|
|
Facts and Events
Quoted from Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Vol. 1, pg 157
- Eleazer (2), son of Eleazer (1) Coburn, was born in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, February 24, 1777, and when fifteen years old came with his father's family to that part of Canaan, Maine, which was afterwards Bloomfield, and is now included in Skowhegan. He went to work for Samuel Weston, afterwards his father-in-law, at that time the principal surveyor of the region, and a leading man in the community. He learned of him the surveying business, and became one of the most prominent land surveyors of his day. The virgin forests of the state were just beginning to find a market, and as a preliminary to sale, needed to be "run out."' For this service he had exceptional qualifications, and was in the front rank of his profession. He was an expert as to the relative value of the various sections he was employed to explore and survey, and was enabled to make choice purchases at the low figures then charged by the State. In 1830, in partnership with his sons Abner and Philander, he began lumbering on the Kennebec river, and the firm under the name of E. Coburn & Sons conducted a prosperous business. The business was continued after the father's death under the name of A. & P. Coburn.
- Eleazer Coburn, or Squire Coburn, as he was generally called, was for forty years one of the most prominent men of his section, a position which he owed to his strong common sense, his business sagacity, and his unusual force of character. With scanty early education, he made the best use of his opportunities, and was counted among the best informed men of his day. He studied the legal books in the library of his father-in-law, which fell to him at the death of the latter, and became well versed in the principles of the law. He was appointed justice of the peace when a young man, and at a period when it was not customary to call on ministers for that service, he performed many marriages. He was selectman of Canaan 1800, 1802-9, and first selectman 1811 and 1813. He was first selectman of Bloomfield the year it was incorporated, 1814, and also in 1815 and 1816. For many years he served the town on its most important committees. He represented his district in the general court of Massachusetts in 1812, 1813 and 1814. When Maine became a state in 1820 he was a member of the constitutional convention at Portland, and was sent to the Maine house of representatives 1820-21-26-29-31. He was connected with the Federalist and Whig parties in politics. He was on the board of trustees of Bloomfield Academy, and was trustee of Waterville College from 1836 till his death.
- Eleazer Coburn was a man of great natural ability, and of remarkable personality. He was an active and exemplary member of the Baptist church, and one of its chief pillars. He was one of the foremost in organizing a temperance society in Bloomfield, and was its president for several years. He was president of the County Temperance Society, and said he considered it the most honorable office he ever held. He was the first president of the first agricultural society in the county. In his later years he was an ardent Abolitionist, and at one time went with a friend to make abolotionist speeches in neighboring towns. It is said that he was a more ready and effective speaker than any of his sons. He possessed a shrewd wit, and was a hearty laugher, as were all the family. As a father he did not practice the stern discipline usual in his generation, but was gentle with his younger children, and like an older brother with his grown-up sons, advising with them on terms of equality as they came into manhood. He was kind hearted and liberal, and many stories are told of his sometimes quixotic generosity. He had the faculty of attaching his friends to him, so that many years after his death he was spoken of by aged men in terms of tender affection. He died at the age of sixty-eight, January 9, 1845.
References
- ↑ Burrage, Henry Sweetser; Albert Roscoe Stubbs; and George Thomas Little. Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, c1909)
1:157. - ↑ Eleazer Coburn, in Find A Grave
Find A Grave: Southside Cemetery.
ELEAZER COBURN
Died
Jan. 9, 1845
Æt. 68 yrs.
|
|
