USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Wales > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 32
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Monmouth > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 32
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For many years Mr. Andrews suffered from a dis- ease which demanded the attention of the best sur- gical skill in the state. With a vitality that even as- tonished the profession, he baffled once and again the councils of eminent consulting physicians, and suc- ceeded in tearing himself from what, to anyone but a man of iron will, would have proved a death-bed. His vitality at last gave way, and his pain-racked body sank to rest on the 26th day of April 1894.
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Mr. Andrews connected himself at an early age with the Baptist church on Monmouth Ridge, and always held fast to the profession of his faith. He was united in marriage in 1849 with Miss Sarah H. Safford, daugh- ter of John Safford, esq., of Monmouth, a lady of most estimable and beautiful character. Six children were born to them, only three of whom are now living. Helen F., the oldest of these, is the wife of Hon. A. M. Spear, ex-mayor of Gardiner and senator for Kennebec county. Charles L., the oldest son, is connected in business with his brother-in-law, under the firm name of Spear and Andrews, attorneys, and Lester M. is book-keeper for the firm of Emerson, Hubbard & Co., Oakland, Me.
The year after John and Stephen Andrews came to Wales, Richard and James Labree settled on the farm south of John Andrews's. They were sons of Peter Labree, who came from France in 1759 and settled in Woolwich. Of the career of Richard but little is known. James was born in Woolwich March 5, 1761. At the age of thirteen he had the honor, so it is stated, of piloting the first ship that sailed up the Kennebec from Bath to Gardiner. Two years later he enlisted in the Continental army, and served in the ranks un- til 1779. He married Mercy Austin, a granddaughter of Bill Austin, the famous scout, whose son William was carried into captivity by the Indians when a small boy, and, remaining with them until he became a man, married a sister of the celebrated chief, Tecumseh. After his marriage he left the tribe and settled in Batlı, where his daughter Mercy was born.
James and Mercy Labree had five children, the
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of worth and a leading spirit among the pioneers. He served as plantation clerk eleven years, and, after the incorporation of the town, was honored with the office of town clerk nineteen years consecutively, and was twice sent to the legislature. He also served several terms as selectman and treasurer, and was officially connected with the first church organized in Wales. His death, which occurred in the sixty-seventh year of his age, was the result of a shocking casualty. While working on the roof of Joseph Maxwell's house, probably topping out a chimney as his trade was that of a mason, he fell and dislocated his neck. The home- stead fell to his son, Isaac S., who was born two years after his father settled in Wales.
Hon. Isaac S. Small was a man of keen insight, ex- ceptional executive ability and unswerving integrity. He received a good academic education and devoted several years of his early life to teaching, chiefly in the town of Wiscasset. In 1819 he married Olive Andrews, and soon after purchased of Josiah Orcutt the place now occupied by C. C. Richmond, of Mon- mouth, where he resided until his appointment as Sur- veyor General of Maine in 1835, when he took up his residence in Bangor. Four years later, the office to which he was appointed was abolished, and he returned to the homestead in Wales, where he resided until his decease. He began his public surveying in 1825, and during the fifty years following probably used the sur- veyor's compass more than any other man in Maine. He was employed by the state during a large portion of his career, in allotting the public lands into town- ships and preparing the requisite maps and accompany-
Isaac S.Small
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ing data. These plans are on file in the state archives.
"Esquire" Small's first commission as justice of the peace was signed by Maine's first governor, William King. Others bear the signature of Albion K. Parris, Samuel E. Smith, Robert Dunlap, John Fairfield, J. W. Dana, Joseph Williams and Samuel Cony.
He was elected to represent Monmouth in the legis- ture for the sessions of 1832 and 1833. In 1844, and again in 1847, he was a member of the governor's council. During his residence in Monmouth, he served one or more terms as commissioner for the county of Kennebec, and was elected to a similar ca- pacity in Androscoggin county in 1855, serving five years. The governor of Maine appointed him inspect- or of the state prison in 1860, an office in which he was retained eight years, and the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States issued a public recognition of his ability and judgment in a commission which made him superintendent of construction of the light-house on Mount Desert Rock.
In local affairs he often served as selectman and treasurer, and, for a term of some length, as a director of the Monmouth Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
Mr. Small died in 1882, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, leaving one daughter (Mrs. T. W. Ham), who, excepting a son who died at an early age, was his only child.
Joel Small, a younger brother of Esquire Isaac, al- though never so eminent as the latter, was a man of talent, and one who was highly esteemed by his ac- quaintances. He took up the farm next to his father's on the north, but devoted his energies more to ship-
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building than to agriculture. For many years he was in demand on the Kennebec river as a master builder, and superintended the building of a large number of vessels in Gardiner, Pittston and Dresden. He repre- sented Wales in the legislature in 1843 and 1844, and again in 1851. Some time after this, he left his native town, and for a term of several years resided in East Somerville, Mass. But the charms of youthful asso- ciations proved stronger than the new surroundings, and he returned to Wales to enjoy in quietude the closing days of a life of activity. He died at the home of his son-in law, John C. Fogg, esq., June 4, 1886.
Joseph C. Small, the pioneer's third son, settled in Newport, Me. Daniel was a Baptist clergyman. He was ordained pastor of the first church of Thomaston in 1839. From that town he moved to Wiscasset, and thence to Kansas where he died in 1872. Otis, who was four years his junior, learned the mason's trade in Portland, at an early age. As soon as he reached man's estate, he located in Bangor. Nine years later occurred the disastrous conflagration which reduced the city of St. John's, N. B., to a bed of ashes. Mr. Small was then a man of thirty years, possessing only the experience of a young man and limited capital, but he had the judgment of one far beyond his years and energy which was worth more than dollars. He repaired at once to the desolate city, and, although strongly opposed, had, before many days, secured a large portion of the contracts for replacing brick build- ings. He remained in the city which he had thus constructed, and prior to the second extensive fire of 1877, had, it was estimated, erected at least one-half
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of the brick buildings in the city. Among the promi- nent structures which are ascribed to him were the Custom House, the Carleton Insane Asylum and the towers of the suspension bridge. He also built in Frederickton the beautiful Episcopal cathedral, and a portion of the military barracks. He was a prominent projector of the scheme for erecting Victoria hotel and was president of the corporation that controlled it.
In 1850 Mr. Small engaged extensively in steam- boating, purchasing at that time a half interest in the steamers plying between St. John's and Portland, St. John's and Frederickton and on the upper St John's. Although his enterprise was well demonstrated before that unfortunate event, it is stated that as a comple- ment of his energy he was one of the first to rebuild after the great fire of 1877. He died Mar. 12, 1879.
Dr. Alvan E. Small, the most eminent of Dea. Jo- seph's children, was born Mar. 4, 18II. When he en- tered Monmouth Academy to complete the acquisition of knowledge which had been begun in the district schools of his native town, his brother Isaac, who was eighteen years his senior, was living a short distance east of the school building, and from him the young student doubtless received, while living in his family, instruction and advice which shaped, in a measure, his after life. At the age of twenty years, he com- menced the study of medicine, and in due time was graduated from the medical department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. He settled in Delaware coun- ty, Penn., and established a practice which was relin- quished in 1845 for a more promising one in Philadel- phia. During the early part of his eleven years' resi-
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dence in the latter city, he was soundly converted from his allopathic tenets to the then new theories of home- opathy. In 1849 he was appointed Professor of Phy- siology in the Homeopathic College of Philadelphia, and, later, was transferred to the chair of the Homeo- pathic Institute and Practice of Medicine. He subse- quently removed to Chicago, where he gained an ex- tensive practice. On the organization of the Hahn- emann Medical College of Chicago, he was elected Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, a position which he occupied for a term of ten years. To his experience and wisdom is due, in a large degree, the acquisition of the eminent reputation which this insti- tution now sustains. In 1869 he resigned his profes- sorship and was elected president of the college. With the burden of this responsibility upon him, he as- sumed the general superintendence of the Scammon Hospital, and served as president of the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association and of the Ameri- can Institute of Homeopathy. He was a life member of the Chicago Academy of Science and of the Chica- go Historical Society. He must have been a methodi- cal man who, with the diverse interests of these vari- ous institutions on his mind, could find time to make an extensive tour of Europe and to prepare voluminous articles for the press.
Dr. Small was for many years engaged in editorial work, preparing many articles for the medical reviews, and by his miscellaneous productions securing some- thing of a reputation as a journalist. He also acquired an enviable name as an author. His published works include the Manual of Homeopathic Practice, which has
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passed through fifteen editions and has been translated into the German language; a volume on Diseases of the Nervous System, and monographs on various subjects, that have given him a world-wide reputation.
Dr. Small was married in 1834 to Martha Shaw, of Bath, Me., by whom he had four children, two of whom are practicing physicians in the west. He died Dec. 31, 1886.
William, the youngest of the Small family, was born Feb. 4, 1813. He resided in Wales until 1861, when he removed to Fort Fairfield. Two years later he was elected high sheriff of Aroostook county, an office which he resigned in 1865 to accept the govorner's appoint- ment of Judge of Probate to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Wentworth. In 1864 he opened a general store, and, although his age has gone an entire decade beyond the years allotted to inan, he is still actively engaged in trade.
"Joseph Murch came from Gorham, Me., in 1792, and settled on a farm near Joseph Small's in Wales. His house was destroyed by fire and three of his chil- dren perished in the flames. This is the only house known to have been burned in the town's history."
The next settler after Murch was John Larrabee, a native of Scarboro, Me., and a descendant of William Larrabee of Malden, Mass., who, with his brother Greenfield, came to this country from France about 1645.
John Larrabee came to Wales in 1703, and the year following he was united in marriage with Susanna Andrews, a sister of John Andrews, sen., and took up the farm now occupied by Joseph W. Sawyer. They
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had eleven children, among whom were five sons who have been actively engaged in ship-building and lum- bering in Maine and Florida. Philip, the oldest son,
married Elizabeth Norton. He lived several years on the farm of his father-in-law, but in 1839 purchased of his brother Daniel the Larrabee homestead, where he resided until 1858, when he removed to Farmingdale, Me., where he died in 1868. John, Stephen, and Wil- liam, Philip Larrabee's younger brothers, all settled in Bath. They were prominent among the ship-build- ers of that maritime town. Two of Stephen's children are eminent residents of Bath. Edwin L. Larrabee, the younger of these, is a leader in business circles ; the other is the wife of Hon. Frank O. Moses. Wil- liam still resides in Bath and is the only one of the pioneer's sons now living. Daniel married Sabrina Ricker and remained on the homestead until about 1840 ,when he moved to the farm of his wife's father. Sixteen years later he removed to Gardiner, where he passed the remainder of his days. He was the father of Hon. James M. Larrabee, of Gardiner, Me.
James Morrill Larrabee was born Dec. 4, 1833. He married, Sept. 18, 1855, Priscilla Woodward, of Win- throp, and the same year removed with his father to Gardiner, Me. His family consists of five sons and two daughters.
He was educated at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Phillips Exeter Academy,having passed three years at the former school, and one at the latter. Mr. Larra- bee came to Gardiner in 1855. He taught in one of the grammar schools in the city for several years. He has held various offices in the city of his adoption, has been
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president of the Common Council and of the board of Al- dermen, was five years collector and treasurer, and, for the same term, one of the assessors and overseers of the poor. He has taken a deep interest in the public schools of Gardiner, and for nineteen years has served on the superintending school committee.
In 1885 Mr. Larrabee was appointed judge of the police court and still holds that office. He is a promi- nent Mason, having filled the several chairs of Mas- ter of Hermon Lodge, High Priest of Lebanon Chap- ter, Master of the Adoniram Council, and Eminent Commander of the Maine Commandery. He has also been Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Maine, and Deputy Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Maine.
Judge Larrabee is a member of the Congregational church, and has been identified with various organiza- tions for the physical and moral welfare of his fellow citizens.
According to the statement of Mr. Fogg in the His- tory of Androscoggin County, five other new families appeared in Wales in 1793. They were those of James Wilson, James Clark, the father of Robert Clark, Da- vid, Adam and Isaiah Jenkins.
James Clark was born in Brunswick in 1789, and consequently could have been but four years old when he came to Wales. It is probable that James Clark, sen., the grandfather of the present occupant of the farm, is intended. The error is undoubtedly due to the care- lessness of the printer, and is similar to several that have occurred in my own experience. Mr. Clark pur- chased of Reuben Ham the farm on which his son,
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Robert H. Clark, now resides. He married, first, Su- sanna Dyer, of Durham, and, second, Irene Pettingill, of Leeds. The children, eleven in number, were the offspring of the first wife. Two of the sons reside in Abbot, Me., one died in childhood, and one went to the gold mines of Colorado in 1848, and was never again heard from. James married Irene Foss and resides in Lewiston. He has gained more than a local reputation as a contractor and mover of buildings. Like his brother Robert, who has always resided on the home- stead, he is a man of sound judgment, and one who commands the respect of his acquaintances.
The Jenkins brothers settled on the intervale south of Monmouth Ridge. They were sons of Philip Jen- kins, who came to Monmouth in 1775 and settled on the farm now owned by Cyrus Titus. David took up the farmı now owned by his son Isaac S. Jenkins, and Isaiah the one which was inherited by the widow of the late Lawson W. Jenkins. Isaac married Patience Jackson, and had seven children, and David married Susanna Jackson, and had thirteen children, only one of whom now lives in Wales. Two of his sons served in the last war with Great Britain, and one of his grandsons, Hi- ram, the son of Isaac, died in service during the civil war.
Another immigrant of this period was Hugh Getch- ell, who settled on the place now owned by the heirs of James Mann.
For a period of three years following 1793, if tradi- tion may be accredited, the stream of immigration ran dry. In 1796 the drouth broke; and from that time un- til 1803, when, from the incorpoeate state into which this
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section was thrown when the northern half of Wales plantation became the town of Monmouth, it was again raised to the station and privileges of au incorporated plantation, scarcely a year passed without the accession of new families. In 1796, it is supposed, Enoch Strout settled on the farm on which his grandson, Charles W. Strout, lives and built a log cabin on the spot now cov- ered by Mr. Strout's hen-house. Four years later it was replaced with a framed house.
Enoch Strout came from Limington, Maine. He was a veteran of the Revolution, and the first commissioned officer of the local military company. When the plan- tation was organized, he was placed on the first board of assessors, and retained in that office two years. Dur- ing the early years of his residence in Wales, he was universally known as Capt. Strout; but this title was dropped after he became an officer in the church, and on his grave-stone appears the more peaceful designa- tion of deacon.
Deacon Strout married Mercy C. Small, a relative of his old neighbor, Joseph Small, through whose influ- ence he was undoubtedly led to make a home for him- self in Wales. He was about thirty-five years of age when he left Limington, and was the father of six children. During the seven years following his settle- ment in Wales four other children were born. Wil- liam, who was a child less than a year old when he came to this town, saw service in the war of 1812, and afterward married Martha Swett, and located on the farm now owned by Mr. Jones, near the centre of the town. His next younger brother, Gilbert, whose name appears on the records as selectman in 1826, married
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Lucy Small, and remained on the homestead. He had five children, of whom only two married. Charles W., the older of his two sons, married Ann Springer and inherited the farm which his grandfather cleared. He is the Wales postmaster. His brother, Allen F., mar- ried Jane Webster and settled on the Enoch Gilbert Strout place, opposite the home of his father and elder brother. He has one son, John W. Charles W. has three children, two of whom are married and reside in Wales.
Ebenezer Strout, the deacon's youngest son, mar- ried Hannah Cushing, of Durham. He lived in Wales until about 1836, when he removed to Topsham. Five years later he went to Portland, and resided there un- til his decease in 1880. He had but one child, Sew- all C. Strout, who is now a prominent member of the Cumberland bar.
Sewall C. Strout was born in Wales, Feb. 17, 1827, and remained with his parents until he began his pro- fessional career. He studied law with the late Judge Howard and Judge Shepley, then in practice under the style of Howard and Shepley, and was admitted to the bar of Cumberland county in 1848. He inmedi- ately opened a law office in Bridgton, Me., and remained in that village until 1854, when he removed to Portland.
Mr. Strout has never soiled his hands with politics; the only approach to this muddy whirlpool being his acceptance of the office of alderman for the year 1870. He has not failed to wield an influence among men, however, nor to secure their confidence, as is attested by the fact that he has, for about nine years, held the office of president of the Cumberland bar, and that
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upon the retirement of Judge Lowell from the United States Circuit Court, the bar of this state, without re- gard to party, almost unamimously, and without solic- itation on his part, recommended his appointment to fill the vacancy on that bench. A considerable num- ber of the attorneys joined in the recommendation, as did many prominent officials and citizens of both par- ties. The appointment, however, went to Rhode Is- land.
After the retirement of Judge Howard from the Su- preme Court bench, in 1855, Mr. Strout continued to practice alone. At the end of that time, Hanno W. Gage, esquire, became his partner. The style of Strout and Gage remained unchanged until 1877, when Fred erick S., son of the senior partner, became a member of the firm under the name of Strout, Gage and Strout; and upon his death, in 1888, his younger brother, Char- les A., became a member under the same style. In November, 1849, Mr. Strout was married to Octavia J. P. Shaw, of Portland. They have had five children.
It is supposed that four other immigrants settled in Wales in 1796-Joshua Adams, Luther and Went- worth Lombard and Joseph Foss.
Joshua Adams came from Limington, Me. He was the grandson of John Adams, an English immi- grant, and was born Oct. 10, 1766. Two years before he came to this part of the state, he was married to Sa- rah Plumer, whose brother, David Plnmer, afterward became one of the principal men of Wales.
Adams took up the farin now owned by Luther D. Ricker. He was a shoe-maker, and, undoubtedly, was the first representative of that craft who settled in the
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town. He had three daughters and seven sons. Sev- eral of the latter engaged in tanning and shoe-making in other towns. Of these Aaron, the second son, was for many years a resident of Monmouth. He was twice married ; first, to Hannah Phillips, and, second, to Eliza Gove, daughter of Elijah Gove, of Monmouth. His first wife bore him three children, and his second wife, five. Sarah A. Adams, one of the latter, married Geo. W. Fogg, of Monmouth, and resides at the home place.
Joshua, the fifth son, married Abigail F. Mosher, a native of Gorham, Me. He was the father of six sons and two daughters. Five of his sons served in the war of the rebellion. One studied for the ministry, but died while taking his theological course. His youngest daughter, Abby M., is a practicing physician in La Crosse, Wis.
Luthur and Wentworth Lombard were former resi- dents of Gorham, Me. The farm on which they set- tled fell to Almond Lombard, a son of Wentworth.
Joseph Foss settled in the northern part of the town, on the farm now owned by Joseph Wight. He did not become a permanent resident however, but returned to Scarboro', whence he came.
In 1797 Benjamin Tibbetts, Obed Hobbs, Simmonds Getchell and Elijah Morton made clearings in the cen- tral part of the township. Tibbetts was evidently a roving character. Only the year before this, he set- tled (if sitting down and jumping up may be called settling) on the Matthias A. Benner farm near South Monmouth. The former residences of the others can not be ascertained.
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One morning, two years after Enoch Strout began clearing his land, he heard the sound of briskly rattling axes coming from the dense old growth that lay south of his cabin. If he went to investigate, he found two strangers there; one, a man of thirty-eight, the other, a min of thirty-four years of age. They were the Giv- en brothers, Arthur and William, and had come from Brunswick, whence so many of the early settlers of the two towns under consideration had come before them. Arthur Given afterward opened the first public house on this site in town. He was the first plantation treas- urer, and was thrice placed on the board of selectmen. When the post-office was established in Wales, he was commissioned postmaster, and was retained through all the changes in the administration as long as he was able to perform the duties of the office. His son Arthur was the next incumbent, and from him, after long years of service, it passed into the hands of his daughter, who held it until her decease. Then, after a short interval, it returned to its old location under the management of Mrs. Hattie L. Given. Until the re- cent transfer of the office to the residence of Mr. Charles W. Strout, the mails were always delivered from the same house. Robert Given, a son of Arthur, settled first on Thompson's hill, but subsequently removed to Newport or Corinna. Arthur Given, jun., was several times elected to municipal offices. He was the father of six children, four of whom reached maturity. Two of his sons, Arthur and Lincoln, are Free-Baptist clergy- men. The former is a graduate of Bates college, and has for several years been employed in the office of the Youth's Companion. John, another son, was for many
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