USA > Maine > Waldo County > Unity > A history of the Town of Unity, Maine > Part 6
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Henry Farwell
Jonas Mason
Joshua Sinclair Frederick Stevens
Benjamin J. Rackliff
Joseph Mitchell
Jacob Trueworthy
Amos Jones
Daniel Small
John Bickmore
Joseph Rich
Charles Bickmore
Mark Libby
Josiah Danforth
John Scribner
Stephen Kelley
John Scribner, Jr.
Job Chase
John Perley Enos Briggs
15. Reuel Williams Papers, Kennebec Purchase Grants, Vol. I, II, Report of Charles Vaughan, February 19, 1803, p. 16. Maine His- torical Society, Portland, Maine.
16. William King Papers, Box 4, Maine Historical Society. Abner Knowles probably prepared this petition. The handwriting appears to compare with other examples of penmanship of the town clerk.
43
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SETTLERS AND PROPRIETORS
John Chase Benjamin Cates Rufus Burnham Daniel Whitmore
John Melvin Abner Knowles Benjamin Stevens Nathaniel Frost
James Berry Thaddeus Carter
Samuel Parkhurst William Banton Timothy Walker
Jonathan Vickery
Woodbridge Pearson
James Meservey
Thomas Tufts Ichabod Hunt
Nathaniel Stevens
Nathaniel Emery Simeon Harding Peter Jackson Hiram Hurd
Joseph Woods
Robert Jackson
John Rackliff
Thomas Parkhurst Abel Works
Joseph Stevens Sedate Bickmore
Whether this particular document had the desired effect in Unity would be difficult to say, but in 1809 James Bowdoin began selling a good share of his holdings in the large range Lots L 1 and L 2. To effect a better transfer of property, James Bowdoin had Charles Hay- den, with the help of Peter Jackson, Clement Rackliff, Jacob True- worthy, and Nathan Parkhurst all of Unity as chairmen, surveyed all the settlers' claims in the Bowdoin owned range lots L 1 and L 2. Several deeds were drawn up in 1809 for the sale of land with prom- ises to pay within an allotted time. Among the Unity men who came to terms with Bowdoin were the following:17
Jacob Trueworthy
lot number 8,
108 acres,
$332.
Dominicus Rackliff
lot number 39,
65 acres,
229.
Benjamin Rackliff
lot number 40,
62 acres,
217.
Simeon Murch
lot number 41,
901/2 acres,
317.
David Vickery
lot number 42,
144 acres,
454.
Jonathan Vickery
east div. 38,
100 acres,
375.
Joseph Stevens
lot number 11,
62 acres,
200.
Ichabod Hunt
lot number 43,
25 acres,
103.
Josiah Hopkins
lot no. 19& 26,
361/2 acres,
146.
Amos Jones
lot number 21,
92 acres,
146.
James Gilkey
lot no. 22& 27,
101/2 acres,
146.
John Melvin
lot number 29,
(failed to make his payments )
After Bowdoin's death in 1811 the widow, Sarah, disposed of most of the Bowdoin holdings in Unity.
The willingness of the proprietors to come to terms, during the first decade of the century, made it possible for the settlers for the first time to look ahead with more optimism. Now the past was an unpleasant memory. Most of the farmers had gained a title to a farm, although it was several years before the last payment could be made on the mortgages. The end of the war of 1812 ushered in more prosperous times and restored the confidence of the settler. Not only were his fortunes on the upturn, but in 1820 the advent of a new state softened his attitude. Truly the future looked brighter.
17. Kennebec Deeds, Vol. XX, pp. 76, 77, 78, 85, 90, 91, 92, 94, 101, 104, 105, and 107.
CHAPTER IV LIFE AND TIMES AND INCORPORATION
Life in a rural community of Maine at the beginning of the nine- teenth century presented its trials and tribulations. The first years were ones of extreme toil and hardship. The task of providing enough food for the hungry mouths in the family was no small chore. At best the early settler could raise hardly enough to support his wife and children, to say nothing of having surplus produce for market. A better house and shelter for the animals were always uppermost in their thoughts. However, the farmer-settler's first job was cutting down the forest growth. The ring of the axe resounding through the woods was a familiar sound for many a year. Much labor was expended in order to clear the canopy of interlacing branches so that the sunlight could shine on a plot of earth. Today the method of clearing employed by the settler seems rather novel. They called it "drivin'", a method extensively used and described in Ridlon's Saco Valley Settlements. Without doubt many a hardy Yankee found "drivin'" an easy way to overcome the wilderness. "This was accom- plished by undercutting the trees upon a considerable area, on one and the same side, until a number sufficient for a 'drove' were ready to be driven down." An especially large driver-tree was selected which stood at the rear and 'felled' upon the nearest neighboring tree, which fell in turn carrying the other trees with it.1 The settler then allowed the wood to season until it was dry and then set fire to it. A slower method was individual cutting. The trees were trim- med and rolled together into great piles which were burned. After an interim the settler planted his crops between the stumps. When he found time, he either burned or pulled the stumps out by the roots with his oxen.2 There was, of course, a great waste of good lumber; some of it found its way to the saw mills; but there was such a great abundance that burning it proved the most practical means of getting rid of the surplus. Moreover, by manufacturing potash the settler derived a fractional income from the wood ashes. Great quantities were made in every town; the corner beyond Charles Edgerley's house was at one time know as Potash Corner.
1. G. T. Ridlon, Saco Valley Settlements and Families, Portland, 1895, pp. 41-42. This method was customary in Unity as told to the author by James S. Bither, who heard it from his grandmother Mit- chell.
2. The old fences which the settlers built from the multitude of stumps have now almost entirely disappeared.
45
LIFE AND TIMES AND INCORPORATIONS
The first cabins were constructed of hand-hewn timber. The set- tler's dwelling was small, constructed of square logs laid one upon another, matched at the corners; the walls rose to a height of about seven feet. Usually two windows were allowed which were covered with an oil paper, but a few enjoyed the luxury of glass set in small panes. The door was frequently made of a single, wide pine board. The floor may have been packed hard and sanded, or constructed from plank split from basswood logs. The roof was covered with long shingles hand-made from pine logs four feet in length. These shingles were split from straight-grained white pine, since they were lightest, most durable, and the easiest wood to use.3 A great fireplace, made of field stones or sometimes brick, located usually at one end, lighted and heated the cabin. These log houses were well built and served the settlers' until a more commodious house could be built.4
During the first year of settlement the settler usually cut over three to five acres of woods; the second year he burned over this ground, planted a little corn between stumps and cut more trees. Before har- vest season of the second year, the settler usually brought in his fam- ily. In the third year he sowed his first wheat, and if fortune smiled upon him, he put up a small barn. Even before our forefathers erected roomy dwellings for their families they built barns. The reason was simple, because it was quite impossible for them to improve their status without livestock for draft and food purposes. Barn raisings were community affairs. Neighbors came from miles around and co- operated in putting up the frame work and heavy wooden beams. Before the neighbors were invited in for the 'raisin', the farmer and his stalwart sons put much of the frame together on the ground. The big timbers were hand-hewn with a broad axe, neatly and ex- pertly done. The frame was put together on the ground, held with wooden pegs, and then heaved into place by the exertions of the men. The young bucks heaved extra hard if a comely lass was standing nearby surveying the "goin's on". After the day's labors were done, the evening was spent socially, often heated by liberal amounts of rum and cider. Sometimes wrestling bouts enlivened the occasion. Stephen Chase erected the first barn in Unity in the early 1790's, and Thomas Fowler built the second in 1797.5
By the fourth year the settlers usually found their situations im- proved; now they were able to increase their crop acreage by raising hay, wheat, a little rye and corn. If conditions warranted, a frame house was erected not more than seven or eight years after the first clearing.6 Now they were "old settlers." New families often made
3. Pierce, History of Gorham, p. 145.
4. A good description of a log cabin of pioneer Maine is presented in My Folks in Maine by C. A. Stephens, pp. 6-7.
5. Murch, History of Unity, p. 8. The old Chase barn was burned one Sunday afternoon in the early 1860's. It was set afire by boys play- ing with fire.
6. William Allen, "Sandy River Settlements", Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine, 1856, Vol. IV, p. 40.
46
A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
their headquarters with the "old settlers", while the new arrivals got located. This is probably one of the chief reasons why many of the early settlers were kinsfolk. Before 1800 there were few frame struc- tures in the town of Unity, however before 1810 there were still less than a dozen. Stephen Chase and his son, Hezekiah, built a frame house, "a little down from the top of the hill, where it sloped down to broad beautiful meadows.7 This old house was many years later moved to the brick house built by Hezekiah Chase, where it was added as an ell." Year by year a few more large frame houses were constructed.8 Cramped and confined in the exceedingly small log cabins, they constructed their frame houses with large dimensions in order that the lady of the house might have plenty of elbow room as well as space for the ever enlarging family.
Undoubtedly the greatest problem during the first years was getting enough to eat.º Game was plentiful initially but disappeared as the population increased. John Perley, who lived in south Unity, was working in the woods when he spied a bear in a tree. Not having his rifle at hand and wanting the bear at all costs, Perley was momen- tarily perplexed. He feared if he left the tree that the bear would come down. Since he was unable to kill it without his rifle, he had to make a quick decision. Off came his trousers with drooping gal- luses attached, which he stretched and fastened around the tree. Perley then dashed home, seized his rifle and returned to the tree guarded by his trousers. The bear, which was still there, he imme- diately shot. The bruin provided food supplementing an unvaried diet.10
Each settler was responsible for providing enough for his own fam- ily, and there was barely enough to go around on many occasions. "New settlers raised corn at first in all places, and lived on it two or
7. Chase, Twice Told Tales, p. xii.
8. Murch, History of Unity, p. 8. "Robert Carll related that at the time he moved to Unity (1807) that there were but two complete frame houses in town. Whether this is entirely accurate it is difficult to say, but before the year 1810 there probably were less than a dozen frame houses. In 1800 Benjamin Bartlett erected his dwelling house. The brick house near the railroad was built probably as early as 1795.
9. They lived on berries and other things during the summer months. John Melvin said that he ate raspberries and milk for break- fast until it was time to harvest the grain. (July and August were the most difficult months. See Allen, "Sandy River Settlements", Vol. IV, p. 39.) On one occasion his family was near starvation and he gathered his grain just in time. Melvin put his grist on his shoulders and started for Sebasticook very early in the morning. He got it milled as soon as possible and started right back, so that it was just sunset as he neared his house. Just as he neared his door, he was seized with fear that his family might have perished during the day. Before he got up courage to enter his dwelling, he climbed upon a stump where he could see in and count the members of his family to make sure nothing had hap- pened to them while he was gone. (Letter from Mary Boynton Blake, Gorham, Maine, to author, August 5, 1939. Mrs. Blake was born in Unity and remembers the old timers well).
10. Conversation of Mrs. Marjorie Lowell, Unity, to author, July, 1949.
47
LIFE AND TIMES AND INCORPORATIONS
three years, till they could get the land in condition to raise wheat."11 Indian corn was the national crop and was eaten three times a day in the form of porridges or johnny cake, or a "rye and injun" pud- ding. The hog, an inexpensive animal to keep, roamed at will through the woods, supplied the chief meat products. "Salt pork three times a day was regarded as an essential part of American diet."12 "Thus the ordinary rural American was brought up on salt pork, and Indian corn or rye, and the effect of this diet showed itself in dyspepsia." To offset this unbalanced fare liberal amounts of rum served as a solvent and a tonic. Samp or hominy made of cracked corn and well boiled was a common dish. Fish was a favorite food when it could be obtained. Paul Coffin staying over night at Daniel Whit- more's had "fine smoked herring and fresh pickerel for supper and breakfast."13 Herring and shad came up the outlet to the pond, and "after the Sinclair dam was built one could stand on the shore and with a sieve dip a year's supply in a few moments."14
For many years until the first grist mill was built, the settlers found it necessary to take their corn or wheat to Winslow or Clinton for grinding. If the settler was not fortunate enough to own a beast of burden (few of them had a horse or an ox) he shouldered a sack of grain and carried it fifteen miles or more to the mill. Young boys frequently shared in these duties. Usually it was an overnight jour- ney, regarded by the lads as a great adventure.
Farm tools were crude, showing slight improvements since Biblical times. "The plough was rude and clumsy; the sickle as old as Tubal Cain; therefore tillage was by strain and sweat of human limbs."15 Stock consisted of unimproved breeds and in many instances was ill cared for. The swine and cattle ran loose, feeding on what pasture they could find.16 Oxen were the favored work animals; they were not only cheaper than horses but the ox alone could hold his footing on the rough sod. His steady, sure pull was more reassuring than any horse; he could live on hay or grass without grain, and withstand more exposure than a horse. But there was another reason for the ox's preference; not only did his stolid strength serve great usefulness, but he furnished food and boot leather, when his years of service were finished.17 The early settlers found feeding themselves was one prob- lem; clothing themselves was another. Fine clothes were not for the country folk who resided here between 1780 and 1820. They wore homespun, cut and made at home. The clothes were mostly woolen,
11. William Allen, "Now and Then," Collections of the Maine His- torical Society, Bath, 1876, vol. VII, p. 271.
12. Henry Adams, History of the United States During the Ad- ministration of Thomas Jefferson, vol. I, pp. 43-45.
13. Coffin, "Missionary Tour, 1796," p. 318.
14. Taber, History of Unity, p. 12.
15. Adams, History, p. 17.
16. As late as 1830 the cattle of the town of Unity ran loose, though provision for building a pound was made at the town meeting of March 13, 1805.
17. Adams, History, p. 17.
48
A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
though linen was combined with wool to make a cloth called "linsey- woolsey", used for under garments and shirts. Our great-grandmoth- ers raised flax from which they manufactured their linen.18 The loom was a prominent article of furniture in the home and the noise of its shuttle or the whirr of the spinning wheel was a familiar sound. The process of carding, spinning and weaving occupied much of the homemaker's time. Herbs or vegetable dyes provided color for cloth. From sumac leaves the housewife obtained black; yellow from bur- dock leaves, or golden rod; purple from elderberries; from birch bark, willow bark, or sassafrass bark, they received a rose-tan color. Woolen frocks and breeches dyed with yellow oak or hemlock bark were common. Ladies wore full skirts, with plenty of petticoats, and a shawl or kerchief over their shoulders, and a mobcap on their heads. "Boys often suffered for food or clothing; their clothes usually made from waled cloth taken from the loom." They wore trousers without any flannel.19 Reuben Murch wrote (quoted by Mr. Taber) that sometimes boys did not have shoes in winter time, and while cutting wood in order not to stand barefoot on the snow "a large chip was heated and used to stand on."2º Such instances were probably quite unusual.
Before 1800 the affairs of Twenty-five Mile settlement were much disorganized. Since the town records do not date back further than 1802, it is probable that little concerted action took place before this date. The farms were too scattered, and there were too many other pressing matters. By 1802 the inhabitants were more firmly estab- lished, and they were able in August of this year to call their first plantation meeting. They gathered at Lemuel Bartlett's in the after- noon, elected plantation officers, and discussed the articles of the war- rant.21 They voted to raise one hundred dollars to defray necessary expenses, "which have, or may accrue in the plantation." Abner Knowles was chosen town clerk, Joseph Carter served as moderator; and Lemuel Bartlett, John Perley, and Nathan Parkhurst were chosen selectmen and assessors. For the next few years plantation and town meetings were held at the homes of Benjamin Bartlett, John Chase and Benjamin J. Rackliff.
During the first decade of the new century the population steadily increased. In the region of Quaker Hill a good-sized settlement was already concentrated. By the beginning of 1804 the inhabitants asked the Commonwealth for incorporation.
18. Raising flax was a special industry and the variety of opera- tions by breaks, swingel, and hatchel through which it passed before it was twisted around the distaff of the linen wheel is a chapter largely forgotten.
19. Allen, "Now and Then," p. 71. Flannel meant underwear.
20. Taber, History of Unity, p. 13.
21. Unity Town Records. Book I (1802-1828) Warrant dated 30 July 1802.
49
LIFE AND TIMES AND INCORPORATIONS
Benjamin Bartlett drew up a petition, which was circulated about the plantation for the affixing of signatures.22
To the Honorable the Senate and the Honorable the House of Rep- resentatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled -
The petitioners of the inhabitants of the Twenty-five Mile Pond Plantation in the county of Kennebec, humbly shew that they arc destitute of many privileges and advantages resulting from municipal regulation; they therefore pray that said Plantation with the inhabi- tants thereof may be incorporated in a town, by the name of New Columbia and may enjoy all the privileges and immunities which other towns enjoy; said Plantation is bounded as follows: viz. Begin- ning at the northwesterly corner of General Knox Patent, and thence running parallel with General Bridges town line, north one hundred and forty rods; thence west, north west five miles; thence south, south- west six miles; then east, southeast to General Knox's Patent line; thence on said line to the bounds first mentioned.
And as in duty bound will ever pray,
Benjamin Bartlett
Abner Knowles
Daniel Whitmore Amos Jones
Henry Farwell
Hezekiah Chase
Jonathan B. Ordway
Frederick Stevens
John Boody
Daniel Richardson
Benjamin J. Rackliff
John Stevens
Robert Jackson, Jr.
Nathaniel Stevens
Peter Jackson
Ichabod Hunt
Stephen Sparrow
Simeon Murch
Charles Hopkins
Jonathan Vickery
James Mitchell
William Hunt
Joseph Stevens
Samuel Kelley
Mark Libby
David Vickery
Joseph Green
Nicholas Dodge
David Bean
Joshua Sinclair
John ? Gerry
David Ware John Chase
Noah Mitchell
Josiah Whitney
Samuel Webb
Charles Whitney
Lemuel Bartlett
William Mitchell
John Perley Nathaniel Frost
Joseph Carter
Jeremiah Mitchell Matthew Fowler
John Melvin
William McGray
In January 1804 the House read the petition and concurred, then it was sent to the Senate, but no action was taken until the first of June. A bill of incorporation was prepared and on the fifteenth of June 1804, "the bill having had two several readings, passed to be engrossed and sent down for concurrence." Five days later the House made the same recommendations, and on the twenty-second of June 1804, the Plantation became the town of Unity, the one hundred and fifty-third town incorporated in the District of Maine.23
What circumstances existing in the first years of the nineteenth century impelled our forefathers to call the town Unity? It bears a certain distinction and in comparison with other names of towns is
22. Petition to the General Court, January 1804, Massachusetts Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
23. William Williamson, The History of Maine, Augusta, 1830, Vol. II, p. 598.
Joseph Mitchell, 2nd
50
A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
quite individualistic. It is said that long ago our progenitors selected the names of children from the Bible, and the names of towns from the hymn book. Perhaps this is partially true. Most Maine towns fall into four divisions; first, those named after persons and places; second, those named for patriotic terms; third, those taken from Indian names; and fourth, those with some reference to physical features, or to a natural terminology. There were a few based upon foreign sources, including some of Biblical origin.24
Unity fits under the category of a patriotic term.25 Unity was not the first name submitted when the incorporation papers were sent to the Massachusetts General Court. In January 1804, the Unity townsmen selected the name of "New Columbia" for their choice, an equally impressive name ringing with idealism and the patriotism spirit of 'seventy-six. The appellation New Columbia was for some reason rejected. Perhaps it sounded too much of Jeffersonian democ- racy for the Federalist legislators of the great Commonwealth. If they objected to "New Columbia", it seems improbable that they would have approved of Unity. At any rate it was resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives "in General Court assem- bled and by the authority of the same that the Plantation heretofore called Twenty-five Mile Pond, in the county of Kennebec . . . be incorporated into a town by the name of Unity .. . "26
Unity was incorporated in an election year. Politics was then a major factor in the lives of the people. Jeffersonian democracy existed almost wholly in the frontier districts. According to an early inhabitant of Unity the town was named for the then existing "unison in political sentiment."27 Unfortunately the town clerk of Unity neglected to record the results of the 1804 election, so it is impossible to learn exactly how the voters stood in the election. We may be sure that most of the citizens of the town belonged to the Democratic Party for Unity was a Democratic stronghold until after the middle of the century. This was an era when we note in Ameri- can history the rise of the common man. The frontier was an in- tensely democratic place where everyone was regarded as an equal. Many of them had suffered at the hands of the large land holding
24. Stanley B. Attwood, Length and Breadth of Maine, Augusta, 1946, pp. 29-30.
25. The historian in his researches must be careful not to confuse the two. The proprietor's records of "a place called Unity" are de- posited with the Maine Historical Society, but they do not concern this history, but that of New Sharon.
John McKechnie of Winslow in 1769 surveyed the lands of the pro- prietors east of the Kennebec. He was one of the first to be familiar with the lakes and ponds in this vicinity. In all probability, McKechnie named Unity Pond Twenty-five Mile Pond, as it was twenty-five miles from Fort Halifax, at Winslow. Coffin, "Missionary Tour, 1796", p. 318.
26. Private and Special Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, (1780-1805), Vol. III, pp. 455-456.
27. Williamson, History of Maine, Vol. II, footnote, anonymous let- ter, undated, p. 598.
51
LIFE AND TIMES AND INCORPORATIONS
proprietors who represented the upper class. It was not surprising to see the settlers repudiate the party which the proprietors repre- sented. Hence, it is highly probable that when the voters of Unity voted in the election of 1804, they were "in unity" for a second ad- ministration of our third president, Thomas Jefferson.
In the initial stages of settlement population was concentrated in the Quaker Hill neighborhood known as "the settlement." The "settlement" flourished as the center of the town until 1830. The attractions of Sandy Stream and the increasing traffic of the Penob- scot "post road" pointed up advantages of the present village site. A store or two was put up as early as 1823, and in 1831 a tannery was established on the stream.28 Soon shops and houses sprang up to rival the Quaker Hill community. The inhabitants of the "settle- ment" applied a name to the present village, which is not forgotten even today. They named it "Antioch", probably more in jest than in any seriousness, but the appelation stuck. When they drove their teams to the village, old timers always said they were "going to Antioch".
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