or teachers. At an early age, he published a text book on botany which was much admired for the simplicity of its arrangement, and for the large number of specimens described, all of which he had gathered and examined.
He finally made his way to Bridgton where he made the acquain- tance of Seba Smith, and they became close friends. Afterwards, when Smith published his "Jack Downing" letters, Locke remarked of them, that "it was the easiest thing for Jack to write them for it was his chimney corner language." Smith might have retorted on Locke that it was easy for him to be a philosopher and scientist, for his mind dwelt upon nothing else. Dr. Locke concluded not to go to college, for the regular college course in those days embraced many studies that were not practical, and so he entered upon the study of medicine as embracing many of the studies in which he had a deep interest. He was at Dartmouth College for a time, and then took his degree from the medical department of Yale. He entered the navy as surgeon, but the sanitary arrangements on board the ships of the United States Navy were so slack, and failing to effect the needed reform, he abandoned the position. During the trip which he was to have taken, ship fever broke out and many valua- ble lives were sacrificed, thus proving the wisdom of his suggestions, and the loss to the government in not heeding them.
His varied attainments and his aptitude for teaching, naturally led him to adopt this as an occupation, and for this purpose he went South and engaged as assistant teacher in an academy at Lexington, Kentucky. In eighteen hundred and twenty-two, when thirty years of age, he crossed the Ohio and established a female academy at Cincinnati, which for many years was one of the best and most successful schools in the west. His school was patronized by the first families in the South and West, and among his pupils were the daughters of Henry Clay and of many other distinguished families.
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In eighteen hundred and thirty-six, he was chosen Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy in the Ohio Medical College, and his lectures in a short time gave that institution a reputation and a popularity which it had never before enjoyed. He was an original thinker and investigator, and declining to follow the beaten paths of others, he achieved results by his own methods. He was con- nected with the college for seventeen years, and besides attending to his duties there, he performed a vast amount of other work. He devoted his life to science, and the good he accomplished, and the wonderful results he achieved, will be remembered as long as the English language is spoken. He was employed by the government in surveying the mineral lands around Lake Superior, more especi- ally for the development of the mines of copper, and his reports will be models for all time. He also made exhaustive geological surveys of the States of Ohio and Iowa. This work added greatly to his reputation, and his reports are still valuable works of reference.
Dr. Locke's published works, besides reports of surveys just. spoken of, consist of his work on botany already referred to, "An Account of a large Thermascopic Galvanometer" published in the London Philosophical Magazine in eighteen hundred and thirty- seven ; a valuable report on the explosion of the steamboat Morelle, in eighteen hundred and forty ; papers on the magnetism of the United States published in the Transactions of the American Phil- osophical Society, and papers on various topics published in Silli- man's Journal and in the reports of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. Dr. Locke also had an inventive mind, and by the study of horology in connection with the science of magnetism, he invented the famous clock which he called the "chronograph," and which is still in use in the observatory at Washington. For this unique invention, Congress gave Dr. Locke the generous sum of ten thousand dollars. The appropriation was suggested by Hon .. Thomas Corwin, then a member of the United States Senate, and Professor Locke's close friend. He was much attached to his- adopted home, where he resided for more than thirty years, watch- ing its growth from a struggling hamlet, to a great and beautiful city. Here in eighteen hundred and twenty-five, he married Mary Morris of Newark, New Jersey, a pupil of his school. She was a most amiable lady and his domestic life was a very happy one. They reared a large and interesting family, but one son died young: and two in early manhood.
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Doctor Locke was a most agreeable and entertaining friend and companion. His fund of knowledge upon almost any subject of importance, seemed to be inexhaustible. After he settled down in Cincinnati, he did not visit his relatives in Maine until he had a large family and several grown up children.' His reputation, though, had reached here and had become national. I well remember when the family made their first visit here, and the impression made upon me by Dr. Locke. He was a man of fine presence, his countenance benignant and open, his hair silvered with gray, in all respects a rare specimen of well developed manhood. He had a winning way, and a remarkably pleasant voice, and I was at once attracted to him as I had never been to any man before, and have never been since. When his father deeded the Locke's Mills property to his son, Samuel B. Locke, Jr., he reserved a lot to be selected for a cemetery, and at the time of Dr. Locke's second visit, the lot had not been fixed upon. But it was selected while he was there, and I assisted him in laying and staking it out, providing for avenues : and winding walks, which, had the plan been carried out, would have made of it a beautiful place. I remember on that occasion how the pebbly ridges, the ravines, the swamps and even the wild flowers, formed texts from which he charmingly discoursed, and how entranced I hung upon his words and ideas, many of which I have not forgotten to this day. The family visit to Maine was several times repeated, and was mutually enjoyed. But while here, Dr. Locke was never idle. He climbed the highest mountains, studied their structure and mapped out geologically the entire range in Northern Oxford. On his plan he named the mountain in Graf- ton which is usually called Speckled Mountain, or Old Spec, Lincoln Peak, in honor of Governor Lincoln, who had been one of his early friends. I well remember an occasion when he led a small party of us from Maple Grove, this being the name he gave to the old home- stead, to the top of Barker's Mountain, which is twenty-five hundred feet above the sea level. The task was a trying one for Professor Locke, whose healthı even then had begun to decline, but his enthu- siasm buoyed him up, and when we reached the summit and first caught a glimpse of the extended and varied vistas disclosed in every direction, Professor Locke was in an ecstacy of delight, and the way he raphsodized the Androscoggin river which, like a silver thread could be traced through the vast expanse of emerald meadow, thrilled us all. He had with him a theodolite with which he took
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the measurement of all the important mountains in sight.
Dr. Locke had a broad vein of humor and could understand and appreciate the ridiculous, as well as those whose minds are less absorbed in the study and solution of great problems in nature. He also had wonderful powers of mimicry, and though I do not think he often indulged in it, yet when among friends he would sometimes imitate in facial expression, in voice and manner, some of the characters in Bethel and Newry which he had known when a boy, in a wonderful manner, and in a manner to convulse his hearers with mirth. He was generally thoughtful, sober and sedate, and it was only on rare and exceptional occasions that he indulged in anything light or trivial. He was a great and good man, a man with a wider and more lasting reputation than any who has ever gone out from Bethel, a reputation that is not limited to English speak- ing people, but is as broad as the civilized world. The following words written in eulogy by one who knew him well are appropriate in this connection : "After almost a half century of unremitting exertion, intense application and constant research, he has been per- mitted to lay aside his toil-stained garments and assume the spotless robes of never-ending rest. The gifted man of science, the pro- found scholar, the learned gentleman and amiable citizen who con- ferred benefits by his teachings and by his private worth, and excited admiration alike by his genius and generous qualities of heart, has passed from the sphere of action, he so long and so eminently adorned."
Dr. Locke was in correspondence with the great scientists of the world, with Lyell, Liebig, and others, and on many points he was a recognized authority. His mathematical genius united with great mechanical skill, enabled him to construct the most delicate instru- ments for use in magnetism and electricity, in his own laboratory. He had the eye and the tastes of an artist, and all his numerous drawings are wonderfully true to nature. Dr. Locke died at his home in Cincinnati July tenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, aged sixty-four years. He was comparatively a young man when he died, but he developed so young that his work-life was really long. His precocity coupled with his incessant mental labor, no doubt had a tendency to shorten his days. Rarely has a public man been more sincerely mourned. Scientific bodies and medical schools all over the country passed resolutions of regret. He was much attached to his family, and to them the loss was irreparable.
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