Person:Sam Small (1)

From "The Small Family in America" by Lauriston Ward Small, pg. 2-3:

    Deacon Samuel Small, son of Samuel and Elizabeth, was born in Kittery, April 17, 1700.  In that town before he was quite sixteen years old he married Anna Hatch, and in no very long time thereafter removed to Scarborough where he spent all the remaining years of his long and eventful life.  His house was opposite to, and a little south of the Black Point cemetery, and is supposed to be the one now standing, sometime known as the Robinson house.  In 1728 when the old Congregational church was organized he was made deacon.  He was the third and last single owner of the Ossipee lands.  In 1773, he deeded the land to some of this children as follows:  To Samuel and Joshua three-eights each.  To Anna, Elizabeth and his grandson Benjamin son of Samuel, one twelfth each.  The three men went up to Linington and took possession of their ancestral acres, and after a contest in the courts, the Indian deed was pronounced valid, and their title perfect.  It should be noted that in 1712, when Francis was too feeble even to write his own name, he deeded Ossipee to his son Daniel with whom he was then living in Provincetown, Cape Cod, but the deed was invalid.
    When the Smalls had the land divided into towns they reverentially named one of them Francisborough in honor of the first owner, but the settlers have changed to Cornish.  It should have been Smalltown, as Carrollton was named for Carroll.
    Deacon Samuel was chosen clerk of Scarborough in 1727, and with the single exception of 1775 when he was probably absent from home attending to matters in connection with the coming war, he was clerk every year until 1779. - - A period of fifty two years.  And strange as it may seem to us, he was usually moderator of the meetings also.  He was usually one of the selectmen and a member of all important committees.  In 1786, when carrying the weight of eighty-six years he was moderator of the meeting for the last time, and when at the ripe old age of ninety years he for the last time served on a committee.  For sixty-three years he was the most conspicious name on the Scarborough record.
    Deacon Samuel was very active in matters which led up to the Revolutionary War, and so extremely enthusiastic in the cause of liberty that he recorded the entire Declaration of Independence in the town clerk's book, for which breach of propriety we will smilingly forgive him.
    At the age of seventy-eight years he was at the head of the committee of correspondence, inspection and safety, and when at the age of seventy-nine years he was a member of the convention at Cambridge to form a state government.  The date of his death is unknown, but his years probably equalled those of his grandfather, Francis, who died at the age of ninety-three.
    Deacon Samuel had a son Samuel who was also a deacon, and whose name frequently  appears on the Scarborough record prior to 1775, after which it is seen no more.  Some have supposed that the father died at about that time and that the Samuel of later years was the son.  But the disappearance of the "jr" is accounted for by the removal of Deacon Samuel jr. to Limington.
    Of Deacon Samuel's wife we know only her name.  Their children were 1 Samuel, 2  Anna, 3 John, 4, Joshua, 5 Elizabeth, 6 Sarah, 7 Benjamin, 8 James, 9 Mary.

Info on family included in: Genealogical and Family History in the State of Maine

Birthdates and family information from: Old Kittery and Her Families By Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Harmon, Artemas C. The Harmon Genealogy Comprising All Branches in New England, Second Publisher: Historical & Genealogical Books On CD, Second Address: 19 Gall. (Gibson Bros., Inc, Washington, D.C., 1920, Second Date, 2000)
   page 14.