USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > A history of Norway, Maine : from the earliest settlement to the close of the year 1922 > Part 17
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A great movement had begun in Maine in 1852-4 over the ques- tion of the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, and the further extension of negro slavery into the territories of the United States, which absorbed the public interest and dis- rupted political parties in state and nation. The whig party went
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to pieces and the republican party was organized. It absorbed the great mass of the whig party North, the free soil democrats, and the American party. Prohibition became a settled state policy under republican rule, but some fifty years later, under a democratic national administration, by an amendment to the constitution of the United States, prohibition has become the law of the land. The wildest imagination before the great World War could not have rea- sonably conceived so momentous an occurrence.
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CHAPTER XXIX.
NORWAY VILLAGE IN 1858.
Saturday in Norway Village was the busiest day of the whole week. Main street from Shackley's store to Major Millett's Corner, was then alive with bustling, active humanity. On either side would appear a continuous line of teams of every description, hitched to the well-gnawed posts, fringing the narrow pathways that answered the purposes of sidewalks.
From North Norway, "Greenwood City," "Yagger," Pike's Hill, Waterford, Harrison, and other places, came an array of shrewd- faced Yankees, mostly farmers; some well skilled in all the arts of horse trading and bargain making, with the equally sharp witted and skilful traders. The country stores, the grist mills, blacksmith shops, the hotel and post office, were the central points around which whirled and eddied the streams of busy, bustling humanity. Let us tarry awhile by the street side and watch the changing scenes.
It is "mail time," and Bill Millett's speedy pair of seal-brown horses come trotting up the dusty street. The old yellow coach sways and squeaks plaintively, but Millett knows every inch of the way, and could easily drive over the course to and from the railroad station at South Paris, with his eyes shut. The old "tally-ho," driven by him, has been over the same road for many, many years.
The plump mail bags are duly delivered to the genial postmaster. David F. Noyes, whose luxuriant, black, curly locks grow in graceful masses over his well-shaped head, while his sunny features beam kindly upon all around. "Dave Frank," to distinguish him from his famous uncle David Noyes, the historian, is a deservedly prominent man, capable, thorough, honest and reliable; he is a model postmaster, and old Norway contained at that time no more popular man.
Squire Levi Whitman (nearly 70) approaches, clothed in a rich suit of black-a man of noble personality, large framed, a good head, carried well back upon his broad shoulders, as if to keep the loosely fitting spectacles from sliding off his prominent nose. He makes a pilgrimage to the post office, on the arrival of each mail, rain or shine.
Squire Wm. C. Whitney (over 92) steps from his seedy carriage, the observed of all observers. He is the rich man of all the country round, and commands great respect, because of his wealth.
Squire David Noyes (at 70), from his farm on the westerly side of the lake, mingles with the crowd, a typical specimen of Yankee schoolmaster, full of anecdotes, repartee and reminiscence.
Colonel (Geo. W.) Millett of the old Norway Advertiser, comes from the old ink stained office across the street for his bounteous mail-a marked man of distinguished presence. His coal black hair is combed back over a well shaped forehead, and shines with silken luster, while his piercing black eyes look sharply at you through luminous spectacles.
Here is Rev. Henry Hawkins, retired to farm in Oxford, near the village (at 70), with sharp cut, intellectual features. His keen sarcasm, flashing like a rapier thrust, renders him a dreaded antag- onist in the frequent street debates.
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Neighbor (Joel) Parkhurst joins the growing crowd. He is dressed in the very same gingham coat (duster) and straw hat worn by him all last winter, and that, too, without flannels or overcoat.
Here comes Mr. (John) Whitmarsh, the jeweler. He has the very air of clocks about him, and we involuntarily glance at his face "to see what time it is."
Horatio G. Cole marches steadily along the sidewalk after his mail. There is the odor of grease and numerous badges of wool card- ing about him, and his wonderful voice, heard so frequently as auctioneer, seems as if saying-"going, going, gone."
Alden Palmer, the miller, with his clothes and broad brimmed hat covered with flour, has the path all to himself. Some one whispers he is the best posted Free Mason in town, and we mentally lift our hat to the dusty old miller of Norway.
Thomas Higgins, the first tinsmith in the village and well known hardware merchant, comes along struggling with a vigorous asthma and disabled vocal organs.
E. G. Allen, the stalwart village blacksmith, marches along with vigorous stride, and we speculate upon the giant he would have been with perfect feet.
John L. Horne and Mark P. Smith, the giants of the tanning in- dustry, come up the street together, discussing the price of hides and leather, and leaving behind them a trailing odor of tan bark and tallow.
Peter Kimball, diminutive of stature, erratic of vision, voice piercing and far reaching, sincere, honest and industrious, moves rap- idly up the street. He is deservedly proud of his famous sons, his cart wheels and his wheel-barrows.
And here, too, is Elliott Smith, the ex-postmaster and carriage builder. His name is synonymous with integrity and honor.
Genial old Major Millett tears up the street in his meat cart, drawn by a vigorous going nag. The Major has a pleasant word for all, both old and young, rich and poor alike, although he and a stal- wart phthisic have been having a vigorous battle for years.
Mr. (Loren H.) Wrisley closes his gun shop by the "Corners" and moves slowly up the street. His placid features and whitened locks give him more the appearance of a college professor than that of a maker and repairer of firearms.
The crowd increases. We note the honored Ezra Beal, whose face to us, bore a marked resemblance to some of the portraits of Daniel Webster.
Lieut. Geo. L. Beal of the Norway Light Infantry is commander- in-chief of the British & American Express Co. in Norway. We gaze with admiration upon his strongly marked features, and in them and his commanding tones, we easily foretell the brilliant military career just ahead of him.
"Doctor" (Rodolphus) Young passes us, redolent of drugs and medicines.
"Bob" Noyes, the book-binder, smelling of Russia leather and sour paste, pauses for a neighborly chat with Dr. (Jesse) Howe, the thoughtful, tender hearted physician, who does not seem in good health himself.
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"Will" Woodbury drives by in a white skeleton wagon drawn by a well groomed, spirited but beautiful horse,-a picture that attracts all eyes.
Otis True's rotund form partly fills the doorway of the famous old "Elm House" as he smiles blandly upon his numerous patrons and friends. "Otis" is one of the firmly established institutions of Nor- way.
Lawyer (Wm. Wirt) Virgin, whom everybody calls "Wirt" Virgin, and his warm personal friend, Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., walk arm in arm to the post office-two noble specimens of vigorous manhood, observed by all, and extensively honored and respected.
But why all this excitement? We turn our gaze up the street, from whence comes roars of laughter. Ah! that reckless "Mad." Favor is up to some of his tricks. He has chartered Hamlin, of Ox- ford's, team and is galloping the jack down the street, followed by a crowd of fun loving urchins.
The excitement is soon over. The well known four horse coaches en route for their destinations, roll rapidly away. Dr. (Asa) Dan- forth in his gig rides swiftly up the street on a drive to Greenwood where he will be gone long into the night before he returns. The day is well advanced, and the farmers, having completed their pur- chases, are one by one departing for home. The village mail has been distributed-gossip grows stale, the last tales are told and the lights turned out. John Fitz rings the 9 o'clock bell in the belfry of the Universalist church, and very soon the beautiful and thrifty village by the lake is sound asleep .- J. C. Gallison in local paper.
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CHAPTER XXX.
INNS AND INNKEEPERS.
As soon as this region had been settled and roads opened for travel, there sprang up a demand for public houses where spec- ulators, land agents, emigrants seeking places for settlement farther . north, and travelers could be accommodated with a night's lodging and refreshments for man and beast. Journeys then were made on horseback till the condition of the roads had become such, that wheel carriages could pass over them with some degree of safety.
The farmers began quite early to go to Portland several times a year to market their meats and skins of valuable fur bearing animals which there were always in demand.
In the early days everyone was glad to entertain the stranger seeking a new home, or visiting some relative who had settled farther to the northward. In this way they learned of the doings in the out- side world, and if a mechanic he would tarry perhaps several days and make or assist in making needed articles for household use.
The speculator and land agent was a different sort of an individual and was supposed to pay for his lodging and entertainment, and did so. The demand for places fitted up especially for the accommodation of travelers thus became a necessity.
The first one in Norway to open a public house was Joseph Stevens, about 1800, or shortly after the first county road was laid out and opened for travel from the northern boundary of the town, through Norway Center, the Parsons neighborhood and over the hill into what is now the town of Oxford. He lived a little off this county road as it now appears on the face of the earth, but not so far as to be very inconvenient.
Mr. Stevens had been one of the leading men of Rustfield planta- tion and was a thrifty farmer. All indications point to the fact of his having some means or property when he first moved his family into their forest home. In eleven years his farm of about 115 acres, was valued at $1,300, probably about half its full value. What his personal property was when he opened his public house does not appear, but he had cattle and swine, and was well to do.
When the County of Oxford was incorporated, in 1805, he took out an inn-keeper's license, which gave him a right to sell ardent spirits, then considered essential to the successful management of a public house. Mr. Stevens carried on the business for some twenty years till about the time the new county road was laid out, from Greenwood through what was later called Noble's Corner, by his house to Norway Village.
David Noyes, having purchased the lot now the Alvin Brown farm, cleared the land and built a commodious house and set of buildings which he fitted up for the accommodation of travelers. Perhaps he had made some arrangement with Mr. Stevens, but at all evennts, the latter quit, or had shortly before for some reason not now apparent, dropped the business.
Over this new route into regions farther north for some twenty- five years until the building of the Atlantic-St. Lawrence railroad
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from Portland through the county, turned the line of travel into an- other channel-was a great thoroughfare for trade and travel, and Mr. Noyes reaped a rich harvest. When the railroad opened a new trade route and destroyed the business, Mr. Noyes had accumulated a property large enough to live on for the remainder of his days. He sold his farm about 1866 to Mr. George E. Gibson and went to live with one of his children in Massachusetts where he died about 1870, and his remains were buried in the Norway Center cemetery. His name is perpetuated in the "Noyes Brook," the outlet of the Hobbs pond-which flowed through his farm. Mr. Gibson's name is pre- served in "Gibson's Grove" on the westerly shore of the lake.
William Hobbs, the third trader in town, opened a public house at Norway Center, on the county road, about 1807, and ran it in con- nection with his business till about the time David Noyes opened his place for the public accommodation.
Benj. Fuller, after selling the lot on which he first settled, to John Needham (it was the one just north of the present schoolhouse at North Norway), bought a lot on the height of land a few rods west of Fuller's Corner on the old Waterford road, and built a two-story house, which he afterwards, when the road had become a stage route, opened as a tavern. "It was a famous resort in its day," but when the stage route was changed it ceased to do much business. The farm for many years has been known as the Rollin Towne place.
William Hayes in 1846, opened a public house at Frost's Corner, which he continued to run for several years. It is probably the only one ever operated in that place.
Others at various times in the farming communities have opened public houses, but with indifferent success, and the business was soon abandoned.
The first public house in the village was the Samuel Smith dwell- ing, which was built about 1801. Smith had come here the year before as had also Dr. John Case. Some three or more years later, perhaps, the house was opened for travelers, with Case as landlord, and the customary license to sell spirituous liquors was obtained after the County of Oxford was incorporated in 1805. Increase Robinson bought the property shortly after coming here about 1806. Robinson went into trade in another place but for many years either by himself or some one under him the public house continued to be run, though apparently not much account was made of it after Joshua Smith opened a public house a little farther down the street. Mr. Frank A. Danforth once stated that he saw, when a boy, a number of soldiers from the western part of the county during the Aroostook war of 1839, stop at the place on their way to Augusta, for their drinks.
The first public house of note in the village was owned and man- aged by Joshua Smith, who had moved to Rust's Mills in 1804. Two years after he put up a two-story building on the northerly side of Main Street, in which he lived, and a room fronting on the street, he fitted up for a store. Back of this room he had a shop in which was a turning lathe, and chairs and other articles were manufactured. In this particular business his son Elliott was brought up, and it was continued by him through life.
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Joshua Smith, in 1807, sold his farm, south of the four corners, on the southerly slope of Pike's Hill, to Joseph Bradbury. Mr. Smith owned land on both sides of Main Street. On the south side opposite his dwelling house, on the site of the present Bartlett store, was his barn. How long the store was run does not appear, but in a very short time Mr. Smith made additions to his house and fitted it up and furnished it for a public house which he continued to run for the ac- commodation of travelers till his death in 1843. After the death of Mr. Smith his son Elliott, not caring to run the place as a public house, finally sold it in 1847 to Samuel Favor, Peter B. Frost, James S. Greenleaf, Moses G. Dow, James N. Hall, Solomon S. Hall, Lorenzo Hathaway, Thomas Higgins, Granville L. Reed, Asa Thayer, Jr., Francis H. Whitman and Loren H. Wrisley who enlarged the buildings and fitted the place up in a style to suit the times and named it the "Elm House," and one of their number, Mr. James N. Hall, became its landlord. They were nicknamed "The Twelve Apostles," but why so called does not appear. Mr. Hall run the hotel for a year and Mr. S. T. Dutton about two years. Then Otis True bought the property and continued to run it successfully for some fifteen years.
OTIS TRUE
JOHN A. WOODMAN
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Otis True was a model landlord for the period he owned and man- aged the Elin House. He was born about 1826, and was taxed here in 1848. He married for his first wife, Martha S., daughter of Col. John Millett, and second, Frances Ellen, a sister of Charles B. Cum- mings and a niece of James S. Greenleaf, one of the "Twelve Apostles." She was born in 1830. Mr. True was a good business manager, pleasant and agreeable, kept a good house for those times, and was liked by everybody. He was rather short, thick set and portly, and his round, pleasant, jolly countenance beamed a hearty welcome to all. He liked a good living and showed it. Mr. True's fame as a landlord spread abroad and "Otis' Hostelry" became famous.
Jeff. C. Gallison at a later time of the old Elm House under Otis True, wrote :
"It was a jolly crowd of genial spirits that used to haunt the murky atmosphere, redolent of tobacco smoke and good cheer, of the famous old Elm House bar-room. Quaint old "Bill" Millett, with weather-beaten face and firmly set jaws; Ben Greeley, boiling over with good humor; Abner Jackson, in love with the good looking table girl; and Zeke Jackson, the famous horseman, with their California stories; Joe Tufts with a voice like a Northern Viking, descanting upon the good "points" of a favorite bull; Steve Seavey with promi- nent nasal organ and the queer little hitch in his speech; Will Wood- bury, clean cut as a cameo and chuck full of "horse lore;" Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., with flowing locks, and intellectual face, whose well tuned voice and deliberately uttered sentences, were in such contrast with those of his associates; Tim "Anti," with his queer little chuckling laugh; mine host, Otis True-a host in himself-all these with a vig- orous fringe of wide-awake interested boys as appreciative spectators made up a famous hotel picture of the olden time."
He afterwards was landlord of the "Oxford House" in Fryeburg village which was a noted inn for a number of years. Mr. True died in Lovell after enjoying in his old age the income from the comfort- able fortune he had acquired in the hotel business. He had been three times married. On account of some disease he had a foot am- putated, but survived the operation for several years. He was buried in Pine Grove cemetery.
Capts. Wm. W. Whitmarsh and Wm. P. Jordan of the 1st, 10th, and 29th Maine Regiments, in 1866 bought the Elm House property of Joseph Carpenter who had acquired title from Otis True. Two years later Whitmarsh bought out Captain Jordan and for some 40 years was the popular landlord of the Elm House. After Captain Whitmarsh left the business the place had several owners till finally the property passed into the hands of Frank H. Beck who had the old hostelry torn down in 1916 to give place for a garage and a new post office, with tenements and offices in the second story.
William W. Whitmarsh was born at North Norway, May 27, 1835. His grandfathers, Ebenezer Whitmarsh and Joel Stevens, served in the War of the Revolution. He was one of the first men in town to enlist in the War of the Rebellion, served through the contest, and rose to the rank of Captain. For about a year after the war closed he was stationed with his command at Darlington, S. C., where
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BEAL'S INN
he was Provost Marshal and Agent of the Freedman's Bureau. He originated the custom of written contracts between the freedmen and their former masters, which Gen. Daniel E. Sickles in command of the department there approved and which became the settled policy at the Freedmen's Bureau during reconstruction times. Since being mustered out of the service, he held many offices of trust and respon- sibility-for many years was town clerk and for ten years was a member of the Board of County Commissioners. But for him it is pretty safe to say that the county seat would never have been located at South Paris. When Henry B. Cleaves was elected Governor he appointed Captain Whitmarsh as a member of his staff with the rank of Colonel. He was always popular with all classes and a great vote- getter and was deservedly so both as the landlord of the Elm House and as a private citizen. He died as Norway's grand old man in 1920.
In 1830 Mr. Ezra F. Beal opened a public house on the south side of Main Street in the vicinity of the Tucker harness shop, and three years later sold to Titus Olcott Brown who had been an inn-keeper at Gray Corner for some years. His place at Gray Corner was a famous hostelry in its day. It was the general stopping place for teams and stage coaches from this section to Portland. Why he should have given up the business there to come to Norway does not appear, but probably on account of his son Titus O. Brown, Jr., hav- ing established himself in business here at Steep Falls the year before, and his advancing years. The hotel was run by Mr. Brown with the assistance of his son-in-law, Amos Purington, for about ten years, when the property was sold to Anthony Bennett. Mr. Brown died February 23, 1855, in what in my day was called the Olcott Brown
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house at Steep Falls, where his son of the same name lived and died. Mr. Titus O. Brown was a gentleman of the old school, a very good citizen, a member of the Congregational Church and a popular land- lord. It would have been far better for the village and persons owning property in the vicinity of the hotel had the business continued under Mr. Brown's and Mr. Purington's management, for there would in all human probability not have been any such incendiary fire as occurred in 1851 under Anthony Bennett's ownership, on account of an unfortunate arrangement as is believed he had with another, as elsewhere related. Anthony Bennett was the son of Capt. Anthony Bennett who settled on the east side of the lake with his twin brother, about 1791. He was born there in 1801. Besides being an inn-keeper he had been in trade in various places. He married Sarah Jane, daughter of Solomon Millett. He died nearly 90 years of age at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. A. Field, in Bath.
The present Beal's Inn is one of the best hotels in New England. The place was purchased and owned in the early days when the village was called Rust's Mills by William Reed who had a store and post office west of it on Main Street. Here Mr. Reed lived in the house he had built in 1807 for about 40 years. He was the leading and most influential citizen of the village for half a century. He died in Nov., 1848, at the age of 73. The property came into the possession of Mr. Ezra F. Beal about 1842. During the last year of his life Mr. Beal made additions to the place and fitted it up for a first-class modern public house, which was opened July 1, 1871, by his son, Gen. Geo. L. Beal, as landlord.
No man had done more for Norway than Ezra F. Beal. He was born here June 17, 1797, and was educated in the public schools of the place, and for a time in his early manhood taught school success- fully, but his father being a millman, he was influenced to put his whole business energies into the construction of buildings and public edifices, and in this he became eminently successful. He moved to Portland in the thirties where he remained some seven years, when he returned to Norway. Some of the principal buildings erected in his day, in Portland, such as the United States Hotel, the Falmouth House, the old Merchant's Exchange and the old Grand Trunk R. R. Station were built by him. Mr. Beal was one of the directors of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence R. R. Company and through his influence the railroad was built through South Paris village on the west side of the Little Androscoggin river, which, years later, caused the county seat to be moved from Paris Hill to South Paris. Ezra Beal had charge of the construction of most of the railroad stations from Port- land to Island Pond, Vt. He was one of the strong pillars of the Universalist Church, and one of the founders of the Norway Savings Bank. His townsmen of his day did not appreciate him and what he had done for the town. That he felt this keenly, there is no doubt. Later generations will not, however, fail to do his memory justice. He died Dec. 19, 1871, in the 75th year of his age.
Gen. Geo. L. Beal, who was the first landlord of the Beal's Hotel, was born in Norway May 21, 1825. His education was obtained in the common schools of Norway and at Westbrook Academy. He
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learned the bookbinder's trade at Cambridge, Mass., and began busi- ness in his native town with Robert Noyes. He was appointed agent of the Canadian Express Co., in 1853, and had charge of the business for Norway till the breaking out of the Civil War, when he raised a company of which he was commissioned Captain, and went into the service. He obtained this position from being captain of the Nor- way military company. His regiment was in service three months. On his discharge he raised another company for the 10th Maine Regt. and was commissioned Colonel. He was in Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks' Retreat down the Shenandoah Valley, and the battles of Cedar Mountain, Va., and Antietam, Md., and was wounded in the latter fight but not seriously. The regiment was mustered out in May, 1863, and he with others immediately began the enlistment of men for the 29th Maine Regt. which participated in Gen. Nath'l P. Banks' Red River, La., and Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley, Va., campaigns. Colonel Beal participated in the battles of Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill, La., and the second Winchester, Va., or the Opequan, and was promoted Brig .- General. After the war, he had charge of the District in South Carolina with head- quarters at Darlington till January, 1866, when he was mustered out of the service with the rank of Maj .- General by brevet. General Beal liked military life and he should have entered the regular army and been retired on half pay at the age fixed by law. Just why he did not the writer has never ascertained. He had a wife and two daughters in Maine, and the general feeling among officers and men then was one of great joy at the collapse of the Rebellion, and the overpowering impulse to get back to their homes.
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