Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 80

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 80

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Ark Monill.

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THE CITY OF GARDINER.

Arch Morrell lived in a time when rum drinking was less depre- cated than now and though he sometimes drank he was not a drunk- ard. Before the Washingtonian movement, however, he became con- verted and joined the Freewill Baptist church, and ever after was a thorough going temperance man.

He was a kind hearted, gentle, loving man. His children all say they never heard him use a cross word, and he was liberal to a fault. He never accumulated property to any amount. His father, once when asked by a grandson; " Did you ever know a rich Morrell?" re- plied: "No; they always had too much company." Arch Morrell was no exception. His house was always a free hotel, for every minister, temperance or abolitionist lecturer, any man who ever worked for him -in fact for every countryman who came to haul him wood, buy bricks or for any other purpose. There were no restaurants in those days, and if there had been it would probably have been the same, for his latch string was always on the outside. This is no poetical figure, for in the old house where he first lived in Gardiner, there was actually a wooden latch and a leather latch string. The same old house had un- burned bricks in the chimney and white oak beams six by eight in the garret, and pine timber as much as fifteen inches square in the second floor.

He was careless about collecting and literally followed the injunc- tion: " Give to him that asketh of thee, and of him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." He trusted anybody, and they paid him, or let it alone, as best pleased them: and he often lost by signing notes for others. All the treasures he ever laid up were those laid up in heaven; and none of his children ever complained that he left no others. His good name is a better inheritance to them than great riches.

" Full many a poor man's blessing went With him beneath the low green tent, Whose curtain never outward swings."

His ancestors were Quakers, and the peaceful instincts of that sect always actuated him. His heart was as soft as a woman's, and every one's sorrows were made his own. He never held office except as a councilman, and as surveyor of brick and wood, and never wanted any; for he shrank from publicity.

Physically he was a model man. Few men could do more work in a day, and still fewer could work more days and nights in succession. He and his brother, Ebenezer Morrell, once made 40,000 bricks in six days and put as many more in the kiln-a good week's work for four men.

Not only morally but literally " his works live after him," for the fabrics of his make will last while the world stands. They were char- acteristic of the man-solid, durable and useful rather than gaudy and

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

attractive. He did no great deeds, though he was capable of it, if circumstances demanded, and he did no mean nor ignoble one.

He and his wife sieep in Oak Grove Cemetery, where some of their grandchildren sleep beside them. His first born son lies in the High street burying ground, but his six other children are all living.

These six children of Arch and Statira (Andrews) Morrell, repre- senting the seventh generation from John of Kittery, are: Mary Jane, born in Salem June 30, 1823; Hiram Kelly, born in Gardiner Septem- ber 25, 1827; Henry Albert, born January 23, 1830; Elizabeth An- drews, born April 26, 1833; William, born January 4, 1836; and Eleanor Ellen Morrell, born January 20, 1839.

Mary J." married Andrew Jack Harriman in 1843. Their children, all born in Gardiner, are: George A., December 4, 1844; Francis W., February 9, 1846, died November 13, 1863; Helen and Frederick, who died in infancy; Herbert A., November 27, 1850; Ida Florence, August 24, 1852; Alice Marion, October 21, 1853, died September 23,1889; Walter C., October 31, 1855; Willis E. and Arthur, died young; Charles W., April 24, 1861; Edward L., May 14, 1863; and Bertha Mabel, October 9, 1866.

Hiram K.' married Lucinda P. Hinkley, daughter of Alanson and Salome (Hinds) Hinkley, who died in 1861. Their children were: Ernest W. Morrell,8 editor of the Home Journal, who was born Decem- ber 3, 1851, married Abigail Whitcomb and has four children-Edith Whitcomb, Benjamin Dodge, Henry Arch and Florence; Dora May, a successful teacher, author and editor, born May 19, 1855; Florence A., born in 1857, died in 1864; and Charles A., born May 27, 1861. H. K. Morrell's second marriage was with Asenath Washburn Haskell, who died June 15, 1889, leaving one daughter, Lute Blanche, born August 16, 1866, who in October, 1887, married George Dexter Libby, of Gardiner, and has one daughter, Blanche Asenath Libby.

Henry Albert Morrell' is a brick maker at Pittsfield. He is a man of good literary attainments, well known by his nom de plume " Juni- per." His first wife was Sarah Jane Springer, of Gardiner, his second wife Marada Jane Mills. Each had three children: Fonetta Augusta (Mrs. Charles O. Morrell); Mary Everett, who died young; Nellie F. (Mrs. Nathaniel L. Perkins); Clarence Henry, Effie and Ethel Belle Morrell.8

Elizabeth A. Morrell7 married William Henry Wrenn, now fore- man in the Waltham watch factory, and has had no children.

William Morrell', the brick maker of Gardiner, learned the printer's trade at thirteen years of age and for twenty years worked at it win- ters. In 1869 he married Mary O. Ring, of Gardiner, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Goodridge) Ring, and had one son, Harry Mellen Morrell,8 who was born February 9, 1869, and died April 25, 1881.

Eleanor Ellen Morrell' married in 1862 Lorenzo Noble, now a fore- man in the Waltham watch factory. Their children are: Annie F., Burton Andrews and Arch Edward.

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THE CITY OF GARDINER.

William H. and Gustavus Moore are the sons of John Moore, who was born in Vassalboro in 1796, one of thirteen children, and came to Gardiner in 1811 and learned the millwright trade of his brother, Ebenezer Moore. He married in 1826, Charity, daughter of Ichabod Plaisted. Of their eight children five were boys, four of whom-John S., William H., George R. and Gustavus-enlisted and fought in the war of the rebellion. George R. died in the hospital at Vicksburgh. The other three came home, William H. with a bullet wound through his right lung that disabled him for over a year. John S. was sent to the legislature in 1864, and the next year went West and died at Des Moines, Ia. William H. became a manufacturer, and married in 1873, Luella J. Wakefield. They have one child, George Roscoe. Gustavus engaged in the hardware business and for two years has been superintendent of the Gardiner Water Company. He was commissioned lieutenant, was several years president of common council, and was in the legislatures of 1885 and 1887. In 1867 he mar- ried Adelaide Wiley, of Pittston. Their children are: Gustavus E., E. Mabel, Mary I. and Pearl.

Horace K. Newbert, the fourth of the six sons of Andrew and Lydia (Clark) Newbert, and grandson of Philip Newbert, whose father came from Germany and settled in Waldoboro, Me., was born in Washington, Me., in 1836. Horace married Elmira A. Lukeforth, of Washington. The older of their two sons, Fred S., is now in busi- ness with his father in Gardiner. Willie A. died young. For his second wife Mr. Newbert married Lucy M. Brown, of Gardiner. In 1866 he brought his family to Pittston, and was a commercial traveler for over twenty years. From 1875 to 1878 he had a boot and shoe store in Gardiner: soon after he became for five years a manufacturer of boots and shoes in Biddeford, Me. He bought of Frank Cox in 1889, the boot and shoe business in which he is now engaged in Gardiner.

Joseph E. Newell, son of George and Lydia (Edgcomb) Newell, was born in West Gardiner in 1844. He has been a paper maker by trade. He married Martha T., daughter of Elbridge and Sabrina (Smith) Hooker. They have one daughter, Laura A. Mr. Hooker was for several years a paper maker at Gardiner, and his home was where Mr. Newell now lives.

Appleton D. Nickerson, son of Daniel N. and Louisa (Gilbert) Nickerson, was born in Litchfield in 1826, the youngest of seven chil- dren. In 1855 he came to Gardiner and engaged in the grain, seed and grocery business, firm of Bartlett, Barstow & Co. In 1869 the firm name was changed to Barstow & Nickerson. This is the oldest grocery house in the city. In 1857 Mr. Nickerson married Clara H. Barstow, and their only child, Carrie L., is now Mrs. Ben W. Part- ridge, of Gardiner.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Fred M. Noyes is a son of Manthano Noyes, who was born in Brunswick, Me., one of the older of nine children, and married Lydia Stewart, of China, by whom he had twelve children. He came with his family to Gardiner, where he died in 1876-seventy years old. His son Fred M., the tenth child, was born in 1848, and became a drug- gist, which has been his business in Gardiner for the past twenty-five years. He married in 1889, Sarah J., daughter of Dexter Whitmore.

Daniel C. Palmer is the son of Elisha Palmer, of Hallowell, for- merly of Alna, Me., whose father, Simon Palmer, was a revolutionary soldier from New Hampshire. Elisha married Mary Perkins, of Alna, where Daniel C., the eldest of their seven children, was born in 1820. In 1846 he came to Gardiner and worked at his trade as millwright. He has been a surveyor of lumber over thirty years, and since 1863 clerk of the Kennebec Log Driving Company. Besides holding almost every minor city office, Mr. Palmer was elected mayor of Gar- diner in 1873, and was reëlected four times, serving his last term in 1880. He was also a member of the last state board of valuation. Mr. Palmer's first wife was Elizabeth J. Hanscon, of Hartland. Their children were: Georgie A., Frederick and Mary E., now Mrs. Albion G. Bradstreet, of Brooklyn, N. Y. His second wife was Ellen, daugh- ter of James B. Sawyer, of Gardiner.

Millard F. Payne is a direct descendant from Thomas Payne, who came with his father, Thomas, from England to Eastham, Mass., and married Mary Snow about 1652. Their son, Samuel, married Pa- tience Freeman, whose son, Joshua, had a son, Timothy D., who moved from Eastham to Waldoboro, Me. His son, Samuel Payne, of Richmond, was the father of Samuel Payne, of Litchfield, who mar- ried Ellen M. Jack. Of their six children Millard F., the only boy, was born in 1854 and in 1881 married Belle Gould, of Gardiner. Their children are: Harold Gould and Catharine Bartlett.

Captain Joseph Perry, a retired machinist of Gardiner, son of Joseph M. and grandson of Jonathan Perry, of Scituate, Mass., who later lived in Topsham, Me., was born in Topsham May 4, 1811. He married Olive Gilpatrick, who died leaving children: Clara E. (Mrs. Harry A. Leslie) and Anna J. The captain's second wife was Mrs. Ann M. (Felker) Peterson, of Wiscasset, Me., who left one son-Fred A. Perry. Captain Perry's military title comes from the bloodless fields of the Aroostook war, where he commanded the Kennebec guards.

Robert Pope, of Gardiner, flour and commission merchant, son of Robert Pope, of Hallowell, is the grandson of Joseph Pope, who was born in Boston in 1750, and was a watchmaker; he constructed an orrery of such merit that Governor Bowdoin, John Hancock and others procured an act of the legislature granting the right to raise five hundred pounds by lottery to buy the astronomical curiosity for

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THE CITY OF GARDINER.

Harvard College, which was done, and the college still preserves it. Joseph Pope received £450 3s. for this instrument. Mr. Pope has now in his house a clock with thirty-one hands, indicating the time in twenty-four different longitudes, the places of the sun in the zodiac and the phases of the moon, made by Joseph Pope, who came to Hal- lowell in 1818 and died there in 1826. Robert Pope was also a watch- maker. He married Julia C., daughter of James Wingate, postmaster at Portland, Me. Robert, jun., was born in 1835, went to school in Hallowell Academy, came to Gardiner and became a machinist. He married Julia A. Ellis, of Medfield, Mass. Their children are: Robert W., associated with his father in business, and Seth E., the latter now in Bowdoin College.

Amos H. Potter, born in 1836, is the only surviving son of Amos and Hannah (Clark) Potter, of " Pottertown," Litchfield. He married Adelia E., daughter of Lewis Gowell, of Litchfield, in 1861, and came to Gardiner in 1868. Their children are: Alphonzo H., Frederick E. and George E., all living in Gardiner. Maxcy Brothers, in 1878, started a coal business on Berry's wharf, which two years later they sold to the Citizens' Coal Company. In 1885 Amos H. Potter bought the entire interests of this stock concern, and added the coal trade to a wood business that he had been doing for some years. At the same time, for the purpose of getting deeper water, he changed from Berry's to Atkins' wharf, which used to be called the old Gay wharf.

William G. Preble, merchant and undertaker, is the son of A. F. Preble and the grandson of Abraham Preble, both of Bowdoinham. The latter, besides being a farmer, was a school teacher, going as far from home as Brooklyn, N. Y., where he taught several terms. He was born in 1800 and lived on the home farm to be eighty years old. A. F. Preble, who was one of nine children, married Almira, daughter of James W. Grant, of Richmond, Me. Of their four children, Wil- liam G., the only boy, was born in 1853, and came with his widowed mother to Gardiner in 1863, where at the age of twelve he went to work for Uriah Morrison at cabinet making. In 1882 he bought of James Nash the premises he now occupies, and three years later an adjoining house and lot to make room for the wants of his furniture, carpet and crockery business. In 1887 he married Alice, daughter of William C. Keene, of Pittston. They have one child, Ethel.

Albert A. Robbins, the machinist, is the only surviving son of Charles A. Robbins, who was born in Winthrop in 1807 and died in Gardiner in 1884. Charles A. came to Gardiner in 1825, and was one of the firm of P. C. Holmes & Co. until 1861. After eight years in Bangor he, with his two sons, E. Everett and Albert A., formed the firm of C. A. Robbins & Sons. Since the death of Everett, in 1892, the business continues under Albert A., only surviving member.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Edward Robinson, born in Alna, Me., in 1818, was a ship carpenter when a young man, and was several years in business in Boston and New York prior to 1850, when he returned to Alna, where he was en- gaged in the lumber business and other mercantile trade until 1870, when he came to Gardiner, where he now lives. He was first select- man seventeen years, representative from Alna one term, and has held various city offices in Gardiner. He married Mary E., daughter of Edward and Mary (Woodbridge) Palmer. Their children are: H. Dean, Herman E. and Edwin A.

Greenleaf S. Rogers, son of Levi Rogers, of Vassalboro, is in the sixth generation from Thomas Rogers, who in 1657 planted in Saco probably the first orchard in Maine. Old Orchard Beach was named after it. Levi Rogers married Phebe Clark, of China. Greenleaf, born in 1812, was the oldest of their seven children. Levi went to Augusta in 1827, and kept the Spencer House, then a house that stood just north of the present Allen Block; next the Mansion House; and lastly the Augusta House, where he died. Greenleaf T. Rogers mar- ried Sarah B., daughter of Elkanah Mclellan, of Gardiner. Their children have been Ellen and George L. Greenleaf came to Gardiner in 1837 and kept the Cobbossee House eight years, and from 1856 to 1889 was the senior member of the jewelry firm of G. S. & G. L. Rogers.

Henry R. Sawyer is the son of Ezekiel Sawyer, who was born in Portland, Me., in 1798, and the grandson of Isaac Sawyer, who was born in England. Ezekiel came to Gardiner in 1819, and was in the employ of R. H. Gardiner for twenty years, investing all his earnings in real estate, till he became one of the largest landholders in town. He and Rufus K. Page were pioneers in the ice business on the Ken- nebec. He married Sarah Atkins, by whom he had five children. Henry R. and his sister, Mrs. Mary A. Moore, both live in South Gardiner, where Henry R. was born in 1833. He attended the Hobart High School at Richmond and the Gardiner Academy. He married Philena W. S. Hathorn. Their children are: Ida L., Hattie C., Ezekiel J., Harry H. and Jeff S. Mr. Sawyer has been a dealer in wood, hay and ice, a merchant, a contractor, and an operator in real estate, active and successful.

Benjamin S. Smith, second son of Amasa and Eliza M. (Steward) Smith, of Moscow, Me., and grandson of Samuel Smith, of Litchfield, was born in Moscow in 1846. The next year they moved to Gardiner. In 1864 Benjamin S. enlisted in Stevens' Battery, 5th Maine, and fought under Grant and then under " Phil " Sheridan. On his return home he learned the cabinet maker's trade, and five years later began work in the door, sash and blind business. He has been engaged in this business for himself for the past nine years. January 2, 1868, he married Martha, daughter of Dow Clark, of Gardiner.

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THE CITY OF GARDINER.

John D. Stephenson in 1879 bought the school house on Winter street and remodeled it and started a grocery business in the same room where he received his primary education, and has continued the business in the building since that time. Later he bought the inter- mediate school house lot on Highland avenue, where he built a sub- stantial residence. Now both his place of business and his home are on the ground where he received much of the school training that fitted him for his present success.

Charles Swift, youngest of four children of Lemuel Swift, of Cape Cod, who came to Brunswick, Me., in 1790, and married Sarah Lufkin, of Freeport, was born in 1818, and came to Gardiner in 1845. He married Sarah Jane Rockwood, of Augusta, in 1847, and had two chil- dren: Mary H. and Charles F. Swift, now of Gardiner. Mr. Swift was a jeweler, which trade he followed twelve years, and about 1860 con- ceived and executed the plan of making a line of boxes adapted to jewelers' and druggists' uses, and successfully carried on the business for over twenty years.

FREEMAN TROTT .- A man's life is largely an exhibition of the re- sults that follow an adherence to certain lines of action. While exact shades of character are difficult to define or depict, individual acts have a trend toward well defined objects, and in obedience to, or in disobedience of, established precepts and principles. These reflections are suggested by a brief review of the life of Freeman Trott, who for over fifty years was a conspicuous and well known citizen and business man of Gardiner. A glimpse at a man's ancestry throws wonderful light on his intellectual and moral features. In this man's case we are fortunately able to turn back six leaves in the book of his family genealogy-each leaf a generation.

Thomas Trott, the ancestor, came from England to Dorchester, Mass., in 1635, where he turned his attention to farming. Nine years later he joined the church, which act, by virtue of the peculiar civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Puritans, gave him the right to vote, and invested him with all the privileges of full citizenship-that ex- alted condition being then expressed by the noble term, freeman. That same year he became an actor and a partner in the greatest event in life-he married Sarah Proctor. Any one of these acts would indicate a laudable effort to get on in the world, but to compass them all in one year must be accepted as evidence of substantial progress. We know there was then a searching ordeal through which a candidate must pass before the gateway to church membership was thrown open. The balance of our acquaintance with Thomas Trott is that he raised a son Samuel, and died in Dorchester at the age of eighty-six, leaving a good farm and what was then called a large estate.

Samuel, who was born in 1660, married Mary Beal, and they had two boys: Benjamin, born in 1712, who married Joanna Payson, of

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Roxbury, and his brother, name not given, who married Waitstill Payson. The Paysons seem to have enjoyed a reputation for superior intellectual attainments which justifies the presumption that the win- ners of these daughters were young men of good parts. By a request in his father's will, Benjamin learned a trade, and was a blacksmith in Boston, where he owned a house. About 1744 he moved to Wool- wich, Me., with his wife and three sons, Lemuel, Thomas and Ben- jamin. Lemuel married the daughter of Colonel Thomas Motherell. His father and mother, Benjamin and Joanna, are buried in the old South burying ground at Nequasset. Lemuel left a son, Lemuel, who married Fanny Reed. They had four sons: Lemuel, Converse, Free- man and Alfred.

Freeman, the subject of this sketch, was born at Woolwich in Jan- uary, 1810. His father died when about forty years old, leaving a widow in the responsible and difficult position of looking after the education and guidance of her sons. This task she performed with a mother's love and wisdom. Freeman was educated at Kents Hill, teaching school winters. He came to Gardiner about 1836, and ob- tained a place in the post office under Judge Palmer. In 1840, at the age of thirty, he took up the business of his choice, that of a grocery merchant. Locating on Water street, in Gardiner, he gave his time, his energies and a mature judgment to the work that was to engross the activities of a long life. For the next forty-five years, until his death, May 9, 1885, although the store was rebuilt, the site remained the same. His career was prosperous and profitable, for it was char- acterized by honesty and fair dealing.

Successful management of personal affairs is sure of public appre- ciation. When the city of Gardiner was incorporated in 1850, Mr. Trott was chosen its first treasurer, and served two years. He also served as a member of the city council, and was a director in the Cob- bossee National Bank. He was a supporter of the Methodist church in Gardiner, of which he was for years a trustee. Lemuel Trott, a brother of his, was a clergyman in the Methodist denomination.

December 17, 1844, Freeman Trott married Julia S., daughter of Nathaniel and Julia (Springer) Kenniston. Of the two children of Freeman and Julia Trott, the elder, Charles F., who was born in 1845, and died in 1877 at Gardiner, was fond of the sea and became first mate of a vessel that was lost during an earthquake at St. Thomas in 1877. The other child, Lizzie J., is Mrs. O. B. Clason of Gardiner, and has four children: Julia T., Bertha S., Freeman P. and Charles R. Clason.

Isaac G. Vannah, the ninth of eleven children, whose parents were Henry and Betsey (Keene) Vannah, of Nobleboro, Me., was born in 1823. He came to Gardiner in 1846 and engaged in the hardware trade in 1848 on Bridge street. After two or three changes of loca-

Bremen Proto

PRINT, E. BIERSTADT, N. Y.

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THE CITY OF GARDINER.

tion he bought, in 1863, the block he still occupies, and next to Amasa Ring has been continuously in business the longest of any man on Water street. A curious and significant fact in the hardware trade is this: when Mr. Vannah began the only tool he sold of American manufacture was one kind of plane irons, and it now happens that every article he sells is made in this country except one English make of the same article-plane irons. Isaac G. Vannah, in 1849, married Eliza C. Rafter, of Jefferson, Me. They have one child, Letetia Kate.

Charles O. Wadsworth, born in 1839 in Gardiner, is a son of Moses S. and grandson of the Quaker preacher, Moses Wadsworth, of West Gardiner. He enlisted in 1862 and lost a leg in front of Petersburg. After the war he was salesman and bookkeeper at times, and in 1878 was elected city clerk and librarian of the public library of Gardiner, and was commissioned justice of the peace the same year, which posi- tions he has since continuously held. He married Angie M. Baldwin, of New Hampshire, and has two children: Mildred B. and Frank C.

Captain James Walker, born in 1834, is the grandson of Captain Lemuel Walker, a seafaring man born in Kennebunkport, Me., and the son of Joshua Walker 2d, the youngest of twelve children, who was born in Litchfield, and Married Hannah S., daughter of Jeremiah Potter, of Litchfield, and moved to Richmond, Me., in 1850. James enlisted from Aroostook county in Company E, 15th Maine, served under General Butler, was at New Orleans and in the Red River cam- paign, and then under General Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. He came home at the close of the war and married Julia, daughter of Annis Douglas, of Gardiner. They have two children: Charles F. and Clara E.

Hon. Charles A. White is the son of Eben White, who came from Winthrop to Hallowell. where he was for years senior member in the grocery firm of White & Warren, and whose father was Major Benja- min White-war of 1812. Eben White brought his family to Gardiner in 1829, being then in government employ under General Jackson. Charles A. White, born in 1828 in Hallowell, was appointed postmaster at Gardiner under President Pierce in 1855 and reappointed under Buchanan; was state treasurer in 1878 and 1879; was again postmaster in Gardiner under Grover Cleveland, and has served in both branches of the city government. In 1860 he married Elizabeth R., daughter of Hon. Thomas Robinson, of Ellsworth, Me. Their children are: Mary D., now Mrs. Doctor Dike, of Melrose, Mass .; Bessie F., died 1865: and Charles R., Harry Eben and Anna E., of Gardiner.

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 80

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