Person:William Cilley (1)

William CILLEY / SILLA / SEALY, born about 1734 in Salisbury or Kingston, Rockingham, NH (FamilySearch.org, IGI records), died 1818 in Brooks, Waldo, ME, buried in Wentworth Cemetery, Brooks, ME, son of Benjamin and Judith (DARLING) CILLEY of Salisbury, Kingston, and Hawke, NH. He moved to Gorham, Cumberland, ME and married 1 Sep 1753 in Kingston Anna CLARK, born 1 Sep 1733 in Kingston, Rockingham, NH, daughter of John and Elizabeth (CLIFFORD) CLARK. William enlisted in the service 11 Apr 1758 and was discharged 24 Nov 1758, having served in the Crown Point expedition during the French and Indian War. He later served 3 years during the American Revolution and was at Ticonderoga. After the end of the American Revolution, William and Anna removed to Buckfield, Oxford, ME and in the early 1800’s settled in Brooks, Waldo, ME along with two of their sons, Peter and Simon, and their nephew Benjamin CILLEY, Jr.; Brooks was incorporated in 1816. William’s name is mentioned in a deed in Rockingham County records, vol 121, p 274 as a son of the late Benjamin SELLY of Salisbury and as residing in Gorumtown, MA (now Gorham, Cumberland County, ME). He was a settler in Buckfield Township in 1790. He was a taxpayer in Brooks, Waldo, ME.

A History of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, pp 564-565: "William Cilley (anciently spelled in various ways but more commonly Silley – now Cilley), b. in N. H., was a soldier in the French and Indian war. Served in 1758 in the Crown Point expedition. Settled in Gorham, Me., and m. Anna Clark, b. Sept. 1, 1733. Moved to Buckfield and late in life to Brooks, where he died in 1818. The Gorham history and Cilley genealogy relating to this family are both imperfect and do not agree, and we cannot be certain as to names and dates."

A History of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, p 134: "The result of the work of the missionaries and itinerant preachers was a movement to form a Baptist society and it was found on looking over the ground that it was advisable to locate it in Turner, where the people of the east and southeastern portions of Buckfield in which sections the tenets of that faith had taken root, could be quite well accommodated. Accordingly in 1791, two years before the incorporation of the town, a petition to incorporate such a society was presented to the General Court of Massachusetts." A total of 62 names were on that petition, and 34 of these names were from Buckfield, including the names of William CILLEY and of Amos BROWN. In 1777, an Amos BROWN had married William’s daughter Sarah.

Entries for William CILLEY, 5th generation, are in the books by Annie M. Cilley, The Cilley Family Roots in New England: A Genealogical Workbook, Vol I (1996, Family History Publishers), p 23 and Vol II (2004, Higginson Book Company), pp 27-28. Sources cited by Annie Cilley are:

[1] Jonathan P. Cilley, The Cilley Family, #52, pp 10-11

[2] John R. Eastman, History of the Town of Andover, New Hampshire, 1751-1906, Part II, p 73 (child #1 of Benjamin and Judith (DARLING) SELLEY / CILLEY)

[3] Gorham vital records by Maine Genealogical Society, 1897

[4] Seth W. Norwood, Sketches of Brooks History (1935), p 117

[5] Alfred Cole and C. F. Whitman, A History of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine from the Earliest Explorations to the Close of the Year 1900 (1915), p 134, pp 564-565, and p 736

[6] FamilySearch.org, 2000

[7] WorldConnect, Jan 2001

Additional sources:

[8] "The Cilley Pages," #4216 for William, Mark Cilley, Enfield, CT http://www.cilley.net/thecilleypages/cilley-en-p/p4216.htm

[9] George J. Varney, Gazetteer of the State of Maine (1886), p 137

[10] 1790 United States Federal Census Record, Lincoln County, Maine, p 2

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Kathleen E. Hosier. Kingston, New Hampshire Early Families, Patriots & Soldiers. (Name: Heritage Books, 1540-E Pointer Ridge, Place, Bowie, MD 20716 1993;)
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