Genealogy of Hancock County Maine

Biographical review: containing life sketches of leading citizens of Somerset, Piscataquis, Hancock, Washington, and Aroostook counties, Maine

Biography of Jesse M. Ray

Jesse M. Ray, a well-to-do and respected resident of Surry, Hancock County, was born in this town, August 17, 1824, son of Robert and Edith (Wormwood) Ray. Robert Ray, who was born and reared in one of the coast towns of Maine, after his marriage settled in Surry, which was then in its earliest stage of development. Having bought a tract of unbroken land on the Shore Road, he cleared a part of it, and for a time tilled the soil. He subsequently sold that property, and purchased land on the Bay Road, on which he was engaged in general […]

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Biography of John Franklin Knowlton

John Franklin Knowlton, of Ellsworth, Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court for Hancock County, has been a resident of this city since 1890. Born March 19, 1856, in Montville, Waldo County, he is a son of John Colby Knowlton. His paternal grandfather, the Rev. Ebenezer Knowlton, who was born in New Hampshire, until after his marriage lived in the Granite State. As a minister of the Baptist church he was settled in Montville in 1823, and preached there until 1850. Then he retired to the farm which he had previously bought, and there spent his last days. To him and

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Biography of Charles Cayford

Somerset County, Hancock County

Charles Cayford, of Cornville, a prominent farmer and breeder of trotting stock, son of Benjamin E. Cayford, was born here, December 14, 1828. He is of good old English ancestry, his grandparents, John and Judith Cayford, having emigrated from England to America in the early part of the present century. They located first On a farm in Skowhegan, Maine, where the grandfather was engaged as a farmer and drover and also for some years as a minister of one of the local churches. After the death of his wife he removed to a small town in Florida, of which he

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Biography of Henry S. Boynton

Hancock County, Lincoln County, Penobscot County

Henry S. Boynton, one of the prosperous merchants of Lamoine, Hancock County, was born September 21, 1820, in Wiscasset, Maine. His father, William Boynton, a native of Gilmanton, New Hampshire, removed to Wiscasset when a young man, and was there Deputy Sheriff for a long time and afterward acting High Sheriff for a number of years. William subsequently lived for a time in Lamoine and then successively in Bangor and Chicago, remaining in the latter place until his death, at the age of seventy-nine years. He married Mary Huckins, who bore him the following children: William A., Elizabeth, and Thomas,

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Biography of Joseph G. Walker

Hancock County

Joseph G. Walker, a prosperous woolen manufacturer in Brooksville, Hancock County, son of Joseph and Susan (Babson) Walker, was born in this town, January 19, 1828. The grandfather was John Walker, of Wolverhampton, England, who, with his two brothers, came to America with the British troops under General Burgoyne. Being in sympathy with the colonists, he deserted for the purpose, it is said, of joining the Continental army; and after the declaration of peace he became a pioneer of Brooksville. A log house was his dwelling until sufficient land was cleared for the erection of a frame house, and he

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Biography of Gideon L. Joy

Hancock County, Aroostook County, Piscataquis County, Somerset County, Washington County

Gideon L. Joy, of Hancock, one of the most extensive landholders in Hancock County, son of Stephen Joy, was born here, December 18, 1830. His great-grandfather, Benjamin Joy, was a pioneer settler of Ellsworth, Maine, to which he removed from Saco in Colonial times. Among the children reared by him were: John, the grandfather of Gideon L.; and Ivory H., the father of Calvin P. Joy, of Ellsworth, in whose biography will be found further information regarding the family. John Joy came from Ellsworth, the place of his birth, to Hancock by boat, and settled near the shore at a

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Biography of John Dean Hopkins

Hancock County, Penobscot County

John Dean Hopkins, a native resident of Ellsworth, elsewhere spoken of as a man who has been for more than a generation one of the most notable characters of Eastern Maine, was born February 13, 1817, while the State was yet a part of Massachusetts. His parents were John and Abigail (Brimmer) Hopkins. His father was a native of Cape Cod, probably a descendant of Stephen Hopkins, who came over in the “Mayflower” in 1620, and whose son Giles settled at Yarmouth on the Cape; and his mother was a daughter of George B. and Abigail (Eddy) Brimmer, who removed

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Biography of Ellis Young

Hancock County, Penobscot County, York County

Ellis Young, who is spending the closing years of his long and busy life on his pleasant homestead in Surry, Hancock County, was born in this town, August 9, 1820, son of Joseph Young. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Young, who came from Saco, Maine, to Surry when a young man, settled on the Neck, close to the shore. He took up a tract of wild land, which by means of incessant toil he converted into a good farm. Like his pioneer neighbors he built a log house, and there dwelt for the rest of his life, rearing his family and

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Biography of Samuel J. Wallace, M.D.

Hancock County

Samuel J. Wallace, M.D., the well-known physician of Castine, Hancock County, and a Civil War veteran, was born in Wallaceville, near Easton, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1839, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Candy) Wallace. The father, a native of the same place, which was so named in his honor, and a millwright by trade, built mills there. Besides considerable property in the town he owned an island in the Delaware River, which he connected with the shore by a suspension bridge. He was a man of large stature and powerful physique. His death, which occurred in the prime of life, was

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Biography of Charles C. Morrison, M.D.

Hancock County, Somerset County, York County

Charles C. Morrison, M.D., a prominent and popular physician of Bar Harbor, Hancock County, son of John T. and Lucy (Carr) Morrison, was born July 12, 1856, at Mariaville, Maine. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Morrison, about a century ago removed from Canaan, Somerset County, to Ellsworth. In 1810 he took up a tract of unbroken land in Mariaville, and with the endurance and perseverance characteristic of the early pioneers reclaimed a farm from the wilderness, and there spent the remainder of his long life of eighty-one years. The Doctor’s maternal grandfather, Joseph Carr, was likewise one of the pioneers of

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Hancock County

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