USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 72
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 72
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 72
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Captain Larrabee was a worthy man, much beloved by those inti- mately acquainted with him. He was "considered a good business man and was much respected for his integrity and faithfulness to his trust. His posterity are numerous and highly respectable. His son Nathaniel was town clerk for thirty-seven years, from 1766 to 1802 ; selectman from 1783 to 1800, and was otherwise prominent in town affairs.
1 New American Cyclopedia, 10, p. 167. For further particulars see also Popham Memorial volume, Maine Historical Collection, pp. 206 to 213.
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LARRABEE, CAPTAIN NEHEMIAH.
Nehemiah Larrabee was born in Brunswick about 1800, and lived for many years on Federal Street. He began life as a sailor and soon obtained his title of captain. "Possessing a naturally strong constitu- tion. an active mind, an iron will, indomitable energy, and a persever- ance nothing could daunt, he won his way to a handsome competence. As a husband and father he was most indulgent ; as a friend, true as steel. and with a heart open as a child to all proper claims upon his time or means for the relief of the sick or suffering." He died May 6, 1863.
LEMONT, ADAM.
Mr. Lemont was born in 1797, and moved from Bath to Brunswick about 1835. He was largely engaged in the lumber business and in trade as a member of the firm of Lemont, Forsaith & Hall. He was afterwards president of the Brunswick Maine Insurance Company and of the Union National Bank. He was a director of the latter at the time of his death. He was a selectman in 1842, 1843, and 1844, and representative in 1844 and 1845. He was also largely engaged in ship-building. An active, energetic, and well-educated business man, he managed his affairs with great shrewdness and accumulated a handsome property. He was a most agreeable man in social inter- course, well posted in public affairs, an esteemed and valuable citizen. He died February 24, 1874.
LINCOLN, ISAAC, M. D.
Doctor Isaac Lincoln was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts, in 1780. He fitted for college under the tuition of Reverend Josiah Crocker Shaw, of Cohasset, and of Reverend Kilburn Whitman, of Pembroke. He graduated at Harvard in 1800, and for two years afterward taught a grammar school. He studied medicine with Doctor Thomas Thaxter.
In 1804 he settled as a physician in Topsham. In 1820 he married Maria S., daughter of Captain John Dunlap, and moved to Brunswick. In 1831 he received the degree of M. D. from Bowdoin College, it being bestowed as a compliment. He was a member of the Medical Faculty of the Maine Medical School from 1820 to 1867. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College, and it is said that he never missed a meeting of that Board for over sixty years. He was at one time chosen a member of the governor's council, but declined the honor.
Joana Sin
Mother S. Vinicola
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Doctor Lincoln was a very public-spirited man, and the result of his influence is still to be seen in Brunswick. The prominent traits of his character were his individuality and his positiveness. Though firm in his opinions, he never objected to hearing and discussing the views of those who differed with him. As a man he was generous-hearted, kind, genial, and fond of children. He was a member of the First Parish Church, and was a sincere Christian. In business matters he was upright, impulsive but honest, bold and independent. As a phy- sician he was very popular and had an extensive practice. It is said he particularly excelled in the difficult art of diagnosis. Certain it is that few difficult cases of disease occurred in the practice of his pro- fessional neighbors without his opinion and advice being invoked.
He died March 6, 1868.
LINCOLN, JOHN D., M. D.
" Doctor Lincoln, more generally spoken of as Doctor John in the lifetime of his father, the late Doctor Isaac Lincoln, was born and bred in the house in which he lived and died. He entered Bowdoin College in 1839, graduated in 1843, and graduated from the Maine Medical School in 1846, and at once went into practice with his father.
" The doctor won a large measure of success in the practice of his profession, working early and late, driving far and near, to meet the constant calls for his professional services. Even after his health had become seriously impaired, he was found making his daily calls upon patients, who comprised every class in the community, for the doctor was no respecter of persons.
". He ranked high in the estimation of his professional brethren, and for years has often been called by them in consultation over difficult cases. His intercourse with them at such times was marked by cour- tesy and a gentlemanly regard for the rights of the profession. He won success as a practitioner, and he won it as well by his loving, genial, mirthful ways in the sick-room. In this matter of kindly atten- tion to the sick, Doctor Lincoln had few if any superiors.
" He was well read in literature outside of his profession, interested in the discussion of the political topics of the day ; possessing a reten- tive memory and the keenest sense of humor, he was ever a most interesting companion in the social circle, enlivening it by liis sallies of wit, and by the narration of anecdotes of the most vivacious descrip- tion. The same characteristics that he manifested in public endeared him to his family in the privacy of home. He was greatly interested in the development and ornamentation of the village, and to his well-
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
directed efforts, preceded by those of his father, are the people largely indebted for the present excellent condition of the Mall. He was remarkable for the conservative, peace-preserving element of his char- acter and for his great fondness for children. Doctor Lincoln was a member of the Superintending School Committee of Brunswick, a mem- ber of the Board of Overseers of the College, and a member of the Faculty of the Maine Medical School. At a meeting of the Medical Faculty. resolutions expressive of respect and sympathy were passed."
To this tribute to his memory it should be added that he was deeply interested in the preparation of this volume, and rendered much valu- able assistance, which was continued even after he had taken his bed in his last sickness. He once said to the writer that he desired to live long enough to write his reminiscences of fifty years' practice in Bruns- wick. He died June 3, 1877.
LUNT, AMOS.
Amos Lunt came to Brunswick soon after the Revolution, and built a grist-mill. At first he lived in the fort, but soon built a two-story house on the corner of Mill and Bow Streets, where he resided at the time of his death.
He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, enlisting soon after the battle of Bunker Hill. He served in the army eight years, and a part of the time was a sergeant. He was at Valley Forge in the memora- ble winter of 1777. He was also present at Cherry Valley, at the sur- render of Burgoyne, and also at that of Cornwallis, and was with Gen- eral Sullivan when he went into the Indian country. Mr. Lunt at first received no pension, but a few years before his death, the law regard- ing pensions having been changed, he received one hundred and fifty dollars a year.
Mr. Lunt was fond of company, especially that of the young, and took delight in rehearsing the stirring scenes of the Revolution, in which he had taken part. He was a good citizen, and always took a strong interest in public affairs. In politics he was a Whig, and never voted any other ticket. When too feeble to walk to the polls, he insisted upon being carried there as long as he was able to leave his room.
McKEEN, REV. JOSEPH, D. D.
The subject of this sketch was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1774, and immediately opened a school in his native town, London- derry, which he kept for several years. Fond of mathematics and philosophy, he, in the summer of 1780, pursued a course of study at
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BIOGRAPHIICAL.
Cambridge, under Professor Williams, who then filled the chair of Mathematics and Philosophy in Harvard University. He then com- menced his theological studies under Reverend Mr. Williams, of Wind- ham, New Hampshire, the instructor of his youth. Before completing his preparation for the ministry, he was, for a while. an assistant instructor in the academy at Andover. While a candidate for settle- ment in the ministry, he preached with much acceptance to the society in Boston, collected by Reverend Mr. Moorhead, and which afterwards enjoyed the labors of the distinguished Doctor Belknap. In 1785 he was ordained pastor of the church in Beverly, Massachusetts. For seventeen years he discharged the duties of the ministerial office, ever enjoying the respect, confidence, and affection of his people, and sus- taining the reputation of a sound divine and an impressive preacher.
In 1800 he preached the sermon on the anniversary of the gubernato- rial election. a performance which added much to his reputation. About this time he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in whose transactions may be found papers com- municated by him. In 1804 he was complimented by his Alma Mater with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1801 lie was elected presi- dent of Bowdoin College.
In the midst of his labors, President McKeen, whose strength of constitution had given unusual promise of a long life of usefulness, perceived the premonitions of a disease which at length, after a pro-
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
tracted illness of nearly two years, proved fatal. Just after Com- mencement, in the autumn of 1806, he took a short excursion to Bev- erly, the scene of his former labors, in the hope of removing the complaint which was fast wasting his strength ; but while he was there it returned with aggravated symptoms. At first supposed to be a dis- ease of the liver, it at last assumed the form of dropsy. The most affectionate solicitude of friends and the most enlightened professional skill could not arrest its progress. Having waited calmly and patiently his appointed time, he died suddenly, as he was sitting in his chair, at the age of forty-nine years. The event caused deep grief throughout the community.
In regard to the qualifications of President McKeen for the able and successful discharge of the duties pertaining to his exalted and respon- sible station, there was but one sentiment. His sound, discriminating judgment, his cool decision, his equable spirit, his manners, conciliat- ing and at the same time dignified, his kind feelings, his moral excel- lence, his reputation as a minister of the gospel, and the full possession of public confidence, combined with his love of science, fitted him in a high degree for the office he was called to fill. 1
The genealogy of the MeKeens may be found in the History of Lon- donderry, New Hampshire, pages 284-289.
McKEEN, JOSEPH, ESQUIRE.
Joseph McKeen, a son of Reverend Joseph McKeen, the first presi- dent of Bowdoin College, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, 1787. He was a well-known business man in Brunswick, and was widely known throughout the State. He was a cashier of the first Union Bank from 1859 until it closed its affairs, and was a president of the second Union Bank for many years.
For thirty-six years he was treasurer of the college, and his admin- istration of the office showed marked ability and thorough rectitude. He was also a director and trustee of the Kennebec and Portland Railroad Company. and for several years was its treasurer. He was a thorough business man, and exact and methodical in his accounts. He was well read in common topics and in some special departments of literature, including Biblical geography and history.
As a compliment to his attainments he had bestowed upon him by Bowdoin College, in 1843, the honorary title of A. M. He was a man of strong affections, indulgent in his family, and kind and benev-
1 From a Sketch of Bowdoin College, by Reverend A. S. Packard, D. D.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
olent to all. He was a member of the church of the First Parish, a teacher in its Sabbath school, and oftentimes ·conducted religious services on emergencies.
" He was a marked man, with a clear, unclouded intellect, of decided opinions, with an energy that no difficulties appalled, a determination that went straight to its work, and of unquestioned sincerity of pur- pose in whatever labor engaged.
" He possessed a heart ready to respond to the calls of benevolence and friendship, manifested in acts of great liberality and thoughtful- ness. The demands of duty did not overbear the claims of a common manhood."
McKEEN, JOHN, ESQUIRE.
John McKeen, a brother of the subject of the preceding sketch, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, December 21, 1789 ; came to Brunswick when about thirteen years old, and lived here for fifty- nine years. He fitted for college with Reverend J. Ellis of Topsham, and graduated from Bowdoin in 1811. He was for many years a secretary of the Board of Overseers of the college. He was engaged in general trade for many years, and was much interested in the his- tory and welfare of the town. For twenty-three consecutive years he served as town clerk, and during this period collected many valuable papers. He was by nature and training an antiquarian.
The evidences of his research will be seen by the frequent allusions to his name in this volume.
" He ever manifested a warm interest in whatever related to the affairs of the town, and his action was guided by a liberal judgment and a truly catholic spirit. Though devoting himself with untiring energy, and a perseverance that no obstacles could arrest, to a study of whatever related to the past, he did not bury himself in the dead past, but lived in the present, holding, however, as his truest guides and safest counsellors, the memory and deeds of men who have long since mouldered to dust. At the same time that he proved himself the good citizen in the broader sphere of life, he was no less the chari- table and kind-hearted gentleman in all that concerned social inter- course. Of a hearty, genial nature, his face, always benignant, occa- sionally beamed with a smile of peculiar benevolence, and his address was always kindly and courteous.
" He was one of the founders of the Maine Historical Society, and no man has done more to promote the interest and efficiency of the institution. For historical investigations he possessed an apt- ness, a quickness, a penetration, and an entireness of appreciation
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL,
quite remarkable. There was no brilliancy of intellect ; perhaps, upon ordinary occasions, his mind moved slowly ; but when investigating New England history there was no sluggishness, no inaction, and no failure to appreciate the subject in hand, however broadly extended, or how intricately related to matters which to the outside observer might appear as foreign altogether. The intellect went straight to its work, and the result reached never failed to secure respect for the man, if it did not always win the verdict of his opponents.
" No man was so well acquainted with the records and doings of the Pejepscot proprietors, and he was regarded as standard authority in all matters of controversy arising under these records and the deeds of these early proprietors of Brunswick.
" In politics he was a Whig of the strongest sect, a supporter of the Constitutional Union ticket of the . last campaign, a supporter of measures of peace and conciliation until the sword was drawn ; then a firm supporter of the government in a vigorous prosecution of the war, but always after constitutional forms and in strict accordance with law.
" A Scotch Presbyterian in matters of faith, he adhered with won- derful tenacity to the doctrines of his church, but as exemplified in his life they were divested of all their rigor and sharpness. His spirit was too catholic, his heart too true, his love of his fellow-men too earnest, and his charity too broad to bind him, or to lead him to act less nobly and earnestly than a Christian gentleman should act."
He died December 2, 1861.
McKEEN, JAMES, M. D.
Doctor James McKeen, a third son of President McKeen, was grad- uated at Bowdoin College in 1817. He entered upon the study of medicine under Doctor Matthias Spaulding, of Amherst, New Hamp- shire ; finished his course under Doctor John Ware, of Boston ; grad- uated at the Harvard Medical School in 1820, and at once commenced the practice of his profession in Topsham. In 1825 he was elected Professor of Obstetrics in the Medical School of Maine, and served in that office until 1839. During the two last years of his office he also lectured on the Theory and Practice of Medicine. He kept up a warm interest in this school and in the college during his whole life, and was for many years one of the overseers. "During his college days," says an intimate friend of his youth, " the civilized world was watching with deepest interest the movements of Napoleon Bonaparte, and no member of college, I am sure, knew so much of those stirring events
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as young McKeen. who followed the march of the contending armies with the best maps he could command ; as then, so ever after, distin- guished for his extensive and minute geographical knowledge. He took to astronomy when it came in the collegiate course. Late one starlit night, President Appleton descried from his window a light on the steps of the old college chapel. Apprehending some mischief at work at that late hour, he left his house and repaired with cautious steps to the spot, and, unnoticed by the supposed culprit, placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. It was McKeen, all alone, with a celestial globe and a light, observing the constellations in the heavens, . Ah, McKeen,' exclaimed the astonished president, ' I am glad to find you so well occupied.' This interest in the science continued through life, a comfort and amusement in many a long night drive. . He was fearless. Some thought him reckless when he crossed Merry- meeting Bay in early spring, just before the breaking up of the ice, sitting up on the back of the sleigh, watching for holes in the ice and thus directing his horse on his perilous way. .
" Doctor McKeen was of the strongest, deepest affections. How he loved his college classmates ! We recall, with delightful remembrance, his gathering the surviving members of his class to his house, from far and near, a few years ago, on the fiftieth anniversary day of their graduation, and there spending two days, brightest in their calendar, together, and his inviting friends to sympathize in their gladness. With a most direct, downright, at times almost rough exterior of man- ner, few men were so easily moved to tears.
" Doctor McKeen was not a mere professional man. No one could be conversant with him and not be impressed with the proof of his tenacious memory of men and events. In modern political history, whether of our own or other lands, few surpassed him in general state -. ment or minute detail. He never made public profession of his relig- ious faith. An habitual attendant on public worship when his pro- fessional calls and his health would permit, uniformly contributing his influence and support to the claims of the sanctuary, he was reserved respecting his own personal religious experiences. He never, however, swerved from the faith of his fathers. He made the revealed word his companion, and of late years seemed to be girding himself for the com- ing of his Lord, often apprehending the day of His coming to be near at hand, and during his last days and his hours of consciousness sup- plicating in repeated petitions with agony of spirit for mercy through, and solely for, the merits of a crucified Redeemer."
Doctor MeKeen, though gentle and kind in the sick-room, possessed
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
a wonderful physical energy, and had a rough bearing externally. He was of a very nervous temperament, which showed itself in his mode of driving his horses. He has always been called a reckless driver, and so he was, as far as danger to pedestrians was concerned, rightly judging that they would give him a wide berth. So far, however, as pertained to the management of his steeds, he had no superior.
He was a man of uncommon strength, and a lover of fair play. His bravery as well as his strength is shown in the following anecdote, which he himself told the writer : Once, soon after settling in Tops- ham, he was summoned one dark night to Bath. He went by way of Brunswick. When near New Meadows, his horse was suddenly seized by the bridle and stopped. At the same moment a man stepped up to his carriage, presented a pistol, and demanded his money. The doc- tor quietly reached out, took the man by the coat-collar, lifted him into the carriage, disarmed him, and then, whipping his horse, broke away from the man who was holding the bridle, and carried the man he had taken to Bath.
While he was a professor in college, Doctor McKeen made the tour of Europe, studying in the hospitals. While he was at Dublin, it is related of him that, being one day on the outskirts of the city, he observed a very large man fighting with a small one. Without stop- ping to learn the nature or merits of their quarrel, he at once "pitched into " the large man, and was busily engaged in the contest when he was arrested by an officer, and taken to Dublin. He escaped confine- ment by the assistance of the American consul.
As a physician, Doctor McKeen possessed keen powers of discrimi- nation and good judgment, and was always fertile in expedients. The writer recollects, on one occasion, while a student in his office, going with him to visit quite a number of patients in the outskirts of Bow- doin, Bowdoinham, and Richmond. The doctor left home in haste, and forgot to take his medicine-bag with him. The patients were all of them far from any druggist, so that to leave a prescription would hardly have been satisfactory in any of the cases. The doctor was not, however, in the least disconcerted when he made the discovery that he had no medicines with him, but procceded to give the neces- sary advice in regard to diet, etc., and then instructed them how to obtain and prepare the medicines most appropriate to each case. The suggestions thus obtained have never been forgotten, and have often proved of service to the writer.
Surgery was, however, the branch in which Doctor McKeen partic- ularly excelled, and had he lived in a more thickly settled community,
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where he would have had more frequent opportunities for practice, he would probably have become eminent in this direction. As an instruc- tor of medical pupils, he had, in the earlier years of his professional life, an excellent reputation. Later, however, he left his students pretty much to themselves, merely advising them what to read, and in the latter part of their course occasionally taking them to see his patients. The instruction that he gave at the bedside was, however, very thorough.
Doctor McKeen was, to the close of his life, an carnest student. He not only kept up his interest in medical matters, but also in literary studies, and the last time the writer saw him he asked in regard to the correctness of some classical quotation that he was reading.
Doctor McKeen had a lively sense of both personal and professional honor. Quacks and quackery he thoroughly and utterly detested and despised. At the same time he himself, especially when he first com- menced, did not hesitate to put in practice a little harmless deception, such as being called from church when not needed, and especially a habit he never gave up, of driving furiously when first starting out.
Among the citizens of Topsham, no one will be longer or more dearly remembered than he of whom it has been said that " upon his good name no stain ever rested."
He died in Topsham, November 28, 1873.
MCMANUS, CAPTAIN RICHARD.
Captain Richard McManus enlisted as a soldier, at the age of eigh- teen, in Colonel McCobb's regiment, in the year 1813, and passed his time of service in the woods of Chateangay (we suppose in New York, not far from Plattsburg) until December, 1814, when his term of ser- vice expired. Immediately after peace was declared, he shipped as a common sailor in Captain John Dunlap's employ, and sailed with a Captain Growse. As a seaman he made two voyages with Cap- tain William Curtis. He then was promoted to the office of mate, and in 1822 was again promoted to the office of master, and took charge of the schooner Exchange. From that time forward he succes- sively commanded different vessels, in the employ of various parties, in 1826 becoming interested as part owner with Messrs. Washington & Jackson, of Philadelphia.
Captain McManus made his last voyage in 1847, in the ship Mon- terey from Mobile to Liverpool and back to New York. In 1854 he was appointed as agent for Maine for the New York Board of Under- writers, - a position of marked responsibility, demanding skill, judg-
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