USA > Maine > Franklin County > Industry > A history of the town of Industry, Franklin County, Maine > Part 23
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The bread for the family, usually made of corn meal, was either cooked on a board before the open fire, in the cabin, or in an oven built of flat stones laid in clay mortar, which was "blasted" whenever the supply of that needful article became low. Soda or saleratus was not known in those days, but many substitutes for it were devised by the frugal housewife. One of these was the burning of corn-cobs, which made very white and strongly alkaline ashes, which were used much in the same manner as the soda of to-day. Sugar and molasses, save what
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was made from the sap of the rock-maple, were luxuries seldom if ever seen in the home of the hardy pioneer. Friction matches, now an indispensable article in every household, were unknown in the early days of the town. Various expedients were resorted to in lighting the fires; one of the most common ways of keeping fire over night was to cover up a brand with coals and hot ashes in the large open fire-place. Some kept a box of tinder which was ignited by a spark produced by striking flint against steel. Others would put a little powder in the pan of their flint-lock musket, and with the flash of the pow- der ignite a bunch of tow. Occasionally, when none of these conveniences for starting a fire were at hand, a brand would be borrowed from a neighboring settler's fire. If the distance was long, a slow match would be made by tightly rolling a live coal in a piece of linen rag. In this manner fire was sometimes carried more than a mile.
The grain when ready to harvest was usually reaped and bound into bundles or sheaves, and when thoroughly dried was threshed with the old-fashioned flails. When corn was planted the bears proved a source of much annoyance by eating and destroying large quantities after the kernel was filled. To pre- vent these depredations fires were sometimes kindled around the piece at nightfall and kept burning until morning. An Indian named Pierpole, who lived for many years on the Sandy River in Farmington and Strong, would sometimes come and watch for bears and seldom it was, indeed, that the black marauder escaped his steady aim. In connection with these depredations the following interesting adventure is related of
JAMES GOWER AND THE BEAR.
In 1819 James Gower owned and occupied the house at Allen's ( then Gower's ) Mills now owned by Herbert B. Luce. lle also owned a grist-mill a little below the house, on the stream at the outlet of the pond, and sometimes a pressure of work at the mill would compel him to work nearly half of the night.
On the high ground to the west of the mill Mr. Gower had
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a patch of corn enclosed by a log fence. A bear made frequent nocturnal visits to this cornfield, much to the annoyance of its owner. Bruin would gain entrance by tearing down a length of fence and usually passed out at his place of entrance.
"Happening into his mill late one afternoon," writes Mr. Truman A. Allen, "I found Mr. Gower with a neighbor planning a scheme for the capture of the depredator that very night. Going to the house Mr. Gower soon returned with an old flint- lock musket of Revolutionary fame. The gun was in a sad condition, the barrel all eaten with rust and the lock separated from the stock. Scouring it up as best he could, he oiled the lock and fastened it in its proper place by a couple of wooden pins. Then to make the parts still more solid a tow bag-string was tied around the whole. The next thing in order was to load this formidable weapon. A large handful of powder was poured into the barrel and a huge wad rammed down on top of it. Then two leaden bullets, weighing one ounce each and wrapped in a rag to make them fit the bore of the weapon, were also rammed home." By this time the barrel of the old musket was nearly half-full, " and," says Mr. Allen, " it was a question of doubt in my boyish mind whether the miller or the bear would be killed." The manner of attack decided upon was to be a flank movement from the north, as the wind was blowing from the south. Mr. Gower was to lead the van with his gun, fol- lowed by his aid carrying an axe, and a lantern concealed in a bag. Mr. Allen, then a lad of nine years, volunteered to carry the bag, but was coolly informed that it was high time that all babies were at home and in their beds. The next morning he was up bright and carly, after dreaming of bears all night. Eating a hasty breakfast he hurried to the cornfield. Here hc found some half-dozen men standing in a circle around some object and was soon among them.
There lay the bear with two round holes in his head. The story of the capture which he then heard was as follows : "At ten o'clock Mr. Gower stopped his mill and extinguished the lights. After waiting an hour they noiselessly proceeded to the cornfield and found the bear already there, evidently enjoying
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his meal of the succulent green corn. Approaching within twenty yards of the bear without being discovered, the miller took deliberate aim and fired. His aid immediately drew the lantern from the bag and rushed forward to learn the result of the shot. Finding the bear hors de combat, he returned to look for the miller, but lo, he was not to be found where he had stood when he fired the shot. After some search he was found some distance away, apparently in an unconscious condition. He revived, however, and with the exception of a few severe bruises was soon all right. The gun was found the next morning somewhere in the lot."
Soon a pair of oxen hitched to a drag came along, and the bear was hauled down to the mill where he tipped the scales at four hundred pounds. Thus ended one of Industry's most famous bear hunts.
If the settler was fortunate enough to own a cow, a bell was suspended from her neck and she was allowed to wander through the forest at her own sweet will. Hogs were marked and, like the cows, turned loose in the early spring and were not driven home until it was time to fatten them in the fall.
After the carly settlers had become well established in their new homes, the whir-r-whir-r of the spinning-wheel and the rattle of the loom were familiar sounds in many cabins, and by their aid the industrious housewife wrought nearly every . yard of fabric from which her own and her family's wardrobes were replenished. Flax was extensively cultivated, and the little foot-wheels whereon the fibre was twisted into thread can occasionally be found. Home-made tow and linen cloth were the housewife's main reliance, and from them was made a large portion of all the clothing worn by her family. When the flax was ready to harvest no small amount of labor was required to prepare it for the spinner. After it was pulled, dried and deprived of the seed, the stalks were spread upon the ground to be rotted by the alternate action of the dew and sunshine. This process rendered the woody portion of the stalk brittle, but left the tough fibre intact. The bundles were then re-bound and packed away to await the leisure of the winter months. It
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was then broken, swingled, hatcheled and spun into thread. The hatcheling, as well as the spinning, was done by the madam. There is a tradition that Industry's first representative# in the Legislature was clad in garments all of which were manufactured by members of his own family.
Sheep were kept and woolen cloth was also made. It is a matter of regret that no statistics exist from which a reliable estimate of the conditions of this industry can be made. Greenleaf in his Survey of Maine, published in 1829, on page 210, says : "Sheep form an important part of the agri- cultural capital of the State, their products form much of its annual income, and will probably at some day constitute one of the principal, if not the staple, commodities of the state. It is to be regretted that no returns have been made of this valuable animal with which the State abounds, nor any data exist from which an estimate, to be depended on for any considerable degree of accuracy, can be drawn. It is known that besides furnishing the material for a large part of the clothing of the inhabitants and not a small part of their food, large numbers are annually driven to other New England States; how many we have no means of knowing except from an account of the number which passed Haverhill and Piscataqua Bridges in 1827, which was more than 3300."
In 1832, the earliest date of which we have any reliable in- formation, there were 663 sheep owned in Industry. The fact that Wm. Cornforth, who came to Industry in 1817, built a full- ing-mill soon after his arrival in town also shows that woolen cloth must have been extensively made at this early date. As the manufacture of that commodity pre-supposes the raising of wool, it would be but reasonable to infer that the introduction of sheep was nearly contemporaneous with the settlement of the town.
The first innovation made in the early methods of cooking was by the introduction of the tin baker, brought into town by the ubiquitous John Smith, a tin-peddler from Cumberland
James Davis.
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County. These bakers were first used about 1830, and were considered a great improvement. Deacon Ira Emery bought one of the very first sold in this town. The deacon also bought the first, or one of the first, cook-stoves ever used in town. This he purchased in Augusta in the winter of 1836. A few years after that Mr. Crowell, of New Sharon, introduced the Hampden stove, having an elevated oven, which afterwards came into very general use. In this instance Deacon Emery bought the first and General Nathan Goodridge the second one used in town. The first cast-iron plows were brought into town by Captain Martin Moore, who moved on to the farm on " Mount Hungar " in Stark, now owned by the heirs of James Brackett. These plows were made of poor iron and proved decidedly un- satisfactory to Deacon Emery and others who bought them. Later a better built plow was offered for sale which eventually became very popular in this town as well as elsewhere. The first thorough-braced wagon was brought into town by Thomas Meade, from Bridgton, somewhere between 1830 and 1834. James Stanley, then living between where Davis Look and David W. Merry now live, bought it of Meade. This carriage was 'Squire Stanley's special pride, as well as the wonder and envy of the neighborhood.
Shoe-making for the most part, especially in large families, was done by some itinerant shoemaker who, with his kit of tools on his back, would wander through the settlement working for whoever desired his services. Some of the larger families would keep him employed for a week or more. Each shoemaker was obliged to make his own pegs and his shoe-thread was also home-made, spun from flax and often in the same family where it was used. The stock was bought, not by the shoemaker, as is the custom at the present time, but by the settler himself.
General Nathan Goodridge and Ebenezer Swift were the first to bring a threshing-machine into town. This machine was probably purchased as carly as 1837. It consisted of a double horse power and an iron beater, without any accessory machin- cry for separating and winnowing the grain. The latter operation was usually performed by the men with a hand-mill, in the even-
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ing after the completion of the day's work with the machine. More recently machines with a winnowing attachment were con- structed which soon superseded all others.
The sewing-machine was first used in Industry in the family of Rev. Simeon W. Pierce, in 1860. This was an Elias Howe machine, sewing what is known as a chain-stitch. The lock- stitch machine soon followed, and so rapidly has this valuable invention gained favor in the past twenty-five years that more than three-fourths of the families in town are now using it. About the time of the introduction of the sewing-machine Al- bert Shaw bought a mowing-machine, which he continued to use on his farm until his death, which occurred in 1868 .* Gen. Nathan Goodridge purchased a machine about the same time or soon after Mr. Shaw, and in 1866 George W. Johnson bought and used the first Buckeye mowing-machine ever seen in In- dustry.
The Hampden stove, of which previous mention has been made, was very popular and extensively used for many years. Its enormous fire-box gave it a remarkable capacity for consum- ing fuel and, as a natural consequence, it proved a great heat generator. When the box or " air-tight " cook-stoves, as they were sometimes called, first made their appearance they were regarded with much disfavor, and up to the year 1860 were little used in this town. Since then, however, they have steadily gained favor and have entirely supplanted their former rival.
Among the early settlers various methods of ascertaining the flight of time were adopted. Some used a sand-glass, the contents of which would run from one compartment of the in- strument to the other in a given time, usually an hour. Others made use of the sun-dial, which was a rather uncertain chron- icler, as the sun southed at a different time nearly every day in the year. At night the hour was predicted from the position of certain stars ; but on a cloudy night how lonely must have been
* Compared with the latest improved machines, Mr. Shaw's mower was a clumsy affair, and quite expensive. Yet it did its work well and was a great improvement over the hand scythe. This machine, known as the Union Mower, cost about $150, as nearly as can be learned.
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the vigil of the anxious watcher ! The first clocks brought into town were made of wood without cases. They were manufac- tured by S. Hoadley, of Plymouth, Connecticut, and cost up- ward of twenty dollars. The cases were made by some ingen- ious carpenter, or they were occasionally suspended from the wall and run without a case. The Seth Thomas clock was a good time-keeper and also quite popular in its day. The Hoadley and Thomas clocks were much alike in their construc- tion.
Nails were hammered out, one at a heat, at the blacksmith's forge in early times, and consequently were very expensive. Indeed, but few could afford them, and in many instances boards were fastened to the frames of buildings with wooden pins.
The cheerful glow of the fire in the large open fire-place, with its fore-log and back-log, was the only evening light of which the cabin of the early settler could boast. After a time the tallow dips came into use. These were made, as their name indicates, by dipping wicks of cotton into melted tallow and allowing them to cool, then repeating the process until the dip attained the required size. To economize time a dozen wicks would be suspended from a slender rod, all of which were dipped into the melted tallow at the same time. Even so simple a matter as " dipping candles" required skill and judgment to produce a candle, firm in texture, which would burn with a clear steady light. In this manner the thrifty housewife would make her year's supply of candles and suspend them from a numer- ously-branched hook for safe keeping. Moulded candles were also used to some extent, but at first when only a single or per- haps a double mould was used the process was slow and incon- venient. Lamps for burning fish-oil were afterwards introduced to some extent, but the oil had its disadvantages. A burning- fluid, composed of camphene and alcohol, was used by a limited number. It gave a very good light, but was quite expensive. Most people regarded it as very dangerous, hence but few had the hardihood to use it.
Kerosene oil was first used in Industry about 1861 or 1862. Like other radical innovations upon established methods, it was
34
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regarded with much disfavor at first, but its illuminating quali- ties were so excellent that it rapidly gained favor and soon came to be very generally used.
The method of making maple-sugar has also undergone im- portant changes since the first settler notched the trees with his axe, caught the sap in birch-bark buckets and "boiled it down " in large iron kettles out of doors .* William Allen, Jr., one spring soon after his father settled in town, made nine hundred pounds of sugar in this way by his own unaided labor. Other settlers also made it in large quantities.
Formerly all intentions of marriage were "cried," at public religious meetings, for three Sundays in succession .; The town clerk acted as crier on these occasions, and undoubtedly his announcements sometimes created quite a sensation among the assembled worshipers. Subsequently a written copy of the intention was posted, usually on the meeting-house, which sup- planted the custom of " crying."# From Oct. 6, 1863, to June 10, 1868, every certificate of intention of marriage, from the town clerk, required a five-cent revenue stamp to render it valid.
Business writing and correspondence were practiced under difficulties wholly unknown to the modern letter-writer. Quill pens were then used, and the writer must needs make and fre- quently thereafter mend his own pen. Indeed, it was as much a part of the pupil's education to become skilled in making and mending pens as it was to form the letters with neatness and accuracy. Without the one the other was hardly attainable.
* The first patent sap-evaporator in town was purchased and used by Thomas A Allen, about 1883.
+ Years ago a queer custom prevailed in newly-settled towns, where large num- bers of swine were turned loose to roam the woods. Each year, at the annual meeting, several hog-reeves were elected to capture and impound all hogs found trespassing on the settlers' growing crops. Whenever a marriage occurred in the settlement, the happy groom was sure to be elected hog-reeve at the next annual meeting.
# The author recollects of frequently hearing, in his younger days, of persons being " posted" when their intention of marriage had been entered with the town clerk, long after the practice had fallen into disuse.
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A deft hand was required to successfully whittle, point and split a quill pen. For this purpose a sharp, small-bladed knife was used, which thus gained the name of "pen-knife." The final and most difficult part of pen-making was to cut and split a point. Concerning this operation the following homely, but oft-repeated quatrain was their guide :
" Cut it on wood, 'Twill never be good; C'ut it on your nail, 'Twill never fail."
Although quill pens have long since gone out of use, pen- knives are still sold by nearly every dealer in cutlery. Large sheets of heavy unruled paper were generally used. Envelopes were unknown. In correspondence the address was placed on the back of the sheet, which was then folded and sealed either with wafers or sealing-wax.
Among the queer people of Industry in its early days was an itinerant shoemaker by the name of Morse. This nomadic cordwainer used to travel through the town and work up the settler's supply of leather into boots and shoes for the family. Morse was an inveterate story-teller and noted for his habit of exaggeration. Once while at work for Capt. Benjamin Manter he entertained his employer with an account of an enormous Indian pudding which he once made. "Why," said he, "it was so large that when the people gathered around it and began to eat, those on one side ate a little too fast, the mass lost its equi- librium and tumbled over, killing two men and a dog. After this," continued the narrator, "to prevent further loss of life a law was passed prohibiting the use of more than ten bushels of meal in a single pudding."
A good story is told of Dr. Jonathan Ambrose at the expense of Dr. John A. Barnard. Dr. B. was a very spare pale-faced person with black hair and flowing beard, which rendered the paleness of his countenance all the more striking. On one oc- casion Doctor Ambrose asked his opinion in regard to some real or fancied ill. After a careful examination Doctor B., who was something of a wag, said in hollow, sepulchral tones, " Doc-
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tor, I think you are very near to the boundless shores of eternity." "I believe you are right," quickly replied Doctor A., in his peculiar squeaky voice, "one ghost has already appeared to me."
A good story is related concerning a camp-meeting held by Father Thompson over half a century ago.
There had been considerable revival interest manifested, and many lost sheep had been gathered into the fold. One morning good Father Thompson took for his text the words of the Lord unto Moses from the burning bush: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." On hearing which Mr. B., a gentleman from a neighboring town, who had just passed "From darkness unto light," and who de- termined to obey the scriptures in the literal as well as the spiritual sense, immediately removed his shoes, which he did not replace until the close of the services.
An amusing anecdote is related of an Indian named Takoo- sa, of the Nantacket tribe, who once lived in Industry.
One very cold morning Capt. Benjamin Manter, meeting him on the road, bantered him in regard to his half-clothed conditon and remarked, "I should think you would be cold," to which the Indian replicd :
" Is your face cold, Mr. Manter?"
"No," replied Capt. M.
"Well, me all face," was Takoosa's laconic reply.
CHAPTER XV.
EVENTS FROM 1830 TO 1860.
Condition of the Town .- Population .- Valuation .- Small-pox Scare .- Attempt to Change the Centre Post-Office to Withee's Corner .- First Public House Opened. -Extensive Land-owners .- Large Stock-owners .- Effect of the Iligh Tariff on the Inhabitants of Industry .- Residents in the South Part of the Town Ask to be Made Citizens of New Sharon .- Remarkable Meteoric Shower .- "Temperance IIotel " Opened .- Other Public Houses .- Financial Crisis of 1837 .- The Surplus Revenue Distributed .- Auroral Display .- Franklin County Incorporated .- Diffi- culties in Choice of Representative .- Prevalence of the Millerite Doctrine .- End of the World Predicted .- 7000 Acres Set off from New Vineyard and Annexed to Industry .- Vigorous Fight of the Former Town to Recover its Lost Territory. -The Pioneers of Liberty .- Destructive Hail-storm .- New County Roads Estab- lished .- Subject of Erecting a Town-house Discussed .- A Grand Sunday-School l'icnie .- The Free-Soil Party .- Efforts to Suppress Rumselling .- Town Liquor Agents .- The License Law .- General Prosperity of the Town .- One-half of the New Vineyard Gore Set off to Farmington .- South Point of the Town Set off to New Sharon, etc.
TIIE town of Industry entered upon a new decade with brightening prospects for its future, and the ten years succeeding rank among the most prosperous in its history. At the begin- ning of this decade the town could boast of three churches (two of them newly erected), two post-offices, four stores and a population of 902, being an increase of nearly sixteen per cent. in the last ten years. There were in town one hundred and sixty-one polls of the age of twenty-one years or more, and the whole sum of money raised in 1830, exclusive of county tax, was $682. This sum making the rate per cent. of taxation only twelve mills on a dollar, taking the State valuation of 1831 as a basis. Not yet deprived of its pristine fertility the soil yielded bountifully and corn, wheat and rye were among the more im- portant cereal crops, while potatoes yielded at the rate of from
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three to five hundred bushels per acre. Socially a new era was gradually dawning on the inhabitants of the town. The refining influences of christianity were gradually pervading the land, and under its benign rule they were fast becoming an industri- ous, frugal and temperate people. True, in this as in every town, there were some of intemperate habits and a few who were idle and shiftless, but this class was largely in the minority .* Under such favorable conditions the growth of the town was very rapid-the wealth increasing over 182 per cent. in the ten years, while the growth in population for the same time was only a fraction over 15 per cent.
Feeling keenly the need of better roads the citizens of the town voted, at their annual meeting in 1830, to raise $2000 for the repair of highways, it being the largest sum ever appropri- ated for that purpose in any one year. At the same meeting the selectmen were instructed " To contract with some physician to inoculate the inhabitants of the town with Kine Pock forth- with." From the peremptory tone of these instructions it may be inferred that an outbreak of small-pox was feared, but the author has not been able to learn anything definite in regard to the matter. t
* About this time or somewhat earlier a circulating library was established at Allen's Mills. Though small in size, the influence it exerted upon the social lives of the residents in that part of the town was great. The following letter from Rev. Stephen 11. Hayes gives all the information the writer has been able to gather con- cerning it :
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