Gerrish Line Part 2 with Joseph Merriner Gerrish

• Cumberland-Androscoggin County ME Archives Biographies
• History of Durham, Maine by Everett Stackpole
• Old Boston Familes: The Gerrish Family 2 by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton
• History of Durham Maine
• History of Portland Maine
• Maine Historical Society Proceedings 
• The Maine Register and United States' Almanac
• American Freemason
• History of Gorham Maine
• Genealogy of the Cutts family in America
• Landmarks in Ancient Dover, New Hampshire
• The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine Volume 11 
• N. E. Register Volume 6 and Volume 21
• COMPILER'S BRANCH OF THE GERRISH FAMILY Compiled in 1880.

JOSEPH MARRINER GERRISH. The portrait above is J M Gerrish and famly.

Joseph was the son of Capt. Nathaniel and Sarah (Marriner) Gerrish and was born in Royalsborough March 24. 1783 and died in Portland April 30 1853. Nathaniel Gerrish, son of Charles Gerrish and Mary Frost, was born on April 7, 1751 and died November 28, 1799. He was a Revolutionary soldier, was for several years on the Board of Selectmen, and was Capt. of Militia at the time of his death 28 Nov. 1799. An iron rail surrounds his grave in the cemetery near that of the North Meeting-House.
He married Sarah Merriner on October 30, 1777. Sarah was born on Aughust 27, 1757, the daughter of  Joseph Marriner and Abigal Hanscom. She died July 27, 1831. Photo Durham Cemeteries

Background on Charles Gerrish according to History of Durham, Maine: Charles was born in Berwick, Me., in 1716, as a deposition shows. He was the son of Nathaniel Gerrish and Bridget Vaughn. Family origins in America: Capt. William Gerrish, born in Bristol, Eng., 20 Aug. 1617, came to New England as early as 1639 and settled in Newbury, Mass. He m. (1) 17 April 1645, Joanna, widow of John Oliver and daughter of Percival Lowle. She died 14 June 1677. He moved to Boston and m. (2) Ann, widow of John Manning. He died in Salem, Mass. 9 Aug. 1687. His oldest son John Gerrish, born 15 May 1646, married in 1665 Elizabeth Waldron daughter of Major Richard Waldron of Dover, N. H., where he settled and became a prominent citizen. He died in 1714. Of his ten children Nathaniel was born in 1672 and married Bridget, daughter of Hon. Wm. Vaughn of Portsmouth. They had children Nathaniel, William, George, Richard and Bridget and Charles.
Charles Gerrish married Mary Frost of Berwick. They came to Falmouth, now Portland in 1748. William born June 27 1744 married April 3, 1766 Esther Parker. Charles born October 18 1746 married August 7, 1770, Phoebe Blethen. Nathaniel born April 7 1751 married October 30, 1777 Sarah Marriner
George born June 16 1753 married Mary Mitchell December 20 1781. James born 1755 died in the Revolutionary Army, at age of 20 yrs. Mary born married Abner Harris, son of Lawrence Harris of Lewiston, Int. Rec. in N. Yarmouth March 2 1782.
For more Genealogy of early Gerrish see N. E. Register Vol. VI. p. 258 and Vol. LI. p. 67. In 1758 Charles moved to Saccarappa. Jan. 17, 1762 he sold his land in Saccarappa to Enoch Freeman, Esq. A document, reproduced in facsimile, sheds light on his proceedings. The remarkable thing for his day is, that the document is correctly spelled, which proves him to have been a man of some education. 

 His general ability is inferred from the fact that he was selected as an agent of the proprietors. He was by trade a blacksmith and maker of edge-tools. The two hundred acres first bought by him are shown on Noyes's plan of the town. This farm remained in the Gerrish family for nearly a century. It was occupied within the remembrance of many by A. True Osgood, and is now owned by Willard Sylvester. The first house long since passed away. It stood on the hillside east of the old, two-story, unpainted house that succeeded it. This is one of the oldest houses in Durham and remains in the style in which it was originally built over a century ago. The scfuare chimney in the center, with rooms built around it, is something enormous. Here may be seen one of the old fire-places that took in eight-foot sticks of wood. The partitions are of upright pine boards, some of them two feet wide. 

Lt. William Gerrish, son of Major Charles, married 3 April 1767 Esther Parker of N. Yarmouth b. 6 Feb. 1745. He settled on lots 73 and 74 Durham. He died there 6 June 1812 and is buried in the cemetery near by. His wife died 14 April 1839. Below is a picture of his son William born in Royalsborough May 20 1786; married (1) Nov. 25 1811, Mary Sydleman; (2) May 13 1821 Sophia Thomas who died June 1835; (3) 1849 Mrs. (Hoyt) Adams of Readfield. He built the brick house near Andrew Fitz home about 1832. The bricks were made on the bank of the river in front of the house where he lived for many years. He died, in 1862, in Durham.

In 1777 the town of Durham asked for relief from taxes. The reasons being that they had so many of their young men had enlisted in The Continental Army and that the town was still settling the land. Charles and William Gerrish were both signers of this petition. It was sent to Boston were it was approved. The burial place of Major Charles Gerrish was near the first house. No trace of it can now be seen, since the grovind has been plowed over. He was last taxed in 1797 but is said to have died in 1805. He was a man of ability and served often as moderator of Town meetings and as an officer of the Town. The date of the above document marks authoritatively the first settlement in the Town, in 1763. Several historians have placed the date eleven years earlier. His house was six miles from the nearest neighbor and tradition says his wife saw no female except her daughter for a year and a half. The place referred to was the Great Meadow Pond, in the southern part of the town, whose outlet into the Androscoggin river was '" Joseph Noyes's River Brook," so called on the Town Records. Here was an ancient saw-mill, and a road ran therefrom across Snow's farm and just above the point where the road from Methodist Corner joins the Brunswick road and so on back of the old Gerrish house, where A. True Osgood recently lived, to connect with the County Road near the Freeport line. The road has probably not been used for a century, but it was the oldest road in Durham. It was the existence of this logging road that led Major Charles Gerrish to build his house where he did. "' The path that goes to Capt. Gerrish's " from the County Road is mentioned in 1775, in the Town Records. That path is still in existence as a private road.

ORIGINAL PURCHASERS OF LOTS IN ROYALSBOROUGH.

All the following were of Royalsborough except Jonathan Bagley of Amesbury, Mass. The price paid for most of the lots was 13 pounds 6 shillings and 8 pence. Nos. 4, 28, 32, and 72 cost 26 pounds 13 shillings and 4 pence. Lots 58 and 83 were valued at 30 pounds.

Lot. Name. Date.

5 Stephen Chase, Nov. 12, 1770.

12 John Bliffin,

13 John Dean, Jr.,

15 Nathaniel Gerrish,

17 Stephen Hart,

18 Caleb Estes,

31 Charles Gerrish, Jr., Nov. 12, 1770. 53 Phineas Frost,

57 Charles Gerrish,

104 Nathan Lewis,"

6 Edward Estes, June 10, 1771.

14 Patrick Welch,

16 Samuel Clough,

58 Jonathan Bagley,

83" Dec. 7, 1771.

2 Thomas Coffin, Dec. 10, 1771. 4 Noah Jones,"

33 William Gerrish,

67 John Dean (or Dain)"

3 Joseph Estes, Dec. 10, 1776. 28 Cornelius Douglas,

19 Samuel Green,

32 Vincent Roberts, 38 Stephen Weston, 69 John Cushing,

72 Ichabod Frost,"

80, 24, 29, 41, 46, 49, and 59 were deeded, Dec. 10, 1776, to Joseph Noyes of Falmouth for services as Surveyor of the Township. The inhabitants of Royalsborough first met for public business Feb. 24, 1774, probably at the house of O. Israel Eagley, since it is certain that the second meeting was held there, March 14, 1774. The meeting was "in order to consult upon Some method for Entering into Some order in Said Town." Josiah Dunn was chosen moderator and Charles Hill, Esq., clerk. Charles Hill and Thomas Coffin were elected wardens and O. Israel Bagley, Wm. Gerrish and Stephen Chase a committee for selecting a lot for a Meeting House and burying yard, and also a lot for a school. This was the only business transacted. At the second town meeting Major Charles Gerrish was moderator, Mr. Dunn having refused to serve. Other moderators before the incorporation of Durham were Jonathan Bagley, Jonathan Armstrong, O. Israel Bagley, Ebenezer Newell and John Cushing, Esq. The meetings were held at the houses of O. Israel Bagley, John Dain, Nathaniel Gerrish and William McGray, until 1780, after which date they were held at the school house built on Benj. Vining's land.

O. Israel Bagley kept the first store in Royalsborough.  He kept an account book--the book is twelve inches long by four wide and contains 263 pages, bound in sheep-skin, well sewed. It was evidently used as an account-book by his father, Thomas Bagley, before it came into the possession of O. Israel Bagley.

Entries are found in it as early as April 17, 1745. The earliest account in Durham is with Charles Gerrish beginning March 19, 1770, and running to June 22, 1772. Some of the items are of interest; the accounts are in "old tener" or depreciated currency:

To one pear of shoes, 01105 :o
To half days works a hoing, 00:17:0
To 16 apeltrees, 09:17:0
To 6 pound of tobaca 01 :16:o
To 4 ax handles 01 :oo :o
to halfe a Bushel of flaxsead 00:11 :o
to one wige 09 :oo :o
to filing of snoo shoos I pear 00:10:0
"June the 22d then Settled all accounts with Mr. Charles Gerrish from the beginin of the world to this day and thair is due to said Bagley Seventen pounds ten shiling old tener money Seth, by us." Charles Gerrish and O. Israel Bagley.

O. ISRAEL BAGLEY'S DIARY, 1773-4.
We give only the items most interesting and that can be read.
Portions of two pages have been cut off.
Dec. 11 to making of nate garish. (Shoes for Nath. Gerrish.)
....went up to the mill "11 went to the 40 lot to
12 making of clabords.
13 and made one thousand "14 thate weeke.
19 wente to calope Estes (Caleb Estes)
Jan. 23 cornel wente to gloster (Col. Jonathan Bagley went to New Gloucester.)
"24 making of a Brace
26 wente to a falling of ash timber.
"27 wente to haling of wood w Cap ga oxen, (hauling of wood with Capt. Charles Gerrish's oxen.)
Some Landmarks for Gerrish Clan
Gerrish's Bridge. This is a well known bridge across Bellamy river in Madbury, below the Hook. A petition for a bridge across Bellamy Bank freshet, "a little above Capt. Paul Gerrish's saw-mill," was made Oct. 12, 1756. This bridge is spoken of in 1787 as standing by u Benjamin Gerrish's corn-mill." Being long and high and difficult to keep in repair,Gerrish's bridge is repeatedly mentioned in the town records of Madbury.

Gerrish's Mills. The first mills of this name were at the lowest falls in the Bellamy river. Capt. John Gerrish, through his wife, daughter of Major Richard Waldron, acquired one half of the water privilege here, Oct. 17,1683, and became sole owner at a later day. At his death this property fell to his sons Timothy and Paul, who had two mills on the lower part of the Bellamy in 1719, and seem to have acquired exclusive possession of all the mill privileges on the river, within the limits of ancient Dover. (See Demerit's Mill and Bellamy Falls.) Another Gerrish mill, frequently mentioned in the Dover and Madbury records, also stood on the Bellamy. It was in Madbury, below the Hook, directly southwest of Barbadoes Pond. A record of Jan. 7, 1758, speaks of it as " set up by Capt. Paul Gerrish and others." Among these was John Hanson, of Dover, who that same day, sold Daniel Hayes, of Madbury, one sixteenth part of this mill. "Log hill, adjacent to the mill," is spoken of in the deed of conveyance. Agrist-mill was also erected here. One of these mills was swept away by it flood in 1798, and the other, June 24, 1799; but they were both rebuilt soon after. Mrs. Sarah Meserve, of Dover, March 28, 1804, sold Daniel Hayes of Madbury, one twenty-fourth part of Gerrish's sawmill—" the same," she says in her deed, " that was set up by my father, Benjamin Gerrish." Benjamin was the son of Paul. This saw-mill became a day-mill in time, and was taken down about 1833.
"The grist-mill and falls, with the privilege belonging to the same," were, in the early part of this century, acquired by Eli Demerit,1 who sold them at auction in 1832. This mill is now gone. The dam was removed in 1865 by the Messrs. Sawyer of Dover, who had acquired control of all the mill privileges on the Bellamy.

Children of Nathaniel Gerrish and Sarah Marriner Gerrish:
George Gerrish, b. 24 Jan 1779
Hannah Gerrish, b. 18 Jan 1781, d. 10 May 1849 m. Peter Sanborn
Joseph Marriner Gerrish, b. 24 Mar 1783 (See records below)
Loruhamah Gerrish, b. 09 Oct 1785, d. 18 Sep 1864 m. Joseph Osgood
Sarah Gerrish, b. 27 Feb 1788, d. 30 Sep 1837 m. Samuel G Osgood
Abigail Gerrish, b. 16 Apr 1790 m. Stephen Sylvester
Thirza Gerrish, b. 26 Apr 1792 m. Christopher Lincoln
Moses Gerrish, b. 09 Aug 1784
Nathaniel Gerrish, b. 16 Dec 1797

Joseph M Gerrish drove ox-teams with masts to Freeport he sometimes halted at the school house on lower County Road, where Sarah, daughter of Parson Herrick, was teaching school. He took his place in the spelling class and "spelled down" all the pupils making him a famous speller. The journals of Portland at the time of his death speak in very high terms of the character and public services of Mr. Gerrish. Especially the Hon. William Willis, author of a History of Portland, pays a tribute to his memory.

Mr. Gerrish's first found employment in the office of Samuel Freeman who was then Clerk of Courts. In 1807 he was made Deputy Sheriff, in which office he continued many years. He was Treasurer of Portland 1823-5, and in 1831 was chosen Representative to the Legislature. Afterward he became proprietor of the Portland Advertiser. After his retirement from business his services were often sought as referee and in the administration of estates. He was Treasurer of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Portland from its organization until 1837. The Records of the Lodge show that the salary voted him was given yearly into the Charity Fund. He was Past Commander of Maine Encampment and a member of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In 1818-19 he was Master of Ancient Land Mark Lodge, having served as Senior Warden in 1817.
In every relation of life Mr. Gerrish was a kind, faithful and true man, upright and conscientious in the discharge of duty, and benevolent and amiable in social intercourse. "The peculiar excellencies of his character were honesty of purpose, fidelity and generosity to friends, attachment to domestic enjoyments and relations, consistency and steadiness of action, a courteous deportment and polished manners, and the prompt and intelligent discharge of all his engagements, directed by a sincere desire to promote individual and public good." The Argus said, "He was a useful man, ever ready to serve his fellow-citizens. How numerous the pages that must be written to tell of all his half century of good service! He was a humane man. If he had an enemy we do not know it. He was benevolent. The cause that with beseeching eye or pathetic voice appealed to his heart never went unsatisfied away." The Eclectic said, "He was a man every way worthy of our high esteem. In every relation in life his character shone out in the most estimable light. There were no repelling points to it, but all was well rounded,- all conspired to draw us toward him, to attract our love and esteem."
Service in the War of 1812-1815: Sergeant Joseph M. Gerrish , First, in Captain A.W. Atherton's Company, Lieutenant Colonel Martin Nichols' Regiment. Massachusetts Militia; District of Maine. Service on April 16, 1814. Secondly, in Captain Abel Atherton's Company, Lieutenant Colonel Martin Nichols' Regiment. Massachusetts Militia; District of Maine. From Sept. 7 to Sept. 19, 1814. Five days subsequent for vidette duty (a mounted sentinel stationed in advance of pickets) . Portland Rifle Corps, organized June 12, 1812. Raised at Portland. Source: Records of the Massachusetts volunteer militia called out by the Governor of Massachusetts to suppress a threatened invasion during the war of 1812-14 (Boston, Mass.: Wright & Potter printing co., state printers, 1913). Service at Portland in the summer and fall of 1814, as British forces surged down the coast, occupying Machias, Blue Hill, Castine and Belfast, looting Hampden and Bangor, and setting fire to a Biddeford shipyard. Residents of Wiscasset expected the village "would be laid in ashes" at any moment, while thousands of militiamen rallied to defend Portland from the expected assault. Robert Hall
Joesph married Barbara Scott Mar 25 1807 at Durham, Androscoggin County, Maine Barbara was the daughter of  John Scott and Mary (Burnham) Scott. Capt. John Scott came to Durham in 1791 from Portland and married April 1 1782 Mary, dau. of John and Abigail (Stickney) Burnham. He was a sea-captain. Died in Durham 3 April 1803. His wife was born in Portland 29 Dec. 1762. Below is a descendant John Scott grandson and his family

Barbara Scott was born Nov. 17, 1787 in Durham Androscoggin County Maine. She died Oct. 12, 1841 in Portland Cumberland County Maine. He married (2) November 16 1842 Mrs. Mary Ann Hersey, who died 28 Mch. 1897. He died in Portland 30 April 1853. According to The Mayflower Descendant Volume 42 January 1992 Mary Anne Brown was married to Jeremiah Hersey.
Children of Joseph M Gerrish
Adeline Gerrish born December 23 1808; married November 2 1828 Wm. E. Edwards of Portland. Died 11 Jan. 1875. He died 16 Sept. 1877 
Frances Ann Gerrish Ordway (1810 - 1895) married 1st January 7 1830 at Portland Maine to William Bartol.  2nd m to Reuben Ordway 28 Jun 1842
Joseph Augustus Gerrish (1812 - 1813)
Martha Martin Gerrish born March 10.1814; married August 12 1833 Rufus Read of Portland. Died 26 Sept. 1847. He died 9 Sept. 1848.
Ellen Lucretia Gerrish (1816 - 1817) 
Joseph Merriner Gerrish JR (1817 - 1836)
Edward Payson Gerrish born November 8 1819; married May 9 1844 Julia W. Scott. Died November 26 1871.
Augustus Franklin Gerrish born July 30 1823; m. 27 December 27 1848 married Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of Col. James March of Gorham.
Frederick Augustus Gerrish (1824 - 1873) married September 25 1849 Martha J. Ordway.
William Oliver Scott Gerrish (1827 - 1831) married 1854 Hannah Bailey. Died 29 June 1887. 
Mary Kidder Gerrish (1828 - 1831)

According to Gorham records: In 1808 Mr. Mosher built on his farm the house since owned and occupied by Freeman Richardson. This house was not completed until 1831, when Joseph M. Gerrish of Portland bought the place and finished the house, throughout. Mr. Gerrish lived in Gorham until 1837, when he returned to Portland.

MAINE ENCAMPMENT, PORTLAND, MAINE.
Charter, March 17, 1821.
PAST COMMANDERS.
Willed under the Jurisdiction of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.)
Rev. Sir Solomon Siab. Sir Joseph M. Gerrish.
Sir Thomas S. Bowles. Sir Samuel Fessenden.

Maine Encampment ceased to be under the jurisdiction of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Oct. 10, 1849, In 1864 it was removed from Portland to Gardiner, where it is now located. The late Joseph M Gerrish, Esq Date: Tuesday, May 24, 1853 Paper: Portland Weekly Advertiser (Portland, ME) Volume: LV Issue: 21

From [Joseph M. Gerrish; Respected; Succeeded]
Date: Tuesday, February 20, 1838
Paper: Portland Weekly Advertiser (Portland, ME)
Volume: XL Issue: 20 Page: 4

Grave photo by Bonnie Maskery Augustus F Gerrish A Fortunate Maine Man Date: Wednesday, December 11, 1872 Paper: Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME) Volume: 11 Page: 3

 Edward Payton Gerrish

Grand Patriarch of the Grand  Encampment of Masonic Maine Lodge  
Portland Loan & Savings Incorporated in 1854: 
Nathaniel F. Deering, President. Edward P. Gerrish, Vice President. Edward Shaw, Secretary. Harris C. Barnes, Surveyor. John H. Williams, Attorney. Nathaniel Ellsworth, John Purinton, James Crie, Charles Davis, Benj. Kingsbury, Jr., Thomas II. Talbot, Charles R. Coffin, Directors.
Title: Edward P. Gerrish Date: Monday, November 27, 1871
Paper: Portland Daily Press (Portland, ME)
Volume: 10  Page: 3

 Joseph M Gerrish JR

From Sons of the American Revolution by Nathan Gould
Augustus Franklin Gerrish, Portland Me.  Son of Joseph Marriner and Barbara (Scott) Gerrish, grandson of Nathaniel and Sarah (Marriner) Gerrish, great-grandson of Charles and Mary (Frost) Gerrish. Charles Gerrish was a Major in the Second Massachusetts Regt. of Militia, Col. Jonathan Mitchell, in 1776.
Son of Joseph Marriner and Barbara (Scott) Gerrish, grandson of John and Mary (Burnham) Scott. John Scott was a private in Capt. David Bradish's Co., Col. Edmund Phinney's Regt., in 1775, also a Matross in Capt. Abner Lowell's Co., stationed at Falmouth four months in 1776. His widow received a pension.
Son of Joseph Marriner and Barbara (Scott) Gerrish, grandson of Nathaniel and Sarah (Marriner) Gerrish.
Nathaniel Gerrish was a private in Capt. John Worthley's Co., Col. Edmund Phinney's Regt., enlisted May 8, 1775; served eight months at Cambridge.
Son of Joseph Marriner and Barbara (Scott) Gerrish, grandson of John and Mary (Burnham) Scott, great-grandson of John and Abigail (Stickney) Burnham. For the services of John Burnham.

John Jordan Gerrish, Portland, Me. Son of James and Mary (Sylvester) Gerrish, grandson of George and Mary (Mitchell) Gerrish, greatgrandson of Charles and Mary (Frost) Gerrish. For the services of Charles Gerrish
Augustus married Caroline Elizabeth March, Dec. 27, 1848

Gerrish Relative 2nd Lt. William L. Gerrish, 19th Maine Infantry.  See Part 1 Gerrish line as well. 

Ordway Family and Colby, Osgood, Gove, Morrill, Jameson, & Other New England Old Names

From The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine Devoted to History, Biography, Literature, and State Progress, Volume 15

The name of Ordway is of some note in the annals of Warner. Any one who has glanced over the early records of the proprietors of the town will there see on almost every page the name of Dr. Nehemiah Ordway. He was a resident of Amesbury, a graduate of Harvard college, and a physician of wide reputation in his day. The Ordway family originated from James Ordway, who was born in Wales in 1620, and, marrying Ann Emery, emigrated to America about 1648, and settled at Newbury. Dr. Nehemiah Ordway was the great-grandson of this James and the son of Deacon John Ordway. Photo A J Sawyer

He was born in 1713, and died January 13, 1779, aged 66 years. Dr. Ordway was one of the original grantees of Warner, and was clerk of the proprietors a great many years. He was greatly interested in the settlement of the town and owned a valuable lot at the lower village, embracing the whole hillside by the Runels house, which was afterwards the property of Joseph Bartlett. He visited Warner in 1768 and again in 1773, the last time staying several months, but he never settled here. That work he left for another's hand to do. Photo Weat Newbury Ordway Reservation

Dr. Nehemiah Ordway was the father of at least two sons, Rev. Nehemiah and Bradshaw Ordway. Rev. Nehemiah, who was born in Amesbury in 1743, and graduated at Harvard in 1764, preached successively at Warner in 1767, '68, '69, '70 and '71, but not regularly. Among the proprietors' bills for 1769 was one for five pounds and twelve shillings ($18.65) to "Nehemiah Ordway, Jr., for preaching," and in 1771, "one pound and ten shillings to Nehemiah Ordway, Jr., for preaching." He was subsequently settled over the church at Middleton, N. H., and later at East Haverhill, Mass. He died at Pembroke, in 1836, aged 93

  

Bradshaw Ordway was younger than his brother, the exact date of his birth being not far from 1750. He came to Warner as early as 1782, and built a log cabin on his father's lot a short distance up the hillside across the highway from George Colby's residence. His wife was Eleanor Stevens, a cousin to the wife of General Aquila Davis. In 1784 Bradshaw Ordway exchanged his lot with Joseph Bartlett for two adjoining lots in the north village. The same year he sold one of the lots to Isaac Dalton, and, in 1785, Bradshaw Ordway and his family moved up to the hill. Nehemiah, the oldest of his children, was then a babe in his mother's arms.

There was a habitation already there. The Bartlett gore, as it was called, embraced some one hundred and forty acres. All were sixty-acre lots on the west of this gore. The two lots that constituted the gore were very irregular. On the north the width was eighty-seven rods; at the south end it tapered to only a few rods in width. In length it was more than a mile. The original Dalton farm, which was cut off at the south end, embraced sixty acres. The remaining portion constituted the farm that Bradshaw Ordway took possession of one hundred and eight years ago. Near the center of the estate stood a log cabin which had been built by Joseph Bartlett a year or two previously.

 

This became the home of the pioneers for a number of years, certainly until after 1793, for Samuel and Thomas, who were twins and were born that year, first saw the light in this structure. The next year, perhaps, or a year later, a frame building of larger dimensions was erected by the pioneer. This latter structure stood but two or three rods from the former habitation and about thirty rods northwest of the present buildings. To reach the site of these ancient dwellings one should follow the path out past the apple trees about twenty rods, then go straight north about ten more. On a little rise of ground in the center of the field is the site of the former house where Bradshaw Ordway spent the latter years of his life. Not a vestige of that early habitation remains to-day. A few rods beyond this, straight north, is another green knoll, where rests a large granite rock. Just west of this rock stood the log cabin erected by Joseph Bartlett, and the first home of Bradshaw Ordway on the place. A huge elm overshadowed it during the time it was a habitation. In my childhood's days a portion of this stump was visible and also broken pieces of brick, the remnants of the pioneer's chimney, but there is nothing there now to show that it was ever the site of a dwelling-place.

This part of the north village came very near being an Ordway settlement. Just across the path from the site of the original home, on a still higher knoll, is the foundation of the house which Thomas Ordway built for himself a little after the close of the second war with Great Britain. The frame of the house was about thirty by eighteen feet, one story in height, and was never painted. A well near by has water of remarkable purity, and the old sweep stood there when I was a boy.

Thomas Ordway married Polly Ferrin, a daughter of Benjamin Ferrin, who lived at the present Newton Gove place. Their two children, Alvah and Susan, were born in this old house. After living here a number of years Thomas Ordway sold his little patrimony of thirty-four acres to Benjamin F. Flanders. The price paid was one hundred and ten dollars, whose purchasing power, in 1826, was twice that of the same sum to-day. Mr. Ordway moved to Bristol, and died there about 1870. His two children have descendants still living at Evansville, Wis. Below is Ferrin Family line in NH

The next owner of the Thomas Ordway house was James Batchelder, who married a daughter of Jacob Morrill in the east part of the town. Batchelder was an Osgoodite, and remained here only four or five years. The house then become the home of another child of Bradshaw Ordway, Deborah, who had married a Dudley Webster of Bristol. This Webster was a tailor by trade, and justified the truth of the old adage that it takes nine tailors to make a man. He deserted his wife, and she and her three children came here to live. After these children were old enough to care for themselves, Mrs. Webster gave up her home and lived with her brother Nehemiah, and the land reverted to the original homestead. The old house was taken down in 1842. One half of the frame was sold to Captain Timothy Flanders, who set it up for a carriage-house at the Dalton place; the other portion was used by Levi Flanders, senior, for the same purpose at the Walter M. Flanders place.

Meanwhile David Ordway had gone out farther to the south and built him a home. It was a low, one-story building, thirty by eighteen feet, the long side facing the south, and was unpainted. The house was built in the summer of 1812. In 1817 he exchanged with his brother, Nehemiah, who had put up a dwelling-house in what is now known as the Stevens lot, a component part of the Ordway homestead.

This is the house that those of my generation remember as the " Uncle Miah Ordway house." Nehemiah Ordway made it his home the remainder of his life. To this house he brought, in 1818, his young bride, Mary, daughter of Isaiah Flanders. Here were born his three sons, John, Joseph, and ex-Governor Nehemiah G. Ordway. An addition of about sixteen feet was made to the east end, a little later, which gave the house a remarkable frontage for so low and narrow a structure. This addition was known as "Aunt Lucy's parlor." It was the living-room of Bradshaw Ordway's eldest daughter, Lucy, who spent her life in the home of her brother.

In this house Bradshaw Ordway died in 1820, aged some over seventy years. The latter years of his life were clouded by spells of partial insanity, and the cares of a large family fell upon his oldest son, Nehemiah, at an early age. The remains were interred in the cemetery back of Union block, where Mrs. Ordway was already buried. Nehemiah Ordway's wife, Mary, died in 1850, and was buried beside her kindred. Mr. Ordway subsequently married Hannah, one of the seven daughters of Levi Osgood and widow of Levi Colby, who lived on the Edmunds place in Joppa. He was drowned in Warner river, in July, 1862. His brother Samuel, who never married, continued to reside in the old house until 1867, when he went to live with "Brother" Charles Colby on Burnt hill, where he died in 1874. The next year after he left the house was taken down, and the frame was sold to Rufus A. Davis, who used a portion of it in making the ell of his dwelling-house. John Ordway's woodsheds stand over the old cellar. Mr. Ordway's present residence was erected in 1853. The barn was built by Nehemiah Ordway in 1820.

Just south of the maples in the little hollow there formerly stood the "village smithy." Samuel Ordway was blacksmith as well as farmer, and did considerable work at his forge up to 1860. This shop was a portion of the old frame house, the first built on the place. It was taken down several years ago.
MINISTER'S RECORD BOOK Adopted by Anne Reilly in honor of Rev. Michael O. Shirley
Ordway, Nehemiah. Record Book, 1777-1829.

Nehemiah Ordway (1743-1836) was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts and became a congregational minister after his graduation from Harvard College in 1764. This small volume is a record of Ordway's ministerial activities from 1777 to 1829. It adds considerably to what is known of Ordway's career and activities. He was peripatetic, settling in Middleton in 1777, but later also serving in Candia, East Haverhill, Raymond, Kingston and Pembroke. In a note in the front of the volume Ordway says, seemingly with pride, that he had preached in fifty towns. The record book includes genealogical notes, and records of his settlement at Middleton and records of as well as admissions, births and marriages in the other churches with which he was associated. ~ Thomas Knoles

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Was born at Hebron, N. H., May 4, 1814. Came to Lawrence Mar., 1847, establishing himself in business as an apothecary and in practice as a physician. This business and profession he followed for about twenty-four years. . Eight years since he retired from practice, but Is active as president and a principal owner and director in Brown's Lumber Co. of Whitefield, N. H. He is also president of the newly organized Whitefield & Jefferson R. R. Co. His father was a hardy pioneer settler of Hebron, N. H., living to the ripe age of 93. His uncle, John Ordway, was clerk and historian of the Lewis and Clark U. S. Exploring Expedition. In early life Dr. Ordway had only the advantages of a common school education, and for several years before coming to Lawrence was engaged in mercantile business, and for three years in the practice of medicine. Alderman in 1857 and 1858.  From History of Lawrence

History of Essex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Volume 1

Among men who, during a long residence in Lawrence, have exhibited strongly marked individuality and intense activity in business and in general affairs, Dr. Aaron Ordway is a prominent veteran. A powerful ally in any cause he espoused, he has been, also, a wily and determined enemy to schemes and plans that he found well-grounded reason to oppose.

He came to the city in 1847, having previously been a trader in general merchandise at Springfield, Mass., and a practicing physician in Rumney, N. II. For twenty years, after coming, he was one of the busiest physicians of the city, and, for a long time, added to professional duties a thriving retail drug business. Faithful care of these interests called for uninterrupted action, and the doctor's temperament and physique fitted him to throw a vast amount of energy into the conduct of his private business, and yet continue active in matters of public concern, as a private citizen and as an alderman during two terms of service. So active was his life that his fellow-citizens wondered when he slept and rested, for he was the last man seen on the street or at business at night and the first abroad in the morning. Later in life he became financially interested in timber-lands and in the manufacture of lumber, and was at one time president of Brown's Lumber Company, of Whitefield, in Northern New Hampshire, and also of the Whitefield and Jefferson Railroad, in the same locality.

In religious matters Dr. Ordway has never been committed to any form of doctrine or wording of creeds, because of others' declaration, having well-grounded faith and opinion of his own, but he has liberally assisted many a struggling church and society in time of financial strait. He has also been a persistent and unswerving friend of the City Hospital.

In politics Dr. Ordway has been a party man of the intensest kind when he believed his party right, holding that right cannot be too boldly asserted or vigorously advocated; nevertheless, he could see a party desert its principles without joining in the stampede. He was a pioneer among early Abolitionists and an active sympathizer with the boldest reformers, whether in the anti-slavery or woman's suffrage cause. Long-continued intensity of action has undermined and broken a strong constitution and hardy physique, and, at the the age of seventy-four, he is an invalid, yet his courage is unabated and his mind unclouded.

In his active days his favor was much courted and his opposition feared by aspirants for political honors. Never on the fence or slow to declare himself, he was, in politics, as in all else, a determined opponent and a fast friend. It was said by some, that, when he appeared in a political contest as a cavalryman with a sorrel charger there was terror in the host he opposed.

He was born in Hebron, N. H., May 4, 1814. His father, Stephen Ordway, went from Amesbury, Mass., in childhood, to Dunbarton, N. H. From thence, at nineteen years, he removed to the northern plantation of "Cockamouth" (afterwards called Hebron), there founding a home, where he lived to the age of ninety-three years. John Ordway, brother of Stephen and uncle of the subject of this sketch, was the clerk and historian of the Lewis and Clark Exploring Expedition, an enterprise that opened up hitherto unknown regions of the West in the early years of the century and made the participants therein famous in American History.
Dr. Ordway married, for his first wife, Mary M. Kelley, of New Hampton, N. H., and four children survive her; for his second wife, he married Mary Ann Kelley, of Franklin, N. H., and with her he is enjoying as much of rest and quiet as broken health allows.
Alfred T. Ordway (1821–1897) landscape and portrait painter, and one of the founding fathers of the Boston Art Club Grandson of Nehemiah Ordway

                                                        Some of A A Ordway's work

THE BIRTHPLACE, FROM THE ROAD
Showing eastern porch, gate, bridle-post, and large boulder used as horse-block

BIRTHPLACE IN WINTER
From hemlocks above brook
Copyright, 1891, by A. A. Ordway.

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John Pond Ordway (1824-1880) below An other American musician in the nineteenth century is John Pond Ordway. He is most well know for composing the song Twinkling Stars Are Laughing, Love. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts on August 1,1824 and died in April 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts son of Aaron Ordway and Catherine Pond. Not only was he a composer, but he was also a doctor, a music entrepreneur, and a politician. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1859 and he was ont of the first ever surgeons to volunteer at the beginning of the Civil War.

   

Ordway severed in the sixth Regiment, which was called the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. John Pond Ordway was one of the few union surgeons sent to help heal the wounded after the Battle of Gettysburg. He also owned his own music shop in Boston. His most well known song Twinkling Stars Are Laughing, Love was recorded by the Hayden Quartet between 1902 and 1904. Around 1845 he organized Ordway’s Aeolians, a blackface minstrel troup which performed at Ordway Hall in Boston moreover nationally to promote Ordway's publishing business. Future bandleader and composer, Patrick Gimore, worked in Ordway's store and appeared with the Aeolians. James Lord Pierpont’s first major composition "The Returned Californian" in 1852 was written expressly for Ordway and his troupe. A number of nineteenth century songs were written for the Aeolians and/or dedicated to Ordway, including Jingle Bells.

Nehemiah George Ordway (November 10, 1828 – July 3, 1907)

Lucius Pond Ordway Sr., c. 1900. One of St Paul's distinguished citizens, Mr. Ordway made his first fortune in plumbing and heating supplies, first as Rogers and Ordway, then Crane & Ordway. In the early 1900s when a small local company called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing needed financial backing, Ordway is said to have paid $14,000 for what would become known as 3M, one of the nation's formidable industrial juggernauts. 3M's invention of masking tape and Scotch tape proved a significant financial windfall.

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Grave Photo Amy Levesque