History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 73

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 73

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The grandfather of Mark P. Emery, Thomas Emery, born in 1753, was a descendant of Anthony Emery, and a native of Biddeford, York Co., Me. He early in life settled in the town of Buxton, and was one of the pioneers of that town. Although a farmer by occupation, he was a man of mark in public affairs. Besides holding many offices in his town, he, as a member of the old Federal party, was a member of the State Legislature. He married Hannah Hammond, Nov. 27, 1773, and reared a family of eight sons and five daughters. She died Oct. 31, 1827, aged seventy-five years.

Thomas Emery, father of the subject of this narrative, was born in the town of Buxton, at which place he died Oct. 20, 1856. He married Oct. 4, 1799, Mary Woodman, of Buxton, and reared a family of six sons and four daugh- ters,-Rufus, Mrs. Richard Steele, Mrs. John Bradbury, James W., Horace, Thomas J., Alexander J. (deceased), Mark P., Mrs. Joseph G. Steele, and Mrs. Joseph Dunnell. The mother of these children died June 27, 1858, aged seventy-nine.

Thomas Emery was a farmer and lumberman by occu- pation, and used to raft his lumber down the Saco River for shipment to other ports. He was prominent among the citizens of his town and county; was selectman of Buxton, and sheriff of York County.

Mark P. Emery was born Feb. 17, 1817, in the town of Buxton, and spent most of his minority on the farm. He received his early education in the town school and Gorham Academy. At the age of twenty, unaided pecuniarily, he came to Portland, and for four years was a clerk with Smith & Brown, grocers and lumber-dealers. In 1845 he became a partner with J. B. Brown & Jedediah Jewett, with the firm-name of J. B. Brown & Co., in the same business, which continued three years, when the partner-

ship was dissolved. Mr. Emery was in business alone from 1848 to 1852 as a manufacturer and shipper of shooks, and an importer of molasses and sugar, trading in the West Indies. In 1855, after a rest of several years on account of impaired health, he took in Henry Fox as partner, with the firm-name of " Emery & Fox," and continued in the same business until 1868. About the year 1860 this firm added the lumber business to their already extensive shipping and import trade, and continued as lumber-merchants until 1876, when the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Emery sought to retire from the cares of so much business, after spending nearly forty years as a persevering, industrious, and enterprising business man. For some years past he has been engaged quite largely in real-estate operations in Vermont and New Hampshire. In local matters he has ever felt a deep interest, and has taken an active part in the promotion of enterprises tending to the good of society. His financial ability is recognized by business men, and his connection with the First National Bank of Portland as director, and with the Maine Savings Bank as trustee, for the past three years, has added strength to these institu- tions. He is also a director of the Maine Steamboat Com- pany. He represented the Fifth Ward of the city as alderman for two terms, during which time as chairman of the committee of the fire department he purchased the first fire-engine used in Portland. He married Jan. 1, 1846, Mary S., daughter of Ezra Smith, of Hanover, Me.

ABRAM LORD CAME

was born in the town of Buxton, York Co., Me., April 20, 1800, the third child and only son of John A. and Phebe (Lord ) Came. The progenitor of the family in this country was Arthur Came, who settled in York County, town of York, as early as 1670. The line is as follows : 1st, Arthur Came; 2d, Samuel, his only son ; 3d, Joseph ; 4th, Arthur ; 5th, John; 6th, Abram Lord. His father was born in the town of York, York Co., Me., Oct. 27, 1767. By occupation he was a lumberman and farmer. He came to the town of Buxton in 1787, and after mar- riage, which occurred Oct. 2, 1794, he settled on the place still owned and occupied by his son. He died there Sept. 16, 1857. His wife died Sept. 10, 1835.

They left five children, viz., Polly, wife of John East- man, born July 21, 1796, died Dec. 26, 1871; Hannah, born March 3, 1798, wife of Aaron Leavitt, of Buxton, died Feb. 5, 1856; Abram Lord, subject of this sketch ; Phebe, born Oct. 6, 1803, widow of Wm. Boulter, and resides in Saco; Kesiah, born May 12, 1808, widow of Silas Berry, residing in Buxton.

Abram Lord Came has always lived in Buxton. His education was limited to an attendance at the common school. For occupation he has followed the business of lumbering and farming. His saw-mills are situated at Bonny Eagle, on the Saco River, in the towns of Standish and Hollis, and for many years he has carried on an exten- sive and successful business in lumbering. As a farmer, none rank higher in his locality. For a number of years

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he has withdrawn from active employment in the conduct of his lumber interests, and they are carried on by his son, Isaac L. Came.

In politics, first a Whig, and a Republican since the or- ganization of that party. He has served his town as selectman for a number of years, and was a member of the Legislature in 1837, 1838, and 1847. Thorough and efficient in the conduct of his own affairs, he was equally so in the discharge of all public interests committed to his care. Though Mr. Came has reached nearly fourscore years, he is still able to supervise the conduct of his farm, takes a lively interest in all political and public matters, and no man enjoys in greater degree the confidence and estecm of the community in which he lives.

He was married, Feb. 2, 1825, to Annis Greene, daughter of John and Esther (Shaw) Greene, of Standish, Cumber- land Co. Mrs. Came was born at Little Falls, Gorham, June 27, 1803. Their children are as follows: Charles G., born Sept. 25, 1828, a graduate of Yale College, and editor of the Boston Journal for twenty years, died Jan. 16, 1879; Isaac L., born Nov. 25, 1827, carries on the mills at Bonny Eagle; Esther, born Nov. 2, 1829, died May 23, 1863; John H., born May 12, 1832, died in infancy ; Eliza C., born Nov. 29, 1833, living at home ; John H. (2d), born April 29, 1835, first lieutenant in Company C, 27th Regiment Maine Infantry, died in the war, of fever, at Fairfax, Va., Jan. 16, 1863 ; Margaret A., born July 22, 1838, wife of Capt. J. F. Warren, of Buxton ; Ann Maria, born April 29, 1842, died April 20, 1865 ; Susan A., born May 25, 1844, wife of A. L. Berry, of Buxton.

AARON CLARK

is a native of the town of Dayton, formerly a part of Hollis. He was born April 9, 1823. His principal business through life has been that of a clothier and manufacturer of woolen goods. Has been a resident of York County all his life, excepting about four years,-one year in Lawrence, Mass., and three years in Effingham, which town he repre- sented in the Legislature of New Hampshire in 1869. His election was the result of the first combined political action on the part of the friends of temperance in New Hampshire for the enforcement of her good prohibitory liquor law, which was adopted in 1855, but had been, by consent of both political parties, almost entirely ignored in every county of the State.

Mr. Clark was first a Whig, because that party favored protection of American industry by tariff ; was next a Re- publican, because this party in Maine opposed the extension of rum as well as negro slavery. Is not a strong partisan, but has invariably voted with the Republicans, when con- sistency as a temperance man would allow of it, because, on party issues vital to the interests of the State and nation, he believed them to be nearest right.

He was limited to a common-school education, but in boyhood was taught, not only by " precept and example," but by experience, the valuable lessons of temperance, in- dustry, and economy, and by their practice through life has earned a reputation that has given him business positions of

much responsibility and trust. He taught school in the winter of 1844-45, and then commenced the manufacture of woolen goods, in which industry twenty years of his life have been spent,-most of this time in the capacity of agent for others.

Among the happiest reflections of his life is the con- sciousness of having been faithful and honest in the dis- charge of his trusts.

His father, Aaron Clark, son of Samuel Hill Clark, was a native of Hollis, born in 1786, and died in the same town in 1866, aged eighty years. He was in the marine service in the war of 1812, and had one battle with the enemy's ship. Soon after the war he married Mary Dyer, daughter of Benjamin Dyer, of IIollis. She died in May, 1836, leaving a family of eight children,-four sons and four daugh- ters. The two oldest sons, Samuel H. and Benjamin D., settled in Orangeburg, S. C., about 1839. Both were blacksmiths, and followed that business through life,-own- ing and hiring slave-labor from necessity. They both mar- ried Southern ladies, and had families of six children each. Benjamin died in 1866, aged about forty-seven years. Samuel died in 1876, aged sixty-one years. The youngest brother, J. W. Clark, is a wool-carder, and lives in his native town, Hollis. The four sisters are all married and settled in Minnesota ; each has a family of children.

Mr. Clark was married, June 21, 1846, to Susan Davis, daughter of Capt. Moses Davis, of Hollis. Mr. Davis was for many years a successful lumberman at Salmon Falls, and at one time, before the advent of railroads, he was manager and part owner of a mail-stage line, running from Portland to Centre Harbor, N. H. He died in 1865, aged seventy- seven years. His wife Mary survived him fourteen years, and died in March, 1879, aged eighty-six years. She had a family of twelve children,-seven sons and five daughters. She was the daughter of John Elden, of Buxton, who was in the battle of Bunker Hill.

BENJAMIN JONES PALMER

was born in the town of Buxton, York Co., Me., April 5, 1819, the youngest son of James and Betsey (Bradbury) Palmer. There were twelve children in the family, as fol- lows, in the order of their age: Elijah B., Sally, Abigail, Nancy, Richard, James, Maria, Charles H., Benjamin J., Elizabeth, Joanna, and Ardelia. Of these only Nancy, Charles H., and Benjamin J. are living. Nancy, widow of John Jose, lives with her niece, Mrs. Stephen B. Pal- mer. Charles H. is a farmer in Hollis. His grandfather was Andrew Palmer, a farmer, who lived and died in Hollis. His father was also a farmer, and for many years owned and carried on the farm now owned by Mr. Watson, situated in Buxton, on the Saco River, one mile north of Bar Mills. He died there when Benjamin J. was nineteen years old. His mother died some years after. She was a sister of the late Jabez Bradbury, and descends in direct line, as follows, from : 1st, Capt. Thomas Bradbury, who emigrated from England in 1634; 2d, William, married Rebecca Maverick ; 3d, Jacob, married Elizabeth Stockton ; 4th, Jacob ; 5th, Elijah, who was the father of Jabez and Betsey, his mother.

PHOTOS BI LAMSON

Aaron blank

Person Chuck

RESIDENCE OF AARON CLARK, SALMON FALLS, YORK CO., ME.

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TOWN OF BUXTON.

Benjamin Jones Palmer lived at home until he was twenty years of age, having only the advantages of a com- mon-school education. After leaving home was employed by the month for a number of years, working for Ellis B. Usher, Living H. Lane, and Stephen H. Berry, in the dif- ferent departments of their lumbering interests. In 1850 commenced a grocery trade at Bar Mills, and continued in it for nine years, when he gave it up on account of ill health. He was married, Jan. 8, 1857, to Mary Ann Goodwin, daughter of Nathan and Joanna Goodwin. Nathan Goodwin, her father, was born in Buxton, and, with the exception of five years in Limington, lived and died in Buxton. The children were Mary Ann and Moses B., twins, born April 6, 1820 ; Capt. W. F. Goodwin, born Sept. 27, 1825; Elizabeth Jane, born July 20, 1829; Martha R., born July 5, 1832; Sarah Frances, born Jan. 23, 1834 ; Moses B. Goodwin, graduated from Bowdoin College, a lawyer by profession, and formerly editor of the Merrimac Journal, Franklin, N. H .; Capt. W. F. Good- win, also a graduate of Bowdoin and the law school of Harvard College, author of the volume entitled " Records of the Proprietors of Narragansett Township, No. 1," died March 12, 1872, at Concord, N. H .; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. J. W. Little, and Martha R., live at Concord, N. H .; Sarah Frances died Jan. 28, 1851. Mrs. Palmer's father died Oct. 7, 1853, aged fifty-nine years. Her mother died Jan. 17, 1872, aged seventy-six years.

Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have lived on the place where they now live since 1847 ; built his present residence in 1868; since which time has kept summer boarders and transient guests. They have one son, Edwin Augustus ; born July 28, 1859; educated at Gorham Academy and Westbrook Seminary,-living at home.

Mr. Palmer has been a life-long Democrat ; in religious preferences a Baptist, and a great enemy to rum and to- bacco, regarding them the twin despoilers of the human race, and in this sentiment Mrs. Palmer is in full accord with her husband.

JOEL M. MARSHALL,

youngest son of Capt. Joel Marshall, who was a native of Scarborough, Me., and Mary Marshall, whose maiden name was Sweat, and at the time of her marriage with the above was the widow of Richard Moulton, Esq., then late of Freedom, N. H., was born at Buxton, May 23, 1834, and commenced at seventeen learning the trade of black- smith ; but, at the age of twenty, having been disabled by a severe accident, was obliged to discontinue the trade, and attended school at Parsonsfield, Limington, and Westbrook Academies, and fitted for college at the latter place. In 1859 he entered Bowdoin College, and graduated from that institution in 1862. He was engaged in teaching school winters from 1855 to 1861 ; was clerk in the Secre-

tary of State's office at Augusta in the winter of 1861. Immediately after graduation took charge of Oswego Insti- tute, a school of the Friends' Society near Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and remained there till April, 1863. In August of that year he commenced studying law with Hon. L. D. M. Sweat, of Portland, and continued with him aud Vinton &

Photo, by Conant, Portland.

JOEL M. MARSHALL.

Dennett until his admission as a member of the Cumberland County bar in May, 1865.

In November, 1865, he formed a law-partnership with IIon. Charles E. Weld, of Buxton, and continued in prac- tice with him until May, 1870.

In 1866 he was appointed assistant assessor of United States Internal Revenue, and attended to the duties of that office until his resignation in 1870. He was town agent, selectman, and assessor of the town in 1869-70, and was a member of the supervising school committee from 1866 to 1872, inclusive.

On June 23, 1870, he married Miss Ellen C. Meserve, a teacher of the public schools of La Crosse, Wis., who was also a native of Buxton.

In 1873 he was delegated to compile the historical sketches of Buxton furnished by Hon. Cyrus Woodman and others, and to complete the Revolutionary record of the town, and report and publish the proceedings of its centennial celebration of 1872.

He opened an office in 1871, at Bar Mills village, and there and at Salmon Falls, in Buxton, attends to the prac- tice of his profession and to the care of his farm. He has been a Republican in politics from the formation of that party, and has been six years a member of the county committee.

WILLIAM EMERY was born in Sanford, son of William Emery, who was for many years a merchant and active business man ; a descendant of Col. Jacob Emery, one of the first settlers of Phillipstown, now Sanford; educated at North Yarmouth, Me., and Andover. Mass. ; read law in the office of Bradley & Haines and Bradley & Eastman, and completed his law studies at the Dow Law School, Cambridge, Mass. ; aided in raising a volunteer company for the Mexican war, and was elected its captain. The service of this company was offered to the United States government, but the war hav- ing been brought to a speedy close by Gen. Scott, no com- pany was taken from Maine.

Admitted to the bar in York County, Me., May, 1848, and commenced practice in the town where he lived, doing an ex- tensive law business till 1869.

By reason of ill health spent that winter South, since which time he has had no law office, and done but little business. While in Lebanon, for a number of years held various municipal offices, and represented the towns of Lebanon and Sanford in the Legislature of 1854. Ill health compelling him to retire from active business, he re- moved to Alfred in May, 1871. Has for five years been one of the municipal officers of the town, and is now county attor- ney. In politics a Democrat ; an earnest supporter of the re- form measures of 1878, and among the foremost in advo- cating a reduction of salaries in York County, and in the ex- penses of State and county. With a view solely of promoting these objects, and only then at the earnest solicitation of his fellow-citizens, Mr. Emery con- sented again to accept an official position.

William

Photo, by Conant, Portland.

RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM EMERY, ALFRED, YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

ALFRED.

SITUATION AND TITLE TO LAND.

THE town of Alfred is situated nearly in the centre of the county of York, of which it is the principal shire-town. It is an oblong portion of territory, lying in a southeast and northwest direction, about twelve miles in length and about four in breadth in its widest part, tapering nearly to a point at each end, and bounded north by a portion of Waterbo- rough, east by Waterborough and Lyman, south by Kenne- bunk, southwest by Sanford, and west by Shapleigh. It was originally included in Sanford, but in 1794 was incor- porated in a separate district, and in 1808 received an in- corporation as a town.

The first civilized men who penetrated the forests of San- ford and Alfred were trappers and hunters. Beaver were abundant, and left many marks of their labors in the beds of streams and shores of ponds that are visible to this day. Truck-houses were early established on the Saco and Piscataqua Rivers and at Salmon Falls, from which hun- ters were sent among the Indians to collect furs for the foreign markets. The first civilized owners of the soil obtained their rights between 1661 and 1664,* at which time Maj. William Phillips, of Saco, procured of Fluellen, Hobinowil, and Captain Sunday, Indian chiefs of Saco and Nusichawannok, several quit-claim deeds of territory of about four townships of the usual size, viz., Phillipsburg,t now Sanford; Alfred, the northern part . of Phillipsburg, now Hollis; and part of Limington. This purchase, with revised bounds, was confirmed by Ferdinando Gorges, grand- son of Sir Ferdinando, ¿ to the grantee or his son, Nathan- iel Phillips, of Saco, and that portion included in Sanford (comprising also Alfred) was devised by the will of Mrs. Phillips (widow of the major), Sept. 29, 1696, to Peleg Sanford, her son by a former husband, after whom the town of Sanford was named. The title to the town of Alfred is the same as that of Sanford, being derived from the Phillips estate, with the exception of about two miles square, including the village, which was claimed under the Governors' right (Hutchinson and Oliver), and was long in dispute. A suit was brought against one of the principal settlers, William Parsons, by the heirs of Saunders, in 1803; but before the writ was served Parsons hastened to obtain a deed from the heirs of Hutchinson and Oliver, counter-claimants, by which course they were made de- fendants at law, and finally gained the suit. The defense, however, involved an expenditure greater than the receipts of the land.

* Folsom's Saco and Biddeford, p. 164.

ț ibid.

Į Sir Ferdinand Gorges died in 1647. His grandson, Ferdinando, inherited his title and estates in Maine.

FIRST SETTLERS.

[A Centennial History of Alfred, giving with great ac- curacy of detail the early settlers of the town, was prepared and left in manuscript by the late Dr. Usher Parsons, to which a Supplement was added by Samuel M. Came, Esq., a well-informed attorney-at-law, of Alfred; and the whole published in pamphlet form, with some additions and revi- sion, in 1872. With the aid of Mr. Came this work has been again enlarged and revised, and appears in the present sketch of the town prepared for this work, together with considerable matter derived from other sources. The biog- raphy of Dr. Parsons, instead of preceding the history, as in the pamphlet, has been placed in connection with other personal sketches, farther on.]

In November, 1764, Simeon Coffin, the first settler of Massabesic, now Alfred, dwelt for a time in an Indian wig- wam that stood a few rods south of the residence of the late Col. Ivory Hall. There was no white man living at that time within seven miles of him. A few Indians still lin- gered about Massabesic and Bunganut Ponds, one family being in a wigwam where the present house of Shaker wor- ship stands; but soon all the aborigines disappeared.

There were three brothers named Coffin, the sons of . Stephen Coffin, of Newbury. The eldest, named Simeon, was a shipwright. After building a vessel there, he lost it by the bankruptcy of the purchaser, and, being thus reduced to penury, he sought a shelter for himself in the wilder- ness, and also for his aged father and two brothers, named Stephen - and Daniel, who arrived early in the spring of 1765. The father settled south of his son, Simeon, and the two other sons pitched their tents farther south, and were succeeded there by David and Moses Stevens. Be- yond these settled soon after Daniel MeDaniels, who was succeeded by David Hibbard, Andrew, and his son John Noble, from Somersworth, and George D. Moulton ; next to him was James Harvey and, still farther south, Jeremiah Eastman, a shoemaker, near the dwelling of the late John Emerson. About the same time came his father, Daniel Eastman, from Concord, N. H., with five other sons, and settled a few rods south of Mr. Emerson. His son, Ezekiel, settled half-way between Lary's Bridge (now Emerson's) and the Brooks house, built by Rev. Mr. Turner. Daniel, Jr., built on the hill a few rods south of the house formerly occupied by the late Joseph Parsons and now by Mr. Charles Sayward, and was succeeded by a Mr. Alley, who after- wards moved to Parsonsfield. William Eastman lived near Nowell's Mill, a mile northeast from Col. Daniel Lewis ; Jeremiah Eastman, the shoemaker, owned the site of the present Congregational meeting-house and grave-yard, which he sold to Mr. Nathaniel Conant and Mr. Emerson, and the lot opposite he sold to John Knight, who sold it forty years

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after to Dr: Abiel Hall. It is now occupied by Alonzo Leavitt. Obadiah Eastman was younger, and hired out to labor.

Daniel Lary, a tanner by trade, built a house between Lary's or Emerson's bridge and Ezekiel Eastman's. The cellar is now visible. It was supposed to be the first frame dwelling-house built in Alfred. It was finally moved to the corner where the brick hotel built by C. Griffin stood, and was used many years as a school-house. Lary's tan-yard was by the brook, near his house. In felling a tree near the late Col. Lewis', he accidentally killed Daniel Hibbard.

In 1776 eame Charles and John White, from Kenne- buukport, whose father, Robert White, came there from York in 1740. Charles married Sarah Lindsey, and John a Wakefield. They lived two or three years about 100 rods west of the brick house built by Andrew Conant, in what is still called the White Field. They erected half of a double saw-mill ; and one Ellenwood from Wells, Thomas Kimball, and his brother-in-law. Seth Peabody, and Benja- min Tripe, owned the other half. The two Whites subse- quently sold their field and mill, or exchanged them for a tract of land half a mile south on the Mousam road. Charles White was succeeded by his son, Deacon Samuel, and his grandson, Thomas, and is at present occupied by Mr. Albert Littlefield ; and John White by his son, John. who after- wards removed farther south, having sold his lot to Daniel Conant, who dwelt and died there. This lot of John's was previously owned by Dodipher Ricker, who, after a short residence there, moved to Waterborough.

The father of Charles White was buried in the White Field near their house, and near the Moses Swett house. In the same ground were buried the father of Samuel Friend and Daniel Conant, the brother of old Mr. Nathaniel. El- lenwood, head-carpenter in building the mill, erected a one- story house facing it on the hill ; it stood opposite the pres- ent brick house. He finally sold it to Conant, who added a two-story front to it that faced the brick house. It was sub- sequently moved half a mile north, and was the residence of Rev. Mr. Douglass, Charles Paul, and the late Israel Chadbourne.

In 1770 arrived Nathaniel and Daniel Conant, and Samuel and John Friend, from Danvers. Samuel settled near where Albert Webber now resides, and John, a weaver, about half a mile north, where his son resides.

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History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 73

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