Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

HAMLIN It is supposed that the name of Hamlin is originally of Germanic origin, perhaps derived from the town of Hamlin in Lower Saxony situated at the junction of the river Hamel with the Weiser. The name Hamelin is still common in France, whence some have emigrated to this country and to Quebec, where they have become numerous. In England this name was formerly spelled Hamblen, Hamelyn, Hamelin and Hamlyn. As the name is found in the "Roll of Battle Abby" it is undoubtedly of French origin, and was brought into England by a follower of the Norman conqueror. Burke's Encyclopedia of Heraldry describes several coats-of-arms belonging to the Hamblens and Hamlyns. Representatives of the distinguished American family of this name participated in the war for national independence and the civil war. It has produced a goodly number of able men including clergymen, lawyers, physicians and statesmen, and its most distinguished representative of modern times was the Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, vice-president of the United States during Abraham Lincoln's administration, for many years a member of the national senate from Maine and afterwards minister to Spain. A numerous progeny sprung from Captain Giles Hamlin, who immigrated to Middletown, Connecticut, in 1650. It is supposed that James and Giles were brothers, but their relationship, like the connection between Sire de Balon and Hamelinus, was never determined. At the time Giles came to this country, Lewis Hamelin of France settled in Canada and established the Hamlin family of that part of the continent. The English ancestor of the Hamlins of New England appears to be John Hanelyn, of Cornwall, living in 1570, and who married Amor, daughter of Robert Knowle, of Sarum. This couple had a son and heir who lived in Devonshire by the names of Giles. Giles Hamelin or Hamelyn married a daughter of Robert Ashley and had two sons: Thomas, Gentleman, London, 1623. James. James is the ancestor of the larger part of the Hamlin race in this Republic. He made a voyage to Cape Cod unaccompanied by his family, and there made a home for them at Barnstable. He then returned to England, and in 1639 brought back his wife and several childre. (I) James, son of Giles and ____ (Ashley) Hamelin, lived, and his children were baptized in the church in the parish of St. Lawrence, Reading, Berkshire, England, between 1630 and 1636. These children were: 1. James, bap. Oct. 31, 1630, died before April, 1636. 2. Sarah, bap. Sept. 6, 1632. 3. Mary, bap. July 27, 1634. 4. James, bap. April 10, 1636. The first record of his children born in America is: Bartholomew, b. in Barnstable, Plymouth Colony, April 11, 1642. A child, Hannah, was probably born in England between 1636 and 1642, but no record of her birth appears either in England or New England. James Hamlene appears among the list of freemen in Barnstable in 1643 and James Hamhlen Junior, and James Hamhlen Senior, on list of freemen May 29, 1670. He made his will Jan. 23, 1683, and Governor Hinckley and Jonathan Russell witnessed the signing and sealing of the will. In this record he names his wife as Anne, but no other record of her name has been found. The children of James and Anne Hamlin not certainly born in England are: 6. Hannah. 7. Bartholomew. 8. John, b. June 26, 1644. 9. A child, stillborn and buried Dec. 2, 1646. 10. Sarah, born Nov. 7, 1647. 11. Eleazer, b. March 17, 1649. 12. Israel, June 25, 1652. (II) James (2), second son and fourth child of James (1) and Anne Hamlin, was born in England and baptized April 10, 1636, at St. Lawrence Parish, Reading, Berkshire. He came to Plymouth Colony, New England, with his mother and sisters prior to 1642, and was married at Barnstable in that colony to Mary, daughter of John and Mary Dunham, Nov. 20, 1662. He was a farmer and lived on the Coggin's Pond lot owned by his father up to 1702, when he removed to Hamblin Plains in West Berkshire. In his will, made in 1717, he claims to be a resident of Tisbury, but he is recorded as a representative at the great and general court or assembly for her Majesties Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England held in Boston, Wednesday, May 13, 1705, as Mr. James Hamlin, Barnstable. His wife, Mary, died April 19, 1715, in the seventh-third year of her age, and James Hamlin died in Tisbury, May 3, 1718. Children, all b. in Barnstable: 1. Mary, July 24, 1664. 2. Elizabeth, Feb. 14, 1665-66. 3. Eleazer, April 12, 1668, see below. 4. Experience, April 12, 1668. 5. James, Aug. 26, 1669. 6. Jonathan, March 6, 1670-71. 7. A son, March 28, 1672, died April 7, 1672. 8. Ebenezer, July 29, 1674, see far below.* 9. Elisha, March 5, 1676-77, died Dec. 20, 1677. 10. Hope, March 13, 1679-80. 11. Job, Jan. 15, 1681. 12. John, Jan.1 2, 1683. 13. Benjamin, baptized March 16, 1684-85. 14. Elkanah, baptized March 16, 1685. (III) Eleazer, eldest son and third child of James and Mary (Dunham) Hamlin, was born in Barnstable, Plymouth Colony, April 12, 1668. He married Lydia, daughter of Paul and Deborah (Willard) Sares or Sears, and they lived in Horwich or Yamouth. His father in his will made in 1717 mentions "my four grandchildren, the children of my son Eleazer Hamlin, deceased." He died in Yamouth in 1698, and his widow married, Sept. 30, 1706, Thomas Snow, of Harwich. Children of Eleazer & Lydia (Sears) Hamlin: 1. Benjamin, born in 1692, see below. 2. A son, 1694. 3. Mary, 1696. 4. Elisha, Jan. 26, 1697-98. (IV) Benjamin, eldest child of Eleazer and Lydia (Sears) Hamlin, was born in 1692. He married, Oct. 25, 1716, Anne, daughter of Samuel Mayo, who was in Barnstable in 1639, the marriage ceremony being performed by John Doane, Esq., of Eastham, and the marriages recorded in Orleans. Children: 1. Cornelius, born 1719. 2. Joshua, about 1721. 3. Benjamin, bap. July 2, 1727. 4. Lydia, about 1724. 5. Isaac, about 1728. 6. Mary. 7. Eleazer, about 1732, see below. 8. Elizabeth. Benjamin Hamlin was a mariner engaged in the whale fishing; was instantly killed while engaged in assisting in the capture of a whale early in July, 1737, and Sept. 7, 1738, his widow married William Graham, of Boston. (V) Major Eleazer (2), youngest son and seventh child of Benjamin and Anne (Mayo) Hamlin, was born in Billinggate, Plymouth Colony, about July, 1732. He was married (first) in East Parish, Bridgewater, Mass., June 30, 1750, by the Rev. John Augier, to Lydia Bonney, of Pembroke. She died Aug. 12, 1769, and he married (second) Mrs. Sarah (Lobdell) Bryant, a widow with two children, George and William Bryant. Eleazer Hamlin was baptized in Second Church at Pembroke, Feb. 6, 1762. His five eldest children had been baptized prior to that date "on account of his wife." He was a grantee in fifteen deeds of land in Pembroke and Bridgewater, from 1759 to 1774, and about April 1776, removed to Harvard, Middlesex county, and on the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, he was second lieutenant in Captain James Hatch's company and marched from West Parish, Pembroke, to Scituate and Marshfield. In list of officers in General Thomas' regiment, commissioned May 19, 1775, he held the rank of captain, and Jan. 1, 1776, he was captain in the Twenty-third Continental Infantry. He was in the army at Peekskill, New York, Dec. 27, 1776. Tradition in the family gave it that because of his large family at home he was retired with the rank of brevot major and that General Washington on bidding him farewell gave him $200 in Continental money. Four of his sons: Africa, Europe, America and Eleazer, and a son-in-law, Major Seth Phillips, served in the revolutionary army. After the war the general court of Massachusetts gave him a grant of land in Maine in consideration of the services of his family in the revolution, and the trust is known as "Hamlin's Grant" to this day. The land proving unproductive, his sons were allowed to select farms and settlements in Oxford county, afterwards called Waterford, Maine. He was a great reader and particularly fond of history and biography and he helped to found and was a stockholder in the first public library established at Westford, Middlesex county, Mass., in 1796. He was a member of the committee of correspondence and safety in 1779; was a licensed inn-holder 1780-85; was a delegate at Concord, Oct., 1779; selectman, 1782; delegate to convention at Lunenburg, May 19, 1785. He died Dec. 1, 1867, aged seventy-five years and five months, and was buried in the east burying ground, Westford, where his second wife, Mrs. Sarah Hamlin, who died Nov. 15, 1788, in the forty-fifth year of her age, was buried. Children of Eleazer & Lydia (Bonney) Hamlin, all b. in Pembroke, Plymouth Colony: 1. Asia, born March 9, 1753, baptized Oct. 16, 1757, died at the age of seventeen years. 2. Elizabeth, born Oct. 27, 1754, bap. Oct. 16, 1757. 3. Alice, born Feb. 17, 1756, bap. Oct. 16, 1757. 4. Africa, born Jan. 27, 1758, bap. Feb. 26, 1758. 5. Europe, born Nov. 20, 1759, bap. April 20, 1760. 6. America, born Oct. 20, 1761, bap. Nov. 22, 1761. 7. Lydia, born Nov. 5, 1763, bap. Nov., 1763. 8. Eleazer, born Sept. 23, 1765, bap. Sept. 29, 1765. 9. Mary, born Aug. 3, 1767, bap. Sept. 13, 1767. 10. Cyrus, see below, and 11. Hannical (twins), born July 21, 1769, bap. Aug. 20, 1769. Children of Eleazer & Sarah (Lobdell) (Bryant) Hamlin: 12. Asia, born in Pembroke, May 11, 1774, died Nov. 2, 1778. 13. Sally, born in Pembroke, Oct. 29, 1775, bap. Jan. 26, 1776. 14. Isaac, born in Harvard, Jan. 30, 1778. 15. Asia, born May 15, 1780. 16. Green, born 1782, died July 2, 1798. 17. George. (VI) Dr. Cyrus, sixth son and tenth child of Major Eleazer and Lydia (Bonney) Hamlin, was born in Pembroke, Plymouth colony, July 21, 1769. He removed with his family to Harvard, Middlesex county, Mass., in 1776, where he taught school, pursued an academic course of study preparatory to studying medicine, and practiced medicine in connection with teaching school up to the time of his death. In 1795 he was invited by the early settlers of Livermore, Oxford county, Maine, through a committee made up of Sylvanus Boardman, Ransom Norton, William Hood and Isaac Livermore, to settle in that place, at the time destitute of a physician and he removed there the same year and at once secured a large practice and a most estimable wife. He married Dec. 4, 1797, Anna, daughter and sixth child of Deacon Elijah Livermore, granddaughter of Deacon Elijah Livermore, of Waltham, Mass., and presumably a descendant from John Livermore, the immigrant, who came from Ipswich, England, to New England in the ship "Francis," Captain John Cutting, master, in April, 1634, with his wife, Grace, and settled in Watertown as early as 1642, and they had nine children. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin was town clerk and treasurer of Livermore township, moderator of the town meeting and representative from Livermore in the general court of Mass., 1803. He purchased in 1804 from General Leonard a farm known as Paris Hill, in the center of the township, for which he paid four hundred dollars. He built thereon a large two-story house in 1807 and beautified the place by planting rows of elm trees along the street. When the county of Oxford was organized in 1804, he was appointed the first clerk of the court of common pleas and held the office for many years. The court was held in the Baptist church on Paris Hill and the judge, Hon. Simeon Frye, stopped at Dr. Hamlin's house. Dr. Hamlin was subsequently high sheriff of Oxford county. Dr. Hamlin is described as a man of dark, swarthy complexion, with blue eyes and weighed nearly three hundred pounds. He was a founder and orig- [trans. note: this cuts off] He died suddenly at his home in Paris Hill, Feb. 2, 1829, and at the time six of their eight children were living, the youngest boy fifteen years old. His death left a great responsibility on the widow, as well as on the two older sons, and she continued to live at Paris Hill with two maiden daughters up to the time of her death, which occurred Aug. 25, 1852. The first vie of the eight children of Dr. Cyrus and Anna (Livermore) Hamlin were born in Livermore and the others in Paris, Maine. Children: 1. Elijah Livermore, b. Dec. 30, 1798, died April 6, 1799. 2. Elijah Livermore, b. March 29, 1800. 3. Cyrus, b. July 16, 1802. 4. Eliza, April 4, 1804. 5. Anna, b. July 14, 1805. 6. Vesta, b. June 6, 1808. 7. Hannibal, see below. 8. Hannah Livermore, b. Oct. 10, 1814. (VII) Hannibal, son of Dr. Cyrus and Anna (Livermore) Hamlin, was born in Paris Hill, Maine, Aug. 27, 1809. He attended Hebron Academy preparatory to entering college, but the death of his father in 1829 forced him to devote himself to the care of the farm and to teaching school in the winter season in order [trans. note: EEKS! this book jumps from page 7 to page 9!!!] (VIII) Charles, second son of Hannibal and Sarah Jane (Emery) Hamlin, was born in Hampden, Maine, Sept. 13, 1837, graduated at Bowdoin College, A.B., 1857, A.M., 1860. Major of Eighteenth Maine Volunteers, 1862, brevet brigadier-general, U. S. Volunteers, 1864, for his bravery on the battlefield of Gettsburg. He was acting adjutant general of the second division, third corps, Army of the Potomac, and saw service at Gettsburg, July 1-3, 1863, Locust Grove, Nov. 29, 1863, Mine Run, May 8, 1864, and the battles of the Wilderness following. He resigned his commission in the U.S. Volunteer Army Sept. 13, 1865, practiced law in Bangor, Maine, was city soliditor, register in bankruptcy, U.S. commissioner and reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of Maine. He was representative in the state legislature, 1883-85, and speaker of the house, 1885. He served as chairman of the executive committee of the Gettyburg commission from Maine, commander of the Maine Commanding Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U. S., president of the Eastern Maine General Hospital and author of "Insolvent Laws of Maine" and co-editor of "Maine at Gettysburg." He married, Nov. 28, 1860, Sarah Purington, daughter of Dixey W. and Sarah (Purington) Thompson, of Topsham, Maine. (VIII) Cyrus, third son of Hannibal and Sarah Jane (Emery) Hamlin, was born in Hampden, Maine, April 26, 1839. Attended Hampden Academy and Colby University, but left college to study law; practiced in York county courts, and in 1862 was made aide-de-camp on the staff of General John C. Fremont, and for bravery at Cross Keyes, Virginia, received the commendation of his commander. He was colonel of the Eighteenth U. S. Colored Volunteers, and commanded a brigade in the Department of the Gulf. He received promotion to brigadier-general of volunteers, Dec. 3, 1864, commanded the district of Port Hudson, 1864-65, and was breveted major-general of volunteer, March 13, 1865. He helped to reconstruct the government of the state of Louisisna, and was a practicing attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died Aug. 28, 1867. General Cyrus Hamlin married, Oct. 12, 1862, Sarah, daughter of True and Sarah Sanborn, of Prospect, Maine. She died in Port Hudson, Louisiana, July 14, 1863, leaving no issue. (VIII) Hannibal Emery, son of Hannibal and Ellen V. (Emery) Hamlin, was born in Hampden, Penobscot county, Maine, Aug. 22, 1858. He was a pupil in the public schools of Bangor, Maine, and was fitted for college at Waterville Classical Institute, now the Coburn Classical Institute, and he was graduated at Colby University, LL. B., 1882. He pursued a course in law in the Columbia University Law School, Washington, D.C., 1879-80. he was admitted to the bar of Waldo county, Maine, in 1883, and began the practice of law in Ellsworth, Maine in Jan., 1883, as the junior member of the law firm of Hale, Emery and Hamlin. The elevation of Mr. Emery to a justiceship of the Maine supreme judicial court, in the fall of 1883, changed the name of the firm to Hale & Hamllin, and they added to their law office in Ellsworth one at Bar Habor. The firm of which Hon. Eugene Hale, U. S. senator from Maine, is senior partner was augmented in 1900 by Henry M. Hall becoming junior partner. From inheritance and choice, Mr. Hamlin is a stalwart Republican. He served his native state as a representative in the state legislature, 1893-95, and in 1895 represented the house as chairman of the judiciary committee. He was made a state senator in 1899 and was president of the Maine senate in 1901. he was judge advocate-general on the staff of Governor Llewellyn Powers, 1899-1901, and on the staff of Governor John Fremont Hill, 1901-04. he was one of the three Maine commissioners on uniformity of legislation, appointed in 1895, and the commission is still in force. In 1904 he was appointed one of the three Maine delegates to the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists at St. Louis, and in 1906 was appointed one of the three Maine delegates to the Divorce Congress that met in Washington and Philadelphia. In January, 1905, he was elected attorney-general for the state of Maine for the year 1905-06, and in Jan., 1907, was re-elected for the years 1907-08. Mr. Hamlin has not married. (VIII) Frank, son of Hannibal and Ellen V. (Emery) Hamlin, was born in Bangor, Maine, Sept. 26, 1862. He attneded the public schools of Bangor and was prepared for college at the Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire. He matriculated at Havard in 1880 and was graduated A.B., 1884. Was in the employ of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad at Chicago for one year. He then took up the study of law and entered the School of Law at Boston University, where he graduated LL.B. 1888. He settled in Chi- [trans. note: I hope this connects up with what comes after. This book has its pages out of order, which is making transcribing it more problamatical.] ........Chicago, Illinois, in the practice of law, having been admitted to the Illinois bar in 1888. He first was a clerk in the offices of Flower, Ramey & Holstein, 1888-90, and in 1890 formed a partnership with John F. Holland, as Hamlin & Holland. 1892 the firm, by addition of a partner, in the person of William C. Boyden, became Hamlin, Holland & Boyden. In 1898 a friendly reorganization of his firm was effected and a partnership with Byron Boyden, who had been associated with him in the office of the corporation counsel of the city of Chicago, was then formed, under the firm name of Hamlin & Boyden, which is still (1908) in existence, with law offices at 107 Dearborn street. While practicing in all the courts of Cook county, the state of Illinois, and the U. S. district, circuit and supreme courts, he became somewhat of a specialist in the direction of munici[al corporation law. He served as assistant corporation counsel for the city of Chicago, 1895-97, as attorney for the Lincoln Park commission, 1901-07, and as attorney for the civil service commission of Chicago during a part of the year 1907. He is also attorney for the board of education of the city of Chicago. His club affiliation in Chicago includes the University, Chicago, Merquette, Harvard and other clubs. He served as president of the Harvard Club, 1900-01. His religious affiliation is with the Unitarian denomination. He was still a bachelor in 1908 and as he grew older he became more like his father in physical features, which fact was often spoken of by elderly men who had been intimate with his father in Washington during the civil war, when in the senate or presiding over that body. (VI) Major Hannibal, eleventh child of Major Eleazer and Lydia (Bonney) Hamlin (twin of Cyrus), was born July 21, 1769, in Pembroke, and was a boy of seven years when his parents moved to Harvard, where he became a teacher. He went to Waterford, Maine, about 1796, settled on lot 8, range 4, and was active in the incorporation of the town; was both moderator and selectman 1804-6, and also served as high sheriff of Oxford county. His military title came from service in the militia. He was made a Mason Nov. 12, 1804, in Oriental Lodge, No. 13, A.F. and A.M., Brigton, and was active in promoting culture in the backwoods. The Bible was read daily in his home, and the Sabbath strictly observed. Before his marriage he had built a house and barn, but he did not live many years to enjoy his home. He died Sept. 8, 1811, and was laid away in the ancient burying ground at Waterford, where his family rests. He married, Jan. 16, 1800, Susannah, daughter of Colonel Francis Faulkner, of Acton, Mass., born Feb. 21, 1772. She is spoken of as "a beautiful and charming woman." Children: Susan, Emerson Faulkner (died young), Rebecca Faulkner, Winthrop, Emerson Faulkner, Hannibal and Cyrus. (VII) Hannibal, fourth son of Hannibal and Susannah (Faulkner) Hamlin, was born Jan. 30, 1809, at Waterford, and was less than three years old at the time of his father's death. He resided with his mother on the homestead and was early made acquainted with the labors necessary on a farm. As soon as he was old enough, he managed the farm. In 1840 he removed to Union, Maine, where he was a merchant for two years. Thenceforward he resided in the vicinity of Boston until 1861, when he went to Washington to take a position in the U. S. Treasury Department. He died at Washington, Nov. 13, 1862. He was a man of exemplary Christian character, with literary tastes and modest nature. Some of his literary productions were published in Boston papers and at the dedication of the Congregational Church at Temple, Maine, in 1840, two hymns composed by him were sung. He was married, Feb. 5, 1835, at Temple, to Abigail, daughter of Benjamin and Phoebe (Abbot) Abbott. She was born June 20, 1815, at Temple. (VII) Abby Frances, daughter of Hannibal and Abigail (Abbott) Hamlin, was born Oct. 22, 1837, in Waterford, and was married Oct. 14, 1857, to Reverend Doctor Lyman Abbott. *(III) Deacon Ebenezer, fourth son of James (2) and Mary (Dunham) Hamlin, was born in Barnstable, Mass., July 29, 1674. He was an active man in community affairs, and occupied the old farm with his father at Coggin Pond. He removed to Rochester, Mass., now Wareham, and was one of the original members of the church there and was appointed deacon in 1705. In 1742 he became one of the early settlers in Sharon, Connecticut, living where George Skinner now resides. He married Sarah Lewis, of Barnstable, April 4, 1698. Children: Ebenezer, Mercy, Hopstill, Cornelius, Thomas, Isaac ... [trans. note: Pg. 11 in the book should follow this, but so far pg. 11 has not shown up! Arrgghh. What follows here in what's on pg. 12.] ....1886. 2. Laura, Sept. 7, 1883, died Feb. 13, 1886. 3. Charles M., b. March 5, 1885, a graduate of Brown University, and a lumber salesman. 4. George Harold, Sept. 29, 1888, now in Phillips Andover Academy.