USA > Maine > Franklin County > Industry > A history of the town of Industry, Franklin County, Maine > Part 19
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They therefore humbly pray that, that part of the lot of land num- bered twenty-nine, which lies in the North West corner of Starks, may
the settlement of said lot, and if a part of the buildings of one of the petitioners was inadvertantly located in Starks, it was his own choice, and he onght not now to attempt to encroach on the limits of the town. Besides, if the prayer of the petition should be granted, one encroachment will follow another until the town will be dismembered of the best part of its territory and settlers. The town now nearly square and taking a large lot out of one corner will be of more injury to the town than any possible benefit to the petitioners. We therefore earnestly pray that the prayer of the said petitioners may not be granted, and as in duty bound will ever pray. Starks, Dec., 1821.
[Signed] BENJAMIN HOLBROOK, )Selectmen of
EDGAR HILTON,
LEANARD GREATON, Starks.
JAMES WAUGH, Town Clerk.
* It will be noticed that this petition was addressed to the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts. Soon after that the District of Maine became an independ- ent State and this petition, with other documents, was transferred to the State Legislature of Maine. This circumstance also explains the delay in granting the prayer of the petitioners.
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
be set off from said Starks and annexed to the town of Industry. Industry, 1820.
PETER WEST, Jr. TRUE REMICK. SAMUEL PINKHAM.
I own a small part of the above lot, and join in the above petition. [Signed] BENJ'N MANTER.
The success of Peter West, Jr., and others, in securing an- nexation of this lot so changed the northern boundary line of Industry as to render it possible for the inhabitants on the southwest corner of Anson, who were isolated in a measure from the rest of the town, to petition for and secure the neces- sary legislation to constitute them citizens of Industry and their farms a part of the town. This petition, now preserved in the archives of the State at Augusta, reads as follows :
To the Hon. Senate and House of Representatives, of the State of Maine, in Legislature assembled :
Your petitioners would humbly represent that they are inhabitants of the Town of Anson, in the County of Somerset, in said State, that they are situated in the southwest corner of said town, that they are highly discommoded in their situation in said town as to town privi- leges, being separated from said town by a swamp or bog, which renders our route to trainings and town meeting circular and lengthy, a distance of about ten miles to the usual place of holding town meetings, as also being very inconvenient as to schools, it being a number of miles to any other inhabitants in said town, and our number is not sufficient to support a school ourselves. We therefore pray that we, the sub- scribers, may be set off from the said town of Anson and annexed to the town of Industry adjoining ; together with the several lots of land on which we live, with all the privileges thereon, being Lots No. one and two in the first range of lots in said Town of Anson, containing four hundred acres. The granting the above petition will much im- prove our situation in town affairs in particular, the education of our children, and advance the value of our farms; as in duty bound will ever pray. Anson, Oct. 8, 1822.
[Signed]
PETER W. WILLIS. BENJ'N MANTER. JAMES STEVENS. WILLIAM BUTLER.
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRY.
This petition received the immediate attention of the Legis- lature, and ere the month of February, 1823, had passed, the petitioners had their prayer granted.
Early in 1825 parties who had been for some time discuss- ing the subject, caused to be inserted in the warrant for the annual meeting, an article "To see what sum of money the town would raise to build a town-house." The article was summarily dismissed without action, at the meeting. A similar article fared the same fate in a meeting held Sept. 11, 1826. On the following day the selectmen issued a second warrant calling a meeting of the legal voters on the twenty-third day of the same month. At this meeting Thomas Bondley, of Hal- lowell, was elected to select a convenient site for a town-house. The location of the house seems to have remained an unsettled question until February, 1827, when the town voted to locate it " at the junction of the Bannock Hill and New Sharon roads, near widow Anna Norton's." But to this selection there were many dissenting voices and other locations proposed. This want of harmony paralyzed all action, and Industry's town- house existed only in the fancies of its projectors.
In the autumn of 1825, after a drouth, the severity of which had never been equalled in the history of the town, fires broke out in the woods in Industry, about the same time as the great fire at Mirimichi. There was a great scarcity of water all over the town; wells were either dry or yielded a limited and uncertain supply, and springs which had previously been con- sidered " never-failing" now absolutely refused to yield a single drop. A fire in the woods, dreaded as it naturally is at any time, becomes infinitely more dreadful when it occurs during a great scarcity of water,-when our homes are threatened by the fire fiend without any means at command to defend them. Such was the situation in Industry when the fire broke out. The protracted drouth had rendered the half-decayed vegeta- tion of the woods and swamps as combustible as tinder, and, fanned by a strong breeze, even evergreens burned like pine kindlings. Is it strange that, under such circumstances, the inhabitants stood abashed and appalled at the spectacle? The
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CENTRE MEETING - HOUSE.
Engraved by the LUX ENGR WING CO., Boston. Irom a photograph made in 1902 by Ingalls & Knowlton, Farmington, Me.
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
fire first broke out on the mountain near the house of Rowland Luce. From thence it spread rapidly in many directions, burn- ing over large tracts of territory and destroying much valuable timber, and in some instances happy homes were reduced to ashes by the devouring element. For days at a time the smoke would be so thick as to render breathing very oppressive. Among the burnt lands was a large tract eastward from Tib- betts's Corner, a portion of which now belongs to the so-called William Henry Luce farm. Also a portion of the farm re- cently occupied by the widow of Charles H. B. True.
As the people of Industry began to emerge from poverty and want, they keenly felt the need of better accommodations for public worship. Hitherto religious meetings had been held in school-houses or in the dwellings of such as were willing to open their houses on those occasions. Now even the largest school-houses were not of sufficient capacity to accommodate the church-goers. To meet the requirements of the case, the town voted Sept. 9, 1822, to appropriate $200 for building a meeting-house, and chose a committee of nine to locate the house, procure plans and make all necessary preliminary arrangements for its erection. There is no record of this com- mittee, and it is probable no report was ever made, for so large a number could hardly be expected to agree on any subject when so great a chance existed for difference of opinion. No further action is shown to have been taken by the town in regard to a meeting-house until March, 1824, when the town was again asked to appropriate money for that purpose. The record of the meeting is incomplete, hence what action was taken on the article is not known.
The Methodists, aided largely by Capt. John Thompson, erected a house of worship in 1823 (see p. 130), near Pike's Corner, in the cast part of the town.
Evidently those interested in the erection of a house of worship, becoming discouraged, ceased to look to the town for aid, and resolved to erect a house by private subscription. The first movement in this direction was made by the citizens of Industry on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 1827, when a meeting was held
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRY.
at the Centre School-house at Davis's Corner. The assembly organized by calling Benjamin Allen to preside, and electing Capt. Newman T. Allen clerk. The meeting voted to build a house of worship, and chose Esquire Moses Tolman, John Trafton, Jacob Hayes, George Hobbs, Capt. Ezekiel Hinkley, James Eveleth and John C. Butterfield, a building committee. It was also voted that each subscriber for a pew should give a " confession note " to indemnify the building committee. The constitution framed and adopted was as follows :
CONSTITUTION OF THE INDUSTRY UNION MEETING-HOUSE.
Art. Ist. Each person shall be entitled to a vote respecting the occupying [of] the desk and the time of occupying [to] be divided by the votes for the time [or term] of one year in [a] succession of Sab- baths, and any pewholder shall have the right of altering his vote at the expiration of one year from the time the vote was last taken.
Art. 2d. Each denomination shall have an agent appointed that other denominations shall apply to respecting his denomination occupy- ing the desk when belonging to them, and if they are not going [to use it ] the first denomination applying shall have the same right to occupy as though it was their turn.
Art. 3d. Each pewholder shall have a right to occupy the desk himself or by any other person at any time, providing he does not infringe upon previous appointments ; providing, nevertheless, that no man shall occupy the desk himself or make appointments for any other [person] except he be a professor of the christian religion and of good moral character and suitably recommended as a preacher of the gospel.
Art. 4th. No meeting of the proprietors shall be holden unless the agent of each denomination shall be notified seven days previous to said meeting. [Signed]
Henry B. Rackliff.
Ezekiel Hinkley.
Alvan Smith.
Moses Tolman.
James Davis. Nathan Goodridge.
Freeman Allen.
James Eveleth.
Newman T. Allen.
Eben Willard. William Harvey. Rufus Gennings.
George Hobbs. Benjamin Allen.
* The words here inclosed in brackets were obvious omissions, either in draw- ing up or recording the instrument. They are here supplied lo complete the sense.
EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830. 221
Jacob Hayes.
John Trafton.
William Allen.
Francis Meader, 2d.
Elisha Luce.
Josiah Hinkley.
Josiah Butler.
James Bailey.
James Stanley.
Rowland Luce.
Valentine Look.
Daniel Luce.
Aholiab Bigelow.
Benjamin Cottle.
Cornelius Davis.
David Luce .*
Francis Remick.
John C. Butterfield.
Charles 1 .. Allen.
At a meeting held by adjournment on Friday, December 14, it was decided to put up at public auction the furnishing of material and construction of the house. Accordingly the vari- ous contracts were struck off as follows :
Foundation and Underpinning, to Josiah Hinkley, $49.00.
Frame, to William Harvey,
100.00.
Finishing the Outside, to Benjamin Allen. 375.00.
Lime, to Rufus Gennings, at $2.48 per cask.
Furring. and Lathing inside, to James Davis,
46.50.
Sand, to Elisha Luce, 6.75
Hair and Plastering, to Gen. Nathan Goodridge. 16.00.
Finishing Inside, to James Eveleth. 325.00.
$918.25.
Thus it is seen that the house, exclusive of lime for plaster- ing, etc., cost nine hundred and eighteen dollars and twenty-five cents. In the month of February following, the proprietors chose Revs. Sylvanus Boardman and Fifield Holt, and Judge Thomas Parker, of Farmington, a committee to locate or select a site for the structure. The report of the committee is dated at Industry, Feb. 27, 1828, and the site selected is the one on which the house now ( 1892) stands. There is much uncertainty as to the date when the house was completed, as the records of the proprietors are incomplete. They chose a committee to
* This was David M., son of Charles and Catherine ( Merry) Luce. He was commonly called " Pond David Luce," from the fact that he lived near the shore of Clear Water Pond, and to distinguish him from another person of the same name who resided near West's Mills.
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRY.
settle with the building committee April 30, 1829, hence it is but reasonable to infer that the house was completed prior to that date. The financial affairs were managed with so much ability that an excess of $56.65 remained in the hands of the building committee after all expenses were paid. The author has not been able to learn anything definite concerning the dedication of the house or the date. of its occurrence .* The proprietors continued to hold business meetings regularly up to the close of 1838, but their organization was eventually lost by deaths and removals from town.
A number of wealthy gentlemen residing at or near West's Mills, met in the spring of 1828 to consider the propriety of erecting a third house of worship in Industry. As the result of this conference, the following constitution was drawn up and accepted :
INDUSTRY NORTH MEETING. HOUSE CONSTITUTION.
Art. ist. The house shall be called the Industry North Meeting- House.
Art. 2d. The house shall be built on the south line of a piece of land now owned by Mr. John Remick, on the west side of the road leading from West's Mills to the New Vineyard [line] a few rods north of the school-house.
Art. 3d. The house shall be considered the Methodist and Con- gregational Meeting-House, one-half to each denomination. The Methodist shall have [the] right to improve [use] said house one-half of the time and the Congregationalists the other half, to be divided into weeks [of] equal [length ].
Art. 4th. The house shall be built by all the pews [pew owners] . in proportion to what the pews may sell for.
Art. 5th. Each [owner of one] pew shall be entitled to two votes.
Art. 6th. The weeks of each denomination's turn to use said house shall commence on the Sabbath.
* From the best recollections of the older people, such as Mrs. Phebe Cushman, Teressa Luce and Nancy Leavitt, Rev. Joseph Underwood, of New Sharon, preached the dedicatory sermon, and Rev. Sylvanus Boardman offered the dedicatory prayer. Mrs. Cushman, who assisted in the singing on that occasion, is of the opinion that the house was dedicated in the fall. She states that the weather was fine and the exercises very interesting and enjoyable.
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
Art. 7th. Either denomination shall have [the] right to use said house for the Worship of God on the Sabbath or on week days, not- withstanding it is not their turn to use it, provided it is not used by those whose right it is to use it.
Art. 8th. No person Shall have a right to Sell a pew at private Sale without posting up Notice of the same in said house three weeks previous to the Day of Sale.
Art. 9th. There Shall be a Committee to Superintend the build- ing of said house.
Art. roth. There Shall be an annual Meeting holden on the first Monday of May forever, to transact any business that may be thought necessary Relative to said house.
Art. 11th. This Constitution Shall be binding in all its parts after Being Signed by two-thirds of the pew holders.
Art. 12th. Said house Shall be at Liberty at any time, and for the use of pew-holders, one-half Day for funeral Services.
Art. 13th. This Constitution may be Revised at any annual meet- ing, by a majority of two-thirds of the Voters who may be present at said meeting. Said meeting shall be notified four weeks previous to said day. Notice Shall be posted up in said house by an agent who Shall be chosen for that purpose.
Art. 14th. Each denomination shall have [a] right to admit or exclude any person to or from any private meeting agreeable to the usual custom of said churches.
Art. 15th. Each denomination shall have [a] right to use the house at any time for yearly and Quarterly meeting.
Art. 16th. The Calvinist Baptist church shall have [a] right to use said house out of the half [of the time] belonging to said Con- gregational church in proportion [to] what they own in said house.
Art. 17th. The house shall be built agreeable to the annexed plan, and shall be built by the lowest bidder at auction by his giving bonds to the acceptance [satisfaction] of the [building] Committee.
Industry, [Maine, ] May 17th, 1828.
[Signed]
Daniel Shaw. William Cornforth.
Samuel Shaw. True Remick.
Peter W. Willis. James Stevens.
John D. Spaulding. Ira Emery.
Henry Luce.
Joseph Viles.
Rufus Viles, Jr.
Samuel Daggett.
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRY.
Matthew Benson.
Menzir Boardman."
Hiram Manter.
James Manter.
Isaac Norton.
John S. Bradbury.
John Gott.
Zebulon Manter.
Benjamin Manter.
James Thompson.
Peter West.
Jabez Norton.
David Luce.
Leonard Luce.
Benjamin C. Norton.
The signers of this constitution are all dead ( 1887) and no record of their transactions as a society is to be found. The house was built on contract by John Gott, of Industry, for one thousand dollars. Mr. Gott was an excellent workman, and so long as it stood the house was a worthy monument to the honor and integrity of its builder. The excellence of the material used, and the superiority of its construction, were the constant admiration of all.
Although the society was organized in the spring of 1828, the house was not erected until the following year. It was completed near the close of December, 1829,f and dedicated in the month of February following.
The completion and dedication of this house was an impor- tant event to those interested in the enterprise; but of the dedicatory exercises the writer has been able to gather but little worthy of note. The number present on that occasion was
* This is the identical person whose name Hon. Francis G. Butler ( History of Farmington, p. 561 ) spells " Melzer." Undoubtedly Mr. Boardman's christian name had its origin in the old Scripture name, Melzer, but he did not so spell it in 1828, when he affixed his name to the constitution of the Industry North Meeting-House.
t From a memorandum in the day-book of Hiram Manter, Esq. This date cor- responds with the recollection of Major James Cutts, who writes the author as follows : " My father moved to Industry in 1829. I was in my twentieth year. The church was built that fall or early in the winter." Stephen Allen, D. D., thinks it was dedicated in 1828 or 1829, but does not seem to be positive as to the exact date.
Major Cutts further says, in regard to the house, " It was remodeled-the gallery cut down in 1862, and a bell-tower built in 1864. My brother, Capt. Oliver Cutts, sent a bell to me with the request that I present it to the societies worshipping there. I wish to add that thirty-four years had elapsed since the house was first dedicated, and on both occasions the house was packed to its utmost capacity. I was present on both occasions, and on presenting the bell, I asked all in the congregation who were present at the first dedication to rise; there were but six present beside myself !"
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EVENTS FROM 1810 TO 1830.
very large, and the sermon was preached by Rev. Obed Wilson, of Bingham, Me., a local preacher of talent and ability .* Rev. James Warren was "preacher in charge" at that time, but his part in the exercises is unknown. Thus it will be seen that in the incredibly short period of eight years the inhabitants of Industry erected three churches, costing in the aggregate not far from $3,000, and that, too, without incurring any indebted- ness.
* Obed Wilson, son of Oliver and Sarah (Haywood) Wilson, was born in Nor- ridgewock, Me., Oct. 15, 1778. He was converted in 1804 or 1805, and soon after began to preach. Ile was a man of much natural ability and an eloquent speaker. He died in Skowhegan, Me., Nov. IS, 1840, aged 62 years, 1 month and 3 days.
CHAPTER XII.
POST-OFFICES, REMINISCENCES OF JOHN MASON, AND CORRESPONDENCE OF CAPT. JERUEL BUTLER.
Lack of Postal Facilities .- High Rates of Postage .- First Post-Office Established .- Jonathan Goodridge Appointed Post-Master .- Mail Brought from Farmington .- Mail from Stark Once a Week .- Mail Route Changed .- Mail Received via New Sharon .- James Davis Appointed Post-Master .- Other Post-Masters .- Industry Post-Office Changed to Allen's Mills .- Post-Office Established at West's Mills .- Esq. Peter West Appointed Post-Master .- Lower Rates of Postage .- Stamps First Used .- Era of Cheap Postage Begins .- Rates Fixed According to Weight Instead of Distance .- Other Post-Masters at West's Mills .- Glass " Call- Boxes " First Introduced .- Mail Carriers .- Change of Time .- Industry Gets a Daily Mail from Farmington .- North Industry Post-Office, Etc.
FOR many years after its settlement the town of Industry was wholly destitute of postal facilities. Indeed the present complicated and efficient system of mail service was then in its infancy. If any resident of the town found it necessary to communicate with friends or acquaintances living at a distance, the letter must needs be sent to a post-office in some neighbor- ing town. Then, too, it required considerable time for a letter to reach its destination, however short the distance might be. The rates of postage were so extremely dear that letters of friendship were seldom written, save by those in affluent circum- stances. Consequently the inconveniences resulting from the remoteness of a post-office may not have been so keenly felt in those days as they would be at the present time.
When the town was incorporated six cents was the smallest fee charged for a single letter, and this increased up to twenty- five cents for carrying one of equal weight a distance of four hundred and fifty miles. These continued with slight variations
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POST-OFFICES, ETC.
up to 1816, at which time the rates charged were six cents for any distance less than thirty miles, ten cents for eighty miles, twelve and one-half cents for one hundred and fifty miles, eighteen and one-half cents for four hundred miles, and twenty- five cents for a greater distance. Early in the year just men- tioned, an effort was made to establish a post-office at the centre of the town, and the names of Jonathan Goodridge and Bartlett Allen were presented as candidates for the position of post-master. Timothy Johnson, then post-master at Farm- ington, wrote a letter bearing date of June 12, 1816, to the authorities in Washington, stating that "Jonathan Goodridge and Bartlett Allen, living near the centre of the town, are respectable men and capable of making good post-masters." He further stated that Mr. Goodridge was a strong supporter of the government, while Mr. Allen, the other candidate, was not in sympathy with the administration. The office was established Oct. 12, 1816, and took for its name that of the town in which it was located. With the customary partizan spirit manifested by the dominant political party, Mr. Goodridge received the appointment. This office, when first established, was supplied from Farmington, but subsequently a mail was received once a week from Stark .* Still later the route was changed, and the mail was brought from New Sharon via Winslow's Corner to Davis's [now Goodridge's] Corner, once a week. When the office at West's Mills was established, the route was extended to that place, and from thence to the office at East New Vineyard. James Davis, Sr., having erected a store and entered trade at the Corner which for many years bore his name, was Mr. Goodridge's successor as post-master, and conducted the office in connection with his mercantile business. After a continuous service of more than eighteen years, Mr. Davis was succeeded by Gen. Nathan Goodridge, a son of Jonathan Goodridge, previously mentioned. Gen. Good- ridge was a man much respected by his townsmen, and filled the position of post-master acceptably for many years. He
* The writer gained this information from Truman, son of Bartlett Allen.
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HISTORY OF INDUSTRY.
was commissioned three times under different administrations, and was holding the office at the time of his death. In the interim several persons, including Deacon Ira and Mark Em- cry, held the office for longer or shorter periods, according to the length of time their party was in the ascendency. During all these years the office remained in the vicinity of the spot where it was first established, with the exception of a little more than a year and a half when Samuel R. Allen was post-master. Mr. Allen was appointed March 6, 1863, and the office was thereupon removed to Allen's Mills and kept in the house recently occupied by Wm. H. Johnson, although its name remained unchanged. Mr. Allen was a popular official, but the change in location was strongly opposed, and on his removal from town Gen. Nathan Goodridge was appointed his successor and the office was again established in the vicinity of its original site. Strenuous efforts were frequently made, how- ever, to secure its permanent location at Allen's Mills, but without avail. After the death of Gen. Goodridge, Hovey Thomas was appointed to fill the vacancy, and continued in office until the fall of 1879, when, by mutual consent, the office was removed to Allen's Mills and the name changed to that of the village in which it was located. The following is a list of the persons who have held the office of post-master of the Industry and Allen's Mills post-office, with date of ap- pointment :
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