_David GIVEN ________
| (1690 - ....)
_John GIVEN Sr.______|
| (1718 - 1795) |
| |_Mary ? _____________
| (.... - 1741)
|
|--John GIVEN Jr.
| (1743 - 1819)
| _Robert SPEAR _______
| | (1682 - 1763)
|_Sarah SPEAR ________|
|
|_? FINNEY ___________
(.... - 1781)
[146]
John Given enlisted on March 15, 1776 in Capt. William
Lithgow's Company, for 8 months and 10 days. He was a Private in Capt.
George White's Company in 1777, for 80 1/2 days. In later records he is styled Lt. John Given. He was a true patriot and a citizen of great worth; ever ready to help in all that was for the betterment of the pioneer settlement in which he lived his long and useful life. Owing to the burning of records no further data of him has been secured. He was a very industrious and enterprising citizen.
[476]
[S24]
Topsham town records 1705-1813 in Augusta, Maine microfinche #578
[172]
Robert Spear was one of the early settlers in Brunswick. He may have been grandson of George, of Braintree, who was made a freeman in 1644. He lived west of where the old-meeting house stood. His house and tavern was a garrison, protected by a timber fortification, and soldiers were kept in it by the government, for safety of travelers, as well as for the protection of the citizens. It was used as a public house after the Spanish or Fifth Indian War had terminated, in 1748. Town meetings were frequently held in this inn in cold weather, and here on Sunday, the people were wont to congregate for lunch and grog.
The following is a description of the garrison kept by Mr. Spear:
Nearly opposite the old meeting-house which stood on the Maquoit road, about a mile from the colleges, was once a garrison built by William and Robert Spear, and occupied by the latter. The wall was sixty to seventy feet in circumference, and ten feet high. Inside there was a one-story, gambrel-roofed house, which faced the east, and on the back of which formed a part of the timber wall. The garrison was once attacked by Indians. Mr. Spear had placed some loose boards across the corner of the wall. An Indian climbed up on this corner in order to get inside and unbar the gates, but the boards extended outside the wall, his weight caused them to tip up, and he fell back into the sleigh, the noise, of course, arousing Mr. Spear. According to another account, the Indian fell back into a hog-pen, and it was the unusual grunting of its porcine occupant that awoke Mr. Spear.
Mr. Spear is supposed to have married a Finney. His wife died in 1781, aged 85 years. He died in 1763. Children were: __Robert; William; a daughter who married John Given; another daughter who married William Ross.
Reverend Robert Dunlap wrote a narrative about himself and Robert Spear and the dangers of there hunting trip. He went on to say that himself and Robert left together for a hunting trip determined to cruise to the Penobscot and to its rise. It was the month of March, and the ground was covered with snow. They each took a gun, ammunition, four ounces of salt, and of bread what was equal to a dozen biscuit, and each a pair of snow-shoes. On there arrival at the Penobscot they divided. Mr. Spear
to the north side of the river and Mr. Dunlap to the south. They were to proceed up the river to its source, and there wait for several days for each other. Once Mr. Dunlap reached the source he spent seven long anxious days and nights, listening continually to hear the footsteps of his companion. After these long days he resolved to return home, and he traveled one or two days, when a thought occurred to him about what account he should give Mr. Spear's family on his return. Mr. Dunlap as a single man, concluded to return, and if possible, find him. He traveled along down the north side of the river, looking for some vestiges of human beings. What had become of Spear he could not imagine. His mind was the whole time vacillating between hope and fear. After he had been traveling for a number of days, and had been looking and listening, a pole stuck up in the middle of the river in the snow arrested his attention. He went to investigate and on it he found a piece of birch bark with writing on it, to inform him that Spear was sick close by on the bank of the river. He searched and immediately fired his gun, which was in about a minute answered. Spear was found suffering from an acute rheumatic fever. He was overjoyed at Dunlap's appearance. Dunlap could not figure out what to do for him but ended up digging in the snow for some good turf, green as could find it, heated it by fire and applied it to the part of the body most effected with pain. This proved to be a lucky expedient, Spear grew better and after a while was able to get to Fort Halifax. Spear was left there and he came home a month later.
In 1856 The Brunswick Mutual Insurance Company was formed in which Mr. Spear was an officer.
_____________________
|
_Philip TOWLE _______|
| (1616 - 1696) m 1657|
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Caleb 2d TOWLE
| (1678 - 1763)
| _Francis AUSTIN _____
| |
|_Isabella AUSTIN ____|
(1633 - 1719) m 1657|
|_Isabella BLAND _____+
_John TOWLE _________+
| (1694 - 1772) m 1721
_John TOWLE _________|
| (1723 - ....) m 1745|
| |_Lydia PAGE _________
| (1698 - 1772) m 1721
|
|--John TOWLE
| (1748 - ....)
| _____________________
| |
|_Mary PAGE __________|
(1712 - ....) m 1745|
|_____________________