GREAT GREAT GRANDSON OF MAYFLOWER PASSENGER FRANCIS COOKE
MAINE PIONEER
FIRST SETTLER OF SUMNER, MAINE
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A BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES BISBEE, by Laurence Overmire (5th great grandson), genealogist and family historian, updated Jun 2023:
Charles Bisbee was born in 1726 in East Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of Moses and Mary (Reed) Bisbee.
He married Beulah Howland, the daughter of Rouse and Ann (Bonney) Howland on Sept. 16, 1756 in Pembroke, Plymouth County. They had nine children: Elisha, Charles, Mary "Polly," Celia, Moses, John, Solomon, Calvin and Rouse.
Charles was a farmer. After his marriage, he moved to Pembroke, Massachusetts. According to descendant Axel Read's 1915 genealogy, he and his sons Elisha and Charles Jr. all served in the Revolutionary War. Some say the elder Charles served in the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775, but no records have been found to confirm his service, if any.
In June 1784, Charles and his family moved to Sumner, Oxford County, Maine. He is recognized as being the first settler of that community. Axel Reed described how circumstances unfolded:
"At the close of the Revolutionary war, in which the father and two sons, Elisha and Charles, had taken part, there was an extensive emigration from the Old Colony towns in Massachusetts to the wilds of Maine. He bought land of Benjamin Darling, of Hanover, Mass., in a township in Maine then called Sharon, afterwards Butterfield or Sumner. In the summer of 1783 he visited his land and built a cheap tenement for his family to occupy later. He returned to Pembroke to spend the winter and the following spring set sail with his family for the new home. They sailed from Scituate harbor in a packet and landed at Yarmouth, proceeding through the wilderness to Sumner on horseback, arriving on the 5th day of June, 1784, the year in which the town of Sumner was incorporated. Dr. [Wm. B.] Lapham [secretary of the Maine Genealogical Society] says: 'He (Charles Bisbee) selected his land with good judgment, and with the aid of his seven stalwart sons he soon cleared him up a good farm. He suffered all the privations and hardships incident to a pioneer life, lived to see his children comfortably settled around him and enjoy much of the fruit of his toil, and he died June 3, 1807, the 23rd anniversary of the arrival in town. His good wife, Beulah Howland, died September 1, 1813, nine years later, and in her 76th year of age.' "
Charles died in Sumner on July 3, 1807, at the age of 81. He was buried in the Chaffin Cemetery (aka The Bonney Road Cemetery).
Sources:
1) Axel Hayford Reed. Genealogical Record of The Reads, Reeds, the Bisbees, the Bradfords of the United States of America" in the line of Esdras Read of Boston and England, 1635 to 1915; Thomas Besbedge or Bisbee of Scituate, Mass. and England, 1634 to 1915; Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, Mass., and England, 1620 to 1915 (Glencoe, MN, 1915), p. 69-70 (See the Minnesota Historical Society catalog at MNHS.org)
2) Vital Records of Pembroke, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 293.
3) Vital Records of Bridgewater, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 52.
4) Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
5) Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850
6) Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999.
7) Alfred Cole & Charles F. Whitman. History of Buckfield, Oxford, Maine 1777-1900 (1915), p. 532.
8) William B. Lapham. Family Records of Some of the Descendants of Thomas Besbedge, (Bisbee,) of Scituate, Mass., in 1634. (Augusta, ME: Press of Homan & Badger, 1876), p. 15.
9) Laurence Overmire. "The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson, Bradford, Reed," Rootsweb WorldConnect Project, Rootsweb.com, 2019.
MAINE PIONEER
FIRST SETTLER OF SUMNER, MAINE
--------------
A BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES BISBEE, by Laurence Overmire (5th great grandson), genealogist and family historian, updated Jun 2023:
Charles Bisbee was born in 1726 in East Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of Moses and Mary (Reed) Bisbee.
He married Beulah Howland, the daughter of Rouse and Ann (Bonney) Howland on Sept. 16, 1756 in Pembroke, Plymouth County. They had nine children: Elisha, Charles, Mary "Polly," Celia, Moses, John, Solomon, Calvin and Rouse.
Charles was a farmer. After his marriage, he moved to Pembroke, Massachusetts. According to descendant Axel Read's 1915 genealogy, he and his sons Elisha and Charles Jr. all served in the Revolutionary War. Some say the elder Charles served in the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775, but no records have been found to confirm his service, if any.
In June 1784, Charles and his family moved to Sumner, Oxford County, Maine. He is recognized as being the first settler of that community. Axel Reed described how circumstances unfolded:
"At the close of the Revolutionary war, in which the father and two sons, Elisha and Charles, had taken part, there was an extensive emigration from the Old Colony towns in Massachusetts to the wilds of Maine. He bought land of Benjamin Darling, of Hanover, Mass., in a township in Maine then called Sharon, afterwards Butterfield or Sumner. In the summer of 1783 he visited his land and built a cheap tenement for his family to occupy later. He returned to Pembroke to spend the winter and the following spring set sail with his family for the new home. They sailed from Scituate harbor in a packet and landed at Yarmouth, proceeding through the wilderness to Sumner on horseback, arriving on the 5th day of June, 1784, the year in which the town of Sumner was incorporated. Dr. [Wm. B.] Lapham [secretary of the Maine Genealogical Society] says: 'He (Charles Bisbee) selected his land with good judgment, and with the aid of his seven stalwart sons he soon cleared him up a good farm. He suffered all the privations and hardships incident to a pioneer life, lived to see his children comfortably settled around him and enjoy much of the fruit of his toil, and he died June 3, 1807, the 23rd anniversary of the arrival in town. His good wife, Beulah Howland, died September 1, 1813, nine years later, and in her 76th year of age.' "
Charles died in Sumner on July 3, 1807, at the age of 81. He was buried in the Chaffin Cemetery (aka The Bonney Road Cemetery).
Sources:
1) Axel Hayford Reed. Genealogical Record of The Reads, Reeds, the Bisbees, the Bradfords of the United States of America" in the line of Esdras Read of Boston and England, 1635 to 1915; Thomas Besbedge or Bisbee of Scituate, Mass. and England, 1634 to 1915; Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, Mass., and England, 1620 to 1915 (Glencoe, MN, 1915), p. 69-70 (See the Minnesota Historical Society catalog at MNHS.org)
2) Vital Records of Pembroke, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 293.
3) Vital Records of Bridgewater, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 52.
4) Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
5) Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850
6) Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999.
7) Alfred Cole & Charles F. Whitman. History of Buckfield, Oxford, Maine 1777-1900 (1915), p. 532.
8) William B. Lapham. Family Records of Some of the Descendants of Thomas Besbedge, (Bisbee,) of Scituate, Mass., in 1634. (Augusta, ME: Press of Homan & Badger, 1876), p. 15.
9) Laurence Overmire. "The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson, Bradford, Reed," Rootsweb WorldConnect Project, Rootsweb.com, 2019.
GREAT GREAT GRANDSON OF MAYFLOWER PASSENGER FRANCIS COOKE
MAINE PIONEER
FIRST SETTLER OF SUMNER, MAINE
--------------
A BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES BISBEE, by Laurence Overmire (5th great grandson), genealogist and family historian, updated Jun 2023:
Charles Bisbee was born in 1726 in East Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of Moses and Mary (Reed) Bisbee.
He married Beulah Howland, the daughter of Rouse and Ann (Bonney) Howland on Sept. 16, 1756 in Pembroke, Plymouth County. They had nine children: Elisha, Charles, Mary "Polly," Celia, Moses, John, Solomon, Calvin and Rouse.
Charles was a farmer. After his marriage, he moved to Pembroke, Massachusetts. According to descendant Axel Read's 1915 genealogy, he and his sons Elisha and Charles Jr. all served in the Revolutionary War. Some say the elder Charles served in the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775, but no records have been found to confirm his service, if any.
In June 1784, Charles and his family moved to Sumner, Oxford County, Maine. He is recognized as being the first settler of that community. Axel Reed described how circumstances unfolded:
"At the close of the Revolutionary war, in which the father and two sons, Elisha and Charles, had taken part, there was an extensive emigration from the Old Colony towns in Massachusetts to the wilds of Maine. He bought land of Benjamin Darling, of Hanover, Mass., in a township in Maine then called Sharon, afterwards Butterfield or Sumner. In the summer of 1783 he visited his land and built a cheap tenement for his family to occupy later. He returned to Pembroke to spend the winter and the following spring set sail with his family for the new home. They sailed from Scituate harbor in a packet and landed at Yarmouth, proceeding through the wilderness to Sumner on horseback, arriving on the 5th day of June, 1784, the year in which the town of Sumner was incorporated. Dr. [Wm. B.] Lapham [secretary of the Maine Genealogical Society] says: 'He (Charles Bisbee) selected his land with good judgment, and with the aid of his seven stalwart sons he soon cleared him up a good farm. He suffered all the privations and hardships incident to a pioneer life, lived to see his children comfortably settled around him and enjoy much of the fruit of his toil, and he died June 3, 1807, the 23rd anniversary of the arrival in town. His good wife, Beulah Howland, died September 1, 1813, nine years later, and in her 76th year of age.' "
Charles died in Sumner on July 3, 1807, at the age of 81. He was buried in the Chaffin Cemetery (aka The Bonney Road Cemetery).
Sources:
1) Axel Hayford Reed. Genealogical Record of The Reads, Reeds, the Bisbees, the Bradfords of the United States of America" in the line of Esdras Read of Boston and England, 1635 to 1915; Thomas Besbedge or Bisbee of Scituate, Mass. and England, 1634 to 1915; Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, Mass., and England, 1620 to 1915 (Glencoe, MN, 1915), p. 69-70 (See the Minnesota Historical Society catalog at MNHS.org)
2) Vital Records of Pembroke, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 293.
3) Vital Records of Bridgewater, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 52.
4) Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
5) Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850
6) Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999.
7) Alfred Cole & Charles F. Whitman. History of Buckfield, Oxford, Maine 1777-1900 (1915), p. 532.
8) William B. Lapham. Family Records of Some of the Descendants of Thomas Besbedge, (Bisbee,) of Scituate, Mass., in 1634. (Augusta, ME: Press of Homan & Badger, 1876), p. 15.
9) Laurence Overmire. "The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson, Bradford, Reed," Rootsweb WorldConnect Project, Rootsweb.com, 2019.
MAINE PIONEER
FIRST SETTLER OF SUMNER, MAINE
--------------
A BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES BISBEE, by Laurence Overmire (5th great grandson), genealogist and family historian, updated Jun 2023:
Charles Bisbee was born in 1726 in East Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of Moses and Mary (Reed) Bisbee.
He married Beulah Howland, the daughter of Rouse and Ann (Bonney) Howland on Sept. 16, 1756 in Pembroke, Plymouth County. They had nine children: Elisha, Charles, Mary "Polly," Celia, Moses, John, Solomon, Calvin and Rouse.
Charles was a farmer. After his marriage, he moved to Pembroke, Massachusetts. According to descendant Axel Read's 1915 genealogy, he and his sons Elisha and Charles Jr. all served in the Revolutionary War. Some say the elder Charles served in the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775, but no records have been found to confirm his service, if any.
In June 1784, Charles and his family moved to Sumner, Oxford County, Maine. He is recognized as being the first settler of that community. Axel Reed described how circumstances unfolded:
"At the close of the Revolutionary war, in which the father and two sons, Elisha and Charles, had taken part, there was an extensive emigration from the Old Colony towns in Massachusetts to the wilds of Maine. He bought land of Benjamin Darling, of Hanover, Mass., in a township in Maine then called Sharon, afterwards Butterfield or Sumner. In the summer of 1783 he visited his land and built a cheap tenement for his family to occupy later. He returned to Pembroke to spend the winter and the following spring set sail with his family for the new home. They sailed from Scituate harbor in a packet and landed at Yarmouth, proceeding through the wilderness to Sumner on horseback, arriving on the 5th day of June, 1784, the year in which the town of Sumner was incorporated. Dr. [Wm. B.] Lapham [secretary of the Maine Genealogical Society] says: 'He (Charles Bisbee) selected his land with good judgment, and with the aid of his seven stalwart sons he soon cleared him up a good farm. He suffered all the privations and hardships incident to a pioneer life, lived to see his children comfortably settled around him and enjoy much of the fruit of his toil, and he died June 3, 1807, the 23rd anniversary of the arrival in town. His good wife, Beulah Howland, died September 1, 1813, nine years later, and in her 76th year of age.' "
Charles died in Sumner on July 3, 1807, at the age of 81. He was buried in the Chaffin Cemetery (aka The Bonney Road Cemetery).
Sources:
1) Axel Hayford Reed. Genealogical Record of The Reads, Reeds, the Bisbees, the Bradfords of the United States of America" in the line of Esdras Read of Boston and England, 1635 to 1915; Thomas Besbedge or Bisbee of Scituate, Mass. and England, 1634 to 1915; Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, Mass., and England, 1620 to 1915 (Glencoe, MN, 1915), p. 69-70 (See the Minnesota Historical Society catalog at MNHS.org)
2) Vital Records of Pembroke, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 293.
3) Vital Records of Bridgewater, Plymouth, MA - to the Year 1850, p. 52.
4) Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
5) Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850
6) Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999.
7) Alfred Cole & Charles F. Whitman. History of Buckfield, Oxford, Maine 1777-1900 (1915), p. 532.
8) William B. Lapham. Family Records of Some of the Descendants of Thomas Besbedge, (Bisbee,) of Scituate, Mass., in 1634. (Augusta, ME: Press of Homan & Badger, 1876), p. 15.
9) Laurence Overmire. "The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson, Bradford, Reed," Rootsweb WorldConnect Project, Rootsweb.com, 2019.
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