USA > Maine > Oxford County > Buckfield > A history of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, from the earliest explorations to the close of the year 1900 > Part 2
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
the reason probably, that for a considerable time, there was a strong feeling among the town's people against the proprietors. conceiving that their interests must be antagonistic to the town's interest. He was, however, several times elected one of the board of selectmen and assessors.
When Abijah Buck came into the township he was well-to-do. The price for which he sold his homestead in New Gloucester, shows him to have been possessed of $1,000 and upwards in cash or currency-a handsome property for persons in his station for those times, and demonstrates that poverty did not drive him into the wilderness to find a new home.
Nathaniel Buck, born about 1750, was a younger brother of Abijah Buck. He was a man of great physical strength and endurance, and noted for being an expert hunter and skilled in wood craft.
In after years he was called a "housewright" which occupa- tion claimed nearly all his attention. He was an industrious and thrifty man and withal a good citizen.
Thomas Allen was a deserter from the English Army on ac- count of the Boston Massacre in 1770, in which he had partici- pated, and his sympathy with the Americans. He was born in Bolton, England, about 1752. Before attaining his majority he had been apprenticed to a weaver. Allen appears to have been fairly well educated and was a good penman, as his records as town clerk show. Being of an adventurous disposition, he had enlisted as a soldier to come to Massachusetts to keep the people of that colony in subjection. But he quickly caught the spirit of independence of the people, and when a favorable opportunity offered, he, with another British soldier, deserted. They were pursued, however, so hotly that they were forced to take refuge under a bridge, over which their pursuers galloped on horse- back. No sooner had the sound of their horses' hoofs died away in the distance than Allen and his companion scrambled out and fled into the woods. It had been a most anxious period for them while under the bridge, for they realized, if captured. that they would be shot. Allen, in relating the story in after years to his Buckfield neighbors, said that his hair fairly stood on end when the horses' hoofs struck the bridge. He espoused the cause of the Americans and did good service at different periods during the conflict. Referring to this service, he once
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said: "I fought my own countrymen, and I fought like a lion, but it was for that freedom which I now enjoy." Allen never ceased. however, to love his native land, and often remarked: "There are no such sweet songbirds as in Old England." He was a man of fiery temper, when aroused. In politics he became a staunch federalist and no amount of persuasion of his old associates, the Bucks, who had espoused the cause of the repub- licans, could induce him to change his views, no matter in how much of a minority he might find himself.
John Brown had seen service in the old French and Indian War. He was the father-in-law of Thomas Allen and Nathan- iel Buck. His wife had died prior to his coming and it is proba- ble that he was then past middle life. So far as known he was not related to the other Browns who afterwards acquired settling lots in the township.
The party had come by way of the Nezinscot or Twenty-Mile river, through what is now the town of Turner. They found here in a hunter's cabin, in the limits of what is now the village, Benjamin Spaulding of Chelmsford, Mass., who had taken up his abode in the wilderness for a season, till two friends of his who had failed to meet the payments of obligations, for which he was surety, could effect a satisfactory settlement with their creditors. This was done during the two following years. On Spaulding's camp were stretched to dry, the skins of many animais he had caught in traps, or shot in the chase. He informed the party that game of all kinds was there in great abundance, and that a few Indians had a wigwam near a pond about two miles north- ward, but were peaceably disposed and would make no trouble. Benjamin Spaulding had been born at Concord, Mass., Feb. 5. 1739, and was then in his prime. He married Patty Barrett of Chelmsford, Nov. 29, 1764. The descendants of this worthy couple of every generation, have always been considered as of the very best of the people of the town, and have ever been honored with offices and positions of trust within their gift. Spaulding became one of the three leading spirits in the management of the proprietary and the most prosperous and wealthy of them all.
Abijah Buck and his associates tarried for several days with Spaulding. It is quite certain from previous knowledge and in- formation, that Abijah Buck had formed a definite purpose to purchase and colonize the township.
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It must have been a very difficult and laborious undertaking, at that period, to get together a sufficient number of persons to settle a new township, so far back in the wilderness. His father- in-law, Jonathan Tyler had had much experience, with others, in disposing of the proprietors' lands in New Gloucester, and it was determined that he, with his wife, Rebecca-their children hav- ing grown up,-should go to the new township and there pass the remainder of their days with the family of Abijah Buck, who doubtless considered it wise to locate a few famiilies on the tract in order the better to attract other settlers there. Besides, he must have desired to obtain the choicest lots for himself, his rela- tives, and those who were to start out with him. We can pretty accurately fix the time when his purpose to colonize this new township, was formed, for he had purchased an hundred-acre tract in New Gloucester in April, 1772, for £100, on which he subsequently built a house and barn. In April, 1773, with Jona- than Tyler, Samuel Tyler, and four others, he purchased a 600- acre tract in two parcels for £225, "lying in the Gore so called, in the back part of North Yarmouth, bordering on New Glouces- ter." Up to this time, it is apparent, that Abijah Buck had formed no purpose of going elsewhere, but to add to, and im- prove, the possessions he already had. He and the Tylers appear to have disposed of their interest, about two years later, in this North Yarmouth tract, which without doubt was the time when the project of settling a whole township, north of Shepardsfield and west of Sylvester townships, became the great purpose of his life. Aibjah Buck conveyed his New Gloucester homestead Nov. 4, 1776, for £213. This must have been shortly after the exploring party's examination of the new locality for a perma- nent settlement, as related. No doubt that the bargain for the sale of his place had been practically completed, contingent upon Abijah Buck and his associates finding in the wilderness on the Nezinscot suitable and desirable locations for their new homes. So that between the Spring of 1773 and the Autumn of 1776, the project of a settlement, in what is now the town of Buckfield, was conceived and started by Abijah Buck. The desirability of hav- ing such a man as Benjamin Spaulding, with his knowledge of the region, interested in his enterprise, must have been apparent to one possessing the perception and judgment of Abijah Buck. That Spaulding was won over is shown by his beginning, that
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
very year, to fell trees for a clearing on the lot where his camp stood-the first made, in point of time, according to all accounts. The spot was at the junction of the East Branch with the main river, below the site of the present village.
The lot selected by Abijah Buck was situated on the west branch of the river about a mile northwest of Spaulding's lot, on what was known in our boyhood as the Col. A. D. White farm. Nathaniel Buck took the lot adjoining on the north, Thomas Allen one on the southeast, while John Brown selected the one adjoining Allen's on the east. As the lands on the river at high water were overflowed, several acres on each of these lots were practically cleared, and here a certain kind of grass grew, which when properly cured. furnished good feed for cattle. As before stated, the law that settlers must clear a certain number of acres within a given period, no doubt appealed strongly to these pioneers, in the selection of their lots, as it lessened their labors in putting their land into a state of cultivation. Besides, it was desirable to have fodder for cattle. What they did at this time, if anything, in addition to the selection of their lots, it is now impossible to determine. It is probable that some hay was gath- ered and stacked, since the moving, with cattle, so early the next year, rendered it essential that something beforehand be pro- cured till grass grew in the Spring.
While the snow was yet on the ground and the ice in the streams, preparations were made by these hardy settlers for mov- ing into the wilderness. It would have been a very laborious and difficult undertaking, after the snow had gone to come through the woods, with families and household effects, where for many miles there was not so much as a "bridle-path," or even a course marked by spotted trees. Accordingly, it was determined to move by ox-team on the ice, by way of the Androscoggin and Twenty-Mile rivers. Traveling in that way during the latter part of March, 1777, they arrived at their new homes on the first day of April. Abijah Buck recorded in his diary and account book the following statement:
"Bucktown March th4 yr 1777. Beginning this town at that time." What was done then to warrant this statement, is uncer- tain, but it is probable that it was the beginning of the con- struction of the log house and other buildings for Abijah Buck, and perhaps for Allen and Nathaniel Buck. The house of Abijah
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Buck was built large enough for two families-his own and Jonathan Tyler's-thenceforth for life to reside with him.
On the opposite page of the diary from the entry mentioned, he wrote forty-nine names besides his own, presumably of per- sons he depended upon to aid him in purchasing the township atid assist in its settlement. They are as follows. Many of the names have long been familiar in Buckfield :
Abijah Buck
James Thurlo
Benjamin Spaulding Nathaniel Buck
David Record
Jonathan Record
Thomas Allen
Simon Record
John Brown
John Buck, Jr.
Jonathan Tyler
Edmund Chandler
Moses Buck
Hezekiah Studson
William Doble
Samuel Merrill
Jonas Coburn
Jabez Cushman
Thomas Coburn
Richard Dearborn
John Buck
Silas Coburn
Bani Teague
Jacob Crani
Isaac Foster
W'm. Hutchinson
Lemuel Crooker
Nathaniel Ingersoll
Jonathan Philbrick
William Widgery
John Irish
Joshua Ripley
Andrew Elliott
Samuel Butterfield
John Warren
Samuel Butterfield, Jr. Ebenezer Bancroft
Richard Thurlo
Davis Thurlo
Ebenezer Bancroft, Jr.
Nathaniel Gammon
Henry Butterfield
John Thurlo
Moses Butterfield
Thomas Lowell
Joseph French
Peter White Asa Thurlo
John Jones
Samuel Freeman
As will be seen, hereafter, some of them became interested in the settlement of the two townships, north of "Bucktown," and a number actually settled there.
William Widgery and Samuel Freeman were prominent citi- zens of Cumberland county, and doubtless were relied upon to assist in procuring the passage of all necessary legislation through the General Court at Boston and perhaps to take a certain num- ber of shares or rights in the enterprise. Freeman "drew up" several of the petitions which were presented to that body. Nathaniel Ingersoll was Abijah Buck's captain in the army. That to Abijah Buck is due the chief credit for the settlement of the town, there can be no question. On first coming he gave it the name of "Bucktown," and so entered it in his diary. The Gen- eral Court adopted the name and all acquiesced. The township was often referred to as "Buck's Proprietary."
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
There are several accounts of the journey of the earliest set- tlers here, which have come down to us through the Bucks, the Spauldings, the Records and other families. There are some variations, as might well be expected. Here is what Thomas Allen has left recorded about the first incidents of importance, in the settlement of the town on the first page of the town clerk's records of Buckfield :
"The first improvement, ever known to be made in the town of Buckfield, by any Englishman, was in the year 1776, by Ben- jamin Spaulding. The first that came with their families, were Abijah Buck and Thomas Allen, who, on the first day of April 1777, came into this town, with their wives and children, and in the same month, Nathaniel Buck came in with his family. These were the three first families, that settled in what is now the town of Buckfield. On the 30th day of September 1777. Molly Allen was born. Abijah Buck (Jr.) was born the first day of March 1778. These were the first children, born in the town of Buck- field."
The general narrative of the coming is substantially as fol- lows: The families of Abijah Buck and Thomas Allen, with a part of their household goods, upon an ox-sled, drawn by a pair of three years old steers, owned by Abijah Buck, started from New Gloucester in the month of March 1777, for their new homes, in the wilderness. Arriving at the Androscoggin River, they proceeded on the ice to the mouth of Twenty-Mile River, then turned up this stream, westward into Sylvester township (now Turner). When they came to falls in the river, they were forced to leave the ice and proceed on the banks. It became necessary then to cut down some trees and lop off branches which prevented their progress.
At the settlement in Sylvester township two men, one of whom was Jonathan Record, afterward a settler in Bucktown, were employed to assist Buck and Allen in their work of clearing a path. When the ceremony took place in 1848, at the village, of
NOTE. Jonathan Tyler sold his homestead farm in New Gloucester March 27, 1777. Abijah Buck was one of the witnesses to the deed, which places him in New Gloucester on that date, undoubtedly just be- fore his and Allen's families started for their new homes in the wilder- ness.
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breaking ground for the beginning of the construction of the Buckfield Branch Railroad, Jonathan Record, then nearly one hundred years old, and the only survivor of those who worked in clearing the way for the first team ever driven into the township, was assigned to shovel the first spadeful of earth. Having at last arrived at Benjamin Spaulding's camp, the emigrants rested for a short time, while the women prepared something to eat. On their way thither, Abijah Buck had gone on ahead to hunt for deer, and was fortunate enough to procure a moose. Some of the flesh of this animal, roasted brown over the fire, furnished the choicest part of the meal. After all had heartily eaten, they re- sumed their journey, and before nightfall were comfortable and merry in their new homes.
The family of Abijah Buck then consisted of his wife and five children. One daughter, Phebe, ten years old, was left in New Gloucester with her maternal grandparents, and came with them the next year. There was but one child in the Allen family-the little son John, less than two years old. Later in the same month, Nathaniel Buck moved his family into the township. His children numbered three. The youngest was Nathaniel, Jr., who was about the same age as the Allen child. With this family came also John Brown. In September of this year was born in the family of Thomas Allen, the first child in the little set- tlement. It was a girl, who was named Mollie for her aunt, Mrs. Nathaniel Buck. What crops they raised, or how these three families fared the first year, cannot now be told. It must have been a period of great hardship and toil. The following, how- ever, is the only incident of actual suffering for food, that has come down to us: They nearly got out of provisions late in the autumn, at about the time of the fall of the first snows, and Abijah Buck and two others started with the ox-team for New Gloucester, leaving one man (tradition says Nathaniel Buck) behind, to take care of the women and children. For better pro- tection, all went to Abijah Buck's, to stay till the men should return. For all the families there was but half a bushel of corn meal. Abijah Buck had a small heifer which gave only three pints of milk a day. It was expected that the one left behind could supply them with sufficient meat with his gun to keep them from actual starvation, with the milk and corn bread, for the three days the men expected to be away. In the night after the
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
men had gone, a cold and violent snow storm came on, which lasted several days, followed by a high wind which piled the snow into huge drifts. Fearing that something might befall the man left in charge of the women and children, in his weakened condition, and that they would be left without protection. they would not let him go into the forest in search of food. There were eight children to feed, and the older ones ate but little, lest they should deprive the children of what was necessary to keep them from starvation. Nathaniel Buck became so weak that he staggered as he went about the work he must of necessity do. The men were gone seven days, and during two days of this time there was nothing to eat but the milk and this was given all to the children. The men knowing the urgent necessity of their re- turn, raised a crew and with their ox-teams broke through the snow drifts to the settlement. When they at last appeared, with food and provisions, the joy and relief of these nearly famished people can better be imagined than described.
Only the two families of Benjamin Spaulding and Jonathan Tyler, so far as known, were added in 1778, to the number in the little settlement. At this time there were six children in the Spaulding family, the youngest being an infant in its mother's arms. A part only of the children came with their parents. The family was moved from Chelmsford with a ox- team and a cow was led behind. The wife of Jason Mitchell of Buckfield, in 1888 had a chair which was brought with this family at the time of their coming. Jonathan Tyler's family consisted only of himself and wife,-both nearly seventy years of age. They brought with them their granddaughter, Phebe Buck, who had been left behind when her father's family came the year be- fore. The incident of this journey which has been preserved, is of their being rowed across a river-tradition does not say what river-in a birchbark canoe.
Jonathan Tyler, like Benjamin Spaulding, was a valuable acquisition to the little colony. He was fourth in descent from Job Tyler, the American ancestor who had settled at Andover. Mass., in 1641. He was a "millwright" and is said to have built 200 mills. He had lost a part of one hand, probably his left, for he acted as clerk of the proprietors for many years. On the incorporation of the town of New Gloucester in 1774, he was chosen, with two others, to "manage the affairs" of the town, and
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the next year re-elected. He had conveyed land in that town "in the 6th year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord and King George the Third" (1766). His wife's name was Rebecca -- born in Haverhill, Mass. According to the Rev. Paul Coffin's journal of a missionary tour through the towns in this section in 1800, she was then living at the age of 90 and remembered Hannah Dustin who escaped from captivity after killing seven Indians. Her husband had passed away, probably the year (1797) that a new "clark" was elected for the proprietors. On coming here Jona- than Tyler did not select a lot for settlement, but one was after- wards voted him by the proprietors in the westerly part of the town, but he never occupied it.
The year 1778 as well as 1777, must have been one of priva- tion and perhaps of some suffering. We are told of frequent journeys to New Gloucester for provisions, and of the settlers carrying home on their backs large loads of corn and rye meal, salt, and various other articles. On one occasion, Nathaniel Buck is said to have brought from New Gloucester, on his back, three bushels of meal and a bag of salt. A map of the township, made in 1795, gives the distance from the center of the town to New Gloucester court house as twenty-five miles, but by the way the settlers went and came, it must have been much farther. It is no wonder, although of fabulous strength-he is said to have been the strongest man, physically, ever in the township or town-that Nathaniel got very tired before reaching the settlement, and fear- ing if he laid down his load, that he should not be able to place it upon his shoulders again, to obtain a little rest and take breath he occasionally leaned against the trees by the side of the path.
It is related in the History of Turner that mills for grinding corn were erected at what is now Turner village, in 1775. If this is so, it does not appear just why the early settlers in Bucktown went to New Gloucester. It took three days to go and come, and until horses were common in the settlement, provisions had to be transported on the settlers' backs. Probably the date given when mills in Sylvester township were first built, is an error. The stories of the journeys of the early Bucktown settlers to New Gloucester are so numerous and full of particulars that they leave no room for doubt of the fact that such journeys took place. The settlers were very industrious and their little clearings stead- ily broadened and widened year by year and here again the tales
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
of Nathaniel Buck's capacity for handling the trunks and limbs of large trees and piling them together for burning. overshadow all others. Piles of logs were often seen in his clearing which re- quired cattle or several men to move in the openings of the other settlers. He was a veritable Samson among his associates, and it is to be presumed that no one of them cared to lay hands on him in anger. Jacob Leonard once said in speaking of him, that his hands and limbs were like a giant's.
It is related. as a remarkable fact, that while Nathaniel Buck was clearing his land, an apple tree was found growing wild. It was regarded as a good omen of his future thrift and prosperity and was carefully preserved.
The event of the year. in the little settlement, was the appear- ance in the family of Abijah Buck, on the first day of March, of the first male child born in the township. He was named Abijah Buck, Jr. A male child was also born, during the same month, in the family of Nathaniel Buck, and was named Moses, for his uncle, Moses Buck, who settled in what is now the town of Sumner.
In the early part of 1779. John Buck, a brother of the two Bucks mentioned, moved his family into the township. It con- sisted of his wife and two daughters. The oldest was only about two years of age .- the other an infant but a few weeks old. The date of their coming is fixed by family tradition as a short time after this child was born, which was on the 5th day of February, 1779. John Buck settled on the northern slope of North Hill on the westerly side of what is now the county road. Here he had great fields of corn, such as no other settler raised, if we are to put credence in the stories which have come down to us. He was generous with the poor in his dealings with them and often sup- plied them with corn to plant and to grind into meal, which, when cooked in the many ways then known to the housewife, furnished the staple article of diet. Many failed to repay him, and he never exacted remuneration. None were ever turned away empty- handed. Such a man could not grow wealthy in such a new set- tlement and John Buck was no exception to this rule.
Jonathan and David Record, twin brothers, said to have been born in Pembroke, but then residents of Bridgewater, Mass., came into the township the same year, to select lots for a settlement. They went to Sylvester plantation in 1776. Two others of the
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
name of Record were among the first settlers there, and they may have been related. In company with one Phillips they raised corn there that year. Jonathan, at least, was in Sylvester in the early part of the next year, as we have seen. They began their clearing between North and South Hill, and erected a habitation to accommodate two families. Both had seen service in the Con- tinental Army and both were unmarried, but the happy event had been anticipated, and the time appointed, for celebrating the nup- tials. Jonathan's sweetheart was Remember Briggs of Bridge- water, David's was Abigail Damon of Pembroke. The double wedding took place as appointed and their wedding trip was their journey to their home in the wilds of Maine. All went well with them for a time, but later on there was a disagreement between the wives, and each husband espousing the cause of his wife, the brothers agreed to separate and live apart, Jonathan leaving the lot to David, selected another on North Hill, on what was until recently known as the Rasselas Cole farm. ( The Vital Statistics of Pembroke state that David Record and Abigail Damon were married Sept. 9, 1781. She was born Dec. 19, 1758.)
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