Notes
Note N316 Index
Joseph was the first physician and the first merchant at Fryeburg, Maine. He had been in medical practice for a short time in Concord, New Hampshire, before moving to Fryeburg in 1768. From a history of Fryeburg, we learn a little more about Joseph:
"The first store at the Seven Lots was kept by Dr. Joseph Emery, who married a sisiter of Rev. William Fessenden. His establishment was on the Drift Road, about where now is the stable of the Fryeburg Tavern. He was charged with selling rum to the Indians who occasionally straggled into the settlement" (John Stuart Barrows, FRYEBURG, MAINE [Fryeburg: Pequawket Press, 1938], 170).
Notes
Note N332 Index
John was among the earliest residents of the town of Wakefield, New Hampshire, which was incorporated in 1774. He and the family next lived in Bartlett, before settling in Maine (first, in York County for a short time, then in Unity in 1805) in the very early 1800's.
A List of Taxpayers of Wakefield and their Taxes for 1777 includes:
STATE TAX TOWN TAX
Pounds Shillings Pence Pounds Shillings Pence
John Scribner 1 13 0 1 13 0
John Scribner, Jr. 0 15 0 0 15 0
Samuel Scribner 0 16 3 0 16 3
John is mentioned as a landowner in a March 1778 petition for a road to be built through Wakefield. He didn't sign the petition in Wakefield. However, while living in Bartlett during the early 1790's, he signed his name to several petitions having to do with town affairs, such as building and repairing roads, adding a tract of land to the town, and asking that Bartlett be separated from Grafton County and annexed to Strafford County (Isaac W. Hammond (ed.), TOWN PAPERS. DOCUMENTS RELATING TO TOWNS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, "A" TO "F" INCLUSIVE [Concord, NH: Parsons B. Cogswell, State Printer, 1882], 162-163, 424-425, 606). Most likely, John was a Quaker. He did not sign the "Association Test," as did his brother, Samuel (HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY [op. cit.], 479).
In Wakefield there is the Scribner River, named for John. On 10 November 1769, he purchased from Job Clements of Dover, 300 acres of prime property on a hill overlooking the west shore of Wakefield's Great East Lake. He built a small cabin there. However, an Indian raid on a nearby cabin was of such concern to John that he sold the property to Richard Dow on 10 April 1782. Then, he and his family moved north to Bartlett before moving on to Maine.
A few years after John died, his widow, Margaret, married William Grant of Frankfort, Waldo County, Maine (about 23 July 1829). She died in Charleston, Maine, where she had moved after William died.
These conclusions about Margaret contradict the entry in VITAL RECORDS OF THORNDIKE [op. cit.], 95), which indicates that it was John and Margaret's daughter, Margaret (b. 1809), who married William Grant of Frankfort about 23 July 1829. Reasons for these conclusions are: (1) the 1830 Census of Frankfort lists only one married William Grant, aged 70-80, and his wife, aged 60-70 (This couple could very well have been William and Margaret Chesley Scribner Grant); (2) none of the other eight William Grants recorded in the 1830 Census of Maine fits the profile of a recently married couple; and (3) the strongest support for these conclusions comes from the 1850 Census of Charleston, wherein Margaret Grant (aged 76 and born in New Hampshire) is living with Mark Scribner and family.
Unity was incorporated 22 June 1804, and was, at first, part of Kennebec County. In 1827, it became part of the newly-formed Waldo County. John and family moved to Unity in 1805 (James Berry Vickery, III, A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF UNITY, MAINE [Manchester, ME: Falmouth Publishing House, 1954], 216).
Notes
Note N334 Index
Samuel was living in Wakefield at the outset of the Revolutionary War. He was one of the Wakefield signers (on 11 September 1776) of the "Association Test," by which New Hampshire men pledged their lives to the defense of the Colonies (See the article about Benjamin Scribner of Brentwood [8 August 1748 - 29 January 1829] for the text of the "Association Test"). All of the men in Wakefield (except those such as Samuel's brother, John, who was a Quaker) signed the document (Merrill, HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY [op. cit.], 479). Samuel served during the War as a Private in the Massachusetts Militia (DAR PATRIOT INDEX, 3 [op. cit.], 2595).
He was a brave soldier. "On July 10, 1776, at a meeting legally warned and held at Capt. Copp's dwelling it was voted to give $80 to five men to enlist in the Country's service and go to Canada." Among the five was Samuel (Elizabeth Banks MacRury, FOOTSTEPS OF PRIDE TO THE PAST, 1774-1974, WAKEFIELD, NEW HAMPSHIRE [Sanford,ME: Wilson's Printers, 1987], 27).
From the information compiled about Samuel and Abigail, it appears that they moved to Waterborough by 1782, then left there about 1795 and moved to Morristown, Orleans County, Vermont, where they lived until they (with sons Samuel and Ebenezer, and daughters Abigail, Sally, Susan and Sylvia) moved to Monroe County, New York, sometime before 1810. It is very possible that their son, David, and his family moved with them, since the dates are so similar. Their other sons, Robert and Noah, stayed in Vermont.