William Noyes Osborne of Fairfield Maine

WILLIAM NOYES OSBORNE
FOUNDER OF ROCKY HILL SPRING
FAIRFIELD, MAINE
STARTING OUT FOR A DELIVERY ABOUT 1903

Timothy Osborn & Olivia Noyes had only son together.  He was named William Noyes Osborn (after Timothy's closest brother), and he received the Osborn Homestead from his father in May of 1882, when he turned 21.  After Timothy died in 1898, William added an "e" to his last name, first appearing in the 1900 Census.  One story goes that when William got into politics, he added an "e" to the name to distinguish himself from a local cousin also named William.  Another story was told that William added the "e" to differentiate himself from a horse thief by the same name.

William was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Victor Grange.

He received additional 45 acre Fairfield property from his father in 1885 (for which he paid his father $1600), which he did a successful six month mortgage on in 1895 to Henry Kelley for $960 at 6% interest.  This was an interesting and dramatic dip in property value.  In 1904, he mortgaged the same property for $700 to Fairfield Savings Bank, again for six months at 6% interest.  In 1913, he sold the property to Hume & Newhall Company, an Augusta based lumber company for an undisclosed sum.

In 1912, he ran for Commissioner, and won.  He also was Town Selectman at one point.

In 1923, William purchased a mortgage on a Shawmut Village property, which was successfully reconveyed back to its owner, George Dickey.

William started up a new family business, Rocky Hill Spring Water, to supplement the farming income.

In 1882 and 1885, his father Timothy deeded the family house and neighboring lots to him.  In the paper, this was shown as being for $1.00 and love and affection.



In the winter of 1886, William married Sylvia Piper from Benton (just across the Kennebec River).  She died in November 1887 giving birth to their one and only child, Milton Osborn.

In 1894, he married Bertha Helen Hodges from Winslow.  They had two children.  They first had a daughter named Ruth Irene (1896-1980) who married a Henry Munnoch, and moved to Niagara Falls.  They had two daughters, Elva and Sara. 

In the 1940 census, they appeared to have a 22 year old hired man named Hugh Bickford from Piscataquis.

William's son was Elwood Noyes Osborne (1903-2002) was an accomplished genealogist, and the source for a few of my blog posts.   He is well remembered at the Fairfield Historical Society, where he brokered the deal for getting the Cotton-Smith House on High Street to be reused as a museum.  It's filled with antiques from the past, including the items shown above.

OBITUARY OF WILLIAM NOYES OSBORNE

Waterville Morning Sentinel, Monday 30 Jan 1950 WILLIAM N. OSBORNE - Fairfield

William N. Osborne, a life long resident of Fairfield, died Sunday morning at the family homestead on the Shawmut road. He was one of the oldest residents here having been born 13 Sep 1860, the son of Timothy and Olvia Osborne.

Mr. Osborne has been engaged for many years in the spring water business it being known as the Rocky Hill Spring. He has also engaged in truck gardening and general farming.

He served for some years as selectman of the town of Fairfield and one term as a Somerset county commissioner. He was a member of Siloam Lodge, F. and A. M. and Victor Grange.

His wife Bertha Osborne died three months ago.

He is survived by a daughter Mrs. Henry Munnoch of Miami, FL, and a son Elwood Osborne of Pittsburg, PA, a sister Miss Clara Osborne of this town, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the family home, the time to be announced.

Funeral of William N. Osborne - Fairfield

Funeral services for William N. Osborne were held Wednesday afternoon at the home on Shawmut Road with Rev. David B. Howe officiating. The bearers were Leslie Ames, Isaac Works, Colby Lawrence, Harold Teague, George Webber, and George Dickey. Burial was in the family lot at Maplewood Cemetery.

Those from out of town attending the service were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Munnoch, Miami, FL, Elwood Osborne, Pittsburgh, PA and Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Basford of Northport.

WILL

William's will simply gives the real property to his son Eno, and let's the equal value of the remainder go to his daughter, Ruth Munnoch:

Gravesite of William Noyes Osborne and his two wives:

Alfred "Rasmus" Mortensen

ALFRED MORTENSEN
(1870-1948)

Alfred Mortensen was born Rasmus Nielsen Mortensen, in Skrøbelev, Svendborg, Denmark on 10 Aug 1870, according to Danish records.  He, his parents, and his siblings traveled together on the ship Hibernian from Liverpool to Halifax in 1881.  Alfred was only 10 years old when he left Denmark, and had only completed fifth grade in school (he never furthered his education beyond that while in North America).  After living briefly in Sherbrooke, Quebec for a couple years, the entire family migrated south to Berlin, New Hampshire, to get work in the prospering Brown Company sawmill.

Alfred married Oslo Norway immigrant Annie Oleson in Berlin, New Hampshire on 21 January 1895.  Annie's cousin, Minnie Oleson, married Miaus Mortensen, Alfred's youngest brother.  Annie's brother, Olaf Oleson, was a ski manufacturer, and according to family legend he was the first to manufacture skis in the United States.

In 1917, Alfred & Annie purchased 1716 Hutchins Street in Berlin, just down the street from the rest of the Mortensen houses.  Annie was well known throughout Berlin for her dahlia garden.  In 1926 she was recognized in the Brown Bulletin for having 297 blossoms from 87 bulbs.

Alfred & Annie had ten children.  Five of them died as children (Mildred, Thelma, Walter, Annie & Julia).  The five, all boys, who survived to adulthood have many descendants among them:

CARL ANTON MORTENSEN
(1897-1986)

Carl and his wife Edla took over 1803 Hutchins Street from their grandparents, Marius and Stina, when they passed in the mid 1930s.  They had only one child, Howard.  Carl worked at the mill as an assistant chemist, and was an avid bowler.  His Aunt Lena's son, Charlie Peterson, was rooming there with his cousin Carl when drafted into WWII in 1942.  Carl worked in the Research Dept. of Brown Co. 

VICTOR "SMOKEY" MORTENSEN
(1901-1971)

Victor was known for his pipe smoking ways, and was nicknamed "Smokey" all his life.  He was a baseball aficionado, and played on several teams in Berlin as pitcher.  He married Agnes Goyette in 1924 and lived at 1023 Main Street.  He and Agnes had seven children, 30 grandchildren, and at least 40 great grandchildren, most of whom left Berlin to live in other parts of New England and the South.  In November 1923, he worked as a janitor at the Research Dept.  He began work in earnest at Brown Co Chemical Mill in January of 1924, and was promoted from repair man to level man in May of that year.  In July of that year, he broke his leg (ski accident?), and was out of work until March of 1925.  During his recovery, he received monthly moneys from the Burgess Relief Association.  In November 1929, he was promoted from gas hound to machinist.  He later worked as a paper tester.

LOUIS ALFRED MORTENSEN
"Chippy"
(1908-1968)

Louis married Isabel Murdock in 1930 and had two children, ten grandchildren, and at least 20 great grandchildren.  They lived on 123 Park Street.  According to the July 1930 Brown Bulletin, he kept his wedding a secret from his fellow co-workers for three months.

THEODORE EDWARD MORTENSEN
(1912-1979)

Theodore was nicknamed "Red" and he married Avis Bissett in 1934.  They had six children, and at least six grandchildren.

ROBERT EARL MORTENSEN
(1918-2004)

Robert was Alfred's youngest child.  He was a skilled skiier like his brother Red.  He married Barbara Martina McLusky in 1940, and was soon drafted into WWII.  Upon his return, he settled in Laconia, and had one child.  According to Robert's son, Robert "tired of shoveling sulfur out of boxcars once too often, and taught himself the trade of mechanics, later enlisting in the Navy, and returning from WWII to resume mechanic work, until the PSCo of NH gave him a job in 1948, where he spent the next 36 years working there overseeing small power stations and substations".

Robert was ALSO nicknamed "Red", and was a champion skiier with the Nansen Ski Club.   Here's a cartoon tribute drawn for the Boston Post when Red was 22, referencing a famous jump he had made at age 17, when he sailed a record 262 feet off the Nansen Ski Jump.

ABANDONED NANSEN SKI JUMP (OCT 2011)
ROUTE 16, MILAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE

All of Alfred's children worked at Brown Co. Mill for their entire lives (the one exception being youngest son Robert, who worked only briefly there, as stated above).   Alfred was a valued employee at the mill (see article below).  He died on Christmas Day, 1948.

Of Marius' children, Alfred had the most descendants. As of October 2011, well over 100 people can claim descent from old Rasmus, many of them living in Berlin today!

MORTENSEN FAMILY

BERLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE

(1925)

(Front Row: Charles Smith, Jr., Tom Nadeau)

(Back Row: Alfred "Rasmus" Mortensen, Louis Mortensen, Annie Olesen-Mortensen, Charles Smith, Emma Petersen-Smith (with baby Helen Smith), Lillian Petersen-Nadeau and Emile Joseph Nadeau)

ALFRED & ANNIE MORTENSEN
ABT 1930

ALFRED & ANNIE MORTENSEN
IN FRONT OF HOUSE ON HUTCHINS STREET



The Mortensens of Berlin New Hampshire

Marius Hanson Mortensen, a gardener, was born in the Skrøbelev parish of Svendborg County, in Funen (fka Fyn), an island in Southern Central Denmark, in 1839, to parents Morten Larsen of Rudkøbing and Catrine Jacobine Christensdatter of Skrøbelev.  The Mortensen family farm and home is located at Vindeltorp Way in what is now a part of Rudkøbing, Langeland.

Marius fought in the 2nd Schleswig War against the Austrians and Prussians in 1864.  While Denmark lost, Marius was unharmed, and came home to his new wife, Kerstine Pedersen Nelsen of Skrøbelev (nicknamed "Stina").  Stina and Marius were married October 21, 1863 in Danish Folk Church, Simmerbølle, Svendborg, Denmark.  Stina was born in Botofte, Tranekaer, Langeland in 1837 to housemaid Maren Nielsdatter and farmhand and stonemason Peder Nielsen, who were married in June 1837 in Tranekaer Church.

MARIUS & STINA MORTENSEN
WITH SON MIAUS
(ca. 1889)

MARIUS HANSEN MORTENSEN

(1839-1926)

STINA MORTENSEN

(1837-1933)

STINA MORTENSEN
ON THE PORCH OF 1803 HUTCHINS STREET
BERLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE
WINTER OF 1928
WITH GREAT GRANDCHILDREN:
(L TO R)
BARBARA, LEONA, AND WARREN MORTENSEN
CHILDREN OF VICTOR "SMOKEY" MORTENSEN

MARIUS & STINA MORTENSEN, ALFRED MORTENSEN AND UNKNOWN MAN
CA. 1910, BERLIN, NH

Marius and Stina had seven children in Skrøbelev:  Peder, Karl, Marenthine, Lena, Rasmus (aka Alfred), Lars, and Jørgen (aka John). As late as 1880, the whole family was still living in Skrøbelev.  Peder grew up with Stina's parents.

In April 1881, Marius & Stina, and the four youngest kids (Lena, Rasmus, Lars, and Jørgen) emigrated together from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and arrived in May, on the ship Hibernia.  Stina lied about her age at arrival, claiming to be 39, when she was 45.

The Hibernia

They celebrated the birth of their 8th child, Marius Junior (who was nicknamed Miaus), born in Canada in December of 1882, while they were living in La Regione-Sherbrookoise, Sherbrooke, Quebec. 

In 1884, the entire family moved across the border to Berlin Mills, New Hampshire, and settled on 1803 Hutchins Street, in the Liberty Park district of the east side of Berlin, upon land purchased from Brown Company, the mill which most of the family would work in. 

Brown Company Bulletins mentioned Marius a few times:

-Jan 1920 - Noted for 25 or more years of service.
-March 1923 - recipient of $36 indemnity payment (Brown Co Relief Association)
-April 1923 - recipient of $48 indemnity payment (Brown Co Relief Association)
-May 1923 - recipient of $48 indemnity payment (Brown Co Relief Association)
-Jun 1923 - recipient of $12 indemnity payment (Brown Co Relief Association)
-Sep 1926 - obituary "Moreus Mortenson was born January 7, 1837. He commenced work with the Brown Company May, 1884, and has been employed continuously until his death, which occurred July 29, 1926."
-Oct 1926 - Stina received $100 indemnity payment (Brown Co Relief Association)

Marius naturalized on October 31, 1890.  He was living at 1803 Hutchins Street as a tenant during the 1900 Census.  He officially bought the house in September 1905.  When he passed in 1926, he left everything to Stina, and left all the children $1.00 each.  When Stina passed, she left Lena $5.00 per week for each week she took care of her, to be calculated from her accounts (amounting to about $2,000).  The rest she left to Lena, Jørgen, Peter, Alfred, and Miaus an equal share of all property to 'share and share alike'.

Marius and Stina were founding members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Berlin:

Here is a picture from the 1950s showing the lower end of Hutchins Street.  You can see the houses of Marentine Mortensen-Christiansen, Carl & Edla Mortensen (formerly Marius' homestead), and also Maius Mortensen's house as well as Jorgen Mortensen's house:

Some recent current pictures of Marius' homestead on 1803 Hutchins Street.

Garage built by Carl Mortensen, grandson to Marius, upon his acquisition of the property in 1940.

MORTENSEN FAMILY

BERLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE

(1925)

(Front Row:  Robert Earl Mortensen, Tom Nadeau)

(Back Row:  Alfred "Rasmus" Mortensen, Louis Mortensen, Anna Olesen-Mortensen, Charles Smith, Emma Petersen-Smith (with baby Helen Smith), Lillian Petersen-Nadeau and Emile Joseph Nadeau)

History of the Mortensen children:

Peder Nielsen Mortensen

-Peder Nielsen Mortensen was born in Dec 1863 in Skrøbelev, but was raised in Simmerbolle Denmark with his grandparents. He was a merchant seaman. He shows up in the Wills of both Maius and Stina. He appears in a ship register from March of 1923 arriving in New York City.  He also appears in the Philadelphia 1930 Census for seamen, docking the Sea Tug Germantown. He was a wandering fellow, never settling down. He stayed for a time with his cousin Lillian Petersen-Nadeau in Westbrook, Maine (Lena's daughter), and Lillian's children became close with him and stayed in touch over the years.  I'm not sure when or where he died, but it was sometime after 1933 (date of Stina's Will).  Below is a writeup of Peder's travels, as it appeared in the Brown & Company Bulletin of March 1927:

Peter was reputed to have died at sea.

-Karl (or Carl) was born in 1866 in Skrøbelev, and while he took the journey with the family to Liverpool, Quebec, and then Berlin New Hampshire, he passed just a few years later in 1890 at age 24, and is buried in City Cemetery of Berlin.  He had married Alma Peterson just a bit over a year prior to his death.  I wonder if she was any relation to Christian Petersen, Lena's husband?  In any case, Alma wasted no time after Karl's death and married a Carl Nelson just a year later.

-Marentine (aka "Tina") was born in 1867 in Skrøbelev.  She arrived in Berlin independently of the rest of the family in 1886.  In 1891, she married Martin Christiansen from Norway, and bought the house on 1813 Hutchins Street, right next door to her parents.  According to many elders, the backyard was always well landscaped.  They had 6 children together, and she died in the winter of 1926.

-Caroline Kirstine Mortensen ("Lena"), my 2nd great grandmother, was born in Skrøbelev in 1868, according to Danish records.  She traveled with her family to Canada, and lived in Berlin NH with them for a short time.  While in Canada, she met an Aalborg native named Christian Peterson, who had also migrated through Canada to Berlin for millwork.  They married in Canada in 1882, moved to Berlin NH in 1886, and by 1891 they had moved to Westbrook, Maine, where there was better millwork to be had for Christian.  There they had ten children, including my great grandmother Agnes.  After Christian died in 1908 in Westbrook, Lena married Edward Kimball from Windham Maine (who was father to her son-in-law James, and was the original owner of their house in Westbrook).  After Edward died in January of 1926, she moved back to the house on Hutchins Street in Berlin to take care of her parents.  Her father Marius died in July of 1926, of a cerebral hemorrhage, and her sister Tina died in December of that year. Her mother Stina died in 1933 at the ripe old age of 98, also of a cerebral hemorrhage.  Stina was "Berlin's oldest woman" when she died, according to her obituary.  Lena died in 1939, of myocarditis. Lena's brother Alfred was the informant on her death record. They are all buried at City Cemetery in Berlin.

ALFRED "RASMUS" MORTENSEN

-Alfred "Rasmus" Nielsen Mortensen (1870-1948).  Of Marius' children, Alfred had the most descendants. As of October 2011, well over 80 people can claim descent from old Rasmus, many of them living in Berlin today!

LARS MORTENSEN

(1884)

-Lars was born in Skrøbelev in 1872, according to Danish records. He lived in Berlin, and worked at the mill with the family.  He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1916.

-Jørgen "John" Nielsen Mortensen was born in Skrøbelev in 1877, according to Danish records.  He did not arrive with the rest of the family in the USA, since he was not of age (I'm assuming he was cared for by Stina's parents), but he moved to the USA After arriving in the USA, he changed his name to John, got a job as a shoemaker for the Maine Railroad, and moved to Lewiston, Maine, marrying Sybil Barrett-Gammon in 1920.  He later worked as a painter.  They eventually moved to Litchfield, Maine for a while.  He fought in WWI, and ended up in living and retiring with his brother Miaus at 8 Sulley Street in Berlin, NH.  He is mentioned in his father's will as well, with the name John Mortenson.  He and Sybil had no children.

Brown Bulletin May 1953

-Miaus (aka Morris/Myers), born in Quebec, started out in the yard crew at Brown Company in 1896, worked as an electrician, landscaper, and than later a janitor, at the Mill where the rest of the family worked.  He retired as a watchman in October 1949.  He was only 5'5", with a stocky frame, large forearms, a pointy chin, and smoked a pipe.  He was nicknamed "Popeye".  He lived at 1787 Hutchins Street with his wife Minnie Oleson (cousin to Annie Oleson, wife to Miaus' older brother Alfred), and had five children.  His son Theodore took over the house in the 1950's, and Miaus moved around the corner to 8 Sulley Street, where he retired to with his brother Jørgen. Miaus' son Franklin bought a house across the street on 1816 Hutchins Street.  Miaus died in 1956.

Here are a few pictures of their houses all along Hutchins Street:

1803 Hutchins Street

Owned and built by Marius Mortensen

In the Mortensen Family from 1905-1995
(for sale as of October 2011)

1787 Hutchins Street
Owned by Miaus Mortensen

In the Mortensen Family from 1923-1954

1716 Hutchins Street

Owned by Alfred N. Mortensen

In the Mortensen Family from 1917-1949

1813 Hutchins Street

Owned by Marentine Mortensen-Christiansen

In the Mortensen Family from 1891-1990 (confirm)

1816 Hutchins Street

Owned by Miaus' son, Franklin Mortensen

In the Mortensen Family from 1930-1990 (confirm)

8 Sulley Street

Owned by Jorgen Mortensen

In the Mortensen Family from 1944-1956 (confirm)

ORIGINAL MORTENSEN FAMILY LOT

City Cemetery, Berlin, NH

The Wymans of Winslow Maine

The Wymans in my family originally stem from Hertfordshire England.

Francis Wyman (1619-1699) was my 8th great grandfather, and he migrated to the New World with his brother John in 1644.  They settled in Woburn, Massachusetts.  John's son, John Jr., was killed in King Philip's War.

The Wyman family expanded throughout colonial Massachusetts for several generations, and I believe many traces remain there today.  Francis Wyman's grandson James (1702-1766) moved with his wife Bethia and their many children to Maine, eventually settling in Swan's Island in Pownalborough.

James' son William and his wife Love Chick (I verified that was her real name) were my 5th great grandparents, and they left Swan's Island for Bowdoinham in Sagadahoc County in 1765, and eventually settled in Winslow, Maine in 1770.  They ran the Wyman farm along the Winslow side of the Sebasticook River (now Kennebec River).  William possibly fought in the Revolution.  His wife, Love, was well known throughout Winslow as "Grandma Wyman".

According to Osborne family tradition, in March of 1783, William was felling a tree on his farm, and misjudged where he should be standing.  The tree fell on him, killing him (and supposedly another family member) instantly.  Grandma Wyman buried her husband (and possibly her son) at the spot where he died.  Family legend goes on to state that Grandma Wyman later buried her own father, Moses Chick, there as well (but according to some online trees, he had already died in 1738 in Berwick, in Southern Maine, so I'm not sure what the real story is here). 

According to Wyman genealogy site, a 1/4 acre reservation was made for the burial site, on a deed dated April 7 1806 by William's son Moses, who had sold to James Wall about 12 acres of the northwest corner of lot 36 of the property, reserving 1/4 acre 'near the Pond Hole where my father and others lie buried'.  However, this reservation was ignored in later deeds.  In 1891-3 Hollingsworth and Whitney Co. (now Scott Paper Co,) built a pulp mill on the land.  The 'Pond Hole' was filled in and the grave sites obliterated. The human bones unearthed were declared to be those of an ancient Indian burial ground.  Without further research, they were re-interred in a park near the town hall and marked with a commemorative stone.

Below is an excerpt from a letter from around 1910 written by Lydia Osborn-Fuller-Moody (my 2nd great grandmother) to Maud Maple-Miles (her husband's cousin):

"Your great grandmother's father [William Wyman] and, I think, her brother or uncle, are buried on the bank of the Sebasticook River in Winslow.  No one save these two were ever buried there and a few years ago, a man who owned the farm [at the time] said he should plough right over those old graves.  He was reported to the government.  The officer sent by the government to investigate found him ploughing the field.  Halted to talk to him a while, then asked 'What are you going to do with those graves?'  'Plow them under,' was the reply.  'Oh!  I wouldn't do that,' said he.  'Yes, I shall," said the owner of the farm.  The officer then made himself known, demanding in the name of the government not only that the graves be undisturbed, but that a substantial double fence be placed around them.  I was driving past there a few years since and was very glad to see a well-preserved double fence painted white."

Now, I'm curious as to the location of this mini cemetery, and if it's still around, 100 years later.  I doubt that the location is the Fort Hill Cemetery, which IS located along a southerly bank of the Kennebec, since that was an established area during 1910, and had hundreds of graves there even at that time.  But, there are several Wymans buried there, including grandchildren of William Wyman.

I also heard rumor that the Hollingsworth & Whitney Paper Mill (now owned by Scott Paper), when built, was the subject of some debate, since they had found bones at the construction site.   But that mill was built in 1892, so I don't think that it would be the same site as what I'm describing above, since again that was around as late as 1910.  But that mill is indeed along the eastern bank of the Kennebec, so it's possible.

Either way, William's death by tree left his wife Love with seven children to take care of.  She relocated to Waterville for the remainder of her years.  Her home was located at the site that was later occupied by the Elmwood Hotel (and is now a Rite Aid).

One of Love's children was my 4th great grandmother, Lydia "Martha" Wyman, who married Ephraim Osborn, and moved across the river to Fairfield, where the Osborns were already firmly established (especially thanks to the prosperous Osborn Farm run by Ephraim's nephew Timothy Osborn, who had married Lydia's sister Sarah).

LYDIA MARTHA WYMAN-OSBORN

(ca. 1860)

Lydia Wyman lived the duration of her life in Fairfield, and died in 1864 (aged 94) at the home of her daughter, Sarah Ann Osborn-Fuller (nicknamed "Ann"), just before Ann's family left Fairfield to start a dry goods business in Ottumwa Iowa.  During her later years, she would often go across the river by paddle boat with her daughter's family to the Winslow side of the river and visit the graves at the little Wyman site across the Kennebec, and also to get to her farm, where she had to milk her cows and manage the milking process.

Many of the Wymans grew to be successful in business (one founded Central Maine Power, another Wymans Dairy) and others more eccentric (Seth Fish Wyman who wandered off into the woods in Mattawaumkeag, Maine in the mid 1850s' to hunt and fish, never to be found again).

The pedigree of sisters Lydia & Sarah can be found below.  They are of 100% English colonial stock, with a very small percentage of Welsh (less than 2%) stemming from the John Day line: