Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB
May 10, 1894
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST
Contributions to the History of Charlotte County and the Border Towns.
CXV – THE PENOBSCOT ASSOCIATED LOYALISTS-Continued.
James Hannah was a Scotchman who, like Daniel Brown, had been among the loyal inhabitants of Penobscot, and came from Castine to St. Andrews at the close of the Revolution. His wife was a sister of William Towers.
Benjamin Milliken, another Penobscot Loyalist who drew land in the fifth tract, (now Dufferin,) was born in 1726. Of his sixteen children or more, two settled permanently in St. George-Dominicus, the ancestor of the Millikens of St. George and Eastport; and Rebecca, who married Stewart Seelye, the forefather of the numerous Seelyes of St. George. Among their grandchildren are Dominicus, Jesse and Charles Milliken, of St. George, Mrs. A. J. Seelye, Mrs. W. W. Shaw, Mrs. Marsh and Mrs. Cudlip, of the same place, C. F. Clinch, of Musquash, John McKean, of St. John, B. F. Milliken, of Eastport, and Edward Milliken, of Chicago. The descendants of the other children of the Loyalist are scattered over the states of Maine and Massachusetts, many of them filling prominent positions.
Benjamin Bradford was a lineal descendant of Governor Bradford, of the Plymouth colony. He established the ferry from Oak Point to the eastern shore, known for many years as Bradford’s ferry; and his grave is at Oak Point, near the old ferry landing place.
Ralph Taylor was an officer in the British navy, under Lord Howe, and fought under Mowat at the seige of Penobscot. According to family tradition, he lived for a few years on what is now known as the Crocker farm, in Dufferin; but was again called into active service in the French was of 1793, and lost his life in battle. Standing on his quarterdeck, while the French vessel with which he was engaged was lowering her flag in token of surrender, he was fatally wounded by a musket ball from the enemy’s ship. He is said to have been heir to a valuable estate in the Isle of Wight; but no effort has ever been made by the family to establish their claim to the property.1
Of the other members of the Penobscot Association who became permanent residents of Charlotte county, and whose names have not been separately mentioned in these articles, there is, so far as the writer is aware, very little known. We shall add, from time to time, any further information that may be received, whether documentary or traditional; but we fear that in most cases nothing but the name remains.
The privations and hardships which they and their children endured in opening up this country are not known in our time, even by settlers in the most remote regions. The work of their hands has prospered after many days. It remains for those who inherit the result of their toil to hold their names in honor.
1For this information we are indebted to a
granddaughter, Mrs. Martha Ferguson, of Porter street.