Commander in Chief of the British forces against the Indians. There is a plaque in Canterbury Catherdral.Willard Geneology, 1915.
Birth date from http://www.maineancestry.com/family%20tree/FTMOUT/d0002/g0000084.html#I3958
Second wife. Sister of pres. of Harvard. Willard Geneology, 1915
other children: Robert, Alexander, George, Richard, Andrew, Simon, Thomas, William, Alice, Agnes; Willard Geneology, 1915
Birth and death from http://www.maineancestry.com/family%20tree/FTMOUT/d0002/g0000084.html#I3958
http://www.maineancestry.com/family%20tree/FTMOUT/d0010/g0000086.html#I3932
Source: Record of Edward Livingstone
If this name is correct, he must have died before 1729
when they named a second son John.However, Elmer G. Bridgham says that Joseph III was
born November 22, 1723 (not a John). I think
this is more likely since the first-born son would
usually be named after the father.Rev. war, captain of a company in Col. Theophilus Cotton's regiment
in Whitney's Mass Militia, which marched on the Lexington Alarm.
Captain of the 23rd infantry in the Continental Army in 1775-76.Came from Carver or Middlesboro MA. Death dates differ in each source.
Was a selectman in Plympton in 1777 and a representative in the MA state
legislature in 1788, He and others were granted 18000 acres in Poland ME
in 1781. John was granted the land from the Androscoggin R. to a parallel
line 4 mi to the east. Camped by the "big rock" in W. Minot (then called
Bakerstown, part of Poland) and later built first frame house in the town.
Built a store and was in trade. 1800 census, Hebron, Cumberland, ME shows
John & Joana living alone, as does 1810 census in Minot.Elmer G. Bridgham says:
"He also served as a volunteer in Captain William Colton's Company,
Col. Josiah Whitney's Regiment, July 1778 at Rhode Island.
He was a selectman. He was in the General Court in 1777, 1778,
and 1781. I don't know what his business was. I suppose he was a farmer.
He signed his name "John Bridgham, Gentleman."At the age of fifty-two (1781) he removed with his family from Plympton
to Shepardsfield, New Hebron, Maine, now in Oxford County.
One son, John R., was married to Sibilla Shaw. He was my great-grandfather.
The other sons were men grown. There was a good deal of speculation
in land in Maine at that time and I suppose they all expected to get
rich at it. A wild as Hebron was at that time must have caused some stir.
He became the progenitor of a large number of descendants in Maine.
They are scattered all the way across the southern part of the
state. Within the past fifty years or so many of their children
have come back to Massachusetts to live. But I find but few of them
who know anything about their ancestors. Many don't know the
name of their grandfather. In 1789 John with his associates,
bought some twenty thousand acres of land from Massachusetts.
This land was situated in the town of Poland, Maine.
Poland then included the present town of Minot, the city of
Auburn, and a part of Mechanic Falls. In those days a man who
built a mill in these sparsely settled towns was considered
a benefactor. John Jr. built a grist mill in Hebron just
above what is now West Minot. This mill was burned and
later rebuilt as a saw mill. Logs were sawed here each
winter until about 1940. They also built a grist mill in
what is now West Minot. It stood at the left after you cross the
bridge as you leave the village going west. It was torn down about
1920. It served its purpose many years grinding corn, wheat, and
rye for the settlers. When I was a boy the cor and wheat that we
grew on our farm was ground into flour there. One of John's sons
had a tannery. For many years the place was known as Bridgham's
Mills. The two mills were about a mile apart on a stream called
Bog Brook. As the family were settling about the place they
discovered that the land which they had bought from Massachusetts,
had already been granted to the proprietors of Bakerstown. After
a lot of litigation and after appealing to the legislature of
Massachusetts, they were granted another tract of land. "Laws
& Resolves of Massachusetts, for the years 1788-9, page 305"
describes the land that they thought they were buying. The
agreement reads as follows: "Paying to the Committee on
Unappropriated Lands 2s per acre in consoldated notes of the
Commonwealth and 3d in specie etc." The matter was adjusted by the
legislature in the session of 1796-7. See "Laws & Resolves of
Massachusetts 1796-1797"Just east of the railroad station in West Minot is a large
rock that my father said was used as one side of a lean-to
which they built for a camp the first night when they came
into Minot. The hill-side on which the rock is located was
covered with spruce trees by the last time that I was there.
I suppose they traveled by horse and wagon from Plympton to
Maine. There is no record of his death. He was living at
West Minot in 1815. He and his wife are buried in an
ancient burying ground just above West Minot. "BIRTH: Also shown as Born 27 Aug 1729
DEATH: Also shown as Died 31-Jul-1815????
Maine Families in 1790
Maine Families in 1790
Maine Families in 1790
Willard Geneology, 1915;
Birth & Death from http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=arkgen&id=I11536
Willard Geneology, 1915
Lived in this house in at corner of Old Sumner Rd. and N. Buckfield Rd. Buckfield, ME next to this Unitarian Church
WFT db=jrecord, ID=12822; also db=can1821, id=I912, which has her line back to England, including Mayflower ancestors.
WFT db=jrecord, ID=12819
WFT db=jrecord, ID=12820
Lived in this house in at corner of Old Sumner Rd. and N. Buckfield Rd. Buckfield, ME next to this Unitarian Church
WFT db=jrecord,ID=12823
Mayflower Pilgrim. Fell off boat during trip.
See his will and more details of his life in Sharen Neal's
file
Mayflower Pilgrim. Ten children. WFT db=ginny0core, id=I8183
Source:
Craig Beeman Genealogy
Source: Craig Beeman Genealogy
