USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 71
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
his brother-in-law, David Hale. He built in 1804 the fine brick house on Free street now owned by the heirs of Charles Jones. He died June 29, 1820, aged fifty-two. His widow having survived her second marriage with Cotton B. Brooks, is now living in Portland in the ninetieth year of her age. Joseph, Enoch, and the two daughters survive, the first three in Portland.
The first Joseph's son, Peter, married Hannah Merrill of Falmouth in 1752, and had Amos, Hutchinson, and Jane, mar- ried to Joseph Lunt in 1786. It is noticeable, the intermarriages in the last century of the Lunts and Noyeses. Both families were of Newbury, which with an early connection served to bring them together. First, Josiah Noyes to Mary Lunt, 1737 ; second, Hannah, his sister, to James Lunt, 1743 ; third, Sarah, daughter of Josiah, to Moses Lunt, 1773; fourth, James Lunt to Eunice Noyes, 1782; fifth, Joseph Lunt to Jane Noyes, 1786.
The posterity of these family alliances, as well as by other intermarriages, is very numerous and extensive.
Oliver, John, was one of the early proprietors of the town ; he was of, and lived in Boston, where his family had been among the earliest settlers. He had a grant here in January, 1721, of an acre house lot on Fore street, fronting the beach, the third lot from the first assignment of lots in that part of the town ; the first being Richard Collier's. He also had a three-acre lot assigned to him on Congress street and sixty acres beside. He was dead before November 11, 1831, and his children inherited his estate here ; one daughter Mary, born in 1700, married first, Capt. John East, and on his death, without issue, she married Henry Wheeler, July 28, 1736, and had children by him. Af- ter Wheeler's death in 1750, she married James Gooding for her third husband in 1753, and died in 1778. Another daugh- ter of Oliver, Elizabeth, married Rowland Bradbury ; she was born in 1711, and married Bradbury, who was a caulker, in 1731. He lived on the acre lot granted to her father which is still in the occupation of her descendants. Their children
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were, Oliver, born October 25, 1732; Maria, April 5, 1734 ; Ann, January 3, 1736 ; Abigail, April 9, 1738. He also had a son Rowland, the time of whose birth I do not know. He was a loyalist and fled from the country on the opening of the revolution and did not return. In 1800 he conveyed, at Lon- don, to his nephew, William Baker, son of Samuel Baker, and his sister Maria, an acre of land on Fore street, near his moth- er's lot, which he received from his father in 1772, in which he recites that he left Portland more than twenty years before, had since resided in England, not intending to return, and that the land had been occupied by his two sisters, Maria Pearson and Elizabeth Baker, who had built a house upon it. The elder Rowland died in Portland, April 5, 1781, aged seventy- five, and his widow March 6, 1798, aged eighty-seven. Their daughter Maria married William Pearson in 1764; Abigail married Watson Crosby about 1768 ; their daughter Emma was born October 1, 1769, and married to Capt. Lemuel Moody in 1797 ; Elizabeth married Samuel Baker ; a daughter Jeru- sha married John Rand of Windham in July, 1764 ; and Sarah Ann, the other daughter, married John Kilpatrick of St. George in 1758. Elizabeth, a daughter of William and Maria Pear- son, born in December, 1767, married George Day in 1786, and is still living on the Oliver or Bradbury lot, where she was born, and is the oldest person in town. Her son Charles Day, great-great-grandson of John Oliver, or the fifth in descent from him, may be seen every day on Middle street as he uni- formly goes to his place of business. The same may be said of Enoch and also Franklin C. Moody, who descended from Oliver through Emma Crosby, in the same degree.
Owen, John. The first appearance of this name in Fal- mouth is a record of the birth of his children, viz., John, son of John and Lucretia Owen, born December 5, 1723, baptized by the Rev. Mr. Fitch, at Falmouth, in 1726 ; Mary, born Oc- tober 15, 1725, and baptized at the same time by Mr. Fitcli ; where these were born I have no means of determining; another
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Mary was born in Falmouth, November 5, 1727, and Thomas, July 29, 1729. The son John married Anna Hodgekins in 1750. In several conveyances of land in Falmouth he is styled a chair-maker. The elder John lived in a house which stood where the post-office now stands, and at the time of the revolu- tion he moved to Brunswick, where his son William married Mary Dunning. John appears to have married a second wife, Margaret Mustard, in 1735. The house where they lived in Portland was sold to Nathaniel Deering, who enlarged and occupied it to his death, and his widow died in it. It was afterward moved to Bramhall's hill, near the almshouse, where it was used for an ice-house. John, Jr., had by his wife Anna, daughter of Philip Hodgekins, thirteen children. The Owens now residing here descended from Ebenezer, who married Abi- gail Cotton in 1763; their sons were Ebenezer, Joseph, John, who carried on the tan-yard near Cotton street, and Cotton his daughters were Abigail, Mary, Sarah, and Rebecca ; all the children lived in Portland in 1806. Cotton is now, 1864, the only survivor.
Oxnard, Thomas and Edward, brothers, came here some years previous to the revolution. They were sons of Thomas Oxnard and Sarah, a daughter of John Osborn of Boston. Thomas, the eldest, was born in 1740, and Edward in 1746; Edward graduated at Harvard College in 1767 ; they both en- gaged in merchandise here. Their father was a merchant in Boston; on his death, his widow married Samuel Watts of Chelsea, judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk county, who died in 1770. Mr. Oxnard left two sons, Thomas and Edward, and daughter Mary, who in 1765 married Dr. Edward Watts of Falmouth. Their mother died in 1773. Thomas is supposed to have come here previous to 1768; in 1770 we find him deputy-collector under George Lyde. Edward did not come until after his graduation, they both engaged in trade here. After the Rev. Mr. Wiswell left his people in May, 1775, and sought refuge on board Mowatt's fleet, Edward
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Oxnard officiated as reader in the Episcopal church. A short time before the revolution, Thomas married Martha Preble, daughter of Brigadier Preble, who was born in 1754, by whom he had ten children, viz., Polly, Thomas, born 1775, Ebenezer, born 1781, Enoch, Stephen D., 1784, Martha, 1786, Mehitable, Henry, Edward, and John, born 17 . Thomas commanded the privateer "True Blooded Yankee," in the war of 1812, and afterward settled at Marseilles, in France, where he married a French lady, and died in 1840, leaving sons and daughters. He was a highly respected merchant, and foreign residence did not impair the love of his own country. On his death-bed he ordered that his remains when transported to their place of sepulture, should be wrapped in the American flag. Ebenezer died in Demarara, in November, 1800, aged nineteen. Enoch perished in the unfortunate privateer "Dash," in the war of 1812, a vessel which foundered at sea with a large number of our enterprising young men. Edward married Rebecca Thomp- son in 1799, and was another of the victims of the unfortunate Dash. Polly died young and unmarried.
Stephen D. married Ann Maria Grace in 1821, died in May, 1835, leaving a wife and children ; he was an active shipmas- ter; his only son died without issue. Henry married Char- lotte Farnham in 1819; he was a very intelligent shipmaster and merchant in Boston ; he died December 15, 1843, leaving two sons, Henry Preble and George; he was beloved for his manly qualities and many virtues.
Of the daughters, Martha married her cousin, Edward Ox- nard, and died in January, 1863, leaving several children, now residing here ; Mehitable married her cousin, William Oxnard, and is still living in the midst of her family of husband and children.
Edward Oxnard was married by Dr. Haven of Portsmouth, to Mary, a daughter of Jabez Fox, October 11, 1774, by whom he had the following children, viz., Mary Ann, born January 31, 1787, married to Ebenezer Moseley of Newburyport; Will-
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
iam, born February 11, 1789 ; Edward, July 13, 1791 ; Lucy Jones, June 9, 1793; John, March 26, 1795, all of whom are living and have families, but Mrs Moseley, who died in New- buryport ; Edward lost a child three weeks old, August 19, 1775.
They both left the country after the destruction of the town in 1775. Edward went to London, probably leaving his wife behind, and continued there during the war ; he was a mem- ber of the celebrated "New England Club" composed of prom- inent refugees, who had a weekly dinner at the Adelphi tavern, where they mourned over the privations and distresses which their exile had brought upon them. They were both pro- scribed by the act of 1778. I do not know that Thomas went to England, my impression is that he did not. In 1782 he was at Castine, then in possession of British troops, and sent for his wife; the application was presented to the provincial Congress, which passed a Resolve, permitting her to go to him at Penobscot "with her two servant maids, and such part of her household goods as the selectmen of Falmouth should admit." They both returned to Portland after the war. Thomas, on his arrival in 1774, was arrested under the law against absentees. In February, 1784, he was taken before Samuel Freeman, on a complaint by Woodbury Storer, for returning from banishment. A warrant was issued and he was tried before Enoch Freeman, Samuel Freeman, and Peter Noyes, Esqrs., justices, and on conviction was committed to jail to remain until delivered by order of the governor. Theophilus Parsons prepared a writ of Habeas Corpus for him and advised him, and argued, that by the Treaty of Peace he was allowed to return, notwithstand- ing the State law. He was permitted by Gov. Hancock to go to Boston and remain until the session of the legislature, with the expectation that the law would be repealed. He was re- lieved from further trouble, and returning to Portland he and his brother recommenced trade. In 1787, the Episcopal church being destitute of a preacher, he officiated as reader, with a
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view of taking orders in the church. But in the pursuit of professional studies his religious opinions underwent an entire change by reading the writings of Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Bel- sham of England, and a correspondence with the Rev. Dr. Freeman of the Stone Chapel in Boston, so that he abandoned that society, but still continued to officiate to a few of his for- mer hearers, who had become Unitarians or were inclined that way, as Dr. Coffin and family, Dr. Erving, Daniel George, Enoch Ilsley, James Deering, etc. He preached not only dis- courses written by himself, but read printed sermous prepared by others. He was a man of general intelligence, a constant reader, and of unimpeached honor and virtue. He was tall in person, thin, and of good presence, and different from his brother, who, although tall, was quite corpulent. He died May 20, 1799, aged fifty-nine; his widow died in October, 1823, in the seventieth year of her age.
Edward, after his return, became a commission merchant and auctioneer ; he built upon the estate inherited by his wife from her mother, the large three-story house on York street near the corner of Maple street, in which his wife died ; it was not finished when he died, July 2, 1803, at the age of fifty-seven; his widow died August 22, 1835, at the age of eighty-one. Their children all survive except one infant three weeks old, who died in 1775, and all live in Portland with families. Lucy married John Fox, who died February 19, 1852, leaving three sons and two daughters.
Pearson, William, came from Newbury, June 5, 1762, and settled liere ; he was cousin of Sheriff Moses Pearson, of whom we liave often spoken in preceding pages. He was a caulker by trade ; July 2, 1764, he married Maria, a daugliter of Row- land Bradbury, by whom he had children as follows : William, Jonathan, Elizabeth, 1767, married to George Day, Samuel, and Josiah. Mrs. Day, living in Portland, is the last sur- vivor. William was a shipmaster; he moved to Newbury where lie married and died. Jonathan moved to Cumberland
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
in 1796, and was father of William, George, and John, who lived in Portland, Isaac O., in Cumberland, Loemma, who mar- ried Moses Leigliton of Cumberland, Hannah, married, first, to William Rideout, second, to Moses Leighton. Elizabeth mar- ried Richard C. Webster of Portland. George, well known to our people as holding municipal office, died March 11, 1861. William Pearson built a one-story house at the eastern end of Fore street in 1775, and had just moved into it when it was consumed in Mowatt's attack, which swept off every house on that part of the street east of India street. He died April 1, 1776, aged thirty-seven.
Pettingell. The first comer of this family to Falmouth, was Benjamin, who was born in Newbury, a descendant from Rich- ard Pettingell who was born in Staffordshire, Eng., in 1621, was in Wenham, Massachusetts, in 1648, and in Newbury in 1652, with his wife Joanna. He married a daughter of Richard Ingersoll. Benjamin's father was Benjamin, and he was fol- lowed to this town by his brother Daniel. Benjamin was a blacksmith by trade; in 1750 he married Abigail Lunt of Newbury and they lived before the revolution in a house on Fore street, which stood on the spot now occupied by Bethuel Sweetser, near Mountfort street. The house was destroyed by Mowatt's bombardment, and the occupants sought refuge at New Casco, where they remained and died, and where some of their descendants still continue. His brother Daniel was also a blacksmith, and the shop in which these industrious men and some of their descendants faithfully toiled, stood on Fore near Franklin street, until a few years since. Daniel mar- ried Hannah Gooding, a daughter of James Gooding, March 21, 1765, and had nine children, viz., Daniel, born Novem- ber 29, 1765; David, 1767, died in 1768; Hannah, 1769, married, first, David Burnham, 1788, second, Robert Low- ther, son of Dr. John Lowther, 1798; Dorcas, July 9, 1770, married Abraham Beeman ; Abigail, December 28, 1771, died 1772 ; David, December 25, 1772 ; Timothy, September 1774,
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died young ; Betty, July 18, 1777, died young ; Sarah, Novem- ber 6, 1779, married David Newbegin. Daniel, the father, in June, 1765, bought of William Wood, then of Gorham, a house and a quarter acre of land on "Turkey lane," now Sumner street, in which Wood said, "he had resided many years." He moved into it and lived there until it was destroyed by the Brit- ish in 1775 ; he rebuilt it before the war was over, and contin- ued to reside there until his death, which took place in 1805, at the age of sixty-seven. His son David succeeded to the estate and his father's trade, and lived in the house until he had com- pleted a better one on Hancock street. He married Mehitable Carle of Scarborough, December 2, 1798, by whom he had eight children, viz., Sarah, 1800, married, first, Asa Plumer, second, Abraham Milliken ; Betsey, 1802, married Nathan Ilsley, and died in 1846 ; Mary, born September 21, 1803, married Joseph Pettingell of Falmouth ; Harriet, 1805, died unmarried ; Dan- iel, born August 9, 1810, married Martha A. Roberts ; Dorcas, 1812, died 1813 ; Dorcas, August 4, 1814, unmarried ; Charles Beeman, born January 29, 1820, married Susan Latham, and died September 14, 1853. The father died March 7, 1847. The old house built by Daniel, on Sumner street, was taken down in 1864, very much dilapidated.
The descent was 1 Richard, 2 Samuel, 3 Benjamin, born 1692, 4 Benjamin and Daniel, 5 David, who died in 1847.
Preble, Jedediah. General Jedediah Preble was born in York in 1707; he was son of Benjamin, the second son of Abraham Preble, a notice of whom may be found in the early part of this history. The time of his settling here we have not ascertained ; it was about 1748; he represented the town in the General Court in 1753, and in 1754 he married for his second wife the widow of John Roberts, a daughter of Joshua Bangs of this town. His first wife was Martha Junkins of York. She died in Falmouth, March 10, 1753. In 1745, in a deed he styles him of Wells, "coaster." In 1755 he had a command under Gen. Winslow, in removing the Acadians, or
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Neutral French. In 1759 he was captain of a company of pro- vincial troops, and joined the army in Canada under Gen. Wolfe ; was in the battle on the Plains of Abraham, and near Gen Wolfe when he was killed. Previous to the peace he was promoted gradually to the rank of Brigadier General and had the command of the garrison at Fort Pownal, on the Penobscot at the peace of 1763 ; he was twice wounded during the war. He was twelve years a representative from the town, the first time in 1753, the last in 1780; was chosen councilor in 1773, and though of the popular party was one of six accepted by the Governor, while the others were rejected. In 1774 he was ap- pointed first, brigadier general by the provincial Congress, and in 1775, received the appointment of major general and commander-in-chief of the Massachusetts forces, which he de- clined on account of the infirmities of age. He was chosen the first senator from Cumberland county under the constitu- tion of 1780, and was judge of the Common Pleas in 1782 and 1783. He died March 16, 1784, aged seventy-seven ; his widow died in 1805, of the same age. By his first wife lie had five children, Jededialı, John, Lucy, married to Jonathan Webb in 1762, Samuel, and William. By his last, five sons, Ebenezer, Joshua, Edward, Enoch, and Henry, and two daughters, Mar- tha, born 1754, married to Thomas Oxnard ; and Statira, born in 1767, married to Richard Codman, September 10, 1789, and died August 15, 1796. Edward was the distinguished naval commander whose life has emblazoned the annals of our coun- try, and immortalized his name. In 1801 the Commodore mar- ried the only daughter of Nathaniel Deering of this town, and died in 1807, aged forty-six, leaving but one son to inherit the rich legacy of his fame.
Of the children of Brigadier Preble by his first wife, Jede - diah married Avis Phillips of Boston, and lived in Castine after the revolution ; he was killed on a passage from Castine to Passamaquoddy, by the wreck of his vessel on Seal Island ; he left four sons and two daughters, Jedediah, his eldest son, was
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born July 29, 1765, and died in Stark, in 1847 ; John, born in 1768, was drowned in 1777 ; Samuel; Daniel ; Avis, mar- ried to John Carr of Portland, April 5, 1801, her descendants live here ; and Nancy, married to Adams. John, second son of the General, born 1742, married Saralı Frost of Machias, No- vember, 1783, and had several children; he was appointed truck master at Fort Pownal in 1770. His daughter Lucy married John Mahar of Washington county ; she died Decem- ber 3, 1787, aged forty-five. The General's daughter Lucy married Jonathan Webb of Boston in 1762, afterward a school- master at Portland. Samuel and William died early on for- eign voyages. His children by the second marriage, seemed more successful and distinguished; Ebenezer, born August 15, 1757, became a rich and prominent merchant in Boston, and died much respected in April, 1817. He was four times mar- ried, first to Dorcas, a daughter of Enoch Ilsley, October 7, 1781. She died February 20, 1784, aged twenty-five, leaving one son, Ebenezer, who died in France in 1802. Second, Mary Derby of Salem, June 14, 1785; she died March 15, 1794, aged thirty-one, leaving two children, Charles, who died April 23, 1794, and Mary married to N. Amory of Boston, who died without issue. He married for his third wife, Betsey Derby of Salem, sister of his second wife, who died in 1799, aged twenty-nine, leaving three children, Charles, who was drowned in the Straits of Sunda ; Eliza, who died childless ; and Caro- line, who married Capt. Ralphi Wormley of the British navy, a native of Virginia. His fourth wife was Miss Abigail Tor- rey. The first two were buried in the eastern cemetery at Portland. Joshua, the sixth son, born November 28, 1759, married Hannah Cross of Newburyport, and died November 4, 1803, leaving two children, Statira, married to William Moulton in 1826, and Joshua. Of Commodore Edward, the third son, we have already spoken, and the world has spoken ; he has a grandson in the United States navy, bearing his name, who, we trust, will emulate the manly qualities and
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
acquire the undying fame of his grandsire. Enoch, the last surviving member of the family was born in Portland, July 2, 1763, and after a long course of faithful service at sea, and an lionored career on land in civil life, holding several honorable offices, and a life of integrity and benevolence, died September 23, 1842, at the age of seventy-nine. In 1800 he married Sally Cross of Gorham, a sister of Joseph, Thomas, and William Cross; her father moved to Gorliam from Brad- ford, Massachusetts. He left two sons and two daughters, Ebenezer, the eldest, born in 1802, married Miss Archer, and died in 1845, his widow married the late Joseph Barbour; Adeline, born in 1805, married John Cox of this city, Novem- 4, 1835 ; Ellen, unmarried ; and George Henry, a commander in the navy, born February 25, 1816, who has adorned a life of intelligence and virtue by a long, faithful, and honorable service in his loved profession, which lie entered in 1835. No- vember 18, 1845, George Henry married Susan Cox, a daughter of John Cox by his first wife, and has several children. Henry, the General's ninth son, born January 24, 1770, was both a mer- chant and shipmaster, and sometime consul of the United States in France and elsewhere, able, intelligent, and useful ; he mar- ried Frances Wright, December 11, 1794 and died at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, December, 1825, leaving two daughters, Harriet, born 1795, educated, and long resident in France, unmarried ; Frances Anneka, born 1797, married Thomas Barlow; and one son, Edward Henry, burn in 1805, and died unmarried in 1846.
General Preble, if he had done nothing else than bequeath to the world such a posterity, would have been entitled to the warmest commendation and a marble statue; but he, living, well filled the place he occupied himself by a full round circle of civil and military duties.
Proctor, Samuel, was the son of Jolin Proctor of Salem village now Danvers, and born in 1680; his father was exe- cuted for witchcraft in 1692, and his mother was condemned
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but not executed ; they had six sons and five daughters, and sustained excellent characters. Samuel was the eighth child; he came here from Lynn about 1718, and built a one-story house in Fore street, near where Willow street joins it. The lot was granted to him by the town in 1721, extending from Fore street nearly to Federal street, between Willow and Lime streets ; he also had valuable lots in other parts of the town. He died in 1765 at the advanced age of eighty-five ; his children were John, Benjamin, Samuel, Sarah, William, Kezia, Kerenhappuck, Jemima, and Dorcas. Sarah married John Cox in 1739; Kerenhappuck married first, Joseph Hicks, and second, An- thony Brackett ; Jemima married William Genniss ; and Dor- cas, Jonathan Paine. A portion of the lot on which Samuel Proctor built and lived, for more than forty-five years, remained, until a few years since, in the hands of his descendants through Cox, Paine, and his son Benjamin. All of the name in this part of the country derive their origin from this stock.
Riggs, Jeremiah, was the first of the name who came here, and is the ancestor of all who now reside in this vicinity ; he emi- grated from Cape Ann in 1725. His children where Wheeler, Jeremiah, Joseph, Abigail, Hannah, Mary, and Stephen. He was a tanner, and after living a few years on the Neck he moved to Capisic where he carried on his trade and where he died. The estate many years remained in his family and was occupied by John Jones, who married his granddaughter. His daughter Abigail was the first of his children born in this town, which was in 1726; Stephen the last in 1735. Wheeler married Mary Cobb in 1742; Jeremiah, Nancy Barber, 1752; Stephen, Margaret Barber, 1759. Joseph was married in 1747. Wheeler was killed in the attack on Castine, 1779. Mary married William Harper.
Robison, Samuel, was a Scotchman born in the Orkneys; he married Barbara Sutherland in 1754, and lived in a one- story house which stood on the corner of Plum and Middle streets ; by her he had two children, Alexander and Jane. Al-
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exander entered on board of a man-of-war, and did not return after the revolution ; Jane married Capt. Arthur Mclellan in 1777. Mr. Robison died in three or four years after his mar- riage, and his widow, in 1763, married Capt. Thomas Ross, who moved the one-story house into Temple street, and erected a two-story house on the spot ; this in its turn had to give place a few years ago for the brick block occupied by the International Bank, and now stands in Preble street. Capt. Ross moved to St. Andrews at the commencement of the revolution with two sons and two daughters, where he died.
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