USA > Maine > Somerset County > Skowhegan > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 1
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Canaan > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 1
USA > Maine > Somerset County > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 1
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Starks > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 1
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Norridgewock > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 1
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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08178216 5
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HISTORY
OF THE OLD TOWNS
NORRIDGEWOCK AND CANAAN,
COMPRISING
NORRIDGEWOCK, CANAAN, STARKS, SKOWHEGAN, AND BLOOMFIELD,
FROM THEIR EARLY SETTLEMENT TO THE YEAR
1849;
INCLUDING A SKETCH OF THE ABNAKIS INDIANS.
BY J. W. HANSON,
AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF DANVERS.
MEMORIAM MAJORUM.
BOSTON : PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1849.
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Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1849, by J. W. HANSON, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Maine.
LENOX LIB
ARY
NEW YORK
BOSTON: COOLIDGE AND WILEY, PRS. 12 WATER STREET.
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PREFACE.
THE vein of History which runs through that portion of MAINE considered in the follow- ing pages, presents matter of great value to the Antiquary. The hills and vales now vocal with Agriculture and Business, were, but a few years ago, the sacred haunts of the Red Man. Here he found his most delightful retreats. In the waters that now reflect civilized life, he speared the salmon, floated his frail bark, or bathed his tawny limbs. On the shores he pursued the simple joys and labors of barbarous life, and knew no higher end or aim.
Here, too, the hardy pioneer of civilization erected his log hut, and commenced tilling the soil, and preparing it for future generations. The memory of the Indians should be pre- served ; - the hardships and the early labors of the first settlers should not be forgotten ; - the progress of the towns should be noticed, and their present condition should be exhibited. To convey an adequate idea to other minds, as well as to afford the State or National historian data for future labors, is the aim of this book ; for we can never have a perfect National History
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PREFACE.
until every State shall have contributed its own, and a perfect State History cannot be written, until every town shall have furnished its own local facts.
The five towns herein treated upon, are among the most important, as well as most beautiful in the State, and it is believed that the following pages will prove deeply interest- ing to all natives and inhabitants, while, it is hoped, the general reader will be much inter- ested.
In compiling these pages, the author has resorted to every known source of probable in- formation, and has been deeply indebted for books and information to many obliging gentle- men, among whom stand conspicuous, Hon. Cullen Sawtelle, Hon. John S. Tenney, Hon. David Kidder, Hon. Warren Preston, Hon. Joseph Barrett, W. D. Gould, Esq., Thos. Heald, Esq., Josiah Spaulding, Esq., John Waugh, Esq., Levi Sawyer, Esq., Eusebius Weston, Esq., Melzar Lindsay, Esq., Dea. John Loring, Elder Stephen Williamson, Calvin Heald, Esq., Mark S. Blunt, Esq., Revs. N. M. Wood, C. C. Cone, Dr. J. Marden, Ruel Weston, Esq., Stephen Coburn, Esq., and the town clerks, and other civil and religious officers. Indeed, the citi- zens have emulated each other in forwarding the author's plans, and aiding his enterprise. Besides these, his thanks are due the officers of the Maine State Department, Somerset Court and Probate Officers, all of the Clergymen, with one solitary exception, and many of the ladies and gentlemen, whose names, though not writ-
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PREFACE.
ten here, are held in grateful remembrance. To all, his sincere thanks are paid. The fol- lowing authorities have aided materially : - Drake's Book of the Indians; Williamson's History of Maine ; Sullivan's Do .; Greenleaf's Ecclesiastical Sketches; Penhallow's Indian Wars; Genealogical Register ; Pickering's Es- say on Indian Orthography ; Francis' Life of Râle ; Symmes' History of Battle at Lovewell's Pond ; Kennebec Claim ; Massachusetts Rec- ords ; Maine Records; Millet's History of the Baptists of Maine ; Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Historical Society ; Senter's Narrative ; Meigs' Expedition ; Town Records of Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Bloomfield, and Skowhegan ; Church and Society Records ; Private Manu- scripts ; Somerset Journal ; People's Press ; Workingman ; Democratic Somerset Repub- lican ; Skowhegan Sentinel ; Skowhegan Clar- ion ; Gravestones; Authentic Tradition, and other authorities. It is believed that the work is, as far as is possible in a first edition, correct ; and it is commended to all lovers of history with the earnest hope, that while they may imitate the virtues of the people of an earlier generation, they may so shun their faults, as to be instrumental in establishing a people whose rules of life shall be Liberty, Temperance, Peace, and Charity, and whose God shall be the Lord.
1 *
INDIAN HISTORY.
THE valley of the Kennebec, to the lover of natural and artificial beauty, presents one of the most charming panoramic views to be found in this country, which so abounds in all that delights the eye, and gratifies an elevated taste. From the river's source in the unfathomable waters of Moose-Head Lake, to its union with the Atlantic, it is an uninter- rupted series of beautiful and picturesque views. Its blue waters flow smoothly along their pellucid course, dash over steep precipi- ces in snowy cascades, or break into slight ripples and mimic waterfalls that fill the sum- mer air with music, or gleam in beauty amidst the ice of winter. Now they dash against rocky shores, wash grassy slopes, or beat among the roots of forest trees, and anon slide up the sandy shores of level plains. Here they narrow into the swift current, chafing the shores, and soon they expand into the broad and peaceful bay. Occasionally the verdant loveliness of the scene is relieved by the bold outlines of distant mountains, that loom up into the clear air, or are craped and shrouded
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INDIAN HISTORY.
by wandering clouds. Fertility teems along the shores, and smiles on all the plains.
Along the first course of the river, occasional farmhouses dot the vales, and cheer the loneli- ness of the scene, but as the river passes on its way, villages appear, and the smoke ascends from many quiet homesteads, grouped peace- fully together, and as the river broadens and deepens, the slight canoes and scarcely heavier batteaux give place to the snow-white sails of vessels, and the swift steamboat ; while the roar and din of populous cities fill the surround- . ing air with the sound of business, and the unceasing noise of Human Life. The White Man, with all the tumult of civilized life, fills the waters with his vessels, and lines the shores with his machinery and abodes.
How great a change is here ! " Roll back the tide of Time!" Scarcely a century has passed away, since " here lived and loved an- other race of beings." The silent river, as it rolled its constant journey to the sea, bore on its bosom some dark-eyed Indian maid in her light shallop, or at the most, a company of hunters or warriors, as they paddled their white canoes across its blue surface. Where stands the busy mill, then drank the antlered moose. Where spreads the wide green inter- vale, then wrought the busy beaver. Where now is heard the locomotive's scream - the steamboat wheel -then howled the wolf, then leaped the salmon, then fled the caribou. The " all-beholding sun," as he gazed down upon our splendid stream, saw only nature and her
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INDIAN HISTORY.
children. Inanimate Nature and Irrational Life were here in all their solitary beauty, but only the wild, uncultivated red man stood among the beasts and birds, - God's represent- ative on earth, - to rule the creatures subject to his power.
The vales and uplands of the Kennebec were the favorite haunts of a great tribe. Here they dwelt, among their hunting grounds, their fields, and the graves of their fathers. In the neighboring ponds and streams they captured the trout, and in our own blue river they caught the golden salmon. The moose, the caribou, the brown deer, the bear, the rabbit, and the partridge were hunted and secured, and the common wolf, the fox, the beaver, the martin and the wild loupcervier. Here gleam- ed their canoes, here were grouped their wig- wams. The songs of festivity and mirth were heard at their joyful feasts, - the low beautiful Indian songs of sorrow and affection, breathed in sweet unison with the voices of nature, - the wild war-whoop, - all these were here. When the tribe and its allies would have a great gath- ering, the Androscoggin, the Saco, and the Ken- nebec poured their dusky warriors and braves into the great Merry-meeting bay. When times of trouble, of disease or massacre oc- curred, the sacred vale of Norridgewock was filled. All that was dear, - all that was sacred, - all that the unsophisticated Indian loved, were here scattered in rich profusion. All this has passed away ! Like the mists of morning
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INDIAN HISTORY. -
they have faded, nor left a lingering wreck behind.
" Alas ! for them -their day is o'er, Their fires are out from hill and shore ; No more for them the wild deer bounds, The plough is on their hunting grounds ; The pale man's axe rings through their woods,
The pale man's sail skims o'er their floods.
Cold with the beast he slew, he sleeps ; O'er him no filial spirit weeps ; No crowds throng round, no anthem. notes ascend, To bless his coming and embalm his end ; Even that he lived, is for his conqueror's tongue, By foes alone his death-song must be sung."*
When America was discovered, the soil was occupied by many tribes of Indians, who were scattered over its entire surface, and who, in their own well-defined regions, pursued the pastimes and occupations of savage life, dis- turbed only by occasional feuds, and short, though sanguinary wars.
The present limits of the State of Maine were occupied by the Abenakies, Abenaques, or Abnakis, and the Etechemins. The Eteche- mins dwelt east of the Penobscot valley, in- cluding both shores of that river, while the Abnakis owned all from the Penobscot to the Salmon Falls river. The Abnakis, as they were found by Râle, are thus described : +
Their cabins were made by planting a centre pole and covering with bark ; the fire in the middle, on the ground, and their beds and chairs were mats made of reeds, spread on the earth.
* Charles Sprague.
+ Lettres Edifiantes.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
The men dressed in the skins of animals, or in loose robes of red or blue cloth, and the women wore a mantle, reaching to the middle of the leg, very gracefully arranged, with a light covering thrown over the head, and fall- ing to their feet, and stockings from the knee to the ankle. Their moccasons were of deer- skin. In the winter they wore snow-shoes, without which they could not subsist. With them, they were able to overtake the swiftest animals.
They were tall, powerful, and active, with teeth whiter than ivory. Their only ornaments were beads made of shell, white and black, so arranged in belts and the like, as to represent different figures with great beauty.
Their children were regarded with the greatest affection, and the utmost respect was manifested toward the aged. Their skill with the bow was great ; even children could shoot with astonishing accuracy.
They ate with great irregularity : feasted on the best one day, and famished the next. To- bacco was used by all, and esteemed the great- est luxury. They were less barbarous than other tribes.
When they fought, they divided their bands into small companies of five men, each with knife in one hand, and tomahawk in the other ; and they were thus very formidable. When they entered the possessions of an enemy, they scoured the country in small bands ; and they inspired the greatest dread, by attacking all quarters at once.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
The Abnakis* were divided into four smaller tribes, occupying distinct boundaries. The Sokokis or Sochigones, the Anasagunticooks, the Canibas or Kennebecs, and the Wawenocs, The Sokokis dwelt on the Saco, the Anasagunticooks on the Androscoggin, the Wawenocs east of Merry-meeting bay, and the Canibas or Kenne- becs, from Merry-meeting bay upwards, on both sides of the Kennebec.
The Kennebecs were found very numerously when the country was discovered. t They were divided into several clans, owning soil and dwelling thereon, subject to different sub- ordinate chiefs, who held fealty to the great bashaba,¿ whose residence was on Swan island,§ in Merry-meeting bay. These smaller tribes were known by the names of the places of their residence. Among the Kennebecs, therefore, we read of the Norridgewogs, the Taconnets, the Cushnocs, &c. These small tribes or families were all Kennebecs, and the Ken- nebecs, Sokokis, Anasagunticooks, and Wawe- nocs, were all Abnakis. They spake the same language, with a slight difference of dialect, were friends in war, and were emphatically one people. Sometimes the family name was taken in early times for the generic term, as, those living at Sagadahoc were called, incor-
* The Wapanachki, or Abenaki, or Wabanaki, as these In- dians were called indifferently, were known in English as the East-landers, or Eastern men - such being the signification of the word. - Heckewelder's Hist. Account, p. 107.
+ Hubbard's New England, p. 31.
This fealty was merely political deference.
§ Williamson, ii. 4, Hist. Maine.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
rectly, Norridgewocks. The Kennebecs were that branch of the Abnakis that occupied the river which bore their name ; and the Norridge- wogs were that clan of the Kennebecs that lived at Norridgewock .*
These clans owned the soil in common.i The Indians did not believe that one person could own the soil. The country of Norridge- wock was possessed in common by the Nor- ridgewogs, and each member of the clan owned an undivided portion. The sachems of this tribe were able to convey to other persons whatever portion of the estates of the tribe they wished, - only with this principle, never questioned by an aboriginal : that no sachem had a right in the soil beyond the period of his natural life, and that whatever he should dispose of must, at his death, revert to the tribe again. Whenever a white man, however, framed a deed, it was a title to the land bought, forever. Thus the disputes arose. The red man would not have denied a bargain, or vio- lated his word, but he declared all transfers to have been only for the life of the grantors, while the white man triumphantly pointed to
* Norridgewock has been spelt in many different ways. The French spell it Orantsoak, Narrantsouack, Narantsouack, Nanrantsouack ; the English spell it Norridgewock, Norrigea- wok, Nerigwok, Noridgewoc, Wawridgewick, Ridgewock, &c. " } From the history and modes of living amongst the Indians of this country, there can be no great doubt but that they origi- nally held as tenants in common, in a state of nature ; and though they have formed themselves into tribes and clans, yet the mem. bers of those tribes still retain common and undivided right to the land of their respective tribes."-Statement of the Kennebec Claims, p. 21. .
2
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INDIAN HISTORY.
his deed, and the white man's bayonets bristled behind it, and obedience followed necessity. Justice was not discussed, a plea of ignorance was invalid, and though an Indian was made drunk, and sold a rich township, holding be- neath its turf the graves of a thousand years, for a string of beads, Might made Right, and the strong arm conquered.
The history of the Indians of Maine, pre- vious to the landing of the Pilgrims, is envel- oped in the obscurity of the past. Capt. John Smith, of Pochahontas memory, was the first Englishman who ever looked upon the Kenne- becs. He visited them in 1614, and in his ac- count he says : * "The principal habitations I saw at Northward, was Penobscot, who are in wars with their next northerly neighbors. Southerly up the rivers, and along the coast, we found Mecadacut, Segocket,t Pemaquid, Nus- concus, Sagadahock, Satquin, Aumaughcawgen and Kenebeca. To those belong the countries and people of Segotago, Pauhunlanuck, Poco- passum, Taughtanakagnet, Wabigganus, Nas- saque, Masherosqueck, Wawrigwick,# Mosho- quen, Waccogo, Pasheranack, &c. To these are allied in confederacy the countries of Aucocisco, Accomenticus, Passataquack, Augawoam and Naemkeek, all these, for anything I could per- ceive, differ little in language or anything ; though most of them be sagamos and lords of themselves, yet they hold the bashabes§ of Pen-
* 3 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. iii. 21 - 2. + Saco. ¿ Norridgewock. § The Indians " were divided into several tribes, each of which had their own sachem, or, as the more northern Indians
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INDIAN HISTORY.
obscot, the chief and greatest amongst them." He seems to have learned but little concerning them, and even his names are less than half correct.
There was a prominent sachem of the Can- ibas, who flourished about the year 1660, named Kennebis,* and it has been conjectured that he was one of a long line of the same name, from whom the Kennebec river and tribe received their names.i It is highly pro- bable that a sachem named Kennebis, from some other tribe, out of dissatisfaction, left his own people, and, followed by his family and a few others, settled in the wilds of Maine. From him and his followers proceeded the Kennebec tribe, and the Kennebis of Indian History, was, doubtless, a lineal descendant of the first Kennebis. History is silent, how- ever, and reasonable conjecture is our only authority.
The Abenakies # or Eastern Men, as the name signifies, occupied a large portion of the present State of Maine. The primeval forests of our broad State were peopled by this family of the red men, though their favorite haunts were the winding slopes of the Androscoggin, and the broad green intervales of the blue Kennebec. In whatever place the salmon and shad abounded, and wild game was plenty, close at
pronounced that word, sachemo, which the English understood Sagamore ; and yet all the sachemos acknowledged subjection to one still greater, which they called bashaba." - Drake iii. 7. * Wiliamson Hist. Maine. + Drake, B. iii. c. vii.
į " None of the Abernaques tribes, however, were more strongly attached to their native soil, than the Canibas. They were bold and brave fighters through all the Indian wars ; in which they sustained probably a greater loss of numbers than any other tribe."
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INDIAN HISTORY.
hand, in the most favorable spot, were seen the wigwams of an Indian village.
The first notices of the Abenakies are of their selling lands to the hardy and adventurous sons of England, who flocked in, and began to people the rich intervales and teeming slopes of the rich State of Maine. James Smith bought of Ramegin, " soe called by my Indian name, or Robinhood, soe called by English name, . part of my land, beginning att Merry-meeting Cove, and soe downward the maine riuer vnto a rocke, called Winslowe's Rocke, in the longe reach, and in breadth east- ward ouer the little riuer, runninge through the great mersh, with the priviledges [reserved to me] as hunting, fowling, fishing, and other games." For this large and beautiful tract of land, the extent and value of which will at once suggest itself to all acquainted with the locality, Ramegin was to receive annually, November 1st, one peck of corn. The deed bears date May 8, 1648, and is signed Negri- mis, Songreehood, and two English; Robin- hood, Mr. Thomas, Pewazegsake, and Robin. He sold the island of Jeremysquam in the year following, and in 1654, he sold Neguasseag, (Woolwich) to Edward Bateman and John Brown .*
William Bradford and others, bought of Monquine, the land on both sides of the river, from Cussenocket to Wesserunsicke, August 8, 1648. Attached to the deed are the names of
* Sullivan's Hist. Maine.
¡ Augusta.
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INDIAN HISTORY.
Agodoademago and Tussucke, freely consent- ing, and in 1653, " Essemenosque certified that the region of Taconnet belonged to him, and the wife of Watchogo."*
" The sachems called Kennebis and Ab- bagadussett, were generally united in their grants, and appear to have sold nearly all the lands on the Kennebec river, to one and another, and the greater part several times over." ¡ Kennebis, in 1649,¿ sold to Christopher Lawson land as high as Teconnet.
One of the most interesting points in our early history is the experience and adventures of the French Jesuits, who entered the forests and willingly underwent the privations and sufferings of savage life. Macaulay has well set forth their character.§
" Before the order had existed a hundred years, it had filled the whole world with me- morials of great things done and suffered for the faith. No religious community could pro- duce a list of men so variously distinguished ; none had extended its operations over so vast a space ; yet in none had there ever been such a perfect unity of feeling and action. There was no region of the globe, no walk of specu- lative or of active life, in which Jesuits were not to be found. They guided the counsels of kings. They deciphered Latin inscriptions. They observed the motions of Jupiter's satel- lites. They published whole libraries, contro-
* Williamson, Hist. Maine, vol. i. p. 467. Į Ibid. + Sullivan's Hist. Maine. § Hist. England.
2*
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INDIAN HISTORY.
versy, casuistry, history, treatises on optics, Alcaic odes, editions of the fathers, madrigals, catechisms, and lampoons. The liberal educa- tion of youth passed almost entirely into their hands, and was conducted by them with con- spicuous ability. They appear to have discov- ered the precise point to which intellectual culture can be carried without risk of intellec- tual emancipation. Enmity itself was com- pelled to own that, in the art of managing and forming the tender mind, they had no equals. Meanwhile they assiduously and successfully cultivated the eloquence of the pulpit. With still greater assiduity and still greater success they applied themselves to the ministry of the confessional. Throughout Catholic Europe the secrets of every government and of almost every family of note were in their keeping. They glided from one Protestant country to another under innumerable disguises, as gay Cavaliers, as simple rustics, as Puritan preach- ers. They wandered to countries which neither mercantile avidity nor liberal curiosity had ever impelled any stranger to explore. They were to be found in the garb of Mandarins, superin- tending the Observatory at Pekin. They were to be found, spade in hand, teaching the rudi- ments of agriculture to the savage of Paraguay. Yet, whatever might be their residence, what- ever might be their employment, their spirit was the same, entire devotion to the common cause, implicit obedience to the central author- ity. None of them had chosen his dwelling- place or his avocation for himself. Whether
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INDIAN HISTORY.
the Jesuit should live under the arctic circle or under the equator, whether he should pass his life in arranging gems and collating manu- scripts at the Vatican, or in persuading naked barbarians in the southern hemisphere not to eat each other, were matters which he left with profound submission to the decision of others. If he was wanted at Lima, he was on the Atlantic in the next fleet. If he was wanted at Bagdad, he was toiling through the desert with the next caravan. If his ministry was needed in some country where his life was more insecure than that of a wolf, where it was a crime to harbor him, where the heads and quarters of his brethren, fixed in the pub- lic places, showed him what he had to expect, he went without remonstrance or hesitation to his doom. Nor is this heroic spirit yet extinct. When, in our own time, a new and terrible pestilence passed round the globe; when, in some great cities, fear had dissolved all the ties which hold society together; when the secular clergy had deserted their flocks; when medical succor was not to be purchased by gold ; when the strongest natural affections had yielded to love of life, - even then the Jesuit was found by the pallet which bishop and curate, physi- cian and nurse, father and mother, had desert- ed, bending over infected lips to catch the faint accents of confession, and holding up to the last, before the expiring penitent, the image of the expiring Redeemer.
" So strangely were good and evil intermixed in the character of these celebrated brethren,
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INDIAN HISTORY.
and the intermixture was the secret of their gigantic power. That power could never have belonged to mere hypocrites. It could never have belonged to rigid moralists. It was to be obtained only by men, sincerely enthusiastic in the pursuit of a great end, and at the same time unscrupulous as to the choice of means."
" Amid the snows of Hudson's Bay - among the woody islands and beautiful inlets of the St. Lawrence -by the council fires of the Hurons and of the Algonquins-at the sources of the Mississippi, where, first of all the white men, their eyes looked upon the Falls of St. Anthony, and then traced down the course of the bounding river, as it rushed onward to earn its title of 'Father of Waters' - on the vast prairies of Illinois and Missouri - among the blue hills which hem in the salu- brious dwellings of the Cherokees - and in the thick canebrakes of Louisiana - everywhere were found the members of the 'Society of Jesus.'" *
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