Woodstock: The Remarkable Captain Samuel Stephens, Mayflower descendant and son of a Revolutionary

 Captain Samuel Stephens and Emma Swan, our 4th great-grandparents, were relative latecomers to Woodstock with their arrival in Woodstock around 1815.

Samuel Stephens in Plymouth, Massachusetts

Samuel was born to Edward Stephens and Mayflower descendant Phoebe Harlow in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

Birth and death records are not available for Samuel but his gravestone indicates he died at age 90 in 1856, which puts his birth at about 1766. A 1913 SAR application by a great-grandson, Harold Ellsworth Stevens, MD, in Lewiston, ME, gives a birth date of September 16, 1768, but the source of that date is unclear unless from family records. Indeed, the Revolutionary War pension application of his brother, William, makes reference to a family Bible with birth dates.

Both parents were in their 40's when Samuel was born, the 9th of ten children. Three of the 10 died young - a brother at age 3 before Samuel was born, and two sisters at ages 21 and 27.

Samuel grew up in a revolutionary age and family. When but eight years old, his father and three brothers marched with a Plympton military company to nearby Marshfield on April 19, 1775, the day of the Lexington alarm. While surrounding areas were revolutionary bent, Marshfield was a hotbed of Loyalists. Brother William spent 7 months in the young colonial Navy on the brigantine Hazard in 1777-78.

Samuel had several losses before he turned 22 with the death of an older sister in 1786, his mother in 1787, father in 1788, and another sister in 1791.

The earliest record of Samuel occurs with his 1788 marriage to a young woman from the neighboring farm, Desire Harlow, just months after his father’s death. Their first child, Samuel Jr., was born 7 months after the marriage. They had another two children by 1798, the year Samuel purchased a lot in Paris, Maine.

Samuel is again mentioned in his father’s probate papers in 1789. Although his father owned significant land in the Plympton/Plymouth/Marshfield area, he died insolvent and his land was sold off to his sons and sons-in-law to cover his debts. A small, but nice parcel at Hobbs Hole went to 21 year-old Samuel, perhaps made possible with money from the his new wife’s family. Farming soil in Plymouth was acidic, porous, and downright poor for farming except for a few patches, one of these being Hobbs Hole, “a 15 minute walk from Burial Hill in Plymouth.” Even with a workable piece of land, Samuel’s attention turned to other opportunities in the expanding colonies.

Samuel and Desire in Paris (great name for a movie)

Still a young man at age 31, Samuel and Desire and children joined a host of others migrating from the Plymouth, Plympton, and Marshfield areas to inland Maine in the years after the Revolution. Samuel’s brother, Sylvanus, became an early resident of nearby Sumner although it’s not clear when he arrived.

We know Samuel purchased the 100 acre “Center lot” in Paris, Maine, in 1798, from Lemuel Perham and the family finally traveled the 188 miles from Plymouth to Woodstock in 1800. Tragically, Desire died in 1801, leaving Samuel with three young children. Samuel married our 4th great-grandmother, Emma Swan, the following year.

Emma’s father, William Swan, a Revolution soldier who fought at Bunker Hill, moved his family to Paris by 1790 and was an early settler of Woodstock by 1802, about the time Emma married our Samuel in Paris.

Samuel had another six children with second wife Emma. Desire must still have been on his mind as their first child was named Jesse Harlow Stephens. One of their children, Oren, died young, perhaps only two years old.

Samuel took an active role in the early Paris community. He and another Paris resident, Nicholas Smith, built a grist mill on Smith Brook. He was on the committee to build a Baptist Church in the town, treasurer for the town 1803-04, and selectman/assessor in 1806 and 1810. He cast musket balls to arm the town's War of 1812 militia.

Samuel and Emma in Woodstock

By 1815, Samuel once more moved his family, this time to Woodstock and - again - he was a prominent member in the community. He was a Selectman in 1817 and Overseer of the Poor in 1818. At a town meeting in 1817, “old Mrs. Lucy Swan was set up at auction and struck off to Samuel Stephens at $1.09/week.” The town handled their old folk in those days by auctioning off care to the lowest bidder. Old Lucy, indeed, was Emma’s mother, our 5th GGM; she died the following year. 

After moving to Woodstock, Samuel bought a grist mill afterwards known as the Captain Stephens Mill, and businesses built up around the area, including a blacksmith shop, hotel, and a circus ground. Stephens Mills was the business center of Woodstock for several years. The unreliable water source allowed the mill to operate only intermittently and it was dismantled in 1834.  

Woodstock Corner about 1830, from Woodstock Chamber of Commerce

Samuel and Emma built a beautiful home that was the last of the original Stephens Mills settlement when it burned down in 1968.

Captain Samuel Stephens house, built in 1815, photo in 1955, from Stephens Mills website

School areas were redistricted in 1820 and Samuel's farm was in the First district along with the Swan and Bryant families, also grandparent ancestors.

Samuel served two terms in the Maine legislature, elected in 1827 and 1831 to represent Woodstock which meant trips to Portland until the state capital was moved to Augusta in 1832. In 1845, he voted with the minority in favor of liquor licenses in Woodstock.  Most of the town, including another GGF Orsamus Nute, voted for prohibition.

Samuel's oldest son, also Samuel, died tragically at age 43, crushed in a mill accident in Woodstock in 1832, and wife Emma died 4 years later, leaving Samuel a widower for the next twenty years. His oldest son by Emma, Jesse Harlow Stephens, a Methodist minister, hung himself in 1843, reportedly influenced by Millerism.*

*William Miller developed a national following for preaching the Second Coming of Christ would occur sometime in 1843.

In 1850, eighty-two year old Samuel was living with Sam Jr.'s widow and 36 year-old spinster daughter, Mary. He died in 1856 at the age of 90.

Samuel was a "highly respected citizen," clearly involved in the community and did well for himself, particularly given his father's insolvency and no inheritance from the family.  In addition to his property and home, probate inventory showed he had two cows, 10 sheep, a ton of hay, and 5 bushels of potatoes and turnips each, among other sundry things. One of the appraisers of his estate was our Orsamus Nute.

Samuel's family:                                                                                                                                   

Desire Harlow, 1st wife, died in Paris, age 32

• Samuel Stephens, Jr. (1789-1832), private, War of 1812; m. Mayflower descendant Elizabeth Doten; killed in mill accident at age 43, 2 children.
• Captain Eleazer Stephens (1792-1852), War of 1812 Navy veteran; m. Nancy Stevens, 5 children.
• Desire Stephens (1798-1869), m. Artemus Felt, 8 children.

Emma Swan, 2nd wife, died in Woodstock, age 66

• Jesse Harlow Stephens (1802-1843), m. Abigail Lurvey, 5 children; Methodist minister, hanged himself at age 41. 
• Benjamin Stephens (1807-1890), m. Julia Maria Davis; 5 children; son Orin became a doctor.
• Orin Stephens (1809 - ), died young, possibly in 1811.
• Jane Stephens (1812-1893), m. Joseph Davis; 5 children; daughter Lovina Dunn Davis married our Orsamus Nute.
• Mary Stephens (1815 - died after 1870), unmarried, lived with father until he died, then on the "town farm."

In total, Captain Samuel had 30 grandchildren.

Samuel, Emma, and Samuel Jr. are buried in Curtis Hill Cemetery. Many other Stephens are buried in the Nute-Stephens cemetery, including son Benjamin and his family, and there appears to have been a close connection between the Nute and Stephens families.

The Mystery of Captain Samuel Stephens 

Paris and Woodstock town histories often refer to Samuel as Captain Stephens even when the rank of other Revolution veterans in these towns is rarely mentioned. The source of Samuel's captainship is not documented from the Revolution, nor is he listed as one of the Paris men training for the War of 1812.

The Woodstock Samuel Stephens has been generally accepted as a Revolution privateer:

• From Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors: Samuel Stevens, Gloucester. Descriptive list of officers and crew of the ship “America” (privateer), commanded by Captain John Somes, sworn to in Suffolk Co., June 8, 1780; age 14 yrs; stature 3’10 “; residence Gloucester.
• Maine Veterans Cemetery Records documents the same information under his name, associating the information with our Samuel’s gravestone, and citing Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors as the source information.
• His gravestone has an American Revolution veteran marker.
• Stephens Mills website sources the Woodstock Samuel Stephens as this young Gloucester teen.

Here are the problems with this claim:

• There is no doubt our Samuel is from Plymouth, and not Gloucester. Paris and Woodstock town histories refer to Samuel as being from Plymouth, he married a young woman from the Plymouth Harlow family, he is listed in the Plymouth Edward Stephens probate papers, and brother Sylvanus from Plymouth lived in nearby Sumner.
• Gloucester had an extensive Stevens family headed by William Stevens, famed as a master ship carpenter in the 1600s, and rampant with Samuel named offspring. They spell their name Stevens, whereas our Plymouth family were Stephens.
• If his gravestone is correct, Samuel would have been 12 and not 14 years old at the time this young sailor took to sea harassing the British.
• The Gloucester teen was 3’10” tall and would have had to grow another 12” to be out of the category of dwarfism. American Revolution men were tall, averaging three inches taller than the British soldiers. An average American adult male would have been 5’8” in those days, about an inch less than the contemporary American male. If we extrapolate to 14 year old boys of that era, an average Revolution era 14 yr old boy would be about 5’3 1/2”. A 3’10” fourteen year old sailor would have stood out, so much so that the stat got put into the listing in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors.

In order for our Woodstock Samuel to be the Gloucester teen privateer, he would have had to make his way 75 miles north from Plymouth to Gloucester by age 14, back to Plymouth before age 20 to impregnate and marry the Plymouth Desire Harlow, and grow another two feet.

More likely, the connection between the Woodstock Captain Samuel Stephens and Gloucester privateer is incorrect. Quite possibly, our Samuel attained his Captainship post-Revolution in the local militia, following the footsteps of his Revolution father and brothers, rising up the ranks as he seemed to do most of his life. Even more likely, he was in the seafaring business in Plymouth as many in the area were wont with poor farming quality in the area. He was set with the family house on the property at Hobbs Hole and until age 30 captained his own boat. This would explain why he continued to use the title Captain in later life when other Revolution veterans in the Woodstock/Paris did not. As in, aye, aye Captain.

Next up, The Stephens family before Woodstock . . .

Sources:
The Old Village of Woodstock, Maine, 1808-1840-50, Woodstock Chamber of Commerce.

A History of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine from the earliest explorations to the close of the year 1900.
History of Woodstock, Me. : with family sketches and an appendix, William Berry Lapham, 1882.

History of Paris, Maine, from its settlement to 1880, William Berry Lapham, 1884.
History of the town of Gloucester, Cape Ann : including the town of Rockport, Babson, 1860.

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War
Woodstock Cemeteries, compiled  by Joyce Howe

Stephens Mills webside, http://www.stephensmills.net/

Migration of Our Woodstock Families: Poland and Paris, and finally Woodstock

Woodstock is a beautiful, rural Maine town, dotted with lakes and stunning in the fall with hillsides a kaleidoscope of color. Bryant's Pond lies in the northwest corner and feeds the Little Androscoggin River. The people of Bryant Pond were the last to give up hand-crank telephones with a human operator in 1983. The old Grange and Masonic Lodge buildings feature three-story attached outhouses - well, technically they are "inhouses."  The 2010 Census showed 1,277 people and 371 families living in Woodstock spread over 47 square miles.

Woodstock hills in the fall

Bryant Pond

Three story "privies" of the Masonic Lodge and Grange

The Woodstock Historical Society manned by a dedicated staff has its home on Main Street close to the Pond. I had the privilege of spending a day in the fall of 2016 with a staff member, Joyce Howe, who took me around to our family sites and cemeteries - and we had the best pizza for lunch at a little store in "town."

Woodstock Historical Society

Our family line on the Nute side converged on Woodstock, Maine, in the late 1700s-early 1800s, finally emerging from that wilderness-taming experience when 2nd GGF Orsamus Nute moved his family out of Woodstock to Boston in 1864. From there, the family has dispersed around the country, from Connecticut, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Kentucky, Maryland, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan to California.

 

They came from the Watertown, Cambridge and Plymouth areas - the Brooks, Swan, Bryant, and Stephens families - Nutes from New Hampshire; Strouts and Davises from coastal Maine and Massachusetts. Even the New Hampshire Nute lived briefly in coastal Falmouth, Maine, before migration. By and large, the families followed a route progressively north and inland, along what is now Route 26 from the coast to Poland and Paris, and from there to Woodstock on a rugged road built in 1795 to connect the two settlements. The roads were all pretty rough in those days - no whizzing along freeways in air-conditioned and heated vehicles.

PARIS

The planning by proprietors for the “plantation” of this area of Maine took place in Watertown, MA, with Paris originally called Plantation Number Four, and incorporated as a town in 1795.

Paris roads were laid out in 1794, and the road to Woodstock in 1795. Even before the road to Woodstock opened, two Bryant brothers, Christopher and Solomon, were hard at work clearing land in Woodstock in preparation for their big move. Paris had 40 households in 1798, living in log and dirt cabins until sawmills were built. Solomon Bryant had 79 acres, William Swan 50 acres, and Samuel Stephens 100 acres. Samuel is listed as owning property, but didn’t move to Paris until a couple years later. 

The Bryants of Plympton migrated to Grey on coastal Maine after Solomon served in the Massachusetts militia in the Revolution, and inland to Plantation Number Four (Paris) by 1788. He was chosen surveyor of lumber, a task he continued over the next several years. In 1796, Solomon was named a hog reever for the town. Sons, Christopher and Solomon Jr., were first settlers in Woodstock and daughter Betsey eventually moved to Woodstock, but Solomon Sr. lived out his days in Paris.

Dr. Peter Brooks of Acton, Massachusetts, arrived in Paris with the families of Solomon Bryant and William Swan, Jr. and stayed about 4 years. He moved then to Poland, Maine, briefly to Woodstock in about 1798, and finished his years down the road in Mechanic Falls, Maine.

Cambridge born 5th GGF William Swan, a Revolution veteran of Bunker Hill, was appointed tithingman* at the first Paris town meeting in 1793. Two Swan daughters married the two Bryant boys, Emma married our Samuel Stephens, and most of the family relocated to Woodstock. 

Samuel Stephens of Plymouth bought a lot in Paris in 1798 and migrated there with his family by 1801.  Samuel signed a petition for division of the town in 1803 and was on a town committee in 1806. In 1812, Samuel is referred to as Captain and was paid $4.50 for casting balls.

*A parish officer elected to preserve good order in the church during divine service, to make complaint of any disorderly conduct, and to enforce the observance of the Sabbath.

POLAND

Poland was incorporated in 1795, but settled as early as 1769. Early settlers included the Bray, Fickett and Davis families who cleared land for farms and  “one named Cox who manufactured hair combs” may have been the father of Judith Sarah Cox, wife of Jonathan Fickett. These were followed in the 1790s by Davises, Strouts, and Dr. Peter Brooks.

Sixth GGF and sea captain Zebulon Davis was living in Poland, then called Bakerstown Plantation, as early as June 1776 when he signed the Bakerstown agreement setting up militia for the Revolution. He was a captain, taken prisoner by the British and confined for an extended time at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Wife, Mary Bray, and younger four children, including Aaron, moved from Gloucester to Poland with their dad.

4th GGFJonathan Fickett arrived in Poland from Falmouth, ME, soon after his marriage to Judith Sarah Cox in 1788. Judith Sarah died in 1800 and he married Solomon Bryant's daughter, Betsey, in 1804. 

The Strouts were seafaring families from the Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Falmouth and Cape Elizabeth, Maine areas. Our Strout is 5th GGM Thankful who married War of 1812 veteran Aaron Davis Sr.  Aaron Jr. married Lucinda Oraing Brooks, daughter of our Dr. Peter Brooks.

3rd GGF Samuel Nute moved to Poland bringing along his widowed mother, Rebecca Wentworth, sometime between 1810 when he is listed in the Falmouth census and 1816 when he married Betsey Fickett. 

WOODSTOCK

Fifth GGF Solomon Bryant’s sons, Solomon Jr and Christopher, first cleared land in spring of 1797 in what was called Number Three, later to become Woodstock. The brothers’ plan was to have ten town lots where the extended Bryant family could settle. Their sister, 4th GGM Betsey, married both 5th GGF Peter Brooks and 4th GGF Jonathan Fickett. Jonathan’s daughter by a different wife,  3rd GGM Betsey, was the mother of our Orsamus.  Gets complicated, huh? All these guys intended to take up residence in Woodstock from surrounding settlements. The Bryant brothers, got moved in by fall of 1798. Others followed the next year, including another Bryant brother, Samuel.

William Swan moved his family to Woodstock in 1802.  William’s daughter, Sally Swan married Solomon Jr.;  daughter Susanna married Christopher; and daughter Emma was the second wife of 4th GGF Samuel Stephens. William’s 17 year old daughter, Lucy, had an illegitimate son, Gideon, fathered by married, father of 9, Dr. Peter Brooks. Gideon was raised by William Swan and took the Swan name rather than Brooks.

While this preliminary settling was going on, the land which belonged to Massachusetts underwent various ownership/grant changes, finally incorporated into a town in 1815. An 1812 tax list shows those of our people living there were the William Swan family and the sons of 5th GGF Solomon Bryant - Christopher, Solomon, Jr. and Samuel. Peter Brooks and wife Betsey Bryant had come and gone.


The Aaron Davises, both Jr. and Sr., had moved in by 1815, Samuel Stephens by 1817, and Jonathan Fickett by 1818, settling on what was later the Nute farm.

Life was hard, everyone was poor, and the soil not conducive to farming. They had no stores or doctor, with the nearest "amenities" some distance over the hill in Paris. Fish was plentiful in the beautiful Bryant’s Pond, small game readily available in the forests, but winters were harsh, crops failed from drought, and fires burned through timber. Stories of privation are told that farm women dug up potatoes planted for next year’s crop in order to have something to eat.

Fickett - Nute farm, Woodstock

The Nute family moved to Woodstock by 1820, the same year son Orsamus was born. Samuel and Betsey were able to buy her father's hilltop farm with an amazing view.  They had 4 children, 3 daughters and Orsamus. When Orsamus left taking all his living family with him, no Nute descendants were left in Woodstock.

The tenacity, courage, and resilience DNA of all the above generations came together with the union of Orsamus Nute and Lovina Dunn Davis, the last of our Woodstock lines, and they left Woodstock for Boston with their infant son, our great-grandfather, Joseph Edson Nute, in 1864.

More stories to follow on these tough pioneers who rightfully deserve to be called our illustrious ancestors.