USA > Maine > Franklin County > Farmington > The history of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, 1776-1885 > Part 1
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1800
Stephen Filcomb.
Thomas Wondell
Euch bring
A HISTORY
OF
FARMINGTON,
FRANKLIN COUNTY, MAINE,
FROM THE
EARLIEST EXPLORATIONS TO THE PRESENT TIME,
1776-1885.
BY
FRANCIS GOULD BUTLER,
1
MEMBER OF THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Posterity delights in details .- JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
FARMINGTON : PRESS OF KNOWLTON, McLEARY, AND CO. 1 885.
F 29 . F2 B4
PREFACE.
A PEOPLE justly proud of their ancestors, as are the descendants of the Puritan Fathers of New England, take a lively interest in studying and in transmitting to posterity whatever of history pertains to their town or family.
Farmington is undoubtedly one of the best agricultural towns in the State, and when we consider the extent of its geographical area, the fertility of its soil, its varied mechani- cal industries, its mercantile and professional pursuits, and also consider the fact that it has been the shire town of the County of Franklin for almost half a century, none will deny that such a town has a history, and that it should be pre- served. The pioneers who came to found a home for them- selves and their families were generally without pecuniary means. Mere hangers-on were not tolerated, nor did they find a welcome among the early settlers. Many of these pioneers had seen hard service in the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars, had been inured to hardship, toil, and poverty, and fully realized the blessings of home and its comforts. They were generally men in the prime of man- hood's strength, and with vigorous blows leveled the forests and brought under cultivation a virgin soil, the fruits of which furnished abundant sustenance for all. Amid the curling smoke and dying flame they erected their log-cabins and hovels, and thither conducted in triumph through the wilderness their wives and children.
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2
PREFACE.
For several years I have contemplated writing a history of the town of Farmington, hoping thereby to rescue from oblivion many facts and incidents touching its early history which are fast fading away ; but never could I seem to set myself earnestly at work for its accomplishment until Febru- ary, 1883, when the flight of time admonished me that if ever such a history was to be written it ought to be com- menced at once. Accordingly, prompted by a few friends, and with the aid of an assistant, I began to collect the mate- rial necessary for the prosecution of the work, and from that period to the present I have devoted almost my entire time to its accomplishment. One great obstacle with which I have been obliged to contend is the apathy and indifference manifested by those from whom information has been sought. More than a thousand letters and postal-cards have been written during the progress of the work, and I am happy to say that in a large majority of cases the replies have been prompt and full, although in others they have been so delayed as to cause embarrassment ; and in a few instances assistance has been positively refused. Some blank dates, I regret to say, will be noticed in the Genealogical Register which it has been impossible to fill. As a rule, tradition has been discarded and facts introduced in its stead, and whatever suited my purpose in any work has been taken, giving the proper credit where the amount appropri- ated seemed to warrant it.
In the prosecution of this undertaking, information has been drawn from various sources. The records of the town - complete and full from the date of the incorporation in 1794-and the records of churches, parishes, and other organizations have proved of valuable assistance. The files of the local newspapers, including the Sandy River Yeoman, Franklin Register, Farmington Chronicle, Franklin Patriot, and Franklin Journal, from the issue of the first number of the Sandy River Yeoman, in 1831, have been carefully con- sulted. Many facts touching the carly settlement, organiza- tion, and condition of the town have been derived from original documents preserved in the archives of the State at Boston and at Augusta. The excellent collections of the
3
PREFACE.
Maine Historical Society have afforded considerable aid for the history in its more public relations. Among the docu- mentary authorities, mention should be made of various town histories : Nason's of Dunstable, North's of Augusta, and Parker's of Farmington. The last work, though brief and incomplete, is valuable for its statistical information. From my fellow-townsmen, as well as from printed papers and manuscripts, has much material been drawn. The older citizens, particularly Rev. John Allen, Dr. John L. Blake, Mr. Asa Butterfield, Capt. Peter P. Tufts, and Elijah Norton, Esq., out of the stores of their memories have con- tributed valued assistance. For the military history of the Civil War, I am greatly indebted to Capt. Edward I. Merrill, of the 17th Reg. Me. Vols .; and the history of the town in the War of 1812 owes much to the generous co-operation and extensive knowledge of Z. K. Harmon of Portland. To these gentlemen, as well as to many others who have promptly and courteously responded to repeated requests for aid, I desire to express my acknowledgements. I also wish to offer my thanks to the clerks of various towns, the clerk of Franklin County, the officers of Harvard College Library, to John Ward Dean of the New England Genealogical Library, and to officers in the State Houses at Augusta and Boston for many courtesies.
I should do injustice to my sense of gratitude not to mention the services of Dr. J. L. Pratt of Chelsea, Mass., and of Hon. Freeman N. Blake of Danvers in furnishing important papers relative to the early condition of the settlers ; and of Hon. Joseph H. Williams of Augusta in procuring valuable genealogical material. I would also not forbear to thank Miss Mittie B. Fairbanks for her indefati- gable energy in the collection of names and dates for the Genealogical Register. Above all others, my acknowledge- ments are due to my daughter, Mrs. Carrie F. Butler Thwing, for assistance so great and so constant as to sug- gest the question whether the reader is not as much indebt- ed to her as to him whose name is borne upon the title-page.
FRANCIS GOULD BUTLER.
FARMINGTON, January 7, 1885.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
Location. - Water Courses. - Surface. - Soil. - Geology. - Timber. - Wild Animals. - Scenery. 13- 17.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
Indians. - Hunters and Trappers. - Earliest Explorations. - Plymouth Pa- tent. - Reuben Colburn and his Associates. - North's Survey. - Meetings of Associates. - Later Explorers. - Petition for a Road. - First Settlers. - Pierpole. 18- 37
CHAPTER II. SETTLEMENTS FROM 1781 TO 1790.
Arrival of the First Settlers. - Scarcity of Food. - Arrivals from Dunstable. - First Mill. - Crops. - Frost. - Great Freshet. - First Marriage. - First Framed House. - First Death. - Other Arrivals from Dunstable. - School Opened. - Inventory. - Purchase of the Township. 38- 56.
CHAPTER III.
INCORPORATION AND SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.
Need of Town Regulations. - Petition for Incorporation. - Protest. - Whit- tier's Protest. - Act of Incorporation. - First Town Meeting. - Federal Tax Assessed. - Local Dissensions. 57-75.
6
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
RECORD FROM THE OPENING OF THE CENTURY UNTIL THE WAR OF 1812.
Growth of Town. - Mills. - First Meeting-House. - Center Meeting-House. - Bridges. - Aurora Borealis. - Dysentery. - Increase of Population and Wealth. 76-90.
CHAPTER V. SCHOOLS.
Early Schools. - Wages. - Teachers. - First School-House. - Changes in School System after Separation. - School Districts. - Text-Books. - Academy. - Normal School. - Abbott Family School. - May School. - The Willows. - Graded Schools. - High School. - Public Funds. 91-107.
CHAPTER VI.
MILITARY HISTORY, AND THE WAR OF 1812.
Need of Military Organization. - Formation of Infantry Companies. - Ap- propriations for Military Equipments. - First Muster. - Petition for a Cavalry Company. - Resolutions upon the Embargo. - Organization of Artillery Company. - Rumors of War. - Hardy's Attack on Eastport. - Militia Ordered Out. - List of Farmington Men in Service. - Hartford Convention. - Its Effect in Farmington. - Peace and its Results. - Later Military History. 108- 127.
CHAPTER VII.
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE WAR OF 1812, UNTIL THE FORMA- TION OF FRANKLIN COUNTY, IN 1838.
Financial Depression. - Misfortunes of Citizens. - Adams' Factory. - Gross' Distillery. - Cold Fever. - Cold Seasons. - Ohio Emigration. - Agita- tion of a Separation from Massachusetts. - Brunswick Convention. - Portland Convention. - Final Vote on the Question. - Freshet of IS20. - Building Union Church at the Falls Village. - Early Temperance Movements. - Sandy River Yeoman. - Growth During the Decade. 128-136.
CHAPTER VIII. CHURCH HISTORY.
Religions Character of Early Settlers. - First Preaching. - Efforts to Settle a Minister. - Ministerial Lands. - First Settled Minister. - Distribution of Funds. - Methodist Church. - Jesse Lee. - Class Organized in Farm-
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CONTENTS.
ington. - Joshua Soule. - Early Preachers. - Brick Meeting-House. - Church Formed in the Village. - Meeting-House Erected. - Other Classes. - Secessions. - Free-Will Baptist Church. - Edward Lock's Preaching. - Revival. - Church Formed. - Defection of Lock. - Addi- tions to the Church. - Meeting-House Erected. - Pastors. - Second Free-Will Baptist Church. - Baptist Church Organized. - Meeting- House Built. - Pastor. - Congregational Church Organized. - Early Preachers .- Isaac Rogers .- Subsequent Pastors .- Universalist Church .-- Christian Church. - Unitarian Church. - Meeting-House Built. - Catholic Church. 137-169.
CHAPTER IX.
FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF FRANKLIN COUNTY UNTIL 1850.
Erection of the County. - First County Officers. - Court-House. - Litigation Concerning Court-House. - Other County Buildings. - Distribution of Surplus Revenue. - Aroostook War. - Growth of the Town. - Harrison Campaign. - Anti-Slavery Society. - Liberty Party. - Washingtonian Movement. - Revivals. -- Protestant Methodist Movement. - Millerite Delusion. - Agricultural Society. - Other Societies. - New Streets Laid Out. -- Condition of Village in 1850. 170- 183.
CHAPTER X. RAILROADS.
First Mail. - Stage Line to Hallowell. - Railroad Meeting in 1845. - Railroad Meeting in 1847. - Survey Made. - Franklin and Kennebec Railroad Incorporated. - Organization of Franklin and Kennebec Rail- road. -- Survey for the Road. - Railroad Meeting at Mercer. - Survey of a Railroad Through Chesterville .- Negotiations with the Andro- scoggin Railroad. - Completion of Road to West Farmington. - Extension of Androscoggin Railroad to Center Village. - Agitation Concerning a Railroad to Phillips. - Organization of Sandy River Railroad Company. - Completion of the Road. - Franklin and Megantic Railroad. 184-195.
CHAPTER XI. A RECORD FROM 1850 UNTIL 1860.
Increase in Population. - Growth of the Village. - Fire of 1850. - Village Charter Obtained. - Sandy River Bank Chartered. - Misfortunes of the Bank. - List of Officers. - Freshet of 1855. - Riverside Cemetery Opened. - Franklin Patriot Established. - Bear Killed. - Fire of 1859. - New Village Charter Obtained .- Fire-Engine Purchased. - Engine- House Built. - Village Supervisors. - Appearance of the Small-Pox - Condition of the Town in 1860. 196-204.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
FARMINGTON IN THE REBELLION.
Słavery. - Election of Abraham Lincoln. - Secession of Eleven States. -
Fort Sumter Attacked. - Loyal Sentiment in Farmington. - Call for Troops .- Gov. Washburn Issues a Proclamation. - Meetings in Farm- ington. - Patriotic Sentiments. - Organization of Farmington Companies. - The Draft. - Farmington's Quotas. - Bounties and Aid to Soldiers. - Work of the Ladies. - John F. Appleton Post No. 25. - List of Sol- diers. - Drafted Men. - Principals and Substitutes. 205-240.
CHAPTER XIII. A RECORD FROM 1860 TO ISS4.
Effects of the War. - Murder in Strong. - Trial of Doyle. - Trial of Jesse Wright for Murder of Jeremiah Tuck. - Trial of Samuel Richardson for Murder of Joseph Edes. - Assault of Asahel Thompson upon David W. Whittier. - Services Memorial of President Lincoln. - Opening Tele- graph Line. - Public Library Opened. - Franklin County Savings Bank Organized. - Attempted Robbery of the Sandy River National Bank. - Meteorological Phenomena. - Great Freshet. - Ice Freshet. - Growth of the Town, from 1860 to 1870. - Extension of Railroad. - New Streets Located. - Buildings Erected. - Trial of John Fletcher. - Fires of 1874 and 1875. 241 - 258.
CHAPTER XIV. MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES.
Primitive Manufactures. - First Saw-Mill. - Mill built by Francis Tufts, at the Falls. - Mill built by Russ. - Other Mills at the Falls. - Mills on the Wilson Stream. - Fairbanks' Mills. -- Russell's Mills. - Allen's Full- ing-Mill. - Stinchfield's Fulling-Mill. - Other Fulling-Mills. - Carding- Machines. - Ebenezer Sweet's Tannery. - Tanneries of Butler, Town- send, Adams, Were, and others .- Thwing's Tannery. - Shoemakers. - Hatters. - Norcross' Pottery. - Cabinet - Makers. - Carriage - Manufac- tories. - Clover - Mill. - Starch - Factory. - Machine - Shops. - Atwood's Pulp-Mill. - Printing and Publishing. - Fishing Rods. - Greenwood's Ear-Protectors. - First Corn-Factory built .- Other Canning Establish- ments. - Box Factory. - Huse's Factory. 259 - 274.
CHAPTER XV.
SKETCHES OF LAWYERS, PHYSICIANS, AND COLLEGE GRADUATES.
Henry V. Chamberlain. - Nathan Cutler. - Zachariah Soule. - Elnathan Pope. - Hiram Belcher. - Robert Goodenow. - John L. Cutler. - Joshua Randall. - Simeon H. Lowell. - Present Lawyers. - Dr. Aaron Stoyell. - Dr. Samuel Guild. - Dr. T. D. Blake. - Dr. Ebenezer Taylor. - Dr. Josiah
9
CONTENTS.
Prescott. - Dr. Thomas Flint. - Dr. Allen Phillips. - Dr. Lafayette Per- kins. - Dr. J. F. Moses. - Dr. William C. Staples. - Dr. Jophanus Hcn- derson. - Dr. William Randall. - Dr. J. L. Blake. - Dr. Edmund Russell. - Dr. Charles Alexander. - Dr. H. W. Hamilton .- Dr. J. B. Severy. - Dr. S. P. Warren. - Physicians in Practice in 1885. - List of College Graduates. 275-293.
CHAPTER XVI. MERCHANTS AND STORES.
Early Traders. - Thomas Flint. - Whittier and Bishop. - Col. Daniel Bcale. - David Moore. - Timothy and Thomas Johnson. - Col. Joseph Fair- banks. - Joseph Titcomb. - Clifford Belcher. - Merchants at Backus Corner. - Samuel Belcher. - Ebenezer Childs. - Thomas Croswell and Other Merchants at the Falls. - R. K. Lowell. - John Titcomb. - Isaac Tyler. - Asa Abbott. - Francis Butler. - Joseph Huse. - H. B. Stoyell. - Richard Hiscock. - Samuel F. Stoddard. - Leander Boardman. - Henry Nason. - A. W. F. Belcher. - H. W. Fairbanks. - F. T. and J. W. Fairbanks. - J. W. Perkins. - Gen. Samuel G. Ladd. - William T. Abbott. - Reuben Cutler. - Leonard Keith. - Edwin N. Stevens. - Philip M. Garcelon. - Andrew H. Bonney. - B. R. Elliott. - Richard S. Rice. - Henry M. Howes. - Samuel S. Hersey. - Joel Phinney. - Allen and Co. - Present Merchants. 294 - 308.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Table of Incidents. - Appendix. - Genealogical Register. - Brief Biogra- phies of Early Settlers. - Poems. - Index I. - Index II. - Errata.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
SUPPLY BELCHER. - STEPHEN TITCOMB. - ENOCH CRAIG. - THOMAS PAGE.
WENDELL. Frontispiece. C'ENTER MEETING-HOUSE 78
WESTERN STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 91
ABBOTT FAMILY SCHOOL .. 103
REV. ISAAC ROGERS .. 161
MAJOR EDWARD I. MERRILL . 209
HON. FREDERIC C. PERKINS. 249
MUSIC HALL BLOCK. 258 HON. HIRAM BELCHER.
. 277
NATHANIEL COTHREN, ESQ.
288
RESIDENCE OF D. W. AUSTIN
299
REV. JACOB ABBOTT.
.352
ALEXANDER H. ABBOTT, A. M.
. 359
REV. JOHN ALLEN.
365
GEORGE F. BLAKE, EsQ.
.390
HON. FRANCIS G. BUTLER
.404
COL. JAMES BUTTERFIELD).
413
HON. ALVAN CURRIER.
.447
HON. NATHAN CUTLER. 45I
THOMAS MCL. DAVIS, ESQ
459
HON. JOSEPH W. FAIRBANKS. 470
FRANCIS KNOWLTON, ESQ .. .518 DR. EBENEZER C. MILLIKEN .531
GEORGE W. NORTON, ESQ. 542 HION. THOMAS PARKER . 547 CHARLES B. RUSSELL, ESQ. 567
C'APT. PETER P. TUFTS. . 599
INTRODUCTION.
Location. - Water Courses. - Surface. - Soil. - Geology. - Timber. - Wild Animals. - Scenery.
FARMINGTON, the shire town of Franklin County, Maine, is situated in the valley of the Sandy River, thirty-six miles northwest from Augusta, eighty miles north from Portland, and eighty miles west from Bangor. Its exact latitude, as determined by Dr. Jackson's survey, is 44° 42' 30" north. Its longitude east of Washington is 6° 55'. It is bounded on the north by Strong and New Vineyard, on the east by Industry and New Sharon, on the south by Chesterville, from which it is divided by the Wilson Stream and Sandy River, and on the west by Wilton and Temple. Its extreme length is ten miles, and its average width four and one-half miles.
Farmington is naturally divided into two portions by the Sandy River, which flows diagonally through the township from northwest to southeast. It enters the town on its northern boundary some five hundred and seventy-five rods from the western limit, and passes into New Sharon about a half a mile west of the southeast corner. Directly or through its tributaries it thus drains every portion of the territory. This river takes its rise in those highlands which divide the waters flowing into the Kennebec from those which fall into the Androscoggin River. The western or
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
principal branch has its headwaters in the Sandy River Ponds, two small bodies of water lying south of Mt. Saddle- back. Thence it flows in a southeastern direction through Letter E Plantation and Madrid, enters Phillips, and unites with the eastern branch, which takes its rise in and about the gorges of Mt. Abraham. It continues southerly through Phillips, Avon, Strong, and Farmington. From Farmington Falls it takes an eastern course, and flows through New Sharon, Mercer, and Stark in a nearly northeastern direction, emptying into the Kennebec River fifteen miles east of the northwest corner of the town of Farmington. It has five principal tributaries. The Porter Mill Stream enters the river at Strong village. The Fairbanks Mill Stream takes its rise as two branches in the New Vineyard mountains, one of which forms a small pond near the line between Industry and Farmington, the waters of which discharge themselves in a beautiful cascade some sixty feet in height. This stream enters the river a short distance below the Fairbanks bridge. The Temple Stream, a picturesque rivulet, drains the Temple mountains, flows over a rocky bed through the western quarter of the town, and discharges itself about half a mile below the village at West Farmington. The largest tributary to the river is known as the Wilson Stream, and is the outlet of the Wilson and Varnum Ponds in Wilton. It flows in a southeast direction, receives the Little Norridge- wock Stream about one and a half miles from its mouth, thence takes an eastern course, dividing Farmington from Chesterville, and finds an outlet near Farmington Falls. On this stream are some of the best mill-sites in the State. Muddy Brook, the outlet of Clear Water Pond, enters the river near the village of New Sharon.
Besides the main tributaries, several smaller streams and brooks enter the river and its branches. These, together with numerous surface and underground springs, supply every farm and family with abundant water.
The Sandy River is peculiar for the sudden and enormous rises of its waters. Draining as it does a large mountain- ous territory, upon which snows fall to a great depth and
15
INTRODUCTION.
rain falls heavily, it is not infrequent to see this small stream increase in a single night to a rushing, roaring torrent in some places a half a mile in width. The natural course of the river being serpentine, these constantly recurring fresh- ets serve to wash away the banks, and to form new deposits in the bends of its course. Thus the river has changed its path from year to year, and in many cases flows in quite different channels from those of a hundred years ago. In- deed, in the great freshet of 1869, it cut for itself in the town of Phillips an entire new course for a distance of nearly a mile.
Although the surface of Farmington is undulating and even hilly, no considerable elevation is found within its borders, as is the case with many of the surrounding towns. The plain of the Center Village lies four hundred and thir- teen feet above the sea-level, and four hills - Porter's Hill and Voter's Hill on the west side of the river, and Cowan's Hill and Mosher's Hill on the east side - rise from two to three hundred feet above the plain. The river is skirted on both sides by belts of interval of greater or less width, from which the land ascends in undulating slopes and in places in high ridges. The surface of these different elevations pre- sents every variety of soil for cultivation. The intervals, for the extent and beauty of which the town is famed, embrace an area of some two thousand acres on the borders of the river and larger streams. These lands are overflowed by the annual freshets, and, thus kept constantly enriched, are probably the most fertile lands within the borders of the State. The soil is a rich, sandy loam, originally covered by a hard-wood growth. Back from the interval on the east side of the river lies a sand-belt, a warm, quick soil entirely free from stones, which the early settlers found clothed with fir, spruce, hemlock, and some cedar. On the higher lands the soil is a heavy loam, somewhat stony, but productive. The highest ridges are especially adapted to grazing. It is a remarkable fact that the town contains no waste land. Every lot as originally surveyed is cultivated as a farm. No mountain, no pond, no bog, no swamp, no extent of ledge is to be found within the township.
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
The geology of Farmington presents no striking features. The general formation is gneiss, varied with mica schist and some patches of granite. An inferior quality of limestone is found, but the attempts to work it for profit have proved unsuccessful. Superior slate, however, has been discovered, and a quarry opened.
When the town was first visited by white men, its whole surface was heavily clothed with forests of both hard and soft wood. Only two small meadows appeared, the result of beaver-dams. The most common tree is the rock or sugar maple. White maple, yellow and white birch, beech and ash, fir, spruce, and hemlock also abound. Cedar is not plenty ; but little pine is found, and hardly an oak is seen within the limits of the town.
The wild animals are much the same as those of other parts of the State. The fiercer animals, as the bear and the wolf, have long since disappeared, although a gray wolf was killed in the northern section of the town as late as Febru- ary, 1844. The otter, too, has sought more retired surround- ings, and some sixty years have passed since the last beaver rewarded the hunter's toil. Foxes are still abundant, and many are taken each winter. Mink, although not as plenty as formerly, are still captured upon the borders of the brooks, and muskrats are found in abundance. The hare, the cony rabbit, the woodchuck, the gray and red squirrels, and the chipmunk inhabit the forests, and occasionally the boys wake a porcupine in his hole. Weasels and raccoons also occasionally appear to harass the farmer's chickens or steal his corn.
In former times the river and streams of the town teemed with fish. Salmon and alewives were taken in great quantities by the early settlers. But with the building of dams they disappeared. Few salmon have been taken since 1795 ; probably none since 1820. Pickerel and eels are still taken in the river and its tributaries, and in smaller streams the sportsmen may cast a fly for the speckled beauties, the brook trout.
No description of the physical features of Farmington
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INTRODUCTION.
would be complete without reference to the beauty of its scenery. The broad belts of green interval, with here and there glimpses of the river winding and glistening like a silver thread, the hills above with the blue background of the distant mountains, Mt. Blue towering like a sentinel above them all, - combine to form as fair a picture as New England can boast.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
Indians. - Hunters and Trappers. - Earliest Explorations. - Plymouth Pa- tent. - Reuben Colburn and his Associates. - North's Survey. - Meetings of Associates. - Later Explorers. - Petition for a Road. - First Settlers. - Pierpole.
THE explorers who first came to Sandy River Valley found a small tribe of Indians at Messee Contee (herring- place), the spot now known as Farmington Falls. At the time the settlers came, in 1781, the tribe had dwindled to two families, that of Pierpole and that of Philips. Philips soon left, but Pierpole remained for many years the friend and helper of the white man. It is probable that the Indians at Farmington Falls were a branch of the Norridgewock tribe, which was broken up by the massacre under Captains Harmon and Moulton, Aug. 22, 1724. The remains of an Indian fort have been found, and from time to time in making excavations, skeletons, bones, arrowheads, and relics have been unearthed, the plain evidence of a burying-ground. While it is doubtful whether any tribe, or part of a tribe, had a permanent settlement at Farmington before the dispersion of the Norridgewocks, for aught known to the contrary the aborigines had enjoyed the hunting and fishing of the region for untold generations.
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