The real Shem Drowne was not a wood-carver; no authority for such a
statement can be found. His trade is given as that of a "tin plate
worker,"[5] and a "cunning artificer" in metal;[6] nowhere as a
wood-carver. He was born in Kittery, Maine, in 1683. His father was
Leonard Drowne, who came from the west of England to Kittery, where he
carried on the ship building business until 1692, when, on account of
the French and Indian wars, he removed his family to Boston, where he
died, a few years after, and his grave is in the old Copp's Hill Burying
Ground.[7] At Boston Shem Browne established himself in his trade. He
was elected a deacon of the First Baptist Church, in 1721. He was "often
employed in Town affairs, especially in the management of
Fortifications."[8]
He married Catherine Clark, one of the heirs of Nicholas Bavison, of
Charlestown, who was a purchaser in the "Pemaquid Patent," or grant of
the Plymouth Company, of some twelve thousand acres, to Messrs.
Aldsworth and Elbridge of Bristol, England, made in 1631. Becoming
interested in the claim of his wife, as one of the heirs, in 1735, he
was appointed agent and attorney of the "Pemaquid Proprietors," in which
capacity he acted for many years.
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