History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 730

USA > Maine > York County > History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 43

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Hannah married a Mr. Brown. Elizabeth married Capt. Ichabod Goodwin, of South Berwick ; he was the father of Maj .- Gen. Ichabod Goodwin, a notice of whom may be found in the South Berwick history. Mary, the captured daughter in Canada, married a French gentleman at Que- bec, and never returned, and her portion, known as the Canada lots, was divided among the other heirs in 1802, though her heirs are said to have made some inquiry after her portion through Deacon Dominicus Goodwin, of South Berwick. Sarah married Joseph Hanson, of Dover.

Samuel Scamman, son of the first Humphrey, came from Kittery, where he married Margery Deering, about 1712. He had three sons,-Samuel, John, and Ebenezer. He lived about half a mile above the lower ferry. After the death of his wife, in 1740, he lived with his son Samuel, who built a house with a garrison about that time where Mr. Stephen Sawyer lived afterwards. He and his son, Sam- uel, Jr., were selectmen several years, as was also the son's son, Deacon Samuel. The other two sons lived at the old homestead, one of whom-John-was selectman several years.

Not many years after the division of the Humphrey Scamman estate, a part of the property at the lower ferry was bought by Deacon Amos Chase, who built a house there and kept the ferry several years. IIe married Sarah, the daughter of Samuel Cole. About 1741 he attempted a settlement in Buxton, on a right belonging to his father, but, on account of the war of 1744, returned to Newbury, from which he came here again and settled at the ferry in 1753. In 1763 he removed to the estate two miles above, where he spent the remainder of his useful life, and left a monument to his good taste and sense in the magnificent elms that for years have stood where he brought and planted them with his own hands.

Robert Patterson removed his family here in 1729, and settled at Rendezvous Point, where he purchased a farm of the Gibbins estate. He and his descendants were noted for their longevity. The name is still quite numerous in the town. He took an active part in town affairs, and was several years one of the selectmen.

Col. Tristram Jordan, son of Capt. Samuel, was born in 1731. He married Hannah, daughter of Capt. Ichabod Goodwin, of South Berwick, in 1749, took the Pepperell house, and engaged in trade. He was captain of the first company of foot raised on the east side of the river, and such was his success in business that in 1755 his tax was highest of any one on that side. He represented the county in the Massachusetts Senate in 1787. He removed to his

HORACE WOODMAN

(John, Shubael,5 Nathan,4 Benjamin, ' Joshua,2 Edward!), a descendant in the seventh generation from Edward Woud- man, the emigrant, was born in the town of Hollis, York Co., Me., Nov. 19, 1829, Edward, with his wife, Joanna, and Archelaus Woodman, came to America in the year 1635 in the ship "James," of London, England, and settled in New- bury, Mass., where they resided outil their death. Edward Woodman was a mao of influence, decision, and energy, and opposed with great zeal the attempt made by the Rev. Thomas Parker to change the mode of church government from Congregationalism tu something like Presbyterianism. He was a deputy to the General Court in 1636, '37, '39, and '43. The three great-grandsons of Edward -Joseph, Joshna, and Nathan Woodman -settled in Buxton, from Newbury, about 1756, from whom sprang the Woodmans of York County.

Shubael, grandfather of our subject, owned a farm on the west bank of Saco River, in Hollis, in possession of his son Nathan in 1879, He was born Ang. 31, 1772, and died Feb. 14, 1830. Of his four sons and two daughters, John, eldest son and father of Horace Woodman, born in Hollis, Dec. 13, 1800, married Ann Hooper, Oct. 28, 1825. She was born in Biddeford July 18, 1802, and resides in Saco. Ile died Oct. 3, 1835. Of their five children, Horace, the only son, resided on the farmi at home until he was fourteen years of age, when he came to Saco, and for three years was a clerk in a grocery-store. Ile became an apprentice in the Saco Water- Power Machine Shops for two years, and was in Lowell, Mass., for six years, during which time his seemingly natural talent as & machinist was developed, and his skill as a workman acknowledged, so that his services were sought in the construc- tion of the machinery of the Waltham Watch Manufacturing Company, of Bos- ton. His business led him to study in- vention. In 1850 he invented a "Self-

Stripping Cotton Card," which, for the following three years, he Dusuccessfully attenipted to introduce in the manufac- turing establishments at Lowel; but, confident of its final success, he came to Saco in 1854, where heobtained permission to use it, which proved its value, and hs obtained ite patent the same year, in August. For an improvement on this be obtained a patent in July, 1865, and Dec. 1, 1857, and the same was extended for seven years, July, 1870. lle defended thie pateot in the United States Courts, and was successful at the end of twelve years by a decree of the Court in his favor against forty-six manufacturing corpora- tions of New England, whom he sued for infringement upoo his patent. The valne of the patent to manufacturers was great ; and during the life of the patent they had realized a profit of many million dollars.

In 1858 be invented the " Woodman Power and Hand Drill," which was pat- ented the same year, and extension of patent granted for seven years from 1872. In 1860 he established machine-shops in Saco, where, until 1868, he manufactured extensively shafting, saw-mill machinery, and mowing machines.

He invented and, in 1866, obtained a patent for a "Shingle Machine," which is extensively used in the Western States. In 1877-78 he obtained a patent in Eng- land, France, Germany, Canada, and the United States for a "Positive Motion Cotton-Loom," and in 1873 he obtained a patent for a " Fancy Knitting Machine."

Mr. Woodman has been president of the Saco and Biddeford Gaslight Company since 1874, and in the fall of 1879 por- chased the stock of the Saco Aqnednet Company, organized in 1823, and has laid an iron pipe of larger diameter than the lead one of the company, to furnish the city of Saco with water.

He married, May 3, 1851, Lucy E. Dun- ham, by whom he had two sons, Joho and Alton. His wife died Sept. 5, 1858. His present wife is Henrietta E., daughter of Selencns Adams, of Biddeford, whom he married Dec. 1, 1875.

P.EGOIST. Dell

RESIDENCE OF HORACE WOODMAN, SACO, MAINE,

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estate at Deep Brook about the close of the Revolutionary war, where he died in 1821, aged ninety. No one took so active and continued a part in town affairs as Col. Jordan. His public services, as per record, began as selectman in 1754, before the separation of the towns, and his name is found as a member of the board twenty-one years, while he was town clerk from 1762 to 1788. While a young man, he engaged in several short voyages. On one of his trips he took out with him the frame of the first church erected in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the timber of which he cut at Deep Brook. Most of the duties of justice of the peace devolved upon him for a number of years. His private enterprise and close attention to business made him an em- inently useful man to the community, and one to whose hands important trusts could be confided. He was thrice married. By his first wife he had two sons and seven daughters. Of these, Elizabeth married William Vaughan, of Scarborough ; Sarah, Nathaniel Seamman ; Hannah, Capt. Solomon Coit, and after his death, James Perkins, of Kennebunkport ; Olive, Capt. Seth Storer; Mary, Daniel Granger. Capts. Coit and Storer were noted shipmasters of the period. Two sons and one daughter were left by his last marriage.

Col. Thomas Cutts was descended from an honorable and highly-respectable family of Kittery, where his youth was spent, where he served a clerkship in the counting-house of Pepperell, and where he made his first business venture. Proving unsuccessful in it, with a small capital of $100, for which he was indebted to his father, he removed to Saco about 1758, and began trading in a room in Dr. White's house, economizing his means by cooking his own food. Having an uncommon aptitude for business, he soon enlarged his capital, and embarked in lucrative and extensive transactions. Possessed of much foresight, he early saw the advantages of Indian or Factory Island as a place of business, and took measures to make it the seat of his trade. In 1759 he bought a fourth of Weare's origi- nal share of the island for about $90, and soon after built a small house with conveniences for a store on the southwest end of it, to which he removed, and in which he continued to reside for about twenty years. He married, Aug. 24, 1762, Elizabeth, daughter of Dominiens Scamman, who, since the early death of her parents, had resided with her maternal grandmother, Madam Ladd. Eight children were born to them, all in the small house he first built. The island soon became the connecting way between the two settlements at the Falls. Besides the business of his store, which soon exceeded that of others in the vicinity, he went into ship-building and navigation, and up to the breaking out of the Revolution had a very profitable and extensive timber trade with the West Indies. In 1774 he bought Pepperell's half of the island for about $1100. Before that he had secured Sellea's one-sixteenth, and the same of MeIntire, of York, and at different times he ob- tained small parts from the Berrys or their assigns, and the Scamman heirs. In 1782 he removed to an elegant house on the upper part of the island, where he passed the re- mainder of his days, which ended Jan. 10, 1821. His real estate was appraised at nearly $100,000.

Col. Wm. Moody was the son of Wm. P. Moody, who 20

came to this town from Kittery, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Seamman, in 1763. He was born in 1770, and had ouly common advantages for an education. His father, as his grandfather Edmund before him, was a joiner, and he carly taught his son the use of tools. The first meeting-house in town was erceted by his grandfather. ITis father died when he was but seventeen years of age, and he was thus early thrown upon his own resources. From 1804 to 1812 he represented the town in the Legis- lature of Massachusetts, and from 1812 to 1820 he repre- sented the county in the Senate, and became an active and useful member of that body. In the convention to form the constitution of Maine he was a delegate, and often took part in the debates, gaining the attention of that body by the case and clearness with which he expressed his views. He was elected a member of the first Senate of Maine, and pre- sided over its discussions after the resignation of Gen. Chandler. He was also, in 1820, appointed sheriff of the county. He died suddenly, March 15, 1822, universally lamented, while in the midst of an eminently useful life.

Major Ebenezer Ayer was with Arnold in the Canada expedition through the Kennebec wilderness, in which he displayed much energy and courage. It is related of him that he sawed off the pickets of an English fort with his own hands, to enable the party to scale the walls. He af- terwards served in the engineer department, with rank of major.

The Milliken family are descended, on the mother's side, from Elizabeth, one of the five daughters of John Alger, son of Lieut. Andrew Alger, an inhabitant of that part of the town now in Scarborough, in 1653, as then he received a grant in the division of town lands. During King Philip's war, Lieut. Alger and two others were attacked by the In- dians in Scarborough, but after a few shots were exchanged the Indians retired ; he was wounded, however, and died soon after of wounds received in the attack.

INDIAN WARS.

The first Indian trouble commenced in 1675. During this year, Major Phillips' garrison was attacked and success- fully defended. About the same time the house of John Bonython, on the east side of the river, was burned, but the family had escaped. Soon after the settlers retired to near the mouth of the river, and all the mills and houses above were destroyed by the Indians. The same year Capt. Win- coln, of South Berwick, came with a small company to aid his eastern neighbors. In a skirmish with the Indians he lost several of his men. Afterwards, marching near the sea- coast, supposed to be in this town, he was attacked by a large party of Indians. His little band consisted of only eleven men ; but sheltering themselves behind rocks, they fought so effectually that several of the savages were killed and the rest driven off. Nine of the inhabitants, hearing the firing, went to their relief, but falling into an ambuscade, were all eut off, with two others that lived near.

In 1676 the house of Thomas Rogers, near Goosefair, was burned. In 1688, the Indians having thrown out alarming threats, Benjamin Blackman, justice of the peace of Saco, ordered Capt. John Sargent to seize sixteen or twenty who had been active in the recent war, with the hope

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of bringing the rest to a renewal of peace. The prisoners were taken to Falmouth, and thence to Boston, but without avail. In April, 1689, the savages began to renew hostil- ities at the Falls on Sunday, but it appears no lives were lost. Humphrey Seamman and family were captured about this time. He and his son were at work on a piece of marsh near the lower ferry. The youngest son, Samuel, was sent by his mother to take a mug of beer to his father and brother at the marsh. He had not gone far when he saw Indians, and ran back to inform his mother. They soon came into the house and asked for her husband ; but she re- fused to tell them where he was till they threatened to take her off alone, when, upon their promise to take them with- out harm together, she told them, and they effected their capture at the marsh. A boy by the name of Robinson, who had been sent for the team, discovered the Indians in time to make his eseape. Mounting a horse, with his gar- ters for a bridle, he rode up to Gray's Point, swam him across to Cow Island, and from there swam across to the fort. The alarm was immediately given, and the soldiers at work some distance from the fort hastened in. The women, in the mean time, put on men's clothes, and showed themselves about the fort, and thus deceived the savages till the men came in. The Indians drew off with several other prisoners beside the Scamman family. Peace took place soon after, and the prisoners returned in about a year. On his return, Mr. Scamman found his home as left, even the mug of beer standing on the dresser where placed by Samuel. This mug is still an heirloom in the family, and must be at least two hundred years old.

For ten years subsequent to 1702, Indian hostilities pre- vailed; but, in 1713, the inhabitants began to return to their homes from places whither they had fled for safety, and the settlement prospered until 1723, when a three- years' Indian war followed. In view of the threatened hostilities, the fort and garrisons were supplied with men, provisions, and ammunition. Capt. Ward then had command of Fort Mary. Richard Stimpson's garrison was supplied with five men; Mr. Hill's, three; Stackpole's, four; Tarbox's, four; Dyer's, three; Captain Sharpe's, three; and four men were posted at John Brown's garrison at Saco Falls. Hill's garrison was on Ferry Lane ; Stack- pole's, where Judge Jordan afterwards built, which in turn came to be occupied by his son, Ralph Tristram Jordan, Esq .; Dyer and Tarbox's were near the Pool; Capt. Sharpe's, on Rendezvous Point, near Haley's Gut. In a further dis- position of forces the same year a sergeant and fifteen men were posted at Saco Falls. Six on the east side, in the garrison probably of John Brown, on the spot occupied by Jonathan King's store-and the remainder on the west side. Mr. John Stackpole, father of the deacon, was made prisoner on the beach leading to the Neck. Seeing the Indians at a distance, he ran into the Pool and attempted to wade across ; but one of the party, said to be Wahwaa, who knew him well, pursued, crying out, " Boon quarter, John ! boon quarter !" meaning his life should be spared. Unable to escape, he yielded, and was taken to Canada, from which he returned after an absence of nineteen months. During the war, Nathaniel Tarbox and Thomas Haley were killed at Winter Harbor. It was during the first summer

of this war that Mary, a daughter of Capt. Humphrey Scamman, about eight or nine years old, was taken by the Indians while visiting a relative at Scarborough. She was carried to Canada, and being a bright girl, attracted the attention of the French Governor, who took her into his family. Here she remained several years, and was educated carefully in the Roman Catholic faith, while her friends were profoundly ignorant of her situation. She married a French gentleman of Quebec of good estate, and lived in splendor. Her brother Humphrey made a journey to Canada to induce her to return, but to no purpose. Her portion in the Seamman estate set off to her was called the Canada lot, and at a later period was divided among the other heirs.

DIVISIONS AND CONVEYANCES OF REAL ESTATE.

The Lewis and Bonython patent was divided among their heirs in 1681. Gibbins was the sole heir of Lewis, while John Bonython claimed one-half of his father's interest, and Foxwell and Harmon, his brothers-in-law, claimed the other half. The commissioners chosen for the purpose first divided the patent into two by a centre line, parallel to the northeastern boundary. Commencing at the southwestern corner, 400 acres were set off as Gibbins' first division ; northwest of that, five hundred and ninety- two rods wide, John Bonytlion's first division ; next back, four hundred and ninety-eight rods in width, Gibbins' third lot ; next, lying in the northwest corner of the patent, John Bonython's second lot. On the east of the centre line there were four lots each two miles square. Counting from the sea upward, in order, were Foxwell aud Harmon's first lot, Gibbins' second, Foxwell and Harmon's second, and Gibbins' fourth lot.

Joseph Banks, of York, became sole heir of the second daughter of Capt. Richard Bonython, or one-half of the Foxwell and Harmon estate. Banks conveyed one-half to Peter Weare and others, one-quarter to Caleb Preble, of York, who sold, in 1717, to James and Joseph Brown, of Newbury. Samuel, son of Joseph Banks, settled at Old Orchard, on his father's estate, where his descendants still reside.

In 1680, Benj. Blackman purchased 100 acres, including all of the mill privileges on the east side of the Saco Falls, and built a saw-mill. Three years later he purchased on the river 640 acres of John Bonython. The next year he purchased nearly the whole of Gibbins' third division, which included the 100 acres at first purchased. Thus Blackman became proprietor of nearly one-quarter of the original patent. Soon after, Blackmau conveyed one-third part to S. Sheafe, of Boston, and another third to Samuel Walker, of Boston, with one-third of the saw-mill at the Falls in each case. In 1687, Sheafe deeded his third to Walker. In 1716, Samuel Walker sold to Sir Wm. Pep- perell, who was about twenty-one years of age, but exten- sively engaged in business with his father, Col. Wm. Pep- perell, at Kittery Point. The following year Pepperell bought the other third. These purchases included the right of timber on 4500 acres northwest of them. Soon after these acquisitions Pepperell sold two-fourths of the

STEPHEN LITTLEFIELD

was born in the town of San- ford, June 15, 1784. At an early age he went into the busy world to carve out a fortune for himself. He is first found at- tending a grist-mill at Kenne- bunk, and subsequently went to Portland, where he remained about one year, and carried the mail on horseback between Portland and Wiscasset, the mail service of that route then being controlled by Josialı Paine. Mr. Paine in 1810 placed stages on the line from Portland to Boston, and Stephen Littlefield was sent to Saco to take charge of stages, horses, and everything pertaining to the convenience of travelers and rapid transit on the route. The same year, December 1st, he married Lois, daughter of James and Sarah (Bryant) Woodbury. She was born May 4, 1793, and died in 1858. Her father was born June 3, 1769; lived in Saco; followed coasting most of his life. Her mother was born Dec. 10, 1767.

The passenger and mail ser- vice, upon the introduction of stages, and by making the time only two days from Portland to Boston, which was accomplished by fresh relays of horses at cen- tral points, rapidly increased, and about 1820 four stock com- panics were formed from Ban- gor to Boston: 1, Bangor to

Augusta ; 2, Augusta to Port. land; 3, Portland to Ports- mouth ; 4, Portsmouth to Bos- ton. Mr. Littlefield continued in charge of business at Saco in connection with the mail and passenger service and the man- agement of this extended stage line until his death, in April, 1834. He was known as a man of great activity and energy, of strict integrity in all busi- ness relations, and one in whom the traveling public placed im- plicit confidence.

The children of Stephen and Lois Littlefield are William ; Sarah A., wife of David Pome- roy, of Southampton, Mass. ; Charles, for twelve years con- nected with the York Mills in charge of the cloth room, select- man and assessor of Saco in 1866, assessor and auditor from 1867 to 1872, and the first treasurer of the Saco Savings Bank, chosen Dec. 3, 1869, and resigned May 6, 1871; Louisa (deceased), wife of John Merrill ; Eliza (deceased), wife of Eldridge Plummer ; Nancy, widow of Dr. Frank Hill, Saco; Lucy G., wife of Joshua Stev- ens, formerly of Windham, Me., but now of Princeton, Ill .; Mary H., wife of Luke Thomas Saco; Frances E., wife of Eliab Ripley, Boston ; Stephen (de- ceased), for many years in the express business in Chicago ; and James W., a merchant in Saco.

WILLIAM LITTLEFIELD,

eldest son of Stephen and Lois (Wood- bury) Littlefield, was born in Saco, Feb. 25, 1812. As early as sixteen years of age he began driving stage between Portland and Saco, and made this a steady business after he was twenty years old. Upon the death of his father he took charge of the stage business at Saco, which he continued until the Portland, Saco and Ports- mouth Railroad was built in 1842, since which time he has run a line of hacks, and carried the mail from the depot to the post-office and return. Thus the mail service at Saco has been car- ried on by the Littlefields from 1810 to 1880, and still continues,-a period of seventy years. Mr. William Lit- tlefield is well and familiarly known

to the citizens of Saco; his social, genial, and courteous ways are recog- nized by the traveling public, and his strict integrity in all business matters has won for him the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

After the example of his father, who was a Whig, Mr. Littlefield is a Republican ; was alderman during the first year of the city government ; was subsequently elected to the same office, and has been a member of the City Council. He has been a member of the Congregational Church since 1855. He married, Nov. 4, 1835, Diana, daughter of Jeremiah Staples, of Saco. She was born Nov. 25, 1811. Their children are George (deceased) ; Wil- liam (deceased) ; Eliza, wife of Moses W. Webber, of Biddeford; and Ellen, wife of William H. Owen, of Saco.

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whole traet to Nathaniel Weare, of Hampton, millwright, and Humphrey Seamman, of this town, who, in part pay- ment, erected a double saw-mill on the site of the old Blackman mill, and a dwelling-honse to accommodate the mill men, one-half of which was to be the property of Pep- perell. In 1717 the partners divided the mill, and a lot half a mile square adjoining, making a small reservation to be used in common. Pepperell took the upper eighty rods in width, east of Main Street; Scamman, the next forty below; and Weare, forty rods to the brook, near Gray's Point, formerly called Pipe Stave Point. The re- maining portion of the tract, extending from Nichols' Brook to the upper bounds of Gibbins' third division, a distance of four and one-quarter miles, and not less than two miles in breadth, was divided in October, 1718. First, Pepperell began at Nichols' Brook, and took forty-four rods in width, and back to the centre line of the patent ; then Seamman twenty-two rods, and Weare twenty-two rods, which brought them to the south line of the division in 1717. They now extended the northeastern bounds of that lot to the centre line of the patent, then beginning on the north side of this lot,-Main Street,-following the river, Weare took the first forty rods, Seamman forty, Pepperell eighty ; then Pepperell one hundred and twenty, Seamman sixty, Weare sixty, Pepperell one hundred and twenty, Scamman sixty, Weare sixty, Pepperell one hundred and twenty-seven, Seamman sixty-seven and one-half, Weare sixty-seven and one-half, which embraced the whole tract. A large rock in the river, above Little Falls, marks the division as now understood. The privilege of cutting timber, above alluded to, was upon lot assigned to John Bonython, in the first proprietor's division, in 1681, and called his second division. In the division of this timber-cutting privilege, in 1718, Pepperell took the upper half, next the Buxton line, Weare the next quarter, and Scamman the lower quarter, or that nearest the Falls.

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History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 730

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 730