632
RIDLONS OF HOLLIS, MAINE.
family, Uncle Magnus was a natural mechanic, and, without serving an
apprenticeship, could frame buildings, build wheels, carts, and sleds, and
make ploughs and yokes. In personal appearance he resembled his brother
Robert most; he was, however, a larger man. He was about six feet
in height, broad-shouldered, round, and compactly built, and in advanced
life inclined to corpulency. He stooped considerably, and had a lame
ankle, caused by cutting of the tendons when young. His hair and
beard were nearly black, his head bald, crown and forehead high and
broad, his brows long, heavy, and outstanding, his eyes dark, small, and
deep-set, his features coarse, and his face covered with very deep wrinkles,
especially at the temples. He was moderate, quiet, and kind-hearted;
loved children, and was constant in attendance upon divine service.
Though naturally sedate and slow of speech, he sometimes became con-
versational and jovial. Every one loved "Uncle Magnus," for he was so
kind toward all, so useful and inoffensive, that he was always a welcome
guest among his relatives. Had issue three children, of whom hereafter.
He died at his brother Robert's, but was carried to Norway and buried by
the side of his wife. I have not found the date of his death.
Priscilla Ridlon (1), fourth daughter of James (1), was born in
Phillipsburgh (now Hollis), Me., Sept. 23, 1801, and died at her brother
Robert's, when young and unmarried.
8
Polly Ridlon' (2), eldest daughter of Thomas (1), was born in Pep-
perellborough (now Saco), Me., Nov. 15, 1779; was married Aug. 23,
1804, to Samuel Ridlon, her cousin, and lived a while in a house between
the present dwellings of Stephen Higgins and Thomas C. Sawyer. She
lived some years in Wayne, Kennebec County, but subsequently returned
to Hollis, and lived in a house that stood on the same spot where John
Sawyer built his new buildings. After her husband was drowned she
went to live with her son John, near her brother Thomas, and continued
there until her death, which occurred April 25, 1874, in her ninety-fifth
year. "Aunt Polly" was a good, quiet, gentle-spirited woman. She had
a large family.
Thomas Ridlon' (2), eldest son of Thomas (1), was born in Pepper-
ellborough (now Saco), Me., Aug. 6, 1780; married Polly, daughter of
Joshua and Sussie (Boston) Decker,* of Buxton, Aug. 22, 1804, and had
*The Deckers are of Dutch or German extraction, but the New England
branches are descended from John Decker, a scion of an English family, who came
to Exeter, Mass., as early as 1672, but subsequently settled in Kittery and York,
Me., where he brought up a large family, one of whom had sons Joshua, John, and
David. Joshua Decker settled in Gorham and removed to Buxton, Cumberland
County, Me. He married Sussie, daughter of John Boston, or Baston, of York,
and by her had eleven children, of whom one was Joseph Decker, the celebratetd
singularly pious, and eccentric traveling preacher, known in western Maine as the
"Massachusetts Prophet," who started for Jerusalem to assist in rebuilding the
walls of the Holy City, but died in Spain of small-pox. Another son was Isaac
Decker, a mariner by profession, who lived many years in Gardiner, Me., whose
daughter, Mary D. Welcome, is the well-known contributor to the Portland Tran-
script, a woman of scholarly tastes and great information, who has devoted her
talents for the enlightenment and elevation of humanity. Stephen Decker, an-
other son of Joshua, settled on the Kennebec River, in Clinton, Me., and became an
extensive land-owner and farmer there, with whom his parents lived in old age, and
whose son, Isaac Decker, now resides on the homestead in Clinton. Among the
other children of Joshua were Thomas, Amos, David, Joshua, and Samuel, and two
daughters, Betsey, who was married to a Mr. Russell, and Sussie, who was the
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