Our folks and your folks : a volume of family history and biographical sketches including the Collins, Hardison, Merrill, Teague and Oak families, and extending over a period of two centuries

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in 2010 with funding from

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OUR FOLKS
AND YOUR FOLKS

A VOLUME OF FAMILY HISTORY
AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

INCLUDING THE COLLINS, HARDISON, MERRILL,

TEAGUE AND OAK FAMILIES, AND

EXTENDING OVER A PERIOD

OF TWO CENTURIES

<By FLORENCE COLLINS PORTER
and CLARA WILSON GRIES

LOS ANGELES

The FRED S. LANG COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

1919

TO THE MEMORY of CHARLES PRESCOTT
COLLINS, A CITIZEN ABOVE REPROACH
AND WHOSE LIFE WAS AN INSPIRATION
AND HELP TO MANY, THIS VOLUME IS
DEDICATED.

By the Authors.

1700738

CONTENTS

Chapter I — In Search of Ancestors .

Chapter II— The Collins Family

Chapter III - The Hardison Family .

Chapter IV— The Teague Family .

Chapter V— The Merrill Family

Chapter VI— The Oak Family

Chapter VII — Florence Collins Porter and Family

1
41
89
161
199
221
239

ILLUSTRATIONS

Opposite Page

Herschel Douglas Collins 12

Freda Files Collins 20

Residence of Alexander Wilson, Londonderry, N. H. . 28

The Collins Home in Caribou, Maine ... 36

Samuel Wilson Collins 44

Dorcas Hardison Collins ...... 52

Charles Prescott Collins ...... 62

Mrs. C. P. Collins (Red Cross) .... 66

David Collins 78

Mary Hart Collins 82

Mrs. Annie Abbott Gowen 94

Mrs. Dorcas Abbot Hardison 98

Jacob Hardison 108

Elizabeth Adaline Hardison 116

Joseph Hardison ....... 136

Wallace L. Hardison 152

Chester W. Brown 156

Mrs. Helen Louis Brown . . . . . 164

Richard Teague ....... 168

Judah Dana Teague ....... 172

Milton Dana Teague ...... 174

Charles Collins Teague 178

Mrs. Ann E. Teague 180

The Old Teague Home in Turner, Maine . 184

Mrs. Clara Wilson Gries 186

Home of Clara Wilson Gries 198

Luther Merrill of Turner, Maine .... 204

Captain Augustus Merrill 212

Charles Edson Oak 222

Edith Collins Oak 226

Florence Collins Porter 238

Charles William Porter 242

IN SEARCH of ANCESTORS

CHAPTER I

Immigrants of Londonderry, N. H.

MUCH has been written of the Pilgrims of
Plymouth and the Puritans of the Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony, but the history of
another class of colonists who also had a marked influ-
ence in the founding of the towns of New England, is
not so well known to many readers of New England
history.

These colonists could claim a remote kinship with
the Pilgrims and Puritans, but were far enough removed
to have moulded a new type of citizenship.

They were the Scotch Irish immigrants who settled
in Londonderry, N. H., and who were the founders of
Presbyterianism in New England. The name "London-
derry" was a combination of the ancient monastry of
Derry and London, the capital of England.

Unlike the Pilgrims and the Puritans, although a
God-fearing people, they did not come here because of
a desire for religious liberty, but to improve their con-
ditions in life.

The name of "Scotch Irish" was first given in the
seventh century to pioneers from Ireland who had
established themselves on the western coast of Scotland,
then called Caledonia.

Scottish clans, the Picts from the highlands and the
Saxons of the lowlands, united to drive them from their
shores, but in vain.

For over six hundred years this struggle went on,
and during this period the Picts were converted to the
religion of their foes and then a graver peril threatened
their liberties.

[1]

Our Folks and Your Folks

For the landscapes were covered with fair, rich
and stately abbeys and Cistercian and Benedictine friars,
black and gray, consumed in opulent ease the wealth of
the nation.

Its bishops were temporal lords, ruling in no modest
pomp over wide domains.

The priests had engrossed one-half of the lands of
a poor nation; the churches and cathedrals glistened
with the wealth that had been ravished from the cot-
tages and hovels of the peasants, or won through the
superstitions of feeble kings.

Nor was there any land where the clergy were
more corrupt or the gross manners of a depraved hier-
archy less hidden by a decent veil.

Patrick Hamilton, a follower of Luther, the great
German reformer, was the first to bring light to his
native land by declaring the doctrines of the new re-
ligion.

_ He was seized and burned at the stake, the first
victim of the Scottish Reformation.

If the price paid was dear, the reward was beyond
his most sanguine expectations. Nobles and peasants,
monks and priests were suddenly awakened to the
gravity of the situation.

Queen Elizabeth came to the rescue, and trained
soldiery that menaced the common people, were driven
from the field.

The impetuous Knox rallied the people and before
the dazed papal heads could awaken to defend their
position, church and cathedral had been shorn of their
images and sacred emblems until Scotland was strewn
with the wrecks of fallen monasteries and "the moon-
light ruins of some Melrose was to be found at night
in any section."

But there followed for generations the persecution
of the Presbyterians by both the Church of England
and the Catholics, and they were often so hard pressed
that their cause seemed lost.

[2]

In Search of Ancestors

It was in the early part of this century that a consid-
erable number of the Scottish Covenanters returned
across the channel into the north of Ireland, which had
been so ravished by the English that the land was de-
serted by its inhabitants.

They came from Argyleshire and settled in the
province of Ulster.

They were induced to do this because James the
First had taken two millions of acres from his rebel-
lious Catholic subjects, almost the whole of the six
northern counties, and offered liberal inducements to
his Scotch and English subjects to settle on the land.

This accounts in some measure for the enmity which
was manifested by the native Irish Catholics towards
the Protestants who occupied the land from which their
countrymen had been forcibly expelled.

No one of the sect of Puritans was so particularly
the object of James the Second's aversion as these
Presbyterians of Scotland. Protected during the time
of Cromwell and for a few years after his decease,
from the bitter enmity of the Irish Catholics, they were
at length called to undergo privations and sufferings
almost unparalleled.

The pages of history can furnish but few instances
of undaunted bravery, unwavering firmness, and heroic
fortitude as displayed by the city of Londonderry dur-
ing the memorable siege in the year 1688.

Because of the resistance of the inhabitants of the
city to papal authority, James the Second sent a force
to attack and overpower it.

Then followed the remarkable siege, commencing
April 18th, 1689, and lasting for 105 days.

Seven thousand men were within the garrison in the
beginning, but this number was reduced to 3,000 before
the end. The besieged were compelled to eat their
horses and dogs and were on their last rations of tallow
and salted hides when relieved by the victorious armies
of William and Mary.

[3]

Our Folks and Your Folks

While the ban had been lifted upon their church
by this victory of the Protestant forces, yet absolute
freedom was denied to the people in the north of Ire-
land and, finally, some of them resolved to try their for-
tunes in New England.

Accordingly, an agent was sent to investigate con-
ditions and his report was so favorable that a goodly
number came over in 1718, the leading spirit of the
party being Rev. James MacGregor.

Landing at Boston, August 4th, 1718, before an-
other spring a grant of land twelve miles square was
obtained of New Hampshire and the foremost colony
reached Nut field, the original name of the township,
in April, 1719.

The name of Nuffield was finally changed to Lon-
donderry, and afterwards a division of the township
was made and a part of it called Windham.

These Scotch-Irish people carried with them to the
New World a decidedly religious nature and a respect
for institutions of learning. But they were also con-
vivial and the following anecdotes illustrate the need
of temperance reform begun by Rev. Daniel Dana, at
that time (1822) President-elect of Dartmouth Col-
lege and who served for four years as their pastor.

In a part of the town where Dr. Dana resided was
a tavern where spirits were sold and drank on Sunday
by members of the church. On the day of his installa-
tion, at a store hear the church, the keeper of it said
that a hogshead of rum was sold and drank.

This was a common practice nor was it considered
disreputable. Indeed, one is said to have remarked, "I
do not see how I can worship God acceptably when I
feel so thirsty."

There was strong opposition to the pastor's tem-
perance sermons and one member said:

"Dr. Dana may preach to empty seats and naked
walls for all my going to hear such doctrine."

[4]

In Search of Ancestors

On one occasion the same man was found on the
road, sitting in his wagon from which the horse was
detached and gone, and when asked how he was getting
along, answered, "Jist jogging along slowly."

But the sons and daughters of these Scotch-Irish
immigrants went forth to all parts of the United States,
east, west, north and south, to be the preachers, the
teachers and the reformers of a higher civilization
because of their love of truth, justice and liberty as
inculcated by their forefathers.

For two generations there had been hazy traditions
in our family concerning certain ancestors. These
traditions had come to be regarded as myths because of
the probability that they never could be substantiated.

In a forgotten history, extending over one hundred
and fifty years, there is much vagueness and confusion;
and yet the lives of two of these ancestors, each living
to be four score years, would more than cover this
period.

There was a broken record on both the maternal
and paternal side in the family of my father, Samuel
Wilson Collins.

In the decline of life, and when nearly eighty-
seven years of age, he talked more of his early life than
he had ever done while engaged in the cares and tur-
moils of business.

The grandparents on both sides were unknown to
him, but there were fascinating glimpses of family
history that always called forth in my mind many
speculative theories and imaginations.

His grandfather, James Collins, was a lieutenant
in the British army, so the story ran, and tradition
said that he came to America as a young man and
served with Wolfe at Quebec. In a long and peculiarly

[5]

Our Folks and Your Folks

interesting research, I am of the opinion that this period
was too early in his career as a British soldier on
American soil. Tradition also told that he settled in
Castine, Maine, and was twice married (the first mar-
riage has been verified by records we have recently
found). This first marriage was with Miss Hannah
Abbott, and the second wife was a Miss Pratt, of
Charleston, Mass.

There were two sons, twins, by the first wife, whose
names were John and Davis. And two sons by the
second wife, William and James.

This ancestor, Lieutenant James Collins, was called
back to England to settle an estate, as related in the
story, and he left behind him when he sailed the four
young and motherless boys, for the second wife had
also died.

Nothing was ever heard from him after he sailed
away from the coast of Maine, and he was supposed
to have been lost at sea.

There was some land granted by the Crown to the
loyalists in St. Stephens, N. B., of whom Lieut. James
Collins was one, and the children were left in care of a
friend there. The names of the two sons by the first
wife were known to my father, but nothing concerning
their history. This was all that he knew about them
and he probably knew as much as his father did.

William's brother, James, was drowned at the age
of eighteen, but what became of the two older half
brothers no one of my father's family knew. Once,
meeting a man from a distant city, my father fell into
conversation with him because their names were the
same, and both finally decided that they were of kin
for each had similar traditions concerning his ancestor.

The grandfather of the stranger had founded the
Collins Line of steamers between London and Liver-
pool, in the days of the Vanderbilts.

[6]

In Search of Ancestors

What was his relation, if any, to the English soldier,
James Collins, who went to England to settle an estate
and was never heard from after?

The Maternal Side

And the family traditions on the maternal side were
equally as interesting and obscure. They also involved
a tinge of romance that quickened the imagination.
My father's grandmother, on his mother's side, was
Eleanor Wilson and, as the story was told, she had
eloped at the age of eighteen with William Dickey, the
son of a weaver. It was on the night of a coming out
party, given in honor of her birthday and during a dance
she slipped out with her lover under the cover of dark-
ness and was married. In so doing, she incurred the
displeasure of her family and the censure of the church.
This event took place in Londonderry; whether it was
Londonderry, Ireland, or Londonderry, New Hamp-
shire, tradition had not made clear.

This name of Eleanor Wilson had made a great
impression on her numerous descendents for some
unknown reason. Every branch and generation had an
Eleanor, and that of Wilson as a Christian name was
also of frequent occurrence on family registers. This
interest in Eleanor's branch of the Wilson family was
quickened in 1867 by the publication of a statement that
an immense fortune, involving title and claims to a
large part of the city of Leeds, England, awaited the
American Wilsons.

I am well aware that this is only one of many sim-
ilar tales told by designing lawyers to a credulous pos-
terity, but it is necessary to give it place here for the
development of the story. A man by the name of Clark
Wilson, of Watertown, New York, came to my father
in 1867 and said that he had collected a large amount
of evidence that proved conclusively, in his opinion,
that father was one of the Wilson heirs, and wanted
him to go with him to England. One of the strongest
proofs was an old Bible and a family register. Before

[7]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Mr. Wilson sailed, as we have found in our subsequent
research, the interested parties of Wilson descendants
in Massachusetts and New Hampshire held meetings
of rejoicing, with bonfires to give greater illumination
to their bright prospects, so certain were they of the
fortune that was to be theirs. It is said that there was
no more enthusiastic participant in the jollification than
Horace Greeley, who was one of the heirs. But now
comes the tragic ending of all these great expectations :
When three days out from port, the steamer, "The
United Kingdom," on which Clark Wilson sailed for
England, was lost and all on board. And as there was
no copy of the precious Bible register, all search for
the fortune ceased. But the letters written at that time
for the purpose of collecting money to send Clark
Wilson to England have been the means of helping us
to connect the broken links of our family history, as I
will presently show, and thus have preserved to our
posterity that other legacy of kinship and family
genealogy that dates back to a most interesting ancestry.

To re-visit the scenes of one's childhood after a
lapse of years always gives rise to many reminiscences.
Our father, Samuel Wilson Collins, had died in 1898,
and the family was scattered; two were in Maine, and
mother was still on the old home place with her younger
son. One was in Oklahoma, and two were in Cali-
fornia. It was my privilege during the summer of
1916 to go back to the old home, accompanied by my
sister, Mrs. Clara Wilson Gries, of Los Angeles, and
it was then that we received the inspiration to write a
family history. Mrs. Gries had begun a fragmentary
search while on a visit to Maine about ten years before,
assisted by our sister, Mrs. Charles E. Oak, of Bangor;
but very little of any actual value had been found, only
just enough to stimulate our desires for something
more definite.

The auto played an important part during this visit,
and it became our pastime to follow winding paths lead-
ing to remote and humble places and trace the lives of

[8]

In Search of Ancestors

those who, departing, had scarcely left any footprints
on the sands of time, except as seen in the lives of those
generations that have followed.

"If the weather is good when you are ready to
start on your return journey," said our brother, Her-
schel D. Collins, of Caribou, "we will go down to Red
Beach, Mount Desert, and Castine, and see what we
can find about the early history of those towns."

And so Aroostook County, that great and won-
derful county forming the eastern and northern boun-
daries of Maine, and which at the present writing is
the richest county, agriculturally, in the United States,
because of the phenomenal prices paid the past years
for potatoes, its chief product, was the starting point
of an auto trip that was to extend into another state
and result in many interesting situations, and the acquir-
ing of facts supposed to be locked forever in the
archives of the past.

On a glorious morning of a September day we left
Caribou and covered within two hours what was a day's
journey in my childhood, reaching the thriving town of
Houlton by 10 o'clock, and then on to Calais, in Wash-
ington County, arriving there at the close of the day.
All day long we had come through long stretches of
woods of juniper, fir, cedar, and silvery birches, with
the edges of the road lined with ferns, bunch berries,
wild sarsaparilla, tall feathery sprays of wild parsnip
and moosewood, before the city of Calais was reached.
The sun was low and twilight was fast approaching,
but we could easily make Eastport, 28 miles away, that
night, passing Red Beach a mile or two below Calais.

Making inquiries at the postoffice in the latter place,
we were fortunate to come across one of the "oldest
inhabitants," and he pointed out the old home of Wil-
liam Collins.

It was at Red Beach that William Collins and his
wife, Sarah Dickey, the fifth child of William Dickey
and Eleanor Wilson Dickey, the blithesome, free-
hearted girl who had run away from home to get

[9]

Our Folks and Your Folks

married, had lived for many years, and where five of
their children were born, and here, too, the old folks
were known to be buried, as was the custom in those
days, on the home place. "Do you know the spot?"
was asked of our oldest inhabitant. "Oh, yes; it is up
there on the hill. The Collins graves were there for
many years, but I'm afraid they have been leveled,"
said he. "Each succeeding owner wanted to have the
bodies removed, but there seemed to be no one of the
family left to do it."

We tarried for a time in a little cove and looked
over a beautiful view of an island and its picturesque
lighthouse in the St. Croix River, and watched the tide
ebbing out, leaving exposed black and slime-covered
wharves with fishermen's boats tugging at anchor.

Then down the river we rode, making Eastport at
9 o'clock.

The next morning, after watching for a time the
loading of sardines on the wharves of this most easterly
city in the United States, the auto was brought around,
and we again started on our quest for the elusive ances-
tor. We had headed towards Ellsworth and Bar Har-
bor when, somehow, the thought of Red Beach again
presented itself. Our visit there had not been very
satisfactory. Perhaps some trace of those two graves
might be found, and if so, a granite boulder should be
placed to record the names of a humble, respectable,
God-fearing man and wife, who had faithfully acted
their parts in the great drama of life.

And so we drove back to Red Beach instead of on
down the coast. The old resident was found again,
and he piloted us to the Collins farm on the crest of
the hill. It was a commanding location, with a grand
view of water and the surrounding shores. But instead
of the century-old house in which William and Sarah
Collins had lived and died, there was a stately two-
storied one glistening in the sun in its fresh coat of
white paint. The old house had been made into a
garage. From a tall flagstaff there floated a large new

[10]

In Search of Ancestors

American flag. It was the beautiful summer home of
a wealthy Philadelphian.

Down the sunny slopes to the west a cluster of trees
was standing. "It is there that the graves were," said
our guide. But not the slightest trace could be found
to indicate their location, and we turned regretfully
away, saying: "Soft be the green turf that over them
lies. Let us be content."

Of the pleasant day spent at Bar Harbor, and the
ride around Mount Desert Island, there need be only
a mention sufficient to connect the journeyings. The
evening of that day found us at Castine, one of the
oldest and most interesting towns of Maine. Lacking
the information which we have since acquired, and
which at that time would have been of great value to
us, we went from one historic spot to another, studying
with great interest the tablets of bronze and stone that
have been placed by a wise historical society to mark the
beginning of history in this beautiful town.

For the understanding of the reader not familiar
with Maine history, the following dates are given as
important: Penobscot Bay was described by Andre
Thevet in 1555, who refers to an old French fort in
that vicinity, Castine. It was visited by Champlain in
1604, and in 1654 the old French fort, Pentagoet,
erected in 1613, was taken by the English. In 1667
the fort was nominally returned to the French, and in
1676 it was taken by the Dutch. In 1690 Sir William
Phipps took possession of the place and received a deed
of Pentagoet from the old Indian chief, Medocka-
wando.

Baron Castine returned to France, and in 1779 the
English took possession of Pentagoet, or Maja Baga-
duce, as it was then called, and the Americans made
an unsuccessful attempt to recapture it. Fort George
and a number of batteries were built. In 1783 peace
with England was declared, and the British evacuated
the place, never to return.

[11]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Leaving Castine, we retraced our steps to Bangor,
where we bade adieu to brother Herschel and wife,
and their daughter, Mary. From this time forward
we were to receive equally as helpful assistance from
our sister, Mrs. Charles E. Oak, of Bangor.

Our first visit in our continued search for ancestors
was with Miss Mattie Trask, of Bangor, and during
the pleasant interview, Miss Trask said:

"Eleanor Dickey was my great-great-grandmother.
Martha Dickey, her daughter, married John Saunders.
Their daughter, Eleanor Wilson Saunders, married
Ansel Leighton, and their daughter, Maria Leighton,
married Manly Trask, my father. Great-grandmother
Saunders had a salt cellar that belonged to her mother,
and it has now come down through the succeeding gen-
erations to me. Would you like to see it?" On receiving
a reply in the affirmative, Miss Trask brought out the
old heirloom. It was of glass, oval in shape and having
a gold fleur de lis on metal as an insert in the bottom.
"There was an old Bible belonging to her mother,"
said Miss Trask, "that Great-grandmother Saunders
gave to some one in Massachusetts. Perhaps that was
the one that went to the bottom of the ocean with Clark
Wilson."

"My Grandmother Leighton used to tell what she
had heard her mother say about her mother, Eleanor
Wilson Dickey. She was a vivacious little body, and
all loved to have her come and visit them. She had
a peculiar speech and was very pious. She seldom
talked about her early history, or family. 'That is of
the past,' she would say. I am quite sure that it was
in Windham, N. H., that she lived," said Miss Trask,
"for Great-grandmother Saunders used to say that she
had heard her mother say that on the dark day in Wind-
ham, in 1780, she and her sister were riding to Derry
and had to dismount and tie their horses to a tree and
wait because of the darkness.

[12]

HERSCHEL D. COLLINS

In Search of Ancestors

"You know, I presume, Whittier's poem, 'Abraham
Davenport,' where he describes that phenomenal day?"
I give an extract of the poem, which she brought for us
to read. It is as follows :

" 'Twas on a Mayday of the far old year
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life of the Spring,
Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness, like the night
In day of which the Norland sages tell.
The twilight of the Gods. The low hung sky
Was black with ominous clouds, save where its rim
Was fringed with a dull glow, like that which climbs
The crater's sides from the red hell below.
Birds ceased to sing, and all the barn-yard fowls
Roosted ; the cattle at the pasture bars
Lowed, and looked homeward ; bats on leathern wings
Flitted abroad ; the sounds of labor died.
Men prayed, and women wept ; all ears grew sharp
To hear the doom blast of the trumpet shatter
The black sky that the dreadful face of Christ
Might look from the rent clouds, not as he looked
A loving guest at Bethany, but stern
As justice and inexorable law."

This was interesting. We had now a definite date
to work on. Eleanor Wilson was in Windham, a part
of Londonderry, in 1780, and must have moved to
Maine after that date.

The next day we drove down to Stockton, formerly
Prospect, and about 18 miles from Bangor. In earlier
times all this region was called Penobscot. It is indeed
a magnificent view that one gets from the crest of the
hill which commands a wide view of the bay. Thevet,
the French explorer, called this Penobscot region "Nor-
umbega," and the superstitious sailors who had sailed
unknown seas in quest of adventure believed that a
wonderful kingdom existed in this vicinity, whose capital
city, Norumbega, was rich in splendid towers and mar-
ble cathedrals and palaces, all resting on pillars of
crystal and silver.

[13]

Our Folks and Your Folks

But, standing on many a hilltop and straining with
eager eyes, they saw —

"Nor tower nor town,
But, through the drear woods, lone and still,
The river rolling down."

Here at Stockton lived Miss Alice Hichborn, the
efficient postmistress of the town. We had known pre-
viously of Miss Hichborn's interest in family history
and her endeavoring a dozen years ago to collect some
data on the Wilson side. She was busy with a new
arrival of mail when we called to see her, but gave us
a cordial welcome, and said that if we would come back
later she would in the interim look up some old letters.
In the meantime we could visit the old cemetery at the
"Cape" and see what we could find there.

It was indeed a churchyard on which an elegy might
have been written on the decay of all earthly things.

Broken stones and monuments lay crumbling be-
neath the long rank grass, and the moss-grown inscrip-
tions could hardly be deciphered on many of them. The
oldest stones were of the date of 1824, which shows
what less than a century of time will do.

We copied the inscriptions on those which we intui-
tively felt were of our family record, and they are as
follows :

William Dickey, died April 10, 1882, aged 89 years, 4
months, 20 days.

Polly Lancaster Dickey, died Nov. 3, 1894, aged 103 years,
11 months.

Margaret W., wife of Capt. John Black, died Oct., 1859,
aged 71 years.

Andrew Dickey, died Oct. 13, 1837, aged 64 years.
Jane Clewley, consort of William Clewley, died Jan. 19,
1841.

"These," we said, "are the children of William and
Eleanor Dickey."

"Sarah lies buried in the unmarked grave beside her
husband, William Collins, on the hillside at Red Beach."

[14]

In Search of Ancestors

In proximity to these others were two stones, new
and clean, and marked

John P. Marden
Born July 17, 1834
Died Aug. 2, 1905
Jennie L. Dickey (his wife)
Born Nov. 28, 1845
Died Jan. 29, 1894

Miss Hichborn's story was somewhat like that of
Miss Trask: "Eleanor Wilson had eloped with Wil-
liam Dickey on her eighteenth birthday. She came to
'Fort Point Cove' to live when Miss Hichborn's great-
grandmother was a year old. Of her family she said
but little, but it was remembered that she had said that
her father could ride all day over his estates. It was
probably this that gave rise to the belief of estates in
England. There was a snuff box with a coat of arms
on it taken by Clark Wilson to England on that fatal
journey. Eleanor was forgiven by the church for her
elopement, and when the Congregational Church of
Searsport was formed she became a charter member."

Miss Hichborn showed us an old register of names
and dates of birth, which had evidently been divided
into parts. The writing was clear and beautiful as
copperplate. This undoubtedly was a part of the rec-
ord of the children of Eleanor and William.

Close to the upper edge and only faintly discernible
was the name "Eleanor," without any date.

"If I were in your place," said Miss Hichborn, "I
would go to New Hampshire and find out what I could
myself; you will never get anything that is satisfactory
by writing letters."

"There is no reason why we shouldn't go," said
sister Edith. "We have a high-powered auto, a skillful
driver, and all the time we want. I had thought to take
you through the White Mountains, but if you say so, it
will be Londonderry instead." And so we went to
Londonderry.

[15]

Our Folks and Your Folks

On our departure from Stockton, Miss Hichborn
gave us the following letters of the correspondence she
had had in her search for the ancestral tree.

They have been the only clues whereby we have
established a connected link between past and present
generations, and are printed nearly in full.

Letter from Sarah A. Hodgman to William Dickey,
of Stockton, Maine :

Manchester, New Hampshire, February, 1867.
Dear Uncle and Aunt :

I have been meditating a journey to visit our friends in
Maine, but the winter is not a pleasant time to travel, so I have
resorted to the pen.

I desire to get all the information I can in relation to my
ancestry on my grandmother's side (your mother's side) ; where
they were born, where they resided, how many came from the
old country, how many were left there, and their names, and
any other information you may be able to give. And now for
the reason. There has been advertised a large amount of money
as held for the Wilsons, and they have been to see me about it,
and wished me to find all the information I could about my
ancestors, that we may determine whether it belongs to our race
or not.

I would like to have you answer as soon as possible, as it is
desired that the information be furnished at once.
Yours very sincerely,

Sarah A. Hodgman.

Letter from Mrs. Hodgman to Paulina Kimball :
Manchester, N. H., April 15, 1867.
Dear Cousin Paulina:

Your letter bearing date of the 10th inst. came to hand on
Saturday last. Long expected, yet none the less acceptable. And
now as to the information needed in relation to the legacy. We
have all the information in regard to grandmother, and I wish
you would see Uncle William and find out if he ever heard his
mother say who came from the old country; what town or
county in Ireland they came from (we suppose it was London-
derry), and who, if any, were left in the old country.

This money was left by one Robert Wilson some eighty
years ago, and amounted to sixty million dollars, and we think
it is worth making an effort to establish our kinship.

[16]

In Search of Ancestors

Uncle William and Aunt Saunders are the oldest persons
living that we have access to, who can know anything about it.
I wish you to take pains to see them and ask if they have heard
their mother say anything in relation to those who came over,
or were left behind.

A gentleman in New York has written twice in regard to
it, and is willing to undertake to get the money if we can give
him sufficient information concerning our ancestors.

We have already traced back to grandmother's father, who
we think was named James Wilson, and that he came from
Londonderry, Ireland.

If you can give us any information beyond this, however
slight, please do so as soon as possible.

I have seen the Johnson Bible, and it contains nothing that
will help us.

Yours affectionately,

Sarah A. Hodgman.

Sarah Hodgman to Paulina Kimball, of Stockton,
Maine:

Manchester, N. H., July 20, 1867.
Dear Paulina:

I have delayed writing to see if I could not obtain more
news concerning the legacy. We have written to Clark Wilson,
but have received no answer. We think some of sending a man
out to Watertown to see what he may be doing; or if he has
gone to England, as we think likely he may have done. We have
received one letter from him, and perhaps the delay in receiving
another may be so accounted for. We are waiting to learn what
Clark Wilson may accomplish before we take any further steps,
for we learn that there are several Wilson legacies. One was
left by Joseph Wilson, one by Alexander, and one by Mary.

We would be much pleased to see you on the fourteenth of
August, when the greater part of the friends will be together.
We have received no letters from any other of the Maine folks.
We have sent a slip cut from one of the papers to Mrs. Johnson
about the Joseph Wilson legacy, and if we can obtain another
will send it to you.

Yours,

Sarah A. Hodgman.

[17]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Sarah A. Hodgman to Paulina Kimball :

Sept. 10, 1867.
Friend Paulina:

Your last letter came safely to hand. We have written
Clark Wilson that we think it is best to push the matter at once
and have no unnecessary delays. We have seen the piece to
which you refer, but it will take more than such a statement as
he makes to scare us from the track. We think that the money
is there, and only hope that we may be able to get it. In regard
to the money that you may collect, you may send it to me, or any
one else you may decide ; I wish you to satisfy yourself about it.
If it is sent to me, I will deposit it in the bank until such time
as it may be needed.

I shall expect a letter from you soon. If anything new
transpires, I will let you know.

Letter from Mrs. Hodgman to Paulina Kimball :

Manchester, N. H., Oct. 20, 1867.
Friend Paulina:

Yours by express bearing date of 17th inst. is received, con-
taining one hundred and eighteen dollars and fifty cents. As
soon as I receive a letter from Clark Wilson, I will at once write
him how much money we have received and how much can be
collected, and propose that the investigation be at once set in
motion.

The address of Mrs. Phelps is Mrs. Timothy B. Phelps,
Lyme, New Hampshire.

Yours, etc.,

S. A. H.

EXTRACTS FROM OLD LETTERS

THIRTY-ONE YEARS LATER

Letter from Mrs. H. J. Blaisdell, daughter of Mrs.
Sarah Hodgman, of Wamaset, Mass., to Miss Alice
Hichborn, of Stockton, Me., January 8th, 1898:

"Clark Wilson had quite a record and started for England
on the United Kingdom, which was lost with all on board after
being a few days out from New York. Mr. Wilson's wife was
dead, but he left two small daughters."

[18]

In Search of Ancestors

Letter from Mrs. Blaisdell, dated October 25th,
1897:

"In regard to the genealogy of Eleanor Wilson Dickey, I
cannot distinctly remember, but as my aunt, Mrs. Harriet Phelps
(Mrs. Timothy), is alive, I have written to her, and expect to
hear from her soon. I presume that you know of the death of
my mother, Mrs. Eleanor Dickey Johnson, ten years ago, and
also of her sister, Jane Priest, three days later."

Letter from Mrs. Blaisdell to Miss Hichborn, May
9th, 1899:
Dear Miss Hichborn:

I am not surprised at your thinking that my reply to your
letter was lost, as that is just what I have been thinking about
the one I sent to one person whom I have since learned is travel-
ing in South America. I have gotten back as far as the birth of
my grandfather, James Dickey, Sept. 26th, 1772, and I am about
to write to the church to see if their record does not give his and
his wife's parents' names. I will enclose an account of one
William Dickey, who, I strongly suspect, is the father of grand-
father, but I do not know for a certainty.

The enclosed information came today, and although it may
not be of any value to you, I assure you it has been quite an
effort to get even that much together, as you probably know.

In your next will you kindly mention how Mrs. Ames is?
As soon as I receive an answer to a letter I am about to mail, I
will let you know if I have anything to the point. Do you know
if the William Dickey here mentioned is a relative of the uncle
whom mother said had such beautiful white hair? Mrs. Colcord
sent a lock of it.

M. J. B.

Mrs. Colcord to Miss Hichborn:

Searsport, Me., March 20th, 1899.
My Dear Alice:

I would gladly answer all of your questions, but am very
limited in knowledge of the subject. My mother told me that
she (Eleanor) eloped with the old grandfather and was after-
ward given a "medal" from the church to show that she was
forgiven.

About the steamer, I have no information. Old Uncle
James Dickey, of Amherst, N. H., had a family, and two of his
daughters married lawyers, and I think collected all the informa-

[19]

Our Folks and Your Folks

tion they could, as they were trying to establish the Wilson
claims to the legacy.

There was an old Bible (Uncle William Dickey's) at Mrs.
Marsden's daughter's. Perhaps that might throw some light on
the matter. I believe the Bible is very old.

I am very sorry that I did not find out about this while
mother was living.

Yours sincerely,

C. N. Colcord.

THE BEGINNING OF THE TRAIL

Maine is noted for its beautiful scenery in primeval
forests, wide rolling rivers, and broad bays dotted with
numberless islands, outlined by craggy cliffs and moun-
tains. It was therefore a wonderful scenic route that
we traveled as we left Bangor on a glorious September
day and rode west towards New Hampshire.

Passing through the thriving town of Skowhegan,
one was reminded that in that vicinity was the old town
of Norridgewock, familiar in history for one of the
bloodiest Indian massacres in New England, and the
overthrow of the Jesuits, under Father Rasle, to whom
is erected a fine monument on the spot where he fell.

The close of the day found us in Farmington, in the
home of Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Gardner, who gave us a
cordial welcome. Mrs. Gardner was formerly Miss
Zelma Oak, and there was a family reunion with the
California friends and Mrs. Charles Fitch Jenks of
Boston and Mr. Donald Oak of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
And last, but not least, was little two-year-old Edith,
the charming little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gardner.

Leaving these kind young friends and kinfolks, we
followed the beautiful Sandy River, and then the wider,
rushing Androscoggin, for miles, until the noon of that
day brought us to Bethel Inn, a fine hotel located among
the granite hills of Oxford County. It is this hostelry
around which is said to be woven the story of "The
Master of the Inn," although the author, Robert Her-
rick, disclaims this to be true.

[20]

MRS. FREDA FILES COLLIN'S

In Search of Ancestors

Bethel may well claim to be the gateway to the
White Mountains. We found with pleasure and sur-
prise that our way to Londonderry lay through these
famous mountains.

Through the grand Breton Woods, spinning rapidly
over asphalt roads, which I remember on my first visit
twenty years ago were disagreeably dusty while riding
in a coach drawn by four weary horses, I marveled at
the changes, and viewed with admiration the mammoth
hotels and the broad verandas filled with guests.

We tarried for the night at Laconia, and the noon
of that day found us driving along a country road that
led into Londonderry. Neat white houses, with green
blinds, were on either side, but there seemed to be no
special center to the town, and we looked in vain for
any building that might be a town hall, or recorder's
office.

Finally we saw ahead of us a sign of another sort,
but a welcome one. It was, "Lunches and dinners served
to auto parties." While the noonday meal was being
prepared we asked the hostess about Londonderry. She
was a newcomer and did not know anything concerning
the old families, but said that her neighbor, just above,
had written a book on the history of the town.

We knocked at the front door of the neat and
attractive house she indicated, and, getting no response,
went around to a side door.

"Mr. Annas was away and might not return until
night," was the reply to our inquiries. But as we were
turning away, exceedingly disappointed, Mr. Annas
came walking into the yard. With the interest of an
historian, he at once listened to our tale of a long search
for unknown ancestors who had lived in Londonderry
in the early settlement of the town.

He had compiled a book with the title, "Vital Statis-
tics of Londonderry," he said, and a copy of it could be
purchased at the library, not far away; in fact, he would
have one brought to us.

[21]

Our Folks and Your Folks

The book contained a record of births, deaths and
marriages in Londonderry from the earliest history
down to the date of publication. This was indeed "the
beginning of the trail" which we had so eagerly sought.

From that book we have traced generation after
generation, with relationship with this family and that,
and established dates of importance that cannot be dis-
puted.

We ate our dinner at the place where we had
ordered it with a sense of elation. The steak was
tough, the coffee weak, and the vegetables underdone,
but it seemed as though we were especially directed to
the spot, and we gave thanks for it all.

We were told by Mr. Annas that a mile or two
farther on, down past the old Presbyterian Church that
we were seeking, that we would find a Mr. Harris, who
was living in a house that had been occupied by four
generations of his family, some of whom were clergy-
men. And that Mr. Harris possessed a wonderful
storehouse of knowledge of history and genealogy.

It was a quaint century-old house at whose broad,
low door that we knocked, seeking Mr. Harris. The
good luck that had attended us during the day still fol-
lowed us. Mr. Harris was at home, but ten minutes
later he would have been away to the Lake, a small
summer resort not far away.

We found Mr. Harris to be a bachelor who lived
alone and kept his house in a most exemplary manner,
and delved into the history of the past as a recreation.
An ancestry of educated men had bequeathed to him
the characteristics and refinement of the scholar.

Delightfully he entertained us, bringing in a copy
of "The History of Windham" (which we saw for the
first time), and explained that Nuffield was formerly
the name given to a large tract of land granted the
original settlers and from which the towns of London-
derry, Derry, and Windham were formed.

And he showed us in the History of Windham the
genealogy of the Wilson family. The history is now

[22]

In Search of Ancestors

out of print, but he knew where a copy could be ob-
tained, if we desired to purchase one. In the instructive
hour that we spent with him,' he traced with a skilled
hand the descent of Eleanor Wilson as the eleventh
child of James Wilson, who came to this country with
his father, Alexander Wilson, in 1720.

As a future chapter is devoted to Alexander Wilson
and his history, together with an account of the descend-
ents of James, I will not go any farther into details at
this point.

Leaving Londonderry at the close of the day on
which we entered it, we made Lawrence that night, and
the next morning being rainy, we went to Boston by
rail, the chauffeur remaining behind to attend to some
necessary repairs, and then to bring the auto on to
Boston.

On our arrival in Boston, this rainy day, the only
one we had in all our journeyings, was spent in the
public library, but without any very satisfactory results.

The ride the next day from Boston to Portland was
a most delightful one, and it was with genuine regret
that we again resumed our travels by steam instead of
the motor car.

Nearly fifteen hundred miles of motoring in New
England had spoiled us for the stuffy air of the Pullman
car, although we were not overcome with heat, for we
were chilled to the bone before we reached Montreal
the next morning.

From Kansas City we made a detour into Oklahoma
to visit our brother, Charles P. Collins, and family, who
moved from Bradford, Pa., to Tulsa a few years ago.

It was here that our resolve to write a family his-
tory received a new impulse in the way of a generous
donation from brother Charles to meet the preliminary
expenses. Mrs. Oak (sister Edith) had suggested the
title, "Our Folks and Your Folks," and the enterprise
seemed successfully launched.

[23]

Our Folks and Your Folks

But we now are frank to say that if we had realized
the great task we were undertaking, we would have
hesitated long before commencing it.

There was a pleasant break in the homeward jour-
ney again when we stopped for a day in Topeka, Kan-
sas, to visit our girlhood friend, Clara Teague Burch,
wife of Judge Rosseau Burch, of the Supreme Court of
Kansas. All were busy with preparations for the wed-
ding of the only daughter, Winnifred, and as we could
not stay for that interesting event, we were soon en
route for Los Angeles.

It wasn't many days after our arrival in that city
before Mrs. Gries became a constant visitor in the ref-
erence room of the public library. And each day she
came home with tales of what she found in the con-
tinued search for ancestors. One day it was a record
of the marriage of our great-grandfather, Lieut. James
Collins, of Penebscot (Castine) and Hannah Abbott,
of Mount Desert; another day it was an extract from
an old colonial paper that told of his arrest "as an
enemy of our country."

Another day she found the marriage record of our
grandparents, William Collins and Sarah Dickey, both
of Prospect, and who were married in Belfast. The
details of all of this will be found in another chapter.

The source from which all this valuable information
was obtained is a magazine bound in book form and
published by Honorable Joseph W. Porter of Bangor,
who spent many years in collecting historical data and
genealogies. I well remember when he was doing this
work, but little thought it would be of value to us a
quarter of a century later, and obtained three thousand
miles from the scenes where it was written.

There are in this family history a few instances
where the names and dates of some of the branches are
not complete, for in many towns no vital statistics were
kept prior to the year 1800. And as the present gen-
eration is giving but little heed to keeping a register in
the home of the births, marriages and deaths, many of

[24]

In Search of Ancestors

the modern dates were also obtained with difficulty.
But on the whole we present this volume with a feeling
that the work is about as complete as it is possible to
make it.

What We Found in Londonderry, N. H.

In the old "Hill Cemetery," of the town of East
Derry, N. H., there is a gravestone with the following
inscription:

In Memory of Alexander Wilson
Died March 4, 1752, aged 93 years.

Also:

Mr. James Wilson
Died June 30, 1772, aged 92 years.

Likewise :

Mrs. Jennet Wilson (wife of the above).

Jennet Wilson died January 12, 1800. Her de-
scendents were 13 children, 91 grandchildren, 146
great-grandchildren, 10 great-great-grandchildren, mak-
ing a total of 260.

This is the story told in the disintegrating marble
of the first records of the ancestry of a posterity now
scattered from Maine to California. In a preceding
chapter on "The Siege of Londonderry," we have re-
lated the causes that led the men and women of northern
Ireland to seek a home in this new world and call the
name of the town where they located by the name of
the one they had left in the old world, and which some
of them had baptized with their blood.

Alexander Wilson, one of these early immigrants
to Londonderry, N. H., was in the terrible siege of
Londonderry, in 1688, and for heroic services was
awarded a grant of land free from taxation in New
Hampshire, which was then being colonized by the
English Government. He was sixty years old when he
came, and but little is known of his life and character.
He was of Scotch ancestry, and his father, James Wil-
son, came from Argyleshire, Scotland, in 1612, to the

[25]

Our Folks and Your Folks

province of Ulster, Ireland, by invitation of James the
First, who gave two million acres of land to his Scottish
subjects as an inducement for them to go to Ireland and
help establish the Protestant faith there. The animosity
of the Catholics thus expelled from their lands grew in
intensity with the years, and the culmination came in
this memorable siege.

A record says: "These immigrant Scotch-Irish set-
tlers of Londonderry were in many respects a remark-
able people. They were plain, frank and frugal and
somewhat rough, yet they possessed great vivacity and
quickness of speech. They were ever distinguished for
their hospitality, their valor, firmness and fidelity, and
no people sustained a higher degree of moral and politi-
cal respectability."

Among the brave and hardy band were the Wilsons.
Alexander Wilson, the immigrant, was born in London-
derry, Ireland, in 1659, and came to Londonderry,
N. H., in 1719. Accompanying Alexander Wilson was
a son, James, then a man of forty, who, history says,
was eight years old at the time of the siege. If there
were other children, the records do not establish it.
There is said to be now in preparation a genealogy of
another line of Wilsons, who claim descent from a son,
William, a brother of James. Of this line is Dr. Frank
Lamb Wilson, of Hollywood, California, who has in
his possession an old clock and other relics brought from
Londonderry. There is also a cousin of Dr. Frank
Lamb Wilson, Earl Farwell Wilson, of Saginaw, Mich.,
who has made quite an exhaustive research of the Wil-
son family, and believes there was a son William who
preceded his father, Alexander, to Londonderry.

The record of James Wilson, whose descendents are
recorded in this book of somewhat intimate and per-
sonal family history, is readily traced, as evidenced by
the inscription on the old gravestone, and also through
legal and town histories. He was prominent in town
and church affairs and the owner of large tracts of land.
He was forty-seven years old when in Londonderry,

[26]

In Search of Ancestors

N. H., on November 10th, 1727, he married Jennett
Taggert, also a native of Londonderry, Ireland, and
who came to this country with her sister Mary, the
maternal grandmother of Horace Greeley.

Both of these sisters lived to a remarkable old age,
and their characteristics are set forth in the following
tribute of Horace Greeley:

"I think that I am indebted for my first impulse
toward intellectual acquirement and exertion to my
mother's grandmother, Mary Taggert, who came out
from Ireland among the first settlers of Londonderry.
She must have been well versed in Irish and Scotch tra-
ditions and well informed and strong minded; and my
mother being left motherless when quite young, her
grandmother exerted a great influence over her mental
development."

ELEANOR WILSON DICKEY
Eleanor Wilson, the eleventh child and youngest
daughter of James and Jennett (Taggert) Wilson, was
the maternal grandmother of Samuel Wilson Collins, of
Caribou, Maine, and from her on the maternal side
came the Collins families represented in this book.

The romantic tradition that has come down through
successive generations of the elopement of Eleanor Wil-
son and William Dickey, on her eighteenth birthday,
would indicate that she had inherited a spirit of daring
from her brave ancestors that mocked at convention-
alities and restraint. Whatever the cause of opposition
to her marriage, she cast her lot with the man she loved,
and through a long life marked by an unusual person-
ality made a remarkable impression on her descendants
for at least four generations.

There are only a few glimpses of her life in Wind-
ham, as a part of Londonderry was eventually called.
An error in the "History of Windham," compiled in
1885 by Morrison, gives the record of Eleanor as
marrying David Dickey, and that they "moved to
Maine," and this error in the Christian name of Wil-

[27]

Our Folks and Your Folks

liam Dickey has been perpetuated in all the records of
the Wilson genealogies since that time.

It is the only mention of their married life except
the record of the birth of two sons, James, in 1772, and
Andrew, in 1774.

But that the name was William, and not David, is
proven by the records of Hancock County, which show
that between the years 1791 and 1827 about twenty
pieces of property were transferred to different persons
by William Dickey, and that in 1823 one transfer was
to his son Andrew, which was probably the home place
where Andrew lived and died. The last transfer was
in 1827, and William probably died not long after, as
the death of Eleanor occurred in 1832, and she outlived
her husband.

It is the stories told by Eleanor to her grandchildren
in Maine that throw a little light on the early history of
her life. She was riding on horseback, accompanied
by a sister, on her way home from Boston to Derry,
when the "Dark Day" of 1780 came and forced them
to dismount and tie their horses to a tree.

She was forgiven by the church for her elopement,
and given a "token" that admitted her to the com-
munion once more. This question of what the "token"
was proved to be most puzzling until we found the
following description of the communion in Parker's
History of Londonderry. He says:

"The Lord's Supper was celebrated but twice in the
year, spring and autumn, and it was then kept with
almost the solemnities of the Jewish Passover. All sec-
ular labor was laid aside by all the inhabitants, and it
was a day of holy convocation.

"Besides the Sabbath, all day Thursday, Saturday
forenoon, and Monday forenoon were spent in public
religious services, and strictly regarded as holy time.
On such occasions several ministers were usually present
to assist the pastor in his arduous work.

"Previous to the Sabbath it was the custom to give
out the "tokens," with one of which every communicant

[28]

In Search of Ancestors

was required to be furnished. These were small pieces
of lead of oblong shape, and marked with the letters
'L. D.,' meaning Londonderry.

"On the Sabbath, the great day of the feast, tables
stretching the whole length of the aisles were spread, at
which the communicants sat and received the conse-
crated elements.

"The tables were 'fenced,' which was a prohibition
and exclusion of any one from communicating who had
not a 'token.'

It was in the power of the elders who had the dis-
tribution of the tokens to withhold one from any profes-
sor whose life had been irregular or scandalous.

"Unleavened bread, prepared in thin cakes, of an
oval form, has always been used in this ordinance. The
services of these occasions were often protracted until
the going down of the sun. Nor were they deemed a
weariness."

The curtain now drops on the Windham scene, and
we find William and Eleanor Dickey, in the year 1785,
settled in the "Cove," seven miles from Belfast, near
where the waters of the Penobscot River empty into
Penobscot Bay, on the rugged coast of Maine.

There had commenced in 1770 an emigration from
Londonderry to Belfast, and probably many of their
friends were among the number. It was a vast region
known as Lincoln County, out of which in later years
were formed the counties of Penobscot, Waldo, and
Aroostook.

It was here on a farm in the "Cove," which is in a
part of the town of Stockton Springs, formerly called
Prospect, that William, the youngest son of William
and Eleanor Dickey, lived long after his generation had
passed. He was survived by his wife, "Polly," who
lived to be one hundred and three years old. "Aunt
Polly," as she was familiarly called, had never seen a
railroad, and had hoped to live to see the coming of
the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, whose depots and

[29]

Our Folks and Your Folks

warehouses were to be erected on land belonging to the
old farm on which she lived. But she died a few months
before the whistle of the first engine was heard.

To return to the story of Eleanor Wilson Dickey.
Her life was undoubtedly one of privations and hard-
ships. Her early religious training was always in evi-
dence, and she brought up her family like her mother
Jennett, in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
"Remember the one thing needful," was a frequent
exhortation that has come down from her to her grand-
children and great-grandchildren. She was a charter
member of the First Congregational Church of Sears-
port.

There was always a glamour of romance concerning
her that still lingers, as evidenced by recent letters. One
of her descendents writes:

"There was a beautiful necklace of pearls, and lus-
trous silks, that she sometimes wore, and her refined and
lady-like manners were different from the class of people
with whom she associated. There was also a quaintness
of speech that marked the Londonderry emigrants.
There was also the impression that she married beneath
her station in life when she eloped with William
Dickey."

But the Dickey genealogy shows that the name is
connected with some of the foremost families of the
country. It was first known in this country in 1730,
when some settled in Pennsylvania, some in Windham,
and others in various parts of New England. The
origin of the name is Scotch-Irish, and the Dickeys of
the north of Ireland were families of influence in public
life, and streets and fords and public halls are desig-
nated as memorials of the name.

Of the family of William Dickey, the man with
whom Eleanor Dickey eloped, the following deduction
seems to be the most plausible, and we present it after
much research on our part, and assisted also by a pro-
fessional genealogist and historian :

[30]

In Search of Ancestors

In 1775, according to Morrison's History, there
was living in Windham a William Dickey who was a
weaver by trade, and who, it says, "taught Jane Dins-
more how to weave." This same authority says that
he was probably the father of Ensign William Dickey,
one of the Revolutionary soldiers of Windham. It also
says that he was probably the ancestor of Honorable
William Dickey, of Fort Kent, Aroostook County.

In the Vital Statistics of Londonderry there can be
no other William Dickey of that town who could have
married Eleanor Wilson. He was a weaver by trade,
"and a very good weaver at that." And this supposi-
tion seems to be substantiated by a conversation between
William Dickey, of Fort Kent, and Samuel Wilson Col-
lins, of Caribou, who met a few years before their death
and who had lived in Aroostook County for many years,
but had no personal acquaintance until their old age.
In tracing the family name of Dickey, both came to the
conclusion that they were cousins.

Several children had been born to William and
Eleanor Dickey before they moved to Maine, as related
elsewhere, but James, the oldest son, then fifteen years
old, may have remained with his grandparents in Wind-
ham. There is a record of his marriage on March
20th, 1796, in Windham, to his cousin Mary, daughter
of George and Mary (Wilson) Clark. Mary, the wife,
died in Amherst, N. H., March 1 1th, 1852, and James
in Manchester on March 13th, 1856. Both are buried
in Amherst, where they resided for thirty years.

It was through the correspondence of their daughter,
Mrs. Sarah A. Hodgman, and granddaughter, Mrs.
Sarah J. Blaisdell, the letters written in 1867 and
printed in a previous chapter, that we have been able
to connect James Dickey with the rest of the family in
Maine.

The genealogies of the Wilson descendants and
brief sketches of some of the families follow :

[31]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Genealogy Wilson-Dickey Families to Third
Generation

James Wilson, Argyleshire, Scotland, came to Lon-
donderry, Ireland, in 1612.

Alexander Wilson, his son, born in Londonderry,
Ireland, in 1659, and died in Londonderry, N. H.,
March 4th, 1752.

James, his son, born in Londonderry, Ireland, in
1680, accompanied his father to Londonderry, N. H.,
in 1719. He married Jennett Taggart, who died Jan-
uary 12th, 1800, aged 97 years. James died June 12th,
1772, aged 92 years. Their children were:

Agnes, born Aug. 2, 1728; married Samuel Fisher.

George, born June 19, 1730; killed when young.

Alexander, born May 5, 1731 ; married Jane McKean.

James, born May 15, 1733.

Mary, born Feb. 5, 1735 ; married George Clark.

Janet, born April 20, 1737 ; unmarried.

John, born Jan. 23, 1739; married Agnes Grimes.

Samuel, died in 1742.

Annis, born Sept. 23, 1743; married Thomas Nesmith.

Margaret, born Aug. 13, 1744; married Daniel McDuffee.

Eleanor, born Jan. 23, 1746; married Wm. Dickey; re-
moved to Prospect, Maine, now Stockton.

Samuel, born March 13, 1747.

George, born June 19, 1748; married Janet Simpson.

_ Of these children of James and Jennet (Taggart)
Wilson, we have taken the families of Mary, who mar-
ried George Clark; Alexander, who married Jane Mc-
Kean; Annis, who married Thomas Nesmith; Eleanor,
who married William Dickey, and George, who mar-
ried Janet Simpson, because their descendents are more
or less related to the families represented in this book.

Children of George and Mary (Wilson) Clark

Betsy, George and Jennie never married.
Nancy, married Hugh Alexander.
Eleanor, married Wm. Alexander.

[32]

In Search of Ancestors

James, married Molly Clyde.

Annis, married John Craig.

Robert, married Patty Adams.

Mary, married James Dickey (her cousin, a son of Eleanor)

Grizzell, married James Woodburn.

George Clark, who married Mary Wilson, was a
half-brother of "Ocean Mary," whose story is told in
the History of Windham.

James Wilson, whose wife was Eleanor Hopkins,
had eleven children, four sons and seven daughters.
The sons' names were David, James, Robert, and Sam-
uel. James and David lived in Bradford, Vt., and
James attained renown as the maker of the first pair of
terrestrial and celestial globes made in America. An
account of his work will be found in another place.

Alexander married Jane McKean, and their chil-
dren were :

Agnes, born Aug. 25, 1757

James, born Apr. 24, 1759

Samuel, born Feb. 23, 1761

John, born Jan. 18, 1763

Alexander, born Oct. 14, 1764

Alexander died in Francestown, December, 1821,
aged 90 years 7 months.

Jane Wilson, a daughter of Alexander Wilson (an
"excellent citizen of Francestown"), married George
F. Billings, of South Deerfield, Mass., and their only
child was Elizabeth F. Billings, born February 1st,
1855, who died in Pasadena, Cal., in 1919.

Children of Annis Wilson and Thomas Nesmith
Annis Wilson married Thomas Nesmith, March
26th, 1732. Annis was a daughter of Jennet Taggart
Wilson. They commenced their wedded life in Wind-
ham, "and dwelt together in peace and harmony till
death sundered the ties." They accumulated a large
property, and their house was ever the home of the
poor and needy. He died in his fifty-eighth year,

[33]

Our Folks and Your Folks

November 30th, 1789, and his widow survived him for
34 years. She died January 4th, 1824, aged 81 years.
They had seven children. A son, John, succeeded his
father on the homestead of some 400 acres. The
ancient house was demolished a few years ago. It was
a roomy old place, consisting of 17 rooms, with a store
attached, and a large hall connected with it, which was
a famous place for balls and dances in the "olden time."
Perhaps it was at a ball given in the home of her sister,
Annis Nesmith, that gave occasion to the elopement of
Eleanor Wilson and William Dickey.

A grandson, Col. Thomas Nesmith, was especially
dear to his long-widowed grandmother, with whom
much of his early life was spent. He was one of the
promoters of manufacturing on the Merrimac River,
and secured the charter to control the water power at
Lawrence, Mass., of which city he may be claimed as
the founder. He became the inventor of valuable
machinery; was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
in 1860, and declined a re-election in 1863. He was
vice president of the State Temperance Alliance of
Massachusetts, and in his will provided a "Nesmith
Fund" for the care, support and education of the indi-
gent blind in New Hampshire.

Mrs. Alice McKevett, of Los Angeles, is connected
with the Nesmith family through Arthur, a brother of
Thomas Nesmith.

Children of James and Mary (Clark) Dickey

Annis — Born Dec. 22, 1796; married Chandler Chase; resi-
dence, Dracut, Mass. ; three children.

Mary W. — Born Oct. 23, 1798; married Robert Alexander;
died in Derry, N. H., Oct. 30, 1855 ; twelve children.

Eleanor — Born March 30, 1811; married Wm. Johnson, Sept.
12, 1828; residence, Manchester; two children.

Robert C— Born Feb. 14, 1803 ; died Aug. 26, 1804.

Nancy Jane — Born Jan. 19, 1805 ; married John Priest, July 5,
1829; residence, Bradford, Mass.; five children.

Sarah A. — Born Feb. 20, 1809; married Solomon Hodgman,
Jan. 5, 1836; residence, Manchester; three children.

[34]

In Search of Ancestors ±700738

Besmith — Born March 2, 1811 ; married Ambrose Charles, Feb.

7, 1839; died in Manchester July 26, 1875; five children.
Eliza M. — Born May 31, 1813 ; married James Alexander, Jan.

7, 1836; died Mount Vernon, N. H., June 25, 1854; seven

children.
Harriet— Born July 26, 1815; married Timothy B. Phelps,

Sept. 11, 1849; residence, Lyme, N. H. ; two children.

Children of William and Sarah (Wilson)
Dickey

James — Born in Windham, N. H., Sept. 26, 1772; died in Man-
chester, March 13, 1856; married Mary Clark, daughter
of George and Mary (Wilson) Clark; ten children.

Andrew— Born Jan. 9, 1774, in Windham; died Oct. 13, 1837,
in Stockton, Me. He married Elizabeth Lancaster, born
in Prospect, Oct. 23, 1776, on Dec. 26, 1797; ten children.

Jane — Born in 1781 ; married Wm. Clewley.

Sarah — Born in Windham about 1783; married Wm. Collins;
residence, Calais.

Eleanor — Born May 7, 1784; married Paul Revere Hichborn, a
cousin of Paul Revere of Revolutionary fame. She was one
year old when her parents moved to Maine ; died Jan. 7,
1860.

Martha — Born Nov. 28, 1786, in Prospect, Me.; married John
Saunders in 1808 ; residence. Prospect.

Margaret — Born in Prospect, Oct. 2, 1778; married Capt. John
Berry ; died Oct. 9, 1859.

William— Born in Prospect, Dec. 10, 1793 ; died April 30, 1882,
aged 89 years 4 months. He married Polly Lancaster, born
in 1791, and who died Nov. 3, 1894, aged 103 years 11
months; no children.

The greater part of this record is taken from tomb-
stones in the cemetery at the "Cove," in what was
formerly Prospect, but now Stockton, Maine.

Descendents of Martha Dickey and John

Saunders

Martha, the eighth child of William and Eleanor (Wilson)
Dickey, was born in Prospect, Maine, November 28th, 1786.
In 1808 she was united in marriage with John Saunders, and of
this union there were born eight children: Eleanor, Joseph,

[35]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Nathaniel, Mary Jane, John, Martha, Charles and Peter. Of
this number, only Eleanor, Joseph and John lived to mature age.
Joseph married his cousin, Mary Eleanor Berry, daughter
of John and Margaret (Dickey) Berry. There were no chil-
dren. The descendents, therefore, are from Eleanor and John.

Eleanor Saunders and Ansel Leighton

Eleanor was married to Ansel Leighton of Bangor on Nov.
27th, 1836, and their children were four in number: Mary J.,
Maria L., Martha Louise, and Horace Wilson.

Mary was married to Geo. Sumner Chalmers, Sept. 13th,
1859, and died Jan. 13th, 1913.

Maria was married to Manly G. Trask on June 23rd,
1864. She died March 14th, 1915.

Martha Louise died unmarried at the age of twenty-two
years.

Horace Wilson, the only son, married Alice M. Norton on
Dec. 27th, 1893. There are no children by this marriage.

Ansel and Eleanor (Saunders) Leighton lived for many
years in Bangor, where Mr. Leighton established a successful
plumbing and steam-fitting business. He died in 1877, and the
business has been carried on since then by Manly G. Trask, his
son-in-law, who came from New Sharon when but a lad with his
parents, locating in Etna. Mr. Trask is a descendent of Osman
Trask, who was born in England and came to this country about
the year 1645. He was a brother of Capt. Wm. Trask, a friend
and companion of Governor John Endicott. All of the name in
this country probably are descended from these two brothers.
On his mother's side he descends from Edmund Greenleaf, of
French Huguenot stock, who was born in England and settled
in Newberry, Mass., in 1635 ; the same ancestor from whom
John Greenleaf Whittier descended.

Miss Mattie L. Trask, the only living child of Manly G.
and Maria (Leighton) Trask, comes into closer connection with
the generation of her great-great-grandmother, Eleanor Wilson
Dickey, than any other descendent that we have found. Her
great-grandmother, Martha Dickey Saunders, lived with her
daughter, Eleanor (Saunders) Leighton, for many years, and
died in her home at an advanced age. Miss Trask readily recalls
conversations of her grandmother, Eleanor Leighton, in regard
to the quaint little body from Prospect, who was always a wel-
come visitor in the homes of her children. Mention is made in

[36]

COLLINS HOME, CARIBOU,
BUILT IN 1857
SOW OWNED BY HERSCHEL D. COLLINS

In Search of Ancestors

the introductory chapter of the peculiar salt-cellar in possession
of Miss Trask, which came to her through this' great-grand-
mother, Martha Dickey Saunders ; the only relic that is known
to be in the possession of this branch of the Wilson family of
Londonderry. Martha (Dickey) Saunders is buried in the
Leighton lot in the beautiful Mount Hope cemetery of Bangor.

Of the family of John Saunders, the second, three children
are the only descendents :

Helen M., born May 13th, 1846, and who married Luther
Ferguson, Dec. 4th, 1864.

Joseph H., born Dec. 7th, 1859, and who married Lottie
Parkhurst in 1879, and then, on her death, Mrs. Eliza Grose,
in 1882.

Mary E., born Feb. 14th, 1861, and who married J. Frank
Homans on July 10th, 1880.

Mr. and Mrs. Homans have two children, Luella A., born
June 1st, 1881, and Edna J., born Nov. 22nd, 1885.

Family of John and Margaret (Dickey) Berry
John— Born 1809.

Dorothy F.— Born May 25, 1811 ; died Dec. 6, 1886.
Martha Jane — Born June, 1818; married Wm. Clewley.
Joseph, Leonard, Mary, Eleanor — Dates unknown.
Margaret Wilson — Married Ames.
William.
Daniel.

Paulina — Married, first, Kimball, second, Collins.
Susan Hichborn — Born 1835.

Family of Andrew and Elizabeth (Lancaster)
Dickey

This list is copied from the old family Bible of
Nancy Jane (Dickey) Mudgett through the courtesy
of her daughter, Mrs. Martha Libbey Mudgett, of
Linden Hills, Minn.
Eleanor— Born Jan. 27, 1799; married Aug. 11, 1825, John

Black; residence, Prospect.
Elizabeth— Born Nov. 25, 1800; married John Griffin, Oct. 21,

1819.
Mary — Born Aug. 8, 1802; married Edward K. Clifford, Aug.

19, 1824.

[37]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Daniel— Born Feb. 23, 1804; married Mary Berry, Nov. 20,

1826.
Mehitable — Born July 6, 1806; married Wilson Berry, June 3,

1829.
Andrew — Born Jan. 9, 1809; married Julia Currier, no date.
Nancy Jane — Born Nov. 3, 1811; married Willard Mudgett,

Dec. 1, 1836.
Amos — Born Aug. 27, 1814; married Clementine Seger.
William— Born Feb. 28, 1817; married Mehitable Stude, Feb.

20, 1840.
Lydia Abigail — Born Oct. 30, 1820; married Rufus Mudgett,

no date.

Family of Paul Revere Hichborn and Eleanor
(Wilson) Dickey

Susan Hichborn— Born Nov. 19, 1804.

Sally— Born March 29, 1806.

Robert— Born March 15, 1808.

Henry— Born Jan. 18, 1810; died Sept. 10, 1825.

Bab— Born March 22, 1813; died April 10, 1813.

Albert— Born March 25, 1814; died April 11, 1815.

Elmira— Born March 3, 1816.

Thomas M.— Born Aug. 31, 1818.

Wilson— Born Jan. 25, 1821 ; married Ardella Griffin.

Eleanor— Born May 10, 1823.

Josiah French — Born July 1, 1825.

Henry Albert— Born Feb. 23, 1831.

Wilson Hichborn, ninth child of Paul Revere and
Eleanor (Dickey) Hichborn, married Ardella Griffin,
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Dickey) Griffin.

Their daughter, Miss Alice Hichborn, resides in
Stockton Springs, Maine. She has served that town as
assistant postmistress for many years.

James Wilson, the Globe-Maker

The following article, entitled "A Vermont Genius,"
published in 1904, was received through the courtesy
of Mr. W. F. Waterman, of San Luis Obispo, Cal.,
who is a descendent of James Wilson, There is also a

[38]

In Search of Ancestors

sister, Mrs. Jennie E. Gaffield, of Waterbury, Vt., and
a son of W. F. Waterman, Dr. C. O. Waterman, of
Long Beach, Cal., with whom we have had interesting
correspondence.

James Wilson, famous as the maker of the first globes
manufactured in America, was a grandson of James and Jannett
Taggert Wilson. He was born in Londonderry, N. H., and his
education consisted of the three "R's" at fitful intervals in the
district school and the slices of the Westminster catechism he
learned from his heroic grandmother, Jannett Wilson, the whole
being sandwiched in with bits of scientific lore gleaned surrep-
titiously from borrowed books.

His mother was a Miss McDuffee, a descendent of Martha
McDuffee, who distinguished herself at the siege of London-
derry, Ireland, by distributing corn that had been saved by her
sagacity till all other food had disappeared. For this heroism
she earned the title of "Matchless Martha."

A blacksmith by trade, James Wilson early received a passion
for the manufacture of artificial globes. Not one had ever been
made in America. The few of English manufacture were expen-
sive and imperfect. Even these Wilson had never seen.

He began the manufacture in an old shop in Londonderry.
Early in the summer of 1795 he visited his cousin, James Mc-
Duffee, and, traveling on foot, he passed through the sites of
Manchester and Concord and Franklin, where Daniel Webster,
a lad of fourteen, was fitting for college. He visited a friend
who was a student at Dartmouth College, chiefly with the
thought that he might have the opportunity to see the globes that
he was sure the college possessed. His friend tried to help him,
but the door was locked, and the only examination he had was
through the keyhole.

His meager knowledge of geography, grammar, and astron-
omy he supplemented by purchasing an encyclopedia of eighteen
volumes, for which he paid $130.00 in cash, which took his last
dollar. From their study he became proficient in his knowledge
of the natural sciences as they were then taught.

In 1796 he completed his first globe. It was a block of wood
covered with paper on which was traced with a pen the outlines
of the geographical divisions.

For the printing he did his own copperplate engraving.
This took 300 days, for the globe-making was simple compared
with this engraving. At his own forge he made his engraving

[39]

Our Folks and Your Folks

tools. He made the presses for the printing, and then turned
printer and got them off the forms. He turned the meridians,
made the bars, finished the frames, and composed the varnish.
In fact, he did all the work in brass, in wood, and in printing.

After completing the plates, which cost him a year's work,
he visited Boston, and found that he had made an error in his
projection. The problem was how to get a true proportion of
meridians on a globular surface. He found that the old plates
were useless, but undaunted, with no resources but his ingenuity,
he sold his only cow, borrowed a little money which his wife had
saved, bought more plates and went at it again.

This time he was more successful, and his next step was to
place his globes on the market. Within the year he was supply-
ing the market with globes at $50.00 apiece and paralyzing the
heart of the English globe trade of America.

Mr. Wilson lived till March 26th, 1855, dying at
the ripe age of 93 years. Till his death his eye was
undimmed and his natural force unabated. His last
feat was the manufacture of a planetarium for exhibit-
ing the movements of the heavenly bodies. The machine
was constructed after he was eighty-three years old.
For many years he was the official engraver of the
Haverhill, N. H., bank. He inherited the qualities of
the Londonderry colonists, industry, combined with in-
tegrity, plainness of speech, and robustness of form.
His patriotism led him to enlist with the minute men
before he was old enough to be accepted. His appre-
ciation of education, won by hardships, led him to be
one of the trustees of Bradford Academy, and to serve
with honor as it's vice president.

[40]

THE COLLINS FAMILY

CHAPTER II
James Collins, the Immigrant

THE career of James Collins, supposedly of
Lancashire, England, and the immigrant ances-
tor of the Collins family represented in this
book, is shrouded in mystery, both in connection with
his former life and ancestry in the old world, and also
in the years that he was known to have lived in America.

Probably he was a lieutenant in the English army,
but no record can be found to prove this in any military
annals of that period. There is, however, apparently
a reason for this omission. He was known to have been
in Castine and built a frame house one mile from town.
His marriage to Hannah Abbott, of Mount Desert, is
also recorded in the records of Penobscot, and his name
appears on the list of Loyalists who went to St. An-
drews, N. B., to occupy a grant of land given by the
government to faithful subjects.

Four sons were born in Castine by the first and
second marriages, and from these two branches, widely
separated and knowing nothing of each other, there
has been gathered from what appears to be authentic
sources the belief that Lieut. James Collins was in the
secret service of his government, or as one of his de-
scendents says in a recent letter, "We always understood
that he was a spy," a harsh word, but one that has
represented in all ages devotion and loyalty to country.

This conjecture is substantiated by the following
letter telling of his arrest in Newburyport, Mass., on
July 12th, 1779:

Newburyport, Mass., July 12, 1779.

Last Friday one James Collins, an inhabitant of Penobscot,
on his way to Boston, went through this town. The committee

[41]

Our Folks and Your Folks

having intelligence that he is a person unfriendly to the U. S.,
immediately dispatched an Express after him, with orders to
take him up wherever he could be found, and bring him back
and confine forthwith. He was brought back and confined in
the gaol here, and we find that he has been an enemy of the
U. S. ever since the war began ; that immediately after the fleet
arrived he went on board of them repeatedly and took the oath
of allegiance administered by one of the captains of the fleet.
Soon after this he took passage in a sloop that belongs to Mr.
Blake of that town, where he arrived last Tuesday, and, as we
apprehend, got all the information he probably could relative to
the movements of our fleet and army, and was on his return to
give the enemy this information. The excuse that he makes for
going to Boston at this particular time is that he married a
daughter of Wm. Pratt, of Maiden, and went there to secure a
place to retreat to in case the British Fleet and Army should
overcome ours that are soon to go east. However, we are sus-
picious of his being a spy, and accordingly have secured him in
the gaol in this town, and there we propose to keep him until we
have the decision of the Council relative to him.
Your Humble Svt.,

Richard Smith.

An earlier letter, written to Admiral Samuel Graves,
commander of the English squadron then in Atlantic
waters, to Lord Dunsmore, Governor of Virginia, is
as follows:

Preston, Boston, July, 1776.
My Lord :

I have the honor to receive your letter of June 17th, ac-
quainting me with the necessity of your Lordship's application to
send Lieutenant Collins in the Magdalen to England to convey
the most speedy intelligence to His Majesty of the rebellious
transactions of the colony under Your Excellency's Government.

After the close of the war, evidently James Collins
had no intention of settling down to the monotonous life
in the wilderness of St. Andrews.

His was an adventurous life, accustomed to hard-
ships. Mrs. Rose Ashdown, of Maiden, Mass., a
descendent, writes that she wishes that she could remem-
ber all the things that her mother told her of the hard-
ships that James Collins is said to have endured because

[42]

The Collins Family

of his loyalty to England. His property was taken
from him and his house was burned, and with other
loyalists he was driven from Castine.

John K. Collins, of Isle au Haut, Maine, says that
his father told him that there were two brothers, both
British officers. There are records of a Capt. John
Collins as commander of the Nautillus, Ruby, Camilla,
and Berwick at various times, and the record of loyalists
who had land in St. Andrews contains the name of John
Collins. As there were only two of the Collins name,
possibly these were brothers, and that both returned to
England at the same time.

But now let us go back to the story of James Collins.
His first wife, Hannah Abbott, died in childbirth,
leaving twin sons, who w.ere named John and Davis.
He married, according to Capt. John Collins, of Cas-
tine, in his published memoirs, a Miss Pratt, and this
corresponds with the colonial letter in which he said
when arrested that he had married a daughter of Wil-
liam Pratt, of Maiden. But his grandson, Samuel
Wilson Collins, always insisted that his mother's maiden
name was Green, and that she was a resident of Charles-
town.

This second wife is said to have died in St. Andrews,
leaving also two sons named William and James.

Then there came a call to the father, James Collins,
to go to England to settle an estate. There were
no ties to keep him in this country except those mother-
less boys. The fleet was about to sail back to England.
He had served his king faithfully, and there were no
longer any patriotic inducements for him to remain
longer in an alien country. So he apprenticed the two
older boys and left the other two in the care of a British
soldier, James Scott, one of the loyalists who had gone
from Castine to St. Andrews. After remaining there
ten or twelve years, Scott returned to Castine with the
two boys.

Nothing was ever heard from James Collins after
he sailed for England. But the belief that there was a

[43]

Our Folks and Your Folks

large fortune left there for his heirs was passed down
from one generation to another. Capt. John Collins,
of Castine, a grandson of John the first, was most active
in searching all available records, and went to St.
Andrews in his search, but all that he found there was
a record of the original grant of land, which he said
was one of the best locations on the water front.

John K. Collins, of The Isle au Haut, Maine, who
is a grandson of David, the second son of John the first,
writes on this question of family history as follows :

"About the year 1880 there was a lawyer by the name of
O. A. Clark, of Rhode Island, who sent a pamphlet telling that
there were millions of money left in England to a Collins family
in America, and he wanted to form an association of all the fam-
ilies by that name so as to find the right branch.

"Our family did not join because they believed they were
the direct heirs to these possessions. They formed an association
of their own and employed an English lawyer to open corre-
spondence with the Chancery Court in England to find if there
had been any money left to the Collins family here. He found
that there was an immense sum, but a clear record of the family
must be produced in order to secure it. This they were unable
to do, because they could not find any trace of one of the boys,
David, or Davis, as he was sometimes called."

Of these twin boys, Mrs. Ruth (Collins) Ashdown,
a granddaughter of the first John Collins, and probably
the oldest living descendent, writes :

"Both boys, John and Davis, were bound out by their
father when he left for England, John to a man in Frankfort,
Maine, and Davis to a man in St. Andrews.

"When the boys became of age they communicated with
each other, and agreed to meet at a certain place and settle up
the property which their father had left, presumably at St.
Andrews.

"At that time all, or nearly all, the traveling was done on
horseback, and one of the brothers fell from his horse and
sprained his ankle, and this seemingly trifling accident resulted
in their not meeting at the appointed time, and they lost sight of
each other forever."

There is a confusion in the name of this twin brother
David. During a recent visit made by Mrs. Clara Wil-

[44]

SAMUEL WILSON' COLLINS

The Collins Family

son Gries to Mrs. Ashdown, in Maiden, the latter said
that her brother, Capt. John Collins, the third, once
met a descendent of David in the South, and that the
name was written as "Davis," "Davies," and "David."
It occurs in various branches of the family with all of
these spellings.

There is a question, also, of the original spelling of
the surname, for in "Baxter's Collections of Maine
History" we find that one "James Collings" signed a
petition in 1777 concerning a military force in Bagaduce
and in 1779 a petition for a fort to be built at the mouth
of the Penobscot.

Then, in 1791, "John Collings," who was undoubt-
edly James' son, signed a petition relating to a division
of certain tracts of land.

William Collins

Of William Collins and James, his brother, the two
sons of Lieut. James Collins by his second wife, there
is no record of their life in St. Andrews, but both pre-
sumably found their way back to Castine, or vicinity,
the place of their birth. The record of the marriage of
William, when about twenty-four years of age, to Sarah
Dickey of Prospect, is recorded at Belfast. There is a
record that William was born in Majabagaduce, Octo-
ber 1st, 1787.

James was drowned at the age of eighteen. William
followed the sea as a sailor and served as mate of the
first packet plying between Bangor and Boston. He
lived for some years in Bangor on a farm located near
the site of the Bangor House, and then, later, bought
a farm at Red Beach, a suburb of Calais, in Washington
County, where he lived until he sold it in 1836. He
died at Vance Mills about the year 1840, aged 62 years,
and is buried beside his first wife on the old farm at
Red Beach.

Ten children were born to William and Sarah
(Dickey) Collins: Sarah, Eleanor, Abigail, William,

[45]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Samuel Wilson, James, Andrew, Sewell, Harvey, and
David.

By a second marriage with Eliza Budd, there were
born two children, Nancy and Rebecca. Nancy mar-
ried Abraham J. Sawin, of Caribou, and Rebecca died
young.

Abram J. Sawin was born in Livermore, September
10, 1831, and came to Caribou about a year before his
marriage.

Besides a residence of many years in Caribou, he
also lived for a. time in Nashua, N. H.; Salina, Kansas,
and Fullerton, Cal.

Lee Collins, their only son, was born in Nashua,
N. H., December 6, 1866.

He married Nettie Frazier, who was born in Ox-
nard, Cal. Their children are: Barbara, born in Og-
den, Utah, October 27, 1904; Nancy Lee, born in Los
Angeles, September 21, 1906.

In 1908 Lee C. Sawin, who is, by occupation, a jew-
eler and optician, removed to Whittier, Cal. His father,
now in his eighty-eighth year, resides with him. The
mother, Nancy (Collins) Sawin, died not long after
their removal to Whittier, and is buried in Santa Paula.

Sarah, the oldest child of William and Sarah
(Dickey) Collins, married Silas Farnham, and they
located in Brewer, Maine, where Mr. Farnham fol-
lowed the occupation of a ship carpenter until an acci-
dent resulted in the loss of one of his legs, after which
he carried on a trucking business. Four children were
born to them :

Silas G., who died June 20th, 1850.

Amy H, who died July 5th, 1857, aged 25 years
and three months.

Amanda J., who married Charles Dean and died
April 14th, 1863, aged 31 years and two months.

Sarah (Collins) Farnham died on August 27th,
1872, aged 66 years, and Silas Farnham, her husband,
about two months later, October 24th, 1872. He was
killed by a fall from his truck wagon.

[46]

The Collins Family

Their descendents are two grandsons: James E.
Dean, who has been a conductor on the Boston and
Maine Railroad for many years, and Charles Dean.
The father, Capt. James Dean, husband of Amanda
Farnham, served with distinction in the Civil War, and
in the later years was military instructor at the State
University at Orono.

Eleanor Collins, the second daughter of William
and Sarah (Dickey) Collins, married John Sprague and
resided in Cooper, Maine, where their five children
were born: Thomas, Alfreda, Lewis, Adria, and Wil-
liam.

Mr. and Mrs. Sprague eventually removed to Oak-
field, Aroostook County, and made a home with their
son Lewis, who died October 4th, 1886, and his father
a week later. Eleanor survived the husband and son
for five years, dying in 1891. The son Thomas died
in the Civil War, and the daughter Adria on the birth
of her first child, Adria, who is still living in St. Paul,
Minn.

Lewis was postmaster and town treasurer at the
time of his death, and a man highly respected in the
community. He left by a marriage with Miss Nellie
Davidson four children, the youngest being seven
months old. Their names are : Arthur, who resides in
Seattle, Wash.; Will, who resides in Everson, Wash.;
Harlan, and Marjorie, who married Harvey Crandall.
The two latter families live in Oakfield, Maine, where
also resides their mother, Mrs. Nellie Sprague Gerrish.

Samuel Wilson, James, Andrew, Harvey and David
became pioneers in Aroostook County, and their biog-
raphies follow.

Sewell, the fifth son, went to California in the gold
rush of '49, and later came back and visited his brother
and sisters in Maine. He was a handsome, stalwart
fellow, and bore evidence of successful ventures in Cali-
fornia. This was about the year 1857-8. He was
supposed to have returned to Eureka, California, but

[47]

Our Folks and Your Folks

nothing was ever heard from him or his whereabouts
from that time forth.

James was an invalid from the age of sixteen to the
date of his death. He lived for many years in the home
of his brother Samuel, in Caribou, and died there.

William Collins died September 22nd, 1833, aged
24, and Abigail November 4th, 1851, aged 35 years.
Both were unmarried.

Samuel Wilson Collins
Doras Hardision Collins

Samuel Wilson Collins, the fifth child of William
and Sarah (Dickey) Collins, was born in Bangor, then
a province of Massachusetts, September 6th, 1811. He
was a man of unusual natural abilities and possessed a
remarkable memory, which was noted even in child-
hood. He used to say that as a child of three years of
age he remembered clearly when the British soldiers
made their raid on Bangor, and that his mother hid a
calf in her bedroom to keep it from the soldiers, who
took everything in the way of livestock.

The removal of the family to Calais, on a farm at
Red Beach, deprived Samuel of many opportunities for
schooling, but his natural aptitude for acquiring knowl-
edge enabled him in a great measure to supply this
deficiency as he grew older.

At eighteen .years of age, about the time of the
death of his mother, he left home and found employ-
ment in a sawmill, a business which he was destined to
follow during a long and successful life.

For three years he worked in this mill, and then
for about the same length of time in a shipyard; and
after that in building and repairing mills in Washington
County. An ambition came to seek new fields afar, and
in 1840 he went first to Providence, R. I., then to St.
Louis, and also spent a few months in Ohio; but even-
tually he returned to his native state without finding any
business openings that attracted him.

[48]

The Collins Family

At this time the "Aroostook War" had called atten-
tion to the opportunities for lumbering in the vast,
unbroken forests of northern Maine, and inducements
were made to millwrights to settle there by the granting
of large tracts of land. In the spring of 1844 Mr. Col-
lins formed a partnership with Washington A. Vaughan
for the purpose of building a sawmill and gristmill in
the small settlement that had been made on the Caribou
stream not far from the Aroostook River. There was
already a primitive gristmill there, erected by Alexander
Cochrane, but the new firm of Collins & Vaughan soon
began to do a flourishing business in general merchan-
dise, and employing many men in their mills and in
cutting lumber.

At one time these two men owned nearly all the land
that now comprises the village of Caribou.

Mr. Collins was associated in business with Mr.
Vaughan until 1857, when the firm was dissolved; after
this he carried on a large business by himself, with the
exception of a period from 1876 to 1882, when he
joined with his son-in-law, Charles W. Porter, under
the name of Collins & Porter. Following this, a new
firm was organized called S. W. Collins & Son, the
partners being his son-in-law, Charles E. Oak, and his
youngest living son, Herschel D. Collins.

Mr. Collins lived to see the realization of many of
his dreams for the developing of Aroostook County.
As early as 1856, he advocated the building of a rail-
road into the county, and when the road was finally
built, he was one of the directors. He served his town
with fidelity as selectman and treasurer, and was ever
public-spirited and progressive in all his views.

He was a member of the Maine House of Repre-
sentatives in 1856 and again in 1860. In 1870 he was
elected as a state senator. As he was a democrat in
politics and his district was strongly republican, his
election was due to the fact of a popularity which gave
him a victory over party affiliations.

[49]

Our Folks and Your Folks

It is related as an evidence of the bitter partisan-
ship of those days that Thomas B. Reed, who was then
speaker of the House, said to him once, "I like you per-
sonally, Sam, but I intend to oppose every measure you
are trying to carry because I want to teach those repub-
licans who elected you that they must not send a demo-
crat to the Maine House of Representatives."

Mr. Collins after his retirement from public life
used to take a deep interest in state and national affairs,
and although a long and painful illness made him a
semi-invalid for nearly eight years, he always spent a
few hours each day at his place of business on Sweden
street so that he could chat with old friends, and dis-
cuss the political questions of the day. His vision was
broad and intelligent and his memory remained unim-
paired down to within a few months of his death. He
was opposed to slavery, but did not believe in freeing
the slaves by force of arms. He foresaw the great
struggle that was coming between capital and labor and
always championed the cause of the laboring man.

Generous, just and honest, he truly fulfilled the
golden rule in his daily life. While he amassed a com-
fortable fortune for those days, building and owning
houses, stores and mills, and possessing much real
estate, yet he never became as wealthy as some men
would have done with his opportunities.

The life of a pioneer is a strenuous one.

Great losses came to him through the burning of
mills and the breaking away of the logs from their
booms in times of freshets, and sometimes also through
the dishonesty of others; there were many dark days
of financial distress, but eventually he paid his creditors
dollar for dollar. He was one of the few business
men of Aroostook county who did so in those early days
of long credits and uncertain returns in every avenue
of trade and industry.

Many of the early settlers were indebted to him for
their first start in life. A deserving man never applied
to him in vain for help. He gave credit freely and was

[50]

The Collins Family

a poor collector of debts due him. He never sued but
one account, and he used to tell with a great relish the
outcome of the suit.

A man had carried on a lumber operation one win-
ter and came out in the spring owing him two thousand
dollars. There were many exasperating circumstances
that made him think that the debt should be paid. And
so legal action was brought

But when the old man came into court looking sad
and poverty stricken, and wearing a battered old hat,
his generous and forgiving creditor said, "Dismiss the
suit and buy him a new hat and send him home."

An illustration of Mr. Collins' integrity of char-
acter used to be told by an old friend and early pioneer,
Dr. G. H. Freeman, of Presque Isle, and it was as fol-
lows:

"There was a powerful lobby in the Maine legis-
lature to secure a bill that would offer for sale the tim-
ber lands of northern Maine for one dollar an acre.
Mr. Collins represented that section and his vote was
important to the lobbyists. One night a coterie gath-
ered at a certain hotel and Mr. Collins was invited to
be present. Carefully, and plausibly, the plan was put
up to him that would make them all millionaires.

He listened for a time to their specious arguments
and, finally, as the climax was reached, he began to pace
rapidly back and forth; then he turned with anger in
his flashing blue eyes as he said, "Good God, do you
take me for a thief." His vote was not sought again
and this "state steal" was always regarded by him as
one of the most dastardly pieces of legislation ever
enacted.

It was a consistent and lifelong career, governed by
high principles such as is evidenced in this story, that
gave to him the sobriquet of "Honest Sam Collins."

Mr. Collins married Dorcas S. Hardison in the
year 1847, and a sketch of her life and a short biog-
raphy follows.

[51]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Of the thirteen children born to them, only five
lived to grow to mature age : Charles, Clara, Florence,
Edith and Herschel. Diphtheria, that terrible scourge
of the sixties, took, three, Abia, Frances and Samuel
Wilson, in one week, and then again in 1880, two more,
Sadie, aged ten, and Edward, aged fourteen, died of
this disease.

Mr. Collins died in his eighty-eighth year, on Feb-
ruary 15, 1899. At the funeral services, held at his
residence, the members of Lyndon Lodge, F. & A. M.,
of which he was a member, attended in a body. All
places of business were closed and hundreds of people
were in the streets to pay their last tribute of respect
to an aged and honored citizen.

Dorcas (Hardison) Collins

(At the Age of Ninety-two)

The life and character of Dorcas S. Collins, wife of
Samuel Wilson Collins and oldest daughter of Ivory
and Dorcas (Abbott) Hardison, can be best introduced
by this little sketch of her early life, written by her in
her ninetieth year, for this book, on request of the pub-
lishers.

A FEW PAGES IN THE SCHOOL OF LIFE

(By Dorcas S. Collins)

Lesson No. 1. When about six years old I began to go to
the district school. In the summer I walked one and one-half
miles, and in the winter I was drawn on a handsled by Uncle
Joe Hardison, who went to the same school.

I learned to read and write and cipher, also to sew and knit.
The teacher was a woman for the three months of school in the
summer, and a man in the winter. The teachers "boarded
around," that is, lived for a stated time in the families of their
pupils, without paying any board.

Lesson No. 2. Father raised flax, and after breaking and
swiveling it, the women folks combed and spun it. The finest
of the flax was used for linen thread and the rest for the weaving
of bed ticks, bags, etc.

When I was ten, mother carded the swiveled tow, and I
learned to spin it on the big wheel. The linen was spun on a

[52]

IRS. DORCAS S. COLLINS

The Collins Family

foot wheel, and was too costly to be used by any one who did not
know how to spin. I had to have a plank to walk on to make
me tall enough to spin on the large wheel. I used to sit in the
foot of the cradle, and knit, and rock the baby. All had to work.
Everything was done by hand, and the scythe, the plough, the
rake, and the needle were our implements.

Lesson No. 3. Father sold his farm and moved his family
into China village, where I had a good chance to go to school,
and also had one term at the Academy.

My grandfather, Jacob Abbott, died when my mother was
ten years old, leaving a family of five small children — Dorcas,
Annie, Oliver, Jacob and John.

The country was new, but they made a comfortable living
until Grandfather Abbott's health failed. My grandmother's
name was Dorcas Libbey, and her father's name was Benjamin.
They had a large family and their descendents are scattered from
Maine to California.

The Abbotts also scattered widely. I remember that in my
childhood I had a cousin who went to Ohio, and that my mother
helped them to get ready. They went in a covered wagon drawn
by horses, and there were eight children.

My Grandmother Abbott married a second time — a man by
the name of Sturtevant, and this is where my middle name comes
from, Dorcas Sturtevant.

Lesson No. 4. Father removed his family to Aroostook
County and located on "Letter H," a tract of land in an almost
unbroken wilderness, and where we found it necessary to use all
of our knowledge to provide the clothing and food for a large
family, five boys and two girls. Two children were born- after
we went to Aroostook County.

Lesson No. 5. I became engaged to be married to Samuel
W. Collins, who was building a mill in Caribou, and as I wanted
some wedding clothes, I went back to Winslow, where we for-
merly lived, and Uncle George Gowen took me and his daughter
Abigail to a great-aunt, Yeaton by name, who lived in Great
Falls, N. H., and we both went into a cotton mill to work. I
remained there one year. An old maid with whom I became
acquainted took a special liking to me. She was a devout Meth-
odist, and took me to church with her every Sunday, three
services a day.

I liked the work and would have stayed longer, but Brother
Jacob came for me, making the long journey with a horse and
sleigh. I was married soon after.

[53]

Our Folks and Your Folks

The years that followed for Mrs. Collins as a wife
and mother are uneventful in the way of marking any
special epochs. There was the work and responsibility
of ministering to a large family of children, and the
many employes who had to be housed and fed. (Also
an invalid brother of S. W. Collins and an aged aunt
of Mrs. Collins, her father's sister Alice, lived in the
house until they died.)

Heavy losses by fire, the ups and downs of the
lumber market, the spring freshets, and the early frosts,
were but incidents of the industrial life. Sickness and
death came twice, taking five lovely children with the
terrible scourge of diphtheria. Thirteen children were
born, but only five grew to manhood and womanhood —
three daughters and two sons. As these went out to
make new homes for themselves, Mr. and Mrs. Col-
lins settled down to a calm and peaceful eventide. In-
dustry and thrift had brought their reward. There
were comfort and plenty in the old home that had been
theirs for fifty years. A long and painful illness fol-
lowed for Mr. Collins and then, on his death in 1898,
Mrs. Collins invited the younger son, Herschel Doug-
las, who had stood by them in their old age and min-
istered to their needs, to come with his family to live
in the old home. It was fitting that the stores and
mills, the barns, the fertile acres stretching back over
the hills and the old house itself, should pass into the
hands of the son who had carried on the business of
the later years under the firm of S. W. Collins & Son.

Mrs. Collins went to California in 1903 and spent
four years with her daughter, Mrs. Florence Collins
Porter, in South Pasadena. She liked California, its
sunshine and its flowers, and enjoyed the companion-
ship of many old friends and relatives living there.

But early scenes and associations call more strongly
than ties made in later life, and in 1908 she went back
to her old home in Maine. As she has often said, she
didn't expect to live so long. Confined to a wheel chair
for many years, suffering pain at times, shut out from

[54]

The Collins Family

conversation because of increasing deafness, yet she has
ever been an example of cheerfulness and patience. And
her character, always mild in temper and charitable in
its judgments of others, grew more beautiful and mel-
lowed with the passing years. Her mind was naturally
receptive to culture and refinement and the foundations
of her early education, the three R's, "reading, 'riting
and 'rithmetic," were well laid. She was a good speller
and in all her letters and dairies written after she was
eighty-five, there is seldom, if ever, a misspelled word.

The great passion she always had for work, work
as an occupation to bring happiness and contentment,
did not prevent her from also enriching her mind by a
wide range of reading.

Emerson, Longfellow, Stevenson, Faber, were fa-
miliar authors to her and their thoughts were made
her thoughts. She had a retentive memory and could
quote readily many lines of poetry and philosophy.

Because her diary: "A Line a Day," written during
the year 1916, shows all this so beautifully it is intro-
duced here, with also a few extracts from letters written
to her children.

There are lines that tell of the indomitable will
power that overcame her infirmities. "The thread-
ing of the very fine needle for the bead work is most
difficult," she writes; "I have to try and try again.
Only my determination to do it makes me succeed."
And again: "The clock won't go because the shelf is
uneven and one leg shorter than the other." And the
next day she writes: "Glued a button on the leg of
the clock; the clock goes."

How cheery and optimistic are the expressions of
the uneventful days of her life and the battle against
the infirmities and loneliness of old age, as expressed
once when she wrote, "Some days will be dark and
gloomy; both body and mind out of tune, fight against
it as you will."

The celebration of the one hundredth anniversary
of the founding of the beautiful and prosperous town

[55]

Our Folks and Your Folks

of Fort Fairfield, ten miles from her own home in
Caribou, was one of the rare events that can come,
with a sense of realization of what it means, only to
one who has lived nearly through a century and been
an active participant in the pioneer life portrayed.

As a young girl of sixteen, she had accompanied her
father to the "Fort," going down the river in a canoe,
and taking dinner with General Mark Trafton.

The wonderful transformation from those days to
the present, as set forth in a three days' pageant, stirred
again the old memories and caused her to feel once
more to be a part of it all. None of her age and gen-
eration was there; she had outlived them all.

Calmly and patiently she faced the sunset rays in
the old home where she lived for more than sixty
years. The loving ministration of her son and his
sweet and devoted wife, and the association with the
five grandchildren in the home, made her life more
happy and comfortable than is usually the lot of the
aged. She died Sept. 10, 1919.

Extract from "Line-a-Day" Diary, from 1916 to
1917, by Mrs. Dorcas S. Collins

January 1st, 1916 — An orange on my desk reminds me of
California, a blanket shawl of Oklahoma, my purse of sons and
grandsons, my card basket of friends far and near. I cannot tell
what 1916 will bring me, but certainly 1915 has used me well.

January 2nd — First Sunday of the year. My prayer is:
For strength and patience to endure until the end.

January 3rd — More holiday greetings. Letters are next
best to the clasp of the hand.

January 8th — Cold weather. Worked on underwear. May
have to buy my next, but it will be hard to find anything to fit
an old woman of ninety.

January 9th — H. and F. gone to church. Read Billy Sun-
day's method of conducting his Sunday Tabernacle services. He
must have wonderful powers to entertain so great a crowd.

January 15th — Cold weather. Have been very hoarse and
troubled with cough, and wheezy. Suppose it is called grippe,
but the cause I don't know. Perhaps it is old age.

[56]

The Collins Family

January 18th— The Clark block burned last night. H. had
much property endangered. There was no wind, or all would
have been lost.

February 3rd — Snowing. Good weather for dressmaking,
so the dressmaker says. If the dress is not fine in style I shall
have enjoyed the making. If there are some wrinkles in the fit,
the fault will be with the model. Have made some "Forget-me-
not" bead trimming for it.

February 11th — Trying to use an ear trumpet, but do not
get much satisfaction from it. I can hear only when the voice is
raised and the talk especially directed to me.

February 12th — Alas! "the best laid plans of mice and men
aft gang a-gley." My dress sleeves are too tight, and the ribbon
for the necktie too wide for the bead balls I have made !

February 22nd — Washington's Birthday, so am not work-
ing, but studying Washington and his teachings.

February 23rd — Trying to make my clock keep time. The
trouble is one leg is longer than the other and will not go unless
the legs are evenly balanced. So I am trying to make the legs
even, and have glued on a button.

February 24th — The clock is keeping time !

February 25th — Have been reading Gen. F. von Bernhardt
on "The Next War." He believes in Germany's method of
preparedness and government. What if Germany, with all her
preparations, should be beaten! He argues that if it were not
for war nations would degenerate. What about Christ's teach-
ings that the sword will be beaten into ploughshares ?

March 1st — Auntie Jones sent me "The Abandoned Home"
to read, so I have done no work but read all day. I like the
novel better than I did Gene Stratton Porter's "Michael O'Hal-
oran." The characters, especially Mrs. Groves, are true to life.
Have seen such myself.

March 5th — Nice March day. H. and F. gone to church.
A young woman with a baby sled and baby in it is before the
door. She ought to bring it indoors, for it is too cold. The
baby, although well wrapped up, is crying, and the nurse is
staying too long indoors ; if I could walk, the baby would come
inside mighty quick. I would like to shake the nurse !

March 7th — Eighty-nine today. Guests are coming to a
birthday dinner. Have had many letters and postal cards, which
I greatly enjoyed, also plants and flowers and more substantial
remembrances. Dress goods, money, and a box of oranges are
on the way.

[57]

Our Folks and Your Folks

March 8th — Have re-read letters and congratulatory cards,
and admired a nice crepe dress pattern from "the Tulsa bunch."
Auntie Jones sent me a bouquet of flowers, so I will write her a
letter and also send her some of my birthday letters to read.

• March 14th — Waiting, not for the end of time, but for
some embroidery floss and for instructions how to work a letter
"O" on a pair of pillow slips. Pretty old to commence taking
embroidery lessons! "Learn to labor and to wait." Waiting is
the harder part.

March 19th — It is Lent. How shall I keep Lent? In a
wheel chair, hard of hearing, and in my ninetieth year! Have
read this morning the different methods of keeping Lent. To
me it is not denying the physical wants but enjoying the spiritual.

March 28th — Nice spring day. Worked on my Colonial
quilt, putting hollyhocks and morning glories on the white
ground-work.

April 3rd — Am getting on nicely with my quilt, but when
I get my morning glory seeds and plant them I will enjoy seeing
them come out of the earth. They will put my patchwork ones
in the background.

April 10th — It is cold and I am glad to have flowers to sew
on cotton cloth. They call it Art !

April 15th — Received a letter from Postmaster Doe of
China, Maine, in response to a bead napkin ring that I sent him.
He wrote me a nice letter and seemed pleased to hear from an
old woman who lived in China when a girl. He said the girls
who went to school with me were mostly lying in Sugar Loaf
Cemetery, or had gone West.

April 19th — Autos are on the street and children on the
lawns. All are rejoicing that springtime has come.

April 24th — Now for finishing my Colonial bedspread. I
do not want to keep my mind and eyes on patchwork when I can
see things growing and hear the chug, chug of the autos.

April 26th — The Colonial spread is finished. I have put a
month's work in it. It is an old woman's handicraft. If every
stitch was perfect, it would be a younger woman than I who
did it. I have enjoyed the work.

April 28th — Some days will be dark and gloomy — both
body and mind out of tune, fight against it as you will.

May 4th — Have been reading a Christian Science lecture.
In part, I am a Christian Scientist, but not in everything. It
has had a wonderful growth, and is doing good. I much prefer
its teachings to those of Billy Sunday.

[58]

The Collins Family

May 10th— War! War! Preparedness! Get ready to
kill. What a travesty asking God's help ! He that draweth the
sword shall perish by the sword.

May 13th — Looked over old letters and photos. Almost
like visiting. I find I need the word and handshake of those
whose pictures I look at, yet it is a sweet privilege to go over,
even in this way, the old scenes in life. Many are at rest ; but
few living of my age.

May 14th — Sunday. Read sermon in the Universalist
Leader and songs in a Sankey and Moody Hymn book. They
did not harmonize very well, but the songs were those I heard
in my young days, and are grafted into my memory.

May 28th — A nice day. Our summer season is short.
Enjoy it while we can. Each season has its circling season of
delight. I have enjoyed the spring. The tiny seeds that I have
sown in boxes are up and ready for transplanting.

June 2nd — On the piazza. Not working much. Every-
thing in action. Mrs. Hall in her garden, man mowing the
lawn, truck teams and autos passing; men and women on foot;
children jumping rope. I think it tires me as much as it does
to work — this myself, unoccupied.

June 3rd — Heavy wind. "The wind bloweth where it
listeth." The little plants on the piazza are shaking and almost
say: "Protect me from the wind; it is almost as bad as Jack
Frost." The petunia says: "I was found in the crags of the
mountains and of very small beginning, and do not like the
wind." The pink says: "I am more hardy, but I don't want
to be blown out of the ground."

June 4th — A vase of narcissus is on my table — a symbol of
purity. I would like to be a Burbank and hybridize these wild
rose bushes back of my window into something beautiful. The
crabapple tree is beautiful in its blossoms, but the fruit is worth-
less. The hazel bush I would have bearing better nuts ; the
wild cherry I would graft into delicious cherries. But here I
am in a wheel chair, old and infirm. I enjoy nature and would
like to improve it by grafting the best into an inferior. I wish
there were more Burbanks!

July 1st — No hot weather yet. I wonder if it is going to
be the anniversary of 1816 which is called a year without a sum-
mer. I have a fire in my room, and there is an open fire in the
sitting room.

July 11th — Hot weather! Thermometer stood 95 degrees
in the shade and 120 degrees in the sun.

[59]

Our Folks and Your Folks

July 13th — Intense heat. Good weather for haymaking.
Herschel has ten men at work and will cut 100 tons. Electric
shower and lightning struck the Methodist Church.

July 16th — Sunday. Have read Paul's Epistle to the Ro-
mans. I wonder if the Jews will gain anything by the world's
great war! It is almost two thousand years ago that Paul
preached to the Romans. Rome is now in the great conflict.

July 25th — Sunday. Weather cooler — a shower. Vegeta-
tion is glad of the rain, and humanity that it is cooler. The
church bells are ringing. I would like to take part in church
worship. But here I am in my wheel chair and have not entered
a church for seventeen years.

August 7th — Edith telephoned that they had started by
auto from Bangor. Clara Gries and Florence Porter are with
them. They arrived at 12 o'clock (midnight).

August 8th — Am going to Fort Fairfield tomorrow to wit-
ness the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of that town.
I visited it with my father in 1842, going by canoe down the
river, for there was no highway.

August 9th — The Fort Fairfield celebration was a great
success. A thousand autos were on the ground, and nine thou-
sand people witnessed a wonderful pageant, "The Spirit of
Progress." First came the birch bark canoes up the river, filled
with Indians; then the clearing of the forest, home building,
school houses, churches, roads, manufactories. There were Lord
Ashburton and Daniel Webster, true to life, settling the boun-
dary question. The coming of the first Swedish immigrants to
New Sweden was a reminder of the days when Aroostook
County opened its doors to foreigners, and the conclusion showed
the present mode of agriculture and the "Spirit of Electricity."
It was a great day for me.

August 31st — Fine day. Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Collins,
May Collins, Clara Gries and Florence Porter left for Calais
today by auto; from there they will go to Bangor. The Cali-
fornians are en route for home eventually.

September 2nd — Everything seems so quiet and the house
so empty! The evenings are getting longer, and I will soon have
to part with my flowers.

September 21st — I must find some work to do, or I will
think that I am sick!

October 2nd — Clara and Florence are much interested in
family history, and want to publish a book called "Our Folks."

[60]

The Collins Family

They will have a big job to trace the whereabouts of the living
"Our Folks." They expect to reach Los Angeles October 4.

October 6th — I had two apples brought to me the other
day, from a tree back of the house, that interested me. They
were the "Duchess of Oldenburg," large and of fine flavor. This
tree, with others, was first set out by S. W. C. and me, and never
bore any apples. When Collins Street was made, all the others
were taken up. It is just lately that this tree has borne any fruit.
S. W. C. used to say that I always looked for apple trees, while
he preferred to look for a tall pine that would make a mast for
a ship. The pine trees are all gone. This apple tree will yet
give a good account of itself.

October 13th — Cold and cloudy. Forty years ago today I
was in Washington, D. C. It was cold and cloudy then, with
spits of snow.

November 26th — Dark and cloudy. Am knitting some red
mittens for my great-granddaughter, Edith Oak Gardner. The
yarn is very fine. I took up thirteen stitches and the mittens
look small.

December 1st — I would like to possess Aladdin's lamp. I
would make every one happy. Happiness does not consist in the
possession of finery, or gold. Health, contentment, prosperity
are better than gold.

December 7th — Church sale and supper. Everybody tired
out. Doesn't pay!

December 10th, 1916 — I am glad that Wilson was elected,
but I think that he won't have a very easy job. Hope that he
will live through his term and have backbone enough to keep out
of the war whirlpool. I got a check from the Caribou Fair
Association for the prize on that Colonial quilt the other day,
and will soon begin the second one. Have been busy knitting
stockings and mittens for the minister's three boys, and have
bought each of them a pair of moccasins, not the cheap kind our
boys used to wear, for these were $2.00 a pair. I have made
eleven aprons and two bead napkin rings for Christmas remem-
brances. One for James Utterback had the United States flag
woven in, and the other the name "Elaine."

December 13 th — Worked on bead bag. I have to try and
try again to thread my needle. Only a determination to do it
makes me succeed.

December 14th — The latest news is that Germany sues for
peace. She is crafty. She wants the world to think that it is
not her fault if the war is continued.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

December 18th — The quilt that I pieced together and the
friends quilted for me at a "Quilting Bee" goes into the chest of
my great-granddaughter, Alice McKevett Teague. Her father,
Charles Collins Teague, held the number that drew it. Alice's
grandmother, Mrs. Alice McKevett, of Los Angeles, has given
her the chest, and my quilt was the first article to go in it. Wish
I had done the work better.

December 31st — Good-bye to the old year. May 1917 be
a more peaceful one ! This little book has many blots and mis-
takes, but I have enjoyed writing every day. It keeps me posted
and I do not forget as I would if I did not write.

At Christmas time, if I had the lamp of Aladdin, I would
make every one happy. I don't believe I would send any one to
hell, as Billy Sunday does. How can ministers shout "Amen!"
to this preaching of hell and damnation!

Eternity! Who can fathom it? If there is eternal life, it
is the gift of God. I cannot merit eternal happiness or deserve
eternal punishment. Our lives here on earth are but a moment
compared to eternity.

The lessons in life, from the beginning of the spinning of
tow on a hand wheel to the work of embroidering an art bed-
spread, cover a long period, and is a longer page than I can write,
for the twilight fades into darkness. I have had almost ninety
years, and am still learning.

Extract from Letter Written Dec. 10, 1906, by
Mrs. Dorcas S. Collins

"I shall be eighty years old if I live until March 7, 1907.
My general health is good, but I have to use a wheel chair to
get around. But in this wheel chair I have traveled through
Chautauqua, also Oxfordshire, England, and have read Goethe's
Faust. While reading the latter, the witches bothered me, for
I was trying to modernize an old dress, and parts would mys-
teriously disappear, and I would hunt until I was weary for
them. Then, all at once, there they would be without my look-
ing for them.

"In my younger days I did not care to look backward — the
present and the future were enough for me. But as I near the
shadows of the future, I find myself prone to look backward,
and when retrospection and introspection get too firm a hold, I
find no better remedy than this work of modernizing an old
dress.

[62]

CHARLES PRESCOTT COLLINS

The Collins Family

"Now, don't say, 'What fools we mortals be,' when I tell
you of my plans to celebrate my eightieth birthday. I am going
to ask my grandchildren to send me something I can put on the
table for the old friends I want to invite to a dinner.

"Burt Collins may send me a pound of rice from Texas for
the pudding. The California grandchildren and nieces can send
me dried and candied fruits, nuts and raisins. My object is to
keep the family in touch with each other at home and abroad."

Charles Prescott Collins

Charles Prescott Collins, the oldest child of Samuel
Wilson and Dorcas (Hardison) Collins, was born in
Caribou, Maine, Dec. 12, 1847. His early life was
spent at home, where he acquired his education in the
public schools, supplemented with a term at Houlton
Academy.

After leaving school, he assisted his father in his
business as a lumberman and manufacturer and became
somewhat familiar with this industry. But it was a
restricted field that the woods of northern _ Maine
offered at that time, and the forests of Wisconsin
seemed to promise greater opportunities to the ambi-
tious young man. And so he went to that state and
worked in lumbering for a year or two.

But marvellous tales came to him in letters from
his uncles, James and Harvey Hardison, who a few
years previous had gone to Pennsylvania and engaged in
the oil industry, and young Collins, then a stalwart,
active man of about twenty-three, decided to join them.
He entered the field as an operator and thus became
eventually one of the best known and successful oil men
of the pioneer days of Pennsylvania.

It was in 1869 that he went to Shamburg, Venango
Co., and began his apprenticeship by working by the
day on wells, dressing tools and drilling. Within the
year he had acquired an interest in his first well, located
at Shamburg, and the next year he began contracting.

He gave incessant personal attention to the work
under his care, and built up a reputation for sagacity
combined with honest dealing in all his enterprises.

[63]

Our Folks and Your Folks

In 1877 he entered the McKean field. Still con-
tinuing contracting, he greatly increased his business
by forming partnerships with well-known and skilled
operators. In fact, one of the strongest elements of
his success was in the personality that firmly held the
friendships of all his associates during the ups and
downs of a wide business career, and to the day of his
death "he never had an enemy" was repeatedly said
of him.

In 1891 the Devonian Oil Co. was formed, with
a capital of $300,000, and Mr. Collins was its presi-
dent for many years. He also was the president of the
Superior Oil Co. in which he was associated with his
uncles, James and Wallace Hardison, and which did a
large business.

With an understanding of the true values of the
many opportunities constantly being offered to men who
have the vision to see them, Mr. Collins embarked in
many enterprises, some of them on a large scale,
because of a naturally optimistic nature and a respon-
siveness that made him an organizer of men and
capital.

He was interested in banking and agriculture in
Kansas; in gold and copper mines in Arizona and Col-
orado; in stock raising and citrus groves in California;
and in his declining health and advancing years he
became one of the pioneers of the oil industry in Okla-
homa.

It was in 1896 that he helped to organize the Inca
Mining Company with a capital of $1,000,000 to
operate a gold mine on the slopes of the Andes in Peru,
South America.

The years connected with this enterprise were full
of tremendous responsibility and anxiety and he visited
the mine in person, making the strenuous trip over the
mountains with great vigor for one of his years.

The following extract from a biographical sketch,
written of him in the prime of life, will convey a true
picture of his life and character.

[64]

The Collins Family

"Mr. Collins has been for thirty years engaged in
the oil business and is one of the exceedingly small
number whose labors have been crowned with success.

With strong physical powers, a sound body in a
sound mind, throughout his long and active career he
has shown himself able to cope with every emergency
where ability, talent and energy are demanded, and
few men in the oil regions enjoy the respect that is
accorded to him. This has been the result of his per-
sonal merits and all who know him can testify to his
ability, his genuine kindness and true manliness. His
private life is without spot or blemish."

Charles P. Collins was married to Miss Ida Mer-
rill (born in Turner, Maine, Feb. 19th, 1851) on
October 31st, 1876, in St. Petersburg, Clarion county,
Pennsylvania.

It was while on a visit to Mrs. Collins' parents in
Caribou, a visit extending over several months because
of the illness of her mother, that the first child, Burt
Harrison, was born. After this, Mr. and Mrs. Collins
resided in Indian Creek, Pa., where the second son,
Ray, was born; and then for a few years in Eldred,
where a third son, Leo, was born.

They then built a beautiful house in Bradford,
McKean Co., and many delightful years were spent
there with an interesting family growing up around
them.

Their domestic life was indeed unusually happy,
for Mrs. Collins is one who believes that the home
circle should be the happiest place on earth and is
unsparing in unselfish love to make it so.

Quiet and unostentatious in manner, refined and
cultured, she was ever the ideal mother and wife and
also a helpful friend to the needy and distressed. No
one was ever turned away empty-handed from her hos-
pitable door. It was this spirit of loving service that
made the last years of her husband's life pass in con-
tentment and happiness.

[65]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Forced by ill health to retire from all the activi-
ties in which he had been engaged, he found in the
home circle the loving ministrations of his sons and
their families and the devoted companionship of his
wife a compensation that took away the regrets because
he was no longer a vital force in the business world.

Thus, patiendy, and with a cheerful spirit, he saw
the crimsoning shadows of the evening sunset approach-
ing with calmness and fortitude.

But the end came suddenly, as death almost always
seems to come. He had gone with his wife and son
Leo to spend the summer of 1918 in the Arkansas
mountains to avoid the heat of the Oklahoma climate.
After a few days of illness the end came with heart
failure. He was taken to Bradford for burial in the
family lot and many old friends assembled in that city
to pay their last respects to one they had loved and
honored.

Mr. Collins was a Mason of the thirty-second
degree and his lodge in Bradford assisted in the funeral
services.

Burt Harrison Collins

Burt Harrison Collins, oldest son of Charles P.
and Ida Merrill Collins, was educated in a military
school at Ft. Plains, New York, and also had two
years in the Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo
Alto, California.

In 1901, in company with five students of the Uni-
versity, he accompanied Dr. Branner on an exploring
expedition of the coral reefs north of Pernambuco,
Brazil, which was conducted under the direction of
Professor Aggasiz of Harvard University.

He married Miss May Hubbard, daughter of Dr.
C. S. and Jane (McKinney) Hubbard, of Bradford,
and the young couple went to live in Galveston, Texas,
where Mr. Collins was engaged in the culture of rice.
Mrs. Collins died suddenly, from the effects of a sun-
stroke, while on a journey from Galveston to Bradford.

[66]

COLLINS KNITTING FOR THE RED CROSS

The Collins Family

After this, Mr. Collins spent a number of years in
Peru, South America, as manager of the Inca Mining
properties.

He resigned this position and coming again to
reside in the United States he was united in marriage
with Miss Alma Byron, of Bradford, daughter of
Charles P. Byron, a native of Ennis, County Clare,
Ireland, born in 1846 and died in 1913, and Ann
(Birckly) Byron, who died in the City of Cork.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Collins, Charles Prescott, born in Tulsa, Okla., Decem-
ber 28th, 1916, and Patricia, born in Tulsa, March
28th, 1918.

Ray Merrill Collins

Ray Merrill Collins, second son of Charles P. and
Ida (Merrill) Collins, born in Indian Creek, Pa., was
educated in the Military School of Ft. Plain, New
York, and Leland Stanford Junior University of Cali-
fornia.

In 1901 he went to Brazil with the Stanford Geo-
logical Expedition. After coming from South America
he engaged in the oil industry with his father and went
to Tulsa, Okla., on the opening of the new fields there.
He is now one of the successful young oil men of that
state and connected with large enterprises there.

He married Miss June Hubbard, daughter of Dr.
C. S. Hubbard and Jane (McKinney) Hubbard, and
they have one child, Richard Hubbard Collins, born
May 25, 1917.

Charles Leo Collins

Charles Leo, the third son of Charles P. and Ida
(Merrill) Collins, after attending the Bradford High
School, took a correspondence course in English. In
1918, when examined for service in the United States
Army, he was not accepted on account of heart trouble.
He is engaged in the oil business with his brother Sam.
He was a great help and comfort to his father and in

[67]

Our Folks and Your Folks

taking thoughtful care of his mother continues in the
home service.

Samuel Wilson Collins

Samuel Wilson Collins, the fourth son of Charles
P. and Ida Merrill Collins, was born in Bradford, Pa.,
and educated in the public schools of that city, after-
ward graduating from Cornell University, in 1913,
with the degree of Mechanical Engineer.

He married Miss Dorris Daphne Evans, who was
born in Hoosierville, Indiana, April 8th, 1891, on June
28, 1917, at Brazil, Indiana.

When the call came for volunteers in the United
States Army, Samuel enlisted and was sent first to
Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas, where he took a two
months' course in the University of Texas Training
Detachment. He was then assigned to the aviation
section at Kelly Field, San Antonio. He was an
accepted candidate for the Engineers Officers Training
Camp when the armistice was signed.

Wallace H. Collins

Wallace H, the youngest son of Charles P. and
Ida (Merrill) Collins, entered Cornell University in
1914 and was in his senior year when the call came to
the college boys to enlist in their country's cause for
humanity. He went with his class and professors to
Quincy, Mass., where they combined the shipbuilding
work of the government with university work, gradu-
ating from Cornell with the degree of Mechanical
Engineer in May, 1918. He continued his work in the
shipyards until he enlisted in the United States Army
in July. Out of one hundred and twenty who took the
examination for commissions as engineers in the U. S.
N. R. F., only eight were accepted, and Wallace was
third among the list. He received his commission in
October and was sent to Annapolis for a three months'
training course, graduating June 31, 1919, as a regular
engineer in the U. S. N. and with three of his class was

[68]

The Collins Family

ordered to report on board the U. S. S. Nevada, Feb.
1, for a cruise to Cuba.

Herschel Douglas Collins

Herschel Douglas Collins, the only living son of
Samuel Wilson and Dorcas (Hardison) Collins, was
born in Caribou August 14, 1860. He was educated
in the public schools of his native town and the Water-
ville Classical Institute.

At the age of twenty-seven he was united in mar-
riage with Miss Freda Files, only daughter of Eben
and Mary Files.

He had been associated in business with his father
from his early youth and as this business had increased
in opportunities and the partnership of Collins and
Porter dissolved, a new one was formed under the
name of S. W. Collins and Son, which included as a
partner in the firm Charles E. Oak, formerly of Gar-
land, who had come to Caribou as principal of the
high school and who had married Edith, the youngest
daughter of Samuel W. Collins.

These two young men brought vigor and energy to
the new firm and a flourishing business was carried on
in the cutting of timber and the manufacture of shingles
and lumber. A grist mill was also operated and a
large store of general merchandise was kept to supply
the needs of the many men employed.

The firm became the industrial center of the town
and was continued under this name for twenty years
after the death of Samuel W. Collins, and then dis-
solved by mutual consent in October, 1918.

The career of Herschel D. Collins has been marked
by a spirit of devotion to the best interests of the com-
munity. When the old saw mill, erected by his father
many years before, was burned, entailing a heavy loss,
although it was not a paying investment, he rebuilt it
because it was needed to give employment to men who
had been long connected with it and who would find it
difficult to get other employment.

[69]

Our Folks and Your Folks

He remodeled the old home and brought the one
hundred acres connected with it into a high state of
cultivation.

He built stores and warehouses, and with the
growth of the automobile trade in Aroostook county
carried on a large sales business until the fall of 1918.

Mr. Collins is public spirited and generous. He is
independent in politics and interested in affairs political,
but has no desire for office.

In religion he is a Universalist and one of the pillars
of the First Universalist church of Caribou.

As president of The Caribou National Bank, he
zealously worked for the sale of Liberty bonds and the
raising of funds for the Red Cross.

Mr. and Mrs. Collins have five children.

Mary Dorcas, the eldest, is in charge of an impor-
tant part of her father's business. Maud, the second
daughter, was graduated from Colby University and
at the present time is in the employ of the Echo Oil
Co. of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Clara Wilson, the third daughter, is also a graduate
of Colby University. After a year or two of teaching,
she was married on August 8th, 1917, to Donald S.
Piper, of Livermore, Maine.

They have one child, Wilson Collins Piper, born
August 29th, 1918.

Samuel Wilson, the only son of Herschel D. and
Freda (Files) Collins, was born on the birthday of
his grandfather, Sept. 6th, 1896, and was given his
name.

After graduating from the public schools of
Caribou, Wilson entered the University of Maine, and
was in his junior year when there came to him the call
to enlist in the service of his country. He entered the
officers' training camp at Ayer, Mass., and after com-
pleting the training course was sent to Sandusky, Ohio,
with the rank of second lieutenant.

[70]

The Collins Family

After the armistice and the demobilization of the
troops, he was released from service December 7th,
1918, and then returned to the University to complete
his senior year. He was graduated with honors in
May, 1919.

Ida M. Collins, the youngest daughter, entered the
University of Maine as a student in the fall of 1918.

The Files Family

Freda (Files) Collins was born in Thorndyke, Me.,
May 23, 1 863, and her parents were Eben Phinney Files
and Mary Sturgis (Lord) Files.

The parents of Eben Phinney Files were Ebenezer
Scott Files and Patience (Phinney) Files. On the ma-
ternal side, through the Phinney family, there is a Revo-
lutionary line of ancestry well established. There were
ten children in the family of Ebenezer Scott and Pa-
tience (Phinney) Files, of which Eben Phinney Files
was the youngest.

The parents of Mary (Lord) Files were Jeremiah
and Sarah (Purington) Lord, and she was the youngest
of six children.

Eben Phinney and Mary (Lord) Files resided in
Caribou for several years, where Mr. Files engaged in
mercantile business until their removal to a farm in
Clinton, Me., where they were residing when Mrs.
Files died, in 1919, after a lingering illness. They had
three children, Freda, Charles and Ned. The latter
was a most promising lad of about ten when he died, in
Caribou, after a brief illness.

Charles married, first, Flora Hildreth, and second,
Florence Bentley.

He served for several years as station agent of the
Maine Central Railroad at Belfast, and is now located
on the home farm, in Clinton, where his father resides.

Family of Harvey Collins
Harvey, the fourth son of William and Sarah
(Dickey) Collins, was born in Calais, Maine, Novem-

[71]

Our Folks and Your Folks

ber 5, 1821, and died in Eureka, Humboldt county,
Cal., January 22, 1877.

Harvey came to Aroostook county soon after his
brother Samuel had successfully established himself in
business there. Not long after, he became acquainted
with Miss Emily Gowen, of Winslow, who was visiting
her relatives, the Hardison families, with the result that
an engagement followed and Miss Gowen returned to
her home to get ready for the wedding, which took
place on August 29, 1854, the ceremony being pro-
nounced by Rev. Robert Ayer. Mr. Collins brought
his bride to a comfortable and commodious house that
he had built for her, a house which is still in a good state
of preservation, located one mile from the village on
the road to Van Buren.

Here were born five children, Ada, on May 25,
1855; Emma, June 10, 1857; Eddie, September 1,
1859; Myrtle, February 23, 1862, and Fred L., March
4, 1864.

Eddie, died July 16, 1862.

Fred L., died September 2, 1864.

Myrtie, died April 8, 1882, in Albion, Maine, in the
home of her grandmother, Mrs. Annie Gowen. She is
buried in the family lot in Caribou.

Emily Collins, the young mother, never very robust,
died May 18, 1865, aged 31 years.

On November 31, 1867, Mr. Collins married a sis-
ter of his first wife, Mrs. Celestia (Gowen) Ellis.

To this union were born three children: Pearl,
George and Belle.

George died in 1885, aged 16 years.

In the year 1877 there was a feeling of great unrest
in Aroostook county owing, to business depression and
also the long cold winters, and the magnetic voice of the
far West called many of her sons and daughters to seek
new fields of endeavor.

Several of his old friends had gone West and Mr.
Collins, then past the prime of life, decided that he,
too, would try his fortune in fields afar.

[72]

The Collins Family

He went to Eureka, Humboldt county, California,
and engaged in lumbering, leaving his wife and family
behind until he could conveniently send for them. But
in so doing, he went to a tragic fate. He had not been
in California many months, when, one night, coming to
town after a weary week's work, he took accommoda-
tions in a hotel in Eureka. During the night fire broke
out and the building being a wooden one, the flames
spread so rapidly that four of the inmates could not be
rescued, Mr. Collins among the number. The order of
F. & A. M., of which he was a member, buried him with
Masonic honors and sent resolutions of sympathy to the
sorrowing wife and children.

His was a nature essentially home-loving and he
cared but little for public life. A kind husband and
devoted father, no childish anguish was too trivial to
receive notice and consideration and he was ever looked
to for advice and guidance. Thus in his passing, a
young family was untimely deprived of his loving pro-
tection and wise counsel.

The widow, Mrs. Celestia Collins, married Henry
Lufkin, September 14, 1880, a farmer of Caribou, and
to this union there was born a son, Milton T. Lufkin,
January 18, 1882.

Mrs. Lufkin died in Caribou on December 6, 1910,
and Mr. Lufkin is now a resident of Los Angeles.

Family of John and Ada (Collins) Howell

Ada, the oldest daughter of Harvey and Emily
(Gowen) Collins, was a successful teacher in the public
schools of Caribou until 1877, when she was married to
John Howell at Coulardville, Wis., April 17, 1877.

Mr. Howell was a playmate of her childhood, his
father, Richard Howell, owning at that time what has
since been known as the Morse farm in Caribou, one
of the largest and most productive of the town.

John went to Wisconsin in 1868 and his father and
family followed the same year. John started in to

[73]

Our Folks and Your Folks

farm for himself in 1872 and took up eighty acres of
land where a small clearing had been made and aban-
doned. Here he built a home, and with the co-opera-
tion of his family and a systematic rotation of crops
on the land, he has made one of the most productive
and fertile farms of the town of Gillett.

Mr. Howell's ability and integrity have been recog-
nized by his towns people and for thirty years he has
continually held positions of trust and honor. For ten
years he was town clerk, and for twelve years a member
of the Oconto county board of supervisors. He is now
filling the office of justice of the peace.

Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Howell: Clyde R., July 30, 1878; Ruel H., August
18, 1880; Kathryn P., December, 1882; John C, April
15, 1886; Myrtle E., February 21, 1892; Delbert E.,
August 24, 1889, and Lester D., May 30, 1897; all
born in Gillett, Wis.

Clyde owns a farm adjoining the village of Gillett,
and because of its favorable location and the promising
outlook for future growth of the village, it is being sub-
divided into attractive building lots.

Ruel owns a ranch of 320 acres near Aberdeen,
S. D., where he is making a success in raising live-stock,
corn and grain. He was married October 29, 1908,
to Miss Eleesta Russell of Ordway, S. D. They have
five children: Harvey R., J. Milton, James F., Ray-
mond Collins and Myrtle Mae, born October 15, 1917.

Kathryn, after completing a business course in
Grangers College, Aberdeen, was united in marriage
with Frank W. Russell, April 16, 1910. They have
four children: Pearl G., Maud E., Shirley M. and
Kathryn Ada. They reside at Columbia, S. D.

John C, the third son, is at Aberdeen and the other
three children are with their parents in Gillett.

Lester D. Howell, married November 17, 1917, at
Menominee, Mich., Miss Olga Adine Hanson. On
October 23, 1918, he enlisted at Oconto, Wis., and
was sent to Camp Shelby, Hattisburg, Miss., and placed

[74]

The Collins Family

in 5th Co., 161st Depot Brigade for drilling. He was
honorably discharged from military service at Camp
Grant, Rockford, 111., December 27, 1918.

Emma Collins McKenzie

Emma, the second daughter of Harvey and Emily
(Gowen) Collins, went eventually to Gillett to live,
so as to be near her sister, Mrs. John Howell, and in
1884 she married Charles S. McKenzie, a native of
New York state. Mr. McKenzie was one of the
pioneers of Gillett and served in the Civil War as a
Union soldier. He was a great-grand nephew of Alex-
ander McKenzie, the explorer, who discovered the
McKenzie river in Alaska.

In 1902, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie moved to Okla-
homa where Mr. McKenzie followed the real estate
business until his death in 1908. Emma Collins
McKenzie, the widow, resided in Oklahoma City until
her death on February 27, 1919. She was a member of
the Christian Church, past matron of Chapter 271,
O. E. S., and active in temperance and Red Cross work
and greatly beloved.

William Dunbar and Pearl Collins Dunbar

Pearl, the oldest daughter of Harvey and Celestia
(Ellis) Collins, married William H. Dunbar and re-
sided for a number of years in Caribou, where their
two children were born: Harvey C. in 1886, and Ber-
nice C. in 1889.

Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar moved to Bangor where
Mr. Dunbar built up a good business as a painter.
But his health failed and he went to Cuba for a few
years. They are now living in Maiden, Mass.

Bernice, the daughter, was married to Harry I.
Bolton in 1914, and two children were born to them,
Reginald D. and Merrill V. Mrs. Bolton died in
Bangor of influenza Jan. 7, 1919. She was a member
of the First Congregational Church of Brewer and was

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always active in the work of the church and Sunday
school. A beautiful young woman and greatly beloved
by all who knew her.

The son, Harvey C, married Josephine H. Cooper
in 1914. They have one child, Richard R.

Edward Plier and Belle Collins Plier

Belle, the youngest daughter of Harvey and
Celestia (Ellis) Collins, when about sixteen years old
also went to Gillett to live, thus joining in the west
her two half sisters, Ada and Emma.

In 1889 she was married to Edward Plier and the
young couple went to Michigan to live, where Mr.
Plier engaged in lumbering. Later they removed to
Stambough, where there were excellent educational
advantages for their children.

The family is a good sized one for these days, six
girls and four boys, but all are well educated and ambi-
tious to fill responsible positions in life.

The oldest daughter, Florence, married Henry E.
Mantle, of Stanbough, and they have four children,
Ward R., Herschel E., Fern Ann, and Donald.

The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Plier are:

Anne C, William H., Ella F., George H., Inez M.,
Emma C, Frederick H., Ruth G., and Dorothy R.

William, the oldest son, enlisted in the United
States Army and was discharged from the service
March 10, 1919, after earning three service stripes.
He follows the occupation of a railroad man.

Sketch of Mrs. Annie Abbott Gowen

(By Her Granddauchter, Ada Collins Howell)

Annie Abbott, daughter of Jacob and Dorcas
(Libbey) Abbott, was born at Winslow, Maine, June
16, 1807.

She was not born with the proverbial "Silver spoon
in her mouth," but, endowed with good health, ambi-
tious and energetic, she came to be a very attractive

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The Collins Family

young woman, and was skilled and well trained in all
the home accomplishments necessary to women of those
days before the invention of machinery. Her hand-
loom woven bed spreads, table covers, and cloth for
clothing, were as much works of art as our modern
hand embroidery, and called for quite as much skill
and a deal more of energy. Her motto "anything
worth doing at all is worth doing well" was applied to
all the work she undertook throughout her life time.

In February, 1828, while at Sanford, Maine, she
was married to George Gowen, a young man whose
fortune was in the making. This marriage was not
the brilliant match some of her relatives had desired
for her. However, it must have been one of mutual
attraction. A year later, during the months of winter,
with their household goods loaded on a sled and an ox
team to draw it, and their little son, Lyman, an infant
in arms, they started on a journey back to Winslow,
Maine. This journey through the then unsettled
country, was one of untold hardships and called for
great fortitude and courage. They arrived at their
destination in time to begin the spring work on the
Abbott farm. Here, for nearly fifty years, she found
her life work with its joys and sorrows.

Mr. and Mrs. Gowen were the parents of nine
children, seven of whom reached maturity. Their
names follow : William Lyman, Abigail More, Emily
A., Olive Augusta, Celestia A., George F., and Libby.

Mrs. Gowen was naturally thrifty, she could not
tolerate waste or extravagance and she found ample
scope for the exercise of her ingenuity in supplying
the necessities of the family. For many years the only
means of cooking food was a large brick oven and
open fireplace, yet the appetizing and delicious food
that came from this source was remembered and
longed for, by members of this family many years
after.

The apple orchard in connection with this home
was not the least of its attractions. There were great

[77]

Our Folks and Your Folks

trees whose branches furnished fruit for three genera-
tions and offered many tempting places of conceal-
ment for one to climb among them and play truant.

Naturally, in a family in those days, when the ser-
vices of a trained nurse were unknown, there would
be many occasions that demanded skill and knowledge
in caring for the sick. Especially among the members
of her own family, was the belief most implicit that
"mother" could find treatment that would relieve any
illness. On two occasions, after reaching the age of
fifty years, she journeyed to Aroostook county, Maine,
a distance of 200 miles, by stage, in the winter months
to nurse a daughter who was ill. It was on her last
visit there in February, 1864, that her husband was
taken suddenly ill with pneumonia and died in less
than a week.

This was a severe blow to her, for her grief was
intensified by the ever present thought that if she had
been with him her nursing and care might have saved
his life.

With two young sons, neither of them old enough
to render her much assistance, she bravely took up
the burden of life, believing that an all wise Heavenly
Father ruled for the best.

She had a deeply religious nature and was a mem-
ber of the Baptist church earlier in life, but she never
had any sympathy with the tenets of a narrow religious
faith. "When. I lived at China Pond," she used to
say, "I always told my friends that I could see farther
than they did for I could see clear across the pond,"
meaning a spiritual vision of faith and hope.

Annie Abbott Gowen, whose life was one of service
to others, passed from this life at Albion, Maine, in
February, 1888, at the age of eighty years.

The Abbott Family

The Abbott family of America is descended from
George Abbott, whose ancestor in England was George

[78]

The Collins Family

Abbott, the distinguished Archbishop of Canterbury
in the time of King James and who was one of the
eight divines to whom all the translation of the New
Testament except the epistles was entrusted.

George Abbott settled in Rowley, Mass., and is
the ancestor of the Abbott family of America. He
lived only ten years in this country, immigrating from
England in 1647 and dying in Rowley in 1657.

The name Abbott, which is spelled with one "t" in
many instances, is derived from the Hebrew ab, or
father, and through the Syriac abba. It had its origin
in the monasteries of Syria, whence it spread through
the east and soon became accepted generally in all
languages as the designation of the head of the mon-
astery. At first it was employed as the respectful title
for any monk, but was soon restricted to the Superior.

The Unitarian Review says: "Perhaps no family
in our New England history has, in an unobtrusive and
quiet manner, had a better influence on society than
that of the Abbotts.

And a Maine writer says: "Few of the early
families, with so numerous a posterity, have preserved
so unsullied a name as the family of Abbott. Not
many have been called to important affairs in the State
(Maine) but in the quieter walks of literature and the
pulpit they have won enviable fame. Wherever found,
their influence is cast on the side of good morals and
sound learning.

The name probably occurs in college catalogues
more frequently than any other New England family,
and several hundred of the descendants of George
Abbott are reckoned among the alumni of American
Colleges."

Of the Abbott family in Maine there was a Jacob
Abbott in Berwick prior to 1667, the date of his
grandfather's will, as he is mentioned in it. His
father's name was Thomas and his grandfather was
Walter Abbott.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Joseph Abbott is mentioned in Berwick deeds as
a "taverner." He married Alice, daughter of Jonathan
and Sarah Nason and their daughter married Stephen
Hardison, Sept. 23, 1724.

Of the family of Dorcas and Annie Abbott there
was a brother Jacob Abbott, who lived and died in
Calais, Maine, and a sister Belinda who married a
Collins and whose son, Frank Collins, was a citizen of
Houlton.

History of John Collins

A short history of John Collins, twin son of James
Collins, and who was left an orphan when less than
thirteen years old, may not be amiss, although it has
no connection with the families by the name in this
book.

John was married at an early age to Polly
Lamphier, of Buckstown, and they reared a family of
nine children: John, David, Asa, James, Sally, Andrew,
George, Mary and Otis.

David, the second son, married Elizabeth Baxter
and their son David married Eliza Sawyer. They
were the parents of Joseph William Collins, born at
Isleboro, Aug. 8, 1839, a statistician who acquired
renown as a fish commissioner of the United States.

Joseph William was brought up as a fisher boy
with but few educational advantages. He early went
to sea on a fishing vessel, and there gained a general
knowledge that fitted him for his life work. He
studied mathematics and the higher English on ship-
board.

In 1879, he was employed by the U. S. Fish Com-
mission of New England Fisheries, and in 1880 was
sent by the Government to the International Fishery
Commission conference in Berlin. In 1880, he was
ordered to Washington to prepare a report of the
industry.

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The Collins Family

He made many improvements in the Pacific Coast
fisheries and commanded the schooner "Grampus" in
1886-7.

In 1887 he discovered and secured a larger collec-
tion of the bones of the great auk than were before
possessed by all the museums of the world.

He organized a section of the Naval architecture
in the U. S. museum and was honorary curator in 1884.

President Harrison appointed him in 1890 a repre-
sentative of the U. S. Fish Commission on the Govern-
ment Board of the Columbia Exposition in Chicago.
He edited The Fishing Gazette and wrote many articles
on these subjects.

John, the oldest son of John the second, married
Rosanna Coombs and they had thirteen children, John,
George, Charles A., Joseph H., Rosanna M., Dr.
Willard C, Ellen R., Edward F., Francis A., Mary E.,
and two infants who died early.

Their son John married Mary A. Carter, of Blue-
hill: their only child, Warren E., died in infancy.

John was a captain in the Navy during the Civil
War. His widow, 'Aunt Mary," survived him for
many years, dying in 1918. When the authors of
this book were in Castine in the year 1918 she gave
them valuable information in their research work.

Others to whom the authors are indebted for
interesting correspondence and who are of this branch
of the family are: John K. Collins, of Isle au Haut,
Maine, Mrs. Rose Ashdown, of Maiden, Mass., Mrs.
Lillian Field, Reading, Mass., and Miss Zilla Collins,
of Stockton, Maine.

Samuel Wilson Collins, the Aroostook pioneer,
first learned of his relationship to the John Collins
branch at Castine through the publication of a Bio-
graphical Review," published in 1898, which in a
sketch of Captain John Collins and Samuel Wilson
Collins, traced the family record back to the same
grandfather, Lieut. James Collins.

[81]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Family of David Collins

David Collins, the youngest child of William and
Sarah (Dickey) Collins, was born in Red Beach
(Calais) Maine, June 17th, 1827. He died in
Caribou, Nov. 10, 1893. His mother died when he
was about two years old and his father married again
within a year or two. For the stepmother, the three
young boys left in the home, James, Harvey and David,
always had a feeling of respect and affection. Evi-
dently she took the place of a stepmother as well as
any woman could.

There is a story told of little David that reveals a
child's pride as well as the care and solicitude of the
stepmother.

When David began to go to school, she used to
insist on his wearing as an overcoat to keep him warm,
a coat of one of his brothers that was much too large
for him. The little fellow protested at first, but finally
his objections were apparently overcome, and each
morning he trudged away to school, probably present-
ing a comical appearance in his oversized garment.

The days went by until one morning his father saw
a neatly folded bundle beneath a log of the fence that
marked a boundary of the farm. Closer inspection
revealed it to be David's coat, and it was afterward
learned that he wore it only until out of sight of the
house and then placed it under the fence, putting it on
again when he neared home on his return from school.

It was a bit of diplomacy that maintained peaceful
relations at home and also kept him from being sub-
jected to the fear of ridicule from his schoolmates
because he wore his brother's old coat.

David came when a young man to Caribou, where
his brothers, Samuel and Harvey, were already estab-
lished in business.

He took up a lot of land on the Aroostook river
about a mile from Collins' mill, which was about all
there was at that time of what is now the flourishing
town of Caribou.

[82]

IRS MARY HART COLLIN

The Collins Family

Here he built a small frame house, which a dozen
years later was replaced by the commodious and sub-
stantial one still in good condition.

He was united in marriage with Miss Mary Hart,
a native of Nova Scotia, whose kinsfolk, the Howells
and Mullens, were among the early pioneers of the
town.

David engaged extensively in lumbering and later
was considered one of the best road and bridge builders
in that region.

Especially was he famed for his powers to com-
mand men and get the best out of them. It was a
motley crew that composed the laboring classes of
those times. French Canadians, "Blue noses" and
"Down riverites," men ready to fight on the slightest
provocation and knowing no law. Yet even among
these, his powers to command were recognized and
obeyed. He occupied positions of trust in town affairs
and was ever public spirited and generous.

I have a vivid recollection of him when I was in
my thirteenth year as he came into our home one
morning in May. I can see him now, his rotund figure
clothed in gray homespun, his face beaming in good
nature, with clear blue eyes, and soft curling hair. "I
have been thinking," he said to Mother, "that Florence
might come and teach our school this summer. There
are about a dozen children and I think she won't have
any trouble in managing them." I was eager to engage
at once. The schools of the' village would not begin
until September and the long summer was before me
with a deadly monotonous outlook. And so Mother
consented for me to accept the proposition. The
wages were one dollar and a half a week; school being
in session five days one week and six the other.

I taught that school for twelve weeks and when I
got my town warrant for my pay it was three months
before there was any money in the treasury to pay it.
And then when I did receive it, I loaned ten dollars of
it to an old soldier, never thinking but that I would

[83]

Our Folks and Your Folks

get it back for the asking. It was nearly a year before
I got it. The balance I had spent for presents; among
them was a japanned tin box for spices for Mother,
for which I paid two dollars. It was "money easy go"
if it wasn't money "easy come."

I taught in that district for three years and never
struck for higher wages. And looking back on it now,
I think that I received all that I was really worth,
although I tried conscientiously to do my best.

Among the pupils was a youngster who is now a
multi-millionaire in Los Angeles. Another pupil,
renowned in a less pleasing way, was "Cross-eyed Ike,"
who spent a year or two in the State Penitentiary for
evil propensities that were manifested even at a tender
age.

In this relation of teacher to their children, I came
to know the kindly natures of Uncle David and Aunt
Mary as I would not have done in any other way.

Mary (Hart) Collins was born in Winsor, N. S.,
January 8, 1832.

On the removal of some of her kinsfolk to Aroos-
took county, she accompanied them, walking a greater
part of the way by the side of the wagons that trans-
ported the family and their household goods.

This fondness for walking she retained up to eighty
years of age, for she frequently walked, from choice, to
church, and to town, more than a mile distant from her
home. She had not been in Caribou more than a year
when she became engaged to marry David Collins, and
after returning from a short visit to her home, in Nova
Scotia, the marriage took place.

She possessed all the sturdy qualities of the pioneer
mother, kindness, firmness, capability for work, as a
busy housewife, rearing her children, and making their
clothes of homespun, as pioneer mothers did in those
days.

After the children had grown and there came more
opportunities for a little leisure, she became a devoted
member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

[84]

The Collins Family

She was a subscriber to the national publication of that
organization, The Union Signal, for more than thirty
years, and to the day of her death, in July, 1919.

The writer saw her only a few months before she
passed from earth, erect in figure, keen of vision, hear-
ing unimpaired to any extent, and interested in the
events of the day.

"Do you think our President is staying away from
this country too long?" she asked, with a note of anxiety
in her voice, as though she felt it to be a personal matter.

After the death of her husband, in 1893, she con-
tinued to reside in the comfortable farm house, located
on the Aroostook river, about a mile from town, and
was cared for by her unmarried daughter, Alice.

She was a member of the Universalist church and a
constant attendant until a serious heart trouble con-
fined her to the house.

There were many who knew and loved "Aunt
Mary," and her memory is cherished as that of one of
the noble pioneers who helped to lay strong and endur-
ing foundations for coming generations.

Family of David and Mary (Hart) Collins

David Collins, born Calais, Maine, June 17, 1827,
died Nov. 10, 1893.

Mary Hart, born Windsor, N. S., January 8, 1832.
Died in Caribou, July, 1919.

Married at Presque Isle by Joseph B. Hall, Nov.
16, 1852.

Children:
Mary Collins— Born Jan. 6, 1854; died Feb. 10, 1854.
Francis Henry— Born Feb. 4, 1855 ; died May 17, 1895.
Annie Elizabeth — Born Feb. 15, 1857 ; married Warren A.

Long.
Alice Aliene — Born May 28, 1860; unmarried.
William Thurston — Born January 11, 1862; married Matilda

Doyle.
Effie Jane— Born October 24, 1863.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Jeannette Clara— Born March 27, 1865 ; died May 6, 1887.
Amy Irene— Born April 23, 1867; died November 22, 1900.
Sewell Mason— Born May 20, 1870; died October 9, 1880.
John Howell— Born Jan. 19, 1874; died July 18, 1876.

Family of Warren A. and Annie (Collins) Long
Warren Alonzo Long, born July 25, 1840.
Annie Elizabeth Collins, born Feb. 4, 1857.
Married Feb. 1, 1888.

Children:
Beatrice Pearl— Born May 8, 1890.
Madeline Collins— Born Oct. 1, 1892.
Verna Mary — Born Aug. 11, 1896.
Reubena Elizabeth— Born May 30, 1898.

Warren A. Long was born in Conway, N. H.,
July 25, 1840.

At the age of twenty-four his attention was called
to the opportunities in Aroostook county for young
men and he went to Limestone, where he eventually
became one of the largest and most successful farmers
of that region.

At one time he owned 400 acres of land and when
he planted 100 acres to potatoes in the beginning of
the potato industry, it was considered by the more con-
servative farmers a very wild venture. But it only
proved that his. faith in the great undeveloped resources
of the country was not misplaced.

Mr. Long was married three times: first to Mrs.
Emma Eastman Wentworth, Sept. 27, 1864, and by
this union there were born three children, Frank B.,
who died in 1889, Henry M., and Dora M. Perry.

His second wife, Miss Nettie E. Chase, bore him
one child, Ethel M., now Mrs. Alfred Noyes.

On Feb. 1, 1888, Mr. Long was united in marriage
with Miss Annie Collins, oldest daughter of David and
Mary (Hart) Collins.

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The Collins Family

Four children were born to them, Beatrice E.,
Madeline C, Verne M. and Reubena E.

Mr. Long removed from Limestone to Caribou in
1908, and built a large residence on Collins street,
where he lived until his death, which occurred on May
1, 1917.

He was an honest and highly respected citizen and
a kind husband and father.

Family of Wilbert E. and Effie (Collins)

Crockett
Wilbert Eugene Crockett, born February 22, 1865
Effie Jane Collins, born October 24, 1863.
Married December 24, 1887; residence Caribou.

Children:
Clair Amos, born February 25, 1889.
Marjorie Alice, born March 15, 1895.
Dana Eugene, born October 22, 1897.
Irene, born January 24, 1901, died March 30,
1901.

Amy Jeanette, born March 11, 1903.

Clair Amos Crockett. Married June 12, 1909.

Johana Olson (born December 13, 1888).

Dana Eugene Crockett

Mabel Price (born October 20, 1897).

Married June 1, 1915.

Family of Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins, brother of Samuel, Harvey and
David, settled in Bancroft. He was twice married
The first wife was Mary Thompson and the second
Lydia Springer.

The children by the first wife were William, Chris-
tina, Jerry, Reuben, and Frederick. None of these are
now living.

[87]

Our Folks and Your Folks

By the second wife there were three children,
George, Pearl, and Birdlna.

William married Miss Kate Estabrooke, of Amity,
Me. No children.

Jerry never married and died in Rutland, Vt.

Reuben married Miss Ida Fitzpatrick. They had
one child.

The widow resides in Danforth.

Frederick, born Aug. 12th, 1854, was married to
Miss Martha Jane Potter in 1874. Their only child
was Annie Maybell, born June 15th, 1875.

She married on Sept. 20th, 1890, Lewis Omar
Daggett.

Of their four children, only one is living, Harold
Mansfield Daggett.

They have one living child, Gertrude Martha, born
June 11th, 1917.

Frederick Collins, died Dec. 12th, 1875.

Christina, the only daughter of Andrew and Mary
(Thompson) Collins, came to Caribou as a teacher, a
calling in which she was most successful. She was born
July 13, 1847, and died Feb. 29th, 1892.

She married Charles E. Washburn on May 23rd,
1874, and to this union there was born one child,
Edith May, who married on March 22nd, 1899, Wil-
liam H. Thomas, of Caribou.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have four children, Edwin
Allison, born Oct. 21, 1900.

Henry Franklin, born July 20th, 1902; Alice May,
born Dec. 20th, 1910, and Wesley Benjamin, born
May 3rd, 1913.

Mr. Washburn married for a second wife Mrs.
Sarah Saunders.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas live on the farm to which
Mrs. Thomas' mother came as a bride.

[88]

THE HARDISON FAMILY

CHAPTER III

Ivory Hardison, Aroostook Pioneer

THE name Hardison is seemingly of English
origin, and Stephen Hardison, the first immi-
grant by that name in America, is said to have
come from York, England. York County, Maine, has
some of the earliest records of the settlement of New
England, and among these we find that Stephen Hardi-
son witnessed a deed executed in 1687, and according
to other records he was living in the town of Berwick
in 1697, and left a widow whose name was Mary.

This Stephen was the ancestor of Ivory Hardison,
the pioneer of Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, who
was born in Berwick in 1800.

Berwick was originally known by the Indian name
of Newick-a-waw-nock, and the first settlement was
made in 1627. It had grown to be a prosperous village
in 1675, when it was pillaged by savages, and then,
fourteen years later, was entirely destroyed by them.
It was garrisoned in 1689 and a settlement recom-
menced in 1703, and in 1713 its population had in-
creased enough to permit of its incorporation as a town.
In 1790 it numbered 3,894 inhabitants.

Among the town records we find the names of two
sons of Stephen and Mary Hardison, John, born Jan-
uary 22, 1691, and Stephen, born May 9, 1698. The
death of this Stephen is recorded December 25, 1769.

Stephen was married in Kittery, September 23,
1724, to Alice Abbott, daughter of Joseph and Alice
(Nason) Abbott, and there is a record of the births
and marriages of seven children, as follows :
John — Born Aug. 16, 1725; has a record as a Revolutionary

soldier from 1777 to 1780.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Stephen — Born July 30, 1727; married Mary Crece; second

wife, Nov. 9, 1756, Hannah Scammon.
Mary— Born Jan. 16, 1728.
Joseph — Born Sept. 3, 1732; married Berwick.
Thomas — Born Jan. 9, 1736; married Mary Chadbourne.
Nathaniel — Born April 22, 1738 ; married Charity Shorey, Oct.

25, 1758.
Alice — Born April 22, 1738 ; married Thomas Shorey, Sept. 9,

1756.

Nathaniel and Alice were twins, and probably Char-
ity and Thomas Shorey were brother and sister.

Revolutionary Record

Colonial history shows that there were five Hardi-
sons, said to be from one family, serving in the war at
one time.

The Berwick records give the names as follows :

John, Jr., from 1777 to 1780; taken prisoner in 1778.

Peter, three years, 1777 to 1780.

Stephen, three years, 1777 to 1780; minute man.

Thomas, minute man, 1775.

Another, named Benjamin, probably an older
brother of Joseph Hardison, second, served as a private
in Capt. Samuel Noyes' company, Colonel Phinney's
regiment, Massachusetts troops, having enlisted July
15, 1775. He was taken prisoner and held captive in
Canada until the close of the war. Records of his
service are found in "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sail-
ors in the Revolution" ; also "Massachusetts War Rec-
ords." He settled in Fort Erie, Ont., soon after the
war, and there married Jane Warrew, daughter of
Colonel Warrew, commanding officer of the fort. She
was the first white child born there.

During the War of 1812, Benjamin Hardison was
suspected of aiding Americans and was arrested by the
military authorities and compelled to serve the British.
A daughter of Benjamin and Jane (Warrew) Hardi-
son, Martha Jane, born March 18, 1817, married a

[90]

The Hardison Family

Stanton, and was greatly honored in her old age as a
"real daughter of the Revolution."

Benjamin Hardison died in 1823.

Joseph, the third son of Stephen and Alice (Abbott)
Hardison, married Mary Pike, November 15, 1752,
and, according to the Federal census of 1790, was then
living in Lebanon, near Berwick, and had in his family
three males over 16 years of age and five females —
no names are given. There is a record that he was a
taxpayer in Berwick in 1772.

Undoubtedly one of these sons whose name was
not given in the census was Joseph, the father of Ivory
Hardison, and who came in his last days to live with
his son in Caribou, dying there April 22, 1858, aged
85 years. He is buried in the family lot in Evergreen
Cemetery.

The illustration accompanying this sketch is copied
from an old daguerrotype of Joseph Hardison taken
in mature life, and shows the typical face of the old
schoolmaster, a vocation he followed in earlier years.
He was a pioneer in the settling of the town of Wins-
low, Kennebec County, where he filled the positions of
postmaster and justice of the peace for many years,
following also the occupation of a farmer. He was
twice married; the first wife was Betsy Earl, and the
second wife Lucy Libbey, an aunt of his son Ivory's
wife, Dorcas. There is in the possession of a great-
granddaughter, Clara Wilson Gries, of Los Angeles,
a piece of embroidery made by Betsy Earl Hardison,
which once formed part of a linen bedspread woven and
embroidered by her. When she died the bedspread
was divided among her seven daughters, and this is the
only known piece remaining. It is in a good state of
preservation and now framed under glass as a tea tray.

The children of Joseph and Betsy (Earl) Hardison
were:

Joseph, who lived and died in Dexter, Maine.

Ivory, born in Berwick, 1779; moved to Caribou, 1840-41.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Alice, who was twice married. Her first husband, named
Parsons, was swept from a raft that contained their household
goods, while exploring Aroostook County about 1845. The
body did not rise to the surface. Their only child, Frances,
grew to womanhood, and died at the age of 20. Again a widow,
and now childless, Alice came to live with her niece, Mrs.
Samuel W. Collins, where she remained until her death many
years later.

Hiram, the third son of Joseph and Betsy, had a son Hiram,
who died in Libby prison.

Of the second family there were born :

Ezra, who was accidentally killed while serving on the
police force in Lewiston, Maine.

Benjamin, who lived and died in Dexter, Maine.

Betsy, died a spinster.

Mary, married Isaac Abbott.

Charles, lived in Arizona, and had much influence in set-
tling governmental questions with the Indians. He married a
Navajo woman, by whom was born one son, who was educated
at Carlisle. His mother became tired of civilized life, and with
her son went back to live with her tribe. It is said that this son
was an intelligent and upright man, and proved worthy of the
name, but there is no subsequent history of him. The mothel
owned much land and many horses.

John, died in China, Maine, unmarried.

Lucinda, married Carpenter, was killed by trolley car in
San Francisco.

Myra, died in Lowell, Mass. ; no issue.

Rebecca — two children.

Olive, was a spinster and died in Lynn, Mass.

Mary, married Edward Fowler, and for many years they
lived at Maple Grove, Fort Fairfield, where Mr. Fowler was
known as a successful farmer. They afterwards moved to Cari-
bou, where he served as deputy sheriff. He was generally known
as "Deacon" Fowler. There were two children, Mary and
Stacy, the latter a talented clergyman who filled several promi-
nent pulpits of the Congregational churches of Massachusetts.
Mary married William Franklin Smiley, and their children
were Lincoln, who died at about fourteen, and Addie, who
married George Morse, and then, for a second husband, Elisha
Burgess ; and Sidney, a prosperous farmer of Caribou. A son of
Sidney served overseas in the war with Germany.

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The Hardison Family

The descendents of Joseph and Betsy (Earl) Har-
dison are represented in this book, through the line of
Ivory, the second son, who was one of the early pioneers
of Caribou, Aroostook. County, Maine.

The Aroostook War

"The "Aroostook War" has been burlesqued in
history and poetry, but in the beginning of the hostilities
between the American and British lumbermen on the
northeast boundary of Maine there was a greater cause
for a serious war than in some other instances where a
cosdy and bloody conflict has ensued. The British
lumbermen sought for the tall timber to make masts
for the vessels of the King's navy, and the government
officials did not hesitate to go over the line into Maine
and mark with the "King's arrow" any tall and stately
trees that they might find, and then came the woodsman
to cut them down without paying any attention to the
rights of the Maine lumbermen who were there for the
same purpose. Many encounters had occurred, until
finally an open outbreak caused Congress to place con-
ditionally millions of money and a large army at the
disposal of the President; and the Maine Legislature
authorized a loan of $10,000,000, raised troops and
established garrisons. These garrisons, or forts, were
in Houlton, on the southern border of Aroostook
County; Fort Fairfield, on the eastern line, and Fort
Kent, on the northern line. A "military road" was
built to Houlton, and along this way for miles, during
the winter of 1839-40, might be seen sleds drawn by
great, powerful horses and loaded with soldiers, muni-
tions of war and provisions.

British soldiers were also moving in every direction,
and everywhere was dread confusion and alarm. On
Sunday, usually kept with Puritan strictness, there was
a disturbance of religious worship and on week days
business was neglected.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Discussions about the forests of Maine again and
again ended in wrangles, and friendships were broken
up and enmities created for life.

No lives had been taken, but the lash had done
effective work, for the deputies of the English Surveyor-
General had been whipped so often and so severely
that "swamp law" was quite as significant as "lynch
law," says the historian Sabine.

Driving one of these teams that transported the
soldiers to the scene of activities was Ivory Hardison,
then about forty years of age. After his mission of
carrying the soldiers to Fort Fairfield was accomplished
and the "war" was over (it was soon settled by arbi-
tration and the Webster-Ashburton treaty that fixed the
boundaries between Maine and New Brunswick), he
remained for the summer to assist State Surveyor Cun-
ningham to survey many townships for the settlers who
had been attracted to this region because of the opening
of new opportunities made known by the war.

The great fertility of the virgin soil attracted Ivory
Hardison, and in vision he saw in the place of vast
primeval forests waving fields of grain, golden orchards
and comfortable homes. While he did not live long
enough to see the full completion of his faith in the
wealth and prosperity that awaited the pioneer of
Aroostook County, yet that his vision was based on
good judgment of the possibilities in the future develop-
ment of the county, the following extract taken from
the Aroostook Republican, published in the summer of
1916, will show:

"Dr. Augustus O. Thomas, State Superintendent of
Schools, writing of a trip he had just made through
Aroostook County, says : 'I made the drive from
Presque Isle to Fort Kent, a distance of 50 miles, and
it is interesting every foot of the way. But from
Presque Isle to Caribou, a distance of 13 miles, is the
finest agricultural possibility in America. The home-
steads are wonderful; the fields of timothy and clover
are up to your neck, and the fragrance is country-wide.

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MRS ANNIE ABBOTT GOWEN

The Hardison Family

I never saw such fields of potatoes, which are completely
white with blossoms.

" 'In potato culture Aroostook County has no com-
petitor. A 20,000,000 yield looks easy. The Lord
made a good job when he created Aroostook County,
and the people were no fools when they moved into it.
It is one of the eight banner counties of the United
States and attained distinction along with Los Angeles
County, California; Lancaster County, Pennsylvania,
and Iroquois County, Illinois, for its agricultural pro-
duction, and it has been climbing up ever since.

" 'Besides being well farmed, it is a beautiful coun-
try, with hills, lakes, clear streams and woodlands which
still retain the touch nature gave.' "

Ivory Hardison returned to his wife and children
in Winslow, Kennebec County, with new ambitions, and
the following spring, accompanied by his oldest son,
Jacob, a lad of fifteen, he made again the journey to
"the Aroostook," and on "Letter H" township, which
he had helped to survey, he cleared the land for the
farm in the wilderness of Northern Maine.

The Aroostook River was the route for travel and
transportation, by boat in summer and on the ice in
winter. In a widening eddy, where the waters were
deep and still, was made a landing place, and from here
a road grubbed through for a half a mile or more up
the hillside to the "clearing" in the forest where the
house was to be located. It was a commanding ridge
of land that had been chosen. Cutting through it on
the north was the Preste Isle stream, forming on its
way to the river a deep gulch from which arose rugged
hills on either side.

To the south there was a fine, gradual slope, prom-
ising smooth and easily cultivated acres.

Well down the hillside, where the land was level,
the house was built. It was made of hewn timber laid
together with a skillful hand, for Ivory Hardison was
a wheelwright by trade and knew how to handle tools.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Across one end was the huge stone fireplace. The
frame of this house as originally built is still standing,
and Mrs. Ida Brown, the youngest daughter, now a
resident of Santa Paula, tells a story of some pennies
she lost when a child, and how they were found half a
century later when the chimney of this old fireplace
was torn down. She was upstairs, and swinging in her
hand she held a little bag containing nine pennies, not
the modern ones, but great English "bungtowns," then
the coin in circulation. The string broke and the pen-
nies went clinkety clink down between the crevices of
stone, and great was her grief to find that they could
not be recovered. Many years after, when the house
and farm had passed to the third generation, a grand-
son of Ivory, George Hardison, son of Oliver, Mrs.
Brown, on learning that the old house was to be remod-
eled, wrote to him, saying: "Try and find my pennies/'
And he did find them and sent them to her as a memento
of her childhood home.

The Home-Coming

The short summer had fled and the snows of winter
had come again. Ivory Hardison had, besides erecting
a comfortable house, harvested a crop, and now the
next step was to bring his family in safety to the new
home.

It was a long journey, two hundred and fifty miles
each way by slow traveling, and part of the way in a
climate where the thermometer frequently went to 30
degrees below zero. But without mishap or any special
discomforts they came over the dreary stretch of the
military road to Houlton, then to Presque Isle, and
from there the last ten miles of the journey was on
the ice down the Aroostook River. How smooth and
delightful was the road on the ice, and the jingling of
the sleigh bells was not more merry than the hearts
of the children, Jacob, Dorcas, Oliver, Mary Ann,
James and Ai, as they reached their new home. On

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The Hardison Family

entering the house they found logs and kindling laid in
the great fireplace, and everything so clean and fresh,
and only the touch of a lighted match was needed to
send the red flames roaring up the wide-mouthed chim-
ney. There is nothing like a fire on the hearthstone to
give a feeling of home and comfort, and the warmth
and cheer gave to the brave-hearted mother and tired
children a welcome never forgotten through all the
years that followed.

It was on the last day of February, 1843, that the
Hardison family arrived at their new home in Town-
ship Letter H. Other settlers had come, and were
corning, and within a short time the township was incor-
porated under the name of Lyndon. It is a more
euphonius one than the present one of Caribou, and it
was not until a hard-fought contest had been carried to
the State Legislature, in 1876, that the change was
made.

At one session it was changed to Caribou, and then
at the next one back to Lyndon. But at the following
session it was again changed to Caribou, and the minor-
ity forced to yield to the wishes of a newer class of
citizens that had settled around the thriving village on
Caribou stream and who desired to call the town by the
name of the stream. But the southern part of the town
continued to be called Lyndon Center for many years.

Ivory Hardison served as the first postmaster of
Lyndon, and also as a justice of the peace, thus per-
forming the same official duties that his father, Joseph,
did in their former home in Kennebec County. He
engaged in farming and lumbering with success. He
was prudent and far-seeing and upright in all of his
dealings, and sought to improve the conditions of
pioneer life. He brought the stream from the hillside
by a hydraulic ram to his own door. He bought the
first iron stove and paraffine lamp in the community.
He was a successful orchardist and overcame the obsta-
cles of that northern county, until he had fruit-bearing
trees, although every one else failed in the undertaking.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

He took a deep interest in town affairs and was
many times elected to positions of trust.

He died in 1876, aged 76 years.

The children of Ivory and Dorcas (Libbey) Har-
dison are : Rufus, who died at the age of seven ; Jacob,
Dorcas S., Oliver A., Mary A., Martin V. B., Ai,
James H, Harvey, Ida M. and Wallace L.

Recollections of My Grandmother, Dorcas
Abbott Hardison

The only grandmother that I ever knew was Grand-
mother Dorcas Abbott Hardison, the pioneer mother
of the Hardison family in Aroostook County.

Our home was at "Collins Mills," where there was
also a store and a few houses that afterwards came to
be designated as the "Village," and it was three miles
to Lyndon Center, where grandfather and grandmother
lived.

My mother used to make this journey to the home
of her parents on horseback, my oldest brother, Charles,
riding behind, and the little sister, Clara, in front; but
by the time I was old enough to go, wagons had come
into use, and I thus was able to ride in state. I remem-
ber what a terror "Preste Isle" hill was to me as we
rode down its steep and winding ways, and what a
relief it was when the top of the hill was reached on
the other side. And my terrors and apprehensions were
greatly increased one day when Uncle Ai drove his
horse on the run, or so it seemed to me, all the way
down the hill, with me sitting on the bottom of a two-
wheeled dump-cart, my feet flying up in the air at every
bounce and beating a rapid tattoo to the tune of his
boyish laughter. It was a fearful and never to be
forgotten ride !

It was a comfortable home where grandmother
lived, with its low-roofed chambers above and the living
room and ample kitchen below. At one side of the
kitchen was a great stone fireplace in which logs of

[98]

MRS. DORCAS ABBOTT HARDISON

The Hardison Family

wood four feet in length were burned, a length that
made the boys' task of "working up the woodpile"
much easier.

On the long crane in the fireplace there usually was
hanging an iron pot filled with meat, which gave forth
savory odors, or a teakettle bubbling merrily.

How good grandmother's rye cakes were, made of
rich sour cream and dropped from a spoon into the
baking pan and cooked before the open fire ! Grand-
mother used to say, when I expressed my fondness for
them, that it was all make-believe on my part, and that
I was longing for the fine white bread of my mother's
table. She loved to tease me, and it seemed as if I
could never find words sufficient to express my delight
in being in her home and to deny all sense of homesick-
ness. I was never ready to go home, even after a two
weeks' visit.

The furnishings of grandmother's home were very
simple. I remember how I used to curl up in the chair
made by the dining table top being turned up against
the wall, which made a broad seat with arms. Over
at the other side, in the living room, was grandfather's
desk and a mahogany bureau brought from "The Ken-
nebec." He was postmaster and the office was in this
room. The letters and papers were few, and some-
times it would be a number of days before they would
be called for by the busy farmers. Although I could
not read writing, I had a great curiosity about them,
but a wholesome fear of grandfather kept me from
meddling.

Somehow, all the children never seemed to get as
near to him as they did to grandmother, but I remember
what a glow was kindled in my heart when he gave me
a penny a bushel for picking up potatoes.

Later in life, I came to understand better his morose
disposition and to know that a kind heart was really
there, and I would take courage to ask him for "Old
Dobbin" to ride, a coveted privilege and a request more
often refused than granted.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Those were the days of stirring and thrilling times.
Abraham Lincoln had been elected as President of the
United States. Grandfather was a democrat and held
the office of postmaster under Buchanan's appointment,
and as we sat around the hearth in the evening, or on
a stormy winter's day, the arguments were as warm as
the fire. Grandmother was a republican and a strong
abolitionist, and, in my opinion, she always had the
best of the discussion. She was also a supporter of the
"Maine Law," as the prohibition laws were generally
termed, just then coming into statutory enactment. The
members of her family were usually of her opinion, but
there was enough diversity to make it interesting.

In appearance, grandmother was of medium height,
straight, of good avoirdupois, and with a keen and
searching eye that went right through a guilty little
culprit trying to conceal some misdemeanor.

Undismayed by the hardships of pioneer life and
the task of providing food and clothing for her large
family, she ever maintained a cheerful and happy dis-
position, and was noted for her conversational powers
and charm in entertaining.

This, added to a nature that was generous and
hospitable, made her home the refuge for the occasional
traveler through the wilderness of Northern Maine,
as well as for some of the shiftless and indolent citizens
of the town who had settled along the Aroostook River,
the progeny of refugees driven for various reasons from
the old world to the new.

There was one of these, Dave Bubar by name, who
came often to her to get a good "square meal," and
who, no matter how generously he was fed, seemed to
be wanting more, although he had eaten as much as
three ordinary men.

This Dave Bubar was the original of a story now
commonly told. Credits in Aroostook County were
easy and long, but after Dave had been owing a bill for
several years, his creditor, wishing to close the account,
asked him for his note. In a slow and laborious fashion,

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The Hardison Family

Dave affixed his signature to the note, and then, leaning
back with a sigh of content, he solemnly said: "There,
thank God, that bill is paid I"

Many are the stories like these told by the pioneers
of Aroostook County, who had a keen sense of humor
and appreciated the foibles and idiosyncrasies of their
fellow citizens.

My grandmother was a Universalist in faith, a
faith that had been inculcated by her mother, Dorcas
Abbott, when liberalism was heresy. But staunch and
unquestioning in her faith was grandmother. Her
neighbors were Baptists, Congregationalists, and Meth-
odists, of a narrow and bigoted type, but she assisted
in "donations" to their ministers and frequently at-
tended services in the school house of her own district.
But how well she enjoyed the fiery sermons of those
days may be judged by the following story :

The old family Bible, which was afterwards lost
by the burning of her home, contained many illustra-
tions of "Dante's Inferno," by Gustave Dore. These
had a peculiar fascination for her youngest son, Wal-
lace, who was very fond of looking them over, asking
many questions in the meantime. At last she said to
him one day in reply to his interrogations: "You seem
to be very fond of the devil; here, take him, if you
want him. I cut him out of my Bible long ago." And,
suiting the action to the word, she took her scissors
and cut out the picture of his satanic majesty and gave
it to her son, who never forgot the lesson thus so
dramatically conveyed. All through his honored and
useful life he was a faithful member of the Universalist
Church, and in the Universalist Church of Pasadena,
California, there is a beautiful memorial window placed
there by him in memory of the mother he reverenced
and dearly loved.

Eventually the farm that had been made from the
wilderness was sold by grandfather to a stranger, and
a new house was erected on another piece of land owned
by him not far distant from the old home. Here grand-

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Our Folks and Your Folks

mother and grandfather lived in their declining years,
and with them was their daughter, Mrs. Ida Brown,
and her three children, Chester, Fred and Mary.

Grandfather died in the spring of 1876, and then
grandmother went on a wonderful visit to the Centen-
nial in Philadelphia, and also to visit her three sons,
James, Harvey and Wallace, who had been for several
years engaged in the oil industry of Pennsylvania.

At that time it was not so easy as now for people to
travel, and when she came home alone, after a visit of
several months, every one marveled at her pluck and
courage.

There came a fateful day when a great forest fire
raged through the woods on the west, and, although
miles away, borne on the high, scorching winds were
living sparks of flame that fell on the dry roof of the
house, and everything was on fire before help could be
obtained. How well I remember my mother's distress
when the news came to us of this calamity. It was a
crushing blow, but loving children came to grand-
mother's assistance. Her son, Wallace, came from
Pennsylvania to assist and cheer her. He decided that
it would be better to build in a new location, and bought
a farm in Woodland, on which he erected a fine house
and large barn, with the expectation that his mother
would spend her last days in ease and comfort in this
new home. But it is hard to transplant old people to
new soil. Within a few years grandmother longed for
the "Old Place," and eventually she built a little house
on the hillside of the farm which was still hers, and
resided there with her son Martin until her death,
which occurred a few years later.

It is during these later years that I have such vivid
picture memories of her. I can see her now as she
looked when she drove up to the Union church in
Caribou on a Sunday morning. How erect the figure
was, at eighty-three, as she sat in the fine "Bangor
buggy" drawn by the little, safe-footed, brown horse,
driving with a slack rein that made me shudder invol-

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The Hardison Family

untarily, as I thought of that dreadful Preste Isle hill,
not so steep then as it used to be but still one of the
dangerous points of the three mile drive. She had
grown somewhat deaf, and liked to go down the aisle
to a front pew so as to hear more distinctly. Sometimes
there was a Universalist minister in the pulpit, and
then she was especially well pleased.

Of a broad and religious nature, serving God in
her heart as honestly and sincerely as she had served
her day and generation, Grandmother Dorcas Abbott
Hardison went to her reward on March 4th, 1889,
and is buried in the family lot in the beautiful Ever-
green Cemetery in Caribou.

Of her ten children, two are yet living, James H.
Hardison, of Geneva, Indiana, and Ida M. Brown, of
Santa Paula, California. And a host of grandchildren
and great-grandchildren review through storied mem-
ories and oft-repeated tales, the history of her long and
honored life with respect and admiration.

Among the great-grandchildren is a namesake,
Dorcas Abbott, the little daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Chester W. Brown, of Los Angeles-

Jacob Hardison

Jacob Hardison, the second son of Ivory and
Dorcas (Abbott) Hardison, was born in Winslow,
Kennebec County, Maine, March 11, 1825. His was
the heart and training of the true pioneer, one who
vigorously makes his way undaunted through trackless
wilds and with clear vision beholds what is to be the
result of his untiring labors. His knowledge of the
woods had begun when as a lad he accompanied his
father to the wilderness of Northern Maine and helped
to fell the trees, hew the timbers and lay them for the
new home that was built there for the coming of the
rest of the family.

And as he grew to manhood no man knew the way
of the woods better than Jacob Hardison. He knew
where to find the straightest, tallest pine-trees and

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Our Folks and Your Folks

where the birch, and cedar, and fir grew to gigantic
size in the primeval forests.

As a member of a camping out party in later years
when days of relaxation and pleasure came to these
early, hard-working settlers, no man was ever quite so
welcome. For he knew just where to find the clearest,
coldest spring water, and to lay the fragrant spruce
boughs for a bed that would be as soft and even as a
box mattress. And he could build a fire and bake beans
better than any one else, although there was much
rivalry in this art; and in the use to which a frying
pan could be put in cooking a variety of foods, he was
an acknowledged master.

Combined with all these practical traits was a spirit
of humor and keen intelligence. No one enjoyed an
eloquent sermon or fine lecture more than he did.

An idealist by nature, he enthusiastically endorsed
any new movements for the betterment of the com-
munity and promoted the interests of the church and
of education.

Strictly temperate in his habits, using neither
tobacco nor liquor, and seldom tea or coffee, he exem-
plified the simple life and yet preached no dogma for
the reform of others.

Jacob Hardison married Elizabeth Adaline Smiley,
a friend of his boyhood, March 7th, 1850, a native of
China and daughter of Sidney and Deborah Smiley,
born April 29, 1827. They journeyed back to Lyndon,
now Caribou, by carriage, and went to housekeeping in a
modest little house that had been built on a small clear-
ing of land, a section that comprises the fine, large and
well known Hardison farm about half a mile from the
village of Caribou, and on which a grand-daughter,
Mrs. Lena Russ, resides at the present time.

Elizabeth Adaline Smiley proved to be a true help-
mate to her husband- Industrious, an excellent house-
keeper and a wise and tender mother, she ministered to
the wants of her family with great fidelity and capa-

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The Hardison Family

bility. In those days, the housewife made not only the
clothes but the cloth to clothe her family, and as there
were five boys, besides the father, in the Hardison
home, it was not an easy task. And she also spun the
yarn and wove the cloth for other families in the neigh-
borhood.

The children born to them were :

Waldo A., born Feb. 11, 1851.

Lowell M., born Aug. 25, 1852.

Haines, born May 11, 1855.

George Lincoln, born Aug. 11, 1857; died Jan. 4, 1862.

Parker Leroy, born Feb. 20, 1860.

Allen Crosby, born April 22, 1869.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Hardison were fond of
company and their hospitable and commodious home
(the first house was destroyed by fire and a large two-
story one erected in 1861 and moved into on Christmas
day), was ever open for the entertainment of guests
from all parts of the county.

Jacob was noted for his absent-mindedness and
always enjoyed the many stories told by his friends
about this peculiarity.

This is one that he used to laugh over more heartily
than did his good wife.

They were starting for a trip to "the Kennebec"
and had arrived at the railway station in Caribou in
good season. Placing his wife in the waiting room,
Mr. Hardison went to attend to the baggage. Then,
meeting a friend, he fell into conversation and when
the sound of "All aboard" came, he swung on to the
rear platform just as the cars were pulling out. The
train had gone nearly to Presque Isle before he remem-
bered that he had told his wife to wait until he came
for her. He waited over a train, of course, at the next
station, but it wasn't a very humble little woman who
greeted him when he again joined her for the journey.

At another time he came into the one general store
of the village and holding up his strong, muscular

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Our Folks and Your Folks

hand, said, as he looked at it: "Adaline tied that string
of red yarn around my little finger for me to be sure
and remember to get something that she wanted, but
I'll be hanged if I can remember what it is-"

In the founding of New Sweden in 1870, by an act
of the State Legislature, which gave to Swedish settlers
a fine area of forest land lying to the west of the town
of Caribou, Jacob Hardison became a most potent
factor. In connection with Judah D. Teague, he built
the twenty-five log houses that the State had agreed to
have in readiness for the colonists and, afterwards, he
became the right hand man of Hon. W. W. Thomas,
the Commissioner who had the enterprise in charge.
He built the State road through the forest from Phil-
brick's Corner to New Sweden. Mr. Thomas used to
say, and said the same at a recent celebration of the
founding of the town, "I didn't know everything, and
Jake Hardison didn't know everything, but what the
two of us together didn't know wasn't worth knowing."

In politics, Mr. Hardison was a Democrat and in
his church affiliation, like that of nearly all the mem-
bers of his family, a Universalist. He filled many
positions of trust in town affairs and was treasurer for
many terms.

He was a most loyal and active Mason and also a
faithful member of the Caribou Grange.

Jacob Hardison was of strong and enduring
physique, but he never spared himself and took many
a hard cruise through the woods in prospecting for
timber, which undoubtedly shortened his days.

He died after an illness of two years on March
27th, 1891, aged 66 years.

In company with her husband, Mrs. Hardison had
visited California in 1886 and having many friends
and relatives in Santa Paula and vicinity, for a number
of years after the death of her husband she divided
her time between that place and Caribou, making the
journey over the continent thirteen times with but little
fatigue- The death of her son, Parker, who died in

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The Hardison Family

Caribou Nov. 4th, 1916, came as a heavy affliction,
and for the past year her health has been failing,
although for one in advanced years she still gives
evidence of a marvellous constitution.

Within a few years she has made eleven silk quilts
and two knitted ones, six embroidered lunch cloths and
napkins, all of exquisite workmanship.

The Story of Jacob Hardison's Pioneer Life

(Written for the Aroostook Republican, April, 1891)

"In the spring of 1839 my father, Ivory Hardison,
and myself, then a boy of fifteen, with one or two other
men, left our home in the town of Winslow, Kennebec
County, to seek a new home in the wilderness of
northern Aroostook.

As there was no road from Houlton to Presque Isle
at that time, our only way was to take the Aroostook
road leading from a point in the military road from
Mattawamkeag to Houlton, about seven miles. North
of Mattawamkeag and through Patten to township 15,
range 5 ; from there to Ashland there was only a winter
road.

Over these roads we managed, with no little
difficulty, to haul our scanty supplies. We at last
reached Marsardis, the end of the road, having been
five days on the way from Patten, a distance of thirty-
five miles. Here we stopped for a few days with some
settlers who had collected on the bank of the Aroostook
river, to rest and look for settling lands.

We soon decided to go further down the river, so,
sending our team back to Patten, we constructed a
raft and packing our supplies on it, set adrift to seek
a place that suited us better-

With the swift current of a spring freshet, we
reached the mouth of the Presque Isle stream in one
day. Here we met Mr. Cunningham, who was survey-
ing on Letter H, Range 2, afterwards known as
Caribou, and which was about twelve miles below. He
advised us to go down with him and, following this

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advice, we floated down the river, landing at an old
lumber camp located on the east side of the river on
what was afterwards known as the Hall farm.

The English had occupied this camp the winter
before, but on learning that the clanking of arms and
the tread of the State Militia was approaching, they
fled to safe quarters, leaving timber cut in the woods,
throwing logs from their sleds, and leaving tons of fine
timber on the landings. Even their cooking utensils
were left behind in some instances.

On the landing just below the camp on the lot after-
wards occupied by my father, was to be seen a fine lot
of timber that they had left and which, after the Ash-
burton treaty, my father was allowed to run down the
river to St. John, N. B., after paying the state stumpage
on it.

We remained at this camp until a location was
decided on, which was soon done.

Going about a mile and a half west from our camp
we built a bark shelter and commenced to clear the lot
now occupied by my brother Oliver, and Henry Fish.
Later, we joined the surveying party and helped to
finish the surveying of the township and to locate the
road as now travelled from Caribou to Presque Isle.

In the fall, we returned to Winslow and in the
spring of 1842 father and I returned to Aroostook
County.

During our absence a road had been constructed,
in part, between Houlton and Presque Isle and we came
that way. But before reaching Presque Isle the road
was so bad that we were obliged to leave our wagon
and pack our scanty supplies, including a little corn and
two bushels of wheat, on our horses- Upon reaching
the Aroostook river in Maysville we followed it down
to our new home.

We then set to work to burn and clear the chopping
that we had made the year before and on this cleared
space we planted our wheat and corn.

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The Hardison Family

During the first four months of our stay we saw
no one, but in the fall Harvey Ormsby and John T.
Pike, who were also seeking homes for themselves,
came and stayed with us for several months.

We had already commenced to build a log house
and our visitors helped us to finish it.

This house was of squared timber and in one end
was a huge stone fireplace that would burn wood four
feet long.

Having harvested our small crop of wheat and corn
and hauled a large supply of wood to our door, we in
December, started for China, Maine, where the family
then was.

On February 14, 1843, we again started for
Aroostook county with our family and household
effects.

The family consisted of father and mother and
seven children. As no road had been opened from
Presque Isle to Caribou, upon reaching the Aroostook
river we drove on down on the ice.

On February 28, 1843, we reached our home and
if there was ever a happy family we were that night.
Mother cried for joy! We were "monarchs of all we
surveyed." We had no neighbors within four miles.

Soon after our arrival, the snow became so deep
that it was impossible for us to get out of our clearing,
as we had no snow shoes.

Our supplies began to run short, but we had the
Canada corn that we had raised the year before, and
for six weeks all our bread was made from meal ground
in a small coffee mill.

In the spring we boys hauled on a hand sled drawn
over the crust of the snow our first grist of corn to the
old grist mill, owned by Alexander Cochrane, that was
located near the mouth of Caribou stream-

This old Cochrane Mill was a very primitive affair,
consisting of one run of stones, which were split from

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a granite boulder on the bank of the river and rafted
down.

The bolt for separating the flour from the bran
and hull was made of narrow strips of wood, set up
edgewise, and at an angle of forty degrees, so that the
flour would pass through and the bran and hulls would
pass down under the mill, where a few hogs were kept
to feed on the bran at the expense of the patrons of
the mill, who were ignorant of the value of their loss.

Mr. Cochrane made the first opening in the town
in order to get the mill site.

We made the first break in the forests of the town
for the purpose of making a farm.

On one occasion, the Cochrane boys went hunting
and struck the trail of a caribou. Their dogs took the
trail and run the caribou on the ice down the river.

The old man at the mill heard the barking of the
dogs and went to the river with an old fowling piece
and managed to wound the animal so that the dogs
caught and killed it as it turned up the creek, and from
that incident originated the name of Caribou stream.

In March, Harvey Ormsby returned with his family
and settled in the western part of the town, some three
miles from our place, and they were for a year our
nearest neighbors.

During the summer, the State grubbed the new road
as now travelled from the Aroostook river in Mays-
ville to Caribou stream.

In the winter' of 1845, Hiram and Winslow Hall,
with their families, moved from Oxford County and
settled within half a mile of our place.

In the spring of 1845, our worthy townsman,
Samuel W. Collins and his partner, Washington A.
Vaughan, commenced to erect a grist mill which has
been remodelled and is still standing on the old site."

Waldo A. Hardison
Waldo A. Hardison, the oldest son of Jacob and
Elizabeth Adaline (Smiley) Hardison, was born in

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The Hardison Family

Caribou, Maine, Feb. 11, 1857. He received a good
education in the public schools of that town and then
attended for two years the State Normal School at
Farmington, Me.

On reaching his majority, he left home to engage
in business in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, a business
he has followed ever since and in which he has acquired
a comfortable fortune. Naturally conservative and
possessed with energy and good judgment, unlike many
oil men who play a losing game, he has come out a
winner.

He has never married, and having no family of his
own to provide for, he has taken a keen interest in the
education of his nephews and nieces and has been a
benefactor to others in many ways.

However, he does not pose as a philanthropist, and
is not willing to let his right hand know what his left
hand does in a quiet and unostentatious way.

For many years he has been interested financially
in the citrus industry of Southern California and owns
fine properties in lemon groves in Sespe. His perma-
nent residence for many years was at Bolivar, N. Y.,
but he is now a resident of Santa Paula.

Lowell Mason Hardison

Lowell Mason Hardison, second son of Jacob and
Adaline (Smiley) Hardison, was born in Caribou
August 25, 1852. He married Allie L. Wilson,
daughter of John Wilson, of Washburn, Me. The
children born to this union are:

Lucy Adaline, born in Washburn, Me., March 22, 1879.
Married W. L. Frey, Sept. 23, 1907. Residence, Santa Paula.

Sumner Wilson, born in Ventura County, California, April
3, 1884. Married Helen Lynch. One child, Dorothy, born
May 5, 1912, in Kern County, California.

Esther M. Hardison, second daughter of Lowell
and Allie (Wilson) Hardison, was a student in the
Chicago Art Institute for a period, after which she

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took up the profession of an artist and is a successful
illustrator. She was born in Santa Paula, April 21,
1889.

Lowell M. Hardison was engaged in business in
Caribou for a number of years; he also served as
deputy sheriff and town treasurer. Afterwards, he
went to Pennsylvania and engaged in the oil business.
He moved to Santa Paula, Cal., in 1883 and follows
the occupation of a rancher. He married for a second
wife, Mrs. Sophia Kiefer.

Family of Haines and May (Merrill) Hardison

Haines Sidney, third son of Jacob and Adaline
(Smiley) Hardison, was born in Caribou, May 11,
1855.

He received his education in the public schools, and
at the age of twenty-one commenced business for him-
self by making brick.

In the fall he took the money that he had earned
during the summer and visited the Centennial Exposi-
tion at Philadelphia; also the oil fields, where his broth-
er Waldo was, but decided to return to Caribou and
bought a farm about three miles from the village, on the
Washburn road, where he kept "bachelor's hall" until
he married May Merrill, second daughter of Luther
and Sarah Merrill, January 1, 1878.

He eventually purchased the Luther Merrill farm,
on the New Sweden road, two miles from Caribou, now
the Ernest Smith farm, where he resided until he bought
the old home farm of his father, in 1886, where, in con-
nection with general farming, he kept a herd of cows
and made cheese for himself and neighbors for a num-
ber of years. Later, he supplied the village with milk
and cream.

He also had an interest in the Farmers' Starch Fac-
tory and in the Grange store and Opera House, and was
among the promoters to carry out the plans for the
same.

He was master of the Caribou Grange for several
years, and one of its earliest members.

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The Hardison Family

He is a Mason and Knight of Pythias.

In 1912 he sold the farm to his son-in-law, Edgar
W. Russ, and moved to Fillmore, California, which is
ten miles from Santa Paula, where many of his old-time
neighbors and relatives reside.

He has identified himself with the best interests of
the growing town of Fillmore, and is recognized as an
active and useful citizen.

The children of Haines and May Hardison are:

Lena Sarah, born November 5, 1881.
Grover Merrill, born January 23, 1885.
Clifford Haines, born June 1, 1888.
Lee W., born September 19, 1890.

All these are living. The oldest child, Clara Mabel,
born October, 1878, grew to be a lovely young woman
of nineteen, when she was stricken with illness, which
extended over several months, and then she passed on
to the higher life, November 24th, 1897. She possessed
a rare spirit of sweetness and was greatly beloved by her
friends and classmates and in the home circle her com-
paionship was unspeakably dear.

Lena Sarah, the only living daughter of Haines and
May Hardison, was educated in the Caribou schools,
graduating from the High school in 1902. On Feb-
ruary 17th she was united in marriage with Edgar W.
Russ, of Caribou, and one child was born to them, May
Elizabeth, who brought joy and sunshine for the two
years and four months that she remained with them.

A sudden illness of ten days, and she passed to the
higher life on September 15th, 1910. She was an ex-
ceptionally bright and loveable child, and the lightnot
only of her own home, but of the other homes into
which she used to go.

Edgar William Russ was born in Caribou, June 3rd,
1 878. His father was Walter S. Russ, son of Isaac M.
Russ, of Dexter, Maine, whose father came from Lon-
donderry, Ireland, and was an early settler in Newbury-
port, Mass. His mother was of English ancestry, and
came from Scotland. Her family name was Armstrong.

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Emily J. Russ, mother of Edgar, was born in Upper
Queensbury, York county, New Brunswick, and her peo-
ple were of English and Scotch ancestry.

Both sides of the family were Episcopalians in re-
ligion, and democrats in politics, but Edgar W. Russ is
a republican, "with emphasis."

He was educated in the public schools of Caribou
and was graduated also from Bryant and Stratton's
Business College of Boston.

"He had no legacy of money handed to him; which
gave him a chance to use his legacy of brains and to hus-
tle a living for himself."

He is kind-hearted and generous, and one of the in-
fluential and respected citizens of his town.

At the present time he owns and resides on the Jacob
Hardison farm, which is located on the Presque Isle
road, one mile from Caribou post office. It is a fine
farm of well cultivated acres and commodious buildings,
and overlooks the town and the Aroostook river. And
from the hill back of the house there is a broad, beauti-
ful view of the country northwest, towards New Swed-
en, Woodland and Washburn.

The springtime view from this spot of the different
shades of green as the fields of wheat and oats and
larger fields of potatoes of darker green cover the land-
scape for miles and miles in all directions, with the Cari-
bou stream in the little valley between the old Collins
and Hardison hillside farms, as it joins the winding
Aroostook river, is a picture hard to equal anywhere.

Grover Merrill Hardison, oldest son of Haines and
May Hardison, was graduated from the Caribou high
school in 1904, and from the University of Maine in
1908.

He married Jennie Adeline Lewis, daughter of Clay-
ton and Alice (Flanders) Lewis, Dctober 7th, 1908.
Their children are:

Clayton Haines, born March 2, 1911.

Lewis Merrill, born February, 1913.

Waldo Flanders, born July 29, 1917.

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The Hardisoh Family

At the University of Maine, Grover Hardison took
the Course in Civil Engineering and later worked with
his uncle, Parker L. Hardison. Since the death of the
latter he has been in business for himself, and the fol-
lowing clipping is of interest, as showing the increase in
real estate in Caribou:

"At a special Town Meeting it was voted to widen
High street, according to a plan drawn up by Civil En-
gineer Grover M. Hardison. Also voted to widen
Water street."

Another item, from the Aroostook Republican
reads:

Real Estate Slightly Advanced

"Fifty years ago Benj. Annis, Caribou's first blacksmith,
purchased nearly all the land on the south side of Water street,
then known as the Cochrane road, for $50.

Grover M. Hardison, in examining old records, finds that
his grandfather, Luther Merrill, who at one time owned the
land on the east side of Main street, lying between High street
and Water street, and as far east as E. E. Trask's west line,
purchased it in two parcels. The first from Alexander Cochran
in 1860 for a consideration of $100; the second from W. A.
Vaughan in 1872 for a consideration of $15. As a result of
the fire this land is again free from buildings, but a conservative
estimate of its value today is $75,000."

"The grandson of Luther Merrill, making plans to
widen the streets north and south of our old home,
where there used to be the pasture for our cow and a
good place to go raspberrying,' is interesting reading to
me," says his grandmother, May Merrill Hardison.
"Because of a fire, which destroyed the blocks of build-
ings on Water street and High street, these improve-
ments have been made possible."

Clifford Haines, the second son of Haines and May
Hardison, after graduating from the Caribou high
school, went to California in 1911 and located in Los
Angeles, and worked in the oil fields near there until
1912, when he went to Sespe, Cal., as foreman on
the ranch of his uncles, Waldo A. and A. C. Hardison,

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Our Folks and Your Folks

until 1916, when he started a Sanitary Dairy for him-
self at Sespe. He also owns a small lemon orchard.

He married, June 24th, 1914, Elvira Wiklund, of
Sespe, daughter of John Wiklund, of Langshyttan,
Sweden, and Cecelia Ek, of Arkelstorpe, Sweden. Their
daughter, Elvira, was born at Telluride, Colorado, and
the other members of the family are Albert and Gladys.

Clifford and Elmira Hardison have one child, Doro-
thea May, born in Sespe, April 27th, 1917.

Lee W., third son of Haines and May Hardison,
was united in marriage with Myrtle Glenn Thorpe, of
Caribou, the marriage service taking place in Portland,
Maine, January 3, 1912, with his cousin, Rev. F. L.
Leavitt, officiating.

They moved to Fillmore, June 28th, 1913, and es-
tablished themselves on a lemon ranch.

Two children have been born to them, Donald
Leigh, born March 23, 1916, and Richard Glenn, born
September 30, 1917.

The parents of Myrtle Thorpe Hardison are May-
hew Beckwith Thorpe and Augusta E. (Steele) Thorpe,
both of Hall's Harbor, N. S., Canada.

Parker Leroy Hardison

Parker Leroy, the fourth son of Jacob and Eliza-
beth Adaline (Smiley) Hardison, was born in Caribou,
February 1, 1860.

He received his education in the public schools of
his native town and at the Ricker Classical Institute of
Houlton. Later he completed a course in civil en-
gineering and afterwards was engaged in the oil busi-
ness in Pennsylvania and California.

On the death of his father he returned to Maine
to take charge of the management of his estate and he
also engaged in civil engineering. In 1911 he was
appointed as State Highway Commissioner, in which
capacity he accomplished a good work in bringing to-
gether town and county officials and thus created a

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IRS. ELIZABETH ADALIN'E HARDiSON

The Hardison Family

feeling of co-operation all over the state in the good
roads movement. He was universally recognized as
an honest, able and conscientious state official.

Failing health compelled him to resign this office
in June, 1916, and he gave up his residence in Augusta,
where he had been for several years, and returned to
Caribou, where he died in November, 1916.

He always took a deep interest in the business
affairs of Caribou and for a number of years held the
office of first selectman. He was a member of the
Caribou Lodge, F. & A. M.; of Garfield Royal Arch
Chapter, of St. Aldemar Commandery, K. T. of Houl-
ton and the Abnaki Club of Augusta.

He married Miss Tirza Fisher of Caribou, who
survives him.

Allan Crosby Hardison

Allan Crosby, the youngest son of Jacob and Ada-
line (Smiley) Hardison, was educated in the public
schools of Caribou and then entered Orono College,
now the University of Maine, from which he was grad-
uated in 1890, and from which he received the degree
of Civil Engineer.

He came soon after to Santa Paula, where he fol-
lowed his profession of civil engineering, and also
engaged in the citrus fruit industry in connection with
the Limoneira Company.

He has been connected with many of the public
enterprises of the city and has served on the Board of
Education and filled other important offices of public
trust as one of its foremost citizens.

He is prominent in Masonic circles and in religious
belief a Universalist.

He is connected with his brother Waldo in the
ownership of the Hardison ranch and citrus groves at
Sespe, near Santa Paula.

He married, in Santa Paula, Miss Cora Crane,
and the following interesting story of the years they
spent in Peru, South America, is told by her:

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Story of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Hardison's Trip to South

America

By Cora Crane Hardison

In the latter part of April or the very first of May, 1896,
W. L. Hardison returned to Santa Paula from South America.
He had gone in quest of oil fields, but found instead a gold
mine. He was so elated with the richness of the mines and his
success in floating the proposition that he was able to fill a
number of Santa Paula people with some of his enthusiasm,
and among them, ourselves. So on May 9, 1896, my husband
and myself, with our two children, Helen, aged two and one-
half years, and Warren, about seventeen months, left Santa
Paula for Bradford, Pa. There we spent a few days with the
family of C. P. Collins, a large shareholder in the new mining
scheme.

As we were about to take the train to leave Bradford for
New York, Helen disappeared. After much searching we dis-
covered that she had slipped through the fence into a neigh-
boring yard. Mrs. Collins insisted that she (Helen) knew it
was best for us not to go, and that she didn't intend to go.

We joined Mr. and Mrs. Chapman of Salina, Kan. ; Mr.
J. K. Gries of Nordhoff, Cal., and Mr. Emery of Bradford,
Pa., in New York. Mrs. Chapman went as the company's
bookkeeper, and Mr. Chapman and Mr. Emery were also in
their employ. Mr. Gries was going on sort of a pleasure trip,
being an old friend of W. L. Hardison's and invited by him to
make the trip as he had recently lost his wife.

We boarded the S. S. "Advance" just before the luncheon
hour. To this day I can remember just what we had for
luncheon, and how deathly sick I was as we were piloted out
of the harbor. This seemed most unnecessary as the ocean
during the whole trip was as smooth as a mill pond.

Our seven-day trip to Colon was wholly uneventful with
the exception of meeting one or two vessels on their way back
to New York, one of which we presumed was the S. S. "Alli-
ance," upon which Mr. W. L. Hardison and his party had
sailed the week before.

Land, unseen for seven days, surely looked good to us as
we steamed into the harbor at Colon. Here we had plenty
of time to get our luggage transferred and to take the train for
Panama.

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The Hardison Family

As we passed through the inland towns it was not an
unusual sight to see children five and six years old, sometimes
older, dressed in nature's clothing, while few babies wore any-
thing else.

The Isthmus was attractive to me because of its tropical
appearance and the fresh aspect it presented, as does any place
after a shower. The streams were all muddy looking, but I
soon learned that they were never anything else.

At the station in Panama we were greeted by cries of "car-
riage, sir?" These carriages were heavy affairs, such that in
the United States we would have considered two good sized
horses necessary to draw them, but there only one small horse,
hardly larger than a Shetland pony, was used.

When all had secured carriages there began a race to the
Hotel Grand Central. The drivers started their horses off at
a gallop. After ten minutes or so — it seemed ages — of locking
wheels with first one then another of the carriages, bumping
into street cars, over the cobblestones and up onto the sidewalks,
through the narrow streets, we thankfully reached the hotel.

We spent several days in Panama, waiting for our boat
to take us south. It was there I had my first experience in
the use of foreign money, nor did we see American money from
that time on.

About the fourth morning out of Panama we were sailing
up the Quayaquil river, where we were soon met by the pilot
boat carrying the port inspector, who demanded our ship's
papers, etc.

It took but a short time to anchor and the men of our
party immediately went ashore to see the sights of Quayaquil.
The one and only thing I recall was Mr. Gries' description
of the municipal bath house. It was such a rainy country the
water was naturally very roily, and he didn't approve of mud
baths.

After leaving Quayaquil we were in one or more ports
every day. The first of these was Payta, I believe; at least it
was the most important. At none of these places did we go to
a wharf, but anchored quite a way from shore and the cargoes
were brought out in lighters, or huge row boats, requiring a
man to each oar. Here we saw the cattle loaded and unloaded
by putting a rope around the horns and raising and lowering
them by means of a hook put into the rope. It seemed very
inhuman. At each of these ports also one or two boats came
out from shore carrying native women and children, who came

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on board with fruits and trinkets and Panama hats to sell. The
most common of the fruits was the orange. The oranges are
grown in the valleys back from the coast. They differ greatly
from ours; the skins are very thin, of fine texture, and of a
pale lemon color; the fruit is quite juicy but of rather insipid
flavor.

The principal port was Callao. Here we went into dock
and our party went ashore for several days, which we spent in
Lima.

Upon arriving in Peru we went upon a diet of meat (and
wine), very few vegetables, almost no desserts. Bread was
always served in the form of rolls, and tasted very much like
French bread. Here we had our first taste of "camerones" —
shell fish which resemble shrimps. The lights in our rooms
were candles, for which we were charged extra. It was here
also that we attended a bull fight — on Sunday, too, — but Sun-
day is the day on which they are always held. It was not as
bloody and inhuman as I had anticipated. But I have never
cared to see another.

The second morning after leaving Callao our ship anchored
off the Port of Mollendo, where we were to disembark and
take the train for the interior of Peru. As at previous ports,
huge lighters came out to bring us cargo and carry it back.
These served as passenger boats as well, for no small boat
could live in the heavy swells off this port. Often they are
even unable to load or unload because of the heavy seas, and
disappear from sight as they go and come from the ship.

Getting ashore here was far more alarming than exciting
to me. But after many attempts we were finally all landed
at a small pier, and were once more on "terra firma." After
breakfasting at Mollendo, — and it is always served about
eleven in Peru, — we left immediately for Ariquipa. About
six hours of almost continuous climbing to an elevation of
8,000 or 9,000 feet brought us to the town of Ariquipa, situ-
ated at the foot of El Misti.

At last we had overtaken the rest of our party: W. L.
Hardison and son Guy, Mr. Moriarty, brother-in-law of W.
L. Hardison ; Charles Brown, formerly of Caribou, Maine,
and Paul Younglin of Santa Paula, Cal.

After such a strenuous day we were all glad to get to bed
as quickly as possible after dinner. During the night quite a
severe earthquake occurred, but no damage was done.

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The Hardison Family

At seven the following morning we were off by train
with even a more strenuous day than the previous one ahead
of us. After hours of climbing we reached Crucero Alto, a
station of about 14,000 feet elevation. From there our ride
was through a more level country, — wide pampas, where we
saw many heads of cattle, alpaca and llamas, feeding. Occa-
sional stations, where there were a few Indian houses, and an
Indian hut or two in the distance, were the only signs of
habitation. In passing from the lower to the higher altitudes
many people, — and several of our party were among the num-
ber,— were affected by "serroclu," a sickness similar to sea
sickness.

By evening we reached Juliaca, a small town between
11,000 and 12,000 feet in altitude. Here Mrs. Chapman,
myself and the children spent six weeks while the men went
on into the mines, leaving us the next morning after our ar-
rival there. Had it not been for the kindness and hospitality
of Mrs. Hawley, an American woman born in Syracuse, N.
Y., and wife of Patrick Hawley, superintendent of the Puno
division of the railroad, our long stay would have been almost
unbearable.

All the houses are built Spanish style and with no equip-
ment for heating them, as the natives do not believe in "fuego
artificio." Therefore we were dependent entirely upon "El
Sol" for warmth during the day, and went to bed early at night
and stayed there late in the morning. It was here we learned
the joy of breakfast in bed, always coffee and rolls. Fortu-
nately the sun shone nearly every day, so we sat out in the
patio in the sun, and the children played out there, for it is
always cool at that elevation. Once it snowed, and we were
awakened in the morning by someone repeating "O the snow,
the beautiful snow." It was an English traveling man by the
name of Fields, who had arrived by train the previous evening.
Trains in that country only run daytimes.

At the end of six weeks Mr. W. L. Hardison, who had
gone into the mine, came out and went to Ariquipa. On his
return from there Mrs. Chapman, the children and I were
to go into the mines with him. We made our plans accord-
ingly, and on the afternoon of the day following his return,
set out by handcar, two Indians pushing it, for Tirapata, where
horses and mules were to be procured for the rest of the trip.
We would have made the journey to Tirapata by train rather
than handcar had it not been that the trains ran only weekly,

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and but a short time remained before the rainy season set in,
when it would be impossible for us to go into the mine.

When we were but a half mile out of Juliaca we discov-
ered that we hadn't the five thousand (5000) soles we were
to take with us. But in the meantime Mr. Hawley found the
money, and seeing us stop — the country was so level one could
see for miles — he sent it out to us by a "trusty," an Indian
supposed to be reliable. Our trip was without further accident
or excitement.

Arriving in Tirapata about nine o'clock we learned that
Mr. A. C. Hardison had been at the station looking for us
but had gone to a "tinka," or farm, about a mile away, where
he could eat and sleep. There were no buildings whatever at
this station at that time, but there were two box cars, so we
slept in one of them. Word was sent to Mr. Hardison that
night, so he came back and stayed there with us. We spent a
couple of days at the "tinka," making arrangements for mules
and other things necessary for our trip.

While in Ariquipa, Mr. W. L. Hardison bought or bor-
rowed a sort of saddle for the children. It had a basket
arrangement on each side, but on trial it proved rather unsat-
isfactory, so we rolled up blankets on the pommels of our
saddles and tied them, Mr. A. C. Hardison carrying Helen,
and I, Warren.

About the middle of the forenoon of our third day there
we started out. There were about a dozen mules in our train,
carrying clothing, blankets, provisions and other necessities.
It is something of a feat to start out with pack animals and
have no mishaps, — something very seldom done, — and our start
was no exception to the general rule. Several animals ran
away, lost their packs, had to be repacked, etc. But at last
we did get started, feeling that we actually were on our way
into the mines.

Like all "first times" or "first days," this one seemed the
hardest. Each day's journey had been scheduled by Mr. W.
L. Hardison, but on this day we fell short of schedule, camping
a few miles from our appointed place. Needless to say, we
were a very tired, very sunburned party, more than glad to
stop and rest. I thought that tears were very near the surface
in Mrs. Chapman's eyes, — so near that I did not dare venture
a word of sympathy, — but on this occasion, as on all others,
she proved a true sport and a dear companion. After a few
days in the saddle we found that we were less tired at night.

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All the while we kept climbing higher and higher, and
were soon above the line of vegetation. At an elevation of
17,000 feet we crossed the Andes. Just before reaching the
summit we passed a small lake, whose name I have forgotten.
Surrounded as it was by high, snow-covered peaks, the water
was almost unaccountably blue and beautiful.

Shortly after passing the lake we began a descent even
more rapid than our ascent. Very soon we passed from the
source of the head waters of the Pacific to those of the head
waters of the Atlantic.

We arrived in Coaza in the forenoon of the birthday of
the Gobenordor, Tristan was his name. He invited us to dine
with him, and we readily accepted the invitation. If I remem-
ber correctly the breakfast consisted of a number of courses
of meat soup. It differed from their usual meal in that a sort
of cake was served afterwards.

The people of the country are very hospitable, serving
wine or tea whenever you call. Coaza was an Indian village
situated right on the top of a mountain. It gave me the
sensation that if I moved too near the edge I would roll off
into a very deep canyon.

While resting at his house Mr. Tristan had half a sheep
roasted over the coals for us, and when we left we carried
with us this freshly roasted mutton and quite a supply of
native bread. This was the first time we had been able to
add anything to our food supply.

After leaving Coaza we dropped down so rapidly that we
were in a much warmer altitude by night. We camped by
a small lake, meeting there a man who had been sent out
from the mine for food and provisions. He had some burros
and one or two small mules. He reported that food supplies
had not arrived at the mine as expected, and that the Indians
who had gone in with the first party and were to return to
a certain camp to carry in our belongings, had run away. So
things were not moving as fast as they should, arid we were
finding that "mafiana" meant any time as well as "tomorrow."
By the next morning Mr. W. L. Hardison had decided to go
back to some Indian villages to arrange for supplies and for
Indians, mules, burros and llamas for transportation — chiefly
Indians and llamas. A llama would carry about 80 pounds
and an Indian 50 or 60 pounds,— and I have known some of
them to carry 100 pounds over the most awful trails. The
rest of us,— Mrs. Chapman, Mr. A. C. Hardison, the two

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children and myself, — were to go on as far as our animals
could carry us.

This was by far the worst day we had. We were getting
into a wet country, and were "in the clouds" in reality, — not
in our minds. Down we rode all day long. Occasionally we
came out of a cloud into the sunshine, but most of the time
we were in a mist or fog so dense that we could not see our
pack animals or companions a few feet away. It seemed as
though the day would never end. Moreover, the country was
so wet that my horse was getting tender footed. (I had been
riding a mule, but the day before Mrs. Chapman became very
much afraid of the horse, so Mr. W. L. Hardison asked me
to trade with her, and she was riding my sure-footed little
mule.) Being tender footed, my horse was constantly getting
out of the trail, floundering through the fog, getting separated
from the rest. I was still carrying Warren in front of me
on the saddle. So with pulling him up from the horse's neck
and the horse back on the trail, constantly in fear of being
separated from the rest of the party, I think that was the
most awful day I ever spent.

However, at last it ended. We stopped two miles or so
beyond a tiny town called Saco, at a place called Quispi Calani,
where the Inca Mining Company planned to erect a sort of
warehouse. At this time there was no building there of any
kind, but it was as far as was practical to send mules with
heavy cargos.

As I have said, this was a wet country, and "wet" should
be spelled with capital letters. The ground was solid enough
underneath, — being of a granite formation, — but there were
from four to six inches of moss and "muck" on top.

We pitched our tent on top of a little knoll and proceeded
to wait. Can you imagine camping in such a place? Five of
us in a tent not over 10x12 feet, with all our belongings, saddles,
equipment, everything? Fortunately we had mattresses, and
they were covered with oil cloth. Six days we waited here
for the Indians Mr. W. L. Hardison was to send to carry
our provisions and luggage into the mine. In the meantime
a man by the name of Knutzen had come along with three or
four burros and a little black mule which was hired for me to
ride. We were still in the clouds, though occasionally the
sun would come out, the clouds would break, and we could
look down a wide canyon over a sea of clouds. But this never

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The Hardison Family

lasted long. A bank of clouds would roll in and rain would
pour down in a few minutes.

Finally the Indians appeared, but they sneaked by, intend-
ing not to carry anything, but Knutzen and Mr. Hardison
went after them. After pushing one or two down they con-
vinced them they meant business, and the Indians gave no more
trouble.

Next morning our belongings were divided into smaller
packs and distributed among the Indians and burros. Each of
the children was given to an Indian to be carried. Helen
didn't relish the idea, but there was no other way out of it.
And we were off again, Mrs. Chapman on the little mule I
had ridden most of the way, and I on the little black one.

Though we traveled steadily fully three-quarters of that
day, by the time we were ready to camp we had gone scarcely
more than three or four miles. The following day brought us
to Satchapata, making a total distance traveled of about eight
miles in the two days. Satchapata was nothing but a frame of
poles, a thatched roof, and sides. It was well we were still
in the clouds, for had we been able to see the bottoms of the
many steep staircases we had to go down or the precipitous
sides of the very narrow ridge we followed for a number of
miles, neither Mrs. Chapman nor myself would have walked
it; we would have crawled on hands and knees. She would
not ride and I must admit I didn't want to, — and did ride only
where the mule was led over that particular part of the road.

We had met Mr. Chapman, who was getting anxious
about his wife, the day before reaching Satchapata. We all
stayed at Satchapata for the night, taking the trail again in
the morning.

Down, down we went. First zigzag down the mountain
side, then by stairs down the narrow ridge, always enveloped
in the clouds, which became a heavy mist as we got lower. At
one point where the trail zigzagged one of the mules had
gone over the precipice when Mr. Hardison made his first trip.
For lunch that day we had nothing but cold boiled rice and
sugar, and thought that was pretty good, too. Our bread and
meat were gone and but little canned goods were left, — that
mainly corned beef. The water there was of a nasty yellow
color and hard to find. We depended upon the Indians to find
water for us.

When we had started in the morning the little brown mule
was nowhere to be found, but Mrs. Chapman declared she

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would not ride anyway, but preferred to walk with the others.
I rode the little black mule most of the way, only getting off
where the steps were too steep. The danger of falling off
this ridge was not so great for the trail was so old that travel
and water had worn it down until it was like a ditch, — in many
places two to five feet deep. In places the trees had grown
over it and become so covered with moss and vines that there
was a veritable tunnel to pass through. There were many
mud holes impossible to get around, — we just had to wade
through them.

Early in the afternoon it began to pour, and at times
when I had to walk, — frequently now, the steps were so high, —
the water was over my shoe tops.

Mr. Hardison, the children and myself arrived at Cocina
Tambo about dark. As it is very unsafe, — and really impos-
sible,— to travel after dark, we were quite anxious until Mr.
and Mrs. Chapman arrived. Pretty well exhausted travelers
we were, too.

I have forgotten to mention that while at Tirapata an
Indian woman begged to go into the mines with us for the
small sum of eight soles a month, about four dollars in Ameri-
can money. We thought it might be advantageous, so took
her along. She hadn't arrived yet, so we sent an Indian for
her. When she got into camp she was so thoroughly disgusted
that she declared (in Indian) "tomorrow I go back."

We had no water, nor could we get an Indian to get us
any. Though it was raining a thatched roof gives little water,
just drip, drip. What should we do: no bread, only a very
few sweet crackers, no water with which to cook rice or make
soup — and we were in a land of soup — nothing but corned
beef. Nor would Mr. Hardison let us eat that, for he knew
we would suffer of thirst, so we went to bed supperless, children
and all. How blessed sleep was, for we could forget for a
time our discomfort.

In the night Mr. Chapman became so hungry he could
not stand it any longer without food so he opened a can of
beef. Before morning he was nearly crazy with thirst, and
there was no water with which to quench it. Mrs. Chapman
remembered a lemon she had in her hand bag, — I believe she
had carried it from California, — so cut it and moistened their
lips with that.

Morning came, bringing the sun. It was indeed a grand
sight after so many days of clouds and fog. Still we had no

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The Hardison Family

water, and we had to go down the mountain side to the river
to get it. This we hired an Indian to do, giving him a sole.
Then we could have food, but not before. When the Indian put
his blanket down for Helen to get into to be carried, she
walked over and sat down without a word, — the first time she
hadn't made a fuss about it. Neither of the children had cried
or asked for food during the whole time. Five miles down
the mountain side, more zigzag, more staircases, and these
much more steep. About half way down we met the Indian
with water. I don't believe travelers in the Sahara could have
been more thankful. What made it more aggravating, during
the whole time we could hear the roar of the river below us.
The sound of the water enhanced our thirst, making it more
unbearable.

Riding was impossible, though the little burros were going
to the foot of the mountain. One was carrying the all-im-
portant five thousand soles. I felt more sorry for them than
for ourselves.

It had taken the men all day when they went in and Mrs.
Chapman and I did not hope to make it any more quickly, but
we did. At one o'clock we had reached Tingura, a small hut
only. In the corner of this hut there was a bunk, upon which
Mrs. Chapman was forced to rest before she could even take
a little soup. So we rested here an hour or so, for we still
had two rivers to cross before reaching La Oroya, where we
expected to remain for a time.

There were no bridges on which to cross these rivers, so
this was the way it was done: A rope was stretched across
the river and on the rope was a pulley, from which hung a
large iron triangle. Into this triangle each passenger was tied,
and someone on the opposite side pulled them across.

Then at last we could rest.

The weather was fine here. Though it rained frequently,
the sun shone some every day. We were living in tents, but
we enjoyed it. The milder climate agreed with the children,
who were just recovering from the whooping cough. They
managed to contract it at Juliaca.

There was just one really objectionable thing: a small,
yellow gnat, which we thought would devour us at times. They
troubled some more than others.

After a six weeks' stay here we had a very heavy rain.
This made Mr. Hardison very anxious, for it was necessary

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to get to the mine before the rainy season set in. Accordingly,
we started the next day for Santo Domingo.

Back and forth across the stream, which was so swift that
many times we could not cross alone ; up cliffs so steep that the
men had to take our hands and drag us up ; up other cliffs we
had to scale on ladders. We lunched at the forks of the creeks
where the Herenata coma and the Santo Domingo come to-
gether. We had crossed the stream continually, — Mrs. Chap-
man counted up to 148 times, — then grew tired counting.

And then it began to rain. I was so tired we sat down
to rest again. I told them to go on and leave me. I guess I
cried; if I didn't I felt like it. But Mr. Hardison would
always say, "Santo Domingo is just around the turn," and at
last it was "just around the next turn." We were as thankful
to see the two tent houses provided for us as if they were a
most elegant hotel.

After a good alcohol rub and a short rest Mrs. Chapman
and I were able to descend to the dining room. This was a
distance of about 500 feet by trail, or 50 feet by the short cut.

Life at Santo Domingo was rather tame. Of course, no
churches, picture shows, theatres, or amusements of any kind.
The receipt of mail was our chief diversion, and that was very
irregular at first, sometimes being three or four weeks between
"deliveries."

The climate was mild, though raining some every day. It
is said it rained 25 feet a year, nor do I question the statement.

At first I had very little to do besides looking after the
children, as we had nothing but an oil stove to cook on ; that
very expensive and unsatisfactory. Finally some ingenious man
made me a stove out of oil cans, on the principle of the air-
tight heater. On this I could get a very good meal. Later
an oven was made out of another can and then I could bake.
We were getting so tired of fried and boiled foods. A large
oven was built for the company's kitchen and when we had a
good baker the bread tasted quite homelike.

Food, it seemed to me, was our chief concern, chiefly on
account of the children. It was not only hard to get it into
the mines, but hard to get it in in a fit condition to eat. The
rice, beans and flour would get wet and mould ; and our only
meat, dried sheep, called "chalona," after being carried 75
miles on the backs of the llamas, subjected to all changes of
weather, was not very appetizing. Potatoes, frozen and dried,
were called "chufio." These I never ate. It was difficult

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The Hardison Family

enough to get around the chalona, when there was nothing
else. So rice was our main diet, with beans very occasionally.
Sugar we always had, and were only without salt a week. At
one time food was so scarce and of such poor quality that Mr.
Moriarty sent Paul Younglin out hunting. A couple of even-
ings later we had fresh meat for dinner. When Mrs. Chapman
came up she asked how I liked it. I replied that it was very
good, though it was hardly cooked enough. Don't think I
fainted or got sick when she said it was monkey. It was
merely another experience in our lives. Butter and fresh
milk were unknown ; eggs very rare. Mr. W. L. Hardison
expected to be able at some time to grow enough vegetables
and keep enough chickens and cattle at La Oroya to furnish
them to the people at the mine. Whether his plans matured
or not I do not know. We did have a few very good pine-
apples and still fewer bananas from there.

On the first of December the rainy season actually set in,
and for thirty days the sun shone but once. Nor did we have
much sunshine until the following June.

On December 4, 1896, our third child and second son
was born. Being a perfectly healthy child he grew and thrived.
Every one wanted to give him a name, and every name known
to the Inca language was suggested. He was christened Ernest
Crane Hardison, but the name of Domingo has always clung
to him.

About the middle of August, 1897, Mr. and Mrs. Chap-
man decided they had had experiences enough, and left for the
United States. I was then the only woman down there. We
were the first two white women to go into the mines, and as
far as we could ascertain no Indian woman had ever been in,
though of that we are not sure.

In November, Guy Hardison was to return to California,
and it was decided that I, too, return with him. So we left
the Santo Domingo mines the latter part of that month, arriv-
ing in Santa Paula on February 2, 1898.

Family of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Hardison

Allen Crosby Hardison, born April 22, 1869, Caribou,
Maine. Married on December 14, 1892. Cora Leonore Crane,
born April 21, 1873, Carpenteria, Santa Barbara County,
California.

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Parents :

Jefferson Crane, born June 17, 1839, Sharon, Ohio, who
married October 4, 1861, Janette Briggs, born Windsor, Mass.,
July 29, 1840.

Children:
Helen Crane, born December 11, 1893, Santa Paula, Cal.

Warren Emmett, born January 15, 1895, Santa Paula, Cal.

Ernest Domingo, born December 4, 1896, Santo Domingo
mines, Province of Carabuya, Department of Puno, Peru, S. A.

Ruth, born April 28, 1898, Santa Paula, Cal.

Alice Louise, born March 20, 1905, Santa Paula, Cal.

Robert Allen, born January 13, 1907, Santa Paula, Cal.

Coralinn, born May 4, 1908, Santa Paula, Cal.

Wallace Libby, born June 5, 1909, Santa Paula, Cal.

Janette, born January 27, 1912, Santa Paula, Cal.

Warren Emmet Hardison married April 10, 1918, in
Santa Paula, Alice Elia Butcher, born February 25, 1894.

Parents :

Matthew Henry Butcher, born in Canada; Elia Black-
wood, born in California.

Ernest Domingo Hardison, married August 18, 1918, in
Rio Vista, Solano County, California, Nina Marie Hallock,
born October 20, 1897, Piqua, Ohio.

Parents :

William I. Hallock, born June 19, 1870, in Conneaut-
ville, Pa.; Clara L. Jones, born December 1, 1872, in Green-
ville, Ohio.

The Burgess-Smiley Families

Connected with the descendants of Jacob and Eliz-
abeth Adaline (Smiley) Hardison, are the Burgess
and Smiley families.

The first pilgrim of the Burgess family in America
was named Thomas, who arrived in Salem, Mass.,
about 1630, and lodged for a time in Lynn. A section
of land in that part of Plymouth called Duxbury was
assigned to him in 1637, but he forfeited it by his re-
moval to Sandwich the same year.

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The Hardison Family

He was an original member of the church organ-
ized in 1638. He died February 27, 1687. The name
of his wife is unknown.

John Burgess, son of Thomas the Pilgrim, married
Mary Worden and there was born a son, who was
also called John. He married Sarah Nickerson and
they had a son Samuel, who married Elizabeth Bur-
gess, and to whom were born three children, Serviah,
Thaddeus and Benjamin, who was a Revolutionary
soldier. By a second marriage of Samuel to Mary
Taylor there were born Jonathan, Elizabeth and De-
sire. Jonathan, this son of Samuel and Mary (Tay-
lor) Burgess, married Deborah Robbins of Yarmouth,
February 11, 1762. Their son Richard married
Thankful Farris, who died April 17, 1846. He died
April 17, 1855, in Vassalboro, Maine, where he had
removed in 1782.

The children of Richard and Thankful Burgess
were eleven in number. Of these Deborah, born Feb-
ruary 7, 1804, married Sidney Smiley, and Rebecca
married Colby Whittier. These with one of their
brothers, Alonzo Parker, settled in Caribou.

The Smiley Family

Francis Smiley came to America in 1727 from Scot-
land by the way of Londonderry, Ireland, and settled
in Windham (Londonderry), N. H., and is the immi-
grant ancestor of the Smiley-Burgess families whose
descendants in Aroostook county came through the
line of Sidney and Deborah (Burgess) Smiley.

The name of the wife of Francis Smiley is un-
known. A son, Hugh, married Mary Park, and were
the founders of the Winslow branch in Maine.

Thomas, a son of Hugh and Mary (Park) Smiley,
married Ruth Wright Crosby, daughter of Joel
Crosby, of Benton, Maine.

Sidney married Deborah Robbins, daughter of
Richard and Thankful (Farris) Burgess. They re-
moved to Caribou, Maine, and died there— Sidney,

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Our Folks and Your Folks

June 25, 1853, and Deborah, June 8, 1878. Seneca,
the twin brother, died in Caribou, August 21, 1877.

The children of Sidney and Deborah (Burgess)
Smiley were Elizabeth Adaline, born April 29, 1827,
in China, Maine, and who married Jacob Hardison;
William Franklin, born March 27, 1832, and married
Mary, daughter of Edward S. and Mary (Hardison)
Fowler; Sarah Jane, born October 25, 1834, died in
Caribou; married David Vance.

Of these two are still living — Elizabeth Adaline
in Santa Paula, and William Franklin Smiley on the
old home farm with his son Sidney, in Caribou, Maine.

The Smiley brothers, who created the beautiful
Smiley Heights in Redlands, were undoubtedly of this
branch of the family.

There is an interesting story in connection with
Joel Crosby, who was born in Ipswich, Mass., June
26, 1740, and died in Winslow, Maine, March 27,
1775. When a lad, together with several other chil-
dren, he was stolen by the Indians and taken into
Canada and sold into bondage, where he was held
until about twenty-one years of age, at which time his
master gave him his freedom and he returned to his
family in Ipswich. He married and lived for a time
in Ipswich and later removed to Winslow, where he
built a saw mill and a large house, which is now stand-
ing and in good repair.

When on his way to Canada as a captive of the
Indians, some of the other children cried and made
their captors so much trouble that they murdered them.
Joel, evidently older than the others, realizing the
cause of their losing their lives, obeyed the Indians
through fear of a similar fate, and in consequence his
life was spared.

The children of Thomas and Ruth (Crosby)
Smiley were ten in number: Joel, Hannah, Joanna,
Mary, Samuel, Parker, Thomas, Sally, Sidney and
Seneca, who were twins.

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The Hardison Family

Family of Oliver Hardison

Oliver, second son of Ivory and Dorcas (Libbey)
Hardison, located as a young man on a section of land
adjacent to his father's, in Lyndon (Caribou) and
lived and died there.

His wife was Mary O'Leary, a native of Miri-
michee, and of Irish birth- She was a unique character,
quick of wit and with a wonderful memory for dates.
Had she lived to the time of the publication of this
book with faculties unimpaired, she would have been an
authority on the genealogies of the families.

Their health failing, Mr. and Mrs. Hardison gave
their property into the hands of their oldest daughter,
Ellen, who had married Simon Oldham.

Mr. Hardison died within a few years and his wife
not long after. Then, soon after, the daughter, Ellen,
died suddenly, following a surgical operation, and as
there were no children, the Hardison farm passed into
the hands of strangers.

Family of Lewis Hardison
Lewis, oldest son of Oliver and Mary Hardison,
came to Santa Paula from Pennsylvania as an experi-
enced oil operator and machinist.

He married Margaret Brooking, a sister of his
uncle James' wife, and their children are:

Oliver, Edith, Lewis, Arthur and James.

Family of Edwin A. Hardison
Edwin A., son of Oliver and Mary Hardison,

resides in Los Angeles. He has spent several years in

Peru and China and has invented two or three patents

of value.

He married Mary Walker, daughter of George W.

and Emmaline (Arney) Walker, and they have four

children:

Esa Elizabeth, born September, 1892; Fred

Walker, born September 11, 1894; Waldo Collins,

born December 31, 1899, and Marian Dorcas, born

January, 1901.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Esa married Leonard H Clawson. Fred married
Inez Park and they have one child, Jack Wallace.
Waldo and Fred both enlisted in the U. S. Army in
1917. Waldo, after serving overseas for three months,
was discharged February 8, 1919. Fred is still in
overseas service as an engineer in the regular army.

Annie, the second daughter of Oliver and Mary
Hardison, married Clarence Titcomb, of Lewiston,
Me., and they have one child, Clarence.

Family of Martin Van Buren Hardison
Martin Van Buren, the fourth son of Ivory and
Dorcas (Libbey) Hardison, was born in China, Me.
He was twice married. A daughter by the first wife,
Tressa, married George, son of Oliver and Mary
Hardison, and they live on the original farm of their
grandfather, Ivory Hardison. They have one son,
Clarence.

Harvey, son of Martin by the second wife, served
in the United States army.

Family of Mary Ann (Hardison) Bishop
Mary Ann, second daughter of Ivory and Dorcas
(Libbey) Hardison, was born in Winslow, Maine,
April 21, 1834. She was united in marriage with
James Bishop, of Ft. Fairfield, and to this union were
born two children, Zittie Evalyn, born August 19, 1861,
and Estella W., born July 25, 1865- Mr. and Mrs.
Bishop moved from Ft. Fairfield to Pennsylvania and
from there to Santa Paula. Mr. Bishop, who was born
in Andover, N. B., February 14th, 1882, died in Santa
Paula October 26th, 1911. His wife died June 23rd,
1916.

Mary Ann Bishop was a woman of unusual intel-
lectuality and although shut in from the world for
many years on account of ill health, she ever main-
tained an interest in current events and all matters of
public concern. During the great world war, she had

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The Hardison Family

a map of the battlefields placed on the wall near her
bedside and followed the movements of the armies up
to within a few days of her death. She was cared for
after the death of her husband by her grand-daughter,
Evelyn Little, who was taken to the home of her grand-
parents as an infant after the death of her mother.

Estella, the only living child of James and Mary
Ann Bishop, married William Major Moultrie, a
native of Tennessee, on October 3, 1894. They have
four children, Eulyce, born January 3rd, 1896; Laura
May, born May 16th, 1898; Bernice, born September
20th, 1900, and Randolph H., born May 11th, 1907.

Zittie Evalyn, the oldest daughter of James and
Mary Ann Bishop, married Otis B. Little February,
1888, and died December 30 of the same year, leaving
an infant, Evalyn, only nineteen days old, who was
taken to the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs-
James Bishop. After the death of the grandmother,
Evalyn was united in marriage with Frank R. Weber,
of Dixon, California, on May 25th, 1918. A son has
been born to them.

Family of Harvey Hardison

Harvey, seventh son of Ivory and Dorcas (Libbey)
Hardison, was born in Caribou, Maine, February 9th,
1844.

On arriving of age, he took up a section of land on
what was known as Eaton Grant, in connection with
his brother Ai. This land in after years came to be
known as the large and fertile farm of Ai Hardison,
situated on the Aroostook river about four miles from
the village of Caribou.

The stories that came to Harvey of the excitement
and wonderful opportunities in the oil fields of Penn-
sylvania caused him to abandon the occupation of
farmer, and he joined his brother James in the new oil
industry of that state.

Like the other young men who went from Caribou,
Harvey was industrious and provident and he, too, was

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Our Folks and Your Folks

unusually successful in his ventures. He was united in
marriage with Delphina Wetherbee and they resided
for a number of years in Olean, N. Y.

Four children were born to this marriage, Frank,
Seth, Ida, and Ruth. When the new oil fields of Ven-
tura, California, were discovered, and the firm of
Hardison and Stewart organized by his brother Wal-
lace, Harvey came with a force of other experienced
men from Pennsylvania to operate the same, and
located in Santa Paula.

On April 4, 1890, he entered an oil tunnel with two
other men and there was a gas explosion in which all
were killed. His untimely death was felt as a great loss
to the community and to his large circle of relatives
and friends.

His wife never recovered from the loss of her
husband and died in Pennsylvania November 30th,
1891, where she had gone by advice of her friends,
who hoped that a change of scenes would help to restore
her health.

The four children remained in Santa Paula, Ida,
the oldest daughter, married Leonard W. Corbett;
Ruth married Fred Brown; Frank married Jessie Cole
and later Louise Belden. Seth married Ellen Cockrell
and they have two children, Harvey, who volunteered
and served in the U. S. Army during the war, and a
daughter Anna. Seth is engaged in the oil business
in Coalinga, Calif.

Family of Ai Hardison

Ai Hardison, the fifth son of Ivory and Dorcas
(Libbey) Hardison, was born in Winslow, Maine,
and was but a child when he came to Caribou with his
parents.

He was educated in the public schools and always
followed the occupation of a farmer.

During the Civil War he served for a short period,
but never saw active service.

[136]

JOSEPH HARDISON

The Hardison Family

He married Miss Josephine Pratt, oldest daughter
of Artson K. and Eliza (Ridley) Pratt. Their chil-
dren are:

Eliza, born, Jan. 15, 1867.

Luna, born Jan. 31, 1869.

Artson P., born Feb. 1, 1871.

June E., born June 10, 1873.

Claire, born July 27, 1876.

Edith, born Nov. 15, 1879.

Burt, born Feb. 10, 1881.

Ivory, born July 22, 1883.

all of whom are living.

Mr. and Mrs. Hardison were industrious and
frugal and within a few years were the possessors of
one of the most fertile and productive farms of Aroos-
took, county and a commodious house and ample barns.

But the sons and daughters had gone out from the
home and eventually Mr. and Mrs. Hardison sold the
old homestead in Maine and moved to Whittier, Cal.,
where Mrs. Hardison died within a few years. She
was by nature a home-loving woman and devoted wife
and mother. Especially was she fond of flowers, which
responded in a wonderful way to her care.

After the death of his wife, Mr. Hardison lived
with his daughters, Mrs. Loftus, in Whittier, and Mrs.
Scott in Los Angeles, both of whom gave to him loving
care and the comforts of beautiful homes.

He journeyed back to Caribou several times and
always retained a fondness for the scenes of his early
days.

He was taken ill at the home of his daughter, Mrs.
Scott, in Los Angeles, and died there after a short
illness on November 14th, 1915. He is buried beside
his wife in Whittier.

He was a man of great tenacity of purpose and
strong individuality, and like all of the seven brothers
of this family, extremely temperate in habits, using
neither liquors nor tobacco.

[137]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Family of Eliza Hardison and William Loftus

Eliza, oldest daughter of Ai and Josephine (Pratt)
Hardison, was born in Caribou in 1867.

Coming to Santa Paula, California, after about a
year's residence there, she was united in marriage with
William Loftus, a native of New York and a successful
oil operator.

Mr. and Mrs. Loftus resided for a number of
years in Los Angeles, and their two children were born
there, Edna, March 8th, 1896, and George William,
November 26th, 1898-

Mr. and Mrs. Loftus moved to Fullerton and
resided there for a few years, and then in 1910 they
built a beautiful home in the city of Whittier; Edna
was graduated from the Leland Stanford Junior Uni-
versity in 1917. George had entered the U. S. Army
but was discharged a short time after, on the signing of
the armistice. He is engaged as an assistant in his
father's enterprises.

Mr. William Loftus is president of the Graham-
Loftus Company and well known as a successful oil
operator and business man.

Family of Luna Hardison and W. B. Scott

Luna, the second daughter of Ai and Josephine
(Pratt) Hardison, was born in Caribou, Me., January
31, 1869.

After graduating from the High School of Caribou,
she became a successful teacher and followed this pro-
fession until she came to California in November, 1894.

She was united in marriage with William B. Scott,
of Santa Paula, June 24th, 1896, and they have two
children, Josephine, born October 21, 1901, and
William Keith, born March 5, 1904.

Wm. B- Scott is a native of Missouri but came
when a lad to Santa Paula and was educated in the
public schools of that city.

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The Hardison Family

He ranks among the best types of the self-made
man. Genial in nature, generous and accommodating,
he has a wide circle of friends who honor him because
of his integrity of character and are glad of his suc-
cesses. He owns large interests in the oil fields and is
president of the Columbia Oil Producing Co., one of
the large oil companies of Orange County. He is on
the board of directors of the Citizens National Bank.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott built a beautiful house in Los
Angeles a few years ago and their home is a center of
hospitality to many friends.

Family of June Hardison Stevens
June, the third daughter of Ai and Josephine
(Pratt) Hardison, was a successful teacher in the
public schools of Caribou before she came to Los
Angeles, where she took a course in the California
Hospital Training School for Nurses, and was gradu-
ated. She followed this profession until her marriage
to Herbert Stevens, of Ashland, Me. Mr. and Mrs.
Stevens now reside in Milwaukie, Oregon. They have
no children-

Family of Artson P. Hardison

Artson Pratt, the oldest son of Ai and Josephine
(Pratt) Hardison went from Caribou to Geneva,
Indiana, to engage in the oil business.

He married Miss Edna Dean, daughter of Eugene
and Eliza (Brooking) Dean.

They have two children, Eugene Dean and
Josephine. Mr. and Mrs. Hardison removed from
Geneva to Los Angeles in the spring of 1919.

Burt and Ivory, the other two sons of Ai and
Josephine (Pratt) Hardison, are successful oil oper-
ators in Kern County, California. Burt is unmarried.

Ivory married Miss Marian Brunner in June, 1918.
They reside in McKittrick and have one child.

[139]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Claire, the fourth daughter of Ai and Josephine
(Pratt) Hardison, was graduated from the Caribou
High School, and after some experience in teaching
came to Los Angeles and was graduated from the Cali-
fornia Hospital Training School for Nurses, a profes-
sion she has most successfully followed, ranking among
the highest.

She entered the Government service as a Red Cross
nurse in the Army and Nurse Corps, U. S. General
Hospital, and was stationed at Ft. Bayard, New
Mexico, from July 23, 1918, to January 28, 1919.

Edith, the youngest daughter of Ai and Josephine
(Pratt) Hardison, graduated from High School and
then successfully followed the occupation of a teacher
in the public schools of Maine until she took up the
profession of bookkeeping and stenography-
She came to California in October, 1908, where
she has since made her home with her sister, Mrs.
W. B. Scott. She is Assistant Secretary and Treasurer
of the Columbia Oil Producing Co.

The Family of Pratt

Artson K. Pratt married Eliza (Wood) Ridley and
they resided in Jay, Maine, for a number of years.
Four children were born there, Josephine, Mentora,
David and William. They removed to South Paris
where another son, Elbridge, was born. In the spring
of 1862 they removed to Macwahoch, and from there
to Caribou in the fall of the same year and located on
a farm, where is now the Canadian Pacific Railway
station.

Shortly after, Artson K. Pratt enlisted in the Union
Army and was placed in the First District Columbia
Cavalry. He formed a friendship with the surgeon of
his company and was made his assistant and continued
in this capacity until he was taken prisoner by the enemy
and sent to Andersonville prison. He was not a strong
man, and the poor food and confinement told heavily

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The Hardison Family

on his health. When released in 1864 he weighed but
seventy-nine pounds and lived but a few days. He was
buried at Annapolis.

Eliza (Ridley) Pratt, the widow, later married
Nathan W. Stover, and they lived in Caribou village
for many years- She died there July 13th, 1896, aged
about sixty-four.

Henry B. Ridley Pratt, a son born to Artson K. and
Eliza (Ridley) Pratt, in Caribou, January 12th, 1863,
is a prosperous business man of that town.

His youngest son, Henry B. Junior, born August
8th, 1898, enlisted in the World War and was killed
in the battle of the Marne July 19th, 1918. He was
the first soldier from Caribou to fall in this war for
humanity and impressive public services were held in
the Universalist church in commemoration of his death
and heroism.

The name Pratt is supposed to be derived from the
Latin, a meadow. It occurs variously in ancient history
as Prat, Prate, Pratt, Pratte and still earlier as De
Preux.

The Pratt family were undoubtedly from Nor-
mandie, where in 1096 a member by that name joined
the crusaders. The first record in America is of John
Pratt, who was an alderman of Maiden, Mass. He
died in 1619.

James H. Hardison Family

James H. Hardison, the sixth son of Ivory and
Dorcas (Libbey) Hardison, is a resident of Geneva,
Indiana. He married Miss Mary Brooking and their
children are Wallace B., who is unmarried, and Bertha,
who married Hubert O- Butler.

Mr. and Mrs. Butler have five children: James
H., William O., Mary E., Julia F., and Bertha H.
They reside in Fullerton, Calif.

The life sketch of James H. Hardison as a pioneer
oil man can best be given in his own words and is as
follows :

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Our Folks and Your Folks

"I will try and write some of my recollections of
boyhood days and also of my leaving home.

I was born in China Village, Kennebec County,
Maine, February 5, 1841, my father having moved
the family from a farm in Winslow Township to China
Village before he left for Aroostook County, where
he took up several lots of land and built a house before
he moved his family.

I was two years old when we went to this new home
in the wilderness of Aroostook county. The farm was
located on Letter H Township, about ten miles from
Presque Isle and two and one-half miles from Caribou
and one hundred and seventy miles from Bangor, where
was the nearest railroad.

About the earliest incident that I remember was
when my sisters, Dorcas and Mary Ann, and our hired
girl, were down to the river about one-half mile away
where the clothes were taken once a week in the summer
to be washed. I was with them and found a pocket
knife on the shore and each of the girls begged me to
give it to her and I gave it to Dorcas, my oldest sister,
because I liked her best.

Our house was always a real home. Mother was
a remarkable woman; it was astonishing how she could
manage to get through with her work and in the after-
noon have time to change her dress and slick up and
be ready for company-

Once a week Mrs. Walton, a native woman, who
lived on the river about a mile away, came to help with
the washing, and that was all the help she had.

Father was always a "good provider," as the
Yankees say. We always had several yoke of oxen to
do the farm work, and we boys had fun in breaking the
young steers, by putting a pair behind the plow that was
hitched to the first yoke, until they got used to it.
Father made the ox yokes and ox carts and wheels, and
they were good ones, too.

The summers seemed awful long and we boys were
always glad when winter came so that we could get up

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The Hardison Family

the winter's wood before school commenced. And for
sport there was usually a chance to skate along the river
before the snow came.

Our school term was three months in the winter
and the teacher boarded around. We always had our
share of them, especially the ones that we liked.

The school master made an alphabetical list of the
names of the boys who were old enough to build the
fire in the school house in the mornings, and at night
he would read the name of the boy who was to build
the fire the next morning. The boy who did not have
the school house warm and comfortable was a very
unpopular boy with the girls, whose task was to sweep
the school house at night, a list for sweeping being
made the same as the one for building fires.

The most of the pupils brought their dinners. We
had a little over a mile to go. Well do I remember
the red firkin filled with doughnuts and turnovers made
of mince meat that mother used to keep in the cellar
ready for these school lunches.

One of the most popular sports was sliding down
hill on Prest Isle hill during glorious moonlight nights.
The boys and girls would come for miles and stay until
nearly midnight and then skip for home. It was grand
sport, healthy and invigorating and innocent.

Another fine winter sport was hunting. Along in
March, when the snow was five or six feet deep, the
sun would melt the top and it. would freeze at night to
be strong enough to bear a horse for a time in the
morning. We used snow shoes, and could go rapidly
over the crust after game such as moose and deer.

I remember going once with my brother Oliver to
the head waters of Salmon Brook and we killed a moose
and brought it out to Wilder's mill and went home and
then the next day I took a horse and went after it.

At another time brother Harvey and I went up the
Tobique river to Bishop's lumber camp, a distance of
thirty miles, and I shot a moose and brought it home.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Father used to allow us boys to have a piece of the
new burned land to plant potatoes and beans for our-
selves and in this way we made a little pocket money by
selling our crops to the lumbermen in the winter time.
When I was about sixteen years old I went to Lower
Stillwater, now called Orono, to work in a saw mill. I
also worked one season in a mill at Great Works and
one winter in a cotton mill in Lewiston, where my boy-
hood friend, Jimmy Small, was a bookkeeper in the
Androscoggin cotton mills.

While I was in Orono I attended the Universalist
Sunday school and we had Governor Washburn for
the teacher of the Bible class.

In the spring of 1865 I went to Pennsylvania, and
on my way stopped over Sunday in Laconing and had an
opportunity to see a rebel prison camp with several
thousand prisoners.

I went from there to Williamsport and from there
to a little town on the west branch of the Susquehana
river near Lockhaven, to work in a saw mill. I had
been there but a little while when the men in the mill
struck, and hearing of the excitement in the oil region
I took the train for Curry and from that point I went
on a train of box cars over the Oil Creek railroad to
Shafer, six miles from Pithole, where the oil excite-
ment was intense. These box cars were loaded with
passengers, many riding on the top because there was no
room inside.

At Shafer we all got off and went on foot to Pithole
where several wells only six hundred feet deep were
flowing a thousand barrels a day. This oil was worth
eight dollars a barrel, but it all had to be hauled in
wagons to the railroad six miles away, or to McCray's
Landing on the Allegheny river above Oil City.

The price for hauling was two dollars, or two dol-
lars and fifty cents per barrel, and there were a thou-
sand teams to be loaded every morning.

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The Hardison Family

It made no difference how early a man got to the
wells ; there would always be a long line of teams ahead
of him to be loaded.

I made a trade for a team on the shares, dividing
the profits after all expenses were paid between us
equally.

In about a year a pipe line was built and then I
went to drilling my first well and took an interest in it
as payment for my work.

In the meantime my brother Harvey came from
Maine and commenced work as I had done at first, in
teaming, but he soon got a job at gauging for the pipe
line that had a tank at the mouth of Pithole Creek at
Oleopolis. The line was a six inch gravity cast iron
line and the first oil that was turned into it went with
such force that it knocked the tank down.

The first well that I drilled was on the flat not far
below the wells on the Holmden farm. Will Dean,
Eugene Dean and a man by the name of Campbell, and
myself, were to have one thirty-second interest and our
board each, making one-third for our work. We fin-
ished the well in good time, but it was a dry hole.

Then we went over to Pioneer and took an interest
with Lyman and Milton Stewart and drilled two wells
on the noted Benninghoof farm whose owner, a miserly
old German, was afterwards gagged at his farm home
and robbed of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The wells that we drilled proved a success and from
Pioneer we went to Shamburg, where Lyman Stewart
had purchased the Tallman farm for sixty-four thou-
sand dollars. Milton Stewart, Frank Andrews and J.
W. Irwin were partners in the purchase. Lyman
Stewart made arrangements with Hank Webster and
me to form a drilling company and drill the wells on
this Tallman farm. I got a string of iron pole tools
with left hand threads to be used to unscrew the tools
that were stuck in the mud vein just above the oil sand,
usually, and I had plenty of work to do in this line until

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Our Folks and Your Folks

they got to using big casing, shutting off the water and
drilling through it, and then the mud vein disappeared.

One time I was over to Irwin's office near Petro-
leum Center, and he said to me, "I have got to buy
Lyman Stewart a gold watch and chain."

I said, "How so?" and he replied, "When I put in
that one thousand dollars for one-sixty-fourth share in
that Tallman farm, Lyman said that farm was going to
pay a million dollars, and I told him if it did I would
buy him a good gold watch and chain." "And here,"
he said, as he placed the statement on the table, "is a
statement showing that more than a million of money
has been taken from there."

While we were at Shamburg Charles P. Collins
came and immediately went to work with us. Brother
Wallace also came about this time and went to work
at pumping on a well we owned that was located at Pit-
hole Creek near Oleopolis.

In 1871 we went down to Parker's Landing, and
Harvey and I bought out Lyman Stewart's share in the
tools and we went to drilling by contract wells in Butler
and Clarion Counties.

I joined the Odd Fellows at St. Petersburg in 1872
and the Masons in 1874.

On January 20th, 1876, I married the girl I had
waited for for ten years. Her name was Miss Mary
E. Brooking, then a resident of Mercer, Penn., but a
native of St. Johns, New Foundland. Her father,
Captain John Brooking, went down with his vessel and
soon after his death the widow and family of five girls
and one boy, came from St. Johns, New Foundland, to
Mercer, Penn. Mary was the oldest child and felt that
she could not leave her mother until the younger chil-
dren had grown up.

We commenced housekeeping in St. Petersburg,
and in May my mother came from her far-away home
in Northern Maine to visit her three sons and the
three daughter-in-laws that she had never seen (Harvey
and Wallace were married before I was.)

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The Hardison Family

We were all living in Clarion County, and when
she got through with her visit Wallace went with her
to the Centennial in Philadelphia and from there she
went home to Maine.

Later in the same year my sister, Mrs. Dorcas Col-
lins, Miss Ida Merrill, Aunt Adaline Hardison and
her son, Haines, my sister, Mrs. Mary Ann Bishop,
Waldo Hardison, Charles P. Collins and Lowell
Hardison, and my wife and I, formed a happy family
group in visiting the Centennial for several days, after
which we went to Washington for a short visit. When
my sister Dorcas returned to her home she had a new
daughter-in-law, for Miss Ida Merrill had become the
wife of her oldest son, Charles P. Collins, a marriage
that joined two pioneer families of Aroostook County.
In 1878, I moved with my family to Bradford,
McKean County, where I lived for five years and oper-
ated a patent casing spear which was used to loosen
casing that could not be pulled any other way.

Then, for six years, I left the oil business and went
to farming in Kansas, four and a half miles from Salina
on the Smoky Hill River.

Then we went back to Pennsylvania, and in com-
pany with C. P. Collins, I drilled a good many wells
and made many dear friends in the four years that we
lived there in Tionesta.

Business changes again followed, for in 1892 we
removed to Geneva, Ind., where in company with C. P.
Collins and J. R. Leonard, we' operated under the name
of Collins, Hardison and Leonard, drilling a good
many wells, and in 1895 we incorporated the Superior
Oil Co , with C. P. Collins as president, James H.
Hardison, vice-president, Harry Heasley, Secretary,
and James Leonard, Treasurer. Chester W. Brown
was with us as field superintendent for a year and made
his home with us.

I put in the first power for pumping a group of
wells that was installed in Indiana, bringing a man from
Tionesta who understood how to do it.

[U7]

Our Folks and Your Folks

In 1901, the Superior Oil Company sold out most
of its property, and my brother Wallace wrote and
invited my wife and me to spend the winter with him
in Los Angeles, saying that he would buy a house if
we would come.

We gladly accepted the invitation and Aunt Mary,
as nearly everyone called her, and myself, accompanied
by our niece, Miss Edna Dean, who had been in our
home ever since the death of her parents when she was
about ten years old, arrived in Los Angeles after a
pleasant journey and were met at the station and con-
veyed to the fine commodious residence that Wallace
had bought.

The next morning my brother took Aunt Mary to
the kitchen and introducing her to the Chinaman cook,
one of the best in the land, said: "Lon, you will take
your orders from Mrs. Hardison." Lon looked a little
sour at first, but soon got over it and after a short time
volunteered to do the sweeping and other work in the
house. He found Aunt Mary the best boss he ever
had and about the only thing she taught him to cook
was baked beans and brown bread. We could go away
and when we returned be sure of finding him there and
glad to see us.

Edna had an aunt, a sister of her father, who lived
in Escondido, to whom she made an extended visit.

We had many visitors in Los Angeles, and among
them was Sam M. Jones (Golden Rule Jones) and who
made his headquarters with us. He was an old friend
of us all and we greatly respected him. He was not
very well at this time and died not long after. Aunt
Mary and I rode in the carriage, which contained
Brandt Whitlock, in the funeral procession to the ceme-
tery. Whitlock was one of the speakers at the funeral.

We visited in Los Angeles for about five months
and then started for home, stopping off to see the Grand
Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona.

I arrived home in May, 1902, and the Superior Oil
Company having a few leases left, I again went to

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The Hardison Family

work in drilling wells and continued in this until 1913,
when Waldo A. Hardison and friends purchased the
stock.

It was then that Aunt Mary and I decided that we
would visit again in California. Consequently we left
for Los Angeles over the Southern Pacific and arrived
in Los Angeles a few days before Christmas. Chester
Brown took us the next day to our daughter, Mrs.
Bertha Buder, who lived near Brea, and we had the
pleasure of eating our Christmas dinner with her and
her family.

We visited the relatives in Santa Paula and I
attended the Universalist church there, and heard a
Universalist preacher for the first time in many years.

We had a very pleasant time in Southern Cali-
fornia, but the death of my brother Wallace had left
a vacancy which could not be filled. He had made a
proposition to me not long before his death to come
to Los Angeles and live on a tract of land he owned
in South Pasadena, and I had concluded to do so, but
was not quite ready to go.

There was to be a large picnic of all the family
connection and friends at Santa Paula, and Wallace
urged me to start in time to attend this reunion of old
friends. I have always felt that if I had gone at that
time he would not have taken that fatal trip for he
would have been at the picnic.

We remained in California about six months and
then started for home over the Salt Lake road and
visited the great Mormon temple and other interesting
sights in Salt Lake City.

The asthma, which afflicted me many years and for
which I sought relief in many ways, has left me.

About a year after we came back from California,
I noticed that I could not see to read as well as usual
so I consulted an occulist, but obtained no relief.
Finally, I went to an eye specialist and he said that I
had a cataract on the eye and that it must get ripe

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Our Folks and Your Folks

before he could operate on it. While waiting for this
cataract on the left eye to develop, one came on the
right eye and was ready for the operation before the
other one was.

There is a popular opinion that a cataract is a
growth on the eye, but this is not so. A cataract is
"an opacity of the crystalline lens or its capsule, which
prevents the passage of the rays of light and impairs or
destroys the sight." This crystalline lens lies behind
the pupil of the eye and the surgeon in performing the
operation cuts a triangular hole through the white of
the eye and passes an instrument and removes the cap-
sule containing the lens. It is not a painful operation
and usually takes about ten minutes. A little cocaine is
put in the eye and there is no pain afterwards. One
has to lie on his back for forty-eight hours and stay
in the hospital for twelve days.

A surgeon will not operate on but one eye until a
certain time has elasped, and advises that the other eye
be left as it is because if this should become affected
there is danger of total blindness.

After a short time, I was given a glass lens, which
is worn like any other spectacle. I had mine made a
bi-focal so that I do not have to change when I read,
and thus I get along very well with but one eye.

I am seventy eight years old and am still a diligent
reader of the newspapers and magazines and find life
interesting and worth while. (Note: Mr. Hardison
removed from Geneva to Los Angeles in December,
1919.)

Extract from Letter in Verse Form

Written in 1890 by James Small, then living at Olive, Cal., to his
boyhood friend, James H. Hardison, in Geneva, Indiana.
"And then I thought of Ai and Harve,
When they first started to plant
On top of that rock maple ridge,

'Way over on Eaton Grant.
Of the McNamaras and Bubars, too,
Of old Michael of ancient school,
On down to the Cochran and Kelly tribes,
To old Shugrue and his mule.

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The Hardison Family

And don't you mind, one winter's day,

How you and I set sail,
And skated to Presque Isle and back,

Just on purpose to get the mail?
I don't forget those Monday nights,

With our weekly mail from "outside" ;
How I'd fly around and do the chores,

And then for Hardison's slide.
And sometimes, too, quite oft, I think,

I broke a parental rule,
And lit out with the Hardison boys

When they went home from school.

How within that postoffice room,

By a tallow candle light,
We'd play "Auction Pitch," or "Seven-Up,"

Till far into the night.
Or how that "Kibbe" to get the kindling wood

His very best would strive;
If we'd only learn him "Whistling Jack"

Or the mysteries of "Forty-five."
I call to mind that kitchen, Jim,

With fireplace high and wide ;
An ample table with supper spread,

With a plate for me beside.
Since then, dear Jim, I've feasted oft,

Throughout this broad, wide land,
From where the Atlantic ebbs and flows,

Across to the Pacific strand:
In marbled halls and dining rooms

Where gold in gaslight glitters,
But nothing yet could please my taste

Like "Aunt Ivory's" buckwheat fritters.

Right here I'd speak a word for her,

In a respectful, reverent way,
For I feel the truth down in my heart

Of every word I say.
For she mothered us all, both boys and girls,

No matter what our standing,
From Field's boys up to the Reach,

Way down to Bishop's Landing.

[151]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Through all her walks of daily life

She always made hearts lighter,
Her cheerful words to weary ones

Would always make them brighter.

When we left our homes, and launched our boats
On this swift, flowing river of life,

We heeded not the shoals and the bars,
That would cause us labor and strife.

For had we not with youthful pride,
Displayed our skill and strength,
On the Aroostook River's rugged stream,
Or the whole Madawaska's length ?

But oh! how often since, dear Jim,

Have we in fancy seen,
The Rips above, and Falls below,

With us walled in between?"

Wallace Libbey Hardison

Wallace Libbey Hardison was the eighth son and
youngest child of Ivory and Dorcas (Libbey) Hardi-
son.

He was born in Caribou, Maine, August 26, 1850,
and was only nineteen years old when he went to Hum-
boldt County, California, traveling by "Prairie
Schooner" a greater part of the way.

Of splendid physique and health, clear in vision,
optimistic as to the future and with a heart overflowing
with generosity and good will, temperate in all things,
Wallace L. Hardison was one of the finest types of
character for a pioneer, wherever his chosen field of
effort might be.

The first three months of his work in the lumber
forests of Northern California brought him no results
except in the knowledge of the ways in which an inex-
perienced lad could be cheated of his pay by a dishonest
employer, for when he left him he tramped many miles
over the mountains to find new employment with only
twenty-five cents in his pocket.

[152]

The Hardison Family

But it was in mature life that he was destined to
become an active and successful citizen of California,
for he soon left the woods of Humboldt County for
the oil territory of Pennsylvania.

It was in 1870 that he went to Pennsylvania to
engage in work in the oil fields with his brothers, James
and Harvey. Success came very soon to him and he
had his first well, which he named the "Eaton Grant"
after the name of a tract of land lying across the
Aroostook river from his father's farm.

He married Miss Clara McDonald, daughter of
William Benjamin Harrison McDonald, of Nickels-
ville, in Venango County, and to this union were born
five children, two dying in infancy.

Guy Lyman, the oldest child, was born in Clarion
County, Penn., April 3, 1876; Augusta, born May
29th, 1880, in McKean County, and Hope, born April
30th, 1889, in Santa Paula.

In 1880 Mr. Hardison was elected to the Penn-
sylvania Legislature, where he served with distinction
but declined a re-election.

Naturally endowed with a genius for organizing
large enterprises, he became interested in many fields
of finance and industry. While still engaged in the oil
business in Pennsylvania he purchased about 10,000
acres of land in Salina and Ellsworth counties, Kansas,
and stocked the same with cattle, horses and hogs.

He founded the National Bank of Salina and was
its president for four years, also the First National
Bank of Eldred, Penn. He resided for several years
in Eldred.

Through the influence of Mr. Lyman Stewart he
visited the oil fields of Los Angeles and Ventura Coun-
ties in California and decided to remove his family and
oil operations to that state, which he did in 1883.

He located in Santa Paula and within a few years
he built a fine home on twenty acres of land. He at
once became active as a promoter of the oil industry,
then in its infancy in California. He organized the

[153]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Hardison Stewart Oil Company, now the Union Oil
Company, the Sespe Oil Company, and many other
smaller companies.

In 1894 he was the chief promoter of the Limoneira
Compay of Santa Paula and with prophetic vision had
forecast the great success of the citrus industry for
Ventura County.

Indeed, his was a nature that blazed the path for
others to reap the reward of his endeavors and sagacity,
rather than for himself. Although promoting and
financing enterprises that figured millions, yet he him-
self left but a small. estate at the time of his death.

In 1895 he became interested in the oil business in
Peru, S. A., and went there to investigate the fields,
but did not find them promising, and reported adversely
to the English syndicate that controlled them. This
visit, however, resulted in his becoming interested in a
rich gold mine in the Andes mountains, about one hun-
dred and fifty miles from Arequipa and for the pur-
chase of which he formed a company called the Inca
Mining Company, of which Charles P. Collins was
president, and active preparations for its development
were begun at once.

Accompanied by his son Guy, his nephews Chester
W. and Fred Brown, and A. C. Hardison, he went
again to Peru, where he gave personal supervision for
two or three years to the work, of carrying forward this
large and difficult enterprise.

Leaving this work, finally in the hands of others,
he returned again to the United States and in 1898 he
entered the oil fields at Fullerton and organized the
Columbia Oil Company, one of the most successful
companies of Southern California.

His last venture of any magnitude was one that
brought heavy losses. In 1900 he purchased the Los
Angeles Herald, then a morning daily, and for four
years he struggled to make it a financial success, but
in vain. When he sold it in 1904 it had swallowed up
the larger portion of the fortune he had put into it.

[154]

The Hardison Family

With that same indomitable will that had charac-
terized him in all his endeavors he again took up the
broken threads of the warp and woof of his business
life and was beginning to mend them to some extent
when he was accidentally killed on April 10th, 1909, at
Roscoe, a small station on the Southern Pacific about
sixteen miles from Los Angeles. An engine of the
Southern Pacific was running noiselessly and he evi-
dently did not notice its approach as he attempted to
cross the track with his auto, in which he was riding
alone. He was struck and instantly killed.

Mr. Hardison married for a second time Miss
Mary Belle Daily, daughter of Dr. J. W. and Drusilla
(Caufield) Daily, formerly of Salina, Kansas. He
resided for a number of years in Los Angeles, but at
the time of his death was living in an historic old adobe
house in South Pasadena, which he had restored and
which was the scene of many a family gathering in the
years that followed its occupancy by him and his hos-
pitable wife.

Genial and kind, helpful and inspiring in his advice,
lofty in his ideals, Mr. Hardison, as "Uncle Wallace,"
was mourned by all his kin and a host of friends.

The widow resides in Los Angeles with her mother,
Mrs. Drusilla Daily Warner.

The three surviving children are residents of Cali-
fornia. Guy, the only son, married Zetta Nordyke
and they have one child, Elizabeth. Augusta married
Charles Lemon and they have four children; they reside
near Sacramento. Hope married James Proctor and
has one child. They reside at Saticoy, Cal.

Mr. Hardison was a Universalist in religious faith
and a thirty-two degree Mason.

Family of Ida (Hardison) Brown

Ida Hardison Brown, youngest daughter of Ivory
and Dorcas (Libbey) Hardison, was born in Caribou
July 24th, 1846.

[155]

Our Folks and Your Folks

She was united in marriage with Addison J. Brown,
son of Simon and Zilpha (Hall) Brown, of Washburn,
Maine, and three children were born to this union :

Chester Wallace, born October 29th, 1868; Fred,
born April 3, 1870, and Mary, born January 4, 1873.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown resided in Washburn until
the year 1875, when Mr. Brown went to Pennsylvania
for employment in the oil fields and eventually died
there. Mrs. Brown with her three children went home
to live with her parents and resided with them until the
house was destroyed by fire. It was then decided to
purchase a farm in Woodland, about four miles from
the village of Caribou, on the New Sweden road. A
fine house was erected and here the family remained
until they removed to Santa Paula, where the boys,
Chester and Fred, found employment in the oil fields.

Mrs. Brown spent two pleasant years in Arequipa,
Peru, with her sons, who were for a number of years
engaged in mining there.

She is active in the work of the Universalist church
of Santa Paula and highly respected.

Chester Wallace Brown
Chester Wallace Brown, the elder son of Addison
J. and Ida (Hardison) Brown, is now a successful oil
man of Los Angeles, California, being the manager
of the Field Department of the Union Oil Company
of California, and recognized as foremost among the
experienced oil men of the state.

For a number of years he was in Peru, South
America, where he went in 1895, in company with his
uncle, Wallace L. Hardison, to inspect the Negritos
oil field, which project was abandoned after three
months, having proven not sufficiently inviting. At
about the time the Negritos oil project was being in-
vestigated there was a great excitement in Lima, the
capital of Peru, over a rich gold mine, discovered in
the southern part of the Republic by two native Peru-
vians. Mr. Hardison, always having been a pioneer,

[156]

CHESTER W BROWt

HELEN LOUIS BROWN

The Hardison Family

was enthused by the prospects of getting into the wilds
of Southeastern Peru, and opening up a real gold
mine. Mr. Brown was also eager for the adventure
and they made a trip together, which took three months,
the mode of travel being by steamer south three days,
railroad three days and the balance of the time on
mule back and on foot. The result of the trip was the
purchase of the mine discovered by the two natives
and the forming of the Inca Mining Company, with
head office at Bradford, Pa. Mr. Brown was general
manager for fourteen years, during which period good
roads, trails and buildings were erected and the prop-
erty made accessible and a comfortable place to live.
Millions were taken from the mine.

During the fourteen-year period Mr. Brown se-
cured from the Peruvian Government the concession
for rubber lands by building a road and trail to a
navigable point on the upper Amazon. By the building
of roads and trails he secured in fee one million acres
of land which was covered by all kinds of tropical
timber, among which were rubber trees. This part of
Peru had never been explored and was so designated
on the Peruvian maps. It took three years for the
large force of engineers to locate the lands wanted.
After the roads were completed a river steamer was
built in Chicago in sections and shipped to Peru. From
the railroad point there it was packed on mules and
by Indians to a navigable point on the river, which
was the terminal of the trail built by him. The dis-
tance was 250 miles, which crossed the Andes at an
elevation of about 16,000 feet. This project alone
took three years. It was an employment calling for
great fortitude and industry as well as diplomacy and
business ability, and Mr. Brown made an enviable
record for fidelity and efficiency.

On one of his visits to Los Angeles he was married
to Miss Helen Louis, daughter of Mrs. M. E. Louis.

Their children are :

James Chester, born July 11, 1903, Arequipa, Peru.

Elizabeth, born Sept. 6, 1907, Arequipa, Peru.

[157]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Freda, born Feb. 25, 1912, Los Angeles, Cal.
Ruth Evelyn, born Jan. 5, 1914, Los Angeles, Cal.
Dorcas Abbott, born Oct. 4, 1916, Los Angeles, Cal.

The parentage of Mrs. Chester W. Brown (Helen
Louis), is French on her father's side. Her grand-
father, Nicholas Ferdinand Louis, lived in Paris until
he was twenty-one and then came to Southern Indiana.
Of his wife nothing is known except that she was born
of French parents in America.

John Louis, son of Nicholas Ferdinand Louis, on
the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted and served for
four years in the Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry, being
honorably discharged as Captain.

He married Maria Elizabeth Graham, a native
of Indiana, who was of Holland-Dutch descent from
her mother and the Grants of Kentucky on her father's
side. Also from John Shelmire, who was a Captain
in the Revolutionary Army. There has been one Shel-
mire or more, in every American war, and it is through
this line that Mrs. Brown has established her title to
be a daughter of the American Revolution.

Captain John Louis died when Helen was only a
year old. Her mother, Mrs. M. E. Louis, has been
a resident of Los Angeles for many years.

Fred Brown

Fred Brown, second son of Addison J. and Ida
(Hardison) Brown, was born in Washburn, Maine.

He came with his mother to Santa Paula and
worked for a number of years in the oil fields of Ven-
tura county. He then went with his brother Chester
to Peru, South America, to take charge of the trans-
portation work of the Inca Mining Company. The
task was a tremendous and dangerous one, for all the
gold taken from the mine had to be carried out by
Mr. Brown, and all the provisions to feed some two
hundred employes had to be brought to the mine over
the highest points of the Andes, on the backs of In-
dians.

[158]

The Hardison Family

Fred Brown married in Santa Paula, Ruth Hardi-
son, daughter of Harvey and Delphine (Weatherby)
Hardison, and she was with him in Peru during all
the years of his employment with the Inca Mining
Company. On their return to this country they estab-
lished again a residence in Santa Paula.

During the World War Mrs. Brown was very
active in Red Cross work in Santa Paula.

Family of Mayme (Brown) and Samuel Camden
Graham

Mayme, the only daughter of Addison J. and Ida
(Hardison) Brown, married Samuel Camden Graham,
at that time a resident of Santa Paula, on February
28th, 1893. To this union were born two sons, Har-
land Brown, in Santa Paula, January 6th, 1894, and
Grayson Bard, in Los Angeles, November 12th, 1902.

Samuel Camden Graham is a native of Pennsyl-
vania, and his parents were William Idings and Sarah
(Davis) Graham, of Butler county. William Idings,
a great grandfather of S. C. Graham, was in the Revo-
lutionary War and fought with "Mad" Anthony
Wayne in many a desperate battle with the Indians.

S. C. Graham was twenty-six years old when he
came to California to engage in the oil production of
Ventura County in 1888, having had some valuable ex-
perience in this industry in Eastern New York, Ohio,
and Kentucky.

For ten years he operated in Ventura county with
success and then came to Los Angeles and entered the
Fullerton field, where he developed the Graham-Loftus
properties. He has been continuously connected with
the oil industry during the thirty-one years he has
resided in California, and has promoted many enter-
prises.

Mr. Graham is also well known in the political life
of the State, for while never desiring office for himself
and declining many honors offered in this direction, he
is recognized as a deep student of political questions

[159]

Our Folks and Your Folks

and devotes much time to the study of the country's
natural resources and the development of the same. In
1911 he served by appointment of Governor Johnson
on the State Board or the Water Commission and dur-
ing the building of the Los Angeles Aqueduct wrote
many instructive articles and gave addresses on the
economic distribution of the water.

He was actively identified with the Non-partisan
and Good Government organizations of Los Angeles
city and county and served as Police Commissioner for
a term.

He is a generous contributor to many forms of civic
and philanthropic work.

Harland Brown Graham, son of Samuel Camden
and Mayme (Brown) Graham, was graduated from
the Los Angeles High School and afterward from the
State University of Illinois.

After getting his degree, he was taking a post-
graduate course at the university when he enlisted in
the United States Army and went to Berkeley for
ground school work in aviation, and in which he was
the honor man of his class. From there, he went to
camps in Texas and Oklahoma, where he was for eight
months. At Kelley Field he received instructions in
flying and was given a commission of lieutenant, and
then sent to Garden City Embarkation point in October
with the expectation of immediate overseas work.
Before the time of departure was fixed, the armistice
was signed and he received his discharge. He returned
to the home of his parents in Los Angeles and entered
commercial life.

Grayson Bard, second son of Samuel Camden and
Mayme (Brown) Graham, is a promising student in
the Los Angeles High School with the expectation of a
college career.

[160]

THE TEAGUE FAMILY

Origin of the Name in Ireland

CHAPTER IV
Judah Dana Teague, Aroostook Pioneer

IN a past so remote that no historian has dared to
fix the date, certain wild tribes of Asia, belonging
probably to the Scythian race, swept over Europe.

More addicted to warfare than to peaceful pursuits,
they failed to formulate a government and existed as
hostile tribes side by side.

Our story, which is mostly legendary, has to deal
with the Milesian, or Scotic race, which crossed the
mainland from Spain to Ireland and for weal or woe
pitched their tents in the midst of the natives already
occupying the land.

After the death of King Milesius of Spain, so the
legend runs, his eight sons, accompanied by their
mother, Scotia, left the coast of Spain in a fleet of
sixty boats which contained all their vassals and equip-
ments, for a home in a new country that might be dis-
covered.

The names of the sons were Donn, Aireach, Heber
Fionn, Amerghin, Ir, Colpa, Armana, and Heremon.

When nearing the coast of Ireland a violent storm
arose and so scattered the little fleet that no two boats
remained together.

The first victim of Neptune's wrath was Donn, who
perished with his entire crew at a place called by his
name, Teagh Donn.

The only survivors of this terrible storm were
Heremon and Heber Fionn, and their families and
attendants.

[161]

Our Folks and Your Folks

After searching for each other, the two brothers
finally came together and then disembarked at Bantry,
in the county of Cork, or Kerry.

Three days after their landing they were attacked
by the native Irish and a bloody battle ensued in which
the Milesians were the victors and the brothers were
thus left the masters of the island.

They divided the conquest between themselves,
Heber taking the southern part and Heremon the
northern part.

The brothers ruled together one year and then
Heber's wife, thinking the division of the territory
unequal, incited her husband to rebel against his
brother.

A battle followed in which Heber was killed and
thus Heremon, like a second Romulus, became the sole
possessor of the island, over which he ruled thirteen
years.

These Milesians had a decided advantage over the
aborigines of the island for they had brought with
them a knowledge of laws, government, and science,
learned from their ancestors in Assyria, Egypt and
Babylon, and it was an easy task for them to conquer
or drive into the interior the natives of the island.

But for hundreds of years these Milesian rulers of
Ireland were divided among themselves, different lords,
descendants of the original stock, holding petty sov-
ereignty by might over as many of their followers as
they could bring under subjection.

From the descendants of Heber Fionn, the brother
slain in battle by Heremon, have come the families that
bore the names of Tadg, Tadig, Teig, O'Tagha, Teige,
O'Tadley, and later, the anglaisized form of the name,
Tighe, Mon Tague, and Teague.

There is an interesting and rare old book written in
the 16th century, entitled, "The Annals of Ireland, or
The Four Masters," by Michael O'Cleary, who styles
himself "A Poor Brother of the Order of St. Francis."

[162]

The Teague Family

A part of the dedication of the book is as follows :

"To Teige, Son of Kian, who died king of Munster, A.D.
260.

"Your pedigree can accurately be traced from one genera-
tion to another.

"The posterity of these have had great establishment in
every part of Ireland.

"The race of Cormac Galeny, of Connaugh, is from you
descended.

"Also the two O'Haras, of the Routes ; also the O'Carrolls,
of Ely;

"Also O'Maghors, the HyBriens, and the O'Connors, of
Derry.

"Fergal O'Gara, thou art son of Tiege."

It was Fergal O'Gara who prevailed on Michael
O'Cleary to write these annals.

A long list of genealogies follows this dedication.

Joyce's History says that this Tiege, son of Kian,
made a boat so large that it took the skins of forty
oxen to cover it. Mention is also made of a Tiege, a
leader of the Munster forces in A.D. 554, as being
borne away by his charioteer severely wounded and who
was afterward healed by a skillful physician.

We will pass now to the year 1002 and to the time
when that famous monarch, Brien Boro, ruled Ireland
for a period of sixty years. He was of the line of
Heber Fionn and was distinguished for his military
exploits as well as for his wisdom and greatness of
mind; for he established literature and also a permanent
rule for surnames.

Heretofore, there were no fixed rules for family
names, and as the son seldom had the name of his
father, there is much confusion in reading Irish history.

The records of the reigning families were, however,
strictly kept because while the right to rule did not
descend arbitrarily from father to son, the person
selected for the ruler was taken from these because he
was the one supposed to be the most capable of ruling.

[163]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Brien Boro was slain in his tent after having won
the battle of Clonderf against the Danes.

He was eighty years old and his only remaining sons
were Teige and Donough, who reigned jointly for
about eight years after the death of the father. Then
Donough, in a jealous rage, slew his brother and this
left him for forty-nine years the monarch of Ireland.
But remorse for the murder of his brother possessed
him, and two years before his death, in 1704, he went
on a pilgrimage to Rome and died as a monk in a mon-
astery there.

The son of his murdered brother, Turloch O'Brien,
reigned until his uncle's death, and in the interim of
his absence, as monarch.

The first ruler to accept the decree of Brien Boro
concerning surnames was Teige of the White Steed,
also called Tadig, or Teague, and he took the name
of O'Connor from his grandfather, the king of Con-
naught. He was the forty-third Christian king of
Connaught and died in 1030.

This decree that all branches of the Milesian race
should take the names of illustrious men among their
ancestors had a marked effect in establishing permanent
surnames.

The prefix "Mac," meant "Son of," and "O" meant
the same as the "Le" of the French.

The interpretation of the name Teige, Tadig, or
Teague, is said to be a poet or philosopher, in Irish
history, and that' this interpretation dates from Teige,
son of Aulif, who was a noted poet and musician. He
is said to have been named for Teige of the White
Steed and from his era dates a noted Gaelic proverb.

However, these early Irish men were more re-
nowned as warriors than as poets, and as they were
constantly in battle for their rights and their religion
it is probable that the modern definition in our diction-
aries of the name Teague as meaning "A low down
Irishman," was inspired by their Protestant and Eng-
lish enemies.

[164]

The Teague Family

Catholicism in Ireland commenced when Main Mai,
a descendant of Heber Fionn, was converted from
paganism to Christianity by St. Patrick.

Sir Richard Tighe, mayor of Dublin in 1651 and
High Sheriff of County Kildare in 1662, claims Main
Mai as his ancestor.

The spelling of the name as "Teague" is noted in
the year 1583 in an Irish history which speaks of
"Teague, son of Cormac, a man of personal figure,
fair complexion, and who possessed most of the white
walled buildings and abasses. He was succeeded by
his son, Cormac MacTeague, of Tipperary, who was a
skilled, comfortable and domestic man above reproach."
Moore's History gives the spelling of Teige of the
White Steed as "Teague."

The change from Catholicism to protestantism is
recorded in the line of Sir Cormac MacTeague, son of
Teague MacCarthy, who displayed great zeal in the
cause of Elizabeth and was rewarded for his services
by the office of High Sheriff of County Kildare and
made the fourteenth lord of Muskerry. He was called
Sir Cormac MacTeague and given a great amount of
property at the time of the confiscation of the estates
of the Catholics.

He married for his first wife Ellen Lee and for a
second wife Joan, daughter of Pierce Butler, famous
in the history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

A son, Donough, by the first wife, married Ellen,
daughter of Daniel Mac O'wen Teige. He died in
1605, leaving a son Charles MacCarty (Teig) who
had sixteen sons, thirteen of whom emigrated.

Sir Cormac MacTeague died in Blarney Castle in
1583.

Among the names of Catholics whose property was
confiscated in 1656 are those of Daniel Mac Teague
Mac Duff, Donough Mac Teig, Owen Mac Teag, Der-
mot Mac Teig, of the barony of Dun Kerron.

[165]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Under the title "Emoluments of the Innocent" are
the names John Mac Teig, William Mac Teig, Daniel
Mac Teig, Charles Mac Teig, Gerald Teague and
Alderman Richard Teague.

Cox's History of Ireland gives the names of Edme
Mac Teague, son of Mac Cartney, and Teague Mac
Carthy, as persons living in Ireland in the year 1580.

It may seem a far cry from all this early and frag-
mentary history to our present time and this data is
presented to the reader for simply what it is worth as an
interesting account of the origin of the name.

There is no attempt to establish any connecting
links, but it may be of interest to remember that it was
less than forty years from this date of the name of
Mac Teague in Ireland, as given by Cox, that it appears
with the same spelling, but without the prefix, as the
name of one of the early settlers of Hingham, Mass.

The Teague Family in America
The first family record in America is that of Daniel
Teague, a taxpayer in Hingham, Mass., in 1719.
Probably others came at an earlier date if, as the his-
torian says, "there were sixteen sons of Charles
McCarty Teig, who immigrated."

Daniel married in 1719 Sarah Pray, and their
oldest son, Daniel, was born that same year. He
married February 26th, 1741, Elizabeth, daughter of
Isaac and Hannah (Lincoln) Lane, who was born in
Hingham November 21st, 1717. From the maternal
side, that of Hannah Lincoln, there comes an interest-
ing link with the family of Abraham Lincoln, whose
ancestors were of Hingham, England.

An extract from a recent letter published in the
Chicago Tribune and written from England says :

"Some centuries ago an ancestor of Abraham Lincoln was
born at Hingham, near here, and natives are quite proud of the
fact. The old home town of the Lincolns is a hot bed of
Americanism. Besides, Hingham is the granddaddy to Hing-
ham, Mass."

[166]

The Teague Family

The children of Daniel and Elizabeth (Lane)
were: Bani, Elizabeth, Elkanah, Sarah and David.
Bani, the eldest son, was born February 27th, 1742,
and he married Lucy, daughter of Ebenezer Lincoln.
Several brothers of Lucy moved to Maine and Bani
and his wife probably went with them and settled in,
or near, Turner. A history of Buckfield, Maine, says
that he settled on lot 2, East side division north of
the river on the Turner line. Part of this lot was
afterward the property of Nathaniel Chase. Bani, a
son of Bani and Lucy, built a mill on the river in Turner
about one mile from the Turner line, and they were
first called "Teague's Mills," and afterward Chase's
Mills. Bani Teague's name disappears from the tax
list after 1815.

The other children of Bani and Lucy were : Patty,
Polly, Elizabeth, and Judah.

Bani, junior, married Sarah Tuttle, of Buckfield;
Patty married Peter Cilley; Polly married Simon
Cilley; Elizabeth married Samuel Irish; and Judah
married Eleanor Knights, of Westbrook. In the
Census of Lincoln County in 1790 there is the name of
a Daniel Tighe, and while the spelling is not the same
he was probably of the same family.

Bani, the third, married Sally, daughter of John
White; she died in 1864. Her husband survived her
for thirty years, dying in 1894.

Their children were Henry and Horace. The
latter went South and is said to have been drafted into
the Confederate army.

It is of the family of the first Judah Dana Teague
that the descendants represented in this book are espe-
cially interested. He married Eleanor Knights and
their children were:

Richard, who married first Lydia Lombard, second
Betsey Stevens.

Bani, who married Mary Lombard, a sister of
Lydia.

[167]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Isaac, who married Rebecca Benson.

Eleanor, who was born December 30th, 1804, and
married about 1826 Allan Pompilly. She died Decem-
ber 29th, 1878.

Abigail, who married Ami Loring; Joanna, who
married Isaac Shaw; Fannie, who married Elbridge
Irish, and Freedom, who married Rachael Pensdel.

We are indebted for a part of this record to Miss
Grace Pompilly, of Pasadena, Cal., whose father was
Judah Dana Pompilly and named after his grandfather
Judah Dana, son of Bani and Lucy (Lincoln) Teague.

Miss Pompilly's father was educated for the Con-
gregational misintry, but his health failed and he en-
tered into the insurance business, in which he was most
successful. He died before reaching middle life.

Family of Judah Dana Teague

Judah Dana Teague, son of Richard and Lydia
(Lombard) Teague, was one of a family of seven
children, Judah, Daniel, Louisa, Rufus, and Naomi,
Herbert and Edward.

He was born in Turner, July 18, 1821, and fol-
lowed the occupation of a merchant there until he
moved to Caribou in 1861.

He married Frances Evaline Morse (see Walker
and Morse families) and five children were born in
Turner: Milton Dana, Eliza Ann, Mary A., Alletta
Evaline, Clara Louisa.

He opened a store of general merchandise in
Caribou and also took up a quarter section of land in
the village and built on it a two-story house and stable.

He continued in trade for a number of years, after
which he devoted his time chiefly to farming.

In 1 869 his wife died after a lingering illness. Two
children were born in Caribou, Kate Forest and
Richard Henry.

By a marriage later with Miss Ann Eliza Small,
oldest daughter of William and Malinda (Randall)

[168]

RICHARD TEAGUE.OF TURNER, ME.

The Teague Family

Small, there was a second family of seven children, only
three of whom lived to grow to maturity. These are :
Electra, born November 18, 1871 ; Dana Lyndon, born
August 6, 1875, and Donald Spencer, born October,
1882. All of these are now residents of Santa Paula,
California.

Willie S., an unusually promising lad, died of
diphtheria July, 1880, and three other boys, Calvert,
Daniel, Norman and Harold, died before they were
three years of age.

Judah Dana Teague was a man of sterling worth
and exemplary life. His education was acquired in the
public schools and his early opportunities were limited
but he became a man of polished speech and address
and a fluent public speaker.

He was a close reader and student of current events
and always had the courage to voice his convictions.

An ardent Republican, he upheld the principles of
his party in many a hot debate and also consistently
supported the prohibition of the liquor traffic.

Mr. Teague represented his district with ability in
the State Legislature in the years 1867, 1868, 1869,
and again in 1895.

He was elected again in September, 1896, but was
ill at the time and in October, 1896, he died of angina
pectoris.

He also held many positions of trust in the town of
Caribou. In early life, he had been connected with an
evangelical church, but his naturally religious nature
found its deepest satisfaction in a belief in the ultimate
salvation of all mankind and he was associated with the
founding of the First Universalist church of Caribou.

Some years before his death he gave to the town a
fine tract of land to be used as a public park.

It is now known as Teague Park and has been set
to trees and shrubs and is a splendid memorial of a
former respected and prominent citizen.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Mrs Ann E. Teague
Anna Eliza Small was united in marriage with
Judah Dana Teague of Caribou, where she resided
until her removal to Santa Paula, Cal., in May, 1915,
and where she now resides with her only daughter,
Mrs. George Briggs. Previous to this Mrs. Teague
made her home with her stepson, Richard Teague, in
Ventura, and with her son Dana, in Santa Paula, for
a number of years.

Mrs. Teague was a successful teacher before her
marriage and all her life has been interested in edu-
cational and reform work.

She was also a musician of good ability and for
many years gave her services as church organist to the
struggling church of Caribou. She also instructed
classes of children in singing, and was the moving
spirit in carrying forward many social entertainments
that meant much to a small and isolated community
forced to depend on its own resources for the enter-
tainment and education of its young people.

Of calm and philosophical temperament, with
charity for all and malice toward none; surrounded
with books and flowers, the sunshine of California,
and the loving care of children and grandchildren,
she sees in the setting rays of life only peace, happi-
ness and abiding faith that the final outcome is one of
triumph and immortality.

The Family of William Small
William Small, the father of Mrs. Ann E. Teague
(Mrs. Judah Dana), was born in Wales, Kennebec
County, Maine, and was one of a family of thirteen
remarkable for its longevity and mental as well as phys-
ical strength.

The father's name was Joseph and the mother's
Mary, or Molly, Jackson. Limington, Maine, was the
home of one of them and perhaps both.

Of their eight sons and five daughters all, with the
exception of Washington, who died at the age of 21,

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The Teague Family

lived to a ripe old age, and four of them, Isaac, Joel,
Mary and Jane, each lived to be past ninety.

The names of the family are as follows: Isaac,
Joel, Joseph, Otis, Daniel, Alvan, William, Washing-
ton, Jane, Joanne, Susan, Hannah and Mary.

Daniel was a Baptist minister and Alvan a home-
opathic physician of Philadelphia and Chicago. He
died in the latter city in 1893, aged about seventy-seven
years.

Isaac, Joel, Joseph, William, Washington, Jane,
Joanna, Susan and Hannah lived and died in Maine in
comfortable homes of their own; Otis in St. John, New
Brunswick, and Mary in Charlstown, Massachusetts.

In October, 1839, William Small married Malinda
Randall, daughter of Deacon Ezra Randall, of Tops-
ham, and whose mother was Theoda Lee, of Barre,
Massachusetts.

Deacon Randall was a man of forceful character
and left a fine old estate in Lewiston, Maine. He was
twice married and had a family of eighteen children.

Mr. and Mrs. William Small moved to Fort Fair-
field, Maine, in 1860. Mr. Small was then about forty-
eight years old and had previously followed the occu-
pation of a railroad man, serving on the Maine Central
and Farmington branch.

He engaged in trade in the growing town of Ft.
Fairfield and became one of. its most prominent and
useful citizens. He was a good public speaker and a
staunch advocate of prohibition and its enforcement.

In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Small were Univer-
salists.

Of the five children born to them, two died in
infancy.

The oldest daughter, Ann Eliza, born July 30, 1842,
was married to Judah Dana Teague, on May 30, 1869,
Adelaide, born Oct. 1851, married Charles W. John-
stone, of Ft. Fairfield.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Mr. Johnston died in San Diego in the winter of
1916 and Mrs. Johnston in Ft. Fairfield Sept. 22, 1917.

Two sons survive them, Cecil and Ray.

Mrs. Johnston was a woman of unusual sweetness
of character and deep spirituality.

For many years she was a devoted worker in the
temperance cause and filled the office of secretary of the
Aroostook County W. C. T. U. with much ability.

Family of Richard and Lydia (Lombard) Teague

The family record of Richard Teague, whose
photograph is found on another page, also a pen and ink
drawing of the old Teague homestead on Turner Hill,
is as follows :

Judah Dana, sketches and records of family in
another place.

Daniel married Clara Cary and Mary Bradford.

Children by Clara are Adelaide, Herbert and
Albert, who were twins.

Albert Teague lives in Los Angeles and is a success-
ful druggist.

Rufus married Josephine Hardy, and they had three
children, Gertrude, Affie and May. Rufus enlisted
from Caribou in the Civil war and died while in the
service.

Naomi married Dexter Fish and the children born
to this union were Edith, Howard, Dana, Effie and
Kate.

Kate married — . Gilmore and resides in Brooklyn,
N. Y.

Louisa, marriage unknown.

Edward and Herbert, children of Naomi and
Dexter Fish are: Dana, who has two children, Milton
Teague Fish and Roy Fish. Edward died recently in
Dakota and Herbert lives in Madison, Me.

[172]

JUDAH DANA TEAGUE

The Teague Family

Ancestry of E valine (Morse) Teague

The ancestry of Evaline (Morse) Teague, wife of
Judah Dana Teague, can be traced by records to
Thomas Walker and wife Mary, whose son Thomas
Walker, Jr., was born in Sudbury, Mass., May 22,
1664. He married Martha How, December 7, 1687.
Jason, their son, married Hannah Burnap, December
25, 1732, and they had ten children. John, the eighth
child, was born June 20, 1749, in Hopkinton, Mass.,
and married Mary Gibbs of Holliston, Mass., July 16,
1769. They had a daughter, Bethiah, who married
Henry Morse, son of Thomas, who is recorded as being
baptised April 28, 1782.

There is no record in Massachusetts of the mar-
riage of Henry and Bethiah and probably it did not
occur until after their removal to Livermore, Me.
They had several children and among them were
Frances Evaline, who married Judah Dana Teague,
Clarissa, who married a Godding, and Lucetta, who
married Chesman Nelson, of Portland, Me. Mr. and
Mrs. Nelson had four sons, George, William, Arthur
and Lyman. The only one of these now living is
Lyman, a prominent citizen of Portland, Me.

There were two or three sons of Henry and Bethiah
Morse, but we have been unable to find any records of
them.

The name of Morse, which originally was spelled
Mors, is of German origin, and an ancient and honor-
able one in England and America. There is a Morse
monument in Medway, Mass., dedicated to the memory
of seven Puritans who emigrated to America in 1625.
One of these, Samuel, settled in Dedham and died in
Medway. Another, Joseph, settled in Ipswich, dying
in 1646.

It was probably one of these two men who was the
ancestor of Henry Morse.

The name of Samuel and Joseph appear so
frequently in both branches that we find it impossible to

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Our Folks and Your Folks

be certain as to which one was the ancestor of Henry
Morse. Joseph and Samuel were probably brothers.

It is said that "the Honorable Joseph Morse, an
incorporator of the town of Sherbon, was educated in
the principles of his Puritan ancestors."

The name of Henry appears more frequendy in the
line of Joseph.

Milton Dana Teague

Milton Dana Teague, the oldest child of Judah
Dana and Evaline (Morse) Teague, was born in
Turner, Maine, April 25, 1848, and accompanied his
father to Caribou, Aroostook County, when a lad of
about twelve, the oldest of five children at that time.
He gave promise of unusual business ability at an early
age, for when he was fifteen his father sent him, accom-
panid by his sister Mary, who was four years younger,
back to Turner to buy some merchandise, the two trav-
elling by private carriage over the long distance of two
hundred and fifty miles, part of which lay through an
unbroken wilderness of a hundred miles in Aroostook
County. It was work of this kind that developed a
sense of initiative and responsibility in children in those
early days.

At about eighteen years of age Mr. Teague was
appointed a deputy collector of customs at Ft. Fairfield
and he continued to serve for several years in this
capacity, also engaging in the business of general mer-
chandise in Caribou in partnership with Abram J.
Sawin.

He was united in marriage with Clara Wilson Col-
lins, oldest daughter of Samuel Wilson Collins and
Dorcas (Hardison) Collins, on April 4, 1869, and to
this union there were born three children, Zoa Evelyn,
Charles Collins and Madge Nowland Teague.

In 1883, an inducement was made to Mr. Teague
by Charles P. Collins and Wallace L. Hardison, to

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The Teague Family

go to Salina, Kansas, and take charge of a national
bank which they had established there. Consequently
he moved with his family to that town and was for
about ten years prominently identified with its growth
and progress. He finally resigned from the position
of General Manager of the bank to promote an oil
business in Kentucky which included the piping of gas
to towns along the Ohio river and as far as Cincinnati.

Before he had completed the enterprise, his health
failed him and he came to California in November,
1892. Although he only lived eight months after his
arrival, dying August 9, 1893, his optimistic spirit
triumphed over all depression of ill health and he
helped his son Charles to set out twenty acres of land
in Santa Paula to lemons, an industry that was then
in its infancy in California.

His claim that the orchard would eventually pay
five hundred dollars an acre was met with incredulity
by nearly every one, but time has proved that his esti-
mates of the success of the citrus industry in Southern
California were most conservative.

Mr. Teague was of a fine commanding presence
and possessed a personality that won for him lasting
friends.

He died at an early age, only forty-five, but in his
life he accomplished as much as most men who live to
a much longer period.

He died at Santa Paula and is buried in the cem-
etery there.

Clara Wilson Teague-Gries
Clara Wilson, oldest daughter of Samuel Wilson
and Dorcas (Hardison) Collins, was born in Caribou
March 15th, 1849. On April 4th, 1869, she was
united in marriage with Milton Dana Teague.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Receiving an advantageous offer to go to Salina,
Kansas, Mr. and Mrs. Teague moved to that city in
1883.

In that young and growing town of the west, Mrs.
Teague soon became identified with the social and lit-
erary life and acquired a large circle of friends.

Prosperous years followed and then came financial
reverses and finally the family removed to Santa Paula,
California, where Mr. Teague had preceded them on
account of failing health.

The first years spent in California were years that
required a stout heart and strenuous work, a condition
that was met with much courage and fidelity.

Mr. Teague died on the ninth day of August, 1893,
the first year of their residence in Santa Paula.

In March, 1897, Mrs. Teague married Jacob K.
Gries, a prominent citizen of Ventura County, with a
residence at Nordhoff in the beautiful Oji valley.

Mr. Gries was reared in Ohio and at the age of
twenty moved to Indiana.

He went to California and engaged in mining on
the Yuba river, also hotel keeping. He went to Ven-
tura in 1869 and became a large land owner. He set-
tled in Nordhoff in 1887 and lived there until his death
on January 1st, 1903.

He was a man of integrity of character and highly
respected by all who knew him.

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Gries re-
moved to Los Angeles and built a beautiful home on
West Adams street.

Mrs. Gries has been twice abroad and was in
Europe on the breaking out of the great World War.

She saw the mobilization of the troops in Germany
and hastened on to Paris amidst the gathering storm
that presaged the great conflict. With keen foresight
she realized to some extent the critical situation and
urged her traveling companions, among whom were
Mrs. Alice McKevett, Miss Maria Stowell, Mrs.

[176]

The Teague Family

Hattie Divens, Mrs. Alletta E. Wilson, and Miss Mar-
garet Hunnewell, to make all possible haste to get out
of Paris before the storm broke over their heads.

She saw an advertisement in a Paris paper of a man
who offered to take a party in a boat which he had
chartered, down the Seine to Havre for one hundred
dollars apiece. The price was large for a journey that
usually cost only seven dollars, but on investigating it,
Mrs. Cecelia White, the able conductor of the party,
decided that it was important to make all possible haste
and the offer was accepted. Three anxious days and
nights were spent aboard the boat, for with the fear of
the uncertainty of reaching their destination was
mingled a distrust of the honesty of their unknown man
conductor.

But they landed in safety in Southampton and in
time to make their passage from Liverpool to America
on the steamer for which their return fare had been
paid.

They were the only party that left Paris by the
river Seine at that time.

Charles Collins Teague

Charles Collins Teague, only son of Milton Dana
Teague and Clara (Collins) Teague, was born in
Caribou, Maine, June 11th, 1873. He was seven
years of age when his parents .moved to Salina, Kansas,
where he received an education in the public schools
and at St. John's Military Academy.

Because of the failing health of the father, the
family removed to Santa Paula, Cal., in 1892, and the
death of the father in the following year left the son,
then about twenty years old, in sole charge of the
twenty acres of lemons that the father had helped him
to plant in the belief that it would prove to be an
investment that would bring a handsome return to his
family.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

While waiting for the orchard to mature, Charles
increased his experience in the citrus industry by
working in the orchards of Nathan W. Blanchard, one
of the pioneers of Santa Paula, and a successful and
extensive horticulturist.

He next became the manager of the Santa Paula
Horse and Cattle Company, a corporation doing a
large business, and also took on the management of
the interests of his great uncle, Wallace L. Hardison,
who had removed from Santa Paula to Los Angeles.

There had been organized by Wallace L. Hardison,
N. W. Blanchard and C. P. Collins a company called
the Limoneira, for the purpose of promoting the citrus
industry, then in its infancy.

They owned an orchard of 412 acres, planted in
1893, and in 1898, just as the trees were beginning to
give promise of a good crop, there came a killing frost
and the groves were so badly damaged on one hundred
acres that it was decided to uproot the lemon trees and
plant to walnuts.

Charles Collins Teague was twenty-five years old
when he assumed the responsible position of vice-presi-
dent and manager of this great company, a company
destined, under his efficient control, to become known as
possessing one of the largest and most famous lemon
orchards of the world.

In 1912, by his advice and recommendation, the
company purchased the Oliveland Ranch of 2300 acres
and set 600 acres to lemons.

There were 240 acres of walnuts just beginning to
bear.

The Limoneira now consists of 900 acres, planted
in fine groves of lemons ; 240 acres of walnuts, and acre-
age devoted to hay and other forms of agriculture. It
employs three hundred men continuously, and at times
as high as five hundred men, and ships about four hun-
dred carloads of lemons annually.

Mr. Teague is also president and manager of the
Teague-McKevett Company, which owns 300 acres of

[178]

CHAS. C TEAGUE

The Teague Family

lemon orchards, and manager of the Santa Paula Water
Works and of the Thermal Belt Water Company.

A feature that has brought much credit to Mr.
Teague in his work as manager is the method he discov-
ered of curing the lemons through the "tent" system,
and which has been adopted widely throughout the
citrus growing belt.

When he first came to the management _ of the
Limoneria the methods of curing and handling the
lemons was very unsatisfactory and he turned his atten-
tion to a careful study of how to get better results and
freely gave his knowledge and experience to all inter-
ested, speaking before conventions and associations,
thus helping to raise the standards everywhere.

As a walnut grower, Mr. Teague has also met with
success, not only in making the Limoneira famed for
the quality of its nuts, but also in organizing the walnut
growers of the state so that they may obtain a fair
and uniform price. He is president of the California
Walnut Growers Association, which markets about
seventy per cent of the walnuts of the state.

He is also a member and director of the California
Fruit Growers Exchange, which helps the growers of
oranges and lemons to market their products and dis-
tribute the same. The returns to the growers in 1916
were twenty-eight million dollars, a result that can be
obtained only in cooperative methods brought about
through efforts of public-spirited men who give freely
of their time and abilities for the general good. Mr.
Teague is a public-spirited man in many other ways.
He gives freely and generously to all worthy causes,
and the church and temperance forces ever find in him
a staunch supporter. The sick and unfortunate also
have in him a sympathetic and generous helper.

While interested in the political affairs of the state
and his county, Mr. Teague has steadfastly refused all
honors that have been offered; but in the crucial years
of the war with Germany he manifested his loyalty
and patriotism by serving with devotion and fidelity

[179]

Our Folks and Your Folks

as a member of the Local Exemption Board of Ventura
county at a sacrifice of time and strength needed in his
extensive business interests. And as president of the
First National Bank of Santa Paula he was a strong
factor in putting the Liberty Loan drives "over the
top."

Mr. Teague is especially happy in his home life.
In November, 1897, he married Miss Harriet
McKevett, oldest daughter of Charles H. and Alice
(Stowell) McKevett, and who is in complete accord
with her husband in the desire for a useful and unosten-
tatious life.

They have given to the city of Santa Paula a beauti-
ful little park, in which is located the fine club house,
built in 1917 by their mother, Mrs. Alice McKevett.

Mr. and Mrs. Teague have three children, Alice
McKevett, born August 14, 1898; Milton McKevett,
born September 17, 1902, 'and Charles McKevett,
born September 18, 1909.

Charles H. McKevett

Charles Henry McKevett was born in Cortland
County, New York, October 3, 1848, and when quite
young went to Petroleum Center, Penna., in the early
days of the finding of oil, where he soon became an
independent operator.

His knowledge of the business was most compre-
hensive, and for fifteen years he continued to operate in
Butler, Clarion, Warren, and McKean counties.

After amassing a comfortable fortune, he chose
California for a permanent home, coming to this state
in 1886, where he lived for twenty-two years.

In 1878 Mr. McKevett organized the Santa Paula
Lumber Company and was President and General
Manager.

One year later he organized the Santa Paula State
Bank, which was converted into The First National
Bank of Santa Paula in 1889, Mr. McKevett being

[180]

MRS. ANN E. TEAGL'E

The Teague Family

elected to the presidency, which office he filled for
eighteen years.

He was Secretary and Treasurer of the Graham
Loftus Oil Company, Vice-President of the Santa
Paula Water Company, Treasurer and Director of the
Limoneira Company.

His life was one of great activity. He was inter-
ested in every upward movement inaugurated in the
County, and his interest was always a helpful one.

When he died the community and the County lost
a man who had contributed largely and in numerous
ways to the betterment and upbuilding of Ventura
County.

He was a Republican in politics, a Knight Templar
and a member of the Mystic Shrine.

In 1873 Mr. McKevett was married in Pennsyl-
vania to Miss Alice Stowell.

Mrs. McKevett removed to Los Angeles after the
death of her husband, but has ever maintained a deep
interest in the city of Santa Paula and has given to that
city the grounds on which the North Grammar School
is located, and has built and equipped a large and finely
appointed club house, which she has given to the women
of Santa Paula. She is a member of the Friday Morn-
ing Club and the Ebell Club of Los Angeles, and also
is active in the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She is a generous supporter of many charities and
interested in civic betterment..

A deep affliction came to her in the summer of
1919 through the death of two of her three children,
Allan, her only son, and Helen, the younger daughter.

Allan Charles McKevett

Allan Charles McKevett was born in Brad-
ford, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1884. He was two
years old when he came with his parents to Santa
Paula, and his education was obtained in the public
schools of that city. Because of a weakened condition

[181]

Our Folks and Your Folks

of the eyes he was unable to continue further studies
after leaving the high school, and was taken by his
father into the bank, of which he was president, to
learn the system of banking.

After the death of his father, Allan assumed the
duties of the various offices that he had held and
became a director in the bank, treasurer of the Uni-
versalist Church of Santa Paula, treasurer and a mem-
ber of the Board of Directors of the Graham Loftus
Oil Company, in which his father was a large stock-
holder, and assumed the management of the McKevett
lemon groves and lands.

He was an excellent business man, careful, con-
scientious and upright in all of his dealings, and uni-
versally well liked and respected.

He was also generous and helpful in spirit and
many were made happier through his unostentatious
and quiet assistance.

In his domestic life he was a most loving and kind
husband and father.

He was united in marriage with Miss Ruth Lowrey,
June 6, 1908, and to this union was born one child,
Virginia.

He died suddenly on June 1 , 1 9 1 9, of heart disease,
and his untimely death was felt as a great loss to the
community.

(Note — Allan McKevett's was the first subscription received by
the publishers of this book in response to a letter setting forth the plan
and prospectus.)

Helen McKevett Best

Helen McKevett Best was born in Santa Paula,
March 25, 1890.

She grew to beautiful young womanhood up
through a happy childhood and in pleasant social
circles, which included athletic sports incidental to
country life. She was a good horsewoman and enjoyed
long rides in the saddle, and Nature in all her varying
moods. She was also extremely fond of pets.

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The Teague Family

After graduating from the Girls' Collegiate School
of Los Angeles she accompanied her mother and aunts
on two trips to Europe, the last one extending over a
period of several months, and including Russia.

She was deeply interested in a study of cathedrals
and paintings.

She also traveled extensively in her own country
and about two years ago made a trip to Japan, China
and Honolulu.

After her marriage to Algernon Lester Best of
Los Angeles, December 5, 1914, she became a popular
young matron in exclusive Los Angeles social circles
and was widely known.

She was very steadfast and true in all her friend-
ships and always remembered with interest and gave
assistance to many who were in distress and affliction
through poverty, or illness.

Her health failed and an illness of six months
followed, resulting in her death June 25, 1919, at the
age of twenty-nine years.

Family of Dr. Moses Hodge Ross
The first record of the Ross family in America is
found in Chester, Penn., in 1751, when it is recorded
that "Moses Ross had 318 acres of land surveyed that
year and later, in 1766, 200 acres more," which shows
that he was a large land owner before the Revolution.
He was of Scotch-Irish descent and perhaps related to
a Ross mentioned by name in the Siege of London-
derry.

There is a Ross Castle in Ireland which is an object
of interest to tourists and which may have been the
ancestral seat of the Ross family in America.

There was an Enoch Ross, whose wife's name was
Anna, or Ann, who was taxed for three hundred acres
of land in Washington Co., Penn., in 1781; he was
probably the father of Moses Ross who came down the
Ohio river to Cincinnati on a flat boat, in 1803, and

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Our Folks and Your Folks

finally located in Milford. Enoch Ross either accom-
panied him, or came later, as records show that he was
also there.

Moses Ross married a Scotch woman by the name
of Johnson in 1801, and they had six children, four
sons and two daughters.

One son, Minar Thomas, was educated for a
physician and settled in Goshen, Claremont County, in
1840. He died October 9th, 1858, and his wife died
November 10th, 1884, aged 60 years. The widow,
who survived her husband for twenty-six years, was
left with five children to care for and educate, two
having died in childhood three years before the death
of her husband.

Mrs. Minar Thomas Ross, whose maiden name
was Martha Ann Coombs, daughter of Richard
Coombs, was a woman of great force of character and
ability.

Thrown by the death of her husband on her own
resources, she established a school for girls, in which
she was successful to a large degree.

The names of her sons are Moses, born March 9th,
1846; Thomas, July 1st, 1849; William, born April
27th, 1853; and Neill, born October 29th, 1847. A
daughter, Sarah, was born July 18th, 1851.

Moses N. Ross, the father of Dr. Moses Hodge
Ross, of Los Angeles, married Mary Emma Hodge,
daughter of J. ' N. and Mary (Peyton) Hodge, of
Livingston County, Kentucky. She was born October
10th, 1855. Her father was an owner of forty fam-
ilies of negro slaves before the war, and with their
emancipation he lost his slaves and sold his property
and invested in feldspar mines in Golconda, Ills., and
later in steamboats. Still later, he moved to Kansas,
where he owned large cattle ranches in connection with
his son, Fred.

Mr. and Mrs. Peyton went in their last days to live
with their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs.

[184]

THE OLD TEAGUE HOME ON TURNER HILL

The Teague Family

Moses N. Ross, in Evansville, Ind. He died August
10th, 1906, and his wife December 3rd, 1906.

Moses N. Ross was the assistant postmaster of
the city of Evansville for nearly twenty years, and
was a faithful and able official. In politics he was a
staunch Republican and in religious faith a Methodist,
taking his church affiliation from his mother, as his
father was an Episcopalian.

Mr. Ross was a man who made lasting friendships
and his genial and generous manners made him a good
comrade with many men of note. He died in Evans-
ville.

The children of Moses N. and Emma (Hodge)
Ross are Moses Hodge, born March 5th, 1879; Fred-
erick William, born September 22nd, 1882; Robert
Neill, born January 9th, 1885; Martha, born August
8th, 1886; Jessie, born March 6th, 1892.

Frederick H. married Daisy Crowell, of Los
Angeles; they have two children. Robert N. married
Zelma Sands, daughter of Dr. John Sands, of Ocean
Park, Cal., and they have one child, Robert. Martha
married June 1st, 1910, Stanley R. Evans, of Loomis,
Washington, an extensive cattle man, and they have
two children, Stanley, born April 16th, 1911, and John,
born August 7th, 1914.

Jessie married December, 1914, Claude Winfrey,
of Evansville, Ind. They have two children, Mary
Virginia, born January, 1915, and Claudia, born April
6th, 1916.

Dr. Moses Hodge Ross

Dr. Moses Hodge Ross, oldest son of Moses N.
and Mary Emma (Hodge) Ross, was born in Evans-
ville, Ind., March 5th, 1879.

He was educated in the public schools of Evans-
ville and later was graduated from Rush Medical Col-
lege, Philadelphia. He served for a time in Cook
County Hospital, Chicago, Ills. In the year 1901,
Dr. Ross received an appointment in the U. S. Marine

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Hospital service and was stationed at Cairo, Ills., and
later sent to Los Angeles.

In 1904 he was united in marriage with Miss
Madge N. Teague, second daughter of Milton Dana
and Clara (Collins) Teague.

In 1905, he resigned from the Marine Hospital
service to enter a private practice of medicine in the
city of Los Angeles, and where he ranks as a successful
surgeon and physician.

In August, 1918, Dr. Ross enlisted in the United
States Army for service during the remainder of the
great World War and was given the rank of Captain
and stationed at Camp Fremont, Palo Alto. He was
discharged from the U. S. service in June, 1919.

Dr. and Mrs. Ross have one child, Evalyn Teague
Ross, born December 3rd, 1905.

They reside with their mother, Mrs. Clara Wilson
Gries, at 4015 West Adams street, Los Angeles.

Family of Frank Meredith Vale
Frank Meredith Vale and Zoa Evelyn Teague,
oldest child of Milton Dana and Clara Wilson (Col-
lins) Teague, were married in Santa Paula January
6th, 1897. They resided in Santa Paula until 1901,
and then moved to Los Angeles. Two children were
born here, Marion Teague, July 21st, 1901, and
Frances Teague, June 19th, 1903.

The ancestry of Frank Meredith Vale includes the
names of the Marsh, Armstrong and Johns families
and is of Quaker stock on both the paternal and mater-
nal side. The first known ancestor on the Marsh side
begins with John Marsh, who was living in Armaugh,
Ireland, as early as 1664, and was a "staunch and true
Quaker, who endured many persecutions on account of
his principles." It is evident that he was a thrifty
yoeman, for his cattle and sheep and grain were often
taken from him to pay tithes.

His son Joshua, accompanied by a son John, emmi-
grated to Chester County, Pa., in the spring of 1736,

[186]

IRS. CLARA WILSON GRIES

The Teague Family

and the two families of the father and son settled in
East Nant Meal Township, Chester Co. Joshua made
a will in 1747 naming his son Jonathan as his admin-
istrator and this Jonathan was the great grandfather
of Frank M. Vale on his mother's side. Jonathan
removed to Warrington, York County, Penn., about
1750.

About the same time that the Marsh families came
to America there came from Fennewagh County,
Ireland, Archibald Armstrong, who settled in Wilming-
ton, Del., in 1740. He had a son James and a son of
this James had a son John. A daughter of John,
Elizabeth Armstrong, married Jonathan Marsh.
Phoebe Ann, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth
(Armstrong) Marsh, married Samuel Johns, who was
the son of Nathan Johns, of Welch ancestry, and who
came from Maryland to Pennsylvania. Samuel Johns
died in Chrisman, Edgar County, Illinois, and the
widow, Phoebe Ann (Marsh) Johns, went to Salina,
Kansas, to live with her son, James B. Johns, and died
there about 1898.

The Armstrong family became prominent in
American history through Rebecca, a daughter of
Archibald, the immigrant. She married Colonel Arm-
strong, a distant relative, who was a member of the
Continental Congress and was closely associated with
General Washington in the French and Indian wars,
and who was afterward a Brigadier General under him
and commanded the Pennsylvania troops in the Battle
of Brandywine. A son of John and Rebecca Arm-
strong was Secretary of War in 1812.

The family of Vale commences in this country with
Robert Vale, a sea captain, the immigrant, who came
to Warrington, York County, Pa., from London, Eng-
land, about 1750. His wife was Sarah Buller, of Dub-
lin, Ireland.

John Vale, son of Robert and Sarah (Buller) Vale
had a son Eli, who was born May 16th, 1789, in York
County, Pa., and who died April 25th, 1878, in Clark-

[187]

Our Folks and Your Folks

son, Ohio. He married Anne P. Underwood, born
May 15th, 1796, in York County, Pa., and who died
April 26th, 1833, in Ohio.

The children of Eli and Anne (Underwood) Vale
were ten in number, Mary Ann, who married William
Dyke, John T., Beulah Ann, who married Conkle,
Martha H., who married John Richardson, Hiram P.,
Susanna J., who married Isaac Boothe, Louise, who
married Elwood Pyle, Lewis U., Franklin Thomas
Brooks and James E.

Franklin Thomas Brooks Vale was born in Clark-
son, Ills., March 31st, 1831. He married Mary Den-
ning Johns, daughter of Samuel and Phoebe Ann
(Marsh) Johns, who was born in Beaver County, Pa.,
September 5th, 1831, and who died at the home of her
only living child, Frank Meredith Vale, in Los Angeles,
November 9th, 1904.

Franklin T. B. Vale is still living at the age of
eighty-eight. Mary Denning (Johns) Vale had seven
brothers and sisters: Phoebe, who married William
Blackledge; Johathan, who married Lydia Richards;
Nathan; Elizabeth, who married Ed. Moorland; Ella
who married Nathan Sanford; Sarah, who married
Mathew Brown; Evalyn, who married Charles Craw-
ford; and James B., who married Laura Mitchell.

Mr. and Mrs. James B. Johns reside in San Diego,
removing there from Salina, Kansas. Mrs. Johns
(Laura Mitchell) is a well known suffragist and promi-
nently identified with the suffrage movement in Kansas.
She has served as a member of the San Diego Board
of Education and is active in club work.

Frank Meredith Vale came from Salina to Santa
Paula and was employed for several years with the
Limoneira Company. He came to Los Angeles in 1901
and was the secretary of the Herald Publishing Com-
pany for four years. He then engaged in the oil and
realty business in Los Angeles.

The name Vale is spelled also Vaille and Vail. It
comes from the French of Du Val. Alfred Vail, who

[188]

The Teague Family

was associated with Professor Morse in the discovery
and development of the telegraph; Alfred Vail, who
was charge d'affairs of the United States legation in
London at the court of St. James under Van Buren's
administration; Theodore Vail, of the Western Tele-
graph Company, and Bishop Vail of Iowa, are of the
same ancestry.

Eliza (Teague) Goud

Eliza Ann, the oldest daughter of Judah Dana and
Evaline (Morse) Teague, was born in Turner January
25, 1850, and was united in marriage with Arthur V.
Goud, who was born in Upton, Maine, June 12, 1849.
She died May 11, 1904, at a hospital in Portland,
where she had gone for medical treatment.

Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Goud,
five of whom are living. Jay L. Goud, born 30, 1873,
died October 4, 1873; Norman A., born 17, 1874,
died December 10, 1876; Leon A., born November 3,
1877; Carroll N., born April 28, 1879; Zella Evelyn,
born November 7, 1881 ; Mary Lucetta, born January
28, 1884; Lyman Baxter, born September 22, 1889.
All were born in Caribou.

Carroll married November 22, 1903, in Alameda,
Saskatchewan, Canada, Georgina Eva Snider, who was
born in Walhall, North Dakota, November 22, 1883.
They have four children, Vivian V., Lucy Evangeline,
Arthur David, and Frank Milton.

Mr. and Mrs. Goud are now living on a ranch at
Whitetail, Montana.

Leon married Edith Buntzel, of New York, and
now lives in Estervan. They have four living children,
twin boys and two girls.

Zella Evelyn married Lewis H. Denton, born in
Bell Use, Queen County, New Brunswick, January 1,
1878. They have two children, Helen Goud, born
September 30, 1907, and Lewis Baxter, born June 6,
1909. Mr. and Mrs. Denton live on a fine large farm

[189]

Our Folks and Your Folks

in the southern part of Caribou and specialize in Jersey
dairy cattle.

Mary Lucetta married Ray N. L. Brown, a native
of Hodgdon, Maine, and later a successful dry goods
merchant of Caribou. They have four children, Jeffer-
son; Natailie Goud, born March 7, 1908; and twin
girls, Adelaide Webb and Alletta Wilson, born Octo-
ber 22, 1914.

Lyman Baxter Goud is a graduate of the Bliss Elec-
trical School of Washington, D. C, and at the present
time travelling as a power expert for the Western Elec-
tric Company of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Mary Teague Smith

Mary A., second daughter of Judah Dana and
Evaline (Morse) Teague, married Charles Smith, of
Bridgewater, Maine, and by this marriage there were
born four children, Alta, Charles, Malcolm, and Eve-
lyn, all born in Bridgewater.

After the death of her first husband, she was mar-
ried to Joseph Smith, a prosperous farmer of Bridge-
water and brother of Charles.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith gave over the management of
the large farm to their son and daughter, Joseph and
Alta, and made their home with them.

Mary Teague Smith died suddenly of heart failure,
at the home of one of her sons, where she had gone
on a brief visit, August 23, 1917.

She was a woman of deep spiritual nature, large
hearted and noble, and greatly beloved and admired
by all who knew her.

Aletta Evaline (Teague) Wilson
Alletta E., third daughter of Judah Dana and Eva-
line (Morse) Teague, was born in Turner Maine.
Her girlhood was spent in Caribou and she was active
along many lines of philanthropy and moral reform at
a very early age.

[190]

The Teague Family

She moved to Salina, Kansas, and engaged in busi-
ness for a time. On April 24, 1884, she was united in
marriage with John Wilson of Salina.

She continued to reside in Salina for seventeen
years, removing from there to Los Angeles, California,
in 1897.

Successful investments in citrus groves gave her
handsome returns and enabled her to carry out many of
the generous desires of her nature. She travelled
through Europe in 1908 and again in 1914. During
the great World War she was most active in working
in the Red Cross and personally made hundreds of gar-
ments. Mrs. Wilson has no children of her own, but
has been a loving mother to four stepdaughters, Mrs.
Georgia Ober, Mrs. Flora Hunnewell, Mrs. Sumner
P. Quint and Miss Mollie Byerly Wilson, who studied
for eight years in Berlin and is a well known and tal-
ented singer.

Family of Clara Louisa (Teague) Burch

Clara Louisa, the fourth daughter of Judah Dana
and Frances Evaline (Morse) Teague, was born in
Turner, Maine. She was five years old when her par-
ents moved to Caribou, Aroostook County. She
attended the public schools of that town, and such pri-
vate schools as were occasionally offered in the spring
or fall. At the age of fifteen she went to work on the
North Star, the first paper published in Caribou, and
helped to set the type for the first number of that paper.
She also claims the distinction of being the first woman
to step upon the virgin soil of New Sweden. The day
before the arrival of the first Swedish colony, when
thirteen years of age, in company with her sister Kate,
five years younger, she drove her father to New
Sweden, where he was engaged in contract work. Being
the older, she was the first to alight and stand upon the
present site of New Sweden. The two children returned
by themselves over the rough forest road, being saved

[191]

Our Folks and Your Folks

from accident or mishap by the sagacity of the old
horse.

After working on the North Star for about eight-
een months, Clara Louisa went to Portland and
obtained a position on the Portland Daily Press. It
was suggested to her that she go to Cornell University
for a college course, and the hope was held out that
she could partially pay her way by work in the Univer-
sity printing office. She spent the summer of 1877
preparing herself for the entrance examinations and
working for her board in the family of Mr. Leroy
Foster, one of the proprietors of the Press, he and his
wife both being graduates of Cornell.

Clara Louisa entered Cornell in the fall, and the
first year worked as she could in the printing office,
intending to take five years for her course. At the end
of the first year she distinguished herself by leading off
in a typhoid epidemic on Huestis street. She then con-
cluded to borrow the money and complete her course
in four years instead of five. Her older brother very
kindly loaned her this money from his own meager
income, but all of it was refunded with interest from
her later earnings. On the completion of her course
she was selected as one of the six of her class for schol-
arship, and for the nature of her thesis, to appear on
the commencement program, as was the custom of that
day. She received the degree of B. S. in 1881.

After graduation she joined her older brother's
family in Salina, Kansas, and the following year took a
position on the Post-Dispatch at St. Louis. She was one
of the first group of women to be admitted to St. Louis
Typographical Union No. 8 when the Post-Dispatch
became a union newspaper. She is still upon the rolls as
an honorary member.

On coming to Salina in 1881, the first young man
she met was Rousseau Angelus Burch, a young school
teacher at that time, and later lawyer, who obtained his
legal education at Michigan University. The acquaint-
ance ripened into a close friendship for several years,

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The Teague Family

and ended as all such friendships end. They were mar-
ried in Salina, September 25, 1889, in a little house
Mr. Burch had built for their future home, and here
they continued to live until September, 1902, when Mr.
Burch was appointed, and later elected, justice of the
Supreme Court of Kansas, a position which Justice
Burch still fills with credit to himself and to his state.
The family then moved to Topeka, where they make
their home, but still claim their residence at Salina.

Justice and Mrs. Burch have two children, both
born at Salina. Winifred Teague, the older, is now
the wife of LaRue Royce, a young lawyer of the firm of
Burch, Litowich & Royce, of Salina. A son, John Q.,
was born December 11, 1918, to Mr. and Mrs. Royce.

Winifred graduated from the Topeka high school,
and later from Washburn College, Topeka, at the same
time taking a continuous course of piano instruction.
After graduation she became her father's private secre-
tary, and in addition to being a first class stenographer,
is an expert in briefing cases.

Angelus Teague, the boy, also graduated from the
Topeka high school, tying with a young woman for first
honors in his class. He graduated from Washburn
College in 1917. He voluntarily entered a hospital for
a major operation that he might be eligible for service
in the army. In July of 1917 he took the examination
at Leavenworth for appointment as a provisional officer
in the regular army. He received his commission as
second lieutenant, and entered the provisional officers'
class at Fort Leavenworth in November, and in March
following joined his regiment, the 11th U. S. Field
Artillery, at Douglas, Arizona. In May the regiment
was transferred to Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, Okla-
homa, where they had special training for overseas
service.

Young Burch then went with his regiment overseas
and during the time he was there saw most active serv-
ice and was wounded.

[193]

Our Folks and Your Folks

His graphic descriptions of the war as told in letters
to his parents and friends indicate his ability for jour-
nalism, a profession he was considering at the time of
his enlistment in the war.

There follows an extract from one of these letters:

Extract of letter of Angeles T. Burch

American Red Cross

On Active Service with the

American Expeditionary Force

November 17th, 1918.

"This is a surprising time, N'est ce pas? It seems too
good to be true, as if one had just waked out of a very interest-
ing, vivid, but troublesome dream, and couldn't determine
which was the reality — the dreaming or the waking.

You will be glad to know that I was in at the finish, on
the west bank of the Meuse, five kilometers north of Lanauville.
We took up our first position at Romagne on Oct. 25th and
contributed our share to the tremendous artillery preparation
for the big drive on November 1st and followed it clear through
to the finish.

The rapidity of the advance and the difficulties it imposed
upon the artillery are shown by the fact that we had to occupy
new positions five times in eight days, to keep the enemy in range
of the guns. When the show was over we had been three days
in position one kilometer from the bank of the river, further
advanced than 75's in our immediate neighborhood.

Seventeen days at the front is not a remarkable war record,
as war records go, but fate could not have chosen any seventeen
days since the war started which I would have enjoyed better.
It was a glorious fortnight, filled with action, excitement and
destruction enough to satisfy me for the duration, at least of
the armistice — and long may she wave.

While leading my men in a valiant assault on the beans,
bacon and coffee, at 10 a. m., the morning of the 1 1th, I was
hit by a shell in two places.

One of our best sergeants was instantly killed, and about
a dozen of us were more or less wounded. At the same moment
another shell lighted in a column of infantry that was passing
and killed seven outright, without counting minor injuries at all.
It was a heluva show to put on at the eleventh hour. We
all turned gray counting the sixty minutes to eleven.

[194]

The Teague Family

Our 75 's had been shooting up all the ammunition on hand
all the morning, but my own regiment had lain silent, on the
theory that there was no sense nor humanity in killing any more
Dutchmen when no possible military advantage could accrue.
The above narrated events modified our views on that subject:
but just as the battery commander was sending his data to the
guns, the order came from division headquarters to cease firing.

There was no celebration on our front when the final
moment struck. We were too tired to celebrate, and the dough
boys were pretty well used up after a raid across the river the
night before. On the way back to the field hospital, we passed
a stretch of road several kilometers long, under the direct obser-
vation of the German lines, where it was formerly suicide to
show yourself in daylight. As the ambulance rolled along and
nothing at all happened, we realized at last that the war was
over. The silence began to grow on us. It was a bit uncanny.
It seemed unreal.

My own injuries were very slight. All of us who couldn't
sit up were loaded onto a truck and shipped back to an evacu-
ation hospital, after our wounds were dressed and an anti-
tetanus serum administered.

It was a pretty hard ride — from 11 a. m. to ten o'clock at
night, over all kinds of roads. After a couple of days at the
evacuation hospital, they shipped me back to Base Hospital
No. 44.

They picked the splinters out of me with no trouble and
only a local anaesthetic, at two o'clock the morning of my birth-
day. I have one souvenir that I would like to mail to you, but
I am afraid that it might be lost in transit. It is a note-book —
not a Bible — that I had in my pocket.

A two-inch splinter is still imbedded in the same, which
otherwise would be imbedded in me. It was a fairly close
shave, but anybody who has been and seen and conquered, has
had close shaves."

Kate Forest Bradstreet

Kate Forest, the youngest daughter of Judah Dana

and Evaline (Morse) Teague, was born in Caribou,

December, 1862, and was a successful teacher for a

number of years. She married Fuller Bradstreet of

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Bridgewater and five children were born to them, For-
est, Mildred, Bernice, Katherine and Winnifred.
She died in Bridgewater, aged about forty-five.

Richard H. Teague

Richard Henry, the youngest son of Judah Dana
and Evaline (Morse) Teague, was born in Caribou
in 1864. He engaged in business in Ellsworth, Kansas;
afterward removing to Ventura, California, where he
was in the lumber business for a number of years.
Later he removed to Corcoran to engage in ranching.

He married, first, Alice Long of Ellsworth, Kansas,
who died in Santa Paula, and second, Mrs. Hattie
Lassen, of Ventura. They have two adopted children,
Mark and Mildred.

Dana Lyndon Teague

Dana L., oldest son of Judah Dana and Eliza
(Small) Teague, was born in Caribou August 6, 1875.

After acquiring a good education in the public
schools of the town he was associated with his father
in farming and became one of the successful potato
growers of the town.

After the death of his father he assumed full con-
trol of the farm until 1906, when he went to California
to engage in the citrus industry, locating in Santa Paula.

He was married to Miss Pansy Brewster, only
child of John C. Brewster, of Ventura, August 14, 1909.

Mr. and Mrs. Teague have three children, Mary
Janette, born December 8, 1913; Sarah Brewster, born
April 21, 1917, and Robert Dana, born June 23, 1919.

Donald Spencer Teague
Donald Spencer Teague, youngest son of Judah

Dana and Eliza (Small) Teague, was born in Caribou

October 11, 1882.

He was graduated from Tufts College in 1904 and

in 1906 came home to carry on the work of the farm

[196]

The Teague Family

because of the departure of his brother Dana to
California.

He married Miss Susie E. Lewis, daughter of
Clayton J. and Alice (Flanders) Lewis, and one child,
Donald Spencer Teague, Jr., was born in Caribou May
22, 1914.

In 1916, Mr. and Mrs. Teague moved to Santa
Paula, California, and engaged in the lemon industry.

Electra Teague and George Marshall Briggs

Electra Teague, the only daughter of Judah Dana
and Eliza (Small) Teague, was united in marriage with
George Marshall Briggs, the only son of Benjamin
Lloyd and Ellen Thompson Briggs, both natives of
Turner, on April 30, 1892, and the two went to live
on the Briggs farm in the northern part of the town,
where they resided until they came to Santa Paula in
1908.

During these years, by industry and thrift, Mr.
and Mrs. Briggs had acquired a modest little sum,
which they invested in a walnut orchard about a mile
from Santa Paula.

Mr. Briggs is one of the most industrious orchard-
ists in Ventura County, and although floods and the
intense hot wave that did great damage to portions of
the walnut crop throughout the state in 1917 have
brought some serious financial loss, he is destined to be
one of the successful men who make a competency in
walnut growing.

Mr. and Mrs. Briggs have two children, Margaret
Teague Briggs, born in Caribou August 17, 1903, and
Adelaide Briggs, born June 7, 1903.

[197]

RESIDENCE OF CLARA WILSON GRIES
4015 WEST ADAMS STREET, LOS ANGELES

THE MERRILL FAMILY

CHAPTER V

ACCORDING to a history of New England
/A families, compiled in 1915 by William Richard
± A. Cutter, A.M., the Merrills are of French
origin, the name being originally deMarle of the
French nobility, and the ancestral home in 1550 was
Place de Homhes, in Auvergne, France.

Being Huguenots, the family fled to England at the
time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1552 and
settled in Salisbury, county of Wiltshire, where they
were an honored family. Sir Peter Merrill, of the
English army, was knighted in 1634.

The family coat-of-arms is published in the Ameri-
can Heraldry, and is as follows: The field is of silver,
the bar blue and the peacock's head green and gold;
the crest is also a peacock's head. In Burke's "General
Armory" the peacock's head is accredited to the name
in England, but the coat-of-arms of the English family
is not the same, though using the same crest.

The Merrills were knighted in both France and
England, and one coat-of-arms bears the motto, "Vincit
Qui Patitur" (He conquers who endures).

In New England, the Merrills are one of the oldest
families, having been in this country since the first third
of the seventeenth century.

The ancestor of all the Merrills in the United States
is Nathaniel, who received a grant of land at Newbury,
Mass., on the "Neck" south of the Parker river, May
5th, 1638.

He was accompanied by a brother, John, but as the
latter had no sons all the Merrills trace their ancestry
to Nathaniel, who was born in Wiltshire, England, in
1610, and died in Newbury March 16th, 1654.

[199]

Our Folks and Your Folks -

His wife was Susannah Willerton, and they had
eight children. Abel, their fourth son, was born in
Newbury Feb. 20th, 1664, and lived forty-five years.
He married Priscilla Chase and they had eight children.

Thomas, the third son of Abel and Priscilla, was
born Jan. 1st, 1679, in Newbury. He married Judith
Kent and lived in Salisbury. They had twelve children.

James, son of Thomas and Judith, was born May
6th, 1719, in Salisbury. He married Apphia Osgood
January, 1739, in Hampton, and they had seven chil-
dren.

Levi, third son of James and Apphia, was born in
January, 1750, in that part of Hampton which is now
Southampton, N. H. He married Hannah Bean, of
Shapleigh, and settled in Maine, where he died in 1818.
They had nine children.

Levi, the second son of Levi and Hannah, married
in Turner, Me., Sylvia Leavitt, oldest child of Jacob
Leavitt, who was born in Pembroke, Me., and their
children were Levi, Lucy, Tabitha, Tyler, Luther,
Calvin, Jacob, Theodosius, Joanna, Alvah and Sylvia.

Luther, whose portrait is reproduced here, was the
third son of Levi and Sylvia, and he married Deborah
Pratt, of Turner, and their children were Harrison,
Theodosius, Luther, Delana, Roana, Nathaniel, Eras-
tus and Eransus, the latter being twins. Luther died in
Turner in 1877, aged eighty-nine years.

Luther the second, third son of Luther and De-
borah (Pratt) Merrill was born in Turner Jan. 19,
1817, and died in Caribou suddenly of heart failure at
the age of sixty-three.

He was twice married. His first wife was Luna
Jones, of Turner, who died leaving an infant child,
Luna Jones Merrill, who was reared by her grand-
mother Jones.

His second wife was Sarah Green, of Byron, Me.,
who was born March 29, 1824, and died in Caribou
Nov. 7, 1878, aged fifty-four.

[200]

The Merrill Family

She was of English and Scotch ancestry and her
parents were Jonas and Eunice Green. Jonas died in
1845, aged seventy-eight, and Eunice, his wife, in 1849,
aged fifty-five.

Their thirteen children were John, Oliver, Ches-
tina, Jonas, Ansel, Hiram, Abial, William, Roscoe,
Lucinda, Amanda, Sarah and Mary. There was also
an adopted son, who on his twenty-first birthday re-
ceived one hundred dollars from his foster father just
the same as did his own sons when they reached their
majority. This was a large sum for those days, and
further evidence of the thrift of Jonas Green is found
in the fact that he built the first frame house in Byron,
and also owned the first cook stove in that town. The
family were Methodists until their son John was
drowned at the age of fourteen. He was a good boy
but not converted according to the teachings of the
church, and, oppressed by the terrible thought that he
must eternally perish, the father took his Bible and went
to his room, where he remained for three days.

When he returned to his family he said: "I have
found a place for John in the Father's house not made
with hands, but I had to find a place for all Johns first."
This was the beginning of Universalism in the family.

The children of Luther and Sarah (Green) Merrill
were:

Augustus, born in Byron, October 4, 1843, died October 14
1895, in Chicago.

Ida, born February 19, 1851. '

May, born March 16, 1857.

Lot, born September 29, 1859; died January 25, 1902.

A sketch of family history follows:

Some Childhood Memories

(By May Merrill Hardison)

My parents, Luther and Sarah (Green) Merrill,

first lived in Byron, Maine, where Augustus, the first

child, was born. They then moved to Turner, near

Merrill's Mill, where Grandfather Merrill and his

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Our Folks and Your Folks

brothers sawed lumber, made matches and, later, spools.
Father made tubs and pails by hand, as this was the
day before factory-made wooden wares.

In 1860, Father moved to Caribou, where he con-
tinued in the cooper trade for many years, as the dis-
tance from the railroad was so great that there was no
competition with factory-made tubs, churns, molasses
kegs, and butter firkins that were then being manufac-
tured. For several years Oscar Whittier and Will
Hendricks worked with him and were members of our
family, both fine young fellows.

There was also Uncle Theodosius, our bachelor
uncle, who owned one-half of the old Collins Mill and
did the grinding of the grain for flour and feed for
years. Later, when Father sold the house to Rev. W.
T. Sleeper and bought the Hendricks farm on the New
Sweden road, Uncle Theodosius sold his share in the
grist mill and, in company with A. M. York, built a
lumber mill, which later became the Hackett Mill.

Uncle Theodosius was a good uncle to us all and
genial and kind to everyone. He was an old-time Uni-
versalis! and the "Gospel Banner" was second only to
his Bible. His resting place is in the old family lot in
Turner, his native town. Father, too, was a good man,
quiet and unassuming, and always kind. We had good
neighbors on the farm, as well as in town. There was
Uncle Withee, who labored so hard to make Mother a
Methodist. He knew that she was always a good
woman, ready to help when a neighbor was sick or in
need, and he wanted to be sure of her salvation, which
he could not be while she was a Universalist.

I remember even now how my hair seemed to rise
in fright as he pictured the bottomless pit and us hang-
ing over it, held only by a spider's web, thus making
God less kind than himself. Bailey Mitchell was
another good neighbor, always ready to supply his
friends with poultry no matter how far he had to go to
buy it. Then there was. Charles Smith, who was my
first teacher as well as a neighbor. He always had an

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The Merrill Family

original name for each one of us. The most of these
old friends have passed on to the higher life, making
us who remain to realize that we are now the old folks.

But I am at the ending rather than the beginning
of my story. The removal from Turner to Caribou is
graphically described in a letter written by my sister
Ida in later years, in which she says: "We drove from
Turner to Caribou in what I thought at the time was
a grand covered carriage, and when we stopped at
Uncle Daniel Jones' in Lewiston to say good-bye I knew
they were all admiring our turnout.

"Many, many years later, when I saw a 'prairie
schooner' for the first time, I thought of our covered
carriage in which we called on our city relatives and
where we were made just as welcome as if we had
driven up with the best turnout in the state. They
belonged to the 'Real Folks' of the world, and some of
them are still living and still scattering sunshine."

I do not remember how long it took us to make the
journey to Caribou, or about our accommodations at
night, but when we arrived in "The Promised Land"
and Father took us through his shop and upstairs where
we were to live until the new house was completed, I
was delighted with the two unfinished rooms, and espe-
cially with the flat little places around by the eaves
where we could put our belongings. It was in one of
those rooms where I had my first tooth-pulling experi-
ence. My tooth was loose and Mother persuaded me
to let her tie a string around it so that I could pull it
by easy stages.

Then Brother Gus suggested that I tie the other
end of the string to the chair post so that I could back
away from it as easy as I desired. So I tied the string
to the chair — and then a lighted candle was put so
close to my face that I jumped back and my tooth was
dangling against the chair !

Gus was laughing and I was mad clear through.
To be fooled at such a critical time by a big brother
was no laughing matter.

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My sister Ida was six years older than I, and I can
recommend her good sisterly qualities, although in those
early days she did not recommend me as a dishwasher.
Mother thought me old enough to begin that part of
the work, but after a few trials of it, Ida said that she
had rather do it herself than to see so many dishes left
to soak in the sink; so, unless she was busy at something
else, I escaped that task for a time longer. She did not
scold like some big sisters, but seemed to think me a
hopeless case and took the easier way out by doing the
work herself.

On one point, though, she was firm as a rock with
me. She drew the line at sleeping with cats, and try
as I would to hide my cat in the bed, she was sure to
pull her out when her bedtime came. That was one
of my childish trials.

After she left home to teach school I think I learned
to do better work, for I knew that Mother had lost a
good helper and needed me. Later, Ida went to Au-
burn to work in the Ara Cushman shoe factory, and
for a time was a member of the Cushman family and
afterwards a member of the family of Rev. J. C. Snow
for several years. She became an active member of
the Universalist Church of Auburn, and also a member
of a temperance society, where she won a Webster's
Unabridged dictionary at an old-time spelling match,
spelling for half an hour against a man on the other
side until he sat down in defeat.

When the account of the victory came to us through
the Lewiston Journal, we were justly proud of our
sister. Her letters were always full of interest to us,
and as she was among relatives as well as friends, her
yearly visits home were a great event, not only for her
company but she always brought us wonderful presents
from the outside world.

There are some incidents that stand out strongly,
as they do in every child's life, such as the burning of
the Vaughan House on the night of July fourth, the
fire being so near us that we had to get out and go to
Neighbor Bickford's, although our house did not burn.

[204]

LUTHER MERRILL. OF TURNER. ME.

The Merrill Family

Then I can just remember when big Brother Gus
went away to the war, and Mother's tears, which she
kept back until he had gone. He was not yet eighteen,
but was determined to go. Then came the anxious
watching for letters with mails only twice a week.

I well remember the glad moving to the new house
on the hill opposite Arnold & Dwinell's store. It was
a mansion to us after having lived over the shop. There
was the living room with the fireplace and the wonder-
ful fires that Father delighted to build with such care,
a big back-log, a small one on top of that, then a fore-
log on the andirons and small wood between to start a
good fire that sent us back to save our clothes and faces
from burning. Then, after the room was warm and
the fire burned low, we loved to gather close and imag-
ine wonderful pictures in the glowing coals, and later
to get the long-handled corn-popper and a big dish for
the mountain of crisp white corn with melted butter
poured over it that made a delicacy fit for a king,
especially if we had a few apples from "the Outside"
to go with it. My first teacher, Charles Smith, was
very kind to the "trundle bed trash" of the front seats
and did not allow the big brothers and sisters to lord
it over us very much; for of course we were always in
the way at recess with big and little all mixed up in one
school room.

We had one advantage, at least, for we were near
the big box stove and always warm, except sometimes
our feet, for there was no furnace under the old school
house and that old floor was built of the coldest wood
ever known.

Fannie Hayes was another teacher in the summer
time; and another teacher I well remember was Ann
Eliza Small, later Mrs. Judah D. Teague. And an-
other was her sister, Miss Adelaide Small, and to know
her was to love her. I can see her now as she led the
singing of those beautiful school songs, her face all
aglow with the happiness of living, and in doing her best
to fit us for worth-while lives.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

There were many dear playmates in those school
days: the Vaughan girls, the Starbirds, Yorks, Samp-
sons, Farnhams and Gouds, two girls in each family
at least, to say nothing about the boys, who numbered
fully as many.

But the most wonderful friend of all was Clara
Louisa Teague, now the wife of Justice Burch, of To-
peka, Kansas. I looked up to her in all things and
followed, not blindly, for I knew that she knew, and I
have not changed my opinion since, after all these
years.

We walked, or ran, to school together, sat together
in the old double seats, whispered together, and some-
times drew pictures on our slates of ladies in stylish
gowns instead of doing our sums or writing our spelling
words.

At home we had beautiful dolls and a lot of dishes
in our play house which our older sisters said were only
pieces of broken dishes; but they were trying to be
young ladies.

A few years ago, while visiting Mrs. Burch, she
showed me the old first doll. The nose was smashed,
the eyes dim and there were other evidences of the
infirmities of old age, but it was still the doll of auld
lang syne and cherished for its hallowed memories.

I have a hazy recollection of some of the boys who
sat on the other side of the school room and were so
studious that some of them became successful men. I
know of one who became a great cook and is quite
famous for his coffee.

There were various amusements in those youthful
days, especially in winter. There were skating parties,
coasting and dancing, and the latter was especially
under the best of conditions, for Salman Jones and
Lloyd Briggs, who also came from Turner not long
after we did and who were men of high moral charac-
ter as well as fine musicians, conducted dancing schools
from Fort Kent to Houlton and taught the young

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The Merrill Family

people not only how to dance but how to behave prop-
erly at all times.

Both of these men, who were brothers in law, died
many years ago, but "Auntie Jones," as every one
loved to call her, lived to be ninety-two years old, dying
at the residence of her son, Horace E. Jones, in Cari-
bou, in the spring of nineteen hundred nineteen. She
was a lovely character and had a beautiful influence on
all the young people of that period.

I well remember Grandfather Merrill's welcome
visits to our home in Caribou, for he was the only
grandfather that I ever knew. He entertained us
greatly with his songs and stories and an hour with
him before going to bed was a great treat. He sat
before the fire with one or two of us on his lap and
sang "Old King Cole," which was a favorite with us,
and "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which began in
this way: "The first day of Christmas my true love
brought to me, one plump partridge on a pear tree" —
and so on for twelve days until there was a wonderful
and varied collection of presents for his lady love. Then
"Hop up, jump up, pretty little yaller gal, Hop up,
jump up, 'tain't quite day," all the time keeping time
with his feet. We must have had pleasant dreams on
going to bed and floating off to fairyland to the most
beautiful music from the best grandfather ever. I re-
member a ride we took with grandfather to see the
sights of the new country, up in the French settlements
and to Grand Falls, N. B. He was very much interest-
ed and finally said, "Well, these people mean to educate
their children, for I never saw so many school houses in
my life." This caused much merriment for grandpa's
school houses were only the homes of an ordinary
French family, or possibly two families in one house.

My brother, Lot, was only two and a half years
younger than I, and Clara Teague used to say that this
was the way to have a brother, for an older one always
wanted to go with some other girl, and she wished that
she had one like mine. She always reasoned things out

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Our Folks and Your Folks

about right. Lot and I were much together, and if I
could not climb to the highest beams in the barn he
never made fun of me. One day, while quite young, we
were playing with some peas and before I knew it he
tried to see how one would fit his nose. It was such a
good fit it would not come out. I ran to mother and she
said to run over and get Mr. Bartlett, who boarded with
us. He came to help, and with the aid of a wire, re-
moved the pea.

In haying time we would ride in the hay rick out to
father's farm, on the New Sweden road, and come
home on top of the hay. I can smell the fragrance of
that new-mown hay even now. Later, father sold the
house in town and moved to the farm. Uncle Theodo-
sius was there with us, and once when he came from a
visit to his old home in Turner he brought from there
his old shot gun and gave it to Lot, charging him to be
very careful when loading it. He was, usually, but one
day he was loading it in the kitchen, when, bang; and
there came a shot that made a hole in the new plaster
above the wood box. Mother and I were relieved to
find the scared boy unhurt, but Lot saw only the damage
and thought only of uncle's warning. Father came in
and looking with that kindly twinkle in his eye, which
was so familiar to us all, said: "Good, that was a
lucky shot." And then he went out and found some
nice ceiling lumber and when Uncle Theodosius came
home and saw the neat job of the ceiling placed above
the wood box, he said: "That's just what I've been
thinking ought to be done to protect that plaster." And
the look of thankful relief on the boy's face was good
to see. For Lot was a good boy, never rough in speech
or play.

I have noted this in looking up the history of the
Merrills: While none are very brilliant or accom-
plished great things, yet I have found none noted for
badness; all are just plain, everyday, honest sort of
people.

Lot went to the oil fields of Eldred, Pennsylvania, in
the spring of 1880, to work for his brother-in-law,

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The Merrill Family

Charles P. Collins, and it was there that he met and
later married Miss Issie Hunter.

And now I am going to let my sister-in-law tell her
own story of a wonderfully courageous, self-denying life
and its successful results.

The Family of Lot and Issie (Hunter) Merrill

My father's name was Isaac Hunter, and he died
when I was two weeks old. My mother died on my
ninth birthday, aged thirty-eight.

I had a brother, Frederick A. I went to live with a
brother of my mother, whose name was Horace Jones,
who kept a hotel in Bradford, and later removed to the
oil fields, nine miles from Eldred.

Here I met Lot Merrill and we were married later
in the home of his sister, Mrs. C. P. Collins.

On my next birthday, March eighth, our first boy
came to us.

The next fall we moved to Kinzua, Pa., where we
spent nine happy years on a twenty-five-acre farm, cov-
ered with oil wells.

In this happy little home, among the apple trees, five
of our lovely children came to gladden our hearts; Les-
lie, Allan, Leda, Luther and Charles.

While here I was terribly burned by an explosion of
gas and the scars remain on my face and hands to this
day.

We next removed to another oil field, six miles from
New Cumberland, West Virginia, a very hilly country,
and in this home two more sons were born, Fred and
Atwood.

It was here that Luther, the third son, then five
years old, had a fearful accident. A horse run over him
and I picked him up for dead. We got a doctor as soon
as possible, and for two days he lay unconscious, but
recovered in time without any serious results. Shortly
after this, Leslie fell from a hickory-nut tree and broke
his arm, and he also was unconscious for two days.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

In the fall of 1900 we bought the old Price farm,
twelve miles from Phillips, Wisconsin, and lived there
for seventeen years. Lot's idea was to stock the farm
with sheep, but he was taken ill and unable to do so. It
was about this time that calamities seemed to deepen,
for Charlie had his foot cut off by a mowing machine.
I saw the man bringing the crying boy and instinctively
I felt what had happened, and I tore my apron in strips
as I ran to meet them, and bound it quickly above the
cut, around the leg, and stopped the flow of blood.
Leslie, only ten years old, was sent on horseback to bring
the doctor, who was twelve miles away, and was back
with him in two hours. Then the doctor said, "Mrs.
Merrill, there isn't one chance in a hundred to save this
foot." And I said, "Give him that chance." And he
did so, fishing for all the severed little cords and tying
them. A neighbor man gave the ether and a neighbor
woman and I helped him, each taking turns as the other
grew faint and had to go to the door. And all the time
the sick father looked on and could give no aid.

It was the good care and skill of this doctor that
saved the foot, for he had him moved to Phillips, where
he could care for the foot daily, and it came out strong
and supple. It was only the scar that prevented Charlie
from going across after the Huns when he enlisted.

Soon after this, Lot went to a hospital for an oper-
ation, and as I could not leave home and the little ones,
his sister, Ida, came to be with him for a time. Later,
however, I hired a woman to be with the children and
went to be with him in the hospital for two weeks, after
which I brought him home. He only lived until the
following January.

There was no time to sit down and weep. There
were eight children, the oldest only twelve, no life
insurance on account of a weak heart, a mortgage on
the property, and taxes and interest money to be met.

For the first few years, while the children were
small, no man ever worked harder at farming than I did.
I was up with the sun and worked while the children
slept. We got along with but little help. I made butter

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The Merrill Family

and sold it, and after the older boys got larger they be-
gan to hunt and fish and guide. We were near good
hunting and trapping grounds, with beaver, otter, mink,
muskrat, skunk and weasels, also coyotes in abundance.

The boys caught many wild cats, for which they got
a bounty of six dollars each, one-half from the State and
the other half from the county. There was also a boun-
ty of twenty dollars on wolves.

I have many pretty rugs made from the skins of
these animals, also mounted antlers from the deer the
boys killed and a rug of black bear skin, of which they
got several.

We had a wonderful pet deer, and when we sold the
farm I had it shipped by the State to the parks at Beaver
Dam, Wisconsin, so that he would not be shot by the
hunters.

After the boys were old enough to act as guides for
the hunters, we commenced taking summer tourists to
board and getting up dinners for parties from town,
who came for the fishing and hunting.

We had our own fresh vegetables, berries, cream
and venison or fish, and this gave us a good business
from May until the last of November. At times we had
forty or fifty guests; but we had good health and were
able to get along with but little hired help.

And for three winters we boarded logging crews of
thirty or forty men. This meant hard work all the year
around, but we were trying to help the two older boys
to have what they could earn to pay for a correspond-
ence course, and were all willing to do our best.

Later, Leslie took a three years' course in a machine
shop in Carlin, where he married Miss Edith Burns of
that town, June 6th, 1913. They have one child, Rod-
ney Burns, born March 20th, 1914.

Leslie is now superintendent of a machine shop in
Chicago.

Allan also took this training course, and was work-
ing in Racine when he signed up for the World War as
a machinist early in the spring of 1918. In July he en-

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Our Folks and Your Folks

tered the service of the United States and was sent to a
receiving camp in Indiana for a few weeks and then to
Pittsburgh for two months' training at Carnegie Insti-
tute. From there he was sent to Camp Greenleaf,
Georgia, and placed in a medical division for overseas
and was ready to start when the armistice was signed.
His company was then sent to the U. S. General Hos-
pital, Bunker Hill, Boston, where he was transferred to
a department to fit and make steel and wooden braces
for our wounded soldiers.

Two other sons, Fred and Atwood, took a business
course at a college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and
Fred was just completing a course in civil service when
July 30th, 1918, they were sent to the Signal Corps
service and then to Fort Wood, N. Y., statue of Liberty
Island, and selected for duty in the General Supply
Depot.

This is only fifteen minutes' ride from New York
City, and the boys had a fine opportunity to see all the
big transports going and coming, and once Fred wrote,
"I am afraid the only way for us to get over will be to
hitch a row boat on behind one of them."

They saw the "Fleet Review," the battleship test-
ings, and the "George Washington" as it started on its
first trip with President Wilson to take part in the great
Peace Treaty between the Nations of the World.

On February 26th they were discharged from the
service and went back to their work in the shop at
Racine.

The family register follows :

Lot M. Merrill, born in Turner, Maine, September 29,
1859. Died in Phillips, Wisconsin, June 25, 1902.

Issie Hunter, born in Tidioute, Pa., March 8, 1864. Mar-
ried May, 1884, in Eldred, Pa.

Children:

Lot Augustus, born March 8, 1885.
Raymond Leslie, born January 27, 1887.
Edward Allan, born June 3, 1889.
Leda Wayne, born January 30, 1891.

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CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS MERRILL

The Merrill Family

Luther T., born November 29, 1893.
Charles Clinton, born July 5, 1896.
Horace Frederick, born May 18, 1898.
Atwood Leigh, born June, 1900.

Leda Wayne, the only daughter, married December
30th, 1913, Alfred W. Allan, who was born in To-
ronto, Canada, December 9th, 1887. They resided for
a time in Ithaca, New York, where Mr. Allan was an
instructor in Cornell University from 1913-15. A
daughter, Dorris Marie, was born there, November
8th, 1914, and a son, Alfred, Jr., in Grand Rapids,
October 24th, 1916.

A hard blow came to the husband, mother and
brothers, when Leda died of influenza and pneumonia,
December ISth, 1918.

Family of Augustus Merrill

Augustus Merrill, oldest child of Luther and Sarah
(Green) Merrill, was born in Byron, Maine, October
4th, 1843.

The following is copied from his own handwriting,
as he started the outline of a history of his own life.

"Give a brief outline of the Merrill family from
the landing of the Mayflower to the present time.

"Descriptions of early settlement in Maine, records
of Luther Merrill, Senior, his wife, Deborah Pratt, my
mother's family (Green-Bacon) ; my father's early life
and marriage; my own birth at the foot of Bear Moun-
tain, in Oxford county; my father's removal to Kittery
and my vivid recollection of soldiers at the Kittery
Navy Yard and barracks on the return of the army
from the Mexican War of 1 845.

"Return to Turner and our residence on the shore
of Pleasant Pond, near Merrill's Mill: Describe the
old saw mill with its single up and down saw; the mill
pond; the match factory; cooper trade and work with
father in the shop ; winter skating on the pond and nar-
row escape from drowning by the breaking of the ice.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

"Father emigrates to Aroostook county, and he and
I make an exploration trip to the far-away region of
Northern Maine.

"We locate on the Aroostook river, near the mouth
of Caribou stream, in the Township of Lyndon, now
Caribou.

"Our return to Turner and our journey of nearly
four hundred miles with the family to the new home.
Life and incidents in the 'land of buckwheat and maple
sugar, and cedar shingles.'

"The spring of 1861. Patriotism in the Merrill
family finds vent in my determination to offer my ser-
vices in defense of the flag."

Incorporate at this point important points in per-
sonal recollections of a "Potomac Army Soldier."

It is a great pity that he did not write out the many
events and experiences of his army life and later of his
travels and life in the Western states and in the Black
Hills mining country, exploring Indian Government
lands and other thrilling and interesting incidents.

Augustus Merrill, not quite eighteen years of age,
went from Caribou to Houlton, a distance of nearly
sixty miles, to offer his services in defence of the flag in
the early beginning of the war, and was enlisted in
John W. Freese's company and mustered into the service
at Augusta, August 21st, 1861, as a private in Company
"A," Seventh Maine Infantry. He was promoted to
Corporal in Baltimore in the fall of that same year and
to Sergeant in December of the following one. He re-
enlisted in December, 1863, and was promoted to the
office of First Lieutenant, June 23d, 1864. On August
21st of that same year the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh
Maine regiments were consolidated, and afterwards
called the First Maine Veteran Volunteer Infantry; and
on December 21st Lieutenant Merrill was promoted to
be the captain of Company B, of this Maine Veteran
Volunteer Infantry. His promotion from the rank of a
private to the captaincy of his company was won
through most courageous conduct and the culmination

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The Merrill Family

came in his promotion to Brevet Major for gallant and
meritorious services at the assault before Petersburg,
Va., for which act he received a medal of honor from
the Congress.

This assault occurred on April 2nd, 1865, on the
rebel line of works and resulted in the dislodgment of
Lee's army from his strongly fortified position. In obe-
dience to orders received before the charge, Captain
Merrill, then in command of the color company, as soon
as he was over the works and could gather a sufficient
number of men, although bleeding and suffering from a
bayonet wound in his knee, advanced to the direct front
in pursuit of the rebels, who were retreating to their sec-
ond line of defense on the opposite side of Hatcher's
Run, a small river, somewhat difficult to cross. On the
morning of the second of April the regiment formed
the second line of Hyde's brigade, the point of the Sixth
Corps wedge, which General Meade considered to have
decided the fate of Richmond. Pushing on in the dark-
ness before dawn, its colors were among the first on the
rebel works. Being ordered forward at daylight, it
marched to Hatcher's Run, capturing plunder, guns and
prisoners.

Captain Merrill, with fourteen men, crossed the
stream; fought and took seventy-nine prisoners, being
the whole of the sharpshooters of Heath's division.
Then the Corps retraced its steps towards Petersburg
and the regiment was formed on the left line of attack.
After taking a brave part in the storming of the battery
at Lee's headquarters, the command skirmished across
the Appomattox until nightfall witnessed a most com-
plete victory.

The official account may be found in the Adjutant
General's report, State of Maine, Volume 1st, Page
247.

The medal of honor awarded by Congress and re-
ceived by Captain Merrill in San Diego, California,
November, 1891, is of dark bronze, and in shape like
the G. A. R. badge, but larger. On the reverse side is
this inscription :

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Our Folks and Your Folks

"The Congress — To Brev't Major Augustus Merrill, late
Cap't 1st Maine Vet'n Vol's. For distinguished conduct in
action at Petersburg, Va., April 2nd, 1865."

These medals were given for special acts of bravery out-
side the line of duty.

"The Sixth Corps, Third Brigade of the Second Division,
in which your humble servant served for four years," is an
inscription in Captain Merrill's diary, and also the following:

"At Cedar Creek in 1864, October 19th, which General
Sheridan saved to the Union Army by his famous ride, Major
Merrill was in command of Company B of the 1st Veteran
Volunteers of Maine, Sixth Corps."

"I can whip h — 1 out of the whole rebel army with the
Sixth Corps."

Sheridan.

Captain Merrill was wounded by a musket ball in
the hip when the Seventh Maine, under General Hyde's
command, charged a large body of rebel troops at the
battle of Antietam.

When ordered to surrender his gun, he threw it
back towards the Union lines, and came near losing his
life for the act.

He was taken prisoner at Antietam, September 17.
1862, and confined in Libby prison six weeks, where he
and many others were nearly starved

He gives an old darky credit for saving their lives.

They first noticed him apparently asleep under their
window. But when the guard had passed out of sight he
jumped up and told them to throw down a cap, which
they did, and then the old man opened the front of his
shirt and drew out corn bread and boiled meat and
placed them in the cap and tossed it up to the window
and waiting hands. Nothing ever tasted so good to the
starving men.

The friendly darky did this for three days, and
then he was caught and not seen again; the prisoners
were searched and ordered to keep away from the win-
dow. When exchanged, Captain Merrill weighed only
one hundred and one pounds.

[216]

The Merrill Family

Captain Merrill was a man of strong characteristics
and of an adventurous disposition. After the war he
went West and helped Uncle Sam to quell an Indian
uprising and from that to Indian Territory with an ex-
ploring party. They held a smoke talk and pow wow,
trying to get the consent of the tribes to explore their
territory, but without success, for the chief finally said
that if they came in he would scalp them to the last man.

Making the Red men believe that they had aban-
doned their plans, they took a-round-about route and
went in. They had many narrow escapes from the In-
dians and found a wonderfully rich territory for mining
and returned to civilization with high hopes, only to find
that the United States Government would not permit
miners on Indian lands.

In a letter to his mother after his return, Captain
Merrill thus describes a scene on top of one of the
Rocky Mountain peaks.

"The sun was shining above our heads, but below —
among the clouds — the lightning was playing all about
and the noise of the thunder was as though the armies
of the earth were contending for the mastery."

After a few years spent in the Western states, Cap-
tain Merrill came to California, which he said "was the
best state of all."

In Los Angeles he met and married, June 1, 1885,
Mamie Alexander, who was born June 27, 1860, daugh-
ter of Walter Alexander, born in Scotland, August 17,
1828, and who came to America March 26, 1835. His
wife was Anne Wilkings Hinckley, born May 4, 1833,
and who came to America when about nine years old.

Mr. Alexander died in Los Angeles, December,
1887, and his wife, December, 1896.

Augustus Merrill removed from Los Angeles to
San Diego and published a trade journal, and was in
Chicago to establish a similar journal there, when he
died suddenly, of heart disease, on October 14, 1895,
and thus was ended the active career of a kind, loyal
and courageous life.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

Augustus and Mamie (Alexander) Merrill had
four children.

Eugene Alexander, born May 16, 1886.
Birdelle Marie, born May 25, 1891.
Thomas Hyde, born
Augustus Henry, born

Eugene married in Los Angeles June 12, 1906,
Emma Margaret Menck, who was born in Chicago, De-
cember 23, 1885, and whose parents were of German
birth. They have two children, Gertrude Genevieve,
born August 16, 1908, and Birdelle Marie, born June
21, 1913.

Birdelle Marie married, September 23, 1914, in San
Francisco, Earl Dixon, born at Dayton, Iowa, August
23, 1890. His father, Charles Edwin Dixon, was a
native of Kentucky, and his mother, Florence Doltry
Dixon, was born in Iowa.

The children of Earl and Birdelle (Merrill) Dixon
are: Virginia M., born July 1, 1915; Edwin M, born
July 1, 1915 (twins), and Richard Earl Dixon, born
July 4, 1918, all of Eagle Rock, Cal.

Thomas Hyde, second son of Augustus and Mamie
(Alexander) Merrill, married Lila Marie Buckholdz,
of Los Angeles, October 26, 1911, and they have one
child, Lila Ruth, born August 23, 1913.

Augustus Henry, third son of Augustus and Mamie
(Alexander) Merrill, is unmarried, and was in the
United States Army, Company D, Eleventh Regiment,
with rank of Lieutenant. Was in France with the A. E.
F. during the year 1919.

The history of Ida, oldest daughter of Luther and
Sarah (Green) Merrill, will be found in the sketch of
her husband, Charles P. Collins.

The Leavitt Family

Luna, the daughter of Luther and Luna (Jones)
Merrill, married March 4, 1863, Charles K. Leavitt,

[218]

The Merrill Family

son of Captain Isiah Leavitt, whose family came from
Pembroke, Mass., to Maine.

Their children were: Flora Agnes, Rollin Smith,
and Fenwick Lasalle.

Their mother's name was Waite.

Charles K. Leavitt was born February 21,1 843, and
died February 15, 1918. He lived in Livermore,
Leeds, and finally in Auburn, Me., where he was in-
spector for many years of the finished work in one of
the shoe factories. He also had a farm a short distance
out of the city, on which he lived and which supplied
the table with an abundance of fresh vegetables, berries,
apples, milk, cream, butter and eggs.

He was a kind husband and father, a good neighbor
and friend, honest and upright in all of his dealings.

His wife, Luna Merrill Jones, died May 9, 1910.
She was a member of the Elm Street Universalist church
of Auburn, and the pastor, Rev. R. E. Connor, officiated
at the funeral service, assisted by her son, Rev. F. L.
Leavitt, of Bellows Falls, Vt. She took especial interest
in the life work of this son, and was such a wise, loving
mother, always thinking of their comfort and happi-
ness.

Flora Agnes, only daughter of Charles K. and Luna
(Merrill) Leavitt, was born September 16, 1867, and
married Fred Chapman Jackson, of Auburn, Me., who
was born in Chapman Plantation, Aroostook county,
August 14, 1860.

Rollin Smith, older son of Charles K. and Luna
(Merrill) Leavitt, was born October 22, 1870. He
married, March 31, 1894, Mary Burpee Thompson,
born March 23, 1875, in Sunbury county, New Bruns-
wick.

Their son, Percival Carlton Leavitt, born in Auburn,
Me., January 7, 1897, enlisted in the United States
Army September 4, 1918, and was stationed at Camp
Devens, Ayers, Mass. Was made a corporal; dis-
charged from service December 12, 1918. Occupation,
shoemaker.

[219]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Fenwick Lasalle Leavitt
Son of Charles and Luna (Jones) Leavitt, was born in
Livermore Falls, Me., October 19, 1873. He was or-
dained from Tuft's Divinity School, April 8, 1897, and
was in the South doing missionary work for five years,
stationed at Brewton, Ala., and while there built the
Universalist church at Pensacola, Florida. He returned
again to the North, and has ministered to churches in
Woodsville, N. H.; Bellows Falls, Vt.; Portland, Me.,
and since 1912 has been located in Worcester, Mass.

He is a 32nd degree Mason, an Odd Fellow, a
Knight of Pythias, and was Past Eminent Commander
and Past Grand Prelate of the State of Alabama.

He married, April 12, 1897, Lucy Auguste Hutch-
inson, born in Auburn, April 30, 1874, daughter of
Hon. James Preston Hutchinson, who was born in Buck-
field, January 1, 1848, and who married Marie J. Lor-
ing, born in Turner, May 6, 1844.

The children of Rev. Fenwick J., and Lucy (Hutch-
inson) Leavitt, are: James Preston Hutchinson
Leavitt, born May 8, 1899, in Brewton, Ala. Sergeant
in S. A. I. C, at Clark College, and now a student there
in class of 1921.

Mina Lucie Leavitt, born October 6, 1902, in
Woodsville, N. H.

Fenwick Lasalle, Jr., born August 9, 1909, in Bel-
lows, Falls, Vt.

[220]

THE OAK FAMILY

(By Maria Oak Clark)

CHAPTER VI

THE first reliable record that we have of an Oak
ancestor is that of Nathaniel Oak, who was
born about 1645, presumably in Wales, yet
possibly in England.

Twenty years research by one of his descendants
revealed the fact that in the male line alone his
descendants number about 10,000; and if the female
line were included there would probably be 10,000
more.

The original name was Oak, but it has been changed
to Oaks and Oakes by different branches of the family,
and in some cases to Och and Ochs when connected with
German families.

Nathaniel emigrated to America somewhere be-
tween the years 1660 and 1665, and settled in the town
of Marlborough, now Northboro, in Mass. Of his
coming to America we have the following record handed
down to his children, and inscribed in the family bible
and reads as follows:

"The grandfather of my mother was a cabin boy on an
English vessel bound for Boston. Nine miles from Boston the
vessel foundered, and all the crew except the boy, whose name
was Oak, were lost. He being a good swimmer, swam ashore.
In his distress he solemnly promised the Lord that if He would
preserve him to get to land he would never go on the water
again, a promise which he sacredly kept. He could never be
even persuaded to cross the Charles river to go to Boston,
always going round by the 'Neck.' He often said that while
swimming he suffered most from hunger. When very tired
he would float on his back awhile and rest. He reached
Boston poor, friendless and even without clothes. According
to the custom of the time he was "bound out" to earn his living.
His master sent him to the forest to gather pitch pine knots.
While there he was attacked by a catamount or wild cat, which

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Our Folks and Your Folks

he slew with a large knot. His master gave him the bounty that
the state paid for the pelts of these beasts. And with the money
he bought a sheep or two which he let out to double. These
sheep were all the property he had when he came of age."

Nathaniel Oak was married three times. First, to
Mehitable Rediat; second, Mary Holloway, and third,
Miss Rice, and he left ten children.

The family has been in no sense a remarkable or
distinguished one; its members in all generations being
farmers, mechanics or small traders, yet most branches
have furnished names favorably known in professional
and official life. However, the family has been gener-
ally respectable and the vicious and worthless have been
almost as rare as the rich, prominent and learned.
Industry and integrity have been the prevailing family
characteristics. In politics and religion they have not
been extreme partisans, or fanatics.

They have been well represented in Colonial wars,
in the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812 and in the
Civil war on both sides. Today they are widely scat-
tered, living in every state in the Union, but no member
need be ashamed of the tribe as a whole.

Benjamin Hastings Oak

Passing over the intervening generations of whom
much that is interesting, but little that is remarkable has
been written, we come to Benjamin Hastings Oak, the
fourth in line from Nathaniel, and the grandfather of
the present living Oaks, concerning whom this chapter is
written.

He was born in Winchester, N. H., March 3, 1776.
He was a boy of remarkable physical strength, but in a
hayfield contest for charitable purposes, he injured
himself and was never again a well man.

He served in the army a year or two as a musician,
being in 1799 in the Second regiment of Artillerists and
Engineers, stationed at New London, Conn.

Leaving the army he became clerk in a store and
then probably engaged in business for himself, as,

[222]

CHARLES EDSON

The Oak Family

unfortunately, we find a record of insolvency proceed-
ings.

In 1804 he married Hannah Smith of Walpole,
N. H., but lived in Chelsea, Vt. He was town clerk of
Chelsea from 1807 to 1812 and a member of the
Vermont legislature in 1810. From 1812 to 1826 he
kept a hotel in Boscawen, N. H., where nearly all his
eight children were born.

He had great musical ability, being a noted per-
former on the fife and a good violin player, but when he
was married he sold his violin to buy a cow.

He lived in Boscawen fourteen years, but failing
business, poor health, and excessive fondness for liquor
affected his financial ruin. In 1826 he emigrated with
his family to Exeter, Maine, driving all the way in an
old one-horse chaise.

Four years later he bought a farm in the adjoining
town of Garland, where he spent the remaining years of
his life. Although he struggled with debt, he abandoned
his drinking habits and became an esteemed and useful
citizen, serving alternately as selectman and town
treasurer as long as he lived.

He always regretted his lack of education but he
was a great reader, and while living in Boscawen, took
an active part with his nearest neighbor, Ezekiel Web-
ster, brother to Daniel, in building up the schools.

The hotel in Boscawen is still standing and very
little changed, some of the rooms still having the same
paper on the walls as in the time when the Oaks lived
there. The hotel is now used as a road house for
automobilists.

Benjamin Oak died in Garland, leaving one daugh-
ter and five sons, who never touched either liquor or
tobacco.

Children of Benjamin and Hannah Oak
The five sons of Benjamin and Hannah Oak, who
lived to maturity, together with their only sister, settled
in the town of Garland, Me., and lived their entire lives

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Our Folks and Your Folks

in that town. Seldom has a family lived in such perfect
harmony and so much enjoyed the company of each
other.

While differing in appearance and disposition like
other families, yet they had many traits of character in
common. They were all industrious, economical,
honorable to a fault; and of the strictest integrity. As
one writer has said : "No one of the five sons ever did
or was suspected of doing a mean or dishonest act, or
told an untruth, and no one of them sowed any youth-
ful wild oats."

They obtained, under unfavorable circumstances, a
fairly good education, and as they were all great readers
they became well-informed on all questions of the day.
They all raised themselves from poverty to circum-
stances of independence as it was locally understood in
those days and were able to live as well as the best of
their neighbors. They were all very generous and
public-spirited and did all in their power to make Gar-
land a model town in which to live. Strong advocates
of temperance and total abstainers themselves, very
strong opponents of slavery, but always ready to lend
assistance for the betterment of humanity and eager to
help a fellow townsman in distress.

Quoting from another writer, "No other family did
nearly as much for Garland as did the Oaks."

In personal appearance they were of light com-
plexion, with blue eyes and brown hair, and all pos-
sessed great physical strength, and nearly all inherited
their father's musical ability.

Edson Lang Oak

Edson Lang Oak was the youngest child of Ben-
jamin and Hannah Oak. He was born in Boscawen,
N. H., Nov. 14th, 1822, and was but two years old
when the family emigrated to Exeter, Maine.

As he was the father of the writer of this chapter,
who considered him one of "Nature's Noblemen," and
who might therefore be inclined to write with a preju-

[224]

The Oak Family

diced mind, much in regard to his character is copied
from the writings of others.

He was a strong, robust boy, and developed into an
unusually vigorous, active man. He obtained a common
school education, which was supplemented by a few
terms in a seminary at Gorham, Maine.

With his brother, he worked on the farm in boyhood
and then taught school for several years with great
success.

In 1849 he married Mary Ann Moor Prescott, only
child of Joseph Prescott of Garland, and in 1850 he
built a small tannery, two miles from Garland village,
and hired an expert tanner to teach him the business.
He very soon became expert himself and followed the
business for several years with great success, but in 1857
the tannery was destroyed by fire and was uninsured.
With his natural courage and bravery, Edson, notwith-
standing his heavy loss, immediately began making
preparations to erect another building. He built a
larger tannery in Garland village and for nearly twenty
years carried on a successful business, but he finally
closed it out and became a partner in the firm of G. S.
Clark and Co., in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

In the winter of 1871 this business was arrested by
another disastrous fire. Nothing daunted, Edson, who
owned the building and fixtures, and consequently was
the heaviest loser, immediately built another and better
building, which he occupied until his death, in 1892.
He was particularly unfortunate in suffering losses by
fire for the destruction of a clothes pin factory, in which
he had invested some money, caused a third loss.

In the year following his death the home which he
built and where his children were reared was also
destroyed by fire.

Edson Oak, who was over six feet in height, pos-
sessed unusual strength, both physical and mental. He
was a great reader and a deep thinker, never making
hasty and unwise decisions. While possessing much of
the dignity and reserve of the Oak family, he was of a

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Our Folks and Your Folks

much more social, jovial nature, and his keen sense of
humor, materially lightened the cares of life. In town
affairs he was always an untiring power for good.

Quoting from the writing of an old friend, "Prob-
ably no man in town did more to straighten out little
and great legal differences constantly arising between
parties doing business together. 'Let us ask Edson
Oak, he will know,' was a common remark."

He never desired any public office, but consented to
represent his district once in the Maine legislature.

In his home life he was a model husband and
father. While never harsh with his children and
seldom inflicting any punishment upon them, yet all
obeyed him without question. The writer will never
forget the only whipping that she ever received from
him when, at the age of seven, she was caught in telling
a falsehood.

He was specially anxious that all his children should
get an education which he called "the best capital with
which a young man could begin life."

He had a great musical talent, possessing a wonder-
ful bass voice which, in some other station in life, might
have made him famous.

He died suddenly on Feb. 9th, 1892, leaving seven
children to love and revere his memory.

The Prescott Family

John Prescott, who settled in Massachusetts in
1640, and James Prescott, who settled in Hampton,
N. H., in 1665, were second cousins. They were
descended from James Prescott of Standish in Lan-
cashire, England, who was required by an order of
Queen Elizabeth to keep in readiness horsemen and
armor.

James Prescott, who settled in New Hampshire, was
of the fifth generation from him.

Sir John Prescott, son of Alexander of London, who
was knight and Lord of the Manor of Radwinton, in

[226]

EDITH COLLINS OAK

The Oak Family

Essex, and of Bromley in Kent counties, was second
cousin of the New Hampshire James.

The name Prescott is of Saxon origin and is com-
posed of two words, Priest and Cottage, and signifies
Priesthouse or Priest cottage. The name has long been
known in England. It was given to a street or place in
the ancient city of London, one mile from Liverpool,
containing 34,920 acres and 28,084 inhabitants, and is
celebrated for the manufacture of watches. Those of
the name of Prescott, who emigrated to this country,
originated in that place.

Orders of knighthood were conferred upon some
branches of the family and they were among the nobility
of England. A metallic coat of mail and armor, such
as were worn by ancient knights, was brought to Amer-
ica by John Prescott. There is also preserved by the
descendants in this country a family coat of arms, which
was conferred upon one of the remote ancestors for
"Bravery, courage, and successful enterprise as a man
and as a military officer." This must have been of quite
ancient origin, as it was used both by the Prescotts of
Theobolds Park, Hartfordshire, baronets, and by the
ancient families of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The first mention of the name of Prescott is in a
letter from H. de Patershall, treasurer of the King, and
addressed to Walter Prescott, vice chancellor. The
direct lineage cannot be traced back further than the
time of Queen Elizabeth. John Prescott was second
cousin to the father of James Prescott. The historian
was descended from the branch that settled in Massa-
chusetts.

Moor

Deacon James Moor came from Kyron county, in
the north of Ireland about 1728. His wife, Agnes Cole
Booth, came from Scotland.

They settled in Pembrook, N. H., called by the
Indians Suncook. When they first arrived there was
but one white family in the town, which was simply a
forest. Moor, with his sons, felled the trees, cleared

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Our Folks and Your Folks

the land, and made a beautiful farm upon which his
descendants now live. We are told that some of the
original timbers remain in the old house.

Moor lived at peace with the Indians and, at the
time of the French and Indian war, he was not molested
by them, as many others were.

Moor had six sons and two daughters, most of his
sons taking part in the Revolutionary war. But the his-
tory of his son Daniel, the great great grandfather of
Mary A. Oak, is of special interest.

When a young man he moved to Deerfield, N. H.,
where he opened a store and public house in company
with one Andrew McClony, who was a fast friend.
They were among the first to oppose British taxation,
and did much to arouse a feeling of indignation against
the Crown. When the war news arrived from Wash-
ington, the two men simply locked the store, collected
what money they could and with sixty-two others beside
officers, marched to Charleston.

Daniel entered the war as Sergeant; was promoted
to Captain, and afterward to Colonel. He served
through the entire war. He was in the battles of
Bunker Hill, Trenton, Princeton, Bennington, Long
Island, and many others, also crossed the Delaware
with Washington, after which being much exhausted,
Washington sent him a horse. He also went with
Montgomery up through the lakes and joined Arnold
on the St. Lawrence. While in that country there was
an epidemic of smallpox in the camps, and Capt. Moor
was the only officer in this camp who survived, but he
was always lame after that illness. He was a great
friend of General Stark, and entertained him in his own
home.

His daughter, Polly, married Joseph Prescott,
grandfather of Mary A. Oak.

Joseph Prescott 2nd
Joseph Prescott, the fifth in line from Deacon James
Prescott, was the son of Joseph and Polly Moor Pres-

[228]

The Oak Family

cott. He was born in Deerfield, N. H., March 5th,
1798, and went to Maine in 1821, where he worked at
his trade of house builder.

In 1827 he married Lucinda Sargent, daughter of
Joseph and Margaret Sargent, and four years later
their only child was born, Mary Ann Moor Prescott.

Joseph Prescott died at the age of 52, after a long
and painful illness.

The mother of Lucinda Prescott was Margaret
Jenny Sargent, daughter of Margaret Jenny, whose
mother was Margaret Thompson, daughter of Mary
Blackman.

The mother of Mary Blackman was an English
woman by the name of Anne Horton or Norton. Her
husband was a sea captain, and they lived upon the
island of Jamaica in 1692, when a portion of the island
was destroyed by an earthquake. Her husband was to
sail upon that day, and she and a lady friend, having
prepared a nice dinner, awaited his coming, which busi-
ness on board ship delayed. Becoming impatient, they
started out, hoping to meet him, but had proceeded but
a short distance when the earth trembled and shook and
opened so near their feet that the friend fell forward
and was never seen again. Water rushed up from the
opening with great force and bore Mrs. Horton (or
Norton), out into the harbor, which was in great com-
motion and full of drift wood and wreckage. She soon
found a piece of wood to which she clung, but her cloth-
ing was nearly all washed from her body. Seeing
something in the water, she drew it toward her and
wrapped it about her body. It proved to be one of the
curtains from her own bed. After a few hours in the
water she was picked up by a boat and taken to land,
where she met her husband. The meeting was very
affecting, as each supposed the other lost. Her first
words were, "Take me to America," which he did.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

The Sargent Family

Deacon Michael Sargent lived and died in Bos-
cawen, N. H., leaving five sons and three daughters.
His wife's name was Calif.

Joseph lived on the home place, a farmer. William
went to Ohio. Edward, John, and Michael were
house builders.

In 1823 Joseph, having lost his farm through sign-
ing notes with a friend, in company with his three
brothers, Edward, John and Michael, went to Bangor,
Me., going from Portsmouth, N. H., in a schooner. At
Bangor they found a little settlement at the head of
tide water, which some predicted might grow to "quite
a village" in time. The three housebuilders remained
there, bought land and became wealthy, but Joseph did
not want a farm in that "cold clay soil," and so, with
his wife and their children, he went to Garland,
influenced by the fact that many New Hampshire fami-
lies had settled there. He bought a farm and acquired
a modest property but was never wealthy.

Mary Ann Moor Prescott

Mary Ann Moor Prescott was the granddaughter
of Joseph and Margaret Jenny Sargent. She was born
in Garland in 1831. In 1849 she married Edson L.
Oak, and from that union were born seven children,
Maria Fellows, Joseph Prescott, Charles Edson, Willis
Laurens, Fred Lyndon, Mary Rebecca and Frank
Evans.

Mary Ann Oak was a typical New England woman,
with the New England woman's housekeeping ability.
She was educated in the common schools and afterward
attended the Waterville "Academy," which later
developed into Colby College.

Married when only eighteen years old, her early
life was devoted to the duties of wife and mother,
duties which she performed with untiring devotion.

She had a keen sense of humor and had her oppor-
tunities been better she might have become quite a

[230]

The Oak Family

writer, a talent possessed by several of the Moor family.
Throughout the early years of her married life, when
children were plenty, and money was scarce, she dis-
played a remarkable ability to make a dollar go a long
way toward providing food and clothing for her family,
and was literally a helpmeet to her husband in every
way. Their lives were spent in perfect sympathy with
each other and devotion to their children. In Feb.
1892 came the crushing sorrow of her life when her
husband was suddenly taken from her, and in July of
the same year her daughter, Mary, died.

After that she made her home with her children,
spending the greater part of her time with her daughter,
Maria. After becoming a widow she found so much
leisure time on her hands that she took up the study of
china painting, becoming wonderfully proficient for a
woman of her years. She also executed some beautiful
needlework, was much interested in club work and never
spent an idle moment.

She died in Oct., in 1910, after a long illness.

Family of Charles E. and Edith (Collins) Oak

Charles Edson Oak, second son of Edson and Mary
(Prescott) Oak, was born in Garland, Maine, Oct.
27th, 1855.

He was graduated from Orono College, now the
University of Maine, and soon after graduation went to
Caribou as principal of the High School and also
engaged in civil engineering. ,

On January 6th, 1883, he was united in marriage
with Edith, youngest daughter of Samuel Wilson and
Dorcas (Hardison) Collins, and to this union were
born two sons and two daughters; Edson Collins, born
Oct. 30th, 1883; Zelma Florence, born March 14th,
1885; Gertrude Estelle, born August 29th, 1886, and
Donald Prescott, born May 12th, 1889.

Mr. Oak entered the firm of S. W. Collins and Son,
an account of which is given in the history of the firm,
and became recognized as one of the progressive and
active young men of the community.

[231]

Our Folks and Your Folks

Naturally interested in all matters pertaining to
education, he served as a member of the school board
for several years and helped to advance the standards
of education in the public schools of the town.

In 1 890 he was a member of the last State Valuation
Commission. In 1891 he was appointed State Land
Agent and Forest Commissioner, and a little later was
made a member of the Fish and Game Commission and
was active in stocking the lakes and ponds of Maine
with fish. In this capacity he established the Fish
Hatchery of Caribou, which was for many years one of
the interesting and beautiful places of the town.

As State land agent, he acquired an intimate knowl-
edge of the timber lands of the State, and this knowl-
edge led eventually to his connection with the Interna-
tional Paper Company of New York, and he moved
his family to Bangor in 1901, where he has since
resided.

He organized the American Realty Company, a
sub-company of the International Paper Company,
which managed the entire land holdings of the com-
pany and supplied wood for their nine large pulp and
paper mills, located in Maine and New Hampshire.
This company also supplied wood for the Oxford Paper
Company of Rumford Falls, Maine, for two years.

While still president of the American Realty Com-
pany, Mr. Oak organized the Mirimachi Lumber Com-
pany and purchased large tracts of timber holdings in
New Brunswick for the International Paper Company.

After severing his relations with the International
and sub-companies, in 1910, he became manager of
the New Brunswick Railway Company lands. In this
capacity he had charge of the entire timber holdings
of this company, which comprised 1,600,000 acres, they
having become a non-operating company.

Mr. Oak severed his relations with this company
in 1917.

His connection with the firm of S. W. Collins and
Son was dissolved by mutual consent in 1918.

[232]

The Oak Family

For the past three or four years Mr. Oak has been
interested in the production of oil in Oklahoma in
connection with the business of his two sons, Edson
and Donald.

Mrs. Oak (Edith Collins), has been a devoted wife
and mother, holding the education and happiness of her
children as the highest ideals of womanhood.

Edison Collins Oak

Edson Collins Oak, the oldest son of Charles E. and
Edith (Collins) Oak, was born in Caribou, Oct. 30th,
1883.

After completing his education in the public schools
of his native town, at the age of sixteen, he entered the
United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, from which
he was graduated in 1904.

He then served on shipboard as ensign for four
years, visiting nearly all of the great ports of the world.
He was most successful as a Naval officer and was in
line for desirable promotions when he dcided that he
would resign from the service and enter civilian life.
This decision was made because of a belief that he had
fulfilled all his obligations to his country in this direction
and that the life of a civilian offered more attractions
and truer happiness.

His resignation was finally accepted and he left the
Navy with the rank of Lieutenant.

He then engaged in the oil industry in Oklahoma
and met with unusual success.

On the entrance of the United States into the war
with Germany, Lieutenant Oak felt that it was a
patriotic duty to enlist again and offered his services,
with the proviso that he would be released on the
termination of the war.

Consequently, he re-enlisted in the Navy, and with
the rank of Lieutenant Commander, was placed as
inspector of machinery and casts in the plant of the
Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Corporation, in Buffalo,
N. Y., a position he filled with great success in the work

[233]

Our Folks and Your Folks .

of building turbine engines. At the close of the war
he was discharged and returned to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Donald Prescott Oak

Donald Prescott, second son of Charles E. and
Edith (Collins) Oak, was born in Caribou, May 12th,
1889.

After graduating from the public schools of that
town and the Bangor High School, Donald entered the
University of Maine, from which he was graduated in
1911. He was a member of the A. T. O. Fraternity of
his University and received honors from his class.

He went soon after his graduation from the Univer-
sity of Maine to Tulsa, Okla., to engage in the oil
industry, in which he has been most successful, and in
which he was joined by his brother, Edson, when he left
the Navy.

He enlisted in the United States Army Sept. 6th,
1918, and was sent with the First Replacement En-
gineers to Washington Barracks, Washington, D. C,
where he remained until discharged, Nov. 30th, 1918,
when he returned to his business in Tulsa.

On Nov. 4th, 1919, he was united in marriage with
Ethel Louise, daughter of Mrs. Richard Watson Argue,
of Independence, Kansas.

Zelma Oak Gardner

Zelma, the oldest daughter of Charles E. and Edith
(Collins) Oak, was born in Caribou, March 14th,
1885.

On Sept. 24th, 1913, she married Albert K. Gard-
ner, son of ex-United States Senator Obadiah and
Corinna (Sherer) Gardner, of Rockland, Maine.

Mr. Gardner is a graduate of the University of
Maine and is the county agent of agriculture for Frank-
lin County, with residence in Farmington. He has
served also as State Horticulturist for Maine.

[234]

The Oak Family

Mr. and Mrs. Gardner have three children, Edith
Oak, born Oct. 3, 1914, and Elizabeth, born Feb. 5th,
1917, and Charles Sherer, born Nov. 12th, 1919.

Gertrude Oak Jenks

Gertrude, second daughter of Charles E. and Edith
(Collins) Oak, was born in Caribou, Aug. 29th, 1886.

On May 14th, 1914, she married Charles Fitch
Jenks, a graduate of Bowdoin College, and son of H. F.
and Lavinia (Angier) Jenks, of Canton, Mass.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Jenks; Mary Caroline, born Nov. 24th, 1916, and
Gertrude, born Jan. 11th, 1919.

Mr. Jenks is a travelling salesman for the Houghton
Wool Company of Boston, Mass., with residence in
Newtonville.

Maria Fellows Oak

Maria Fellows Oak was the oldest child of Edson
and Mary A. Oak.

She was born July 22d, 1851, was educated in the
common schools, and taught for four terms. In 1869
she was married to Joseph A. Clark, who had served
four years and seven months in the Civil war.

He was Captain of Company C, of the 15th Maine
regiment, but a greater part of the time was detailed as
Adjutant of the regiment — first on the staff of Colonel
Isaac Dyer, and after the close of the war on the staff
of General Ames.

He still carries a bullet in his right arm, acquired
in the battle of Pleasant Hill, La., where he was a pris-
oner of war for three months.

After the close of the war he succeeded to his
father's business — the manufacture of boots and shoes,
in Garland, Me.

Later, with his family, he removed to Caribou, Me.,
where he lived for many years.

He served two terms in the Maine leigslature, once
as Representative and once as Senator, and for five and

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a half years was U. S. Pension Agent for Maine, with
his office in Augusta.

With his wife he now lives in Santa Paula, Calif.

Mabel Grace Clark is the only child of Joseph and
Maria Clark.

In 1896 she was married to John F. Jerrard of
Bangor.

They have one daughter, Ruth Clark Jerrard.
Through her father's family, Mabel Clark Jerrard can
trace her pedigree in an unbroken line to William the
Conqueror, and also to Alfred the Great.

Joseph Prescott Oak

Joseph Prescott Oak is the oldest son of Edson L.
and Mary A. Oak.

He was born April 18th, 1852.

In 1872 he, in company with Arthur B. Haskell,
went into the furniture and undertaking business, which
they carried on successfully for fourteen years.

In 1872 he married Etta Sturdevant of Garland.
She lived but two years. No children.

In 1886 Joseph removed to Skowhegan, Me., and
in 1889 married Kathleen Eaton, daughter of Benj.
and Sarah Eaton of Skowhegan.

Joseph has always been and still is in the furniture
business.

He has one daughter — Pauline Eaton Oak, born
March 6th, 1893.

She graduated from Skowhegan High School at the
head of her class. Attended Wellesley College one
year and was two years in the Leland Powers School
of Expression in Boston.

In 1916 and 1917 she taught Expression in the
Kentucky College for Women, then resigned on account
of ill health.

Is now at her home in Skowhegan, Me.

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The Oak Family

Willis Lawrence Oak

Willis Lawrence Oak was born August 6th, 1858.
He attended the common schools and also took a two
years' course at the University of Maine. He has been
engaged in business in Caribou, Me., the greater part
of his life.

He has been twice married. His first wife being
Margaret E. Nelson, daughter of James and Sarah
Nelson.

She died in 1901, and later he married Faustina
Briggs, daughter of Lloyd and Ellen Briggs of Caribou,
Me. No children.

Fred Lyndon Oak

Fred Lyndon Oak was born Sept. 21st, 1860, in
Garland, Me.

Attended the common schools, and when 17 years
of age went with his brother-in-law, Joseph A. Clark,
to Caribou, Me., where they engaged in the shoe busi-
ness, and he is in the same business at the present time.
He married Elizabeth E. Allen, daughter of Augustus
and Lavinia Allen, of Presque Isle, Me.

They have two sons — Allen and Malcolm, who
both graduated from the University of Maine. During
the war they were in a munitions factory in Canada.

Allen is temporarily at home with his parents, but
Malcolm is married and settled in Canada.

Mary Rebecca Oak

Mary Rebecca Oak was born in Garland, Me.,
Sept. 30th, 1863.

She was always a delicate child — never as strong
as the rest of the family.

She inherited more than any of the rest her father's
musical ability.

In 1891 she was married to Frank W. Barker, a
dentist, son of Isaac and Catherine Barker of Houlton,
Me.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

She died July 29th, 1892, leaving no children, and
the year following her husband died also.

Frank Evans Oak

Frank Evans Oak is the youngest child of Edson
and Mary A. Oak.

He was born in Garland, Me., Sept. 19, 1872.
Was educated in the common schools and in the Bangor
Business College.

He was married in Augusta, Me., June 21, 1899,
to May Violette Tracy, daughter of Stephen and
Violette Tracy.

They have one son, Philip Tracy Oak, born in
Augusta, Me., August 1, 1901.

The family now lives in Bangor, Me.

[238]

IRS. FLORENCE COLLINS PORTER

FLORENCE COLLINS PORTER

CHAPTER VII

FLORENCE, the second daughter of Samuel
Wilson and Dorcas (Hardison) Collins, was
born in Caribou, Me., Aug. 14, 1853.

Although educated only in the public schools of her
native town, she was fortunate in having excellent
teachers, who laid thoroughly the fundamental prin-
ciples of a common and high school education. She
was early interested in literary topics and also acquired
some knowledge of business affairs through assisting
in her father's store of general merchandise, buying
and selling, and keeping the accounts. It was a time
of long credits, accounts running from one to two years,
and a barter in exchange of commodities, very little
silver and currency then being in circulation. Mails
came only three times a week and the county seat and
nearest railroad point was Houlton, sixty miles away.
But there was developed in the town a spirit of self-
determination and ambitious desires seldom found
among young people in a community as isolated and
lacking in educational and social advantages as this
one.

And so they became initiative and constructive in
social and civic work. They had musicals and amateur
plays to raise money to build sidewalks; they formed
debating societies and lyceums as the avenues of their
social and educational work, and the church and Sunday
school and temperance societies were also the centers
of their activities.

In such an atmosphere the young people of that
period grew to manhood and womanhood, the children
of pioneers, to become themselves the pioneers in new
fields and new industries.

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Our Folks and Your Folks

At the age of twenty, on Nov. 3, 1873, Florence
Collins was united in marriage with Rev. Charles
William Porter, of Houlton. She entered actively
into her husband's work and, through his encourage-
ment, occasionally gave addresses on temperance and
other topics. She was interested in the work of the
W. C. T. U. and for four years was the Recording
Secretary of the National Non-partisan W. C. T. U.,
with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1888 she assisted Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Iowa,
in forming the National Woman's Republican Club,
with headquarters in New York City, the first political
club for women to be formed.

She was the founder of the Woman's Literary Club
of Winthrop, Me., and a charter member of the Wo-
man's Literary Club of Caribou.

For four years her husband was pastor of the First
Congregational Church of Winthrop, removing there
in 1891 from Old Town, where they had been for two
years.

Here was born their only son, and third child,
Charles Winthrop. Failing health forced Mr. Porter
to resign his pastorate in Winthrop and return to
Caribou, where he died July 17, 1894.

There was some property, but not sufficient in
income to support a family of three children, and Mrs.
Porter, not long after her husband's death, was elected
to the office of Superintendent of the public schools of
Caribou, then about twenty-five in number and con-
taining many rural schools besides those of the growing
village. The work was severe because of the long, cold
rides in winter, but she kept this position for four years,
during which time there were many improvements made
in the courses of study and several school houses built
and repaired. Resigning this position, Mrs. Porter
purchased the Aroostook Republican, which she con-
ducted successfully for a year; then she received an
invitation from her uncle, Wallace L. Hardison, to
come to Los Angeles and take an editorial position on

[240]

Florence Collins Porter

the Los Angeles Herald, a morning paper and Repub-
lican in its politics at that time, and which he had
recently purchased.

This was in the summer of 1900. She made the
trip to Los Angeles and back, within the month, and
decided to accept the position; sold the Republican and
in October was back, again in Los Angeles. The city
then had a population of about 100,000 and was grow-
ing rapidly.

The club movement was in its initial stage; the
California Federation of Women's Clubs having just
been organized, the Friday Morning Club, composed
of about five hundred members, and the Ebell organ-
ized only three or four years.

Mrs. Porter had served as president of the Maine
Federation of Women's Clubs, the first state federation
to be formed, as vice-president for two years and as
president for two, and was thus connected with the
work of the General Federation. Through the columns
of her paper she supported all phases of woman's work
and very soon was strongly established in California.
She became a member of the Friday Morning and
Ebell clubs and served the latter for a term as vice-
president. During the years 1905-7 she was president
of the Los Angeles District of Women's Clubs and
helped to inaugurate some of the important civic work
that has long been a distinctive feature of that organ-
ization.

In 1909 she was urged to serve as president of the
Los Angeles County Equal Suffrage League, a society
nearly defunct, for the question of securing equal
suffrage in the State seemed a forlorn hope. Reluc-
tandy, she accepted from a sense of duty to a principle,
but did not enter actively into the work and little
dreamed that suffrage was to come to the women of
California three years later.

In the spring of 1912, she became identified with
the Progressive Republican movement and a member
of the Roosevelt Progressive Republican League of

[241]

Our Folks and Your Folks

California and vice-president of the Los Angeles
County League.

It was an era in the history of woman's enfran-
chisement with rapidly moving events.

In the councils of the Progressive Republican party
of California it was decided to send two women as
delegates to the National Republican Convention to
be held in Chicago June 10, 1912, and Mrs. Isabella
W. Blaney and Mrs. Porter were nominated as these
delegates, at the primaries held in May, and duly
elected.

Of this National Convention a press article says:
"Many of the great minds of the country were at the
notable gathering, and renowned fighters in the political
battlefields of the day. Governors, United States
Senators and lesser dignitaries — but for one thing in
particular the Coliseum event possesses distinction over
some of its predecessors in the fact that a woman's
voice, for the first time in American history, was heard
in its deliberations.

"It was just 3 :28 p. m. when the first woman to
participate in a national political convention in the
United States spoke her will. It was Mrs. Florence
Collins Porter of California, voting for Governor
McGovern as temporary chairman, and a yell went up
in celebration of the momentous event."

Richard Harding Davis said: "It was a psycho-
logical moment in the history of women, the opening
of a new era."

In a two-column article in the Fra, by Elbert Hub-
bard, entitled "The Women Delegates," he said: "The
two women delegates were very motherly women —
one might say grandmotherly. They wore dresses,
not gowns. Their shoes were for use and wear, not
secondary sexual appendages. They walked together,
arm-in-arm, each carrying her best hat to protect it
from the pushing, crowding masculine contingent.

"The two good women in the Chicago Convention
were regarded more or less as curiosities, but they were

[242]

REV. CHARLES W. PORTER

Florence Collins Porter

treated with great deference, politeness and considera-
tion— not alone because they are women, but because
they are intelligent, well-poised, sane human beings."

In the presidential election in November, Mrs.
Porter was elected on the Progressive ticket as one of
the thirteen presidential electors, and was the first
woman to sit in an electoral college in the United States.
With ten other of the electors of California, she cast
her vote for Theodore Roosevelt for president, and
Hiram W. Johnson for vice-president.

Theodore Roosevelt always remembered graciously
this first woman's electoral vote that was cast for him,
and by invitation Mrs. Porter went to Oyster Bay to
see him only a month or two before his death. During
the visit he gave her a written message to the Repub-
lican senators in Washington, urging them to vote for
the pending Susan B. Anthony amendment, saying that
suffrage should be based on service and not on sex and
that through service women had won the right to the
ballot.

Mrs. Porter represented Los Angeles County on
the Woman's Board of the Expositions in San Diego
and San Francisco during the year 1916.

In the fall of 1918, the National Republican Com-
mittee decided to form a Woman's National Executive
Committee of six (afterwards increased in number to
fifteen) to act with the committee, and Mrs. Porter
was selected to represent California. She was made
Regional Director of California, Utah, Nevada and
Arizona, and has charge of organization work in those
states for the presidential campaign of 1920.

In philanthropic work, Mrs. Porter, while a resident
of Maine, assisted in establishing the Children's Aid
Society and the Girls' Home of Belfast, serving for
two years as Field Secretary. On coming to Los An-
geles she became a director on the Board of Trustees
of the McKinley Boys' Home and was active as
Financial Secretary for four years in the work of
securing an Endowment Fund.

[243]

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Since 1916 she has served on the Board of Man-
agers of the Norwalk State Hospital, first as a member
of the Board, and later as Secretary and Treasurer.

In 1903, she built a fine residence on two acres of
land in South Pasadena, which was afterwards burned.
In 1910, she built a comfortable bungalow on a part
of this land, the rest having been sold, and regards
South Pasadena as her permanent home.

Charles William Porter and Family

Charles William Porter was born in Houlton
December, 1845, the oldest son of John and Eleanor
(Clark) Porter.

When about twenty-five years of age he entered
the Methodist ministry and served the churches of
Topsfield, Ft. Fairfield and Caribou. Before complet-
ing his studies in the ministry of that denomination he
changed to the Congregational ministry and was
ordained in Caribou, where he served the Congrega-
tional Church of that town for several years.

He went from Caribou to the Congregational
Church of Old Town, and from there to Winthrop,
where he remained four years. His health failing, he
returned to Caribou in the Spring of 1894 and died
July 17 of that year.

He was a man of genial nature, affectionate and
generous, a fluent speaker and a popular clergyman in
the churches where he faithfully ministered.

He served the town of Caribou as Representative
in the Maine Legislature in 1877-8 — 1880. He mar-
ried Florence, daughter of Samuel W. and Dorcas
(Hardison) Collins, Nov. 3, 1873, and they had three
children, Helen Louise, Florence Spaulding and Charles
Winthrop. Helen was born July 28, 1876; Florence
Sept. 1, 1886, both in Caribou, and Charles Winthrop
was born in Winthrop, Me., Jan. 14, 1891.

Helen married John G. Utterback of Rochester,
N. Y., and two children were born to them, Elaine,
Mar. 5th, 1905, in Lewiston, Me., and James, in Ban-

[244]

Florence Collins Porter

gor, October, 1907. Florence married James Alexan-
der Love of Roanoke, Virginia.

Charles married Laura Virginia Seay in San Diego,
Jan. 19, 1912, daughter of Clarence Afton and Martha
Virginia (Price) Seay. The maternal grandmother
was Laura Woodson Moore, who married Professor
Middleton Reuben Price, both natives of Georgia. He
died shortly after the Civil War, serving in the Con-
federate army, and left the widow with five children
to support. The daughter, Martha Virginia, was
graduated from Huntsville University and after teach-
ing two years married Clarence A. Seay and settled in
Macpherson, Orange County, where the first child,
Elizabeth Middleton, was born. Mr. Seay published
the first newspaper in Compton, Cal. He now pub-
lishes the Ratnona Sentinel. The other children of
Mr. and Mrs. Seay are Grady B., who married Gladys
Raeker of San Francisco, and Pauline.

Charles W. and Laura Virginia (Seay) Porter
have one child, Laura Virginia, born Mar. 2, 1913, in
South Pasadena.

Charles Winthrop Porter is engaged in the auto-
mobile business in Los Angeles, with residence in South
Pasadena.

John Porter, the father of Rev. C. W. Porter,
came to Houlton, Me., from Ireland in 1839. He was
born on the Isle of Burt near Londonderry, and his
father, Andrew, was always known as the "Squire."
This Andrew kept the town records and was somewhat
of an aristocrat, although poor. It is said that when
he would send a man to town with a load of produce
in a two-wheeled cart, drawn by a horse, that if he did
not have a saddle horse himself to ride he would put
a saddle on the one drawing the cart and ride in state
to market, while the man who was to do the drudgery
of unloading would ride in the cart.

Andrew had two sons, Andrew and John, and three
daughters, Anne, Betsey and Sarah, all of whom came
to Houlton. A year or two after coming to Houlton,

[245]

Our Folks and Your Folks

John married Eleanor Clark and they had two daugh-
ters and six sons, Sarah Elizabeth, Martha (who died
in infancy), Charles W., Wellington, Crawford, James,
Albert and Fred.

Sarah Elizabeth married David Harding Porter in
1862, who died in 1894. She married in 1897 William
Mcllroy. She was an active member of the Methodist
Church and left her property to the church of Houlton.
She died Oct. 3, 1919. Wellington married, first, Addie
Small and second, Lulu Mansur. By the first wife
there were born two children, Cora, born in 1875, and
who married A. B. MacDonald, and Guy C. Porter,
born in 1879, who married Minnie J. Moores. Guy C.
Porter is engaged in life insurance business and is a
successful and rising young man. He served the U. S.
Government as appraiser of Aroostook farms during
the year 1919.

Crawford, third son of John and Eleanor, died in
1918, leaving a widow and five children, John, Grace,
Ethel, Neal and Lucy. James married Susie Heyward
of Ft. Fairfield. He died in 1917, leaving no children.
Albert went to Minnesota, married and has several
children. Fred married Mollie Beardslee, who died,
leaving a young son, Arnold, born in 1908. John, son
of Crawford, married Nellie Hussey. Ethel, daughter
of Crawford, married William Oldfield.

Wellington J. Porter has followed the occupation
of a farmer, residing at Cary Mills for many years.
He is a devout member of the Methodist Church of
Houlton and a man greatly respected for his sincerity
and integrity.

[246]

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