USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 56
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Hastings
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who are familiar with art. This can especially be seen in his youthful painting of the "Madonna and Child," which is most certainly famous in the eyes of those who were aware of the youthfulness of the artist.
DAVID ROBINGSON HASTINGS, the suc- cessful and progressive business man of Auburn, Maine, who has been most intimately identified with all its public affairs for a number of years, comes of an old and aristocratic English family, which was founded in this country by one Robert Hastings, who came from England at an early period. He settled at Haverhill, Massachusetts, where the family resided for a number of gene- rations. The name was first brought to Maine by General Amos Hastings, who settled in the town of Bethel, where a number of his descendants continue to reside.
David Robingson Hastings is a son of Gideon Alphonso Hastings, a native of Bethel, where he was born in the year 1827, and where he continued to reside during his entire life, his death occur- ring there in 1910 at the age of eighty-three years. He was a prominent lumberman all his life. He enlisted in the Union Army as the cap- tain of Company A, Twelfth Regiment of Maine Volunteer Infantry, in 1861. He served through- out the Civil War and was honorably discharged at the close of hostilities with the rank of major. He saw much active service and was present at many important engagements, including the bat- tle at Cedar Creek and those connected with the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, when he served under General Sheridan. He also took part in the campaign of General Butler, and was present at the battle of Winchester. Major Has- tings married Dolly Keyse Kimball, a native of Rumford, Mainc, whose death occurred in 1907 at the age of seventy-six years. They were the parents of eight children, one of whom died in infancy. Among those who survived are the fol- lowing: Moses A., who resides at Lancaster, Maine; William W., who has continued to make his home in his native town of Bethel, where he is engaged in the lumber business and also con- ducts a mercantile establishment; David Robing- son, with whose career we are especially con- cerned; Herbert B., who resides in Douglas county, Oregon, where he is engaged in business as a rancher; Tom, who for a number of years conducted a hardware store at Bethel, and is now living in that town, retired.
Born January 24, 1858, at Bethel, Mainc, David Robingson Hastings obtained his education at
the local public schools and at Gould's Acad- emy in his native town. He completed his studies at the latter institution at the age of eighteen, after which he engaged for a time in the profession of teaching, having a position as instructor in Gould's Academy, where he had previously been a student. He remained here as professor of mathematics and English for three years. Upon reaching his majority, however, he gave up this career and engaged in the lumber business at Riley Plantation, Oxford county, Maine, remaining there for three years. He then removed to Batchelors Grant, township of Has- tings, which place had been named after his father, who was a pioneer there. Here Mr. Has- tings has continued his business ever since, and has greatly increased his holdings. These were originally twelve thousand acres, but now amount to twenty-six thousand. In this immense tract he carries on his operations and takes a great pleasure in his business, as he is devotedly fond of the woods and life in the open. He also main- tains a home at No. 142 Hampshire street, Au- burn, and has become very prominent in this city's affairs.
Mr. Hastings is a staunch Democrat in his poli- tics, and for many years has been active in the political life of the various communities where he has resided. The first office which he held was that of superintendent of schools in the town of Gilead, Maine. He was afterwards elected a member of the Board of Selectmen of that town and served as its chairman for a number of years, and still later was the postmaster there. In the year 1896 he came to Auburn and at once identi- fied himself with his party in this clty. He quickly rose to a position of prominence in the local organization, and was twice elected a member of the Board of Aldermen from Ward Two. Later he was elected mayor of Auburn, and while serving his first term in this office was elected high sheriff of Androscoggin county. He resigned as mayor of Auburn to take this latter post, and was re-elected to it after the expira- tion of his first term. He did not complete the second term, however, as he was elected to repre- sent Androscoggin county in the Maine Legis- lature. For the last six years he has continued a member of that body, and has made for himself a very enviable reputation as a capable and dis- interested legislator. Mr. Hastings is a promi- nent figure in the social and fraternal world of his community, and is affiliated at Auburn with the Universalist church. He is a member of Mt. Abraham Lodge, Ancient Frec and Accepted Ma-
ME .- 2-18
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sons, of Bethel, having joined that organization as a young man while still living in his native town.
David Robingson Hastings married (first) in 1880, Josephine Sanderson, who died two years later, leaving one child, a son, Marshall R., who now resides at Bethel, where he is engaged in the lumber business. He married Norma Linscott, of Auburn, and they are the parents of a daughter, Ruth Ella, now (1917) eleven years of age. David Robingson Hastings married (second) in 1885, Ella J. Coffin, a native of Gilead, and to them one daughter has been born, Florence O'Neal, who is at present engaged as a teacher in con- trol of the physical culture department of all the Auburn schools.
No country can ever be too democratic to ob- ject to the aristocracy of merit. Indeed, it may well be held that one of the most important raison d'etre of democracy is that it causes this aristoc- racy to prevail and take the place of a more ar- tificial order. That such an aristocracy may have many of the appearances of the older and more formal types, that it may, for example, retain wealth, position, influence within the grasp of a family, that these things together with the pow- ers upon which they depend may descend gene- ration after generation from father to son is am- ply shown by such a family as that of Hastings, whose representatives throughout the history of Bethel, Maine, and before, have distinguished themselves in connection with the affairs of that State. Perhaps the most successful and capable scion of this important family at the present time is David Robingson Hastings, one of the promi- nent men of Auburn, and a model for the younger generation to follow. His public career is one which can be admired, as illustrative of the high- est kind of disinterestedness and public spirit. His career in the State Legislature has been one of which not only he himself, but the community at large, may well feel proud, and during which he has identified himself conspicuously with re- form legislation.
ELFORD HOLLIS MORISON-In the sec- tion of country round about Wilton and Liver- more Falls, Maine, the Morison family is well and favorably known, one of them being an unusually bright, energetic young man. He is Elford Hol- lis Morison, born in Wilton, January 1, 1888. His career began when he graduated from the high school at Livermore Falls in 1904.
His first position was in the bank at Liver- more as clerk. Making good there he returned to
Wilton in 1908 to take the post of manager of the Livermore Falls Trust Company, a very responsible position for a young man only twenty years old. He performed the duties of the of- ice to the entire satisfaction of the directors, re- maining there until 1912, when the good will of the Livermore Falls Trust and Banking Company was bought by the Wilton Trust and Banking Company, and Mr. Morison was made treasurer of the consolidated concern; this position he holds at the present time. He is also on the executive board of the bank and one of the board of di- rectors.
Mr. Morison's political faith is Republican, but he has been too busy to enter politics, and has never sought any public office, contenting him- self with the work with which he has been en- trusted.
Like Leigh Hunt's hero, Abou Ben Ahdem, Mr. Morison also "loves his fellow men," as is shown by his rapid progression through the various de- grees of the Free Masons, being a member of the local lodge. From the Blue Lodge through the Commandery he has gone, until now he is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Shrine.
Mr. Morison chose his wife from among the at- tractive young ladies of Wilton. She was Flor- ence A. Holmes, daughter of Milton and Car- rie (Miller) Holmes, the family being residents of Wilton also. The marriage occurred August 20, 1913. The young people have two children, a boy and a girl: Keene, born May 18, 1914, and Marjorie, born August 20, 1916.
The parents of Elford Hollis Morison are Hol- lis A. and Jennie F. (Walton) Morison. They for- merly resided upon a farm at East Livermore, but of late years they have lived at Livermore Falls, of which place Mr. Morison, Sr., is a merchant.
LUCY C. FARNSWORTH-The Farnsworth family has been one of prominence in the build- ing up of the city of Rockland, Maine, and the community owes much to these men who by their sterling American virtues set a pace for later generations. Of such were the pioneers of the Republic and it is to such that we look for a re- newal of that type of Americanism of which the country is always in need. The sole surviving member of the family, now living in Rockland, is Miss Lucy C. Farnsworth. She is widely es- teemed for her virtues and worthily upholds the dignity of the old and respected name.
William Farnsworth, her grandfather, was born in 1790, and was one of the early settlers of Rock-
John & Stanley
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land, and had the virile virtues of that old time, transmitting them to his posterity. Like many of the early New England dwellers on the coast he went to sea and was gradually promoted from grade to grade, becoming at last captain. He was lost at sea in 1826, at the age of thirty-six. He was married and had three children, the eldest of which was William A., who was born in 1815. He was educated in the public schools, and after- wards went into the lime business with the Cobb Lime Company. He became the largest stock- holder in this company and finally bought out the whole business, with the quarries, kilns, and real estate. Possessed of an untiring and indomitable energy he carried through every undertaking with a vigor and success almost inconceivable. He was the founder of the Chicawauka Water Com- pany which was afterwards merged in the Rock- land Water Company, becoming the president of the latter and holding that office until his death in Savannah, Georgia. He was a Mason of high standing. He married and had six children who were: Josephine; Lucy C .; James R., born 1841, died 1905; William. A., born 1849. died 1856; Fannie, born 1852, died 1877; Joseph, born 1858, died 1863.
James R. Farnworth, son of William A. Farns- worth, was born in 1841, and died in 1905. He was educated to succeed his father in the water business and in his time this was greatly enlarged and improved and large holdings of real estate acquired. He was a very progressive and public spirited man and lived up to his responsibilities as a man and as a citizen. He was married but left no family. Thus the family ends with his sister, Lucy C. Farnsworth, the last survivor of a line, the tradition of which will always command the esteem and respect of the city of Rockland, the interests of which community they did a large part in maintaining.
JOHN LENZEY STANLEY-As a general rule sailors are not very good business men, but in the case of John Lenzey Stanley, it is quite the opposite. Though spending all his youth on the water, he afterward became a very successful business man, exemplifying the truth of the state- ment "Opportunity knocks but once at every man's door." Wise, indeed, is the man who heeds that knocking.
John Lenzey Stanley was the son of Peter and Sarah (Newman) Stanley, and was born in Tre- mont, Maine, April 25, 1841. His father had al- ways followed the sea as a means of earning a livelihood, and the boy, brought up on the rug-
ged coast of Maine, knew no other life than that of a sailor. He was sent to the public schools of Tremont with other children of the town, and received as good an education as the limited fa- cilities of that institution afforded; but by the time the lad had reached thirteen years of age he had finished the school course, and naturally adopted a sailor's life, at first engaging in fishing, that being the customary beginning, unknowingly taking the first step in preparation for his future achievements. He followed fishing for seven years, but the call of the sea was loud and strong, so he went coasting in the topsail schooner J. F. Carver, continuing it for one year, when the youth ship- ped in a brig which carried coal from Cape Bre- ton. Landing, on his return to Boston, he ship- ped next in the schooner Rachel Varnum, re- maining aboard her for two years. This was fol- lowed by shipping on the Marietta Tilton, a schooner hailing from Philadelphia. The young sailor's experiences were many and varied dur- ing the several voyages he went upon, some of them being sufficiently thrilling to make very good story-telling in later life. It was four years before Mr. Stanley returned home, remain- ing there only one year; during this time he was married. But the man who has led a seafaring life can seldom content himself long on land, so he finally determined to go on a cruise in the Mary B. Dyer of Provincetown, bound on a seining trip to the Bay of St. Lawrence. The following spring he went to Boston and signed up for a year's sailing in a porgy steamer. In his next venture we find him as Captain Stanley in charge of the schooner Yankce Lass, a berth he held for seven years, when he decided to give up a sailor's life and become a landsman.
It was at this time, 1874, that opportunity came knocking at Captain Stanley's door. He, from his seven years as a fisherman, realized the fact that there was no fresh fish and ice market at Man- set, so determined to start one at once, thus becoming the pioneer in that line for his section of the State. It was most successful, growing steadily until, as his sons became of age, he made them one by one, his partners, under the firm name of John L. Stanley & Sons. Devoting him- self exclusively to the fish trade, Captain Stan- ley soon found other openings in connection with it; one being the great need of a fish freezing plant in that particular place, which, lying right on the coast, was the center of the fisher folk's in- dustry. So he set about forming a company for that purpose, and in 1907 organized the South- west Harbor Cold Storage plant, he being made
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director and treasurer, an office he has con- tinuously held since the formation of the com- pany. Finding this working very successfully, Mr. Stanley found there were further possibili- ties in the fish business, and with several other enterprising men started, in 1916, the Tinkers Is- land Fish Company, the object being to build and maintain weirs and traps for catching fish on a large scale. Mr. Stanley is one of the direc- tors of this company also, one of his sons being manager and another, treasurer and clerk. It has been a very prosperous concern, and Mr. Stan- ley is fully justified in the pride he feels at the results of his farsightedness, the small fish busi- ness, started by him forty-five years ago, having grown to be one of the largest and best known fresh and salt fish businesses in the State, with headquarters at Manset, and a branch retail house at Southwest Harbor, and a branch wholesale house at Cranberry Isles.
In his youth Captain Stanley was absent from home most of the time, therefore he entered very little into politics, but has always been a Democrat in his convictions. He is a Free Mason, being a member of Tremont Lodge, No. 77. He and his family are all members of the Methodist church.
John Lenzey Stanley married, January 5, 1870, Mary Elizabeth Whitmore, daughter of Isaac Stanley and Rachel (Robinson) Whitmore, the marriage taking place at Tremont (now South- west Harbor). Four. children were born of this marriage: I. Isaac Foster, born December 1, 1870. 2. Everett George, born September 1, 1874. 3. Fred Lenzey, born September 27, 1876, died when he was four years old. 4. Nellie May, born September 28, 1878. The first two sons are those connected with Captain Stanley in business.
PHINEAS RICHARDSON-In the ship which brought John Winthrop, the future governor of Massachusetts, to the young colonies in America about 1620, there came with him a strong, ven- turesome young man, and it was from him, Thomas Richardson, youngest brother of Eze- kiel Richardson, who bore the Winthrop company, who settled in Charlestown about 1635 that the line is traced to Phineas Richardson. His de- scendants can be traced in a straight line until we reach Phineas Richardson born in Turner, Maine, October 15, 1851. This boy grew up on his father's farm, living much in the open and developing that love of the great out-of-doors which continued through his entire life, mani- festing itself in the nature of his occupation.
Of course the boy was sent to school, for all good New Englanders believe in education, but
after passing through the Turner village school and the high school, he went to the woods at Rangeley, Maine, and engaged in the lumbering business. This he followed successfully for some years. The Maine woods are known far and near as the Mecca of all sportsmen, and as Kennebago Lake was a popular resort for hunters, it was necessary to have comfortable accommodations there, so the two brothers, Phineas and Cornelius T. Richardson, bought the sporting resort known as Kennebago Lake House, conducting it under the firm name of Richardson Brothers, and they remained there for thirty years.
While devoting himself almost exclusively to this enterprise, Mr. Richardson found time to become interested in several other businesses in Rangeley; among them, the Rangeley Trust Com- pany of which he was vice-president and one of the board of directors, and Rangeley Water Com- pany, of which he was president and director. He never aspired to any public office, but de- voted to the Republican party, served on the Re- publican town committee many years; also as dele- gate to State and district conventions. He was always deeply interested in the affairs of the town, and was active in all projects for its better- ment, always voting the Republican ticket on election day. The only fraternal order with which Mr. Richardson was affiliated was the Knights of Pythias, in the local lodge of which he has been more or less active. Mr. Richard- son died July 8, 1910.
In Rangeley there lived a well-to-do farmer, by name, Charles H. Pillsbury and his wife, Mary T. (Quimby) Pillsbury. Their daughter, Miss Addie, became the wife of Phineas Richardson at Range- ley, December 6, 1880. They have only one child, Prudence Mary, who is unmarried.
Mr. Richardson's father, like himself, bore the name of Phineas, and he was born in Litchfield, Maine; his grandfather was Cornelius T. Rich- ardson, and his great-grandfather was Abijalı, these two being natives of Townsend, Massachu- setts. The elder Phineas in his youth was a steam- boat engineer, but after following this for some time decided to become a farmer and as such continued for many years. He has to his credit the fact of running as engineer a transport for the Government during the period of the Civil War. He retired from business some years be- fore his death, living with his daughter at Keens Mills.
SETH AUGUSTINE MOULTON-Those of us who are familiar with our Scott recall well the attractive character of Thomas de Multon, Baron
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De Veaux, the faithful attendant and companion in arms of Richard the Lion-Hearted, as he appears in "The Talisman" and we have reason to believe on the authority of the author himself, that how- ever much he may introduce imaginary charac- ters and episodes in connection with the plot of the story, that in so far as de Multon is con- cerned, the events narrated are historic. Cer- tainly Thomas de Multon was a well known name in early English history from the time that the first Thomas De Multon came from Normandy with William the Conqueror and took part in the battle of Hastings. His services were evidently great as his royal master rewarded him for them with the grant of large estates in Lincolnshire and elsewhere. The de Multons made their home on these estates for many years, and atter the manner of the great feudal lords of the period, built castles and established monasteries and ab- beys and maintained an almost regal state. We find the name in various parts of the United King- dom and America, whither it was transplanted in the early Colonial days by the enterprising younger sons of the great family. In this coun- try the name is spelled Moulton, as indeed it is in many parts of England today, but the line of descent is unbroken from the earliest days to the present. The Moultons have always been lov- ers of Liberty from the time that one Sir Thomas Moulton was among the nobles who extracted from the unwilling hands of King John the Magna Charta, the original instrument of English liber- ties, to the time when representatives of the fam- ily sought for greater religious and civil liberty in the New World and later. In America the family was founded by three brothers, Thomas, John and William, who settled at Winnacunnett, now Hampton, New Hampshire, and it is from these that all or nearly all the Moultons of New England are descended. The ancient arms of the Moulton house were as follows: A plain field, ar- gent or azure, crossed by three horizontal bars, gules or sable. In 1571 the following arms were granted to them: Argent, three bars, gules, between eight escallop shells: sable three two, two and one: Crest, On a pellet a falcon rising ar- gent.
Many of the Moultons remained in New Hampshire, where their earliest ancestors had settled, but several branches removed to other states, notably to Maine and Massachusetts. Al- though the present Mr. Moulton, with whose ca- reed this sketch is chiefly concerned, is identified with the life of Portland, Maine, it was from the Massachusetts branch that he is descended and he himself is a native of that State.
Seth Augustine Moulton is a son of Charles Edson Moulton, a native of Framingham, Mas- sachusetts, and of Clara Alice (Russ) Moulton, of Lowell, Massachusetts. Charles Edson Moulton was interested in mining, and eventually died in Mexico in the year 1905, whither he had gone as an expert on mining. Charles Edson Moulton and his wife were the parents of two children, a daughter, who died in infancy, and Seth Augus- tine Moulton, of whom further. Mrs. Moulton survives her husband.
Seth Augustine Moulton was born October 13, 1875, at Lowell, Massachusetts, but did not pass more than the first five years of his life in his native town, accompanying his parents in 1880 to Auburn, Massachusetts. He attended the Wor- cester public schools for a time and there pre- pared for college and eventually matriculated at Brown University, where he took a special course in engineering and the fine arts. For a time he lived in Milton, New Hampshire, where he held the position of chief engineer in the employ of I. W. Jones, of that place. In the year 1909 he came to Portland, Maine, and became the junior partner of the firm of Sawyer & Moulton, con- sulting engineers. This enterprise was success- ful, and on November 1, 1914, Mr. Moulton be- came the owner of the entire business which is now conducted entirely under his management. The success which he has met with is an elo- quent tribute to his business talents and to his skill as an engineer, which has brought him to a place where he is now recognized as among the leaders of his profession in electro-chemical and industrial engineering. Mr. Moulton is not the kind of man, however, to confine his atten- tion to his merely personal interests, but has always devoted considerable time and energy to public affairs and community life. He is at the present time (1917) president of the Moulton En- gineering Corporation of Maine, of the Moulton Engineering Company of New York, of the Tidewater Equipment Corporation of Portland; and a director in the Accessories Corporation and the Electron Chemical Company of Portland; he is also a director and vice-president of the Port- land Chamber of Commerce. He is a Republi- can in politics, but it not ambitious for political preferment, preferring rather to exert what in- fluence he can in his capacity of private citizen. He is a conspicuous figure in club and fraternal life in Portland, and has recently joined the Ma- sonic order, into which he was initiated Janu- ary 27, 1917. He is also affiliated with the Rotary, the Cumberland, the Portland Country, the Wood- fords and the Civic clubs,. all of Portland. He is
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