Okay now I found this about Henry Orne....
and John Boyd as well..
Boyd Lake and Orneville
By Virgil Valente
About a month ago I received a call from a lady in
Mississippi. She informed me that she had the Bible of General
John Parker Boyd. She had picked it up at a Goodwill Store there.
She told me he was the man Boyd Lake was named after. I
decided it might be interesting to do a little research on him and
Judge Orne who married General Boyd’s niece.
John Parker Boyd was born in Newburyport, MA, Dec.
21, 1764 and died in Boston, Oct. 4, 1830. His father James was
from Scotland and his mother Susannah was descended from
Tristram Coffin, who was the first of that name to come to this
country.
The boys in the family were apprenticed into the
mercantile industry and his brothers Robert, Joseph and Ebenezer
settled in Portland, ME where they were prominent in the city as
traders. John, however, wasn’t interested in that type of life and
joined the navy in 1786. In 1789 he traveled to India and under
the authority of the English government gained prestige as a
fighter in that country where at one time he commanded 10,000
men.
He returned to Boston in 1808 and on Oct. 7, 1808 he
was appointed Colonel of the Fourth Infantry and Brigadier
General in 1812. He was involved in the capture of Fort George at
the battle of Williamsburg in Canada. He was honorably
discharged in June of 1815. President Jackson appointed him
Naval Officer at Boston in 1830 shortly before his death.
In 1805, before he returned from India, he became the
owner of the townships known today as Medford and Orneville.
When incorporated, the town of Medford was named Kilmarnock
due to Boyd’s Scottish ancestry. The name was changed to
Medford in 1824. As far as Orneville is concerned, he purchased it
from John Peck in Sept. of 1805 for $6211.69. At the time this
land was in Hancock County. There is no record of General Boyd
living in either township but he visited them often. At this time it
was called Boyd’s Plantation
General Boyd’s will is interesting: “I John Parker Boyd of
Boston, in the County of Suffolk and Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, being of sound mind and memory, conscious of my
dependence upon the Supreme Being, and convinced of the
uncertainty of human life, being now about to depart for Europe,
do hereby declare this to be my last will and testament, revoking
and annulling all by me heretofore made.
Inprimia- After my legal and just debts are paid, I give
and bequeath one Quarter of all my Estate to Frances Boyd, my
natural daughter by Housina, a Mahometan lady born in my camp
in the vicinity of Ponah, in the month of June and fourth day,
1797, and christened the same year in Ponah by the Revd. Father
of the Roman Catholic Church of that City, Major Tone being
Godfather and Mesdames Franswa and Finglap, Godmothers.
But in the case of my daughter, the said Frances Boyd,
shall decease without lawful issue, my will is that my brothers and
sisters shall be her heirs to the property I have thus bequeathed
her, and to her relations in India, to be divided between my said
Brothers and Sisters in the same proportion as the property I have
herein bequeathed to them, is distributed.
I give and bequeath One Quarter of all my Estate to
Wallace, my natural son by Marie Rupell, born Oct. 1814. But in
the case this child Wallace should die without lawful issue, my will
is that my Brothers and Sisters be heirs to the property I have
herein bequeathed to him, in like manner as I have stated with
respected to my daughter, the said Frances Boyd, now in India.
I give and bequeath one half of all my estate to my own
Brothers and Sisters in the following proportions:
To my brother, Robert Boyd, one tenth of the aforesaid
one half of all my Estate. To my brother, Joseph Boyd, two tenths
of the aforesaid one half of all my Estate. To my brother E. L.
Boyd, two tenths of the aforesaid one half of all my Estate. To my
sister Margaret Storer, Two tenths of the aforesaid one half of all
my Estate. To my sister, Frances Little, Three Tenths of the
aforesaid one half of my Estate.
But nevertheless I will the following legacies be first paid
out of the whole Estate before any dividend shall take place: One
Hundred Guineas to Miss Maria Smith of Philadelphia to purchase a
Ring which she is requested to accept as a testimony to my ardent
and unchangeable affection.
I commit the care and guardianship of my son Wallace
to my Sister Little and would recommend that he should be
educated for the army or navy.
I do constitute my brothers, J. C. Boyd and E. L. Boyd as
Executors.”
The will was dated Nov. 3, 1816.
There is no evidence that General Boyd was ever
married. I could find no further mention of his children.
Boyd’s Plantation was incorporated as Milton in 1832,
changed to Almond in 1841 and finally to Orneville in 1843.
So where does Judge Orne come into the picture?
Judge Henry Orne was one of the Orne's from Marblehead MA.
The Orne’s were prominent citizens and early patriots of the
Colony. Judge Orne was born in 1792 and was the nephew of Vice
President Elbridge Gerry. He made Orneville his permanent
home in 1841. He died in Orneville on Jan. 2, 1853.
In the 1830s there was great speculation in land and
when these high prices collapsed towns like Milton were in bad
condition. Most of the land was held by speculators who did not
live there and refused to pay any taxes. By 1837 the town was in
crisis. Judge Henry Orne, who had married a niece of General
Boyd (Frances Little’s daughter), decided to move to the area and
develop the land to prevent collapse of the town and lose his
financial interest. His wife had inherited her mother’s share of
Boyd’s estate. Orne built a sawmill and gristmill at the outlet of
Boyd Lake and built a ‘baronial Manor’ on elevated land
overlooking the lake. He cleared the land and built buildings. He
cleared fields, made orchards and gardens and planted ornamental
trees on a large and elegant scale. He even saved a piece of the
nearby forest for a deer park.
Because of his efforts, land prices rose, population
increased and schools were revived. His home was known as the
Orne Mansion where he lived in grand style. He entertained
lawyers from the area as far away as Bangor. Guests from out of
state, came by stagecoach to Bangor, and were picked up by
Judge Orne’s own teams of horses and brought to his home.
I have heard stories about Judge Orne having slaves at
his home. While I found nothing to confirm this, I did find that
after becoming a judge he moved to Ohio where he spent a
number of years in agriculture before buying a plantation in the
South. From the South he moved to Orneville, so he could have
brought slaves with him.
Now mind you this also has the will of John Boyd which I thought was interesting enough to post and more history of the lands and the properties.. apparently these people never lived in the area! From what it states they just bought up the properties to have and hence did not pay taxes to them either! hmmm the plot thickens! lol :)
