Notes for Stephen Dudley
JAMES5 son, STEPHEN6, [.m. ?? SLEEPER] came to Hallowell c1770 and followed spotted trees through the woods to Readfield. Stackpole, in his “History of Winthrop,” describes the landscape our original settlers saw as they rode or walked into Readfield – then still a part of Winthrop. “No clearing had been made nor any attempt to fit the soil for cultivation… The ground, with the exception of the meadows, was completely covered with heavy growth, while beneath the tree-tops were thickly scattered boulders, largely granite, of various sizes from the smallest pebble to those of many tons in weight… Roots of huge trees were threading the ground in every direction… There was little undergrowth, the trees running up tall and straight, not crowded, and with limbs so high that the early settler could ride his horse or drive yoked oxen beneath with little interference by the growth.”
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STEPHEN6 DUDLEY, as many men did in those early days, chose a beautiful spot in which to live and built his road afterwards. He settled Lot#52 in Mt. Vernon near the Readfield town line and this part of town came to be known as “Dudley Plains.” County records tell us that in 1774 a road was extended from Sandy River Road (route 17) to the Dudley’s and JOHN STAIN. Stephen’s wife was an invalid and according to the Dean Dudley genealogy she “did not stand or walk for over forty years, but outlived her husband.”
STEPHEN6 DUDLEY and ?? SLEEPER had one child, ELIPHALET7, who married, had nine children and lived on the homestead with his parents. His sons SAMUEL, STEPHEN, JOHN and HENRY carried on the family name in this area.
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