Damariscotta, Newcastle, Maine

1805 Enoch Perham Rollins

  For information on Enoch Perham Rollins born in 1805 see:

Enoch Perham Rollins.blogspot.com

Rollins Military

               ANTHONY RAWLINS
                           5 REGIMENT VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               ANTHONY RAWLINS
                           30 REG'T (TANKERSLEY'S) VIRGINIA
                           MIL.
               BENJAMIN RAWLINS
                           1 REG'T (CRUTCHFIELD'S) VIRGINIA
                           MILITIA.
               BENJAMIN RAWLINS
                           16 REG'T (WALLER'S) VIRGINIA
                           MILITIA.
               CHARLES RAWLINS
                           2 REGIMENT WILLETT'S, OHIO
                           MILITIA.
               DANIEL RAWLINS
                           11 REG'T (PITT'S) MARYLAND MILITIA.
               EDWARD RAWLINS
                           MOUNTED DETACHMENT (JUNE-AUG.,
                           1813), KENTUCKY VOLS.
               EVAN RAWLINS
                           8 REG'T (WALL'S) VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               HENRY RAWLINS
                           1 REG'T (BYRNE'S) VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               HINCHY RAWLINS
                           SALE'S BATT'N, CAVALRY, VIRGINIA
                           MILITIA.
               JAMES RAWLINS
                           RANGERS, UNITED STATES
                           VOLUNTEERS.
               JAMES RAWLINS
                           RAYEN'S REGIMENT, OHIO MILITIA.
               JAMES RAWLINS
                           3 REG'T (WIMBERLY'S), GEORGIA
                           MILITIA.
               JOHN RAWLINS
                           1 REG'T DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
                           MILITIA.
               JOHN RAWLINS
                           1 BATTALION RIFLEMEN (UHLE'S),
                           PENNSYLVANIA VOLS.
               JOHN RAWLINS
                           1 REG'T (FISK'S) NEW HAMPSHIRE
                           MILITIA.
               JOHN RAWLINS
                           5 REGIMENT VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               JOHN T. RAWLINS
                           COCKE'S DETACHMENT, VIRGINIA
                           MILITIA.
               JOHN W. RAWLINS
                           MAJOR KING'S DETACHMENT,
                           DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MILITIA.
               JOSEPH RAWLINS
                           RANGERS, UNITED STATES
                           VOLUNTEERS.
               JOSHUA RAWLINS
                           RANGERS, UNITED STATES
                           VOLUNTEERS.
               JOSIAH RAWLINS
                           LONG'S COMMAND OF ARTILLERY,
                           NEW HAMPSHIRE MILITIA.
               LEVI RAWLINS
                           4 REGIMENT VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               MARK RAWLINS
                           CARSON'S REG'T MISSISSIPPI MILITIA.
               MORGAN RAWLINS
                           CAPT. WATSON'S COMPANY,
                           DELAWARE MIL.
               NATHAN RAWLINS
                           1 REGIMENT (FINLEY'S), OHIO MILITIA.
               NATHAN RAWLINS
                           11 REG'T (PITT'S) MARYLAND MILITIA.
               OWEN RAWLINS
                           17 REG'T (FRANCESCO'S) KENTUCKY
                           MILITIA.
               PEYTON I. RAWLINS
                           7 REG'T (GRAY'S) VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               REUBEN RAWLINS
                           5 REGIMENT VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               ROBERT RAWLINS
                           1 REG'T (CRUTCHFIELD'S) VIRGINIA
                           MILITIA.
               RODERICK RAWLINS
                           RANGERS, UNITED STATES
                           VOLUNTEERS.
               SAMUEL D. RAWLINS
                           DETACHMENT OF CAVALRY (1813-14),
                           VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               THOMAS RAWLINS
                           HINDS' BATTALION, CAVALRY,
                           MISSISSIPPI MILITIA.
               THOMAS RAWLINS
                           57 REGIMENT VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               WILLIAM RAWLINS
                           ROBERT CRUTCHFIELD'S
                           DETACHMENT, VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               WILLIAM RAWLINS
                           6 REGIMENT VIRGINIA MILITIA.
               WILSON RAWLINS
                           1 REGIMENT (RAGAN'S), MARYLAND MILITIA.

1773 Ichabod Rollins

Ichabod Rawlins
Born December 4, 1773

From Records of Families of the name Rawlins or Rollins
 In the United States, pages 61
Compiled by John R. Rollins
 (Printed 1874 in Lawrence, Mass. By Geo. S. Merrill & Crocker)

    Resided in Jefferson, Me.; md, 1797, Mary, daughter of Samuel Perham, of Jefferson, who was born Apr. 25, 1777.  He was a soldier of the war of 1812; served at the battle of Plattsburg.  Died at Washington, Me., Apr. 17, 1850.  Mrs. R. d. Jan 17, 1862, aet. 84.

Children

1738 Nathaniel Rollins

Nathaniel Rawlins
Born 1738 in Damariscotta, Maine

From Records of Families of the name Rawlins or Rollins
 In the United States, pages 5-9
Compiled by John R. Rollins
 (Printed 1874 in Lawrence, Mass. By Geo. S. Merrill & Crocker)

    Resided in Newcastle, Me., md. 1st, Lydia Clark; 2d, __________ Chadbourne.  He died before 1783; his sons Eliphalet and Nathaniel sold the farm of 438 acres, on Damariscotta Bay, to Jonathan Jones, Sept. 4th, 1783.  (Source: Lincoln Co. Deeds)

Children

1670 John Rawlins

John Rawlins--Born About 1670?

From Records of Families of the name Rawlins or Rollins
 In the United States, page 17
Compiled by John R. Rollins
 (Printed 1874 in Lawrence, Mass. By Geo. S. Merrill & Crocker)

    Resident of Exeter; removed thence to East Bradford, (now Groveland).  He lived on the river road leading from Groveland to Haverhill, near the old chain ferry, the house in which he resided being yet in a good state of preservation [1873].

Moved to Maine

    He removed with most of his family in 1736 to Damariscotta, Me., where he died, 1776.

Four Marriages and Fourteen Children

    He married first, Mary, daughter of Thomas Savary, July 31, 1722.  His second wife was Mary Glidden; third, Patience Knox; fourth, Anne Hiscock.  The children, fourteen in number, all by his first two wives, were:

1641 Thomas Rollins

From Records of Families of the name Rawlins or Rollins
 In the United States, pages 5-9
Compiled by John R. Rollins
 (Printed 1874 in Lawrence, Mass. By Geo. S. Merrill & Crocker)

Hometown--Bloody Point, New Hampshire
Death--Exeter, New Hampshire

    Thomas lived, also [as his eldest brother, Ichabod], at Bloody Point; was taxed there in 1662 and 1668, and removed to Exeter, N. H., where he remained till his death.  His farm appears to have been located on the old road leading from Exeter to Hampton.  We know but little of him; but one passage, in his life has been preserved, which tends to show that he possessed something of his father's independence, and that his ideas of justice were something in advance of those of his neighbors.  He was one of the Company of Edward Gove, a member of the dissolved Assembly of N. H., 1683, who were found in arms, and endeavoring to excite an insurrection for the overthrow of the arbitrary government of the Royal Governor--Edward Cranfield.

Charged with High Treason

    In order to gain a correct understanding of this effort at rebellion or revolution, it will be necessary to state that after the death of Capt. John Mason, one of the original proprietors of New Hampshire, which occurred in 1635, his widow, weary of the great expense and inadequate returns of the Portsmouth plantation, informed her servants that they must provide for themselves.  Some removed with their goods and cattle; others remained, keeping possession of the buildings and improvements which they henceforward claimed as their own.  The houses at Newichwannoch were consumed by fire, and nothing was left of Mason’s estate but a doubtful interest in the soil.  The people, left without a government, formed themselves, after the example of the people of Exeter, into a body politic; and those of Dover did the same.  By a written instrument, 1640, signed by forty-one persons, they agreed to submit to the laws of England, and such other laws as should be enacted by a majority of their number, until the royal pleasure should be known. [Source is listed at bottom of page but cannot be read.]  

    Matters continued thus until April 14, 1641, when New Hampshire came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and the history of the two plantations, for a period of thirty years, became blended together.  In 1680 a royal commission was brought to Portsmouth, declaring New Hampshire a royal Province.  This was brought about through the influence of Robert Tufton Mason, with the design of recovering the possessions of his ancestor.  The first President under the new Commission (John Cutts), and a majority of the council were in the interest of the people and opposed to Mason’s designs.  The appointment of these men would do very well to disguise, for a time, the real object of the new government, but as their continuance in office would not further Mason’s views, he obtained, in 1682, the appointment of Edward Cranfield.  Arbitrary, needy, and rapacious, Cranfield made no secret of his object, in accepting the office, and openly sought to reciprocate the liberality of Mason, by a devotion to his claim.


    By his commission he was vested with extraordinary powers; he could adjourn, prorogue and dissolve General Courts; had a negative voice on all acts of government, could suspend any of the Council, appoint Judges, and all subordinate officers; and, in short, exercise the powers of Vice-Admiral.

    Within six days after the publication of his Commission, he suspended the popular leaders--Waldron and Martyn.  This was one step towards rendering him odious to the people.  Either from shame or more probably to quiet the popular clamor, he restored them to their places, Nov. 14th.

    The Assembly met the same day, and hoping to detach the Governor from the interests of Mason, they voted him L250.  This put him in good humor for a time; but the opposition of the Assembly to his measures, was so irritating that he adjourned it.  At the next session, the Assembly refused to pass a bill raising money for the support of the government, and he dissolved it.

    The dissolution of the Assembly, a thing before unknown, aggravated the popular discontent, and kindled the resentment of some, in Hampton and Exeter, who headed by Edward Gove, a member of the dissolved Assembly, declared by sound of trumpet for liberty and reformation.

    Gove went from town to town, declaring that the Governor was a traitor, and had exceeded his Commission, and that he would not lay down his arms until matters were set right; and endeavoring to incite the principal men of the Province to join in a confederacy to overthrow the government.

    His project, however, appeared so wild and dangerous, that they not only disapproved it, but informed against him, and assisted in apprehending him.  Hearing of their design, he collected his Company and appeared in arms, but on the persuasion of some of his friends, surrendered.  A special Court was immediately commissioned for his trial, of which Major Waldron sat as Judge, with William Vaughn and Thomas Daniel as Assistants.  The grand jury presented a bill, in which Edward Gove, his son John Gove, and William Healy, of Hampton; Joseph, John and Robert Wadleigh (three brothers), Thomas Rawlins, Mark Baker and John Sleeper, of Exeter, were charged with high treason.

    Gove, who behaved with great insolence before the Court, and pretended to justify his conduct, was convicted and received sentence of death in the usual hideous form.  (The sentence was as follows.--”That the prisoner be carried back to the place whence he came, and from thence be drawn to the place of execution, to be hanged by the neck; be cut down alive; that his entrails be taken out, and burned before his face; that his head be cut off, and his body be divided into four quarters, and that his head and quarter be disposed of, at the King’s pleasure.”--N.H. Historical Collections.  Vol. II, p. 44.

    The Judge, who loved Cranfield no better than did the prisoner, is said to have wept while
pronouncing the sentence.


A Conviction and Pardon

    Gove’s estate was also seized and forfeited to the Crown.  His companions were convicted of being accomplices.  They were all pardoned except Gove, who was sent to the Tower of London, and imprisoned about three years--his sentence having been commuted.

    On his repeated petitions to the King, and by the interest of Randolph with the Earl of Clarendonk, then Lord Chamberlain, he obtained his pardon, and returned home in 1686, with an order to the President and Council to restore his estate.

    Mason, for some time after, endeavored to enforce his claim, and wearied the patience of the colonists by vexatious lawsuits, but with very indifferent success, until such representations were made tot he home government, as to draw down the royal censure, and secure the removal of Cranfield.

    To one of the petitions for his removal we find attached the name of Thomas Rawlins; and his rebellious blood continued to flow in the veins of his descendants, for we find twenty or more of them, at a subsequent period, engaged in rebellion against the arbitrary government of George III, with better success.  He was unsuccessful--therefore a rebel; they successful--therefore patriots.  In the former case, the parties were to be dispossessed of lands and buildings voluntarily relinquished to them by the representative of the original proprietor, and which for years they had cultivated and improved as their own; this was the grievance which they sought to redress; in the latter case, they resisted the principle of taxation without representation.

Marriage and Justice of the Peace

    Rawlins was a Justice of the Peace in 1682.  He married, about 1670, Rachel, daughter of Moses and Alice Cox, of Hampton.  (Moses Cox, born 1594; died at Hampton, May 28, 1687, aged 94.)

Death

    The precise date of his death is not known; his inventory was returned to the Probate office, Nov. 7, 1706.

Children

Thomas,    b. Exeter,    July 14, 1671
Moses,    b. Exeter,    Oct. 14, 1672
Joseph        b. Exeter,    May 6, 1674
Mary,        b. Exeter,    May 8, 1676    married Stephen Page*, of Hampton, Jan. 3, 1701, who died Feb. 1714, in his 37th year.
Benjamin    b. Exeter,    July 6, 1678
Aaron        b. Exeter,    --------------
Samuel    b. Exeter,        1690      
John        b. Exeter,    --------------
Alice,        b. Exeter,    --------------    md. Roger Shaw, of Hampton, March 2, 1705.
Rachel        b. Exeter,    --------------  


*Stephen Page, born May 14, 1677, was son of Thomas and Mary (Hussey) Page, of Hampton.  Stephen’s grandfather, Robert, one of the first settlers of Hampton, was born at Ormsby, Co. Norfolk, England; emigrated to American, 1637.  He was one of the leading men of Hampton, being a member of the first Board of Selectmen; member of the General Assembly, 1657, 1658; and Marshall of the old County of Norfolk.

Source:  James R. Rollins [he uses N.H. Historical Collection. Vol, 13?. p. 44   Story continues on pg. 5-

James Rollins--1632 Immigrant

Chart compiled by Merry Lu Zeller from
 From Records of Families of the name Rawlins or Rollins in the United States, pages 1-4
Compiled by John R. Rollins
(Printed 1874 in Lawrence, Mass. By Geo. S. Merrill & Crocker)

James Rawlins (N. E. Hist. Gen. Register.  Vol. 8: p. 257.)

IMMIGRATION

    "Emigrated to America in 1632, with the settlers of Ipswich, Mass. He did not, however, remain long at Ipswich, for he is mentioned by Farmer as being at Newbury in 1634; being probably, one of a small party who went there for the purpose of looking out a favorable spot for settlement."  

SETTLEMENT

    "We next hear [after Ipswich and Newbury] of him at Dover, where he was located as early as 1644, as he received a grant of land from the town, July 10th of that year.  Another grant of one hundred acres "was layed out for him," Nov. 26, 1656.  This last named lot is so accurately described, and the position and boundaries are so clearly defined, that the description is copied here for the benefit of descendants who may, in future, desire to visit the old place, and explore the paternal acres:

    "Given and graunted [sic] unto James Rawlins, his heirs and assigns, one hundred acres of upland anext to his one lot, as so layed out and bounded, by Capt. Hall and Sargeant Hanson, who have bounded it as followeth':  that is to say, by the water sied [sic] 109 rodde [sic]; upon the N. W. sied, 240 rodde, upon S. W. and by W. line; and the S. E. sied is upon a S. W. and by W. line.  Layed 26th of 11th mo., 1656."

    Mr. Rollins resided in that part of ancient Dover called Bloody Point* (now Newington), till his death, receiving grants of land at various times.

    The origin of the name  [Bloody Point] is somewhat amusing.  According to Mr. Hubbard, the historian, it grew out of a quarrel between Walter Neal, the agent of Gorges & Mason, at Pascataqua, and Capt. Wiggans, agent of another company, who proposed forming a settlement higher up the river.  Neal had forbidden Wiggans to come upon a certain pice of land, about half way between Dover and Easter, over which Neal claimed jurisdiction.  Capt. Wiggans intended too have defended his right by the record, but it seems both litigants had so much wit in their anger as to waive the battle, each accounting himself to have done very manfully in what was threatened, so that from not what did, but from what might have happened, the place, to this day, retains the formidable name of Bloody Point.

    James Rawlins arrived in 1632 with the Ipswich, Massachusetts settlers from England.  Daniel Webster tells story about Rollins who lived somewhere in vicinity of Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire.  They were not remarkable other than for the large and peculiar shape of their noses.  Daniel tells of his unrepressable laughter in the courtroom because of a line up of four Rollins who came in to view the trial with noses next to each other.


TROUBLE

    1634, Aug. 5.  "It was witnessed upon oath that James Rawlins took 8 pence per day, and meate and drinks for ten days worke, for one of his servants, for weeding corn, contrary to an order of Courte: (an act regulating the price of commodities and labor).  And therefore he is to pay 5 shillings for every daye he hath soe transgressed."   Source:  ? Massachusetts Covvency?

    1656, Jan. 27.  "James Rawlins was presented for neglect of coming unto the publicke meeting, and admonished therefor, and sentenced to pay the fees of the Courte, two shillings and six pence."  Source:  Massachusetts Colony Records

    A few years later, we find him again in trouble.  At the second session of the General Court held at Boston, 18th Oct., 1659.  "The Court having considered of the severall offences of those persons ye entertayned ye vikers, with ye answers given in by them respectively, doe order that James Rawlins, being more innocent and ingenious than the rest, be only admonished by ye honnored Governor, wch was donne."  Source:  Massachusetts Colony Records

    We shall, probably, judge him more leniently for failing to attend public worship, when we remember that the people of Bloody Point, at that period, were compelled to attend church either at "Cochecae" (Dover", or "Pascataqua" (Portsmouth), a distance of several miles, by Indian trails, and exposed to the attacks of Indian foes; and they so continued to do until about 1713, when the good people of Bloody Point erected a meeting house of their own, and petitioned the Governor and Council for an Act of incorporation as a distinct parish.  Their petition was granted, and the parish of Newington incorporated 1713.  Among the petitioners were four of the descendants of James Rawlins, viz.:  Joseph, Samuel, John and James.

    In regard to the violation of the law respecting the price of labor, he was not alone.  The regulation was arbitrary, and being found of very difficult application, was repealed the next month.  In modern times, nearly two hundred and fifty years later, certain politicians seem to be befogged witht he crude ideas of the legislators of that elder day.

    His third offence, for which he received a reprimand from the Governor--the crime of hospitality--is now a crime of so comparatively rare occurrence, that no laws against it are considered necessary; and, without attempting to extenuate his fault, we must leave him on this point, as guilty of a flagrant violation of the eminently wise, liberal, wholesome, Christian regulations of the times in which he lived.

    The fact that he held slave (servants), at all, was not then considered at all prejudicial, for this was common.  As has been well said by Mr. Edmund Quincy:--

    "The blessings of the patriarchal system were not always monopolized by our Southern brethren.  New England, also, once rejoiced in its benign influences.  Although the fathers of New England did not exactly make slavery the corner stone of their republican institutions, (for the science of political ethics was then in its infancy), still they were not so fanatical as wholly to reject it from the fabric of their new State.  The scarcity of laborers in those early days reconciled some of them to a system, which, when first proposed, they rejected with abhorrence, and the obvious convenience of having their work done without having to pay for it, might well help to silence any fantastic scruples as to the justice of the arrangement."

    From the foregoing remarks, it would seem that their subject, Mr. Rawlins, was one of the hardy pioneers in the settlement of the Western wilderness; a plain, sturdy farmer, possessed of good common sense, and practical ideas; capable of thinking and acting for himself, sometimes independently of the arbitrary enactments of the law of his time, and hospitable to the stranger tho' proscribed.  Thus, probably, he spent his life as contentedly as the savage foes around him would permit--cultivating his broad acres, and rearing a family, who were subsequently to do their part in carrying out the undertaking of founding, and establishing the new State; and, at a good old age, his spirit was gathered to his fathers while his ashes, the first of his tribe in the new world, were mingled with the virgin soil, which he aided in clearing from the "forest primeval."

FAMILY

    Whether James had any other daughters or not [other than Deborah], tradition does not say, and, so far as has been ascertained, the records are silent.  No mention is made of any in his will. 

    Belknap's History of New Hampshire, however, has the following item--

    "April 22, 1677.  A company of fifty men, and ten Natick Indians, marched under Capt. Swane? to Pascataqua, to succor the inhabitants, who were alarmed by scattered parties of the enemy, who were killing and taking people, and burning homes in Wells, Kittery, and within the bounds of Portsmouth.  A young woman who was taken from Rawlins' house, made her escape, and came into Cocheco, informing where the enemy lay; three parties were immediately dispatched to ambush these places, by one of which the enemy must pass; appearing at one of these places, they were reasonably? discovered, but by the too great eagerness of the party to fire upon them, they avoided the ambush, and escaped."

CHARACTER

    Of the previous history of James Rawlins, or his personal character, we know nothing, except by inferences to be drawn from the following fragmentary notices.

    He was not, probably, one of the class who came hither solely for the high purpose of seeking a "Faith's pure shrine," but was rather an adventurer, prompted either by a spirit of enterprise, or a desire for gain, or both.  He evidently belonged to a class of men of whom some writer has said:

    "The early settlers of New Hampshire were distinguished neither for literature nor religion; they were patient, hardy, enterprising men:--and as unvarnished account of their sufferings, dangers and exploits, would appear to us like the tales of romance.

    Such an account is not preserved.  They had not leisure, if they had ability, to write history; they were much more conversant with the axe, the firelock, and the sword, than with books and the pen.  It was often their business to fight, and conquer a savage enemy, but very seldom to give any other or more durable account of their engagements than what they gave to their children and neighbors around those firesides, to defend which they had fearlessly exposed their lives."

DEATH

    Will proved July 25, 1691.  Obadiah Mors, of Strawberry Bank, was executor.


Source: "Records of Families of the Name Rawlins or Rollins, in the United States", compiled by John R. Rollins, Lawrence, Mass.: Geo. S. Merrilll & Crocker, Printers, 1874.