Brooder House Auction Service was destined to become! This was not some off-the-cuff scheme that was just thrown together. A great deal of life altering events had to happen to make this operation a reality.

A native son of Union, Paul's family owned and operated Payson's Farm Machinery, a Ford tractor dealership for several years.

Linda is also a Maine native, having grown up in Searsport, the unofficial Antique Capital of maine, proud to be a second-generation auctioneer.

One early evening in 1972, Linda and her dad, Charles "Chuck" Morse, were riding home from a long and boring auction. Jokingly, Chuck stated that he could be a much better auctioneer. Having bought a tape recorder at the auction, he began pretending to sell a few items. Well, it did sound better than what they had spent the day listening to. So, a short time later he followed through with his idea and became a licensed auctioneer. Linda operated the concessions, selling soda, hot dogs, twinkies and coffee. Chuck's wife, Joyce (Linda's Mom), did the auction recording, and her younger brother, Ted, worked long and hard as a 'runner', holding up and displaying the items for sale. "Today," Linda says with a slight grin, "we call doing this, the "Vannah-thing."

For several years the Morses held auctions on an almost-monthly basis at the Lion's Club House in Searsport, Maine. Chuck had a reputation for running a good, clean auction where you could really find a bargain.

Time passed, life went on. Linda set her sights on becoming a bookkeeper and went to work at Waldoboro Ford, where she met and fell in love with Paul Grevis Payson. Paul's family had owned and operated Payson's Farm Machinery, a Ford Tractor dealership in Union. The Payson name was well established in the area by Paul's dad, Grevis, and his honest, upright business practices.

In 1989, Paul and Linda received a wonderful addition to their lives--their son, Brian Charles Payson. Trying to create more living space in their home, they were constantly changing furniture and accessories. If they had a larger item that just had to be saved, Paul would say, "Well, we can put that into the Brooder House for a while, until we have more room." After hearing this expression several times, Linda, fairly green in the poultry industry, said, "Paul, just what is a Brooder House and just what do they do in it?" With a grin, he explained that the Brooder House is the place that the baby chicks go while they are growing up.

In 1994, when Brian went off to school, Linda opened Brooder House Antiques, Etc., a small shop built on the lot just below the brooder house on Route 17 in Union. At that time, Paul was working hard at his firewood operation, cutting and fitting firewood to customer's orders. It took alot of whining to convince Paul that she could do this antique shop and make it work. "Okay," he relented. "You can build a shop there. Just don't expect me to spend one hour in that place!"

One year later, Paul laid down his chainsaw.

Taking a real shine to restoring furniture, Paul read every piece of literature he could find on the subject. He wanted to see things refinished properly, not just thrown together. His work today is considered to be some of the best quality in the area, his love for the proper care of wood being very evident.

Throughout all her past, Linda has worked on-call for several different auction companies. Having had the experience of working for her dad, she was familiar with every job involved in the business and what was expected to be done. However, one job she had never tried was auctioneering. "This is Maine. If a young woman in the 1970's and 1980's worked at an auction, she was either a recording clerk, cashier or caterer. Only on occassion did many women work as 'runners', to say nothing about actually auctioneering." Linda reflects. "And my dad was probably one of the worst offenders. 'A woman auctioneer?! HAH!' he would scoff."

So, being ever more determined by the challenge of making it in a "man's world", Linda decided to finally take the plunge. Oh, there were other women in the auction world. But not more than one or two in this area of the state. And none with their own auction company.

In 1998, Linda Payson became a licensed auctioneer in the State of Maine. A second generation auctioneer. In April 1999, at the Thompson Community Center in Union, Maine, Paul and Linda Payson held their first auction. Linda's dad, Chuck Morse, presented her with his gavel, a truly cherished possession to this day.

Presently, Brooder House Auction Service employs more than one dozen part time auction workers. They import container loads of antiques, uniques & furniture from England and Europe, with the assistance of Paul's brother, Jeffrey, owner of NorthEast Transport, one of mid coast Maine's largest and fastest-growing trucking operations.

A new auction hall was constructed a the site of the original Brooder House on Route 17 in Union, and a grand opening celebration was held in August, 2001. Auctions are conducted there frequently and you can be notified of these events and more by completing the form on the Contact Us page. Registration is FREE and all auctions are deliciously catered.

Brooder House Auction Service is proud to provide an excellent, first rate service to both their consignors as well as their customers.