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 STEPHEN MANCHESTER, THE SLAYER OF 
 THE INDIAN CHIEF POLIN, AT NEW 
 MARBLEHEAD, NOW WINDHAM, 
 MAINE, IN 1756, AND A SOL- 
 DIER OF THE REVOLU- 
 TION, WITH HIS 
 ANCESTRY. 
 
 BY NATHAN GOOLD. 
 
 When Brown by Polin slain, 
 Winsliip twice scalped was Iain, 
 
 The Indian yell 
 Triumphant pierced the air; 
 But Manchester was there 
 Undaunted by a fear 
 
 And Polin fell. 
 
 The events of May, 1756, at New Marblehead, now 
 "Windham, Maine, were of but small moment in the 
 great progress of the world, but to the early settlers 
 of the outlying towns of what is now Cumberland 
 County they were of the greatest importance. Time 
 has proved that the Indian's deed to these towns of 
 ours was not recorded in heaven, but that this was 
 God's country, and His great plan was that if the sav- 
 ages opposed the progress of civilization they must be 
 banished from the land. 
 
 New Marblehead had several settlers before 1740, 
 but the order of their coming will probably never be 
 known. The story of Stephen Manchester, one of the 
 
■M32 
 
 earliest settlers, must always be interesting and prom- 
 inent in the town's history. The romance connected 
 with his coming to the town brightens the dry facts of 
 history. He was born and spent his early life in Tiv- 
 erton, Rhode Island, and when a young m.an became 
 much interested in a neighbor's daughter, named 
 Grace Farrow. Her parents objected to his attentions 
 to their daughter but were unable to prevent them. 
 At last they decided to emigrate to the District of 
 Maine and settle in the new country where their 
 daughter would soon forget her lover, her parents 
 thinking that the attachment for young Manchester 
 was but a childish fancy. John Farrow, his wife 
 Persis, daughter Grace, and other children came to 
 New Marblehead to make themselves a home, and he 
 is said to have been the third settler, in 1738, on 
 home lot No. 29. 
 
 Stephen Manchester was then about twenty-one 
 years of age and probably as resolute as he was in his 
 later life. Tradition does not give what passed after 
 Grace Farrow left Tiverton with her parents, but in 
 two long weeks Stephen Manchester walked into her 
 father's door. It was probably the same old story, of 
 her parents consenting to their marriage, which prob- 
 ably occurred that year. For their home he selected 
 home lot No. 32, next to John Farrow, Jr's., lots (his 
 brother-in-law), cleared the land and built a loghouse. 
 
 The situation at this time in the new township was 
 that a bridge had been built over the Presumpscot 
 River in 1736, for communication with Falmouth, and 
 in the winter of 1737-38, a meeting-house was begun, 
 
 ^ 
 
but the Indians forbade their building it. Tn the 
 autumn of 1738, the Indians troubled the men so 
 much in building the mill at Horse Beef Falls, now 
 Mallison Falls, that the proprietors were asked for an 
 extension of time when the mill should be completed. 
 Such was the condition of affairs when young Man- 
 chester started life in the new settlement, with a pros- 
 pect of being obliged to contest with the Indians 
 every right. 
 
 8oon it was discovered that the Indian chief Polin 
 was bent on the destruction of their settlement, but 
 resolutely they kept at work improving their land. 
 In times of peace the Indians camped near the settle- 
 ment and they became well acquainted, but Manches- 
 ter never liked Polin. In 1739, there were camped 
 on the Presumpscot about twenty-five Indians, besides 
 the squaws and children. 
 
 In the summer of 1739, Chief Polin with other 
 Indians went to Boston and held a conference with the 
 governor and council, where they stated their griev- 
 ances. They wished a fishway kept open in the dam 
 of Col. Westbrook at the Presumpscot Lower Falls, 
 and objected to the further settlement of the land on 
 the river, as they wished the river for their trade. 
 They also wished that some trader might be placed 
 where it would be convenient to buy a small quantity 
 of rum, but not enough to get drunk upon as that was 
 contrary to their religion. They also wanted a drum 
 as their young men wished to have a dance sometimes. 
 They objected to a settlement at New Marblehead, 
 saying that Saccarappa was as far as the English had 
 
a right to settle. In reply the governor ordered a 
 fishway in the dam. and also that the Indians be 
 treated kindly, but he told them that there had been 
 deeds of the land given to Rev. Robert Jordan and 
 others, which had been burned during the Indian war, 
 probably in Jordan's house at Spur wink, in 1675. He 
 then told them that the opportunities for getting rum 
 were sufficient. The Indians at the end of each re- 
 quest laid down a skin saying it was the pledge of the 
 tribe, whom they called the " Pesumpscots." 
 
 The settlers kept on in the work of the settlement, 
 but for their protection they were obliged to build a 
 fort, which was on home lot No. 33. It is described 
 as fifty feet square, two stories high, with walls one 
 one foot thick of hewn hemlock timber, the upper 
 story jutting out over the lower, with a tier of 
 portholes. There were two watch-boxes placed at 
 diagonal corners, two stories high, twelve feet square, 
 with walls one foot thick, each watch-box having a 
 swivel gun, furnished by the proprietors, and so placed 
 as to defend two sides of the fort. The fort sur- 
 rounded with a stockade about twenty-five or thirty 
 feet from it, made by setting posts ten or twelve 
 inches in diameter, twelve feet long, perpendicularly 
 in the ground so near together that the Indians could 
 not pass between them. This fort was built during 
 the spring of 1744, and was paid for by the state ap- 
 propriating one hundred pounds for the purpose. An 
 iron nine-pounder was placed before the fort for firing 
 alarms, and the proprietors provided fifty pounds of 
 powder. This preparation was made because of the 
 
declaration of war between England and France that 
 year. During that war the settlers were obliged to 
 live in the fort for protection against the Indians, who 
 destroyed their crops and reduced them almost to 
 beggary. 
 
 Smith in his history of Windham says : — 
 
 The first settlers of this town commenced their settlement under 
 the most discom-aging circumstances. No succor or supplies could 
 be obtained without traveling six or eight miles through the track- 
 less woods. Yet they persevered with untiring zeal, displayed a for- 
 titude that does honor to human nature, turned the barren wilder- 
 ness into the fruitful field, and ultimately taught the savage Indians, 
 by whom they were surrounded, to know by sad experience, that 
 the first settlers were a class of men who would not suffer them to 
 take life with impunity. 
 
 The story of the years to 1756 has been told by 
 others, but that was an important year in Stephen 
 Manchester's life. Let us now turn to his origin, the 
 events of his life in the township, now Windham, 
 Maine, and the story of his ancestors. 
 
 Stephen Manchester was born in Tiverton, Rhode 
 Island, May 23, 1717, and was the son of Gershom 
 and Anna Manchester. He married, probably in 
 1738, Grace Farrow, a daughter of John and Persis 
 Farrow. Her father had cleared twelve acres of land 
 on home lot No. 29, built a log house, which had 
 rotted down, and he had died before April 26, 1759. 
 Her mother died May 12, 1758. Stephen Manchester 
 cleared twelve acres on lot No. 32, built a house, 
 which stood about twenty rods from the river before 
 1759. From a report of a committee discovered by 
 Rev. George M. Bodge, a native of Windham, it seems 
 
that Manchester did not settle on lot No. 32 until 1742 
 Where he lived before that time is not known, but 
 perhaps with her father on lot No. 29. Manchester's 
 lot is now owned by the heirs of Col. Edward 
 Anderson. 
 
 Stephen Manchester's son Thomas was the first 
 child born in the township in 1739. He was a lad of 
 seventeen in the fight in 1756, and married, December 
 6, 1764, Hannah Bailey. He bought of John Farrow, 
 probably his uncle, ten acres of home lot No. 31 with 
 a convenient landing-place on the Presumpscot River, 
 March 12, 1766, also twenty-five acres of lot No. 21, 
 second division. Before the Revolutionary war he 
 moved to Haverhill, New Hampshire, and January 31, 
 1776, enlisted in Capt. Samuel Young's company of 
 Col. Timothy Bedel's New Hampshire rangers. They 
 marched to the St. Lawrence River and joined the 
 Northern army, and were in the affair at the '• Cedars," 
 forty-three miles above Montreal, in May, and Col. 
 Bedel was cashiered in August for cowardice and inca- 
 pacitated from holding office under the government. 
 
 Stephen Manchester's wife, Grace, died about 1745, 
 and was buried on their lot. She was about twenty- 
 six years of age. He married his second wife, Seafair 
 Mayberry, December 21, 1749. She was a daughter 
 of William Mayberry, the second settler of the town, 
 and was born on the passage from Ireland to Marble- 
 head, Massachusetts, about 1730. Her name was 
 given her for the fact that she was born at sea. By her 
 he had Stephen Jr., born August 9, 1751, who never 
 married but enlisted for three years, January 1, 1777, 
 
in Col. Joseph Vose's 1st Massachusetts regiment, 
 took part in the Saratoga campaign and surrender of 
 Burgoyne, went to Valley Forge, where he was taken 
 sick, carried to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he died, 
 January 5, 1778, aged twenty-six years. The next 
 child was Abigail, born November 9, 1753, who mar- 
 ried, January 28, 1773, Davis Thurrel and moved to 
 Poland, Maine. Soon after the birth of Abigail, his 
 wife Seafair died, December 12, 1753, aged about 
 twenty-three years. 
 
 Stephen Manchester married for his third wife, Mary 
 Bailey, April 9, 1758. She was born at Marblehead, 
 Massachusetts, November 4, 1726, and was a daughter 
 of John and Rachel Bailey, who were at Newbury, 
 Massachusetts, in 1722, at Marblehead in 1726 and at 
 Falmouth in 1728. Her brother was probably the 
 selectman of Windham in 1765-66, and her father's 
 family may have lived there as the heirs of John 
 Bailey were taxed for lot No. 23 in 1759. This was 
 the lot settled by Seth Webb in 1744. Mary (Bailey) 
 Manchester owned the covenant in the Windham 
 church May 21, 1762. Her children were Gershom, 
 born May 10, 1761 ; married, July 23, 1787, Anne 
 Bunker who died in 1842, aged eighty-two years. 
 She was a woman respected by those who knew her. 
 Gershom enlisted at eighteen, in Capt. William Harris 
 company in 1779 and served twenty-six days on Fal- 
 mouth Neck. He lived near his father at East Wind- 
 ham, then moved to North Windham where he died in 
 1853, aged ninety-two years. He was erect and ac- 
 tive until after he was ninety years of age. 
 
The next child was Annah, born February 13, 1765; 
 married in 1785, William Fields of Falmouth and 
 died February 10, 1857, aged almost ninety-two years. 
 She had twelve children. They lived at Windham in 
 the Ireland school district, and the farm is occupied 
 by their descendants. She was much loved by her 
 family and left a good name to her posterity. 
 
 The youngest child was John, born about 1767 ; 
 married, February 8, 1795, Mary Hannaford. They 
 had a large family. He lived near his father at East 
 Windham and afterwards moved to the West Gray 
 road, where he died about September, 1839, aged 
 about seventy-two years. 
 
 Stephen Manchester was an Indian scout. He was 
 in Capt. George Berry's company of scouts, May 19, 
 1746, to January 19, 1747, and was also in Capt. 
 Daniel Hill's company from March to December, 
 1748. In 1749, in a deposition, he states that in 1748 
 he went on a ten days' march from Gorhamtown up to 
 the head of Sebago Pond and back into the woods 
 eighty miles. They went across the pond in whale- 
 boats and returned home by the same route. He also 
 states that it was a common practise to watch, guard 
 and scout around about New Marblehead. In these 
 scouting expeditions he became familiar with the 
 whole region and the Indian methods. It is a tradi- 
 tion that for many years he resolved to kill the chief 
 Polin at the first opportunity. 
 
 In the early spring of 1756, the settlers noticed that 
 the Indians were uneasy and they expected when the 
 snow went off that there would be trouble, and May 
 
fourteenth their fears were verified. Joseph Knights 
 had been captured at New Marblehead in February and 
 escaped in time to alarm the inhabitants at Falmouth, 
 May fifteenth, four days before Polin was killed. The 
 following account of the events of that day, written by 
 Thomas L. Smith, Esq., seems to be the accepted one as 
 he must have known in his earlier life some of those 
 alive at that time and received the story from their 
 lips: 
 
 On the morning of May 14, 1756, Ezra Brown and Ephraim 
 Winship left the fort for the purpose of laboring on Brown's lot, 
 which was about one mile to the rear, or northeast of the fort. 
 They were accompanied by a guard, consisting of four men and four 
 boys ; the names of the men were Stephen Manchester, Abraham 
 Anderson, Joseph Starling and John Farrow, the names of the boys, 
 Timothy Cloudman, Gershom Winsliip, Stephen Tripp and Thomas 
 Manchester. In going to Brown's lot they had to go through a 
 piece of woods, Brown and Winship being about sixty rods in ad- 
 vance, and in the thickest part of the woods were fired upon by a 
 body of fifteen or twenty Indians, who lay in ambush. The Indians 
 were of the Rockameecook tribe commanded by Polin their king. 
 Brown was shot dead upon the spot, Winship received two balls, 
 one in the eye and another in the arm and fell to the ground where 
 both were scalped by the Indians. Upon hearing the report of the 
 guns part of the guard went back to the fort. The residue, Abra- 
 ham Anderson, Stephen Manchester, Timothy Cloudman and Ger- 
 shom Winship determined to pursue the Indians and avenge the 
 blood of their fallen companions or perish in the attempt. Polin 
 the Indian chief, who was concealed behind a tree, was the first to 
 begin the bloody combat. He discharged his musket at Anderson 
 without taking effect. In his eagerness to reload his piece the body 
 of Polin became uncovered and exposed to the view of Manchester, 
 who was about thirty feet on Anderson's right, when Manchester 
 instantly leveled his musket, took deadly aim and fired ; swift as 
 
10 
 
 lightning the fatal ball sped its way and Polin, the warrior king of 
 the Rockameecooks, fell to rise no more. 
 
 A tradition in Manchester's family is, that Polin and 
 Manchester fired at each other without effect, and in 
 the race to get loaded again Manchester was too quick 
 for the Indian by his gun priming itself, when he 
 fired and killed the chief. 
 
 Parson Smith states. May 10, 1756, that the Indians 
 were coming on the frontier from Brunswick to Saco, 
 and the next day says that Capt. Milk's, Capt. llsley's, 
 Capt. Smith's and Capt. Berry's companies have gone 
 scouting after Indians. The Indians captured a young 
 woman and killed Thomas Means at Flying Point 
 (Freeport) a few days before. He speaks May four- 
 teenth, of the killing of Polin by Manchester, and 
 gives particulars, also says '' The Indians fled affrighted 
 and left five packs,, a bow and a bunch of arrows and 
 several other things." He says " Manchester was the 
 hero of the action, but Anderson behaved gallantly 
 calling, ' Follow on my lads, ' or the English, perhaps 
 all of them, would have been killed." 
 
 The death of Polin brought peace and happiness to 
 the border settlements, and of course the settlers felt 
 grateful to Manchester for killing him A tradition 
 is that Manchester was offered a township for his re- 
 ward but declined the offer saying it was " reward 
 enough to have killed the skunk." 
 
 In a petition of the inhabitants of New Marblehead 
 to Lieut. Gov. Phips and the government at Boston 
 for relief, dated April 4, 1757, signed, with others, 
 by Stephen Manchester, his son Thomas, his father 
 
11 
 
 Gershom and his brother John, they state that the 
 settlers have been confined in the garrison fourteen or 
 fifteen years, and that they had raised little corn and 
 that many fields of several acres had been destroyed 
 by " ye wild varmounds " (Indians). They said they 
 had " no credit because they had nothing to pay with 
 and then their creditors did not know how soon they 
 might be destroyed by the Indians." 
 
 After the retirement of the Indians, settlers went 
 to the township and it rapidly filled up. Then it 
 became a prosperous settlement. The town voted, 
 March 30, 1768, that a good handy pair of bars shall 
 be kept by Stephen Manchester's and Widow Chute's 
 across the road leading down to the river, probably to 
 a landing place. 
 
 At the beginning of the Revolutionary war one of 
 the first, and perhaps the first, to enlist in the army 
 from Windham was Stephen Manchester, then fifty- 
 eight years of age. He enlisted, in Capt. John 
 Brackett's Company, in Col. Edmund Phinney's 31st 
 Regiment of Foot, May 12, 1775, and marched to 
 Cambridge July third, where he served under Wash- 
 ington to December thirty-first. He enlisted, Jan- 
 uary 1, 1776, in Capt. Jonathan Sawyer's Company, in 
 Col. Edmund Phinney's 18th Continental Regiment 
 and served through the siege of Boston and was dis- 
 charged August 20, 1776. He was a soldier in Capt. 
 George Smith's Company in Col Joseph Vose's 1st 
 Massachusetts Regiment and served three years, prob- 
 ably from early in the year 1777. He took part in 
 the Saratoga campaign, was at surrender of Burgoyne, 
 
12 
 
 spent the winter at Valley Forge, was in the battles in 
 Rhode Island, and returned home after the expiration 
 of his term of service. 
 
 When the locality where he settled, at South Wind- 
 ham, became a prosperous community he longed to 
 go further into the forest to pass the last years of his 
 life as near nature as he had begun it, and February 
 7. 1788, he bought the lot No. 79, second division of 
 one hundred acres, situated at East Windham, where 
 he moved, being then in his seventy-second year. 
 Here on a steep and rugged hill, at least two hundred 
 and fifty feet above the surrounding country, he built 
 a small one-story house and cleared himself a farm. 
 He built here in the forest on this hill for the same 
 reason that the eagle builds its nest in the highest 
 tree overlooking the country — a natural love of free- 
 dom. His old home had become too tame for him. 
 This hill where he established his new home has 
 alwa3^s been known as Manchester's Hill and from the 
 front of his house on the hill looking northwest, he 
 had a fine view of at least eight miles along Pleasant 
 River valley, and in the distance on a clear day the 
 White Mountains loom up, about sixty miles away. 
 It is a beautiful view now, and was on such a spot, as 
 such a man as he would be likely to locate. 
 
 A few months after Manchester located his new 
 home, John Akers Knight bought land at the foot of 
 the hill, built a log house and they soon became fast 
 friends. Knight went from Quaker Lane, now in Deer- 
 ing, and a few years later built the two-story house 
 now occupied by his grandson Albert M. Knight. He 
 
13 
 
 was the son of Moses and Hannah (Akers) Knight 
 who came from Newbury, Massachusetts and settled 
 on what is called the " Hart Place " on Quaker Lane, 
 in Deering, in 1737. John A. Knight built the first 
 mill at Huston Falls near his home at Windham. He 
 had eighteen children and died July 10, 1834, aged 
 eighty-five years. His wife was Keziah Morrell, a 
 daughter of John and Sarah (Winslow) Morrell, and 
 was married April 16, 1778. 
 
 Stephen Manchester lived in his little house on the 
 hill until he was unable to carry on his farm, when he 
 first moved to his son Gershom's and afterwards to his 
 son John's at the foot of the hill on the road, where 
 he died June 24, 1807, aged ninety years. He was 
 buried in his friend and neighbor Knight's graveyard, 
 where now lay these two old pioneers, near each other, 
 awaiting their final summons. Manchester's grave is 
 marked only by two iron rods, one at the head and 
 the other at the foot, placed there by his neighbor 
 Knight's family, so that the grave might not be forgot- 
 ten. Some monument should mark that grave, so in- 
 scribed that every generation would know where 
 Stephen Manchester, the slayer of Pol in, was buried. 
 His last wife Mary, died May 15, 1815, aged eighty- 
 eight years. 
 
 Stephen Manchester hated the Indians to his dying 
 day, and always noticed the fourteenth of May as the 
 anniversary of the day on which, as he said, he " sent 
 the devil a present." He, in his later years is des- 
 cribed as a man of full six feet in height, sinewy and 
 compactly built, very erect, with dark curling hair, a 
 
14 
 
 somewhat swarthy complexion, keen eyes and he 
 probably weighed over one hundred and eighty 
 pounds. He was calm and collected under all circum- 
 stances, a man of resolute courage and an adept in all 
 manner of woodcraft. 
 
 The only signs now of his last home on Manchester 
 Hill, are a small mound where the chimney stood, three 
 of his apple trees, scraggy and partly dead, and a few 
 23iles of rocks now well sunken into the earth, gath- 
 ered by his hands from the farm. The juniper and 
 pine trees have taken possession of his land and his 
 farm is now a pasture. 
 
 For one hundred and forty years the name of 
 Stephen Manchester has been one of the best known 
 in Windham. The mothers of the town for many 
 generations have told their children at their knees 
 the story of the killing of the Indian chief Polin, and 
 how that act freed their forefathers from the savages' 
 depredations, leaving the impression that to Manches- 
 ter the town owed a debt of gratitude which they 
 never could discharge. 
 
 Whenever our country has needed defenders the 
 family of Stephen Manchester have stood ready and 
 willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with the bravest. 
 Five generations of the family have served their 
 country from Windham. 
 
 Stephen Manchester, his father Gershom and brother 
 John, also his son Thomas, served in the French and 
 Indian wars. He, his brother John, and his three sons, 
 Thomas, Stephen Jr., and Gershom, served in the 
 Revolutionary war, Stephen Jr. dying in the service. 
 
15 
 
 His grandson, Stephen Manchester 3d, served in the 
 Windham company in the war of 1812, and several 
 great-grandsons entered the army to restore the 
 Union that their ancestor fought to estabHsh, two of 
 whom went from Windham, and gave their lives 
 that we might have a new birth of freedom for the 
 nation, " and that government of the people, by the 
 people, for the people, should not perish from the 
 earth." 
 
 The tradition and stories of Old Windham, the land 
 of our fathers, will always be of interest to the sons 
 and daughters of that town. Their preservation for 
 posterity is the result of the affection for the town 
 that those fathers loved and where they lie buried. 
 The place where Chief Polin fell has been marked by 
 such loving hands, to whom those interested in the 
 town's history are indebted for their thoughtfulness 
 in placing there a granite marker before the location 
 was forgotten. It was in lot No. 21, first division of 
 one hundred acre lots, which is off the old River Road 
 on the road to Duck Pond village, and is not far from 
 the Westbrook line. The lot was owned at the time 
 by Ezra Brown, whose heirs sold it to Abraham And- 
 erson in whose family it has since remained. 
 
 The public spirited citizens, through whose efforts 
 the marker was located and dedicated November 16, 
 1895, were Samuel T. Dole, William M. Smith, Frank 
 Cobb, Edwin and Charles Hunnewell, Abraham Cloud- 
 man and John Webb. 
 
 The name of Manchester 
 His numerous children hear 
 Among the brave. 
 
16 
 
 Stephen Manchester's Ancestry. 
 
 Stephen Manchester's earliest known ancestor was 
 Thomas Manchester, who had a grant of land at Ports- 
 mouth, Rhode Island, December 10, 1657. He mar- 
 ried Margaret Wood, daughter of John Wood of 
 Portsmouth. She died in 1693, and he was alive in 
 1691. The following were the names of his children : 
 John, Thomas Jr., William, Stephen, Mary and Eliza- 
 beth. Stephen married first, September 13, 1684, 
 Elizabeth Wodell, daughter of Gershom Wodell of 
 Portsmouth, whose wife was a daughter of John Tripp 
 of that town. Gershom Wodell was the son of William 
 and Mary Wodell of Warwick, Rhode Island. William 
 Wodell was one of a company taken at Gorton and 
 imprisoned by the government of Massachusetts, and 
 after he was liberated went to Portsmouth, Rhode 
 Island. Stephen Manchester's wife Elizabeth died in 
 1719, and he married Demaris, her last name un- 
 known. He was a freeman in 1684, and was an in- 
 habitant of Tiverton, Rhode Island, at the organization 
 of that town, March 2, 1692. His children were Ger- 
 shom, born about 1687, and Ruth, born May 27, 1690. 
 
 Gershom Manchester, son of Stephen and Elizabeth 
 (Wodell) Manchester and father of Stephen of New 
 Marblehead, resided at Tiverton, Rhode Island, and his 
 wife was named Anne, married about 1707. They 
 had the following children : — 
 
 Elizabeth, born Sept. 28, 1709 ami married John Tripp, April 28, 
 
 1730. 
 Hannah, born Feb. 4, 1711 and married Othueal Tripp, Feb. 4, 
 
 1732. 
 
17 
 
 Stephen, born May 23, 1717, went to New Marblehead, Maine. 
 Alex and Ober, twins, born April 14, 1721. 
 
 Gershom Manchester married for his second wife 
 Mary Farrow of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, December 
 16, 1731, and had one child, John born November 4, 
 1732. Probably soon after his son Stephen came to 
 New Marblehead, Gershom Manchester came to the 
 same township with his wife Mary and at least some 
 of his children and settled on home lot No. 15, built 
 himself a house and cleared eight acres of land. His 
 wife was admitted to full communion in the New 
 Marblehead church October 7, 1744. He and his sons 
 were living in the fort in April, 1746, and he was an 
 Indian scout in Capt. George Berry's Company in 
 1746. He died at New Marblehead March 15, 1749, 
 aged sixty-two years. 
 
 John Manchester son of Gershom and Mary (Far- 
 row) Manchester, and half brother to Stephen, was a 
 small boy when his father came to New Marblehead. 
 In 1752 he took up home lot No. 16 and before 1759 
 had cleared nine acres of land and built a house. In 
 1756 he married Comfort Bunker of North Yarmouth, 
 Maine, but the tradition is that she came from Mount 
 Desert. A few months after his marriage he joined 
 the church, being then twenty-three years of age. 
 He also owned home lots No. 14 and 15. His first 
 child the record says died " about a fortnight old," 
 and he had daughters Mary and Hannah, probably 
 other children. He was a garrison soldier in 1757, 
 under Sergt. Thomas Chute. In 1761, he sold his 
 land and probably went then or the next year to 
 
18 
 
 Mount Desert. The probable cause of his leaving the 
 town was the extraodinarj^ drought of those years in 
 the state west of the Kennebec River, which was pre- 
 ceded by " a wasting desease." In 1761, the drought 
 was followed by forest fires which were not checked 
 until the heavy rains of August nineteenth and twen- 
 tieth. The year 1762, was also a year of drought and 
 many valuable fields and much valuable timber land 
 was destroyed by iire. Many cattle were burned to 
 death. The farmers were obhged to go to the " East- 
 ward " for hay to keep their cattle from starving. 
 Many families moved to the eastern part of the state 
 where no drought existed. 
 
 John Manchester, no doubt, took part in the cap- 
 ture of the Margaretta, at Machias, June 12, 1775, as 
 he was one of the petitioners to the General Court 
 from that settlement May twenty-fifth. He served 
 at Machias almost four months, in 1776, in Capt. 
 Stephen Smith's Company and twenty-four days in 
 Capt. John Scott's Company, also thirteen days in 
 Capt. Daniel Sullivan's Company, in Col. Benjamin 
 Foster's Regiment in 1777. He was at Mount Desert 
 in 1790 and is probably the ancestor of those of that 
 name in that locality. 
 
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