Thursday, March 11, 2010

Jonas & Eunice (Bacon) Green

Fifth Generation
Jonas Green was born in Groton, Massachusetts 15 Oct 1767 - he was one of triplets. Two survived, (Jonas & Josiah.) Reuben died just two days after their birth.

It is uncertain just when and why Jonas decided to move to Maine, but it is recorded that his brother Josiah, was an early settler of Wilton, Maine, as was their father, Jonas. Wilton was settled by proprietors from Dunstable and Chelmsford, Massachusetts in the 1790s, and that would most likely be the time that the three men arrived in the area.

Records show little activity in town affairs by the Greens, however Jonas’ marriage intention was filed in January 1813 and his first child Lucinda was born in October of that year.

Jonas was 45 years old and his bride - Eunice Bacon of Vassalboro, (Kennebec, Maine) was 26 years of age.
Their children:
Lucinda: b 10 Oct 1813; m. Ivory Webber
Jonas: b 31 Mar 1816
Polly Burns: b 30 Jan 1817; m. James Leavy
* Ansel Blossom: b 26 Oct 1818
William King: b 12 Oct 1820; m . Maria Hunt
Oliver Perry: b 16 Aug 1822
Sarah Ann: b 29 Mar 1824; m. Luther Merrill, Jr.
Amanda: b 7 May 1826
Hiram Augustine: b 13 May 1828
Abiel Bacon: b 4 Mar 1830
Roscoe G: b 3 May 1830; m. Nancy J. ___
Flavilla: b 5 Nov 1834; m. Edwin Robbins
Chestina: b 15 Nov 1837; d 13 May 1839

1840 census records indicate that one of the children was deaf and dumb.

The family settled in Township 8, later called Byron, Oxford county, Maine, 30 miles north west of Wilton, for within a year Jonas had purchased 100 acres of land there from Benjamin Savin.

Though not much of events in Byron have been recorded, the fact that Jonas engaged in a considerable number of land transactions is attested to at the Paris, Maine registry of deeds, which show him actively buying and selling land right through the year of his death in 1854. Probate records indicate him as administrator of the will of his father-in-law, James Bacon, in 1833.

There was a Jonas Green’s Store in Byron, but it is not known whether his or his son’s.

In September 1845, in ill health, Jonas Green had written his last will and testament. He gave his wife, who survived him by only three years, the sole use of his farm during her lifetime. Upon her death the farm with all buildings, stock and tools was to go to his sons Hiram and Abiel. To his other children he left various sums of money ($10 to $15 each) to be paid upon the death of his wife.

Jonas Green died 6 Nov 1845 at age 78 and is buried in the village cemetery at Byron with his wife and six of their children. Eunice (Bacon) Green died in Byron on 28 Feb 1849 at age 54.
Possessions at Jonas’ death included a pair of oxen, six cows, five yearlings, six calves, one mare with a colt by her side, 28 sheep, 4 swine and a wagon & harness among other possessions. His will is signed in a very shaky hand.