USA > Maine > Oxford County > Buckfield > A history of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, from the earliest explorations to the close of the year 1900 > Part 7
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William Harlow, the pioneer, was a man of the pure Saxon type-strong, robust, intelligent and ready and willing to labor. Four years later, at the first town meeting, he was chosen second on the board of selectmen. He had an unusually good education for the times. He was killed while felling a tree in 1800 and his bereaved widow was left with a family of nine children to take care of. The spot where he was killed is still shown to the curi- ous. The widow in later years married a Macomber of Jay. She died at a daughter's in Sangerville.
Nathaniel, the oldest son, married Polly Thayer and settled on the east half of his father's lot. He was a school teacher, jus- tice of the peace and trader. Ephraim married Laodicia Bessey of Paris and occupied the western half of the lot. living in the house with his mother. About 1826, under his preaching, a church society was organized and the brick schoolhouse at the
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Three Corners was used as a chapel. Later he was ordained an elder.
Abijah Buck's son John, the third settler in the ranges of lots west, married Mollie, daughter of Tristam Warren, Oct. 14, 1789. The ceremony was performed at Turner by the Rev. John Strickland. Moses Bisbee married Ellen Buck, a sis- ter of John at the same time. It was a double wedding. John moved away about 1814 and settled in Penobscot County.
In the year 1789 three young men from Massachusetts, Luther Gardner of Hingham, Jonathan Damon of Pembroke and William Brock of the same vicinity, settled in the section near David Farrar's. The two former selected land in the fourthi range north of Farrar's. Gardner took the eastern half and Damon the western half of the lot. Brock took a whole lot in Range 3.
There were three additional settlers between John Buck 2nd, and William Harlow's viz. Capt. John Rider. Job Prince and James Waterman from Kingston, Mass. The two latter were unmarried. Waterman took lot No. 8 in the Third Range and began his clearing on the hillside sloping toward the west. Here he built his log house which he occupied for some years. Prince was not satisfied with any one of the adjoining lots and he pur- chased the western halves of lots No. 8 and 9 in the Fourth Range which made a most excellent farm.
Luther Gardner was a soldier in the Continental Army, and incidents in his military life are still told with pride among his neighbors' descendants. He is spoken of as a quiet, practical, honest and industrious man. Here he died, but left no offspring.
William Brock by hard work and good calculation and econo- my, wrought from the wilderness a productive farm and a com- petence. He was a horse raiser. He was the father of a large family of children yet we have to record that after giving up his property to one of them for his maintenance, he died at the alms- house.
A sister of Jonathan Damon had married David Record who had moved to Buckfield from Pembroke, Mass., in 1781. Whether her presence here was the cause of her brother's coming or the accounts given by David Farrar caused him to seek a place of settlement is uncertain. He had been bound out while a child
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and had been inured to hardship and toil. He was uneducated but honest and industrious. The first year of his coming he made a clearing and erected his log house. He did not return to Massa- chusetts on the approach of winter as did Gardner and Brock but he hired out to Benj. Spaulding at four dollars per month taking lard in payment.
In the year 1791 he raised a very large corn crop. It is said by his descendants that for many days and nights he only left his husking to prepare and eat his meals. He worked right along through the night, lying back among the fodder to sleep, when ex- hausted nature could no longer bear np under the constant strain. His only companion as he told one of his grandchildren in after years, was a big, black bear that used to come every night and eat her supper from the opposite side of the pile of corn.
"Why didn't you kill her?" asked the boy, while he was tell- ing the story.
"Because I was so lonesome that even the coming of this bear was company for me," he answered.
After his corn was huskel he went back to Massachusetts for the purpose of suing for the heart and hand of Miss Patience Joselyn. It is related at one of his visits she asked him why his hands were so hard, and he answered that it was because he husked so much corn. He won Miss Patience and they were married the next April ( 1792). She had a brother living on what was once called the Andrew Hall farm, and she came from Massachusetts with Damon and they were married in Turner by the Rev. Jolin Strickland.
Damon's ambition was to own land, and as he prospered. he kept adding to his farm. He kept buying and clearing as long as there was any wild land near him. At last he owned many hundreds of acres. He cleared more land than any other pioneer in the town. His children married and settled in and near Buckfield, and his descendants to-day are very numerous.
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CHAPTER IX.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SOLDIERS.
A number of the first settlers in Bucktown had seen service in the last French and Indian war which began in 1755 and prac- tically ended with the fall of Quebec in 1759. At his death Hon. Virgil D. Parris left among his papers a list of their names giv- ing approximate age at death and in most cases where they served as follows :
Abijah Buck, 87, Cape Breton, Crown Point.
Jolın Brown
John Crockett, Fort William Henry.
Eleazer Chase, 86
Joseph Chesley, 84
William Cilley, Crown Point and Ticonderoga.
Hatevil Hall
Jeremiah Hodgdon, 88. In contest with savages around Gorham and Windham.
Samuel Jenkins, 77, Quebec.
John Irish, 80, Louisburg, Quebec.
Joseph Irish, Fort William Henry.
Robert Martin, Fort William Henry.
Jonathan Philbrick
Joseph Packard (Father of Daniel and Job. Served under Gen. Winslow when the Arcadians were removed.)
Jonathan Roberts, 74, Braddock's Defeat.
Joseph Roberts, 77, Braddocks' Defeat. John Lapham, 84
Benjamin Spaulding, 75 Samuel Taylor, 94 John Mathews, Braddock's Defeat. Ephraim Ricker Tristram Warren
No tradition survives relating to their service in this war, yet their army life must have been full of interesting incidents and probably of hair-breadth escapes. The fact that three at least of them were at Fort William Henry and survived the massacre there and three others were in the Braddock campaign, shows that there must have been interesting and thrilling stories of adventure to relate, but none have come down to us.
Mention has been made in his biographical sketch of the service of Jolin Irish and of his being a member of a "Snow-
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shoe" company of Indian Scouts. Besides a bounty given by the General Court for prisoners taken and scalps, the pay of a private was If, 1Is, 3d per month. He was among those awarded the "spoils of victory" in Capt. Moses Pearson's Com- pany at the capture of Louisburg in 1745 and Pearsonstown, now Standish, was granted by the Commonwealth to this officer and 45 of his men among whom was John Irish for their services and valor in the expedition against that stronghold.
During the Indian War of 1743-9 the settlers in Gorham, Me., left their homes and went into the fort or blockhouse for safety where they stayed for seven years. Their life there must have been very monotonous and at times of great danger. When the men went into the common fields to work at planting or har- vesting their crops they always took their guns with them and placed the boys, also armed, on stumps and other conspicuous objects to watch for the appearance of savages. Jeremiah Hodgdon, senior, with his family was in this blockhouse during this long, dreary and perilous period. He was an Indian scout and hunter. His son, Jeremiah, afterwards a resident of Buck- field was one of these boys who was set to do this duty. One day when the work had been finished they started for the fort as usual. The boys eager to reach it, moved more quickly than the men and getting some distance in advance were fired upon by some Indians in ambush. They bravely stood their ground and returned the fire. The men hurried to the scene and the savages beat a hasty retreat leaving five of their number dead on the ground. Jeremiah Hodgdon, the father, died or was killed during that war.
Those Maine men who escaped the massacre of Fort William Henry had in one way or another to break away from their In- dian captors (one said to be of superior strength knocked down two savages), then to run for the woods and get away from them as best they could. We have the record of two who thus es- caped and made their way home to Gorham. They were a month on the way and during that time lived on roots, browse and ber- ries. They forded and swam rivers and made great detours around ponds. When they reached home their shoes were worn out and their clothes were literally torn from their backs. Their experience was probably not unlike those there who afterwards became settlers in Buckfield.
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Ezra Brown, the father of Amos Brown, one of the first 47 Buckfield settlers, in 1756 was in the blockhouse in Windham with his family for greater security against the savages. On the morning of the 14th of May with Ephraim Winship and a guard of eight men and boys with an ox-team he started to work on his lot about a mile distant. On the way they had to pass through a piece of woods. Brown and Winship went ahead to take down some bars. While doing this they were fired upon by a party of Indians under command of the noted chief, Poland. Brown was instantly killed and Winship received a ball in the eye and an- other in the arm and falling to the ground though conscious of what was going on. feigned death. Both were scalped. Hear- ing the firing a part of the guard hurried to the scene while the rest went back to the blockhouse. They came upon the Indians just as they had completed their bloody work and opened fire up- on them. The Indians who numbered from 15 to 20 selected cach a tree for shelter and returned the fire. Stephen Manchester and another of the guard concealed themselves behind a large log. He determined to shoot the chief and after several shots had been exchanged without effect on either side, Manchester cautiously pushed his cap into sight and the savage leader put a ball through it. Thinking he had killed his foe. he began to re- load his musket and while doing this exposed himself to Man- chester's view who had risen and leveled his firearm towards the chief. In another instant Poland fell dead, whereupon the In- dians raised a hideous vell and fled. Several others of the sav- ages had been killed or wounded while none of the guard had been injured. The bodies of Brown and Winship were taken by the team to the blockhouse and the scene as their families gathered around them can well be imagined but imperfectly described. The fall of Poland put an end forever to all Indian troubles in that quarter. Winship recovered but he carried the hideous scars of the conflict to his grave. The widow of this Ezra Brown married Eleazer Chase and was the mother of Rev. Nathaniel Chase.
"When Brown by Poland slain, Winship twice scalped was lain ; The Indian yell, Triumphant pierced the air ; But Manchester was there Undaunted by a fear And Poland fell."
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CHAPTER X.
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
Of the 47 settlers in Bucktown before January 1, 1784, who obtained settling lots, thirty-one are known to have served in the War for Independence. One other, John Warren there is little doubt also, served a period on the Maine coast. Other Revolu- tionary soldiers to the number of at least seventy afterwards re- sided in the town. No other town in this section in proportion to its population had for its residents so many of these patriots. They represented as has been stated in their service almost every important engagement from Lexington to Yorktown. They have left the stamp of their individuality, character, patriotism and love of liberty upon their descendants and upon the town.
In these characteristics their posterity may justly challenge comparison with any. We have never seen among the people of any town such individuality as among the people of Buckfield. The following is a list of the names of these Revolutionary sol- diers and their service so far as is known to us, and the places where they died :
Thomas Allen, died in Hartford. Probably served under assumed name. Samuel Andrews, died in Bridgton.
Mark Andrews, 4 years. At the Siege of Boston ; died in New York. Israel Bailey, died in Buckfield May 20, 1830.
William Berry, Falmouth, died Aug. 29, 1824, aged 71.
Thomas Berry David Briggs James Bonney Levi Bryant Josiah Bryant
Lt. John Buck, was at Ticonderoga; died in Woodstock.
Moses Buck, Stony Point, Saratoga, Valley Forge; died in Sumner Aug. 24, 1826.
Amos Brown, Ticonderoga, Fort George, Stony Point, Valley Forge. Nathaniel Chase, Coast of Maine.
Eleazer Chase, 3 yrs. service. Ticonderoga, Valley Forge.
Jabez Churchill, 4 yrs. service. At Gen. Burgoyne's Surrender. William Churchill
Daniel Crockett, on the Hudson.
John Crockett, on the Hudson
Benjamin Cox, died in Turner.
Lemuel Crooker, died in Hebron.
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William Cilley, 3 yrs. service.
Benjamin Cilley, 3 yrs. service; died in Brooks.
Gershom Davis, on the Hudson, Penobscot Expedition.
Joshua Davis, Fort George, Ticonderoga, White Plains, Saratoga, Valley Forge. Description : age 18 stature 5 ft. I in. complection light.
Stephen Drew
Jolın Drake
John Elwell
Jonah Forbes, Minute man, in service during battles of Lexington and Concord, at White Plains, Harlem Heights, Monmouth. Served 7 yrs.
Isaac Foster, served in Mass. before coming to Maine.
David Farrar, Rhode Island Expeditions.
Samuel Frink, served in "Expedition to the Northward."
Nicholas Fernald, Long Island, White Plains.
Joseph Foss, Maine Coast.
Jonathan Gardner, Rhode Island Expeditions.
Luther Gardner, Mass. Militia. ("Active service" says History of Hingham, Mass.)
Samuel Gilbert, died Apr. 27, 1851, aged 79 yrs. 7 mos.
Nathaniel Gammon, Falmouth; died in Buckfield. Buried in Lowell Cemetery.
Enoch Hall, Maine coast ; died in Buckfield. Buried at East Buckfield. Jeremiah Hodgdon, Long Island, White Plains; died in Hebron Aug.
24, 1823.
Ephraim Hathaway, Harlem Heights; was one of guard of prisoners of Gen. Burgoyne's army; died in Buckfield. Buried on Capt. Benj. Maxim farm.
William Harlow
Ephraim Harlow
Sergt. Richard Hines, Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Valley Forge. Died in Turner July 26, 1834.
John Irish, Bunker Hill.
William Irish, Maine coast.
Joseph Irish, Maine coast.
James Irish, Maine coast.
Elijah Jordan, Bunker Hill, Stony Point; died in Buckfield. Buried in Whitman burying ground.
James Jordan, White Plains, Valley Forge; died in Monroe, March 31, 1813.
Sergt. Samuel Jenkins, Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Monmouth, Valley Forge; died in Buckfield Nov. 15, 1832, aged 77.
John Lapham,' Kings' Bridge; died in Buckfield, buried on Leonard farm, near highway to South Paris.
Stephen Lowell, Maine coast ; died in Buckfield, buried in Lowell Cem- etery.
Caleb Lombard, Stony Point, Valley Forge; died in Turner Apr. 19, 1833.
Joseph Lothrop, Rhode Island Expedition ; died in Buckfield, buried in Whitman burying ground.
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David Lowe, Nathaniel Leonard,
Enoch Leathers, Maine coast.
Bradstreet Mason, Yorktown. William Mayhew,
Thomas Macomber,
Robert Martin, Valley Forge.
John Mathews.
Daniel Packard. a "matross" in the artillery: Ticonderoga, White Plains, Stony Point, Monmouth; died in Woodstock.
Job Packard,
Josiah Parris, Rhode Island Expeditions; battle near Newport.
Philemon Parsons,
Eleazer Parsons, Penobscot Expedition ; died May 22, 1844, aged 82. Reuben Packard, died in Hebron.
Thaddeus Pratt, Bunker Hill. Buried in graveyard in DeCoster neigh- borhood, Hebron.
Bennett Pompilly, White Plains, Harlem Heights, Stony Point, Sara- toga, Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth; died in Turner, Dec. 5, 1834.
Lt. Dominicus Record, Mass. militia.
Jonathan Record, stationed at the Gurnet, Plymouth Harbor.
David Record, stationed at the Gurnet, Plymouth Harbor.
Simon Record, Mass. militia.
Joseph Roberts, Bunker Hill, Maine coast; died in Buckfield.
Joseph Roberts, Jr., Bunker Hill; served 5 yrs .; died in Brooks. Jonathan Roberts, Bunker Hill, Maine coast; died in Buckfield. Tobias Ricker, died Dec. 20, 1845, aged 88.
Capt. John Rider, died in Buckfield.
Joel Rich, died in Eastern Maine.
Ichabod Spencer,
Jotham Shaw,
Nathaniel Shaw, Penobscot Expedition; died Sept. 30, 1833, aged 88. John Swett, 2 yrs. service. Valley Forge. Died in Buckfield, now town farm July 14, 1844.
Samuel Taylor, White Plains, Germantown, Monmouth, Yorktown. Died in Buckfield : buried in Whitman burying ground.
Asa Thurlo, Penobscot expedition, Rhode Island expedition.
Richard Thurlo, Siege of Boston.
John Thurlo, Siege of Boston, Penobscot expedition.
Davis Thurlo,
James Thurlo, Penobscot expedition.
Jesse Turner, died in Buckfield.
Daniel Tuttle, Yorktown, died in Turner.
Samuel Tobin, Penobscot Expedition, died in Buckfieid, Dec. 29, 1834. Lt. Isaac Thayer, Trenton, died in Buckfield, buried on Capt. Benj. Maxim farm.
Jacob Whitman, Minute man, Bunker Hill, Harlem Heights, Stony Point, Saratoga, Trenton.
Joshua Wescott, Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Valley Forge, drummer ; died Buckfield, Feb. 6, 1826.
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Benjamin Woodbury, died in Buckfield.
David Warren, Maine coast, died Aug. 27, 1847, aged 87, Hartford. buried in Buckfield, Ricker yard.
John Warren, Maine coast, died in Buckfield. Peter White, Maine coast, died in Standish. Joshua Young, Bunker Hill, died in Buckfield. Caleb Young,
We feel quite sure that John Warren's name is properly placed in this list. It is given on the rolls as John Warren, Jr. As his father's name was Tristram, he was not strictly speaking Junior. We have found several similar instances. John Buck, son of Abijah Buck, in the census returns and in tax lists and even in conveyances was generally described as John Buck, Jr. He was several times so designated by his father in his diary show- ing that custom to be common. We have very little doubt that our first settler, John Warren and John Warren, Jr., the Revo- tionary soldier is the same person. There were several Thomas Coburns who served in the great struggle for American Inde- pendence. None were from Dracut and the description of them, such as we have, does not correspond with that of the Thomas Coburn who settled in the township.
As a number ( nearly 20) of Windham men afterwards set- tled in the township and some were at Bunker Hill, the following lines will not be out of place here :
"When Boston called for aid, Hearty response was made ; And Windham's sons, To Bunker Hill then rushed, To see the tyrant crushed ; And Britain's threats they hushed, With Yankee guns."
An act was passed by Congress in 1818 giving a pension to those unable by reason of sickness or infirmity to support them- selves and families and the following were pensioned under this law :
Jabez Churchill Benjamin Cox Amos Brown Joshua Davis Jonah Forbes Richard Hines Jeremiah Hodgdon Samuel Jenkins
Elijah Jordan Caleb Lombard Daniel Packard Bennett Pompilly Thaddeus Pratt Samuel Tobin Joshua Wescott
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Another act was passed in 1820 for those pensioned to make a statement under oath in court of the value of their property and whether they had conveyed away any of it for the purpose of ob- taining a pension. The judges after investigation certified to the value of the property. The entry on the clerk's docket was "stricken off" under the following names: Benjamin Cox, Joshua Davis, Samuel Tobin, Samuel Jenkins and Elijah Jordan. The affidavit of Daniel Packard made at the June term of the court in 1820 is here given : "Daniel Packard, aged 70 years, a resident of Buckfield in the County of Oxford doth on oath de- clare that he served in the Revolutionary War as follows: Viz., as a Private in the Companies commanded by Isaiah Stetson, Ab- ner Howard, Thos. Houghton, in the Regiments commanded by Cols. Gam'l Bradford, Mich'l Jackson, John Bailey and Col. Sprout in the line of the State of Massachusetts on the Continen- tal Establishment as is more particularly mentioned and described in his original declaration for pension, made on the 7th day of April, A. D., 1818, and on which declaration his certificate of pension, No. 5744, was granted. Schedule of real and personal estate (necessary clothing and bedding excepted ) belonging to me the subscriber, viz .: No real estate. Personal estate, viz .: One cow, two spring pigs, four articles of Iron Ware, 17 articles of Earthern & Crockery Ware, 4 do Pewter Ware, 4 do Wooden Ware, 2 chests. 4 chairs, 4 knives & forks, 5 tablespoons. Family residing with me Daniel Packard, who by occupation am a Laborer, which I am not able to pursue by reason of the Rheu- matism and the general infirmaties of old age-myself and my wife, Elizabeth, age 66 years not able to support herself. by rea- son of the Asthma. DANIEL PACKARD."
The total value of his property as fixed by the court was $22. His name was not "struck off" the roll. Afterwards several of these old soldiers whose names had been dropped from the list of pensioners were restored.
On the 3d day of January. 1826, a meeting was held at Paris Hill, at which Capt. Josiah Parris presided. It was called for the purpose of taking action on a petition to Congress, for a change in the pension laws and was attended by those presumably not pensioned. Those from Buckfield who signed the petition were as follows :
Josiah Parris Job Packard Simon Record
Thomas Berry David Record Ichabod Spencer
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Jonathan Record Jacob Whitman
Jonathan Gardner
David Briggs
David Lowe Enoch Hall
Joseph Lothrop Gershom Davis
Ephraim Hathaway
Luther Gardner
Caleb Young
There were several Revolutionary soldiers not pensioned, then living in Buckfield whose names are not on this petition and among them were Nathaniel Chase, Benjamin Woodbury and Jasiel Smith. Later an act was passed by Congress, giving a pension to all surviving soldiers of that war. The last survivor of the Revolutionary Patriots in Buckfield was Capt. Josiah Par- ris who died in 1856, aged 95. Next to the last was Jonathan Record. He passed away in 1855, aged nearly 105.
Veterans of that Patriot League, Which Freedom's clarion hailed Heroes of the sinewy arm, Whose vigor never failed ! In every soil your names we find,
For Freedom has your name enshrined. * Our Hero Sires !-- of noble blood Your children boast to be -- And bear with pride these cherished names That consecrate the Free- Yet, have they reared no column proud,
Where Patriot Pilgrims might have bowed.
Then bid it rise-the granite pile- From these old mountains wrought- Until some tribute from each one Be reverently brought ; And when these names are written there, Embalm it with the Patriot's prayer.
And as in sky-bound grandeur rests This shaft of filial pride- A sentinel to guard the Past, The Future may it guide !- And like a Bunker Hill may be, A watch-tower raised to Liberty. April, 1855.
COLUMBIA GARDNER.
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
CHAPTER XI.
WAR OF 1812.
A second war with Great Britain broke out in 1812 over the impressment of American seamen to serve in the British navy. English ships of war often stopped our sailing vessels and under pretense that the men wanted, were subjects of Great Britain, would seize them without process of law and force them to serve under the British flag. Naturalized citizens suffered most, by this outrageous conduct. but native born citizens were also taken and obliged to serve under a foreign flag. Press gangs, as they were called, often took men in port and hurried them away for a long service in English war vessels. ( The story of the impress- ment of Noah Hall is given elsewhere.)
The matter became so offensive that the Government was forced to declare war. The contest ended in 1815 with the Battle of New Orleans where Gen. Andrew Jackson with his Western rifle- men won a great victory over English soldiers, who had fought against the Great Napoleon. A treaty of peace had however been signed at Ghent, Belgium, some weeks before that but there being in those days no telegraphs, Atlantic cables or steamers, they had not heard of it. The people of Buckfield heartily sus- tained the Government in the prosecution of the war and while the merchants and business men of Massachusetts became greatly discontented at the measures passed by Congress, the people of Maine generally favored the policy of the Administration from beginning to end. One Buckfield company was raised and sent into the vicinity of Lake Champlain and was attached to the 45th Regiment, U. S. Infantry. The company was commanded by Capt. David Bryant and the service was from January to June, 1813.
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