History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 101

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780

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He became interested in the building of the York and Cumberland Railroad ( now the Portland and Rochester ), and was one of its directors. Having ownership, on the death of his father, in lands in Pennsylvania and in Aroos- took, Me., he made frequent trips both to the West and East in looking after these interests. A Republican since the organization of the party (formerly a Whig), he never sought office, but accepted a place on the staff of the Gov- ernor's council, which came to him, unsought, through the influence of friends who knew his worth.

llis valued services in this position were appreciated by both Governor Dingley and Governor Connor. It was im- possible for him to be otherwise than active. His nature and long-continued practice required of him continual labor, and not till 1875, when he became a conneilor, was there any

relaxation. In 1876, having determined to close up the lumber business entirely, and desirous of making a business for his sons, he commenced the improvement of the island water-power, which, by a division of real estate between him and his brother, Lewis P., April 1, 1876, became his, and arranged to erect a mill for the manufacture of woolen goods. This enterprise he did not live to carry out. The bridge and foundation for the mill were but just completed, when, having recently returned from a visit to the Centen- nial Exposition at Philadelphia with his wife, he took a violent cold at the seaside, whither he had gone to spend the Sabbath with his brother, and forced to take his bed at home on Monday morning, died on the following Saturday. llis funeral was largely attended, Governor Connor and his council paying their last respects to the deceased by their presence.

Mr. Warren always manifested a strong interest in Free- masonry, studied its beauties, and lived up to its teachings. He was Past Master of Temple Lodge, No. 86, Past High Priest of Eagle Chapter, No. 11, and member of council and commandery at Portland. In the old militia times he was lieutenant and captain. At the time of his death he was trustee of the grammar school fund and of the Sacca- rappa Savings Bank.

Mr. Warren was a close student of the Bible, and in re- ligion entertained liberal views. Though he had withdrawn from membership in the orthodox church, he continued a constant attendant at divine service. Firmly supporting and maintaining his own belief, he was an earnest laborer in the cause of truth. He married, in 1842, Catharine B. Palmer, of Ilampton, N. H., who survives him.

Their children are William L., born May 12, 1843, mar- ried Isa L. Cummings, of Paris, Me .; George L., born Oct. 11, 1847, married Jennie L. Duncan, of Danvers. Mass. ; Ellen L., wife of Hebron Mayhew; George, Jr. (deceased); Charles F., born March 29, 1851; Rufus King (drowned) ; Fred. E.

Photo, by Lamson, Portland.

LEWIS P. WARREN

was born in the town of Westbrook, Cumberland Co., Me., Aug. 11, 1817, the youngest child of John and Eleanor (Lamb) Warren.

John Warren, his grandfather, was born in Ber- wiek, York Co., Me., March 5, 1731, and before marriage settled in Westbrook. He married Jane Johnson, who was born in Westbrook, June 15, 1740. They had twelve children, six sons and six daughters.

John Warren, his father, was their fourth son. He was born in Westbrook, May 23, 1776; married Eleanor Lamb, danghter of William Lamb, Nov. 29, 1810. Mrs. Warren was born Inly 5, 1785. Their children were George, whose biography ap- pears on another page of this volume; William G., born Dec. 17, 1814, killed April 14, 1835, while employed in rolling logs; and Lewis P., the subject of this sketeh. John Warren was an extensive manu- facturer and dealer in lumber, and was one of West- brook's most enterprising and active business men. He died Sept. 10, 1845. His wife died Jan. 13, 1835.

Lewis P. Warren received his education in the common school at Saccarappa, with two years' attend- ance at the academy, Parsonsfield, York Co., Me. At the age of eighteen he engaged in the dry-goods trade at Saccarappa, in company with Cyrus King, a partnership which continued five years. He then took the management of the homestead farm. Upon

the death of their father his landed estate, mill, and mercantile interests came into the joint possession of George and Lewis P., which thereafter, until 1876, were kept undivided, George taking charge of the mill and mercantile interests, the conduct of the farm devolving upon Lewis P. In addition to the exten- sive lumbering interests in which, in company with his brother George and others, under different firm- names, he was engaged, he had a joint interest with his brother in the manufacture of wire-firm, War- ren & Pennell ; in milling-firm, S. T. Raymond & Co .; in the manufacture of moccasins-firm, W. H. Neal & Co .; and in the manufacture of weavers' harnesses-firm, Warren, Pennell & Co. On the first day of April, 1876, a division of property was made between himself and his brother George, since which time Mr. Warren has devoted himself to the care of his farm and in settling up the business of the firm.

In politics Mr. Warren has been identified with the Whig and Republican parties. He has been a member of the Congregational Church at Saecarappa since 1843. He was married, Feb. 20, 1844, to Sarah Turner, danghter of Henry and Sarah Turner, of Otisfield. Mrs. Warren was born May 21, 1818. They have five children, viz. : John W., born Jan. 16, 1847; Albert F., born March 4, 1850; Lelia A., born Dec. 28, 1852; Edna A., born Feb. 25, 1857; and Cora B., born Dec. 26, 1858.

383

TOWNS OF WESTBROOK AND DEERING.

his death that Col. Westbrook was stripped of these estates. Who knows by how much intrigue and overreaching by his associates in business this ruin may have been aceom- plished, and what effect these misfortunes may have had in hastening their victim to an untimely grave ? He was a man evidently of large abilities, and one who had proved himself worthy of exalted trusts by the government. In the fourth Indian and French war he was appointed to the command of the eastern forces; and there is no evidence that his duty was not faithfully discharged. Ile was the government agent for procuring masts for the navy, and when that interest was removed from Portsmonth to Fal- mouth, in 1726, he was sent early the next spring to take charge of it here.

The New England Weekly Journal, May 8, 1727, printed at Boston, observes :

" We have an account that the mast business, which has for some time been so much the benefit of the neighbor province of New-Hampshire, is removed farther eastward, where it has been carried on the last wio- ter with such success as could hardly have been expected, considering the very little seasonable weather for it. Capt. Farles, in one of the mast ships, now lies in Casco Bay, who, we hear, is not a little pleased with the peculiar commodionsness of that five harbour to carry on the said business. And as this must tend very much to cocourage the settlements of those parts of the country, especially the flourish- ing bay that will be the centre of it, so there is no reason to fear but that our government will, in their wisdom, look upon it very much to their interest to protect and enconrage it."

Col. Westbrook married a daughter of John Sherburne, mariner, of Portsmouth, N. H. His only child, Elizabeth, married Richard Waldron, of Portsmouth, a grandson of Col. Richard Waldron, whom the Indians killed at Dover in 1689. They left issue, and Maj. Waldron, of the United States Marine Corps (1851), was her grandson .* Rich- ard Waldron, who married Elizabeth Westbrook, was born Feb. 21, 1694, and died Aug. 23, 1753.

Col. Westbrook was clerk of the town of Falmouth in 1736. Southgate, in his history of Scarborough, says, " Col. Thomas Westbrook was residing in Scarborough in 1719. At this time he, with his lumbermen and John Milliken, Jr., were the only persons living at Dunstan. He was at that time a shipper of masts, and continued here a long time in the pursuit of that business. In 1728 we find him assisting in the organization of the Black Point Church." He had settled at Stroudwater previous to this, but his interests extended to all the lumbering regions of this seetion ; and Dunstan was no doubt one of his stations for operating in masts.

EARLY SETTLERS OF WESTBROOK AND DEER- ING.

The following notices of early settlers of Westbrook have been compiled chiefly from memoranda furnished by Fabius M. Ray, Esq., who has devoted much patient labor to the genealogy of many of the early families of this por- tion of Old Falmouth.

At Saccarappa the first settler was Joseph Conant (who is said to have gone up the Presumpscot River in a canoe). He built his house on the northerly side of the river, at the falls, where he probably lived for a considerable time.

He deeded this house to Thomas llaskell, husbandman, of Falmouth, May 13, 1762. It is described in the deed as " my dwelling-house that stands on the northerly side of Presumpseot River at Saecarappa Falls." We learn from this deed also that Joseph Conant was a husbandman ; although he owned a mill-site at Saccarappa Falls, it does not appear that he ever built a mill upon it. We find that, on February 5, 1730, land was laid out to Joseph Conant on Fore River, and also at the month of the Presumpseot River, Ang. 10, 1734.

Bartholomew Conant lived at Duek Pond, in Westbrook, and was probably a son of the first Joseph Conant. Bar- tholomew and Joseph Conant deeded to Daniel Conant, Oct. 17, 1792, one-half part of the mill-privilege which their late father, Joseph Conant, purchased of the Rev. Thomas Smith.

These Conants are doubtless deseendants of Roger Co- nant, one of the first settlers in Salem, in 1628. Samuel Conant was a son of Joseph, the first settler in Westbrook, and the descendants of Samuel are still living in the town. Samuel married Mary Peabody, who was born Aug. 10, 1718. Their children were Daniel, born in 1761; Eliza- beth, married to William Babb; William, married, Sept. 23, 1779, to Ruth Chapman, who was his widow June 11, 1808, at which time there were three children,-Ruth, Sam- nel, and Edward, who united with the widow, their mother, in conveying their house to William Webb. Daniel, son of Samuel and Mary (Peabody) Conant, and brother of William, married Anna, daughter of Solomon Haskell, Sr., of Saccarappa, Oct. 26, 1786. Among their children were Daniel, who died unmarried in 1874; Nathaniel, unmar- ried ; Solomon, who married Susan S. Libby, of Gray ; and Betsey, who married Jeremiah Clements, and has sev- cral sons living in the town. The children of Solomon and Susan (Libby) are Mary E., married to llenry S. McLel- lan ; Daniel and Hattie L. Solomon died in 1869, aged sixty-eight years.

The Babbs were among the early settlers in Westbrook. They came from Scarborough and intermarried with the Haskells and Conants. Peter Babb married Anna Haskell, Jan. 24, 1760. She was probably the daughter of Thomas Haskell, born in 1737, which would make her twenty-three years old at the time of her marriage. William Babb married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Mary ( Peabody) Conant. He was a son of James Babb, who had other children,-Solomon, Elizabeth, Alexander, and Daniel.

Tradition says that some of the Thompsons lived at an early time at Ammoncongan Falls. A family by this name were buried in the old burying-ground on the Lewis place.

The graves were there when Mr. Lewis settled on the farm in 1774, and the occupants are said to have been driven from Salem by the witchcraft perscention. They were connected with the family of Peter G. Winslow. When the graves were plowed, one of them, a large man, was found turned over on the l'ace.

There was laid out to John Tyng 100 acres of land on the southerly side of Presumpscot River, beginning at Saccarappa Falls and running down the river one hundred and twenty-six and a half rods to a stake, and from the stake one hundred and twenty-six and a half rods back

* Genealogical Record, v. 182.

384

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

from the river, by the proprietors of Falmouth, March 31, 1732. John Tyng was a descendant of Edward Tyng, who with his brother William eame from England in 1630. William settled in Braintree, and died, leaving no male descendants, about 1653. Edward, who was a merchant and brewer in Boston, married Miss Sears, and had ten children, the third of whom, the oldest son, Jonathan, settled in Woburn, and married for his second wife Widow Davis, and for his third wife Judith, widow of Rev. Jabez Fox, and daughter of Rev. John Rayner. He died June 19, 1724. His son William, the fifth child, born April 22, 1679, was the father of Rev. Thomas Smith's first wife, Sarah, and, according to the best authority, of John Tyng, the grantee above mentioned. If this be true, and it prob- ably is, this aneient proprietor at Saccarappa was born in Tyngsborough, Mass., in 1705, graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1725, was judge of the Common Pleas of Middlesex County from 1763 to 1786, married Mary, daughter of Benjamin Morse, and had two daughters, -- Mary, who married John Pitts, and Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Brinley.

The Willis Manuscripts, Book N, page 240, contain the following statement of James Means, of Strondwater, in 1830: " I am seventy-seven years of age, grandson of Rob- ert Means. Robert came here a young man from Ireland, by way of Massachusetts, with John* (?) Armstrong. He married Armstrong's daughter. He lived five years upon the Neck, one or two years in a log house near Stroud- water meeting-house, then at the ferry on Purpooduck about ten years. He then moved to Saco, where he died, with his wife, who was aged about one hundred years, and my father. They came here in 1717, not direct from Ire- land. Robert had two sons, John and Thomas. My father's name was John.+ Thomas lived at Freeport ; he was killed by the Indians,t leaving one son. Secretary Armstrong was descended from one of the Armstrongs that came here, who moved to Pennsylvania. Armstrong, of Boston, was from another. . . . My grandfather, Robert, was fifteen or sixteen years old when he came from Ireland. Before he moved to Falmouth he had married Miss Arm- strong." John Means died at Old Orchard Beach, March 16, 1776, leaving five sons,-John, Robert, James, Thomas, and George, the third of whom commanded a company during the four last years of the Revolution, and after- wards settled at Stroudwater, where he was living at the time he wrote the above communication, aged seventy-seven years. Robert, who died in Saco, as well as his son John, was buried at Old Orchard Beach, and their gravestones may still be sceu, bearing their respective inscriptions, in the burying-ground between the station and the Sea-shore House.

Among the early men of Saccarappa was Timothy Pike, son of Timothy Pike, of Newbury, a blacksmith, and a well-to-do citizen. The first Timothy Pike died in 1767, leaving a will by which it appears that he left two chil- dren,-Timothy Pike, Jr., and Mary Coffin. He left a wife

whom he made his exeeutrix, and to whom he bequeathed most of his property. Ile gave to his son Timothy his negro man, Harry, his blacksmith tools, various household goods, his gun and sword, the family elock, £50 in money, the whole of his land in Windham, and the third of his house and land in Newburyport after his wife's decease. Timothy Pike, Jr., married first Hannah Kingsbury, of Newbury, by whom he had children,-Timothy, Hope, and Sally. His second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Ephraim Jones, whom he married in 1774. In 1775 he moved to Saccarappa, where he erected a saw-mill, and set up a forge. He was an enterprising and useful citizen. His sons were William, Robert, Samuel, George, and Charles, and his daughters, Hope and Polly. William settled in Calais, and was the father of James S. and Hon. Frederick A. Pike. Samuel was a blacksmith in Westbrook, where he died leaving a large family. Robert married a daughter of William Vance, and had children, -Charles, Polly, and George. deceased. He died in Saccarappa. Timothy Pike, the ancestor of the family in Westbrook, died in August, 1818.

In 1774, Archelaus Lewis settled at Saccarappa and opened a tailor-shop in the rear of where L. W. Edwards' store now stands. In 1776 he entered the Continental army, and served five years in the service. He was with Washington's army at Valley Forge, and held the commis- sion of a lieutenant. When he returned from the army he went to live at Stroudwater. The settlers on the Cooper or Munjoy claim, being disturbed in their possession by the Waldo heirs, Mr. Lewis was employed by the Smalls, Grants, Baileys, and others to buy them off. The lands at Ammoncongan and Rocky Hill not being claimed, Mr. Lewis settled upon them and built the residence at Cumber- land Mills now occupied by John Wheeler. He was for many years a prominent citizen and held many public offices. He was the son of a Welsh sea-captain, and a nephew of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence. Ile was several times married, and has a son, Archelaus, now living in Falmouth. Mr. Lewis was born at Berwick, Me., and came to Saccarappa at the age of twenty- one. He was familiarly known as " 'Squire Lewis." He died Jan. 21, 1834, aged eighty-one years.

Thomas Haskell was an early settler of the town. He came from Gloucester, Mass., to Falmouth Neck in 1726, being then thirty-seven years old. Ile was born in 1689. He had in all ten children, some of whom were born before he came here. Among his children born here were William, Sarah, John, and Anna. At the time of his death, Feb. 10, 1785, in his ninety-seventh year, he had 79 grandchil- dren and 58 great-grandchildren. He was dismissed from the First Church about 1743 to help form the church at New Marblehead (now Windham), having removed to the vicinity, though he still lived within the limits of the First Parish.

The Falmouth proprietors laid out to him 33 acres of land, on the back line of Joseph Conant's 47 acres, on the northerly side of the Presumpscot below Cumberland Mills, July 12, 1738. Ile had a grist-mill at Saccarappa, on the northeast side of the river, one-quarter part of which he conveyed to Solomon Haskell, March 3, 1758.

** Jumes Armstrong ; John was a. son of James.

+ John Means, of Biddeford, married Eleanor Johnson, Dec. 25, 1748 .- Falmouth Records, 1, 141.

į Killed, 1756 .- Folsom.

NUHSTAY

COLT-DEL

RESIDENCE OF CHARLES RAMSAY, DEERING, MAINE.

385

TOWNS OF WESTBROOK AND DEERING.

Benjamin Ilaskell deeded to Ebenezer Mayo, April 1, 1769, 30 acres of land laid out by Thomas Haskell, June 12, 1738. Solomon and Benjamin Ilaskell were brothers. John Haskell was a son of Thomas. His father conveyed ; to him one-fourth of the grist-mill March 4, 1758; he sold it to Benjamin Haskell and purchased the land of the latter in Gorham.

Thomas Haskell bonght of Joseph Conant his house on the northeast side of the river at Saccarappa June 10, 1740. Solomon and Benjamin Haskell purchased of Thomas and Hannah Flucker 100 acres at Saccarappa, on the south side of the river, July 14, 1768. This deed was to dis- charge a mortgage given to Samuel Waldo, assignec of John Tyng, to whom this tract was first laid out.

Daniel Godfrey owned considerable land in the neigh- borhood of Saccarappa at an 'early time, as the proprietors' records show. There was laid out to him, Dec. 4, 1730, 30 acres above Saccarappa Falls; Sept. 26, 1732, 70 acres adjoining the above; Nov. 24, 1738, 1 acre for house-lot, on the corner of 30 acres ; Nov. 28, 1738, 3 acres on 30- acre lot ; Dec. 27, 1738, 4 acres below the above, and a grant in 1738 of 48 aeres somewhere in that vicinity. The southerly corner of the 70 acres laid out to Godfrey in 1732, including 12 acres, was sold to George Johnson, Jr., by the proprietors in 1775.

In 1802, Edmund March kept a hotel at Saccarappa, and Elias Merrill kept a store. Mr. March was a descendant of Peltiah March, born in Amesbury, Mass., April 7, 1741, and who bought a house and lot in Portland of John Proctor, Dec. 1, 1772. He married for his second wife Widow Mary Brackett, daughter of Joseph Fabyan, of Scarborough. He was one of the Committee of Safety in Falmouth, and died in 1813. By his first wife he had eleven children, of whom the oldest was Edmund, who married a Woodbury. There was another Edmund, the son of John, and grand- son of Peltiah, but whether it was the first or the second Edmund who kept the hotel at Saccarappa we have no means of knowing. The descendants of this family were numerous, and several of them have occupied prominent positions.

Samuel Peabody lived on the Almon Hanscom farm in Gorham, and was a brother of the wives of David Webb and Daniel Conant, Sr. Joseph Peabody, who was formerly a distinguished merchant in Salem, lived at Saccarappa (in what business we are not informed), but he removed from there in 1785. Joseph and Samuel were sons of Francis Peabody.

Daniel Dole was an early settler. He married Sarah, a daughter of Moses Pearson. He was probably a brother of Deacon Richard Dole, of Windham. Daniel Dole, and Sarah, his wife, in a deed bearing date August 8, 1780, conveyed land at Saccarappa to Archelaus Lewis. It is described as " on the northerly side of the road that leads from Falmouth to Gorham, and in the northerly side line of one hundred acres of land laid ont to John Tyng and now in possession of Solomon Haskell the same divided to me, the said Sarah, from my late father, Moses Pearson, Esq." Lewis deeded one-half the above to Wil- liam Conant, Oct. 12, 1803, the other half belonging already to Daniel Conant.

Among the early settlers of the town were Joseph and Benjamin Quinby and their families. Joseph Quinby was a shipwright by occupation, and came to Portland previous to 1740, in which year he married Mary, daughter of Capt. Haskell. At the time of his death he owned a house and lot on Middle Street, in Portland, a pew in the First Parish church, 25 acres adjoining the Tate place in Stroudwater, a quantity of land at Ammoncongan ( Cumberland Mills ), and a privilege for a grist-mill, on the northeast side of the Presumpscot River, at Saccarappa, on which a mill then stood, " called Haskell's mill." Captain Ilaskell had died in 1776,* and probably left this mill property to his dangh- ter, Mrs. Quinby. On the 5th of February, 1791, all this property of " the late Joseph Quinby" was divided be- tween his widow, his son John, and three daughters, who were then living. Two of his sons, Thomas and Levi, were deceased. John was the only remaining one. His daughters then living were Rebecca Peirce, a widow ; Mary, the wife of William Slemmons; and Eunice, the wife of William Webb, of Portland.+

Thomas Quinby, of Stroudwater, is a son of Moses Quinby, who was probably a son of John, the surviving son of Joseph, in 1791. If so, he is the great-grandson of the original proprietor in Falmouth. There are several families of Quinbys now living at Saccarappa, prominent among whom is Capt. Isaac F. Quinby. He is a descend- ant, probably great-grandson, of Benjamin Quinby, who came from Sowersworth, N. H., as early as 1779, and started clothing-works on the island at Saccarappa, being a fuller and clothier by occupation. We find this record : " May 6, 1779, Benjamin Quinby and Elenor Starbird were united in marriage by William Gorham." We find the death of Benjamin Quinby recorded Nov. 6, 1810, at the age of sixty-four. If this was the Benjamin the clothier, at Saccarappa, he was born in 1746.

HONORABLE MENTION.

Mr. Gould, in his lecture, has mentioned the names of Henry B. Smith, LL.D., the eminent scholar and man of letters ; Paul Akers, the gifted artist; and Anna Lonisa Cary, the singer, as former distinguished residents of West- brook and Deering. He has also spoken of " Esquire Archelaus Lewis, deacon of the old church in Parson Browne's day, a leading man of the town, who has had scores of children named in his honor;" and the other deacon, James Bailey, father of Mr. Alexander Bailey, " so well known as the oldest and smartest man for his age" in the town. He does not forget the Warrens, of Saccarappa ; John and Nathaniel, the enterprising manufacturers; nor those who preceded them as leading lumbermen,-Joshua Webb and Noah Nason. Benjamin Quinby, also of Sac- carappa, and William Valentine, are mentioned among the active citizens; and " Bryce M. Edwards, who lived and died an honored and respected man. Many a young man in this region has found in this honest trader a true friend, both in his counsels and by his helping hand."

At Stroudwater the old block-house was built to protect the people against the Indians. This also is where " the

* Smith's Journal.

+ Records of Deeds, vol. 18, p. 56.

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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

big barn was built, whose timbers were so near together that old Mr. Broad could not squeeze through between them. Here is where Admiral Tate lived. Whether he actually loaded a swivel to shoot a tramp, and killed his mother (as the legend has it), we cannot say. At any rate, we know that here lived the Tate family, honored by all." Near Stroudwater was the old Broad place, with its big tree, well remembered by many as the scene of sport; and just beyond, " about where the Reform School now stands, lived the Lobdells ; and farther eastward the Seals. Capt. Thomas Seal is remembered as commander of the largest ship which in those days sailed out of Portland,-the ship 'Eunice.' There lived the Doles, and Capt. John and Moses Quinby."

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History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 101

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 780

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780