Town of Greene, Maine

 The Families of Early Greene

The history of Greene, like that of most country towns, is devoid of wide significance; its annals being marked by only a few conspicuous happenings; but the many beautiful farms which dot its valleys and hillsides, and the comfortable well-kept homes of today speak eloquently the story of the patience, courage and perseverance of the earlier settlers who came here a century and a half-ago, to stay.

A good character of solidity, sobriety, intelligence and industry has ever been connected with its inhabitants, and many of her sons who have gone to other towns and states, have distinguished themselves with honor and to the place of their nativity.  The early pioneers of Greene were well known for their civil, moral, and religious fibre; descended from the old Puritan or English stock, whose ancestors had come to this rock-bound New England coast, possessed with high ideals, and a deep love for liberty, home and country; a strong, rugged type of manhood and womanhood that failed not in their purpose to the end.

Benjamin Ellingwood, a squatter, made the first home, and was the first resident on land within the borders of Greene.  This pioneer built his log cabin on the Picket Farm, so called, on a slight elevation.  He cleared some land, and it is said, planted corn and had a good harvest in 1775.

He was joined in the summer of 1775 by Benjamin Merrill of North Yarmouth.  Mr. Ellingwood's cabin and clearing attracted his attention; and he made a trade with Ellingwood to board with him during the summer, paying for his board with a "peck of corn, an old woolen shirt, a shovel, and the balance in cash".  Benjamin Merrill secured Ellingwood to help him harvest hay, to clear land across the brook, which he proposed to own, and eventually this land was deeded to him by the Proprietor's agent.   On November 1, 1775, he purchased of Ellingwood his log house and improvements for £140: for "housen stuff" £20 and allowed him £8-15-0 since their last settlement.

Benjamin Merrill went back to North Yarmouth the first of November and soon after, November 15th, returned with his wife, who was Margaret Harris, five children and household goods, coming by ox team and taking in tow a cow.  An old record has it that the snow was nearly a foot deep when they arrived and still falling.  The log cabin provided a comfortable shelter for the family, but the stock had no such provision, except the trees, till he could build one.  Ellingwood assisted them on their journey to Greene and settlement, then he went to Gray.  Thus had Benjamin Merrill absorbed, as first permanent settler, a pioneer's beginnings.

The second person to move into Greene as a permanent pioneer was Dea. Lemuel Comins, a native of Charlton, Mass., who established himself on Lot No. 1.  He also came from North Yarmouth in 1775".¹

Among others were the following:
Thomas Taylor
Col. William Sprague
Capt. John Daggett
Benjamin Alden
Luther Robbins
Daniel Wilkins
Benjamin Parker
John & Stephen Larrabee
John Allen
Jacob Eames
Joseph, Eli & Samuel Herrick
Jacob & Thomas Stevens
Jonathan, John, William, Samuel, Ebenezer & Marshall Mower
Benjamin Rackley
William, William 2nd, Jesse, Joshua, Eliphalet, Bartholomew
      & Reuben Coburn
Batcheler Stetson
Gershom Curtis
Jairus & Capt. Ichabod Phillips
Samuel, David & Nathaniel Adams
John Moulton
David Thompson
Nathaniel & Richard Hill
Silas Richardson
John Pickett
Abel Stoddard
Abner & Moses Brown
Benjamin Quimby
Jabez, Solomon, Caleb & Reuben Bates
Joseph Bailey
Daniel Crossman
William Doane
Nathan Morse
Abner Merrill
Samuel Layne
Abiatha Richmond
George Berry
Daniel Weymouth
John Pettengill
Thomas More
Benjamin Pratt
William Sawyer
Anslem Cary
Benjamin Cole
James Lamb
Elisha Sylvester
John Record
Dr. Ammi R. Cutter
Dr. Alfred Pierce
Elijah Barrell
Bradford, Asa, Seth & Simeon Rose
Thomas Longley
Isaac Beals
Walter Fogg
Elijah Carpenter
John Additon
Levi Harvey
Zebedee Shaw
Cyrus Deane
Joseph & Solomon McKenney
Samuel Chadbourne
William Ricker
Solomon Jackson
Benjamin Thomas
Freeman Andrews
John & Eli Hodgkins, Sr.
Elijah, Araunah & Abiatha Briggs
Joseph & Beriah Sampson
Ezekiel Hackett
Josiah, Samuel & Gideon Hatch
John Robinson
Abel Crocker
Apollos Miller
James Peare
Asa Smith
Joseph Clark
Jonathan Shepley
Artemas Cushman
David Wheeler
John Stafford
James Coffin
John Caswell
David Hooper
Jacob St. Clair
Hanibal Farwell
Ciprian Howe
Love Keay
Daniel H. Wiggin

¹  Walter Lindley Mower, Sesquicentennial History of the Town of Greene, Androscoggin County, Maine 1775 to 1900 With Some Matters Extending to a Later Date (1938).