History and Descendants of the Small Family

The Small family originally lived in Bidesford, Devonshire, England. Some members of this old English family date back to 1330 at the time of King Edward III. One branch of the family were kinsmen of the Champernowne family; perhaps the most powerful family in Devonshire and were descendants of the old Byzantine Kings and William the Conquerer.

Edward Small was born in Bidesford, Devon, England about 1600. His son Francis was born in Bidesford in 1625 and accompanied his father to America ( Piscataqua, Maine) in 1632. Francis married Elizabeth Leighton in 1648 and they lived in Dover NH for awhile before moving in 1657 to Falmouth, ME.  Francis was apparently a born trader. Over the years he became owner of large tracts of land in the Falmouth (Portland) area. He lived in Kittery for a time and traded with the indians in the Cornish, ME area. He nearly lost his life in his dealings with the Indians but eventually made peace with some of them, and again thru trading became the owner of large tracts of land in the Cornish/Limington area. Old deeds to these lands are on file in Portland archives.< http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=7287 > . Francis eventually deeded much of the land to a son Samuel and moved to Truro on Cape Cod to live with a son, Daniel. Francis died there in1713 at age 93. He and Elizabeth Leighton had seven children. The son, Daniel and his wife, Abigail Snow, had eight children, one of whom was named Edward, who married Abigail Barnaby and moved to Cape Elizabeth, Maine. They had eight children. Two sons, Thomas and Job, moved to Deer Isle, Maine in 1767 and 1768 respectively, and were considered pioneer settlers. The brothers had very large families, and I presently have hundreds of relatives listed in this study. However, our direct line involves Thomas. He married Sarah Roberts and they had eleven children. A son, Ebenezer (1772/1828), married Ann Webster of Cape Elizabeth. They had thirteen children. One son, Ebenezer, married his cousin Sally of Cape Elizabeth. They had three children. One son (you guessed it), "Ebenezer" married Harriet Eaton. They had ten children. One was named Warren. He married Mina Merchant [dau. of Anthony, of Merchants Island]. Warren and Mina had two sons, Harold and Roy. Harold married Alda Goss [dau. of Simeon Goss and Annie Young] and they had Montelle [that's me]. Roy married Helen Buettner from Pittsburg, PA and they had a dau. Royle and a son Dallas.

I have much more information and listings of relatives so if you have questions, get back to me (monty@maine.rr.com) and I'll see what I can find for you. 

The Smalls on Deer Isle during the 1700-1800s were farmers, fishermen, and seamen. There are several sea captains who “sailed around the Horn.” In later years some of them were educators, legislators, ministers and merchants. There are at least three M.D.’s and two druggists.

Most of the Smalls have been respected members of their communities. In Maine, our relatives can be found in Deer Isle, Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Cornish, Limington, Freeport, and way Down East in Machias.