History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 210

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 210

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).

In 1803 he was made corporal, and in 1805 elected lieutenant. In 1811 he was commissioned adjutant of his regiment, having acted in that capacity for three years previously. In June, 1813, on his way from Port- land to Berwick, he breakfasted at Cleave's tavern, in Saco, which was at that time the recruiting rendezvous of the Thirty-third United States Regiment, and while wait- ing he asked an officer present if he would favor him with a roster of the regiment, as he wished to see if any of his acquaintance had received appointment. After looking over one which was handed him, he returned it, thanked the officer, and went in to breakfast. Before he had commenced eating, however, the officer, who proved to be Colonel Isaac Lane, came in and said: "One of my captains talks of resigning; if he should do so, I would like to have you take charge of his company." Hodsdon expressed his surprise that such an offer should be made to an entire stranger, but told him he would be pleased with such an appointment, and believed he could satisfy the Colonel as to his qualifications for such an of- fice. Colonel Lane replied: "I am satisfied now, sir." Three days afterward he received his appointment as captain in the Thirty-third Regiment United States In- fantry, and was immediately ordered on the recruiting service at Bangor and vicinity.

His success as a recruiting officer was such that he was retained at that duty until the November following, when he was ordered to take command of the garrison at Fort Scammel, where he remained until the next January.

He was then ordered by General Thomas H. Cushing to proceed with his company to Stewartstown, New Hamp- shire, to prevent any intercourse with the enemy on the Canada side. Here they remained from January 10 to August 8, 1814, when Captain Hodsdon received an or- der from General Cushing stating that, as he (Hodsdon) had accomplished the object for which he had been sent, which every officer previously sent had failed to do, he was therefore ordered to proceed with his company to the regimental rendezvous at Saco, in the District of Maine.

Soon after their arrival at Saco, Captain Hodsdon was again ordered on the recruiting service until January, 1815, when he was ordered to take command of Fort Preble, where he remained until the ratification of the

841

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

treaty of peace with England, when he was ordered to proceed with his company to Saco, and there discharged them, which he did March 30, 1815, and in April follow- ing he was ordered to Springfield, Massachusetts, with other officers, to wait until the army was disbanded, and was finally discharged June 15, 1815.

Although by the laws of Massachusetts he was now exempt from duty in the militia, yet his interest in it was such that, having been unanimously elected, he accepted the office of Major in the same regiment of which he had previously been Adjutant, and received his commission July 18, 1815. July 1, 1816 he was made Lieutenant- Colonel, and June 17, 1817, was elected Colonel of the same regiment. He was elected Major-General of the Third Division, Maine Militia, by the Legislature of Maine, February 15, 1827, having served as Brigadier- General of the same division a large part of the time since the separation of Maine from Massachusetts in 1820. This office he retained with great credit until February 15, 1841, when he resigned and was appointed Adjutant-General of the State of Maine.

In July, 1837, Governor Dunlap concluded to send a military force into New Brunswick and take Mr. Greely from Frederickton Jail unless the British minister at Washington caused him to be discharged, and General Hodsdon was appointed to take command and ordered to visit the Province and ascertain what would be neces- sary to carry out the expedition.

General Hodsdon was haying on his farm in Corinth when he received this order, but he promptly attended to it, and on his return from this visit the British minis- ter ordered the discharge of Mr. Greely, which ended the trouble.

In the winter of 1839 it was believed that British sub- jects were plundering timber on the lands claimed by the State of Maine in Aroostook county, backed up by a British military force, and Governor Fairfield commanded General Hodsdon to detach one thousand troops from his division and march to Aroostook. The order was dated February 16, 1839, and in four days the whole force was on the march. Arriving at Fort Fairfield Gen- eral Hodsdon ascertained that no British force existed in that section, and concluded that under the circum- stances his duty was "so to regulate and govern the troops while they were in this more than useless expedi- tion as would best secure their health, comfort, and character, and return them to private life with no dis- grace upon themselves or the State." After becoming satisfied that the whole move would prove futile the Gov- ernor ordered their return, and they were discharged April 25th following.

In 1850 General Hodsdon went to Washington and presented the claims of the State upon the Government of the United States for the expenses of this expedition, and Maine received $27,000, which had hitherto re- mained uncollected.

In 1861, when Maine was called upon for troops, Gen- eral Hodsdon, although eighty years of age, was consid- ered the best authority in the State on many military questions, and was employed from April to June of that

year in preparing the proper blanks and superintend- ing printing of the various blank forms to be used by troops in actual service. His instructions to his son, General John L. Hodsdon, Adjutant-General of Maine at that time, had much to do in winning the praises be- stowed on the Adjutant-General's Reports of Maine dur- ing the War of the Rebellion, which were considered at Washington as "models of their kind."

General Hodsdon never considered the reputation of a military officer to depend so much upon his rank as upon his knowledge of his duty and the manner of performing it. He was wont to say: "I much prefer to merit the expression, 'that corporal would make a good General,' than 'that General does not know the duty of a corporal.'"

He was never a politician, although he acted with the Democratic party generally until about 1840, in which po- litical revolution he joined the Whigs, and remained with them till they were broken up, when his sympathies went with the Douglas, or, as they were afterwards called, the "War Democrats."

Isaac Hodsdon was born in Berwick, York county, in the District of Maine, December 18, 1781, and was the ninth in a family of twelve children, seven sons and five daughters, of whom two sons and two daughters died in childhood and one son and daughter died at the age of sixteen and seventeen respectively. The other six all lived to become heads of families. His father, Moses, was born July 26, 1740, and died December 10, 1810. His grandfather, Elder Moses, was born April 7, 1712, and died February 4, 1782.

His mother was Dorcas, daughter of Elder Ebenezer Lord, of Berwick, born September 15, 1746, died Janu- ary 9, 1838. She was an eminently pious lady, and her long life was full of good works. About the year 1650 four brothers by the name of Hodgdon came from Eng- land and settled on "Back River," Dover, New Hamp- shire, where Isaac's grandfather was born and lived till he married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Thompson, of Ber- wick, and settled on what has since been known as the Hodsdon homestead, in Berwick. About one hundred and fifty years ago this branch of the original family, prefer- ring the present orthography of the name, adopted it.

The educational advantages in Isaac's boyhood were few and of inferior quality. From five to eight years of age he attended a private school in summer taught by a poor widow, whom the neighbors assisted in this way, but who proved to be a very inefficient teacher, and it took nearly all the winter terms, which were taught by his old- est brother, Moses, to unlearn what he had erroneously learned during the summer.

In a memorandum of his school days, he says:

It was my misfortune to be left-handed, and consequently my brother set me to writing at an earlier age than usual that he might compel me to use the pen in my right hand while he had charge of the school. Not realizing the importance of the change, and believing it no fault of mine that my right hand grew on my left side, Į was wil- fully obstinate and disobedient, and it seemed the more grevious to me because no other scholar was similarly afflicted.

When he could no longer endure my obstinacy he so severely ap- plied his walnut ferule (the usual remedy for refractory urchins at that time) to my left hand that there was little danger of my writing or wronging much with that hand for several days. As soon as he left

106

842

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

the house at noon, I raked open the bed of coals in the large open fire- place, and in presence of the whole school placed his ferule beneath them, where it become ashes long before his return. His next experi- ment was with a fagot of apple-tree suckers, used singly, but with such effect as to start the eye-pumps of the other scholars; but as soon as the smart of the application abated and he had left the house my writ- ing-book followed the walnut ferule. However, a second application of the same growth of the apple tree proved more effectual, and I agreed to spread the ink with my right hand if allowed to dip the pen with my left, which was agreed to.

From the age of eight to fifteen his help being needed on the farm he attended winter school only. The only text-books used during that time in the schools he at- tended were the Bible, Psaltery, Dillworth's Spelling Book, Catechism of Westminster Divines, and Arithme- tic. In June, 1796, at his earnest request, his father ap- prenticed him to David Nichols, a blacksmith, who be- longed to the Society of Quakers. Nichols agreed to give him the advantage of the winter schools, but when school would commence he would be too busy to 'spare him, and whenever he made any complaint, the Quaker would say: "Isaac, thee has already learning enough for any business thee may have to do." In after life his lack of education was a great source of regret, and was considered by him "the most unfortunate of all his mis- fortunes." While serving his apprenticeship his evenings and spare hours were all employed in studying the "Tactics," devoting a small portion only to mathematics, and that mostly to land surveying. After completing his apprenticeship four years, he worked as journeyman for Nichols for a short time, and had made arrangements to go into business in Salem, Massachusetts, with Thomas Nichols, his master's uncle, then an old man who had made him some good offers, but Isaac's brother Moses, who had previously settled at Levant, now Kenduskeag, induced him to go there instead, March 5, 1803. Janu- ary 24, 1805, he was married to Polly, daughter of Timothy and Amy Wentworth, at her father's house in Berwick, by Rev. Joseph Hillier. His wife was seventh in a family of thirteen children, and was born November 14, 1787. They moved to Levant, where they lived till March, 1809, when, becoming involved by being bondsman for irresponsible parties, he gave up business there and moved to Corinth. Here he worked at his trade and read law, teaching school during the winters, till he entered the army in 1815. On his return he re- sumed the study of law, and in April, 1816, was ap- pointed Postmaster at Corinth. He was chosen Town Clerk when the town was incorporated in 1812, and held that office till 1818, except while in the army. He was also Selectman, Assessor, etc., for the years 1816, 1817, and 1818. July 3, 1818, he was appointed Justice of the Peace, and July 3, 1820, commissioned to qualify civil officers; also appointed Deputy Marshal to take the census of 1820, and about the same time he received the appointment of Justice of the Court of Sessions for Pe- nobscot county. He was appointed Clerk of the Judicial Courts of the county, March 1821, and also a Justice of the Peace and Quorum. At this time he moved to Bangor, where he resided until 1839. He held the Clerk's office sixteen years, and was Justice of the Peace and Quorum till his death.

In 1823 he was commissioned to adjust and settle claims of Penobscot county. While residing in Bangor he purchased the farm in Corinna now the homestead of J. B. Wheeler, Esq., to which he moved in July, 1839, where he lived until he moved to Exeter in March, 1851.

In 1840 he was chosen one of the electors at large for President and Vice-President of the United States, and in 1850 was again appointed Deputy Marshal to take the census. He resided in Exeter until the death of his wife, April 17, 1859, after which he made his home with his son John L., in Bangor, a part of the time, but the last of his life with his nephew Charles Hodsdon, son of his younger brother Nathan, on the old place where he first settled in Corinth, where he died of paralysis May 24, 1864, aged eighty-two years five months and six days, and lies buried by the side of his wife in the cemetery near by.

Although General Hodsdon and wife were never blessed with children of their own, they brought up quite a family. General John L. Hodsdon of Bangor, was their adopted son, and Sabrina, now wife of Joseph Gil- man, Esq., of Dixmont, was an adopted daughter. They also adopted two daughters of Mrs. Perkins, of Wolf- borough, New Hampshire, a sister of General Hodsdon. One of these died at the age of eighteen, the other was the first wife of Hon. Gorham L. Boynton, of Bangor. This was also the home of Frank, his brother Nathan's son, until his death at the age of fourteen, and after Nathan's death, in 1848, at various times his was the home of others of the same family.

General Hodsdon was a man of noble physique, and it is said by those who were acquainted with both that he very much resembled General Winfield Scott in military bearing and general appearance.

He was reared a Congregationalist but never united with any church. He was a believer in and a great student of the Bible, and has left many pages of manu- script written on various texts that were particularly im- pressive to him.

Although his income during the most of his life was ample, yet his generous heart would not allow him to hoard, and consequently he left nothing for his heirs to quarrel over.

He held more offices, civil and military, perhaps, than any other man in our county, and its history would not be complete were this tribute to his memory and services omitted. He was a kind friend, an obliging neighbor, and many destitute ones and especially the children of his brother Nathan can say, "Truly he was a father to the fatherless."

JONATHAN EDDY.

Among the prominent business men of Penobscot county, in the middle of the century, was Jonathan Eddy, born in Eddington, Maine, August 1, 1811. He was the son of Ware and Nancy (Clapp) Eddy, and was the oldest of thirteen children born to his father, who was twice married.

Ware, son of Ibrook Eddy, was born in Mansfield,

843

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Massachusetts, May 3, 1784, and removed with his father to Eddington, where he died November 20, 1852. Ibrook was the son of Jonathan Eddy, of Revolutionary fame. He was with his father in Nova Scotia, and was a refugee from that Province, pending the war of the Revolution. He received a grant of land in Eddington, in which place he settled in about 1785.

Jonathan, father of Ibrook, is known in history, and was a prominent actor in early scenes of the Revolution- ary war in Cumberland, Nova Scotia, and in Eastern Maine, and was a person of some note in early times in Bangor and the region adjoining, as will be seen in the annals of this volume, in Colonel Porter's memoirs of him, and in Williamson's History of Maine. He was the son of Eleazer, of Mansfield, who was the son of John, of Taun- ton, who was the son of Samuel (son of William Eddy, A. M., Vicar of Cranbrook, County Kent, St. Dunstan's church, England, from 1589 to 1616), who came to this country in the ship Handmaid, landing at Plymouth in October, 1630.

The subject of this sketch seems to have inherited the title of Colonel from his Revolutionary ancestor. He was a man of fine physique, compactly built, and of great physical strength. It was natural to call him by his an- cestor's title, and when once it had been applied it was treated as genuine by his acquaintances.

His early advantages of education were such as the common country schools of half a century ago afforded- six to eight weeks' instruction in reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic, in the winter. His acquirements were not great, but sufficient to stimulate the desire to aid the ed- ucational projects of the age when in his power. This feeling he had in common with those sterling men who were associated with him in business during the greater part of his business life, Newell Avery, Simon J. Murphy, Edwin and Darius Eddy, of the former of whom it was said, by one who knew him well, "he was an earnest and munificent friend of schools, churches, and other institu- tions which tend to the enlightenment and moral eleva- tion of the people. I have heard him talk by the hour of the importance of education. Though I regarded him as one of the best educated men I ever knew, he was continually lamenting his early privation of books and schools."

At the age of twenty-three years Colonel Eddy was running rafts down the river from Oldtown to Bangor. Though a toilsome yet it was not an elevating kind of business, and he thought to improve upon it by going into trade. Therefore, in about 1834, he went into co- partnership in the mercantile business with Samuel Knapp, in Eddington. They were not successful; they failed in about two years, and upon Eddy devolved the task of settling with the creditors, which he did by paying the principal from his own pocket.

The next three or four years he was a member of the lumbering firm of Turner, Levensaler & Eddy, and was fairly successful. They cut the first logs ever cut on Grand Lake. When his connection with this firm was dissolved he formed a business connection with his cousin, Edwin Eddy, a connection which continued dur-

ing his life. In a few years after, there became con- nected with them, his brother Darius, Newell Avery, Sewall Avery, and Simon J. Murphy, and these gentle- men were continuously his partners, with one exception for a short time, until his decease, under the name of Eddy, Murphy & Co. The Averys and Edwin Eddy formed another connection with him by intermarrying with his sisters. Newell Avery had driven an ox team by the month upon the Penobscot, and Colonel Eddy, discovering in him rare abilities, he and Edwin connected him with their firm in 1840-41. The other members came in subsequently.

The business of the firm became rapidly extended, and it formed various collateral connections, for a longer or shorter time, with John Welch, Joseph Heald, A. L. Stebbins, Charles E. Dole, Mr. Crepin, of Chicago, Amos Bailey, Mark Bailey, and many others.

After 1850 it was concluded by the firm to extend its operations into the State of Michigan. They purchased vast tracts of lands in the Lower Michigan Peninsula, having previously had thorough explorations made, and the streams traced, and in 1853 Mr. Newell Avery settled with his family at Port Huron. He died in 1877, and in Rev. Zachary Eddy's eulogy, pronounced over him, is this reference to the work accomplished by the firm after his settlement:

Speedily the forests ring with the stroke of the axe, and not long af- terwards with the roar of water-wheels and the buzz of saws. Great rafts begin to drift down the streams on the spring floods. A hardy population flows into the opening forests; log huts here and there ap- pear, and little cultivated clearings. Villages and cities spring up as by magic. Church spires and the domes of court-houses glitter amidst the evergreen foliage. A vast productive industry is established by which many thousands are directly supported, and the whole State in- directly enriched.

The great enterprise is managed with such consummate prudence that the prosperity is almost uninterrupted. Though the lumber trade is proverbially fluctuating and hazardous, this particular firm go on from strength to strength; not a note of paper ever going to protest, not a suspicion of soundness ever whispered by the envious.

This enterprise, started by the subject of this sketch, of which he was the head, and with which one of his sons is still connected, up to the close of the year 1881, had got into marketable condition, by a rough estimate, sixteen hundred million feet of timber and lumber, besides im- mense quantities of "short" or small lumber, such as usually comes out of such operations.

Colonel Eddy married Caroline, daughter of Amos and Sally (Ballard) Bailey, of Milford, Maine, on March 5, 1839. Mr. Bailey was the proprietor of a hotel at the locality called Sunkhaze, which was much resorted to, and a noted stopping place of supply-teams before the advent of the railroad.

Mrs. Eddy was born July 9, 1819. Her family, at her husband's decease, consisted of four sons and two daugh- ters, one daughter having died in February, 1862. Two daughters are married and settled in Boston. Two sons are in active business in Michigan. J. Frank, the sec- ond, went West a year or two after his father died, and is now extensively engaged in the lumber and other business in Bay City. The other two sons are in Bangor.

While in Bangor Colonel Eddy sat under the preach- ing of Rev. Amory Battles, whom he liked, and with

844

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

whom he sympathized in his religious (Universalist) views; and he contributed to the erection of the present church structure of that denomination.

In politics he was earnestly Republican, but he was never an active politician, and neither sought nor cared for office. He was interested for the welfare of his coun- ty and State, and for the prosperity of the Penobscot Valley, in which the hard and unremitting labor of his life had been performed.

Soon after his marriage he became a resident of East Great Works (Bradley), where he continued until 1847, when he removed to Bangor, which city he made his

home until his decease, which occurred August 24, 1865. He died suddenly on State street as he was walking to his office after tea. He had been singularly free from disease all his life until a few days before, when he took cold from wetting his feet when upon logs on the boom above Oldtown. The illness was apparently slight and he was supposed to be recovering.

Colonel Eddy posssessed a broad mind, was able as an organizer, a man of great enterprise, of strict integrity, of close and careful business habits, of great force and perseverance, a good husband, father, friend, neighbor, and citizen.

APPENDIX.

GENERAL HISTORY.

[To be read in connection with Chapter VII.]

The following is the enactment of the General Court of Massachusetts erecting the County of Penobscot:

An Act for dividing the County of Hancock, and establishing a new County by the name of Penobscot :

[EXTRACT.]

Be it Enacted, etc., That all the territory in the County of Hancock which lies north of the Waldo Patent, on the west side of Penobscot River, and north and west of the following lines on the east side of said river, beginning at said river, at the south line of Orrington, thence running easterly on the southerly lines of Orrington, Brewer, and the Gore east of Brewer [ Jarvis's Gore, now Clifton], to the west line of the Bingham Purchase; thence northerly by said Bingham Purchase to the northwest corner thereof; thence easterly on the north line of said Bingham Purchase, to the County of Washington- be and hereby is constituted a new county, by the name of Penobscot; whereof Bangor shall be the shire-town until otherwise ordered by the General Court; and the inhabitants of said County of Penobscot shall have and possess, use and enjoy all the powers, rights, and immunities, which by the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth, any other inhabitants are entitled to.

Passed February 15, 1816.

The following is the enactment of the Legislature of Maine, making a now important addition to the county: An Act to annex the Town of Corinna to the County of Penobscot.

Be it Enacted, etc., That the Town of Corinna, in the County of Somerset, be and the same hereby is set off from said County of Som- erset, and annexed to, and made part of, the County of Penobscot. Passed February 10, 1833.

The act establishing the County of Piscataquis, passed March 23, 1838, prescribed that "all that portion of ter- ritory lying . . north of the north lines of the towns of Dexter, Garland, Charleston, Bradford, and south line of Kilmarnock, in the county of Penobscot, and bounded east by the east lines of Milton, Kilmarnock, and townships numbered 4, in the Eighth and Ninth ranges [etc., etc. ], be and the same is hereby constituted and made a county by the name of Piscataquis."

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 210

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