662
RIDLONS OF HOLLIS, MAINE.
leave home without giving any notice to his parents, and after an absence
of years return as unexpectedly, without giving any definite account of
his wanderings or adventures. He is supposed to have followed the sea
for many years. At one time he claimed to have a family in New Orleans,
but after a careful examination of the records of that city no mention of
such a man can be found, and if he has ever lived there it was under an
assumed name. Tradition says he started overland for California, with a
company raised at Cincinnati, O., and died somewhere about the Rocky
Mountains. But nothing has been heard from him for many years, and
he may still be living. He was a small man, but very agile and muscular;
something of a pugilist.
Jerome Ridley (1), sixth son of Daniel (3), was born in Wayne,
Me., Dec. 29, 1816; married Anna Peacock, and had issue five children,
of whom hereafter. He married, secondly, in 1845, Mary Davis, of Pitt-
ston, and by her had ten children. He drove the mail-coach from Portland
to Augusta for many years, but latterly settled on a large farm in Rich-
mond, Me. He was of nervous temperament, and subject to melancholy,
desponding moods. He was generally cheerful, jovial, and sarcastic; con-
versational, rapid in speech, emphatic, determined, impulsive, and high-
tempered. A reader of general literature, and a deep thinker; a man of
quick perception and ready wit, humorous and argumentative, radical in
politics, firm in his religious and theological opinions, and a devoted be-
liever of the Second Adventist doctrine. In personal appearance he closely
resembled the Field family, from whom he was maternally descended. He
was of good height, broad across the shoulders, full-chested, round and com-
pact of body, and inclined to corpulency. His hair and beard were jet-
black, and the latter very coarse and thick; his head was large, forehead
broad, brows long and outstanding, eyes gray, features coarse, and upper-
lip especially long and thick. When he smiled there was a peculiarly
cunning expression about his eyes that I have never observed in any per-
son not connected with the Field family. He was a good man. Died in
1875, leaving a large family of children, of whom hereafter.
John Ridlon5 (14), eldest son of Samuel (1), was born in Hollis,
Me., Nov. 10, 1804; married Martha, eldest daughter of Thomas and Pol-
ly (Decker) Ridlon, his cousin (she was born Sept. 20, 1805, and died
January, 1878), and settled in his own town, in a house near that of his
father-in-law, of whom he purchased land. He has always been a farmer,
but being an ingenious and capable man, has worked as a stone-mason,
joiner, and cooper. He has been an extensive reader, and possesses a
large fund of information. His memory is retentive, language copious,
and conversation animating. Having descended from the Ridlons pater-
nally and maternally, he inherited a double share of the traits so peculiar
to the family, and stands a characteristic type of the old ancestral stock.
He is tall and round-built; has very coarse Scottish features, dark hair,
small gray eyes, and a high, full forehead, ornamented with a pair of eye-
brows of remarkable length and shape. He is of quick movement; ner-
* Since my visit at the home of Jerome Ridley (he spelt his name Ridley, as did
his brothers), I have been informed that, assisted by another old stage-driver, he
once took an obnoxious fellow from his hotel, at Augusta, Me., put him into a hol-
low log in a pasture, closed the openings with large stones, and kept him thus im-
prisoned all night. He was certainly a determined, formidable man, and according
to stories told by his patrons was capable of wonderful feats.
