Ephraim Stimson Jr. (bef. 1758 - 1814)

Born before 13 Aug 1758 in Biddeford, York, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah Matthews — married about 1790 in Penobscot, Hancock, Massachusetts, United States [uncertain]

Husband of Catherine (Staples) Babbidge — married Aug 1804 in Prospect, Maine

Descendants

Died 12 Jan 1814 after age 55 in Vinalhaven, Maine

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Adrian Stanley [send private message]

Biography

Private Ephraim Stimson Jr. served with York County Militia, Massachusetts Militia during the American Revolution.

Ephraim Stimson the Son of Richard & Elizabeth Stimson was Born Decemr ye 10 1717 [page 132 Vital Records of Saco and Biddeford, Me.] https://archive.org/details/newenglandhistor1917wate/page/132/mode/2up?q=Ephraim

Ephraim Stimson and Mary Sand both of Biddeford Intend Marriage 1743 [page 217 Vital Records of Saco and Biddeford, Me.] https://archive.org/details/newenglandhistor1917wate/page/216/mode/2up?q=Ephraim

NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER 1917 VOLUME LXXI [Vital Records of Saco and Biddeford, Me.]

Baptism.

Christening 13 August 1758 Biddeford, York, Maine Aug. 13, [1758.] Ephraim, son of Ephraim and Mary Stimson.

Research Notes

" ... Ephraim Stimpson lived on the farm now owned by Benjamin Merithew. ... " 125th Anniversary Searsport, Maine 1845-1970 History of Searsport, Maine. Published in celebration of the 125th Anniversary celebration

Mount Ephraim North Searsport.

The story of the Stimpson family is gathered fragments. The family lived in Wells, then in Biddeford, Maine. Approximately 1768, the Stimson family removed to the part of Frankfort, that became Prospect, then later known as North Searsport. This area was Mount Ephraim, named after the elder Ephraim Stinson. After the beginnings of the Revolutionary War, about 1779 the Stimson family suffered harassment from Tory raiders on at least two occasions. Then after the failed 1779 attempt to take Castine from the British, most of the people living in the area fled to avoid reprisals from the British and Tory raiders. The Stimson family retreated to New Hampshire, and resided there from about 1780 to 1783. By 1784, a large part of the family had returned to Maine, and Ephraim Stinson Jr. was back at Mount Ephraim. Adrian Stanley 26 Dec 2022.

Noted: Ephraim Stimson reported as married to Hannah Mathews, who died 21 Dec 1803, Vinalhaven [?] ... need sources.

" ... Ephraim was married three times. His first wife died before he came here. His second wife was a Matthew's, from [Penobscot] Bagaduce; she died after he moved to the island. He afterwards married a widow Smith. ... " page 6 The Republican Journal: Vol. 70, No. 12 - March 24,1898

Noted: Ephraim Stimson's wife, Hannah Matthews 3 of Hannah's brothers are Joseph Matthews, Samuel Matthews and Capt. Walter Matthews from Bagaduce or Penobscot are Ephraim Stimson's next door neighbors and brother-in laws at Mount Ephraim Prospect Maine, in 1800.

Bagaduce and Fort Castine " ... Castine was in the possession of the British 1779. The people were required to take an oath of allegiance to the King of England. The inhabitants of Belfast, then an incorporated town, and the only in the valley of the Penobscot, rather than take the oath, left their homes, and returned to N. Hampshire from whence they came. Most others took the oath of allegiance. Still this did not save them from various annoyances. There are those now living who remember the alarm and terror following the defeat at Castine 1779. ... They sent a small party to Mt. Ephraim to burn the house of Richard Stinson with whom lived his father and mother, Ephraim Stinson and wife. Among the party was one Turner, a refugee. When they came to the house, Turner fired into it, and the ball passed through the post of the chair in which the old gentleman was setting. They plundered the house of what little was worth carrying away.— Turner said he would have done more damage, but the sight of one of the old man’s daughters there a young maiden to whom he took a strong fancy, prevented him. He afterwards married her. ..." Ellsworth American : August 26, 1859 _ VOL. V. NO. 31. _ article on Page One

" ... In 1780 Gen. MacLean issued a proclamation granting amnesty to all settlers for past misdemeanors, and that they might, occupy their homes unmolested if they would remain as neutrals. Ephraim’s wife having died previous to his leaving Bagaduce, he went back there and was again married. He and Richard with Ichabod Colson and John Bell, in 1780 or ’81, settled near Richard’s former home [Mount Ephraim]. Ephraim settled on the Benj. Merithew farm, Richard on the place where W. M. Merithew now lives [north part of lot 19, later Heirs of Wm. Merithew Jr.], known as the Whittum farm. Colson took up the two places now owned by Mrs. Susan Towle and A. F. Matthews, while Bell settled near Richard. The settlement being outside of the limits of any incorporated town, and in proximity to what is known as Bog Hill, and Ephraim Stimson being somewhat of a prominent man, to honor him it was named Mount Ephraim. This was probably the first inland settlement made within Waldo county, excepting some scattered settlers, who had located in some of the towns in the west part of the county. [by] A. F. Matthews. [Concluded next week.] ... " The Republican Journal: Vol. 70, No. 11 - March 17,1898

[Noted: Deed of son, Walter Stimson to James Cooper, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSL5-J9SP-9

The Stimson family settled at Frankfort in 1769, and the father was early at Mount Ephraim. ....". page 3 [footnote #] ( 2) The stream in the western part of Searsport village, called Half-way creek, Stimson's father first settled on the hill named for him Mount Ephraim. History of Belfast, Maine, to 1825 by Abbott, Herman, 1783-1825; Williamson, Joseph, 1828-1902 Publication date 1900

Ephraim Stimson Jr (1758-1814) had four sons & five daughters by three wives. by Bob Brooks [Robert C. Brooks]

Deed H Knox to E Stimson.

He was selectman of Prospect,Maine in 1794,1796,1800. History of Prospect Maine page 29 by Allice Verrill Ellis 1980.

Death:12 January 1814, North Haven, Knox, Maine, United States Probate Record: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6X13-7V7

Probate Folder https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6X13-8S7?i=720

STIMSON, EPHRAIM. Private, Capt. Philip M. Ulmer's co., Col. Samuel McCobb's regt. ; service from July 8, 1779, to Sept. 24, 1779,2 mos. 16 days, on Penobscot expedition. [1st Regiment, Lincoln County Militia, Massachusetts Militia, American Revolution] ^[1]

STIMSON, EPHRAIM. Private, Capt. Peter Combs's co., Lieut. Col. Joseph Prime's regt.; enlisted Nov. 22, 1780; discharged Jan. 26,1781; service, 2 mos. 5 days, under Brig. Gen. Wadsworth [General Peleg Wadsworth, of Duxbury] at the Eastward. Roll sworn to at Brunswick and certified at Thomaston. [ 2nd Regiment, York County Regiment, Massachusetts Militia, American Revolution]

Ephraim Stemson Private Lieut Jeremiah Colburn's Co Brig Gen Wadsworth's Department Military Service; entered service 27 Jan 1781; service 2 mos 28 days; company detached at Camden

[brother] Richard Stemson Private Lieut Jeremiah Colburn's Co Brig Gen Wadsworth's Department Military Service 27 Jan 1781 DISCHARGED 24 Apr 1781; service 2 mo 28 days; . page 908 United States Rosters of ...rs and Sailors, 1775-1783 Massachusetts, vol 14,

John Simpson, Ephraim Simpson, Reuben Simpson are names found in Major Robert Treat's Day Book, Bangor [kept from 1786-1780]

While the island’s official name on maps has been Babbidge since the 1850s, it was first known as Island D on a 1785 map. By 1799, a deed designated the island as Ames Island and recorded its sale from James Cooper to William Merithew for $210. Nine years later, in 1808, Merithew sold the island “formerly Ames Island or Cooper’s Island” to Ephraim Stinson for $500.

1786 Plan of Vinalhaven.

Within another decade, Ephraim Stinson died and his heirs sold half the island to Courtney Babbidge for $300. Ephraim’s widow, Catherine, retained ownership of the remaining half of the island and then remarried to Courtney Babbidge. In Islands of the Mid-Maine Coast, authors Charles and Carol McLane wondered, “Were Ephraim Stinson and Courtney Babbidge both living on the island before Ephraim’s death? Did Courtney marry his neighbor’s widow out of compassion (he, too, was a widower)?”

In addition, the authors noted a Babbidge family legend of an ancestor, perhaps Courtney, who lived on Babbidge Island and occasionally came to North Haven for supplies, dressed in a blue swallow-tailed coat with brass buttons and muttering: “There is only one Tory lives on Babbidge’s Island.” Deer Isle historian George Hosmer noted Courtney Babbidge was “a man of decided political opinions” and theorized perhaps his Toryism came late.

29 Aug 1769 _ History of Belfast, Maine Previous to executing the deed the grantors of this township employed Richard Stimson to survey a suitable location for a road from Thomaston to Fort Point, for which service he was to have one hundred acres of land at some place on the route. He accepted the proposal and selected a spot near a small creek [Half way Creek] (2) which is the dividing line between this town and Prospect. Thither his father, Ephraim Stimson, removed, whose family, the first that ever settled here, consisted of himself and wife, two sons, Ephraim and Richard, and several daughters.

Richard Hovey born in Boxford, Mass., Feb. 4, 1762. He was a yeoman, and lived in Peterborough, N. H. With his brother David, he released to his brothers John and Stephen his interest in the homestead of their father in Boxford Oct. 27, 1819. With his brother David, he bought a tract of land in Peterborough in 1782. The land was located in the northeastern part of the town ; and they made a division of it, Richard taking the eastern portion. For sixty pounds, he bought, with his brother David, a tract of one hundred acres, being lot fifteen in the East range of lots in Peterborough, of John Penhallow, es(]., of Portsmouth, Sept. 15, 1790;* and he bought out David's interest March 11, 1799. t For sixty pounds, while he was living in Boxford, he bought of Ephraim Stimson of Frankford. Me., yeoman, fifty acres, being lot numbered one hundred and six, in Peterborough, N. H., April 5, 1784. [ Hillsborough Registry of Deeds, book 51, page 237. see page 472 Hovey book] "The Hovey book, describing the English ancestry and American descendants of Daniel Hovey of Ipswich, Massachusetts" https://archive.org/details/hoveybookdescrib00dani/page/235/mode/1up?q=Stimson Noted: Ephriam's son Jerimiah was born New Hampshire.

Stimson in History of Belfast _ History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine by Williamson, Joseph; Johnson, Alfred; Williamson, William Cross; https://archive.org/details/cu31924092267941/page/186/mode/2up?q=Stimson

Ephraim was born in 1758. Ephraim Stinson ... He passed away in 1814.^[2]

Sources

• Peterborough NH 1784 Deed https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSRZ-F97R?i=126&cat=428923

• Ellsworth American : August 26, 1859 https://digitalmaine.com/ellsworth_american/393/

• The Republican Journal: Vol. 70, No. 11 - March 17,1898 https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=rj_1898

• The Republican Journal: Vol. 70, No. 12 - March 24,1898 https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=rj_1898

Henry Knox to Ephraim Stimpson Vol. 16 page 93 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3J-24QR?i=359&cat=334690

History of Belfast, Maine, to 1825 by Abbott, Herman, Williamson, Joseph https://archive.org/details/historyofbelfast00abbo/page/3

First Church Biddeford Maine https://archives.mainegenealogy.net/2010/02/first-church-of-biddeford-baptisms-1742.html

https://archive.org/details/hoveybookdescrib00dani/page/235

William Merrithew https://maineroots.org/images/PDFs/Aug2019TMG.pdf

The Bangor historical magazine Publication date 1885 https://archive.org/details/bangorhistorica188990bang/page/95/mode/1up?q=Ephraim

"United States Census, 1790," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YYY-93XJ?cc=1803959&wc=3XT9-3Y2%3A1584070931%2C1584070973%2C1584070981 : 14 May 2015), Maine > Hancock > Frankfort > image 4 of 4; citing NARA microfilm publication M637, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR8K-9GY1?cc=1804228&wc=3V1X-CX3%3A1585148803%2C1585149942%2C1585149953 : 10 June 2015), Maine > Hancock > Prospect > image 3 of 6; citing NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"United States Census, 1810," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YY8-S75J?cc=1803765&wc=QZZC-BPX%3A1588182202%2C1588182231%2C1588182248 : 1 December 2015), Maine > Hancock > Vinalhaven > image 8 of 9; citing NARA microfilm publication M252, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FarnilySearch (https:llfamilysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9MCS3Q

"United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-C3XT-Z?cc=2546162&wc=WD6Q-RMK%3A1588792209 : 24 January 2018), Massachusetts, vol 14, Sha, John-Sthenfield, Ephraim > image 910 of 1010; citing various published state rosters, United States.

British and Tory Marauders on the Penobscot [see Belfast page 20] https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1360&context=mainehistory

Record of Death Ephraim Stinson Town and vital records, 1785-1892 Authors: Vinalhaven (Maine). Town Clerk (Main Author) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89N8-SHY9?i=247

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index Cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQZ-6SZQ-7?cc=2548057&wc=QZZQ-MHF%3A1589088686 : 20 September 2019), Stevens, Joel - Stivert, Charles > image 2588 of 2746; Massachusetts State Archives, Boston.
2. ↑ North Haven Conservation Partners

Orphan Island 1789 https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mealhn/books/mehist_v22.pdf

• Church records, 1835-1876, in the Biddeford, Me., churches records 1742-1887, Coll. 947. Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME.In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted https://congregationallibrary.quartexcollections.com/documents/mirador/40300

1786 Map of Vinalhaven https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:2227nq92q

• The New England historical and genealogical register by Waters, Henry F. (Henry Fritz-Gilbert) https://archive.org/details/newenglandhistor1917wate/page/216

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:SGF1-V47

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:SGF1-VZT