Columbus County NcArchives Biographies.....Chadbourn, Arthur Stanly 1892 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 2, 2008, 7:01 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) ARTHUR STANLY CHADBOURN IT IS a far cry from Kittery, Maine, to Chadbourn, North Carolina. The distance in space, however, and the difference in environment have both been bridged by the work of one American family, which for two hundred and eighty years has been identified with the life and growth of southwestern Maine; one branch of which, now in the third generation, is doing the same constructive work in North Carolina, where it has created one of the largest and most flourishing towns in Columbus County, which bears the name of that family. A notable member of this family was President Paul A. Chadbourn, the fifth President of Williams College, who, though he died at the age of sixty, had a long and distinguished record as a scholar and scientist. After considerable research, he said the name of the family belonged to that class which is derived from a locality, and the first man who bore it was "a dweller by the ford." He also promulgated the idea, which others had held before him, that the family name was derived from St. Chad (or Ceadda), an English ecclesiastic who died in 672 A. D. This, however, seems to be rather fanciful in view of the fact that very few of our modern family names can be traced back to the seventh century, surnames having come into use at a much later period. Twelve variations in the spelling of the family name are found in old documents and records. These are: Chadbourn, Chadbourne, Chadben, Chadbon, Chadborn, Chadboun, Chadburn, Chadburne, Chatbun, Chatburn, Shadburn, and, most curious of all, Chadbon. The first of this family to come to America was Humphrey Chadbourn, who emigrated in 1631 from Devonshire, England. A large number of the early Maine settlers came from Dartmouth or Kingsware, two English towns which lie on opposite banks of the River Dart in the County of Devon. No record is found of what Humphrey did in the first year or two in the new country, but on July 8,1634, he appeared in what is now Kittery with two companions, James Wall and John Goddard, in a vessel which bore the name of the "Pied Cow." They evidently named the cove on which they landed after the name of the ship, for it is known as "Cow Cove" to this day. These three men had come to that part of the new country for the purpose of carrying out a contract with Captain John Mason, who was a patentee of lands in that section, and who wanted a sawmill erected. This was probably the first sawmill in New England, as Plymouth had only been founded fourteen years before. The three men engaged to work for Mason for five years. Then they were each to have fifty acres of land on lease for the duration of three lives, or generations, for which they were to pay an annual rental of three bushels of corn. Mason did not live to carry out his contract, as he died in 1635. But Chadbourn and Wall carried it to completion, and eighteen years later, on the 21st of March, 1652, James Wall made a quaint deposition in which he recited the story of their work for Captain John Mason, of London. According to him, they were landed by Mr. Joreslenn, the agent of Captain Mason, with their goods and tools, at a place which bore the Indian name of Newichawannock. Wall deposed that the agreement was that they should build at the falls known by the Indian name Ashbenbedick, for the use of Captain Mason and themselves, one sawmill, and one stamping mill for corn. The contract was fulfilled and the plants operated for three or four years. In addition to this, James Wall built one house on the land and William Chadbourn built another, which he gave to his son-in-law, Thomas Spencer, who, at the date of the deposition, was living in said house. James Wall related that they bought some planted (cleared) land of the Indians, and held peaceable and quiet possession of this land, which they cultivated during the period referred to. In 1634 Humphrey was followed to the new country by his father, William Chadbourn, who had probably reached middle life before he emigrated, and evidently lived to be an old man. He was alive in 1652, as his name appears on the act of submission to the Colony of Massachusetts, signed on November 16, 1652, by forty-one inhabitants of Kittery. William Chadbourn, who was, therefore, the progenitor of this family in America, had three children: William, Jr., Humphrey, and Patience. Kittery lies across the Piscataqua River, opposite the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. William, Jr., lived certainly for a time in Portsmouth. He had a daughter, Mary, born in Boston in 1644, who married John Frost, of Dover, New Hampshire. It is believed that this family returned to England. Patience, the daughter of William, Sr., married Thomas Spencer, planter, lumberman and tavern-keeper at Berwick. According to James Wall, Thomas Spencer was a son-in-law of Humphrey Chadbourn, but this statement in the old documents would indicate that he was his brother-in-law. Another old document states that he was born about the year 1600. This would clearly prove that Thomas Spencer was his brother-in-law, and not his son-in-law. This document recites that he came over in the bark "Warwick" and landed on September 9, 1631, that his first work was as chief carpenter for David Thompson, a patentee of lands, and he built what was known as the Great House at Strawberry Bank, now Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This house was originally built as a block-house for defense against the Indians, but it subsequently became a trading-house. Humphrey Chad-bourn became an influential man in his community. He had a large landed estate. One authority, Hubbard, calls Humphrey Chadbourn "chief of the artificers." Thomas Bailey Aldrich, in his delightful work on Portsmouth, entitled "An Old Town by the Sea," after reciting the facts about the building of "the Great House," said that Mr. Chadbourn consciously or unconsciously sowed seed from which a city has sprung. After settling at Kittery, Humphrey Chadbourn prospered greatly. It is probable that he succeeded Ambrose Gibbons as steward, or agent, for Captain Mason at that place. On May 10, 1643, he bought of the Indian Sagamore, Bowles (or Boles), a large tract of land, which land for the most part remained in the hands of his descendants for more than two hundred years. In 1651 and 1652 he received a grant from the Governor for about three hundred acres in Kittery. Miss Sarah Orne Jewett speaks of Humphrey Chadbourn as "the lawgiver of Kittery." In 1651 he was elected a selectman, corresponding to the alderman of our day. He was Ensign of the Militia in 1653. Like all the other pioneers he had to bear his part in the ferocious little wars with the Indians. From 1654 to 1659 he was town clerk. In 1657, 1659 and 1660 he represented his district as a Deputy to the General Court, which corresponds to our modern legislature, and which title is yet used in some of the New England States in that sense. In 1662 he was appointed one of the associate judges for the County of York. His will, a long and interesting document, bears the date of May 25, 1667. He mentions his wife, Lucy, his eldest son, Humphrey, his younger sons, James and William, and his little daughters, Lucy, Alyce, and Katherine. He left an estate consisting of farms, mills, and timberlands; his total landed estate appearing to have been nine hundred acres, and the inventory of his estate showed the value of 1,713 pounds and 14 shillings, which, for that time, was an enormous estate. Humphrey Chadbourn's wife was Lucy, daughter of James and Katherine Shapleigh Trewargy, of Kittery. His wife was much younger than himself, and after his death married Thomas "Wills, of Kittery. Humphrey's son, Humphrey, was born in 1663 and died in 1694. James died about 1686. William was taken prisoner by the Indians, and released at Pemaguid, or Penobscot, when Major Waldern's expedition went East in 1676. We have no record of William having married. James, son of Humphrey, lived in Kittery, obtained a number of grants of land, was a trustee of the estate of John Heard, and in a deed described himself as "The Proprietor or High Lord of the Soyle." He married, between 1675 and 1680, Elizabeth, daughter of James and Shuah Heard, and granddaughter of John Heard. He died about 1686, and his widow later married Samuel Small. The children of this James were: Lucia, born in 1681, who married Jeremiah Calef; and James, born in 1684, who lived until 1765. This second James became one of the founders of the town of Sanford, Maine, and head of what was known as the Sanford branch of the Chadbourn family. He was born September 20, 1684. In 1703 he received a grant of land in Kittery, and in 1732 served as a selectman. In 1739 he was one of the grantees of forty "settlers' lots," of 130 acres, in the new town, called Phillipstown, which was incorporated in 1768 as Sanford. He received two of these lots and moved with his family to the new town. He was at this time sixty-five years of age. He built Chadbourn's block-house and also the second saw and grist mill in the town. These mills were located on the Mousam River, which site in 1904 was occupied by one of the mills of the Goodall plush plant. James Chadbourn was active in all town affairs, and four of his sons served in the Indian wars. He died April 9, 1765. He had married on September 24, 1713, Sarah, daughter of Captain John Hatch and widow of Joshua Downing. They had seven children: James, John, Samuel, Sarah, Elizabeth, Lucia, and Joshua. Sarah married Tobias Leighton; Elizabeth married, first, Joseph Shorey, and secondly, Joseph Libbey, and Lucia married Benjamin Fernald. It was John, the second son, born March 23, 1716, and who died April 5, 1789, who was the progenitor of the North Carolina family. He moved with his father to the new town of Sanford, and later purchased one of these settlers' lots, of which record was made on September 30, 1757, the consideration being sixty pounds. With his brothers, James and Joshua, he served in Captain Jonathan Bean's Company in the Indian wars of 1747 and 1748. He was a Sergeant in Captain William Gerrish's Company in 1759 and 1760. He was one of the owners of the Chadbourn mills. On February 29, 1756, with his brother Joshua, he joined the First Congregational Church of Wells. He married December, 1741, Mary, daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth Spinney, of Kittery. They had children—Eleazar, James, and Polly. James, son of John, was born in Sanford February 4, 1758, and died there May 18, 1839. He was a farmer, and during the Revolutionary War served in Major Littlefield's detachment from York County, on the Penobscot expedition, from July to September, 1779. He married Deborah, daughter of Deacon Naphtali and Anna Harmon. His wife was a sister of the wife of his brother, Eleazar. She was born May 8, 1760, and evidently died before her husband. Their children were: Benjamin, Lucy, Nathaniel V., Levi, Mehitabel, Anna, George, Mary, Theodate, and William. George was born in Sanford February 1, 1797, and died there April 20, 1878. He was a school teacher and farmer. He married, on January 18, 1820, Asenath, daughter of Stephen and Betsey Hobbs, of Sanford, who was born December 1, 1799, and survived him nearly fourteen years, her death occurring on January 15, 1892, in her ninety-third year. Their children were: Stephen Hobbs, Josephine Hobbs, James Harmon, Betsey Hobbs, George, Lucy H., and William Hobbs. James Harmon Chadbourn, who was in the eighth generation from William, was born in Sanford November 2G, 1822, and died at Wilmington, North Carolina, January 12, 1902. He was educated in the public schools of Sanford and Alfred, and at the famous old Phillips Andover Academy. He went to North Carolina in 1844, a young man of twenty-two, and engaged in the turpentine business at Shallotte, Brunswick County. Later he removed to Wilmington, where he was joined by his brother George. They established in 1851 the lumber firm of James H. Chadbourn and Company, later known as the Chadbourn Lumber Company, and which for many years has been one of the foremost lumber concerns in the Southern States. James H. Chadbourn was President of this company until the end of his life. In 1871 they were joined by another brother, William H. Chadbourn, who became a partner in the business. It is said of this Wilmington Chadbourn firm that these brothers were so closely united in their operations and sentiments that they seemed to the outside people to be actuated as by one mind. All three of the brothers were prominent men in the community, and James H. Chadbourn enjoyed many positions of trust and honor because of his known capacity and integrity. As the sons of the three brothers arrived at manhood, they were one after the other taken into the business. The extent of their operations may be judged by the fact that they built, equipped and operated a railroad fifty-one miles long for the convenience of their own business. Naturally, like many other of these timber roads it grew into a public carrier. The town of Chadbourn, the first settlers of which were on the ground before James H. Chadbourn moved to North Carolina, became the center of their operations and has profited by the steady support of the Chadbourn interests. The Chadbourns were far-seeing men. They did not believe in merely cutting away the timber and leaving nothing in its place. They encouraged farming on these cut-over lands. Chadbourn is peculiarly situated in a climatic way, which gives it great advantages in the trucking industry, and it has become one of the greatest trucking towns of the South. While the strawberry is the principal crop, all kinds of early vegetables are grown, and it has developed into a cheerful little town, with banks and fine stores, supported by a most prosperous farming community. James H. Chadbourn served the people of Wilmington long and faithfully. Thirty years a member of the School Board, he gave invaluable service in the building up of the public school system. He was for a long period a director in the Oakdale Cemetery Company and also a director in the Wilmington Compress and Warehouse Company. It was through his influence that the property of the Tileston Normal School was presented to the city for a public high school. He was a vestryman of St. James Episcopal Church. Some writer, in speaking of him, said: "He was a man of broad benevolence, truly a benefactor, and his life has been a blessing to Wilmington." He married, November 18, 1858, Mary Ann Bluxome, of Philadelphia. Their children were: Serena, born November 19, 1S59; Joseph Bluxome, born October 27, 1861, who died October 24, 1903; Georgianna, who died in infancy; Charles Cumston, born May 3, 1866; Secretary and Treasurer of the Chadbourn Lumber Company, and Lizzy, born July 24, 1868, died December 5, 1S97. She married, on January 18, 1892, R. B. Rorison, and left two children, Harmon and John Lee Rorison. The sixth child was Walter Harmon, who died very young. The seventh was Stephen Hobbs, born December 6, 1872, who married, January 8, 1897, Gertrude Leslie Cunningham. The eighth child was Annie, who died young, as did the ninth, Louise. Joseph Bluxome, the oldest son of James Harmon, married Lizzy Stanly and left only one son, Arthur Stanly, born December 4, 1892. Joseph Bluxome Chadbourn grew up and took his part in the business, and died in 1903. His son, Arthur Stanly Chadbourn, a present representative of that branch of the family, who is in the tenth generation from William Chadbourn, founder of the American family, was born at Chadbourn, December 4, 1892. Mr. Chadbourn was educated in the Chadbourn High School, the Staunton Military Academy and Randolph Macon College. Like the large majority of his family, he is an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and is active in Sunday-school work. As he is not yet twenty-four years of age, and unmarried, his record is to be made, but he has, at the outset, unusual advantages. These advantages may be summed up as an inheritance through ten generations of men who have been able to meet every emergency, and have given evidence of superior ability. The New England family to which they belonged drew its strength chiefly from the fact of living in a harsh climate with a soil not over fertile, and this, of necessity, developed resourcefulness and adaptability. Wherever they have located, these New Englanders, like the Scotch, have achieved success and have almost universally been influential members of the community in which they have cast their lot. A believer in sound ethics, Arthur S. Chadbourn starts life with the proposition that it is not only his own duty, but that of all other men, to co-operate to the extent of their opportunity and ability toward the betterment of mankind, not only in a material, but also in a moral way, recognizing the fact that material prosperity not based on sound morality cannot endure. His mother's family name, Stanly, is one of the great historic names of England, and the family has evidently made a record in North Carolina, for the name has been given to one of the counties in the State. One of the staunchest patriots of the Revolutionary War in North Carolina was John Wright Stanly, born in Pennsylvania about 1742. He went to North Carolina in 1770, built up a great business, and was a man of unusual ability and great generosity. He is said to have loaned General Greene, during his great campaign, eighty thousand dollars, a great sum in those days, which a grateful government never repaid. He died at the age of fifty. A grandson, Edward, was Attorney-General of the State in 1847, and was a member of the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, thirty-first and thirty-second Congresses. The Chadbourn family does not appear in the old country to have been numerous, and the Coat of Arms attributed to it is described as follows: Argent, a grifiin segreant. Crest: a demi griffin. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/columbus/photos/bios/chadbour63gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/columbus/bios/chadbour63gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 19.1 Kb