History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 45

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 45

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The following have been judges of the Municipal Court : Frederick Grecne, 1849-52 ;* George A. Emery, 1867-71; Samuel F. Chase, 1871-73; George A. Emery, recorder, acting judge, 1873; John S. Derby, 1874-78; Samuel F. Chase, 1878-82.

EARLY MERCHANTS.

The first traders of note were Tristram Jordan, Andrew Bradstrect, Thomas Cutts, Thomas Donnell, and David King. Sir William Pepperell built a wharf and warehouse, and became largely interested in the trade as well as the lands of Saco.

DANIEL CLEAVES, EsQ., one of the most successful merchants in this quarter, came from Danvers, Mass., to Saco in 1790, with a small stock of goods, and commenced business in a building which stood near the subsequent residence of Capt. Warren. He afterwards built the store which was at a later day occupied by Mr. S. Adams, and in 1797 formed a partnership with Jonathan Tucker which lasted sixteen years. Mr. Cleaves married Sarah, daughter of Rev. John Fairfield, in 1795. He died in 1817, in the forty-seventh year of his age.

JOSEPH LELAND was for many years a merchant in Saco. He was born in Massachusetts, Dec. 30, 1756; was in the Revolutionary army, from Grafton, from 1775

to 1783, and was an ensign and lieutenant. Soon after the peace he came to Phillipsburg, now Sanford, engaged in merchandise at Little Falls, whence he removed to Saco. He married, Dec. 28, 1786, Dorcas, daughter of Richard King, of Scarborough. She died Oct. 6, 1833, aged sixty- seven years. She was sister of Governor William King and Gen. Cyrus King, and half-sister of Hon. Rufus King, of New York. They had ten children. Elizabeth K. mar- ried, in 1816, Rev. Nathan Lord, who was President of Dartmouth College from 1828 to 1863. Harriet married, in 1814, Hon. William Richardson, of Bath. Sarah mar- ried Abel Boynton, Esq., and afterwards Judge Edward Parker, of New Hampshire. Mary S. married, in 1819, B. F. French, Esq., of Lowell. (For Joseph W. Leland, see Bench and Bar in this work.)

Joseph Leland was a senator, under Massachusetts, in 1805 and 1808. (See civil list.)

EARLY PHYSICIANS.

The first physician known with certainty to have settled in town was Dr. Samuel White, Esq. (for he was a magis- trate as well as a physician), who came from York, about 1750. The early practice of medicine in this town was by females, who, with a few simple remedies and careful nurs- ing, supplied the place of physicians. Surgical aid, wlien required, was obtained from the larger towns. Doctors Parker, Clement, Jackson, and Pierce, of Portsmouth, Lyman, of York, and Nathaniel Coffin, of Portland, were sought in extreme and obstinate cases.

The next physician was Dr. Donald Cummings, a man of considerable celebrity. He was a native of Scotland, and came to America as a surgeon in the British army. He settled on the east side of Saco River in 1755, but moved afterwards to the mill-brow west of the Falls. He married, Dec. 30, 1755, Mrs. Elizabeth, widow of William Cole. He was thrown from his horse and killed near the Pool, on the night of April 1, 1774, while returning home from a visit to the house of Capt. Samuel Jordan, at Win- ter Harbor. He left three sons,-James, Donald, and Na- thaniel.

The next physician who settled here was Dr. Josiah Fairfield, a cousin of the minister. He came about 1770, but soon relinquished the general practice of his profession to engage in mercantile pursuits. During the Revolution- ary war he fitted out privateers. He died of consumption, 1794, aged forty-seven.

Dr. Thomas G. Thornton came in 1791. In 1793 he married Sarah, daughter of Col. Thomas Cutts, and soon after engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was a son of Timothy Thornton, of Boston, born Aug. 31, 1769. In 1795, 1796, 1798, and 1803 he was a representative in the General Court of Massachusetts. He was appointed United States marshal of Maine in 1803, and discharged the duties of that office till his death, March 4, 1824.

Dr. John Allen, from England, commenced practice here in 1796; he died in 1825.

Dr. Richard Cutts Shannon graduated at Harvard, in 1795; studied medicine with Dr. Jacob Kittredge, of Dover, N. HJ., and at first obtained a position as surgeon in the navy. This he resigned, and settled here in the fall of 1800. He

# Court then abolished till the adoption of the city charter.

Photo. by McKenney, Saco.

D'inistram Fortas)

TRISTRAM JORDAN (Tristram,5 Tristram,4 Samuel,3 Do- minicus,2 Rev. Robert Jordan1), born in Saco, July 19, 1798, is sixth in descent from Rev. Robert Jordan, of the English Episcopal Church, who came to New England and settled at Richmond Island, Cape Elizabeth, in the year 1640.

He was born in 1601; married the only daughter of Capt. John Winter, who had occupied the island for fur trading with the Indians. Of this union were born six sons, from whom the Jordans in this country are mostly descended. The Rev. Robert Jordan was persecuted by the Puritans of Massachusetts, driven away by the Indians, and died in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1679. His third son, Dominicus, married Hannah Tristram, of Saco, by whom he had three sons and three daughters. Of these, Capt. Sam- uel, born in 1684, married Olive Plaisted, of Berwick, and settled on Parker's Neck in 1717. He did much to pro- mote the growth and prosperity of the towu, was a man of great enterprise, and was engaged in business for many years. At the conference of Governor Shute with the tribes on Arrowsic, in 1717, Capt. Jordan was employed as inter- preter, having been in his earlier life in captivity for several years. Of his children, one son, Rishworth, born in 1719, died in 1808. He was judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1775 to 1797, and clerk of Biddeford for mauy years.

Tristram, grandfather of our subject, was youngest son, born in 1731 ; married, in 1749, Hannah Goodwin, of Ber- wick. He owned a small vessel and traded between Boston and Halifax. Subsequently he became one of the earliest traders in Saco, being there as early as 1749. He was known by his military title as Col. Jordan. He was a member of the Massachusetts Senate from Saco, in 1787, during the exciting period of the Revolutionary war, but he was best known as a magistrate and performed the

duties of that office until quite advanced in life. He died in 1821.

His seventh child, Tristram, born in 1768, married, Jan- uary, 1791, Sarah, daughter of Deacon Samuel Scamman. She was born in 1768, and died in 1821. Tristram Jordan was a man of high moral worth, was a citizen much es- teemed, and for many years filled offices of trust and re- sponsibility in Saco. His general business was farming. His children were Samuel S .; Hannah G., wife of Enoch Goodale; Sarah, died in infancy ; Tristram ; Elizabeth, wife of Joshua Perkins, of Kennebunk ; Rev. William V. Jor- dan, a graduate of Bowdoin in the class of 1831, entered the ministry in 1836 as a Congregational clergyman, and retired from regular ministerial work in 1870; Dominicus ; and Sarah O., wife of Isaac H. Scamman. Tristram, second son, married, Oct. 6, 1830, Maranda O., daughter of Stephen and Olive Sawyer, of Saco. Their children are Sarah Lucy, widow of the late William Boardman, and Maranda O., wife of Oliver H. Moulton, of Lowell, Mass. Mrs. Jordan died in March, 1835. Second, he married, Jan. 22, 1839, Miss Mary, daughter of Ichabod Jordan, of Saco. Of this union there is one son, James Coffin Jordan, a resident at Old Orchard, Me.

During his early manhood Mr. Jordan was engaged for several years in surveying lands in the eastern part of Maine. About 1828 he began trade in Hollis, but soon afterwards went to Biddeford, where he was engaged in trade until about 1845, during which time he was also in- terested in navigation, was a part owner of several vessels, and built one ship called the " Pepperell." He was presi- dent of the Manufacturers' Bank of Saco for many years, and held various town offices. Mr. Jordan, like his ances- tors, was an active, enterprising business man, and a pro- moter of the best interests of society. He was a man of great firmness, decision, and force of character.

Photo, by A. S. McKenney, Saco.

CAPT. SAMUEL HARTLEY

was born in Boston in 1770, and came to Saco while a young man, as he is found here in 1786. He married Hannah, daughter of the late Rev. John Fairfield, who for some forty years was an accepted pastor of the Congregational Church at Saco,

During the war for independence Capt. Hartley was on a vessel commanded by Capt. Solomon Coit. The vessel was captured by a British sloop-of-war, taken to Halifax, and all on board held as prisoners-of-war until exchanged. He had a desire to follow the sea from boyhood. For many years he was mate, and from 1796 to 1812 was in command of a vessel sailing from Saco, and from Richmond, Va., to Liverpool, England For two years, during the embargo placed upon American commerce in 1808, Capt. Hartley was shut up in Charleston, S. C. After the close of the war of 1812, lie abandoned his voyages to Europe and confined himself to a coasting trade, and during the remainder of his life he was engaged in maritime and commercial pursuits.

Capt. Hartley was well known to the citizens of Saco as a man of great force of character, correct habits, unswerving integrity of purpose in all his business relations, exact in the performance of every duty, and acted with a due regard for the rights of others. His executive ability was marked in the management of his own affairs, and his care and zeal to do well what he undertook was a special characteristic of him. During his long experience as a navigator his care and man- agement was such that among the many opportunities for accident at sea he never lost a vessel nor ever was shipwrecked. From a hoy activity, industry, and economy were prominent in his life, and although unassisted pecuniarily in early life, he became by his own plans and exertions a successful busi- ness man. He never sought political notoriety or the emolu- ments of office, although firm in his views of party principles, but preferred the quiet of a business life.

Capt. Hartley was a trustee of Saco and Biddeford Savings Institution from 1827-49 ; director of the Saco Bank in 1811, and from 1814-33; director of insurance company, 1827-28; and trustee of Thornton Academy from 1811-26. He died in 1857. His children are three sons and three daughters, viz. : Samuel (deceased) ; John F., ex-assistant Secretary

United States Treasury ; Capt. Richard F. C., president York National Bank, Saco; Mary G. (deceased) ; Mrs. Dr. Henry B. C. Green ; and Mrs. Thomas G. Odiorne (deceased).

JOHN F. HARTLEY,

second son of Capt. Samuel and Hannah ( Fairfield ) Hartley, was born in Saco June 13, 1809. He received his preparatory education at Saco Academy ; entered Bowdoin College in 1825, from which he graduated with the usual honors in 1829. He read law in the office of Messrs. John & Ether Shepley, of Saco ; was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Saco, but after a short time removed to Portland, where he was engaged in practice until 1838, in the mean time contributing to the newspaper press of that city. In that year he received an appointment as clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C., under Hon. Levi Woodbury, secretary, and during the administration of President Van Buren. He was appointed chief clerk, in 1863, hy the late Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, which position he retained until 1865, when he was appointed assistant Secretary of the Treasury by President Johnson, and continued to discharge the duties of that office until May, 1875, when he resigned and visited Europe, making the tour of England, France, Italy, and Switzerland.

In 1867, Mr. Hartley received from Norwich University, Vermont, the honorary degree of LL. D.

Upon his retirement from official duties he returned to his native city, and took up his residence at the old homestead, occupied by his father immediately after his marriage, the property having been in the family nearly a century.

Mr. Hartley married first, Martha F., daughter of Jona- than and Margaret (Hill) King, of Saco. She died in 1846; and for his second he married, in 1850, Miss Mary D. King, sister of his first wife. Her father was a respected and well- known resident of Saco, and for many years president of York Bank.

Mr. Hartley's children are : Edward, alawyer in New York City ; John, a captain in the United States army ; Martha, wife of Hon. Levi H Coit, late United States consul at Va- lencia, Spain, died in that country ; and Frank, a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York.

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CITY OF SACO.

died suddenly, April 19, 1828, very much lamented. Dur- ing a period of nearly twenty-eight years, he was the prin- cipal physician of the town, and at the time of his death was deacon of the First Church.

BRIEF MENTION.

Among other citizens not specially mentioned elsewhere, the following are entitled to notice in the history of Saco : John F. Seamman, representative to the Twenty-ninth Con- gress in 1845; Wm. B. Hartwell, State secretary, 1845 ; Seth Seamman, president of the State Senate, 1858; Edwin B. Smith, speaker of House, 1871, and now assistant attorney-general of the United States at Washington.

Mr. Folsom, in his history, mentions the following classi- cally-educated residents of Saco : Caldwalder Gray, grad- uate of Harvard, 1784, a merchant at the Falls, and after- wards of Buxton ; James Gray (Harvard, 1786) ; Richard Cutts, A.M. (Harvard, 1790), Washington, D. C .; Na- thaniel Coffin, A.M. (Dartmouth, 1799), removed to Wis- easset ; Seth Storer, A.M. (Bowdoin, 1807), Scarborough, office at Saco; Daniel Tristram Granger (Bowdoin, 1826); Joseph W. Leland ( Bowdoin, 1826), removed to Newfield; Ichabod Goodwin Jordan (Bowdoin, 1827) ; John Fair- field Hartley (Bowdoin, 1829) ; Albert Gallatin Lane (Waterville, 1827), removed to Belfast. The number of men educated at college resident in Saco in 1830 was fif- teen, viz., five from Harvard, one from Dartmouth, and nine from Bowdoin. At that time there were in Bowdoin College George W. Cole, William Vaughan Jordan, Seth Storer Green, and Henry Goodkin Storer.

Benjamin Pike was a blacksmith and a self-made man. He was selectman of the town of Saco 1803 to 1806, 1808, 1819, 1821 to 1825, 1826 to 1832; town clerk 1809 to 1824; representative in Massachusetts Legislature 1807 to 1817, and 1819; senator in 1831 and 1832, and at the time of his death, July 14, 1832, aged sixty-two.

Gideon Tucker, son of Jonathan and Hannah (Scam- man) Tueker, was born June 4, 1802, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1820, at the age of eighteen. He was a representative in the Legislature in 1829, 1844, 1846, and 1850, councilor in 1854, and senator in 1862. He married, Dec. 30, 1847, Miss Caroline Atkinson ; died Oct. 17, 1863.

Col. John Spring, son of Capt. Seth Spring, who died in Biddeford, Oet. 11, 1839, was born May 16, 1782. He was sheriff of the county in 1830, and representative in 1824 and 1825. He married, in 1804, Olive, daughter of Capt. Seth Storer.

Col. James M. Burbank died at Saeo, April 26, 1875, aged sixty-three years and four months. He came from Springvale about 1860; was representative in the Legis- lature from Waterborough in 1845 ; sheriff of the county, 1859, 1860, 1863, 1864; senator, 1868; city marshal in 1871 ; candidate for sheriff, 1856, 1860, 1864, 1866 ; for senator, 1869; and for mayor, 1868, 1869.

CHURCHES OF SACO.

CONGREGATIONAL.

The people on both sides of the river had attended upon the ministrations of pastors on the Biddeford side

up to 1752, when Sir William Pepperell, having donated four aeres of land for building a meeting-house, a school- house, and for a burying-place, " and for no other use or purpose whatever," the inhabitants, in April of that year, obtained consent of the town to be set off as a parish.

The following year a frame for a meeting-house was erected, and in the course of two or three years was finished, and by consent of the town, Mr. Morrill was permitted to preach in it one-third of the time. Ile thus partially filled the desk till 1761, when Mr. John Fairfield was employed on a temporary engagement, and in October a church of 11 members was organized. Mr. John Fairfield became pastor of it by ordination, Oet. 27, 1762. His labors being blessed by an increased membership of but nine during a ministry of thirty-six years, he asked a dismission in April, 1798, and means were taken to procure another candidate. Mr. Elihu Whitcomb preached on probation till April, 1799, when the town decided to settle him. But three male members could be found at this time. As Mr. Fairfield's pastoral relations had not been regularly dissolved, it was agreed to refer the matter to the same council called for the ordination of Mr. Whiteomb. This convened July 3, 1799, and dissolved the connection of one, and established the re- lation of the other the same day. Mr. Whitcomb remained till the summer of 1810, when he was dismissed. On Octo- ber 24th of that year the Rev. Jonathan Cogswell was ordained. The church then consisted of 28 members. Dur- ing Mr. Cogswell's ministry it was increased nearly four- fold. His relation with the town existed till 1825, when the society was constituted a distinet parish, and he remained the society's pastor till, indueed by the failure of his health, he resigned, October, 1828. His was a laborious but suc- cessful ministry of almost eighteen years. His successor, Rev. Samuel Johnson, a graduate of Bowdoin, 1817, was installed Nov. 5, 1828, and dismissed Feb. 17, 1836. His successor, Samuel Hopkins, was installed the day of his dismission, and remained pastor till Nov. 26, 1844. Ed- ward S. Dwight succeeded by ordination Dec. 25, 1844, and was dismissed Aug. 17, 1852. Francis B. Wheeler was installed Dec. 5, 1854, dismissed March 2, 1859. Charles B. Rice, ordained Dec. 7, 1859, dismissed Nov. 26, 1861.

Edward D. Rand was employed as stated supply three months of 1863; and Sept. 21, 1864, John H. Winsor was installed pastor, and remained till 1870, when Rev. Ben- son M. Frink, the present pastor, was installed January 30th.

The first deacons were Amos Chase and Gershom Bil- lings, chosen in 1763. Deacon Billings removing from town, Samuel Scamman was chosen, June 16, 1764, to fill his place. James Gray, chosen Oct. 27, 1810. Dr. Richard C. Shannon, March 5, 1820, in place of Deacon Scamman, who was aged, and about to move out of the village. Jo- seph M. Hayes, James Rumery, and Franeis Wood, chosen Dee. 27, 1828. James Montgomery, Dr. James S. Good- win, and Seth Scamman, chosen Sept. 13, 1843. Philip Eastman, Dominicus Jordan, and Charles C. Sawyer, chosen 1855, and Ivory Dame, chosen Jan. 30, 1856. The origi- nal members at organization were John Fairfield, Robert Patterson, Robert Edgecomb, Samuel Banks, Magnus Rid-

160

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

lon, Thomas Edgecomb, Tristram Jordan, Amos Chase, Robert Patterson, Jr., Andrew Bradstreet, and Gershom Billings.

The first meeting-house, as already stated, was built about 1753. This continued in use till a new one was built in 1803, and dedicated in 1806. At that time it was consid- ered the most elegant church edifice in the State. It cost $18,000. It received repairs and alterations several times, and was about as good as new when it was burned, July 8, 1860. The present beautiful edifice was commenced in 1862, and dedicated July 8, 1863. This church is in a flourishing condition, and numbers at present 210 members.

A dinner was given at the expense of the town upon the occasion of Mr. Fairfield's ordination, prepared by Ebenezer Ayer, of which 90 persons partook. Among other items provided for the entertainment was one barrel of beer, two gallons of rum, and two quarts of brandy. Mr. Fairfield was a graduate of Harvard, 1757, and descended from good Puritan stock. July 20, 1762, he married Mary, widow of Foxwell Curtis Cutts and daughter of Ichabod Goodwin, of South Berwick.

TRINITY CHURCH-EPISCOPAL.

The earliest religious society of any kind in the old town of Saco was Episcopalian, or Church of England. Rich- ard Vines and his associates, among the first colonists, were strongly of that faith, and availed themselves of the serv- ices of the first Episcopal clergymen who visited or settled in the country. Among these were Rev. Richard Gibson and Rev. Robert Jordan, both of whom, probably, at an early time officiated at Winter Harbor. The following interesting document will show that services were held with some regularity soon after the first permanent settle- ment : "1636, 7 ber (Septem-ber) 7. The Booke of Rates for the Minister, to be paide quarterly, the first pay- ment to begin at Michaelmas next (Sept. 29). Capt. Rich- ard Bonython, £3; Richard Vines, £3; Thomas Lewis, £3; Henry Boade, £2; John Wadlin, £2; Thomas Wil- liams, £2," and fifteen others, amounting in all to £31 15s , -quite a liberal salary for the circumstances of the settle- ment and the times. Mr. Gibson remained with them un- til 1640 or 1641, when he went to Portsmouth. In 1642 he was summoned to Boston to answer to the charge of performing certain clerical duties, especially baptizing chil- dren, contrary to the laws of the Massachusetts Colony. Ile was held in custody several days, but as he was soon to leave New England, he was finally discharged without pun- ishment.

Mr. Gibson was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Jordan. How long his ministration continued is not definitely known, but it was for some time after the province of Maine was formally united with the Massachusetts colony, which took place in 1653-58. Already, however, many of the Puritan faith had settled in this region, as in all the province of Maine, and with constantly-increasing numbers and pro- portion, and with them, of course, came clergymen of their own faith. Mr. Jordan, in 1657, was summoned before the General Court of Massachusetts, to answer to the charge of baptizing children and practicing the rites of the Church of England, contrary to the authority of that colony. He was

also " presented" several times before the local courts for opposition to the authority of Massachusetts, but yielded to that authority in 1658, after the signing of the article of toleration by the Massachusetts commissioners, which he and Henry Jocelyn, of Scarborough, insisted upon as one of the conditions of submission. The article reads as fol- lows: " That none of the privileges hereby granted and secured shall ever be forfeited by reason of any difference in matters of religion, nor be affected otherwise than by known and established penal laws formerly established by the General Court." Adopted at the house of Robert Jor- dan, in Spurwink, now Cape Elizabeth, July 13, 1658.

Just where Mr. Gibson and Mr. Jordan held services in the Saco settlement we do not know. The church edi- fices, if they had any,-and doubtless they had,-were most likely temporary in their character, and they have all disappeared and not a trace of them remains. All that we find on record is this: A certain spot, mentioned in the bounding of an estate at " Winter Harbor,"-the Pool, or Lower Biddeford .- in 1642, is called "Church Point ;" and so it is quite probable that a church building may have stood there.

We may remark here, as an interesting item, that a bap- tismal font, of brass and beautifully ornamented, which was used by Mr. Jordan, has been preserved by his descendants living in the town of Scarborough, and has recently been put into the keeping of the Maine Historical Society.

After the services of Mr. Jordan ceased at Winter Har- bor no further effort appears to have been made to keep up the church. Most of the Church of England people left the place or united with the Congregationalists, and there was an interval of more than one hundred and fifty years before the establishment of the present Trinity Parish of Saco.

In the winter and early spring of 1827, the Rev. E. M. P. Wells, of Boston, now Dr. Wells, was invited by the mission- ary committee of Maine to visit Saco, which he did, holding his first service in March, in Mozart Hall, but subsequently the services were held in Nye's Hall. Dr. Wells died re- cently in Boston at an advanced age. On the 22d of March, of the same year, a petition for the incorporation of a parish was issued, signed by the following persons : N. W. Put- nam, Charles Hayes, T. G. Odiorne, John A. Blake, John Chadwick, Charles T. Mixer, Charles J. Folsom, John Me- Arthur, Christopher Bassett, Jr., Henry J. Raymond, William S. Gookin, David H. Cole, Isaac Emery, Charles Rolfe, John F. Scamman, Jabez Woodsum.

On the 30th of March the parish was duly organized under the name of " Trinity Church." The following were the first wardens and vestrymen: John Chadwick, John F. Scamman, wardens; Isaac Emery, Amos G. Goodwin, John A. Blake, George Packard, Charles Hayes, vestrymen. The services had been and were now held in the hall above named, but the new parish at once proceeded to make ar- rangements for building a church edifice. A lot was pur- chased. The corner-stone was laid June 28, 1827. The church was built at an expense of abont $4500, was all paid for, and it was consecrated to the worship of Almighty God by the Rt. Rev. Alexander V. Griswold, November 20th, less than nine months after the first service was held,

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History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 45

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