Quoted directly from Windham in the Past by Samuel Thomas Dole, edited by Frederick Howard Dole, pp 34-35. This book was reprinted courtesy of the Windham Historical Society. Please send additions and corrections to Bob Anderson.
The second settler of Windham was William Mayberry, or, as he wrote it, Meaberry. He was a native of Ballemoney, a parish near Coleraine in Antrim County, Ireland, whence he emigrated to Marblehead, Mass., about 1730. Thomas L. Smith, Esq., says, in his history of the town, that Mr. Mayberry came from Marblehead, in 1738, and settled on Home Lot 27, but this is uncertain. He was one of the original grantees and drew Home Lot No. 57, but did not settle on it, as there is documentary evidence to prove that he located on Lot 11, and the date of his settlement is listed as 1740. This lot was the original right of Robert Bull and adjoined that of Mr. Chute, and Mr. Mayberry doubtless purchased it from him. A committee's report of 1759 states that he had eight acres cleared and a house "Rotten down" and was taxed for Lots 11, 19, 26, 38, and 57. He removed to Lot 26, where the report alluded to above locates him with a "garrison house" and 15 acres cleared, in 1750.He was by trade a blacksmith and brought with him the tools of his trade. A family tradition asserts that shortly after he came to Windham, for want of better accommodations, he set up his forge under the spreading branches of a gigantic oak tree near his dwelling, and placed his anvil on a convenient stump, prepared to exercise his old time handicraft, and that the Indians were his first customers.
Mr. Mayberry is described as a tall, bony man, of great physical strength and endurance, somewhat reticent in his demeanor, possessed, nevertheless, of a species of grim humor, as the following anecdote goes to show:
It is said that once, at Sccarappa, he was accosted by a well-dressed gentleman on horse-back with the inquiry, "Mr., how far is it to a blacksmith's shop?" With a serio-comic expression of countenance, Mr. Mayberry replied, "Why, my dear sir, you are in the shop now, but it is, at least, three miles to the anvil." Just what reply the horseman vouchsafed to this information the tradition fails to relate, but it is presumable, however, that the reputed size of blacksmith shops thereabouts caused him to maintain a profound silence in regard to so grave a matter.
William Mayberry married, in Ireland, Bathsheba Dennis, but no record of her birth, marriage, or death can now be found. An interesting account of his life, previous to Windham residence, will be found in the Mayberry genealogy.
After his removal to Windham, his daughter Nancy or Anne, was born May 28, 1740, she being the second white child born in Windham. According to the church records, he died Mar. 15, 1765, but no age is given. Many of his descendants are still living in this and the neighboring towns.
© All copyrights remain with Samuel Thomas Dole, Frederick Howard Dole and the Windham Historical Society.