USA > Maine > Franklin County > Jay > History of Jay, Franklin County, Maine > Part 4
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HISTORY OF JAY, MAINE
dealer and dealer in cattle. For several years he took large droves to Brighton market. He built and operated in company with Francis Lawrence the saw and grist mills at Jay Bridge. He represented the town in the Maine legislature in 1850-51. He was a member of the Star Lodge of Masons and a faithful member of the Baptist church, giving the parsonage on Jay Hill, which has since been removed to Jay Bridge.
Henry C. Noyes, son of Stillman, married Mary R. Goding in 1845. He was town treasurer and collector of Jay for several years. He afterwards moved to Portland, Maine, where he was engaged in the carpet and furniture business. From thence he took up his residence in Revere, Mass., and was employed in the Hyde & Wheeler Company of North Market Street, Boston. His death occurred in 1896.
Stillman Noyes, Jr., son of Stillman, born in 1824, married Hester A. Hyde in 1845. For several years he was in trade in Boston. He afterwards returned to Jay, where he kept a general store in partnership with Seaborn Hyde.
Lewis B. Noyes, oldest son of Stillman, Jr., is now president of the T. H. Wheeler Company, Clinton Street, Boston. (See Genealogy.)
Walter Noyes, son of Stillman, Ist, was a lieutenant in a Maine regiment of volunteers in the Civil War and was killed in 1864 in battle before Richmond.
Increase E. Noyes, son of Enoch, was for twenty years president of the Metropolitan Bank, State Street, Boston. Mr. Noyes has made a record of which the family are justly proud. A country boy brought up on a farm, with very limited opportunities for an education, by strict attention to business and sterling integrity he has accumulated a com- petence which places him high in the social scale. He has occupied several official positions in Boston, having been a member of the Common Council and a representative to the
ISABEL, LAWRENCE.
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General Court of Massachusetts. He is an honored member of the Congregational church and a helper in every good and philanthropic cause. Of the two children born to Mr. Noyes one died young. The other son graduated from Harvard in 1895, and after graduation spent two years abroad, one year studying in Germany and one year in France. He was one year instructor in Harvard College. He is now devoting him- self to literature.
In the early records of the Roxbury church are the names of Nicholas Parker with his wife, Ann, and his two children, Mary and Nicholas, who came to this country in 1633. The record does not state whence he came nor where he settled. It is probable, though we are not able to trace the descent, that Jonathan was one of his descendants. When the Revolu- tion broke out he owned a farm in Roxbury. He was an ardent Whig and was not afraid to manifest his indignation at the oppressive measures of the British Parliament against the American colonies. An incident or two in his life will best illustrate his political sentiments. He had occasion one day to go into Boston after a load of manure to put upon his farm. Adjoining the stable from which he took the dressing was a British gun-house in which were four cannon belonging to Paddock's company of artillery. He secreted two of these cannon in his load of manure and carried them to Muddy Pond Woods, near Dedham. The other two were similarly disposed of by a Dorchester farmer, Minot by name. The next day a battalion of redcoats searched the towns round about Boston for the missing guns, but were not able to find them. Two of them were recaptured by the British at the battle of Bunker Hill, but the others may now be seen in the chamber at the top of Bunker Hill Monument. Jonathan Parker was also one of the disguised Indians who threw the 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. After the death of his
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wife, in 1808, he came to Jay to live with his son Scarborough, where he died. He came all the way from Cambridge to Jay on horseback, his horse being the second horse owned in town.
Scarborough Parker, one of the early settlers of Jay, was born in Roxbury, Mass. We gather the following from the Parker history by Millard A. Parker, A.M.
He was the son of Jonathan Parker, and spent his boyhood days amid the thrilling scenes of the early period of the Revolu- tion, scenes that were calculated to develop the strong elements of character which he in after life so largely possessed. When he began life for himself and had married Hannah Goding, he moved from Roxbury to Cambridge, where he kept a public inn for a few years. In 1798 he left his home in Cambridge to take up his residence in the township of Jay. Embarking on one of the vessels that plied between Boston and Hallo- well, with his family, household goods and live stock, after nearly a week's tossing about on the ocean and up the Kenne- bec they reached Hallowell. There disembarking, he yoked his oxen to his strong white oak cart and loading on his goods and family, they slowly made their way over the thirty-mile journey to Jay and took up their abode with the Stone family, who had preceded them the previous year. He soon purchased a farm lying north from Stone's Corner, which has ever since been the homestead of the Parker family.
Of the numerous descendants of Scarborough Parker it is sufficient to say that they have shown themselves worthy to a great degree to be called by the name of their distinguished ancestor. They have ever been the patrons of education. More than a dozen have been graduates of colleges. Among them several have been physicians and clergymen.
Major Moses Stone, the founder of the Stone family in Jay, was born in Watertown, Mass., in 1777. He married Elisabeth
HON. DEARBORN G. BEAN.
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Brown, whose grandfather, Joseph Coolidge, was brought home a corpse after the battle of Lexington. In 1802 he, with his newly married wife, embarked on a sailing vessel from Boston for their new home in the wilderness of Maine. They were nearly a week on the voyage to Hallowell. When they arrived, as there was no means of conveyance, he left his wife in Hallowell and walked to Jay, a distance of thirty miles, over the hilly road of that day. Returning the next day with a horse, they both rode horseback to the farm, which he had previously purchased, the same now known as the Major Stone homestead, Stone's Corner. He was always an active man in town affairs. He represented the town in the General . Court of Massachusetts in 1811-12, when Maine was a province of Massachusetts, and was a member of the Maine legislature after Maine became a state. He was also a local Methodist preacher and pastor of the Methodist church until its absorp- tion by the Methodist church in Livermore Falls. Two of his descendants have been prominent clergymen in the Metho- dist church.
Rev. Cornelius Stone, son of Major Moses Stone, died in 1866. For several years he filled important positions in the Maine Methodist Conference, but the last year of his life set- tled on the old Stone homestead at Stone's Corner. In 1864-65 he represented Franklin County in the Maine senate, and held other offices in town. He married Frances C. Sylvester. They had two children, Mary E. and Rufus C., who now lives in the old Stone home.
Rev. Cyrus Stone, the son of Moses2, obtained his education at Kents Hill Seminary and Bowdoin College. He held the position as tutor in the college in 1858. He afterwards entered the East Maine Methodist Conference and was appointed to pastorates in Foxcroft, Dexter, Princeton and other promi- nent places in the state. He was a ripe scholar an able
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preacher and a man of the purest and noblest Christian character.
Rev. Otis H. Johnson was born in Minot, Maine. He came to Jay as an apprentice to Aruna Holmes in his cabinet shop. He married Eliza Small, daughter of Dr. Samuel Small. Soon after his marriage he felt the Lord was calling him into his special service, and he began to exercise his gifts in preaching and was ordained as a Universalist minister in New Portland, Maine. He held pastorates in Calais, Oldtown and Readfield, and supplied as preacher in several towns in the state. He had a very pleasing gift and manner, was of a kindly, sympathizing disposition, and was much sought for to attend funerals. In the last of his life he came back to the old homestead of Dr. Small, on Jay Hill. There were four children: Abbie, Lizzie, Marshall and Harrison O.
Rev. Americus Fuller, D.D., was born in Jay in 1834. Fitted for college at Farmington Academy, graduated at Bowdoin College in 1859 and at Bangor Theological Seminary in 1862. He married Amelia Davis Gould of Wilton, in 1862, and was called the same year to the pastorate of the Old South Congre- gational Church of Hallowell, where he remained for four years. His next pastorate was in Rochester, Minn., where he remained eight years. In 1874 he was appointed a missionary, and under the direction of the American Board of Foreign Missions was located at Anitab, in Asiatic Turkey, remaining eight years. On account of Mrs. Fuller's health they returned to this coun- try, remaining two years, when they again went to Turkey, giving two years' service at Constantinople as city missionary. Dr. Fuller was then recalled to his first field at Anitab, and assigned to educational work with the Central Turkey College, of which he was chosen president at the death of Dr. Trow- bridge in 1880. In this position he remained until constrained by increasing infirmities of age of his wife and himself he
ELISHA KYES, ESQ.
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retired from the mission field in 1910. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by his Alma Mater in 1889. He was thirty-one years in the mission field. Dr. Fuller is a ripe scholar, an eloquent preacher, and with his devoted com- panion will long be remembered for their consecrated and efficient services in the mission field. His present home is in Los Gatos, California.
Joseph Lawrence, born in Sandwich, Mass., in 1769, died in Sumner, Maine, in 1862. He lived for a time on a farm in Wayne, but early in the century moved to Jay, near the Canton line. He was married three times. His first wife was Joanna Floyd, by whom he had eight children. He inherited much of his father's love of books, of whom it is said "he was a noted scholar for his day and a born orator." Joseph's opportunities for an education were very limited. Late in life he gave him- self to study, employing a lady teacher for several weeks. He procured a small printing press and published the genealogy of the Lawrence family back to the time of their coming to this country from England. He also published some religious pamphlets. He also studied medicine, and his medicines and advice were much in demand, though he never sought a doctor's title.
Rev. Manasseh Lawrence, son of Joseph, born in Winthrop, Maine, 1801, was a man of more than ordinary gifts, a great student of the Bible and a most interesting preacher. He was the beloved pastor of the Baptist church in Sumner for more than twenty-five years and was regarded as one of the noted ministers in Oxford County.
Major Francis Lawrence, son of Joseph Lawrence, was born in Wayne, December 29, 1799, died in Jay, April 18, 1858. He was a natural mechanic. In early life he settled on Jay Hill, where he carried on the business of edge-tool making. His axes and draw-shaves were much used in the lumber .
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camps of Franklin County in the early thirties, and were always in demand. Later in life he became interested in the develop- ment of the water power at Jay Bridge in partnership with Winslow & Noyes. He was a justice of the peace, selectman at different times in the town, and represented the town in the Maine legislature in 1843. He became prominent in the Republican party, being one of the delegates that organized the party at its first convention in Franklin County. He was a captain of the town's company of light infantry, from which he was promoted to major in the county regiment. He was a member and deacon of the Baptist church, and held the position of county commissioner in Franklin County at the time of his death.
Rev. Benjamin F. Lawrence, A.M., son of Francis Lawrence, was born in Jay in 1835; fitted for college at the Farmington Academy; graduated at Waterville College, now Colby, in 1858. Taught school for a number of years; was principal of Litch- field Liberal Institute in 1857-58; was a student in Newton Theological Seminary in the class of 1863, leaving the Institu- tion to enlist in the Rhode Island 2nd Regiment. He was married in 1862 to Belle Stewart Church, and was ordained as a Baptist minister at Cape Neddick, Maine, the same year, remaining there three years. He afterwards held pastorates in Corinth, Dexter, Brunswick, Buckfield and Jefferson in Maine; Groton, Mass., Meriden, N.H., and Pueblo, Colo.
Mary F. Lawrence, daughter of Francis Lawrence, born in Jay, was a teacher of languages in Portland High School for fourteen years. She married Rev. Alvah K. Gurney, a missionary to Sibsagar, Assam, India. They have two children, Lawrence E., Ph.D., a graduate of Colby and Chi- cago Universities, now a professor of physics in Idaho Uni- versity, and Bessie Keeler, who has taken up the study of art.
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CAPTAIN EDWARD RICHARDSON'S HOMESTEAD.
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Thomas Emery Lawrence, son of Francis, was a corporal in the 5th Maine Regiment of the Civil War, and was killed in the battle of the Wilderness.
Isabel Lawrence, daughter of Francis, was born in Jay in 1853; graduated from Portland High School, 1865; was a grad- uate from the Oswego Training School. She has been teacher of principles in St. Cloud Normal School, Minnesota, since 1878. President Thomas J. Gray of the St. Cloud Normal School says: "Miss Isabel Lawrence as a teacher of Methods and Educational Psychology has no rival in the West. She is strong in all her work. All mark her mind as of no ordinary mold. The family may well be gratified in her." ยท Lawrence Hall, a girls' dormitory, erected by the state at a cost of $60,000, takes it name from Miss Lawrence.
Dr. Daniel Childs was born in Woodstock, Conn. He received his medical education in Paris, France, 1716, and was one of the first settlers in Jay township, residing probably in that part of the town which later became Canton. We have not been able to get much information concerning his history, but one little incident told to me when a small boy shows him to have been something of a philosopher. In that early time, as a doctor's income was very small, doubtless the doctor's family were often in reduced circumstances. One cold day in autumn, the oldest boy came to his father, saying: "There is only one stick of wood remaining in the wood pile." "Well," said the doctor, "that's enough to keep you warm. Go and put it on your shoulder and bring it to me." The son did as bid. "Now," said the father, "follow me," and he led the way upstairs to the chamber, and opening the window, bade him throw it out and go and get it again, repeating the pro- cess. Then he said to the boy: "That will keep you warm."
Howland Childs, son of Dr. Daniel, was a cooper by trade, and lived on the intervale on a small farm. He had a genial,
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sunny temperament and was everybody's friend. He was renowned for his witty sayings. When some one in his presence called a certain neighbor a liar, he remarked that "Mr. E. was the most unfortunate man he ever knew, for his stories never turned out as he told them." One day in the village store, Judge Starr, who had met with some temporary loss, said to him: "Don't you pity me, Mr. Childs?" "O yes, I will pity you when it comes your turn, but I've got a great many others to pity first." Passing some men who were working on the bridge that. was being built, he asked one of the workmen: "Can you use the adze one hand foremost as well as the other?" "No," said the man, "can you?" "Yes," said Howland, "and I think a little better." He was very fond of a harmless joke. Coming to Dr. Small's one day on an errand, he brought with him a very pretty spaniel dog. The doctor's boys were greatly delighted with the dog and eagerly inquired its name. "Guess," said Uncle Howland. They guessed all sorts of names, and becoming discouraged, they appealed to him again to tell them its name. "Why," said he with a chuckle, "I have already told you his name is Guess."
Dr. Albion K. P. Childs was the youngest son of Howland. After completing his studies in a private high school on Jay Hill, taught by Rev. Lucius Bradford, he studied medicine, graduating from Bowdoin Medical School. He then spent one year as assistant in a Massachusetts hospital. He then settled at Jay Bridge, and for many years he was the only practising physician in town.
Among the sons of Jay who have made an honorable record for business ability, John Lewis Childs occupies a prominent place. Mr. Childs is the son of the late Stephen Childs and a lineal descendant of Dr. Samuel Childs, from Woodstock, Conn., and a practising physician in its early settlement. John Lewis in very early life developed a passion for flowers,
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A. SMITH THOMPSON'S HOMESTEAD, BUILT 1891, BURNED 1911.
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and when but a small lad began a study of their names and natures. Year by year his flower beds increased in size, variety and beauty. He soon conceived the idea of cultivating flowers for their seed and selling them, but with true business sagacity he realized that to succeed with the enterprise he must locate near some large place. In the year 1874, when but seventeen years of age, he went to Long Island, N.Y., and commenced the cultivation of flowers and the sale of seeds. From that time on till the present, under his wise management, the business has constantly increased, and now Floral Park has a national reputation.
Dearborn Gorham Bean was born near Bean's Corner in 1824, and was married to Rose Ann Winslow of North Jay. He was a successful school teacher in Jay, Wilton and Dix- field. The larger part of his life was spent in East Wilton in connection with the scythe factory of that place. He held many important offices in the town and state; was an inspector of prisons and justice of the peace. (See Bean memorials.)
Isaac West was a soldier of the Revolution. About the year 1800 he came to Jay and settled on a lot of land on the road leading from Jay Hill to North Jay. He built for himself a brick house in front of which was a willow tree which many now living will remember. This place is now the town farm. This willow tree had a unique history. West was coming from the Kennebec one day on horseback. Passing some willows by the roadside, he dismounted, broke off a limb and used it for a riding whip. On arriving home he got off his horse at the lane lead- ing to his house, and stuck the willow limb into the ground near the roadside. The small branch lived and in time grew into a beautiful spreading willow - a fitting monument of this thrifty farmer. West was fond of telling how he revenged himself on Baron William von Stuben, the German general inspector of the Continental Army under General Washington.
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Stuben was a stern disciplinarian, and was wont to reprimand severely any soldier who did not keep his equipment in good condition. The guns then in use were the old flintlocks. The baron as he examined each gun would try the flint to see if it was securely fastened. Finding West's flint loose he severely reprimanded him. Before the next inspection, West, with another soldier, sat up half one night grinding down his flint to a sharp edge, and when the baron attempted to move it his thumb was badly lacerated. In a rage as he detected the trick he exclaimed: "You d-d rascal," but recovering himself, with a smile he added: "you good soldier."
A noted character in Jay was Moses Loaker, the second son . of Moses, who came to Jay from Groton, Mass., at the begin- ning of the century and took up his abode on a small lot of land just south of the Baptist church on Jay Hill. Moses, Jr., was never married and had very limited opportunities for an education, but by a wise improvement of his time and his natural ability and taste for learning he became an accom- plished scholar, being a successful teacher in the common schools for many years. He was an omnivorous reader, literally devouring every book that came within his reach. In this way he not only possessed himself of a knowledge of a variety of subjects but he attained a command of language and a fluency of speech that were remarkable for his position in life. Though like many others of his day addicted to the drink habit, he was a most genial companion, kindhearted and ready at all times to do a favor. He could "draw the long bow" at pleasure, and his marvelous stories of the big fish he had caught and the amount of honey he had taken from some lone tree of the forest, to which he had traced the wild bees, were great sources of entertainment as well as amusement to those gathered at the village store. Loaker's "meat-tub" and
A. SMITH THOMPSON'S HOMESTEAD, BUILT 1911. FRONT VIEW OF NEW HOME WITH OXEN.
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Loaker's Island, near the boys' swimming-hole, were noted places in the boys' vocabulary.
Galen Thompson was born in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1782 and fitted for college in the Hartford Seminary, one of the leading educational schools in New England, and delivered the valedictory address at his graduation. He was a natural orator and was often heard on public occasions. He settled on a farm in the bend of the river near the Livermore line. He married Susan Porter. Two of his enterprising sons, Rudolphus and Loammi, carried on a large dairy business on the old homestead for a number of years, keeping from forty to fifty cows and enlarging the original estate by buying up several of the adjoining farms.
Luther Reynolds was born in 1804. On attaining his majority he married Charlotte Jackson. They settled on Macomber Hill. They had eight children, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. Austin, his oldest son, was a medical cadet at Washington, D.C., in 1863. He commenced the practice of medicine in Randolph, Mass., afterwards removing to East Wilton, but for the larger part of his life has lived in Farm- ington, Maine, where he had a large practice. He has a son, a Congregational minister, who has held pastorates in Gorham and other towns in New England.
Henry, son of Luther, graduated from Harvard Medical School and was settled at East Wilton for five years and in Auburn for eight years. For five years he was agricultural editor of the Lewiston Journal. He came to Livermore Falls in 1882, where he has since practised medicine.
Lauriston, youngest son of Luther, has been a Congrega- tional clergyman, graduating from Bangor Theological Semi- nary in 1875. He had a pastorate in Auburn, Maine, ten years; in Yarmouth, Maine, ten years; Redfield, S.D., ten years; and in Wessing Springs and North Belle Fourche, S.D.
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The Reynolds family have done honor to their native town. Thomas Winslow, son of Benjamin Winslow, of Livermore, was the popular landlord of the old hotel on Jay Hill for many years, succeeding Moses Crafts, its original proprietor. He married Harriet Starr, the daughter of Judge Starr, and in company with his father-in-law kept the village store in con- nection with the tavern. He in company with Francis Law- rence built the first sawmill at Jay Bridge, and for many years owned the water power at Otis Falls, now operated by the International Paper Company of Chisholm. In the year 1839-40 he moved to Hallowell, where he was the landlord of the Eagle Hotel for many years. He subsequently purchased a farm in East Livermore on which he lived till his death.
The numerous Kyes family of North Jay are descendants of Ebenezer Kyes, who came at the close of the nineteenth century to Jay from Massachusetts and settled near the granite quarries, a large part of which was included in his original purchase. He was an enterprising farmer and accumulated considerable property for a farmer of his day. He was noted for his epigrammatic speech and quick repartee. Being in the village store one day, in making change he dropped a small coin on the floor. As he stooped to pick it up the trader remarked, "Mr. Kyes, if I were worth as much as you are I wouldn't stoop to pick up a sixpence." "Just the reason you ain't," was his quick reply. Going to the store one time just before Thanksgiving with a small basket in his hand, he inquired the price of eggs. "Six cents," he was told. "Isn't that rather low?" he asked. "We will sell all we have for that price," was the answer, and much to the trader's chagrin Mr. Kyes replied, "I will take them."
The sons of Ebenezer Kyes, Elisha, Solomon and Lorenzo, all settled at North Jay and with their numerous descendants have contributed largely to the upbuilding of that part of
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