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.]

BURBANK The surname Burbank, spelled Bowerbank, is found in the Domesday Book. At a later date the spelling is Bowbank. Some of the American lines have preferred the spelling Burbancke. Most of the New England families, if not all of them, use the spelling Burbank, and are descended from John Burbank, who settled in Rowley, mentioned below. (I) John Burbank, immigrant ancestor, was born in England about 1600. He settled in Rowley, Mass., where he was admitted a freeman May 13, 1640, and was recorded the same year a proprietor of the town. He held various offices in Rowley. By his will, made April 5, 1681, in which he calls himself "aged and decrepid," and which was proved April 10, 1681, he bequeathed to his wife Jemima; sons Caleb and John; grandson Timothy, son of John; a grandchild who lived with Capt. Saltonstall; his daughter Lydia and her husband. He was married twice. His widow Jemima died March 24, 1692-93. Child of John & Ann Burbank: 1. John, removed to Suffield, Mass., now Connecticut, about 1680; married Susanna Merrill, daughter of Nathaniel Merrill; had two wives later. Children of John & Jemima: 2. Timothy, born May 18, 1641, buried July 14, 1660. 3. Lydia, born April 7, 1644, married _____ Foster, of Ipswich. 4. Caleb, born May 19, 1646, mentioned below. 5. Mary, born May 19, 1655, buried July 12, 1660. (II) Caleb, son of John Burbank, was born at Rowley, May 19, 1646. He married Martha Smith, daughter of Hugh Smith, May 6, 1669. He resided in Newbury and Rowley. His will, dated Feb. 15, 1688, proved March 25, 1690, mentions his "honored mother" as living; makes his wife executrix, but does not give the names of his children. His widow married (second) July 3, 1695, John Hardy, of Bradford, Mass. Children: 1. Caleb, born May 1, 1671, married Jan. 2, 1693-94, Lydia Garfield, of Watertown; married (second) Aug. 31, 1698, Hannah Acy; died at Boxford, Feb. 1, 1749-50; she died Jan. 8, 1762. 2. John, born March 20, 1672, died unmarried. 3. Mary, born Nov. 26, 1675, married April 6, 1698, Joseph Hardy Jr., of Bradford. 4. Timothy, born Jan. 24, 1677-78, died unmarried. 5. Martha, born Feb. 22, 1679-80, married March 9, 1697-98, Daniel Gage. 6. Eleazer, born March 14, 1681-82, mentioned below. 7. Samuel, born July 15, 1684, settled in Haverhill. 8. Ebenezer, born June 28, 1687, lived in Boxford. (III) Eleazer, son of Caleb Burbank, born in Rowley, March 14, 1681-82, died Feb. 14, 1759. His gravestone is still standing. He married Lydia _____, who died June 26, 1771 in her eighty-seventh year. Children, b. at Bradford: 1. Daniel, born Oct. 14, 1707. 2. Eleazer, born Feb. 23, 1708-09, mentioned below. 3. Caleb, born Oct. 23, 1710, married Aug. 17, 1732, Margaret Wheeler of Newbury. 4. Sarah, born Feb. 15, 1712-13. 5. Nathan, born Dec. 14, 1714. 6. Moses, born Feb. 6, 1716-17. 7. Martha, born May 8, 1719. 8. John, born May 31, 1722, married Dec. 20, 1748, Mercy Savorey. 9. Nathaniel, born June 15, 1724. 10. Lydia, born Feb. 15, 1725-26. (IV) Eleazer (2), son of Eleazer (1) Burbank, was born at Bradford, Feb. 23, 1708-09. He settled at Bradford, where he married April 14, 1731, Hannah Rolfe (Raugh) who died Aug. 13, 1734. He married (second) at Bradford, April 18, 1735, Mercy Bailey. Children, b. at Bradford: 1. Abraham, born Nov. 18, 1727. 2. Lydia, baptized Jan. 23, 1721-22. 3. Ezra, baptized Aug. 19, 1733, married _____ Plummer. 4. Abner, mentioned below. 5. Eunice, born Aug. 31, 1739. 6. David, resided at Deerfield, New Hampshire. (V) Abner, son of Eleazer (2) Burbank, born at Bradford Feb. 19, 1737, died at Tuftonborough, N. H. Feb. 29, 1813. He was a soldier in the revolution credited to Brentwood, N. H., a private in Capt. Nathan Sanborn's compnay, Colonel Tash's regiment in 1776. He lived at Bradford and Rowley, Mass., at Kingston and probably Brentwood, N. H., and at Newfield, Maine. He married Elizabeth Hall, who died at Newfield at the home of her son Samuel. Children: 1. Hall, resided at Alexandria, N. H.; was soldier in the revolution; was drowned in the Androscoggin river, Maine, leaving one son John. 2. Hon. Jonathan, resided in Tuftonborough and became a distinguished citizen; was governor of the state and held other high offices; left one son and nine daughers. 3. Betsey, married _____ Berry; resided in Canada. 4. Samuel, mentioned below. (VI) Samuel, son of Abner Burbank, was born in Rowley, Mass., April, 1769. He married (first) Susan Graves, of Polin, N. H., now Fremont. She was born in Brentwood. He was town clerk and selectman of Newfield, Maine, where he settled and conducted a farm, and where he died Sept. 3, 1832, aged sixty-six years seven months. His wife died there Jan. 14, 1853, aged seventy-seven years. Children: 1. Rev. Samuel, born at Brentwood, June, 1792, married Nancy Drew, born at Newfield, Dec. 3, 1803, daughter of Deacon Joseph Drew; was for thirty years a Free Baptist minister; founder of the Morning Star, a religious newspaper, May 11, 1826, at Limerick, Maine. 2. Susan, born March 5, 1795, married Children: 1. Rev. Samuel, born at Brentwood, June, 1792, married Nancy Drew, born at Newfield Dec. 3, 1803, daughter of Deacon Joseph Drew; was for thirty years a Free Baptist minister; founder of the Morning Star, a religious newspaper, May 11, 1826, at Limerick, Maine. 2. Susan, born March 5, 1795, married Aug. 31, 1815, Ephraim G. Smith, of Wakefield; died Dec. 17, 1779. [trans note: these dates don't make sense; if she was b. in 1795, how could she have died in 1779?] 3. Ursula, died unmarried. 4. Joseph M., born at Parsonfield, died aged twenty years. 5. Amelia, born at Newfield, married Alfred Wooman, of Wakefield, N. H. 6. Amos, born Dec. 24, 1803, married Nancy Moore, born April 20, 1808, died at Wellington, Nevada Nov. 2, 1878; once resided in Tamworth, N. H. 7. Abner, born Dec. 27, 1805, mentioned below. 8. Rev. Nathaniel, born 1807 at Newfield. 9. Rev. Porter S., born March 13, 1810, married July 16, 1837, Miriam Blazo Burbank, b. at Newfield Jan. 22, 1812; graduated at Dartmouth in 1837; teacher at Stafford Academy; Free Will Baptist clergyman in 1840; editor of Morning Star thirty years; clerk of the New Hamphire Seminary, the Maine State Seminary at Lewiston and Bates College; resided at Parsonsfield. 10. Hon. James M., born Dec. 30, 1811, married Phebe Hall, born at Waterborough Feb. 14, 1811; trader; representative in the state legislature in 1845; proprietor of a hotel at Sanford, York county, Maine, 1859 to 1864; selectman and city marshal of Saco, Maine; state senator from Saco district. 11. Hannah, married Daniel Campbell, of Wakefield, N. H. 12. Almira, died unmarried. 13. Louisa, died unmarried. (VII) Abner (2), son of Samuel Burbank, was born at Newfield, Maine, Dec. 27, 1805. He removed from Saco, where he was educated, to Limerick in 1832, and lived there the remainder of his life. He represented his district in the state legislature in 1839-40; was county commissioner from 1847 to 1851 inclusive; was selectman and town treasurer of Limerick for many years. He was a school teacher and land surveyor by profession, and one of the most distinguished men of that section for many years. He was the local magistrate - justice of the peace and quorum for many years. He was trustee of the Limerick Academy. He married March 8, 1837, Eliza Adams Harmon. Children, b. at Limerick: 1. Horace Harmon, born Oct. 27, 1837, mentioned below. 2. Albion, born Dec. 25, 1839, married Olive E. Thompson; graduate of Bowdoin; admitted to the bar; teacher in the Exeter high school. 3. Sarah A., born Nov. 14, 1845, teacher in the Biddeford high school. 4. Ida E., born Oct. 13, 1854, married Edwin R. Perkins. 5. Charles E., born March 2, 1859, graduate of Bowdoin in 1880. (VIII) Colonel Horace Harmon, son of Abner Burbank, was born in Limerick, Maine, Oct. 27, 1837. He attended the common schools of Limberick, the Limerick Academy, Yarmouth Academy and Bowdoin College, from which he graduated with high rank in the class of 1860. He taught school for a time, studied law and was a student at Harvard Law School. In 1864 he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his profession in Limerick, where he remained during the next ten years. He removed to Saco, where he lived the ramainder of his life and took rank among the foremost men of his day in his chosen profession. The military career of Colonel Burbank was most creditable. He was repeatedly promoted for gallantry on the field of battle. Enlisting as a private soldier in Company A, Twenty-seventh Maine Volunteer Infantry, he was promoted to quarter-master-sergeant and discharged July 17, 1863. He was one of those patriotic soldiers who volunteered to defend Washington in June and July, 1863, after their enlistments expired, at the time of Lee's raid. He was commissioned first lieutenant of Company A, Thirty-second Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, in March, 1864, promoted to captain June 7, 1864. He took part in some of the msot severe fighting of the Army of the Potomac in 1864 at the battles of Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor and at the siege of Petersburg. At the explsion of the mine, the affair of the "Crater," he was taken prisoner and confined in the military prisons at Dansville, Virginia, and Columbia, South Carolina, for seven months, escaping finally and joining General Sherman's army in the south. When the Thirty-first and Thirty-second regiments of Maine were consolidated under the name of Thirty-first, he became the captain of Company B, April 27, 1864, and was mustered out May 15, 1865, at the close of the war. He held many positions of trust and honor in civil life. He was a representataive to the state legislature; register of probate for York county; city solicitor of Saco; judge of the municipal court of Saco, an office he held at the time of his death. He was judge advocate general on the staff of Governor Connor; commander of the Fred S. Gurney Post, Grand Army of the Republic, Saco; judge advocate and commander, Department of Maine, of the Grand Army. He was one of the most distinguished and honored Masons of the state; grand master of the Grand Lodge of Maine; grand master of the Grand Council and grand commander of the Knights Templar of Maine. He was a member of the lodge, chapter, council, and Bradford Commandery, Knights Templar, of Biddeford. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and president of the Maine Society. His law partner in Saco was John S. Derby. In religion Col. Burbank was a Unitarian. He died Jan. 8, 1905, at his home in Saco. He married, June 11, 1872, Elizabeth P. Thompson, born June 1, 1840, daughter of Nathaniel L. and Jane S. (Lord) Thompson, of Kennebunk, granddaughter of Nathaniel Thompson, born May 28, 1787, died June, 1825, and of Elizabeth (Smith) Thompson. Children of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Thompson: 1. Charles Thompson; 2. Nathaniel L. Thompson; 3. William Franklin Thompson. Nathaniel L. Thompson, born July 24, 1811, died Feb. 8, 1889; he was educated in the public schools of Kennebunk, and for many years followed the sea, a ship-builder in later years; was a Democrat in politics; Free Mason; married Aug. 28, 1839, Jane S. Lord, born Jan. 21, 1816, died Oct. 21, 1851; children: Elizabeth P. Thompson, mentioned above; Sarah Thompson. Children of Col. Horace H. & Elizabeth P. Burbank: 1. Ralph H., born Sept. 15, 1875, educated in the public schools of Saco and Thornton Academy; with the American Express Company at Biddeford; is city auditor of the city of Saco. 2. Grace T., born June 12, 1877, educated in the public and high schools of Saco and Thornton Academy; fitted for kindergarten teaching at Simmons College, Boston, and is now engaged in that work in the pubic schools of Biddeford. 3. Francis L., born July 23, 1879, educated in the public schools of Saco and Thornton Academy; clerk in a jewelry store at Montpelier, Vermont. 4. Jane L., born April 15, 1882, educated in the Saco schools and Thornton Acacemy, a graduate of Wellesley College, Mass., now a teacher in the State Norman school, Danbury, Connecticut.