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Children of ZEBULON PREBLE (33-1) and HANNAH WELCH,

IV. Great-grandchildren of ABRAHAM and JUDITH.

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Abraham, b. Nov. 2, 1714; m. Abigail Gilman, of Exeter,
N. H., Sept. 10, 1756.

2.

3.

Elizabeth, b. March 2, 1719; m. Thomas Welsh.

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5.

Hepzibah, b. March 1, 1723; m. John Harmon, Sept. 12, 1764.

6. Zebulon, b. April 9, 1725.

7. Deborah, b. Aug. 9, 1727.

8. Joseph, b. April 9, 1729.

9. David, b. Aug. 20, 1730; m. 1st, Mary Moulton, Sept. 25, 1752, dau. of Henry Moulton; m. 2d, Mary Jenkins, August 4, 1757, dau. of David Jenkins.

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Children of DAVID PREBLE and MARY JENKINS.

4. Theodore, b. March 4, 1758. 5. Hannah, b. March 16, 1760.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

OF

BRIGADIER-GENERAL JEDIDIAH PREBLE,

1707-1784,

AND OF HIS CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS,

1733-1868.

"General PREBLE, if he had done nothing else than bequeath to the world such a posterity, would have been entitled to the warmest commendation and a marble statue; but he, living, well filled the place he occupied himself by a full round of civil and military duties.”—William Willis's History of Portland, 2d Ed.

"Those are the best instructors whose lives speak for them."

"Earth's highest station ends in 'Here he lies,'

And Dust to dust' concludes the noblest song."-Young.

"We live in deeds, not years: in thoughts, not breaths:
We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best;
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest-
Lives in one hour more than in years do some
Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins."

"Our life is but a tale, a dance, a song,

A little wave that frets and ripples by,
And hopes the bubbles that it bears along,

Born with a breath and broken with a sigh."

"Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,

Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;

Another race the following spring supplies;

They fall successive and successive rise."

BRIGADIER GENERAL JEDIDIAH PREBLE

AND HIS DESCENDANTS.

JEDIDIAH PREBLE, a grandson of Abraham Preble and Judith Tilden, the common ancestors of all of the name in America, was born in York, in the Province of Maine, A.D. 1707. He was the first of the name that settled on the Peninsula of ancient Falmouth, now the site of the city of Portland, Me., about the year 1748. In 1728 he is styled in a deed, "husbandman of York." In 1729, his father (who had six years previously, viz., in 1723, willed him the same property on his decease), in consideration of his natural love and affection for him, deeded to him his homestead place in York, retaining a life interest in the estate. In 1738, in a deed, Jedidiah Preble is styled a "yeoman of York"; in 1743, "a yeoman of Wells"; in 1744, "a coaster of Wells"; and in 1747, " gentleman of Wells." On the 9th of March, 1748, Samuel Waldo deeded to him one hundred acres of land in Falmouth, and he is styled, in the document, "Jedidiah Preble, Esquire, of Falmouth," which is the first evidence we have of his removal there. Numerous other deeds follow in succeeding years, in all of which he is styled "of Falmouth." Samuel Waldo was Colonel of the same Regiment in which Preble was then a Captain.

On the 30th of June, 1732, there was a division of town lands in York, among the male inhabitants of twenty-one years and upwards, each man to have a number of shares not to exceed eight. In this division Jedidiah Preble received six shares.*

In 1733, "Jedidiah Preble of York" was presented to the Grand Jury for laying violent hands on Daniel Simpson, pushing and threat

By the records of York it appears that on the 30th June, 1732, a town meeting was held for the purpose of making division of the town common land, at which meeting a vote was passed that it should be divided amongst the inhabitants of twenty-one years of age and upwards, each man to have a number of shares not exceeding eight. It was accordingly divided, and the number of shares allotted each is set down. It seems, from this record,

ening to strike him-also for pushing and striking Joseph Simpson. Pleaded not guilty to the striking, and was acquitted and fined thirtyeight shillings. On the 21st of March, 1733, he was married, by the Rev. Joseph Moody, to Martha, a daughter of Alexander Junkins, of Scotland Parish, in Old York, who was then between eighteen and nineteen, he being about twenty-six years of age. The house in which this lady was born was standing in 1850, and occupied by a descendant bearing the same name as her father. In 1692 it was one of four garrison houses that remained standing when York was nearly destroyed by the Indians, and had been used for the same purpose many years previous. Scotland Parish, the birth-place of Martha Junkins, was so called because first settled by Scotch families between the years 1650 and 1660.

Four sons and one daughter were the result of this marriage, viz.: Jedidiah, who married Miss Avis Phillips, of Boston.

Samuel, who died in the West Indies, unmarried.

John, who married Miss Sarah Frost, of Machias.

William, who went to sea and was never heard from after.

Lucy, who married Jonathan Webb, of Boston.

that at that time (1732) there were no more than seven of the name of Preble of twenty-one years and upwards residing in York, viz.:

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Six of the seven, it appears, were grandsons of Abraham the common ancestor, and the remaining one a great-grandson.

According to Mr. Alexander McIntire, in 1850, 118 years after this division, there were residing in York but eleven males of the name of Preble, aged twenty-one years and upwards, viz.:

1. George. 2. Jedidiah, aged about 70. (Brothers, and sons of Edward of Cape Neddock). Jedidiah had a brother John living in Penobscot Co. 3. William. 4. Josiah. 5. Jeremiah. Sons of Jedidiah. These five are descendants of Capt. Edward, the grandson of Nathaniel (6-5).

6. Charles. 7. Washington. 8. Andrew. Brothers, sons of Samuel, and also descendants of Capt. Edward, the grandson of Nathaniel. Charles and Washington were then on a mining expedition in California.

9. Nathaniel, son of Joseph.

10. Joseph, son of David, descendant of Zebulon the illegitimate.

11. Francis, son of Stephen, who had a brother living in Weld, Franklin County, and another in Massachusetts, all that remained of the descendants of Peter, the grandson of Stephen (5-4).

Indian wars and emigration to other parts of the union will account for this apparent trifling increase, as I have the names and more or less particulars respecting over 400 descendants of the first Abraham.

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