Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 79

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 79

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He was twice married; first to Harriet Mason, whose surviving son is Augustus Hopkins, and second to Abigail Dodge Mason, who died in 1888, leaving two daughters-Sophronia M. (Mrs. William Woodward) and Henrietta M., now the widow of James O. Barnard. Mrs. Barnard was married in 1869. Her husband died in 1874, leaving one son, Leonard Myrick Barnard, born August 26, 1870, and now a promising student in the Boston School of Technology.

Mr. Hopkins was strongly attached to his home, and prized very highly his home life. He erected his pleasant residence, the Hopkins Homestead, on Highland avenue, now the home of Mrs. Barnard, in 1859, and here he enjoyed his serene old age.

William C. Jack is the great-grandson of Andrew Jack, who settled in Litchfield about 1790, married Fannie Merriman, and had sons: Sam- uel, Joseph, Andrew and Walter. Samuel had thirteen children. Bar- zillai, the eldest, married Hannah Denslow, by whom he had one son, William C., and four daughters. William C., the eldest child, born in Litchfield in 1832, married Pheba Ann, daughter of John Clay, of Pier- mont, N. H. They have two children: Flora G., now Mrs. Churchill, of Newburyport, Mass., and Phillip C., now attending Gardiner school.

Dr. Clarence S. Jackson, born in 1849, is the only son of Elijah and Elizabeth (Lord) Jackson, and grandson of Elijah Jackson, whose father, Thomas-a revolutionary soldier-settled in Pittston and mar- ried Rachel Colburn in 1782. Doctor Jackson married Alice M. Dins- more, and has one daughter, Gertrude M. He pursued dental studies and graduated in Lewiston, Me. His first professional work was in Richmond, 1874 to 1878, when he began in Gardiner his present dental practice.

William Jewell, born in 1821, is a son of Henry and Nancy (True) Jewell, and grandson of Captain Henry Jewell. Mr. Jewell's father was born in Litchfield in 1786, and died there in 1859. He was a lum- ber merchant and manufacturer in Gardiner and other places for many

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usual degree the confidence of the business public. Candor, upright- ness and fairness were foundation principles with him, yet his acquisi- tions confirm the adage that honesty is the best policy as well as the best principle; for in the quiet, almost uneventful life he lived he reached a substantial material result. Nor did he allow his private business to absorb his whole force. When the city government was organized, in 1850, he took a seat as alderman; he served as warden of Christ's Church for many years, and at his death had been a director of the Oakland Bank for more than twenty years. In securing a rail- road for Gardiner he was active and useful; he had been a stockholder in the steamboat line and a director of the Gardiner Bridge Company; and to the end of his days filled up the full measure of the upright citizen and useful man.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

years. Mr. Jewell was for several years engaged in teaming in Gardi- ner, and since 1882 he has kept a livery stable. He married Elmira, daughter of Captain John Landerkin. Their children are: Clara, Lenora, Frank (deceased), and Draper C.

Benjamin Johnson is the son of Daniel Johnson, of South Gardi- ner, whose father, Andrew Johnson, came from New Hampshire. Daniel married Eliza Waitt and raised a family of ten children. Ben- jamin went to sea at the age of nineteen, to California in 1850, and back to Gardiner in 1856, and the same year married Mary A. Harris, of Winthrop, who died in 1861. They had one child, who died in February, 1858. In 1881 he married Henrietta Loring, of Gardiner. In 1857 Mr. Johnson bought the Cobbossee House, and kept it as the Johnson House for thirty-one years. It is now called Young's Hotel, after its present proprietor. Mr. Johnson opened the Johnson Hall in 1864, and in 1888 enlarged and refitted it, changing its name to the Johnson Opera House.

Freeman A. Johnson, born in 1838, is a son of Benjamin and Han- nah (Robinson) Johnson, and grandson of Andrew Johnson. He served in the army one year in Company I, 24th Maine Volunteers. He was then in a variety store in Gardiner until 1873, when he opened his present ice cream and confectionery store. He married Sarah Farris. Their children are: Hattie E. and Ben. F. (deceased).

Thompson S. Keenan's father, Luther, and his grandfather, James, were born in Wales, Me., and his great-grandfather, James Keenan, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and came to America during the revolu- tionary war, and settled one of the first farms in the town of Wales. Luther married Louisa Gray, of Monmouth. She died May 15, 1892, aged 101 years and 21 days. Their children were two boys and three girls. Thompson S., the second child and first boy, was born in Brunswick, Me., in 1826, and came to Gardiner in 1844, where he married Mary E., daughter of Stephen Pallard. Their children were: Addie, Ida May and Mary Etta. Mr. Keenan was a seafaring man till 1861, when he enlisted in the navy and served in the gulf squadron.

William J. Landers, manager of the Kennebec Reporter, was born in Gardiner, Me., October 24, 1849, the youngest son of David and Mar- garet Landers. His early years were spent in Gardiner, attending the city schools. Leaving the high school in 1864, he attended Augusta Commercial College, graduating in 1865. After three years' service as bookkeeper in the P. C. Holmes Company's office, he went South. He returned in 1876, in October, 1877, entered the office of the Kenne- bee Reporter, and has been connected with that publication ever since. January 3, 1880, he was married to Ella F. Drake, and they have two children. Mr. Landers has been grand chancellor of the Grand Juris- diction of Maine, Knights of Pythias, and district deputy grand mas-

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ter of the 11th Maine Masonic District; he is at present grand general- issimo of the Grand Commandery of Maine, Knights Templar, presi- dent of the Kennebec Valley Press Club, recording secretary of the Maine Press Association, a director of the Gardiner High School and a director of the Gardiner Public Library.

James M. Larrabee7 (Daniel®, born 1805: John', born 1769: Philip', born 1744; John3; Thomas2, killed by Indians in Scarboro, 1723; Wil- liam1 married in Malden, Mass., 1655) was born in Wales, Me., in 1833. He has served in both branches of the Gardiner city council as president, and since July 28, 1885, has been judge of the police court of the city. John5 settled in Wales before 1794 and raised eleven chil- dren. Daniel® married Sabrina Ricker, represented Wales in the legis- lature in 1845 and 1848, and removed to Gardiner in 1856, where they both died.

J. W. Lash, contractor and builder, was born in Waldoboro in 1845, but before locating in Gardiner in 1878 he had been largely and suc- cessfully engaged in building in Massachusetts-residing in Somer- ville. He has built some of the finest structures in Gardiner, including the savings bank building, completed in 1891.

Llewellyn Lennan, son of James and Lucy (Hildreth) Lennan, and grandson of David Lennan, was born in 1836 in Richmond, Me., and came to Gardiner in 1863, where he is a farmer and wholesale meat merchant. He married Emeline, daughter of Daniel and Elmira (Smith) Hildreth. Their children are: James D., Charles H. and two that died in infancy.

Edwin E. Lewis, son of Horatio N. Lewis, of Cornish, N. H., was born in 1846. He went into the army in 1865 and fought under General Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. He came to Gardiner in 1875 and became a contractor and builder. For the past fifteen years Mr. Lewis has given his attention entirely to plans and specifications, and is the recognized authority on architecture in Gardiner. He married Augusta C. Jackins in 1866. They have one child, Arthur E.

Weston Lewis, president of the Maine Trust & Banking Company of Gardiner since 1889, was born December 26, 1850, in what is now Randolph, where his father, Warren R. Lewis, was a farmer and lum- berman. The latter was a son of Rev. Stephen Lewis, of Jefferson, Me., who was born at Booth Bay, Me., where the family name fre- quently occurs. By teaching a portion of the time Weston Lewis com- pleted the collegiate course of Bowdoin, graduating with the class of '72. He then taught in the Gardiner High School until the close of the fall term of 1874. At about this time he became a clerk in the Gardiner Savings Institution, and from that may be dated his rela- tions to the banking interests of Gardiner, by which, and through the presidency of the city water company, he is best known locally. His

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

home is in Gardiner, where in 1876 he married Eleanor W., daughter of Charles H. Partridge. Their children are: Carleton, born in 1878, and Henry, born in 1881. His relation to the Kennebec Central Rail- road Company and the Maine Water Company, in both of which he is president, is noticed in another chapter.

Samuel C. McKenney was born in Woolwich, Me., in 1819, and re- moved in 1823 to Kingfield, Me. He came to Gardiner in 1846 and engaged in the jewelry business, which he continued until 1864, when he closed it up for about eighteen months while he was in the army in Company F, 7th Maine Volunteers. The business was resumed in 1886, and since 1890 the firm has been S. C. McKenney & Son; George L., who has worked in the business several years, being now the junior partner.

Baxter Marr, son of Alexander and Keziah E. (Trafton) Marr, was born in 1826, at Georgetown, Me. He was engaged in the fish busi- ness in his native town until 1862, when he went to Lewiston, where he was eight years in mercantile trade, after which he was in busi- ness in various places until 1888, when he came to Gardiner and built his residence on Highland avenue, which was burned in 1891. He married Emily D., daughter of James Potter. They have one daugh- ter, Lena L. (Mrs. Fred Littlefield).

Henry E. Merriam was born in Grafton, Mass., in 1838, where his father, Joseph, and his grandfather, Joseph, were both farmers. Joseph Merriam, jun., married Mary C. Warren, of Grafton. a sister of S. D. Warren, the paper manufacturer. Henry E., their youngest child, left home in 1857 and went into a dry goods store in Boston. In 1861 he enlisted for nine months and went to New Berne, N. C., and served under General Foster; then returned home, and in the fall of 1863 came to Gardiner, where he has been, with the exception of two years, the agent of S. D. Warren & Co.'s Copsecook paper mill. In 1868 he married Octave A., daughter of Caleb Hunt, of Chelsea.

Stephen T. Merrill, son of Franklin B. Merrill, was born in Lewis- ton in 1833. He was a farmer and carpenter in West Gardiner until 1874, since which time he has been superintendent of the Gardiner farm at the Oaklands. He married Harriet Augusta, daughter of James Hodgkins. They have two children: Solon W. and Annie L.

Fred E. Milliken, postmaster, is the grandson of Allison and Jane (Libby) Milliken, of Scarboro, Me., who came to Gardiner in 1833, and raised a family of nine children. Their son, William, married Mary Ann Lyon, by whom he had two children: Fred E., born in 1850, and Fanny E. In 1858 Mr. Milliken engaged in his present business, and is the oldest boot and shoe dealer in the city. Fred E. was educated in the public schools of Gardiner, and became, and still is, a partner with his father in the shoe business.

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THE CITY OF GARDINER.

ARCH MORRELL AND HIS DESCENDANTS .- John Morrell, the com- mon ancestor of most of the Morrills and Morrells in Kennebec county, received from the town of Kittery two grants of land in 1668. These lands, together with a third adjacent grant, made in 1669, were bounded in part by Birch Point brook. Nicholas Hodgdon, whose lands were south of these, deeded in 1674 to John Morrell, who had married his daughter Sarah, seven acres of adjoining land, upon which Morrell had erected buildings and where he had then resided for some years. In 1676 John traded all of these lands with Abraham Conley # for a farm at "Coole Harbor," and subsequently bought other tracts and became a large landed proprietor. His dates-birth, marriage and death-have not been preserved and our knowledge of his antecedents is purely negative. He may have been a son of Abra- ham Morrell, who came from England to Cambridge in 1632, but is not mentioned as such in Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of the Found- ers of New England. He may have come direct from England as did many of the early settlers of Kittery and Portsmouth. Whether he married Sarah Hodgdon before settling in Kittery is uncertain, but from the first he was prominent in its town affairs, often in town office and on the jury of inquest. He was a mason by trade, and in deeds of conveyance was variously called "bricklayer," "mason " and " plasterer." Dr. William B. Lapham, of Augusta, the genealogist and historian, records for him children: Nicholas, who married in 1695 Sarah Frye, of Kittery; Sarah, who married August 4, 1701, George Huntress; John;2 Edah, married April 27, 1702, Jonathan Na- son; Hannah, who married John Tidy, and Abraham. +

Of these, John Morrell? was born in 1675, and married, December 16, 1701, Hannah, daughter of Peter Dixon, of Kittery, whence the name Peter first came into the family. He was a planter and owned large estates, including areas of Kittery Commons, now North Ber- wick. His will, dated 1756, was proved May 16, 1763, making his widow Hannah sole executrix. This will names as his children: John, born July 30, 1702; Peter, September 16, 1709; Jedediah,3 Keziah and Mary. His sons, Thomas, born August 20, 1705, and Richard, born September 23, 1713, are not mentioned in the will. His lands in Kit- tery and Berwick were bequeathed to his three sons, John, Peter and Jedediah, after providing for his widow and daughter. He beqeathed his negro Joe to his wife during her life time, then to the son whom Joe should select as his master. His negro Tobey was given his free- dom after twenty-four years of age, but should serve the widow while she lived. These two slaves were buried side by side on the Morrell homestead at North Berwick.

* See York Deeds. + Abraham Morrell, called " blacksmith," was of Kit- tery in 1711, when his father deeded him three acres of land, and nothing later is known of him.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Jedediah Morrell,3 born August 29, 1711, was thrice married; first, December 5, 1734, to Elizabeth, daughter of Ronald Jenkins, of Kit- tery; in 1737 to Anna Dow, of Hampton, N. H., and January 28, 1762, to Sarah Gould. His first marriage was in the manner of the Friends, the certificate of which-a quaint and instructive document belonging now to Morrill Sherbourne, of North Berwick-bears the signatures of five Morrells among the witnesses, and they each spelled the family name with an "e." Jedediah's three sons by his second marriage were: Abraham,4 born December 26, 1738, married first Elizabeth Lewis, and second Hannah Nichols; Josiah,' who married Hannah Webber; and Winthrop,4 born December 20, 1744, married Susannah Lewis. Jedediah's third wife bore two children: John,4 who married Sarah Varney in 1787 and died in 1789; and Peace, named only in her father's will.

Jedediah Morrell® spent his early married life in Kittery, where is recorded the birth of his first child. He received by deed from his father, John, lands in North Berwick now owned in part by his de- scendant, Morrill Sherbourne,' and built, four miles from North Ber- wick village, at the mouth of Bonny Beag pond, mills near where his great-grandson still resides. He practiced with herbs the healing art, and while operating as farmer, lumberman and trader, he was also well known as Doctor Morrell, as the curious account book he kept still shows. His will, made March 18, 1775, was proved the following year. It bequeathed one-third of his real estate to his wife, Sarah, during her widowhood, and gave lands and mill property at Doughty's falls and at Bonny Beag pond to his sons, Abraham and Josiah. To Winthrop he gave a farm, his " largest fowling piece and my Silver Watch;" while John was to have the " small fowling piece " and the " great pasture " when he was twenty-one. To his daughter, Peace, he gave his household goods at the death of his wife, Sarah, who was sole executrix of the will. His son, Abraham, occupied the lands be- queathed to him until his death and was succeeded by his son, Nahum. Winthrop operated the mill at Bonny Beag pond when he died, pass- ing the property to his son, Ephraim.

·Peter Morrell, brother and neighbor of Jedediah,3 was father of the Sarah Morrell who was killed and scalped by Indians within the limits of North Berwick village.

We have thus particularly sketched the first three generations of this old family to rescue from oblivion a few of those threads not com- monly within the knowledge or the written records of the present generations. Josiah Morrell' married Hannah Webber October 25, 1764, and had one or more daughters and three sons: Ebenezer, Aaron and Josiah, and perhaps others. His wife probably died before 1797, for in that year, without her joining in the deed, he sold the lands he had inherited from his father, the blacksmith shop and tools and " all

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the movables both indoor and out" to his son, Josiah'. He died in Litchfield, at the residence of his grandson, Hiram Morrell", and was buried in the graveyard at Litchfield Corner, where his grave stone says he died September 18, 1832, aged 95 years.

When they came to Litchfield in 1824 Josiah was the head of the family and the man of affairs. He was born at North Berwick, Sep- tember 22, 1775, and on April 9, 1798-the year after his father deeded him the homestead-he married Sarah Quint, of Berwick, who was four years his junior. They sold out there in January, 1825, to Nathaniel Walker, and on June 13, 1825, purchased of William Rob- inson a farm in Litchfield where Job F. Morrell now lives. They sub- sequently resided with their son, Hiram, but when their younger son, Ebenezer, bought the Isaac Shurtleff farm, north of Barnabas Springer's, they made their home there until Josiah's death, December 29, 1852 *. His widow, after living alone for several years, resided until her death, November 23, 1868, with her daughter, Mrs. Barnabas Springer.

The five children of Josiah and Sarah Q. Morrell were born at the ancestral home in North Berwick, and excepting the oldest son, Arch, who was previously married, came with them to Litchfield, where they all became heads of substantial families, as noticed in the four suc- ceeding paragraphs.

Hiram Morrell®, a blacksmith and farmer, was born September 22, 1802, and in 1830 married Eleanor Springer, of Litchfield, and had ten children. He died at Litchfield, January 30, 1885.

Sarah Jane Morrell®, born February 13, 1804, married Barnabas Springer, of Litchfield, and had one son and died March 9, 1874. Mr. Springer was one of the original abolitionists, and in that movement and in other reforms of his time was a substantial power for good. He died August 17, 1880. Barnabas Springer, an early settler of Litchfield, who was killed while felling a tree, was his father.

Ebenezer Morrell®, born March 27, 1808, married Elizabeth Smith Rogers, of Litchfield, in 1835. She had six children and died in San Francisco March 16, 1856. He was one of the early pioneers of Cali- fornia, and now resides in Gilroy, Cal,

Rev. Alexander Hatch Morrell® was born October 10, 1818. He was general manager of Storer College, Harpers Ferry, Va., and died at Irvington, N. J., in 1885. His wife, Eliza, was daughter of Thomas B. Seavey. They had three children.

It is not our purpose in this chapter to trace farther these four younger children of Josiah and Sarah (Quint) Morrell and their nu- merous descendants, but to notice somewhat the oldest son, Arch Mor- relle, whose business career forms no inconsiderable factor in the local history of this city. We have noticed his marriage while his parents still resided at North Berwick. Probably he never resided in Litch- field, where the others of his father's family were.

*His grave stone at Litchfield Corner says 1853, but the stone is wrong.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

He was born April 10, 1800, and with an independent spirit which he probably inherited and which he certainly has transmitted, he started out to find a place for himself in the world. With five dollars in his pocket, he walked from South Berwick to Salem, Mass .- seventy miles-making fifty of the miles in twelve hours, and finally found employment in a brick yard at ten dollars per month, and after six months' work there returned home with $62.50. His first employer. a Mr. Gardiner, had a milk farm, and young Arch had sixteen cows to milk for his morning and evening diversion. Brick making, as then done by hand, was very laborious, but he learned the business, and in later life this knowledge served him a purpose. He went with the Salem Light Infantry to the reception of General La Fayette in Boston, in August, 1824, and was always proud of having done so. He was married in 1822, to Statira Andrews, who was born in Essex, Mass., December 3, 1797.

Working a few summers at brickmaking for Mr. Stone in Salem, he came in 1827 to Gardiner, where David Flagg and Jesse Lambard were brick makers of that day, and with them Mr. Morrell found em- ployment until he went into business for himself. His son, Henry A. Morrell, of Pittsfield, in a series of articles on brick making, written while his father was living, said: " My father did this same business for more than fifty years in succession, but the excessive labor has not brought him to an untimely grave-not yet, and he is eighty-five years old, and he brought up his three boys to the same trade; the one for- sook it and for thirty years has been an editor and publisher; but the other two have, with short alternations as lumbermen, printers and merchants, settled down to the old business."

In 1840, when there were more than a dozen brick yards in Gardi- ner, Arch Morrell and Randall Robinson were in company and made the bricks for the city hall. Arch and his brother, Ebenezer Morrell, made the bricks for Colonel Stone's building, corner Brunswick and Water streets. In 1858 he and his son, H. K. Morrell, made the bricks for the Gardiner Gas Works. In 1845 Arch Morrell made the bricks for the Holmes & Robbins foundry, and in 1846 for their machine shop-in fact he made fully seven-eighths of all the brick used in Gardiner prior to his death.

He first lived in a house where now stands the Freewill Baptist church, on Summer street, and here his son, Hiram Kelly, was born; but his most permanent home in Gardiner was at the foot of Spring street, where Michael Hickey's house now stands; until he, in 1837, built a house on the lot now occupied by his grandson. Herbert A. Harriman, on Spring street, and lived in it until it was destroyed in the great fire of August 4, 1882. He and his wife then boarded until their deaths with George W. Viney, and were kindly cared for by Mrs. Viney, who had been an intimate friend of theirs from her childhood. Mrs. Morrell died February 28, 1883, and Mr. Morrell February 15, 1885, each having attained the age of 85 years.

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 79

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