Mabelle's Story

 This story is signed and dated by Mabelle Davis on February 1, 1978. It was undoubtedly transcribed and typed by Frank.

"This story was told to me, Mabelle Willard Davis, by my grandmother, Nellie Crockett Willard, when I was a small child. My grandmother, if living, would be about 125 years old and this story is about Nellie's father Zephaniah Decrow Crockett."

Zephaniah Decrow Crockett was born 6/18/1837 on Deer Isle, Maine and died 1/5/1908 in South Portland, Maine. He is buried in Mount Plesant Cemetery in South Portland.

"My Great-grandfather lived on what is now called West High Street in South Portland. There were no paved streets then, just wheel tracks or tote roads. Whenever they were traveling anywhere, either on foot or by horse and wagon, the men always took along their muskets because of the Indians."

"It seemed that my Great-grandfather had had some trouble with an old Chief who had told him, "I will kill you if I ever get the chance."

"One day Great-grandfather Zephaniah was taking his corn to the mill to be ground into meal. As he walked along through the woods, he saw the old Chief asleep under a tree and realized that he had dozed off while waiting to ambush him. My Great-grandfather knew that if he did not take advantage of this chance to kill the old Chief, the Chief would surely kill him at the next opportunity. Realizing that firing his gun would alert the rest of the tribe, he sneaked up to the tree and hit him over the head with his musket. He put the Chief into his own canoe, filled it with rocks, pushed it out into deep water and sank it."

"About two days passed and when the Chief did not return to his tribe, they began a search for him, Great-Grandfather Zephaniah realized that if he did not join in the search, they would become suspicious of him so he went along with them and that is where the story ended."

"We have come a long way in the last one hundred and fifty years and I think we should all be very proud of this wonderful country. It is good to remember what our ancestors went through to make it a good place to live for all of us."

                                                                                        Maybelle Willard Davis                                                                                               February 1, 1978

I'm not saying this ever really happened. Sounds a bit contrived. But it is an interesting bit of folklore passed down through the generations. Hope you enjoy.

Morris and Mabelle Davis 1969 at my high school graduation.