Granville T. Beedle

 Granville T. was named for Sir Granville Temple, some great man that lived in Boston, at the time I suppose that Mr. & Mrs. Beedle lived with James Bowdoin, Esq.  Hence by his frequent visits to Mr.  Bowdoin they became acquainted with the Hon. Gentleman, hence the name for their son.  Now whether Granville T.  B.  took after his Great namesake or not,  I am not able to say.  I presume it is not always the case that the named resemble the named for.  If this were the case I think we should have a great many Washingtons, Franklins & not to say a thing about the

                          Beedle4 Biographical Sketches pages 13-33

 good men of the Bible, and moreover we should be likely to have a  great many more good men & likewise great men in our world than  we have now.

      Granville T. while young seemed to be a kind of scape goat  for the rest of the Boys to Father their mischief on.  One reason  for this was that G. T. was more inclined to mischief than the  rest of the Boys.  Hence, if some mischief was found done & the  enquiry was made who did this? the answer would often come “Gran”  did it, and somtimes to perhaps when he was not the guilty party.

1. T.  was a very good looking & sprightly youth,  full of fun  and frolic, & withal a natural genius.  He seemed not inclined to  spend his days on a farm, at an early age he signified to his  father that he would like to learn the trade of Blacksmith.

 Accordingly his father selected Mr. Charles Freeman of Hallowell  as a man suitable to teach his son this trade.  G. T. was in his  eighteenth year when he entered Mr.  Freeman’s shop,  as an  apprentice.  G. T. served his master faithfully through his  minority & to the perfect satisfaction of Mr. Freeman, & became  an expert workman.  Her served him a year as journeyman , at the  end of this time, he bought a small shop in Gardiner & set up for  himself.  He soon drew to his shop plenty of customers.  In the process of a few months he pulled down his little shop & built a  larger one with two forges.  His worldly prospects at this time  were very flattering.  In about a year he built for his own use a brick dwelling House, this run him considerably into debt.  On June 9, 1832 he married Sarah G. Collins, Daughter of Lemuel & Sarah Collins of Industry.

     In the shop where G. T. learned his trade, the bellows was operated by water power and there was also a trip-hammer in the shop.   This was quite an important acquisition to a Blacksmith’s shop.  And to one that had learned his trade in the shop with above named implements, a shop –(END OF PAGE 27 OF ORIGINAL RECORD)–without this water power, trip-hammer etc. did not seem to be just the thing.  So G. T. began to cast about in his mind how he should remedy the defect.  Although his shop in Gardiner was not a great distance from the stream of water that propelled the many sawmills & other machinery of Gardiner, yet it was so much higher than the stream that it seemed altogether out of the question to think of making any portion of this stream of water an agent of power to him in his present location.  So he concluded to try the wind as an agent of power to move his bellows.  He accordingly built an apparatus on the top of his shop to catch the breezes as they came sweeping by to move his machinery, but this did not answer any good purpose for the wind did not move along regularly, smoetimes there was plenty of wind, & then there would be an interim, so after another trial with an iron rod leading down from the roof of a saw mill, the one end connected with machinery in the saw mill & the other connected with a Bellows of the Blacksmith Shop, he succeeded in having his bellows inflated by water power agency.  But he could not make this power carry the trip-hammer.

                                Beedle4 Biographical Sketches pages 13-33

     He accordingly sold this shop to one of his journeymen & built another near the mill dam where he not only had his Bellows filled with wind by water power, but he had also a trip hammer & other machinery put into the shop, but all this great outlay of shop & apparatus cost no small sum of money, greater than he could raise to meet his demands when they became due.  G. T. was obliged to sell out and leave Gardiner.

     He next settled down at Kendalls Mills, Fairfield.  Here he might have done well, but his propensity for building again prevailed.  He build a dwelling house here, but did not retain it long.  He was again obliged to sell out & move, his father came to his rescue now, bought a small lot of land in Richmond & erected a small home thereon, for G. T. & family to reside in. From this time he took a different turn & prospered in the things of the world as he never did before.  He was soon enabled to buy more land joining that on which his house stands, & he also bought 25 acres, some two miles off & payed for it in a short time. He subsequently erected a commodious building for the  double purpose of Blacksmiths & joiner shop, for G. T. became a jack of all trades now, he could take a house from the beginning & finish every part throughout. –(END OF PAGE 28 OF ORIGINAL RECORD)–And he also made made waggon, carts, sleds, sleighs, & any thing else any one wanted made, even to the spars of a vessel & other parts.  The under part or basement of this shop he put in machinery to be propelled by a single horse, travelling round same as in a cider mill.  This machinery carried on the first floor a turning lathe & cider mill, on the floor above this, a small up & down saw, to saw small pieces of hard & soft wood for waggons.

      In the fall of 1862 he engaged himself as a substitute in the 24th Regt. of nine month men, he received about 200 for this, besides his wages.  The Regt. was sent South, the climate did not agree with very many of them, a large percentage of the Regt. never came back.  G. T. lived to get back, but it was sometime before he recovered his health.  A number in the same Regt., that lived to get home, died not long thereafter.