The Story: Chapter 1 - Growing Up (1894-1909)
Eugene Enoch “Gene” Closson was born on January
2,
1894 in Marlboro, Maine, to Franklin Eugene and Almeda Jane (Bowden) Closson.
Marlboro is in Hancock County, about ten miles from the city of
Ellsworth. His home was very close
to the seashore.
His father, Franklin, was the captain of a freighter, a
two-masted schooner that plied up and down the coast carrying freight from
places like Rockland and Portland, down as far as Boston.
His mother, Almeda, in his own words was “I think one of the best women
that’s ever lived.” There were ten children in Eugene’s family, seven girls and
three boys, and he was number eight.
From a very early age, Gene distinctly remembered the
conditions under which they lived. They
were a poor family, as his father didn’t make very much money.
Franklin, though, was a very generous man and would hire men to help him
who were also poor and had large families.
He would share his earnings with them.
As a child, he only knew one of his grandparents, his
mother’s mother, Abigail (McFarland) Bowden.
His mother’s father, Enoch Bowden, was also a sea captain, and had died
at the age of 52 many years before Gene was born. During a heavy storm at sea, Captain Bowden was struck in the
head by one of the main booms of the ship.
He was able to come home but died soon after. His father’s parents, George Washington and Louisa (Chatto)
Closson, had both passed away before Gene was born.
Gene’s early schooling was in country schools located
in several different towns as his family moved quite a bit.
He did well in geography, history, and mathematics but had less success
with English, especially grammar. In
seventh grade, while living in Bangor, Maine, he was struggling so much with
grammar that he wouldn’t be able to enter eighth grade the next fall.
He was working part time at a department store. The owners, Mr. And Mrs.
Benson, took an interest in him after hearing of his school troubles. Mr. Benson worked it out with the superintendent that he
would get to enter eighth grade if Mrs. Benson tutored him. After two or three lessons in grammar from Mrs. Benson, he
began to get a better understanding of the subject.
He was permitted to enter eighth grade and did very well in all of his
courses until the family moved in April of 1909. His understanding of grammar stayed with him from then,
to the extent that he considered it one of his strongest points.
Copyright © 2003 - Revised:
04 September 2006
