Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

DYER There are several coats-of-arms in the English branches of the Dyer family, and while these arms and the crest are entitled to be worn appropriately by the American Dyers, the customs of our people oppose such indulgences. The arms of the Dyer family of the branch considered in this place is a plain shield, surmounted by a wolf's head, a reproduction of which appears on a tombstone in the Copps Hill burying ground, Boston. The surname Dyer undoubtedly is of English origin, and is believed to have been first applied in allusion to the occupation of the persons on whom it was bestowed. There may have been and doubtless were many persons in diverse localities engaged in the occupation from which the name is derived, hence it cannot be argued that all Dyers are descended from the same ancient ancestral head. (I) Deacon Thomas Dyer, immigrant ancestor, was born in England. The record of the Dyer family is to be found there as early as 1436. The Dyer coat-of-arms was a plain shield surmounted by a wolf's head. Thomas Dyer came from England in 1632, and settled soon afterward in Weymouth, Mass. He was admitted a freeman there May 29, 1644. He was a cloth-worker by trade. He also was an innkeeper in Weymouth, and was one of the leading citizens of his day. He was deputy to the general court in 1646 and four years afterward. He was deacon of the Weymouth church, and held various town offices. He died Nov. 3, 1676. His will was dated Nov. 3, 1676, and proved Nov. 13, 1676. He bequeathed to his wife fifty pounds and the estate of her former husband at Medfield. He bequeathed to his children named below, to his granchildren, to his pastor, Mr. Samuel Torrey, and to the Weymouth church. His estate was valued at two thousand one hundred and three pounds. The widow, Elizabeth, in her will, dated Nov. 20, 1678, proved Jan. 31, 1678-79, bequeathed to her sons, Abraham and John Harding, daughter Elizabeth Adams, daughter Prudence, son Joseph Dyer, and three grandchldren. Thomas Dyer married first (Agnes) Reed, who died Dec. 4, 1667. He married (second) Elizabeth (Adams) (Harding) Frary, widow successively of Abraham Harding, of Medfield, and of John Frary Jr. She died 1678-79. Children, all of 1st wife: 1. Mary, born July 3, 1641, married Samuel White. 2. John, born July 10, 1643. 3. Thomas, born 1645, died young. 4. Abigail, born 1647, died March 13, 1717-18; married Jacob Nash. 5. Sarah, born 1649, married John Roggles. 6. Thomas, born May 5, 1651. 7. Joseph, born Nov. 6, 1653 (twin), married Hannah Frary. 8. Benjamin (twin), born Nov. 6, 1653. 9. William, mentioned below. 10. Elinor, born about 1660. (II) William, son of Deacon Thomas Dyer (1), was born about 1658 at Weymouth. He married Joanna Chard, born Aug. 17, 1667. Children: 1. William, born March 23, 1693, died 1750. 2. Christopher, born 1701, mentioned below. 3. Joseph, married Jane Stephens. Probably others. (III) Christopher, son of William Dyer (2), was born at Weymouth in 1701. He settled in the adjacent town of Abington. He married, Nov. 27, 1725, Hannah Nash, who died in 1760, daughter of Ensign James Nash. Children: 1. Mary, born 1728. 2. Hannah. 3. Christopher, mentioned below. 4. Sarah. 5. Jacob. 6. Betty. 7. James, born about 1743, died Oct. 1, 1843, aged one hundred years; married Mercy Small. (IV) Lieutenant Christopher Jr., son of Christopher Dyer (3), was born about 1735-40, in Abington, Mass. Children, b. in Abington: 1. Bela, born 1757, soldier in the revolution; he and brother Christopher built a mill for General Lincoln at Pssamaquaddy, Maine, in 1780; died May, 1830, aged seventy-three; married Ruth Hunt. 2. Joseph. 3. Christopher, married Deborah Reed; soldier in the revolution. 4. Benjamin, settled in Ashfield, Mass. 5. Jesse, settled in Pl.ainfield, Mass. 6. Asa, mentioned below. (V) Asa, son of Lieut. Christopher Dyer (4), was born in Abington, Mass. in July, 1773, and died in Skowhegan, Maine, Feb., 1851. He was a farmer at Abington in early life. He removed to Skowhegan in the fall of 1817, and bought eighty-five acres of land on what is now called Dyer Hill, on Upper Madison street. In connection with his farm he manufactured brick for many years. He was one of the first settlers and taxpayers in what is now Skowhegan, in 1823. In politics he was a Whig. He married, Sept., 1801, in Abington, Mehitable Chamberlain, born Sept., 1780, in Abington, and died July, 1877 in Skowhegan. Children: Clarissa, John, Elbridge, Quincy, Chandler, William, Isaac (mentioned below), Joseph (mentioned below). (VI) General Isaac, son of Asa Dyer (5), was born in Canaan, now Skowhegan, Maine, Nov. 1, 1820. He was educated in the public schools of his native place, and worked with his father, farming and manufacuring brick. He left home when he came of age, and was associated for two years with his brother, John Dyer, in the manufacutre of saleratus. He then went to Albany, New York, and entered the employ of his brother, Quincy Dyer, in the same line of business. After a short time he returned to his home in Skowhegan, and assisted his father on the farm, teaching school during the winter terms in the towns of that vicinity. He was prominent in the state militia, and when the civil war broke out he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fifteenth Maine Regiment of Volunteers, Dec. 19, 1861, and served with his regiment at New Orleans under Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, and later under Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, in the Red River Expedition. He was commissioned colonel in August, 1862. He served in the Shenandoah Valley campaign under Gen. Sheridan, and was later detailed to take charge of the freed men at New Orleans. He was mustered out, after thc close of the war, having served three years and nine months, Sept. 9, 1865. In February, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general. When he entered the service he left his drug business, which he had established at Skowhegan, in the hands of his partner, George Cushing. Upon his return he resumed business in the partnership, and continued until 1880, when he sold out to his partner. Mr. Dyer then devoted his attention to farming and manufacturing brick on the homestead on Dyer Hill. In 1889 he sold the brick business. He was appointed postmaster Feb. 1, 1900, and reappointed in 1905 and 1908, giving both government and public perfect satisfaction in his administration of the office. Mr. Dyer is a Republican of steadfast loyalty and much influence. He was a member of the Skowhegan board of selectmen for six years; town treasurer one year, and member of the school committee five years. He is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church and chairman of its board of trustees. He is a member of Skowhegan Lodge of Free Masons; of Somerset Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of De Molay Commandery, Knights Templar, of which he is past commander. He is a member of Somerset Grange, Patrons of the Republic, of which he was the first commander, also the Loyal Legion. He married, June 29, 1851, Lydia F. Emery, born April, 1828, died Dec. 22, 1904, daughter of Levi Emery. Child, b. at Skowhegan: Albert F., born Sept. 17, 1856, educated in the public schools, engaged in the dry-goods business in Skowhegan. married Maria Emily Swain, by whom one child, Edith, b. Sept. 10, 1883, married Benjamin T. Stewart, Dec. 2, 1903. (VI) Joseph, son of Asa Dyer, married Dorcas ____, and had children, one of whom was named Frederick. (VII) Frederick, son of Joseph and Dorcas Dyer, was born in Hollis, Maine, Dec. 22, 1805, and died in Old Town, Maine. He married Sarah K., daughter of John and Esther (Moulton) Darrah. Three sons: William H., Daniel and Albert. (VIII) William H., son of Frederick and Sarah K. (Darrah) Dyer, was born in Old Town, Maine, June 9, 1846, and became a mechanic, millwright, a superior workman, who began his business life making tools and implements used by lumbermen. Later on he took up general millwright work, and followed that trade for nearly a quarter-century. He is now and for several years past has been connected with the mechanical work of pulp and paper-mills. He is a Mason, member of Whitney Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Canton, Maine, and in politics he is a Democrat. He married Catherine Noonan, born at St. George, New Brunswick, June 30, 1846, died Feb. 8, 1896. Child: Frederick R. Dyer. (IX) Frederick Rainey, only child of William H. and Catherine (Noonan) Dyer, was born in Old Town, Maine, Oct. 3, 1873, and received his earlier education in the Canton public schools, and in Hebron Academy, graduating from the latter in 1894. He then entered Colby College, remained there his freshman year, and in 1895 took up the study of law with O. H. Hersey, of Buckfield. In 1897 he passed the required examination, and in the same year was admitted to practice in the courts of this state. In 1899 Mr. Dyer began general practice in Buckfield, and although comparatively young in the profession, he nevertheless has won his way to an enviable standing at the bar in his town and county. He is a Republican in politics, and in 1907 represented Buckfield in the lower house of the state legislature. He has given efficient service as a member of the school board, and also in the performance of the more difficult duties of the office of superintendent of schools, which he filled for three years. He is a member of the Evening Star Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Buckfield, and Turner Chapter, No. 41, Royal Arch Masons. On Oct. 27, 1900, Mr. Dyer married Lena H., daughter of Edwin and Lola (Record) Maxim, of Buckfield. FASSETT In very early New England records this name is given as Fassell and Fassett. The first settler of his cognomen in America was John Fassell, who was made freeman in Dedham in 1654. Nathaniel was of Concord in 1666, and Patrick was in Malden, where he had a son born in Oct., 1672, and removed to Billerica, where he was an accepted inhabitant June 2, 1679. John Fassett, son of Patrick, clerk and deacon of the Separatist Church, in Hardwick, which was practially the nucleus of the settlement of Bennington, Vermont, in 1761, was a leading man in that company of wise and brve pioneers who resisted the encrochments of New York and laid the foundations of Vermnt, making the names of "Green Mountain Boys" famous. Patrick Fassett and his wife, Sarah, came from Rock Fassett Castle, Ireland, and settled in Lexington, Mass. There is a tradition that the ancestors of the family were refugees who fled from Scotland to escape religious prosecution, and that the name Fassett was assumed to conceal their identity, the original family name being MacPherson. Some branches of the family spell the name Fawcett or Fossett. (I) Francis Henry Fassett, son of John and Betsey (Turner) Fassett, was born in Bath, Maine, June 25, 1823. Family tradition states that Richard Fassett came to this country as a cabin-boy on the flagship of the English fleet which came to this country at the time of the French and English war of 1756. He deserted from the army and settled soon after at North Yarmouth, Maine. He is also recorded as having served in the revoltionary army 1775 and 1777. In the "Genealogy of the Mantague Family" we find the following: Fassett - Fawcett is probably from Forcett, a township in the Wapentake of Gillingwest, North Riding of Yorkshire, England. The family were early settlers in Lincolnshire, where their coat-of-arms is recorded. The family of Fawcett is of antiquity in County Durham, England. The family of Godfrey Faucet is of great antiquity in County Kent, from the time of the conquest. Francis Henry Fassett, when seven years of age, began to attend Master Joshua Page's school, in the old Erudition schoolhouse, and continued at intervals until he was fourteen, and then became a clerk in the general store. After four years' service there he was indentured to Isaac D. Cole, then a leading carpenter and builder, to learn the carpenter's trade. He remained with his master until he arrived at his majority, and then began business for himself. He had a natural aptitude for this business and from the first drew is own plans. He took such contracts as he could get in Bath for twenty years, and had then outgrown his environment; seeking a larger field he settled in Portland in 1864. While in Bath he was always with the progressive element and connected with those enterprises which were intended to benefit the town. He traveled much in the prosecution of his business, and obtained many valuable ideas of construction and architecture in various large cities. Among the organizations with which he was connected in Bath were the fire department and the band. In the two years following his removal to Portland he had become well acquainted with the people of that city, had done considerable work in the line of construction, and established a reputation for ability and reliability as a builder second to none. So when the great fire of 1866 swept away most of the business part of the city, he was well prepared to obtain as many contracts as he could fill; and from that time was one of the leading carpenter contractos of Maine. He has put up buildings in every part of the state, among the principal of which are the Maine General Hospital, the Alms House, the Second Parish Church, the City Hall, which was destroyed in 1866, and Keith Theater, one of the completest edifices of the kind in the country - all in Portland. Mr. Fassett was an old line Whig in his youth, and cast his first vote for Henry Clay. When the Whig party disrupted he joined the Republican party, and has ever since been a supporter of its principles. Mr. Fassett has voted at every presidential election but one since 1844. Francis H. Fassett and Mima Ann Welch were married in Bath, Maine. She was the daughter of Ezekiel and Temperance Welch; was born July 12, 1825, died Dec. 9, 1857. Children: Edward, William, Walter and Annie. Edward receives extended mention below. William graduated from Bowdoin College; practiced law, and died in Denver, Colorado. Walter resided in Kansas City, Missouri, where he died leaving one child, Arthur F. Annie died young. Mr. Fassett married (second) Harriet Hudson, daughter of John B. Hudson, of Bath, Maine. Children: Frederick G., Mima and Harriet. Frederick G. married Cora Jordan and has three children. Mima and Harriet are single. (II) Edward, eldest child of Francis H. and Mima Ann (Welch) Fassett, was born in Bath, April 13, 1848. He was educated in the public schools and Eastman's Portland Business College, and at the age of seventeen years went to Syracuse, New York, to learn the machinist trade. A year later he returned to Portland, to assist his father in the rush of business incident to rebuilding after the great fire. Illness of Mrs. Fassett necessitated a change of residence for her, and the years between 1876 and 1891 were spent by Mr. and Mrs. Fassett in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Denver, Colorado, and Kansas City, Missouri, where he engaged in the practice of architecture. In 1891 Mr. Fassett returned to Porltand and joined his father in business, and the two have since been associated, the younger man taking upon himself the greater part of the hard work in the last few years. Mr. Fassett is a Republican in politics and an Episcopalian in religious faith. While in the west he became an Odd Fellow and a Free Mason, and is now a member of those bodies. Edward Fassett married (first) in New York City, Armenia Angevine, born in New York City, June 1, 1848, died in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Oct. 27, 1876, daughter of ____ and ____ (Gibson) Angevine. Children: Mamie Angevine, who died at sixteen years of age. Grace Burnham, who married E. C. Higbee of La Crosse, Wisconsin. He married (second) Lucia K. Gile, born in Franklin, N. H., daughter of Alfred and Lucinda Gile. Children: Francis H. G., Wallace Flagg, Welch (died young), Malcolm Edward, Alice Mary and Harold Stedman.