Maynard Lawrence RT 1 Presque Isle rd ,Westfield Maine

This farm is on the Houlton Road/Route 1 (north of the Presque Isle Road), Westfield Maine. It was originally owned by Cyrus Chase born 26 July 1836 in Danville (annexed to Auburn in 1867), Androscoggin County, Maine. He died 7 Sep 1924 in Westfield, Aroostook County, Maine, and was buried in Marshall Cemetery on the Houlton Road. His headstone is large with many family members on it. In 1859 Cyrus Chase, then a young man of twenty-three, came to Aroostook county, Maine, purchased a tract of virgin timber land in Westfield Plantation, which he cleared rapidly and improved until he had one hundred and ninety acres under cultivation, until interrupted by his military service in the Union Army. He enlisted 5 Aug 1863 and became a corporal in Company C, 19th Maine Infantry Regiment. Engagements of the 19th Maine: Battle of Fredericksburg, Battle of Chancellorsville, Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Bristoe Station, Mine Run Campaign, Battle of Morton's Ford, Battle of the Wilderness, Battle of Spotsylvania, Battle of Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg, Second Battle of Ream's Station, Battle of Boydton Plank Road, Battle of Hatcher's Run, Appomattox Campaign, and other more minor skirmishes. Miraculously Corp. Cyrus Chaae was never wounded. In politics, he was a Republican and in the 1890s he represented his district in the State Legislature, and again in 1912. He was Treasurer of Westfield for five years and served in numerous offices for the town, including title offices of selectman, assessor and school committeeman. Cyrus Chase descends from a long line of men who served in the nation's military forces. He descends from Aquila Chase, the first Chase immigrant ancestor from England, who relocated to Hampton, Rockingham County, New Hampshire in 1639, where he married Anne Wheeler of Hampton. They settled in Newberry, Essex County, Massachusetts, where they died. Cyrus Chase's grandson Eugene W. "Gene" Chase (Westfield, Maine 18 Mar 1894 - 18 Mar 1874 Mars Hill, Maine) married Amy S. Rundstrum (Caribou, Maine 18 Mar 1894–11 Dec 1984 Mars Hill, Maine). They were the owners of the property about the time this aerial photo was taken. The house and barn which Cyrus Chase had owned burnt to the ground in 100-degree weather in July 1949. Murray Lawrence Sr. now owned for a few decades, the Barrows farmhouse and barn, as well as the Lawrence Family Farm on the east and west side of the Houlton Road. Maynard Lawrence was a boy when he stood next to the Barrows farmhouse with his father Murray Sr. and his uncle Henry Shaw facing north in the dreadful heat as they watched Gene and Amy's place burn to the ground. The house was built on the original foundation but now it faced the road instead of the Carroll Barrows place and Murray's farmhouse and buildings. Gene Chase's place was rebuilt by abt. 1950. It looks a lot like the aerial photo. The property today where the house and barn stand was bought by Deborah Mason in October 1999. She and Maynard Lawrence have lived here since then. The house structure is still the same size. The barn was remodeled in 2011 and 2012, adding new doors and many new windows and two back doors to the barn. The shed addition to the barn was ripped off and only the original barn now stands. The old hay vent at the top of he barn is gone and replaced with a new black metal roof, and red metal siding. There was a lot of new wood put on the south side which was rotting away. It's one of old barns that was lovingly saved and most of the house has been remodeled as well, though keeping nearly all of the original structure. Two of the old rock maple trees planted nany decades ago along the old Chase place's southern border still stand and the two old ones behind the barn still stand among the maple seedlings. It's a beautiful place in all seasons with Greenlaw Ridge in the background. The land was divided up years ago and the house and barn stand on above 6 acres, and most of the frontage property is to the right of the far right road, A lovely lone tall oak, unseen in the photo stands alone near the top of the hill, only in the last few years dropping new oak seeds that hopefully will be new young oak trees one day. Surrounding the six-acre frontage, the Grass Boys now own all the rest of the farm property on the south, west. and north borders since 2022.