USA > Maine > Somerset County > Solon > A history of Solon, Maine > Part 2
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35 Lincoln, Op. cit., p. 17.
36 This 20 acre difference is probably due to a mistake on the part of either officials in General Court of Mass. or the surveyors.
37 Lincoln, Op. cit., p. 17.
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Early Settlers
Probably the first white settler in the town of Solon was William Hilton. This cannot be substantiated by any accurate records, but it is almost certain that Mr. Hilton was the first permanent settler. Hilton arrived from Wiscasset in 1782. He was a Revolutionary War veteran, but the first year in which Revolutionary War soldiers were granted land was in 1801.38 So, it is prob- able that Hilton exercised squatters rights, and later (1801) this land was granted to him.
Hilton left his wife with his brother in Anson while he built a log cabin, and cleared the land for next sea- son's crops. He then returned to Anson for the winter, coming back to Solon by boat in 1783 with his wife and young son, David. The farm built by William Hilton remained the property of the Hilton family un- til 1952. In that year the farm was sold to Lee Rogers, but a section of the farm was reserved by Ralph Hilton in order to keep a part of the original acreage in the Hilton family. The old burial ground south of the house still exists and is well-cared for. When the town- ship was laid out this lot became lot number thirteen. 39 This lot lies in the area along the River Road to Madi- son.
In the Spring of 1783 another Revolutionary War veteran came to the area and took up the lot adjoining Hilton's. This was William Hunnewell, who had been a neighbor of Hilton's in Wiscasset. This place is now owned by Philip Ward. The buildings on this lot were burned to the ground in 1960. According to tradition,
38 Information from family records in which Ephraim Davis from Acton, Mass. was granted a tract of land in Solon, Maine by the government in honor of Captain Isaac Davis, the father of Ephraim.
39 Lincoln, Mary P., Op. cit., pp. 6-7.
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Phoebe Hunnewell, the daughter of William Hunne- well, was the first white child born in the town. How- ever, there is no official record of this birth to be found.
Jonathan Bosworth is the next recorded settler of Solon. He, also, was a Revolutionary War veteran, and settled the area on the hill a half mile above Cara- tunk Falls on the road to Bingham.40
Eleazer Whipple, who was in Colonel Prescott's regiment that fought at Bunker Hill, came from Pep- perell in the 1790's and was given two-hundred acres of land.41 His son, Eleazer, Jr., was a man of great strength and size. He was six feet, seven inches tall and weighed two-hundred and twenty-seven pounds. The following story is told of him:
"A noted pugalist, of Augusta, hearing of Whipple's great strength (traveled) up the river through the for- est from Augusta to wrestle with him. He found Whipple at Carratunk Falls fishing for salmon. He made known his errand, but Whipple, being a clever and pious man, refused to wrestle. The pugalist, how- ever, had not traveled all that way for nothing, so he kept teasing and annoying Whipple until the Solon man could stand it no longer. He jumped up, grabbed the stranger by the seat of the pants and the nape of the neck, and shook him until he cried, 'Enough'. The pugalist retraced his steps to Augusta, a sadder, but wiser man. 42
The Eleazer Whipples settled on the farm now owned by Herbert Hanson, located about two miles east of Solon village on the Brighton Road.
40 Lincoln, Ibid., p. 7.
41 Lincoln, Mary P., Op. cit., p. 7.
42 Davis, Harrison L., Manuscript History of Solon, p.
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Another family with an interesting background was that of Moses Chamberlain, who came to Solon in the late 1780's. It is believed by many that his grand- father, John Chamberlain, killed Paugus, the Pequaw- ket Chief, during Lovewell's War in 1725.43
Another early settler was Ephraim Davis; the son of Captain Isaac Davis, whose monument stands in Acton, Massachusetts, in memory of his heroic death at Concord Bridge in 1775. He was the first patriot to fall at the battle of Concord Bridge.44 Ephraim Davis came to Solon from Acton, Massachusetts, and settled in the southern part of town on lot number thirty- nine. This land is still owned by Davises.
Asa Buswell came from Salisbury, Massachusetts to Solon and settled on the hill just across from Fall Brook in the village. This house is now owned by Louis Shaw. The ell of this house is considered to be over one hundred and fifty years old. Asa Buswell was the owner of the first grist mill in the vicinity of Solon. 45
William Fletcher, who lived in Solon from 1790- 99, was the first in Norridgewock in 1773, and his daughter, Sarah was the first white child born in the county.46 46
Still other prominent early settlers were the Frenches from Salisbury, Massachusetts,47 who came to Solon in 1800; Benjamin Merrill from Salisbury, Massa-
43 Butler, Caleb, Op. cit., p. 104.
44 The author feels quite proud of his heritage and name, which stems, after six generations, directly from this Revolutionary War hero.
45 Lincoln, Mary P., Op. cit., p. 9.
46 Lincoln, Mary P., Ibid., p. 10.
47 More information on the French family will be found on p. 45.
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chusetts, whose father was Captain Stephen Merrill of Revolutionary War fame; Corporal Enoch Jackman, who fought at Lexington in Captain Stephen Merrill's company, came from Salisbury with his wife. Captain Mathew Sanborn, who was at Valley Forge during the winter of 1776-77, settled on Fall Brook east of the village. He, also, was from Salisbury, Massachusetts. 48
From 1830 to 1850 more immigrants came to the United States from Ireland than any other country. The reasons for this exodus from Ireland were the po- tato failures of 1845, followed by a great famine, and the persecution under British rule. Most of these Irish immigrants landed at Quebec. Gradually they worked their way down into Maine, and then some came to Solon.
In the Census of 1830 there is no record of an Irish name in Solon, but in the census of 1870 one finds such names as McIntire, Kavanugh, McQuilkin, Mckinney, Mclaughlin, McClintick, McFadden, McCollor, Mc- Carty, McDonald, Sheridan, Brannin, Cuddy, and Kelly. It is possible that some of these families were Scottish, but in all likelihood many were of Irish de- scent. Every Irish family that settled in Solon, accord- ing to the 1870 census report, was engaged in farming of some type.49 Nine of the fourteen families mentioned above had at least one member of the family that was born in Ireland. Many of their children were born in Canada, which proves that many of the Irish families landed at Quebec.
In the early 1900's a few Scandinavian families set- tled in South Solon. No real reason is given for this
48 Lincoln, Mary P., Ibid., p. 11.
49 U. S. Census Report of 1870 (on microfilm in U. of Me. Library. )
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immigration but the names of Stred, Holmberg, and Kristoffersen appear in the census of 1900.50 These people were farmers in Sweden so therefore, probably settled in South Solon because it was farmland similar to their home land.
The next immigration to Solon of any consequence was that of a few French Canadian families in the 1930's and 40's. Lumbering developments and inter- ests attracted such families as the Berubes, Dubes, Giroux and Morins.
The latest sizable out-of-town addition to the popu- lation of Solon has come from the village of Flagstaff, which was flooded by the building of a dam on the Dead River. This immigration included the Burbanks and five Rogers families.
50 U. S. Census Report of 1900. (In U. of Me. Library. )
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Incorporation and Town Government
By 1803 the township was dotted with many small farms, and as population grew so did the problems, re- sponsibilities, and needs. As early as 1803 the settlers in township 2-1 (Second tier of townships north of the Kennebec Patent and first range south of the Bing- ham Purchase) petitioned the commonwealth of Massachusetts for incorporation as the town of Sum- ner. Why this petition was not granted is not clear; possibly because there already was a town of Sumner incorporated in 1798. At this time the southern part of the town was referred to as Spauldingtown, and the part that is now the village was known as the Cape. 51
Finally, in 1809, the General Court of Massachu- setts passed "an act to incorporate the plantation num- bered one in the second range of townships on the east side of the Kennebec River, north of the Plymouth Claim, in the county of Kennebec, into a town by the name of Solon". 52
The name selected was one of the seven sages of Greece. "Some lovers of ancient Greece and its law- givers must have lived in this little town in Maine."53
The foundation of Solon's government is, as is the case of most small New England towns, the town meeting. It is here that money is raised and appropri- ated for all town expenditures: schools, highways and bridges, snow removal, fire department, and many other smaller appropriations. Throughout the nine-
51 Lincoln, Mary P., Op. cit., pp. 12-13.
52 The Public and General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, From February 28, 1807 to February 16, 1816, Vol. IV, Wells and Lilly, Boston, 1816.
53 Chadbourne, Ava H., Maine Place Names and the Peopling of its Towns, The Bond Wheelwright Co., Freeport, Maine, 1957.
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teenth century and into the twentieth century town meeting day was one of the days circled on everyone's calendar as a day not to forget. Today, it seems, the town meeting has lost some of its appeal. No longer does it serve as one of the important social gatherings of the year; with modern communications people are in regular contact with their fellow townsmen. Present town meetings carry on nearly the same business as its predecessors, but spend more money with less interest.
On March 9, 1809, the first warrant for the first town meeting was sent to Jonas Heald. The warrant was sent from Richard Sawtelle, Justice of the peace in Norridgewock. The warrant required Jonas Heald to let the citizens know of the meeting to be held March 27, 1809.54
At the time of incorporation the population of Solon was three hundred and seven. The first town meeting was held in Caleb Hobart's workshop in the southern part of town. The officers elected at the meet- ing were: a moderator, town clerk, board of three se- lectmen, town treasurer, constable, tax collector, a board of three as fish committee, a board of five as surveyors of highways, a board of four as fence view- ers (men appointed to inspect fences of town), a man to value leather, a board of two as tything men (men to keep order in Church sermons and meetings), a board of two as poundkeepers (men to operate the town pound for stray cats and dogs), a board of four as field drivers (men to drive the cattle sold out of town), and a board of five as a school committee. The total amount of money raised at the first town meeting was one thousand dollars. One hundred and fifty dol- lars was raised for support of schools, one hundred and
54 Solon-Bingham Register, p. 17.
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fifty dollars to defray town charges for the ensuing year, and seven hundred dollars for the purpose of "making" and repairing roads. It, also, was voted to divide the town into four school districts.
In the town meeting it was voted to pay a man twelve cents per hour, a yoke of oxen eight cents per hour, use of ploughs six cents per hour, for labor done on highways. 55
In the town meeting of 1810 it was voted to pay Daniel Williams seven and a half per cent for collecting taxes for the ensuing year. This seems like a large figure in comparison to the present one and a half per cent being received by the present tax collector. At this same meeting it was voted to raise eighty dollars for town charges to be paid in corn and grain. 56
In 1816 the town of Solon voted twenty-seven to fourteen in favor of separation from the Common- wealth of Massachusetts.57 There is no record of the votes on the separation issue for the years 1817 to 1820.
By 1819 there was enough interest in transportation for the town to pass an article in the town meeting calling for three hundred dollars to be raised for the purchase of a snow roller. 58
An article of 1821 seems rather strange to us of the twentieth century. - It was voted to give James Jack- man one cow for taking care of Sally White until she became twenty-one years of age. This same year it
55 Town Records of the year 1809.
56 Town Records of the year 1810.
57 Town Records of the year 1816.
58 Town Records of the year 1819.
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was, also, voted that cattle shall not "go at large" in the highways or on the commons from December to the last day of March. 59
There were twenty-four different highway districts in the town by 1862, with a surveyor of highways to supervise each district. Apparently each of these men was paid twelve and one half cents per hour for [the services that he performed. The town, that same year, had eight school districts throughout the township.60
During the Civil War, in 1865, the town voted to pay any man 500 dollars who would volunteer for the Union Army.61 This might help explain the large number of soldiers in the Civil War from Solon.
In 1889 the town voted to exempt from taxation for a term of ten years any mill erected on the east bank of the Kennebec River at Carratunk Falls. A precedent that might well be followed at the present to attract industry to the town.
By the turn of the century Solon was raising $9,- 361.84 for all town expenditures. Included within this was $3,300 for highways, bridges, and mainten- ance of roads.62 This compares with a total appro- priation of $68,008.55 for the year 1960, and a high- way appropriation of $18,066.63 The school appro- priation of 1901 amounted to $1,92564 as compared with $30,316.47 in 1960.65 This is an increase of
59 Town Records of the year 1821.
60 Town Records of the year 1862.
61 Town Records of the year 1865.
62 Town Report of 1901, p. 3.
63 Town Report of 1960, p. 5.
64 Town Report of 1901, p. 3.
65 Town Report of 1960, p. 5.
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fifteen-fold for the school expenditure and a twenty- fold increase in the highway expenditure. These in- creases seem astounding, but we must remember that these changes have taken place over a period of sixty years. Thus, the wages, prices, taxes, appropriations, and expenditures have increased in proportion to one another, not causing any great burden upon the citi- zens of Solon.
In 1901 the town voted to pay fifteen cents per hour for men, oxen, or horses for work on the roads. The figure included any road machines used by these men. At the same meeting the selectmen appointed citizens to such offices as Field Drivers, Surveyors of wood, bark, and lumber, Sealer of weights and meas- urers, poundkeepers, and Fence Viewers, in addition to the election of the usual town officers. 66
The next year, 1902, the town voted to pay two dollars per day to the Road Commissioner for his services. This same year the town raised one thousand dollars for the support of the poor. This figure, as compared with the twenty-five hundred raised in 1961, shows that there must have been a good deal of con- cern for the poor at the turn of the century.67 Of course, social welfare in 1900 was really a responsibil- ity of the town.
By 1917 the office of Field Drivers was discon- tinued. The last three men to serve in this capacity were Fred Vilturn, Turner Davis, and Fred Drury. The next year saw the first local board of health estab- lished in the town. On this committee were Dr. Silden Green, Dr. John Piper, and Leslie McIntire.68
66 Town Records of the year 1901.
67 Town Records of the year 1902.
68 Town Records of the years 1917 and 1918.
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In 1923 the first firewarden was appointed in the town. This same year the offices of Fence Viewers and Poundkeepers were discontinued. By 1926 the town voted to pay the town treasurer fifty dollars per year, and to pay the School Committee at the same rate as other town officers for the time spent in such services. An interesting entry in the records of 1929 is the vote by the townspeople to discontinue repair of public watering tubs. 69
The town records of the years from 1930 to the present are filled with entries of increased appropria- tions for more numerous public facilities, highway im- provements, school expenditures, and the various state taxes.
69 Town Records of the years 1923, 1926, and 1929.
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CHURCH HISTORY
The Methodists
In 1793 Jesse Lee had been sent to Maine by the New England Conference of the M. E. Church to or- ganize a Methodist Church.7ยบ Jesse Stoneman became a co-worker with Jesse Lee, and as early as 1797 trav- eled into the upper Kennebec area which included Solon and the adjacent towns later known as the Kennebec circuit of the M. E. Church.71
By the year 1805 Solon became attached to what was known as the Norridgewock Circuit, with the Rev- erend Daniel Ricker as the first appointed circuit rider. This arrangement continued for twenty-five years un- til 1830, when the Circuit was divided and Solon be- came the central town of a circuit including the towns of Anson, North Anson, Bingham, and Athens. For many years the Solon Quarterly Conference was held jointly or alternately with the several outside towns. The Reverend E. Hotchkiss was the first preacher in charge. As the years brought with them greater popu- lation and prosperity, the outlying towns, such as An- son, North Anson, and Bingham became independent circuits or joined with other groups for their Quarterly Conferences. From 1845 to 1860 Solon was classified with either Bingham or Madison with alternating Quarterly Conferences. Since 1880, for the most part, Solon has held the Quarterly Conference at Solon.72 A Quarterly Conference would be any meeting of a Cir-
70 The Solon M. E. Church Memorial Fund Committee, "The Methodist Church," (unpublished work by a Methodist Comm. in 1955), p. 8.
71 Lionel Lombard (Ed.) Solon M. E. Church Annual (Skowhegan: The Skowhegan Press, 1926), p. 6.
72 Lombard, Op. cit., p. 7.
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cuit of churches with the district superintendent presid- ing.
On July 27, 1844, at a Quarterly Conference held in Solon it was voted to have a preacher for the next year and to support him. 73
There is little recorded information on early church organization. Barns, farmhouses, and school houses were used for meeting places up to 1837 when the Union Meeting House was built. Church records show that Quarterly meetings were held in Solon Village, East Solon, Solon Union Meeting House, South Solon Free Meeting House.74 Solon Methodist Church, and Eaton School House in Solon. In 1867 the Solon Cir- cuit included the towns of Solon, Bingham, Moscow, some families in Madison, Concord, and Athens. Ex- tensive revivals occurred under "the faithful labors" of the preachers, especially in 1834 under Oren Bent, in 1840 under John Allen, in 1842 under James Farring- ton, and in 1864 under Daniel Waterhouse. 75
These camp meetings were religious gatherings held in temporary encampments, and usually continued for a week or more. 76
In the records of the Methodist Church there are numerous references made to such camp meetings. In 1838 it was voted to hold a Camp Meeting on Eaton Hill in Solon. In 1846 reference was made to a Camp Meeting to be held in Solon if a suitable place could be found. These camps provided food, care for the sick
73 M. E. Church Committee, loc. cit.
74 More detail on another page on the Meeting House.
75 M. E. Church Committee, Op. cit., p. 9.
76 Ibid., p. 21.
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and injured, as well as serving as a religious instrument for conversion and the preaching of the Gospel.77
During this same period, 1830 to 1860, the topics of slavery and temperance were being discussed, de- bated, and preached about. There was not special men- tion of slavery in the records of any denomination in town, other than the usual mild denunciations of it as sinful. 78
On temperance the Solon Methodist Church, in 1831, voted to memorialize the next General Confer- ence on the subject of temperance. A chapter was in- serted in the Methodist Church Discipline which de- clared that drunkenness was immoral. By 1859 this same disciplinary group declared that the habits of tobacco-chewing, smoking, and snuff-taking were un- christian. 79
During the nineteenth century the church was loyal- ly supported by many staunch-hearted men, the most prominent being the Reverend Josiah and the Reverend Moses French.
The Reverend Moses French, born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, May 10, 1777, was at the age of eight- een under apprenticeship to learn the trade of joiner (a finish carpenter in modern terms). He returned to his home at the end of his apprenticeship and became con- verted to a very strong belief in God. He began at once to tell others what God had done for him. He sought Christian Society and took every opportunity to hold meetings as an Exhorter. He came to Solon in 1803 and with his brother, Josiah French, who came three
77 The Methodist Church Records for the years 1838 and 1846.
78 Ibid., for the years 1831-1859.
79 Ibid.
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1893847
years earlier, settled on what is now known as French Hill just east of the present village. They both became licensed preachers and the Reverend Moses became a Circuit Rider of some note. The Reverend Moses, whose gainful employment was carpentering and farm- ing, continued through life to hold meetings on the Sabbath in this vicinity. It was said of him that he attended more funerals and made more coffins than any other man in the country. He died July 19, 1845.80
The Reverend Moses French had three sons; Luther, Moses Jr., and Joseph French, all of whom became members of the Maine Army in 1862. Luther was ap- pointed Chaplain of the 20th Maine regiment and re- turned to the Conference in 1862. He was a delegate to the General Conference in Indianapolis in 1865 and in Chicago in 1868. His conference appointments were in numerous towns throughout the state, until his re- tirement in 1887.81
Joseph French was appointed Captain in the Union Army and was known as the "Minister Captain". He was killed in the Battle of Baton Rouge while crossing the Mississippi on August 19, 1862.82
Moses French Jr. was born on February 3, 1821, married Miss Sarah Kidder from Norridgewock in Sep- tember of 1845, and brought her to live at his father's home on French Hill. To them were born seven chil- dren, six before he enlisted in Company K of the Sec- ond Maine Cavalry. He was appointed Captain and served in the Gulf Campaign. During his absence from home his house burned, but was rebuilt by friends.
80 M. E. Church Committee, Op. cit., p. 9.
81 Ibid., p. 13.
82 Ibid.
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This house is now the very beautiful home of John Waugh. Captain Moses French Jr. was a Class leader, Trustee, Steward, Sunday School Superintendent and teacher, Deacon, and to the end a staunch supporter of the Methodist Church. He was state senator in 1871, member of the Keystone Lodge, and representative of his church at the General Conference in Baltimore in 1876. On June 22, 1906, at the age of 85, Captain French passed away. 83
A brief history of the French family has been given because for a century they held responsible positions in the Methodist Church; they were devout Christians, faithful in attendance and generous in their support of the church. It, however, was not only the Frenches who made Methodism in Solon, but also the Bakers, Blackwells, Batchelders, Browns, Burnes, Cateses, Dearborns, Drurys, Eatons, Halls, Jewetts, Kidders, Longleys, Matsons, Morrills, Pauls, Pierces, Rowells, Rices, Spauldings, Starbirds, Smiths, Whipples, Wil- sons, and others.84 Not only are these names promi- nent in the Methodist Church annals, but in all phases of the town history.
By 1855 there were one hundred and forty-one members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodists wanted more time than was available to them in the Union Meeting House, which they shared with the Congregationalists. In 1835 they hired the Town Hall for one Sunday in each month in addition to their quarter-time in the Union Church. In 1859 they built the Methodist Church that now stands on the corner of Pleasant and School streets. The two- story building with a first-floor vestry provided a
83 Ibid., pp. 9-10.
84 Ibid., p. 10.
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separate room for the Sunday School and its library, for mid-week prayers, class meetings, and for gather- ings of a social nature. A carpenter who inspected the building before it was renovated in 1950 said, "It is built for all time". The Reverend Swanton Banks be- came the first preacher at a salary of $365 a year. The building was dedicated in 1860, renovated in 1892 and in 1950, then rededicated in 1952.85
The Congregationalists
The first Congregational Church society in Solon was organized on September 30, 1806, at Caratunk Falls. This society was made up of the following five members: Eleazer Whipple, Thomas Merrill, Calvin Pierce, Deborah Pierce, and Elizabeth Rowe. It was organized by Reverend Sewall and Mr. Williston, a missionary, and was known as "The Solon Congrega- tional Church of Christ". In 1820 it was merged into a church located at South Solon, or Spauldingtown as it was then known, and was called "The South Solon Congregational Church".86
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