John Abbott of North Berwick Land Grant Application
Land grant application submitted in 1835-1838 to the Maine Land Office for John Abbott of North Berwick for service in the Revolutionary War.
York County
Kittery Men & Women in World War II
One of the township “yearbooks” published after the end of World War II was titled “Kittery Men & Women in World War II.” These books contain a roster of the known participants from the county who served in the war, along with brief biographical sketches and photographs of the soldiers, when available. However, as the authors of these publications acknowledge, not everyone was always included in these publications. This book is free to search, read and/or download.
Casualties of the Candlemas Day Massacre in York Maine
Charles Edwards Banks compiled a list of casualties for the 1692 Candlemas Day massacre in York Maine back in 1967 when he published his unfinished manuscript on the History of York, Maine. [1]He only finished 2 of the 3 volumes before he died. It is hoped that by making this list known we can improve or correct upon it, as it is short (16) against the claimed number of casualties (48). Banks qualifies the list by stating that it likely the remaining were young children whose names never appeared on the existing town records. But I think it’s also possible …
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The 1692 Indian Massacre at York Maine
One of the greatest, if not the greatest tragedy of Colonial days in New England has never had its story written in detail. References to the 1692 Indian Massacre at York Maine, in the second Indian war, may be found in scattered contemporaneous records and in some general histories of that state, but they are either incomplete in detail, or give inadequate and incorrect reports of its actual horrors. The massacres at Deerfield, Mass., where about a score fell victims; at Salmon Falls, N. H., where about thirty were put to the knife and tomahawk, and at Schenectady, N. Y., …
Biography of Ellis Young
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 …
Biography of Charles H. Sawyer
Charles H. Sawyer, of Greenville, the landlord of the Lake House, was born in Augusta, Maine, December 2, 1844. His parents, Charles and Elizabeth (Plummer) Sawyer, are both natives of the Pine Tree State. The father, who was born in Saco, was in the hotel business a great many years. He managed the Cushnoch House and the Stanley House in Augusta. In 1858 he moved to Greenville and took charge of the Seboonook House, at the same time managing the Eveleth House. Afterward, in Newport, Maine, he was in charge of the Shaw House for a number of years. He …
Biography of Samuel A. Smith
Samuel A. Smith, one of the oldest merchants of Brownville, Piscataquis County, was born in this town, October 13, 1830, son of Daniel and Mary (Stickney) Smith. Daniel Smith, a native of Berwick, Maine, was a farmer by vocation. He came to Brownville in 1820, took up one hundred acres of new land in the southern part of the town, and with persevering industry cleared a farm, which he tilled until obliged to give up active labor. He was a reliable business man and a good citizen. At political elections he voted the Whig ticket. He lived to be about …
Biography of Franklin Dow Jenkins
Franklin Dow Jenkins, an enterprising clothing merchant of Pittsfield, was born in Vassalboro, Maine, December 30, 1831, son of Moses and Sarah (Frye) Jenkins. His great-grandparents were Jabez and Elizabeth (Dennett) Jenkins, residents of Kittery, Maine. Jabez, Jenkins, second, the grandfather, who resided in North Yarmouth, Maine, and on March 24, 1784, married Elizabeth Varney, of Dover, New Hampshire., had a family of six children, namely: Deliverance, born September 14, 1785; Stephen, born July 6, 1788; William and Moses, whose birth dates have not been preserved; Jabez, born June 16, 1799, who died in 1892; and Isaac Jenkins, born March …
Biography of Charles H. Girdler
Charles H. Girdler, an energetic and progressive agriculturist of Mercer township, Somerset County, and the efficient chairman of its Board of Selectmen, was born December 4, 1846, in Waterville, Me., son of the late John S. Girdler. The father, who was born in Manchester, Mass. spent the early years of his life in that town, and there learned the hatter’s trade. In 1840 he settled on a farm in Waterville, Me., where he carried on farming and worked at his trade for some years. On December 16, 1863, he became a resident of Mercer, moving at that time to the …
Biography of Charles C. Morrison, M.D.
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 …