Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 53

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790

USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892 > Part 53

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Brooks relates that in politics he was originally a democrat. A short time before the war, his friend, Lot M. Morrill, at that time also a zealous democrat, made a political speech in Waverly Hall, Augusta, in the course of which he was hissed for words spoken against American slavery. After the meeting he came to Mr. Brooks, and said: "I will not belong to a party that will not tolerate free speech on a great national question." Mr. Brooks heartily endorsed his position, and from that day both became active republicans. He has been active in all benevolent and religious enterprises, and has never sought office or public position, devoting his time and his at- tention to business, his church and his home.

Albert J. Burns, born in 1841, is the youngest of the six children of Samuel G., and grandson of James Burns, who came before 1800 from Gilmanton, N. H., to Farmingdale, where he married Betsey, daughter of Samuel Greeley. Albert J. married Lucy K. (deceased) and Mara L .. daughters of Moses and Abigail (Wade) Morrill, and granddaughters of Samuel and Martha (Knowles) Morrill, who came from Readfield to Augusta about 1823. He has two children: Ernest H. and Ray M. Burns.

Harvey Chisam, a son of Stephen and Lois (Webber) Chisam, for- merly of Whitefield, was born in Alna, in 1809. His early life was spent in the town of China. At fifteen he learned blacksmithing in Vassalboro, where he remained until 1830. In 1838 he married Mahala, daughter of Joshua Downs, of Vassalboro. He had charge of the state blacksmith shops at Thomaston, five years. He went to California in 1849, cleared ground, pitched his tent and began business where the San Francisco custom house now stands. Returning to Augusta in 1851, he bought a grocery store the next year, on Cony street. After five years in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., in the lumber business, he again went into business in Augusta, and in 1866 built the substantial brick store, where ten years later, his two partners, Daniel A. Cony and Benjamin C. Robinson (both now deceased), suc- ceeded him. Mr. Chisam was member of the council two years, alder- man three years, and overseer of the poor for several years.

S. S. Brooks

PRINT, E. BIERSTADT, N. Y.

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Alden N. Clark was born in 1838, at Bolton Hill, where his father, Andrew Clark, settled. He married Rebecca S., daughter of Daniel Churchill, of North Plympton, Mass., and has one daughter, Annie E., now the wife of James E. Libby. Mr. Clark's farm was cleared by Walter Bolton, who built the original house on it.

Anson S. Clark, a son of William and Ann (Smith) Clark, was born in 1835, on the homestead he now owns, and married Annie M. Simp- son, of Brunswick, Me. Their children are: Nellie L., Blanche E. (Mrs. Charles H. Smith), Alice S. and Stanley D. Mr. Clark had three brothers in the civil war-Theodore, who died in Andersonville; Henry, who was wounded at Charleston, S. C .; and Roland S., who died at Baton Rouge. The others of this family are: Isaac, the oldest brother, and Delia A., the only sister.

Captain N. W. Cole, agent of the Edwards Manufacturing Com- pany, was born at Newburyport, Mass., and in 1854 came to Augusta as overseer of the Kennebec Company's cotton mill. When the Spragues bought the property in 1867, Captain Cole was made super- intendent, which relation continued until August, 1882, when the Edwards Company purchased the mills and made him agent. His title comes from his civil war service at the head of Company B, 11th Maine.

THE CONY FAMILY .- The progenitor of this family was Deacon Samuel Cony, who removed from Shutesbury, Mass., to Fort Western in the spring of 1778 .* He was known as " a remarkably mild man " and a zealous Christian. At the time of his removal to Maine he and his wife, Rebecca Guild, of Dedham, Mass., were advanced in years and their children were grown up. He died April 12, 1803, aged eighty-five, leaving two sons, Samuel and Daniel.

Samuel, the elder son, was an officer in one of the companies at the military organization of the town of Hallowell under the revolution- ary government. He was born May 8, 1746, and married, September, 1770, Susanna Johnson, a native of Bridgewater, Mass. He died Sep- tember 22, 1779.

His brother, Daniel, was born August 3, 1752, studied medicine at Marlboro, Mass., with Dr. Samuel Curtis, whose niece, Susanna Curtis, of Sharon, Mass., he married November 14, 1776. At the time of the battle of Lexington he was living in Shutesbury, Mass., and practicing his profession there. Soon after, however, he was sent as adjutant of a regiment of infantry to join General Gates at Saratoga, and was at the surrender of Burgoyne. Resigning his commission in the army

* In March, 1775, Deacon Samuel was chosen one of the selectmen of Shutes- bury. His son, Lieutenant Samuel, was chosen town treasurer, and the other son, Daniel, was chosen town clerk. The sons were reelected in 1776 .- Shutes- bury Town Records.

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in 1778, he with his young wife joined his father at Fort Western .*

Here he enjoyed a long and honorable career of usefulness. He continued the practice of his profession and was on terms of intimacy and in correspondence with the leading medical men of Massachusetts, and was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He early entered public life and was in turn representative, senator and coun- cillor in the Massachusetts general court. He was also one of the electors who chose Washington for his second term. Previous to the separation of Maine from Massachusetts he was judge of the court of common pleas and judge of probate for Kennebec county. Later he was a delegate from Augusta to the constitutional convention of the new state at Portland, and under that constitution was appointed judge of probate, which office he held till his resignation in 1823, at the age of seventy-one.

Judge Cony was a man of vigorous intellect, sound judgment and ready resource, and attained to an influence acquired by but few in the county. He was deeply interested in education and was instru- mental in obtaining charters for Hallowell Academy and Bowdoin College. He also founded and endowed Cony Female Academy in 1815, which institution received his fostering care to the day of his death, January 21, 1842, at the age of ninety. The academy was a success from its inception and was incorporated February 10, 1818. In February, 1826, the legislature granted the corporation a half town- ship of land, which sold in 1832 for $6,000. A boarding house for academy students was erected on the corner of Bangor and Myrtle streets in 1827, and in 1844 Bethlehem church was purchased by the trustees for $765 and altered into a commodious academy building, which was used until 1880.

General Samuel, the third son of Lieutenant Cony, was born at Shutesbury, November 24, 1775. He was a merchant, first at Augusta and afterward at Wiscasset. During the war of 1812 he returned to Augusta, where he became captain of a military company. He was made the first adjutant general of Maine in 1820 and held the office for ten years. He married his cousin, Susan B., daughter of Judge Daniel Cony, November 24, 1803, and died at Augusta November 8, 1835.

Governor Samuel, son of General Cony, was born at Augusta Feb- ruary 27, 1811. His early education was pursued under the patronage of his grandfather, Judge Cony; and the letters of this aged man to his young kinsman-some of which are preserved-must have exer- cised a permanent influence upon him. After two years at Waterville, he entered the junior class at Brown University and received his

* Deacon Samuel bought lot 21, on the Winslow plan of 1761, and came with his son, Daniel, in 1778. Lieutenant Samuel and his family had preceded them as early as July, 1777, having bought lots 24 and 25, near Fort Western .- [EDS.

Damel Cony

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degree in 1829. He then studied law with Reuel Williams and was admitted to practice in 1832, when he settled at Oldtown. He was a member of the legislature in 1835, was chosen a member of Governor Fairfield's council in 1835, and in 1840 was appointed judge of probate for Penobscot county, which office he held for seven years, until he was appointed land agent for Maine in 1847. This office he retained until his election, in 1850, as state treasurer, when he returned to Au- gusta. By successive elections he held this office for five years, the constitutional limit, during which time (in 1854) he was also mayor of the city. Though he had been a democrat from his youth up, slavery issues alienated him from his party, and in 1860 he supported Judge Douglas for the presidency. In 1862 the republicans sent him to the legislature, and in 1863 he was nominated and elected by them gov- ernor of the state, holding the office by reelection for the three follow- ing years.

During the rebellion he was conspicuous for his devotion to the cause of the Union, and in his last inaugural address, delivered in 1866, he was enabled to announce the fulfillment of the purpose which he had declared at the beginning, to support the national flag until it should again be " floating in unchallenged supremacy over its ancient and rightful boundaries." This was the close of his public career-a career in which he had won the confidence and affection of the entire state, and by his practical business abilities enhanced an already dis- tinguished family name. He died October 5, 1870.

He was twice married. His first wife was Mercy H. Sewall, of Farmington, who died in 1847, and his second wife was Lucy W. Brooks, who survives him. His eldest daughter, Susan H., is the wife of Joseph H. Manley, of Augusta; his eldest son, Joseph E. S., was educated as civil engineer, and now resides in Baltimore; his second son, Daniel A., was a merchant and banker until his death, July 23, 1892. These three children were the children of his first wife. He had three children by his second wife: Abby S., who married Frank A. Sturgis and died in 1879; Lucy W., now living in Augusta, and Frederic, who resides in Augusta.

Columbus Cottle, born in New Portland in 1835, came to Augusta when fourteen, and for nine years worked for John Arnold, and in 1865 married his daughter, Hannah C., after having been six years in California in a lumbering business. They have two children: Addie and Jennie M. Cottle, now a teacher. Mrs. Cottle was a teacher several years, and was book-keeper in the Washington mills at Lawrence, Mass. Mr. Cottle's father was Samuel Cottle, a teamster, for thirty years, between Augusta and New Portland.

John Cross, born in 1803, was a son of Samuel Cross, whose father was the early settler on Cross Hill, in Vassalboro, who took up land enough there to give a farm to each of his sons. Samuel raised seven-

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teen children, and others of the family left numerous children, but in 1891 the name was extinct in Vassalboro. John Cross married Betsey Cole, and in 1840 came to Augusta with his family. He bought the farm and built the house where his son, J. Melvin Cross, of the Kenne- bec Journal, now lives. He died in 1878. J. Melvin Cross, born in 1832, married Susan M., daughter of James Dudley. Their children are: Lillian M. (Mrs. William L. Thompson, of Augusta), and Burton M. Mr. Cross was engaged in lumbering on the river from 1847 to 1872. He was a member of the city council two years, and alderman three years.

Sewell B. Cross, a son of the late William Cross, of Cross Hill, was born in 1837. When eighteen years of age he came to Augusta to learn the tin and sheet iron business. He remained but a few years and then went to Biddeford where, in 1860, he went into the tin and sheet iron business with a brother. In 1862 he enlisted in the 1st Maine Cavalry, was discharged in 1865, and returned to Augusta, where he established an iron and stove business. About 1886 he opened a grocery store in Water street, and in 1887 removed the busi- ness to his present store on Northern avenue. In 1861 he married Sarah E., daughter of Rev. Harvey Mitchell, of Augusta. She died in 1869. His present wife was her sister, Abbie F. Mitchell. A son of Mr. Cross, Hubert J., is a partner in the grocery business with him.

Henry A. Cummings, born in 1833, is one of the ten children of Asa and Rebecca (Allen) Cummings, and grandson of Nathaniel Cum- mings, who lived with his father, Samuel, on the Manchester road, near the west line of Augusta. Mr. Cummings' farm was bought by his father from Wilson Arnold, who had made a clearing here. Henry A. served in the 5th Maine Battery, 3} years from December 4, 1861. In 1866 he married Helen, daughter of Albert Gray, of Benton. Their children are: Lillian F., Perley L., George H., Harry L., Ida M., Cora M., Asa A., Della L. and Henry S.

Samuel G. Cummings, born in 1828, a son of Samuel, grandson of Samuel, and great grandson of Samuel Cummings, who resided on Winthrop street near the Manchester line, married Rosanna E. Leigh- ton. Mr. Cummings' grandfather, Samuel, owned Coombs mill, and sold it to Joseph Ladd, after operating it for several years. His daughter, Eleanor Cummings, married William Stone, who was born in 1787.

John O. Curtis was born in 1808 in Hanover, Mass., where his father, Davis C., and his grandfather, Abner Curtis (1752-1838) lived. He married, in 1833, Orrinda Dodge, of Liberty, Me., and settled there where five of their seven children were born, before they removed to Church Hill in 1848. Mrs. Curtis died in 1890, leaving seven children: Stillman, in Florida: Jason D., in Iowa; Elzena; Sidney, now deceased, who was in the civil war; Wellman; Lucy A. (Mrs. H. Frank Bacon),

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of Worcester; and Weston Curtis, now in California. Wellman and his older sister remain at the Augusta home. He married Maria J., daughter of Elijah McFarland, and has one son-Arthur G. Curtis.

Patrick Donovan, a substantial farmer on the Bangor road, was born in Limerick in 1833. In 1848 he and five other children came with their mother to Boston. In 1857 he was married in Massachu- setts, came to Augusta, and bought his present farm, which was set- tled early by James Gilley, who is said to have lived to the age of 120. Mr. Donovan's children are: John, in the United States service at Sandy Hook; Emma, Katie and Charles.

George Frank Dudley, born in 1849, is the oldest son of George W. Dudley. He built his present home in 1884, near where his mother's father, Clark Smith, lived. His wife, Angie T., is a daughter of Al- bert Farwell, of Vassalboro. They have one daughter, Maggie D. Dudley.

Charles F. Fletcher, born at Church Hill in 1846, is a son of Omar, grandson of Bryan and great-grandson of Brian and Anna (Young) Fletcher. Bryan Fletcher married in 1781, Amy, daughter of Benja- min Pettengill, and had eleven children. Charles F., in 1873, began building in Augusta, and in 1889 formed a partnership with George C. Robbins, of Sidney, to continue the business of contractors and builders.

Ziba P. Fletcher, farmer and granite worker, was born in 1820 at Belfast, Me. His father, Robert, son of David Fletcher, came to Au- gusta, and lived on the river road. Ziba married in 1854, Caroline F. Bolton, and they settled where her father, James, in 1835, built Mr. Fletcher's present residence. She died, leaving two sons: Frank, who died at twenty-four, and Charles E. Mr. Fletcher married her sister, Hannah A., in 1860, and had six children: Fannie A., died at the age of 5 years, 11 months; George E., died at the age of 23 years, 6 months; Mary C., Sarah G., Lucy M. and Ned B., died at the age of 10 years, 4 months.

Major Prentiss M. Fogler, ex-register of deeds, son of John, and grandson of Henry Fogler, both of Hope, Me., comes of Dutch ances- try, who first settled in North Carolina. He enlisted as second lieu- tenant, Company I, 20th Maine, and before the close of the war came to Augusta in 1865, and had charge of troops here for four months. He was promoted from captain to major in 1865, and from 1866 to 1870 was private secretary to Governor Chamberlain.

Bartlett E. Folsom, son of Stephen Folsom, was born at Starks, Me., November 12, 1855. February 1, 1878, after clerking for Percival & Gould and others, he began his present grocery and provision busi- ness at 49 Cony street. In 1885 he was in the city council, and when elected alderman in 1886, was the youngest man who had ever repre-

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sented the Fifth Ward. He was reelected in '87, '88 and '89, being three years chairman of the committee on accounts.

Daniel E. Foster, a young farmer of Church Hill, born in 1866, is the only son of T. Danforth Foster, and grandson of Daniel Foster, an early settler, whose original forest home is included in the present buildings here. T. D. Foster married Ann Sims, who survives him. Their only daughter, Carrie E., died at the age of fifteen. Daniel Foster, great-grandfather of Daniel E., joined the army when his son Daniel, was five years old, and is supposed to have been killed by the Indians, as he was never afterward heard of. He married Philena, daughter of Benjamin Pettengill. Their son, Daniel, was born July 5, 1799, and was married January 7, 1822, to Rebecca Eaton, of Bingham. Daniel and Rebecca Foster were among the original seventeen mem- bers of the first Baptist church in Augusta. The former died March 7, 1881, and the latter November 11, 1856. Their children were: Ira H., born January 8, 1823, died August 23, 1888; T. Danforth, born March 10, 1825, died December 21, 1871; Lucinda, born September 29, 1827, died same day; Daniel W., born April 7, 1829; Lydia, born March 12, 1831, died March 20, 1882; George B., born June 14, 1834; John A., born November 8, 1839; Albert A., born April 20, 1845.

James E. Fuller, the grocer, succeeded in 1866, his father, John J. Fuller, deceased, who was in trade on Water street in 1840, and who had previously run a hotel in Augusta. Marshall Whithead sold his grocery business in 1870 to James E. Fuller, who uniting it with his own, added a wholesale department and carried on a prosperous business until 1891, when with Elmer E. Folsom, formerly his clerk, and Henry W. Bicknell, he continued wholesale and retail trade as The James E. Fuller Company.

Benjamin Gardiner, a son of Alexander, and grandson of Chris- topher Gardiner, was born in Vassalboro in 1831, and married a sister of J. Albert Bolton. His mother was Mary, a daughter of Reuben Pinkham, of Sidney. Alexander Gardiner removed with his father from Nantucket to Vassalboro, about 1810. He lived there until 1845, when he removed to Augusta, where he died in 1859. He began a grocery business on Cony street five years before he left Vassalboro, and was succeeded by his only son, Benjamin, who now carries on an extensive feed and provision business on the same street.

John N. Gaslin, born in 1844, is the youngest son of William, and grandson of John Gaslin, who lived and died in Vassalboro on the farm given to his wife by her father, Mr. Webber. William Gaslin went west while a young man, but returned to China, and in 1833 built the house and cleared the farm in Augusta, where John N. now lives. He died here, aged over ninety years. His wife, Jerusha, lived to be eighty-nine. They had two older sons-William, now Judge Gaslin, of Alma, Neb .; and Lorenzo Dow Gaslin, who became a sea-

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captain and died in Cuba. Mrs. John N. Gaslin was Etta J. Keen. Their children are Rusha and William.

Alpheus D. Guild' (Cyrus®, Cyrusª, died 1856; Daniel', died in Wrentham 1795; John', John", John Guile') was born in 1842. Cyrus Guild came from Wrentham, Mass., before 1801, and settled the farm where Roscoe E. Penney lives, and later, lived and died where Al- pheus D. now resides. The latter spent several years in California and Oregon, and in 1883 married Angie B., daughter of John Doloff, of Mt. Vernon.

George L. Guoir, born in 1831, is the only son of Antoine Guoir, who came to Augusta in 1820, and married Sylvia E., daughter of Joel Savage. Mr. Guoir's farm was purchased by his grandfather, Joel Savage, from George Reed. Mrs. George L. Guoir is Maria A., daughter of John L. Dutton, son of John, and grandson of Jonas Dutton, an early resident of Augusta. Their only child living is George E. Guoir. They lost one boy.

Gideon Hallowell, farmer and butcher, was born in 1830 in China, Me., where his father, Joel, a son of John Hallowell, resided. Gideon came to Augusta in 1852, and now owns the 200 acres on Church Hill, where James Savage early made a clearing, and built the first house. His wife, Rachel, is a daughter of George W. Casewell, of Windsor.

Isaiah A. Handy', born in 1836, is a son of Addison Handy®, who was born in China, Me., in 1811, and grandson of Richard Handy5, who lived near the China and Albion line before 1810. The Handy family came from Bourne, Mass., where eight generations have pre- served their genealogy. Joshua Handys, of Bourne, son of William' (John3, John3, Richard Handy'), was probably the brother of Richard Handy6. Isaiah A.7 married Hannah T. Wall, daughter of Elbridge, and granddaughter of Captain David Wall (1773-1852), and has two children: Arthur I. and Mary A.

William P. Hanks, born in Vassalboro in 1828, is a son of Jacob Hanks, who removed from Massachusetts to Vermont, thence to the provinces, and in 1815 to Vassalboro. He was in California, mining, five years, from 1856-nearly four years under Table mountain. He married Ann Maria, daughter of Thomas Whitten. Their children were: Clara (Mrs. George W. McKenney), George (deceased), Georgi- anna (Mrs. C. Elmer Stewart), Elden W., William A. and Harry E. Mr. Hanks bought in 1862 his present farm, formerly owned by Mr. Ingraham. E. W. and William A. Hanks, as Hanks Brothers, began their present grocery business in April, 1888, at Pettengill's Corner.

Erastus Haskell was born in 1815, at Winthrop, in the Winthrop House, which his father, Captain Barney Haskell, built and occupied as a residence. He learned his trade in Waterville, and was three years in the shoe business at East Vassalboro, and December 1, 1840,

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came to Angusta, where he resided until his death in 1891. He was city assessor three years, and served three years in each of the branches of the city government. From 1847 to 1856 James A. Bicknell was his partner. Mrs. Haskell was Mary C., daughter of Dea. Ebenezer Bancroft Williams. Their children are: Henry H., Sarah S. (Mrs. C. W. S. Cobb, of St. Louis) and Frank B. Haskell.

George D. Haskell, the grocer and provision dealer, a grandson of William Haskell, and son of Alfred T. Haskell, one of seven brothers who were in the civil war, was born in 1857. He was clerk for Plum- ber & Haskell five years, and in 1877 was partner with L. T. Jones. Two years later he began business on Cony street, where Plumber & Haskell had been, and in May, 1882, he occupied one store which he now owns, in the Eureka Block, leasing an adjoining store. His wife is Lena M., daughter of John H. Church3 (Luther2, Samuel Church').

BY RIGHT of ability, and of performance, J. Manchester Haynes, of Augusta, has established a reputation that extends far beyond his native state. He was born in Waterville, May 12, 1839, the son of Josiah Milliken Haynes and Bathsheba, his wife. His father was a de- scendant of Dea. Samuel Haynes. of Dover, N. H., who sailed from Bristol, England, June 4, 1635, in the ship Angel Gabriel, of 240 tons, built for Sir Walter Raleigh, which was wrecked at Pemaquid in the great hurricane of that summer; and his maternal ancestor was Colonel James Waugh, who held a commission in the war of 1812.

Mr. Haynes' early life was passed on his father's farm, and his education was acquired at Waterville Academy and at Waterville Col- lege, from which he was graduated in 1860. He then became the principal of Lincoln Academy, at Newcastle, Me., which he left in 1863 to read law in New York city, where he was admitted to the bar in 1865.

At this pivotal period of life, aided by the influence of natural ap- titude and by special inducements, the attractions of a business career drew him from the law, to which he has never returned. Sacrificing by this change hopes and prospects of professional distinction, which any man might covet, he has attained through other avenues of effort a business and social position which justifies that step. He was soon associated with the large operators who formed the Kennebec Land & Lumber Company, of which he was treasurer from its organization in 1866 to 1875, and then became its president. The early operations of this company in the ice business are stated on pages 179 and 447. He was the senior member of the Haynes & DeWitt Ice Company, formed in 1871 and incorporated in 1889 as a stock company, of which he was made the president, and is now the chief owner. At Wiscasset he is a ship builder and an extensive manufacturer of lumber. He is the president and was the promoter of the Augusta, Hallowell & Gardiner Electric railroad; is a director and was one of the builders of the Rock-

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 53

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York, Blake Number of Pages: 1790

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790