USA > Maine > Oxford County > Sumner > Centennial history of the town of Sumner, Me. 1798-1898 > Part 1
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Gc 974.102 Su66c 1789077
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Gc
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01187 6239
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
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CENTENNIAL -. -
HISTORY
. OF THE
TOWN OF SUMNER, ME.
1798 =
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1898.
WEST SUMNER: CHAS. E. HANDY, JR., PUBLISHER. 1899.
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Sumner, Me. - Centennial history of the town of Summer, Me. : : 93- 189S. West Sumner, C. E. Handy, jr., 199. 202, xxx, (2, p. incl. front., illus., port. 12º.
.1-1996
83732
Library of Congress, no. - F29.SS5S.
PREFACE.
At its annual meeting in March, 1898, the town of Sumner voted to observe its Centennial Anniversary, and made a small appropriation to defray the necessary expenses.
Former citizens of the town, with an inherent regard for the place of their nativity, generously added to the fund, with the result that when the Centennial was over and all expenses were paid, a small surplus was still left in the hands of the committee.
The question arose as to the dispositon of this surplus, and this modest little volume is the answer.
While the limited sum at the disposal of the committee necessarily caused limitations in the volume, it is hoped that it will serve as a pleasant reminder of the day we celebrated, and at the same time perpetuate an important part of the early his- tory of our town that might otherwise be lost to coming gener- ations.
The thanks of the committee are especially due to Rev. Lucien M. Robinson of Philadelphia, who has rendered valuable assistance in the preparation and arrangement of the work, and to Mrs. L. B. Bisbee ot Camden, Me., J. F. Cobb of Auburn. Prentiss Cummings of Boston, Mrs. J. L. Derby of South: Weymouth, Mass., George R. Drake of West Medway, Mass .. Mrs. Francetta Fletcher of South Paris, Mrs. George H. Hawes of Fall River, Mass., Hersey Heald of Sandwich, Mass., Ly- sander and A. C. Heald of South Weymouth, O. K. Gerrish of Lakeville, Mass., Freeland Howe of Norway, Mrs. Julia Pason of Medway, Mass., W. E. Pulsifer of New York. Wallace Ryerson of South Paris, J. H. Stetson of South: Weymouth, Mass., J. Walter Stetson of Auburn, Gilbert Tuell of Bethel, Hiram Tuell of Milton, Mass., whose cash contribu :- tions made its publication possible. Also to John and Horatio G. Turner of Boston, for the gift tothe town of a large ata! beautiful flag.
SHARON ROBINSON,
W. H. EASTMAN, Centennial Committee.
G. M. SMALL,
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PROGRAM
OF -
SUMNER CENTENNIAL, JUNE 13, 1898. Capt. G. M. SMALL, President of the Day.
6:00 A. M. Ringing of Bells. Salute of 100 Guns.
9:30, Presentation of Flag, JOHN TURNER. Acceptance, Dr. J. BLAKE ROBINSON,
10:00, Prayer, Rev. A. G. MURRAY. -Chorus, "Praise Ye the Father."
Address of Welcome, Mrs. ADALINE H. STETSON.
Response,
W. E. PULSIFER.
Singing of "Centennial Ode."
Poem,
Mrs. HELEN S. ROBERTSON.
Reading,
WALTER CHANDLER.
Reading,
LEON V. WALKER.
Song, "Star Spangled Banner."
12:00 M. Dinner.
1:30 P. M. Song, R. N. STETSON. After-dinnerSpeeches, W. H. EASTMAN, Toastmaster Reading, Mrs. ANNIE B. SMALL .. Historical Address, Rev. LUCIEN M. ROBINSON.
"Centennial Hymn," Mrs. ALICE MAXIM.
Benediction,
Rev. A. G. MURRAY.
MUSIC BY BUCKFIELD BAND.
بدائى
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ADDRESS of WELCOME
BY MRS. ADALINE H. STETSON.
It was a great surprise to me when informed that the committee of arrangements had assigned me this part in the exercises of the day. I said they would have to excuse me; most certainly they would till I remembered the littlest child in the family is al- ways given the best place. Thanking them for this favor, I cheerfully accept my commission.
Thus, in behalf of the citizens of this town, I ex- tend a cordial welcome to all visitors, and all. who come to participate in the festivities and enjoy- ments of this Centennial Celebration. · An especial welcome to the sons and daughters of old Sumner, those who have long been away and are come back to the scenes of their childhood, laden with precious memories of early years.
My heart speaks to you in words of another. "We who are old and about to die, salute you, hail you, take your hand in ours, and crown you with our welcome, as with flowers."
The great interest in all family gatherings and re- unions is in retrospection; who does not love to talk of old times, old friends, and associations ? Some-
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times my old heart grows so warm even at the - thought of them, ere I am aware I am singing: . "Backward, turn backward, oh! Time, in your flight ;
Make me a child again, just for tonight."
May we all, aroused by the spirit of the hour, en- joying so highly these ceremonies and pleasures, feel our youthful vigor renewed for a time, and look back with sweet remembrance to this festal day.
RESPONSE,
BY W. E. PULSIFER.
Mr. President, fellow-townsmen and friends :-
On behalf of the visitors and those who have come back to their old homes to help celebrate its centennial birthday, I extend to you our hearty thanks for this most beautiful and cordial welcome from one whom many of us have known as a mother in Israel.
The heart can never find expression through vo- cabularies or books. Neither can it ever be fittingly represented by speech. And so we sons and daugh- ters of this rock-ribbed town who have gone out into the busy world to do and dare in our chosen voca- tions, are called back to the scenes of our childhood to meet those who have remained to care for the in- terests of the home, and help them fittingly cele- brate a centennial anniversary, words can hardly portray the emotions we feel.
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Every hill and valley, every pond and stream, every forest and meadow, every road and lane are sacred to our memories. Under the sunny skies and the twinkling stars of the night as children we have in these rural homes had our visions and dreamed our dreams. Here the pure air, the clear water, the plain but wholesome food nourished well the bodies and developed the brains of the men and women who going hence have honored the town that gave them birth.
The Maine man has been proverbial the world over for the strength of his spinal column; and I have thought that the granite of these hills must have in some inexplicable manner found its way into it. I hold the man fortunate who has had his birth and early training in a rural community like this. He learns some lessons never taught in books. "He knows how life unto experience looks." Here he is so trained that he forms habits of sobriety, industry and economy, without which no man can succeed. Here he sees living examples of sterling morality and true religion. Here he learns to respect the sa- credness of the home and to hold inviolate the honor of his State and his country.
"Among the hills," Webster, the great defender of the constitution, was born, and hundreds of other men who have written their names high up on the scroll of their country's history first saw the light in the humble homes that dot the hillsides of glorious old New England.
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_ A hundred years is a long time; it far more than measures the span of human life.
When Isaac Sturdivant called the first town meet- ing of Sumner after its incorporation, King George III was on the English throne, and the great Napol- eon was changing the map of Europe. John Adams was President of the United States. The Constitu- tion of the United States had been adopted eleven years before. Washington, the first president, had been inaugurated only nine years prior to this time. on the balcony of the Federal Building in Wall Street, New York.
In 1790, two years later, the city of Philadelphia. now having a population of over a million, then had about 42,000. New York, now having a population of three and a half millions, then was a city about the size of Lewiston and Auburn. Boston had but 18,000 people then, and Baltimore only 13,000. The total population of the country was about four mill. ions, and we were then about on the level, or decided- ly inferior in wealth and population to the small countries of Denmark, Portugal and Belgium. We were at that time a third rate power. On the other side of the Allegheny mountains there were only about 100,000 people, mostly in Tennessee and Ken- . tucky, and the country was almost wholly occupied by Indians, where now the Great Empire of the West has its seat.
The occupations of the people in that day were extremely simple. There were few manufactures.
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In the East there were many merchants, seamen and fishermen, but most of the people were farmers who lived upon what they raised on their own farms. -
People seldom undertook long journeys and mails were not very regular. I could now come from New York here in sixteen hours. Then it would have taken nearly two weeks to make the journey by stage-coach. I should have been obliged to cross the Connecticut, the Merrimac, the Saco and the other rivers and large 'streams that could not have been forded, on ferry-boats, as there were no bridges across the larger streams.
The people in the various parts of the country knew very little about each other, and almost noth- ing about the people on the other side of the Atlan- tic. A man in those days who had been to Europe was looked upon with about as much curiosity as we should regard a human being who should now be privileged to visit the moon. "There's a man who has been to Europe," the envious people used to say.
There was then no cooking-stove, no furnace, no steam heating apparatus, no illuminating gas in this country, though in 1798 it was just being tried in · England. No electric lights, no steamboats, no rail- roads, no telegraph nor ocean cable, no telephone or any other application of electricity for the comfort and convenience of the people. There was no se w- ing machine, no mowing machine or reaper, no cot- ton-gin, no National Banks, no Clearing Houses, no
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systems of credits- none of these things existed even in the imagination of the inhabitants of this country in 1798 when this town was born.
· If Dewey had one hundred years ago to-day storm- ed Manila, and you were living then, you might pos- sibly have heard of it in a year if the sailing vessels that brought the news had a good voyage and you were lucky enough to get the Boston paper a week or so after its issue.
Think what has happened since this town was in- corporated. You now cross the continent as quickly as our illustrious forefathers went from Boston to New York, a distance of two hundred and thirty miles. You have your luxurious sleeper, your din- ing car, your barber shop, your writing room and your library on wheels, and you speed across country at the rate of sixty miles an hour. You read at your supper table the morning's news of the other side of the world. You whisper across the Atlantic in the flash of an eye to your friends in London; you stand in your Boston office and talk with your partner in New York or Washington as if he stood on the other side of the counter in your store. You light your house by touching an electric button. You propel your street cars without horses or steam but by a subtle fluid that has a power inconceivable. You issue your check and satisfy your creditor in Cal- ifornia, and you do scores of other things that would astonish our good forefathers should they have a Rip Van Winkle awakening to-day, and give them
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good reason to think the millennium had indeed come.
To-day this country has a wealth amounting to 87,000,000,000 of dollars, larger by considerable than the wealth of Great Britain, or the combined wealth of France and Germany, and is one third of the to- tal wealth of all Europe.
My friends, we have been fortunate to live in the Golden Age of the world. What shall the future bring to us ? Can as much progress be made in the coming century as in the last ? Will another Long- fellow sing his songs, another Emerson utter his philosophy, another Edison read the mysteries of nature? No man can tell; but I am sure that what- ever the future may reveal for the good of mankind, _the sons of Sumner will, as in the past, act well their part and do in their place and time the things that good men and women always find to do to help on the amelioration of humanity.
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CENTENNIAL ODE.
(Written by W. Stanwood Field.)
Mountains, hills, and valleys, And lakes and forests gay, Since they named thee Sumner A century's passed away. Passed from the rush of the present Back into memory's chain, Gone are our boyhood's old pleasures, Those years will not come again.
Hillsides covered with flowers, And children filled thy door, Babies grown to manhood And many gone on before; Sons and daughters have left thee - Faithful as histories tell; Many are tilling your valleys, Keeping and guarding thee well.
Sumner, dear old Sumner, Be bright thy coming day, Grand the future century As this that's passed away. Loyal may we be forever, Faithfully seeking our crown, True to ourselves and our kindred, True to old Sumner our town.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS
- - BY.
REV. LUCIEN MOORE ROBINSON.
"We walk today the halls of story, Mid pictures of the olden time, And voices, from an ancient glory That charmes us like a silver chime."
"A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered by remote decen- dants." MACAULAY.
It is a sure mark of savagery and barbarism not to care for the past or provide for the future. The sav- age lives for his little day, and his horizon is bound- ed by his own life, he has no records of the past and . knows not how he came to be where he is, and leaves no footprints on the sands of time, which in the future some brother man may see and take heart again. He lives in and for the present and for that alone, not knowing whence he came and caring little whither he goeth. But with the advent of civilization -there comes a most marked change in the attitude of man toward his past history and his future reputation.
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If we look to the oldest civilization of the world, in that wonderful mysterious valley of the Nile, there we find monuments of stone and records in the hardened clay, without which we of this day would be in total ignorance of a people whose arts, and sciences are the wonder even of our boasted civiliza- tion.
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All history . is but a record of the past and no nation, or country, or family, can have a history un- less their deeds and words have been preserved in enduring monuments, graven in brass, cut in polish- ed stone, or written on parchment.
Gazing backward along the track of past ages of the world's history, we note with interest the changes wrought by the passage of time. We behold as in a magic mirror the mighty men of bygone times.
"We enter the tent of the general, talk with the philosopher, and listen to the poet." `But amid that throng are also our own ancestors, and how eagerly do we scan the multitude to discern their forms, and how gladly would wve question them as Dante or Virgil did of old, about their life while here in the flesh. 1
"We delight to examine into their character and actions and as we find them worthy or unworthy our hearts swell with pride or our cheeks glow with shame," we treasure up in memory their deeds and recall their sayings. The very instinct of our nature " binds us to the past and links our fates with those - of our forefathers. We are all children of the ages. inheritors of the past.
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SUMNER CENTEN NIAL.
We meet today to commemorate a hundred years of the history of a town. A space of time short in com- parison with the long ages of the past, yet the ut -- most span of one human life. And what a century it has been! To us it seems that this Nineteenth Century is the culmination of all civilization; in it the nations have made the greatest progress, the world has seen the most wonderful inventions, and the people of all nations have drawn closer together.
But the story of this town does not begin with the 13th of June 1798; that day, indeed, marks the end- ing of one epoch and the beginning of another. It was on that date that the vigorous young plantation received its freedom suit, and having reached its ma- jority took its place among its fellow-members of that great Commonwealth, extending from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia.
Let us not forget, however, in our thanksgiving for a hundred years of growth and prosperity, those early days of struggle and hardship, when, like Israel of old, the land was yet to be subdued, when there was need of courageous hearts and .strong - hands, of perseverance and pluck, of earnest and almost ceaseless toil.
The story of these early years begins in that most important era of our country's history, the War for Independence. The sound of that "shot which was heard around the world," called forth from their quiet firesides those men who after seven years of
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fighting to win their freedom and establish in this western world a new "Republic of freemen," were to be the founders of this town; to set up here in the wilderness that "cradle of liberty," the New England town-meeting. - >
When the success of the war was assured the citi -. zen soldiers returned to their homes, often to find them in a very unsettled state; the cultivation of the .farm had been abandoned, the mill and the workshop were out of repair; they had been forced to receive their pay in paper money worth scarce a fortieth of its face value; the commercial and financial world was in confusion; it was a time of change.
For a century and a half previous to this, however, son had succeeded father in regular rotation on the -lands of their ancestors, and there had been no incli- nation to wander from the old homestead. But now for seven years many of the younger men had tramp- ed in the army from the northern wilderness of Maine and Canada to the great plains of New Jersey and Maryland, and the swamps of the Southland. A restless spirit was begotten in them which made them no longer content to sit by the old ancestral hearthstone.
These days immediately succeeding the War for Independence were days of emigration and new set- tlements in the wilderness which stretched almost unbroken from the shores of the Atlantic back to the St. Lawrence. But before describing the first
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settlement of our town, let us glance for a moment at the early history of that territory into which these hardy settlers came.
The French early claimed all these lands by right of discovery and settlement, and the King of France had made a grant of them, under the name of Arca- dia, as early as 1603. But the English also claimed the territory under the same right of discovery and settlement, and King James included it in his grant \ of North Virginia in 1604. For the next century and a half there was almost a continuous struggle to determine which of these powerful nations should control the land on which we stand today. For one hundred and fifty years it was doubtful whether the issue would favor France, and this would be New France, or whether England would in the end make. good her claim and establish a New England. The fortunes of war favored first one and then the other. and the land from which our town was later carved was alternately French and English soil.
In this long struggle the Indians usually took the part of the French, who had been most zealous in sending missionaries among them, and teaching them as a part of their creed, hatred of the English. The tales of heroism and bravery, of captivity and slavery, of burning houses and. slaughtered col- onists, of scalping knives and tomahawks, flint lock and cannon, forms one of the most thrilling parts of our national history. And this territory was the de- batable ground. On the banks of the Androscoggin
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lived the most dreaded of the Indian tribes, the An- asagunticooks, with their blood thirsty chief, who boasted in the Council Chamber of France, before the French King, that with his own hand he had slain one hundred and fifty English. In return for this great benefit the King immediately knighted him, and made him a nobleman.
There was no safe dwelling place in this country until Wolfe met Montcalm on the heights of Abraham, and the fortunes of war ( or rather let me say, He who watcheth over all ) decided that this country should be the possession of the great English speak. ing race.
Then for a few years there was quiet, and settlers flocked into the new land. Some found their way up the Androscoggin as far as Livermore on the east, and others up the Saco to Fryeburg on the west.
'But soon the mutterings of another storm put an- end to this tide of immigration. The storm broke, - and this country was again the barrier between two contending armies, but now, alas, of one blood ! Up through the wilderness marched brave Benedict Arnold, with the vain hope of capturing Quebec. Better had it been for him if he had fallen, as Wolfe before him had done, in the attempt. Finally after years of fighting, peace again settled upon a free nation, but heavily loaded with debt and with great- ly impaired credit. "The paper currency which had · been floated along by hope and credulity and buoyed up by a spirit of patriotism, sunk in value, all con-
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fidence fled, and the war-worn soldier reluctantly yielded to the course of law which took from him his last penny and left his family beggars. Heavy taxes were laid to pay the interest on the public debt, which the people could not meet, and for the pay- ment of which their cattle were distrained and they were otherwise reduced to extremities."
This is no fancy picture from imagination, but the very words of one who lived through these times that tried men's hearts, and was himself a prominent actor in them, the man whose name this town bears. To escape these ills men were ready to emigrate to new lands and find new homes. The great Commonwealth of Massachusetts encouraged these new settlements. She most naturally turned 'to' that immense tract of land "to Eastward" which she had acquired by purchase and conquest, which was then nearly in the state of nature,. a vast wooded wilderness; only a thin barrier of towns hugged the sea coast and straggled a little way up the banks of the great rivers, not reaching across the southern border of our state and scarcely ex- tending inland at all.
A land office was soon established in Boston and notice given that these wild lands would be offered for sale and soldiers' notes or the consolidated secu- rities of the Commonwealth taken in payment. The State offered to any one desirous of settling upon these new lands 150 acres anywhere upon the rivers or navigable waters at the small price of one dollar
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per acre. In any other portion of the vast domain the State promised to give 100 acres free to anyone who would clear sixteen acres in four years. This promise continued until 1784, and under it the first settlers came to this town.
Many companies were formed in different parts of the Commonwealth to purchase whole townships and promote emigration, hoping for great profits from the sale of lots. These companies petitioned the Gen- eral Court for a grant of land, specifying the location .. After the public survey the grant was usually made with certain restrictions. The Commonwealth pre- scribed that certain lots should be reserved for the first settled minister, grammar schools, and Har- vard College, and sometimes other conditions were imposed on the Proprietors. These Proprietors were in most cases inhabitants of the same locality and held meetings to make arrangements for the opening . up of their plantations and inducing settlers to enter upon the land. ( Records of these meetings were preserved. * )
As early as January, 1781 a petition was sent to the General Court by Samuel Butterfield of Dunsta- ble, Mass., and others, for land on the north of land petitioned for by Abijah Buck and others ( now Buckfield ) , to the value of six miles square, "upon such considerations or for such sum as you in your wisdom shall think best for the good of this State, your petitioners being desirous of making a settle- ment on said land if granted, which would not only
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, be a benefit to themselves, but to the community at large, and the wilderness become a fruitful field." *
This is the first reference to Samuel Butterfield, from whom the plantation took its name. He was a native of Dunstable, Massachusetts.
This petition was not granted, the land had, not yet been surveyed and no bounds could be given. But in 1785 John Jordine surveyed for the State land in this vicinity, including the present town of Buck- field, then called "No. 5," and the southern half of the present Hartford and Sumner, which he called "No. 6," containing 23,000 acres.
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