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Gc 974.101 P67& 1169787
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01085 7750
101 87
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
https://archive.org/details/historyofpiscata00lori
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BOWDOIN REME R. GRANT COLLEGE:
SPISCATAO
10
HISTORY
OF
PISCATAQUIS COUNTY,
MAINE.
From its Earliest Settlement to 1880.
BY REV. AMASA LORING,
" The hills are dearest, which our childish feet Have climbed the earliest; and the streams most sweet Are ever those at which our young lips drank - Stooped to their waters o'er the grassy bank."
Whittier.
LIBR
SS
CITY
DUPLICATE
SURPLUS
PORTLAND, ME. : HOYT, FOGG & DONHAM, 1880.
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1880, by AMASA LORING, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
PRINTED BY B, THURSTON AND CO., PORTLAND, MAINE.
CONTENTS.
1169787
CHAPTER I. Introduction, Design, Sources of help 9
CHAPTER II. Situation, Extent, Boundaries
13
CHAPTER III. Natural scenery, Mountains, Lakes, Rivers
-
-
15
CHAPTER IV. Natural resources, Farming land, Timber, Water- power, Quarries, Mines 21
CHAPTER V. Sales, Grants, Surveys
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25
CHAPTER VI. How, When, By whom, first entered, Blood, Townes, Chase
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28
CHAPTER VII. Dover, Proprietors, First settlers, A. Blood, Townes, Dows, Longleys, Lambert, Dwelley, Chamberlain, Dea. Rowe, Incorporation, Grist-mill, Factory, Shire-town, Edes' paper, Rail- road, Business and professional men 34
CHAPTER VIII. Sebec, Sale, Mills, First settlers, Incorporation, Dr. Boynton, Village, Professional men - - 60 -
CHAPTER IX. Milo, Purchase, First settlers, Incorporation, Mills, Growth, Professional men - - - 66
CHAPTER X. Sangerville, Water-power, First settlers, Mills, Incor- poration, Leading men, Lost child, Growth, Meeting-house, Clarks, Factory, Col. Oakes, Bursely, Professional men - - 73
CHAPTER XI. Atkinson, Purchase, First settlers, Dr. Snow, Incor- poration, Library, Crosby, Mills, Blake's disappearance, Elder Harvey
90
CHAPTER XII. Guilford, Water-power, Purchase, First settlers, In- corporation, Schools, Minister, Orchards, Leading men, Villages, Bridges, Fatal accident, Growth, Factory, Railroad, Gold mine, Physicians -
95
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII. Foxcroft, Purchase, First settlers, Mills built, Chamberlain & Bacon removed, First Sabbath meeting, Incorpo- ration, Distillery, J. and M. Bradbury, Court held, Forbes family, Bridge built, S. Chamberlain, Holmes, Mr. Williams, Academy, Mayo's factory, Professional men - 109
CHAPTER XIV. Brownville, Sale, First settlers, Mills built, Dr. Wil- kins, Rev. H. May, Incorporation, Traders, Slate quarries - 135
CHAPTER XV. Williamsburg, Proprietor, First settlement, M. Greenleaf's book and map, Incorporation, Preaching, Division, W. Hatch, M. and E. Greenleaf, Hemmingway's disappoint- ment, Barnard, Soil, Water-power, First settlers, Incorporated, Slate quarries, Unincorporated - 140
CHAPTER XVI. Abbot, First settlement, Mill, Douty & Oakes, Gower, Incorporation, Upper bridge, Fatal casualties, Other mills, Railroad, Lower bridge - 147
CHAPTER XVII. Medford, Water-power, First settlers, Incorpora- tion, Kilmarnock, Gen. Boyd - -
- - 160
CHAPTER XVIII. Parkman, First settlers, Mills, Pingree, E. An- drews, Soule, Other mills, Incorporation, Elder Hall on temper- ance, Dr. Parkman, Pease's mills, Professional men 163
CHAPTER XIX. Bingham Purchase, Wellington, First settlers, Mills, Incorporation, Kingsbury -
- - - 170
CHAPTER XX. Blanchard, First entrance, Rafting, Plundering, Purchase, Incorporation, Change, Railroad - 174
CHAPTER XXI. Monson, Early settlers, Mills built, Cong. church, Incorporation, Dea. Goodell, A. Greenwood, Dr. Davison, Post- office, Store, Dea. Robinson, Meeting-house, Kidder's swindle, Academy, Fires, Slate, Semi-centennial, Hardships, Fatal acci- dents, Physicians -
CHAPTER XXII. Orneville, Purchase, Settlement, Mills built, In- corporation, Embarrassment, Judge Orne, Elder Horne, Elder Lord, Name changed, J. A. Hoxie - 196
- 180
CHAPTER XXIII. Greenville, Grant, Settlement, Mills built, Steam- boat, Incorporation, Growth -
201
CHAPTER XXIV. Shirley, Sale, Settlement, Mills, Incorporation, School land, Store, Annexation, Wilson, Grant, Proprietors, Set- tlement, Mills, Elliotsville, Proprietors, Settlers, Incorporation - 206
CHAPTER XXV. Unincorporated places, Bowerbank, Proprietors, Settled, Howard, Sale, Settlers, Mills, Katahdin Iron Works, Grant, Thomas and Davis, Smith, Pingree, Hinkley & Edgerly - 215
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CONTENTS.
vii
CHAPTER XXVI. Stirring events, Indian scare, March to Bangor, Cold seasons, Great fire - -
- 222
CHAPTER XXVII. Ecclesiastical sketches: Baptist, Congregational- ist, Free Baptist, Methodist, Universalist, Christian Baptist, Adventist - - 233
CHAPTER XXVIII. Temperance Reform, Moral suasion, Washing- tonianism, Prohibition
262
CHAPTER XXIX. Military organizations, Companies, Regiments, Officers, Trainings and musters, Our warriors, Revolutionary, Of 1812, Mexican war, Civil war
269
CHAPTER XXX. Fraternal associations : Free Masons, Sons of Tem- perance, Odd Fellows, Good Templars, Grangers - - - 270
CHAPTER XXXI. Miscellaneous: Steadman the imposter, Railroad accident at Low's bridge, An old time anecdote, Uncle John and the bear, The colonel and the ensign, Professional and educated men, County officers up to 1880 - - 282
CHAPTER XXXII. Conclusion 299
1
A
A HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
IT is proposed in the following pages, to sketch a brief ge- ographical view of Piscataquis County ; to state its early sur- veys, grants, proprietors and settlers ; to present its natural resources ; and to detail the progress of its pecuniary, social, literary and religious interests. We also hope to rescue from oblivion, those incidents of historical value, which are fast and forever departing to the grave, with those hoary heads, who in the sprightliness of their childhood and youth both wit- nessed and helped to enact them. These towns which compose it, have a history. So has every place which man has ex- plored, or civilization entered. But for three-fourths of a century, time's busy pencil has been obliterating the past, in painting the present; and much that would enrich these sketches must slumber on in the deep sleep of unrecorded and forgotten history. Only when the chronicles of life have been carefully kept, can we say : "We are inheritors of all the past."
But all the dim footprints of these hardy pioneers have not been blotted out. Much that they told to their children, deeply engraven on the retentive tablets of early childhood, still abides with the surviving. With great pleasure I refer to Henry B. Sargent of Milo, Ezekiel Chase of Sebec, Eben Lambert and Mordecai Mitchell of Dover, Mrs. Sarah J. Greeley of Foxcroft, and Jefferson P. Moor of Abbot, who
2
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10
HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
have furnished facts and data still remembered by them. With praiseworthy readiness, the town clerks, so far as re- quested, have placed their town records before me. It should be added that the record of children's births, when the place thereof is given, becomes, in the lapse of time, of great historic value. The late Robert Low of Guilford, B. . C. Goss of Sangerville, and Eben Greenleaf of Williams- burg, have been examples of carefulness in this respect.
Family records, too, possess a historical value, reaching far beyond the circle recorded in them. Several old family Bible records have done good service in settling dates of early set- tlements, which could not have been otherwise easily deter- mined.
By the courtesy of the late J. S. Holmes Esq., the records of the Piscataquis Historical Society have been placed at my disposal. This was formed in 1824, while the first settlers of Foxcroft and Dover were living, to preserve the early his- torical incidents of that vicinity ; and I have been essentially aided by them in compiling the histories of these towns. This record narrowly escaped the flames, when Mr. Holmes' office took fire, and thankful may we all be for its rescue.
By request, Capt. S. Chamberlain prepared a brief sketch of the early settlement of Foxcroft. This is preserved en- tire in the town records, and has been drawn from, in com- piling the history of that town. So also have the records of the proprietors of the town of Foxcroft, kept by Col. J. E. Foxcroft, and also some of his manuscript letters.
The late Robert Low, Esq., kept a brief memorandum of events in the early settlement of Guilford. The writer, in his early boyhood, enjoyed the luxury of hearing it read. It was afterward burnt in the conflagration of Mr. Low's build- ings, and he reproduced it, as best he could, from memory. This also has been examined, and though of substantial value, I am constrained to say, that "the old was better."
C. A. Everett Esq. of Dover, who has made the study of "land titles" in this county a specialty, has rendered very important assistance from his "plans," notes, and sketches.
11
INTRODUCTION.
The writer also is largely indebted to Greenleaf's Survey of Maine, published in 1829, for historical data of great value, and now not easily obtained, for this work, and like- wise Williamson's History of Maine, though once furnished by the State, to all the incorporated towns, are now hard to be found. This troublesome destitution reflects severely upon the carelessness of former town clerks, and also upon the borrowing propensities of unnamable individuals, who do not believe it a duty to return a borrowed book to its lawful pos- sessor.
In the history of the different churches and religious socie- ties, I have depended upon the published and accepted His- tories and Minutes of the different denominations; and the, respective authors of these are responsible for their correct- ness.
No one who has ever attempted to gather materials for, or to write, history, will expect entire accuracy or desirable full- ness in this work. Not every person, whose memory treas- ures the events of seventy years, can, in old age, be relied upon. Many statements evidently made in good faith and tenaciously held also, have been contradicted by others equally reliable, and sometimes by written documents. So, "with charity toward all, and malice toward none," I have diligently compared these discrepancies, and sifted and set- tled them as best I could.
In the following pages, after giving the original number and range of each township, and the temporary name of the early settlement, I have, for convenience sake, used the cor- porate name, though speaking of events which occurred be- fore that name was given.
So also the entrance of the first family, for a permanent abode-not the felling of the first opening-gives date to the first settlement. And according to this event, if ascertained, the first settlers of these towns, are denoted.
As a lover of history, and an early inhabitant of the Pis- cataquis valley, I have undertaken this work. And as a per- sonal apology for so doing, I recall the reason that a certain
12
HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
autobiographer gave for writing his own life, to wit: "If he did not do it, he was satisfied that it never would be done." So I more than feared that if I did not now attempt this, the early and most desirable part of the history of this county would never be written.
Many would regret this, especially when the lapse of time makes all such narratives more valuable and more sought after. Deeply do I regret that some one possessing a more historical memory, and wielding an abler pen, had not un- dertaken it before so many of the early settlers had fallen asleep. For then, many dates would have been thoroughly substantiated, and with far less research than at this pres- ent time.
Any history would be incomplete without a brief sketch of the prominent men who shaped the financial, political, literary, moral, and religious state of society. But a true and faithful personal history, even of the departed, is a deli- cate task to undertake. Few realize, while making the jour- ney of life, that their works will follow them. Yet all should feel that they, not posterity, frame their own characters and build their own most expressive monuments. No deeds are treated with intended severity, while worthy and virtuous records are drawn without overweening flattery.
Let then the historical errors of this work be corrected, its practical hints welcomed, its record of past events be treated with considerate indulgence.
CHAPTER II.
SITUATION, EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES.
THE whole territory of this county is on the polar side of the 45th parallel of north latitude, so it has a right to be cold in winter and temperate in summer. Early frosts and long winters with deep snows, are usual, though good and ripe crops of corn, grain, and other farm products, save in exceptionally cold seasons, richly repay the husbandman. When first entered, this territory was included in Hancock and Kennebec Counties, but when Somerset County was incor- porated (in 1809), the western portion, amounting to three tiers of townships, was embraced in this new county, Nor- ridgewock then being the shire town. In 1816, when Penobscot County was incorporated, all but the three western tiers of townships above mentioned, were included in that county, having Bangor for its shire town.
In 1838 Piscataquis County was incorporated, taking four tiers of townships from Penobscot, and three from Som- erset County, the most western tier being from the Bingham Purchase. It then extended, in its full width, to Canada line; but in 1844, its northern portion, embracing about sixty townships, was annexed to Aroostook County.
In its present extent, it is bounded, north by Aroostook, east and south by Penobscot, and west by Somerset Counties, containing more than one hundred full townships, with an area of 3,780 square miles.
These townships are generally six miles square, lying in regular ranges, which are numbered from the north line of the Waldo Patent (now a part of the north line of Waldo
14
HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
County), and the most southern tier in Piscataquis County is the sixth range in this numeration. Nearly two-thirds of these townships are now covered with forests, wholly unoc- cupied by inhabitants, but more or less entered by those in pursuit of timber. In its length, north and south, it includes sixteen townships, and in its width, seven townships.
But the lakes and ponds embraced within its limits, make up quite an extensive waste of waters; and its mountains, though far less than in many parts of our state, materially reduce the quantity of its settling lands.
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CHAPTER III.
NATURAL SCENERY.
IT would be deeply interesting to present this region in its primeval grandeur, with its thick, tall, and robust forest growth, its mist-covered mountains, its sunny hill-tops and shaded valleys, its sleeping lakes and rushing rivers, its tan- gled swamps and marshes.
Not the pine alone, but the hemlock and spruce, the elm and maple, the birch and beech, towered far above the growth which now studs its woodlands in the settled parts of the County and State, and these last-mentioned trees, in the autumn,
"Took on their trailing drapery, Flashed with Tyrian dyes."
The Piscataquis valley forced' upon its pioneers "heavy clearing," and richly repaid them with heavy harvests. The first lumbermen also found pines of surpassing height and dimensions, but the axe was unsparingly lifted upon these thick trees, and this glory of the "Pine Tree State" has largely departed.
But its hills and mountains, its fertile valleys and ridges, its streams and lakes still remain, and these have their charms for the appreciative observer.
The surface of this county is moderately hilly, a mountain rising here and there, in its own impressive solitude. Katah- din, the highest mountain in the State, towering 5000 feet and more above the level of the sea, its rugged steeps striped by the mighty avalanche, stands within its eastern border. It is
16
HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
seen from many of the elevated ridges in the southern part of the county, but from the deck of the steamboats, when sailing up Moosehead Lake, and from the head of Chesun- cook, the view is quite enchanting. It is about midway be- tween the Chesuncook settlement and Sherman, and visitors reach it by drifting down the west branch of the Penobscot, in the light birch canoe, from the former point, and by a tramp through the woods of thirty miles, from the latter ; and when they stand upon its bald and lofty summit, usually admit that they are satisfied.
Kineo, too, which so many visit, and so many have already described, lifts its bald and storm-stricken head, 700 feet above the surface of Moosehead Lake, whose precipitous sides make it a mighty pillar rising from the water's brink, and standing as a stern and fearless sentinel.
Squaw Mountain, near the western shore of the lake, Spencer Mountains, on the eastern side, Boarstone, in the Elliotsville township, and the Ebeeme Mountains, north of Sebec and east of Greenville, are all within this County, and have a considerable altitude. The last named mountains stand out in two distinct ranges. The eastern range runs nearly north and south, and the two highest peaks are known as Horseback and Spruceback.
Westward of this, another range stretches off, two of its peaks being called Chairback and Ore Mountain. Quite a depression, called the Gulf, separates Ore Mountain and Horseback Mountain, within which a small lake hides itself, and between this and Pleasant River is the Katahdin Iron Works. Some twenty miles above these, there is a mar- velous Glen, through which the Pleasant River dashes along, leaping down in stupendous cataracts, and shooting between towering walls, so as to rival some of the famous "cañons" of the Yellow Stone regions. Flaming accounts of this Glen have been already given to the public, by its enrap- tured visitors, and quite as deprecatory ones, of its obstruction to "log-driving," by lumbermen.
Russell Mountain, in Blanchard, named for a man of that
17
LAKES, LAKELETS AND RIVERS.
name, who was taken sick and died suddenly upon it, many years since, is famous for the blueberries, which grow upon it, and which attract large companies, in their mature season. Its ascent, upon the western slope, has, with some difficulty, been made with carriages.
LAKES, LAKELETS AND RIVERS.
Moosehead Lake, the largest body of inland water in New England, covering a surface of one hundred and twenty square miles, lies within the western border of this county. It is thirty-eight miles long, and sixteen miles wide in its widest part, where its broadest bays spread out, encircling its largest islands. In other places it is indented with capes and promontories, Mt. Kineo forming one of the most im- posing of these projections. It encloses several islands, the chief of which are Sugar Isle, containing 5,000 acres, but not now inhabited, and Deer Isle, containing more than 2,200 acres, upon which a farm is cleared, and a small public house kept.
This lake is the source of Kennebec River, and is 1,070 feet above tide water. Many years since, lumbermen built a dam across this outlet, which retains seven feet of water upon the lake's whole surface, which they draw off at their convenience, in driving down lumber. For nearly forty years steamboats have moved upon its waters, puffing along its forest-clad shores, in towing rafts of logs from its extreme parts to its outlet, and in later months, to accommodate ex- plorers and summer visitors, who go to gratify their wild- wood curiosities, to camp out in the "forest primeval," to fish and fowl in limits unstinted, to regale themselves with the delicious trout that are drawn from its deep and cool waters. Hotels, some of the first class, are found at the "foot of the lake" (Greenville), at Mt. Kineo, at the ex- treme "head of the lake," at the outlet, and upon Deer Isle. In the time of summer travel, regular trips are made to the head of the lake, and the public mail carried.
This lake does not receive a great amount of inflowing
18
HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
water, its elevation being so great that the water-sheds pitch away from it. The west branch of the Penobscot, in its course to the Chesuncook, passes only about two miles from the head of this lake, and in two places is reached by carry- ing places, called the "North-East" and the "North-West Carry." This river receives all the streams flowing from the north.
In Greenville, only three miles from the lake, is Wilson Pond, the source of Wilson Stream, which flows in a south- east direction into Sebec Lake.
About three miles from the most southern part of the lake, the east branch of the Piscataquis rises, and joined by two other branches from the west, flows south and east into the Penobscot, after receiving the drainage of a wide extent of this region.
On the west, Moose River is its chief tributary, though several others come in on that flank, while Roach River, and a few other smaller streams flow in on the east side.
With some the question may arise, whence the name of this lake? and when discovered? We are indebted to the In- dians for both. Some say they so named it, because seen from the summit of Mt. Kineo, its surface resembles the head of a moose ; others, that maný moose horns were found upon its banks; and others, that Mt. Kineo gave its name, as it appears like a crouching moose; either of which is possible.
The native Indians were early acquainted with it. One of their routes from Norridgewock to Canada, was by the way of the lake, the west branch of Penobscot, and the rivers Du Loup and Chaudierre; while another was by Dead river, Megantic lake and the Chaudierre. It is now certain that a Canadian engineer came through on this eastern route as far .as Fort Weston (Augusta), previous to Arnold's expedition to Canada in 1775. A defective copy of his report is in Vol. I of "Collections of the Maine Historical Society."
Sebec Lake covers a part of number eight, eighth range, a part of Bowerbank, and narrowing as it proceeds eastwardly, crosses a corner of Foxcroft, and terminates at Sebec village.
19
LAKES, LAKELETS AND RIVERS.
Its whole length is fourteen miles, its width from one-half of a mile to five miles, its whole area being from eighteen to twenty-five square miles. It receives the contributions of more than twenty ponds, whose united surface would equal its own. This lake was once surrounded by valuable pine and other timber, all of which is not exhausted. It is also a place of popular resort, a small steamboat plying along its landing places, and a hotel is kept at the head of it, toward which travel is now drifting.
Sebec River carries the surplus water of this lake into the Piscataquis, affording several fine water privileges, two of which, one at Sebec village, the other at Milo, are utilized, and will be fully described in the sketches of those places.
Schoodic Lake, in the township next east of Brownville, is twelve miles long, and four miles wide. This also discharges its waters into the Piscataquis, in Medford, making a first- rate water power, upon which mills have been erected.
Chesuncook Lake, about twenty-five miles north-east from the head of Moosehead Lake, is fifteeen miles long, and from one to three miles wide. A small settlement of whites and Indians is found at the head of this lake, who depend for employment upon cutting and driving timber.
The west branch of the Penobscot passes through this lake, and a large amount of lumbering is usually done in this vicinity. The travel to this place in summer is across the carrys from Moosehead Lake, and down the west branch in birch canoes.
The northern unsettled townships abound with lakes, ponds and streams, too numerous to mention, several of which pass into the St. John River. Without them many of its timber tracts would have been comparatively worth- less, but they have been made the highways of immense quantities of lumber.
Hebron Pond in Monson, Davis Pond in Guilford, North- west Pond in Sangerville, Kingsbury Pond in Kingsbury and Mayfield, Center Pond in Sangerville, and Boyd's Lake in Orneville, all have dams at their outlets, and subserve man-
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