USA > Maine > Oxford County > Buckfield > A history of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, from the earliest explorations to the close of the year 1900 > Part 3
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There also came into the township, during the year 1779, or 1780, as new settlers, the following persons :
Edmund Chandler Jonathan Philbrick
Isaac Foster
Bani Teague
Thomas Coburn James Thurlo John Irish, Jr.
Jonas Coburn
John Warren
William Doble
Nathaniel Gammon
Richard Thurlo
Davis Thurlo
John Thurlo
Thomas Lowell
Asa Thurlo Lemuel Crooker
and Peter White
There may have been others, but if so, they stayed but a short time and then went elsewhere. Edmund Chandler was from New Gloucester or North Yarmouth. His lot was situated south of what is now the county road leading to Paris Hill and included the water privilege where the first mills were built. He was the first miller in the township, and is said to have built the first mill. He sold one-half of the mill and water privileges and his settling lot to Dominicus Record and Mark Andrews in 1795. Record and Andrews made a division-the former took the mills and the latter the settling lot and buildings upon it. In conveyances from 1790 to 1800, Chandler is sometimes described as being a resident
Simon Record
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of Bucktown and sometimes of New Gloucester. He "got off" Jotham Shaw from Lot 6, E. Div., and appears to have lived on it for a period. He died in North Yarmouth about 1818.
Isaac Foster was from Pembroke. He had served in the Con- tinental Army. His wife was Ranah Taylor, a daughter of Sam- uel, the wit and rhymster of the early settlers. His settling lot was No. 14, comprising what is now Loring's Hill and a part of the village. Isaac Foster was an uncle of Joel Foster, who set- tled here about 1787, and married Phebe Buck. His wife died in 1799, and he married Judith C. Smith, who appears to have had so much influence over him that they moved to Portland-aban- doning two of his children by his first wife, to become town charges.
Jonathan Philbrick from Standish, then past middle life, set- tled on Lot No. 13 just south of the village, where the Dean sisters lately resided. Here he spent the remainder of his days. He was a soldier in the old French and Indian War. Philbrick was the first pound keeper in town. He was undoubtedly a wor- thy man. He died after December, 1805. His son, Enoch, was elected as town clerk to succeed Thomas Allen when he moved to Hartford, and his grandson, Ximenes, represented the town in the Legislature.
Bani (often spelled Beni ) Teague from Plymouth Colony, set- tled on Lot No. 2, E. Div., north of the river on Turner line. Part of his settling lot was sold to Richard Taylor in 1788, and the rest of it was afterwards the property of Rev. Nathaniel Chase. His son of the same name, built the mills on the river in Turner about a mile from the Buckfield town line. They were first called Teague's Mills, now Chase's Mills. Bani Teague's name disappeared from the Buckfield tax lists after 1815.
Thomas and Jonas Coburn from Dracut, Mass., had lots Nos. IO and II, on North Hill. The former is now the summer resi- dence of Hon. John D. Long. It is a singular fact that Jonas and Thomas Coburn were among the first settlers in what is now the city of Lewiston, about 1770-moving from there to Buck- town. Jonas disposed of his settling lot before 1800 and moved into the town of Turner. Thomas Coburn was one of the pro- prietors of the township and was often selected for important duties connected therewith. He died in 1804 and his heirs sold the homestead to Daniel Howard, Esq., our first lawyer.
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John, James, Asa, Richard and Davis Thurlo from Windham and Gorham, signed Abijah Buck's petition for the purchase of the township. The last four were undoubtedly sons of James, a brother of John, who married in 1749, Judith Crediford. This James was a son of Richard, who had settled in Gorham from Berwick. He and his wife, Ann, had joined "the church" by "profession of faith." All five had seen service in the Continental Army. John's lot was No. 36 on the road from the Lowell Cor- ner to Hebron and bordering on the town line. He later sold his lot to Jonas Coburn and went away. Asa's lot was, we think, No. 35, adjoining John's on the north, which he disposed of to Ezra Brown. He was a resident of Hebron in 1794. After- wards the family removed to Woodstock where he died. Davis had Lot No. 34 adjoining Asa's on the north, an l Richard, Lot No. 3 in the extreme southeast part of the township in the vicin- ity, while the lot of James (No. 12) was on North Hill, north of Jonas Coburn's on the east side of the county road, as after- wards laid out. James Thurlo died before receiving the deed of his lot, and his heirs sold to Deacon William Berry. Richard and Davis did not remain long in the township. They joined the Shaker Colony at "Sabbath Day Pond," New Gloucester. Phile- mon Parsons in 1793 acquired Lot No. 34. and Ezra Brown Lot No. 3 as non-resident land. Richard, born in 1754, had married Miriam, daughter of Stephen Lowell, and it is said that he turned over to the society a considerable property, when he joined the Shakers. The parents and a daughter lived with them during the remainder of their lives. The three sons, Isaac, Robert and Stephen, after they became of age, left and went into business for themselves.
Peter White, a Revolutionary soldier from Gorham, had Lot No. 7 on South Hill (in later years what was known as the Elkanah Irish place). He sold out and went to Standish, Me., before the census of 1790 was taken. His farm was situated near Sebago Lake. Perhaps White River, which empties into' the lake in that section where he lived, took its name from him.
Nathaniel Gammon from Gorham, settled on Lot 32, near what was afterwards the Lowell Corner. He had served in the Continental Army. His wife was Molly, the second daughter of Stephen Lowell. He passed the rest of his life on the farm he had carved out of the wilderness. Nathaniel Gammon was a man
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of upright character, of studious and industrious habits, and highly respected by all who knew him, as were also the members of his family-particularly his son, Jonathan, who was born, lived and died on the settling lot of his father. His descendants are scattered over the land; one, James Gammon, a worthy son and grandson, is an honored citizen in Dodge City, Kansas, and a sis- ter, Margaret, a former school teacher, whom the writer grate- fully remembers, is a widow in comfortable cicumstances in Eureka, California.
William Doble and David Record had Lot. No. 9, W. Div., after enough land had been added by the proprietors to make 200 acres. They made the division themselves. Record's dwelling house was on the east side of the county road leading from the Lowell Corner, over North Hill to the village. Doble's on the northeast side of the river on the cross road leading from the Lowell Corner to the Turner road. Simon Record's lot, No. 8, was on this cross road. The origin of William Doble is uncer- tain. Elias Taylor, elsewhere mentioned, had heard it said that he had been left, while an infant, at the door of a well-to-do fam- ily, which had brought him up as one of their own. Many of his descendants at one period lived in the town of Sumner.
John Irish, Jr., from Gorham, came to Bucktown about 1780, and settled on South Hill on Lot 6, adjoining Peter White's lot on the south. It was afterwards known as the Henry Hutchinson place. He died in 1805. His estate was appraised at £ 1400 the larger part of which was real estate.
Two of these early settlers, John Warren and Thomas Lowell, were unmarried, when they came to the township, and a romantic interest surrounds their early lives here. Warren was the son of Tristram Warren of Berwick, whose lot was in the vicinity of the river, and bordering on what is now the Sumner town line. He married the oldest daughter of Abijah Buck, as related elsewhere.
Thomas Lowell was the oldest son of Stephen Lowell, who, with his good wife, lived with him, and whose deaths occurring quite near together a few years later, is mentioned elsewhere. His lot was No. 5 on South Hill. The romantic courtship of Thomas Lowell with Judith Farrar hereafter related, furnishes one of the most interesting and readable chapters in this history. He died Sept. 10, 1810, at the age of 49. The family removed to Litchi- field, Me.
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William Lowell, who began trade in that section of the town, was a younger brother. He married Margery, a daughter of Elder William Irish, and had a remarkable family of children. Three of his sons were members of the Maine Senate in 1853. Mark Lowell, who died in Buckfield in 1884 at the age of 91, was also one of William's sons. Polly, a daughter, married Ichabod Bonney of Turner. She was the mother of Hon. Percival Bonney of Portland, who held the position of Judge of the Superior Court in that city for many years.
Lemuel Crooker's lot was No. 4 on South Hill. He was from Pembroke. His wife's name was Rachel Foster, sister of Isaac, whom he married Aug. 5, 1773. She was his cousin. He had seen service in the War for American Independence, was the lead- ing citizen of his section of the town and the first trader there. At the first town meeting, he was elected chairman of the board of selectmen and was many times re-elected. He also held other positions. His townsmen appear to have never lost confidence in him. After a time he declined to accept town office, presumably to pay greater attention to his business. He was a great benefit to the people of that section as was Simon Record who had a blacksmith shop-the first in the township-near the Lowell Cor- ner.
Soon after Lemuel Crooker opened his store a road was laid out from the county road to the mills, called Blake's Mills in Syl- vester, and it became a thoroughfare for the settlers who went there to have their corn and rye ground. With a store, black- smith shop and mills so near, the people of the south part of the town got along very well and by their industry in a short time began to thrive. It appears to have been at one time the most prosperous section of the town. There is a tradition that Jonas Coburn had a store in that locality before William Lowell, and that he succeeded Jonathan Roberts, Jr., "a trader," who pur- chased Peter White's settling lot. Coburn was a noted wrestler, and once a man came a great distance to try his strength and skill with him. Coburn happened to be away at the time, and among those who were present at the store was Simon Record, who, up- on learning the stranger's errand, offered to take Coburn's place. At the set-to which followed, Record threw the fellow twice, to the great satisfaction of the bystanders and the evident chagrin
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of the athlete, who thereupon left without waiting for the arrival of Coburn.
There must have been considerable business to have supported two stores in that part of the town for the time they were in oper- ation. In 1812 Crooker sold his settling lot to Stephen Hutchin- son, and closing his store, moved into Hebron where he died at an advanced age. Then, after some years, the channels of trade shifted and both the store and blacksmith shop ceased to exist, but in that vicinity over the town line in Hebron, a store of some kind has been kept unto this day.
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CHAPTER IV.
EARLY SETTLEMENT CONTINUED.
In the early part of the year 1781, Nathaniel Chase, then in his twentieth year, with Amos Brown, his half-brother, and Daniel Crockett, came on snowshoes from Windham through the forest to Bucktown. He drew a hand sled, on which was a bushel of meal, an axe, a hatchet, and a gun. What the others brought, tradition has not informed us. Each selected a lot for settle- ment. Nathaniel's was known years ago as the Thomas Chase farm. The others took up lots in the same vicinity and north of the Bani Teague lot. In a year's time, Nathaniel had cleared twelve acres of land and built a log house, to which he moved his parents the next year. His father, Eleazer Chase, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. While he was in the army, the fam- ily was dependent upon the boy, Nathaniel. Before the long con- test for Independence had ended, Nathaniel also enlisted, and served about a year. Besides the 100 acres, which he obtained by being a settler in the township, prior to January 1, 1784, he ac- quired by purchase a large number of acres of adjoining land (probably obtaining the lot of Daniel Crockett who appears to have gone away, but later returned to the township-at all events he acquired no settling lot.) A few years after he settled in the township, Nathaniel Chase was converted to the Baptist faith, and afterwards ordained as a preacher and became the first settled minister of the town.
Joseph Chase, a younger brother of Nathaniel, born in 1769, acquired a settling lot. He could not at the time of his brother's coming have been but 12 years old, and only about 15 when the law went out of effect, giving 100 acres of land to actual settlers. He probably came with his parents and may have acquired his set- tling lot in place of his father, Eleazer.
During the year 1781 occurred the first marriage in the town- ship. Elizabeth Buck, the oldest daughter of Abijah Buck, be- came the bride of John Warren. They went into the adjoining township of Sylvester to have the ceremony performed, for as yet there was no one in the settlement authorized by law to unite persons in marriage. A great feast was prepared for them and the invited guests on their return, at Abijah Buck's, in which
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deer and moose steak formed not the least appetizing parts of the viands. All the neighboring settlers with their wives and children, were present. It was a great event in the little settle- ment and long remembered.
In the same year. William Irish and Gershom Davis from Gor- ham, who had married sisters, came into the township to select lots. When they left home, their wives charged them to build their habitations, so that each could see the other's home. Irish's lot was on North Hill southwest of Jonathan Records'. Davis settled on a hill still farther southwest, overlooking the valley through which the railroad was afterwards located. They felled trees for their openings and erected their log houses as requested by their wives. While they were doing this work they stopped at John Buck's, whose wife was a relative of Irish's. The fol- lowing year they moved their families into their new homes. Both had seen service in the Continental Army. Irish became a lay preacher of considerable ability and success.
In the year 1781, came also into the township to select a lot for a settlement, Jacob Whitman from Easton, Mass. He had learned from the Record brothers about the township. He had married a sister of Simon's wife and probably stayed there while looking for a lot, clearing his land, and building his log house. He se- lected, at first, a lot in the northern part of the township, but one of the settlers advised him to look for one where the rock maples grew large and thrifty, as this kind of growth showed that the soil would be excellent corn land. He followed this advice and went into the extreme southern part of the town to the southwest of Davis' lot, and there he found rock maples growing, such as he had not seen elsewhere. Here, near a fine spring of water, over- looking the valley of Bog Brook and the hills to the east and northeast, he began his clearing. He was a stout and muscularly built man, had served several years in the War for Independence, and was inured to hardship. He set resolutely at work, and, in a few weeks' time, had several acres of trees felled and a log house constructed. The next June, he moved his family to their new home. Besides his wife, it consisted of three children. The youngest, Joseph, was only three months old. And when his wife spoke about the convenience of having a cradle for this infant, he went out and got a piece of hemlock bark which had been peeled the year before and in drying had rolled up at the
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sides. This, by a few strokes of the axe, was soon made to serve the purpose of a cradle. It is related that, one evening, after a hard day's work, he had gone to bed and fallen asleep, when he was suddenly awakened by his wife's calling, "Jacob! Jacob! come to the door! I think there is a new camp-fire over on the hill. Do you suppose another settler has come?" He got up, tired as he was, with great interest. There had been three before in that direction, now there were four. After gazing awhile at the lights, he said, "O, yes, there is a new one there, and, I tell you what, Nabby, an old soldier built it, and he must be from the westward." (A common expression, meaning Massachusetts. ) Who this settler was is somewhat uncertain, but it was probably Joshua Young, who had been a soldier in the Continental Army and was at Bunker Hill. He came into the township in 1782, or 1783, and settled on the eastern slope of South Hill, near the Turner town line.
Jacob Whitman was born in Easton, Mass., Nov. 28, 1753. His father died when he was young and he was placed under guardianship. Perhaps he was not well used and he may have been very wilful. However this may be, we find him possessed of an adventurous spirit and ripe for the impending struggle of the people of the Colonies against the Mother Country. His first service was with the "Minute Men" of the old Commonwealth at the outbreak of the Revolution. He was in Capt. Daniel Lo- throp's company from April 10, 1775, to May 2. 1775. On the 19th of April of that year, occurred the battles of Lexington and Concord. He enlisted again in the same company, in Col. Bailey's regiment, the next day after he was discharged, and served till Aug. 1, 1775. On the 17th of June the battle of Bunker Hill took place. There is a tradition in the family that he was present in that famous battle, and, while on the retreat across Charlestown Neck, his cartridge box was shot away, and that he turned and picked it up while the bullets were flying thickly around him.
His name is on the return of the muster roll, dated at Rox- bury Camp, Dec. 16, 1775, "of men enlisted for the ensuing year, under the next establishment," Capt. Thomas Percy's Company, Col. Knox's Artillery Regt. He served during the Siege of Boston, the next year. Washington, having secured possession of Dorchester Heights, the British were forced to evacuate Bos- ton. After this, according to the records of the War Department,
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he served in the Continental Army. He enlisted June 6, 1776. The length of service is not given. He re-enlisted and was with the army in New York when Stony Point was stormed and when Gen. John Burgoyne's army was captured near Saratoga. He was at home in the early part of the year 1777, for a short time, when he married Abigail Packard of Bridgewater. Elias Taylor said, in 1888, that this old Revolutionary Patriot told him that he was discharged from the army in New Jersey and, with only Conti- nental paper money, then considered almost worthless, he was left to find his way home as best he could. The people would not take this money in payment for food. and often he had to travel all day without anything to eat. At one place, he paid $40 in this cur- rency for a bowl of bread and milk. He came home with a pro- found regard for Washington, which he ever after retained, and bequeathed to his descendants. He settled in Bucktown, as we have seen, on a lot adjoining the Hebron town line, then called Shepardsfield. He was an industrious citizen and paid strict at- tention to the clearing up of his lot, rearing his family and attain- ing a competence. He was often selected for road surveyor, school agent and school committee and his name was always kept in the jury box until he got too old to attend to such service. He was a man of fierce spirit when aroused and positive in his opin- ions and fond of argument. The following incident, as related by Susan Leonard, who, in her younger days, was a school teacher of note in the town and had heard it from some of the oldest of the good Christian people living in the Berry neighborhood, is characteristic : When the first Baptist Society in town was formed, Jacob Whitman and his wife were solicited to join it. They had previously belonged to some society and were considered as Christians. When the creed was read over to him, he shook his head and said, "You may turn me off, if you choose. but I do not believe that. For, after much reflection upon the matter, I have come to the conclusion that, in some way and somehow, there will be a final restoration of all human souls." They took the matter into consideration, and, after considerable deliberation, they de- cided that it would do no good to argue with him, for he liked controversy too well and was too positive in his opinions to be changed but, as he was a good citizen and contributed liberally to the support of the church, they would leave his case with God.
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Joshua Young had Lot No. I on the east slope of South Hill adjoining the Turner town line. He was originally from Wellfleet, Mass., but came here from Gorham. Joshua Young was a Patriot of the Revolution and was at the battle of Bunker Hill. He was probably also in other engagements. It is related that, while on the retreat, after the redoubt was carried by the British, he thought of some supplies which had been left behind and, making the remark that they were "too good for the d-d red coats;" went back and brought them off at the great risk of his life,-his clothes being pierced with several musket balls, which had been fired at him. He lived to a good old age. His settling lot has always been kept in the family name by his descendants.
Dominicus Record from Easton, came into the township in 1782. He first selected a lot as related on the river near John Warren's, but exchanged it with Benjamin Spaulding, for his lot in what is now the village. Record was a foundryman and mill- man. Had he adhered to his first selection, he would without doubt have erected mills at what is now North Buckfield and per- haps the principal center of business of the town might have been there. He acquired a half interest in the mills and water privi- leges with Edmund Chandler, of which he afterwards became the sole owner. In 1783 he moved his family, consisting of three children-his wife having died or been divorced-into the little place. There is a tradition that on account of domestic troubles, he had left a flourishing business in Massachusetts to make a new home in the wilds of Maine. From his coming dates the begin- ning of the prosperity and growth of the village. Soon after he married Jane Warren, daughter of Tristram Warren, who had become a settler near his son, John. By her he had three children.
In the year 1783 Enoch Hall from Windham, came to the township for the purpose of selecting a lot for a settlement. He obtained the one on the high land east of the river. It is the same which was known years ago as the Wm. F. Robinson farm. It had been taken up by another, perhaps Andrew Elliott, who had felled 10 acres of trees and erected a log house and other buildings. Hall purchased the rights of this settler for $500, it is said. In 1784 he cleared up these ten acres and planted corn and 200 bushels were raised. In the autumn he went to Windham for his wife. In the month of November they started for
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Bucktown with their household effects and some provisions on the backs of two horses. On their way thither, they found the streams swollen from a recent rain storm. One (tradition does not say which ) was found unfordable and it became necessary to construct a raft of driftwood bound together with withes to bring across their goods and provisions, while the horses swam over. When about midway of the stream, on one of the trips, the raft went to pieces and Hall was obliged to swim to the opposite shore. He lost his jacket and the provisions, saving only his shirt, trousers, and two dollars in money. His wife and the household effects had been taken over previous to the accident. They ar- rived at their new home in Bucktown on his 21st birthday. With the two dollars he bought two sheep. After shearing time the next year his wife wove a piece of cloth from which she made him a suit of clothes. In 1786 he built a barn, covering it with "long shingles" made by himself. It was a rule of his life after he got started to buy nothing he could not pay for. The only school he ever attended was taught at his own house by Elder Daniel Hutchinson. The term was three weeks in length. His three oldest children and himself were the pupils. During this time he gained some knowledge of arithmetic and learned to write. He was a natural mathematician and from this small beginning he educated himself from such books as he could procure, and be- came qualified in after years to transact business and teach his younger children. In nine years from the time he moved into his log house, his family occupied a comfortable frame house, and he was in easy circumstances. During the last few years of his life, he suffered much from a disease of the stomach, which proved to be the cause of his death Dec. 10, 1835. Enoch Hall was one of the principal men in town of his day. For several years he served as Buckfield's representative in the General Court at Boston, was a member of the convention in 1819 that framed the Constitution for this State, and was the first representative from the town in the Legislature. His name is perpetuated in "Hall's Bridge."
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