Candage Genealogy of Blue Hill, Maine

The next house, after the “Coggin lot” was that of James Candage, who built the house that was standing until a few years ago, somewhere about 1800. James Candage was the son of James and Elizabeth Candage, who settled upon the Neck in 1766 from Beverly, Mass., born May 9, 1753; married Hannah, daughter of John Roundy, April 13, 1775; she was born at Beverly, August 4, 1753; died March 12, 1851, aged 97 years, 7 months, 8 days; he died Jan. 12, 1819, aged 65 years and 8 months. Their children were:

1. Elizabeth Candage, born Sept. 16, 1775; married Samuel Morse.
2. Samuel Roundy Candage, born Jan. 15, 1781; married Phebe Ware (Parker), widow of William Walker. See further.
   
3. Gideon Candage, born August 18, 1783; married Sarah Stinson.
4. Sarah Candage, born Jan. 4, 1786; died March 14, 1844.
5. James Candage, born May 1, 1788; died August 1, 1798.
6. Azor Candage, born April 8, 1791; married Chloe Parker. See further.
   
7. John Candage, born Dec. 21, 1793; died August 9, 1798.

The farm of James Candage contained about a hundred acres, extending from the tide mill pond westward over the fields, pastures and ledges to Mother Bush pond. He was half owner of the tide mills and, for that period, well to do.

The house in which he lived was divided into two parts, the western half being occupied by himself, his wife and daughter Sarah and the other half by his son Azor and family.

Azor Candage Family Genealogy

Azor Candage was a schoolmaster in his younger days, a fine writer with the quill pen and something of a carpenter and joiner. He was also a justice of the peace and aided those who needed his services in making out deeds and other legal papers, but in the boyhood of the writer he depended chiefly upon the products of the farm for support, the whole of which came to him upon the death of his father in 1819. His mother and sister Sarah, however, had certain rights in the property during their lives, and lived in the house until their death.

He married Chloe Parker Sept. 26, 1815; she was born Oct, 12, 1795; daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth (Chandler) Parker, granddaughter of Col. Nathan and Mary (Wood) Parker, and great-granddaughter of Joseph Wood, the first settler. Her husband, Azor Candage, was descended from James Candage, Sr., and John Roundy, Sr., two of the early settlers. Their children were:

1. Harriet Newell Candage, born April 24, 1816; married Phineas Dodge; died Oct. 21, 1879.
2. Joshua Parker Candage, born July 8, 1819; married Belinda B. Stover; died Nov. 15, 1870. See further.
3. Elizabeth Candage, born April 27, 1822; died August 25, 1833.
4. John Candage, born June 5, 1825; died Sept. 20, 1826.
5. Hannah Roundy Candage, born Sept. 8, 1827; died unmarried at Newburyport, Mass.
6. Mary Isabella Candage, born Nov. 18, 1831; married a Mr. Bardsley, of Rhode Island.
7. Julia Eveline Candage, born April 6, 1833; married Mr. Wakefield, of Massachusetts.
8. Elizabeth Walker Candage, born Nov. 1835; married Marshall Harding.

Azor Candage, head of this family, died Nov. 12, 1854, and Chloe, his widow, May 20, 1870, in her 75th year.

After their death the old house was occupied by Phineas Dodge his wife and family during his life, and by his widow until a short time before her death. The barn was sold and moved away and the old house finally succumbed to the ravages of time and was torn down. At this writing there are no buildings standing, and the land that once composed the farm has passed into other hands.

Samuel Roundy Candage Family Genealogy

Samuel Roundy Candage was the occupant of the Ellis house from 1816 to his death in 1852. He was the son of James, Jr., and Hannah (Roundy) Candage, born Jan. 15, 1781; married Feb. 29, 1816, Phebe Ware Parker, widow of Capt. William Walker, of Brooksville, lost at sea, whose mother was Emma (Roundy) Walker, daughter of John Roundy, Sr.

Mr. Candage and wife took up their abode in the Ellis house upon their marriage; in it their children were born, and in it she died on Oct. 3, 1850, at the age of 62, and he Dec. 23, 1852, aged nearly 72 years. She had three children by Capt. Walker, viz:

1. Phebe W. Walker, born June 13, 1808; died Dec. 13, 1815.
2. William Walker, born Dec. 16, 1809; died Jan. 24, 1849, at Matanzas, Cuba.
3. Mary Jane Walker, born August 17, 1811; died August 30, 1826.

and twelve by Mr. Candage as follows:

1. Simeon Parker Candage, born Nov. 21, 1816; lost at sea Dec. 31, 1842.
2. John Walker Candage, born March 15, 1818; died Sept. 20, 1822.
3. James Roundy Candage, born April 8, 1819; died Dec. 14, 1856, at Fortune Island. See further.
4. Samuel Barker Brooks Candage, born Jan. 25, 1821; died Sept, 1, 1826.
5. Robert Parker Candage, born Oct. 26, 1822; died Jan. 31, 1878, at Blue Hill. See further.
6. Dorothy Perkins Candage, born Feb. 6, 1825; died August 28, 1826.
7. Rufus George Frederick Candage, born July 28, 1826, of Brookline, Mass.
8. Samuel Franklin Candage, born Jan. 2, 1828; died at Honolulu, May 7, 1863.
9. John Brooks Candage, born June 24, 1829; died in Australia, July 23, 1870.
10. Hannah Roundy Candage (twin), born August 12, 1831; died Sept. 4, 1831.
11. Mary Perkins Candage (twin), born August 12, 1831; died Sept. 4, 1831.
12. Charles Edward Candage, born April 30, 1833; died at Honolulu, April 14, 1862.

All the sons of this family that grew to manhood were sailors, and as seen above, all but one are dead, having passed away in foreign lands or at sea, where they found graves. Perhaps no other family of the town shows such a remarkable record in that way.

Their father, until he was married, was a sailor on coasting West Indian and European voyages, but upon becoming engaged to be married, his prospective wife exacted from him the promise that when married he would give up his sea rovings.

She is said to have explained that one husband had been lost at sea, leaving her with three young children to care for, and she did not feel like taking chances that might again leave her a widow. He entered into that agreement with her and kept it, but all the boys were born with an inherited tendency for a sea life, and against the wish and advice of both parents, adopted it.

Their father bought the house already mentioned, the Holt field, part of the Wood farm, in all something over a hundred acres, a meadow and wood lot of another hundred acres, and half of the two tide mills, and between farming and milling, managed to provide for his large family comfortably and to dispense generous hospitality.

The grist mill brought many people to it with grist to be ground, all of whom, if there at meal or night time, were invited to make the house their home free of cost, which many availed themselves of.

The farm began at the tide mills, with lines abutting on the west of land of Azor Candage, on the east by the Sinclair place, and running over Oak hill to the back lot of Marble Parker.

On the farm were kept a half dozen cows, a yoke of oxen, young stork, a horse, thirty or more sheep, pigs, hens and geese; hay was cut for the stock, crops raised for the support of the family, making it a busy place from April to November, and in winter wood was cut and hauled for a year’s supply, so that all were kept busy. Th3 boys, when out of and between school, as soon as they were old enough to work, had a share of the work to be done in the mill, on the farm at the barn and in chores about the house, for neither parent believed in allowing their children to be brought up in idleness. They were not overworked, but taught habits of industry, so needful to the boy and useful to the man.

In the upper part of the field stood a house built by one of the sons of Joseph Wood and occupied for some time prior to 1830 by Robert Robertson and family before he built and removed to the house on the bay shore towards Parker Point, where the family later lived, and where he and his wife died.

The house from the field was moved down about 1830, and became the L and addition to the Samuel R. Candage house. The bricks for building the chimney were brought from McHards’ by vessel, and landed on the little beach near the tide mills, and then hauled to the house in an oxcart.

The writer and a cousin on a visit to the house, desired to go down with the ox-team and see the bricks loaded and brought up. His father did not care to be bothered with children too young to look Out for themselves, so he said, “now, children I want you to stay right here and watch the cat and prevent her from eating these bricks.”

Away he went for another load, and the children went on with their play, forgetting all about the cat. But, as luck would have it, the cat came round the corner of the house strode up on to the pile of bricks, when the children espied her and drove her away. Great was their dismay to find a brick with a corner gone just where the cat stood when she was driven away. Then came the team back, when the writer exclaimed, “Father! The old cat got here while we were at play, and ate the corner of this brick, but we drove her away as soon as we could.”

A curious smile lighted up his face as he said, “Well, children, I am glad you did not let the cat eat any more of them, so I keep a good watch, for cats are sly creatures.” The children really were of the opinion that cats ate bricks; they had proof of it in the brick with the corner gone, and didn’t the writer’s father say that they ate bricks? No, he didn’t say anything of the kind, but that was the impression his words left upon the child mind. The whole truth is better for children than a half truth.

The old house seems filled with memories of incidents, jokes, plays, and of people who visited it in the childhood of the writer. Of all that living throng he so well remember, every voice but his is silent, and were it not for this reminiscent account, would be forgotten. After the death of Samuel R. Candage the old house and place, in part, were sold to Otis Carter, he died leaving it to his widow, and upon her death it went to an adopted daughter, who still owns it, and in which Ebenezer M. McFarland has a life interest by Mrs. Carter’s will.

Joshua Parker Candage Family Genealogy

The next occupant of the Robert Clay house was Joshua Parker Candage, son of Azor and Chloe Candage,

Joshua Parker Candage, a cousin and close friend of the writer, had been brought up in the neighborhood, and being the only son in his father’s family, naturally sought the companionship of his cousins nearby. He had chosen the life of a sailor, and the seasons of 1845-6 the writer was his trusted first hand of the schooner Edward, of which he was master. The crew of that vessel in 1846, yet living, are Freeman R. McIntyre and the writer.

Capt. Candage gave up the sea a few years later, learned the trade of a ship carpenter, he having from boyhood been fond of mechanical labor, and later became a master builder, constructing several vessels, among which was the bark Oak Ridge in 1859, owned by the late Joseph Wesccott, esq.

He removed from the Falls about 1848 to the Shorey place north of the old meeting-house site on the Penobscot road, which he purchased and where he continued to reside until his death. He had three sons and several daughters. The family record is not at hand, nor in possession of the writer. His son now living, the other two being deceased, resides in the city of Somerville, Mass.

James Roundy Candage Family Genealogy

The next occupant of the Clay house was James Roundy Candage, brother of the writer, who married Mary Perkins Parker, his cousin June 23, 1843, by whom he had children as follows:

1. Wildes Parker Candage, born in Portland, Maine, July 6, 1844; married and resided in San Francisco, California, where he had children and he died.
2. Georgianna Augusta Candage, born August 16, 1846; married L. D. Perkins; died on Deer Island, Boston Harbor, where she was a matron, Nov, 2, 1902, and buried in the writer’s lot at Brookline, Massachusetts.
3. Sarah Norton Candage, born Sept. 15, 1848; married, has children and resides in Los Angeles, California.
4. Sarah Stanley Candage, born March 31, 1851; died in Bushwick, New York.
5. Annie Lizzie Candage, born Jan. 2, 1857, married George W. Mason and resides in Boston, Massachusetts, at this writing.

James Candage, head of this family, died Dec. 14, 1856, at Fortune Island, Bahamas, and his widow Oct., 1859, at Bushwick, N. Y.

James R. Candage was a sea captain, then a shipping master at New York, and went from that city to Fortune island to purchase wrecked and other material to be shipped to the United States, and there died suddenly He removed from Blue Hill to New York in 1851 or 1852.

Robert Parker Candage Family Genealogy

The next occupant of the Clay house was Robert Parker Candage, a brother of James, son of Samuel R. and Phebe W. Candage, born Oct 26, 1822; married Feb. 13, 1850, Sarah Elizabeth Parker, his cousin and a sister to Mary, his brother James’ wife. Their children were:

1. Burt Henderson Candage, born Nov. 25, 1850; married Emma Madura Conary.
2. Mabel Allen Candage, born Oct. 24, 1852; married William Preston Wood; home in Florida.
3. Joanna Stanley Candage, born July 24, 1855; married Albert R. Conary.
4. Caroline Walker Candage, born Jan. 20, 1859; married Brooks Gray.
5. Mary Augusta Cory Candage, bom April 20, 1861; unmarried.
6. Phebe Ware Candage, born Jan. 3, 1869; married Irving S. Candage.

Upon the death of his father, this house and a part of the farm came into Robert F. Candage’s possession, and in it and those of his heirs it has remained until the present time. Robert, like the rest of his brothers, was a sailor and master of a vessel nearly all his manhood. He died Jan. 31, 1878, aged fifty-five years and three months. He was a strong, powerful man, stood six feet and an inch in height, and until within a year or two of his death, when exposure and overwork had enfeebled his strength, he knew not the significance of the word fear. Since his death the place has been occupied by his widow, now in poor health, but for many years postmistress at Blue Hill Falls.