Biography of Lieutenant Thomas Green

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The transcription below is copied from an earlier typewritten transcription passed on by Jacob Lyman Greene, Thomas' great grandson. (The paper, type, and color of ink are the same as those in several other documents which I can surely attribute to him. He probably had his secretary at Connecticut Mutual do the typing.) I believe the original was written by Jacob Holt Greene, Jacob Lyman Greene's father, however it may have been by another descendant of Thomas. Note that "Blackguard", referred to near the end of this document, is a district in the northwestern part of Waterford, Maine. "Rowley District" refers to that portion of North Waterford, Maine, settled by families originally from Rowley, Massachusetts.

Sketch of Lieut Thomas Green.

Thomas Greene's father came directly to Boston from England with his family and died when Thomas was quite young. His wife had died previously, of consumption. There were two children Thomas and _____ who married _____ Trask, and lived in Boston. Thomas was "bound out" to a tavern keeper in Dracut, Mass. He was overworked and scantily fed. He finally ran away and made a living for himself as he could, working in taverns much of the time. He learned the trade of shoe maker, making a specialty of cloth shoes for women.

Later he settled in Rowley. He owned a small house and wood lot. He saw service in the French & Indian War and later in the Burgoyne campaign. The chaplins used to tell, this story. --

At the battle of Bemis Heights -- the Captain of his company showed the white feather so he was in command. He was so eager to reach the British that he had his company in advance of the line and was the first to enter the entrenchments of the British.

He was detailed at one time during the Rev war to care for small pox patients as he had had the disease. His wife used to bring his food to a place near the hospital, withdraw, and converse with him from a distance.

At the close of the war he faced the situation. He was forty or more, had a family of eight children, a small house and wood lot and probably an unprofitable trade. Grandmother used to tell Aunt K that she got great satisfaction from the fact that she had plenty of fuel. He sold his farm and in 1788 sailed from Newburyport to Portland. The vessel narrowly escaped shipwreck. Grandfather took with him considerable furniture, considering the distance of Waterford from the coast and the difficulty of transportation, a cow and possibly a horse. I know that he had a horse when travelling to W'd from Portland. He did not go over the ponds, although his household stuff probably did, but pushed through Standish, Baldwin, Sebago to S. Bridgton. Aunt B told me this laughable incident which happened while on their way. A slut which they had brought with them from B. had a litter of pups when they were in the wilderness. Grandsir Green proposed that they drown the pups, but the children begged so stoutly for them that Grandsir relented and they were put in a basket and slung on the horse where they rode to W'd along with Grandmother.

Grandfather's family was warmly received by Gen. Perley at his home in So Bridgton. He was the grandfather of Gen. Put. Perley and had moved from Andover to B. in 1769 (?). He was a man of character and energy and did more to promote the settlement of B. His log house was for many years a stopping place for immigrants. His house was about half a mile south of the S. Bridgton church. One of his grandsons was the Hon Samuel Perley who lived in Naples on a beautiful farm overlooking Sebago Pond. Gen. Perley brought to Bridgton the Baldwin apple. From B. it was taken to No Waterford by Uncle Daniel and then grafted into the native trees in the old Rowley district. Grandfather stayed a few days at Gen Perley's. My Grandmother stayed for months. This resulted in an intimacy between the families which continued through the life of the senior Perley and his sons. My father maintained the acquaintance as long as he lived. Gen Perley used to visit at my Grandfather's and at Grandsir Green's each year, bringing with him the negro who had been brought to B. as a slave.

When Grandsir reached W'd he found an absolute wilderness on Rowley St except a small clearing north east of my Grandfather Warren's house (just above the field which belonged to Grandsir Green east of the road) and the small clearing made by Jonathan Barnard on the lot which he purchased. This must have been in the spring of 1788. My Grandfather W. had been in Wd one or two years. When Grandfather W. left W. in the fall of 1787 for Augusta where he was to work at his trade he was very blue for Barnard told him that he was to move away. You can imagine his delight when he returned in the spring and found Grandsir Green and his big family settled and hard at work clearing a farm. He took his meals with them from that time but slept in his cabin just north of his middle barn. This is all that I know of Grandsir before he became permanently settled in W'd. I will add a few facts about Grandmother Green. -

Grandmother was a Kilborn. Her father's name was Joseph Kilborn. I do not know where he lived but I think in Newbury or Newburyport. He was a man of some position and had married twice, and each wife brought him considerable property for those times. He was opposed to the marriage of Grandmother because Grandfather was a poor man. She told him that if he had married for money she should not. Her mother was a Thurston. She was the mother of all the children. The second wife was a Pickard -- a poor stick. Grandmother Green had one brother Daniel. He was drowned. (I fancy Uncle Daniel Green was named after him). A sister moved to Hampden Maine; later she visited in Waterford. I think that her husband's name was Pickard. A second sister married a Kilborn and lived in Rowley. Isaac Kilborn who bought your Grandfather's farm after he was disabled, was her son. He was a bright man but a poor stick too.

These are meagre facts, but they are all that I can furnish. Sarah Green is still living in Waterford the last of the generation except Uncle William Green's widow who lives in Mass. near Brockton -- poor woman, I pity her. The son of Mr. R Mason, who married Betsey Houghton, has the Green bible; this doubtless gives some facts, perhaps nothing more than genealogy. I think that he lives in Providence R. I. He promised to give it to me but for some reason has not sent it.

I have no facts about Grandsir's military history except what I have written, and shall be glad to have you send them to me. I need not say that I welcome anything which tells of those brave people who built up such a noble civilization in dear old Rowley District.

William Green, Sarah's bro., is still living in 'Blackguard.' I fancy that he will recall more than Sarah.