Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

BACON This name is found early in records of New England, and was borne by a number of immigrants who came to these shores in time to be reckoned among the "pioneers" of the colonies. Among these immigrants were: Andrew Bacon, of Hartford; Daniel, of Charlestown; George, of Hingham; Michael, of Dedham; Nathaniel, of Barnstable; and William, of Salem. (I) Michael (1) (or Mighill) Bacon, born probably in county Suffolk, England, held, traditions says, the office of captain of a company of yeomanry in county Suffolk. He went from the north of England to the north of Ireland about 1633, and came to this country about seven years later, settling, about 1640, in Dedham, where he died April 18, 1648. "Dedham Records, Town and Selectmen," has the following: "Agreed vpon that the Towne of Dedham shall enterteyne Mr. Samuell Cooke togehter with his estate And also Mr. Smith & Mr. Bacon all from Ireland & afford to them such accomodacons of vpland & Medowe as their estates shall Requier." From a record made the following month it appears that the wife of Mr. Bacon preced him to Dedham. He was one of the signers of the church covenant of Dedham. In 1644 he granted land to the town for one of the highways. His will, dated April 14, 1648, mentions all his children, except Alice, who died the previous month. His inventory, made April 20, 1649, amounted to 54 pounds 15s 4d. His wife Alice died April 2, 1648. Children, prob. b. in England: Michael, Daniel, John, Alice, Sarah. (II) Michael (2), eldest son of Michael (1) and Alice Bacon, was born probably in England and came to Dedham in 1640 with his father. Dec. 18, 1640, he was of Charlestown, where he subscribed to "Town Orders" for the then projected town of Woburn, of which he shortly after became one of the original inhabitants. There he was chosen surveyor of highways April 13, 1644. Frothingham, in the history of Charlestown, gives a list of the inhabitants of that town between 1630 and 1640, and as the name Bacon does not appear, it is probable that Michael settled in Charlestown late in 1640. Michael Bacon bought of Roger Shaw in 1648 a farm in the north-westerly part of Cambridge (now Bedford), including "all the meadow adjoining to the great swamp near the east corner of Concord bounds, that falls in Cambridge bounds." The Shawshin river runs from this "great swamp," on which Mr. Bacon is said to have erected before King Philip's War, in 1675, a mill which was very recently, if it is not now, standing. In a mortgage received June 8, 1675, he is alluded to as a citizen of Billerica. In August, 1675, the town of Billerica, when providing defence against the Indians in King Philip's war, assigned Michael Bacon to garrison "No. 10," under the command of Timothy Brooks. He died July 4, 1683. Mary, his first wife, died Aug. 26, 1655. He married (second) Oct. 26, 1655, Mary Richardson, who died May 19, 1670; and (third) Nov. 28, 1670, Mary Noyes. Children, all by 1st wife: Michael, Elizabeth and Sarah. (III) Michael (3), only son of Michael (2) and Mary Bacon, was born in 1640, probably at Charlestown, before his father settled at Woburn, and died in Bedford Aug. 13, 1707. He is recognized by his father in a deed dated Oct. 4, 1666, as his "loving son, Michael Bacon Jun., of Billerica, shoemaker." He purchased the Rev. Mr. Mitchell's farm of five hundred acres for 200 pounds in July, 1682. The farm was a grant by Cambridge to its minister, in 1652. It was situated on the Shawshin river, and included the mill, and was known for many years as the "Bacon homestead." The families of Bacon, prominent in the history of Bedford, have almost all descended from Michael (3). The name has been prominent in the territory comprising the town for more than two hundred years. The "Bacon house" still (1908) standing, is thought to have been built by Michael in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Six later generations of the family, in five of which the name Benjamin appears, have been born or lived in that house. Among other traits of that family, a notable one has been their musical talent. Of the twenty-six "Minute Men" from Bedford in the "Concord fight," six were Bacons, and there were two in the company of militia in that engagement. There were nine Bacons reported as liable to do military duty, May 15, 1775. Michael married, March 22, 1660, Sarah, a daughter of Thomas Richardson. She died Aug. 15, 1694. Children: Mary, Sarah, Abigail, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Josiah, Ruth, Benjamin and Joseph. (IV) Lieutenant Josiah (1), third son of Michael (3) and Sarah (Richardson) Bacon, was born in Billerica, Oct. 20, 1724. He was a lieutenant in the Indian wars, with "Major Lane." The surname of his wife Mary in unknown. Children, all b. in Billerica: Josiah, Mary (died young), Mary (died young), Mary, Lydia and Samuel. (V) Josiah (2), eldest child of Josiah (1) and Mary Bacon, was born in Billerica, April 27, 1702. He married June 23, 1726, Sarah, daughter of Deacon Joseph and Rebecca (Patten) Davis. She married (second) Capt. Enoch Kidder. Children: Josiah, Solomon, David, Joshua, William, Ebenezer, James, Sarah, Mary, Joseph and Lydia. (VI) Ebenezer, sixth son of Josiah (2) and Sarah (Davis) Bacon, was born Sept. 15, 1736, and married before 1763, Abigail Farwell. Children: 1. Frances, born in Boston June 21, 1763. 2. Ebenezer, born in Vassalboro, Maine, Sept. 13, 1765. 3. William, born March 9, 1768. 4. Abigail, born Aug. 30, 1770. (VII) William, second son of Ebenezer and Abigial (Farwell) Bacon, married Dec. 1, 1794, Abigail Lovejoy, by whom he had ten children, Mary B., the second, being the mother of John B. Curtis. Mrs. Curtis was a remarkable woman, of unusual common sense and good judgment, and had a strong influence over her son eve to the last. On one occasion he took her advice in a matter of great importance involving a large sum of money in preference to his attorney, the late Bion Bradbury, and never had occasion to regreat that he did so.