The Beans of Carroll County NH

WONALANCET
SANDWICH, NEW HAMPSHIRE

My 6th great grandparents, David Bean (1717-1770) and his wife Mary Judkins (1715-1774) (who were 2nd cousins), came from the very large Bean family of Rockingham County, New Hampshire, which established a strong military history, descending from John MacBean, Scottish prisoner of the English Civil War who was sold into slavery upon arrival in the New World.

David was born in raised in Brentwood, son to John Bean of Exeter, and great grandson to the aforementioned John MacBean.  He and Mary had twelve kids in Brentwood, and moved during the 1760s to Sandwich, in Carroll County (then part of Strafford County).  I wonder what precipitated the move to Sandwich (which was 75 miles north an over 12 hour horse and buggy ride).

When David died in 1770, his children were ranging in ages of 11 to 30.  All seven of his sons fought in the Revolutionary War (James, Samuel, David Jr., Moody, John, Josiah and Benjamin).

After the War, only a few of David's children stayed in Sandwich, and the rest moved to neighboring Moultonboro.  His youngest son David was an early founder of Tuftonboro.  In fact, several Bean Cemeteries are located in these towns, and they are the final resting places to David's many descendants, although I'm not sure where David and his wife Mary are buried at present - likely somewhere in Sandwich.

Below are handy FindAGrave links to the various cemeteries named for the Bean family:

Bean Cemetery, Bean Road, Moultonboro (David's son John and family)
Bean Burial Ground, Sodom Road, Tuftonboro  (David's son Josiah's son Andrew and family)
Bean Graveyard, Tibbetts Road, Tuftonboro (David's youngest son Benjamin and family)

Their son, David, Jr. (1743-1817), was my 5th great grandfather.  He stayed in Sandwich, where his wife Abigail Moody and he had eleven children, including my 4th great grandmother, Sally Bean-Fuller (1781-1840), who moved south to Lowell Massachusetts with her husband John Fuller, descendant of Edward Fuller of the Mayflower, and also including Nicholas Bean, whose wife Lydia Brown may have been related to my Brown family of Moultonboro, and whose daughter Rebecca most likely married into my Elliott family of Sandwich.

Below is a pedigree chart I created, showing descent from John MacBean of these various Bean families of New Hampshire (some people have been omitted for ease of visual):

Was Sally Elliot-Morrill an Ossipee Indian?

WONALANCET
SANDWICH, NEW HAMPSHIRE

18TH CENTURY ILLUSTRATION OF ALGONQUIAN PEOPLE

Short Answer, as of 2016:  No, this family link does not have Indian roots, after running DNA tests.  My family story of being linked to Indians is nothing more than fiction, and a very common story among most White American families.

Long Answer below, with all research...

This blogpost is a place for my research on the rumored Indian ancestry in my family, coming through my maternal grandmother, Emily Temm-Clarke, and my theory at one time that it might lie with my grandma Emily's maternal great grandmother, Sally Elliot-Morrill, born to Benjamin Elliot and Susannah Drew of Sandwich, New Hampshire in 1805, wife of Jonathan Smythe Morrill of Tuftonboro, and later of Portland Maine.  Jonathan and Sally are the forefathers of a large number of Greater Portland Morrills.

As mentioned in an earlier post, if you ask any White American about his ancestry, they will most definitely tell you that they are "part Native American".  I've had fun with these people, trying to get proof for their claims, but the best that most can offer is that Grandma told them there was a "Cherokee Indian Princess" in there somewhere.  Occasionally someone offers up some DNA proof, and I've even helped some people find verifiable links to Indian census rolls .  It can happen, of course, but not nearly as much as we might wish.

The story I always heard in my family while growing up was that somewhere on Grandma Emily's side of the family, we are from the "Blackfoot Tribe".   As a child, it sounded interesting enough to me.  As a moody teenager searching for validation, I began to adopt the idea as fact, and believed myself to be special in some way, given that I already had been told that my dad's side of the family had Mayflower roots (a rumor I was able to prove true - many times over - with a lot of help from cousins, and digging through many old records).  As a teenager, though, I found it fascinating to imagine myself as descending both from native people and from those who colonized.

At some point after I began college in NYC, I was at the public library, where I was approached by a very obvious looking American Indian, who told me that I appeared to have some measure of Indian features, and that I should join the YMCA Thunderbirds, who could supposedly help me determine the truth of it all...with the ultimate goal of my being able to apply for government scholarships for college, since American Indians can apply for grants for that purpose, of course depending on how much native blood you can prove to posess.

I never took the kind man up on his offer, and my own independent research later led me to learn that Blackfoot Nation is located in Montana.  Was some ancestor of mine from Montana?  Did they later 'drift' to New England??  Was there even a connection?  Or, more likely, was this all an exotic story that had been passed down many generations?  I didn't know or care enough at the time to pursue it further.  However, while still in college, in one last ditch effort to try and secure government cash for my schooling, I went to my 86 year old Grandma Emily, and asked her, "Hey Gram, what tribe of Indian are we anyway?"

EMILY TEMM-CLARKE
HOLDING BABY ME (1970)

"INDIAN??  I ain't no GAWWWD damned Indian!!" was her reply...and that was that!

Now, this is quite contrary to what she had supposedly told my mother growing up.  So, blame it on a bit of senility, or exaggerated family folklore, but I was still left to sit on that for several years, until it became a pet project of mine as a family researcher.

Many have looked at the picture above and have said "How can she deny being part Indian?"  Those tough features, high cheekbones and all...but the woman above was born to parents who were deemed "WHITE" on all available records.  Her father, John Henry Temm, was half German, half Scottish, and I have records backing that up.

Her mother, Hattie Morgan Temm, was, as far as I could tell from my research, purely of English/Welsh stock.  However, she does appear quite dark in the below sepia-tone photo, but that could be easily blamed on photography:

HATTIE MORGAN-TEMM

Hattie's father, William Sanford Morgan, looks white (and is clearly the source of my gramma's high cheekbones).  He is proven to be of English and Welsh blood by many dozens of available records:

WILLIAM SANFORD MORGAN

Hattie's mother (and William's spouse), Emily Morrill, daughter to Sally Elliot, looks white too...but perhaps there's a small amount of something else there?

Hattie's sister, Adelaide Morgan-Simpson, also looks white, but carries that same 'big rough face and high cheekbones' as the other ladies:

Adelaide's only child, Emily Simpson-Pease, actually looks kind of dark (but perhaps it's also the tone of the photo?), when HER father was white and of direct British descent:

I had my mother do a maternal DNA (mtDNA) test.  This would serve to show a link to ancient racial migration patterns, but only to her direct maternal line...which would include all the ladies pictured above.

Her group came up as "Haplogroup X2b4".  Now, A, B, C, D, and some of X are all associated with migratory Siberian Asian people that settled in the Americas as the first, "Native Americans"...for lack of a better term.  But some women in Haplogroup X are also linked to European people, so much research had to be done to create the above group X2b4, to narrow this down (this occurred in 2015).

Now, the Ossipee Nation (one of the 12 tribes of Algonquian/Eastern Abenaki Indians) was located on Lake Winnepesaukee tributary known as the Melvin River.  My thought was that Sally may have been associated with this tribe, given the proximity.  A poem by John Greenleaf Whittier describes the famous Indian Grave by the Lake where they found the bones of a seven foot Indian and placed a memorial stone.

I've been satisfied, though, with the DNA research above, completed in 2015, that there is most definitely no Native American blood in my family.  Looks like my Grandma Emily was correct after all.  She wasn't no "GAWWWD Damned Indian".

The Parentage of Catherine Brown-Morrill of Moultonboro

My 4th great grandmother, Catherine Brown, was born in 1769 or 1770 in Moultonboro, New Hampshire, but I've yet to locate a birth record for her (a trip to Moultonboro is imminent).

Census records began in 1790 in Strafford County (which area containing Moultonboro would 50 years later be annexed into a new Carroll County).  Heads of household were the only people named on all census records prior to 1850, and the surname Brown is of course ubiquitous in 18th century New England.

But as always with these blog posts, I will lay forth what I understand about her, and who the potential relatives might be, based on available records and online trees and sources.

Catherine first appears in recorded data as bride to Jotham Morrill of Moultonboro in February 1799:

She and Jotham appear on the 1850 Census, living as paupers under the care of the Kimball family of Tuftonboro, and Catherine is listed as being unable to read or write, at the age of 80:

She appears listed as mother "Katie Brown" to Statira Morrill in a Moultonboro 1890 death record, and from here we learn that Statira was born in Tuftonboro (where Catherine and Jotham had moved soon after the wedding);

According to an email I received from Tuftonboro Town Hall, Catherine, listed as "Mrs. Jonathan Morrill" died in November of 1851.

There are many census records for her husband Jotham, where she appears as the elder female in the household.

Now, it's a worthy attempt to comb through the Brown families of Moultonboro during that period to attempt to learn possible relations for the unfortunately illiterate Katie, so here goes:

1790 Moultonboro Census:  The only census taken prior to Catherine's marriage, is a good starting point for looking at Brown heads of household, and if any of these men were age 35-40 by the time of this census, they would be more the likely:

• Benjamin Brown (1 male under 16, 2 males over 16, 4 females).  Benjamin appears in many other subsequent censuses, and appears to have lost 2 net females for the 1800 census.  He seems to no longer be accounted for after the 1820 Census, and there appears to be a Benjamin Brown buried in Moultonboro in 1828, who was born in Ipswich, Mass in 1755, and was of appropriate age.
• Blanchard Brown (1 male under 16, 1 male over 16, 4 females) - Blanchard appears in no other records, but one census backup record appears to indicate that he was born in 1750 for this census.
• Daniel Brown (3 males under 16, 1 males over 16, 3 females).  Daniel stayed in Moultonborough, and the 1800 census also includes three females (but as of Sept 2022, I've discovered that Daniel had a wife Betty, and two daughters, Betsey and Nabby, living with him at the time).  In 1820, he was housing a non-naturalized foreigner, and doesn't appear in any subsequent censuses.  Based on census calculations, he appears to have been born between 1756 and 1765, so he would potentially qualify for parentage, if not for the lack of a 4th female listed in 1790
• John Brown (1 male under 16, 1 male over 16, 4 females).  John appears to have been born in 1750, and has census records continuing through 1820.  There appears to be a John Brown the 2nd born in 1792, according to burial records.  This could have been John's son, I suppose.  Now, in the next census, 1800, Catherine is living with her new husband Jotham Morrill (next door to his possible brother William Morrill), and John Brown appears to be living very close by, so perhaps this gives John a bit more potential as her father?  Who knows, really. 

In neighboring Tuftonboro, there appear to have been Browns as well:  heads of household with biblical names like Moses and Obediah.  Also, there appear to be Brown Family Cemeteries in neighboring Wolfeboro and Moultonboro.

So, the six men above appear to be possible fathers to Catherine, with Benjamin, and John being the most likely candidates.

It's interesting to me to note that a Lydia Brown (1779-1840) of Sandwich married Nicholas Bean of my Sandwich Beans, and had a daughter Rebecca Bean who married John Elliott, of my Sandwich Elliotts.  I wonder if this Lydia may have been related to Catherine?  They were of even age to have been sisters or cousins.

Further, there appear to have been a great number of Brown families in Berwick, Maine, the likely birthplace of Catherine's husband Jotham.  It is entirely possible they were both from Berwick originally.

Catherine and Jotham's son, Jonathan Smythe Morrill (my 3rd great grandfather), married Sally Elliot of neighboring Sandwich, and moved to Portland Maine, where my family is from, as are a large number of Portland, Maine Morrills.

John Sibley and Jane Pochard

John Sibley (1755-1835) and Jane Pochard (1760-1860) were my 5th great grandparents, and one of very few sets of my ancestors who migrated to the US after the Colonial period.

They had eleven children, and have many hundreds of descendants living today, and their arrival in Maine was more by chance than many other New England families.

John Sibley was born in Nova Scotia to Englishman and soap magnate Henry Sibley and Halifax native Sarah Haislup.  When John was only eight years old, his father Henry sailed home to England to settle his father's estate and died at sea.  This left John and his five siblings orphaned in Halifax, which Sarah couldn't handle, so she left her children to be raised by others and moved to England.  While his siblings appear to have stayed in Halifax, John joined the Revolution.

JONATHAN EDDY

In particular, John became involved with Jonathan Eddy's movement to make Nova Scotia the 14th American Colony, to break ties with England during the American Revolution. Jonathan Eddy made a failed attempt to siege Fort Cumberland in central Nova Scotia, in the fall of 1776, and John Sibley somehow ended up in Maine (then part of Massachusetts) following Eddy's retreat back to his native Massachusetts.

John later fought in the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey, and also Saratoga with the Continental Army as a private in Captain Smart's company, Colonel Calvin Smith's regiment.  John was also at Valley Forge in 1778 and reported on command at Boston Neck in March and April 1779. He was reported deserted July 12, 1780, which many believe was the reason his pension application was later turned down.

John married Jane Pochard December 8, 1782 at Pownalborough, Maine.  Jane was born in Frankfort, Maine to Abraham Pochard, whose father was a French Huguenot who had arrived in Maine 1751 with his wife and four sons from Chenerbie, Haute-Soane in eastern France near the Swiss border. They arrived in Boston on the ship Pricilla, which sailed from Rotterdam,   Netherlands, and then proceeded directly to Frankfort Plantation (Dresden) in Maine   where they settled. Some of the family moved to Fairfield in 1775 and then to the Pittsfield area around 1814. The inability of the English speaking settlers to spell the Pochard family name correctly resulted in a variety of phonetic variations e.g. Pushard, Pushaw, Pushor, and Pushan.

They lived in Fairfield, Canaan, Warsaw (Pittsfield), and Passadumkeag, Maine.

John applied for a Revolutionary War pension on March 12, 1834, which reveals that he was born in 1755 in Halifax, N.S.  The pension application was denied due to his apparent desertion near the end of the War.

Passadumkeag, Maine incorporated as a town in 1835. When they did their first Town census after incorporation, Jane was listed as widow Jane Sibley.  So we know that John died about 1835.

John and Jane had twelve children, four girls and eight boys, including my 4th great grandmother Margaret Sibley-Burrill, who married Benjamin Burrill of Fairfield, who was 4th great grandson to John Alden of the Mayflower.

Jonathan and Sally Morrill of Portland Maine

My third great grandfather was Jonathan Smythe Morrill (1802-1881), a carpenter, ship builder, stevedore, and laborer born in Tuftonboro, NH to Jotham Morrill and Catherine Brown, both of Moultonboro, NH.

MORRILL FAMILY PLOT

FOREST CITY CEMETERY

(who else is buried there?)

Jonathan married Sarah "Sally" D. Elliot (falsely rumored in my family to be of Native American descent, and from Sandwich, NH) on 14 Dec 1826, in Moultonborough, NH by Isaiah Greene Orne, Esq. (Source:  Early Marriages of Strafford County - thanks to Google Books free previews!).  However, the Mormon FHL has a record of their marrying in nearby Moultonboro, which record states that they were both from Moultonboro.  It's possible that some more research there would be beneficial, to find if perhaps this record is more accurate (there are no Eliots in either the 1810 or 1820 Moultonboro census).

After marriage, they immediately moved to Maine, first living in Westbrook (then part of Deering) (1830 Census).  Next door to them was Benjamin Elliot's family.  See census below (not a great copy, by the way), where I've yellow highlighted the Elliot and Morrill heads of household:

By the 1840 Census, the Morrills had taken up a rental residence in the rear apartment at 62 Washington Avenue in Portland, where Jonathan worked as a pile driver and a bridge builder.  His family was one of the first Morrill families to arrive in Portland.

Jonathan & Sally lived in the East Bayside district of Portland the remainder of their lives, which was quickly becoming a diverse neighborhood, filled with African Americans and Irish, and was then the locale for the Cumberland County Jail on Monroe Street.  In 1854, their son, John HB Morrill, had purchased 62 Washington from Peter Andrews, but in 1861 he deeded the property to his mother Sally (not sure why it didn't go to his father!).  In 1878, they moved around the corner to a rear apartment on 15 Winthrop Street for the remaining few years of Jonathan's life, a place they rented from Irish immigrant family, the Maddens.  The Morrills were not counted here on the 1880 Census, for some reason.  Maybe the census taker failed to look at the rear apartment.  In any case, 1881, just after Jonathan passed away, Sally sold the Washington Street building saw the sale of the building for only $125.00, which would be over $4K today!  I wonder why Sally was taken to the cleaners like that?

In 1859, Jonathan's name appeared in the paper as Defendant of a criminal State lawsuit dated the prior year, for the amount of $3.67 ($111 in 2020 dollars).

For the 1866 City Directory, it appears that 62 Washington (rear) had another interesting dweller, one Smith Morrill, a dock builder living right in the same apartment as Jonathan.  Not a clue who that could be - the only male Morrill in the family besides Jonathan was his own son the hairdresser, living up the hill at 13 Melbourne. 

In March of 1868, during the high turnout election for Mayor, Jonathan was accused of voter fraud ("fraudulently voting in the name of another"), but was later cleared of the charge when it was determined that his name had simply been incorrectly transcribed by an election official.  Given the rampant voting fraud that year, tensions were high among the pollsters, and Jonathan was given undue extra scrutiny, it seems.

Ironically, the name he was accidentally given on the voter roll (and was then accused of using this as a fake name) was Jotham G. Morrill (which was his father's name!):

Eastern Daily Argus
Mar. 7, 1868

Jonathan & Sally had nine children in Portland.  Jonathan died in Portland in 1881.

Portland Daily Press
July 18, 1881

I believe at least three of Jonathan & Sally's kids died young.  Here is a best copy image of the birth roster from Portland archives, courtesy of the Mormon Library:

Transcribed below, with a brief history:

1. Abigail Morrill (1827 – ) doesn't appear in any later records.  She had died prior to the 1840 Census.

2. Sarah Jane Morrill (1828 – ) was a dressmaker.  She married at age 17 to a 52 year old Portugese sailor named Peter Andros (who Anglicized his name to Andrews, and his descendants were born with that name).  They had four children, and then divorced around 1862.  Sarah Jane remarried to Woodbury Morse in 1864, then had another four children.  She and Woodbury died sometime between the 1900 and 1910 Censuses.

3. Benjamin Morrill (1831 – ) doesn't appear in any later records.  He was definitely dead by the 1840 Census.

4. Statira G. Morrill (1831 – 1862) was named after her aunt Statira Graves of NH.  She lived in Portland for her entire, very short, life.  She worked as a seamstress, and at 17 she married a Samuel Tucker.  A few years later she married a Canadian named Joshua Carey.  They had one child, Naomi Carey, in 1858.  Naomi was only 4 when her mother died, and was therefore raised by her grandparents.  Joshua soon remarried a woman named Amelia, and had six more children.  I'm not sure why Joshua couldn't raise Naomi.  Naomi married Edward Hall, a carriage painter, and son to the British Halls of that neighborhood.  Edward Hall's brother Joseph was later a 2nd husband to Naomi's aunt Emily Morrill. Naomi & Edward had three children.

5. John Henry Brown Morrill (1834 – 1894) fought in the Civil War, and worked as a hair dresser in Portland.  He married Maria Beal from Freeport in 1863, and they had three children of their own:  Frederick, John & Nettie Morrill.  Maria also had three kids from a prior marriage, Ira, Phebe, and Bertha Chase.  Bertha was adopted by John, so she became Bertha Morrill.  This particular family has many descendants.  John was a very popular barber, and he is well mentioned in his former boss, John Todd's 1906 Book, "A sketch of the life of John M. Todd : sixty-two years in a barber shop, and reminiscences of his customers".   One particularly amusing anecdote from that book follows: 

John H.B. Morrill worked for me sixteen years.  He was a character, a man of impulse, not always governed by the highest principles, and also a genius.  After the great fire he moved over to the Cape, now South Portland.  He bought a cow and calf.  He took the cow over the ferry at noon, but the calf he sold to a butcher, who was to take it home at evening.  After the great fire in 1866, I bought a photograph saloon and hauled it upon the sidewalk in front of the post office.  The custom house at that time was in the post office building in the room now occupied by the United States Court.  Mr. Morrill hitched the calf to the wheel of the saloon until the butcher called for it.  Of course, as soon as the mother was taken away, the calf commenced its music, and such bleating and blarting was never heard in front of the post office before nor since.  One of the inspectors of customs came in a great rage and said: “Todd, I want that calf moved at once.” “That is not my property, Mr. Blank,” I replied. “Whose calf is it?” “Mr. Morrill did own it, but has sold it to a butcher.”  “Mr. Morrill, you remove that nuisance at once.” “You don’t like that music, I reckon,” Mr. Morrill replied.  “Mr. Blank, you will blart worse than that when the Federal tit is taken from you.” 

He kept the cow all summer, sold her, I think, to Captain Mareen.  “I see she has but one horn, Mr. Morrill.  She is not breachy, and broke her horn by hooking fences, I hope.” “She never troubled me any that way.”  In a few weeks the captain called on Mr. Morrill.  “Happy to see you, Captain.”  “I don’t know whether you will be happy or not to see me, I have come on business.” Morrill told me afterwards he knew what the business was he came to adjust.” You told me, Mr. Morrill, that cow was not breachy.  I can’t keep her anywhere.  She will toss over her head every fence she comes to.  She would break up a camp meeting.  Now what did you mean by telling me that she was not breachy?” “I never told you so.” “You certainly did, for I asked in particular if she was not and spoke of her horn being broken off.  Don’t you remember that?”  “Yes, I remember your speaking about that, and I told you in plain words, Captain, that she had never troubled me any on that account.  She would come home every night full of herd grass and clover she had got by breaking into the neighbor’s field, but it never troubled me any.  But it did trouble Neighbor Dyer, I have no doubt, some; but it never did me.” The captain burst out laughing, bade him goodby and went home.

In 1858 there was a closely contested election for mayor.  At that time there were no secret ballots and the voting was not as closely watched as now.  Everybody was supposed to be honest then.  Morrill was a great hustler.  He boasted that he could get more floaters to the polls to vote than any man in the city.  He belonged to fire engine number eight, and the company had as lively a set of boys at that time as any company in the city.  One of the boys hailed Morrill and said “We must get every voter out today that is on the voting list, or we shall get left.  I just looked over the list.  There is Patrick Ward’s name there.  He died about two years ago.  You can get someone to vote in his name.  There is a dollar to pay the fellow that you get.” John plants himself upon the sidewalk to look over the longshoremen as they go to dinner.  Mr. Blank was warden at that time.  He was a great politician.  Morrill did not have long to wait before an Irishman, a coal heaver, on his way to dinner, appeared.  John stepped up to him in a most familiar manner, reached out his hand with a “How are you, Mr. Ward?” “And who are ye talking to, young man? My name is not Ward at all, but Mike Flannagan.”  “Never mind that.  I have a dollar for you.”  “What for?”  “I want you to vote for me.”  “Faith, I can’t.  I’m not naturalized.”  “That makes no difference today.”  “Is that so, and how is that?”  “Why, there is a name on the voting list; I want you to vote in that name, and the dollar is yours.  Will you do as I want you to, for obedience is better than sacrifice in this case? Now listen; I want you to walk up to the desk over there, hold up your head, as though you owned the whole shooting match, and say, ‘Pat Ward, sir.  Speak up loud,’ and he will say, ‘What ward?’  Tell him * Ward one.’ “He marched up as big as Billybeblessed.”Mr. Ward, sir.’ He forgot to put in Pat.  Mr. Blank said, “What Ward?” “Ward one, sir.  Vote Mr. Ward.”  One of the Republican checkers said, “He did not understand you, Mr. Blank, when you asked for his given name.” “Well, I did,” said the warden, amid a roar of laughter.

6. Isaac Morrill (1837 – ) doesn't appear in the 1840 or 1850 Census. He must have died as a child.

7. Catharine Morrill (1838 – ) doesn't appear in the 1840 or 1850 Census.  She must have died as a child.

8. Martha W. Morrill (1840 – 1917) married James Hiram Curtis, and had at least 6 children: Charles F., James E., Annie J., Ida E., Florence Louise, and William E.  Martha was widowed by 1910.

9. Emily N. Morrill (1844 – 1900) was my 2nd great grandmother.  She married William Sanford Morgan, a Civil War veteran, on 28 Oct 1865, and had three daughters:  (1) Abbie (who never married), (2) Adelaide (who married George Simpson and later Presbury Dennison, and had one daughter, Emily Simpson-Pease), and (3) my great grandmother, Hattie Temm.  In 1887, William & Emily divorced (due to his constant drinking) and Emily moved to 27 Everett Street.  She remarried to neighbor and childhood friend Joseph G. Hall, a carriage painter (and brother to her niece Naomi's husband Edward Hall from the East Bayside neighborhood).  They married in 1891, and moved on 123 Cumberland Avenue, right around the corner from where her mother (then widowed) was living on 21 Cleeve Street.  

Emily's husband Joseph died in 1895, and then Emily died in 1900 of hemiplegia.  Her first husband William lived until 1920.  Everyone is buried at Forest City Cemetery in South Portland.

EMILY N. MORRILL-MORGAN-HALL

(ca 1890)

Many of the descendants of Jonathan & Sally can be found living in the Portland area today.

The Mysterious Jotham Morrill

Well, he's a mystery to me at least.  I don't know that an overworked farmer in post Revolution New Hampshire could have anything other than a straightforward life.  I'm grateful to have found several records for this 4th great grandfather of mine, but there are many unanswered questions.

Here's what I know about Jotham:

• Married Catherine Brown (of unknown parentage) in Moultonboro, New Hampshire, Feb. 23, 1799, meaning he was likely born before 1783.
• Fathered a daughter, Statira Morrill-Graves in March of 1800.
• Fathered a son, Jonathan Smythe Morrill in 1804.
• Owned livestock in neighboring Tuftonboro, NH 1804 and 1806, according to the Town Clerk there.
• August 1800 Census - Moultonboro, lived next door to a William Morrill (who had migrated there from Berwick around 1783).  Household included:  
• one male aged 16-25 (who?)
• one male 26-44 (Jotham), this means he was born between September 1755 and September 1773.
• two females under 10 years old (one was Statira, but who was the other girl?)
• one female 26-44 (Catherine), this means she was born between September 1755 and September 1773
• one female 45 and over (who?)
• August 1810 Census - Tuftonboro, listed here as Jonathan Morrill.  Household included: 
• one male under 10 (my ancestor, Jonathan)
• one male 26-44 (Jotham), calculating this with the above, he was born between September 1766 and September 1773.
• one female under 10 (Statira)
• one female 26-44 (Catherine), calculating this with the above, she was born between September 1766 and September 1773.
• 1820 Census - Tuftonboro, destroyed.
• June 1830 Census - Tuftonboro.  Household included:
• one male age 50-59 (Jotham), calculating this with the above, he was born between July 1771 and September 1773.
• one female age 50-59 (Catherine), calculating this with the above, she was born between July 1771 and September 1773
• 1840 Census - Jotham doesn't appear.  He doesn't appear on either of his children's censuses either.
• June 1850 Census - Jotham and Catherine are living with the Joseph Kimball household, no apparent relation, given that Joseph's wife's maiden name was Hannah Ellsworth.  
• Jotham is listed as a pauper farmer, at 78 years old.  This would mean he was born between July 1771 and July 1772.
• Catherine is listed as 80 years old.  This would mean she was born between July 1769 and July 1770, which is in conflict with the prior census records.

In the April 1813 entries of U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914, a Jotham Morrill appears, to be rather close in age, and enlisted in NH.  This Jotham is listed as having black eyes, black hair, and dark complexion, and enlisted at 45 years of age, fighting in the War of 1812.

According to the Remarks section of this entry, he was present for roll call in Feb 16 & 28, 1815. He was sick in quarters on April 30, 1815. Presented sick in Regimental Hospital. William S. Foster's, Co. 5 " U.S. Infantry. Sacred Heart? June 30 1815. Book F Discharged June 14 or 15 1815 at Buffalo, on surgeon's certificate of disability, old age. Book 600 Appears to have served in Lieutenant Hoits, detachment 1st New Hampshire Volunteers prior to enlistment in the regular Army. 4" made 5". 

Given that the name "Jotham Morrill" was so unique, I am quite certain that this is his record, and that '4 made 5' means that he was given credit for his full five years of service, even though he was discharged for being sick.

As for his age, if he truly was 45 at the date of this record, it means that he was born between April 25, 1767 and April 24, 1768, which runs as a conflict against the 1830 and 1850 Census, as shown above, but only a discrepancy of about 3 or 4 years.

As for this Jotham's birthplace, the Town of Berwick Maine is a big clue that he was descended from the John Morrell of Kittery line, as was William Morrill of Moultonboro (who was of close enough age to be a sibling, and the two men were living next door to each other on the 1800 Census!).

My current theory (2014) is that William and Jotham were brothers from Berwick.

I've written a study of the Tuftonboro Morrills, which can be read here.

Samuel Morrill Cemetery in Tuftonboro New Hampshire

Samuel Morrill (1779-1849) was born in Eliot Maine to Joel Morrill and Hannah Wilson of Eliot.

At around age 30, in 1810, he met Mary "Polly" Hodgdon of Strafford County New Hampshire, and married her in Tuftonboro, and they remained there for the rest of their lives.  In 1840, the portion of Strafford containing Tuftonboro and surrounding towns was incorporated into new Carroll County.

HOME OF SAMUEL MORRILL
1810-1849 (OR LATER)
FEDERAL CORNER ROAD
TUFTONBORO, NH

This family directly descends from John Morrell of Kittery (one of the two English founders of Morrill families in New England), and is one of many Morrill families to have moved to Strafford County, New Hampshire.

In fact, other families made the move from York County Maine to Strafford County as well, and they are discussed in more detail here.

The old red house sits on a 23 acre lot, but just south of the house, on a separate 2 acre lot (containing no house) sits a modest little graveyard surrounded by a stone wall and many maple trees, and contains 11 gravesites with very well kept head and footstones.  As is often the case with old New England towns, there were no public cemeteries until mid 19th century in Tuftonboro, and no churches, so people resorted to backyard burials.  There are 47 such family graveyards in the Town, according to Tuftonboro New Hampshire:  Cemeteries, Graveyard and Burial Sites 1800-1995, copyright 1997 by The Tuftonboro Association.

I've profiled everyone resting in Samuel's backyard on Find A Grave, but here is a summary of its inhabitants:

GRAVE OF SAMUEL MORRILL
(POLLY IS BURIED HERE TOO, I BELIEVE, BUT UNMARKED)

Samuel died in 1849 at home, and Polly died in 1876 in neighboring Rochester (perhaps the house was already sold by then?).

As for their eight children, one (or possibly two) died as babies, and the other six lived to adulthood:

-Sally Morrill-Foss (1810-1854) was Samuel's eldest.  She married John Foss (1797-1859) and they ran a small farm in neighboring Moultonboro with their five children, most of whom appear to be buried at Lee Cemetery in Moultonboro.

-Hannah W. Morrill (1812-1873) married William Copp Jr., had five sons and moved to Hennepin County, Minnesota.  When William passed away in 1857, she married a D.Y. Jones.  She passed away in Minneapolis.
-Joel Morrill (1815-1867) was clearly named after Samuel's father.  He married Almira Piper and ran a large farm in Newport, Maine with their three children.  None of this family is buried here.
-Almira Morrill appears in no records after her birth, so it's possible she may have been stillborn or might be buried in an unmarked grave here in the backyard.

GRAVE OF WILLIAM MORRILL
AGE SIX MONTHS

-William Morrill (1819-1819) lived only six months, and he has his own gravesite next to his father.  This is what leads me to believe the two older girls were stillborn.

GRAVE OF CARRIE MALLARD
AGE 8

GRAVE OF MARY JANE MORRILL-MALLARD

-Mary Jane Morrill-Mallard (1822-1861) married an attorney named John D. Mallard and moved to Brookline, Massachusetts with their young daughter, Carrie (who died at age 8).  When Mary Jane's sister, Sally Foss, and her husband both died, their young daughter Sally moved in with them until she married and moved up to Epsom, NH.  John may have remarried after Mary Jane died, since I cannot seem to locate his burial place.

GRAVE OF ELIZABETH MORRILL-SMITH
THOUGHTFULLY REPAIRED AFTER SOME VANDALS GOT TO IT

-Elizabeth Morrill-Smith (1828-1866) married a John G. Smith, whom I cannot locate a single record for (perhaps the commonality of the name is to blame). 

-Julia Morrill-Leavitt (1830-1853) was the youngest of Samuel's children.  She married Woodbury Leavitt (1827-1863), son to Samuel Leavitt and Jemima Piper, and grandson to adjutant John Leavitt,  and they had one child, Samuel C. Leavitt (1849-1870) also buried here.  After Julia died, Woodbury worked as a farm laborer and then died during the Civil War from chronic diarrhea.

Also buried in the backyard is a Willie Hodgdon Smith (1861-1866), son to Elizabeth Morrill.

GRAVE OF WILLIE HODGDON SMITH

I believe that once Samuel died in 1849, his house and land must have been sold immediately, since everyone scattered to other places afterwards.  At least the new owner was kind enough to allow the subsequent burials to take place here.  I'd like to find out when the land was sold.  I believe the house is kept up nicely and is used as some kind of museum or meeting house, judging from my visit there in November 2011 (when I took these photographs).  It would be nice if a member of this family living today would stumble upon this post, and maybe have more info to share to help fill in the blanks.

Thomas Rogers of the Mayflower

Mayflower passengers Thomas Rogers (1571-1621) and his son Joseph Rogers (1603-1677) are my 11th and 10th great grandfathers, respectively.

Thomas and his family were Leiden separatists originally from Watford England, who had moved to Holland in protest of the Anglican Church.

While Thomas died that first winter in Plymouth (as did over half the passengers), his son Joseph lived on and was a founding member of Eastham and Barnstable, Massachusetts.

The Mayflower Families Through Five Generations volumes show that a Patience Phinney, fifth generation descendant of Thomas Rogers, married an Ebenezer Holmes.  This Ebenezer Holmes is accepted by the Mayflower Society to be the same that lived in Plymouth and who fathered Jeremiah Holmes (1729-1790).  Jeremiah's son, Jeremiah Holmes, Jr., moved north to Winterport Maine (then part of Frankfort) with wife Nancy Robinson, and were early settlers of Hancock County Maine.  Their granddaughter, Harriet Holmes-Morgan, was my 3rd great grandmother and her family can be read about in more detail here.

History of Stroudwater Burying Ground

My favorite cemetery sits at the corner of Congress and Westbrook Streets in Portland, just over the Westbrook line (where Westbrook Street then becomes Stroudwater Street), and near to where I was raised.  While I enjoy all old cemeteries, in all their spooky yet tranquil glory, this one has a beautiful amount of tree cover, yet is very friendly and walkable to the public; and, located along the Stroudwater River, and the land's nearly 500 grave sites are still relatively unscarred by vandals.  The 1998 Ice Storm and the "Patriot's Day wind storm" in 2007 apparently damaged quite a few of the stones.

I would like to use this post as a way to collect some research, share family and local histories, and create a place online where other researchers and historians can comment and contribute, since I see no evidence of it yet on the Net.

First, a bit of historical timeline about placenames in this vexingly labeled area of Southern Maine, with a bit of additional history regarding how this area grew:

-1658 - The Town of Falmouth is formed, named for Falmouth England.  The neighborhood containing this cemetery (later known as Stroudwater Village), located at the spot where the Stroudwater River empties into the larger Fore River, is a part of Falmouth at this point.  The first claimant of land arrives from England, named Francis Small, who reportedly purchased land rights from Scitterygusset, a prominent local Sagamore Indian.  Small paid the Indian with "one trading coat a year for Capisic, and one gallon of liquor a year for Ammoncongan," (This is Stroudwater p.85).  The amount of land is up for debate.  Wikipedia claims it was only 200 acres, but This Was Stroudwater claims it was "about two miles" (1280 acres).  Small sold his land to George Munjoy a few years later.

-1676 - The area was destroyed by Wampanoag Indians during King Philip's War.  At some point around this time, Stroudwater's first settlers, the Ingersoll Family, begin living in the area.  They had purchased the land from George Munjoy.  According to History of Portland, though, the Ingersolls were living here in 1661.  Not sure how they were able to live here while the Indians were destroying the area.

-1690 - French-backed Abenaki tribes swept through Falmouth Neck (later known as intown Portland), and killed all settlers, reducing the area to ash.  The Ingersolls of Stroudwater take the hint and move south to Massachusetts proper before the Indians arrive there.

-1718 - Falmouth is incorporated as a town.

-1719 - Colonel Thomas Westbrook, because of his great skill as a frontiersman elsewhere in Massachusetts Colony, was dispatched to "Casko Bay" just before Christmas to attempt to establish peace with the Indians, in order to begin mast production in the area filled with great pines, as such had been success in other areas in New England.  It was around this time that King George I enacted a law which forbade anyone from felling any white pine trees without express permit.  Such trees were branded with Royal Navy symbols for later felling.  This of course didn't always prevent locals from felling trees for their own use.

THE BROAD ARROW
SYMBOL USED BY BRITISH ROYAL NAVY
TO MARK TREES FOR USE BY THE CROWN

-1727 - Stroudwater Village is formed as a hamlet located within Falmouth, and its name is christened by Colonel Westbrook.  It is believed by most historians that the name of the Village (and the river flowing through it) stems from the town of Stroud of Gloucestershire, England.  Myrtle Lovejoy, author of This is Stroudwater, believes that Stroud comes directly from the Oxford dictionary definition of "marshy land covered with brushwood".  Burials began on this hill, yet no reliable burial records were kept until 1739.  The Village gradually becomes an important producer of timber for the production of masts for the ships of the English Royal Navy.  Colonel Westbrook and his friend and business associate, Samuel Waldo, are important figures in organizing the Village around this new industry, and the Ingersoll heirs sold them much land for their new lots adjoining the falls, and two active sawmills.  The former Ingersoll land (near the future George Tate house) began to be used for the mast business.  Westbrook himself purchased the large 1 acre plot of land for the graveyard.  Parson Thomas Smith of the First Parish Church assisted Colonel Westbrook in attracting other settlers to the area.

-1734 - The James Forder House is built at what is now 1235 Westbrook Street, and the Isaac Fly house next door to it at 1227 Westbrook Street, which I believe we can today call Portland's oldest standing houses.  Both Forder and Fly were important businessmen of Stroudwater who left the area before their death, and are not buried at the Cemetery, but later owners of these homes are (more on them below).

-1743 - Joseph Small of Kittery, grandson to early Stroudwater pioneer Francis Small, arrives in Stroudwater to settle in on or near the land once owned by his grandfather.  He got to work quickly, appraising the vast and complicated estate of Colonel Westbrook, who was already dying, with Samuel Waldo ready to move in on his holdings.  Waldo sold Small his first lot in Stroudwater on mortgage, which was paid by 10,000 feet of lumber.  Small's home was very close to the graveyard, and was later sold to Jesse Partridge (more on him below).

-1744 - Colonel Westbrook died penniless, and most all of his holdings (including the burial ground) were deeded to Samuel Waldo, his former partner, and ultimate enemy at the end.  Waldo had successfully sued Westbrook, and had begun stripping him of all his land and money before he died. Westbrook was hoping to be buried on his own land, but was instead buried in Scarborough in secret on the Knight Farm (owned by his sister Mary and her husband Nathan Knight), out of concern that Waldo might hold Westbrook's body hostage in order to pay the remainder of the debts to him, which was custom at the time. It's possible that this might be the reason why Westbrook wasn't buried at Stroudwater Burying Ground as well.  A colleague of his, named Zebulon Trickey (wealthy local who was highway surveyor and large owner of land near what is now Maine Mall), also passed that same year, and also in his case many people from the Village swarmed in to collect on debts of the deceased.  Colonel Westbrook's debts, according to This Was Stroudwater, were incurred as a result of his investment and passion for developing the mast trade in Falmouth, and to eventually be competitive with Portsmouth's lucrative trade along the Piscataqua River.  His vision was realized after his death, and Falmouth's mast trade was booming for another 60 years, until the Embargo Act took hold.

-1755 - The Tate House is built, and today enjoys the distinction of now being one of Portland's oldest standing houses (although the Forder and Fly homes around the corner from it are 20 years older). Its owner, English born George Tate, was a former Royal Navy captain sent to live in the area in order to oversee the burgeoning industry of ship mast building in Stroudwater Village.

-1765 - Since the First Parish of Falmouth was overstretched in covering so much of the large settlement, including Stroudwater, the Fourth Parish of Falmouth ("Stroudwater Parish") was erected at what is now 37 Capisic Street (corner of Frost Street), and Thomas Browne, (a rebellious man whose life is discussed below) was ordained as the first Reverend.  The building wasn't large enough to accommodate the growing flock, so it was razed and rebuilt on the same site in 1784.  I'm curious if it's the same building that is now the Francis Warde Convent's chapel house:

FRANCIS WARDE CONVENT
37 CAPISIC STREET
CHAPEL TO THE LEFT
(POSSIBLY OLD STROUDWATER PARISH)

-1775 - With the Revolution in full swing, the English Royal Navy bombed Falmouth Neck (now Portland), causing many survivors to flee to other areas of Greater Falmouth, including Stroudwater.

-1786 - Mrs. Sarah Waldo, heir to Samuel Waldo, deeds the burial ground to Stroudwater Parish.

-1790 - The first national census occurs, and the Village is featured:

-1794 - Many of the chief townspeople gathered at Jesse Partridge's house to subscribe money for the construction of the first public school in Stroudwater.  Such land was donated by Andrew Pepperrell Frost near the northeast side of Fore River, and James Means did the construction.  I wonder if the building still stands?

-1795 - Harrow House, the home of the late Colonel Thomas Westbrook, is razed, after many decades of disrepair.  After the death of Westbrook, the home was owned and lived in by Enoch Ilsley, and at the end, by Jonathan Fickett, whose son Samuel demolished the house to build his own new house.  Harrow House was one of the very first houses built in Stroudwater, and was located near the corner of what is now Garrison and Westbrook Streets.

-1807 - Upon the heels of the Embargo Act, the timber production of Stroudwater came to a standstill, and many in the Village lost their livelihoods and homes.  William Tate and James Webb, among them.

-14 Feb 1814 - this area was annexed from the greater settlement of Falmouth, and was named the City of Stroudwater, which at that time also included the boundaries of (a) the towns of Saccarappa and Congin (later modern Westbrook) and (b) the Deering section of current Portland.

-April 1814 - The City of Stroudwater was renamed Westbrook, in honor of Colonel Thomas Westbrook.

-1820 - Maine is annexed from Massachusetts and becomes its own state, as a result of the Missouri Compromise.

-1871 - Westbrook was split into two towns, Westbrook and Deering.  Stroudwater Burying Ground was located in Town of Deering, but just under a quarter mile away from the Westbrook border.

-1898 - The Town of Deering (which contains the cemetery) was annexed into today's Portland.

-1931 - The first flight took place at Stroudwater Field (now Portland International Jetport), a half mile from the cemetery.  The installation and expansion of the Airport resulted in the destruction of many dozens of historical homes.

-1973 - The Stroudwater District was added to the Register of Historic Places.

AERIAL VIEW
STROUDWATER BURYING GROUND AND ENVIRONS

PHOTO CREDIT:  LEONARD BOND CHAPMAN (CA. 1900)

SAME VIEW AS ABOVE FROM GOOGLE EARTH (2020)

While some of the old Stroudwater families are buried in their homes' backyards (as was the custom of the time) many of the families listed above are buried at Stroudwater Burying Ground, and the below is a modest history of a few of them (some photo credit goes to IHRP & Family, aka Stone Finders):

Captain Jesse Partridge (1742-1795)

Jesse Partridge was born in Holliston, Massachusetts to Preserved Partridge and Katherine Strong of Holliston.  His 2nd great grandfather John Partridge was an early settler of Jamestowne Colony.

At some point in the early 1750's young Jesse (along with his parents and his ten siblings) moved to the Gorham area (then part of Falmouth).

By 1765, they were living in Capisic, but Preserved was evicted for being a squatter.

In 1767, Jesse Partridge, now holding land in Stroudwater, held offices of lumber surveyor, fire ward, and hog reeve.

In 1778, Captain Partridge led a voluntary militia comprised of fifty Falmouth men.  Together they marched the 250 miles to join Colonel John Greaton's 3rd Massachusetts Regiment stationed on the Hudson River.

In 1786, after having returned from fighting in the Revolutionary War, Jesse built his home next to his existing home (Joseph Small House).  The remainder of his siblings still remained in Gorham. According to the 1790 Census, he appears to have had one son and two daughters, but I'm unable at this point to find out more about them.

Jesse worked in timber, particularly for the masts built for Royal Navy ships, and was a contemporary of English born George Tate, also spending time working as a shopkeeper in Tate's store, which he managed at the end of his years.  He bought land from Joseph Small (who relocated to Gray afterwards), and built his house which is adjacent to the cemetery, and the house is still standing today and in great condition, and cared for by folks who enjoy the history of this house and the cemetery next door.   The house itself has four bedrooms, two full baths and one half bath, an unusually large living room, dining room, office and a sitting room. Historic features include Indian shutters, wide pine floors, original pine molding, six fireplaces (and a bread oven) off one center chimney, and two fireplaces off the ell chimney.  Tradition has it that 26,000 bricks were used for the grand chimney:

JESSE PARTRIDGE HOUSE
1346 WESTBROOK STREET
BUILT 1786

Jesse was ill for a few years before passing on in 1795.  He and his family are buried at Stroudwater. When Jesse died, his wife Rebecca married recently widowed (with a windfall from the Dole estate from across the road) Andrew Titcomb, and Andrew then moved into the Partridge House).  When Andrew's father passed a couple years later, he inherited his father's estate.  Then, when Rebecca passed in 1808, Andrew inherited the Partridge House, making Andrew Titcomb one of the town elites.

Moses Quinby moved into the Partridge home around 1810 and married Andrew's daughter Anne Titcomb.  Moses' daughter Almira Quinby (1828-1909) and Anne's niece Louisa Titcomb (1823-1905) inhabited the house during the Civil War, during which they worked as nurses.  The Titcombs held the house until 1930.  The Jesse Partridge House was the home of many prominent and pioneering Stroudwater residents for over 150 years.

GRAVE OF JESSE PARTRIDGE

GRAVE OF REBECCA BAILEY
WIFE TO JESSE PARTRIDGE AND ALSO ANDREW TITCOMB

ANDREW TITCOMB
1753-1818

GRAVE OF ANNE CONANT-PARTRIDGE
SISTER-IN-LAW OF JESSE PARTRIDGE
(HER DAUGHTER, KATHERINE PARTRIDGE-DOLE,
MARRIED DANIEL DOLE JR. SEEN BELOW)

Rhoda Partridge (1755-1834)

Jesse's sister Rhoda was the only child of Preserved Partridge to die unmarried.  She was once betrothed to Daniel Dole, Jr., but Daniel married Rhoda's niece Katherine instead, which caused quite a stir in the community.  Rhoda persevered through the family drama, and became the first female schoolteacher in the area, buying up the lot previously owned by William Maxfield, Jr., and building her own house in 1805 by the bridge over Stroudwater River (near where the current house at 1789 Congress Street is located).  After she died, the house was moved in 1839 to its current location at 1747 Congress Street, right around the corner from the graveyard.  The act of moving this house took many days, involved oxen and rolling on logs, and, it's believed, a fair share of rum consumed along the way.

RHODA PARTRIDGE HOUSE
1747 CONGRESS STREET
BUILT 1805

GRAVE OF RHODA PARTRIDGE
SISTER OF JESSE PARTRIDGE
(once betrothed to Daniel Dole, Jr., who married her young niece Katherine instead).
This is an excellent example of the Bartlett Adams style.  The stone was most likely carved by Joseph R. Thompson, one of Bartlett’s successors after he passed in 1828.  Thompson took over Bartlett’s shop with business partner Francis Ilsley when Bartlett died in 1828.   Ilsley left stone cutting after a few years (probably around 1833) but Thompson was a prolific stone cutter who worked stone until the 1860’s.

Daniel Dole (1716-1803)

DANIEL DOLE HOUSE
1365 WESTBROOK STREET
BUILT AROUND 1765

CAPTAIN DANIEL DOLE

DANIEL'S WIFE SARAH PEARSON-DOLE
Daughter to Moses Pearson (Town Selectman of Stroudwater)

Capt. Daniel Dole, originally from Newbury, Mass, was born to William Dole Jr. and Rebecca Pearson of Newbury.  William's grandfather Richard Dole was one of the first settlers of Newbury.

Dole purchased around 1770 an aggregated 218 acres of Stroudwater Village (the largest landowner at one point) from Joseph Small and from Francis and Samuel Waldo, Jr., son to the ruthless Samuel Waldo.  Dole started a family farm there on Westbrook Street, across the street from the Jesse Partridge House and the Joseph Small House, and based on comments on a history of this house, it is believed that the house was already built when Dole acquired the land.  He left after five years, to fight in the Revolution, and upon his return he became an important figure in Stroudwater, being elected Selectman for eight years, and also Treasurer of Stroudwater Parish.

In 1784, upon the death of Daniel's wife Sarah, the house went to wealthy Andrew Titcomb, who had married their daughter Mary.  When Mary died in 1796, Andrew immediately married neighbor Rebecca Bailey-Partridge (whose husband, Captain Jesse, had died the prior year), and he moved across the street to live in the Partridge house, making Andrew one of the wealthiest property owners in Stroudwater.  Old Daniel was alive through all this, and finally passed in the Spring of 1803, leaving the house to Daniel Jr., who left it to Daniel III, who sold the house away from the family in the 1890s.

Many of the Doles passed on from consumption, but Daniel's son Moses, a young silversmith, died of hypothermia from swimming in the river when it was too cold.

Dole's house was, at its construction, the largest in Falmouth Neck, and is still standing today as one of Portland's oldest buildings.  Daniel was town Selectman for three years.  He and his wife Sarah, along with their many descendants, are also buried here.  There are 14 members of the Dole family buried here at Stroudwater Burying Ground.

SOURCE:  New England Family History, Henry Cole Quinby 1894

DANIEL DOLE, JR.

GRAVE OF KATHARINE PARTRIDGE-DOLE

NIECE OF JESSE and RHODA PARTRIDGE

The Doles owned a slave (then known as a bondman) named London, who died in 1812, and no record of his burial is kept here, but he is likely buried here too.

Daniel's son, Daniel Dole, Jr. and his young wife Katherine Partridge are also buried in the Dole lot.   As mentioned above, Katherine's aunt, schoolteacher Rhoda Partridge (Jesse's sister), was previously engaged to Daniel Jr., at one time, but was a bit older than him. Apparently there was some drama surrounding Daniel's change of mind in choice of bride, according to Tate House Museum.  Daniel Jr. died ten years into his marriage of an accident, leaving Katherine a young widow.

Captain George Tate  (1700-1794)

George Tate was born in England, and senior mast agent for King George III as to the province of Maine, and his home below is a national landmark, and one of the oldest houses in Portland.

George was forever an Anglican, and didn't attend services at the Stroudwater Congregational Church.

Upon the death of Colonel Thomas Westbrook in 1744, and the subsequent loss of organization of the mast trade in Stroudwater for the King, Samuel Waldo (who had absorbed most of Westbrook's estate) was too busy with other matters while living in Boston to hire a new mast agent.  Many living in Stroudwater took it upon themselves to continue mast trade through Waldo without any oversight, which fell under London's radar.  This was the reason for Tate having been dispatched to Stroudwater by 1750, a full six years after Westbrook's death.

Soon after arriving in Stroudwater, Tate's wealth grew, and in 1755 he built his own home in Georgian style with prime view of the marshland and the mastyard from the front, and the river from the back.  His house is still standing, is registered in the National Registry of Historic Places, and has been used for museum and historical purposes since 1931.

He soon opened up a storehouse on the riverfront, not far from where the Stroudwater Baptist Church sits today.  Tate and his family ran the store until 1785, when neighbors James Means and John Kilby purchased it, and continued the business.

HOUSE OF GEORGE TATE
"THE TATE HOUSE"
1270 WESTBROOK STREET

GRAVE OF CAPTAIN GEORGE TATE
and WIFE MARY

In late September 1770, George's wife Mary was killed by a shotgun booby trap in their storehouse, which had been set up by her son William in order to catch thieves. William was convicted of her murder but was later pardoned by King George III. William absconded to England to avoid creditors after his father died.  He is buried in England, and his brother George is buried in Russia, after serving in the Russian Royal Navy for many years, and who was a point of pride to the family.  Samuel's first wife Elizabeth is also buried at Stroudwater.

George's son, Captain Robert Tate (1751-1804), his wife Martha (1751-1822), and daughter Catherine are buried at Stroudwater.  Robert died in Berbice, Guyana. It's quite possible that his stone is only an "in memoriam" stone (cenotaph), since Tate House Museum states that Robert was buried in Guyana.

GRAVES OF CAPT. ROBERT TATE,
WIFE MARTHA AND DAUGHTER CATHERINE

There are an additional 11 known Tate gravesites, but it's not clear to me yet what their relation is to Captain George, including one Eleanor Tate (1710-1770).  The rest are of younger generations.

Capt. John Quinby (1758-1806)

John Quinby was a young soldier in the Revolution and later a church treasurer.  He practiced Puritanism (although his son Moses was more liberal).  He grew up in Portland near the waterfront, having been well educated in private schooling.  His family was forced to move to Gorham after the Mowatt bombing of 1775.  In 1782, he married Eunice Freeman, a descendant of Mayflower pilgrim William Brewster, and had six children.  In 1783, he purchased the land adjacent to, and to the south of, Capt. George Tate, and such land was purchased from the Estate of Francis Waldo (now a Tory deserter after the Revolution).  He went in on the land buy with Archelaus Lewis, and together they subdivided, with Quinby taking the lot just south of the Tate House, and Lewis taking the lot just south of Quinby's lot.  Also involved in the land buy and subdivision were Benjamin Gayley, Reverend Thomas Browne and Jabez Jones, and each of these three sold to speculation and didn't build upon them.  John's parents, Joseph and Mary Quinby, joined John in Stroudwater.

Quinby and Lewis built houses nearly identical to each other (This Was Stroudwater, p. 132).  While Lewis' house remains, Quinby's house was eventually moved to the corner of State Street and Pine Street in the West End, and was later razed and replaced.  See before and after of Pine/State Streets, showing the Quinby house in the before:

HOME OF JOHN QUINBY
CIRCA 1900
ORIGINALLY NEXT TO THE TATE HOUSE
MOVED HERE TO STATE AND PINE STREETS IN 1826
COURTESY OF THIS WAS STROUDWATER

QUINBY HOUSE REMOVED
REPLACED WITH OFFICE BUILDING IN 1920
NOW 188 STATE STREET

In addition to running a sawmill in his backyard, Quinby also built and owned many tradeships, and was one of many such privateers who used their ships to trade with (among others) the English and the French, two of which were taken by the French during their own revolution (This Was Stroudwater p. 138), and one of them manned by his own nephew, Thomas Seal.

From 1785 until 1804, Quinby was Treasurer at 4th Parish of Falmouth (Stroudwater).

In 1790, Capt. Quinby suffered a great loss.  His wife died in early September (possibly during childbirth), his young son George drowned in late September, and his infant son died in December.  He never remarried, and it's presumed that his four surviving children were raised by housekeepers.

In 1802, Quinby was one of the incorporators of the Fore River Bridge just down the street.  During that same year, he suffered additional tragedies:  his son Thomas died of sickness on a ship commandeered by Robert Tate (son to Capt. George) in Haiti,  Captain Robert died 18 months later of a tropical disease in Guyana.  John himself contracted consumption (like so many others).  Captain John died four years later, at age 48.

CAPTAIN JOHN QUINBY
(STONE WORK BY BARTLETT ADAMS)

EUNICE FREEMAN-QUINBY
(1761-1790)
(STONE CARVED BY JOHN HOMER'S SHOP OF BOSTON)
NOTE:  THE WINGED SKULL DESIGN HAD FALLEN OUT OF FAVOR BY MID 1700s
SO THIS STONE IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN PREMADE WITH BLANK AREA FOR LATER INSCRIPTION

Thanks to John's son, Moses (1786-1857), many of the Captain's records are intact, and thus gave early historians the ability to retain much of Stroudwater's history.

The son of Moses (and his wife, Anna Titcomb - daughter to Andrew Titcomb) was Thomas Quinby, a Portland attorney and civil engineer.  While Thomas and his wife (Jane Brewer - daughter to Captain Dexter Brewer) relocated to Saco, they are both also buried here at Stroudwater:

Captain James Means (1753-1832)

James Means was Captain in Washington's army, serving at Valley Forge and Bunker Hill.  Upon moving to Stroudwater after the War, he worked as a shopkeeper in George Tate's store, taking over from Jesse Partridge around 1786, just after marrying Mary Cox.  James and Mary lived above the store for a time, and James bought Tate's business in 1785, running the store, while living upstairs until he had the 'means' to build his own home across the street from Tate.

The Means House was built in 1797 (just a few years after George Tate died) on the triangle of land that was the former site of Colonel Westbrook's mast yard.  According to Tate House Museum, the Tate and Quinby families were not happy about this new house being built, because it ruined their view of the river and bridge in front of their houses.  They had wanted to keep this land going as a village green.  When James died (a year after his wife Mary), the house went to James' daughter, also named Mary.  When Mary passed, the house went to Mary's sister Sophie Means-Mason.  Sophie's son Frank sold the house out of the family in the 1900s.

It still stands today and is the home of the offices of the Tate House Museum.

PAINTING OF BACK OF MEANS HOUSE
FRONT OF TATE HOUSE VISIBLE IN THE BACKGROUND

JAMES MEANS HOUSE
1267 WESTBROOK STREET
2014

GRAVE OF JAMES MEANS, ESQ.

Andrew Hawes (1836-1928)

As mentioned above, Captain John Quinby, early shipbuilder and settler of Stroudwater, kept many records of his business dealings, and thanks to his son Moses, such records were kept intact and used as early source material for later research.  Such research and commentary was spearheaded by Moses' grandson, Andrew Hawes, who is also buried at Stroudwater.  We have Hawes to thank for much of what is available to us researchers.

Upon death of Martin Hawes, Mary Ann and her son Andrew moved into the Jesse Partridge House profiled earlier.

William Slemons (1866-1930)

Slemons (born to farmer George and Lydia Slemons, of Spring Street Westbrook - who are also buried at Stroudwater) was a carpenter in Stroudwater.  While he lived on County Road in Westbrook/Scarborough at the end of his life, he lived in Stroudwater during his prime.

His grandfather, named William Slemons, Jr. (1753-1834), was business manager for the Means and other families, and charged $1 per day.  He also sold hay and land to various members of Stroudwater. According to the Means of Maine, he handled the real property transfers of the Means house and possibly others,  William lived on what is now known as 17 Garrison Street in Stroudwater.

WILLIAM SLEMONS HOUSE

WILLIAM SLEMONS

GEORGE & LYDIA SLEMONS

Dr. Jeremiah Barker (1752-1835)

HOME OF DR. JEREMIAH BARKER
(LATER OF JACOB HUNT)

Dr. Barker, of Barnstable Massachusetts, was a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland.  He fought in the Revolution, where he served as a surgeon.  Afterwards, he relocated to Gorham by 1780 (becoming the Town's second Town Doctor), but relocated to Stroudwater Village by 1790, and returned to Gorham by the 1830s, having sold his business to competitor Jacob Hunt.   (p. 96, A History of Gorham, published 1862, Foster & Cushing).

He was a noted research physician and authored the book "Account of Febrile Diseases, as they have appeared in County of Cumberland, District of Maine," published in 1802, and other medical publications (according to p. 93 of Bibliography of the State of Maine, from the Earliest Period to 1891, Volume 1 published 1896, The Thurston Print).

According to Worth Point:

"Dr. Barker's chief service to medical history consists in a large number of interesting accounts of epidemics of scarlatina, malignant fever, measles and putrid sore throat occurring in Maine between 1790 and 1810. He also published meteorological sketches of great value to the historian.  At one time he planned a history of epidemics in Maine, and strove to interest his fellow physicians in his scheme, but no printed material or even manuscript remains to prove that his work was ever given to the public.  He was one of the famous "sixty-niners" of the year 1818, with which title he goes down into Maine liquor law history, meaning that he was one of the sixty-nine persons who attended in the Friends' Chapel in Portland the first temperance meeting ever held in Maine, the purpose of which was to prohibit the drinking of rum sold on the premises." 

Dr. Barker and his three wives are buried at Stroudwater Cemetery.  According to Tate House Museum, he unsuccessfully tried to save each of them by using 'lime water' as a curative.  Dr. Barker resided near the corner of what is now Westbrook Street and Garrison Street, near Harrow House (the home of Colonel Westbrook).  His house dates to 1800 and is called a 'fine hip roof structure'.  Not sure if it's still there.

Reverend Thomas Browne (1733-1797)

Reverend Browne's life was colored by rebellion and scandal. Born in Haverhill, Massachusetts (the son of Reverend John Brown and Joanna Cotton), he attended Harvard, where he was routinely in trouble for skipping church on the Sabbath, stealing bottles of wine and for singing along to lewd lyrics over hymns in church, along with his buddy Langdon (a man after my own heart).  His actions didn't cause his expulsion (to the dismay of some in the church), but he did lose his scholarship, and it took him some time to regain his reputation.  Once he turned 26, he was forming the First Church of Marshfield, Mass., which was a hotbed for Loyalists at the time.  It's unclear if he was considered to be one of them, but the Tate House Museum states that his thesis for his Master's degree at Harvard argued that frequent war did more to promote public safety than frequent peace.  During his work at the Church, he succeeded in relaxing a law requiring church membership candidates declare a public reason for their conversion (perhaps due to his own wild youth).  A few years later, in 1763, he again was under public scrutiny when the Church investigated his morals (it's not stated what he supposedly did).  Browne was so disgusted by the inquiries he left the Church, and in that same year married Lydia Howard of Duxbury.

In 1764, he was invited to preach at Falmouth.  Apparently he was ill received by his fellow clergymen Smith and Deane from the 1st Parish in Falmouth (now Gorham) as he was "first refused shelter on a bitter winter night and given inadequate supper and breakfast of pea porridge and johnnycake without butter".

In 1765, Browne was officially called to the new 4th Parish of Falmouth (located on Capisic Street), which was founded as a house of worship for 13 ousted members of the 1st Parish (likely all rebels in one way or other, just like Browne).  His installation to this new church was seen unfavorably by Smith and Deane, and their flock, and none of them showed for Browne's installation.

Even after his installation to the 4th Parish, ill will followed Browne.  He leased the Samuel Waldo home in Cape Elizabeth and commuted to work, and refused to pay taxes in Cape Elizabeth, which caused the Town of Cape Elizabeth to petition the Mass General Court in 1771 for his taxability. This caused some kind of consternation amongst the people, but apparently that all died down, since he served as head clergy at the Stroudwater Parish for 32 years until his death at age 64, and his clergy meetings were usually held at his second home in Woodfords.  Browne was succeeded by Dr. Caleb Bradley.

During his tenure at Stroudwater, Browne always told new ordained ministers that the church had no control over them.

The original 4th Parish building from 1764 was a simple one story church, 40'x30', with no pews, only simple benches.  They expanded in 1784 to accommodate a growing flock.  It contained two stories and two rows of windows, and a high vestibule.  Perhaps the chapel building below is the old Parish?

REVEREND THOMAS BROWNE

LYDIA HOWARD-BROWNE
(1736-1805)

Thomas and Lydia Browne had eight children, who each 'married well'.  Their eldest daughter, Abigail (nicknamed "Nabby"), married the wealthy Hugh McLellan, shipping magnate and first owner of the historically preserved McLellan Sweat House on High Street in Portland, now home to Portland Museum of Art.

Their 2nd daughter Elizabeth Lewis is their only child buried at Stroudwater.

Elizabeth was one of three wives of Archelaus Lewis, more on him below...

Lieutenant Archelaus Lewis (1753-1834)

Archelaus Lewis of Berwick, said to have been a large framed man of over six feet in height, settled in Saccarappa in 1774 and opened a tailor shop in Stroudwater.  In 1776 he entered Continental Army and served five years.  He fought with Washington's Army at Valley Forge and earned rank of Lieutenant.

His uncle, Francis Lewis, was a signer of Declaration of Independence

Source: History of Cumberland Co., p 384

The following is from the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books (Miss Margaret Blaine Reynolds, DAR ID Number 38325):

"Archelaus Lewis, (1753-1834), enlisted 1775 under Capt. John Brackett and served until the British evacuated Boston. He was ensign 1776 in Capt. Wentworth Stewart's company and was at Ticonderoga. In 1777 was lieutenant under Capt. George W. Smith, Col. Joseph Vose's regiment. His pension in 1832 was allowed for two years actual service as lieutenant, Massachusetts militia. He was born in Berwick; died in Westbrook, Maine. Also Nos. 3085, 7821, 14053, 34174, 35673."

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 39 page 119.

All three of Lewis' wives are buried at Stroudwater alongside him and two of his young boys.

In addition to land and mill property bought in Ammoncongan (later known as Cumberland Mills, and now part of Westbrook), Lewis partnered with John Quinby for the land to the south of George Tate, and then subdivided, Lewis' home being to the south east of Tate's.

LEWIS' HOME ON THE LEFT
1258 WESTBROOK STREET

QUINBY LOT TO THE RIGHT
(REPLACEMENT BRICK HOME FROM 1826 BUILT HERE)
1266 WESTBROOK STREET

Polly Porterfield (1780-1854)

Polly was an old spinster who lived on the corner of Westbrook Street and Congress Street.  She and her sister Peggy ran a gift shop called "West India Company".  According to Tate House Museum, Polly would offer neighborhood boys some peppermint sticks if they would pick up twigs in her yard and bring them to her.  She was locally famous, according to This is Stroudwater.  She was the daughter of William Porterfield, Jr., who himself was an early Stroudwater resident and son to William Porterfield and Mary Jamieson, early Scotch-Irish immigrants to Casco Bay.  

POLLY PORTERFIELD HOUSE
1296 WESTBROOK STREET

GRAVE OF POLLY PORTERFIELD

Isaac Lobdell (1714-1802)

CAPTAIN ISAAC LOBDELL, SR.

The very large Lobdell family came from Plymouth in 1795 and bought the James Forder House (built 1734) at what is now 1235 Westbrook Street.  Given the Isaac Fly house next door built at the same time, these are Portland's oldest standing houses.  Captain Isaac Lobdell Jr. (son to the Isaac Sr whose memorial is pictured above) bought the house from the Billings family. At that time the house was known as the Billings Inn, where rum was sold.  While the Lobdells briefly occupied the house to the left of Archelaus Lewis (which had been built by shipmaster Jonah Dyer, but was rarely lived in by him), they eventually settled and prospered quite well in the Forder House, beginning in May of 1795, making it the first house in Stroudwater to be carpeted and wallpapered.  His family was reputed to have been comprised of very polite and upstanding people, and had brought with them by boat from Plymouth, a large supply of household goods.  They inhabited the house until 1825, at which point they sold it to George Tate, son to William, grandson to colonial Captain George Tate. George's son, Augustus, eventually owned the property until 1921, when it was then sold to Arthur Maxfield, taking it out of historical Stroudwater family ownership.

JAMES FORDER HOUSE
1235 WESTBROOK STREET
AKA THE BILLINGS INN AND THE ISAAC LOBDELL HOUSE

Caleb Bartlett (1757-1820)

Next door to the Forder House can be found the Isaac Fly house, also built 1734, which was sold in 1830 to Charles Bartlett, son to Caleb:

ISAAC FLY/CHARLES BARTLETT HOUSE
1227 WESTBROOK STREET

Caleb Bartlett was born in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, one of eleven children born to Robert & Rebecca Bartlett.  At age 22, Caleb enlisted in Capt. Thomas Mayhew's Plymouth company for the Rev. War, 1775, for a period of 3 mos. and 8 days.  At some point between 1776 and 1790, he and his wife, Elizabeth Holmes, moved to Stroudwater Village and had at least seven children.  They lived near the cemetery as well, and I'm not sure if Caleb also worked in timber.  A few of Caleb's siblings moved to the Norway, Maine area, but it appears the bulk of this family stayed behind in Plymouth.  Caleb's dad remarried twice after the death of his first wife, and ultimately settled in Maine himself.  Caleb, his wife, and several of their children and grandchildren are buried together at Stroudwater; at least 24 members of this family can be found here.

GRAVE OF CALEB BARTLETT

ELIZABETH HOLMES-BARTLETT
CALEB'S WIFE
WITH SOME OF THEIR CHILDREN

ROBERT BARTLETT AND FAMILY
SON TO CALEB BARTLETT

Thaddeus Broad (1745-1824)

Thaddeus Broad was from Natick, Massachusetts, one of 16 children born to Thadeus Broad, Sr., and just prior to the Revolution, like many others, he migrated north to Stroudwater Village.  He and his wife Lucy (whom he met through his boss at Samuel Skillings' gristmill) had at least eleven kids (Thaddeus Jr., Silas, Lucy, Thomas, William, Ephraim, Eunice, Joseph, Daniel and Amos), eight of whom are buried at Stroudwater with he and his wife.  A total of 18 Broad family members are buried together here.

Thaddeus was known for building the Broad Tavern in 1780 in Stroudwater Village (on what is now known as 1 Cobb Avenue), a popular hostelry located on a former 100 acre parcel that was adjacent to what is now the Portland Jetport.  The Tavern was a popular gathering spot for the locals for over 120 years, and was the focal point for muster gatherings.  When a military gathering occurred at the Tavern, it was reportedly a formalized affair, beginning in front of the George Tate House, whereupon they would commence drill exercises, and march two abreast all the way down Congress Street to the Tavern, with a tag along of village boys to the rear (although the boys were never admitted into the bars). Prior to entering, the men would stack their arms, and upon leaving the Tavern they would reassemble in the same manner and then march to the Frost-Brewer Tavern.

Thaddeus' granddaughter, Almira Anne (1820-1903) was the last to live at Broad Tavern (This Was Stroudwater p. 128), which closed in 1840, under the ownership of Thaddeus' son Silas.  Almira and Leonard Bond Chapman temporarily opened up the building a museum to raise money for the Christian Temperance Union.

Artist Herbert Milton Sylvester painted "Painting of Broad Tavern, Stroudwater, 1892"

And a picture courtesy of the Leonard Bond Chapman collection of the Maine Historical Society, a photograph from around 1900:

GRAVE OF THADDEUS BROAD

Peleg Mitchell (1775-1859)

Peleg Mitchell from Watertown Mass. formed a real estate partnership with fellow Watertown locals Jonas Hamilton and Joseph Chenery, in order to buy land of Jeremiah Riggs, Jr. of Stroudwater (land across from what is currently known as Westgate Shopping Center), who had died in 1800.  Chenery and Mitchell relocated to the area.  Mitchell fought briefly in the War of 1812 in Hobbs Regiment, alongside other Stroudwater neighbors. Chenery, a tanner, drowned himself while coming home to Stroudwater drunk.  His son Edward married Peleg's daughter Barbara.  His son Joseph Jr. married Mary Dole (daughter to Captain Daniel profiled above).

Peleg, in addition to the Riggs house, held a large amount of property on Capisic Street, and then also in Deering, near what would be come to known as Morrill's Corner.  He

Peleg was a charitable soul, according to This Was Stroudwater:

"Besides being able to play the fiddle, making life a bit more lively, Peleg had an unusual kindness.  A few Negro families lived on the road west of the village, descendants, doubtless, of the early servants.  It is said that at Christmastime, Peleg gathered up a pung load of these young Negro children, not only for a ride, but for a supper as well.  For outer garments, some only had meal bags with holes cut for the head and limbs.  According to the custom of the times, the pung would have been layered heavily with hay to keep them warm."

GRAVE OF PELEG MITCHELL

Lillian Ames-Stevens (1844-1914)

LILLIAN AMES-STEVENS

MEMORIALS TO MICHAEL AND LILLIAN STEVENS
OVERLOOKING THE RIVER
(THEIR ASHES WERE SCATTERED HERE)

Lillian Stevens is probably the most noteworthy of Stroudwater's inhabitants, due to her role in Maine Prohibition. Upon her death, flags across Maine were lowered, the first such State tribute to a woman.

According to her memorial on FindaGrave:

She entered the profession of teaching, following her father’s footsteps, at about the age of 16. Within a few years she abandoned her career to marry Michael Stevens, a Portland businessman. Later, with school-age daughter in tow, she eagerly traveled to Old Orchard Beach when she learned that Frances Willard would speak at a temperance rally. In 1875 she helped organize the Maine Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and would later assume its presidency for 36 years. She was a member of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union for nearly four decades, proudly wearing its white ribbon badge, and becoming its president in 1898. She collaborated with Portland’s Neal Dow in the successful drive to add a prohibition amendment to the Maine Constitution. She was a tireless worker for social reform, helping to advance the Maine Industrial School for Girls, Portland’s temporary home for women and children, and to obtain a matron for Portland’s women prisoners. She was selected to represent Maine in the World’s Congress of Representative Women, held at the 1893 Columbia Exposition at Chicago.

Lillian's home still stands today, to the right of the George Tate House, but I wonder who owned the house originally, since it appears to be of similar age to many of those in the Village:

HOME OF LILLIAN STEVENS
(2014)
1282 WESTBROOK STREET

The home was originally built by brothers Tristram and Samuel Stevens, sons to Tristram Stevens, Sr.  Samuel died during War of 1812.  These Stevens were cousins to the Haverhill Stevens family who settled Stevens Plains and had Stevens Avenue named for them in Portland.

HOME OF BROTHERS TRISTRAM AND SAMUEL STEVENS
(circa 1900)
1282 WESTBROOK STREET

Lillian's housekeeper, Nora Durgin (originally from Rockingham County, NH), is also buried near the Stevens plot.  Lillian named Nora in her will and gave her a small portion of the land to the west of the Stevens' house, upon which sat her servant's quarters, at 1288 Westbrook Street.  To add to Nora's fortune at the time, Lillian's husband, Michael Titcomb Stevens (1833-1915) he had additional land he had inherited from his father, Tristram Jr., which he also deeded to Nora, on the other side of Congress Street. 

Lillian's husband Michael survived her by and was bequeathed the house and land, and willed it to his daughter Gertrude and her husband William Leavitt.  Interestingly enough, Michael had deeded his half of the estate to Lillian in 1900, additional land and house which he had purchased in a bankruptcy sale from the Estate of real estate baron John Stidworthy in 1877.  It's clear that Lillian was an interesting character, and a strong woman of her time, or any time.  It appears that Michael was very supportive of her until the end.


Shadrach Chapman (1764-1812)

Shadrach Chapman was a Revolutionary War Patriot from Newmarket, NH.  He was, according to some sources, with General Washington at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778 but that would have meant he was 13 years old at the time (so perhaps the birthdate is off).  After the War he married Lydia Starbird and moved to Stroudwater Village, where had one daughter, Nancy.  This family, along with Nancy's husband and their three children (Michael is buried with his wife Lillian, as noted above) are buried together at Stroudwater Burying Ground.  Upon Shadrach's passing, Lydia's application for Widow's Pension was rejected because he hadn't served the minimum six months.

William Maxfield, Sr. (1724-???)

William Maxfield wasn't known for his own direct accomplishments, but moreso for his children's.

His eldest son, William Maxfield, Jr. (1760-1840), was known as "Wild Bill Max", and was reputed to have been quite the character.  He worked as a "river pilot" who guided vessels through the winding channel of the Fore and Stroudwater Rivers.  Once the Vaughn Bridge opened to traffic in 1800, Wild Bill's work got more difficult.  Given the draw was narrow, and also given variations in tide, often times a ship was too wide for the available space, and Wild Bill would get ornery and curse the ship captain.  He lived in a log cabin on the lot later purchased by Rhoda Partridge, who built her own home there in 1805.  More on her above.

William Sr.'s son Daniel was just a touch more of the calmer sort.  He bought a portion of Jesse Partridge's land that had been purchased from Joseph Small, and settled in at the Small house, but didn't like the location of the house, so he had a team of oxen pull the house across the street for a better view of the marshland. Daniel's seven children are purportedly the ancestors to all Maxfields living in Stroudwater (This is Stroudwater p.89).  Daniel was a farmer, but also worked as a mariner aboard the Rainbow schooner in 1793.  One voyage left him captured by the French, and while in captivity, he became gravely ill, and died very soon upon returning home to Stroudwater.  His home does not still stand today, from what I believe.  The only old house in that particular area of Westbrook Street is the Daniel Dole house.  Daniel's son Charles, of Stevens Plains, was a bricklayer, and in the aftermath of Portland's Great Fire of 1866, he kept busy with work in the massive rebuild of what is now known as the Old Port.  Daniel's other son Josiah married into the Stevens family.  He moved his father Daniel's house even further down Westbrook Street in 1842.  Many of Josiah's debts were paid by tinware, likely from his Stevens' in-laws and their own business over in Deering.

Josiah Maxfield married Nancy Partridge, niece to Jesse.  They are buried at the Maxfield Cemetery in Casco.

DANIEL MAXFIELD

Asa Fickett (1769-1835)

HOME OF ASA FICKETT
(LATER THE HOME OF JONATHAN SMITH)

GRAVE OF ASA FICKETT

Asa Fickett was born in Cape Elizabeth to Jonathan and Bette Fickett.  Jonathan was an early Stroudwater settler, and the final owner of Colonel Westbrook's Harrow House, which was razed in 1795 by Asa's brother Samuel.  Asa married Dorcas Plummer in 1792 and moved to Stroudwater Village.  When Dorcas passed, he married Eliza Edwards.  The three are buried together at the Burying Ground.

Asa's son Francis was a shipbuilder, and his ship, the Savannah, was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic using both sail and steam (This Was Stroudwater, p. 163).

Nahum Fickett (1809-1866)

Asa's son Nahum was a ship carpenter, and later a milk farmer, born in Stroudwater Village, He's buried near to Asa and other Ficketts.  He and his wife Elizabeth had at least five children, but only one, Franklin, appears to be buried here.

Charles Fickett (1845-1919)

Son to Martin and Sarah Fickett of Cape Elizabeth, Charles was likely a grandnephew or grandson of Asa.  He and his wife, Mary Libby, lived at 126 Westbrook Street, Stroudwater Village.

Several other Ficketts are buried here, but I'm having trouble linking them.  According to This Was Stroudwater, there was a "Fickett Exodus" to New York, and some additional Ficketts relocated to Gorham.

William McMahon (1737-1803)

William McMahon was a teacher in Stroudwater, and among his pupils were the Tate children.  He started in 1767 or earlier, and according to This Was Stroudwater, p. 108, he was believed to be one of the first schoolteachers in the Village.

The Cummings Children

Many children were born to the Cummings family, and apparently they all died very young.  Such was the case with many families at the time.  Eight infants and one teenager are buried here, three born in the 1810s (possibly due to meningitis), and six born in the 1830s (potentially from the cholera epidemic), with a stone commemorating five of them.  I believe these were children of Methodist minister Reverend Cyrus Cummings (who was also Westbrook town Selectman), originally of Grafton, NH, who had many other children who survived to adulthood.  Cyrus, who died of typhoid, is buried with his wife Elizabeth and some of his other children at Western Cemetery in Portland.  I cannot verify this connection yet, because all online trees appear to omit these babies, yet the birth/death dates of the babies fit well into his list of children, and his published list of children includes Andrew Jackson Cummings, born a few years after the baby memorialized in the above photo had died.  Cyrus did have one famous son, Joseph Cummings, who was president of Wesleyan and Northwestern Universities.

CUMMINGS BABIES

Samuel Dalton (1777-1827)

Samuel Dalton and his two wives, Mary and Hulda, are buried here.  This may be the same Dalton family that lived in Parsonsfield Maine, and for which Dalton's Corner there is named.

GRAVE OF SAMUEL DALTON AND WIVES

Captain Dexter Brewer (1795-1850)

Dexter Brewer was originally from Framingham, Massachusetts.  He and his wife Jane Frost moved from Dover, NH to Stroudwater Village (where Jane was originally from) just before 1821.  They ran the Frost-Brewer Inn at Stroudwater, originally in the home of Jane's grandparents, Charles and Joanna Frost, and such building was located near Harrow House (Colonel Westbrook's home), and was formerly owned by Thomas Haskell.  Charles Frost was an important figure in Stroudwater who died intestate in 1756, causing his widow to lose much of the family fortune to legal fees and petitions.  Joanna had turned their vast home into an Inn in order to raise funds to pay for it all.  She ran the Inn until her death in 1796, at which point various heirs continued to run it, until Dexter Brewer took over in the 1820s.

CHARLES FROST HOUSE
LATER KNOWN AS FROST INN
AND FROST-BREWER INN

In 1833, Jane Frost-Brewer died, and the saddened Captain Brewer remarried to a Mary Ann Cloyes, also from Framingham, who was not a popular replacement mother for the seven children of Dexter and Jane.

GRAVE OF JANE FROST-BREWER

From the Portland City Directory of 1846, his home lot (next to the Inn he was now running solo):

February 11:  The dwelling house of Dexter Brewer, near Stroudwater Village, took fire this evening, and was with difficulty extinguished.

Dexter died in 1850, and is buried next to his first wife Jane.  His second wife returned to Framingham.  His children are buried in other cemeteries in Portland and Wiscasset.  In 1882 the old Inn burned as well.

Jonathan Sparrow, Jr. (1768-1843)

Sparrow founded the Sparrow Inn, which was located to the left of Archelaus Lewis house, and built in 1785 by Captain Jonah Dyer.

According to Sparrow's children quoted in This Was Stroudwater;

He was indeed a man of few words, always looked down when walking the streets and never noticed anyone; yet a man at that time full of business.  In addition to being an innkeeper he was a shopkeeper, built vessels, freighted them, and owned Capisic Mill.  Of the block of stores built Portland in 1894 where the Evening Express is printed [Monument Square] he owned one.  And when the town of Stroudwater was created in 1814 he was created Town Clerk, and his Inn, by a vote of the town, the office of selectmen.

He moved to Portland in his final years and turned the house over to his son-in-law Charles Bartlett. The house burned in 1871.

Jonathan, his two wives and six of his nine children are buried at Stroudwater.

Isaac Libby (1818-1885)

Carriage maker Isaac Libby of the Scarborough Libbys (son to Lemuel) fought in the Civil War, and later lived in Stroudwater during the time when it was renamed as part of Deering.  He and his wife Mahala are buried at Stroudwater Cemetery

Almon Libby (1816-1895)

Reverend Almon Libby, originally from Minot, and ordained in Poland, Maine, was a very distant cousin of Isaac's, and is also buried here with his wife and their sons Charles and Almon Jr. and daughter Annie (who married Stroudwater historian Andrew Hawes).  Almon never lived in Stroudwater, however.

10 other Libbys, all younger than the two patriarchs above, are also buried at Stroudwater, including another of their distant cousins, Charles Libby (1804-1944) and his wife Ella Slemons.

All these Libbys are descended from initial Libby immigrant John Libby (1602-1682), and are well traced in the Libby Family in America family genealogy book.

Drunken Drownings

Apparently the Stroudwater Bridge was a vortex for death by intoxication by some villagers.

Farmer Jonas Bond, son to Elijah Bond (who bought the Robert Slemons house) died of exposure after falling off the bridge just before Christmas 1857, leaving his wife Sarah widowed until her death 24 years later.  His son Elijah was also reputed to have been a drunk, according to the home court records of Moses Quinby, Esq.:

March 23, 1825:  State of Maine against Elijah Bond, yeoman, on complaint of William Slemons, Jr., brought by David Wescott, for being a drunken, disorderly person, committed to the House of Correction, Portland, for six days, M.Q.

GRAVE OF JONAS BOND

Tanner Joseph Chenery also died of drowning in the River, whilst coming home to Stroudwater after an evening of drinking in 1817.  He left Rebecca widowed for 46 years until her death.  Joseph is buried at Pine Grove.

GRAVE OF JOSEPH CHENERY

***

As a reward for those readers having made it to the end of this writing, here is a Stroudwater Tax Map annotated with the names of some of the historical residents as to each of their lots (click to enlarge):

***

SOURCES:

History of Portland (1632 to 1864), by William Willis, © 1865 Bailey & Noyes.

New England Family History Quarterly, by Henry Cole Quinby, © 1907-1908 5 Nassau Street, NYC.

This Was Stroudwater, by Myrtle Kittridge Lovejoy, © 1985 National Society of Colonial Dames of America.

The Tate House Museum

Maine Historical Society

Find A Grave

Portland City Directories

Portland Assessor

Portland Registry of Deeds

Portland House Stories

Other sources are hyperlinked within this article.