Two 1800's Land Deeds Revolutionary War Signatures Simon Dearborn Signatures
This is a set of two deeds signed by Simon Dearborn (Jr) and witnessed, on the 1810 deed, by two other Revolutionary War veterans. Simon was a tailor and he was selling his half of Store #6 and half of a dwelling house to Giles Lodge who is the paternal grandfather of Henry Cabot Lodge, a Congressman and Senator from Massachusetts. Cabot Lodge opposed the League of Nations and was against the League of Nations that the US never joined.
The first of the two deeds is actually a mortgage on 'one half of a certain part of Jones Row and the land in Jones Court being one half of the store number six in said Row and one half of the dwelling house adjoining thereto and the land in Jones Court' and the second deed is the final payment of $500 on the property.
In 1808 and 1810, when this property was sold, Maine was still part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine did not become a state until 1820) which is why the second deed says 'of Portland in the County of Cumberland of Commonwealth of Massachusetts'. 18th century Falmouth, Maine became Portland, Maine in 1786 and that is important because some of the RW information on the signers of these deeds reference Falmouth. The last picture in this listing is of Simon Dearborn in late 1840's or so when he was in his late eighties. He was still a healthy looking man even at his great age.
Simon was the nephew of Henry Dearborn who was a U.S. Congressman, Presidential Cabinet Secretary and U.S. Army Major General. In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, he served under Benedict Arnold in the expedition to Quebec, Canada. Later he was a Lieutenant Colonel Deputy Quarter Master and served on George Washington's staff while in Virginia. After the war, he was commissioned Brigadier General of the Massachusetts Militia in 1787, was promoted Major General in 1789 and was appointed as the first U.S. Marshal for the District of Maine, by President Washington. He was elected a Democrat-Republican to the Third and Fourth Congresses, serving (1893-97). In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Secretary of War and he served until 1809. During the War of 1812, President James Madison appointed him Major General in command of U.S. Army troops on the North Eastern coast and he served until honorably discharged in 1815. He was later appointed Minister to Portugal, by President James Monroe, serving (1822-24).Below is some information on the signers of these deeds:
Simon Dearborn (Jr) - 1760-1853 - was born in Epping, Rockingham County New Hampshire and died in Monmouth, Kennebec County, Maine when he was 92 years old. He had at least three wives and married his last wife, Harriet, in 1804, after his second wife (Molly) died . He was a Revolutionary War veteran from Monmouth, Maine and was only 15 when he first enlisted to fight the British. He served from early 1777 to December 1779 in the 3rd New Hampshire Line, under Capt. McClary and Col. Alexander Scammell and according to Dearborn's pension application, he was present at General Burgoyne's surrender, and participated in the brutal Sullivan Expedition "against the Indians.
Wharff, Eliphalet, Gloucester. Private, Capt. Nathaniel Warner's co. Col. Moses Little's (17th) regt.; company return [probably Oct., 1775]; enlisted May 6, 1775; age, 21 years; also, order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Prospect Hill, Nov. 25, 1775; also, 2d Corporal, Capt. Bradbury Sanders's Company; enlisted Jan. 17, 1776; service to Feb. 29, 1776, Imo. 14 days; company stationed at Gloucester for defense of seacoast; also, 3d Sergeant, same co. ; engaged March 1, 1776; service to Aug. 31, 1776, 6 mos. ; also, an order on Henry Gardner, Province Treasurer, dated Gloucester, March 25, 1777 was signed by said Wharff and others, requesting that the money allowed them for clothing and guns lost at the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill be paid to Nathaniel Warner.
Starboard, Ebenezer. Certificate dated Falmouth, Aug. 17, 1780, and attested by Daniel Ilsley, Muster Master for Cumberland Co., certifying that said Starboard had been mustered in Lieut. Etham Moor's corps to serve for the term of 3 years, agreeable to order of General Court of May 16, 1780 ; also, Matross, in a corps of artillery commanded by Lieut. Etham Moore and stationed at Falmouth; enlisted Aug. 16, 1780; discharged Nov. 1, 1780; service, 2 mos. 16 days.Offered with FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING. International buyers please use the shipping feature in your shopping cart and pay through PayPal if you would like next day shipping.