Note

Cutts Family of England

Relationship of Mrs. Elinor Cutt and son William Cutt (Hannah Willmot) to
William H. Cutts needs to be verified and are included as possible ancestors.

William H. Cutts Family of Connecticut

William H. Cutts and Anna Lee emigrated from England to USA abt. 1842.

Wilber F. Cutts Family of Wisconsin

Wilber F. Cutts and Lydia E. Towner relocated from Oxford, CT to Unity, WI in 1874.

Damon Family of Maine and Wisconsin

Joseph S. DAMON, Jr. (Joseph, Abiel (Abiah), Joseph, Daniel, Zachariah, John, John, Damon) was born Apr 21, 1827 in Charlotte, Washington, Maine, and died Dec 20, 1899 in Spencer, Marathon, Wisconsin. He married (1) Susannah B. Cushing Mar 25, 1850 in Charlotte, Washington, Maine. She was born Dec 13, 1831 in Pembroke, Washington, Maine, and died Dec 16, 1853 in Pembroke, Washington, Maine. He married (2) Susan Swett Clarke Aug 19, 1856 in Lubec, Washington, Maine, daughter of Joseph Clark and Susanna Swett. She was born Apr 26, 1836 in Maine, and died Jul 18, 1922 in Unity, Clark, Wisconsin. 

More about Joseph S. Damon, Jr.

First married to Susannah B. Cushing in 1850. She died leaving one child, Paulina S. Damon, now Mrs. McLoughlin. He married again, in 1853, Miss S.S. Clark, of Maine. They had  five children — Fred F., Gustus A., Florence A., Jabas P., and Maudie S. He enlisted in 1862 in 28th Maine Volunteers, Co. C, and was mustered out in 1863. He was a Mason, a member of the Temple of Honor and the Free Will Baptist Church.

Joseph S. and Susan (nee Clark) Damon migrated from Lubec, Maine, to Strongs Prairie, Adams County, in 1869. When James Robinson was back in Lubec on a visit, he told Mr. Damon and other men that there was plenty of work in Wisconsin. A party of them returned with the Robinsons, including Mr. Damon, who bought 80 acres of land and built a house for his family. The family arrived at Strongs Prairie on Thanksgiving Day after having traveled one week on crowded trains. It is said Joseph was also a Constable in Adams County, WI.

In 1874, Joseph went to Spencer, Marathon County to work for James Robinson who had erected a mill there. The rest of family joined him in 1875, and they permanently settled there. Joseph bought three village lots and a 40-acre farm with $1,400 and started up his own lumbering business, J. S. Damon & Sons. They operated up to two logging camps and a mill with a small attached store. The family harvested 1,200,000 logs in the Winter of 1880-81.

Sources:

•  Spencer Centennial Booklet (Spencer, Marathon County, Wis.) 1874 – 1974, page 7
•  The History of Northern Wisconsin (Marathon County, Wis.) 1881, page 573

The DREGER Family

Gottleib DREGER was born Mar 18, 1889 in Kroczyn-Kamien, Lublin, Poland, and died Jul 27, 1979 in Scott, Lincoln, Wisconsin. He married Helga Marie HELMERSEN Oct 22, 1910 in St. Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, daughter of Helmer REVLING and Marianna NILSDATTER. She was born Mar 10, 1887 in Storfiplingdal, Vefsen, Norway, and died Oct 15, 1976 in Lincoln Co., Wisconsin. Together they owned a farm in Merrill, Lincoln, WI.

Daughter was Charlotte Dreger who married Forrest E. "Frosty" Damon in 1934.

The HELMERSEN Family

Helga Marie HELMERSEN was born Mar 10, 1887 in Storfiplingdal, Vefsen, Norway, and died Oct 15, 1976 in Lincoln Co., Wisconsin. She was the daughter of Helmer Julius Hansen REVLING and Marianna NILSDATTER. She married Gottleib DREGER Oct 22, 1910 in St. Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota. He was born Mar 18, 1889 in Kroczyn-Kamien, Lublin, Poland, and died Jul 27, 1979 in Scott, Lincoln, Wisconsin. Together they owned a farm in Merrill, Lincoln Co., Wisconsin.

She emigrated in 1907 from Norway to be with her grandparents and a brother already living in the United States. They emigrated in 1890 and lived in Wilkins Co., MN before settling in Estherville, IA. Helga's brother, Hans Nikolai Helmersen (b. 1885), emigrated abt. 1903 and was living in Minneapolis, MN, about the time of her arrival.

Daughter of Helga and Gottlieb Dreger was Charlotte Dreger (Forrest Damon). Granddaughters included Caryol Ann Damon and Sandra Damon.

The TOWNER Family

1.  Thomas Towner was born Abt. 1636 in Paling, Sussex, England, and died 1665 in New Boston, Sandisfield, Berkshire, MA. He married Mary Page  May 08 1664 in Streat, Sussex, England. Mary Page was born Nov. 1640 in Alderley, Cheshire, England; died 1689 in Paling, Sussex, England. She was the daughter of John Page and Mary Johnson.

2.  Richard Towner was born Bet. 1650 - 1655 in Sussex, England, and died Aug 22, 1727 in Branford, New Haven, CT. He married (1) Mary Duly Bet. 1670 - 1671 in Savannah, GA or Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut. She was born Abt. 1654 in England. He married (2) Deborah Crane Mar 06, 1716/17 in Haddam, CT. Richard was the son of Thomas Towner and Mary Page of  England.

Reports and Tree Charts

Richard Towner settled in the town of Guilford, Connecticut, on or about Feb. 17, 1686. There is a grant of land of that date on the record of the town meetings at page 105, though the grant was not put on the land records till May 2, 1712, when the town ordered it to be recorded as ten acres "formerly granted to Richard Towner, now living in Branford," marked at the corners by stones graven with the letters "R. T." He lived in Guilford some three years and then removed to Branford, where there is a record of him in 1689. From whence he emigrated to this country has not been ascertained with certainty, but probably from Sussex Co., England. The family has been there for generations, and nowhere else. Some others of the name have come from that locality during the period from 1830 to 1850 to N.Y. City, and others are yet in Sussex.

In the southeast part of Branford there is a swamp, and at the beach a cave in the rocks, which have long been known as ''Towner's Swamp" and "Towner's Cave." The grant made to him in Guilford apparently includes this swamp, and it is conjectured that for some reason he lived for awhile in this cave, but he first settled on "Towner's Hill," and the following year built a house at a place three miles east known as "Short Rocks" and put down a well; and traces of the cellar wall of the house and of the well are still to be seen there, and are identified by descendants of his living in Branford.

A tradition related in the towns of Oxford, Haddam and Killingworth, Conn., by descendants of Richard, is that he was impressed into the British navy from the Isle of Man, and that after some years' service on the American coast, he was put ashore at Savannah, Ga., to die of yellow fever; but recovered and married his nurse, and with her went to Charleston, S. C, and engaged in the grocery business; that afterwards to escape a threatened bombardment by a Spanish man-of-war, he and others, provisioning a small vessel from his store, sailed for the North and landed on the shore of Connecticut, settling at Branford.

The date of Richard's birth is unknown. However, in his will, made in 1725, he speaks of himself as "aged and weak in body," and his birth was probably 1650-55 or earlier. Neither is the name of his first wife certainly known, but there is a Mary Towner on the church record who likely was his wife ; in the will, his wife is called Deborah, but she was a second wife, Deborah Crane, whom he married in Haddam Mar. 6, 1716-17, 0. S.

Towner, J. W. (1910). A Genealogy of the Towner Family; the Descendants of Richard Towner, who Came From Sussex County, Eng., to Guilford, Conn., Before 1685. Los Angeles, CA: Times-Mirror Printing and Binding House. Pages 9-11.

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