Steuben’s Founding Families
The following list includes the settlers in the current Rogers Point, Village, and Eastside Road areas and does not include the early settlers of Dyer Bay, Pigeon Hill, or points north of the village center. Approximate settler arrival dates are based on family genealogy research (births, weddings, and deaths).
Note: I have compiled a comprehensive genealogy of the inhabitants of the town of Steuben from 1700-1900. This reference is available for public view for Ancestry.com subscribers under Steuben Town Tree.
Many early settlers’ families arrived in the York, Kennebunk, and Arundel townships of Maine in the early 1700s, primarily from the Massachusetts and New Hampshire areas. After the end of the French and Indian War (or Seven Years War) in 1763, American colonists began migrating eastward. The earliest arrivals in Township #4 (Steuben) in the 1760s-70s include the Parritt, Leighton, Dyer, Wakefield, and Stevens families. The remainder arrived in the post-Revolutionary War 1780s-90s eastward migration period. They were entitled to purchase lots of 100 acres for 30 shillings if they met the settlement terms.
It is unknown how many settlers, if any, received their lots through war service grants. However, many early residents served together in the war, including Francis Shaw (Gouldsboro proprietor), Samuel Wakefield, Nathaniel Cox, Thomas Parritt, Thomas Leighton, and Reuben and Henry Dyer.
After the lots were formally deeded in 1794 (although many of the transactions were not formally recorded until the early 1800s) based on the Lothrop Lewis survey of 1794, a significant amount of land transfer occurred. This included carving up the lots, selling outright, and transferring to family members. With official titles in hand, several early lot holders and “sub”-proprietors did not establish long-term roots in the new community and quickly sold or divided their land. Lot survey numbers and boundaries are essential in deciphering subsequent property deeds in Steuben for generations.
Founding Settlers of East Steuben
Land Grants of 1794
This list only includes settlers in the 1794 land grant in east Steuben. Other lots were granted (sometimes backdated to 1794) in subsequent years.
|
Name |
Lot |
History |
|
Samuel Wakefield Jr. (II) |
30 |
b. 3/15/1768 – d. 4/23/1852 b. Kennebunk, ME Arrived in Maine around 1770 (see father) |
|
Thomas Parritt |
73 |
b. 1740 – d. 1798 b. unknown Arrived in Steuben prior to 1772 |
|
Obed Dunbar |
28 |
b. 9/5/1745 – d. 12/1838 b. Scituate, MA Arrived in Steuben around 1785 |
|
Thomas Leighton Jr. / Valentine Leighton |
27 |
Valentine died in 1785; see Thomas Leighton |
|
Jonathan Tracy |
77 |
b. 12/29/1713 – d. 1796 b. Preston, CT in Falmouth in 1748, died in Steuben in 1796 |
|
Thomas Leighton |
1 |
Sgt. Thomas Henry Leighton, b. 9/1/1740 – d. 2/12/1803 B. Newington, NH Arrived in Steuben between 1760-65 Son of Hatevil Leighton, father of Jonathan Leighton and brother to Valentine Leighton |
|
Ichabod Godfrey |
2 |
b. 5/15/1754 – d. 2/24/1835 b. Westbrook, ME m. Lydia Wakefield in 1787, Kennebunk Arrived in Steuben between 1787-90. Father Benjamin Godfrey’s sister (Ruth) was Samuel J. Wakefield I’s wife. |
|
Jonathan Stevens |
3 |
Deacon Jonathan Pillsbury Stevens b. 9/17/1741 – d. 1/9/1822 m. Mary Tracy in 1771, Salisbury, Massachusetts Arrived in Steuben around 1772 |
|
The Heirs of Samuel Wakefield (II) |
4 |
b. 1737 – d. 9/7/1793 b. Kennebunk, ME Arrived in Steuben around 1770 |
|
Jacob Townsley |
5 |
b. 1759 – d. 5/14/1849 b. Springfield, MA in Steuben by 1790, but likely earlier |
|
Samuel Kingsley
|
6 |
b. 1742 – d. 1843 b. Rhode Island unable to pinpoint; likely sold or transferred land after grant to family |
|
Wheeler Tracy |
7 |
b. 1765 – d. 1827 b. Gouldsboro, ME The first Tracy born in Gouldsboro. Wheeler was in Steuben in 1790, but back in Gouldsboro as of the 1800 census. His second wife was Sarah Wakefield, a daughter of Samuel John Wakefield II. |
|
Daniel Godfrey |
8 |
b. 2/14/1761 – d. 4/12/1837 b. Falmouth, ME Arrived in Steuben between 1787-90. Father Benjamin Godfrey’s sister (Ruth) was Samuel J. Wakefield I’s wife. In Steuben between 1790-1800; married Charity Leighton in 1790 (daughter of Thomas Leighton) |
|
Jonathan McDonald |
9 |
Settled in Eastport / Lubec area; likely sold or transferred land after grant |
|
Samuel Stevens
|
10 |
b. 5/11/1770 – d. 9/4/1842 Son of Jonathan b. Steuben |
|
Atherton Oaks |
11 |
b. 1765 – d. 1842 Doesn’t appear to have settled in Steuben (he is in Hancock County by 1800) |
|
Obed Hutchins (Jr.) Could also be his father Obed Sr? |
12 |
b. 1772 – d. ? b. Kittery In New Hampshire as of 1800 (His mother was a Moore and he married another Moore in Steuben after the death of his father). |
|
Simon Brown |
17 |
To be researched It appears that he sold his lot to Benjamin Wakefield in 1795 (Deed book 1:414 p. 233/585) |
|
Ebenezer Downs Jr. |
23 |
b. 1765 – d. 4/14/1846 In Steuben after 1790, coming from Machias. He stayed in Steuben for some time, but most of his family migrated out by the 1850s. They don’t seem to have intermarried with other Steuben residents. |
|
Daniel Epes (Portland) |
21 |
To be researched |
|
The Heirs of Samuel Wakefield (II) |
20 |
See above |
|
Samuel Baker |
19 |
To be researched |