MARTIN OVERLOCK - 1788-1888

A Smart old Gentleman of South Liberty, Maine

by

Isabel Morse Maresh

A tale about Martin Overlock, whose parents came from Germany to the old Broad Bay Settlement, now called Waldoboro, Maine, was recorded in an article in The Republican Journal, a Belfast, Maine newspaper, copied from a Bucksport, Maine newspaper, called ‘Bucksport Clipper‘. The article was written sometime in the 1880’s, and entitled, “A Smart Old Gentleman”. A few years later, the newspapers carried his obituary.

Martin Overlock had been interviewed by a reporter, who apparently was intrigued by the aged man and his stories. He was born Jan. 16, 1788, in Waldoborough, the son of John Joseph and Christiana (Alston) Overlock. When he was a child, between the ages of nine and twelve, the family moved to Washington, Me.

Martin served in the War of 1812, proud of his service to the Country, from which he received a small government pension.

About 1813, at the age of twenty-five years, Martin settled in South Liberty, being the earliest settler there. He built a crude structure back in the pasture. Five years later, in Feb. 1819, he married Mehitable Goodspeed of Vassalboro, the daughter of Amasa and Elizabeth (Robinson) Goodspeed.

Life was hard in those days. Martin and Mehitable had a family of thirteen children, twelve of whom lived to adulthood. They also raised a grandson.

After Mehitable’s death in May 1868, Martin, at age eighty-one, married a twice-widowed woman, Adeline Burns, whose first husband had been Gardner Meservey, and second husband, Benjamin Burns. Adeline lived but six years after her marriage to Martin. After Adeline’s death, Martin gave up working. He lived with and was cared for by his son, Frank, who had built the frame house on the old homestead. Martin’s daughter, Julia and John C. Hannan lived nearby.

Martin enjoyed telling stories of his long life. He told the reporter of the time when he was a boy, of hearing a pig squealing. The family went to investigate, and found that a bear was carrying the pig off into the woods. His father got his gun, his sister Jennie carried a lit torch, and they followed the bear, overtaking it within a half mile of the house. His father shot the bear, and rescued the pig, which was quite unharmed.

Martin related that he had come from a long-lived race, and from a large family. His deceased siblings had lived to be nearly eighty years of age, but he had far surpassed that age. When he was a young man, he attended the musters in Town. In those days he was a rugged young man and a champion wrestler, termed a ‘bully’.

Martin’s son, Frank, with whom he lived, could not recall when his father’s hair was anything but snow white. But in the last two years of his life, his hair turned gray, and then nearly all black, in some places jet black.

Martin was a strictly temperate man, and a firm Christian. When he could no longer work, he read the German Bible through seven times. He spoke German as well as English, and repeated German prayers daily. He had always been a healthy, strong man, never seeing a doctor until his last illness.

Martin had been a kind, loving husband, a tender and affectionate parent and friend who was loved and respected by all who knew him, though he was also known as being a strict disciplinarian. He had longed for death’s release for several years before his death, though he was as patient as a man of his advanced years could expect to be. He longed for the life he read of in his Bible, and to join his wives and children who had gone on before him.

On Sunday morning, July 29, 1888, as the clock tolled the hour of eight, Martin’s spirit calmly took its flight back to the God who had given it. He was aged one hundred years, six months and thirteen days. He had lived a long, eventful and happy life, dying on the farm that he had homesteaded so many, many years before. He left fifty-two living grandchildren, sixty-eight great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren as his legacy. Just one month after Martn’s death, his son, Frank, with whom he had lived, also passed on.

Martin’s funeral, held at the Moody Schoolhouse in South Liberty, Maine, conducted by Rev. E. C. Shattuck of Washington, Me. was attended by family, many friends, and neighbors, some that he had known for many, many years. He was buried with Mehitable in the Moody-Hannan Cemetery in South Liberty.

Now jump ahead one hundred and twenty years to the Moody-Hannan Cemetery in South Liberty. One day last fall, Bob, a descendant of Martin Overlock, and I were coming up Route 220 from the feed store in Washington, Me. when we chanced to stop at the cemetery. Stepping through the entrance to the side-hill on which the cemetery is located, I was appalled and speechless. The cemetery looked like a war zone. Trees were down and broken, as were gravestones. It is hard to determine if the trees have done all of the damage, or if vandals have also been present.

The gravestones of Martin and Mehitable Overlock, which stood proudly for well over one hundred years were flat on the ground, his broken perhaps beyond repair. These stones were standing at least four years ago, with pictures to prove it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who is responsible to clean up such carnage? It is a shame for any society to allow such a thing to happen. There is a law on the books of the State of Maine, that if a veteran is buried in any cemetery, an individual can sue the Town to keep the burial ground in good order. Martin Overlock was a veteran of the War of 1812, receiving a pension. John Colby Hannan, also buried in the cemetery was a veteran of the Civil War, also receiving a pension. I’m sure that many others buried in the cemetery are veterans. Away up in the south corner are buried my ancestors, the Lermond family, who had been neighbors to the Hannans and Overlocks. Two of the Lermond children’s gravestones, which had been missing before when I was in the cemetery were standing against the stone wall. 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little cemetery has not been in the best of condition for a few years, but what I observed last Fall was disgraceful. I would hope that some descendants might band together to make this again, what it must have been valued to the valiant ancestors who are buried there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Overlock's Gravestone in 2007