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1800
Class
Book
THE
HISTORY OF NORWAY:
COMPRISING A .
MINUTE ACCOUNT OF ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, TOWN OFFICERS, THE ANNUAL EXPENDITURES OF THE TOWN, WITH OTHER STATISTICAL MATTERS;
INTERSPERSED WITH
HISTORICAL SKETCHES,
NARRATIVE AND ANECDOTE, AND OCCASIONAL REMARKS BY THE AUTHOR.
BY DAVID NOYES.
NORWAY : PUBLISIIED BY THE AUTHOR. 1852.
GEORGE W. MILLETT, PRINTER, ADVERTISER PRESS, NORWAY VILLAGE.
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F29 NONg
PREFACE.
I suppose I must write a preface before I enter one step on my work, and tell why I am going to write a book, and what I am going to write about. The why is because many of our good citizens wish for such a work ; but the what is more than I can tell, as I may feel very differently to-mor- row from what I do to-day ; and therefore I am unable to tell in what kind of a channel my ideas may take a notion to flow. But first, I intend to give as minute an account of the early settlement of the town as the best data in my possession will enable me to do ; and also of the expenditures of the town for the benefit of its inhabitants ; the immigration of new settlers since the commencement of the settlement; the acci- dents, and remarkable incidents, that have taken place ; histor- ical sketches, narrative and anecdote, occasionally interspersed with just such ideas as happen to run in my noddle while writing. I shall not attempt to tell a good story, or to crack a good joke, for the sake of producing a good hearty laugh ; for such things always hit somewhere; but I am bound to get along without running against anybody, if I can help it. I intend to tell the truth as far as I tell anything : I shall " naught extenuate, nor set down aught in malice," and intend to wholly avoid bringing any "railing accusation " against any one. I humbly acknowledge the many kindnesses re- ceived from different individuals in furnishing me with facts
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PREFACE.
and materials, as they were able. for the commencement and prosecution of the work: among which persons are first, Samuel Ames, (he has almost been my standing register about the first settlement. ) and also Benjamin Flint, Aaron Wilkins, Darius Holt, Nathaniel Bennett, Joel Frost. John Pike, Daniel Knight, Jr., and Daniel Stevens ; and among the females are the widow Olive Stevens, Mrs. Ruth Lovejoy, Mrs. Mary Stevens, the wife of Jonas Stevens, and Mrs. Mary Ordway, the wife of Amos Ordway ;- as they were the children of the very first settlers, and were old enough to retain their early impressions about matters and things of those early times. Mrs. Mercy A. Whitman has my warmest thanks for her carefully-preserved record of the deaths in the town since 1820. The town authorities are kindly thanked for the use of the Selectmen's books ; and the town Clerk for his records since 1843, and the same to the Treasurer.
The several religious societies will accept my thanks for their aid generously furnished me, and with my warm thanks, a warmer wish, that our Heavenly Father may always con- tinue to smile propitiously on them, and fit them, more than ever, for the full enjoyment of a blessed immortality.
To the officers of the Militia (I can't find any now, but I have found the old books) I present my thanks for the old records ; and all the officers of the Militia are entitled to much praise for the correctness with which the books have been kept. To be sure, we all desire to see the time "when men shall learn war no more," but perhaps it may be well to keep the " tools ready " for fear they may be wanted.
And this scrawl I am going to call my preface to the fol- lowing work, which I shall humbly inscribe to the good citizens of Norway, hoping it will afford them as much pleas- ure in reading, as it has afforded me labor in writing. It is possible that some things are noted which some may not de- sire ; and that other things are omitted which some would like to see ; but I can't help that ; I never bargained to suit
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PREFACE ..
everybody. Doubtless there are some mistakes in regard to dates, but instead of wondering at a few mistakes, it should be a greater wonder that there are not more; for on an ex- amination of the work, it will be readily seen that I have had a great many "irons in the fire" at the same time. Many of the new immigrants probably came into the town some months, and possibly a year before they are named, as I name them when they appear on the tax-books. Many of the old settlers' sons, perhaps, do not appear in the year when they arrived at 21 years of age, as many of them, possibly, went off to work, out of town. for a year and perhaps several years ; and in some instances they may be classed among the new immigrants ; but I hope such trivial matters will give no unpleasant feelings to any one, or in any degree detract from the merits or usefulness of the work. The town has kindly afforded me a shelter and a home for nearly half a century ; so long, that it seems to me that I have become a " part and parcel " of the same : and should it ever be so ordained, in. Providence, that I should leave the place, I know I should feel a "longing for the flesh-pots " of old Norway, for " with. all thy faults I love thee still."
The citizens of Norway will please to accept my thanks for the many favors received during a long series of years, and should you be pleased to liberally patronize the present work, it will greatly serve to smooth the down-hill of life, which I am fast descending, and will be productive of the lasting gratitude of
Your most obedient and humble servant,
DAVID NOYES.
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
THE town of Norway is made up of the following tracts, or grants of land, viz : the tract of land formerly known as Rustfield, purchased by Henry Rust, of Salem, Massachu- setts, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in December, 1787, estimated at six thousand acres; the Lee Grant, esti- mated at six thousand acres exclusive of water; the Cummings Gore, containing about three thousand and six hundred acres ; and three tiers of lots taken from the easterly side of the town of Waterford, viz: a strip one mile and a half wide, and seven miles long, estimated to contain six thousand seven hundred and twenty acres ; and another tract called the "Gore," or "Rust's Gore," lying south of the Waterford three tiers, and bordering on the northerly line of Otisfield, containing about seventeen hundred acres more or less, making in the whole a trifle over twenty-four thousand acres ; but at that time it was rather a custom to make quite liberal meas- ure in eastern lands, therefore we may safely calculate the quantity to be, at least, twenty-five thousand acres, or more. The Waterford three tiers, and the "Rust Gore," last de- scribed, lying south of the three tiers, form the westerly side of the town, making the whole length eight miles and one hundred and thirty-eight rods. The Lec Grant lies in the northeast corner of the town, the Cummings Gore between the Lee Grant and the northerly part of the Waterford three
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
tiers, and that part called Rustfield lies south of the Lee Grant and the Cummings Gore, being the southerly part of what is now called the town of Norway.
The Cummings Gore proper, or what is now known as the Cummings Gore, did not extend south any farther than the southerly line of the old Major Cummings farm, now owned by Amos T. Holt; but there is a gore of land lying south of the Cummings Gore, extending from the southerly line of the Cummings Gore proper about two hundred and eighty rods on the Lee line to the northerly line of Rustfield, and about one hundred and ninety rods on the casterly line of the Wa- terford three tiers, and one mile and a half cast and west, which was at first in dispute between Henry Rust, the pro- prietor of Rustfield, and Jonathan Cummings, the proprietor of the Cummings Gore ; but by an arrangement between the parties the land was held by the said Cummings. I have been thus minute in pointing out the different tracts and pieces of land now composing the town of Norway, in order that the reader, and those interested in the first settlement, may the better know where the early settlers commenced operations when they came into the wilderness to found a home for themselves and posterity.
1786 .- This year five individuals, viz : Joseph Stevens, Jonas Stevens, Jeremiah Hobbs, Amos Hobbs, and George Lessley, from the town of Gray, came into the place, and felled trees on the tract called Rustfield, excepting Jeremiah Hobbs, who commenced on the lot easterly of where the Congregational meeting-house now stands, and then supposed to be within the limits of what was afterwards called Rust- field; George Lessley commenced on what has since been known as the Isaiah Hall farm, now owned and occupied by William Frost, 3d, and brothers ; Amos Hobbs commenced on the farm where his youngest son, Amos Hobbs, now lives ; Joseph Stevens commenced where his youngest son, Simon Stevens, now lives; and Jonas Stevens commenced on the
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
place now owned by Amos F. Noyes and Lorenzo D. Hobbs.
During the first summer and fall, these hardy pioneers of the wilderness made what preparations they were able to make, in order to move their families the ensuing spring and summer ; and from such accounts as the writer can gather, Joseph Stevens built a small frame house early in the spring of 1787, sixteen feet by twenty ; he split out pine rift clap- boards, and clapboarded on the studs, and long-shingled the roof, built a stone fire-place high enough on which to lay a wooden mantle-piece, and after a short time topped out the chimney by what used to be called catting : that is, by laying up split sticks, cob-house fashion, in clay mortar, mixed with straw, chopped fine, to make it adhere more strongly to the sticks. After getting fairly into their new settlement the other four built themselves houses of the same size and con- struction. They split out basswood plank and hewed them for a floor, and each one brought a board from a mill in Paris, on Stony brook, called Jackson's Mill, to make an outside door. Some of them had a board window which they could take down in fair weather, and put up in foul, cold weather; and some of them say the most stylish had a paper window made of white paper well coated with oil, perhaps goose oil. At the time these first settlers were falling trees, Samuel Ames (now living in Norway Village-then living in Paris, and tending the first grist-mill built in that town, on Stony brook-and he says he ground the first grist in that mill, ) came over to what was afterwards called Rustfield, and went up the pond, ealled the great Pennessewassee, and visited them while falling their first trees. Previous to moving into the wilderness, these first settlers moved the principal part of their families into what is now called Paris, (incorporated in 1793) and into Shepherdsfield, now Hebron and Oxford, that they might be nearer their contemplated place of location.
1787 .- In the spring of this year, either the last of April
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
or first of May, Joseph Stevens moved his family, consisting of himself, his wife and four children, Daniel, Jonas, Amy and Aphia, (Jonas did not come in at that time, he remaining at Gray with his grandfather) into his new habitation. They came from their temporary abode to the foot of the pond, and then proceeded up the pond in a boat to nearly opposite where he had built his rude habitation; but it being cloudy, and night coming on sooner than they expected, and having by accident got their tinder and fire-works wet, they were unable to strike a light; and having no other guide than a spotted line, they were compelled to take up their first night's lodg- ing in the woods by the warmest side of a large tree; and in the morning they cheerfully proceeded to their future home. The writer has often heard Mrs. Stevens, Aunt Betty, as we used to call her, say that she had a grand night's sleep, and felt very thankful when they reached their camp, or house.
George Lessley moved in the next day after Joseph Ste- vens, and moved into Stevens' house; and in a few weeks after, say the first of June, Amos Hobbs moved into the same house, making only three families in one house, sixteen feet by twenty. When Amos Hobbs moved in, they came to the foot of the pond at the westerly end of what we now know as Ames' point, about one hundred rods westerly of the mill, on the northerly side of the stream, where they ex- pected Joseph Stevens would meet them with a boat; but it being very windy, he did not dare to venture the voyage ; and after waiting awhile, Mr. Hobbs went round by the southerly end of the pond up to Mr. Stevens', and they then came down with the boat, took the family aboard, and pro- ceeded to their habitation, where they all arrived in safety. I have lately heard a description of their stop on the point, while waiting for the boat nearly half a day, from Mrs. Jonas Stevens, who was the oldest child of Amos Hobbs' family, and she said that was the first time she ever saw her mother cry. She then had an infant in her arms, born the March
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
previous, (the infant was Robinson Hobbs) and the mosqui- toes and black flies were so numerous that it seemed as though they should be devoured. In the intermediate time between the moving in of Joseph Stevens and Amos Hobbs, Jonas Stevens, in the fore part of May, came in with his family in about the same manner; and Jeremiah Hobbs moved his family in September following.
Perhaps I may as well here mention how the first settlers became acquainted with the place, previous to their making a settlement. After the close of the revolutionary war, many old, middle-aged, and young men found themselves poor, and in rather a poor situation to support their families, and with little or nothing to purchase a farm, or even a piece of land wherewith to make a permanent home for themselves and families. A Mr. James Stinchfield, and Jonas Stevens, (who had been a soldier through nearly all the war) and some oth- ers, came into the place on a hunting excursion around the great Pennessewassee pond, and other ponds and streams in the vicinity ; and seeing the beautiful growth of wood and timber, and the indications of a fertile soil, came to the con- clusion that, with the smiles of Providence, they could locate themselves in this place, then a howling wilderness, and thus secure a permanent home for themselves and families ; and it appears by subsequent events that their manly exertions were ultimately crowned with signal success.
During the first two years of the early settlement there was no mill in the place, and the settlers were obliged to go to Paris to Jackson's mill on Stony brook, which was but a poor, rude apology for a mill, or to what is now called Otis= field to what has since been called Ray's mill, where they sometimes in the winter went on snow-shoes, with a bushel or two on a hand-sled. But to remedy this inconvenience, they took a piece of a large hardwood log, about two feet long, and dug out a cavity in one end with what they used for a tapping iron, (an article for tapping maple trees for the purpose of
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
making maple sugar) and then burnt out the cavity as smooth as possible, and in this pounded their corn into what they called samp or hominy ; from that material they made what the boys and girls of that day called samp porridge, and ate it in various ways, and considered it very good, too.
In the spring after first moving in, Jeremiah Hobbs. who had a large family of children, say eight in number, had the misfortune to lose his only cow, which they calculated would do much towards the support of his family. This was a se- rious loss at that time, and in such circumstances ; and either that spring or the next, Mr. Lessley met with a similar mis- fortune ; but Mrs. Lessley, like a true woman, preserved the calf by feeding it with gruel, and a little milk obtained from her few, but friendly neighbors. Amos Hobbs also met with a serious loss about this time ; he had obtained half a bushel of corn, which he carried to the Stony brook mill, and had to leave it ; when he went for it, the meal, bag and all, was gone-probably to feed some other hungry family. This, although very trivial, was a severe loss to him and family in such a time of privation, and almost starvation. Before the new crop of grain could be got off to make bread of, Mrs. Lessley shelled out wheat by hand and boiled it for food for herself and family. Let the mothers of the present day render thanks to a kind Providence, that they are not reduced to such straits to feed their families.
In the summer of 1787, William Parsons, John Parsons, and Benjamin Herring, and also Dudley Pike, came into Rustfield, and felled trees in order for a settlement, commenc- ing on the farms where they afterwards lived and died. The. writer has good reason to believe, from sufficient authority, that William Parsons and John Parsons came into Rustfield the first of June, 1786, and looked out their respective lots, and actually commenced falling trees on the third day of June; the first tree cut down was a large hemlock on John Parsons' lot, and the roots of that tree are said to be still in
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
their primitive place-at least they were till since his death, which took place December 6, 1847, aged 85 years. A short time before his death, his son, George W. Parsons, was ploughing in the field where the old stump had stood from the time the first tree in the place was felled, and the old gentleman seeing that the old roots were about to be torn from their bed, entreated his son to spare them while he re- mained on the earth, and they were accordingly sacredly pre- served. They felled but a small opening in 1786, enlarged it the next year, and moved their families as follows.
1788 .- This year Dudley Pike moved his family inte Rustfield, March 26, and had scarcely got into his humble habitation, when the three other pioneers, William Parsons, John Parsons, and Benjamin Herring, arrived at his house, that is, at night on the 27th of March; and the road not being quite as good as at this time, they put up with him for the night, and the next day procceded to their own habita- tions, which were nothing but humble log houses. About this time, Lemuel Shed and a Mr. Jonathan Stickney com- menced on two adjoining lots on the Waterford plantation, which is now the Waterford three tiers; Stickney on the farm where Benjamin Flint now lives, and Shed where John S. Shed now lives, which is on the Waterford three tiers, and now on the old County road leading from Swift's Corner to Waterford. Shed camped with Stickney on the Flint farm.
Lemuel Shed was a soldier through about all the revolu- tionary war, and was, as he has often told the writer, one of Washington's life-guards ; and previous to the taking of Bur- goyne, he was sent from Washington's head-quarters with an express to General Gates. He had to pass through a portion of country thickly infested with tories, and run many risks and hair-breadth escapes; finally he had to leap from his horse and abandon him, and make his escape the best way he could-which he did by taking shelter behind a sheet of water which fell over a cataract, leaving an open space behind the
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HISTORY OF NORWAY,
water ; and after remaining until the search for him was over, pursued his way on foot, and delivered his message ac- cording to orders; and it is possible that the subsequent important victory might, in some measure, depend on the advices carried by this faithful soldier.
Previous to the building of the mills, Samuel Ames built him a camp, about on the spot where the mill-shed now stands, which served for a shelter while at work on the mill. This was the first shelter, or camp, built in what is now Nor- way Village; it was built by putting down in the ground three posts of a proper height, and cutting off a birch trec at the same height for the fourth post, and covered with bark.
On the 17th day of October, 1787, Sarah Stevens, the daughter of Jonas Stevens, was born. She was the first white child born in the place, and the eighth child of the family, and is now the wife of Jonathan Edwards, of Otis- field. The first male child born in the place, was Joseph Stevens, the son of Joseph Stevens, who was born May 31st, 1788. Ebenezer Hobbs, the son of Amos Hobbs, was the next child born in the place; he was born August 24th, 1789. Nathan Noble came into the place probably in the spring, this year, and had a child born the same year, which died in infancy.
"Nathaniel Stevens felled trees in the same year that his brothers, Joseph and Jonas, moved into the place, and moved his family in 1788. His lot was westerly of Jeremiah Hobbs' lot, and his first habitation was about northwesterly of where the meeting-house now stands. Soon after he moved in, he had the misfortune to get his leg broken while falling trees, and his wife and three small children were left in a very des- titute condition ; as the few new settlers had scarcely enough for their own families, and provisions had to be brought from a considerable distance, even if these new settlers had the wherewith to pay for the same. Mrs. Stevens about this time was reduced to such necessity for food, that she felt
.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
herself justified in digging up a few potatoes from the hills where they had been recently planted by her neighbor, Mr. Jeremiah Hobbs, in order to feed her hungry children. Al- though Mr. Stevens was so unfortunate, he was not forsaken by his few neighbors, who generously turned out and felled trees for him, and assisted in taking care of the little crop he had put into the ground; and although Mrs. Stevens dug up her neighbor's potatoes, let no one think amiss of her moral character on that account, as all her neighbors can not speak otherwise than well of her through a long life.
In 1789, Capt. Henry Rust, the proprietor of Rustfield, commenced building a grist and saw-mill on the same site now improved for similar mills at the upper end of Norway Village. The grist-mill was completed in October, 1789, (the saw and grist-mills were raised in June) and Samuel Ames ground the first grist ever ground in the place, and continued to tend the same mill for more than forty years, and probably for forty-five years, after.
Thomas Cowen, who came from Paris, tended the saw- mill, under the superintendence of Mr. Ames, after it was ready to run, about two or three years. He built a little hut nearly opposite the saw-mill, and when he left the mill he went on to a piece of land, now owned by H. G. Cole, north of the old Peter Buck farm, and subsequently removed to Paris. Reuben Hubbard afterwards built the two story house now standing on the place.
While Capt. Rust was building the mills, he employed the new settlers on his plantation to work for him as much as they wished, allowing them half a dollar per day towards their land, which he sold to them for half a dollar per acre ; thus every day's work paid for an acre of land. As a land- holder, Capt. Rust performed many acts of kindness to the settlers on his land, not only by selling his land very cheap, but in trying to add otherwise to their comforts and conve- niences. Among other things, he brought down from Salem
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
quite a lot of small six-squared windows of six by eight glass, which he distributed among the settlers, a window or two to cach; and this was a valuable present to them, as this was the first glass known in the place.
Peter Everett came into the place in this year, and com- menced on the cast end of the Esquire Eastman farm, and supposed that it was on the Rust Grant at the time of build- ing a small frame house, where he lived a few years ; and after Rust and Cummings settled the question of title to that tract of land, and it being held by Cummings, Mr. Rust gave Mr. Everett a lot of land lying west of William Parsons' lot, where he moved his house, and lived till his death, which took place March 27, 1821. When Mr. Everett lived on the Esquire Eastman lot, his wife kept a little school for the in- struction of the small children in the neighborhood. This school she kept in her own house, and was the first school of any description ever kept in the place.
This year Darius Holt and Nathan Foster came down- Holt from Andover, and Foster from Tewksbury, Mass .- to work for Jonathan Cummings, the proprietor of the Cum- mings Gore, and commenced where his son Jonathan Cum- mings afterwards lived and died. They were here at the raising of the mills in June, 1789. Nathan Foster after- wards purchased the tier of lots north of the Cummings farm, and afterwards lived and died on the same. Darius Holt afterwards bargained for the seventh tier of lots 'on the Cum- mings Gore, and built a small frame house where Daniel Town now lives, and the house built by Holt makes a part of said Town's house. Mr. Holt lived at what was afterwards called Fuller's Cornor about four years, and then moved into Waterford plantation, near Lemuel Shed's lot.
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