Oass 
 Book 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 

 >^tL.4g-<r .wr, -^ -<:, «-»-^-' 
 
 2^1 E M I R 
 
 OF 
 
 COLONEL SAMUEL NEVERS. 
 
M E M I H 
 
 OF 
 
 COL. SAMUEL NEVEES, 
 
 LATE OF 
 
 SWEDEN, 
 
 TO WHOSE EARLY FRIENDS AXD RELA- 
 TIVES THIS LITTLE WORK IS 
 
 KESPECTFULLY 
 
 DEDICATED ^ . 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM NEVERS 3D, 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 PRESS OF GEO. W. MILLETT, .<'^^'' '•^%^^ 
 NORWAY. " ;^^COPYR!GHf'^' 
 
 s^ 
 

 Eotered according to Act of Congress, in the 
 
 year 1858, by 
 
 WILLIAM NEVERS 3d, 
 
 III the Clerk's Office of the District Court oJ" 
 
 the District of Maine. 
 
7 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 So small a book, can hardly be 
 supposed to need a preface ; but 
 small as it is, it has a design. 
 
 And first, let it be understood 
 that it is not made to sell; and 
 the question as to "vyhether it tv'OuM 
 -pay*' or not, 'W'as not inade a 
 «]Uestion. 
 
 A few friends and relatives "wish- 
 ed to preserve, in some form, the 
 life of Mr. Nevers; and at their 
 instance, these brief outlines are ar- 
 
iv PREPACE. 
 
 raiigctl in this form — brief and im- 
 perfect. 
 
 There was material for a longer 
 ^'Life;" but this answers the de- 
 sign of those interested; and fur- 
 thermore, the -writer has none of 
 that miagery so necessary to deck 
 the ''theater of reahties.*' As this 
 little work will not be likely to be 
 thrown much upon the public, the 
 public taste has been little consult- 
 ed : and if it pleases those inter- 
 ested, it certainly ought to please 
 the Author. 
 
11 E xM I R 
 
 OF 
 
 COLONEL SAMUEL KEVE.E3. 
 
INTKODUCTION. 
 
 It is to be regretted, that the gene- 
 alogy of the family cannot be traced 
 with reasonable minuteness, farther 
 back than to Samuel, the father of the 
 subject of this Memoir; and only 
 enough is known of him to show, be- 
 yond doubt, that he was born in AYo- 
 burn, Massachusetts, not far from the 
 year 1730. His right name was Mar- 
 shall, but he was an adopted son to one 
 Samuel Nevers, of Woburn. 
 
 He settled in Burlington, Massa- 
 chusetts. His first wife was a Miss 
 Wyman, by whom he had six children ; 
 Samuel, born 1766, William, Mary, 
 Susanna, John, and an infant son that 
 survived only a few hour^'. 
 
8 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Of these children, William alone 
 survives J and still lives in Sweden, 
 near the home just left by Samuel, the 
 eldest. 
 
 The others have long since left the 
 scenes of earth. 
 
 To John, there is attached a mourn- 
 ful history. Long after the Revolu- 
 tion he was on board of an American 
 vessel lying in one of our Atlantic 
 harbors, when she was boarded by a 
 British recruitinc^ officer, and refusino; 
 
 CD i O 
 
 to show his protection papers, was im- 
 pressed into the British Naval service, 
 and his after fate is yet untold. 
 
 By a second marriage with a Miss 
 Wyman, of Burlington, — sister to his 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. \) 
 
 first 'wife, — "vvere added twelve child- 
 ren : five sons and seven daughters. 
 
 The sons were Elijah, Asa, Wyman, 
 Benjamin, and Issac. The daughters 
 were Harriet and Matilda, (never mar- 
 ried;) and Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Locke, 
 Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Raymond, and Mrs. 
 Curtis. 
 
 The father was early engaged in the 
 " French and Indian War,*' in the ex- 
 pedition under Rogers. 
 
 In this war he was in many of the 
 hardest-fought battles with the Indians. 
 One little incident of Indian cunninsr, 
 may be told in his own words. 
 
 "One day, as our file leader was 
 taking us through the woods, he stop- 
 ped short, and struck his hatchet into 
 
10 MEMOIll OF 
 
 "wluit I supposed to be the ground ; but 
 pretty soon a large Indian sprang up 
 and reeled forward dead — his head 
 entirely split open by the hatchet. 
 
 " This was a I'use of the Indians to 
 hide one of their number in the leaves 
 on the ground; to count the American 
 forces as they passed along ; but this 
 poor fellow had made a mlss-go that 
 time." 
 
 He, toOj was the first to take up 
 arms in the Revolutionary struggle. 
 He heard the report of the first gun 
 discharged on the morning of the bat- 
 tle of Lexington. 
 
 lie joined no company; and easily 
 got permission to fight oii his own 
 
CUL. .SAMIEL NEVEKS. 11 
 
 hook, for he was every where known 
 as a •' dead shot.''' 
 
 He secreted himself along the line 
 of the enemy's route, and in the courso 
 of the day — to use his own words — 
 "gave them sixty- two bullets to do 
 what they pleased with.'' 
 
 Towards sun-set, he was wounded in 
 the thigh; but he managed to keep 
 hard on the enemy's flank, till he was 
 utterly unable to walk, when he lay 
 down behind a fence. 
 
 In a short time he saw approaching, 
 five British officers, with a horse and 
 chaise which they had stolen. Of this 
 last scene on that memorable day, ho 
 says: ''I put two balls through the 
 leather of the chaise in the right place. 
 
12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Pretty soon they hauled up ; and two 
 of them got out and lifted out three 
 dead bodies and threw them over the 
 wall!" 
 
 In a short time there came alon;^ 
 one of his near neighbors, by the name 
 of Bacon, on horseback. He had his 
 horse loaded with clothing he had ta- 
 ken from houses where the inhabitants? 
 had fled at sidit of the Eno;lish. Ba- 
 con was an infernal tory. 
 
 Nevers requested the loan of hi.^ 
 horse, so that he could overtake the 
 enemy; but was refused. Mr. B. did 
 not go but a short distance before his 
 horse fell to rise no more. 
 
 Mr. Nevers said he knew the man 
 who piloted the British out of Boston. 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 13 
 
 His name 'svas Smith. He tried liim 
 once, as lie ^vas coming down a liill. 
 There Avas one of the Light Infixntry 
 bcj'Ond Smith, who jumped his length 
 above the rest, and fell a corpse. S. 
 got down from his horse, took off his 
 hat and examined it, but did not mount 
 again in his sight. Smith was not a 
 friend to his country. 
 
 The generous reader must pardon 
 the seeming haste "with which we pass 
 over this part of our task; but the 
 space is small. 
 
 Of the heroes of that day, impartial 
 History has w^'itten. 
 
 They lived for Freedom ; and they 
 could die for it. 
 
 Whether on paper or marble, each 
 
14 MEMOIR OF 
 
 name sliall be found, does not matter ; 
 for it is just as safe in the heart-histo- 
 ry of grateful sons and daughters. 
 
 Thej met life and death with e(j[ual 
 courage. They repose their ashes un- 
 der the green sward, and all above 
 them is the blessing. 
 
 We pass to the subject of our sketch. 
 
 Colonel Samuel Nevers, was, as 
 has been seen, the eldest of eighteen 
 children. Born in 176G, his early life 
 was one continual hardship and danger. 
 
 He had no opportunities to acquire 
 an education. In the rugged school of 
 real life he was taught "the rudiments 
 (>f desperate studies," without the pol- 
 ish of scholarship. 
 
 At the age of thirteen, — his mother 
 
COL. SAMUEL SfEVERS. 15 
 
 being dead, — his fatlier told him that 
 he had the whole world to get a livir.g 
 in ; and with a firm purpose, and a 
 light heartj he proceeded to take for- 
 mal possession of his heritage ! 
 
 Alone, and on foot, journeyed tO' 
 Warwick, where he found a home in 
 the family of a Doctor Williams. He 
 seems to have been quite a favorite 
 with the Doctor ; and tells, with great 
 giisio, a thousand and one incidents of 
 his '"boy-life," during his sojourn with 
 the family ; how he watched the squir- 
 rels at their daily work, and pounced 
 upon their miser-store of chestnuts : 
 how he shot the marauding crow and 
 the thieving thrush ; and gathered tlK3 
 well-stored and fiercely-protected Win- 
 
16 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ter stocks of honey from tlie forest pine; 
 and numberless freaks and ^vliims, joys 
 and sorrows, as familiar as '^houseliold 
 words," to any one who has ever had 
 the incSable hai^j^iness of beinoj once a 
 boy ! ! 
 
 One scientific experiment of Iiig, 
 wliile at the Doctor's, is sufficiently 
 amusing to warrant a record : iind the 
 mxhr and spirit of research was mani- 
 festly entitled to a more gratifying re- 
 sult. 
 
 He says :— '' One Sunday morning, 
 as the family had gone to moetin^-j 
 leaving me in possession of the Castlej 
 I thought I would have some sport 
 with the dog. I brought out the Doc- 
 tor's battery, and after having chai-gcd 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 17 
 
 it to the highest notch, I took the dog 
 and placed his paw on the wire. The 
 first thing I knew of myself, I was on 
 the floor, flatter than a broken egg. 
 
 ^^ The dog took it harder than I did. 
 lie whirled around and around, and 
 finally went through the window, ta- 
 king with him the entire sash ! 
 
 "When the Doctor came home, he 
 asked some questions about the window, 
 and I told him the dog went through it. 
 lie asked no further questions ; and 
 whether he ever mistrusted the real 
 truth, or not, I never knew." 
 
 His stay at the Doctor's was two 
 years ; he then went back to his fa- 
 ther's. He stopped at home but a few 
 days, — long enough to help dig a field 
 
IS ME3I0III OF 
 
 of potatoes after four inclier of snoic 
 had fallen. 
 
 His next move was to Brooklyn, 
 where an unole (his father's brother) 
 lived. 
 
 There, he sajs, ''he had another 
 cold job digging potatoes;" and con- 
 cludes, in the event of his ever owning; 
 a farm, he would never plant them ! 
 
 Of the particular reason of his next 
 move, he says nothing; but it appears 
 that he soon left his uncle's, and ship- 
 ped in a Privateersman, — the brig 
 Hjder Ali,-~then just fitted and 
 ready to sail from Salem. 
 
 This brig mounted sixteen guns. 
 
 From this period, dates the danger, 
 the privation, the cool, calculating, yet 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 19 
 
 fervent and bold spirit of tlie man, tlic 
 ardor of tlie Patriot, the courage of the 
 Soldier, and the character of the Citi- 
 zen. 
 
 The -writer of this, has no records of 
 the owners or officers of the brig. She 
 immediately sailed, and her first cruise 
 was off JSTew Brunswick. 
 
 One adventure of the crew is, per- 
 Laps, worth relating. 
 
 One fine morning, as the brig was 
 moored close to the shore, a proposi- 
 tion was made to go ashore, and if 
 possible find some poultry — perhaps 
 some truant chickens, too far strayed 
 from the parent roost. 
 
 Close by the shore was a thicket of 
 bushes, wdiile farther back, a sloping 
 
20 MEMOIR OF 
 
 field and farm house could be seen — 
 liear vrliicli the chickens were supposed 
 to be. 
 
 The party had hardly landed, before 
 they saw an Indian creep cautiously 
 across the path, a little distance ahead. 
 Betaking themselves to the landing, 
 I hey hoisted a signal, and instantly the 
 cannon from the brig roared a broad- 
 side, and the shot raked the thicket. 
 One minute more and the whole hill- 
 h^ide was lined with scampering savages, 
 who ran with all the strength of beings 
 irightened to madness. In the words 
 of the narrator, '• they acted as thouglf 
 they had urgent business at home!'' 
 I^ut the chickens were forgotten, and 
 wlien our little company remembered 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVER3. 21 
 
 that they were but a short distance 
 irom a British fleet, they very quietly 
 weighed anchor and stood out to sea. 
 
 But the cruise was a short one and 
 unfortunate. Chases most of the time, 
 it required all the energy of the little 
 band, to keep safe and afloat, with wa- 
 ging a war of aggression. 
 
 At lengtli they were overhauled by 
 a British cruiser, as they lay in a fog. 
 
 The Englishman proved to be hU 
 Majesty's three deck ship, CnATHAXf, 
 mounting sixty-four guns. The Pri- 
 vateer, unwilling to contend against 
 such odds, surrendered ; and the crew, 
 numbering forty-four, were ordered ou 
 hoard the enemy's vessel. The Eng- 
 
22 MEMOIR OF 
 
 lish told us they ^vould nin us under if 
 we fired a gun. 
 
 Perhaps we can do no better than 
 give the history of the capture, impris- 
 onment, and subsequent escape of the 
 young captive, in his own words : as 
 often repeated to his children and 
 friends. 
 
 "After they had drawn in the long 
 boat, and manned the prize, the Band 
 stationed themselves on the fore deck, 
 and played '' Yankee Doodle." 
 
 " When the strain was ended, an old 
 gruff and weather-beaten Yankee tar, 
 sung out, — 
 
 '' Play Bunker Hill, d— n ye !" 
 
 ''Then came the tallest swearing I 
 ever heard. The Pritish officers °©r- 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 23 
 
 dered us all butchered on the spot. 
 We immediately passed round the or- 
 der to draw our knives ; and, as there 
 ■were two stacks of muskets standing 
 near, with bayonets fixed, it is certain 
 that there would have been a hard fight, 
 if they had attempted to execute the 
 order. 
 
 ^'We kept cool, however, and they 
 finally contented themselves by putting 
 fourteen of us in the dungeon. 
 
 ' ' The rest were afterwards sent to 
 Kew York and imprisoned. All we 
 had to eat was a kind of porridge made 
 of pea-meal and water — burjout, so 
 called. 
 
 "This they let down to us in a 
 bucket. I generally managed to get 
 
24 MEMOIR OP 
 
 my shoe full, and going into a corner, 
 would cool it and have a feast. At the 
 end of fourteen days we were taken 
 out, and ordered to do duty. 
 
 '' They asked me if I could serve 
 the King ; and I told them I thought 
 I could but poorly. 
 
 "The task assigned me. was to wait 
 upon the 2nd Lieutenant, unless in ac- 
 tive duty, then I was obliged to be 
 powder-monkey. 
 
 "It was a hard task to carry cart- 
 ridges to kill my own countrymen, or, 
 perhaps, a brother ; but I managed lo 
 be of little service to them. 
 
 " The first favor I got, or asked for. 
 was permission to take a gun and sho<jt 
 
COL. SAMUEL XEVERS. 25 
 
 some gulls that were flying about the 
 vessel one bright morning. 
 
 '' I stationed myself on the fore-cas- 
 tle, and pretty soon one came along. 
 and I blazed away. 
 
 " The gull fell into the water, and I 
 knew it would, for I Avas a dead shot. 
 At the report of the gun, the officers 
 came on deck and asked me what I was* 
 up to. 
 
 " I pointed to the dead gull. They 
 asked me if I could shoot another. I 
 told them I thought that must have 
 been a chance shot. 
 
 " But I was willing to humor them, 
 so I blazed away at another. It fell ; 
 I knew it would. 
 
 " They asked me if that waa tli# 
 
26 MEMOIR OF 
 
 way the Yankee boys could slioot; 
 (and didn't the answer do me good.) 
 I told them I was always reckoned a 
 fool of a gunner, 
 
 ''They said no more, but I heard 
 one of them mutterinor something: to 
 the effect, that they "might as well 
 try to take h — 11 as America !" 
 
 ' ' I got off that day without a flog- 
 ging. I usually got two or three a 
 day. The officers were a cruel set of 
 men. Humanity was absent from 
 them. I have often seen them flog 
 old grey-headed sailors in the face, be- 
 cause they could not hurt them bad 
 enough by striking them anywhere 
 else : and the sufferers not all knowing 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 27 
 
 the cause, nor daring to offer the slight- 
 est remonstrance. 
 
 " Their love for liquor ^vas immoder- 
 ate. There was not a man on board, 
 except the Americans, but that would 
 get " tight as a tiger's tail." The 
 men would save their allowance until 
 evening, then tflfey would drink it, and 
 carouse till morning, unless the officers 
 interposed. 
 
 ^'"VVhen any quarrel arose between 
 any two of them, they would draw out 
 a chest and sitting astride of it, would 
 box it out. I have seen twenty boxing 
 at one time. The crew were not al- 
 lowed to pick any quarrel with us; 
 and the Lieutenant once flogged anoth- 
 er waiter for striking mo, as I was p;'S- 
 
28 MEMOIR OF 
 
 sing him while going into tlie wash- 
 room ; and afterwards scolded me for 
 not fighting for my rights. 
 
 "After this when I saw any dispo- 
 eiiion on the part of a sailor to quarrel 
 with mc, I hit him under the chin, or 
 grappled him by the fore-top, and 
 jumped him back oft the deck, and 
 punished him till he asked for quar- 
 ters. 
 
 " A. few lessons like this, put me on 
 terms of safety ; but before that, I had 
 a black eye or a broken nose most of 
 the time. 
 
 "I generally managed to conciliate 
 the favor of the officers, and soon pass- 
 ed for a harmless waiter. But it must 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 29 
 
 be remembered that I did them all the 
 mischief in my power. 
 
 •'When I was ordered aloft in a dark 
 night. I would take my knife and cut 
 off pieces of rigging and throw over- 
 board, and call for more. 
 
 '• They always kept the cannon char- 
 ged, ready for action ; but often the 
 powder would get wet, and they would 
 be obliged to draw the charge. 
 
 " I destroyed, generally, about sixty 
 pounds of powder per day, by putting 
 water in the vent-holes of the cannon. 
 I managed to burn the large cable 
 nearly a third part off, partly out of 
 mischief, and partly because it might 
 some time part and allow the vessel to 
 be driven ashore. 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ' • While they were on this cruise 
 thej took three prizes — one American 
 and two French ships. 
 
 ' • I do not remember the names of 
 any. In one engagement, an eighteen 
 pound shot came through one of our 
 port-holes, killing the gunner and the 
 man who svrahbed the cannon, breaking 
 the oven, amidships, into a thousand 
 pieces. 
 
 "It came so near me that it knock- 
 ed me down, and half buried me in the 
 blood and mangled bodies of the two 
 men it killed ; and still it was not an 
 unpleasant sight to me ! 
 
 •'There was one Yankee enterprize 
 that came under my notice that I must 
 relate. 
 
COI* SAMUEL NEVERS. 81 
 
 • ' There -^-as a large, new, Englisli 
 brig came into Ncav York harbor, load- 
 ed -with provisions and munitions of 
 war for the army, and ran agroimd. 
 
 "They run a sloop alongside and 
 commenced unloading the brig, so tliey 
 might get her off at the next high tide. 
 
 ' ' The Americans, from the Jersey 
 shore, with their glasses watched the 
 operations. After the labor of unla- 
 ding was over, the crew went on board 
 the sloop to sleep. At the right time 
 of night, seven Americans, in a whale- 
 boat, started for the harbor. 
 
 ' ' They boarded the brig and made 
 sail. They then proceeded to unlasJi 
 her from the sloop. This last opera- 
 tion awoke the lubbers ; but it was too 
 
34 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to the fore-scuttle, and told me to get 
 down and hand up such pieces of rig- 
 ging as he named over, 
 
 " When I had passed up a sufficient 
 amount, he threw all back over me, 
 and locked the scuttle. 
 
 "About nine o'clock, the next day, 
 the British officer came on board and 
 asked the Captain if he had any de- 
 serters on board. The Captain told 
 him he had not. 
 
 "The officer insisted upon knowing. 
 So they searched eyery part of the ves- 
 sel till they came to my hiding place. 
 He then got the key and unlocking the 
 scuttle, ordered his attendants to search 
 that. 
 
 "They dug so near me, that they 
 
COU SAMUEL NEVERS. 85 
 
 trod on me several tiiQes; and when 
 they desisted and went on deck again, 
 you had better believe I felt more at 
 home ! If they had found me, they 
 would have whipped me to death, and 
 hung the Captain. 
 
 " The following day the vessel sailed 
 for Salem, Four days after we reach- 
 ed the wharf in Salem, Mass. 
 
 *' During that time I had nothing to 
 eat, save three small biscuit ; and yet I 
 was happy. 
 
 "When I got ashore, I went to a 
 house and asked for something to eat. 
 The woman — although she ought not 
 to be reckoned among mankind — ask- 
 ed me who I was, and where I came 
 from. I told her ; and she refused to 
 
34 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to the fore-scuttle, and told me to get 
 down and hand up such pieces of rig- 
 ging as he named over. 
 
 " When I had passed up a sufficient 
 amount, he threw all back over me, 
 and locked the scuttle. 
 
 "About nine o'clock, the next day, 
 the British officer came on board and 
 asked the Captain if he had any de- 
 serters on board. The Captain told 
 him he had not. 
 
 " The officer insisted upon knowing. 
 So they searched eyery part of the ves- 
 sel till they came to my hiding place. 
 He then got the key and unlocking the 
 scuttle, ordered his attendants to search 
 that. 
 
 *' They dug so near me, that they 
 
COU SAMUEL NKVERS. 25 
 
 trod on me several times; and when 
 they desisted and went on deck again, 
 you had better believe I felt more at 
 home ! If they had found me, they 
 would have whipped me to death, and 
 hung the Captain. 
 
 " The following day the vessel sailed 
 for Salem, Four days after we reach- 
 ed the wharf in Salem, Mass. 
 
 " During that time I had nothing to 
 eat, save three small biscuit ; and yet I 
 was happy. 
 
 "When I got ashore, I went to a 
 house and asked for something to eat. 
 The woman — although she ought not 
 to be reckoned among mankind — ask- 
 ed me who I was, and where I came 
 from. I told her ; and she refused to 
 
36 MEMOIR OF 
 
 give me a mouthful. The family were 
 infernal tories, I do not know Vvhy it 
 was, that I was not indigiiant ; but I 
 went out, sat down on the steps, and 
 cried like a child ! 
 
 " It was thirteen miles to my fa- 
 ther's ; but I resolved not to ask again 
 till I reached home, and, Oh ! the wel- 
 come ! 
 
 '' The family had given me up as 
 lost, and I do not remember of ever 
 hearing of but one man, impressed into 
 that service, who had the good fortune 
 to escape. His name was Twist. 
 
 ^' The reason why I never applied for 
 my pension, was because I knew not 
 w^here to find him at the time the pen- 
 sion act went into effect, and I had nc 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVEES. 87 
 
 other i)roof. I was with the British or 
 English, eight months and a half, and 
 was seventeen years of age when I left 
 them. None but the officers' attend- 
 ants were ever allowed to go on shore. 
 
 ' ' But few can ever know the cruel 
 treatment of impressed seamen, — flog- 
 ged, and stone-dead, some times, before 
 they have received half their number of 
 lashes ! and not leaving the service un- 
 til too old to do duty. 
 
 "I have seen men, thus impressed, 
 who never set foot on the land for forty 
 years. 
 
 '^ The lash, on board a vessel, is call- 
 ed ' the cat with nine tails.' The staff 
 or stock is a piece of rope eighteen 
 inches in length and three inches in 
 
88 MEMOIR 07 
 
 circumference ; at one end of this are 
 attached nine smaller ones eighteen 
 inches in length, at the end of each of 
 each of which is attached knotted wires. 
 It is a cruel tormentor." 
 
 Many things, incidents of every-day- 
 life on ship-board, have been omitted 
 here, as perhaps lacking the general 
 interest, sufficient to make them profit- 
 able to the general reader. 
 
 It appears that soon after his return 
 to his home, an uncle offers him the 
 Lieutenant's office in one of his brigs ; 
 but he declined the kind offer and gave 
 for his reason, that he had seen enough 
 of the sea " to last a life- time." 
 
 Indeed, it is very apparent that this 
 kind of life ne^er had any, even seem- 
 
€0L. 8AMUBL NBVBRS. 39 
 
 ing cliarmg, in the first instance. — 
 There was none of that wild and way- 
 ward boy-fancy; nor that thirst for 
 the excitement of novel sensations, that 
 prompted him to leave his home ; but 
 it was from the simple, but earnest de- 
 sire to do somethings a trait that never 
 left him once during his life. 
 
 And even in his declining years, he 
 was constantly busy in some kind of 
 work. 
 
 And from this escape to his father's 
 home, begins the life of the freeman, 
 the penniless seeker for work, the me- 
 chanic, the business man. How well 
 and nobly he met the rude touches of 
 the world, and fulfilled life's mission, 
 
40 MEMOIR OF 
 
 in laboring, acquiring, and giving^ let 
 the reader of these pages learn. 
 
 His first work for pay^ was for a 
 Mr. Brown, a Boston baker. Here he 
 stayed till he was well clothed, and had 
 saved a small sum of money, when, be- 
 ing one day absent, he lost, by the 
 burning of his boarding-house every- 
 thing but the single suit he wore away. 
 
 At this time there was no State 
 Prison, and the convicts were put on 
 Castle Island, now Fort Independence. 
 
 Here he did fort duty and baker for. 
 the garrison three years ; and here he 
 mentions a circumstance that gave him 
 an opportunity to see the third Lieuten- 
 ant of the English ship which he so un- 
 graciously left in New York. 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 41 
 
 " A large English ship came into the 
 harbor, and I went on board of her, 
 with others at the invitation of GrOT. 
 Hancock. 
 
 " I found there the third Lieu- 
 tenant of the Chatham, but he did not 
 recognise me. 
 
 ^' His name was John Love ; and he 
 was the most arbitrary man I ever met. 
 
 "The men always hated him; but 
 he never left this vessel till he left it 
 for an ocean grave, having been doubt- 
 less, quietly slipped overboard by the 
 night watch." 
 
 In 1791, he came into New Suncook 
 — now Sweden — where he spent the 
 remainder of his long life. He had ac- 
 cumulated a small sum of money, and, 
 
42 MEMOIR OF 
 
 tired of the turmoil of his former life, 
 he gladly turned awaj, even to the 
 wilderness of Maine. 
 
 In 1793, Mr. Nevers mentions a 
 Spring's work on Sebago Pond, while 
 he was clearing his farm in Sweden. 
 He took a job to raft and "get out" 
 a large quantity of boards — 70,000 
 feet — from Stevens' Brook to Stand- 
 ish Landing; distance, 30 miles. He 
 says that his was the first raft ever ta- 
 ken across this Pond without being 
 broken up. He also mentions a peril- 
 ous voyage across this Pond along with* 
 a man by the name of Butterfield, and 
 his family. They made the voyage in 
 a long log-boat. The distance was 14 
 miles to the mouth of Songo river. 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 43 
 
 '' When we had got about half way 
 across, the wind began to blow, and I 
 hoisted a bed-quilt for a sail. 
 
 '• At last the wind increased so that 
 our only safety was to keep right before 
 it. I told Butterfield to take the helm 
 and I would bail out the water. It 
 took my best efforts to keep from sink- 
 ing. Butterfield was a Blacksmith, 
 and was on his way to what is now 
 Lovell. 
 
 " We however managed to * weather ' 
 the whole, and by running under the 
 protection of an island, we were able to 
 haul up out boat, and the next morning 
 it was so calm that we could row the 
 rest of the way. 
 
 '' Just as we were going into Songo 
 
44 MEMOIR OF 
 
 river, I saw a flock of Shildrakes light 
 a little distance off. I took my gun 
 and followed. When I got a good po- 
 sition, I blazed away and killed thirteen 
 and wounded two more, that swam a 
 little way and turned toes ujt. Noth- 
 ing more, worthy of note, happened till 
 we arrived safely at Stevens' Brook in 
 Bridgton." 
 
 In 1791, Mr. Nevers came to New 
 Suncook — now Sweden — 178 miles 
 from his father's and into a wilderness 
 four miles from any inhabitants. He 
 explored the land he had bought, hired 
 a man to fall and burn eight acres of 
 trees, and then returned to Boston, 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 In April, 1792, Mr. Nevers return- 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVER?. 45 
 
 ed to Sweden, accompanied by one 
 Benjamin Webber, who bought a part 
 of Mr. Nevers' land. They labored 
 to<]cether, Summers, in clearing; off the 
 growth where they made their farms ; 
 but they returned to Boston each Au- 
 tumn. 
 
 As Mr. Severs was on his return to 
 Sweden, in 1793, lie stopped at Songo 
 river, or the main inlet of Sebago Pond, 
 and fished one day and a half for Sal- 
 mon trout. In that short space of time 
 he caught tvro-thirds of a ban-el. He 
 salted them down, and said they were 
 as nice as any Salmon he ever eat. 
 
 In the Spring of 1796, Mr. Nevers 
 was married, in Tukesburv. Mass., to 
 Miss Either Trull, and immediate] v 
 
46 MEMOIR OF 
 
 removed to Sweden; his wife riding 
 the entire distance on horseback — 180 
 miles. 
 
 Mrs. Nevers had six sons. Three 
 died when they were young ; the other 
 three are yet living. Their names are 
 Samuel, William Sd, and Benjamin. 
 William Nevers Sd, lives on the chosen 
 spot of Col. Nevers ; Samuel and Ben- 
 jamin live near by. 
 
 He built the first house (of logs) ev- 
 er built in this region, in 1796, four 
 miles, or more, from any clearing — 
 the nearest neighbor being a Mr. Wm. 
 Hazen, then living in what is now 
 Bridgton ; and even to this one there 
 was no road — all an unbroken wild- 
 erness. 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 4T 
 
 In 1797, Jacob Stevens built a house 
 "within a mile and a half. This was 
 deemed a near neighbor. 
 
 Of the many privations and hard- 
 ships of this early settlement, few re- 
 alize, though Qnost have heard. To 
 this day, children listen eagerly, to the 
 stories, rehearsed for perhaps the hund- 
 reth time; and the "tales of a grand- 
 father " are caught up and borne along 
 through groups of boys and girls, an^ 
 made miracles. 
 
 There can scarcely be a choicer field 
 for the American history- writer, than 
 this Pequaket region. 
 
 From Fryeburg to Bethel, still exist 
 the relics and charmed scenes of the 
 bloody drama of Indian cruelty and 
 
48 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "pa3e-face wrongs;" and it is to be 
 hoped that some day, such a place in 
 our Kew England History, may be 
 assigned to this, as it manifestly de- 
 mands. 
 
 Nor can the vrondcr-seeker, the sci- 
 entific explorer, the romance- writer, the 
 curiosity-cahinet-gatherer, or the mat- 
 ter-of-fact historian find choicer facts, 
 or themes, or more correct data, than 
 here ; for 'tis all traditionary. 
 
 When we look with pride on the now 
 prosperous villages of this region, and 
 mark the happy blending of Art with 
 Nature, the princely houses, the busy 
 mills, the prosperous schools, and the 
 ^'' Spires of Faith,'' f\incy bears us back 
 to the "solitary clearing.'- 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVER,?. 49 
 
 «Where the rude forefathers of the hamlet slept,' 
 
 — oft startled by the prowling wolf, 
 and the glare of Indian camp-fires. 
 
 From the old men of silvery locks, 
 tottering steps, but youthful-sparkling 
 eyes, the well cherished legends of Pe- 
 quaket, have thus far descended; but 
 one by one the "grey-haired heroes" 
 are gathering to their fathers. 
 
 A few days more, and the last of that 
 "pilgrim train" shall sleep his last 
 sleep. 
 
 The actors through all the tragedies 
 of blood-bought Liberty, the supporters 
 of Constitutional Freedom, will soon be 
 gone. Oh! let the sons learn well, 
 the lesson ; and watchful of the trust 
 confided, imitate the bright examples. 
 4 
 
50 MEMOIR OF 
 
 and show to the world deeds worthy of 
 
 "Heroes, descended, from heroes,'* 
 
 It is proper, and quite necessary to 
 speak of the neighbors, families and de- 
 scendents. Mr. Stevens left several 
 children, and some are now settled near 
 the spot of their birth. 
 
 Capt. Benjamin Webber was the 
 next settler. He came in 1798, and 
 settled within a mile of IMr. Nevers, 
 whose sister he afterwards married. 
 
 He was more nearly allied to Mr. 
 Nevers in interest, than any other man, 
 and for years they toiled together. 
 
 He was distinguished for his appli- 
 cation to work and business, and has 
 left behind him the bountiful harvest of 
 an industrious and frusral life. He has 
 
COL. SAMUEL NE7ERS. 51 
 
 left a large family, and many of them 
 are living near the first home of their 
 father. 
 
 The old homestead still retains the 
 thrift, taste and opulence of the ances- 
 tor. 
 
 The next early settlers in this town, 
 were Andrew Woodbury, Micah Trull, 
 William Nevers (brother to the Colo- 
 nel and still living), Senter, Peter and 
 Philo Holden, Elijah Richardson, Cal- 
 vin Powers, Stephen Sanderson, a Mr. 
 Ordway, Mr. Green, George and Na- 
 hara Maxwell, David Millikin, Oliver 
 Knight. Sullivan Jones, Eben Stevens, 
 Nathaniel Flint, Ephraim Jewett, Capt. 
 Joseph Sanderson, Oliver Haskell, Ruel 
 Power ; all of whom made homes, and 
 
62 MEMOIR OF 
 
 most of wliom still reside on the first 
 chosen lots — leaving families. 
 
 These settlers were a hardj race of 
 men, and no doubt to their labor and 
 example, the present prosperity of the 
 descendents is due. 
 
 They sought no luxury, beyond that 
 of a quiet home ; no pride beyond the 
 respectability, the integrity and moral- 
 ity of the deserving citizen ; no ambi- 
 tion to grasp the fortune of any other 
 than the laborer; and no aristocracy 
 beyond that of blood. 
 
 The soil was good; the climate 
 healthy. 'Twas a rugged surface — 
 like all ' upland ' — but productive, and 
 so well was it timbered, that though 
 for sixty-six years the ax has plied the 
 
UOL. iiAMUEL ^^EVEKS. 53 
 
 forests, all along the streams and hill- 
 sides, still exist important evidences of 
 its native wealth. 
 
 The forests were full of game, and 
 the streams of fish ; and many hunter 
 stories might be told, but space for a 
 few only can be spared. 
 
 It appears that the bear was a con- 
 stant dread and danger. Whole flock;^ 
 of sheep, and sometimes cows and oxen, 
 were the prey of this night prowler. 
 There never was a war of aggression 
 waged upon bruin in his own peculiar 
 haunts ; for it required all the time the 
 settlers could spare, to defend their owi" 
 premises from his attacks. Mr. Nev- 
 ers says he seldom followed a track ; 
 but when a flock was scattered, or a 
 
§4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 COW carried off, the neighbors followed 
 the trail, and avenged the wrong, by at 
 least a future security, if not a past in- 
 demnity. 
 
 To show the great strength of the 
 bear, he relates the escape of one from 
 a wooden trap- 
 
 One Fall, his corn field was visited 
 a number of times, and he and Capt. 
 Webber determined, as their steel trap 
 was gone from home, to set one made 
 of logs, for a large bear they had often 
 seen. 
 
 '' We cut off a tree eight inches in 
 diameter and twelve feet long, for the 
 " fall piece," and brought along and 
 lay crosswise of this, four logs as large 
 a€ we could lift= 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 65 
 
 '' I shonld judge the whole must have 
 "weighed over twelve hundred pounds. 
 
 ' ' Early in the evening we heard the 
 bear's howl, and started for the trap. 
 
 ' ' We found that the bear had sprung 
 the trap and got awaj. The "fall 
 piece," with all the weight of the four 
 log?j must have come upon his back ; 
 but he had scattered them all." 
 
 lie adds, however, that he was troub- 
 led no more that !Fall, till his corn had 
 ripened. 
 
 He tells, too, of setting his steel 
 trap, for one, and fastening it to the 
 top of a birch tree, hoping he might 
 hang him up ; but on his hearing the 
 *' holler" he went, to find the tree 
 broken off some seven feet from the 
 
5Q MEMOIR OF 
 
 top, and followed the ''varmint," -with 
 his appendageS; nearly two miles before 
 he came up with him. 
 
 The Sabbath day, so sacredly kept, 
 was sometimes profaned by a bear-hunt, 
 as seems from the following fire-side 
 story, related by Mr. Nevers. 
 
 " Early one Sunday morning, as I 
 was reading my Bible, Capt. Webber 
 came in and said that the neighbors had 
 started an old bear and two cubs, that 
 had been seen several times within a 
 few days. 
 
 "I took my gun and started after 
 them. The cubs had climbed a tree, 
 and a man, by the name of Felt, was 
 half way up the tree after them, but 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 57 
 
 dared not go any farther till the old 
 one was killed. 
 
 " The rest of them were equally un- 
 decided as to the best mode of attack. 
 They seemed to be afraid to fire, for 
 fear that they might miss ; and all this 
 time the bear was snarling at them, 
 and they were dodging behind the 
 trees. 
 
 " Webber and I lay behind a log, 
 ■watching the fun. At last the bear 
 came within about fifteen rods, and I 
 fired at her. She toppled over, dead 
 enough to skin, and the men soon kill- 
 ed the cubs." 
 
 There was, no doubt, not a little feel- 
 ing as to which of the neighbors was 
 the best shot ; but Mr. Nevers rather 
 
58 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 claims it himself, in the following bear 
 
 storj. There is no mistake, he was a 
 
 dead-shot. 
 
 ''A Mr. Stevens had treed three 
 
 bears, and ''treed" them on or i?i a 
 
 big pine stub. 
 
 "He, as usual, summoned the rest 
 
 to attend. We took turns chopping at 
 the tree; till it was most off, and then 
 
 Stevens was to finish, and Webber and 
 I was to stand and shoot them when 
 the tree fell. The first one that made 
 his appearance, I shot so effectually, 
 that he died on the log. I then took 
 Stevens' gun to shoot the next, leaving 
 the third one for Webber, who fired, 
 but did not hit him. 
 
 '' I followed and shot him at the dis- 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVER3. 50 
 
 tance of eighteen rods — putting tATO 
 balls through his shoulder — but he 
 ran some rods and fell dead." 
 
 He adds — "He was the only bear 
 that ever ran twice his length, after I 
 fired at him." 
 
 Had these early occupants of the soil 
 been ever so indolent, in farming, they 
 could have lived from the productions 
 of the forests ; for every kind of game 
 was here. 
 
 Mr. Nevers tells of one coon-hunt 
 that gave him a sled-load of seven. 
 
 But as practised as they were in the 
 art of fishing, fowling, and trapping, 
 they allowed themselves to indulge in 
 these pursuits but little. 
 
 They had determined to find plcnti- 
 
60 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ful homes here for themselves and chil- 
 dren; and thej nobly pursued the 
 work. 
 
 Farming, then, was a matter of hard 
 labor ; not of experimental ease. 
 
 To do a hard day's work, and then 
 take a bushel of corn on his back and 
 carry it four miles to be ground, was a 
 common task for the farmer. 
 
 To eat it in the form of hasty-pud- 
 ding, or bannock, with skimmed milk, 
 was the full bounty of the tiresome 
 journey; and when butter or molasses 
 was added, it assumed almost the shape 
 of a luxury I 
 
 But to enumerate the many incon- 
 veniences of ''farm-life," then, would 
 take more space than is warrantable. 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. Gl 
 
 The first four seasons, Mr. Nevers 
 lived here, he only stayed on the farm 
 during the Summer months. 
 
 Most of life, thus far, is a matter of 
 his own record ; but from this time, it 
 is carefully remembered and told by 
 '' the oldest inhabitant." 
 
 He had made a fortunate purchase of 
 lands, and he had the courage and 
 strength to improve upon it. 
 
 The wants of a family, then, were 
 fe-^ — scarcely beyond the immediate 
 growth of the farm. 
 
 Eridgton was the nearest trading 
 town, and the "shopping" was general- 
 ly done by Mrs. Nevers, in a weekly 
 journey, on horseback, through the 
 woods. This journey was made gcncr- 
 
62 MEMOIR OF 
 
 9 
 
 ally between the "early breakfast'' 
 and the hour for preparing the noon- 
 day meal. 
 
 The only draw-back on the family 
 prospects, was the long protracted law- 
 suits which were institut^^d by two men 
 in Massachusetts, who had bought, for 
 a trifle, quit-claims of these "settlers 
 lots;" and nothing but the nerve, en- 
 ergy and public spirit of the man, would 
 have withstood the vexation and ex- 
 pense of carrying them on. 
 
 One suit was in Court thirteen years, 
 and the whole costs paid by him, — 
 though as much for the benefit of sev- 
 eral others ; but he had the satisfaction 
 of seeing them forever settled in his fa* 
 vor. 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. Q^ 
 
 He paid one lawyer, Stephen Long- 
 fellow, almost a thousand dollars. 
 
 In the war of 1812, Mr. Nevers 
 held a commission — that of Colonel — 
 but he assisted in mustering his Begi- 
 ment, and then gave the command to a 
 senior Colonel, and was in no active 
 service. 
 
 He was a member of the Convention 
 which met at Portland, to form a Con- 
 stitution for the new State. He was 
 frequently a member of the Legislature 
 till 1837*! 
 
 Besides this public duty, he held one 
 of the first offices of this town, a long 
 series of years. 
 
 He was, too, almost universally em- 
 ployed in surveying lands. He siir* 
 
G4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 veyed and alotted out sereral towns and 
 plantations, whose lines and monu- 
 ments, to this day, remain undisturbed. 
 
 A few facts as to the market price of 
 land and timber, then, may not. per- 
 haps, be uninteresting. He says — ''I 
 once saw a deed of three lots of land, 
 in which the consideration was ' tu-o 
 mugs of flip.'' " 
 
 The same lots, twenty-five years ago, 
 before the timber was taken off, were 
 worth $12,000. He says of one of his 
 own purchases : — 
 
 ' ' I sold a horse for three hundred 
 acres of land — three lots. From one 
 lot I took $900 worth of timber, and 
 sold the land for $1,400. From the 
 second I took $-300 worth of timber, 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVER3. 65 
 
 and now the Assessors value it at $2,- 
 500.. The last lot has since been sold 
 for $3,500. 
 
 There is no doubt but that seventy- 
 five, and even nfty years ago, this re- 
 gion was one of the best timbered por- 
 tions of the old "pine tree State." 
 
 Within the memory of many men, 
 the choicest pine timber, — what is now 
 almost impossible to find, "clear stufi*," 
 — .was sold for twenty-five cents a thou- 
 sand on the stump. To-day it would 
 be worth twenty dollars. 
 
 The purchases of a few of the early 
 settlers, were a icorld of wealth : and 
 even now are acres of dark- waving pine, 
 "ever singing and ever sighing," the 
 remote wealth of Mr. Nevers. Captain 
 
66 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Webber, Capt. Wood, and some others. 
 
 In 1837, Mr. Neveis lost the part- 
 ner of his 'joys and cares.' lie never 
 married again ; and from about this 
 time retired almost wholly from busi- 
 ness. In his last days, he says : — "I 
 had accumulated enough of this world's 
 goods to carry me through life, and 
 since that time I have lived pretty 
 much as I pleased." For forty years, 
 surrounded by his children, grand-chil- 
 dren, and great-grand-children, in the 
 old mansion-house, on the first chosen 
 lot, he has lived, respected and almost 
 revered by all -who knew him. 
 
 His great memory and conversational 
 powers never failed him, nor was he 
 ever unwilling to talk with any one 
 •^ho might call. But few men may 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 67 
 
 Lope to win the envious reputation of 
 thu-s being a Patriarch. 
 
 He loved to tell to a circle of eager 
 hearers, even for the hundredth time, 
 the stories of the Revolution ; and in 
 some particulars, he has thrown light 
 on some of the doubtful passages of that 
 history. 
 
 It appears that while on board the 
 ship Chatham, as a prisoner, he formed 
 the acquaintance of a Mr. Abram Day, 
 who told him he was in the battle of 
 Bunker Hill. He was in the first sec- 
 tion that stepped into the American 
 works. He says Pitcairn flourished 
 his sword, and said, ''By G — d, the 
 day is ours." An Am.erican boy in 
 the fort, said, " By G — d, you lie,'^ 
 and shot him down," and then escaped 
 
68 MBMOiR or 
 
 by rnnning like the d — 1. Day told 
 him that his companj were all killed 
 but six, and they were all put on board 
 of this vessel for marines. 
 
 An incident in the "last war," too, 
 is worthy of record. He says: — "I 
 was in Boston in 1814, when a bill was 
 introduced into the Legislature to ad- 
 mit the British fleet into Boston, un- 
 molested. Com. Bainbridge, then be- 
 ing in the harbor with one of our larg- 
 est ships of war, heard of it, and re- 
 quested the committee, chosen by the 
 Legislature, to meet him on Long- wharf 
 the next morning at eight o'clock. 
 
 Th^y met him^ and he made them 
 the following comprehensive speech. 
 
 '^ Gentlemen, t understand that yon 
 pni^e to allow the British fleet to an- 
 
OOL. SAMUEL NEVSLRa. 69 
 
 chor quietlj in this harbor. I shall 
 conaider this, then, an enemy's port. 
 I shall open a fire on the town, and 
 batter the State House down about jour 
 heads ; and land mj men on Chelsea 
 beach, and laj a slow match to my 
 magazine. I will hear your answer 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 The next morning the committee 
 waited upon him with the news that 
 *• the bill could not pass !" 
 
 Many more interesting historical 
 facts might be written here, to show 
 how well Mr. Nevers studied and learn- 
 ed from his own personal observation, 
 the history of our Kation, and the 
 memory he had to relate them; but 
 enough have already been recited, to 
 answer the purpose of this work. But} 
 
70 MEMOIB Of 
 
 the soldier life, and the politician lifc^ 
 has long since passed with him ; and 
 we turn to the character of the citizen 
 and the man. 
 
 In the extensive and varied business 
 of his life, he never ground the face of 
 the poor ; nor wrested one farthing un- 
 justly from the poverty-stricken neigh- 
 bor. He never took but six per cent, 
 interest for any money in his life. 
 While no man suffered by his extortion, 
 many a one has rejoiced in his bounty. 
 He never gave in large sums to any 
 particular sect or society ; but he gave 
 as occasion demanded, to alL 
 
 In 1827, he gave a lot of land to the 
 School fund of Lovelh The same year 
 he built a house for the public meet- 
 ings of the toym of Sweden, and they 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVER3, 71 
 
 Still use it. In 1854, he built a brick 
 house for the School in his own district. 
 His charitj was not of that kind, that 
 challenged the admiration or courted 
 the favor of founders of societies ; nor 
 did he need to purchase absolution of 
 the world, for his old age safety, by any 
 dazzling display of fanciful munificence. 
 His bounty began at home ; it filled 
 the full measure of an earthly fortune ; 
 and then it flowed in the easy channels 
 of deserving merit, and worthy but un- 
 blest labor. 
 
 His character for benevolence shall 
 never need be written as long as living 
 witnesses shall be found ; and it is the 
 design of this work, not to swell into 
 undue proportion any attributes of this 
 srian; nor to aggrandize the family — 
 
72 MEMOIR OF 
 
 nor add a shade of doubtful merit to tlie 
 name; but to give, in a brief, plain 
 manner, the main features of a long 
 life — embracing almost a century, and 
 taking in, as it were, at a glance, the 
 whole history of our Nation and Gov- 
 ernment, from its earliest conceptions, 
 to its matured strength. 
 
 His education was limited, and his 
 home, so far obscure, as to give him 
 no wide-spread notoriety ; but the pla- 
 ces he has filled^ show how well he was 
 fitted for others. And it was, doubt- 
 less, as satisfactory to him to fill the 
 stations of humbler life, in the gift of a 
 constituency living all around him, as 
 it would have been, to have borne the 
 easier burdens and worn the heavier 
 haraess of Governmental patronage; for 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 73 
 
 his whole life shows how well he cher- 
 ished the wholesome truth that "the 
 honor of an office is not in the office, 
 but in the manner in which that office 
 is discharged." 
 
 " Paint me as I arn — wrinkles and 
 all^^^ was the stern wish of the old Pro- 
 tectorate. The rigid sense of justice 
 and the quiet tone of the subject of this 
 sketch, had he been consulted as to a 
 biography, would have endorsed this 
 sentiment. His friends wish to pre- 
 serve this, more as a family record and 
 gift-book to a few early friends, than a 
 praise of the family. name; and the 
 writer would avoid the fulsome, fawn- 
 ing, and o'erreaching tone of so many 
 ^'- Lives.'''' No material has been cre- 
 ated ; no facts have been colored ; and 
 
T4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 no trait has been rounded into a praise 
 unless it was legitimate. 
 
 It is a palpable but deplorable fact, 
 that, after a man has died, we are apt 
 '- to gild his virtues, and bury his frail- 
 ties." But when we remember that the 
 memory of the dead, is almost, if not 
 q7nte as potent in shaping the fortunes 
 of men, as the acts of those among 
 whom we live, it certainly becomes us, 
 in justice to ourselves and children, to 
 have impartial biography, as well as 
 impartial history ; for as we live for 
 example, we also take from example. 
 
 The object -of this little work, aside 
 from the gratification of a few relatives 
 and friends, is to weave in something of 
 the town's history, and to furnish to 
 the joung i*aen a page or two of t^''^^ 
 
COL. SAMUEL NEVERS. 75 
 
 life of a worthy pioneer, and a trust- 
 worthy example of what any one who 
 has courage and integrity, may become 
 in more fortunate times. Nor is it 
 likely that such an example will be 
 lost. ilis life measures so many 
 events, that he was capable of advising. 
 He has marked the early struggle for 
 freedom, and the faithfully-guarded 
 treasure of free institutions and free 
 society. He has marked the fiction of 
 unreliable trade and over-crowded bu- 
 siness, and the commercial crisis. He 
 has been borne on the wave of business 
 pressure, and he has met the revulsion. 
 And often has he told the story of his 
 early patient labor and luxury-denying 
 habitBj when he has heard the young 
 
76 MEMOIR OF 
 
 farmer talk of " profit and losa " in the 
 Stock Market, 
 
 His success, and the success of co- 
 temporary settlers, has fullj establish- 
 ed the productiveness of New England 
 soil, as sufficient to sustain and reward 
 the faithful farmer ; and his testimonjjT 
 shows how any one, who has learned 
 
 *' To labor and to wail," 
 
 may find a competence for his declining 
 years ; and, that contentment, — the 
 "Philosopher's Stone" of real life — 
 does folloWj and reward willing hands 
 and hearts. 
 
 Mr. Nevers remembers, and tells of 
 the various political measures and chan- 
 ges in the history of the Govemment. 
 He has voted for every President, from 
 
COL SAMUEL NEVERS. 77 
 
 Washington — first election — down to 
 the present incumbent of the Executive 
 chair. Through all the storms and 
 tides of interest, passion and prejudice, 
 he claims to have been a Democrat. 
 
 In the struggle of a doubtful theory, 
 he maintained and at last realized the 
 successful experim.ent of a Republican 
 form of Gov^ernment ; and has ever had 
 the fullest confidence of the perfection 
 6f a Patriotism that may render perpet- 
 ual the blessings thus descended. And 
 does it not become the sons of such fa- 
 thers not to waste the heritage of so 
 nobly endowed privations ? This uni- 
 versal fortune deserves the same " Sen- 
 tinel Watch" that hailed its first dawn 
 in the Colonial AsBembly, 
 
 V 
 
(Q >fEMOIR OF 
 
 Of tlie moral character of the man, 
 enough, has, perhaps, been seen. As 
 for integrity, TN-hich is the basis of all 
 moral actions, he lived above suspicion. 
 True to the impulses of Lis heart, he 
 lived and died an honest man ; and the 
 choicest eulogy to pronounce, is that in 
 all the business of his life, surrounded, 
 as all men are sometimes, by unfortu- 
 nate circumstances, and dealing laro-ely 
 with ail classes, there is no record of a 
 single act he ever did, that even the 
 breath of envy has made a stain upon 
 his character. 
 
 As a Religionist, he was a believer 
 in the faith of Universalism, His first 
 teachings, were from the lips of the 
 Key. John Murray, while he was yet a 
 
cot. SAMUEL NEVfiRS. T'c> 
 
 boy ; and through all his life hopefully 
 spoke of the final restoration of all rnen 
 to the bounty of Him " who is able and 
 willing to save.'' 
 
 He died September 10th, 1857, at 
 the age of ninety years, eleven months 
 and twenty days. His funeral sermon 
 was preached by the Rev. J. W. Ford, 
 of Norway ; and to one of the largest 
 audiences ever assembled in the town. 
 For miles around, the people gathered 
 to pay the last tribute of respect to a 
 " Kevolutionary hero,'* a neighbor and 
 a man — aye, more than this — a Pxi- 
 TRIARCH. In the family tomb, on a 
 sloping hill-side and hard by the home 
 of his early manhood, he sleeps his last 
 sleep. Society has lost a valuable mem- 
 
80 MEMOIR OF COL. SAM'l NEVERg. 
 
 ber; the Trorld, a philanthropist; the 
 country, a patriot; and humanity^ a 
 friend. 
 
 Three of his children are left behind 
 him, and two brothers — all living near. 
 The otliers, with the partner of his 
 '' jojs and cares," sleep along with him 
 in the family vault. But why mourn ? 
 His was not an untimely death. Ho 
 had filled the full measure of a life- 
 time, and rests on the spot he loved, 
 'neath the shade of his own planted 
 trees, — 
 
 *■* Whose composing sound hava their own sanc- 
 tity; 
 And, at the touch of every wandering breeze, 
 Murmur, not idly, o'er his peaceful grave." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Mmv i'-^l^ 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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