Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1905-11-08

what tne Doys taitsns sixty or seventy
wears ago, "Mackviller. There lived
Peter Mcfarland, shoemaker OF Scotch
descent, who is said TO have come from the
city OF New York, where he left wife
and several children, here to build log
cabin and make his abode prior to 1900.
He married Elizabeth Carter by whom he
had eight children, viz;
1. Jonathan Fisher, born Oct. IL, 1908;
married Prudence.
2 Lydia, born Oct. g, 1905.
5. Peter, born July IA, 1s07; married
LUCY Day.
4. Oliver Mann, born Nov. 20, 1910;
married Lucrctia Carter.
5. Irene, born August Q, 1913; married
William Staples, OF Sedgwick.
6, AIpheus, born Feb %, 1917; married
Rebeksh Carter.
I. Amos Allen, born Sept. 10, 1870; died
an army at Ship Island, 1863.
s. Rodney, born Jan. g.. 1924; married
Margaret Cain. Rodney is the only one
living at this date; he resides at Bar
Harbor.
Peter Mcfarland, sr., had a struggle to
earn sufficient from his farm and shoe
makers bench to bring up his large
family. He was q man fond OF groe. and
fiddler; his sons were fond OF music and
of song, induiging in both so far as their
limited knowledge permitted. Rodney,
the youngest son, beat the snare drum for
the boys military company Of the neigh
borhood. OF which tho writer was cap
tain. With military hats made OF paper
adorned with tailfeathers Of cock or hen,
and with wooden guns and swords march
ing to the music OF the "white Cockader
made by tife and drum, the boys were
ready to parade whenever opportunity
offered. and were proud of their warIike
mimicry.
Mr.. Mcfarland, sr., played his fiddle for
dances, having a series of old Scotch tunes,
including the ''Scolding Wife,, 1.-THE Girl
Left Behind Me-, High Betty Martini
and the like, which.he played and charm d
the boys of those days.
He and all his family, save one, shave
Joined the great silent majority. Two of
his sons, Alpheus and Amos, and grand
son, Ebenezer, son OF Peter, jr., were sol
diers in the army for the preservation OF
the Union in the war of the Rebellion.
After the death of the heads Of the
family, the marriage OF the children, and
the removal of them from the haunts
of their childhood, the iplace was owned
for number of years by Giles Johnson
Grindie, and occupied by him and his
family. The land stretched from William
w. Gray's TO Mother Bush Brook with
shore line upon the Salt Pond. The build
ings are gone at this writing, and the land
is owned and cultivated by son of the
late Daniel b. Allen.
Mother Bush Brook, after dark, was
place to be Stunned by lone boys, for fear
they might see the ghost OF Benjamin
Friend, whom tradition said haunted that
spot. The "Ghost OF Mother Bush Brook
was described in verse some years ago by
the writer, and requires no further notice
here.
From that brook onto the crown OF the
Coggin hill was part of the rough stage
road between Sedgwick and Blue Hill,
wooded on both sides, and a lonely way,
six or seven decades ago. From the brow
OF the Coggin hill one looked down upon
the Tide Mills or Falls district, where the
settlement of the town began April 7, 1862.
Beyond rises Blue Hill mountain in all its
grandeur, with Newbury Neck, Schoodic
and Mt. Desert hills on the right, the
sparkling waters of the bay, with Long
Island nearer at hand, the Falls, the is
land where Wood and Roundy built their
log cabins, and with the tide mills, pond,
etc., in the foreground. All these the
writer sees engraven upon the tablets of
his memory as he saw them from that
spot more than seventy years ago, when
he was boy of the neighborhood, though
nearly three score years have gone by
since that was his home.
THE TIDE MILL NEIaHBoRHoop.
began at the Coggin lot andiextended to
Bragaon's brook and just beyond, where
the sehoolhouse stood in which the writer
first learned to lisp his "A.B C's."
The Coggin lot was the. one taken up by
Thomas Coggin, who came to it from
Beverly, Mass, with his family in 1865.
Here he built his humble abode and re-
sided the first years of his life in town
Just how many the record does not show.
He was born Feb. IA, 1874; married Lydia
obear Feb, 1855. He died Feb. IL, 1921,
aged eighty-nine years; she died Oct. p,
1900.
He and his wife were baptized by Oliver
Noble and taken into the church at the
Falls June 13, 1873, and their SON Samuel,
and Molly his wife, were baptized by Rev.
William Lyons and became members of
the church August 2, 1871.
The children of Thomas and Lydia
(Abear) Coggin were:
/. Hezekiah, born April 8. 1856.
II. Molly, born Nov. II, 1858; married
Robert Haskell Wood Dec. Is, 1852.
Ill. Lydia, born July 10, 1853; died May
l, 1871.
~. Josiah, born Nov. 20, 1854; married
Molly Pecker, April 10, 1885; she was born
Sept. 49, lT73. died july. 1888, he died in