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.]

WINCHESTER, also STEWART The head of all the Winchesters in America is claimed by good genealogists to have been John, who came to Hingham, Mass., in 1635, then nineteen years old, in the ship "Elizabeth," from London, William Stagg, master. John had one and one-half acres in the same year. In 1637 the freeman's oath was administered to him, and he removed to Muddy River (now Brookline, Mass.) in 1650. Children: John, Josiah and Mary. He died in 1694, his will being dated in 1691. (I) Josiah, son of John Winchester, was born in Brookline, Mass., and had David and nine other children. (V) [trans note: you may wonder why this jumps from (I) to (V). I share your confusion.] Daniel Winchester, born in Fayette, Kennebec county, Maine, March, 1768, was probably a great-grandson of Josiah. He married Martha, daughter of John and Lucy (Wood) Pritchard, and had Benjamin P. He was drowned in the Androscoggin, in 1795. (VI) Rev. Benjamin P., third son of Daniel and Martha (Pritchard) Winchester, was born in Fayette, Maine, Jan. 17, 1793, He was three years old when his father was drowned, and was adopted by Captain Benjamin Palmer. He received a rudimentary education in the country schools, and came to Corinna in 1816. Mr. Winchester joined the Free Baptist Church, and was settled over the Baptist church in Corinna, remaining in that connection for thirty-seven years, a remarkably long pastorate. In addition to his ministerial duties, he taught school, and followed that fundamental industry, farming. Elder Winchester was an ardent patriot, and sent two of his sons to the South in the troublesome times of the sixties. He was an active temperance worker, and engaged in all good causes tending to the reformation and betterment of mankind. He was a Whig, and because of the cloth was not adverse to participating in public affairs, and considered it the duty of every citizen to bear his part of the burdens of local government. He served as selectman for eight years, town clerk fourteen years, also as town treasurer, and was a faithful public servant. He married Eliza Knowles, born in Fayette, Maine in 1794. Children: Harriet, Mary Ann, Martha, John, Benjamin, Sarah, Oren and Betsy. This good man, kind neighbor, true patriot and capable official, servant of the Lord, who wrought in various ways and succeeded in them all, was called to his reward above Nov. 26, 1865, just as the war in which he had taken so much interest had terminated. Mrs. Winchester lived to mourn his loss four years, succumbing to mortal illness in 1869. (VII) John, eldest son of Rev. Benjamin P. and Eliza (Knowles) Winchester, was born in Corinna, Maine, Jan. 25, 1822, and died Sept. 27, 1891. The country school afforded him his early training, and he took up farming as a livelihood. He was a Republican in politics, a member of the Grange, of the Baptist church, and of the Independent Order of Good Templars. He married Elizabeth M. Stewart, of Corinna, May 14, 1844. Children: Mary, married Gilman W. Hilliker, of New York. Charles. Olive M., married George F. Thurston, of Corinna. John Howard. Mr. Winchester enlisted in the Fourth Maine Battery in the civil war, and then contracted disease for which he drew a liberal pension. (VIII) John Howard, third son of John and Elizabeh (Stewart) Winchester, was born in Corinna, April 14, 1845. The schools of his native town, Corinna Union Academy and the Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield, was the academic route he followed. He taught school for a time, afterward engaged in the meat business, and subsequently became station agent and telegraph operator at Corinna. Since 1898 he has been livrarian of Corinna Library, president of the Maine State Library Association, and is at present president of the Eastern Maine Library Club. He is well posted on library matters, and interested in books and good literature. Mr. Winchester votes with the Republicans, and is one of the local leaders in his town, and has been a member of the school board. He is noble grand of Stone Eagle Lodge, No. 139, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has been a member of Twilight Grange for thirty years. Mr. Winchester is one of the bright, stirring men of Corinna and has the elements that go to the making of a substantial citizen. Mr. Winchester married Sadie B., daughter of Daniel B. and Phebe A. (Brown) Dole, of Exeter, Maine, in 1886. Children: Sidney Hodge, born July 17, 1887, a graduate of Corinna Union Academy, now a student at the University of Maine. Jeanette, born April 15, 1888, a graduate of Corinna Union Academy, and now a student at Colby College. Elizabeth M. (STEWART) Winchester, wife of the late John Winchester, and mother of John Howard Winchester, of Corinna, Maine, is supposed to be a descendant of that family of STEWARDs that consisted of the brothers who came over from Scotland at an early date. The proof of this is lacking, but this branch of the Stewards, or Stewarts, trace to Duncan Steward, of Ipswich, Mass., who settled there in 1658. He joined the church in Rowley, Sept. 26, 1723; his wife Anne joined Sept. 17, 1721. Both Duncan and Anne Steward lived to be nearly one hundred years old; they made their home in Newbury, Mass., where Duncan was a ship-builder; in 1680 they were living in Rowley. [see STEWART for that family]