May 17, 1990
By Isabel Morse Maresh
Note: The spelling Marriner alternates with Mariner throughout because of changes over the years.
The 1907 Town Register, which included the early history of the town of Lincolnville, states: "the Marriners, Naler, Jonathan, and Philip took up land in the upper part of town."
It seems that Naler was the Jona. N. Mariner who was in Bath in the 1790 Census, and the father of Jonathan and Philip. His wife was Ruth, daughter of Philip and Mary (Wylie) Higgins. The Mariner descendants settled in the Millertown section of Lincolnville, and Philip eventually settled in what is now East Searsmont.
The Marriners were descended from the Rev. John Mariner, a poor French Protestant minister who came to America and settled in Gloucester, Mass., in 1708.
My father told me tales of early families in our area, including stories about the two Austin Marriners.
This story was told to him by his father-in-law about the Lincolnville Austin, whose obituary stated, "He was an honest and upright citizen, strong in his ideas and convictions, and in politics was a staunch Democrat." I took this to mean that he was a stubborn man, a trait that has come down through the generations.
Grandpa Austin had a horse named bill, and it seemed that one was as strong-willed and ornery as the other. Grandpa would loose Bill from his stall and lead him to the watering trough to drink. Bill had decided that it was not time to drink and Grandpa Austin, knowing that Bill would not have another chance to drink that day and would be thirsty later, pushed his head into the trough saying, "Drink, Bill." Again, shoving his head into the water, ornery Bill would shake his head and water. It was said that Austin never swore, but he probably thought "Damn," as the saying goes. Again, he pushed bill's head to the bottom of the trough, saying, "Drink, dern ya, drink!" holding him there. My grandfather said that the saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but can't make him drink" weren't so, because you CAN make him drink.
The tale was told of the other Austin Marriner, who lived in a brick house in East Searsmont, was that he was a strict Prohibitionist who hated alcohol, and its imbibers.
A group of men were on a fishing trip when one of the men who had overindulged in the day's drinks lost his hat over the side of the boat. As he was attempting to retrieve it, he, too, fell overboard.
Apparently, the cold water sobered him up, and he realized that he couldnt' swim. As he came to the surface of the cold water, he yelled for help. Going under several times, and each time yelling for help as he came to the surface. Austin had seen him overboard and didn't make an offer to help him.
Another member of the party reached over the side of the boat and pulled the man aboard. The man gasped for life and asked Austin why he had ignored his cries for help. Austin's reply was that because of the man's alcoholic intake and his foolishness, "Not a hand would I lend him."
The Lincolnville Austin Marriner was the first Master of Tranquility Grange and a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. His only daughter Annie Maria Marriner was born in 1882 and lived for most of her entire life on the hill in the neighborhood where Naler Mariner had settled so many years before. She married Richard John Lermond, known to all as Rich.
Descendants of the Marriner family lived on the original homestead for nearly 200 years until it was sold in the early 1970s.
Most of the Waldo and Knox County Marriners were descended from naler and Ruth (Higgins) Mariner from Bath.
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