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.]

TIBBETTS This is the usual spelling of the name in present use, though a part of the family employ the form of Tebbets, Tibbets or Tibbits. It is among the earliest in New Hampshire, and has been continuously associated with the development of New England in worthy ways. From southeastern New Hampshire it has spread to all parts of the U. S., and is found in connection with pioneer settlements in many localities. (I) Henry Tibbetts, ancestor of nearly all of the name in America, was born in England about the year 1596, and embarked from London, July 13, 1635, in the ship "James" bound for New England. He was accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, born in the same year as himself, and sons, Jeremiah, b. 1641, and Samuel, b. 1633. He was a shoemaker by trade, and soon settled in Dover, N. H., where he had a grant of three and one-half acres of land for a house lot at Dover Neck. At different times he had other grants, including one of the twenty acres situated on the west side of Back river (now called the Bellamy river) and another of one hundred acres adjoining the Newichawanock river in what is now Rollinsford, then Dover. He held several minor offices in the town, was a hard-working, industrious farmer, and for some years was the only shoemaker in the place. He died in 1676, at the age of eighty years, having survived his wife, Elizabeth, several years. They had children born after their arrival in America. (II) Jeremiah, eldest child of Henry and Elizabeth Tibbetts, born 1631, in England, died in the summer of 1677. His will was dated May 5, and proved Oct. 31, of that year. His widow Mary survived him and married a Mr. Loomis. He lived at Dover, where he was a farmer and for several years kept the jail or prison of the colony. He had several grants from the town, one embracing one hundred acres of land in what is now Rollinsford and another of three and one-half acres at Dover Neck for a house lot, on which he built his residence. He inherited the greater part of his father's lands, including the one-hundred-acre tract in Rollinsford. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Canney, a neighbor who lived but a short distance from the Tibbetts home. She died at Dover, July 2, 1706. Children: Jeremiah, Mary, Thomas, Hannah, Joseph, Samuel, Benjamin, Ephraim, Martha, Elizabeth, Nathaniel and Henry (mention of Samuel and descendants forms part of this article). (III) Thomas, second son of Jeremiah and Mary (Canney) Tebbets, was born Feb. 24, 1659, and resided at Dover Neck, a few rods below the site of the old church on the hill, on the westerly side of the highway. For many years he was town clerk of Dover, and to him we are indebted for all the collecting and preserving of nearly all of the vital records of early Dover. At the breaking out of King William's war he entered the Colonial army and was promoted from time to time until he became captain. He was also in the service during Queen Anne's war. He was an extensive landowner in Dover and vicinity. He married Judith, daughter of Deacon John Dane, who had formerly resided on the same farm. Captain Tebbets had eight children. As will be seen, his branch uses a different spelling from the others. (III) Captain Samuel, fourth son of Jeremiah and Mary (Canney) Tebbets, was born in the latter part of 1666, and died Dec. 9, 1738. He was a deacon in the church, a deputy in the New Hampshire Colonial legislature several years, and was also a captain in the French and Indian war. He was a tanner by trade, and had a large tannery at Dover Neck, where the old vats employed by him are still to be seen. He was married, Sept. 2, 1686, to Dorothy Tuthill. The date of her death is unknown, but it is certain that he married (second) Rebecca Willy and (third) a woman whose Christian name was Rachel, but her surname has not been preserved. (IV) Captain Ichabod (1), son of Samuel Tebbets, and probably of his first wife, Dorothy (Tuthill) Tebbets, was born about 1698, and died between Dec. 30, 1746 and Feb. 25 following, the dates respectively of making and proving his will. He was a farmer and tanner, and a captain in the French and Indian wars, as was also his father. In 1777 he was a member of the committee of correspondence, inspection and safety in Boothbay. He enlisted, April 2, 1776, as a private in Capt. Davis' company of Colonel Frye's regiment, and served at Boothbay. He was subsequently commissioned the first lieutenant in Capt. Elijah Green's company (fifth) of Col. McCobb's regiment, and he ws also a lieutenant in command of a company detached as guard of the seacoast in Lincoln, company under Major Lithgow. The name appears on a petition for release from the minsiter's rate, with that of many others who were maintaining a free will Baptist organization in Boothbay. Ichabod also signed this petition, but this may have been his son. He married (first) Abigail Tibbetts, and (second) May 29, 1729, Patience, daughter of Elder Nock. Children of 1st wife: Judith, Abigail, Ichabod and Nathaniel. Children of 2d wife: James, Rebecca, Anna and Martha. (V) Nathaniel, second son of Ichabod Tibbetts, and youngest child of his first wife, Abigail, was born Aug. 3-, 1727, probably in Dover, and settled in Boothbay (then called Townsend), Maine, about 1759. He was one of the petitioners for the organization of the town of Townsend, Jan. 31, 1764, which was presented to the Massachusetts general court in the same year the town was incorporated under the name of Boothbay. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Mark and Lydia (Tibbetts) Giles, of Dover. She was born in 1729 and died April 1, 1822, in Boothbay. No record of Nathaniel's death appears. Children: Ichabod, Nathaniel, John, Giles, Abigail, Mark, Judith, Rebecca, James, Sarah and (Polly) Mary. (VI) Ichabod (2), eldest child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Giles) Tibbetts, was born Dec. 17, 1749, probably in Dover, N. H., and settled with his father in Boothbay. He enlisted July 13, 1775, for the seacoast defence at Boothbay, and again April 2, 1776, in Captain Davis' company, the same as his father's, in which he was sergeant, but also served in company of McAllister, in Colone; McCobb's regiment. He was married in 1774 to Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Hutchings, of York. She died July 25, 1828. Children: John, Abigial, Ichabod, Betsy, Mark, Benjamin, Samuel, Rhoda and Timothy. (VII) Benjamin, fourth son of Ichabod (2) and Elizabeth (Hutchings) Tibbetts, was born Nov. 20, 1785, at Boothbay Harbor and was one of the first settlers of the town of Palermo in Waldo county, where he died in 1885 at the age of one hudnred years. Tradition says he was six months over one hundred years of age. He married Sally Crommett, of Boothbay. (VIII) Benjamin R., son of Benjamin and Sally (Crommett) Tibbetts, was born in 1818, in Liberty, Maine, and is now living at East Palermo in that state. He followed the sea, as a young man, and later settled on the paternal homestead in Palermo. He married Effie Turner, born 1821 in Palermo, and died there in 1901. Children: Randall, Joseph, Hollis, Woodbury, Wyman T., Andrew J., Benjamin F., Joseph W., Dana, Addie E. The eldest son died while a soldier in the civil war; the second died young. (IX) Woodbury, fourth son of Benjamin R. and Effie (Turner) Tibbetts, is a native of Palermo, born 1851. He was educated in the public schools of that town and became a granite cutter, and is now (1908) employed in that business, in monumental work. He had taken an active interest in the progress of his home town, has served as chairman of the board of selectmen, filled other town offices, and for twenty-five years or more hed held the office of postmaster. In political principle he is a Democrat. He is a member of Rockport Lodge, the Masonic Order, and the Patrons of Husbandry. He was married in June, 1873, to Cynthia Sterns, born in 1857, in Maine. Children: Charles R., Raymond Richard, Manly, Merrick S., Fred Allen, Elmer S., Everett S. (twins) and Gladys. (X) Raymond Richard, second son of Woodbury and Cynthia (Sterns) Tibbetts, was born Sept. 11, 1875, in East Palermo, and received his primary education in the public schools of his native town, and was subsequently a student at Bridgton Academy and at the Maine Central Istitute. He taught school for a time in Washington, D. C., and took up the study of medicine. He entered the Maine Medical School at Brunswick, from which he was graduated in 1901, and spent a part of the following year in the Maine General Hospital, as house physician. He began the practice of medicine in Belfast, Maine, in Nov., 1902, and remained there two years. He subsequently spent six months as register physician in Montana, and opened an office at Bethel, Maine, Dec. 23, 1905. Since that time he has been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession at that town. He is a member of the A. M. A., Maine M. A., Oxford County Medical Association, Phoenix Lodge, No. 24, A. F. and A. M., of Belfast, Maine; Oxford Chapter, No. 29, R.A.M.; and Bramhall Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Portland, Maine. He was married Jan. 29, 1901, to Alice, daughter of David and Melissa (Chadwick) Spratt, of East Palermo. Children: Richard Spratt, born May 4, 1903. Eleanor, born Aug. 1, 1905. Raymond Woodbury, born Oct. 30, 1907.