Samuel was born in 1840 in Maine. He passed away in 1907 in Nebraska. Here are excerpts from a biographical sketch in the Biographical Album of Otoe & Cass Counties Nebraska (1889) [1]
"[H]e enlisted in the Union service December, 1861, and was assigned to duty in Company B, 1st Maine Cavalry, as farrier. He joined the regiment in camp at Augusta, where they remained three or four months, and in 1862 they started for the South and were attached to the Army of the Potomac. It is a historical fact that the 1st Maine Cavalry took part in more battles then any other cavalry regiment in the Army of the Potomac, participating in thirty-six engagements, being nearly all in which that army was engaged. His first term of service expiring, he re-enlisted for three years. At the end of two years he again re-enlisted as a veteran in the same regiment. In July, 1863, he was transferred into the Navy, where he served until the close of the war. His duty in the latter service was in the Revenue Marine, and confined principally to the Delaware River."
About six months after the war ended, he went to Iowa to try farming, and there he met his future wife (and third cousin) Harriet E. Sawyer. "His first venture in Iowa was not a success, for there he lost $700, all he had in the world. Believing that Nebraska offered greater advantages than Iowa he had decided to make one more venture" and this time succeeded.
"[F]ive children have been born to them: Abbie Eldora, Willie M., Helen, Ernest Lee and Frank."
"The father of our subject, Samuel M., Sr., was born in Otisfield, Cumberland County, Maine. He was engaged in the mercantile business in Casco, Me., until 1888, when he retired from the business and still resides in Casco. The mother was Abigail Hayden, and was born at Gray, Cumberland Co., Me. She died in 1887, aged seventy-nine years. A family of four children were born to his parents, named: Clara; Harriet, who died at the age of thirty-nine years, Samuel M. our subject, and Helen. Clara is now the wife of Frank Cook, Esq., and resides in Casco, Me.; Helen is a widow of a soldier who was killed in the late Rebellion and resides in Portland, Me. The ancestors of Mr. Holden were from England and originally settled in Massachusetts, from which State they removed to Maine."
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Samuel is 23 degrees from Herbert Adair, 22 degrees from Richard Adams, 18 degrees from Mel Blanc, 25 degrees from Dick Bruna, 22 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 32 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 23 degrees from Sam Edwards, 20 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 24 degrees from Marty Krofft, 14 degrees from Junius Matthews, 15 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 22 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.