Stephen Libby

Biography

From https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36216587/stephen-libby

Stephen is listed as one of the first settlers of Porter, ME in the spring of 1782.

Stephen, his brother Meshach and his parents made the move from Pittsfield, NH to the wilderness that was to become the town of Porter.

After having built his cabin for his new home in Maine (now the town of Porter), Stephen returned to Pittsfield, NH either in the fall of 1782 or the spring of 1783, when he soon afterward married Mary Knowles in 1783.

Their first child, James, was born in Pittsfield the next year. They must have returned to Porter soon after as their second child, Daniel, was born in Porter.

A list has survived showing that Mary and her children, James, John, Mary, Jemima and Sally attended the Baptist church, which was organized in the southern part of Porter in 1807. Mary died in October 18, 1816 in Porter, ME.

Stephen married second, Nancy Mathews (born December 13, 1788) on January 9, 1817. Nancy was the daughter of Francis and Lydia (Matthews) Matthews. Nancy died January 9, 1818.

On March 17, 1818, Stephen married third her sister, Sally Mathews (born May 31, 1793).

In 1804 Stephen started to build a sawmill on Fox Brook about a half a mile above the upper Spectacle Pond completing it in 1805. For years the mill did a thriving business.

Stephen was an industrious person. He owned large tracts of timber. He took an active part in the construction of the Old Porter meeting House.

One contemporary, Elias Gould, remembers the many trips that he and his father made with a yoke of oxen hauling "pumpkin" pine boards from Stephen' Libby's sawmill to the place on John Libby's lot where the meeting house was under construction. He related an instance that occurred at the "raising" of the framework of the building. This particular circumstance is of interest because of the poise and courage required for its performance.

It was an old custom for someone, who had steady nerves, to walk the entire length of the ridgepole ("running pole"), and then back again - this was the outstanding feature of the "frame-raising ceremony." And who, do you think, performed this feat at the meetinghouse? Why, our old friend, Stephen Libby - known among the old settlers as "Leftenant" Libby! He was 61 years of age then! (and reached the ripe old age of ninety-two years).

Bradford Lombard Peck, The Maternal Family History of my Grandchildren

Links

• From the Great Migration to the Greatest Generation by Wayne Blanchard Page 176 - 177
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Nov 16 2016, 16:40:39 UTC

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• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Nov 16 2016, 16:40:39 UTC