Charles B. Webber

By Cara Kent · Vassalboro, Maine · ironfistinavelvetglove.com

This month’s historical entry regarding a man buried in Vassalboro may end up being a two-part series as there are connections to other towns and states that enrich the narrative of this one man’s journey to the man he became. One’s genealogy can be tricky to follow and there are many documented errors in birth, marriage, death dates, and locations. Both girls and boys were often given the names of their parents, making it difficult to trace back through the years.

My hope in this article is to bring to life the stories and to describe the sometimes disturbing, historic, and day-to-day trials which our main character and his family were either born or married into and to highlight those individuals and families who contributed to society and are celebrated for it. Each story tells of heroic and/or notable events that many of us are familiar with. It’s the little things that people do in their lives that I wish to feature and bring into focus.

We will end with the man who lived and is buried in Vassalboro, who made significant contributions to the beginnings of the village of Vassalboro and thereby ensured the village thrived and outlasted his time on this earth. To piece these stories together coherently, I present a genealogy of the characters first. An * marks individuals who will show up later in one of the scenes.

Webber Family

Thomas Webber (baptized in 1629 in Bideford, Devon, England) settled in Falmouth (Portland, ME) in 1649. He died in 1686/87 in Casco Bay, Falmouth (Portland, ME). He married Mary Parker (1639), also born in Bideford, Devon, England. They married around 1655. There is some confusion about the date she died. It was either in 1700 in Georgetown, Parker Island, ME or shortly before 1714/1715 when her Probate was settled.¹

Thomas and Mary had the following children:

*John – born 1656

**Samuel – 1658

James – 1664

*Joseph – 1665

Along with five other children who do not play major roles in any of the upcoming stories.

**Samuel Webber (1658) married **Deborah Littlefield (1663) in 1680.

Samuel and Deborah had the following children:

Deacon Samuel Webber – 1681

**John – 1683

**Joseph – 1689 (Some documents list his birth as 1697)

Along with seven other children who do not play major roles in the upcoming stories.

**Joseph Webber (1697) and *Mary Lewis (1726) married in 1726.

Joseph and Mary had the following children:

Joseph, Jr. – 1727

****Charles B. Webber – 1741 – our main character

Matthias – 1744

Charles B. Webber married Hannah Call (1744) in 1761 in Dresden.

Call Family

**Philip Call III (1684) married Sarah Tresswell or Trussel (1686) in 1706/07.

Philip and Sarah had the following children:

**Philip Call IV – 1707

**Obadiah – 1709

Along with four other children who do not play major roles in any of the upcoming stories.

****Philip Call IV (1707) married Dorothy Hadley (1712) in 1729.

Philip IV and Dorothy had the following children:

Mary – February 1729 – five months before marriage. Died 1730

Philip – 1731

*Elizabeth – 1734

Dorothy – 1736

Ruth – 1738 Died 1739

Sarah – 1740 Died 1754

Martha – 1742 Died 1743

*Hannah – 1744

Mary – 1747 Died 1748

*John – 1751

Additional Characters

Reverend George Burroughs

Mercy Lewis

Magdeline (Magdelin) Hilton

Nathaniel Adams

Elias Weare

Now to begin our story. Although the one individual who started me on this genealogical and storied quest is Charles B. Webber, we will begin where most good stories begin — at the beginning.

Those of you familiar with historical research on any topic will understand that there are countless “rabbit holes” you can be swept down into if you are not careful. Each individual and their families all live within historical and environmental contexts that play a role in the decisions they make, the locations they live in, who they marry, friendships they develop, and so on. There is also the role of serendipity, the influence of which can usually only be detected in hindsight. Questions such as, what if I hadn’t moved to that location at that time? Or what if I had married someone else but ten years later? What if I had not made friends with that person? All such decisions, along with hundreds of others, happen within the zeitgeist of a particular time frame and manifest, in retrospect, to be more impactful because they appeared when they did.

This is what I believe occurred in the story you are about to read.

Reverend George Burroughs was born around 1650 in England, the son of Nathaniel and Rebecca. George grew up in Roxbury, MA. Rebecca returned to England in 1674 and died 26 March 1679. Nathaniel died 6 March 1682. Both are buried in England.²

George was described by Francis Hill as “confident, strong-willed, and decisive, a man of action as well as a preacher, unusually athletic and clever enough to do well in Harvard.”³

In 1670, educated men in America—particularly in New England—almost invariably entered the Congregationalist clergy or closely related intellectual and civic positions. The Puritan emphasis on education and the “gathered church” model made ministers the intellectual elite of their communities.³

George graduated from Harvard in 1670 and married Hannah Fisher by 1673. George ministered in Casco Bay, District of Maine in the Congregational Church by 1674.

George and Hannah had four children:

Rebecca – 1674

George – 1675

Hannah – 1680

Elizabeth – 1681

In August 1676, the village was destroyed by the Abenaki people during King Philip’s War in a series of attacks from the 11th–13th that stretched as far north as present-day Woolwich. According to reports from that time, the attacks were partly in retaliation for fraudulent land dealings and colonial pressures, and they targeted families such as the Bracketts.

George and other survivors, including a young Mercy Lewis and her family, fled to an island* in Casco Bay, where they foraged for food until rescuers arrived, presumably men from the garrison established at Black Point commanded by Captain Joshua Scottow. On August 11th, 1676, a messenger from Falmouth came to Black Point begging for assistance. He brought a brief letter from George, the minister, which gave an account of 32 killed and carried away by the Indians. The next day, Mr. Jocelyn, a representative of the Gorges authority before the area was brought under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, wrote Brian Pendleton who was stationed in Saco at Winter Harbor.⁴

*The island may have been Cushing Island AKA James Andrew Island.

According to a letter from Major Brian Pendleton to the Governor of Massachusetts:

“Honored Governor together with the Counsell, I am sorry my pen must be the messenger of so great a tragedy. On the 11th of this instant we heard of many killed of our neighbors in Falmouth or Casco-Bay: and on the 12th instant Mr. Joslin sent me a brief letter written from under the hands of Mr. Burras [sic] the minister. He gives an acct of 32 killed and carried away by the Indians: himself escaped to an Island, but I hope Black point men have fetched him of by this time. 10 men 6 women and 16 children. Anthony and Thomas Bracket and Mr. Munjoy his son only are named. I had not time to copy the letter, persons being to go post to Major Walden; but I hope he hath before this sent the original to you. How soon it will be our portion wee know not. The Lord in mercy fit us for death and direct the hearts and hands to act and doe what is most needful in such a time of distress as this. Thus in haste I commit you to Providence of our Lord God and desire Your prayers also for us. Yours in all humility to serve in Winter Harbor at night the Lord, the 13 of August, 1676.” BRIAN PENDLETON.⁵

George and his family soon left the area, and in 1680 they arrived in Salem Village, where he took a job as a preacher. His wife, Hannah, died in September 1681 following the birth of their fourth child. He then married Sarah Ruck Hathorne in 1682/83, after her husband, Captain William Hathorne, had died in 1676.

George and Sarah went on to have four children.

In 1683, George and Sarah relocated back to the Casco Bay area. Another move occurred later, to Black Point as early as 1686, and then a final move to Wells in 1688. Most likely these moves were due to continued French and Indian attacks.

Sarah died in 1689. Around 1690, he married for the final time. Her name was Mary, and they had one child. They resided in Wells until the summer of 1692, when George was arrested.

More to come.

The Candlemas Massacre

Rev. George Burroughs, in a letter from Wells dated 27 Jan. 1691–2, described the attack as told to him “by a Captive youth who made his escape from them, as the beholding of the Pillours of Smoke, the rageing of the merciless flames, the insultations of the heathen enemy, shooting, hacking, (not having regard to the earnest supplication of men, women, or Children, with sharpe cryes & bitter teares in most humble manner,) & dragging away others, (& none to help) is most affecting the heart.”⁶

Madocawando, the Sachem of the Penobscot band of the Wabanakis, had a daughter named Marie Mathilde Pidianske. She married a Frenchman named Jean Vincent d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin, the namesake of Castine, Maine. They were married in 1684 by a Catholic priest, though some records report an earlier marriage according to indigenous custom in or about 1670.

Saint-Castin had been born in France in 1652. His mother, a cousin of Henri d’Aramitz — immortalized by Alexander Dumas as Aramis and a direct descendant of Louis VIII — died of the Black Death when he was a baby, and his father, a French Baron, died before he reached his teens. At age 13, Saint-Castin joined the French army. As part of the military, he was stationed at the southern border of Acadia, which at that time was defined by New France as the Kennebec River.

Saint-Castin made his living by running a trading post. He was friends with many of the Indigenous people and traded with them. This enraged the English.

In 1687/88, Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of the Dominion of New England, led an expedition to capture Saint-Castin. Finding him not at home, they ransacked his house and plundered the trading post. Some reports state Saint-Castin was away; others report he ran into the woods to escape capture. In retaliation, Saint-Castin attacked the English fort at Pemaquid in 1689.

On Jan. 24, 1692, Madocawando and a French missionary, Louis Pierre, led as many as 300 French and Wabanaki fighters on snowshoes from Canada to York. Before dawn, they piled their snowshoes next to a large rock and crept into town. (A plaque marks the spot today.) This was part of a series of raids against English settlements in Maine during King William’s War (1688–1697).

In 1692, Madocawando had a reputation for his courage, his hatred of the English, and for what the English had done to his son-in-law’s home and business. ⁷/8

There are differing reports of the Massacre, including the numbers killed and captured; however, what I want to draw your attention to is a woman by the name of Magdeline (Magdalen) Hilton who was present during the massacre and lived to tell the story. Her life and the various trials and tribulations she endured were, most likely, passed down to her nephew, Charles B. Webber. Charles would never know his aunt; surely, though, he learned of her courage and what she endured only forty-nine years before his birth.

Magdeline Hilton was born to Mainwaring Hilton and Mary Moulton. She married Nathaniel Adams in 1691. They had one son, Nathaniel, born in 1691.

Nathaniel was killed on January 24, 1692 (sometimes recorded as January 25, 1691/92, under the old calendar) during the Candlemas Massacre. Magdeline was taken captive and marched to Canada and redeemed three years later. ⁹

Their young son, Nathaniel, was left behind. Some stories report he was placed with an older woman who was not harmed during the massacre.

Upon Magdeline’s return to York, she learned that her son had survived. He went on to live and marry, dying in 1737.

History does not record the particulars of Nathaniel’s miraculous survival. Even from scraps of evidence, the careful researcher can only surmise what must have happened. We know the baby did not go to Canada. His name is not listed among those ransomed with Magdalen in Emma Coleman’s New England Captives Carried to Canada. We know that the Indians, in an uncharacteristic move, gave a few small children to an old woman. Nathaniel may well have been one of them. At any rate, we know he survived, became a blacksmith and fisherman, and lived with his wife Mary on Star Island. ¹⁰

Shortly after Magdalene returned to York, she married Elias Weare on January 6, 1696. Together they had six children.

According to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Magdaline and Elias’ first child was “Born too soon,” and the couple found themselves in York County Court. The charge brought against them was fornication. At the time, New England courts were still sentencing couples under this charge. The sentence was either “Nine stripes a piece upon the Naked back” or a fine. In this case, the Weare’s paid 59 shillings, which in today’s market would equal around $1000.00. ¹¹

Five months after the birth of their last child, tragedy entered Magdeline’s life again. Like his father, Peter Weare, who had been killed in the Candlemas Massacre of 1692, Elias was killed in an Indian raid in York, Maine. ¹³

Although stories differ on this next point about the circumstances of Elias Weare’s death, the following account comes from Mary R. Palmer, The Courage of Magdalen Hilton of York, Maine:

“On 10 August 1707, with friends returning from Boston to Wells betwixt York and Cape Neddick, were all slaine by the Indians.” Pike Journal in NH Historical Collection III, 59. According to York records, the spot was near the east end of so called Long Sands in York. They were attacked by forty to fifty Indians who came ashore in canoes. Magdalen’s brother Joshua was also killed. ¹²

In another version of that day, Elias was killed by Indians as he and friends returned from Boston, somewhere “betwixt York and Cape Neddock.” ¹²

Old family papers in the possession of this writer state that Magdalen was scalped by the Indians and left across a woodpile to die. The hot August sun, however, dried the bloody scalp, and she recovered. We can only imagine the pain and suffering she endured as she returned to consciousness. In after years she wore a knit cap to cover her scalpless crown. And so, by the age of thirty-four, Magdalen was again a widow. ¹²

In 1709, she married for the third time John Webber (the younger brother of Joseph Webber, who was the father of Charles B. Webber), son of Samuel and Deborah Littlefield Webber. John built a house in Kennebunk, so we can suppose they lived there at least part of the time. They had five children during the next sixteen years: Edmund 1710; Hannah 1711; Joshua 1713; John 1715; and the youngest, Mary (aka Molly) born in early February 1725. This childbirth was not an easy one for Magdalen. She was getting older. Her body, already sapped by the rigors of her eventful life, could not take any more. Less than a week after the birth of her twelfth child, Mary Magdalen Hilton Adams Weare Webber passed from this life. She was fifty-two years of age. Her death is recorded in the old records. ¹²

Return to Reverend George Burroughs / Enter the Webber Family

In 1676, the town of Falmouth was overrun by Abenaki warriors during King Philip’s War (1675–1678). George and his family, along with Mercy Lewis and her family, fled to an island in Casco Bay where they were rescued. George and his family returned to Massachusetts, as did the Lewis family. In 1682, he took a preaching job in Salem Village, but it did not last long. When the village committee stopped paying him in the spring of 1683, George approached Captain John Putnam for financial help and departed. When George returned on May 3, 1683, Putnam had Burroughs arrested for debt. The entire issue was settled out of court. According to Emerson W. Baker, “The resettlement of Falmouth was underway, and Burroughs was preparing to resume his old post there.” ¹⁴

Hannah, George’s first wife, had died in 1681 following the birth of their fourth child.

George married Sarah Ruck around 1682. Sarah was the widow of Captain William Hathorne, who had died a few years earlier. William was the brother of John Hathorne, one of the judges in the 1692 Witch Trials and the great-great-grandfather of the author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

In 1683, George and Sarah relocated back to the Casco Bay area. Another move occurred later, to Black Point as early as 1686, and then a final move to Wells in 1688. Most likely these moves were due to continued French and Indian attacks.

Sarah died in 1689. Around 1690, he married for the final time. Her name was Mary, and they had one child. They resided in Wells until the summer of 1692, when George was arrested.

In 1689, Mercy Lewis, whose parents had fled with George and his family in the 1676 raid on Falmouth only to return in 1683, were once again attacked in 1689 and both parents were killed. Mercy was sent to serve, briefly, in George’s home in Wells. She then moved back to Salem to be closer to her sister and was employed in the home of Thomas Putnam. ¹⁵

On April 30, 1692, Captain Jonathan Walcott and Thomas Putnam filed a complaint against George for witchcraft on behalf of Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Abigail Ann Putnam, Jr.; Susannah Sheldon; and Elizabeth Hubbard.

An arrest warrant was issued that day in Portsmouth, NH, and Major Elisha Hutchinson and Field Marshal Jonathan Partridge were chosen to retrieve George.

“It was necessary to be at once cautious and rapid in their movements, to prevent the public from getting information which, by reaching the ears of Burroughs, might put him on his guard. It was no easy thing to secure him at the great distance of his place of residence. If he should become apprised of what was going on, his escape into remoter and inaccessible settlements would have baffled the whole scheme… The tradition is, that they found Mr. Burroughs in his humble home, partaking of his frugal meal; that he was snatched from the table without a moment’s opportunity to provide for his family, or prepare himself for the journey, and hurried on his way roughly, and without the least explanation of what it all meant.”¹⁶

George was held in jail from May until August 5, 1692, when he went to trial. At that trial, over 30 witnesses were called to testify against him. Two of them are names you, the reader, will recognize:

[August 2, 1692]

Mary Webber, wid., aged about 53 years, testifieth and sayth that she living at Casco Bay about six or seven years ago, when George Burroughs was Minister at said place, and living a nearer Neighbour to said Burroughs, was well acquainted with his wife which was daughter to Mr. John Ruck of Salem. She hath heard her tell much of her husband’s unkindness to her and that she dare not write to her father to acquaint him how it was with her, and so desired me to write to her father that he would be pleased to send for her and told me she had been much affrighted, and that something in the night made a noise in the chamber where she lay as if one went about the Chamber, and she calling up the negro to come to her, the negro not coming, said that she could not come—something stopped her. Then her husband being called, he came up. Something jumped down from between the Chimney and the side of the house and ran down the stairs, and said Burroughs followed it down, and the negro then said it was something like a white calf. Another time, lying with her husband, something came into the house and stood by her bedside and breathed on her, and she being much affrighted at it, would have awakened her husband but could not for a considerable time, but as soon as he did awake it went away. But this I heard her say, and know nothing of it myself otherwise, except by common report of others also concerning such things. Salem, August 2, 1692.¹⁷

Captain Samuel Webber I (1658–1716) also testified at the trial of Reverend George Burroughs during the Salem Witch Trials. In his testimony, Webber claimed to have witnessed Burroughs exhibit unnatural feats of strength: “…about seven or eight years ago I lived at Casco Bay and George Burroughs was then Minister there, and having heard much of the great strength of said Burroughs; he coming to our house we were in discourse about the same and he then told me that he had put his fingers into the Bung of a Barrel of Molasses and lifted it up, and carried it round him and set it down again.”¹⁸

Mary Webber, Charles B. Webber’s great-great-grandmother, was called as a witness in Reverend George Burroughs’s trial for witchcraft. His great-grandfather, Samuel, was also called to provide testimony in this historic trial.

Enter Hannah Call Webber’s Family

Philip Call III (1684–1757) married Sarah Tressel or Trussell (1686–1754) in 1706/7. Philip was known to have been in Contoocook (Boscawen), NH as early as 1733 in the township after the granting of the Masonian Proprietors.

He and Sarah were the first settlers of Franklin, NH.

Philip and Sarah’s Children:

**Philip Call IV – 1707

**Obadiah – 1709

Along with four other children who do not play major roles in any of the upcoming stories.

Philip Call IV married Dorothy Hadley in 1729.

Philip and Dorothy’s Children:

Mary – February 1729 – Died 1730

Philip – 1731

*Elizabeth – 1734

Dorothy – 1736

Ruth – 1738 Died 1739

Sarah – 1740 Died 1754

Martha – 1742 Died 1743

*Hannah – 1744

Mary – 1747 Died 1748

*John – 1751

In 1696, when Magdaline and Elias Weare’s first child was born “too early,” they were both charged with fornication in York County Court, Maine, and paid a hefty fine. But in 1729, there was no record of Philip or Dorothy experiencing any such penalty when they had their child approximately five months before they married in July of that year. ¹⁹

On August 15, 1754, while Philip Call III and his son, along with their hired hand Timothy Cook, were at work in the field, a tragedy occurred:

“On the 15th day of August [1754], they (Abenaki) made a successful attack on our frontier, on the house of Mr. Philip Call, in Stevenstown. This town was subsequently known as Salisbury and the attack was made in that part of Salisbury, west of, and upon the Merrimack, now included in the town of Franklin.

Mrs. Call [Sarah Trussell Call], her daughter-in-law, wife of Philip Call, Jr. [Dorothy Hadley] and an infant of the latter, were alone in the house, while the Calls, father and son, and Timothy Cook their hired man, were at work in the field.

Upon the approach of the Indians, Mrs. Call the elder met them at the door, and was immediately killed with a blow from a tomahawk, her body falling near the door, and her blood drenching her own threshold!

The younger Mrs. Call, with her infant in her arms, crawled into a hole behind the chimney, where she succeeded in keeping her child quiet, and thus escaped from sure destruction.

The Calls, father and son, and Cook, saw the Indians, and attempted to get into the house before them, but could not succeed. They were so near the house as to hear the blow with which Mrs. Call was killed.

Seeing, however, the number of the Indians, they fled to the woods and the Calls escaped.

Cook ran to the river and plunged in, but was pursued, shot in the water, and his scalp taken.

The Indians, some thirty in number, rifled the house, took Mrs. Call’s scalp, and then retreated up the river.

The Calls soon notified the garrison at Contoocook of the attack, and a party of eight men followed in pursuit.

The Indians waited in ambush for them, but showed themselves too soon, and the English party took to the woods and escaped, with the exception of Enos Bishop, who after firing upon the Indians several times was at length taken and carried to Canada as a captive.”²⁰

There is controversy about which “Mrs. Call” hid behind the chimney with the child on that day. In this article, I have chosen to believe it was Mrs. Philip Call IV with her son John, who would have been three years old at the time of the attack.

Death records indicate that Philip Call III died on August 10, 1757 — the same date as the infamous massacre that followed the surrender of Fort William Henry, when Native American allies of the French attacked the British retreating column. Philip Call’s name does not appear on any casualty list from that event, and he is believed to have died in or near his home.

There is a plaque at the Call cabin site in Franklin, NH, on Rt. 3, just southeast of where Daniel Webster — the lawyer and former U.S. Secretary of State — was born in 1782. The plaque notes that Philip Call was the first white settler of Franklin, NH, and that his wife Sarah was killed by Indians at the cabin on August 15, 1754.

Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire, Volume 3 (Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1908) states that “Mrs. Stephen Call, with her infant, crawled into a hole behind the chimney.” However, The History of Boscawen and Webster (N.H.) from 1733 to 1878 (published 1878) says “Mrs. Philip Call, junior, with her infant, crawled into a hole behind the chimney.” ²¹

A petition in 1752 from settlers living in or having interest in Frankfort, Maine, requested that a new county in Maine be established. This petition to the Court in Massachusetts included the names of Philip Call, Philip Call, Jr. and Obadiah Call. It is possible that Obadiah was in the area earlier, perhaps as early as 1739. ²²

In a letter dated June 6, 1759, Philip and Obadiah Call wrote to the Plymouth Company, stating they had originally purchased 342 acres of land twelve years before the Plymouth Proprietors claimed it from their agent, Goodwin. They described themselves in the letter as “your first settlers.” On a Plymouth Company map drawn of the Frankfort area in 1750, Philip Call’s house was marked. ²³

Samuel Goodwin remarked that Obadiah Call had been of “great assistance” in building Frankfort Garrison.²²

A map drawn by Samuel Goodwin, Clerk and Agent for the Plymouth Proprietors, in 1758 showed Obadiah and Philip Call’s property, including homes, barn, and a “highway” that ran between the two properties. ²⁴

Philip Call IV died in 1769 while in Dresden and may be buried on Swan Island. His wife, Dorothy, died in 1793 and is buried in Vermont.

Inventory — 18 Aug 1769 in Pownalborough, Maine. Philip Call, late of Pownalborough. John Call, of Pownalborough, Adm’r, 18 Aug 1769. Inventory by Samuel Goodwin, Robert Twyrcross and Mathias Smith, 24 Aug 1770, £264 : 5 : 2. Account filed 12 Feb 1772.¹⁹

In a letter written by Mrs. Callahan in 1789, on a visit to Pownalborough addressed to a Mr. Bailey — believed to be Reverend Jacob Bailey — she noted that Obadiah Call and his wife were dead. ²³

Hannah Call, the daughter of Philip and Dorothy, married Charles B. Webber in 1761.

As you recall, Hannah Call was the daughter of Philip Call IV and Dorothy Hadley; the granddaughter of Philip Call III and Sarah Tresswell, who were the first white settlers in Franklin, NH. During an Indian attack on their cabin, Sarah was killed and Dorothy hid behind a chimney with Hannah’s younger brother, John, in 1754.

Charles Webber was the son of Joseph Webber and Mary Lewis; the grandson of Samuel Webber, who testified at the Salem Witch Trials in the trial of Reverend George Burroughs; and great-grandson of Mary Parker Webber, who also testified at the trial of Reverend George Burroughs; and nephew of John Webber, who married Magdaline Hilton, who had been present during the Candlemas Massacre, was kidnapped and marched to Canada, and lost two husbands before marrying John.

Charles served in the French and Indian War in 1757 and again in 1759. He was a 2nd Lt. in the Revolutionary War in the 2nd Lincoln County Regiment of Massachusetts Militia in 1776.

Charles and Hannah had their first child, Charles Jr., in Dresden in 1764. Charles and Hannah moved to Vassalboro in 1765 after Charles’s brother, Joseph Jr., had relocated there. Their daughter, Sarah “Sally” Webber, was the first recorded white child born in the town, in 1766. Ten years later, Charles served as a 2nd Lt. in the Revolutionary War. Town records show that Charles was the first Town Treasurer in 1771 and 1776. He also served as a Selectman in 1773 and again from 1792 to 1796. Charles was also involved in helping establish the first schools in Vassalboro.

In 1799, Charles applied for a license to run an inn and received the full support of the Selectmen of Vassalborough. However, an attorney named Samuel Sumner Wilde, Esq. denied the license. The transcript reads:

Charles Webber of Vassalborough having applied for a license for an Inholder in Vassalborough and having produced an approbation of the Selectmen of that town for said purpose Samuel Sumner Wilde Esq. objected to the granting the same license because he was not a person of sober life and conversation and not firmly attached to the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth. Whereupon the Court ordered that the said Webber should not be licensed to keep a Public house, at this term.²⁵

Charles and Hannah went on to have a total of eleven children. One of them, John, married the niece of Martha Ballard, a local midwife and the subject of the book The Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Martha often wrote about the Webber family in her diary.

Martha was friends with Reverend Isaac and Rebecca Foster. Reverend Foster, after much public controversy, had recently been dismissed by the parishioners in Hallowell (Augusta) and had come to preach in Vassalboro. By the time the Fosters arrived in Vassalboro, they had accumulated considerable debt. One entry Martha wrote concerned both Charles B. Webber and Reverend Foster:

rainy. at Dittoes. Charls Webber ataitching peoples Efects on acount of what mr Foster owes him.²⁶

Typically, debts between neighbors accumulated without anyone demanding repayment. But once the social web broke — as in the case of Reverend Foster — neighbors rushed to collect what they were owed.

While Isaac was away, Rebecca charged three men with raping her on three separate nights in August 1789. One of the men she accused was Judge Joseph North. She told Martha about the assault by North ten days after it occurred. Martha later testified in Vassalboro in December 1789 about her knowledge of the rape and attended court in Pownalborough in the summer of 1790, though it is unclear whether she testified there. On July 12, 1790, Col. North was acquitted.

Hannah Webber died in 1782 or 1783 and, according to Find a Grave, was buried on the first farm Charles owned.

Charles married Sarah Smiley around 1784. According to minerdescent.com Their first son was Benjamin, born February 27, 1782. Was this the last son of Hannah before she died? Was Benjamin born in February of 1782 or are the records mistaken?

Their second son, Jeremiah, was born July 17, 1786.

Charles died in 1819 at 78 years of age. Sarah died around 1842, aged 96.

Charles is buried in the Webber Family Cemetery. The cemetery lies in the woods between Old Rt. 201 and the Kennebec River, on the property currently owned by Jessica Swan and her husband on Cushnoc Road.

According to the Vassalboro Cemetery Inscriptions copied in 1994 and 1995, the cemetery was originally copied by Norman E. Fossett of Vassalboro in 1957–1958 and rechecked in the mid-1970s by members of the Vassalboro Historical Society.²⁷

Present in the cemetery is a horizontal slab with the inscription: “Sacred to the memory of Charles Webber native of Old York born Jan 1741 died Nov 20, 1819, in the 79th year of his age.”

Others buried there are as follows:

Jeremiah Webber

Belsora Webber

William Webber

Horatio Webber

Balsora M. Webber (Jeremiah and Belsora’s daughter)

Martha Webber

Horatio N. Webber

Harriet Webber

Sarah Taylor

Charles O. Taylor

Orrin P. Taylor

If Sarah Smiley Webber was buried here, no stone could be found. There was a logging operation in the area at some point, and most of the stones were broken.

This ends the story of Charles and Hannah Webber and their families, tracing back three and four generations to highlight where these two individuals came from and the generational impact on them.

Citations

1. Personal correspondence on April 14, 2026, with Jeanne Bailey McGowan from the Georgetown Historical Society. GHS has an online database which you can access via their website. Direct link to Mary Parker (Webber): https://georgetownhistoricalsociety.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I342&tree=tree1

2. https://www.witchesmassbay.com/2019/10/27/reconstructing-rev-george-burroughs-genealogy/

3. Hill, Frances (1997) [1995]. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials. New York: Da Capo Press.

4. Scarboro Register 1905 p. 12. Scarborough Historical Society. Compiled by Mitchell and Campbell.

5. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/reverend-george-burroughs-salem/

6. https://archive.org/stream/indianmassacreat00wigh/indianmassacreat00wigh_djvu.txt

7. https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/saint-castin-french-baron-drove-english-from-maine/

8. https://mainegenealogy.com/york/casualties-of-the-candlemas-day-massacre-in-york-maine.htm

9. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hilton-743 – Nathaniel Adams, Jr.

10. Ulrich, L.T. Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650–1750. (1991) Knopf.

11. Mary R. Palmer, The Courage of Magdalen Hilton of York, Maine. Originally published in a genealogical publication: probably Downeast Ancestry.

12. Mary R. Palmer, The Courage of Magdalen Hilton of York, Maine.

13. https://woodwaugh.com/mine/p12038.htm — Elias Weare Jr. Death

14. Baker, E.W. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. (2015) Oxford University Press, p. 82.

15. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/mercy-lewis/

16. Upham, Charles W. Salem Witchcraft: With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Spirits. Vol. I, Wiggin and Lunt, 1867.

17. https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n22.html (Mary Webber Testimony)

18. https://pem.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/7472?item=7473 (Samuel Webber Testimony)

19. https://minerdescent.com/2010/10/26/philip-call-iii/

20. https://archive.org/details/historyofboscawe00coff/page/68/mode/2up?q=Call — The History of Boscawen and Webster, NH from 1733–1878.

21. HMdb.org

22. https://archives.mainegenealogy.net/2010/02/kennebec-purchase-petitioners-1752.html

23. History of Dresden, Maine, 1931, by Charles Edwin Allen. Letter from O. Call and P. Call to the Plymouth Company, p. 174.

24. https://www.mainememory.net/record/12853/image/12853 — 1758 Map of O. Call and P. Call’s home.

25. Personal Communication on March 5, 2026, with Orland Bean, a direct descendant of Charles B. Webber.

26. https://dohistory.org/diary/1789/10/17891012_txt.html

27. Vassalboro Cemetery Inscriptions Copied 1994 & 1995 by Betty Taylor, Julie Rowe, and Russell Smith of the Vassalboro Historical Society. Book is held at the Vassalboro Town Library.

Acknowledgements

The writing of this article could not have been accomplished without the aid and assistance of so many others. I want to take a moment and thank them for their help in making this article possible.

Jody Kundreskas, Jessica Swan, Orland Bean, Jeanne Bailey McGowan and Brian Stanley

Reminder: Documenting historical information can often lead to misinformation in the document reviewed. If any such errors are found in this article, please note that it was unintentional on behalf of the writer and any corrected information following publication is always gladly accepted by the author. C.K.

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