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Enoch was a farmer in Sterling Township.

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John was a farmer.
 During the Civil War, from 15 November 1862 to 15 May 1863, Frances was a nurse with the 8th Michigan Cavalry, stationed at Mt. Clemens and traveling with the unit as requested by her supervisor. She was honorably discharged at Covington, Kentucky. In 1896, she was living in Detroit when she applied for a Civil War Veteran's Pension. She had developed cataracts in her eyes and was becoming deaf. However, her Pension Application (No. 1138-679) was rejected (she was told) because her service was not under "competent authority." Cited was an Army Regulation that prohibited women from traveling with soldiers' units.

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Note    N2373         Index
Jason P. Scribner was the central character in the most horrible and shocking event to take place in the annals of our Scribner Family.
 He possessed, and was often possessed by, an uncontrollable anger that, all too often, caused him to strike out verbally and physically against his neighbors, family members and loved ones. His neighbors all felt threatened by him, not knowing if he would ever make good on his threats to harm them or do damage to their property.
 On the morning of Saturday, 11 May 1878, Jason had done a fair amount of damage to the property of his brother, Daniel. For whatever reason, he cut up some of Daniel's horse harnesses and badly damaged one of his milk wagons. Daniel secured a warrant for Jason's arrest, and went looking for him. When Jason learned that Daniel was coming after him with an arrest warrant, he became incensed and went home to vent his anger upon his family.
 That afternoon, about 2 o'clock, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, Jason seized a garden spade and, loudly cursing his wife and children, brutally attacked them, using the spade as a weapon of death. His two youngest children, 2-year-old Lena and 3-year-old Maud, died in the attack. 5-year-old Ernest was struck twice in the head, but miraculously survived. Sarah and 11-year-old Herbert went screaming for help to a neighbor's house. Jason did not chase after them, but, instead, ran into the nearby woods, where he tried to cut his throat with a razor. Brothers Daniel and George found him and, when they told him about what he had done, Jason said that he was sorry, but "they had been 'picking' on me for some time." A neighbor asked, "What did you do this for?" He replied, "God only knows, have I killed my children?" ("Daily Kennebec Journal," Augusta, Maine, 13 May 1878).
 During the next two years, there were three murder trials held. The first (in November of 1878) ended with a guilty verdict, but, because of an apparently serious error in the original indictment, a mistrial was declared and a second trial scheduled for March 1879. At the second trial, Jason again pleaded innocent on account of insanity. That trial ended with a hung jury, with 11 voting him guilty, and one voting for acquittal. Thus, a third trial was held in November of 1879. That jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree. Details of that third trial can be found in the "Daily Kennebec Journal" editions of 23-27 October 1879. On 26 January 1880, he was sentenced to the Maine State Prison "with hard labor for life" (Maine has never been a capital-punishment state. Jason received the harshest sentence possible under Maine Law).
 The Cemetery Monument at the Coombs Mills Cemetery states that Jason died in 1882. That date also appears in the AUGUSTA VITAL RECORDS, Vol. 2. However, Jason actually died on 6 June 1884. He was transferred from the State Prison to the Maine Insane Hospital on 26 May 1884 (RECORD OF COMMITMENTS TO MAINE INSANE HOSPITAL, Beginning 1 January 1871, unpaginated, #98/84. Maine State Archives). He spent only 11 days there, mostly in bed, before he died on 6 June (STATE BENEFICIARIES AT MAINE INSANE HOSPITAL, Page 55. Maine State Archives).
 A funeral for the murdered children, Maud and Lena, was held on Monday, 13 May 1878, at the Scribner home. They are buried together in one grave in the family plot in the Coombs Mills Cemetery. Unfortunately, Maud's name was left off the Cemetery Monument.


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A dairyman all of his life, George never married. Sadly, he took his own life on 13 August 1906. According to his obituary, it appeared that his death was brought about by "mental depression on account of financial troubles." George was "well-known in the city, having maintained a milk route for a long time and enjoyed the respect of his fellow citizens" ("Daily Kennebec Jounal," Augusta, Maine, 14 August 1906, Page 7, Column 5). He is buried with his parents in the Coombs Mills Cemetery.

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Note    N2376         Index
Daniel was a farmer and a milkman in Augusta. The farm was located on Mt. Vernon Road in the No. Augusta area of the city.