USA > Maine > Oxford County > Buckfield > A history of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, from the earliest explorations to the close of the year 1900 > Part 8
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Two companies, one commanded by Capt. Jesse Turner and the other by Capt. Daniel Chase were sent to Portland in Sep- tember, 1814, on the alarm that British ships of war lay outside the harbor and might come in at any time and bombard the city. They both were in service from the 13th to the 24th of September with three days additional for travel. On the rolls of these three companies which are given below are not found the names of several men from Buckfield who were in service during that war.
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Several not found in the roll of Capt. David Bryant's company are known to have been in the battle of "Shadagee Woods," where John Hussey was killed.
John, Joseph and Benjamin Packard, sons of Daniel, the Rev- olutionary soldier and Israel Smith were in a number of engage- ments which took place in that quarter. John received three flesh wounds in battle. Joseph commanded a batteaux and Israel Smith another batteaux in one of the expeditions. Joseph and John both died from the effects of wounds received. Benjamin served through the war and was in the battles of Chippewa. Lundy's Lane, Sag Harbor and Fort Erie. He afterwards re- ceived a pension.
Roll of Capt. Bryant's company :
Captain, David Bryant Lieutenant, John Barrett Lieutenant, Jonas Coburn Ensign, Stephen Spaulding
Sergeants.
Joshua Carpenter
Saniuel Record
Charles Young
Corporals.
Walter Carpenter
James Keen
Asa Coburn
Elnathan Packard
Privates.
John Bonney
William Howland
Leonard Benson
Simeon Hussey
William Brown
Francis Keen
James Buck
Andrew Keen
Moses Bisbee
Simeon Newton
Isaac Bonney
Thaddeus Oldham
John Cox
Daniel Packard, Jr.
John Crockett
Solomon Phelps
Joseph Crockett
George Parsons
Job Cole Gersham Cole
Oliver Robbins
Charles Crooker David Cox
Simon Record, Jr.
Elijah Stevens
Joshua Davis
Moses Stevens
Nathaniel Foster
Nathan Tobin
John Gilcrease
Joshua Taylor
Albert Hayford
William Tucker
Israel Heald
Isaac Young
Roll of Capt. Turner's Company :
Captain. Jesse Turner
Lieutenant Moses Buck
Ensign Richard Waldron
Samuel Randall
HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
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Sergeants.
John Warren Isaac Turner
Jonathan Buck Job Prince
Corporals.
Richard Hathaway Noah Hall
Musicians. Jonas Spaulding
Privates.
Nathan Farrow
Ira Gardner
Leonard Brock
Benjamin Jordan
Ansel Bisbee
Elijah Jordan, Jr.
John Buck, 3d
James Lewis
Samuel Buck
Jacob Leonard
John Brock, Jr.
David Low
James Buck
Robert Leigton
Hopstill Bisbee
John Mayhew
Cyprian Bowker
Nathaniel Mayhew
Warren Bessee
Nathan Maxim
Bela Churchill
Caleb Cushman
Alfred Monk Samuel Packer
John Challin
Stephen Packard
Shepherd Churchill
Abner Rounds
Sampson Cole
William Spaulding
Mathew Churchill
Moses Stevens
James Cole
John Thayer Levi Turner
Jonathan Dammon, Jr.
Joseph Dammon
Luther Turner
John Drake Stephen Drake
Joseph Turner
Bela Farrow
Andrew Warren
Roll of Capt. Chase's Company :
Captain, Daniel Chase
Lieutenant, David Record
Ensign, Dominicus Record
Sergeants.
Nath'l Gammon, Jr. Sam'l Record
James M. Pote Ephraim Ricker
Corporals.
Lewis Record
John Packard
Musicians. Pelham Bryant
Privates.
Daniel Briggs Obediah Berry Simeon Buck George Bryant Peter Berry
James Jewett Mark Lowell
Brazilla Latham John Milliken Constantine Matthews
Collins Woodbury David Farrar
Elisha Buck
Samuel Andrews Jacob Allen
Samuel Tucker
Tobias Ricker Moses Packard
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
William Cole
Joseph Chase
John Mathews, Jr. Robert Martin, Jr. David Merrill
Aaron Doble
Daniel Daggett, Jr.
Samuel Matthews
George Day
Elnathan Packard
Martin Drake
Jonathan Packard
Stephen Davis
Samuel Packard
Joseph H. Davis
Aaron Parsons
Lewis Drew
Jonathan Record, Jr.
Josiah Drew
Timothy Record
Cornelius Drew
Thomas Record
Isaac Ellis
Seth Roberts
Ayra Forbes
Ezekiel Record
Samuel Fernald
Ebenezer Record
Abijah Foster
Simon Record, Jr.
Micah Foster
Levi Rogers, Jr.
Robinson Gammon
Josiah Swett
Thomas Gammon
Amos Shaw
Daniel Hutchinson John Hodgdon
Gilman Thompson
John Hall
Elias Taylor
Stephen Hutchinson
Joshua Whitman
Andrew Hall
Moses Young
Miles Hines
Isaac Young
Israel Hodgdon
Benjamin Young
Joseph Irish
The action of the people of the town is worthy of note. At a town meeting held in January, 1815, before they had learned that a treaty of peace had been signed or of Gen. Jackson's brilliant victory at New Orleans. a committee consisting of Timothy Hutchinson, Ephraim Hathaway, Enoch Philbrick, Benjamin Spaulding and Larnard Swallow was selected to draft an ad- dress to the General Court which it did in the following language :
"The Inhabitants of the town of Buckfield deeming the pres- ent to be an important and critical period in the affairs of their Country-a period big with important events which call loudly upon the wisdom of legislators-a period which threatens our country with ruin, our liberties with destruction and our dearest rights and privileges with annihilation, beg leave to address the Legislature and humbly beseech them to abandon measures cal- culated to increase the flames of party spirit and for sowing the seeds of domestic discord and adopt such as have a direct tend- ency to secure the safety and independence of all. We cannot but view with astonishment that the Legislature should have pur- sued any course which had a direct tendency to Dissolve the Union, thereby destroying the remaining hope of our once flour- ishing and happy Country. as their appointing Delegates to the
Jonathan Thompson
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Convention at Hartford and raising a standing army at the ex- pense of this State, thereby bringing us into a state of anarchy and confusion, an event which will unavoidably lead to civil war and effusion of blood, we therefore respectfully request your honors to realize the danger which threatens our liberty and inde- pendence and in your wisdom avert the threatened blow and dis- pel the clouds which hover over our political horizon, before they burst with unwarrantable fury on our devoted heads. We are now led to inquire by what unfriendly cause has it happened that Massachusetts, the great and powerful State of Massachusetts -- one so highly respected-a State, which formed a powerful link in the Union, should in the course of a few years be reduced to such a miserable and deplorable situation. This is an inquiry in which we are sorrowfully interested, and we shall enter upon it with all the anxiety and attention due to its importance. We con- sider it as one of our most sacred duties to point out as far as in our power, the cause of our distresses. We do not hesitate to de- clare that in our opinion a treacherous influence from our enemies in England and the internal enemies of our General Government, and disappointed ambition has promoted the calamities, which for years has troubled us and has caused the Administration of our State Government to pursue a policy so adverse to the best in- terests of the Country, thereby encouraging the enemy to con- tinte to enforce their unjust propositions for peace. We beg leave to assure your honors when we are called upon by the State authority to draw the sword from its scabbard, it shall be directed against none but our common enemy and those who are striving to destroy the Constitution of the United States, an event which will strike a deadly blow at our independence purchased only by the blood and toil of our forefathers. We carnestly pray your honors to think seriously on these things and weigh them with that importance which they demand and as in duty bound will ever pray."
A vote passed apparently without opposition to have the ad- dress signed by the moderator, clerk and selectmen in behalf of the town and forwarded to the General Court. It was probably never presented as it was soon after known that peace had been declared.
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
CHAPTER XII.
EARLY BUCKFIELD VILLAGE.
The first improvements made in the town were also the first made in what is now Buckfield Village. The beginning of the town, therefore, was also the beginning of the village. Benjamin Spaulding, as we have seen, was the first settler. His lot com- prised that part of the present village north of the river and east of the road to Paris Hill. Dominicus Record, who afterward ac- quired this tract, added other lands-some of which were on the south side of the river. The next who came and settled here after Spaulding were Edmund Chandler and Isaac Foster. Chandler's lot was on the north side of the river and included the upper water privilege. Foster's was on the south side but prob- ably did not quite reach the river. These three were the original owners of the land in what is now Buckfield Village. It is a re- markable fact that all three disposed of these holdings. Two of them finally moved out of town. Chandler erected the first mill and was undoubtedly the first miller. Just at what time the first mill was built, we are unable to state but it must have been in 1781 or the following year. Abijah Buck, in his diary, mentions a freshet in 1785 which carried away mills and bridges. Domini- cus Record came here in 1782 and moved his family here the fol- lowing year. He became an owner in the mills then or shortly after. For many years they were called "Record's Mills," a name which was extended to the place.
Mark Andrews came here from Turner in the early nineties, if not before, and opened a store. We find the record of a con- veyance in 1782 wherein he is described as being of Bucktown. He was probably in the township temporarily and may have sold goods for Abijah Buck. Certain entries in his diary or account book would indicate that Abijah Buck was very early a trader in a small way. It is certain, however, that Andrews never took up a settler's lot which it is probable he would have done if he had been a permanent settler here before Jan. 1, 1784. We do not find his name among the heads of families living in the township when the census was taken in 1790. It does appear, however, among those of 1800. He was collector of taxes in Turner in 1789 and a resident there in 1790 when census was taken and in
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1792 as appears by the record of a conveyance of land that year. We first learn of him in the township of Sylvester in 1780. He was then a young, energetic business man and unmarried. One tradition says that he first began trade in Buckfield at or in the vicinity of Abijah Buck's. Another, that it was in a building at the corner made by the Paris Hill and Sumner roads near the Dr. Win. Bridgham place where there was a blacksmith shop. Moses Bisbee, who married Ellen Buck, had a dwelling house and black- smith shop there in 1800. He afterwards moved to Bethel and thence to Waterford and gave his name to the little hamlet since called "Bisbeetown."
In 1795 Edmund Chandler then of New Gloucester, sold one- half of the grist and saw mill, the upper water privilege and his settling lot to Mark Andrews and Dominicus Record. They divided this property, Andrews taking the dwelling house and settling lot and Record the mills and water privilege. He owned half of the mills and half of the water privilege before and by this division with Andrews became sole owner.
Joel Foster came here from Pembroke, Mass., in 1784 or 1785. He married Phebe, daughter of Abijah Buck, July 10, 1788. Some years afterwards he put up a small establishment and began the business of a tanner-the first in the place. He purchased the lot on the south side of the river near where the Spaulding store now stands and erected a public house for travelers which was the first in the village. This public house was afterwards known as the "Bridgham Tavern" and during a part of that period a store and the post office was kept in a part of the house. The place was burned in 1854.
Dr. Samuel Frink settled here in the practice of his profession in 1797, under unfavorable circumstances as related in the an- nals. But Doctor Ebenezer Taylor is said to have been here in 1789. He was not a resident however in Bucktown when the census was taken in 1790 nor in 1800. His name is on the tax lists for 1803 and 1804. He became a resi lent of Farmington in the latter year.
Doctor William Bridgham from New Gloucester first settled in Sumner but in 1803 he moved to Buckfield Village which he made his home till his death. He probably when first coming here lived for a while at Doctor Frink's. There was afterwards a bitter enmity between them as related elsewhere and in the con-
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
troversy another physician, Doctor Samuel Frye, figured quite prominently.
Josiah Parris originally from Pembroke, Mass., came in 1793 and settled on the lot where the Methodist church now stands. Some years afterwards he engaged in trade. He brought his goods from Portland on horseback in saddle bags. His sister. Ruth Parris, married Mark Andrews and they lived for a time in the same locality till Andrews became the owner of a part of the Edmund Chandler property when they moved to the other side of the river. The property on Loring's Hill he sold the same year ( 1795) to Samuel Andrews who had moved into the village form Turner. Samuel Andrews was elected the next year as one of the selectmen of the town and was twice re-elected. He moved away in the latter part of 1799. While here he was chosen as representative to the General Court-the first from Buckfield. He may have engaged in trade while living here. He was the first trader in Sylvester. He died in Bridgton, Me., at an advanced age.
In 1799 the town instructed Mark Andrews to "request Con- gress for a post." and a post office was established here in 1800. On the first day of January, 1801, it was opened for business. Mark Andrews was appointed postmaster. In 1802, An- drews sold the property which he had acquired from Edmund Chandler and Dominicus Record to Benjamin Spaulding and his two sons, Benjamin, Jr., and Leonard. No mention of any store is made in the conveyance.
In 1802, William Campbell of New Gloucester purchased a lot and a right to erect a dam on the lower privilege for a suffi- cient water power to run a fulling mill. The next year he settled here. \ dam was built and the "clothing works" erected. He shortly afterwards married Martha, daughter of Dominicus Rec- ord, and built a house on the Hartford road, in which they lived till 1824, when he soll ont and moved to Sangerville, Me.
John Loring came here from Turner in 1804 and bought land. orignially a part of the Isaac Foster settling lot. What is now the principal business street of the village running from the square to the railroad station, was an alder bog and was fenced to keep the cattle from getting into the mire. From the bridge to the hill, afterwards called Loring's Hill, was a way built of logs with earth thrown on top. The next March he moved his family
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HISTORY OF BUCKFIELD
here. He cut down the alders and built a store 25 feet square, in which he traded for about 20 years. The business had been all on the other side of the river. People told him that he would have no trade on that side but he lived to see the great bulk of the business done over what was once the alder bog. He engaged in the manufacture of card boards in a mill on the lower privilege. The business is described by Lucius Loring in his reminiscences given elsewhere.
Soon after William Campbell came a hat shop was erected on the north side of the river on the Hartford road. It was first operated by Don D. Daggett and, afterwards by Gen. Eliphalet Packard, who also had his dwelling house on the same lot as the shop.
Stephen Bosworth in early conveyances is described as a sad- dler. What the extent of his business was or whether he had a distinct place of business from his residence we are unable to say. In 1805 the new county of Oxford having been incorporated with Paris as the shire town, Daniel Howard, Esq., from Turner opened the first law office in Buckfield. He purchased of the heirs the Thomas Cobarn settling lot on North Hill. We do not know positively whether he lived in the village or on his farm. John Carsley was appointed a deputy sheriff, the first one in the town. His successor in that office was Dominicus Record, Jr. Daniel Howard in 1807 sold his farm on North Hill to Thomas Long, the grandfather of Hon. John D. Long and probably he sold his practice which appears to have been considerable to Henry Farwell, Esq., who succeeded him. It is presumed that the alder bog had, at this time, pretty much disappeared for Far- well purchased land of Abraham Doble and Steplien Bosworth on this tract adjoining the mill privilege lot. The building in which he lived and had his office was, however, on the latter lot and in 18II he took a lease of the lot on which it stood for 15 years from Dominicus Record, Sr. Dominicus Record sold in 1809 two pieces of land on the north side of the river to Nathaniel Howe. Esq., of Paris. He was a lawyer and had an office here for a short time but finally went elsewhere.
Ezra and Samuel Stephens went into trade in the building oc- cupied by Henry Farwell. The former died about 1818 and the goods and effects of the firm were purchased at "vendue sale" by Stephen Phelps who had come here from Minot and began busi-
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ness as a merchant. Later Phelps traded on the other side of the river. He purchased of Benjamin Spaulding the "Chandler house" and 70 rods of land with it. A right of way for carriages and foot persons "to the road on the mill line" was reserved. Phelps' son died a few years ago an admiral in the United States Navy. Enoch Crocker went into trade in the same building which had been occupied by the Stephenses and probably at the time Stephen Phelps began trade on the other side of the river. Henry Farwell appears to have owned go feet of the land in the corner made by the Hartford and Paris Ilill roads on the northi side of the stream. On this land was a building of some kind about 1820. Stephen Phelps that year purchased the land of rar- well "including the frame thereon standing" and erected a "new store" and traded there for awhile. He sold to James Jewett and Zadoc Long. The latter formed a partnership with Lucius Lor- ing and they did business as merchants till February, 1825 when Mr. Loring took the business of his father to settle after which he traded alone for awhile in the Loring store on the other side of the river. Mr. Long ran the store alone, after dissolving part- nership with Lucius Loring. He was elected town clerk and the notices for town meetings were posted in his store. Stephen Phelps went out of trade and was appointed a deputy sheriff. Enoch Crocker went to Minot in the twenties and shortly after- wards to Portland.
About 1814 Samuel F. Brown opened a law office here. He married Jane, daughter of Dominicus Record. He built an office on the Hartford road which he occupied for over 35 years. Henry Farwell, about 1820, went to Dixfield and died there. The Spaulding store on the north side was sold to several parties about 1818. It was afterwards burned and the old high school building was purchased and moved to the same side of the river in the corner by the bridge. It has since been known as the "Morrill store."
Thomas R. Waterman, blacksmith, moved into the village from the northwestern part of the town in 1818. His place of business was on the northern side of the river near the mills and waterpower was furnished to run a trip hammer. Barnabas Perry originally from Pembroke, Mass., had had a blacksmith shop on the south side of Loring's Hill since 1812 at which time he went there from "Spaulding's Mills."
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About 1821 Nathan Atwood from Livermore settled in Buck- field Village. He first began business as a clerk in a store buit in the autumn of 1822 he formed a partnership with Zadoc Long which lasted a year. Shortly after he leased land on the south side of the river in the corner formed by the Turner and Hebron roads. He erected a store on this lot in which he did business for many years. He afterwards purchased the land on which the store was built. Morrill & Cole now do business in the same building. It has been known as the "Atwood Store" to this very day. In our boyhood, Ephraim Atwood, a brother of Nathan, was doing business there. In 1824 Nathan Atwood purchased a lot on the Paris Hill road and erected a dwelling house on it which he painted red. Here he lived until his death. During the same year, William Campbell sold the clothing works and lower mill privilege to William Cole and moved to Sangerville where he died past 80 years of age.
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CHAPTER XIII.
EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
When the Commonwealth of Massachusetts disposed of the township to Abijah Buck and his associates, 280 acres of land were reserved for the use of a Grammar School. It had then been nine years since the first settlement. It was seven more be- fore the plantation was incorporated into a town and five more before measures were taken to build any schoolhouses. Many of the children of the earliest settlers during that period had grown to manhood and womanhood. What advantages they possessed towards obtaining a knowledge of reading, writing and "casting accounts," we do not know. As in all new settlements, the chief concern for the first few years was to obtain a subsistence and get started in life. After that, it was natural that parents should turn their attention towards giving their children the rudiments, at least, of an education. We find from a few ancient documents that have come under our notice that some who were born during the earliest times in the township wrote fine hands and spelled fairly well. whence we conclude that reading and writing must have been taught them and probably, also, a limited knowledge, at least, of arithmetic for this was considered as essential as the other two. How they acquired this knowledge we cannot say. Perhaps in private schools in part, but, no doubt, largely from in- struction at home by their parents. The preachers in most of the early settlements were expected to look after the educational in- terests of their people as well as their spiritual welfare and many of them taught school, especially in the winter season. If they were college graduates they often gave an impetus to educa- tion which characterized the town or section where they labored. In some cases religious denominations founded higher institu- tions of learning than the common schools. Buckfield does not appear to have been favored in either of these ways but there is evidence that her people in the early times set a high value upon the benefits to be derived from what may be termed a business education while some looked beyond this and gave their children a course of instruction at an academy and even at college.
Capt. Josiah Parris was one of those who prized education very highly. He named a son and a daughter for an edition of
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Virgil which was a famous one with the scholars of that day. It was called the "Delphin edition of Virgil." Capt. Parris named his son, Virgil Delphini and the daughter. Delphina. The son was the first one to obtain a college education in the town of Buckfield. The daughter, too, in addition to having been edu- cated in the highest schools of the city of Portland, acquired a musical education which was a rare thing for those times. One of the Loring family stated that Miss Delphina Parris was not only the most beautiful young lady in the region but was also the most accomplished in the county of Oxford. Her untimely death was a great blow to her family, fiance and friends.
John Loring and Thomas Long gave their children a good education for those times. The former in early life had been a school teacher in the old Commonwealth. While residing in Buckfield, though not of the dominant party, he was frequently elected as a member of the board of school committee chosen "to inspect the schools." Political feeling in those days ran high and we have little conception of the general prejudice against a fed- eralist. The fact that Mr. Loring was repeatedly elected as a member of the school board is evidence of the interest that the people generally had in their children acquiring at least a good common school education. Mr. Loring's son, Lucius, though intending a life in trade attended the academy at Hebron and fitted himself for a school teacher. Thomas Long's son, Zadoc, also graduated at Hebron Academy and before entering business life as a merchant taught school and gained a great reputation as an instructor. He was regarded as the most intellectual and learned man of his day in the town. He possessed ability to take a leading part in the halls of legislation and was several times without any solicitation of his, the candidate of the whig party in the Oxford District for Representative to Congress.
Timothy Hutchinson was a noted school teacher. He was a very able man. He drafted the resolutions of protest adopted by the town in 1815 against the course of the Commonwealth in op- posing the second war with Great Britain. Lemuel Crooker, Jr., son of one of the first 47 settlers attained a great reputation as a school teacher. He was called in conveyances "schoolmaster." the only instance of the kind we have found.
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