PRESENT AT STATEHOOD - 1820 Porter, Part 2

 A Tale of a Settler and a House

The History of Porter written by William Teg in 1957 has the following entry in its “First Settlers” chapter:

Having bought the land in 1794 John and his wife, Sally, moved to Porter from Farmington, New Hampshire in 1796 with their infant son, Benjamin. After the move they would add seven more children to their family. 

The French homestead was located on what is now called the Gilman Road as shown on the 1858 map of Porter, indicated by the red arrow below.

The 1820 Census below enumerates the French household, 3 of whom it was reported were engaged in agriculture:

1 Male 10-15 years – John Jr., age 14

1 Male 16-18 years – Aaron, age 18

1 Male 18-25 years – Jacob, age 22 (Benjamin, age 24,married in 1818)

1 Male 45 years and over – John, age 45

1 Female under 10 years – Lucy, age 9

1 Female 10-15 years – Kezia, age 11

2 Females 16-25 years – Sally, age 20, and Mary, age 16

1 Female 45 and over – Sally, age 46

1 Male 10-15 years – John Jr., age 14                           

 

John died in 1836 and Sally survived him by 20 years before her death in 1856.  They are buried in what is now called the French-Gilman cemetery located near their homestead farm where their old stones have been lovingly replaced by the one below.

The 1875 map of Porter shows that the farm passed to their youngest daughter, Lucy, who had married Jesse Bickford in 1849.  Jesse and Lucy had one daughter, Veldima, born in 1852. 

Lucy died in January 1878 at the age of 66.  Their daughter, Veldima,  married W. Frank Gilman in 1882 and the couple set up household with her father, Jesse.  To their union seven children were born, three of whom died in infancy:                    

Lucy E. – died September 1886 at 6 months

Cora M. – died December 1888 at 2 months; and

George W. – died April 1888 at 10 months 

The 1900 Census enumerates the other four children along with their parents, Frank and Veldima, and their grandfather, Jesse.  They were Arthur (born 1882), Viola (born 1883), Jesse (born 1886) and Herman (born 1890).

The photo below, dated July 1909, shows the Jesse Bickford farm.  The original part of the house built in 1804 by John French was a log cabin. 

Jesse Bickford died in 1910, joining his wife in the French-Gilman cemetery.

Frank and Veldima Bickford Gilman remained on the farm joined in 1918 by the beginnings of another generation when their son, Arthur, married Olive Gray as shown on the 1920 census.

Frank died in 1940 and Veldima died in 1944, when they also joined family members in the French-Gilman cemetery – the last generation to do so. 

Arthur and Olive Gray Gilman had one child, a daughter, named Dorothy Janet born in 1921.  Dorothy “Dottie” married Clayton Locke (born 1917) in 1946 after she had completed her college degree and he had completed his time of service overseas in World War II.  They, like other generations before, set up household as a married couple sharing her childhood home with her parents.  They had two children, Paul (born 1949 and died 2010) and Patricia (born 1953).  This photo taken in 1959 shows the homestead looking much the same as it does today.

Clayton and Dottie became involved in the newly formed Parsonsfield-Porter Historical Society and served as officers of the Society for many years, Clayton as its President and Dottie as its Treasurer.  In their dotage, again like generations before, their daughter Patty and her husband Dennis Parker, came to live with them on the homestead farm until their deaths – he in 2013 and she in 2016.  They are interred in the Kezar Falls Burial Ground.  Patty and Dennis continue to live on what was the original John French homestead – present not just at statehood but still standing 200 years later.