USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 49
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In addition to the cemeteries before described, there is one at the Head of the Tide, on land purchased by the town, of Robert B. Cochran, in 1825; one above City Point, on land purchased of James Gammans ; one in the western part of the city, on the farm of Ephraim A. Pitcher; and one near Edward Perkins's, at Little River. In 1856, fifty dollars were appropriated to enclose the latter with a wall. The next year, Edward Perkins, John Robinson, and S. W. Blanchard were appointed superintendents of this grave-
523
CEMETERIES AND FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
yard, with authority to give certificates of lots, and to sell such as remained unsold, the proceeds to be used for the benefit of the yard.
During the first half century of the town, the forms and cere- monies on funeral occasions were entirely different from those of modern times. It was before the day of rosewood, black walnut, and metallic caskets, or of hearses. The coffin was usually of pine, stained black ; and a bier was the vehicle on which it was carried to the grave. At the funeral of an adult, there was a gathering of almost the entire adult population in the neighborhood. The religious services at the house of the deceased consisted of selec- tion from the Scriptures and prayer; on rare occasions, there was singing and a brief discourse. Those services completed, the coffin was taken from the house, placed on the bier,1 and a pall thrown over it. The relatives of the deceased were then escorted by the master of ceremonies, hat in hand, to their positions in rear of the bier; until within a few years of this time, the master wore a sword and a cocked hat, such as were worn by military men in the days of the Revolution. Next after the relatives followed the friends and neighbors of the deceased, two and two; usually a long procession.2
At a signal from the master, always given by the waving of a white handkerchief, four of the bearers - there were always eight of them - took the bier. on their shoulders, the other four taking their positions in front, in readiness to relieve the four bearing the bier, should they become weary under their burden; the pall- bearers - there were usually six - walked by the side of the bier, three on each side, taking hold of the hem of the pall. Arrived at the graveyard, the coffin was deposited in the grave, a few shovelfuls of earth were thrown upon it, - there was none of the modern formal parade then about "dust to dust, ashes to ashes," &c., - the bereaved husband or father, in other cases the officiating clergyman, expressed to the bearers and pall-bearers thanks for the kindly service they had rendered, and the procession returned in the same order to the house. Arriving there, the relatives hav- ing passed in, the pall-bearers and bearers were invited by the master to a room where refreshments in the form of wine, and sometimes other kinds of liquor, were provided ; all freely par- took, and then separated. There was no excess ; a simple glass
1 John Haraden received three dollars, in 1813, " for making a funeral bier." - Town papers.
2 Crosby's Annals.
524
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
sufficed; there was no merriment, but every thing was conducted with the solemnity befitting the occasion.
This custom continued until a public sentiment adverse to the use of intoxicating liquors on any occasion was awakened, and then this came to be looked upon as "a custom more honored in the breach than the observance." In these days, it would be so in conflict with the conventionalities of society that it would hardly be tolerated. Let us not be too harsh in condemnation of our fathers in this particular. In the days when it was regarded as a proper, almost a religious duty, to drink " standing and in silence," to the "Memory of Washington " and to the " Heroes of the Revo- lution," it was but another phase of the same sentiment to drink to the memory of the departed friend and neighbor. At the funeral of a small child, no bier was used, and there were no pall- bearers. A white handkerchief was tied around each end of the little coffin, and it was carried to the grave by four boys, a few years older than the deceased, two walking on each side, each taking hold of one side of the handkerchiefs. It was the uniform custom in those days to toll the bell-where there was one- at the funeral of an adult, while the funeral procession was on its way to the graveyard. The funeral of Andrew Leach, May 7, 1820, was the first at which the bell was tolled here ; 1 and that of Joseph Williamson, Oct. 4, 1854, was the last one.
The first hearse was introduced in 1820 : it cost $125, and was used for thirty years. In 1821, $50 was voted "for building a house twenty by twelve feet, to be divided into two compartments for the hearse and fire engine." It stood on Franklin Street, at the upper end of the custom-house lot, and was sold in 1853. In 1860, a new hearse house was erected in Grove Cemetery by John H. Lanc. It was removed in 1872. A dead-house was built near its site in 1865. The hearse now used was purchased in 1868, for $600.
Up to 1858, no official record of deaths was kept. An ordinance passed in March of that year required the sexton to report annually a list of all deaths, giving the name and age of the deceased, and the disease or immediate cause of the death ; a requisition which has been since complied with.
1 Crosby's Annals.
1
525
NECROLOGY.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
NECROLOGY.
Deaths from First Settlement to 1797. - Record made by Rev. Mr. Price from 1797 to 1804. - Record of Deaths kept by Rev. Alfred Johnson from 1805 to 1814. - Addi- tions from Town Records and Cemeteries. - Imperfect List of Deaths from 1815 to 1820. - Names of all Inhabitants who died between 1820 and 1874, inclusive, aged over Seventy Years, and also of many Prominent Citizens under that Age. - Obitu- ary Notices. - Portrait and Antograph of Nathan Read. - Of Nathaniel Wilson.
T HE first volume of the records of the First Congregational Church contains a record of deaths from Dec. 29, 1796, to April 22, 1804, made by the Rev. Ebenezer Price during his pas- torate here. It is prefaced by the following note : -
Died in the town of Belfast, from its first settlement to Dec. 29,1796 :-
Natural deaths: Persons of adult age 11
Children 15
Drowned : Men 4 Still-born children . 4
34
The names are not given. Only seventeen can be supplied from the town records, from gravestones, and from other sources, as follows : -
1770, Dec. -. John Morrison and Thomas Steele, drowned on their return in a canoe from Fort Pownall.
1777, April 21. David Houston, drowned.
1780, Aug. 14. Mary, daughter Tolford Durham, aged 2 years.
1788, Aug. 10. Margaret, daughter James Patterson, aged 2 years.
1789, Aug. -. Abraham Clark, 1st.
1789, Oct. 5. Martha, daughter of Robert Patterson, aged 7 years.
1790, Jan. 1. Thomas Clark.
526
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
1790, Dec. 12. Elizabeth, wife of Lemuel Weeks.
1791, March 25. Sarah, widow of Abraham Clark, 1st.
1791, Oct. 16. Jenny, daughter of Jacob Ames.
1792, Feb. 28. Jenny, wife of Jacob Ames.
1793, Sept. 3. Nancy, daughter of Ephraim McKeen, aged 2 years.
1794, Jan. 11. James Miller, 1st, aged 82 years; one of the first proprietors. (See Chapter VII. on Pro- prietary History.)
1794, Aug. 24. John, son of William Crooks, 10 days.
1794, Nov. 8. Mrs. Esther Houston.
1795, June 14. John Steele, of Londonderry, aged 84 years.1
Mr. Price's record continues as follows : -
Record from Dec. 29, 1796.
1796, Dec. 28. Charles Reed, son of Thomas and Sally Reed, aged 8 years 1 month and 4 days.
1797, Feb. 19. Nathaniel Patterson, son of Robert, 2d, and Jane Patterson, aged 3 years 9 months and 9 days.
1797, March 27. William McLaughlin, aged about 90 years.
1797, March 30. George Cochran, Jr., aged 16 years.
April 20. Elizabeth Mitchell Wilson,2 aged 4 years 2 months and 10 days.
July 1.8 Mr. Nathaniel French, aged 50 years.
1798, April 1. Ruth, consort of John Brown, Jr., aged 28. Also, their infant, on the 3d inst., aged 7 days.
June 9. Martha Drew McKeen, consort of Isaac McKeen, in child-bed with twins.
July 26. Jonathan Nesmith, aged 26 years and 23 days.
Oct. 27. Widow Mary Miller, aged 75 years and 7 months.4
1799, Jan. 1. John Cochran, aged 57.
April 29. Warren Stephenson, infant son to Caleb and Jennet Stephenson, aged 10 days.
July 30. Esther Bachelder, wife of Captain Benjamin Bachelder, aged 52 years 9 months and 22 days.
1 One of the original proprietors.
2 Daughter of Colonel Jonathan Wilson. - Town records.
8 Town records say August, 1799.
4 Inscription on gravestone says aged seventy-seven. She was the widow of James Miller.
527
NECROLOGY.
1799, Sept. 30. Sally Reed, wife of Jonathan Reed, aged 46 years.
1800, March 8. Margaret Henry Cochran, widow, aged 85 years.
April 4. Polly Gilmore, daughter of John and Peggy Gilmore, aged 3 years and 3 days.
Feb. 26. Isaac Cochran, third son of the widow Annis Cochran and of the late John Cochran, killed at sea in an obstinate battle with the French, on the 26th of February, 1800, in the twenty- second year of his age.
May
3, Wiggin Taylor, drowned in Belfast River, aged 32 years.
Aug. 5. Died at sea, Captain Samuel Eells, aged 41 years.
Aug. 27. James Covil, aged 6 years.
Aug. 31. A child of Mr. Webber, aged 2 years.
Sept. 3. A child of Ephraim McKeen, aged 18 months.
Sept. 6. A daughter of Samuel and Lydia Eells, aged 20 months.
Sept. 18. Benjamin Nesmith, aged 66 years.
Sept. 20. John Eyers, aged 34 years.
Sept. 24. Samuel McKeen, son of Ephraim and - McKeen, aged 5 years.
Oct. 7. Martha Davis, daughter of Mrs. Ann West, aged 5 years and 6 months.
Dec. 14. Elizabeth Gilmore, aged 21 years.1
1801, April 12. John, the son of James and Martha Gray, aged 4 months.
April 14. Peggy, daughter of Robert and Peggy Steele, aged 5 years 9 months.
April 20. Rebekah, wife of John Cochran, 2d, aged 30 years.
May 11. William, son of Robert and Martha Mitchell, aged 10 years.
July 18. Infant child of Wiggins Merrill.
July 31. Child of Jeremiah Crooks, 2 months old.
Aug. 13. Infant child of William Morrill.
Aug. 19. Infant child of Elijah Morrill.
1 In addition to the above, the town records show the following : - 1800, May 7. Esther Hall.
May 10. William W., son of Robert Mitchell, aged 9 years.
Sept. 29. Sally, wife of Jonathan Reed.
528
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
1801, Aug. 22. Infant child of Jonathan Ferguson.
Sept. 1. Infant son of Jonathan Basford.
Dec. 22. Peggy, eldest daughter of Robert the second and Jane Patterson, aged 6 years and 6 months.
1802, Jan. 14. Elizabeth, wife of Starrett Patterson, aged 19 years.
Jan. 26. Captain Thomas McKinley, aged 64.1
March 3. Deacon John Tuft, aged 78 years. (One of the original proprietors. See chapter on first settlement.)
March 18. The widow Griswold Jameson, aged about 98 years.2
March 20. Thomas Jordan, aged 55 years.
April 17. Levi Jackson, Jr., aged 18 years.
April 26. James Butler, aged 26 years.
May 5. Sally, youngest daughter of Nathan Smith, aged 20 months.
May 25. Sally, youngest daughter of Moses Varnum, aged 1 month.
June 1. Drowned in Belfast River, Jason Webber, aged 21 years.
June 2. Salomi Green Varnum, eldest daughter of Moses Varnum, aged 16 years.
June 2. Emily, youngest daughter of Wiggins Merrill, aged 3 years.
June 13. Joseph Clark, son of Abraham Clark, aged 20 years.
June 20. Jacob Clark, son of Abraham Clark, aged 15 years.
June 23. John, eldest son of Dr. John S. Osborn, aged 3} years.
June 28. Infant daughter of Lieutenant Jonathan Wilson.
July 6. Clarissa, daughter of John Huse, aged 3 years.
July 9. Child of Mr. Stanley, aged 18 months.
July 11. Amelia, daughter of Daniel Davis, aged 2 years.
July 14. John, eldest son of Robert and Peggy Steele, aged 5} years.
1 Inscription in Head of the Tide graveyard gives his age 55.
2 Inscription in east graveyard says: "In memory of Mrs. Grizzel Jameson, relict of the late Mr. Martin Jameson, of Pepperrellboro', who died March 18, 1802, aged 96." The wives of James and Nathaniel Patterson were her daughters.
529
NECROLOGY.
1802, July 14. Elizabeth, daughter of Robert and Peggy Steele, aged 9 years.
July 19. James, youngest son of Robert and Peggy Steele, aged 2 years.
July 23. Sarah, daughter of Tolford and Jane Durham, aged 5} years.
July 28. Joshua Tolford, son of Tolford and Jane Dur- ham, aged 3} years.
Aug. 17. Only daughter of Jeremiah Bean, aged 18 months.
Aug. 8. Martha, wife of William Patterson, aged 59 years.
Aug. 14. Peggy, daughter of Major Samuel and Sally Houston, aged 15 years.
Sept. 6. Bohan Prentice, only son of John Merrill, aged 13 months.
Sept. 19. Jonathan Nesmith, only son of the late Jonathan Nesmith, aged 3 years and 9 months.
Sept. 28. Sewall, youngest son of John Brown, Jr., and Sarah his wife, aged 17 months.
Oct. 5. Martin, second son of James and Jane Patterson, who died in the island of Martinico, in August last, aged 23 years.
Oct. 13. Jonathan Peabody, only son of Jonathan Ste- vens, aged 14 months.
Oct. 26. Robert Steele, aged 43 years.
Oct. 30. Jeremiah, youngest son of Samuel Russell, aged 14 months.
Nov. 7. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Lord, aged 20 years.
Sept. 30. Ruth, wife of Jeremiah Hall, aged 23.
Oct. 8. Infant child of Jeremiah and late Ruth Hall, 3 weeks.
(The two last deaths not known till some time after.)
Nov. 15. Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Aaron Hadley, aged 22 months.
Dec. 8. Captain Starrett Patterson, lost overboard in a snow-storm, on Nantucket Shoals, aged 29 years.
Dec. 29. Levi Robinson, aged 24 years.
34
530
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
The last-recorded forty-one deaths 1 have been within the com- pass of the year now concluded.
BELFAST, Dec. 31, 1802.
. Attest : EBENEZER PRICE, Minister of Gospel.
1803, Feb. 26. An infant son of Samuel Peirce, 3 weeks old.
Feb. 27. Isaac, the son of Ephraim McKeen, aged 6 years. March 15. Esther, consort of James Gordon, aged 75 years.
June -. Henry True, drowned in Belfast River, aged -.
June 28. Mary, wife of .James Mansur, aged 31 years.
Sept. 24. Martha, wife of Benjamin Nesmith, aged 33 years.
Sept. 27. Molly, wife of Jerome Stephenson, aged 62 years.
Oct. 31. Oliver Hills, drowned on passage to Boston, aged -.
Oct. 31. Margaret, wife of Oliver Hills, died on passage to Boston, aged 27 years.2
1804, April 6. Robert, infant son of John and Peggy Gilmore, aged 4 days.
April 21. Frederick, son of Thomas and Susanna Cunning- ham, aged 3} years.
BELFAST, April 22, 1804. A record to this date.
Attest : EBEN. PRICE, Clerk of the Church. From Town Records.
1804, Oct. 23. Catherine Tuft.
1805, May 20. Lemuel Weeks, Esq. July 12. John A., son of John Huse, aged 3 years; drowned. From Inscriptions in Cemeteries.
1803, July 7. Captain Jonathan Elwell, aged 63.
1805, Jan. 12. Nathaniel Jameson, aged 8. July 9. Abigail Colburn, aged 3.
The following list of deaths, also contained in the first volume of Church Records, was made in part by Rev. Alfred Johnson :-
1805, Sept. -. Child of Solomon Hamilton.
1806, March -. Child of Mr. Tuft.
March -. Child of Captain Ahner G. McKeen.
1 In addition to above : Jenny, daughter of Robert Patterson, died July 9, aged 4 years. - Town records.
2 See Chapter L. on Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea.
531
NECROLOGY.
1806, April -. (Margaret) child of Isaac Senter.
Aug. 7. William R., infant child of William Beckett.
Sept. 7. Of fever, Mr. Pettingill, from Newport, N. H.
Oct. 5. Fever, Mr. Rice, from New Andover, middle age.
Oct. 7. Killed, Mr. Patten, by the fall of a tree.
Nov. 11. Of the fever, Ashel Goddard, aged 29 years.
1807, April -. George, son of George Hopkins, aged 5 years.
March -. Son of Benjamin Ellenwood.
Feb. -. Solon Stephenson, of a fever, aged 73.
May
-. Stephen Leavensaller, middle-aged.
Feb. 7.
Phebe Grinnell, aged 20 years, daughter of Wil- liam Grinnell.
Feb. 14. Simeon Grinnell, aged 14 years, son of William Grinnell.
Elisha Brown. Wife and child of John Hodgdon.
July 21. Theodore, child of John Russ, aged 1 year.
Nov. -. Betsey Johnson, daughter of Daniel. Johnson, aged 2 years.
Dec. -. Sally Marble.
Aug. -. Benjamin Covel, aged about 17, and Benjamin Webster, aged about 15, died both same day on board with Captain R. Patterson, on pas- sage from the West Indies.
1808,1 June -. Solomon Rice, of Charlemont, Mass., drowned in the bay.
Aug. Child of Jonathan Thurston, still-born.
Sept. -. Mr. John Evans, aged about 25 years.
Oct. - Widow Nichols.2
Sept. 18. Chadbourn, child of Caleb Smith, aged 3 years.
Nov. 1. Phebe, child of Solomon Hamilton, aged 6 years.
Dec. 18. A child of Joseph Hinkson.
1809,
-. A child of Captain James Poor. A child of Mr. Templeton.
Nov. 1. Betsey, infant child of Solomon Hamilton.
1 During this year, two citizens, Daniel Mclaughlin and Nathan Smith, died abroad : the former in Savannah, and the latter in New Orleans. A gravestone in the cemetery at South Belfast records the death of Mercy Fletcher, Oct. 23, 1808, aged sixty-four years.
2 Probably Mrs. Prudence Nichols.
532
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
1809, Nov. 28. Lieutenant James Gilmore, an old Revolutionary soldier.
1810.1 The widow Mary Brown, aged about 90 years, old age.
Lucinda Miller, aged 20 years, consumption. A child of Samuel W. Miller.
May 8. Mr. Jonathan Ferguson, fever. Mr. William Patterson, fever. A child of Stetson West.
A son of Mr. Abram Clark, aged 15 years, lock- jaw.
A son of Mr. Simeon Taylor, aged 9 years, con- sumption.
An infant child of Oakes Angier.
June -. Mr. James Walls, drowned, aged 35 years.
Mrs. Foster, wife of Nathan B. Foster, con- sumption.
An infant child of Benjamin Davis. Mr. Nathan Smith, died at sea - during the last Mr. Daniel Mclaughlin 2,, year.
Captain Samuel Davis "
Dec. -. Mrs. Spring, wife of Mr. Thaddeus Spring, aged 68, consumption.
Mr. Dexter, a stranger, of a fever, aged 45.
1811, Jan. 12. John Ward Ricord, aged 19 years, suffocated in the cabin of the brig "Three Friends," Captain Lymburner, by a pot of coal burn- ing in the newly painted cabin.
Jan. 15. Mrs. Jane McKeen, aged 75 years, quick con- sumption ; wife of Deacon Samuel McKeen. Doctor Edward Cremer, in the Island of Ja- maica, in August last.
Feb. - The two children of Isaac McKeen, aged 4 and 7 years, of the hydrocephalus.
Harriet Lavinia, aged 5 years, daughter of John Angier, quinsy.
Henry, aged 4 years, son of Captain Benjamin Young, scalded.
1 From inscriptions in Grove Cemetery : - 1810, Sept. 25. Elizabeth Hall, 1 month. 1810, July 31. Susan Foster, aged 29.
2 But see 1808.
533
NECROLOGY.
1811, March 4. James Nesmith, Esq., aged 47 years.1
Miss Esther Monroe, of Lexington, burnt by her clothes taking fire, aged 18 years. - Perry, of Wardsboro', Vt., of putrid fever, aged 19 years.
Sept. 29. Miss Eliza Sparhawk, of Boston, of fever, aged 22 years. Child of Moses Whittaker.
Nov. 15. Luther Wright, of Pepperrell, of bilious fever. William Smith, son of Caleb Smith, died of the small-pox, in Scotland, aged 22 years.
Otis Patterson, died in Boston in May, 1810, of the nervous fever, aged 29 years.2
1812, Sept. 1. Mrs. Mehetabel Huse, wife of John Huse, con- sumption, aged 39.
Widow Elwell.
Nov. 6. Mary Ann, child of John Moor, aged 5 years. Mrs. Kimball, wife of Captain Solomon Kimball.
Dec.
1812.8
31. Child of Jonathan Pitcher. Child of Oakes Angier.
April
4. Child of William Crosby, Esq.4 Old Mr. James Gordon, by a fall from a horse, aged 86.
March 30. Esther Davis, aged 25 years. Patty Stanley, aged 15 years.
1 He was one of the most prominent and worthy members of this little community, and his death was deeply deplored. He had been for many years the only Notary Pub- lic, and was emphatically the magistrate of the place ; the one before whom all actions within the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace were brought. He possessed in a re- markable degree the confidence of the entire community, and his decisions were almost uniformly acquiesced in. He was the first one who opened a store in town for the sale of merchandise. He was for several years postmaster, and was succeeded by Thomas Whittier, Esq. He was the father of James Nesmith, of the old firm of Nesmith & Leeds, formerly doing an extensive business in New York, well known to our merchants and ship-owners of twenty years ago. - Crosby's Annals.
2 He studied law with Judge Crosby, had just been admitted to the bar, and visited Boston to purchase a law library.
8 Additional (from town records) : -
1812, Jan. 7. Gilman, son of Samuel Dillaway, aged 6 years. Jan. 15. Anna, wife of Samuel Dillaway.
March 18. Charles H., infant son of John Moor, aged 1 year.
4 Town records say : April 4, 1813, Ann Field Crosby, aged 6 months.
534
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
1812, Nov. 4. Benjamin Poor, Esq., aged 53 1 years. He came from Andover, and settled at Poor's Mills. Child of Thomas Houston, aged 8 years.
1813, Oct. -. Two children of Bohan P. Field, Esq., aged 19 months and 14 days.2
Wife of Abner G. McKeen.
June -. Ezekiel Peirce.
Widow of Solon Stephenson, aged 74 (or 84) years.
Nov. 4. Child of Nathan Swan (Benjamin P., aged 9 months).
Nov. 25. John West, son of Stetson West, aged 17 years. Mr. Bragdon, of the U. S. army, of a fever.
Dec. -. John Hartshorn. (The record & of Mr. Johnson ends here.)
The following imperfect list of deaths from 1815 to 1819, inclu- sive, is compiled from the town records, and from gravestone inscriptions : -
1815, March 25. At Gibraltar, Captain John Lymburner, aged 42.
March 25. Alice Searle, aged 29 years.
April 5. Mrs. Maria A., wife of William White.
April 10. In Searsmont, Thomas Whittier, postmaster of Belfast from 1810 to 1813, and representa- tive to the Legislature from here in 1807, 1810, and 1811, aged 54 years.
April 25. Martha, daughter of Robert Steele, aged 24 years.
June 16. George, infant son of Luther Gannett.
July 27. Robert Moore.
William Lowney, aged 76 years, a native of Ireland. He came here from Monmouth, and was a schoolmaster. He was educated at Dublin University.
1 Inscription on gravestone gives his age as fifty-two, and the date Aug. 30.
2 Town records say : Oct. 1, 1813, Abigail Eleanor Field, b. March 2, 1812. Oct. 7, 1813, Ehenezer Wright Field, b. Sept. 23, 1813.
& From inscriptions in cemetery : -
1813, Dec. 26. Elizabeth McFarland, aged 38.
Sept. 15. Martha Houston, aged 7 years.
535
NECROLOGY.
1816, March 10. James, son of James Patterson, aged 29 years. Aug. 15. Thomas P., son of Joseph Hoit, aged 2 years.
Sept. 1. Judith, daughter of Zenas Stephenson, aged 1 year. Dec. Francis Anderson, merchant, aged 39 years.
Benjamin Palmer, a merchant here since 1804, aged about 45 years. He was a native of Bremen, and resided in Camden before com- ing here. Charles Palmer is his son,
1817, April 4. Patrick Gilbreth, aged 78 years.
19. Margaret, twin child of Francis Stephenson.
May 13. John Brown, one of the proprietors, aged 86 years. (See Chapter VII. on Proprietary History.)
July 5. Catherine A., daughter of Elijah Torrey, aged 1 year.
1818, July 11. Sarah M., infant of Manasseh Sleeper.
Aug. 7. Samuel, infant of Samuel Spring.
Dec.
13. Lemuel Gilbert, aged 28 years.
1819, Feb. 8. Samuel Houston, one of the first proprietors, aged 92 years. (See Chapter VII. on Pro- prietary History.)
19. Dr. Charles Hall, aged about 40 years. (See Chapter XXVIII. on Physicians.)
May Julia, infant child of Samuel Burkmar.
July 26. Mrs. Abigail, wife of Jonas Emery, aged 22 years.
The following list comprises the names of all inhabitants over the age of seventy years, who died between 1820 and 1874, inclu- sive, as shown by the town records, by newspapers, and by inscrip- tions in the cemeteries, and also of many prominent citizens under that age, whose deaths occurred during the same period : -
1820, May
7. Andrew Leach, aged 67 years. He was born in Glencoe, Scotland, Feb. 8, 1753, and came here to reside in 1805. The building at the corner of Church and Market Streets, known as the Leach house, was erected by him, and for several years occupied as his store and dwelling. One of his daughters married Hon. John Wilson, and another George Watson. Andrew Leach, late of Searsport, was his son.
536
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
1820, Sept. 7. Widow Knowlton, aged 70 years.
Sept. 20. John Huse, aged 49 years. He came here to reside in 1800. He was a house carpenter by trade, and held various public offices. From 1815 to his decease, he kept a hotel at the corner of Main and High Streets. He was a man of commanding presence, of rather brusque manner, of quick wit, and was a general favorite.1
Sept. -. Jerome Stephenson, aged 82 years, one of the first selectmen after the Revolution. For some length of time he kept a tavern on the eastern side of the river.
Dec. 28. Mrs. Hannah, wife of Alexander Clark, aged 76 years.
11. Widow Anna McCrillis, aged 71 years.
1821, Jan. May 1. At sea, on board brig " Rambler," on the pas- sage from Havana Capt. Phineas Kellam, mer- chant, of the firm of Kellam & Ryan.
July 25. Laughlin McDonald, a native of Scotland. His age, not definitely ascertained, was supposed by many circumstances related by him to have exceeded one hundred years.2 He re- membered to have seen the Duke of Marlborough, who died ninety-nine years before him. He entered the British army when a boy, and belonged to the Scotch regi- ment, which Lord Loudon, in 1757, attempted to billet upon Boston, and which the next year participated in the capture of Louisburg. He was near Wolfe, when he fell at the memorable
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