History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 208

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100

USA > Maine > Penobscot County > History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 208

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

MOSES P. WADLEIGH.

Moses P. Wadleigh, the subject of this sketch, was born in Oldtown in 1826, where he received a common school education. He also attended the Charleston Academy a short time. He has always been engaged in the lumber business, and is one among the heaviest deal- ers on the Penobscot. He keeps in his employ con- stantly from seventy-five to one hundred men. He prob- ably has been in the lumber business longer, and has handled more lumber during his lifetime, than any man on the Penobscot River. He is a self-made man, and has accumulated a comfortable fortune. He is also the pos- sessor of one of the neatest residences in the village of Oldtown, a view of which can be seen on the opposite page. In politics he is independent, always supporting the party or candidate that suits him best. He was twice married, his first wife being Climenia Moore, who died at Oldtown in 1852. He afterward married Emma T. Nesbit, a native of Biddeford, Maine. He is the father of six children, two by his first wife and four by his present wife : Carrie died when three years of age ; Jesse died in infancy ; Ralph B. died when seven years of age ; Moses, Leith and Alfred live at home.

HON. JOSEPH L. SMITH.

Among the most prominent citizens of Oldtown and of the county is the well-known lumberman and political leader, Major Joseph Locke Smith. He is a native of the Pine Tree State, born at the ancestral home in Pal- myra, Somerset county, November 29, 1818, the fifth son of Asa and Mary J. (Cowin) Smith, who had a family of six sons and three daughters. His early years were spent upon the farm of his father and in attendance upon the district school. When he was but seven years of age, in 1825, his father removed to Bangor, where he was en- gaged for a year as a carpenter and house-builder. He then took his family to Oldtown, where he settled perma- nently as a maker of batteaux, which were then in great demand, especially for the transportation of supplies to the lumber-camps on the East and West Branches of the Penobscot. He soon became a leading man in the com- munity, and was entrusted with important local offices, holding among others that of Town Treasurer for a num- ber of successive years.

Young Joseph attended the village school for a short

time every year until he was fifteen, when he became ambitious of somewhat higher education, and was sent for a term to the academy then flourishing at Charleston, in this county. He attended this school in the winter of 1833-34, and then went to the famous academy of that day at China, in Kennebec county. · A single term here, in his seventeenth year, finished his formal education in the public schools, and he soon began the battle of life for himself. His opportunities had not been neglected, however, and the knowledge acquired under his teachers has been faithfully used and improved by much reading and observation in his later career.

Mr. Smith, soon after leaving the China Academy, en- gaged at light wages in the heavy work of lumbering on the Penobscot. In the spring he received somewhat bet- ter pay for assistance in booming and rafting on the river, and in a short time, by the severe labors of winter and summer, he amassed the sum of $400, which was to him then a small fortune. He invested his means, in partnership with Isaac Staples, another young man of Oldtown, in the grocery business in that place, which he pursued until he was twenty-one years of age, when he sold his interest to his partner and formed a company with Messrs. H. R. and W. N. Soper and Charles Fisk, for lumbering operations on the West Branch of the Pe- nobscot. They were moderately seccessful in these, clearing during the first season the sum of $1,200. This was the beginning of forty-three years of continuous business in the great staple of the Penobscot Valley and other parts of Maine and New Brunswick where he has operated. After some years' transactions on the Penob- scot he formed a company with his brother, William H. Smith, of Oldtown, and also Gorham L. Byington and Daniel Bradley, of Bangor, for the purchase of a mill- site on the Canifacasious Bay, St. John River, a short distance from the city of St. John. A fine steam saw- mill, with a capacity for turning out several millions of feet per year, besides square timber, was constructed at this point, and kept supplied chiefly from the Maine forests on the Upper St. John, Aroostook, and Fish Rivers. Major Smith was in personal charge of the operations on these streams, and managed them to the entire satisfaction of his partners, who confided implicit- ly in his judgment upon all matters within his field of the business. After ten years in New Brunswick, the mill and associated interests were sold by the company to the Roberts Brothers, of St. John.

Two years afterwards, in 1865, he and the same bother, with Captain S. H. L. Whittier of Lincoln, and H. R. Beverage of New Brunswick, entered into a part- nership for running a line of steamers known as the Peo- ple's Line, on the St. John River. It soon became popular and prosperous, requiring in time three boats to meet the demands of travel upon it. In 1875 the line was sold to the owner of the narrow-gauge railroad, which had been constructed along the river above Fredericton. During a part of the same period the two Smiths, having bought the steamers engaged in the Penobscot trade from Oldtown to Winn, were also run- ning that line, but sold it in 1870 to the rival interest

833

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

then in operation, the European & North American Railroad, which also purchased their share in the stage route from Bangor to Mattawamkeag. In 1860 they, with William B. Pearson of Bangor, had purchased of Rufus Dwinel the site of his mills at West Great Works, which had been burned, and rebuilt and ran them until 1866, he sold the property. Of late years Major Smich has been mainly engaged in heavy logging operations in the West Branch of the Penobscot and elsewhere.

In the midst of his busy private employments Major Smith has found time for more public duties. An early member of the Republican party, he became active in its councils; in 1860 was elected First Selectman of Old- town, and in the fall of the same year a Representative in the State Legislature, where he took his seat for a single term in 1861. He was returned to the Legislature, but as Senator, in 1862, and also in 1872 and 1873. In 1878, having been converted to the principles of the Green- back party, he was made the candidate of that organiza- tion for the high office of Governor, and was a participant in the memorable struggle of the next winter over the returns of the election. His name was again prominent in the politics of the State during the Senatorial canvass of the winter of 1880-81. He was honored with the caucus nomination of the Greenback and Democratic members of the Legislature, and received 64 votes in the Assembly for the office of United States Senator, against the 83 cast for the Hon. Eugene Hale.

Major Smith derives his military title from his appoint- ment, during the first year of the war, to the staff of Major General James H. Butler, of Bangor, commanding the First Division of State Militia. In his capacity as aid-de-camp he attended at the elections of officers of the companies formed at Oldtown, Calais, Machias, and Pembroke, and otherwise performed efficient and valued services during the period of the Rebellion.

In 1840, November 12, when he had almost reached his twenty-second birthday, Major Smith was united in marriage to Miss Amelia C., daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Keene) Lebalister, of Windsor, Maine, who re- mains his faithful helpmate to this day. They have had three children, all daughters, named respectively Caro- line Amelia, Harriet Bakeman, and Elizabeth Frances - all of whom have married and passed from under the paternal roof, but still reside near their parents in Old- town.

DR. ALBION PARKER FOLSOM.

This gentleman, one of the most noted medical prac- titioners in Eastern Maine, is a native of this county and State, born in Newburg June 4, 1838, fifth child and third son of Major Mark and Sarah (Morrell) Folsom, who occupied a farm in that town, where the elder Fol- som still resides. He was not only a farmer, but lumber- man; and was in his prime a prominent citizen of the town, a Major in the old State militia, and an active Re- publican politician, to whom important local offices were often entrusted. The Doctor's grandfather, also named

Mark, settled as a pioneer in Dixmont, early in the cen- tury. On the father's side the family is English; the race stock of the mother was originally Dutch. They were married about 1830, in Newburg, of which Mrs. Folsom was a native.

Albion Folsom was brought up on the farm, attending the district schools of winters, until the age of fifteen. He then took a position in the drug store of his uncle, Dr. William R. Morrell, at Dexter, and served him as clerk four years, meanwhile attending the High School in that place for the recitation of his Latin lessons. He then studied law for a year with Nathaniel H. Hubbard, of Winterport; but was diverted from his designs upon the legal profession by the formation of a partnership with his uncle aforesaid, in the purchase of the drug store of Dr. R. F. Kensil, at Oldtown. Young Folsom accordingly removed to that place and conducted the business for six months, when he bought out the interest of his uncle, formed a new partnership with his brother, Franklin W. Folsom, then an Oldtown school-teacher, and started a drug store in another part of the village. At Winterport he had begun the study of medicine with Dr. Morrill, his uncle, who had removed from Dexter to that place, and continued his medical readings with Dr. James Bradbury, of Oldtown, and then with his nephew, Dr. Samuel Bradbury, of the same place. In 1863 he took the spring course of lectures in the Med- ical Department of Bowdoin College, and in the fall of the same year matriculated at the Berkshire Medical College, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he was grad- uated with the degree of M. D., the same season. The next year an addition was made to the firm in the drug business at Oldtown, which had been kept up during his absence, by the admission of his brother, Major M. M. Folsom. The business was now enlarged by the outfit of a wholesale cart with drugs and medicines, for travel- ing operations in Eastern Maine, of which Mr. F. W. Folsom took special charge. In 1877 the doctor with- drew from the firm, by reason of the demands of his large practice, which called for all his time and attention, and to which he has since devoted himself with great assiduity and success. He has become widely renowned for the treatment of certain diseases, as diphtheria, and is sometimes called a hundred miles away from home to deal with cases of this dreadful scourge. During the four years in which he has made a specialty of this prac- tice he has treated an average of nearly two hundred cases per year, and is reputed to have saved at least ninety-five per cent .- a remarkable record, truly, and one well worthy of permanent notice. He has also a very large and widespread general business in medicine and surgery; and some of his operations in the latter depart- ment are locally quite famous.

Dr. Folsom, aside from his professional talents, has also a decided mechanical genius-which, it may be noted, has served him an excellent purpose in dealing with fractures in his surgical operations. Sundry inven- tions and devices have occurred to him from time to time, of which, however, he has thus far patented but one-an "improved holdback," or attachment to single

105

834

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

harness, to which a patent was granted May 3, 1881. This invention consists of a pair of spring metal cups, fitting over the ends of the thills of the vehicle and pro- vided with eyes through which pass straps, secured around the straps supporting the thill holders, or to the side of the saddle on each side of the horse. It is adapted for use on single vehicles of all descriptions without reference to the size of the horse.

The doctor's circular says of its advantages:

In offering this novel style of Holdback to your consideration, I wish to invite attention to a few of the advantages possessed by it over the common breeching:

Ist. It holds the carriage firmly, keeping the tugs straight and pre- venting sagging, holding the thill-holders in their proper position on the shafts, and checking the sawing movement on the thills, which in the old style quickly defaces the leather with which the thills are com- monly covered.

2d. Its Safety .- In case of accident, such for instance as the break- age of the tugs or whiffletree, the cups are instantly drawn off by the forward motion of the horse, freeing him from all attachment to the carriage. If one of the Holbacks becomes detached from any cause, the reamining one will effectually keep the vehicle from the horse's heels until the damage can be remedied. It allows the animal free use of his legs and diminishes the danger of stumbling, while in case of a fall the horse can be detached from the carriage with much greater ease. When used, as it may be, in connection with the ordinary breeching, it serves as an additional safeguard, particularly desirable in the case of heavily laden wagons.

3d. Its Economy .- It saves time in harnessing and unharnessing, as it is readily slipped on to the thills, and is removed by the forward ac- tion of the horse. It saves money, as its first cost is less than one-half that of the common breeching, a mere trifle keeps it in repair, and, as before stated, it saves the wear of the thills and thill-holders.

4th. Not the least of its advantages is the comfort it affords to the horse. In dispensing with the breeching it permits the free use of his legs-a great advantage, particularly when descending steep hills, as all danger of interfering from this cause is avoided-and enables him to hold back the vehicle by means of the large bones and muscles of the shoul- ders. There is no chafing, sweating or wearing off of hair around the breeching or crouper, nor is there the fretting resulting from the swing- ing of the carriage upon hillocky roads. It follows that the animal is enabled to do more work with less exertion, particularly in hot weather and on rough roads. As to this we may add that dispensing with the harness, back of the saddle, gives an appearance of peculiar elegance to a light harness. The absence of the jerking motion of the carriage in- separable from the old form of breeching adds greatly to the comfort of the driver or occupant of the vehicle.

He has also an application for patent pending, for an improved tooth-forceps, which is believed to make an im- portant change and improvement in the methods of ex- traction of teeth.

Dr. Folsom was married to his present wife in Bradley, Penobscot county, July 23, 1874. She was Miss Annie G. Burrill, second daughter of Ralph B. and Melinda C. (Dodge) Burrill, of that town. Mrs. Folsom was born in 1848. Dr. and Mrs. Folsom have three children-Har- old Morrell, born April 23, 1875; Ralph Parker, born September 3, 1876; and Sara Agnes, born August 26, 1880. All are natives of Oldtown, where the Doctor oc- cupies an elegant residence and grounds at the corner of Brunswick and Brown streets, a little above his office on the latter avenue.

MAJOR MELVILLE M. FOLSOM.

Melville Mark Folsom, the well-known druggist and politician, of Oldtown, is the second son of Mark and Sarah Folsom, of Newburg, of whom some notice is com-

prised in the previous sketch. He was born at the old home, April 27, 1836. His early education was received in the public schools of his neighborhood, and as he grew old enough he aided in the labors of the farm until the age of seventeen, when he entered Hampden Acad- emy, and studied several terms there and at the Maine State Seminary at Lewiston, teaching every winter in country schools in order to raise means to defray his ex- penses. About the year 1858 he left the schools as a pupil, but continued to teach in Penobscot and Waldo counties until the war of the Rebellion broke out, when he promptly enlisted in the company of Captain Sawyer, at Dixmont, and was made first lieutenant in the com- pany. This was organized under the State call for ten thousand troops, and was assigned to the Sixth Maine Regiment; but, before it could take the field, orders were received which changed the plans, and obliged its mem- bers to vote whether to retain their organization and await future calls, or disband. This company, as has been seen in our chapter on military history, voted to hold itself to- gether, though its members in time became dispersed, and joined other companies in regiments taking the field. In the early fall of the same year (186r) Lieutenant Fol- som enlisted in Company K, of the Eleventh Maine Regiment, which company was raised for Colonel H. M. Plaisted's command in Newburg and vicinity. Upon the election of officers of the company he was chosen first lieutenant of this also. The regiment rendezvoused at Augusta, moved to Washington late in the season, and was quartered during the winter at Meridian Hill. The subsequent history of this gallant command has been de- tailed in our Military Record. Mr. Folsom was with it continuously until September, 1864, when he was sent back to Maine to take recruits to the front, and, as the time of his regiment had then expired, he did not return to the field. During his long and perilous service he was in no less than twenty-two pitched battles, besides count- less skirmishes and minor engagements, but escaped through all without a wound, or any disease worse than chill-fever, which he contracted in the swamps of the Chickahominy, and from which he has never since been entirely freed. He was often, as first lieutenant, de- tailed to the command of companies, and was commis- sioned, May 14, 1863, as captain, and assigned to duty with Company A, of the Eleventh, with which he re- mained till the close of the service. Most of the time since the war he has served in the State militia. In 1871 he organized the Hersey Light Infantry, a crack company at Oldtown, and commanded it until 1876, when he was elected Major of the First Regiment, First Brigade, First Division of the militia of the State.

When the Gubernatorial troublés came on in the win- ter of 1878-79, Major Folsom was appointed Acting Adjutant-General by Governor Garcelon, on the resigna- tion of General S. D. Leavitt, and after the organization of the Legislature he was elected by that body Adju- tant-General, and served until the troubles were over, when he was succeeded by the present incumbent of that post. When elected Adjutant-General, Major Fol- som resigned his position in the State militia, with which

835

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

he has not since been connected. He is, however, by appointment of Governor Plaisted, a member of the Ex- ecutive's military staff, with the grade of Lieutenant- Colonel.

Major Folsom was a Republican in his politics until the campaign of 1876, when he voted for Mr. Tilden for President, but has since been affiliated with the Green- back party. As a Republican he was elected a Repre- sentative in the State Legislature of 1872, in which he was a member of the Military Committee, and also of the Committee on Leave of Absence and another com- mittee. He was re-elected to the Legislature of 1873, when he was promoted to the chairmanship of the Mili- tary Committee, and also served on other committees. Since the latter term of service he has devoted himself to his private business, taking time, however, upon the or- ganization of the Greenback party in the State in 1878, to serve as a member of the State Committee of that party.

Upon returning from his military service, Major Fol- som settled at Oldtown in the drug business, with his brothers, Franklin W., now Representative from Oldtown in the Legislature, and Dr. A. P. Folsom, the subject of the preceding sketch. In 1868 he and his partners built the fine block of seven stores of which their establish- ment occupies the corner. The year before he and the Doctor unitedly put up the fine and spacious residence in which they live, at the corner of Brunswick and Brown streets.

Major Folsom was brought up in the Free Baptist faith, but is not a member of that church. He is a Master Mason, and has been Marshal of the Star in the East Lodge, at Oldtown, since he came to the place. Beside this he has not cared to involve himself in society obligations.

Major Folsom was married during his military service, May 24, 1863, to Miss Hannah Jane, daughter of Rooke T. and Sarah G. (Gove) Edgerby, of Dixmont. Their offspring number two-Edith Louisa, born October 3, 1865 ; and Arthur Melville, born June 24, 1868.

EBEN WEBSTER.

The first member of the Webster family to settle in Bangor was Andrew Webster, born in Salisbury, Massa- chusetts, who first pitched his tent near the present in- tersection of Main and Water streets in 1771. He moved to Orono about 1795, and built a log cabin near the Stillwater River, opposite the present residence of Elijah Webster, and afterward erected a frame dwelling house on the ground where now lives his granddaughter, Mrs. Martha Treat. He died November 1, 1807; his wife survived him, and died in 1823. During the Revo- lutionary war he was taken prisoner by the British and carried to Bagaduce. His family consisted of six sons and three daughters.

married Lucy Dudley, daughter of Paul Dudley, Esq., of Milford, September 5, 1805 ; she died May 5, 1859, hav- ing raised a family of six daughters and two sons. Colonel Webster was a man of great enterprise and pub- lic spirit, and for more than half a century was one of the most active business men in the county. Webster Brook and Lake were named from him. He spotted and cut the military road from Mattawamkeag to Haynes- ville, through a vast forest for thirty miles. Judge T. H. Allen was accustomed to say that he was by nature the most perfect gentleman he had ever known. In an obituary notice of him published in one of the Bangor papers it was said : "He will long be remembered by the community in which he lived for his enterprise and perseverance as a business man, but longer and better for the rare and generous qualities developed in his social and family relations, and which formed so prominent a part of his character and stamped him one of nature's noblemen."

Eben Webster, son of Colonel Eben Webster, was born in Oldtown, May 21, 1812. In 1823 his parents removed to Orono, where he now lives. His first work from home was in the employ of Daniel White, in driv- ing a horse team at eleven dollars per month. Soon he was hired to take charge of a crew in the woods, and later was allowed an interest in the business, continuing as a partner fourteen years with Daniel and Samuel White. Of his partners, Mr. Webster says, "Two more honest and upright men never lived in this town." Mr. Webster has been engaged in the lumber business about forty-five years. Eben Webster was married in 1839 to Miss Martha Ann Trafton, daughter of General Mark Trafton, of Bangor; she died at Aiken, South Carolina, January 6, 1850. For a second wife he married in 1852 Miss P. S. Crowell, daughter of Mrs. Lucenia Crowell, of Orono.

Mr. Webster served in the State Legislature in 1875-76, and has been a Selectman in his town four years.

PRESIDENT M. C. FERNALD.

Merritt Caldwell Fernald, A. M., Ph. D., President of the State College at Orono, and for many years a promi- nent educator in Maine, is a native of the State and county, born in South Levant, May 26, 1838. He was the fourth son of a family which consisted of four boys and one daughter, the oldest of whom died in infancy. His parents were Robert and Roxana (Buswell) Fernald, who had removed from London, New Hampshire, to Penobscot county, some years before. The father's is an old and very extensive family in New Hampshire, as well as Maine. The mother was a native of Wayne, in this State, but undoubtedly shared the blood of the Bus- wells (or Buzzells) of earliest Bangor. She is still living. The father died in 1843 upon his farm in Levant, where he had also a mill property. Young Merritt rendered some aid in the operations of the mill, but most of his physical labors were upon the home farm. He attended

Colonel Eben Webster, a son of Andrew Webster, was born in Bangor, October 3, 1780, previous to the re- moval of the family to Orono. When a young man he | the schools of the town, and the perhaps more efficient

836

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

school of the fireside, until the age of ten, when he was sent to the Academy at East Corinth. Very early he had manifested a decided taste for mathematics, "cipher- ing" in long division and to reduction during his first winter in school, when he was but five years old. At the academy he rapidly developed this bent of his mind. In the primary schools he had mastered two or three elementary algebras, and in his second term at Corinth, in the fall of 1848, worked through the higher algebra. From time to time during the next six years he was a pupil here, but at sixteen went to the Seminary at Bucksport, where he began in Greek, having already ad- vanced considerably in the rudiments of Latin. His preparation for college was completed at Bucksport, and with a small party of his fellow-students under Professor Rich, of the Theological Seminary at Bangor, but now of the Bates Theological Seminary; and then under Pro- fessor Jona E. Adams, of the Bangor institution. In 1867 he matriculated at Bowdoin College, and went through his undergraduate course uninterruptedly, except by his engagement, every fall, as teacher of a High School which he had established at his native place. This did not, however, interfere with the regular progress of his studies, or his graduation as A. B. with his class in 1861, he taking, in his thirty-first year, a "junior part" and at commencement "En- glish oration" as honors. He had already taught a country school near Bucksport, when but seven- teen years old, and has been a teacher more or less in every year since-now more than twenty-six years. His successive engagements have been as follow: In his High School at Levant, during the autumns of 1856-62, inclusive, and during the spring of the latter year, follow- ing his graduation. At other seasons of some of these years he accepted engagements in several of the country districts of Levant, and once in Carmel. He taught the village school at Searsport in the winter of 1862-63. He then entered upon academic work as an instructor, always, however, taking the position of Principal. His first engagement was in Gould's Academy, at Bethel, where he remained from March to November, 1863. He spent the winter of that year as a student in mineralogy and analytical chemistry in the lab- oratory of Harvard College, under the celebrated Professor Josiah P. Cooke, author of "The New Chem- istry" and other famous writings. He served as assist- ant to Professor Cooke, and brought away a cordial tes- timonial from him to his efficiency and ability as a teacher of chemistry and mineralogy. After a visit in the field to his brother George, then a captain in the First Maine Regiment of Heavy Artillery, and now a member of the State Senate, Professor Fernald took an- other engagement in the Bethel Academy, where he taught during the spring term of 1864. In the fall of that year, and during the winter, he was again at Cam-' bridge, Massachusetts, immersed in scientific studies, and assisting Professor Cooke, as in the previous winter, in the management of the laboratory. In the following March he accepted an appointment to the charge of the academy at Houlton, but after the expiration of the

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 208

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co. Number of Pages: 1100

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100