A Historical Sketch of the Town of Deer Isle

By George Lawrence Hosmer

This work presents an incredible history of Deer Isle, focusing on its settlers and early dwellers. Deer Isle is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States, incorporated in 1789, when it included the islands of Little Deer Isle, Deer Isle, and Isle au Haut. The writer entertains the readers with beautiful descriptions, unknown facts about the place, and short biographies of some famous personalities that lived there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Apr 11, 2021
• ISBN: 4064066448585

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George Lawrence Hosmer

A Historical Sketch of the Town of Deer Isle

Published by Good Press, 2021

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EAN 4064066448585

Table of Contents

Introduction

NOTICES OF SETTLERS AND EARLY INHABITANTS.

MICHAEL CARNEY

WILLIAM EATON

GREENLAW

JOHN BILLINGS.

NATHAN CLOSSON

THOMAS THOMPSON

STAPLES

ROBERT LINN

JONATHAN TORREY.

WILLIAM FOSTER

JOHN CAMPBELL.

THOMAS STINSON, ESQ.

SAMUEL STINSON

WILLIAM STINSON

JOHN STINSON

THOMAS CONARY

BENJAMIN YORK

THOMAS ROBBINS; 2d,

THOMAS WARREN

ELIJAH TOOTHAKER

WILLIAM GREENLAW

NATHANIEL SCOTT

ASA GREEN

PETER HARDY

JEREMIAH EATON

JOHN HOWARD

WILLIAM EATON, 2d

ABIJAH HASKELL,

NATHAN HASKELL, ESQ.

CALEB HASKELL

NATHAN DOW

THEOPHILUS EATON

LEVI CARMAN

MARK HASKELL

FRANCIS HASKELL

EZEKIEL MARSHALL

JONATHAN HASKELL

TRISTRAM HASKELL

EPHRAIM MARSHALL

MARK HASKELL

IGNATIUS HASKELL, ESQ.

EZRA HOWARD

AMBROSE COLBY

NATHANIEL BRAY and ROBERT NASON

JOHN PRESSEY, JR.

THOMAS SAUNDERS

JONATHAN EATON

ELIJAH DUNHAM, SR.

Introduction

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For some decades past it has been my purpose to write a historical sketch of the town with notices of its settlers and early inhabitants.

NOTICES OF SETTLERS AND EARLY INHABITANTS.

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MICHAEL CARNEY

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He was said to have been the first white man who attempted a settlement in the town. He was a native of Ireland, and was here as early as 1762 at least. He made his settlement on what is now the farm of George C. Hardy, on the northern shore of the island; the place where his habitation stood is still known, and it was shown me by Mr. Hardy a few years ago. How long he remained here is not known, as very few seem to have heard anything about him, and what little is known is through tradition. How long he came before Mr. William Eaton is not known, but in all probability it was not long, perhaps the same year. He moved from the place of his settlement to an island lying between Great and Little Deer Islands, which to this day bears his name; and from that place he removed, and all traces of him have been lost. Whether he had, a family or not is not known.

WILLIAM EATON

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was the first man who made a permanent settlement here, and it was said to be in 1762. I have judged that his native place might have been Haverhill, Massachusetts, or that vicinity, as he was a cousin to Theophilus and Jonathan Eaton, who were born there, and he was about the age of the first named. He was married in York, Maine, to a member of the family of Mr. Eliakim Wardwell, of that place, in 1742. I have been told that her maiden name was Ruth, but the records of that town show that the marriage was between Mr. William Eaton and Miss Meribah Wardwell. There is a tradition that before her birth her mother was taken captive by the Indians, and while in captivity she was compelled to become the wife of one of the chiefs, and that Mrs. Eaton was the fruit of their union. Some of her descendants seem to show the probability of such an origin. Her husband was described to me by one of his granddaughters as a man of a light complexion. My informant was born in 1776, and well remembered him.

On the return of peace between the tribe by which she was held in captivity and the white people, Mrs. Wardwell was delivered up to her husband with her child. She afterward had children, the youngest of whom, Mr. Daniel Wardwell, settled in the town of Penobscot, where he died in 1803. He was the father of Colonel Jeremiah Wardwell, a man of note there, who died in 1825. A sister of Mrs. Eaton was the mother of Captain Joseph Perkins, one of the settlers in Castine, and he was there in 1779, when the British took possession of the place. He was one of the most prominent men of that town till his death in 1818, and was, with Colonel Wardwell, one of the first board of . selectmen in the town of Penobscot, in 1787. The father of Eliakim Wardwell was Mr. Samuel Wardwell, who suffered death during the delusion of witchcraft, and was a resident of Andover, Massachusetts. His father was the first of the family who came from England, and his name was Thomas Wardwell. Mr. Eaton, or, as he was called, Major Eaton, settled on what is now the Scott farm, near the steamboat landing. He resided there several years, when he sold out his possession to Mr. Nathaniel Scott, of what was then the town of Ward, now Auburn, in the county of Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the ancestor of all of that name here. His son, Mr. John Scott, occupied the farm