USA > Maine > Knox County > Union > A history of the town of Union, in the county of Lincoln, Maine : to the middle of the nineteenth century, with a family register of the settlers before the year 1800, and of their descendants > Part 10
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The introduction of stave-machines within twenty- five or thirty years - of which there are now nine or more in the town - enables the inhabitants to work up almost every kind of lumber, which would other-
103
LIME-CASKS.
wise be worthless. The facilities for putting together the materials, which are now bevelled by machinery, save a great amount of labor. The number made cannot be ascertained. In 1826 it was estimated at 30,000.1 Considerable inquiry has been made of coopers and carters ; and it is not unreasonable to say that at the present time there are not less than one hun- dred thousand, and it is not improbable that there are one hundred and fifty thousand made annually in Union alone.
Not far from the year 1840, a few shrewd traders about the Common, during one winter, purchased all the lime-hogsheads which were brought to them, and paid for them in goods at the Thomaston prices. They were heaped up till the Common appeared almost as if covered with one huge pile. The store-keepers made contracts to supply purchasers in Thomaston at a fixed price. Thus the prices, which fluctuated daily according to the number in the market or the number immediately wanted, assumed a firmness which it is said was on the whole favorable to the makers, to the Union traders, and to the Thomaston lime-burners.
When hogsheads were first made, the number car- ried to Thomaston in a load was comparatively small. About the year 1817, it had increased to sixty. The roads were so bad that this was as large a load as four oxen could draw. Now the casks are smaller, the roads better, and four oxen will carry two hundred; and a load of one hundred and sixty is common. For- merly these were placed on their ends in long erect racks built for the purpose. Three tiers, one above the other, numbering ten in each tier, presented thirty lime-casks to view on either side. Now the tops of the racks are wider than the bottoms, and of course the loads spread at the top and are not so high.
For many years, after letting their oxen rest on the Lord's Day, the farmers started them at sunset, and, driving during the night, arrived at Thomaston on the
1 N. P. Hawes's MS.
104
MINERAL AND ARBORAL PRODUCTS.
following morning. Now, horses are frequently sub- stituted for oxen ; and the plan is to drive on Friday night, so as to give teams rest on the Lord's Day, after their return, before putting them to the regular week's work. But neither Saturday nor Monday has ever been exclusively the market-day. The manufacturers or carters go when it is most convenient or advanta- geous ; and, instead of being limited to Thomaston, as they were thirty years ago, they now dispose of the greater part of their hogsheads at East Thomaston, or Rockland, which has grown up since that time, and to which is a road through the Camden Hills by Mount Pleasant.
If no more were carried to Thomaston annually than the one hundred or one hundred and fifty thou- sand from Union, it would be an item of value in trade. But on some mornings, thirty, forty, or perhaps fifty loads of various sizes, containing from twenty to one hundred and sixty lime-casks each, are seen at the market. They are brought from the country nearly fifty miles back; from Hope, Appleton, Searsmont, Montville, Liberty, Palermo, Washington, Jefferson, &c. The farmer, on rainy days, goes into his cooper- shop, and, in the course of a summer, has time to manufacture one or more loads. The hired laborer, easily taught, thus makes his rainy days and leisure hours profitable to his employer.
Having carried a load or more to market, the man, in comfortable, if not affluent circumstances, brings home flour, groceries, and other necessaries, or money to pay taxes, or he lays up something for sickness or declining years. The team returns leisurely north- ward on Saturday afternoon, bringing the teamster reposing at full length on the bottom of his rack, with his feet in an opposite direction from the sun. His hat is pulled over his face to exclude the sun's beams from his eyes, and his body vibrates from side to side, as either wheel strikes and passes over a stone or plunges into a holc. A barrel of flour is on the end of his rack, and a bag of groceries is suspended from a chain
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BARLEY AND RYE.
across the top. It seems as if such must be a hard life. But it is free from the anxiety which sometimes, every night, week after week, drives sleep from the man of extensive business ; it is favorable to health, vigor, and independence ; and, when to these are added moral and intellectual cultivation, it may well be doubted if there is, with all its hardships, any life so happy as the farmer's.
CHAPTER XIII.
AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS. .
Barley and Rye. - Indian Corn. - Wheat. - Potatoes. - Fruit. - Peaches and Plums. - Apples.
BARLEY AND RYE. - Neither rye nor any grain but barley was raised on the St. George's when Union was settled. " It was thought a stupid thing for Philip Robbins to go back into the country to get a living on a farm." When he mentioned to Anderson of War- ren his intention of raising rye, Anderson scouted the idea. Robbins is said to have told him, " I mean to get a living off of my farm ; I shall raise rye, and you may have to come and buy of me yet ;" - a prediction that was fulfilled in a season of scarcity which fol- lowed.1 The first grain put into the ground by any one in town was rye. Within two years after Philip Robbins settled here, twice as much rye was raised on his and the Mill Farm as along the whole of the St. George's. The common kind was the winter rye. It was sown in autumn upon burnt ground, - a mode not known to the settlers of Warren, who supposed the soil, in order to produce grain, must be ploughed, as
1 Jacob Robbins.
10
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AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
in their native country. Since the woods have been cut off, the summer rye has been introduced, and the sowing of this kind is generally preceded by plough- ing. In 1840, according to the town-valuation, 559 bushels were raised; according to the United States census, 1,443.
INDIAN CORN was planted on burnt ground. By some of the early settlers, the ground was ploughed before the grain was put into it. This mode of cul- tivation was inconvenient among the roots, stumps, logs, and knolls, which abounded in every new field ; and experience soon taught the lesson that corn came to maturity sooner when planted in the warm black mould than in the ploughed soil. In 1840, according to the town-valuation, 3,151 bushels were raised; ac- cording to the United States memoranda, 4,960.
The year 1831 was the most remarkable for corn which has ever been known in Maine. It flourished like weeds, and ripened very early. Ezekiel True, of Montville, harvested one hundred bushels on the last day of August. It seemed as if every kernel grew which was dropped anywhere on the ground.1 Suc- cess, however, with Indian corn is uncertain. An early frost has often ruined the crop.
WHEAT is raised; but the people commonly prefer to buy flour, and to give their attention to other kinds of produce. Ten or twelve years ago, much interest was taken in wheat. In 1840, according to the town- valuation, there were raised 3,013 bushels; according to the United States census, 2,658. In 1837 the crop was 4,249 bushels.
POTATOES were a very important article of culture, till " the rot " prevailed extensively in 1846. Since that time, comparatively little attention has been given to them, and the whole State has been obliged to aban- don the cultivation of the agricultural product most important for subsistence or for export. In 1840 the town-valuation states that 44,075 bushels were raised ;
1 N. Robbins, Esq.
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107
HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
and the United States census, that there were 44,960 bushels.
PEAS, BEANS, TURNIPS, CARROTS, BEETS, ONIONS, PARSNIPS, CABBAGES, yield abundant crops.
FRUIT. - There are several kinds of fruit. And if each man would give a little attention to the subject, and plant a few fruit-trees, and graft or bud them, he might have the luxury of a rich repast at almost any season of the year.
PEACHES AND PLUMS. - The climate is so cold that peaches cannot be raised. But there might be an abundance of garden plums. Whenever their cultiva- tion has been properly attended to, there has been great success.
APPLES. - There were but few apples till after the beginning of the nineteenth century. Among the items of property belonging to Matthias Hawes, very soon after his arrival, is recorded "a box of apple-trees." Philip Robbins and David Robbins, before they had been here long, probably did something in the way of raising them. A memorandum made by Levi Morse, Nov. 12, 1793, says, "Set fifteen apple-trees. ... Nov. 17 and 18, 1794, set fifty apple-trees. . . . Nov. 12, 1797, first fifteen apple-trees I set bore ten apples. . . . Our orchard bore about one bushel of apples this year-1798." This orchard, and those of Philip Rob- bins and David Robbins, were probably the first in town. In the year 1800, Dr. Sibley had one or two quarts of apple-seeds, picked out of pomace, brought to him on horseback from Hopkinton, N.H. They were planted, and the trees disposed of among the in- habitants. Orchards have since become common and large. In 1826, it was estimated that there were one hundred,1 which produced on an average 10,000 bushels annually. According to the valuation of 1840, the quantity was 9,546 bushels. But the interest once felt in raising them for the purpose of making cider has diminished in consequence of the progress of tem- perance.
1 N. P. Hawes's MS.
108
MANUFACTURES AND TRADE.
CHAPTER XIV.
MANUFACTURES AND TRADE.
Spinning Wheels. - Looms. - Home-made Clothing. - Fulling Mills. - Carding Machines. - Factories. - Paper Mills. - Tanneries. - Potash. - Iron Works. - Fossetts' Mills. - Stores. - Carting Goods to Boston in the War of 1812. - Canals.
MANUFACTURES.
SPINNING WHEELS. - The old spinning-wheel, turned by hand and doling out its single thread, was in use from the first settlement of the town. It was con- sidered indispensable to every household. The spindle was made to revolve by means of a band connecting it with a large wheel. Notwithstanding the facilities for manufacturing yarn at the present day, it is still occasionally used in many families. The only im- provement in it is the "patent head," which is merely the addition of an intervening wheel between the large one and the spindle.
LOOMS. - The old-fashioned loom, more costly than the spinning-wheel, was not so common. The shuttle was thrown through the warp with the hand. The fly-shuttle, introduced about the year 1812 or 1815, was considered a great improvement.
HOME-MADE CLOTHING. - By means of the spinning- wheel and the loom, the inhabitants were able to pro- vide themselves with woollen garments. The fleece was made into rolls by the tedious process of carding by hand. By the industrious housewife the rolls were spun on the large wheel, which in winter was brought up before the kitchen fire, - the only fire in the house, except when there was company. The yarn was then woven, and the cloth taken to the clothier, dressed and returned, having been dyed Holland-brown or smoke- color. Cloth for striped frocks, and for some other purposes, was made and worn without being sent to
109
MILLS AND FACTORIES.
the fulling-mill. A tailoress was commonly employed to cut and sometimes to baste the garments, which were subsequently made by the wife and daughters.
The foot-wheel converted into linen the flax which was raised on the farm. Winter evenings, when there were not more pressing duties, were spent by the females around a rousing wood-fire, in knitting stock- ings, mittens, and leggins, from home-made yarn. Thus was every family practically in favor of domestic manufactures.
FULLING MILLS. - The first fulling-mill was built on Crawford's River in 1799, by Micajah Gleason, from Framingham, Mass. There have been four since, though there are none now.
CARDING MACHINES. - The first machine for carding wool was built by Ebenezer Alden in 1806. There have been four, of which two are now in operation.
FACTORIES. - In 1809, a cotton-factory was built on the west side of St. George's River, just below the Middle Bridge. Its operations were never very exten- sive. The building was carried away by a freshet in 1832. The Farmers' Woollen Factory was built near the Upper Bridge in 1814, and owned in shares of ten dollars each. Wool was carded there as recently as 1843, though no cloth was dressed during the two or three previous years. In 1843, William Gleason con- verted into a woollen-factory the building which had been used for a paper-mill at South Union.
PAPER MILLS. - Several years ago, the manufacture of paper was carried on extensively. The water in Crawford's River is peculiarly good for the purpose. On this river, in 1810, was erected a paper-mill, which was burnt in 1818. Another building was put up in 1819; but no paper was made there after 1837. Im- mediately above the Middle Bridge was another paper- mill, which was burnt early on the morning of June 11, 1843. The machinery, said to have cost $3,000, and unwrought stock valued at more than $2,000, were destroyed. The paper was saved. Insured at Wor- cester, Mass.
10*
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MANUFACTURES.
TANNERIES. - Richard Cummings was the first per- son who tanned hides. He abandoned the business after a few years, and the people traded for leather at Warren. In 1826, there were three tanneries ; one owned by Joseph Beckett, south-south-west of the Methodist Meeting-house; another by Susman Abrams, a Jew,1 a few rods below the Middle Bridge ; and another on the east side of the St. George's above the Upper Bridge. In 1840, there were four in town.
POTASH. - Soon after the incorporation of the town, Edward Jones made potash, in small quantities, near the Lower Bridge. For several years in the early part of the nineteenth century, Ebenezer Alden manufac- tured five or six tons annually in a building which he erected for the purpose, on a rivulet at the brow of the hill east of Seven Brook, on the south side of the road.
1 Susman Abrams was from Hamburg. In early life he travelled as a pedler, and traded in old clothes. To save expense, he lived on bread and butter, carrying his butter with him in a covered pewter porringer. It is supposed he fled for some misdemeanor, embarked on board a vessel, and was concerned in the sinking of it. After a residence in Waldoborough, and subsequently in Thomaston, he came to Union. Here he carried on the business of coopering and tanning. He was never very successful in the accumulation of property. His accounts were always kept in the Hebrew characters, and were read from the right to the left. Not being able, as he said, to translate from the Hebrew into our language, he first translated into the German, and then from the German into the English. He was very observant of his written or printed prayers ; but in his conduct there was much of the incon- sistency which was laid to the charge of the Jews by our Saviour. On one occasion a Jew came to keep the Passover with him. The iron vessels, before being used, were heated red hot, that no leaven might by any possibility remain attached to them. Being very fond of eels, Abrams allowed his appetite to get the better of his religious scruples, and ate a hearty meal, to the great horror of his brother Jew, from whom he received a very severe rebuke for the unrighteous deed. Although he professed faith in Judaism only, and not in Christianity, he was a constant attendant on public worship. On Saturday, which is the Jewish sabbath, he abstained from hard labor, but took occa- sion to ride about and transact business. Not recognizing any obli- gation to keep sacredly the first day of the week, he often worked in secret at his tan-yard, and once fell into a vat and was nearly drowned. He was never much liked by the men, and was generally hated by the women. Nov. 29, 1810, he was married to the widow Mary Jones, of Friendship. He died, without issue, Oct. 6, 1830; aged, it is supposed, about eighty-seven years.
111
TRADE.
IRON WORKS. - In June, 1843, an iron-foundery was established at South Union. Here "are made all kinds of country castings." In August, 1844, busi- ness was commenced in the edge-tool factory of Vaughan and Pardoe. Nearly four thousand axes are made annually; also ship-tools to the value of about $1,500, and cooper's tools to about the same amount. March 12, 1850, J. Vaughan and Co. com- menced business in their shovel-factory. The manu- factures at all these establishments are regarded as of a very superior quality ; as well as the tool-work of Bradley R. Mowry, at the Middle Bridge.
FOSSETTS' MILLS. - The most extensive mill esta- blishment was the Fossetts', at North Union. It was completed in December, 1848, at an expense of about $10,000. Under one roof were a saw-mill, a grist- mill with " three run of stones," besides a corn-cracker, stave-machine, shingle-machine, lath-machine, thresh- ing-machine, cleanser, and bolt, - all carried by steam. They were destroyed by fire, June 21, 1850.
TRADE.
STORES. - Brotherton Daggett says, that, though there had been a store on St. George's River, there was not any when he came in 1789. Edward Jones, near the Lower Bridge, afterward kept a few articles, which were mostly bartered for ashes. It was the largest collection which had been brought to Union for sale. In 1801, Ebenezer Alden sold goods at his dwelling- house. He put up a frame near his potash, and boarded it. John Little bought it, moved it to the Common, clapboarded it, and finished the interior in 1802, and furnished it. The building is now occupied as a store by Asa Messer and Israel Hills, the second story having been added. Ebenezer Alden and Na- thaniel Robbins formed a partnership in the fall of 1803. Afterward came Mallard and Chase; and sub- sequently, from Spencer, Mass. came Charles Pope and William Pope. Major Robert Foster, upon moving into town from Newburyport or the vicinity, during
-
112
MANUFACTURES AND TRADE.
the war of 1812, opened a store at South Union, on the place now owned by Joseph Vaughan. It was the only store in town at the time. Not long afterwards, Alden and Robbins had separate stores. There have been several others since that time, some in the remote parts of the town. In 1840 there were six, in 1843 there were eight, and in 1849 twelve stores. Barter is carried on extensively by the storekeepers. The inha- bitants sell to them produce ; and much more business is done than is common in country towns which are not larger. As Thomaston and Rockland are extensively engaged in making lime, the farmers find there a good market for every thing which they raise, though not unfrequently the agricultural produce and the meat are carried to Belfast; and the storekeepers sell butter, cheese, &c. at Boston.
CARTING GOODS TO BOSTON. - During the war of 1812, when the British had possession of all the United States territory east of Penobscot River, many goods were carted from Hampden and Frankfort to Boston by residents in Warren and the vicinity. Isaac Hills and John Burkett, of Union, engaged in this business in 1814 and 1815. One load, previously con- tracted for, was carried from Union to Boston, after the arrival of the news of peace. Duties were high. A man on the British side of the Penobscot, according to an agreement previously made, sent goods to another on the American side. A third person seized them as smuggled property, and had them prized. The person to whom they were sent then gave bonds for the whole amount for which they were prized, sent them to Boston, and paid the bonds, the amount of which was less than the duties would have been. The journey to and from Boston required about two months, and travelling fifteen miles was considered a good day's work. A load generally contained two and a half tons. It was drawn by six oxen, for eighty dol- lars a ton, in wagons covered with boards.
CANALS. - To facilitate trade, an Act was passed March 9, 1793, authorizing Charles Barrett, within six
113
CANALS.
years, to cut a canal from Barretts Town, beginning "twenty-five miles above the head of the tide in George's River, ... to communicate with the sea at the mouth of said river," and, with his heirs and assigns, to "have the exclusive right of making locks and canals upon the said river," for seventy years ; "pro- vided," &c. The toll was one shilling and sixpence for every ton "transported in boats or other vessels through the locks and canals at the Upper Falls in said river, at the mouth of Senebec Pond," or " through the locks and canals by the Lower Falls in said George's River, near the head of the tide." The same toll was to be levied "for every thousand feet of boards, and in the same proportion for plank and square.timber, and every other species of lumber, whether transported on rafts or otherwise." Every boat or other vessel, not loaded, was to "pay at the rate of one shilling for every ton weight it was capa- ble of conveying."
The canal was opened only from Round Pond. General Knox, of Thomaston, became the principal or sole owner before it was completed. Its construction, during part of the time at least, was superintended by a French engineer, sent by him from Philadelphia. It was used for several years; but the great profits ex- pected from it were not realized. Before the general's death in 1806, it was neglected ; and any one who went down the river with lumber, on applying to the lock- keeper, was told to " lock " it himself. A petition for doubling the toll was presented to the Legislature. It was dated at Union, May 21, 1802, and signed by Amos Barrett, Ebenezer Alden, John Dickey, Robert Dickey, Eleazar Dickey, Nathan Blake, Amariah Mero, Nathaniel Robbins, Josiah Robbins, Edward Jones, and Ichabod Maddocks. Still the canal continued to be unprofitable, and was allowed to go to decay.
The population of the towns on the St. George's having increased, another canal, in 1846, was laid out from Thomaston to Searsmont. It was urged that there would be a good dividend from the tolls for
114
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
produce and kiln-wood. The opening of it to Sunny- bec Pond was noticed in the " Thomaston Recorder," immediately after its completion in the fall of 1847. It has already been leased for several years. A steam- boat has been on the canal, and once went into Sun- nybec Pond.
CHAPTER XV.
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
Town Meetings. - Notifications. - Places of holding them. - Town Officers. - Oath of Office in 1787. - Town Clerks. - Selectmen. - Assessors. - Constables. - Collectors. - Treasurers. - Tithing- men. - Fish Wardens.
TOWN-MEETINGS.
NOTIFICATIONS. - The inhabitants, at different times, have voted that the notifications for town-meet- ings1 should be posted up at private dwelling-houses,
1 The earliest record of the mode of notifying the inhabitants is dated April 2, 1787 ; when it was " voted that the constable should set up two notifications, one at Mr. Joel Adams's and the other at Mr. Philip Robbins's, and that should be sufficient notice to warn town- meetings." In 1789, one notice was to be " set up at Mr. Joel Adams's, and the other at Mr. Woodcock's grist-mill." In 1796, they were to be posted up " in the most public places in town, and where meetings are held on Sundays, when there is any." April 2, 1798, " on the front of the meeting-house twelve days prior to the day the meeting is to be." This mode was continued till 1805, when they were to " be posted up in Messrs. Alden and Robbins's store." In 1806, on the meeting-house ; besides which, in 1807, there was to be one "at Jason Ware's, or where the Methodist meeting is held ; also one at James [Rice's] seven days prior to the meeting." In 1808, the third notice was to be at Starrett's Mills, in what is now Washington. In 1811, at each of the two meeting-houses; and, in 1817, an additional one at the school- house near Sterling Davis's, ten days previous to the meeting. In 1818 at each of the two meeting-houses fourteen days, and in 1819 at each of the three meeting-houses twelve days, previously. In 1820, notifications were to be put up two sabbaths before the meeting. In 1834, the places designated were the Methodist Meeting-house, John Little's, John Lermond's grist-mill; and, in 1838, the Post Office, Lermond's mills, and Fossett's store. In 1848, at the last three places,
115
TOWN-MEETINGS.
stores, mills, school-houses, meeting-houses, and the post-offices. This has been done fourteen, twelve, or ten days, or two sabbaths, before the meeting. Occa- sionally the time has been only seven days for a noti- fication sent to a remote part of the town.
Sometimes notices were added at the bottom of the warrant : " Dec. 18, 1788. All those that have any de- mands on the town, who are inhabitants, are desired to bring in their accounts to the selectmen." " Oct. 4, 1790. The inhabitants are requested to bring a list of all the children born in this town that are not recorded, and also the deaths, so as the clerk may make a record, as they will avoid the penalties in the law."
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