REDLONS OF HOLLIS, MAINE.
613
Scarborough, and settled first in his native town. He subsequently fol-
lowed his brothers to Little Falls Plantation, now in Hollis, York County,
and cleared a farm on a twenty-rod strip between the "College Right"
and "Dalton Right," so called. Mr. Redlon's house, built of logs, was
near where the brick-house, known as the "Uncle David Martin house,"
now stands, and he owned that farm and the land on the hill in the "Rid-
lon Neighborhood," where Thomas Ridlon, Jr., built his house years after
wards. John lived at Little Falls Plantation only about ten or twelve
years when he removed to Vermont, where he purchased large tract of
land and built a house; this was about 1810. His wife died during his resi-
dence in Vermont, and becoming discouraged in cultivating a rocky soil,
and hearing from his brother Abraham from Ohio, about the beauties of
the western country and the fertility of the soil there, he sold out and
emigrated West. Mr. Redlon's first settlement in Ohio was in Miami
County, where he lived many years; but he subsequently removed with
his only surviving son further north, in Auglaize County, where he con-
tinued till his death. He had married a second wife in Vermont whose
name has not reached me, but he had no children by this woman, who also
predeceased her husband.
He
The surname of this man, written by his father in his family record,
was spelled "Redlon;" during his residence in Hollis and Vermont,
"Ridlon," and after his settlement in the West, "Redley." He was in
the war of the Revolution with his brothers, having first enlisted in John
Crane's Artillery Company, and under Col. Edmund Phinney, of Gorham,
Me. He was with General Knox and frequently saw Washington. Mr.
Redlon spent his last days in the family of his son and namesake in
Waynesfield, O., where he died in 1866, aged 106 years 3 months.
was never known to be sick, and died of old age. He retained his facul-
ties to a remarkable degree, and when more than a hundred years old
would carry a chair into his orchard and sit to shoot the birds that came
for plums and cherries. He was naturally quiet and sober, but when he
had taken some spirits he became communicative, and would spend hours
relating his early adventures in the woods of Maine (then Massachusetts),
and hardships in the army. He was not tall, but resembled his brother
Thomas, before mentioned, in build. He was singularly broad across his
shoulders and hips, but small at the waist. Erect and full-chested, he car-
ried himself gracefully when walking. He had black hair, which inclined
to curl; bald crown; broad, smooth forehead; heavy, outstanding brows;
gray eyes, oval face, red cheeks, and a short, thick nose. Like all his
relatives he had the broad mouth and chin so characteristic of the people
of northern Europe, from whence his grandfather came.
When a young
man he was seen to spring over a line under which he could walk when
erect. My grandfather has told many remarkable adventures in which.
this uncle was involved in the army of the Revolution. He seems to have
been a courageous, unflinching soldier, and a man of peaceable, honest
habits. He had kept some nice black-walnut boards in his barn for many
years, from which he desired his coffin to be made when he died; this wish
was complied with, but he was so broad that his body could not be
placed in it, and another was made of whitewood. At the burial the
remains were escorted by a detachment of military headed by two gen-
erals mounted on white horses, all attended by a band of music by
which a dirge was played as the procession moved to the cemetery. His
grave was also too narrow to admit the casket, and the sexton was obliged
