USA > Maine > Franklin County > Industry > A history of the town of Industry, Franklin County, Maine > Part 18
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At the annual meeting March 11, 1811, Josiah Butler was elected chairman of the board of selectmen, with William Allen, Jr., and Esquire John Gower as associates. These gentlemen, it is believed, transacted the business of the town with care and ability, yet charged a very moderate sum for their
EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830. 205
services. Butler and Allen's bill was $3.50 and $4.50 respec- tively, while Samuel Mason, as town clerk, charged but $1.50 for his services. From these figures the reader can gain a good idea of the frugal manner in which the early affairs of the town were managed, as this was not an exceptional year. The high- way tax this year was $800, and men and oxen were allowed twelve and one-half cents per hour for labor on the roads. The sum of $110 was raised to defray town charges, including powder, which was very expensive, and other necessary military stores.
The fences in Industry, as is always the case in newly set- tled localities, were very poor, while as a rule the mowing land and tillage were unenclosed. Consequently depredations from horses, cattle and sheep on the growing crops of the settler were of common occurrence, and the pound-keeper was a necessary and important town officer. There were three of these indis- pensable officers chosen at the annual meeting of 1812, and it was their duty " to receive and safely keep all animals found running at large until claimed by its lawful owner," who was first required to pay all damages together with the cost of keeping. At the same meeting the town voted to accept a pound previously built in the south part of the town near Esquire John Gower's, " provided no charge be made for build- ing the same." Where there was no legal enclosure the officer was invariably authorized to use his barn-yard for impounding purposes. Whether the yard of the average farmer had ceased to be regarded as a safe enclosure for estray animals, or whether the action was prompted by some other cause, is not known, but the town voted March 3, 1823, to build a pound of the following dimensions, viz. : "To be two rods square, inside, with walls of stone four feet thick at the base and eighteen inches thick at the top; the wall to be sunk in a sufficient depth below the surface to prevent damage from hogs, and rise six feet above the surface." A further requirement was that the walls be surmounted by timbers " hewed three-square," and that the entrance be closed by a gate hung on iron hinges and secured by a lock and key. The contract to build the yard,
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agreeable to the above specifications, was let to Rowland Luce, for twenty-six dollars. Finding the job a work of more magni- tude than he at first supposed, he subsequently sought and obtained a release from his obligation. The site selected was near the centre of the town, on land owned by Capt. Ezekiel Hinkley, and during the summer of 1825 the yard was com- pleted. Here, in by-gone days, neighbor A was wont to im- prison neighbor B's cattle and sheep when found trespassing upon his domain, and vice versa, but pounds and pound- keepers have long since become a thing of the past. In 1858, by a vote of the town, the walls were demolished and the stone used for road-building purposes.
An effort was made in the fall of 1813 to establish a new county which would include the town of Industry. The move- ment caused no little discussion, and many were bitterly op- posed to the measure. Capt. David Hildreth and seventeen others petitioned the selectmen to call a meeting of the legal voters to see if they would instruct the municipal officers to oppose the project by sending a remonstrance to the General Court. The meeting assembled at the house of William Allen, Jr., Dec. 23, 1813, and after mature deliberation it was deemed inexpedient to further oppose the movement. The measure proved unsuccessful, however, and the town of Industry con- tinned to form a part of Somerset County.
At the session of the General Court for 1813, the following petition was presented from the inhabitants of Gower's (now Allen's) Mills, in the town of New Sharon :
To the Hon. Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, Jan. 7, 1813 :
The Petition of the Subscribers, inhabitants of the Town of New Sharon in the County of Kennebec, respectfully shows their local situa- tion is such as in a great measure, if not wholly, prevents them from enjoying the common and ordinary privileges of the other inhabitants of said town, being situated at an extreme part of said town and sepa- rated by bogs and swamps that are utterly impassable even for a horse, and at a distance of six or seven miles from where the meetings are holden for transacting town business, &c., and at the same time being
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
not more than a mile and a half from where the town meetings are held in Industry, to which place we have a direct road in good repair, that we have uniformly joined with the Town of Industry in the Support of Schools for our Children, and we there perform Military duty. Being thus situated, we humbly request your honorable body to take the premises into your consideration, and grant us relief, by setting off our Polls and estates from the Town of New Sharon aforesaid and annexing the same to the Town of Industry in the County of Somerset, by a line as follows, to-wit : beginning at the east corner of lot No. 84, in New Sharon on the westerly line of Industry, thence south forty-five degrees west about three-fourths of a mile to the East line of the Town of Farmington, and then to include all that part of New Sharon which lies to the northwest of said line, being lots No. 84 and 85, containing together, about one hundred and seventy acres.
And as in duty bound will ever pray.
(Signed)
HENRY SMITH. JAMES GOWER. RUFUS DAVIS.
The prayer of these petitioners was granted, and Gower's Mills (see p. 172) straightway became a part of the Town of Industry, and the inhabitants were annexed to school district No. 2, at Davis's (now Goodridge's ) Corner, where their children had previously attended school.
Early in 1814 the "Cold Plague" or "Cold Fever,"* as it was often called, prevailed as an epidemic, with great mortality, in many towns on the Kennebec and Sandy Rivers, in many instances extending to contiguous towns, and everywhere strik- ing terror to the bravest hearts, causing the ruggedest cheek to blanch and the stoutest to tremble. Since the first settle- ment of the town occasional cases had occurred, but these being isolated from each other, no thoughts of its prevailing as an epidemic ever entered the minds of the settlers. But in this year it assumed a very malignant type, in many instances ac- complishing its fatal work in a few days, and in some cases even in a few hours. This was a new form of the disease, and
* This disease is now known as Typhus Fever, Ship Fever, etc. Though the writer is not aware that, at present, it prevails as an epidemic in this State.
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRY.
the rapidity and dreadfulness of its work was truly appalling. In many instances it swept through whole neighborhoods and towns, prostrating entire families, tearing loved members from the family circle, claiming its victim with scarcely a moment's warning, bringing mourning to many a happy home, and every- where marking its course by scores of newly-made graves. Truly, without exaggeration, this might well be styled the reign of terror in Industry. Families and individuals were forced to suffer and die without the sympathy or aid of neighbors and friends, as few had the courage to imperil their lives by a visit to the abode of victims of this terrible disease. Of the number of deaths which occurred in this town during the prevalence of this disease, the writer has been able to gather but little definite information. Fragmentary records in his possession, however, show an unusual death rate during the year, and judging from these, we would infer that a fearful mortality was the result of its visitation to Industry.
Ebenezer Norton, who lived on the Gore on the farm now ( 1892) owned by Hiram Norton, was one of the early victims of this malady. As nearly as can be learned, he had been visiting an afflicted family, and on returning home was himself prostrated by the disease and lived but a few hours.
William Atkinson, who lived on the farm recently owned by John W. Perkins, and his entire family, with one exception, were prostrated with this disease early in March. One morning during their illness one of the neighbors, Rev. John Thompson, called to see how they were getting along, when a sight which beggars description met his gaze! On a bed lay the husband and father, his eyelids forever closed in death, while nestled by his side, wholly unconscious of her father's condition, lay a little babe scarce two years old; the mother in an almost helpless condition from the effects of the same disease, which but a few hours before had bereft her of a loving husband, while in the same room the other children were suffering all the agonies incident to this dreadful disease. Kind "Father Thompson," his heart melting with pity at the scene of suffering and woe before him, after doing what he could for the comfort of the
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
sick ones, wrapped the little daughter in a blanket and bore her tenderly to his own home. Here she was kindly cared for, and grew to womanhood, to honor and respect her kind bene- factor. She subsequently married Hiram Manter, Esq., for many years a worthy and influential citizen of Industry.
Among the deaths which occurred about the same time of Mr. Atkinson's, probably from the same cause, may be mien- tioned : Hannah Stimpson, March 26; Betscy Butler, March 29; Betsey, wife of James Eveleth, April -; Abner C. Ames, April 13; Harrison Davis, April 14; Dependence, wife of Benjamin Burgess, May 1 ; Job Swift, May I ; Elcazer Robbins, June II ; Daniel Luce, Sr., July 10; Henry Smith, Nov. 19, and Bennett Young, December 3. Amid the weighty cares and perplexing anxieties incident to this period, with money scarce and taxes burdensome, the people of Industry were not unmindful of those who had passed away. But with a spirit worthy of emulation, made a generous appropriation for enclos- ing the burial ground near Capt. John Thompson's. This burial-place is said to be the oldest one in town, and the re- mains of many of the early settlers repose therein. The inhabi- tants residing on the Gore, a valuable tract of land which had been incorporated with the town of New Vineyard, petitioned the General Court for a separation from New Vineyard and annexation to Industry. The petitioners were thoroughly in carnest, and ardently prosecuted their claims. On the other hand, the inhabitants of New Vineyard, not favoring secession, were bitterly opposed to the separation, and left nothing un- done to defeat the purpose of the petitioners. A special town meeting was called Nov. 7, 1814, at which time the selectmen were instructed to prepare a petition against the proposed separation. The full text of the petitions, with a supple- mentary letter from William Allen, Jr., then of Norridgewock, favoring the Gore petitioners, were as follows :
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled :
Your petitioners, inhabitants of a Gore of land, so-called, contain- ing about 1600 acres attached to the town of New Vineyard, in the
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County of Somerset, humbly represent that they labor under many disadvantages by being annexed to said town of New Vineyard, being separated therefrom by a range of mountains extending almost the whole length of said town, which, with the badness of the roads, in a great measure cuts off all communication between us and the other inhabitants of said town ; so that we frequently have to travel a distance equal to the whole length of said town, and commonly travel as far without the limits of said town as would nearly carry us to the centre of the town of Industry (where the roads are much better), in order to attend our town meetings. These, with other disadvantages which we labor under, in a manner debars us from enjoying the privileges com- mionly enjoyed by town inhabitants. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that said Gore of land, with the inhabitants thereon, may be set off to the town of Industry in said County of Somerset, and as in duty bound will ever pray.
New Vineyard, June 14, 1814.
[Signed]
Cornelius Norton.
Daniel Collins, Jr.
Elisha Lambert.
Tristram N. Presson.
James Graham.
James Presson.
Nathan Cutler.
Daniel Collins.
William Davis.
William Presson.
Joseph Collins. Zephaniah Luce.
In the House of Representatives, Jan. 13, 1815. Read and com- mitted to the committee on towns.
Sent up for concurrence.
[Signed] TIMOTHY BIGELOW, Speaker.
In Senate, Jan. 13, 1815. Read and concurred.
[Signed] JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
Read and committed to committee on towns.
[Signed] JOHN PHILLIPS, President.
House of Representatives, Feb. 4, 1815. Read and concurred. [Signed] TIMOTHY BIGELOW, Speaker.
To the Hon. Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled :
Your petitioners, inhabitants of the Town of New Vineyard, in the County of Somerset, humbly represent : That they are much opposed to the setting of the Gore of Land, so-called, from the Town of New
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
Vineyard, and annexing the same to the town of Industry, for the following reasons, viz. : fly. By taking of said Gore of land the best tract of land of the same bigness if taken off which will impoverish the remainder of said town.
2dy. The men that principally own the land in said Gore are much against its being set off from said New Vineyard, feeling themselves much injured thereby.
3ly. The signers of the petition for setting off said Gore, six or seven of them, do not own one foot of land in said Gore. We further state that the chain of mountains alluded to by your petitioners in said Gore, does not intercept between the inhabitants of said Gore and the Centre of the Town in the least, therefore can't view that as any reason for setting off the said Gore. Our town meetings has been alternately, so that the inhabitants of said Gore have not experienced any peculiar disadvantage by going to town meetings. We, the under- signed do therefore humbly pray that said Gore may not be set off from the Town of New Vineyard. And as in duty bound will ever pray. New Vineyard, Dec. 13. 1814.
[Signed] SAM'L DAGGETT, -
I'M. NORTON. Selectmen.
ASA MERRY,
JOSEPH W. SMITH, Town Clerk.
Benj'n C. Norton.
Joseph Viles.
Elijah Manter.
John Daggett.
Henry Manter.
Charles Luce.
Elijah Norton.
Henry Butler, Jr.
Charles Luce, Jr.
Simpson White.
Isaac Norton.
Howard Winslow.
John Spencer.
Daniel Gould.
Stephen Birse (?)
Nathan Daggett.
William Talbot .*
Thomas Daggett.
Joseph Butler.
Eben'r Casey. (?)
Solomon Butler, Jr.i
Nathan Daggett .;
Paul Pratt.
David Luce.
David Pratt.
Peter Butler.
James Ridgway.
Elijah Butler.
* Probably William Talcott.
t Undoubtedly Simeon Butler, Jr.
# In the opinion of the author, this should be Nathan Daggett, Jr.
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Micah Bryant. Jr.
John Berry.
Tristram Presson.
Eben'r Pratt.
James Graham.
Jonah Vaughn.
Rufus Viles.
Levi Young.
John Flint.
Zebulon Manter.
Solomon Luce.
Wm. Presson.
Thoms Flint.
Joseph Viles. Jr.
Wm. Barker.
David Davis.
John C. Davis.
John T. Luce.
Henry Butler.
-(?) Davis.
James Presson. (?)
Wm. Anderson.
NORRIDGEWOCK, Jan. 23, 1815.
WILLIAM SYLVESTER, Esq.
Dear Sir :- I am told there will be some opposition to the petition of C. Norton and others, and that proper measures have not been taken to fix the valuation of that part of New Vineyard described in the petition : That the whole town, by the last valuation, contained 26,000 acres and 110 polls. The Gore described in the petition contains but 1600 acres and I believe ro ratable polls, but as the land in the Gore is more valuable than the rest of the town, I think it would be correct to estimate it at 12 of the whole town ; so if the prayer of the petition- ers should be granted, three cents (on the 1000 dollars) ought to be taken from New Vineyard, which now pays 37 cents on the 1000, and added to Industry, which now pays 34 cents on the 1000. It has been proposed to have recourse to the returns of the selectmen on the last valuation, but this would be incorrect, as several of the petitioners own large tracts of land in the other part of the town, so that the valuation of their estates as returned would be no guide for making the estimate. and it would be desirable to have an estimate made as correct as the case will admit, so as not to have the petitioners to pay their State and County taxes in New Vineyard till the next valuation. I sketch you a rough plan of the towns of Industry and New Vineyard, by which you may see the situation of the petitioners. Yours Respectfully.
[Signed] WM. ALLEN, Jr.
The prayer of these petitioners was granted, and that valua- ble tract of land known as the New Vineyard Gore became a part of the town of Industry.
On Sept. 23, 1815, occurred one of the most violent and extended gales known in the annals of New England; but
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
every effort of the writer to learn something of its effects in Industry has proved unavailing.
Hardly had a year clapsed after the close of the second war with England, ere the separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts became a subject of much discussion. For a time the legal voters in town were about equally divided on the question, and at a town meeting held May 20, 1816, the vote stood twenty-four opposed and twenty-six in favor of a separa- tion. At a second meeting holden Sept. 2, 1816, the oppo- nents of the project were in the majority, the vote standing thirty-eight and forty. No further action appears to have been taken by the town relative to this question until May 3, 1819. On that date a special meeting was called and a majority voted in favor of the separation. At a subsequent meeting, holden July 26, 1819, when the question was finally submitted to the people, the vote stood: in favor of separation, 51 ; op- posed to it, II. Captain Ezekiel Hinkley was chosen delegate to the constitutional convention, which assembled at Portland on Monday, Oct. 2, 1819. The constitution there framed, when submitted to the people for ratification, was unanimously adopted by the voters of Industry. On April 3, 1820, the legal voters for the first time gave in their votes for governor of Maine. These were declared as follows: William King, 40 votes ; Mark L. Hill, 7 votes; Samuel S. Wild, 3 votes; Scat- tering, 2 votes. The vote for a representative to the first Maine Legislature given in at a subsequent meeting was: For Esquire John Gower, 55 votes ; for Capt. John Reed, 36 votes.
From 1810 to 1820, the town made a gain of two hundred and sixteen in population, and also added forty-one ratable polls to the number of its tax-paying inhabitants. There was likewise a net gain, between 1812 and 1821, of $30,- 521 in the value of property as shown by the State valua- tion of that period. But little of importance occurred in the history of the town between 1820 and 1825. In 1821 the sub- ject of forming a new county was again agitated, and on the Ioth of September the town voted forty-nine to six against leaving the County of Somerset. Capt. John Thompson,
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Bartlett Allen, Capt. Jabez Norton and Esq. Daniel Shaw were chosen a committee to draft a remonstrance.
In the winter of 1821, Sherburne Fogg and family, from Sandwich, New Hampshire, became chargeable to the town. Mr. Fogg was blind and infirm, and one of his daughters is said to have been non compos mentis. In their indigent circum- stances the inhabitants of the town felt that the expenses of this family were an unjust and onerous burden. Learning that the legal residence of this family was in Sandwich,* various meas- ures were suggested for relieving the town of its burden, and at different times offers were made and accepted for their removal to that place. Notwithstanding this, the Foggs con- tinned to make their home in Industry, and for several years were a source of much trouble and great expense.
A Sunday-school, probably the first in town, was organized in Deacon Emery's neighborhood about 1821. This school held its sessions in the school-house to the south of Deacon Emery's residence (scc p. 94). Nothing can be learned regarding the school aside from the fact the Deacon and John Mason were ardent supporters, if not the originators of the movement. t
Between 1820 and 1824, many roads and private ways were laid out by the selectmen. These, from some unexplained reason, became a cause of frequent dissensions and proved a source of no little trouble to the municipal officers. One short piece of road in particular, running north from West's Mills to the New Vineyard line, was located and re-located several times before it became permanently established. To keep its roads safe and passable was a work of considerable magnitude and great expense to the town. When the sum annually ap- propriated for that purpose proved insufficient, all propositions to raise an additional sum were invariably voted down. The
* See " Reminiscences of John Mason," in Chapter XII.
+ A Sunday-school was something new, and the term did not sound right to the Orthodox ears of the townspeople. The subject occasioned no little discussion, and some regarded it as an unwarranted desecration of the day of rest. Esq. Samuel Norton was so thoroughly convinced of this that he made the suggestion that the school be held on Saturday afternoon, for a while, until people could have an oppor- tunity to judge of its fitness for the holy Sabbath.
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
beginning of the year 1826 found the roads in an extremely bad condition. Indeed, a complaint against them had already been made to the Grand Jury, and a law-suit seemed imminent with a prominent townsman for injuries his horse had sustained in consequence of their defective condition. These develop- ments seem to have roused the people to action, and at a town meeting held Sept. 23, 1826, the highway surveyors were in- structed to open the roads at the expense of the town when- ever obstructed by snow.
James Davis was licensed to retail spirituous liquors, by the selectmen, in December, 1821, being the first person so licensed in Industry under the new State license law.
In 1822 the inhabitants residing in the New Vineyard Gore (sce p. 46) sent a petition to the Legislature, praying that their estates be set off from Industry and annexed to the town of Strong. This movement was strongly opposed by the town of Industry, and the prayer of the petitioners was not granted.
When the Lowell, or Mile-and-a-half Strip, was surveyed by Esq. Cornelius Norton, in 1802, the boundaries at Stark line were not known. Consequently the whole of Lot No. I, and a portion of No. 2, in the first range, with nearly seven- eighths of Lot No. 29, in the second range, were found to be in Stark, when the boundaries were at length permanently established. Esq. Peter West, the first settler on Lot No. 29, found to his surprise that his barn was in the town of Stark, though his house was in Industry. The grist-mill at West's Mills proved to be in close proximity to the town line, as did also the barn on the lot north of the brick school-house. A petition was drawn up in 1820, and presented to the Legislature early in 1821, but no action was taken, aside from notifying the towns interested, until January, 1822, when the prayer of the petition, which reads as follows, was allowed :*
* Although the records of that town do not show they were authorized so to do, the selectmen and town clerk strongly remonstrated against granting the request of the petitioners. Their claims and assertions were of the most sweeping character, as the following excerpt abundantly proves :
If the petitioners labored under any real grievance, although it might injure the town of Starks, we should be silent. The town line was well known at the time of
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRY.
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Mass.,* in Legislature assembled :
Respectfully show your petitioners that they are the proprietors and owners of a lot of land, numbered twenty-nine, situated part in the North East corner of Industry, and part in the North West corner of Starks, in the County of Somerset, containing about three hundred and sixty acres : The course of the town line not being known, when this lot was originally laid out and settled, one of your petitioners erected his buildings inadvertantly so that a part of them are in Starks. That the most convenient places for building are in that part which is in Starks. That your petitioners have for fifteen or twenty years past, been settled in, and become inhabitants of the town of Industry : That they are unwilling to relinquish their privileges and rights as inhabitants of this town, where their interests and connections are identified, and that their estates would become much more saleable and would be im- proved to a much better advantage if the whole of said lot were annexed to said Industry. That the above lot is so separated by bogs and swamps, from the other settlements in Starks, that no benefit could be derived from town privileges if your petitioners were to build their houses on that part of said lot which lies in Starks, and thereby become inhabitants of that town, that their interests would be greatly promoted and no one would be injured if the prayer of this petition should be granted.
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