Cumberland County, Maine - Samuel Rolfe
**********************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons
or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent
of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact
the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.
The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file
permanently for free access. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb

This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
C. Wendland SilverDrusilla@aol.com
Copyright © 2005 by C. Wendland
Caitlin's Gold Award Project, Girl Scouts USA, Rio Grande Girl Scout Council, El
Paso, Texas
**********************************************************************

Biography
Samuel Rolfe
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 47-48


Samuel Rolfe, President of the Maine Savings Bank and Treasurer of the Portland
Gaslight Company, who may be found for some part of every day in the week at
either the bank or the gas company's office, was born in Portland, June 21,
1813, son of Benjamin and Susan Newman (Jacques) Rolfe, both of Newburyport,
Mass. Benjamin Rolfe removed from Newburyport to Portland in 1802, and there
engaged as a mechanic, doing an extensive business and employing several men.
Twenty years prior to the time of his death he retired from business. He was the
father of five children.

Samuel Rolfe, the youngest and sole survivor of his parents' children, received
his education in the schools of Portland. On leaving school he engaged as clerk
in a wholesale and retail establishment, carrying a stock of paints, oils,
drugs, medicines, and dyestuffs, and conducted by Joshua Durgin. After serving
as clerk some six years, Mr. Rolfe was admitted to partnership, the firm name
becoming Joshua Durgin & Co. Their warehouse was on Middle Street until after
the fire of 1866, and they were in business thirty years. Toward the end of that
period Mr. Rolfe took full charge, and finally bought his partner's interest.
After that he conducted the business for twenty years under his own name. He was
the oldest apothecary in the city at the time of his retirement, having followed
that calling for over fifty years. On that occasion the wholesale and retail
druggists of the city met at his residence, and presented him with the handsome
Rogers group entitled "The Charity Patient," which represents an apothecary
ministering to a poor woman's sick child. Mr. Rolfe has for years been
interested in other enterprises besides his regular business. He was a member of
the original company organized to establish the Maine Savings Bank, and one of
the original Trustees; and for the past fifteen years he has been President of
the institution, which is the second largest in the State, with a capital of six
million dollars. Of the Portland Gaslight Company Mr. Rolfe was for some years
Director. On resigning that office he was elected Treasurer, a position which he
has now held for ten years. For the past thirty-five years be has been Treasurer
of the Widows' Wood Society, a charitable organization that furnishes wood to
poor widows. For this purpose the society has a fund of fifty thousand dollars,
left to it by legacy, and in consequence demands a bond from its Treasurer of
forty thousand dollars. It now supplies fuel to seven hundred and fifty indigent
women. It is one of the finest charitable institutions of Portland; and Mr.
Rolfe is a zealous and conscientious worker in its behalf, cheerfully attending
to all the duties of his office. He is also interested in other charitable
enterprises in the city, and has otherwise done much for the poor, by whom he is
universally loved and respected.

On January 18, 1839, he was married to Mary Fuller Wilson, who was born January
16, 1819, daughter of Eben Wilson, of Portland, and became the father of five
children, two of whom died in childhood. Of the survivors Samuel L. is in
Cleveland, Ohio; Charles W., a prosperous business man, lives in Newtonville,
Mass.; and Percival Bryant is a resident of Portland. The mother died March 20,
1882. Mr. Rolfe was a member of the City Council three years, but has not been
an aspirant for political honors. He is a charter member of a Maine Lodge of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having joined it in 1843. Of the thirty-five
members who constituted the first Lodge he is the only one now living. He has
held all the different chairs of the Lodge and of the Encampment, and is a
member of Grand Lodge of Maine. Mr. Rolfe is a member of the Park Street
Unitarian Church, to which his late wife also belonged; and he has not missed a
service, sunshine or storm, for fifty years, the Sabbath always finding him at
the accustomed place of worship.