Sketches of Some Revolutionary Soldiers of Piscataquis County. 
By Edgar Crosby Smith
pg. 154

SHARON WICK'S NOTE:   These will be transcribed upon request HERE

     DURING the period covered by the Revolutionary War the territory which is now Piscataquis County was but a wilderness, visited only by the Indian and an occasional trapper; hence hers could not be the honor of furnishing any of her sturdy sons to her country.  However, a number of the veterans of that war were among the early settlers of the county.
     In the sketches which follow, will be found chronicled some account of the lives of a number of these pioneers, but at present the writer has been unable to obtain data to any degree of completeness regarding them all.

PHINEAS AMES.
Sangerville.

     PHINEAS AMES was the son of Samuel Ames and Sarah (Ball) Ames, and was born in Rutland, Mass., October 26, 1757.
     His first service in the Continental Army appears to have been eleven days, commencing August 20, 1777.  The battle of Bennington occurred August 16, 1777, and although the result was a complete victory for the Americans, the whole northern country was up in arms.  Men poured in from New York and New England.  A company was detached from Rutland to march to Bennington, and Phineas Ames was a member of this company.  The captain was David Bent, and he was in Col. Nathan Sparhawk's regiment.  As the British were so completely routed it was not deemed necessary to keep a large force at the place, and most of the companies ordered out for this special service were discharged and sent home.  Ames returned to Rutland with his company after a service of eleven days.
     His second service of which he have any record is that of his enlistment of September 27, 1777.  After the battle of Bemis' Heights, September 19, 1777, reserves were hurried on to Saratoga to assist Gen. Gates.  Ames enlisted in Capt. John Boynton's company, Col. Sparhawk's regiment, under the command of Major Jonas Wilder, and this regiment was ordered to join the army of the Northern Department.  It is probable that he arrived at the seat of war in season to participate in the battle of October 7.  Burgoyne surrendered and laid down his arms Oct. 17, 1777, and many of the militia companies were then discharged.  Phineas Ames' discharge was dated Oct. 18, 1777, the day after Burgoyne's surrender.  Service, twenty-nine days.
     This is all the recorded service that can be found on the rolls credited to Phineas Ames, but he undoubtedly saw other service as he frequently used to relate his experiences, "while with the army in 'Jarsey'."
     About 1780 he removed from Rutland to Hancock, N. H., and in 1785 he married Mehitable Jewett, of Hollis, N. H.  During the years 1781 and 1782 he was one of the selectmen of Hancock.  His two oldest children, Daniel and Samuel, were born here.  In 1796 he moved to Harmony, Me., and was one of the first settlers there.
     It was 1801 or 1802 that he first came into Piscataquis County.  He then came across from Harmony and cleared an opening in Sangerville on the north side of Marr Pond, near Lane's Corner.  In the fall of 1803 he moved in with his family, and became the first settler in Sangerville.  His trip here, like all others of those early settlers, was attended with hardship.  He came by the way of a spotted line, his wife on horseback, carrying in her arms a babe only a few months old; but they reached their destination in safety, and went to work with a will to make for themselves a comfortable home.  The township was then called Amestown.
     From 1803 to 1810 were busy years for Mr. Ames; besides clearing his farm and getting a number of acres under cultivation, he built a grist-mill on Black Stream, on the upper falls, and sometime before 1807 he surveyed Col. Sanger's lots in the town.  On account of the crude construction of the mill it was not a success, and did not prove to be a source of profit to the owner.  About 1810 Mr. Ames exchanged the mill and privilege with Col. Sanger for three lots of land.  On one of these he settled, leaving his place on Marr Pond.  He lived here but a short time and then exchanged with Edward Magoon and settled near Knowlton's Mills.
     Mr. Ames was always prominent in the deliberations of the settlement, plantation and town.  He was called King Ames, and his counsel was frequently sought, and generally accepted in affairs of moment.  It was he who advised moderation when the Indian scare pervaded the settlements at the declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812.  The settlers all along the Piscataquis River were much alarmed, fearing the Indians, incited by the British, would take to the tomahawk and scalping-knife.  A mass-meeting was held at Foxcroft in August, 1812, to see what means should be taken for mutual defense.  After listening to the remarks of various settlers expressing their views, who had as many ideas as there were speakers, King Ames was called for.  He told them that the Indians, if they took any part at all in the hostilities, would undoubtedly attach themselves to some portion of the enemy's army, and that in his opinion little need be feared at present from the red men.  His view of the situation was generally accepted and the people retired to their homes with their fears somewhat abated.
     Mr. Ames lived at Knowlton's Mills until 1824, when he, with his son Samuel, moved to West Dover and settled upon what is now the Dover poor farm.  Here he lived for a number of years, but his last days were spent in the family of his daughter Betsey, who married James C. Doore, and lived near South Dover.  He died in 1839, at the age of 82, and is buried in an unmarked grave in the South Dover cemetery.
     Phineas Ames was a man of many occupations; the record of Hancock, N. H., give him as a carpenter; he was also a farmer, blacksmith, land-surveyor and millwright.  He reared a family of eight children.  The town of Sangerville was know as Amestown until its incorporation in 1815, and it is said that Col. Sanger made Mrs. Ames a present of quite a substantial sum in cash for the privilege of changing the name to Sangerville.

ENOCH BROWN,
Sebec.

     ENOCH BROWN was born in the year 1751, but of what place he was a native it is impossible to obtain any information.  It may have been Arrowsic, as he was a resident there in 1777, but this is mere conjecture.  Of his ancestry, like that of many of our pioneers, time has obliterated the last trace.  Interviews with all his living descendants fail to bring to light a thread which it is possible to take up and unravel to any solution.
     Arrowsic settlement is one of the oldest in Maine, yet but little is preserved regarding its early families, and it has been impossible to glean any information relative to Mr. Brown's family from any obtainable of his service in the Continental Army is that over his own signature, made in his application for state bounty in 1835.  It is as follows:
     "I Enoch Brown of Sebec in the county of Piscataquis and State of Maine, aged eighty-four years, do, upon oath declare, in order to obtain the benefit of a Resolve of the Legislature of Maine, passed March 17, 1835, entitled a 'Resolve in favor of certain Officers and Soldiers of the Revolutionary War, and the Widows of the Deceased Officers and Soldiers,' that I enlisted in the year 1777 for one year into and joined a Company in Portland, Commanded by Capt. Blaisdell, went to Ticonderoga in Capt. Johnson's Company and Col. Brewer's regiment.  At the close of hte year I was discharged at Albany.  In the month of December following, I enlisted at Ticonderoga under Lieut. James Lunt, for during the war and joined Capt. Stetson's Company and Col. Alden's regiment, and employed William Wallace to take my place by giving him two hundred dollars, who was accepted in my place, and who fulfilled my time, for during the war and I was then discharged.  I am now upon the U. States pension roll of the Maine agency.
     "I do further on oath declare that at the time of my said enlistment, I was an inhabitant of Rousick Island (Arrowsic) in the then district of Maine, and was on the 17th day of March, 1835, have been ever since, and am now an inhabitant of the State of Maine, residing in Sebec aforesaid, where I have resided for several years past.  That neither I, nor anyone claiming under me, has ever received a grant of Land, or money in lieu thereof, from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for my said service, or any other other service during the Revolutionary War, and that I am justly entitled to the benefit of said resolve.
     Witness: 
            Joseph Lamson
            George P. Logan

            Enoch X Brown
                  his mark

       Dated September 12, 1835."

     From the Massachusetts Archives we find Enoch Brown credited to Capt. Samuel Johnson's company, and Col. Wigglesworth's regiment.
     After his service in the army he returned to Arrowsic, and he probably lived there until his removal to Sebec.  Here we again at a loss for accurate information; just when Mr. Brown came to Sebec it is impossible to determine.  His son Samuel came there quite early, probably not far from 1820, and took up lot number one, range eight, being the lot just across the road from the old town farm.  After the son had made a clearing and built a cabin he brought his parents from Arrowsic to his new home.  Samuel at this time was unmarried; he afterwards married Mary Angove, and their first child was born in 1829.  This child, Mrs. Sarah Bartlett, is now (1908), living in Dover.
     The remainder of his life, Mr. Brown lived with his son Samuel, on the homestead that their labors had rescued from the wilderness.  The simple, rugged life of the pioneer combined with a strong constitution meted out to him a long span of life; he lived to the age of 93 years, and died Dec. 17, 1844.  His ashes rest in the little cemetery just south of his old home, but there is nothing to mark the grave, and its exact location has now been forgotten.  He received a pension for his Revolutionary service January 8, 1819.
     Where or when he married, or the maiden name of his wife, are not known.  Her Christian name was Phebia.  She died March 10, 1843.

EZEKIEL CHASE,
Sebec.

     EZEKIEL CHASE was born in Hallowell, July 9th, 1761, his father being one of the early settlers at "The Hook," as the locality was then known.  At the breaking out of the Revolution he was very anxious to enlist, though but a boy of fourteen; his parents, however, kept him at home, but as the months passed the desire grew stronger, and the first of the year of 1778, hearing that his brothers, Jacob and Jonathan, who then were at Kittery, intended to enlist, he ran away from home and joined them there and with them went on to Roxbury where they enlisted.  Ezekiel was enrolled for the town of Milton, Mass., May 18, 1778. 
     He was in Capt. Cox's company.  Col. North's regiment, but a part of this regiment was turned over to Major Stephen Badlam and was conducted by Capt. Benjamin Burton of Col. Sherburne's regiment to Brig. Gen. Jonathan Warner at Fishkill, N. Y., agreeable to the order of the General Court of Apr. 20, 1778.  Here he was transferred to Gen. Varnum's brigade, and in June marched for Rhode Island, and was in the action at Newport.  His regiment went into winter quarters at Bristol and remained there until the British marched on the place in the fall. 
     Mr. Chase was transferred a number of times to different commands.  He was in Capt. Scott's company, Col. H. Ogden's regiment, also in Capt. Hastings' company.  Col. Jackson's regiment.  It was in the latter regiment that he served the longest.  While in Capt. Scott's company he was under the command of Gen. de LaFayette.  The winter of 1779-80 his regiment was in winter quarters at Morristown, N. J.  The winter of 1780-81 his winter quarters were at West Point.  It was here that he reenlisted for "during the war," Jan. 7, 1781, and was again attached to Capt. Hastings' company, Col. Jackson's regiment.
     On his reenlistment he was granted a furlough of three months, and he visited his parents in Hallowell.  At the expiration of his furlough he started to return to his regiment, and was on his way to Philadelphia by water, when he was taken prisoner by the British ship Renown, and was confined in the Jersey Prison Ship in New York harbor.  Here Mr. Chase remained for nearly two years and suffered the greatest tortures.  While here he had the smallpox and yellow fever.  The treatment of the prisoners on board this ship is said to have been most inhuman; over eleven thousand died from exposure, neglect and disease.  As said before Mr. Chase remained here for about two years, or until the close of the war, being released at the declaration of peace.  His two brothers with whom he enlisted never reached home, one being killed in battle, and the other dying from disease.  After his release he was for some time unable to return home on account of his feeble condition, but finally was taken to Boston in a horse cart.
     After his return to Howowell he married Betsey Goodwin, and moved to and settled in Bingham, then called Caratunk.  Here some of his children were born.  In the summer of 1802 he came to Sebec and felled an opening on the intervale near the present Atkinson bridge.  He returned to Bingham for the winter, but came back in the spring of 1803 and put in a crop, and in September of the latter year he moved in his family and became the first settler in Sebec, and the second in the county.
     He had raised a crop of corn, and stacked quite an amount of meadow-hay during the summer, and when he came with his family he drove in some stock, which was the first on the Piscataquis River.  On July 15, 1804, a son was born, Charles Vaughan Chase, the first white child born within the limits of Piscataquis County.
     Mr. Chase, during his residence on the Kennebec, had commanded a rifle company, and consequently ever after was known as Captain.  He was a great hunter and trapper, and on one trip is said to have taken over four hundred dollars' worth of furs.  During his service in the army, and his long confinement on the prison ship he acquired quite a knowledge of medicine, and for many years after his settlement in Sebec his services as a physician were in demand in all the nearby settlements.
     In September, 1814, when the British occupied Bangor, much anxiety was felt in the up-river districts as to what the outcome would be; fearing that the Indians might be induced to start on the war-path, also that the inhabitants of Bangor might need assistance to repel the invaders.  A company was formed of citizens of Dover, Foxcroft and Sebec, and Ezekiel Chase was elected captain.  They started on their march for Bangor, but before reaching there they received the humiliating news of the capitulation, and they turned about for home.
     Capt. Chase lived for a number of years in his log cabin, built when he first settled in Sebec, and then he built himself a frame house on the shore of the river near the present Atkinson bridge.  This house is still standing, and is now occupied by Andrew J. Chase, having been moved a few rods north from its original location and somewhat remodeled.
     Ezekiel Chase received a pension in 1818 for his army service.  He died Sept. 14, 1843, and is buried in the Chase cemetery at Sebec Station.  He has numerous descendants living in Piscataquis County.

EBENEZER DEAN,
Blanchard.

ALLEN DWELLEY,
Dover.

JOHN HART,
Atkinson.

NIMROD HINDS,
Dover.

ENOCH LEATHERS,
Sangerville.

HENRY LELAND,
Sangerville.

ZACHARIAH LONGLEY,
Dover.

JEREMIAH ROLFE,
Abbot

ISAAC ROYAL,
Dover.

ELEAZER SPAULDING,
Foxcroft - Dover.

SAMUEL STICKNEY,
Brownville.

ASA STURTEVANT,
Dover.

ICHABOD THOMAS,
Brownville.

THOMAS TOWNE,
Dover.

     Thomas Towne was the son of Elisha and Mercy (Foster) Towne, and was born at Topsfield, Mass., Feb. 8, 1743.  He was the fifth generation from William Towne, who was the common ancestor of nearly all the Townes of New England, and who came to this continent about 1640 and first settled in Salem, but shortly after removed to Topsfield, Mass.
     Thomas Towne first married Elizabeth Towne of Thompson, Conn.  She lived but a short time after her marriage, and for a second wife he married Sarah Burton of Wilton, N. H.  He was the father of a family of thirteen children; the first, Sarah, born in 1775, and the last, Mary born March 4, 1790.
     Mr. Towne was one of the early settlers of Wilton, N. H., which was incorporated in 1762, but in the year 1778 or 1779 he changed his residence to Temple in the same state, where he resided until he came to Maine in 1802; except he possibly may have lived for a short time in Lyndeborough.
     Thomas Towne's first service in the Continental Army was in Captain Benjamin Taylor's company of militia, which marched from Amherst, N. N., Dec. 8, 1775, to join the regulars at Winter Hill, near Boston.  Just how long his service at this time is not certain, but it appears that he served until after the evacuation of Boston by the British, Mar. 17, 1776.  His next enlistment was in Capt. John Goss' company, Nichols' regiment and Gen. Stark's brigade, with the Northern Department.  He enlisted July 20, 1777 and was in the service at this time two months and eight days, receiving his discharge Sept. 27, 1777.  He was one of those patriots who won enduring fame and glory at the battle of Bennington, on Aug. 16, 1777, and who assisted Gen. Stark in winning for his services the just recognition of merit so log deferred.
     These soldiers under Stark to the number of about eight hundred, were gathered together hurridly, and were entirely independent of the regular army; in fact, the whole conduct of the General in the matter was a piece of insubordination, but such splendid success crowned his doings that the insubordination was overlooked, and the man and his services were accepted at their true worth.
     Thomas Towne's military services are credited to the town of Wilton, N. H., where he resided at the time.
     As above stated, he removed to Temple, N. H., in 1778 or 1779, and lived there until 1802 when he came to Maine.  He came to that part of Piscataquis County which is now Dover, in the fall of 1801, on a hunting expedition, accompanied by his son Moses.  While here Moses bargained with Abel Blood for a part of a tract of land which Blood had bought of the proprietors, and on which he was then making a clearing.  In the spring of 1802, Thomas, with two of his sons, Moses and Eli, returned and made a clearing, planted a small crop, and built a cabin.  Their land was located on the site of the present village of East Dover.  They remained here until fall, when Eli went back to Temple, having made arrangement to return the following spring with his family.  Thomas and Moses spent the winter of 1802-3 on their new possessions, subsisting on the small crop they had harvested in the autumn, but no doubt well supplied with fish and game by the old gentleman, whose prowess as a hunter is unquestioned.
     After the corn had been harvested Mr. Towne fashioned from stone, a mortar and pestle by the means of which, with considerable labor, they reduced the corn to a coarse meal, or, as then called, samp, an article of diet originating with the American Indians.  Father and son wintered in good health and with a fair degree of comfort, and were ready and waiting to welcome Eli, who arrived with his wife and child on May 8, 1803.  Eli was the first settler who came into Piscataquis County with his family, and became a permanent resident.  Moses sold out his interest to Eli and soon after took up another tract of land nearby, but the father, Thomas, always made his home with Eli.
     Thomas Towne was a famous hunter.  He once made the remark, "I never lost any game for fear of being bitten or scratched, sir."   Some of the stories told of him are well avouched for and are worth repeating.  Once a loupcervier was discovered in a cornfield not far from the cabin, and one of his sons started out to capture it; the old gentleman followed close in his wake, and as the younger man was about to fire, his father cautioned: "Take good sight, son, take good sight."  The shot was fired, but the wound was not fatal, and before the son could reload his firearm, Mr. Towne had rushed upon the animal and throttled it.
     On another occasion he had fired a shot at a bear swimming across a pond, and as the shot did not take effect in a vital part, the bear kept on swimming for the shore.  As he neared the land the hunter's dog rushed in and grappled with him; the bear, in self-defense, started to put up a vigorous fight, and succeeded in dragging the dog under water where he soon would have drowned.  Uncle Thomas seeing the danger to his favorite comrade, took to the water himself with the cry, "Drown my dog, will he!"  and soon, with his own hands, came off the conqueror, and came to the shore with a dead bear and a live dog.
     Thomas Towne first received a pension under the act of 1818, which benefit he drew until his death.  During the later years of his life his eyesight began to fail, and for a few years before he died he became totally blind.  He lived to a ripe old age and before he passed away he had seen the unbroken wilderness about his primitive homestead assume the aspects of civilization; a thriving settlement grown up about his humble cabin, and Piscataquis County, instead of having one lone family for its inhabitants, supporting a population numbered by thousands, with twelve incorporated towns and settlements on nearly as many more townships.
     Mr. Towne died May 28, 1824, at the age of 81 years.  His remains rest in an unmarked grave in the East Dover cemetery, almost within the shadow of his first dwelling place here.  He has numerous descendants in this locality.
~ Pages 200-203