A New England Family Genealogy

The Weston Family Farm, Madison, Maine

The Weston farm in 2013

I was fortunate in 1999 to make a trip to Weston Family Farm in Madison, Maine. The house and farm built by my 4th great grandfather, Benjamin Weston. At the time the farm was still family owned and had been restored after the floods of 1987 had done so much damage. It's a strange feeling to think your ancestors from so many generation back building and then living in a place and having look so much as it did at the time. The idea I am walking on the same floors as a man who died over 100 years before I was born. The farm contained so many family heirlooms. On the mantel was a small picture of Deacon Benjamin Weston, which I was able to get a copy. Maine Historical Society has copies of his photo now as well as well as most of the family records, photos and letters. The farm has since been sold as the last family members did not want remain in charge of the family estate due to costs of maintaining the farm and that their family had settled elsewhere.

Benjamin Weston

Benjamin Weston was born in Concord, Massachusetts on February 4, 1765, the son of Joseph and Eunice (Farnsworth) Weston. When Benjamin was seven years old in 1772, he was brought by his parents to Canaan (now Skowhegan), Maine, where his father, had cleared land and built a cabin for his family the year before. When he was ten years old, his father died in 1775 after coming down with pneumonia. After his father's death, Joseph Crosby of Winslow, Maine was made his guardian. This Joseph Crosby was a brother to my ancestor, Bridget (Crosby) Spaulding, whose grandson would marry Benjamin Weston's daughter, Mary Weston. Benjamin's mother then remarried to Col. John Moor, a very prominent man, who had purchased large tracts of land in Somerset County. Benjamin went with his mother to his step-father's home in Anson, Maine. It is said that a promise was made by Col. Moor to Benjamin's mother that he would care for her youngest sons as his own and give them 50 cares of land when they reached the age of 21 years. There are different versions of this story and not all include a promise of land. It is said that Benjamin inherited the land from his stepfather and bought it for $5 and an old horse in 1785. However he acquired it, Benjamin did receive a large tract of land in what is now Madison, Maine.

He cleared the land and erected a small cabin before his marriage in 1788 to Anne Powers, whose father Levi Powers settled early in Sidney, Maine and built a home that still stands today as well, but it is privately owned. As the story goes, he took his new bride to his home on the banks of the Kennebec River. He afterward purchased land from time to time until he owned about a thousand acres, all of which was owned by his descendants. For many years before his death his name headed the list as the largest taxpayer in the town. He was classed as a Puritan of the Puritans. He was the first Deacon of the Congregational Church of Madison and in politics he was an old-line whig.

As well as his farm, Benjamin probably had other ways to earn cash. Since there was little demand for farm products in the early 1790s. He made bricks and said to have operated a ferry between Madison and Norridgewock, probably soon after he established his farm.

As his family grew, the need for a larger house became necessary. The barn was erected first with few nails available at the time and made with timber that fit together with grooves in the plate beams. It was built between 1790 and 1800. The frame house was then started. The old house was located, according to I.M. Weston in his historical address in 1886, in the garden and the family moved from this house to the big house in 1817. The ell of the house is older then the main house, so either the house in the garden was moved to abut the main house or they built the main house next the old one. Sadly his wife, Anna (Powers) Weston only lived in the new frame house for four years before she died in 1821.

In 1823, he sold half of his interest in the farm to his son, Nathan. His daughter, Hannah never married and she probably cared for her father and siblings until 1835, when Nathan Weston married and brought his bride to the farm. In 1841, Benjamin sold the other half interest in his farm to his son, probably being in poor health, but continued on for another 10 years.

Benjamin died April 7, 1851 at 86 years old. He was buried with his wife and his descendants in the Madison Bridge Cemetery. The homestead continued to be passed down the Weston family over the several generations. A 100th anniversary was held in 1886 to celebrate the family's establishment in Madison, Maine and again in 1996. The farm then being maintained by Robert T. Weston. His daughter, Nancy Drew being the last of the family to own it until 2014 when the farm was sold the Maine Farmland Trust. It is also listed on the National Historic Places in Maine.

Here are some photos of the interior of the farm.