USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > A history of Norway, Maine : from the earliest settlement to the close of the year 1922 > Part 6
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
CHAPTER X.
PIONEER PERIOD OF PHILLIPS GORE.
The tract denominated "Phillips Gore," in the act of incorpora- tion of Norway, was so called for Hon. Samuel Phillips, Jr., of Andover, who was chairman of the Committee of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the sale of Eastern lands, when Henry Rust and Jonathan Cummings acquired their tracts. He owned, about 1780, an interest there but how much is uncertain.
It was annexed to Norway in 1821, nearly 25 years after the town was incorporated. It has been said that the tract was left out by mistake at that time, but this is not warranted by the proceedings. In the petition for incorporation, the petitioners were very particular to describe the bounds of every tract they wished to be included in the new town and specifically set forth that they desired about 1000 acres on the north, making a straight line on that side from Paris to Waterford, and they asked for this on the ground that there were no public lands for the first settled minister nor for schools, and that this strip might be awarded for such purposes. But they did not get it. Had they desired Phillips Gore it would seem that some mention of it would have been made, and they well understood that it was best not to ask for too much. When the tract had become set- tled up, and the inhabitants desired to belong to a town, rather than remain as they were, they began the agitation to be annexed to Nor- way, which was done in 1821, apparently with no opposition.
John Greeley, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, who was at Valley Forge, was the earliest settler on the Gore which the author has been able to trace. He purchased his lot of Samuel Phillips, Jr., and afterwards (1799) sold it to Edward Scribner, agreeing to vacate before June, 1800. It is not known how long Scribner lived there.
John Greeley married in September, 1773, Elizabeth Thompson. After the sale to Scribner he moved into Hebron, now Oxford, and died there. His name is perpetuated in Greeley Brook.
Captain Jonathan Sawyer of Gorham, who had obtained his mili- tary title in the War of the Revolution, lived for a period late in life on Phillips Gore. He was born October 22, 1736, and married Martha Rich in 1763. They had 11 children. While on a visit to Gorham in November, 1789, he died. His widow died in Otisfield, August 13, 1813.
David Frost, born in Gorham in 1742, who had married Mary Johnson, born in Stroudwater, of Irish parents, in 1745, settled with his family, before 1800, on land of Andrew Craigie, which has been known for so long a time "that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary" as Allen Hill, and while there he and his boys operated the mills at what is now Oxford Village, then called "Craigie's Mills." When Craigie came to see what a fine location it was he refused to deed to Frost. Some arrangements were made between the parties and Frost sought a home elsewhere. In this emergency, Barney Sawyer, a noted hunter living in Otisfield, turned up and told of a region on Phillips Gore, where the soil was strong and fertile, with springs of fine water and a view unrivalled. Also that it was
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
near a hunter's paradise. Thereupon, in 1801, Sawyer piloted David Frost, his son John, then unmarried, Samuel Andrews, a young man who afterwards married David Frost's daughter, Eunice, and Moses Gammon who had been a soldier in the Revolution, into the region. Frost found it all that Sawyer had claimed it to be. Some 70 rods or more north of the summit of the highest hill, the elder Frost dis- covered a spring of pure water and decided to locate near it. It is what has been known for many years as the Eliab Frost place. Andrews and Gammon subsequently selected lots for settlement in the same vicinity. John Frost, the oldest son, set about the clearing up of the lot. The next year (1802) he built a log house .. He married Jane Richmond and moved into their habitation in 1803. Robert, Peter and William Frost, younger brothers of John, settled in the same vicinity. The high elevation of land there has since been called Frost Hill. The father, David, and his wife, appear to have lived with their sons, and principally with John the oldest. He died, March 12, 1826, "aged 83," and his widow died May 15, 1832, "aged 87." They were interred near in the Frost Hill burying ground. John Frost died December 29, 1845, "aged 76." His wife died June 16, 1846, "aged 66."
Robert Frost, born in Gorham, March 25, 1782, married Betsy, daughter of Joseph Jordan of Otisfield, born February 26, 1789. Jordan appears to have lived afterwards on Phillips Gore. The lot Robert Frost selected is the present Roswell Frost farm. Robert afterwards exchanged it for his brother William's lot on the top of the hill where "Squire David" Frost later lived and died. Robert Frost died March 12, 1868. His wife died in December, 1870. They are buried on Pike's Hill.
Peter Frost, born in Gorham, April 26, 1788, married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Perkins, the Revolutionary soldier. His lot is the farm where his son Samuel Perkins Frost lived and died. It is now owned by the latter's son, Fred S. Frost. Peter Frost died in Otis- field, April 8, 1857, aged nearly 69.
William Frost, born in Gorham, October 24, 1790, married for his first wife, Polly, daughter of Joel Stevens, the Revolutionary soldier. He was five times married. His original lot was on the very top of Frost Hill but he exchanged it with his brother, Robert, as related. He died July 11, 1865.
Samuel Andrews, born "Down East," February 8, 1771, married Eunice, a sister of the Frost brothers mentioned. She was born December 25, 1779. They had 11 children. After living on Phillips Gore till about 1812, the family removed to Otisfield.
Moses Gammon, born about 1750, served in the Continental Army and was at Valley Forge. He was pensioned under Act of Congress of March 18, 1818, under certificate No. 7989. In 1819, he was living in Hebron. He stated in an affidavit made in court, June 15, 1820, that he served in "Capt. Joseph Brown's Company of Colonel Timothy Bigelow's Regiment of the Massachusetts Line on the Continental Establishment," and that he was 70 years old; his wife, Silence, was 75, and daughter, Elsy, 35-'a bill of expense by reason of fits and derangement." Gammon had also served in Col. Edmund Phinney's 31st Regiment of Foot. He appears to have lived on Phillips Gore
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
some dozen or more years. He died on Allen Hill, Oxford, at the home of his son, Moses, May 16, 1835, "aged 85."
Enoch Frost, a younger brother of David, born in Gorham, about 1750, married in 1780, Alice, daughter of Prince and Sarah (Colman) Davis, and came to Frost Hill in 1812, to live with Samuel Lord who had married his daughter, Mary. He was a corporal in Captain Hart Williams' Company of Colonel Edmund Phinney's 31st Regiment of Foot, enlisting April 24, 1775, and discharged at Cambridge, January 1, 1776. He also served about three months as Sergeant Major in Colonel Jonathan Mitchell's Regiment in the disastrous Penobscot Expedition of 1779, and his pay was 30£,-about $150. At that time, he was a trader in Gorham. In 1783, he was one of the three members of the Committee of Safety for Gorham. He died in April, 1813, and was the first adult person to be buried in the burying ground on Frost Hill. His grave is now marked with a government headstone, procured by the writer.
The records of the Norway South military. company show that between 1809, when it was first organized, and 1816, the four Frost brothers, Samuel Andrews, Moses Gammon and two sons, Samuel Lord and Benjamin and Samuel Jordan, sons of Joseph Jordan, were niembers. As the Jordan brothers, at the time their names first appear on the roll, had no families of their own, it is possible that Joseph Jordan was living on Phillips Gore at that time. He was born about 1750, and perhaps had served in the Continental Army.
In the Norway U. S. Direct Tax Assessment of 1816, we find the names of John, Robert and William Frost, Samuel Lord and Barnabas Sawyer, residents of Phillips Gore.
It is stated that there were five families on this tract in 1821, at the time of its annexation to Norway, viz .: "John Pike, Jr., Benjamin Jordan, William Frost, Robert Frost and Zachariah Weston." But John and Peter Frost and Samuel Lord, with their families must also have been living there at that time.
A Benjamin Farrington is said to have lived at one time on Phil- lips Gore. His daughter, Sally, married John Greeley, Jr., in 1819.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
CHAPTER XI.
PIONEER LIFE.
The earliest settlers were fortunate in having to live for only a short period in their wilderness homes, before mills were built. From all accounts these mills were very good ones for that period and ample for all purposes for many years. Their erection put the question of any suffering from lack of means by which the settlers' corn and grain could be ground, beyond question, so that the essen- tial thing resolved itself into the matter of the raising of sufficient crops to supply their needs. And through all of the period from the first settlement to the incorporation of the town-ten years, no ac- count of any general failure of crops has come down to us. In this they were very fortunate indeed. We have very little mention of actual suffering from lack of sufficient food, and of this in but very few instances, arising from some misfortune like that of Nathaniel Stevens having broken a leg, which prevented him from doing as much planting and caring for his crops as he had intended. But his good neighbors, as in all such new settlements, turned out to help him, felled trees to extend his clearing, planted and hoed his growing crops, harvested them when ripe, and did everything they could to help the afflicted family. They would not have allowed any one of their number to suffer for lack of food, if in their power to prevent it. It would do them great injustice to assume anything to the contrary.
It is to be presumed that those of the early settlers, who had families previous to coming here, had some possessions, and some means of obtaining a subsistence, till they could clear up a sufficient acreage and bring it into a state of productiveness. They could not rely entirely on the hazard of bountiful crops, aided by game from the forests and fish in the streams and ponds, and berries in scattered sections in their season, though these were of great assistance. They could not do without salt, molasses, or some kind of sweetening, nor long without milk, butter and pork. We are not to assume be- cause these articles are not mentioned, in the story of their lives during this period, that they did not have them, but rather the con- trary, for it was when in want of such things, and they were only obtained with great difficulty, that we learn in part how they lived.
Swine and cattle must have come with the earliest settlers, and we learn in two instances of the loss of a cow, the second year after their coming. One (that of Jeremiah Hobbs) was the only one in a family of eight persons,-a serious loss. The account of the loss of George Lessley's cow, states that: "Mrs. Lessley, like a true woman, preserved the calf by feeding it with gruel and a little milk obtained from her few but friendly neighbors." This indicates that the set- tlers had cows, and that the Lessleys had more than one,-perhaps not then giving milk-or the writer, as in the case of Jeremiah Hobbs, would have stated, that it was his only cow.
Before the mills were built in 1789, the settlers went to Jackson's mill on Stony Brook, now in South Paris Village, where Samuel Ames
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
was the miller, to get their corn, wheat and rye ground. Amos Hobbs had a half bushel of corn meal, "bag and all," stolen there. And we learn,' that one season before the wheat had ripened, grain was picked from the stocks growing in the field and cooked for food by Mrs. Lessley. There were doubtless many such cases, espe- cially during the two first years, but the fact that so few of such in- stances have come down to us, shows that they were exceptions and not the general condition. With the building of the mills, the set- tlers did not have to go far to get their milling done, and soon there- after a store was built by Captain Rust, and opened for trade, where salt, and such articles as they needed could be procured without their
TYPICAL SETTLER'S CLEARING
having to go to New Gloucester, Gray, "Stevens Brook," now Bridg- ton, or elsewhere for them. They obtained much of their sweeten- ing from the sap of the rock maple boiled to the required consist- ency, for syrup or sugar. This was made in the spring of the year, when the flow of sap in the trees was abundant. We get an idea of this work, in David Noyes' account of the coming of Silas Merriam and others to the Cummings Purchase one spring, when they found "the few settlers engaged in making maple sugar." Some of the settlers had horses and oxen. And we find when the Parsonses and Herring came to work on their lots in 1787, that they brought with them, two horses, which afterwards they lost, but found again, late in the season. Each of the Parsons brothers had an ox, the second year after their coming, which they worked together, making a good team. Benjamin Fuller brought horses and oxen, when he came and Amos Upton had an old white mare which was much used by the people in the vicinity of Fuller's Corner, in carrying supplies from the Mills, and in transporting their pork to market, as far away in some instances, as Portland.
That the settlers were especially favored with but a short period of hard pioneer life, seems evident. The great majority of them became thrifty farmers in a comparatively short time. In two years, Joseph Stevens, William and John Parsons and perhaps some others paid for their lots. But they could not well have paid before as the lots on the Rust tract were not run out till late in the autumn of 1789. It, however, indicates that these settlers were possessed of sufficient
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
means to pay for their lots, for it is not to be supposed that they could in that short time any more than have made a living.
In 1798, the real estate of the inhabitants was valued for the direct tax of that year. The following shows what the valuation of some of the earliest settlers' holdings were and incidentally how they had prospered, in about their first ten years after coming here:
Jonathan Cummings
$1910
Joseph Stevens
$1300
Nathan Foster
1830
William Parsons 1350
Benjamin Fuller
1420
John Parsons 1260
Jeremiah Hobbs
1130
Jonas Stevens
1010
Nathan Noble
1140
George Lessley
1015
Amos Hobbs
935
Benjamin Herring 1280
Joel Stevens
900
Dudley Pike 1130
This is a remarkable showing, indicating means and thrift, and in no place in all this region was there quite its equal.
For many years after getting started, the first settlers produced their bread and meat, and for crops, raised corn, wheat, rye and sometimes buckwheat. They had swine for their pork and lard which was essential for almost every kind of cookery, and in the autumn and winter season, dressed animals were carried to Portland and exchanged for articles needed in the household. With milk, cream, butter and cheese after they began to raise grass crops for fodder and vegetables of all kinds in abundance, the diet of these hardy settlers was all that could be desired. The head of the household was usually handy with tools and could make nearly all of the rougher and coarser articles of wooden ware in the family, and often the boots and shoes, worn by them. The housewife besides her care of the habitation and cooking, spun and wove from wool and flax and made the cloth needed for clothing for the different members of the family. Every house- hold was a hive of industry.
It will readily be seen, that the real hardships of pioneer life consisted in getting along, the best one could, till a sufficient clearing was made, to grow crops of all kinds and have cows for milk and butter, swine for pork and lard, and sheep for wool.
But more than all other considerations to us is the character, in- dividuality and moral worth of the early settlers. It has been the custom, when writing of the first beginnings of our townships, to dwell at length upon the struggles the first comers had to make; the fortitude they displayed in subduing the wilderness; the hardships they had to endure, and the success of their efforts, after many years of toil, and this is well, in a measure, yet all these things must needs be in the work of bringing into a state of productiveness, forest lands. But there is another very important work that should not be lost sight of, and that is the forming of communities, under proper regu- lations and laws and the establishment of schools and churches. Those who could be depended upon to do this work, must have themselves attained a high degree of civilization, and felt its spirit and possessed the capacity to perform it.
Savages or semi-barbarians could not do it nor would or could a set of irresponsibles-squatters-having but one purpose, and that to benefit themselves by the least effort, regardless of the rights of
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
others. The characteristics of the first settlers of all our Maine townships, were essentially the same.
They came from long established communities, bringing with them the customs and habits of civilized life. They brought more than this-the inheritance of the fierce struggles for over five hundred years, made for English civil and religious liberty. The blood of the Pilgrims and Puritans was in their veins, and most of them were fresh from the battlefields of the Revolution, where American Inde- pendence had been secured. All, old and young, felt the spirit of the times, and turned to their duties, in the new field of effort with a courage, purpose and resolution, little understood or appreciated to- day. They were rich in everything but household goods and property. They were poor only in their early possessions.
In our conception and estimate of them, their struggle for a competence, is but an incident pleasurable and satisfying to us their descendants to be sure, but sinking into insignificance beside their characteristics-their respect for law and order, their love of home and country, their individuality and their moral worth.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
CHAPTER XII.
NAMING THE TOWN.
In 1795, the population on the several tracts, which it was pro- posed to form into a town, being large enough for the purpose, efforts were made to bring it about.
This movement was, however, hastened by the controversy in Waterford Plantation over the location of the Congregational church which would also be used as its future town house. This controversy had progressed so far and become so heated, as elsewhere related, that it was seriously proposed to get rid of the three easterly ranges of lots, and have them annexed to the Cummings Purchase in order to establish its location in the place where the large majority of its citizens desired it to be.
The opportunity to obtain these lots-(a tract larger than Rust- field or Lee's Grant)-towards the formation of a town, was eagerly seized upon by the leading men of the two principal tracts, and meetings were held and negotiations entered into with the promoters of the scheme in Waterford Plantation, which finally ended in its successful accomplishment.
The next proposition naturally requiring consideration was to determine what name should be given the town. What took place regarding it, is uncertain, as nothing whatever relating to this mat- ter has come down to us. That it was essential to agree on some name when the petition for incorporation was ready for presentation to the Legislature is obvious. It might naturally be supposed, that the people of the most populous tract, where the mills were situated, and around which the future village was to be developed, with its great increase of business, would have desired it to bear the name of the plantation-Rustfield. Captain Rust does not appear to have taken any measures to have the new town named for him. Had his three sons, who afterwards settled in the village, been here then, it might have been different. There does not appear to have been any friction between the people of the Cummings Purchase and Rustfield. Those living on the other tracts were not numerous or very influen- tial. It was not strange, however, that they selected a name other than any one given to any of the tracts, but it is a mystery why the name suggested in the petition for incorporation should have been chosen. The petition bore the date of November 26, 1795. Twenty- two residents of Rustfield signed it, eight from the Cummings Pur- chase, five from the Waterford Three Tiers, and one from Lee's Grant, and they requested that the new town be called "Norage."
On the 19th of December, 1795, forty citizens of Waterford Plan- tation petitioned that with the exception of the three easterly ranges of lots which they asked to be annexed to Cummings Purchase be incorporated into a town by the name of Waterford. Phinehas Whit- ney was one of the signers, doubtless thinking then that his farm was not on the tract left out.
Both petitions were presented to the Legislature at its winter ses- sion of 1796. Nothing was done at that time except to refer the petitions to committees to hear the parties in interest and report. It
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
had occurred to the leading spirits in favor of the incorporation of a new town here that a slice of land could be obtained out of what is now the town of Greenwood, making a straight line on the northern boundary of the new town, a part of which could be treated as public lots, for schools, and the ministry, and a second petition to the Gen- eral Court was signed, under date of May 10, 1796. This proposition came to naught, however, and has no bearing on the matter of the naming of the town.
It is to be presumed that by the time the Legislature was ready to act on both petitions (under the circumstances they had to be con- sidered together), at the winter session of 1797, all difficulties had been pretty satisfactorily adjusted, and on the second day of March, the town of Waterford without the three easterly ranges of lots, was incorporated.
Seven days after, Rustfield, the Cummings' Purchase, Lee's Grant and the Waterford Three Tiers, were incorporated into a town by the name of Norway. But why this name which was not asked for in the petitions? Williamson in his History of Maine, states that it was obviously taken from the country of that name in Europe. But there were no settlers here from Norway and no one who cared particularly to honor it with the name of the new town. It seems quite certain that it was suggested by the name the petitioners requested to be given it. What reasonable explanation can be given for the meaning of "Norage?" It is clearly a misspelling no matter what its signifi- cance. There are two explanations. The old English pronunciation of Norwich is as if spelled, Norridge, and it has been urged that this
is what the petitioners meant, though whoever drew the petition spelled it incorrectly. There was ample time to find out what was in- tended and to correct the error. But the suggestion faces the propo- sition, that no one of the early settlers came from any Norwich, and could not be interested enough to care to honor any place he was not acquainted with, by calling the town by it. And there is the further consideration that there was no other town of that name in the Dis- trict of Maine. The General Court could therefore have had no ob- jection to giving the new town the name of Norwich.
There is another explanation that seems to have much weight. Norridge is the Indian name for falls. At the lower end of the vil- lage, are the Steep Falls. These falls at that period, presented the most striking feature in all the country round about, particularly at a freshet pitch of the water. This may have been what was meant, but nothing has come down to us to render the matter certain.
It seems quite sure, however, that "Norage" in the petition for the incorporation of the town, suggested the name of Norway.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
CHAPTER XIII.
ANNALS FROM 1796 TO 1826.
1797
The first town meeting after the incorporation in March, 1797, was held at the house of Job Eastman or Jonathan Cummings, near the center of the town. Joshua Smith was chosen clerk, Job East- man, treasurer, Ebenezer Whitmarsh, constable and collector, and Job Eastman, Benjamin Witt and Joseph Stevens, selectmen and asses- sors. At that time there were 79 heads of families subject to taxa- tion and seven young men between 16 and 21 years of age, who were required to pay a poll-tax of $1.60 .- In September, Rev. Paul Coffin of Buxton, a Congregational preacher, made a missionary tour into this section. He preached at Captain Rust's, on the hill, to about 100 people. Captain Rust, who with his wife, happened to be here, took him in his chaise to Paris, where they heard him deliver two sermons. Coffin stated in his Journal that they treated him "with great gener- osity."-Grasshoppers were so numerous that year as to damage the crops.
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