” Whatever you are, be a good one”
Walt Disney
Brian Dumoulin
Brian Dumoulin, a native of Biddeford, became a hometown hero when he brought the Stanley Cup home to share with family, friends and community.
He played hockey for Biddeford High School and then went on to play for Boston College, leading the team to a National Championship in 2012.
Brian signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL in 2012. Since then,the team has won the Stanley Cup Championship twice, in 2016 and 2017.
In the summer of 2016, he returned to his hometown with the Stanley Cup, to share the celebration with his family and community.
It is said that he is the only person born in Maine to ever be a member of an NHL championship team. There was a parade in his honor attended by thousands of people and he was given the key to the City of Biddeford. The turnout was amazing!
William H. Watson
William H. Watson, also known as “ Will” was the son of William and Eunice (Hodson) Watson, born in Hollis, Maine on th 25th of June 1843.. His father was a builder and contractor in Biddeford and his mother was a daughter of Elder Timothy Hudson, a minister from Hollis. He was the youngest of 8 children. In 1866 he married Mary A. Perkins and they had 8 children of their own.
He learned his trade of printing from his older brother Mark and came from a famous printer family. He worked as a printer, along with his brothers, Mark and Oscar, all over New England in his younger days. About 1870 he returned to Biddeford and, with his brothers, printed The Maine Democrat. He and his brothers went on to publish the Star and other publications over the years. The Biddeford Weekly Journal reported on Jan. 4th 1907 that Watson’s article “ How a Minister Got Even” was the title of a story of his that was published in the Boston Sunday Herald. He was listed in the American Newspaper Directory lists. by Geo. P. Rowell and Company American Newspaper Directory.
Will Watson’s most famous venture was “ The Illuminator”, a humorous magazine he established in 1876, which put him and Biddeford on the map. Several companies circulated it and it was also carried on the railroads. It had a lot of advertising. The monthly magazine was
sold throughout New England for 3 cents a copy or 35 cents a year and later 5 cents a copy or 50 cents a year. He was the founder, only editor, sole writer,advertising man and mail clerk for the Illuminator, which had a circulation of 25,000 a month at one point in time. He refused offers to sell the magazine or make it larger. He kept it his own for 25 yrs until stopping publication in 1893.
He was a proprietor at 119 Main Street Biddeford and his workrooms on the Exchange Block, where he spent the last 25 yrs of his life, were reported to be a combination of work room, picture gallery and reading room combined. He had pictures of Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan and other people. There were also clippings from publications hanging on the walls. He was well read and enjoyed Shakespeare and Scriptures immensely according to his obituary. He loved art. He worked over 50 years as a printer and writer.
Watson and his family lived at 20 Orchard Street Biddeford where he died at 76 years old after 50 years of service in the printing industry.
