USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Wayne > History of the town of Wayne, Kennebec County, Maine, from its settlement to 1898 > Part 4
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Nathaniel Wing, a brother of Simeon, did not come to Wayne, but had three daughters, two of whom settled in Wayne. viz. : De- liverance, who married Obed Wing, a cousin of the third generation, and lived on the place known as the Obed Wing place, now owned by Mr. Coolidge. They hat two sons, Obed, Jr., and Alphens. Fear, daughter of Nathaniel, married Benjamin Burgess.
David Manter was born Nov. 12, 1763. He came to New Sand- wich from Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, about 1786. He married Kesiah Robbins of Walpole, Mass. He settled on the farm now owned by A. N. Manter, his great grandson. His sons were Daniel, George and David (twins), Freeman, Silas, Eliphalet, Eleazer, Elias and Ezra. His daughters were Mary and Catherine. David died in 1820 and Silas succeeded him on the homestead. He
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married Sarah Brown, and the children were Freeman, Mary Jane, Silas Albert and Sarah Emeline. Silas died Aug. 23, 1875. Silas Albert remained on the farm. He married Atice A. Pettingill and their children were Albert Nelson. Arthur Wilson, Sewall Pettin- gill, Charles Grant, George Lucius, Ellis Allen and Flora May. Silas Albert died Dec. 28, 1875. Albert Nelson now owns and occupies the farm.
The lot was wisely selected by the pioneer settler. The successive owners have been noted for their industry and good management as the productive fields, thrifty orchards and substantial farm buildings abundantly prove.
William Frost came to Wayne not far from 1800. He married Betsey Billington. He settled on the place now owned by James Gordon. He had sons Samuel W., Sewall, Willard. Isaac, William, David B., Sears, Jairus and Nathaniel B. His daughters were Lucy. Rebecca and Betsey R. Captain Samnel W., married Parin- tha Wing. He settled on the farm now owned and occupied by his son-in-law, L. S. Maxim who married their only child, Roxanna P. Sewall married Charlotte Gage and settled on the Job Fuller farm. He cared for that hardy pioneer in his old age. Willard and William removed to Milo. Isaae married Nancy Wing and settled where W. B. Frost now lives, but subsequently exchanged it for the homestead where he died. His widow, Mrs. Naney Frost is now living with her daughter, Mrs. L. W. Fillebrown of Piqua, Ohio, at the advanced age of 95 years. David removed to Lisbon. Sears married Attai Lovejoy. He removed to Burnham, but returned and spent his last days on the Lovejoy homestead where he and his wife died. Jairns removed to Boston, Mass. Nathaniel B. married Julia A. Macomber and lived on the homestead till he and his brother exchanged farms, about 1850. Lucy married Isaac Pettin- gill, Rebecca died young. Betsey married Stephen Dexter. Of this large family of moral, industrious and prosperous people, only one, Nathaniel B., remains. He is 80 years old, remarkably well preserved in mind and body. IIe has held many places of trust and honor. His wife died Feb. 4, 1893. He now lives with his only son, W. B. Frost, who is a successful farmer.
Three brothers by the name of True came to this town from Litchfield in the early part of the present century. They were of the seventh generation from Henry True of Yorkshire, England, who. came to Salem, Mass., about the year 1630. Daniel came in 1810, and John and William a few years later. Being but ten years
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CAPT. SAMUEL W. FROST.
MRS. SAMUEL W. FROST.
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old, he lived with his sister, Mrs. Love Roberts. He settled on the place now owned by Norton Webster. IIe removed to the Bourne farm, now occupied by B. F. Maxim in 1854. He came to Wayne village in 1887, where he died the following year. He was the father of eight children ; three sons and five daughters. Two are now living. Mrs. Sarah R. Ridley and Mrs. Julia Bishop both of this town. John settled on the line between this town and Fayette, on the place now ocenpied by T. F. Libby. He afterwards removed to the farm now owned by A. T. Morse, and later to E. Livermore. He died in 1874, at the age of 76. He, also, was the father of eight children, three sons and five daughters. One is now living, Mrs. Frances E. Chase of Washington, D. C. William purchased the place now owned by A. C. Hayford in 1820, and settled there a few years later. He remained there till his death which occurred in 1885. He was born in 1796. Four children were born to him, two sons and two daughters. Two are living, Mrs. Catherine M. Stevens of Chicago, Ill., and William E. of this town.
Jabez Besse, a brother to Ebenezer, settled in the North part of the town. As there were four by the name of Jabez in town, to distinguish one from the others, some of them had to have a nick- name. This one was known as "cat-nimble." When a small boy, he and other boys were in a second growth grove ; boy like, they were trying to see who would go the highest and venture farthest out on the limbs. Besse went to the very top and his head was much lower than his feet. Josiah Norris, one of the boys who was near by, said, "Jabe, you are cat-nimble." The name always "stuck." He was a noted singer. He possessed great compass of voice, and could imitate birds, squirrels, &e. He was also a famous hunter and trapper. He was a soldier of the Revolution and mention is made of him in the military history. His wife was Sally Allen, and their children were Jabez, Jr., Sally and Stinson. One of his sisters married Turner Swift of Fayette.
Walton is an old English name derived from wold, a wood, and ton, a town. The Waltons came to America from England at a very early date. Three brothers, Moses, Joshua and William, with their nephew Reuben, came to Maine as early settlers William took up a lot of land lying partly in Wayne and partly in Fayette, "bounded on the north by lot 32, east by Jacob Lovejoy's westerly line, west by west line of the Plymouth patent and to extend so far south as to contain one hundred aeres." His first wife was Hannah Little- hale, who was the danghter of Abraham Littlehale. He was born
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Jan. 23, 1725, in Dunstable, Mass. He was a soldier under Gen. Wolfe at the taking of Quebec. Ile was also a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His name appears upon the pay roll of Cap- tain Joseph Boyinton's company in Col. Wade's regiment. His height is given as "live feet six inches, dark complexion with dark hair and eyes." The rugged old man walked all the way from Dun- stable, now Tynesborough, to Wayne, to see his daughter. He stopped in Wayne for a season and helped his son-in-law in clear- ing his farm. Drains, which he dug, are plainly to be seen on the meadow now owned by his great-great-grandson. He died in 1810, aged 85.
The children of William Walton and Hannah were Abraham, William, Benjamin and John. Abraham removed to Ohio, William and Benjamin removed to Pern. John stayed in Wayne. William Walton married for his second wife Mehitable Lyons. Their chil- dren were Sarah. Sophia and Rufus. Sarah married Sylvanus Black- well in 1806. Sophia married Nathaniel Atkins. Rufus married Hannah Braley. John Walton married Lucy Blackwell and settled on a lot south of his father's. In 1805 William Walton sold out to his son John and removed to a lot taken up at an early date by his son Abraham near the Fayette line and southwest of G. P. Taylor's. Here he lived with his son Rufns till he moved to Fayette Mills.
William Walton died Apr. 15, 1823, at an advanced age. John Walton had sons Nathaniel. born Feb. 21, 1798, and John, born Mar. 15, 1802, and danghters Mary, Sarah, Henrietta, Mehitable and Hannah. John, Jr., removed to Belfast. He married Mary Whalen, had four sons and three daughters. Nathaniel Walton married Caroline Fish of Leeds. The children were Lucy A., Jere- miah D., Martha M. and George W.
The Lovejoys of this region are all descended from John Love- joy of Andover, who was one of the first freeholders of Massachu- setts. His great-grandsons, Hezekiah and Francis, moved to Amherst, N. H., where Hezekiah reared a family of eight children. The oldest was Lieut. John Lovejoy, who moved from Amherst to this vicinity in 1795. The other great-grandson, Francis, moved from Amherst to Albion, where were born his famous grandsons, Elijah P. and Owen Lovejoy-the former, whose life was taken while defending the cause of anti-slavery at Alton, Ill. ; the latter, who championed the same cause in Congress with eloquence and daring in the days when an abolitionist was almost an outlaw.
Capt. Hezekiah Lovejoy and his son John were notable men in
HON. A. P. LOVEJOY, Janesville, Wis.
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Amherst during and after the Revolutionary period. Hezekiah's signature is affixed to various papers on church and State matters. He was several times on the committee to procure soldiers for the Continental Army, and was chosen on the Committee of Safety from 1777 to 1781-also on a committee to examine the constitution of the state and to approve and adopt a new one. We find the names of Hezekiah and John Lovejoy signed to the following patriotic document in 1776 :
"We, the subscribers, do hereby engage and promise that we will, to the utmost of our power, at the risque of our lives and fortunes, with arms, oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and Armies against the United Colonies."
They kept this promise by afterwards risking their lives in the Revolutionary army, where they served faithfully and with honor. Their fortunes were lost in the vicissitudes of war and the financial stress following, and so they decided to emigrate to Maine and begin anew.
Capt. Hezekiah prospected this region, and soon after Lieut. John Lovejoy with his wife Martha Odell and eight children moved from Amherst to Fayette, making the journey of 200 miles in an ox cart. He bought a tract of land about midway between Fayette Mills and North Wayne, reaching from the old Plymouth Grant line on the west to Lovejoy Pond on the east, and extending north and south far enough to include at least 200 acres. To the eight children brought into this wilderness, another, a daughter, was added and all grew to manhood and womanhood here. The oldest one, John Lovejoy, married one of the Jennings family, well known in Wayne and Leeds. Collins, the third son, lived in Wayne village. He was father of Collins, Jr., and Leonard, formerly well known ax makers of Chesterville, and of a beautiful daughter who married George Fairbanks. Nathan, fourth son of Lient. John Lovejoy, bought a farm in the northern part of Wayne, just above Wing Pond. He married Temperance Wing of Wayne, and reared a family of nine children among whom are: Hubbard, who was for years a builder and contractor here, and was captain of the Wayne Rifles. Just before the war he moved to Auburn ; Tillotson, who was a skilful machinist of North Wayne ; Nathan Ellis, a prosperous and respected lumber dealer of Columbus, O .; Hon. Allen Perry Lovejoy of Wisconsin, who is engaged extensively in lumber busi- ness, and has held many offices of trust and honor in business and politics. The youngest son, Alden Wing Lovejoy, lives a quiet,
3
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musieal life in Massachusetts. Among Nathan Lovejoy's daughters were Harriet, who married David French of Mt. Vernon, and Attai, who married Sears Frost and lived on the old place. Records show the early Lovejoys to have been men of ability, integrity and wisdom, to whom the people in trying times often confided the interests of ehurel, colony and country. Their descendants of this century have a high standard to attain if they show themselves worthy of such ancestors.
Three Jennings brothers came across the Atlantic from Devon- shire, England, to Sandwich, Mass., in the early days of New England. One of these, Samuel by name, was in 1703 a seaman on board a British man-of-war in the West Indies. Being cruelly treated, he endeavored to escape by swimming, but was bitten by a shark and narrowly escaped death. He related his wonderful deliverance in a letter written in 1716 which document is preserved as an heirloom in the family.
John Jennings, the great-grandfather of the present Jennings Bros., was a merchant in Boston 150 years ago. In 1778 he came to the wilds of Maine to make a home for himself and family. Guided by an old hunter and trapper named Stinchfield, be selected a site for settlement on the peninsular between the Wing and Love- joy ponds. Ile then staked out his elaim of 1000 acres. He returned to Massachusetts for his family. During his absence other settlers and squatters pre-emptied lots, and he only held a part of the territory that he claimed. With his wife, six daughters and three sons, he came back to the Kennebec. They found their way by spotted trees through the wilderness from the "Hook" (Hallowell) to Pond town (Winthrop) and thence to New Sand- wich (Wayne). They paddled up the Wing pond on a raft of logs and built a log cabin near the shore. The vestiges of this settle- ment are still to be seen. Near by, an orchard was planted more than a hundred years ago.
When the oldest son became 21 years of age, he refused to tote a bag of corn on his back through the woods to mill. His father was angry, disowned him, and turned him out of doors, adrift in the world. But while the old man was gone on a hunting trip to Port Royal (Livermore) the two oldest sons spied a bear swimming in the lake. They got at bruin, dispatched him with an axe, dressed the carcass, and hung up the hind quarters on a pole. The father returning from his hunt without game and seeing the supply of bear meat, inquired who killed it. Being told that the eldest son
ALDEN WING LOVEJOY, West Roxbury, Mass.
THE LARY ENG.OO. COL'5-0.
N. E. LOVEJOY.
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did the job, he exclaimed, "You have done well, my son, I forgive you ; stay at home."
Two of the sons settled in Leeds and the Jennings of that town are their descendants. The other, Nathaniel by name, stayed at home on the old place. He had twelve sons. One of them, Joseph by name, held the homestead. He was in the employ a while of Hon. R. H. Gardiner, where he became acquainted with Miss Mary E. Waitt, afterwards his wife. Her folks lived in Marblehead, Mass., and most of them followed the sea. Capt. Joseph Jennings died July 24, 1870, aged 70. Mrs. Mary E. Jennings died Dec. 20, 1896, aged 91. Their sons, Hiram and Tudor, now own and occupy the premises. Mrs. Hiram Jennings is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bowman Palmer of Wilton. Their son Loton represents the fifth generation from the first settler. He is a student in Bow- doin College. There have been four successive dwelling-houses on the farm. The present mansion was built by Nathaniel Jennings in the year 1816
Nathaniel Atkins was among the early settlers of Wayne. He cleared the farm now owned by L. S. Maxim. His son Nathaniel, Jr., married Sophia Walton. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. This family removed to Dixfield when Nathaniel, Sen., deceased, at the advanced age of 102 years.
John Stevens came to Wayne from London, N. H., in 1807, with a wife and ten children, the oldest being 20 and the youngest 1 year old. They settled on the Knight farm, one quarter of a mile from N. Wayne. Two years later they removed to our present town farm, one quarter of a mile north, where some of the family lived until 1862. The parents died at less than 70 years of age. Jesse, the fourth son, remained at the homestead for a few years. While there he served the town for several years as selectman ; later he sold the farm to his brother David, while he removed to Sebec, Piscataquis Co., where he was given many places of honor. Although having only the advantages of a common school education, he was endowed with a high degree of native talent. For many years chairman of the board of selectmen in his town, he also represented his town in the Legislature and at the time of his death in 1861, was Judge of Probate for Piscataquis connty. Richard, a school teacher of some note, settled at North Fayette, was thrown from a carriage and received injuries from which he died within a few days at the age of 51 years. John and Abel were familiar figures in Wayne Village for quite a number of years, and both
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lived to the advanced age of over 83 years. David remained at the homestead until 1862, when he removed to Readfield, where he lived to the advanced age of over 91 years, the last of the family to pass away, March 8, 1898. Two of the sisters, Mrs. French and Mrs. Wing, settled in Chesterville, lived to be over 90 years of age. An- other, Mrs. Elkins, lived and died in Fayette, aged over 85 years. Mrs. Sturtevant lived in Milo and died when about 45 years of age.
John Jennings, the first of the name in the records of the town of Wayne, was a native of Sandwich, Mass., and like many of the inhab- itants of that town, a descendant in one remove from an English an- cestry. At the time of his removal to Wayne, or New Sandwich as it was then called, he had a family of eight children, and it was a desire for their welfare that led him to seek a new home in the country beyond the Kennebec. Accordingly in the summer of 1778 accom- panied by his eldest son Samnel, he came to Kennebec and on up through the woods inquiring for land partly fenced by water, and was fortunate in finding a lot which met his approval on the cast side of Wing's Pond, of which the farm now owned by Hiram N. and Tudor G Jennings is a part. The same fall they re- turned to Sandwich and in the following spring the son Samnel came down to clear the land, burn it, and plant the crops, which he did, boarding with Job Fuller during the time. From an interesting and graphic journal written by Samuel Jennings, Jr., the son of this young man, we learn that the work of making a cultivated farm out of a pine forest possessed few charms for him, and a clue to the reason is given in the fact, that, leaving the crops in charge of a settler, he returned to Sandwich, and seizing an opportunity when his father was absent, he went to Boston and entered the Naval service of the Revolution, enlisting on board a privateer which captured three prizes during the voyage, returning to Boston with the third.
It is interesting to note how certain predilections often appear in families. This young man who preferred naval service to clearing land, was a descendant in the third generation of Samuel Jennings, a lieutenant in the English Navy, who had a hand and foot taken off by a shark in Carlisle Bay. A great-grandson of Samnel who served in the Revolution, Williston Jennings, served in the Navy during the late Civil War. In the spring of 1780, John Jennings and his son John returned to Wayne and during the summer built a log house on the east shore of Wing's Pond, and was joined the following spring by his family with the exception of the elde st
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daughter Deborah. In the journal of Samnel Jennings, Ir., to which reference has been made, we find an interesting incident con- nected with the removal of this family with their effects. JJohn Jennings and his son Samuel had brought from Sandwich some sheep and swine, and on arriving at Portland, took a whale boat and embarked with their stock. Sailing up the Kennebec to Hallowell, they unloaded and drove the animals through the woods to New Sandwich, but here a new difficulty confronted them. Where or how were the swine to be confined, since they had no material for building pens ? A happy thought occurred to them. An island in Androscoggin Pond furnished, at once, safe keeping and food, and there they were transported, but in the summer the settlers near the Pond heard the out cry of the hogs which had been attacked by bears. Procuring a boat they rowed to the island but the bears had made their escape before they reached it, leaving their prey dead. The hogs were then dressed, but as they had not sufficient salt for such a quantity of meat, it was smoked for use the following winter. Hog island owes its name to this incident.
John Jennings resided in Wayne and Leeds until his death which occurred in 1799. He was buried in the cemetery at Winthrop village. Samuel, the eldest son of John, resided in Wayne until 1784, when he took up a large tract of land in Littleborough, now Leeds, and afterwards removed there with his family and his brother John. As before stated, the first house built by John Jennings was the log house on the east shore of Wing's Pond, near the Jennings' Stream. Subsequently, a second house was built north of this, and later on, the mansion now owned by Hiram N. and Tudor G. Jennings. After the removal of Samuel and his family to Leeds, John with his youngest son Nathaniel, occupied the farm. Nathaniel was succeeded by his son Joseph F., and he by his sons Hiram N. and Tudor G., the present occupants.
After Samuel Jennings had taken up his farm in Leeds, he re- turned to Sandwich and married, and there his son Samuel Jennings, Jr., was born in February. 1787. Again referring to the journal we read that on their return to New Sandwich in May the father under- took to row across the Androscoggin Pond in a birch canoe with his wife and infant child three months old, but the wind blew strongly. and the waves beat over the canoe, compelling the mother to sit in the bottom of the canoe with her babe in her arms, while the father alternately rowing and bailing, urged his canoe with its precious freight onward. The shore was reached at last, and at the house
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of Thomas Stinchfield they were warmed and refreshed, their cloth- ing dried and they again started, on foot, through the woods, to their home.
Samuel Jennings, Jr., was married in 1809 at Middleborough, Mass., to Phebe Morton, and removed to North Wayne in 1810 and bought of Jonathan Norcross the farm now occupied by Roswell L. Morrill. Subsequently, he bought the place now occupied by Charles M. Lovejoy where he died at the ripe old age of ninety years, having lived, as he writes in the closing words of his journal, "to see the fourth generation." A man whose youth was not blessed with the advantages of education, that to-day are lavishly bestowed upon every child throughout our broad land, yet who possessed native ability, and above all, the disposition to make the most of the talents entrusted to them.
Sylvanus Blackwell was an early settler. Ilis farm was located a short distance southeast of the present town farm. Ile married Sarah Walton and had sons, Stillman, Odell, Waterman. Sylvanus Jr., Elbridge G., Reuel W., and Charles E. Ilis daughters were Rosilla, Marietta, Ellen, Mary Ann, Charity and Sarah Jane. All of them lived to adult age except Sarah Jane. All married and left Wayne except Sylvanus, Jr., who lived on the homestead. Sylvanus, Sen., was an industrious man and a good farmer. His home was a happy one "full of mirth and jollity." He was a vigor- ous man and very prominent in the athletic sports of the times in which he lived. He died very suddenly on his seventieth birthday, of heart disease. Of this large family all are now dead except Elbridge G., "the last leaf on the tree." Ile is at present living in Florida.
Thomas Atkinson married Lydia Norris, Jan. 6, 1791, and reared a large family. He settled on the farm now owned by II. H. Pulsifer. He was a capable man and well educated for those times. He was one of the assessors in 1799. He was interested in the education of youth. He was the builder of the first school house in the district in which he lived. In 1804, he was one of the commit- tee to divide the town into proper school districts. In 1803, he was Captain of a military company-later he was promoted to Major. He was a prosperous and successful farmer. He removed to Montville where he owned and cultivated a fine farm. He was attacked by an infuriated bull, and his son, in defence of his father, shot the animal, but not in season to save the life of his father. The Atkinson family is still represented in the town.
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Among the earliest residents, and prominent citizens of North Wayne was Rev. Comfort C. Smith. His father, Capt. Matthias Smith, came from Connecticut somewhat later than 1760, and set- tled in that part of Pond-town Plantation now known as Readfield. He had a family of six sons and one daughter. Of these, Comfort C. was the second in point of age. It would appear that his mind was early called to the ministry, for in the first volume of Dr. Abel Stevens' "Memorials of Methodism," in the account of the first ses- sion of the New England Conference held in Lynn, Mass., in July, 1800, in the list of ministers from the Province of Maine, the name of Comfort C. Smith appears, who had "travelled two years at his own expense," and is characterized as a "useful preacher." The same authority, giving the record of the Conference which again met at Lynn the following year, 1801, reports Comfort C. Smith appointed to Bath and Union, and at the Conference session of 1802, which convened in Monmouth, Province of Maine, his name is again reported, and that he preached "gratuitously." In 1803, the Conference held its session in Boston when Mr. Smith was ap- pointed to Bristol, Province of Maine. This would appear to have been his last Conference appointment. although his name appears in the list of preachers who attended the session at Buxton, Province of Maine, in the year following, 1804. In the year 1813 he bought an extensive tract of land in North Wayne, and erected a substantial set of farm buildings which are still standing opposite the present residence of Cyrus Ladd. Here he carried on the cultivation of his large farm, and also the business of the saw mill which he had purchased of Jonathan Norcross. He also built and operated a grist-mill, and many years afterward, in disposing of this property, he made the stipulation in the deed that through all future time, both a grist mill and saw mill should be maintained on this stream, thus giving a hint of the benevolent and philanthropic character of the man, mindful of the needs of his fellow men. He was twice married. His stepdaughter, Mary J., married Hiram S. Nickerson, and for many years they resided at the homestead. The late H. Owen Nickerson was the eldest son of this family, and he is sur- vived by his sons Arthur S. and Walter A. Nickerson of Readfield. Mr. Smith died at North Wayne June 29, 1849, at an advanced age. He was well educated, possessed of much business ability, a citizen of public spirit, interested in all matters pertaining to the welfare of his adop ed town. To the close of his life he was active in sustaining religious worship, faithfully preaching the Gospel in
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