Revolutionary War service: KCA’s DAR ancestor

Arrived in Maine 1788 (see below).

From Wm. Lapham’s History of Paris, Maine:
Eleazer Cole of Bridgewater. Drummer in Capt. Josiah Hayden's company, that marched on the 19th of April, 1775, on the occasion of the Lexington alarm. By an arrangement previously made, the Committee of Safety despatched messengers on horse in every direction. The news of the Lexington fight arrived in Bridgewater early in the day, and before sunset the company was formed and ready to march. He was again enrolled in Capt. Josiah Hayden's company, August 1, 1775, as Sergeant.

Came from Bridgewater, MA to Paris, ME, and thence to Greenwood, ME. [Bridgewater became Brockton, MA]. Later to Woodstock, ME.
Early settlers of Paris, Woodstock, and Greenwood, ME. The histories of Paris and Woodstock, written by William B. Lapham, have information on the family.

Eleazer was a petitioner for the incorporation of Greenwood in 1815.
Info. from Chris Dunham.

Late in life he came to Woodstock and lived with his son Jonathan.

"The town of Paris was granted in the year 1771, to Capt. Joshua Fuller of Watertown, Mass., and his company, for their services in the old French war, when they were under the King of England. The first trees that were felled in town, were cut by Mr. John Daniels, who is yet alive. The lot on which the clearing was first commenced is the same on which the Meeting house, Court House and other public buildings now stand and includes almost all the village on Paris Hill and was sold at that time for an iron kettle. Corn was first raised in Paris in the year 1780 by Isaac Jackson and Lemuel Jackson, Jr. Soon after this time, old Mr. Lemuel Jackson came to Paris and brought with him about fourteen hundred dollars and greatly helped the settlement of the town. With him came his son, Levi, and his son-in-law, Deacon John Willis. I shall now give a list of those whom I consider the first inhabitants of this town: John Daniels and his son John, Asa Barrows and Malachi, Abner Shaw, Thomas Stevens, Benjamin Hammond, Josiah Smith, Joseph Hammond, Nicholas Chesley, John Besse and his son John, Asa Dean, Joseph Perry, Asa Perry, Uriah Ripley, Seth Morse, James Morse, Isaac Bolster and his son Isaac, Jonathan Hall, Abijah Hall, Jonathan Shurtleff and his son Jonathan, Peter Durell, Reuben Hubbard, Levi Hubbard, Wm. Stowell, Daniel Stowell, Elias Stowell, Elijah Robinson, Stephen Robinson, Daniel Staples, Seth Carpenter, Elias Partridge, Eben Nelson, Abner Rawson, Ebenezer Rawson, Caleb Cushman, Aaron Fuller, Simeon Pond, Jonathan Bemis, William Stearns, Abijah Warren, Sylvanus Robbins, Barnabee Faunce, John Tuell, David Andrews, Edward Andrews, Abiezer Andrews, John Gray, Edmund Dean, Nathan Nelson, Solomon Jordan, Merodach Smith, Timothy Smith, Joseph Swift, Caleb Swift, William C. Whitney, (made a beginning with the first settlers, but soon after removed,) Lemuel and Joseph Holmes, James Lebroke, Josiah Riscoe, Jairus Shaw, Samuel King, George King, Solomon Bryant, Eleazer Cole, William Swan, Jacob Twitchell, Jesse Briggs, Nathan Pierce, Asa Robinson, Silas Maxim. The first white male child born in Paris was Joseph Daniels. The wife of Deacon John Willis was the first woman who came to Paris and it is yet alive. This town was at first called Number Four. It was incorporated by the name of Paris in 1793.

Eleazer Cole from Bridgewater, settled on a lot in the Swift neighborhood. He was rather undersized, but active and of uncommon strength. One day he had trouble with Joseph Swift, one of his neighbors, and, as was too frequently the case in those days, from words they came to a trial of strength. Swift was much the larger of the two, but Cole was quickest and soon got the better of his antagonist. Instead of carrying the matter into court, they agreed to leave it to their neighbors, who doomed Cole to two days' work hoeing corn for Swift. The corn-field was by the side of the public road, and Cole, while performing his enforced labor, hailed everyone that passed and explained that he was paying for giving Swift a whipping. The latter, who was hoeing with Cole, was much annoyed by these frequent explanations, and was no doubt glad when justice was satisfied and Cole had gone home.

Eleazer Cole was fond of playing practical jokes upon his neighbors-John Billings was one of them. Billings had commenced a clearing, built him a log hut and was keeping "old bachelor's hall." He had a field of corn near his hut, and one day while at dinner he heard a cow-bell in his field, and thinking a neighbor's cow might be trespassing, and rushing out he was surprised to find no animal in sight. A second alarm caused him to make a more thorough search, when the disturbance was explained by finding Cole seated upon a log and hidden from view by the growing corn, with an old cow-bell in his hand. Billings afterward married Cole's daughter, Phebe.

John Bird...They moved into the log house with Eleazer Cole in the Swift neighborhood...

Subject: Eleazer Cole
Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 01:41:22 -0400
From: "Christopher L. Dunham" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]

Hello,

Here are the directions to the Young-Cole Cemetery in Greenwood. The
cemetery lies on a jeep trail which runs from the Tubbs District in eastern
Greenwood to the bottom of Hayes Hill in Greenwood City. From Route 219
near the Greenwood-West Paris town line, turn onto the Richardson Hollow
Road. Roughly 1000 feet from its intersection with the Young Hill Road,
this road takes a turn to the south. From this point continue travelling
west along the dirt road. This road soon becomes impassable. The cemetery
lies on the left, about 0.5 miles from the Richardson Hollow Road. There
are only three stones standing in the yard, two of which belong to Eleazer
Cole. One of them is a military marker, saying that he served in "Sgt.
Hayden's Co. | Bailey's Mass. Regt. | Rev. War" Markers like this were
placed by the War Department as late as the 1930s, often at the request of
descendants. It is the other gravestone, I believe, that gives Eleazer's
date of death as Aug. 9, 1833.

Chris

Per Jim Cole via e-mail 6/4/01:
More About Eleazer Cole:
Fact 1: April 19, 1775, Was a drummer under Capt. Josiah Hayden's Co., Col. Bailey's Regt.
Fact 2: May 01, 1775, Was a Sergeant under Capt. Hayden's C., Col. John Thomas's Regt.
Fact 3: September 01, 1775, Was a Sergeant same company & regt. for sixty days.
Fact 4: July 22, 1780, Severed under Capt. David Packard's Co., Col. Carey's Regt.
Fact 5: July 27, 1833, Was granted a pension.

From Barbara Honkala 11/26/01:
In 1788, Eleazer and Lucy with their family, migrated to Maine in an ox cart caravan with a lot of other families including the Swans, Bryants, Shurtliffes, and other Coles. They settled in Plantation #4 (Paris 1792). It was along the rough wilderness trail between Paris and Rumford that Eleazer Cole, Benjamin Bacon, Lemuel Holmes, Calvin Cole, Lemuel Perham, and Jotham Perham settled, without deeds and cut off the forest in what was considered Indian Territory. The settlers improved the road in 1796.

Eleazer and son Calvin moved to that part of Planatation #4 that was later incorporated as Greenwood in 1806. Paris History records on p. 73, “Eleazer Cole of Paris, formerly of Bridgewater, Mass., 10 Feb. 1798, bought of Lemuel Jackson one-half of Lot 10 in the 1st Range. His son Calvin had previously bought the other half lot. He sold after a few years to Joel Robinson, and moved to Greenwood, where, and in Woodstock, many of his descendants still live. His children, all born before he came to this town, were, etc.” Hist. of Paris, Maine from its Settlement to 1880.

As Maine was a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Great and General Courts granted the land they had settled upon to Gorham or Dummer Academy about 1816-1820. Although Sgt. Eleazer was a Veteran, and Calvin had served in the 1812 War, out they had to go. Eleazer and Lucy, for a time, went with their son Cyprian in the Bryant District of Greenwood and then went with the youngest son Jonathan Cole who lived on the road from Paris to Pinhook [now State Rte. 232].

Eleazer was one of God’s noble men. He got his first pension check on 27 July 1833, just one week before he died on 7 Aug 1833. He is buried in the old family cemetery on his old farm at his request. Lucy died six years later and presumably she is also buried there.

This small cemetery has a substantial rock wall on all four sides, and is sometimes referred to as the Dan Young cemetery. It is in the lower part of Greenwood on the long abandoned road that led over Whittle Hill to West Paris, on the south side of the Little Androscoggin River.

For years, Leo Cole carried an American flag to mark the grave on Memorial Day.

About 1910, George L. Stevens, a descendant of Mary Stevens, Eleazer’s mother, not knowing where Eleazer was buried, placed a stone in the Cole Cemetery on top of Rowe Hill. This caused some confusion, but since then the stone has been placed correctly. Sgt. Eleazer’s grave is now marked by two military stones, one at both ends. All the other graves are marked only by fieldstones.”

From The Town of Greenwood, 1816-1960:
“Early Roads in Greenwood”
“The road from Dan Cole’s Place over Rowe Hill, to Bryant Pond. Also, I will add the old road from Greenwood City that leads over Whittle Hill to West Paris. It is closed now, but on this road, on the East Side, is a small cemetery where the Revolutionary War Veteran Sergeant Eleazer Cole is buried” (pg. [9]).

The Coles and Shurtleffs had known each other since Plymouth Colony—Hugh Cole Sr.’s second wife was Elizabeth Lettice who had married William Shurtleff.

Eleazer and Lucy’s marriage in Bridgewater (Brockton): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-9...%2F1%3A1%3AQPCQ-Q6MM

Eleazer is listed on the 1790 USC for Plantation No. 4 (later Paris).
2 Free White Persons- Males- Under 16
1 Free White Persons—Males-Over 16
6 Free White Pesons—Females
9 Number of household members

This household looks like a mix of Eleazer’s family and someone else’s.

Subject of Massachusetts and Maine Direct Tax of 1798 in Paris, Cumberland Co., ME.

Listed on 1800 USC for Paris, Cumberland Co., ME.

No record listing birthdates of Eleazer’s and Lucy’s children has been found.

From Town Register of Waterford, Greenwood, etc.:
https://archive.org/stream/townregisterwate00mitc/...rwate00mitc_djvu.txt
“Christopher and Solomon Bryant, Jr., removed from Woodstock to the vicinity, later known as the Bryant neighborhood. Eleazer Cole and his sons, Calvin and Cyprien, were among the earliest settlers. This family has contributed largely to the prosperity of the town. Others of the early families here were James Nutting, Jonathan Gurney, Stephen Sanborn, Consider Cole (near Bryant's Pond), Chas. Young, (on Young Hill), James French, Wm.Cordwell, Jeremiah Noble, Luther Cole, Capt. John Noyes, (on Haskell's grant), Isaac Howe, (on Howe Hill), Bela Noyes, Jesse Cross, Geo. Berry, John Small, Jnnies Packard, Israel B. Fifield, Hatevil Hall, Amos Young, Wm. Noyes, Francis Beckley, and others.”