Surprise-Matthew Lindsey (1774-1843)

Mathew Lindsey is an ancestor I thought I knew a lot about. I had his birth record, and his parent’s marriage record. I had him on various censuses and in his father’s estate papers. I had his marriage record, and could trace all his children. And I had pictures of his grave stone with an exact death date. For a fifth great grandfather who was born in the 1770s and died before 1850, this seemed like more information than I had any right to expect. However, I decided to visit the town of Wells Maine, where Mathew lived, to try and find out more about the relatives there. I didn’t expect to find much, but figured I could see Mathew’s grave in person and possibly get some church records related to his family. It turned out that the Wells Historical Society completely surprised me with all the new and interesting information they were able to give me about Mathew.

Matthew Lindsey was born March 30^th 1774 to Mathew Lindsey Sr. and Mary Mutchmore. His father was a mariner and veteran of the French and Indian War and the family lived in the seaside town of York Maine. Mathew was the second to the youngest of seven children. In 1790 Mathew’s father died and his estate was split up between the Lindsey children. Matthew and his sister Polly and brother John were young enough to require guardians so they were put under their mother’s guardianship. All of Matthew’s brothers followed in their father’s footsteps and became sailors. And in 1798 Matthew married Nancy Gooch the daughter of Samuel Gooch, a sea captain. However Matthew chose a different career path. I had known that he was a merchant, but before visiting the Wells historical society I had no idea what kind of shop he owned. It turns out that in 1800 he began building a tavern in Wells Maine. The tavern, known as Lindsey Tavern, became an important town landmark and even served as the town post office. When Layfette made a tour of the United States he addressed the towns people of wells from the steps of Lindsey Tavern. The building is still standing today and is an Irish pub. However, the most exciting surprise I found in Wells was a portrait of Matthew hanging prominently in the historical society. While I’m always hopeful that I will find photographs of more recent ancestors the only portraits I’ve seen were from an extremely wealthy and well know branch of the family (the Hancocks). I never expected to find a portrait of Matthew.

All of Matthew’s seafaring brothers died fairly young and only one of them married and had a child, but Matthew and Nancy had eight children. Several of the sons followed in their grandfather’s footsteps and became sea captains, but two of Matthew’s sons followed him in the Lindsey Tavern. Matthew died March 13^th 1843 and was buried in Ocean view cemetery. His oldest son, also named Matthew, took over the business and when Matthew died several years later then Lindsey Tavern was run by his younger son Charles. I believe Charles was the last Lindsey to own the Tavern and it was doubtless sold outside the family. However, the town of Wells still remembers the Lindsey and their Tavern and their large family stone can be seen in the local cemetery.