USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Leeds > History of the town of Leeds, Androscoggin County, Maine, from its settlement June 10, 1780 > Part 4
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May 20, 1826, Capt. Samuel3 was thrown from his team, his neck broken, causing instant death. He was buried in the Lothrop cemetery at Leeds Center. His widow died at the home of her eldest son, in Fond-du-lac, Wis., Jan. 21, 1858, and buried in that state.
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HISTORY OF LEEDS
John3, the sixth child of Thomas2, was born Sept. 13, 1779. He, too, was a sea-faring man and was buried in a sailor's grave ; but there is no available date of when. He was young and unmarried.
Rebecca3, the seventh child of Thomas2, was born in Leeds,. Dec. II, 1780. She was "The babe in the woods"-the first white child born in Leeds. Her name must have been selected with the full knowledge of its significance-she was truly an enchanting beauty! In 1799 she married Capt. Phineus Foss, who was born in Saco, Feb. 10, 1772, and settled near the Foss corner, at North Leeds. They had issue, John4, b. Oct. 10, 1800; Harriet+, b. Aug. 14, 1802; Allura4, b. Feb. 5, 1805; Alvin4, b. Apr. 6, 1807 ; Eliza4, b. June 13, 1809; Loring4, b. June 18, 1812, and Phineus+, b. Jan. 8, 1814.
Capt. Phineus Foss died April 14, 1814, and Rebecca3, his widow, Mar. 3, 1869. Their place of burial is in the cemetery beside Dead River, near where the middle bridge formerly crossed it, but long since removed and gone.
Nov. 18, 1791, Sarah Paul, nee True, wife of Thomas2 Stinch- field, died, and was buried on the top of a small hill, about thirty rods westerly from the buildings now occupied by Isaac S. Carver. That site was selected for its seclusion and beauty. From its summit, in the foreground, is spread the placid, charming waters. of the lake-the gracefully encircling meadow land of Stinchfield cove ; in the distance, rising high above the eastern shore, towers. Morrison's Heights, wrapped, near and far, in endless, unbroken chains, from which Nature's most beautiful pictures are suspend- ed; while the background, gently sloping to the smooth, winding waters of Dead River, around which so many fond remembrances. cluster, is lost in the wooded, abruptly rising ridge of land from a narrow intervale extending along the opposite shore. A beau- tiful spot, selected with an artistic eye as a fitting resting-place of the dead! The second wife of Thomas2 Stinchfield was Hannah, a daughter of Thomas Lindsey, who came to Leeds in 1797, set- tled on Bishop Hill, and was drowned in Androscoggin Great Pond, Dec. 25, 1802. She was born in 1752. The fruit of this marriage was one child, Hannah, b. Dec. 4, 1793. She married Elezer Carver, April 7, 1816, and settled near Dead River, about one mile northerly from the home of her youth. They had issue Betsey4, b. Nov. 8, 1816; Jason4, b. April 13, 1818; Mary Ann4, b. Aug. 27, 1819; Thomas S.4, b. Mar. 29, 1821 ; Arvilla A.4, b. July 17, 1822 ; Hannah4, b. Dec. 12, 1824, Mary4, b. Dec. 12, 1824, (twins) ; Nancy4 b. Dec. 12, 1825; Alice4, b. Mar. 19, 1827; Isaac S.4, b. May 20, 1829 ; John4, b. June 22, 1830, and James4, b. Mar. 15, 1834.
Elezer Carver died Dec. 4, 1856, and Hannah3, his widow, Jan. 18, 1872. They were buried in the cemetery at North Leeds, sometimes denominated "The Robert Gould cemetery."
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HISTORY OF LEEDS
The Stinchfields were a people of fine physique, of medium stature, full, round chests, broad shoulders, excessive muscular powers, and nerves of the spring-tempered-steel kind. They were a hardy, healthy people, endowed with longevity. Yet the hard- ships and feats of endurance they experienced, incident to the set- tlement of a new country, bore its fruits in succeeding genera- tions and in some of the branches, early decay and death has been the sad result. Asking the indulgence of the reader we here digress for the purpose of relating an incident that occurred in the life of Thomas2 Stinchfield-which to the incredulous may mean little-showing the wonderful nerve-power and decision he possessed,-a feature common in the family, and probably in other early families, as well. In the late fall of 1825, when the employ- ment of horse-power in threshing grain was in its infancy, a machine was being operated in his barn. Although Thomas2 was then seventy-eight years old, he was the motive-power of all par- ties of workmen of which he was a member. He stood before the beater of the machine and fed it with unthreshed grain. By some means, a hand was caught by the teeth of the rapidly revolving beater and drawn into the meshes, literally tearing it in shreds, and tenaciously seeking more to devour. But for an active brain, quick thought and Herculean strength, the whole arm would have been drawn in and masticated. Messengers were dispatched to Leeds Centre and Wayne village for Doctors Thomas Bridg- ham and Thomas Brigham. As was his custom, Dr. Brig- ham had imbibed freely of the ardent, and when, if ever, uninfluenced by it, made little pretension in surgery. Neither of them possessed surgical instrument more than a knife and dull, rusty saw. Thus equipped, they stripped for business. A table and ropes were ordered, on, and with which to bind the unfortu- nate patient. Opiates, in such cases, were then unheard of, but stimulants were freely given. Many of the sympathetic relatives, friends and neighbors had gathered to render any possible aid, among them a young man of twenty-one years-a favorite grand- son, Isaac+ Stinchfield. When the order of the doctors was given for brandy, table and ropes to be brought in, it was promptly countermanded by the patient with unmistakable emphasis. "I will neither be bound nor drunken! It is essential for someone to know what is being done." Turning to the grandson, who stood beside him, he said, "Isaac, you may stand here and if I can't hold my arm steadily, you can take hold and support it." He extended it and told the doctors to begin. Neither protest, persuasion nor threat availed anything-all knew he said what he meant and he meant what he said. It was a long, tedious opera- tion, but not a muscle was seen to move, nor a word uttered by him, while carefully watching the bungling performance, until the old saw entered the marrow, then, casting his eyes aside, he said,
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"Isaac+, that is a little tough." Such fortitude is seldom dis- played !
In after years he wielded with agility the axe and hoe, single- handed, and did much that another-a younger man-should have done. He died Oct. 25, 1837, where he had lived fifty-seven years, at the advanced age of ninety. His final resting-place, beside the wife of his youth, remains unmarked, his epitaph unwritten. That he, whose moral and financial duty it was to erect a fitting memorial at the grave of Leeds' first adopted son, should have failed that honor, is inexcusable. His second wife died Jan. 12, 1839, and was placed beside him. This memorable spot, where the remains of the pioneer are reposing, is seldom visited. It is the few, even, of the present generation, who have the knowledge of its location. With the passing of future gen- erations it will be forgotten and lost to man ; but ever fresh in the memory of Him "Who knoweth all things."
Of the family of James Stinchfield3 and his wife, Hannah Pet- tengill, John+, their eldest son, remained single. He and his brother Isaac+, settled on a portion of the land taken up by their grandfather, Thomas2. Their buildings were erected on the east side of the first wrought road in the town,-that from Portland to Farmington,-about one and one-half miles northerly from the railroad and county-road bridges which span Dead River. After the death of his father, he returned to his parent home and cared for his aged mother. He was a man of unquestionable character, respected by all his acquaintances, and beloved by the children for whom he always had a kindly greeting and a feast of sweetmeats. He died Nov. 2, 1871, and his remains were laid beside those of his parents. His memory will live on until this generation shall have passed to the "Great unknown."
Isaac+, the second child of James3 married, Sept. 18, 1833, Abigail L., the eldest daughter of Charles Knapp and his wife, Catherine Lindsay. The place of their settlement has been described in the preceding Art. To this farm he subsequently added the entire cape north of Dead River. As a boy in school, he led his classes and obtained a very liberal common school edu- cation .* When he reached the age of manhood he went to Massachusetts, and for seven years was in the employ of Oliver Ames, of shovel fame, whose plant was on the Taunton River at a place which bore the Indian name of Squaw-Betty. After his return he married, reared a family of nine children and devoted
*School-books were then very few and grammar but little taught. He obtained the loan of one for three days. In the afternoon of the third day the teacher deputed an older scholar to hear his recitation. In the course of time the teacher became much interested and his attention was divided, and at the close asked : "How far did he go?" "From one cover to the other." The book was Murray's Grammar.
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HISTORY OF LEEDS
the remainder of his life to farming. He was a man of ability and his word or veracity was never in question. The records of Androscoggin County Court of Probate are evidence of his efficiency in the settlement of estates. A prominent feature of his life was, as that of his wife, the education and training of the children, that they might make useful and respectable citizens, wherever their lot might fall. Their eldest child, Isaac5, was born in Leeds, Oct. 29, 1836. At the age of seventeen he was a teacher in the schools of the neighboring town of Wayne. Subse- quently he was an omnibus driver in Boston. Like many of the earlier members of the family, he fancied the sea, and returning from a voyage to the West Indies he made a voyage of the world. In the early summer of 1858 he went to California, and Sept. 8, 1860, he died in Oakland, in that state, of black diphtheria. There his remains were buried. At the time of his death he was less than twenty-four years of age and unmarried.
Thomas Jefferson5, their second child, was born in Leeds April 6, 1838. He taught several terms of schools and later engaged in the grocery business on Washington Street, Boston. By close application and honest dealing he acquired a competency, but too close confinement and overwork had its destroying effect, and a long-neglected cold terminated in consumption, of which he died, at his boyhood home in Leeds, May 24, 1867. He, too, was unmarried.
Charles Knapp", the third child of Isaac4, was born in Leeds February 26, 1840. His boyhood days were spent on the farm, which was a portion of the first land owned by a white resident of the town, and until recently has been occupied by members of the Stinchfield family. He began his education in the old school- house that formerly stood in the sands of Beech Hill, near the dwelling of the late H. J. Ridley, in Wayne. From this school- house many teachers and several persons of more or less emi- nence have been sent out. From there he went to Towle Acad- emy, in the town of Winthrop, where he was first in his classes, under the tuition of Professor C. K. Hutchins, who was reared and educated by Charles Knapp, of Leeds. He next went to "Maine State Seminary," in Lewiston, where he completed his preparatory course. During this time the winter months found him imparting to others his attainments in the capacity of teacher, from which source he derived the necessary funds to enable him to continue his studies. He graduated from the Medical Depart- ment of Bowdoin College in the Class of 1865, from which he received the degree of M.D. From there he went to New York City where he availed himself of the advantages in the clinics at Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He established himself in an extensive and lucrative practice in the city. While there he had a severe attack of pneumonia, which resulted in the entire loss
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HISTORY OF LEEDS
of the use of his right lung. He returned to his old home where, after a hard fight with the effects of this malady, he partially recuperated. Having the use of but one lung, the city air with its impurities was avoided. By earnest request of his many friends to locate near home, he was induced to make his residence, if but temporary, in Wayne. He went there in 1870, and practiced when his health would admit. He was always deeply interested in the cause of education. He was supervisor of schools in that town in 1872 and 1873, the duties of which office he discharged with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the townsmen. His ambition merited a much stronger physique. He was often restrained from carrying into effect many things that would have been of interest and benefit to the people had he not been handicappd by this malady, which was a source of great sorrow and suffering. In the winter of 1874-5, he contracted a severe cold, terminating in the consumption of the remaining lung, and he died at his parents' home, April 1, 1875. He was buried in the family lot in the cem- etery which he passed and re-passed in going to and from the old school-house, in and around which cluster many fond remem- brances of the boyhood school days of the writer. He, like his older brothers, was never married.
John Clark5, the fourth child of Isaac4, was born in Leeds November 3, 1843. From the district and high schools of Wayne he took a course at Towle Academy. Impaired health, which has changed the life course and blighted the ambition of many a school-boy, is here assigned as a reason for retiring from the school-room to the more active and out-of-door labors of life. During his school days he was a teacher in the schools of his native and neighboring towns, initiated at the age of sixteen in the little white school-house in the Additon district in Leeds. July 4, 1863, he married Catherine H., the youngest daughter of Charles Graves and his wife, Paulina Ridley, of Wayne, born November 19, 1844. He became a resident of Wayne July 5, 1863. They had issue Minnie Etta6, born in Wayne, January 1, 1868, and Roger6, born in Wayne, January 2, 1876. They became residents of Wayne village, May 8, 1868. Ten years later, January 7, 1878, his wife died. June 13, 1886, he married Henrietta, the youngest daughter of Stillman L. Howard, Esq. She was born in Leeds, December 7, 1853. They have one son, Allen Howard6, born May 8, 1888. Minnie Etta6 married H. S. Sleeper, M.D., of Lewiston, Dec. 15, 1897, and resides in that city. From 1868 to March 20, 1890, he was engaged in buying and selling cattle, horses, and sheep; at the same time shipping to the Boston mar- ket and retailing meats, etc., since which time he has been engaged in hotel business at Wayne village, making a specialty of enter- taining summer guests. He is the present proprietor of the Pocasset House in that town. His name in the list of civil officers
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of Wayne is of frequent occurrence. In the discharge of public duties he is conscientious and systematic. He is interested in the cause of education, the advancement of young people to positions of responsibility and trust, the progress and improvement of the town, the development of its industries and natural resources, prominent in the societies and corporations with which he is con- nected, and careful and particular in the discharge of the duties imposed on him.
Rose Ellen3, the fifth child of Isaac4, was born in Leeds, December 6, 1845. She married Joseph G., the only son of William Gott and his wife, Ruth Gould, January 3, 1862. They settled at North Leeds. Subsequently they purchased the first farm taken up in the town, that of her great-grandfather, Thomas2. Mr. Gott's name is familiar to the people of Leeds, who repeatedly placed him on their list of civil officers and selected him to represent them in the State Legislature. Their present residence is Monmouth. They have two children (lost a son of great promise), viz .: Ida Lorena6, born in Leeds Feb. 24, 1863, and Winifred A.6, born in Monmouth July 17, 1880. Ida L.6 married Harry H. Cochrane June 9, 1887, who was born in Augusta April 6, 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Cochrane have a daughter, Lorena7, born in Monmouth March 2, 1888, who is the only descendant of Isaac Stinchfield+ in her generation.
Abbie Lovina5, the sixth child of Isaac+, was born in Leeds January 3, 1848. She was a teacher in the schools of Wayne. In that town she married Jason M. Ridley March 16, 1865. A few years they resided in Leeds in the employ of her parents. December 15, 1867, to them was born a son, Charles Adelbert6. On May 8, 1868, they settled in Wayne village, where they resided for years, when they removed to Oakland where he engaged in the manufacture of shovel handles. After years of lingering dis- ease she died in that town. Her remains were carried to Wayne and buried in the village cemetery. Her husband and son continue their residence in Oakland, and in connection with their former business the son is a successful dry and fancy goods merchant in that town and commands the respect and esteem of a large circle of acquaintances.
Sewall Wallace5, the seventh child of Isaacª, was born in Leeds May 10, 1850. Educated in the district school, he learned the trade of masonry. He became skilled in his work and several fine structures in the cities of New England have been erected under his supervision. In later years he was a contractor and builder in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Over- exertion and care caused decline, and returning to Maine he died in Monmouth February 22, 1899. His remains were buried in the village cemetery in Wayne. His widow, Jennie S. (Teague) Stinchfield, born in Mt. Vernon, July 4, 1854, is a proprietor and
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HISTORY OF LEEDS
resident in Wayne village. They had a son, Guy C., born in Leeds November 29, 1873.
George Swain5, the youngest son of Isaac+, was born in Leeds November 25, 1852. He was educated and a teacher of great promise. His was the exemplary life of a young man beloved by every one within his circle of acquaintances. Conscientious, strictly honest, ambitious, cordial, and moderately dignified, he was a born leader, and his memory is widely and lovingly cher- ished. Nov. 14, 1877, by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of a workman he was mortally wounded, from the effects of which he lived but a few hours. This, the fourth death of sons grown to manhood, he on whom they depended to care for them in their declining years, was a sad blow to his parents, one of whom, the father, survived but a few weeks. Accompa- nied to his last resting place by a large concourse of relatives and sympathetic friends, his remains were deposited in a flower- decked grave in the family lot in the cemetery where many of his people are reposing.
Ella Frances5, the youngest child of Isaac4, was born in Leeds Nov. 1, 1856. She was well educated and fitted herself for a teacher. Not unlike others she changed her mind, and Sept. 29, 1878, married Charles K. Leadbetter. Her married life was not so desirable and pleasant as that of her childhood, and with tear- drops of pity we note her death, which occurred in Wayne vil- lage, June, 1889. She was buried in her parents' lot, beside her brothers. She left two beautiful daughters and a son, Rena May6, born in Leeds Oct. 10, 1879, whose home has been with Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Cochrane ; Shirley Francis6, born in Leeds Oct. 27, 1881, who has been with his great-aunt, Mrs. Hannah L. Pollard; and Verner Fay, born in Leeds July 19, 1884.
Isaac Stinchfield4 died in Leeds Jan. 9, 1878, and his widow, born in Leeds March 3, 1814, died in Wayne village, October 6, 1884.
Polly4, the third child of James8, married in Leeds, Dec. II, 1823, Elijah Gott, born in Greene Feb. 1, 1797. They settled on the Lake road in Wayne, near the line which divides that town from Leeds. She was a kind neighbor, model housekeeper, indul- gent mother and beloved by all with whom she associated. They had issue Elvira S.5, born in Wayne April 22, 1825, and Mary Ann5, born Feb. 16, 1827, both of whom were teachers in the schools of their native town. Elvira S. married John P. Snow Oct. 3, 1852, who was born Nov. 22, 1814. To them were born, in Winthrop, Murietta Edora®, April 8, 1855, and Elbert®, Aug. 28, 1858. John P. Snow died Nov. 19, 1861, and Elvira S. died March 19, 1886. They were buried in Wayne.
Mary Ann5 married, in Boston, Lucius Clark Leadbetter, March 5, 1852, who was born in Wayne Dec. 30, 1825. They 3
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HISTORY OF LEEDS
settled in Wayne on the farm 'formerly owned by her father, and subsequently on the Asa Foss farm where they now reside. To them were born four children, viz .: Freddie Clark6, March 14, 1854, died Sept. 17, 1857 ; Nellie Ann6, b. June 19, 1858, married Ulmer P. Francis April 27, 1882; Arthur Clark6, b. Aug. 17, 1860, married Grace Turner in September, 1892; and Charles Frederic, b. Nov 14, 1866.
Elijah Gott died in Wayne June 22, 1875, and Polly4, his widow, May 25, 1890. They were buried in Wayne in the ceme- tery near the dwelling of the late Jared Knapp.
James4, the fourth child of James3, married Clarissa, a daughter of Rufus Gould, Feb. 1, 1839, who was born in Liver- more April 30, 1819. He built the brick house now standing on the lake road, in Leeds, northerly from Dead River bridges, in 1838, and settled there at the time of his marriage. To them, in this town, were born Eliza Ann5, Dec. 2, 1839; Levi G., Dec. 4, 1841 ; James H., April 28, 1845, died June 1, 1846; Dora M., b. in Wayne July 25, 1847; Henry W., Jan. 18, 1852; and Evelyn P., March 25, 1857. In 1846 he sold his place in Leeds, erected a house in Wayne village, to which he removed his family. His children were all educated, some of whom were succesful teachers. Eliza Ann5, married A. R. Dickinson, a teacher of notoriety, Aug. 10, 1859. At a later date they settled in South Braintree, Mass., where she died July 17, 1892, and Mr. Dickinson Aug. 29, 1899.
Levi G.5, the second child of James4, went to California when twenty-one years of age, where he married and reared a large family.
Dora M.5 remained at home, kept her father's house and cared for him in his declining years. After his decease she went to her sister in Massachusetts and continued her family obligations in caring for her during the time of her sickness; since which, she resides with a younger sister. She is a maiden lady closely endeared to her relatives and friends.
Henry W.5, the fifth child of James4, left home early and was engaged in mill business. He returned later to aid in the care of his father and farm duties, where he remained until his father's death. He married Lizzie .- -, had one daughter, and subse- quently removed to California where he now resides.
Evelyn P.5, the youngest child of James4, was a beautiful child, an accomplished young lady, and is a model housewife. Feb. 5, 1891, she married George L. Duckworth, who was born in Bridge- water, Mass., Aug. 23, 1856. Theirs is a pleasant and happy home in South Braintree, Mass.
Clarissa, the wife of James Stinchfield4, died in Wayne Oct. IO, 1874, and he Dec. 21, 1887. They were buried with their kinfolks in the western part of Wayne.
HISTORY OF LEEDS
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Elvira+, the fourth child of James3, has already received men- tion.
Joel+, the fifth child, married Frances Dolly, March 8, 1847, who was born in Jay April 21, 1833, in which town they settled. To them were born Elmira5, June 19, 1849; Eliza J., March 4, 1852; Lucinda, Jan. 17, 1854; Alluva H., Nov. 24, 1858; John Allen, Sept. 18, 1862 ; F. Carabelle, Feb. 9, 1867; Fred E., Feb. 7, 1870, and Charles A., June 5, 1872.
Joel4 died in Jay Sept. 12, 1888. His widow resides at Liver- more Falls.
Thomas4, the next in the list of children of James3, married Elizabeth Gray, a descendant of one of the first setlers of Mon- mouth, who was born in that town Oct. 31, 1817. They settled in East Livermore where they spent most of their married life. To them were born ten children, many of whom died in childhood (one only remaining), viz. : John Allen5, July 8, 1840; Almira C. Jan. 3, 1844 ; Ann Eliza, Oct. 31, 1845 ; Ann Eliza, Nov. 17, 1848; Emma J., Oct. 10, 1850; Christiana B., Sept. 18, 1852; Florence E., Jan. 7, 1855 ; Hannah E., July 15, 1857; John Allen, June 15, 1859; Thomas S., Aug. 17, 1852.
Thomas+ died in East Livermore Sept. 1, 1863, and his widow in Wayne Dec. 20, 1878. They were buried in Wayne, with their people.
Hannah4, the eighth child of James3, married Greenwood C. Gordon, Oct. 4, 1840, who was born Feb. 7, 1815, and settled first in East Livermore, later in Wayne, and finally in Leeds where they now reside-an aged and much respected couple. Their children are Hezekiah S.5, born in East Livermore Dec. 21, 1842; John Allen5, b. in Wayne June 12, 1846; Henry G.5, b. in Wayne April 19, 1848, and Viola H.5, b. in Leeds Oct. 16, 1851.
Hezekiah S.5 married Phebe Jane, a daughter of Charles Gor- don. They have issue Costello D.6, b. in Leeds Oct. 25, 1868; Josephine E., b. in Leeds Sept. II, 1870, and Irving, b. in Mon- mouth Jan. 23, 1874.
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