USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > A history of Norway, Maine : from the earliest settlement to the close of the year 1922 > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
1798
Same town officers elected. The tax-payers had increased to 95. The real and personal estate for taxation purposes were valued at $21,119 .- A "minister" tax of $42 was asseessed this year. The poll tax for this assessment was $0.17 .- Job Eastman was commissioned a Justice of the Peace, the first one in town. He held the office for nearly 50 years.
1799
Job Eastman was elected clerk, an office to which he was annually re-elected till 1843, when he was 93 years old. Joseph Stevens had given place to Joshua Smith on the board of selectmen .- John Parsons lost his new house by fire in January. With the help of his neigh- bors, another was built into which he moved his family before plant- ing time.
1800
The population of Norway as taken by the United States census enumerator, was 609, an increase during ten years of about 500. There were 115 taxable polls, 57 frame houses and 47 barns .- The first military company was organized with Jonathan Cummings as Captain, Anthony Bennett, Lieutenant, and William Reed, Ensign .- In July, there was a very heavy thunder shower, accompanied by a high wind, which passed over Fuller's Corner. It struck the house of Amos Upton, knocking down by the shock and rendering insensible for a time, Mr. Ward Noyes, one of the new settlers of that year, who was staying there till his own house could be built. Large tracts of forest trees were blown down by the terrific wind .- School house built in the Parsons district.
69
HISTORY OF NORWAY
1801
William Hobbs. son of Jeremiah, the pioneer, was chosen constable and tax collector, at the annual meeting .- Bailey Bodwell from Methuen, built clothing works on stream below second bridge in the village .- A post office was established at Rust's Mills, and William Reed appointed Postmaster, an office he held for 40 years. Jacob Howe was the first Post Rider, or mail carrier here .- Amos Upton erected a grist mill on the small stream flowing through the valley about a mile west of Fuller's Corner. He cut the millstones and did all the work himself .- Phinehas Whitney, living on the Waterford Three Tiers, lost his log house by fire.
1802
Captain Joseph Rust, son of Captain Henry Rust, the proprietor of Rustfield, became a permanent resident of Norway some time dur- ing the year and began building the house on the corner of what is now Main and Pleasant Streets .- There were 65 frame houses to be taxed this year and 55 barns .- Joel Frost, in May, lost his barn by fire. His farm was on the "Waterford Three Tiers," west of what is now the four corners near the chapel, on the old Waterford road .- William Hobbs went into trade at Norway Center .- Benjamin Tucker came here from Worcester, and began business for himself as a har- ness maker .- The first regimental muster in the county was held in the village late in the autumn. The companies were from Norway, Paris, Otisfield, Hebron, Buckfield and Rumford. Levi Hubbard of Paris, was Colonel of the regiment, Mark Andrews of Buckfield and William Livermore of Livermore, Majors, and Wm. C. Whitney, then of Hebron, Adjutant. Jonathan Cummings was Captain of the Nor- way company, Josiah Parris, Captain of the Buckfield company, and Ebenezer Rawson, Captain of the Paris company.
1803
Captain Joseph Rust built a carding mill at Steep Falls. John Shaw run it for several years .- Captain Henry Rust, Jr., became a permanent resident. He began the erection of his dwelling house and barn, where the Noyes Drug Store, Walkers' and Dr. B. F. Bradbury's buildings are now (1918) located .- Captain Joseph Rust, who was elected town clerk and was a member of the school com- mittee, had a dam built for mills at the Steep Falls .- Daniel Young and Joseph Gallison began the manufacture of hats in the village .- The village was called in conveyances of this period, "Norway Mills." At a later period "Norway Village." At first it was denominated "Rust's Mills," and by the people of the town generally "The Mills." ยท
1804
David Noyes, a minor of 16, settled in Norway this year. He was a brother of Ward Noyes. He became a school teacher of note, and a land surveyor, and wrote the first history of the town .- Major Jonathan Cummings built a saw mill on the outlet of the Hobbs Pond. Two potashes in town,-one in the village which was burned this year, but rebuilt, and one at Fuller's Corner. Fuller sold salt,
70
HISTORY OF NORWAY
molasses, salt fish, etc., to the people in that section, and took his pay in wood ashes to be used in making potash .- Luther Farrar began the practice of law here-our first lawyer.
1805
Luther Farrar was elected representative to the Legislature .- Captain Henry Rust, Jr., was elected chairman of the selectmen, and Aaron Wilkins, constable and collector .- Dr. Moses Ayer became a tax-payer this year. He settled on what is now the Dr. C. A. Stephens place .- Josiah Farrar, a brother of Luther, the attorney, became a tax-payer. He was a cloth dresser. After a few years he moved to Waterford, Whether Josiah Farrar was in business with or worked for Shaw or Bailey Bodwell, who had "clothing works" below the second bridge in the village, is uncertain .- Capt. Joseph Rust built a grist mill at Steep Falls this year. He was elected Register of Deeds on the organization of the County of Oxford and moved afterwards to Paris .- The village saw-mill run by William Beal, the grandfather of the General, was burned by fire in March. Another was built during the year .- Daniel Holt began blacksmithing in the village .- A school house was built in the village on site of the present upper primary school house .- On the 25th of October, Henry Rust conveyed to the town Rustfield Cemetery, consisting of one acre and thirteen square rods. Undoubtedly there had been some burials there prior to that time. Mr. Rust had previously, as the deed stated, con- veyed "one acre near the house of John Parsons for a burying ground to the Inhs. of Rustfield which they refused to accept." The date is not stated. but must have been prior to the incorporation of the town in 1797. This would seem to show that the burying ground on Pike's Hill was first used for interments, and that probably Esther (Smith) Parsons and infant child, and Daniel Cary were its first occupants- the latter first in fact, by direction of Henry Rust's agent, thus lo- cating the ground. Just where the Stevens child, who died in Septem- ber, 1791, was buried, is uncertain, but is supposed to have been in what is now the Norway Center Cemetery, which located the burial ground,-the second in point of time in the town.
1806
Captain Joseph Rust was elected chairman of the selectmen, which shows that he hadn't then moved to Paris. The number of scholars was 393. The school house in the Jones district was built this year .- William Reed, Jr., the oldest son of the family, a bright little fellow in his 5th year, was accidentally killed by having a cart body fall upon him .- A total eclipse of the sun, June 16th. It was so dark that stars were visible and fowl went to roost, as on the approach of nightfall. Many not understanding the phenomenon, were alarmed, fearing that the judgment day was at hand.
1807
A school house was built during the year on the east side of the great pond, on the ridge between the Nathaniel Bennett place and the Benjamin Witt farm .- William Stevens, son of Joel, in May was
HISTORY OF NORWAY
accidentally injured so much, on a brook between Mud and Sand ponds, where a party of young men went to catch suckers, by a large rock falling upon him, that he died three days after .- Captain Anthony Bennett, while at work on a mill at Craigie's Mills, fell from a staging upon a broad-axe, cutting his leg above the knee in a horrible manner. He died from the effects of the injury on the 28th of October.
1808
Daniel Town from Andover, settled near Fuller's Corner. He was a blacksmith, a vocation he carried on there for many years .- Francis Major, a scholar of about 14, in the Jones district, while at play one winter day with other boys, broke through the crust and fell. On rising, he instantly dropped dead.
1809
Luther Farrar was elected representative to the General Court .- The number of scholars had steadily increased from the first enumera- tion. This year there were 410 .- The Congregational Church at Norway Center was completed. Major Jonathan Cummings had com- menced building it the previous year .- The South Military Company organized with Bailey Bodwell as Captain, William Twombly, Lieu- tenant, and Daniel Holt, Ensign.
1810
The 3rd United States census was taken this year. Norway was the eighth town in the county in respect to population. It had 1010 inhabitants .- Uriah Holt became a taxpayer here this year. He came from Albany, settling at first near Fuller's Corner. For many years he was one of the most prominent and influential men in town .- Aaron Wilkins began trade at Fuller's Corner .- Thomas Crocker, a nephew of the wife of Increase Robinson, came here from Conway, N. H., but did not long remain and removed to Paris Hill. He be- came one of the wealthiest men in the county .- Benjamin Peabody's log house burnt one night in September.
1811
Joshua Smith was elected representative to the General Court .- Five stores in town: William Reed's, Joshua Smith's, and Cox & Rob- inson's, in the village; William Hobbs' at Norway Center, and Aaron Wilkins' at Fuller's Corner. The stores and goods were valued for taxation purposes as follows, which shows their relative standing as to amount of goods carried for trade: Cox & Robinson's, $200; Aaron Wilkins', $160; William Reed's, $110; Joshua Smith's, $60, and Wil- liam Hobbs', $45 .- Levi Whitman came to Norway and entered into partnership with Luther Farrar or perhaps was his clerk.
1812
Joshua Smith was re-elected representative to the Legislature .- The second war with Great Britain broke out-war being declared by the United States, June 18th .- Luther Farrar died March 28th. He
72
HISTORY OF NORWAY
was succeeded by Levi Whitman, in the practice of the law, who after- wards married Farrar's widow and was in business here for over 50 years .- A large number of immigrants came into Norway during the year .- At the annual town meeting, Uriah Holt was elected one of the selectmen and assessors. It was the beginning of a long and highly creditable service in town office .- Edward Little, in February, purchased Lee's Grant and the tract was run out into lots for settle- ment by Joshua Smith and a plan of it drawn .- Captain Henry Rust, the proprietor of Rustfield, died October 28, 1812, aged 75.
1813
The Norway Company under Captain Bailey Bodwell marched for Burlington, Vermont, early in the year .- Levi Whitman was elected as representative to the General Court .- The town valuation was over $50,000. The total money tax was $850.98, of which $500 was for schools. The highway tax, worked out on the roads, was $1000 .- Captain Bailey Bodwell left his company in Vermont for some un- explained reason and came home. He was afterwards court martialed by a militia tribunal at Paris Hill and deprived of holding any mili- tary office for a year.
1814
Early in the year, Henry Witt, the second son of Benjamin Witt, then 19 years of age, who had served in Captain Bailey Bodwell's company, mysteriously disappeared one afternoon while his father was away at Portland. No trace of him was ever found. Perhaps he had formed some acquaintances while in the army whom he sought out after his discharge .- Levi Whitman was re-elected representative to the General Court .- Two companies from Norway marched to Portland in September on an alarm of a British fleet being dis- covered off that city. One company was under command of Captain Bailey Bodwell and the other of Captain Amos Town. These com- panies were attached to Colonel William Ryerson's regiment. Sam- uel Ames was Quartermaster Sergeant, and Henry Rust, Sergeant Major.
1815
Great rejoicing everywhere over the news of Peace being de- clared .- David Noyes gave up school teaching in the village where he had been employed for five years, and bought a farm near Norway Center, where he lived for many years. The summer terms in the village had been private schools. The scholars in winter averaged to number from 80 to 90, and in summer about 40 .- Eighteen inches of snow fell in a storm on the 18th of May .- Jabez Chubb was drowned in the Spring while driving logs on Crooked River .- Levi Whitman was appointed County Attorney, a position he held till 1833 .- Captain Joseph Rust died here May 2d. He had served as Register of Deeds for 10 years .- Joseph Martin died August 10, aged 50.
1816
This was "the year without a summer." A frost every month. Not enough corn for seed for the following year-the farmers de-
4
73
HISTORY OF NORWAY
pending upon what was saved from the crop of 1815, for that purpose. It brought as high a price in many instances as $5 a bushel. On the 7th of June, snow fell at the depth of two inches. Coldest June ever known. On the morning of July 5th, ice was found of the thickness of window glass. David Noyes' corn on a piece of burnt land near the pond was saved by fogs .- In the autumn a fire starting in Wood- stock swept south and burnt over thousands of acres. It was after- wards known as the "Great Fire."-The first school house built in Norway was burned with many books, one night in January. The house was rebuilt the following summer.
1817
Jonathan Swift, from Paris, went into trade at Fuller's Corner .- Farmers used but half the usual amount of grain for seed per acre and all the corn they could get hold of. The great increase in the acreage planted and sowed owing to the immense tract burned over the preceding year, gave them at harvest time the greatest crops they had ever raised. Flour had been worth in the spring, $16 a barrel, and pork, 20 cents a pound.
1818
Lemuel Shedd, the Revolutionary soldier, then about 60 years of age, was killed on the 23rd of June while assisting at the raising of the frame for a house for his oldest son, in the western part of the town. A sudden gust of wind blew a timber upon him, killing him instantly, while seriously injuring Captain Ward Noyes, who had a leg broken. Captain Noyes, though finally recovering, died four years afterwards.
1819
The school house in District No. 1, was destroyed by fire in Janu- ary. Another was built during the year .- No good sleighing till into March. Then a three days' storm with high winds set in. The snow fell two feet on a level, and roads were impassable. Two Norway citizens who had gone to Portland on business did not reach their homes for a week .- The niovement for the separation of Maine from Massachusetts and its admission into the Union as a State, received the approval of the people. Norway this time favored the measure, which it had formerly opposed. The Massachusetts General Court passed an act of separation which was approved by the Governor, June 19, 1819. Thereupon the cities and towns in Maine elected members to a constitutional convention to be holden in Portland on the 11th of October, following. On the 29th of the month a consti- tution for the new State of Maine had been adopted, and passing a resolution submitting it to a vote of the people the Convention ad- journed to the 5th day of January, 1820, to count the votes. Having found the constitution to have been ratified by over 9000 majority, the convention in January adjourned without day on the 7th. Aaron Wilkins was the Norway delegate in the convention. He served on no committee and took no part in the proceedings except to vote. The vote on ratification in Norway was 76 yeas to 1 nay-in the whole county, 1262 yeas to 88 nays. Turner, then in Oxford County, cast
74
HISTORY OF NORWAY
88 votes in favor of the constitution and none against it, but these votes were rejected because returns were not sent in till after January 1, 1820.
1820
In March, Maine was admitted into the Union as the 23rd state, the 10th of the new states since the adoption of the Constitution by the 13 original states. On the first Monday in April, the people voted for Governor and members of the Legislature, to be holden at Port- land, on the last Wednesday of May, but thereafter to be elected on the second Monday of September and to hold office from the first Wednesday of January, following. Capt. Henry Rust was elected as Norway's representative in the new Legislature. By a count of the votes, it was found when the Legislature met that William King of Bath, had been chosen Governor. He appointed Prentiss Mellen of Portland, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. The Legis- lature chose John Holmes of Alfred and Gen. John Chandler of Mon- mouth, Senators in Congress. William C. Whitney of Oxford was chosen one of the Goveror's Council. Enoch Lincoln was elected from the Oxford county district as a Member of Congress. He was after- wards elected Governor as a national republican. He was the "Scholar in Politics" in Maine of his day .- Major Jonathan Cum- mings committed suicide July 12th, on account of financial embarrass- ments, at the age of 49, and Capt. Henry Rust, Jr., died August 25th, in his 60th year, from consumption. They were the ablest and most popular men in town of their day. Captain Rust had served as County Treasurer for 13 years .- The fourth United States census this year showed that Norway had a population of 1330. It had 10 school districts with 637 scholars. In tillage were 291 acres, 772 acres of upland hay land, 1779 acres in pasture, 109 horses, 254 oxen, and 468 cows .- Henry Rust, Jr., was elected County Treasurer on the death of his father, which he held by successive elections for 10 years.
1821
Phillips Gore was annexed to Norway by Act of the Legislature in February. It was described in the act as "the tract or gore of land lying between the towns of Norway, Oxford, Harrison and Waterford."-Betsy Gammon, living in the family of Benjamin Fuller, fell down stairs into the cellar, and broke her neck .- Peter Everett, a native of France, and one of the early settlers, died Feb- ruary 27th .- Doctor Asa Danforth settled here in the practice of medicine, which he followed with great success for over 50 years. He was the ideal family physician.
1822
A new county road was laid out from Greenwood through Noble's Corner, to what is now Norway Lake Village. Until the Atlantic- St. Lawrence Railroad was built, it was a part of a great thorough- fare from the northern section of the county, and a part of New Hampshire, to Portland .- Captain Ward Noyes died April 23d, largely from the effect of the injuries received four years before,
2
75
HISTORY OF NORWAY
when Lemuel Shedd was killed .- Mrs. Sarah Eastman died, March 26th, "aged 71."-Bela Noyes, Jr., lost his house by fire in Decem- ber .- Uriah Holt was elected representative to the Legislature.
1823
The new road having been built this year, David Noyes, by whose premises the thoroughfare was located, opened a public house .- James French, Jr., lost his house "with most of its contents" by fire, in the Spring .- Uriah Holt was re-elected representative .- In July, the Hall saw mill was burned, with much lumber about the mill yard. The owners rebuilt. In later years this mill has been known as the Holt mill .- An epidemic broke out in the northwest part of the town in September. "Thirteen persons died in one small neighborhood in three weeks."-Job Eastman Stevens, son of Joel, the pioneer, built a store at what is now Norway Lake village, in which he traded till about 1830. It was the first building erected there. A blacksmith shop was first erected near the store six years later .- Enoch Merrill, a Revolutionary soldier, died August 9, "aged 73." Martha, his wife, had died December 29, 1819, at 62. Both buried on Merrill Hill.
1824
Asa Barton started the Oxford Observer at Paris Hill. It was a four-page newspaper and of national republican politics. It sup- ported John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, for President that year. Two years after this newspaper press was moved to Norway .- James Longley this year advertised his stage line from Portland to Paris and Norway. Round trip twice a week. Fare between Norway and Portland, $1.80 .- Mr. Stephen Latham died February 1, "aged 55, of colic." He was a blacksmith and nail maker, at Fuller's Cor- ner for many years .- June 18, Mrs. Anna F. Hobbs died of the lung fever. Her husband, Jeremiah Hobbs, had died about 1815.
1825
A new post route was established in March from Paris Hill, through Buckfield, North Turner, and Winthrop to Augusta .- Levi Whitman and others petitioned the Legislature to have certain lots in Paris annexed to Norway. The prayer of the petitioners was denied. Uriah Holt was the Norway representative that year. He lacked the art of "pulling wires" that Major Henry W. Millett at a later day possessed, or the scheme might then have succeeded .--- Elijah Flint's barn was burned in April .- Mrs. Huldah (Curtis) Case, who was moved to Fuller's Corner in 1793, in an ox-cart, died May 29, "aged 90."
76
HISTORY OF NORWAY
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY NORWAY VILLAGE.
On the map of Rustfield, made from Samuel Titcomb's survey in 1789-Rust's Mills, the beginning of Norway Village, appear as three ink marks-one the saw mill on the south side of the outlet of the great pond at end of the dam, and two on the northerly side for the grist mill and dwelling house of the miller.
Samuel Ames, who had moved into Rustfield from what is now South Paris village, where he had been employed at Jackson's mill on Stony Brook, was selected to run the mill. There is no doubt that he was induced to come here by Captain Rust, in anticipation of mills being erected of which he was to have charge. The dam was con- structed and the mills built in 1789. Ames superintended the work. For a temporary place of shelter while this work was being done he put up a camp on the south side of the stream, where the mill shed afterwards stood. It was a very primitive affair, consisting of three posts of the required length driven into the ground. For the fourth post, the trunk of a yellow birch tree was taken. (On this spot at the present time -1917-is an aged yellow birch tree believed to be a lineal descendant of the one made use of by Mr. Ames in the con- struction of his camp .- It since has been cut down.) Poles were laid on and the structure covered with bark.
Mr. Ames having built a habitation near the mills and afterwards sold his place on the southerly slope of Pike's Hill to Moses Twitchell, moved into it with his family. This house, 36 by 18 feet, was the first dwelling house to be erected in the future Norway village. Samuel Ames may justly be regarded as the father of the place. He was its chief citizen for many years.
We find the name of Moses Twitchell on both the census lists of 1790 in Rustfield and No. 4 (Paris), indicating that he moved here after the enumerators had taken his name and family statistics in the latter township, and also fixes the approximate time Samuel Ames moved his family to their habitation near the mills.
The Rust house on the northern slope of Pike's Hill must have been erected about the same time, but as the early historian did not consider it to be in the village when he came to Norway in 1804 (but would be so considered now) and made no statement of when it was built, we are left in some doubt just what time it was erected.
Thomas Cowen from No. 4 came in 1790 before the census was taken here, and took charge of the saw mill, under the superintendence of Mr. Ames. Cowen built or had built for him, a cabin nearly op- posite the mill on the other side of the stream in which he and his family of seven lived for several years.
The next settler at the Mills was Benjamin Witt, a nephew of Captain Rust, then a young unmarried man, who was a blacksmith by trade. He came with Captain Rust subsequent to the building of the mills, and was a permanent settler here when the first census was taken. He probably lived a while in the family of Samuel Ames. After his marriage in 1791, he lived for a period in the Rust house
77
HISTORY OF NORWAY
on the hill. He was the first citizen at the Mills to be married. Ben- jamin Witt was a great acquisition to the little settlement, for though he had few if any horses or oxen then to shoe, a blacksmith in those days made all kinds of articles used on the farms, such as axes, hoes, hammers, and chains, and a great variety of iron and wooden utensils used in the families of the early settlers.
William Gardner from No. 4 came here in the latter part of 1790, and built a house on what is now the northeast corner of Main and Whitman streets, and Daniel Knight from the same place but origi- nally from Gray, appears to have lived through the next winter with him. Both soon after settled on the Lee's Grant as elsewhere re- lated.
Peter Buck from No. 4, who had a family of six persons there when the census was taken, came here in 1791, and settled on the place now owned by Judge William F. Jones, on Pleasant street. He was the first shoemaker in the place.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.