USA > Maine > Waldo County > Unity > A history of the Town of Unity, Maine > Part 5
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107. Thomas was considered a good and prosperous farmer. One year he raised a bumper crop of two hundred bushels of corn, which he sold at a dollar a bushel to the lumbermen. Before this he was a poor man, but from that day until his death Thomas was considered always "well off."
108. Ibid., p. 8.
109. Ibid.
110. Unity Valuation Book, 1826-1840, in possession of the author.
111. Joshua Sinclair and family are listed in the 1800 Census of Twenty-five Mile Pond Plantation.
34
A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
where in 1794 he married Abigail Pattee, one of the ten daughters of Ebenezer Pattee. It was probably his Pattee relationship which induced him to come to Unity. The Sinclairs were primarily in- terested in lumber and operated saw mills on Sandy Stream located on the prairie.112 Joshua Sinclair owned land on Half-Moon Stream near Farwell's Mills and may have constructed a mill here also. After the best of the timber was cut off, the Sinclair family moved to Old Town, thence to Wisconsin.
In 1797, Josiah Hopkins of Standish, Maine, settled on Quaker Hill. Like many other settlers Hopkins' roots stemmed from Massa- chusetts, where he was born in Orleans in 1772. He was living in Standish when he married in 1790, Sarah Rackliff.
In 1799, Thomas Harden, or Harding as the family of later gen- erations spelled it, moved here from Eastham, Massachusetts. The Hardens were seafaring people, and it was a family tradition that they moved to Maine because of the loss of five sons at sea. Thomas and his remaining family resolved to move inland to a Maine farm.113 His wife, Phebe, was a sister of Josiah Hopkins and this fact may be the reason that Unity was selected for a new home. His young sons Josiah and Gideon accompanied their parents to south Unity and a few years later Knowles and Theodore Harding followed.
These are only a few of the families who established their roots here in the last two decades of the eighteenth century.114 For two decades, after 1800, there was a noticeable increase in the number of arrivals. After 1820 few new names appeared. The general increase in population came from the fecund pioneers. Families of ten or a dozen children were not uncommon. Henry Farwell's family con- sisted of twenty-one children; there were eighteen children in the Gideon Harding family; sixteen in Jacob Trueworthy's; thirteen in Robert Jackson's, and eleven in David Vickery's. It would not be in- correct to say that nearly every family had at least eight children. Second marriages were not unusual, and there are records of hus- bands marrying three or four times. The elder sons usually inherited the farms while younger sons either took up a trade or became set- tlers in other places. The frontier became a continual advance in Maine until the Civil War, when most of Maine was well peopled except for northern Aroostook county. Unity stands forth as one of the oldest settled towns in Waldo county.
After almost twenty years of settlement, Twenty-five Mile Pond Plantation in 1800 contained four hundred and forty-one persons,
112. Taber, History of Unity, p. 27.
113. Conversation with Miss Marion Dunn of Portland, Maine, March 1949.
114. Records of the Bureau of Census, 1800, Twenty-five Mile Pond Plantation, pp. 87-89. The following names appear in the 1800 census and may be of interest to a few readers: Jonathan Bangs, David Bean, Philip Danforth, John Fowler, Benjamin Frost, Nathaniel Frost, John Leonard. Elisha Parkhurst, Asa Phillips, Moses Rollins, David Ware, Abel Works, and Stephen York.
35
THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS
more than double the figure recorded by the last census. The adjoin- ing towns in 1800 were too recent in origin to show any comparison, though the chart of population growth in the appendix will indicate how quickly the land was taken up once settlement started. A brief history of the surrounding towns might give some idea of the develop- ment or northern Waldo county.115 Of the northern Waldo county towns Unity was settled first by reason of the advance of the settlers up the Sebasticook and its tributaries. The ridge of land extending from Dixmont, into Jackson, Knox and Montville seemed a barrier to set- tlement and almost wholly Unity, Freedom, Thorndike, Troy and Burnham were settled by groups from the Kennebec valley or from the western part of the state rather than from the coastal towns like Belfast, or Boothbay. The fact that these towns with the exception of Thorndike, which was a part of the Waldo Patent, were part of the Kennebec Purchase influenced the direction of settlement to a large extent.
1166945
In 1794 Stephen Smith, formerly of York, became the first settler of Freedom. A year before Stephen and his brothers, John and Joshua, worked on a clearing, but it was May of 1795 before Stephen and his family settled in their cabin home. Soon the Smith brothers were followed by Edmund Black and Isaac Worthen. In 1798 John Kim- ball, John Sinclair, and Aaron Gould moved to Freedom. A year later Thomas Brackett, George Brooks, and Benjamin Young arrived and in 1800 came John Brown, Bradstreet Wiggin, and Nathaniel Robinson.116 After the turn of the century Freedom grew rapidly.
The town of Thorndike, first called the Waldo Claim, attracted a few settlers before 1800. James Rich and Joseph Jones settled there in 1795 and three years later George Dyer, Edmund and Amasa Bry- ant took up residence. Four other families, namely, John White, Ezra Hanson, John Phinney, and Increase Blethen, were in Thorn- dike before 1800. Soon after 1800 Waldo Claim became known as Lincoln Plantation, which name it retained until the plantation was incorporated as a town by the name of Thorndike. In 1800 there were fifty-five inhabitants living in Lincoln Plantation, and in 1810 there were two hundred and twenty-four.
The town of Troy received its first settlers in 1793. Among them were Andrew Bennett, John Rogers, Caleb Dodge, and Pelatiah and Christopher Varney. The next year Henry Warren arrived and in 1800 Leonard Crosby came also. There were only eleven inhabitants in 1800, but by 1810 there was a great increase to two hundred and fourteen persons. Troy's rapid settlement enabled it to be incorporated as a town in February 1812 under the name of Kingsville. Other names for Troy were Bridgestown, Montgomery, and Joy.
115. It should be kept in mind that when Unity was settled it was part of Lincoln county; in 1799 it was set off to make one of the towns of Kennebec county as were the adjoining towns. In 1827 Unity was included in Waldo county.
116. Allen Goodwin Papers, University of Maine Library.
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A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
In closing this chapter upon the first settlers and the growth of the town, there are a few general conclusions which might be drawn. First, aside from establishing a home, the settlers were chiefly inter- ested in material gain. The large stands of timber were a strong at- traction, but the majority of the settlers were farmers and therefore were more interested in the land which brought them here. Second, at first the settlers were scattered and the growth of the town moved slowly until land titles were straightened out. Third, a close relation- ship of families is noted among the first settlers. Migration was chiefly from the towns of Gorham, Standish, and Limington.
CHAPTER III THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SETTLERS AND PROPRIETORS
In the previous chapter it was mentioned that the proprietors with- in the Kennebec Purchase had their holdings surveyed into lots and divisions before the Revolutionary War. Towns on the Kennebec were formally organized, but the outlying eastern areas did not populate rapidly enough at this time for incorporation into towns. The Revolutionary War halted settlement, but once the hostilities were over the impetus toward settlement was renewed. However, the years between 1780 and 1790 were hectic, turbulent years in the history of the United States. It was a period characterized by dissen- sion and instability. Money was scarce, and times hard. The absentee land speculators held tightly to their lands and were reluctant to sell. Also many of the original land holders were Tories, who were now living in England or in Canada; consequently, it was impossible for any sort of transactions to be made. But the settler did not wait. He surged ahead into the forests, making clearings and building cabins, without taking time for legal titles. Often he ignored or neglected to inquire whether the lots on which he settled were re- served as proprietors lots, or were set aside for him. "In 1799 it was found that large portions of the unlocated land of the Plymouth Patent were taken by persons who had intruded themselves without right or permission."1
The settlers were not the only ones who were careless, however; the proprietors failed to have their possessions surveyed. Not since 1769, when John McKechnie of Winslow surveyed James Bowdoin's range lots, L 1 and L 2, had any surveyor made an accurate or thor- ough survey of this region with which we are concerned. The range lines were east-west parallel lines extending from the Kennebec River to the outer boundaries of the Kennebec Purchase. They were about two miles apart and extended fifteen miles on each side of the river.2 Between the range lines the land agent or the surveyor laid out the lots. The lots set aside for settlers were approximately mile-square tracts of land, usually divided into halves appropriately numbered. Alternating between each mile square lot was a check lot, so-called, of rectangular shape, about one hundred rods in width
1. Robert H. Gardiner, "Kennebec Purchase," Collections of Maine Historical Society, Vol. II, Portland, 1847, pp. 287-288.
2. Actually the distance between the range lines was one mile and two hundred and ninety-two rods.
38
A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
and almost two miles long. These check lots were supposedly re- served for the proprietors, but it is easy to imagine the impossibility of a settler determining in the forest thickets where any boundary line ran. The logical thing to do was to select a good site for a farm and cabin. Frequently the settler either by intention or by neglect made no attempt to acquire a deed from the actual owner.3 Per- haps a year would pass before the land agent discovered the trespass. Thereupon, it was his duty to determine if the settler's location was permissible, or if he would have to warn him off. Sometimes agree- ment and sale of property was effected without trouble.
The settler was usually a poor man with little money for bar- gaining purposes. The land rates were high, and the settler strongly objected to paying them; therefore the stubborn strongly objected to vacate the hard won fields which he had so recently cleared. Until 1796 the land agents were fairly reasonable in their dealings. John Mitchell as early as 1796 was exceedingly worried about his title to his farm because of the prevailing situation.4 If the land agent or- dered the settler off the proprietor's land, the settler usually became extremely irritable and frequently refused to move. The only resort was law.
In 1789 the Plymouth Company made a settlement with the Com- monwealth "that the Company should grant to all settlers on the undivided parts of the patent, who had settled thereon previous to 1784, one hundred acres of land and that they should sell to those who had settled since, at a fair price without regard to betterments.5 The hard times and the indifference of the proprietors made the situa- tion delicate. "Lands were not surveyed, and offered for sale as the advancement of the country demanded."" Because of the large num- bers of disbanded soldiers, there was a constant demand for land. Not until 1799 did the Plymouth Company finally realize the full complications of the situation. Instead of instituting a policy of low prices and giving half of the land to the settlers, the proprietors used unwise measures. With a more liberal policy, the forthcoming trouble could have been avoided.
The settlers, highly incensed by the greedy, indifferent proprietors, pursued a policy of concerted action to resist the domineering directions of the company. As early as 1796 the squatters in the town of Jefferson asserted that the will of the majority should prevail. In other words what the squatters desired, right or wrong, was thrust upon those who wished to comply with the company. Some settlers even raised the question whether the proprietors possessed a legal right to sell their lands. Conditions reached an impasse. The pro-
3. The proprietor refused to sell at times, also.
4. Coffin, "Missionary Tour, 1796," p. 351. "John Mitchell is now worried about a title to his land; as it is claimed by the Ply- mouth Company."
5. . Gardiner, "Kennebec Purchase", p. 287.
6. Ibid.
39
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SETTLERS AND PROPRIETORS
prietors found it impossible to make further grants of their lands, since doing this "pre-supposed surveys, unless they knew what the price of land would be in advance.7 The only thing to do was to apply to the legislature for aid, which the proprietors did.
In surrounding towns as well as in Unity, settlers joined hands to protect their interests. The tenants' usual mode of action was dis- guising themselves as Indians. In this town they were called the "white Indians". In most cases they represented a coarse element of the town; the better citizens declined to participate. Usually these leaders were persons who had little to gain or lose by their misdeeds. The "white Indians", masked by outlandish get-up and fortified by drink, frequently resorted to forcible measures. Unfortunately, they victimized the innocent, and vented their rage upon individuals who saw both sides of the matter. For a time it was quite unwise to show any sympathy toward the proprietors. In Unity the squatters burned the house of Benjamin Bartlett, and they probably were responsible for the "loss by fire and water" of Ebenezer Pattee's mill. So intense was the local feeling against the proprietors, that the "white Indians" drove the surveyor out of the woods on one occasion. Another time a large force of angry, drunken men threatened to burn out David Vickery. The men were away in the fields, and the only man about the premises was the lame and aged veteran of the American Revo- lution. The women were frightened and did not know what to do, but the fighting spirit was still alive in the old soldier. His family helped the old man with his two canes out into the yard and placed him in a position where he could be plainly seen with a loaded rifle in his hands. Whether this warned the mob away, or whether the recollec- tion of his patriotism during the war changed their minds, they went away without any further action.
Between 1796 and 1815 there were scenes of resistance to the pro- prietors in Montville, Morrill, Washington and other places. The Montville incident took place in 1815, when a mob dressed as In- dians, each with a small chip in his mouth to disguise the voice, entered the tavern room where the land agent was staying for the night. The enraged mob seized the unfortunate land agent and dragged him outside by the hair of his head. It probably would have gone hard with the offending agent, if a very sensible man had not intervened in his behalf.8
In 1808 in Morrill another agent of the proprietors was victimized. When he arrived at Belmont Corner, "green Indians" seized his pa- pers and rode the unfortunate man out of town on a rail. At Belmont, writs were served upon certain of the settlers, whereupon they dis- guised themselves as Indians and resisted the officers attempting to
7. Gardiner, "Kennebec Purchase," p. 288.
8. Allen Goodwin, "A Mob in Montville", Republican Journal, Belfast, Maine, February 6, 1908.
40
A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
serve the process of law. When it became known that such officers were in the vicinity, "their approach would be heralded from one settler to another by firing guns, blowing trumpets, etc."9 From these examples it is clear that the uprising of the settlers was not an entirely local affair, but was fairly widespread.
At first the Plymouth Company requested permission from the legislature to sell their lots and divide the proceeds. Unsuccessful in this measure, they next sent agents to the settlements to obtain a written acknowledgement from the settlers admitting the company's right to the land. This, of course, was a poor scheme since the settler would not under any circumstances place himself at the mercy of the proprietor. "The Company must have been ignorant of human nature if they supposed that the settlers, having by combination ob- tained the power of resistance would now surrender at discretion."10 Naturally this situation hurt the communities. It caused the settlers great anxiety, and resulted in general neglect of the farm. There was no incentive for improvement if the land belonged to others.
In 1802 the Plymouth Company petitioned the legislature to au- thorize the Governor and Council to appoint commissioners, " 'who should determine the terms upon which the Company should quiet each of the settlers in possession of certain portions of land as may include their improvements, in such manner and on such terms as the commissioners may think best.' "11 The General Court of Massa- chusetts approved, but required the consent of the Company and of the settlers to the terms of the resolve before the commissioners could proceed. Those settlers who did not agree to the terms before a certain fixed time were barred from the benefits. By these terms the settlers were divided into three classes; first, those who had settled upon land previously to the Revolutionary War; second, those who took up land during the war; and third, those who had taken up land since the war. The latter category included all the settlers of the town of Unity.
This resolve was known as the "Submission of Settlers on Plymouth Company Land." At least eighteen settlers living in Unity entered into the agreement. A sample of the document reads as follows:12
Whereas the Legislature of this Commonwealth by a Resolution of the nineteenth of February 1802 made and provided for the quieting of settlers on the common and undivided land belonging to the pro- prietors of the Kennebec Purchase from the late colony of New Ply- mouth and for establishing commissioners for that purpose did resolve as follows: 'that the Governor with the consent of the Council be and hereby is authorized and requested to nominate and commission three disinterested persons to adjust and settle all disputes between said pro- prietors or their agents; and that the said commissioners in settling the
9. Timothy W. Robinson, History of Morrill, compiled and edited by Theoda Mears Morse, Belfast, 1944, p. 50.
10. Gardiner, "Kennebec Purchase," p. 289.
11. Submission of Settlers on Plymouth Company Land, Kenne- bec Purchase Deeds Vol. IV, Massachusetts Archives, Boston, Massa- chusetts.
41
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SETTLERS AND PROPRIETORS
terms aforesaid for quieting of any settler in the possession of one hundred acres of land - laid out as to include his improvements and be least injurious to adjoining lands, shall have a reference to three descriptions of settlers viz; those settled before the war with Great Britain; settlers during the war aforesaid and settlers since that period; or to any person whose possession has been transferred to claimants now in possession . . . And whereas Benjamin Bartlett since the War with Great Britain, to wit, in the year of our Lord, 1788 was a settler on a lot of one hundred acres of land situated in Twenty-five Mile Pond Plantation and bounds where it shall be ascertained and settled by the said Commissioners in their last report hereon the same lot, being part of land held under the proprietors of the said Kennebec Purchase, said Bartlett, a claimant now in possession thereof.
Now in pursuance of the said Resolve aforesaid, I, Charles Vaughn, an agent to the proprietors aforesaid, and the said Benjamin Bartlett do refer and submit it to the said Commissioners, they or the major part of them to settle and declare the territory aforesaid on which the said Benjamin Bartlett and his heirs and assigns shall be quieted in the possession of said lot . .. in witness whereof set our hands this twenty- first day of September, 1802.
Charles Vaughn Benjamin Bartlett
Stephen Harden) Jonathan Ordway)
Witnesses
After the commissioner's investigation the settler entered into an agreement whereby on a specific day he paid the sum of money and received a deed from Charles Vaughn in recognition of payment.13
Unity settlers who entered into submission were:14
Ebenezer Pattee
1790,
L 2, L
No. 7, No. 5,
no. 2,
100 acres
Matthew Fowler
1792,
2,
1, No. 5, No. 6,
no. 2,
31 acres
William McGray
1794,
L
1,
no. 2, 38 acres
Benjamin Rackliff
1794,
L 2,
No. 6,
no. 5, no. 2, no. 2,
100 acres
Josiah Hopkins
1796,
L
2, 1, 1,
No. 6,
no. 4,
62 acres
Nathan Parkhurst
1797,
L L
No. 5, No. 6, No. 7,
no. 1, no. 1, no. 3, no. 1, no. 2,
3 acres
Reuben Cookson
1802,
M 1,
No. 7,
65 acres
Stephen Kelley
1802,
M 2, K 1,
No. 5,
no. 1,
89 acres
Robert Jackson
1794,
L
2,
No. 6,
no. 1,
47 acres
Jonathan Ordway
1789,
L
2,
No. 6,
no. 2,
62 acres
John Chase
1789,
K 1,
No. 5,
no. 3,
50 acres
A few of the settlers applied for submission but later declined be- cause their lands joined undivided lands, or because surveys could not be made at the time. The following were included in this group:
12. Submission to Settlers on Plymouth Company Land, Kennebec Purchase Deeds Vol. IV., Massachusetts Archives, Boston, Massachu- setts.
13. In 1803 Vaughn surveyed the range lots in this town and drew up a plan, called "Plan Number 30" showing the settlements within this town.
14. See Plan No. 30, Document 1674, Maps and Plans, Massa- chusetts Archives, Vol. IV, p. 122.
15 acres
Frederick Stevens
1795, 1795,
K 1,
No. 4, 'No. 7,
95 acres
Stephen Sparrow
21 acres
James Mitchell
1799,
15 acres
Amaziah Harding
1801,
M 1,
No. 7,
80 acres
Benjamin Bartlett
1788,
M 1,
no. 1,
50 acres
John Phinney
1794,
L
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A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
Stephen Chase, Hezekiah Chase, Job Chase, Samuel Webb, Christo- pher Varney, Joseph Mitchell, Ebenezer Pattee, Abiel Lovejoy, David Ware, and Frederick Stevens.15
Even after this attempt at conciliation many of the settlers were dissatisfied. Many lived close to poverty. The embargo of 1807 caused a depression in New England, and money was scarce. The price of land remained high. These conditions forced the Unity set- tlers to prepare a petition to the Massachusetts General Court asking for relief.16
To the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled. Your petitioners, inhabitants of Unity in the County of Kennebec, humbly sheweth that we are settled on land said to belong to certain proprie- tors, who are now endeavoring to eject us from our possessions, to the inevitable ruin of ourselves and our numerous families, though in making our settlements we have undergone hardships and difficulties which would baffle all description.
We would also humbly represent to your honors that we are already adding strength and revenue to the State, while we are impairing our constitutions by the toil and hardships we endure. We have even en- tertained a hope that by unremitted labor and industry we should at least obtain a comfortable subsistence for our old age which has been a solace in our distress and an incentive to our exertions. To your Honors we now look up to shield us from impending ruin. We should further represent to your Honors that we have from the best informa- tion reason to believe that the said proprietors have no legal title to the lands on which we live and consequently they can give none.
We would also represent that these pretended claimants refuse to sell us the lands we are settled - which has a tendency to hinder popula- tion and retard the additional strength that the State might receive, as well as to be of infinite damage to us, your petitioners.
We therefore, humbly pray that your Honors would take this subject under your consideration and fully determine to whom the lands belong. We are willing to pay a reasonable price for what the lands were worth in a state of nature. We humbly pray that your Honors would order it so, that we have said lands and enjoy our possessions for what they can be reasonably worth and be allowed a reasonable time to pay and therefore your Honors, will take into consideration that we are a poor people, that we if we have but a short time to make payments, we shall be under the necessity of borrowing money and the rate of twenty-five percent interest which may operate to our utter ruin.
We therefore humbly request your Honors to grant the prayer of this petition and our petitioners as in duty bound will ever retain highest sense of favor conferred upon them.
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