USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Turner > A history of Turner, Maine, from its settlement to 1886 > Part 3
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JOHN AVERY, Dep. Sec.
These measures put the affairs of the plantation on sound footing again, and most of those who had been diverted from the enterprise, by entering into the military service, had now returned to Sylvester, and a number more of families had moved into the place, and several additional young men had taken up settling lots. I will therefore endeavor to furnish a detailed account of all the families and individual settlers in the plantation on the first of January, 1780. Up to this time there had occurred no death in the township, nor am I aware of more than one death which occurred in the military service among the settlers of Sylvester. Andrew Bass, of Halifax, who had taken up a settler's lot, went into the army and fell at Stillwater, at the capture of General Burgoyne and the army under his com- mand.
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
Inhabitants of Sylvester Canada in 1780: Jotham Briggs, wife and four children ; Israel Haskell, wife and seven children ; Daniel Briggs, wife and five children ; Abner Phillips, wife and one child ; Daniel Staples and wife; Josiah Staples, wife and one child ; Benjamin Merrill ; Moses Stephens, wife and five children ; Joseph Leavitt, wife and one child; Jacob Leavitt, wife and seven children; Charles Turner, Jun. and William Turner, zd; Seth Staples, wife and one child; John Keen, wife and nine children; Daniel Merrill, wife and three children ; Benjamin True, wife and four children ; Richard Phillips, wife and two children ; Malachi Waterman ; Jabez Merrill, wife and two children ; Levi Merrill, wife and one child; Ezekiel Brad- ford, Jun .; Hezekiah Hill; Isaac Phillips and wife; Stephen Bryant, wife, five children and mother; William Hayford, wife and nine children ; Samuel Andrews; William Bradford, wife and two children; Jesse Bradford ; Hezekiah Bryant, wife and six children ; James Crooker and Ebenezer, his brother ; Sam- uel Blake, wife and five children ; Mark Andrews ; Henry Jones, wife and one child. Total population in 1780, one hundred and thirty-two.
The number of inhabitants in Sylvester Canada in 1780, and the order of time in which they moved into the plantation or formed into families, were as follows : -
1775
1778
Israel Haskell,
9
Moses Stephens,
7
Dea. Daniel Merrill, Seth Staples,
5 3 2
Hezekiah Hill,
Samuel Andrews,
1776
Daniel Staples, Jacob Leavitt, William Hayford, II
9
Mark Andrews,
Jabez Merrill,
4
Jotham Briggs,
6
James Crooker,
Abner Philips,
3
Ebenezer Crooker,
Joseph Leavitt,
3
Henry Jones, 3
Levi Merrill,
1777
Isaac Philips, 2
Ezekiel Bradford Jr.
Richard Philips, Jun., 4
Total, 119
William Bradford,
4
Samuel Blake,
7
John Keen,
II
There were also at that time, not formed into families, the follow-
Josiah Staples, 3
Daniel Briggs,
7 ing : -
Benjamin Merrill, Charles Turner Jr.,
Stephen Bryant, 8
William Turner 2d,
Hezekiah Bryant,
Jesse Bradford,
1779
Benjamin Jones,
There were twelve of these, making the whole population at the begin- ning of this year, 13I.
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
Dr. Howe had opportunities for making a correct list of the early inhabitants of Sylvester which none now enjoy, and he improved them faithfully, yet he does not feel certain that his list is free from error. He adds the following interesting statements : -
Of these settlers, Jesse Bradford, Levi Merrill, Richard Phil- ips, Abner Philips, John Keen, and his oldest son John, Mark Andrews, Samuel Blake and Joseph Leavitt, had all performed service in the army of the revolution, but had now returned to the plantation.
I will now give a more detailed account of some of the fami- lies contained in this enumeration.
John Keen came from Taunton in 1777, where he had mar- ried Jerusha Blake. Their children and their marriage connec- tions were as follows : Keziah, who married Mesheck Keen, of Butterfield, now Sumner ; John, who married Priscilla Robert- son ; Jerusha, who married Elijah Fisher, December 4, 1785 ; Elisha, who married Anna Briggs, November 26, 1790; Mary B., who married John Munroe, January 13, 1793 ; Grinfill, who married Molly Rose, of Dighton, Mass .; Mercy, who married Bradford Rose, June 8, 1800; Rebecca, who married Elisha Pratt, April 1, 1799; Edward, who married Hannah Kingsley, December 21, 1800; and Priscilla, who married Cushing Phil- ips, April 5, 1805.
William Hayford removed into Sylvester the same year, and his children were, William, who married Phinela French, Novem- ber 24th, 1785 ; Betty, who married Benjamin Alden, November 24th, 1785; Artamis, who married Joel Simmons ; Arvida, who married Mary Ellis, March 14th, 1796; Matilda, who married Abiathar Briggs, December Ist, 1789; Gustavius, who married Abigail Fuller, August 13th, 1797; Zeri, who married Sally Chickering; Gad, who married Sally Bisbee; and Albert, who married Deborah Bonney.
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
Jacob Leavitt had married Sylvia Bonney, and their children were, Joseph, who married Anna Stephens, July 18th, 1776; Sylvia, who married Levi Merrill; Tabatha, who married Benja- min Jones; Isaiah, who married Lydia Ludden, September 7th, 1797; Jacob, who married Rhoda Thayer, January Ist, 1788; Cyrus, who married Sarah Pratt; Sarah, who married Jeremiah Dillingham, April 29th, 1787; and Isaac, who married Ruth Perry in 1797.
Daniel Briggs removed from Taunton in 1777, where he had married Silence Hart. Their children were, Daniel, who mar- ried Elizabeth Bradford, February 4th, 1788; Silence, who married Jairus Philips, December 15th, 1785 ; Abiathar, who married Matilda Hayford, December Ist, 1789; Arunah, who married Lydia Godfrey in 1793; Anna, who married Elisha Keen, November 26th, 1790; Betsy, who married Caleb Blake, July 11th, 1793; Hart, who married Betsy Records in 1800; John, who married Jennet Munroe, March 28th, 1802; and Lydia, who married Briggs Curtis, March 31st, 1799.
Stephen Bryant removed from Halifax, where he had married Rebecca Bass, and brought his widowed mother with him, who died January 30th, 1802, at the age of ninety-one years. Their children were, Saba, who married Cornelius Jones, April 3d, 1788 ; Hannah, who married Job Prince, June 23d, 1791 ; Bath- sheba, who married Gideon Southard, May 5th, 1806; Rebecca, who married Daniel Niles, May 14th, 1797 ; Abia, who married Jonas Mason, March 17th, 1799; Polly, who married Michael Stephens, October 14th, 1805; Lucy, who married Josiah Holmes, June 12th, 1803; Asenath, who married Ichabod Leavitt, April 10th, 1808. Mr. Bryant had also two other chil- dren, Thomas and Lydia, who died young.
We find that in 1780 there were in the town twenty-five families, and twelve young men, unmar- ried, who had taken up lots with the intention of
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
becoming permanent residents. But no meeting- house had been built, and no minister had been settled, though the proprietors had done what they could to accomplish this result. The settlement had now become so large, and the prospects of its increasing so encouraging, that the means of relig- ious worship and instruction had become a necessity to the moral welfare of the community. Besides, the proprietors were under obligation to secure the establishment of religious worship for the benefit of the families they should induce to settle on their lands. No meetings of the proprietors were held in 1780, but in December of the following year they passed this vote :-
That the Clerk be desired to write to the settlers relative to their taxation, present and in future, building a meeting house, settling a minister, &c; and to signify to them the desire of the Proprietors, that they choose a Committee of settlers, and properly and fully empower it to settle and determine with the Proprietors relative thereto, and that this committee attend at the adjournment of this meeting, and also to signify to the settlers the readiness and willingness of the Proprietors to do anything in their power to promote the further settlement of the town, and the welfare and prosperity of the present settlers.
But passing votes, though done vigorously and earnestly, does not always secure the object desired; so now, votes passed in Massachusetts did not build a meeting-house in Sylvester, and more efficient 4
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
action must be taken. Hence, in March, 1782, the proprietors
Voted, That Capt. Ichabod Bonney be a committee to repair to Sylvester Town and to erect a Meeting-house, thirty-five feet square, and twenty feet posts, to finish the outside by covering it with shingle and clapboard, set twenty-five window frames, glaze six windows of twenty-four squares each, seven by nine, and lay the lower floor, to complete the above mentioned work as soon as may be, and in the most frugal manner.
Voted, That Capt. Ichabod Bonney be, and he hereby is, authorized by the Propriety, to offer the settlers of Sylvester Town a sum not exceeding sixty pounds towards erecting a Meeting-house, provided they, the settlers, will obligate them- selves to build a Meeting-house not less than thirty-five feet square, to be completed agreeable to the preceding vote, by the last day of September next, and to take security for performing the same ; and if the settlers shall agree and oblige themselves to build a Meeting-house as above mentioned, then the said Capt. Bonney is to desist building an house as in the preceding vote. And in case the settlers shall agree with Capt. Bonney as aforesaid, and shall complete said Meeting-house as afore- said, then said house shall be the sole property of those settlers undertaking the business.
Voted, that Capt. Ichabod Bonney be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to set the Meeting-house as near the centre of the Parish, upon a road, as best to commode the Pro- prietors and settlers.
At a meeting of the proprietors on August 12th, 1782, they made a still more generous offer, as the following vote will show :-
٠
GEO. M. WALKER & CO. LITH. BOSTON
o FIRST MEETING HOUSE IN TURNER. O · BUILT IN 1782 ..
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
That the vote of the 4th of March last, instructing Capt. Ichabod Bonney to offer the settlers of Sylvester Town two hundred Dollars for them to build a Meeting-house within a limited time, be and hereby is so far reconsidered that he shall have full power to give the settlers any sum he shall think proper, and to allow the undertaker or undertakers such further sum as he shall judge necessary for compleating said house as directed in said vote.
This action of the proprietors effected the object in view, as will appear by the report of their com- mittee, Captain Ichabod Bonney, at a meeting held on the IIth day of November following. Your committee reports : -
That he has agreed with the settlers for building said Meet- ing-house, for seventy-eight Pounds, to be paid in the several materials he had before provided, and the remainder in cash, and has taken security for the performance of the contract in a Bond signed by Samuel Blake, Henry Jones, John Kecn, Nathan Niles, William Bradford, Joseph Leavitt, Benjamin Jones and Jabez Merrill, who are over and above to have the property of the ground room and other parts of said Meeting- house, as expressed in said Bond, which I lodge with the Clerk, to be delivered to the Treasurer who may be chosen in the. room of Mr. Charles Turner, deceased, to be prosecuted by him or his successor for any default in the performance of the con- ditions expressed in said bond. Ichabod Bonney Jun.
Charles Turner, Esq., was then chosen treasurer and collector in place of his father, Charles Turner, deceased.
The proprietors were very earnest in their pur- pose to have a minister settled in the plantation as
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
soon as possible, and they felt compelled to take action in the matter at once, as the settlers seem not to have made energetic efforts to provide for themselves the privileges of public worship and religious instruction. Hence, on December 9th, 1782, it was voted :-
That Charles Turner, Esqr, General Wadsworth, and Capt. Ichabod Bonney, or any two of them, be a Committee to settle a minister in Sylvester Town agreeable to the Constitution, Resolves of the General Court and Votes of this Propriety heretofore passed, and make report of their doings to the Pro- priety as soon as possible.
It was contemplated and expected at one time that the Rev. Charles Turner would be settled in Sylvester, but for some reason, which is not appar- ent, he did not become the first minister in town. There are some indications that the settlers did not choose to invite him; but whether he was not agreeable to them, or whether they did not wish to assume the burden of his support, cannot now be determined. On September 28th, 1784, the pro- prietors chose a committee "to inquire into the qualifications of Mr. John Strickland as a Gospel Minister, and to report to the Propriety as soon as possible."
On the 29th of March, 1785, the proprietors " voted a further tax of thirty shillings on each original right for the purpose of paying Rev. Mr.
37
HISTORY OF TURNER.
Strickland's salary." The funds for the support of public worship were not raised by subscription, but by vote of the town. Money was appropriated for this purpose the same as for any other for which money was raised, and the parish was the whole town. The settlers in Sylvester, at a meeting held August 12th, 1784, voted a call to Mr. Strickland " to settle in the work of the ministry," and to pay him fifty pounds lawful money for his annual salary, so long as he shall be the minister of the town, and they adopted "a plan of church govern- ment according to a paper read at said meeting." They also chose Captain Ichabod Bonney, Dr. Daniel Child, and Stephen Bryant a committee to extend the call of the parish to Rev. Mr. Strick- land, and to acquaint the proprietors of the town- ship with their action in regard to this matter ; they also approved and adopted as their own, the vote of the church and congregation, as follows: "In consideration of the great importance of having the stated means of grace settled in this place, and having heard the Rev. John Strickland, a member of Salem Presbytery some time, and being satisfied with his principles in doctrine and discipline, his ministerial gifts, and moral character, do make choice of him, the said John Strickland, as our minister, and do appoint Messrs. Richard Phillips, John Keen, and Benjamin True to attend the Pres-
38
HISTORY OF TURNER.
bytery at their next session in the town of Gray, to solicit this our call before the Presbytery, the same having been unanimously voted at a meeting held for that purpose, on the 12th of the present month, August."
The town also voted that Mr. Strickland be allowed a reasonable time to visit his friends to the westward, annually, and that he should have " the common land five years, rent free." As a vote passed by the settlers in a plantation was not considered legal, a number of men gave Mr. Strick- land a bond for fifty pounds for his salary, which bond was to become null and void when the town should be incorporated, and a vote should be passed to pay him that amount. From a journal kept by Mr. Elijah Fisher, who came into Sylvester in 1783, we learn that Mr. Strickland was installed pastor of the town, September 20th, 1784. He continued in the ministry here a number of years, and was doubtless successful in his work. He raised up a large family, and some of his grandchil- dren remain in the vicinity, or have, until recently, of whom Major Isaac Strickland is one.
Sylvester-Canada, after a long struggle with many difficulties, had now become a prosperous settlement in which the means of comfort were possessed in abundance. Roads had been built, mills had been provided for sawing boards, and
39
HISTORY OF TURNER.
grinding corn and grain, a meeting-house had been erected, a learned Protestant minister settled, and public worship established. But the people suf- fered from the depreciation of Continental money, and were often embarrassed in their business trans- actions. The state of the proprietor's treasury, February 4th, 1782, will show how serious a trouble this was: -
There remains of the £10 tax uncollected, £213- 14-1I1/2, which if collected at 1I for one, will be in gold and silver. £ 21-1-412
There remains of the sale of lands, Nov. 15, 1779, £200-8-3, which if collected at 24 for I, will be in gold and silver 8-7-0
Paper, £432-3-21/2, advanced to Aaron Hinckley, Esqr, in gold and silver. 10-18-0 Balance in the hands of the Treasurer in silver .. . 13-13-834 There also remains £2,7921/2 Continental, old emis- sion dollars in the Treasury.
£54-0-914
This shows the great depreciation of paper money from which the people suffered. The "old emission," it seems, was valueless. There were inconveniences suffered by the settlers living in a plantation, and they now desired that the town might be incorporated, so that any action they might take, or votes they might pass, might be legal and valid. And, in 1786, they notified the proprietors of their wish to become incorporated
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40
HISTORY OF TURNER.
into a town, and the proprietors, at their meeting on the 25th of April of that year, voted, "That no objection be made to the proposed incorporation of the township." Dr. Howe says :-
There was still some difficulty in the selection of a name for the new town. The settlers cherished with warm affection the name of Sylvester, as embracing some of the most tender and sacred associations of their minds; but the proprietors felt a strong predilection for the name of Turner, from the considera- tion that Charles Turner, Esq., of Scituate, had been one of their prominent members, and had served their corporation from the period of its organization to that of his death, with great ability and fidelity, as their Treasurer; and also in con- sideration of the valuable services of Major William Turner, who had been their standing Clerk during the whole period, and had been very active in lotting out, and pushing forward the settlement of the plantation, and whose civil and military ser- vices to the commonwealth and nation had justly acquired an enviable reputation.
But on presenting the two names to the General Court, that body decided at once, from the great respect which it held for the character and services of the Rev. Charles Turner, who had for many years stood in the front rank of its Senate, as a bea- con light, to direct its counsels through the gloomy and por- tentous struggle of the Revolution, that the name should be Turner. And, accordingly, on the 7th day of July, 1786, passed the following act of incorporation : -
An act to incorporate the Plantation called Sylvester, into a Town by the name of Turner.
Whereas it appears to this Court that it would be productive of the public good, and for the benefit of the inhabitants and proprietors of the said Plantation, that the same should be incorporated into a Town : -
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HISTORY OF TURNER.
SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the Plantation called Sylvester, and included within the boundaries described by this Act, together with the inhabitants thereof, be, and they hereby are, incorporated into a Town by the name of Turner. [Here follow the boundaries contained in the original grant to the Proprietors.] And the said Town is hereby vested with all the powers, rights and immunities which Towns within this Commonwealth are entitled to, or by law do enjoy.
SECTION 2. And be it further enacted by the authority afore- said, That Isaac Parsons, Esqr, of New Gloucester, be, and he hereby is, empowered to issue his warrant to some principal inhabitant of said Town, requiring him to warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at such time and place, as he shall therein set forth, to choose all such officers as towns are required by law to choose in the month of March or April annually.
Dr. Howe has favored us with interesting sketches of the early settlers of the town, and this seems to be a proper place to introduce them. As nearly all the people who were acquainted with the early set- tlers have passed away, it is impossible to gather the information which was obtainable a generation ago, and we may well be thankful that this work of rescuing from oblivion these sketches of the pio- neer settlers of the town was undertaken by one so well qualified for the task.
Colonel William Turner was the younger brother of the Rev. Charles Turner, and graduated at Har- vard College in 1767. After the completion of his education, he spent a number of years in school-
42
HISTORY OF TURNER.
teaching, and gained a high reputation as a teacher of youth. At the commencement of the Revolu- tionary War he raised a company of rangers, and marched to Cambridge as their captain. In open- ing the effective batteries upon Dorchester Point, which drove the British forces with precipitation from the town of Boston, the critical and hazard- ous duty of advance guard was assigned to Cap- tain Turner, with his Scituate Rangers; and it was executed with such daring intrepidity as to attract the favorable notice of the commander-in- chief. After the relief of Boston, Captain Turner marched his company with the main army to New York, where he was, not long afterward, selected by General Washington as one of his aids, with the rank of major. This was a situation for which, both by education, and natural gifts, Major Turner was eminently qualified, and in which he remained during the war, serving successively under Wash- ington, Lee, Greene, Lincoln, and Knox. The facility with which he transcribed general orders, and the dexterity with which he transmitted them, rendered his services in the highest degree useful to the commanding general.
He served some part of the time in every cam- paign during the war; but when the active opera- tions of the season were over, and the army retired into winter quarters, he generally returned to his
43
HISTORY OF TURNER.
family, and engaged in some more active employ- ment than that of performing the mere formalities of camp service. But when the spring opened, and the army again took the field, Major Turner promptly repaired to the post of duty. When he left the army in 1777, General Lee presented him with a valuable war-horse, in recognition of his valuable services. That winter he held a seat in the General Court of Massachusetts as representa- tive from the town of Scituate. From this date to 1779, nearly his whole time was employed in the military service, but the greater part of the latter year was devoted to civil duties. That year the State Constitution of Massachusetts was formed, and Major Turner was a member of the Conven- tion that framed it. He was also the same year a representative to the General Court of Massachu- setts, and a member of a Congress of Delegates, holden at Concord, to consider the subject of paper currency, and to devise some means of removing or mitigating the evil of its depreciation. After this year he was generally with the army until the close of the war, when he returned to Scituate, and was once more elected member of the General Court.
In 1801 he removed his family to Turner, but his health had now become too much impaired to permit him to take an active part in the duties of life, either public or private. He died at the age
44
HISTORY OF TURNER.
of sixty-one, leaving a widow, and several children. His remains were deposited in the village burying- ground, and at the head of his grave a tablet has been erected by his daughter, Mrs. Oriens Hum- phrey, of Boston. His children, with their marriage connections, were, William, who married Betsey Smith; Betty, who married Joseph Tilden; Xoa, who died December 12th, 1815; Charles Lee, who married Cascarilla Child; Stephen, who married Nabby Cooper, and fell in a sanguinary conflict on the Canadian frontier in 1814; Eunice, who mar- ried Martin Burr; Fanny, who married William Lee; Oriens, who married Benjamin Humphrey; Nancy, who married Briggs Sampson; Aphia, who remained single, in Boston ; and George, who died December 5th, 1793.
Rev. Charles Turner. From him the town received its name. He was a native of Scituate, in Massachusetts, a descendant of Humphry Turner, who came from Essex, in England, about the year 1630, and was one of the first settlers in the town. Humphry took up a settler's lot, which he left to his son Thomas, who left it to his son Charles, who in turn left it to his son Charles, and thus it has descended from father to son, and still remains in the possession of the Turner family. The subject of this sketch was born in 1732, was graduated at Harvard College in 1752, and was settled as a min-
45
HISTORY OF TURNER.
ister of the gospel in the town of Duxborough in 1755. Here he continued to discharge the duties of his calling until the political turmoil preceding the Revolutionary War, when it became expedient for him to resign his charge. He was an active and zealous Whig; and by his intimacy with Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and their copatriots; by the open and fearless manner in which he expressed his political opinions; and especially by the bold views expressed in an election sermon which he preached before Governor Hutchinson, he had given great offence to the royalists and tories of that time. The royal governors and their councils of assistants had, from year to year, found great difficulty in the selection of a chaplain to preach the annual election sermon. They finally agreed that the governor and the council should each alternately appoint a chaplain of their choice, and the right of selection having fallen to the council, that board appointed Mr. Turner. The governor and his party were disturbed by this appointment, and Mr. Gray, the treasurer of the colony, being present, expressed the hope that Mr. Turner would not, on that occasion, at least, forget the important maxim that prudence is a virtue. This remark was doubtless designed as a caution to Mr. Turner, but James Otis replied that he would pledge him-
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