Comfort (Bunker) Manchester (1736)

Born 1736 in Durham, Strafford, New Hampshire

Ancestors

Wife of John Manchester Sr. — married about 20 Jul 1756 in Falmouth, Maine

Descendants

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Biography

"The first family to settle at what is now Northeast Harbor was John Manchester, his wife Comfort, and son John in 1775. The Manchesters came from Machias where the elder John served in the militia. He served in at least three different groups while in the militia, and family lore says he was active in the capture of the British vessel Margaretta. When he arrived at Northeast Harbor, it was called Sand Point because people came there to get sand to be used as an ingredient in mortar for foundations. At some point in his first few years in his new home, after John had gone out hunting and his family had left the house to do some work nearby, a British ship came and anchored off the Manchester house. The British came ashore, drove his cattle and oxen to the shore, killed and butchered the animals, took all the provisions from the house, then smashed the dishes. ...

About ten years after the arrival of the Manchesters, Samuel Hadlock arrived at Sand Point with his children and three nieces. He established a lumber mill at Wasgatt Cove, over what is now called the Mill Brook. Hadlock was a successful businessman and eventually built a house that was valued at $2000. In 1789, Samuel Hadlock murdered Eliab Gott after Hadlock had fought with a number of other men in the village, as well as assaulting Comfort Manchester."

Sources

• https://www.mainememory.net/bin/Features?fn=268&fmt=list&n=1&supst=Exhibits&mr=all
• Manchester, Alden C. & Manchester, Rita C., The Manchester Family of Rhode Island, NEHGR (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1948) Vol. 102, Page 15.