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 23
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"Resolve on the petition of Joel Adams, collector for the town of Union.
"On the petition of Joel Adams, a collector of the tax No. 5, in the town of Union, for the year 1786, praying for relief respecting said tax, which amounted to the sum of sixty-five pounds, one-third part of which he has paid into the treasury, and execution is now in the hands of the sheriff of the county of Lincoln for the remainder : -
" Resolved, for reasons set forth in said petition, that the prayer thereof be so far granted that the sum of twenty pounds, part of the balance now due from the said Joel Adams to this Commonwealth, be laid out in repairing the
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public roads and bridges in said town of Union ; and, upon a certificate of the selectmen of the said town of Union being returned into the treasury office of this Commonwealth, within nine months from the passing of this resolve, that the said sum has been so expended, the treasurer thereof is hereby ordered and directed to pass to the credit of the said town of Union the balance due from the said Joel Adams, as collector for the said town of Union; and the sheriff of the said county of Lincoln is hereby ordered and directed not to levy the said execution on the said Joel Adams, for the balance aforesaid, until the expiration of twelve months from the date hereof."
STATE OF THE FINANCES.1 - April 6, 1795, Jason Ware, Joseph Maxcy, and Amariah Mero, were chosen a committee to examine into the state of the town- finances. They reported, May 6, 1795, that " there was due from the several collectors to the town, £146. 12s. 6d .; and that there was due from the town to several of the inhabitants, £29. 6s." It was imme- diately " voted not to grant any money for town- charges, as there appears to be enough due the town." It was also "voted not to grant any money for the meeting-house."
DOLLARS AND CENTS. - At this time, it is observa- ble that the taxes are reckoned by dollars instead of pounds. This was in conformity with an Act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, passed Feb. 25, 1795, ordering that, after the first day of the following Sep- tember, " the money of account of this commonwealth shall be the dollar, cent, and mille ; and all accounts in the public offices, &c., shall be kept and had in con- formity to this regulation."
1 April 4, 1791, it was voted that " the assessors may put all town- taxes in one tax-bill, except the highway-tax."
In 1812, a statement in behalf of the town was made to the Legis- lature by William White and Nathan Blake, that thirty polls had been added to the number which had been returned for the State valuation.
Nov. 28, 1814, Nathaniel Robbins, Simeon Butters, and Joseph Morse, were chosen to consult the principal assessor of the Direct Tax for the Third Collection District, for the purpose of having the tax better proportioned among the different towns in the district.
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VALUATION. - PAYMENT OF TAXES.
TAKING THE VALUATION. - April 3, 1815, an unsuc- cessful effort was made to " order the assessors to take the valuation under oath;" but, in April, 1835, it was voted that it should be done. A list of suspected per- sons was made out; but it was too much trouble to test all the inhabitants. April 6, 1846, upon an article " to see if the town will instruct the assessors to go all together, and take the valuation," it was "voted that they do not go together to take the valuation."
PAYMENT OF TAXES. - In 1834, " Voted that the treasurer be collector of taxes, and that all those who pay in their taxes to said collector within thirty days from the time he receives the bills from the assessors, shall have ten per cent discount on said taxes ; and all those who pay their taxes in sixty days, as aforesaid, shall have five per cent discount; and all those who pay their taxes in one hundred and twenty-five days, as aforesaid, shall have two and a half per cent dis- count on said taxes." In 1839, probably to promote the promptness of payment by the collector, as well as the tax-payers, it was ordered that the taxes should " be collected within the year from the time the " col- lector received the tax-bills.
April, 1841, voted " that the money be paid into the treasurer the ensuing year; and that he give notice to the town immediately on receiving the bill, by posting notices at the places for notifying town-meetings. And all moneys paid in within sixty days from the date of said notice shall receive six per cent discount ; one hun- dred and twenty days, four per cent; one hundred and eighty days, two per cent; and, after that time, the treasurer proceed to collect the remainder according to law, and within one year from receiving the bills, if pos- sible."
23*
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CHAPTER XXIX.
FINANCIAL HISTORY. ( Concluded. )
Reed's Case. - Surplus Revenue. - Paupers. - Warning out of Town. - Maintenance of the Poor.
REED'S CASE.
IN the early settlement of the town, there was consid- erable difficulty respecting the taxes on wild land and the property of non-residents. A warrant issued for a meeting, Jan. 4, 1790, contains three articles on this subject : -
1. " To know in what manner the collectors shall proceed with regard to the taxes now in their hands unsettled, against Josiah Reed,1 non-resident proprietor of wild land in this town. 2. To see if the town will indemnify the col- lectors, if they proceed to distrain the goods or chattels, lands or tenements of the said Josiah Reed, according to their different tax-bills. 3. To see if the town think it necessary for some person to advise with some gentleman, respecting the taxes, to know whether they will stand in law as they are now made, before the collector shall proceed to distrain for them." " Voted to accept of all the taxes as they are now assessed by the assessors chosen in Union, since the town was incorporated." "Voted that the assessors pe- tition the General Court to establish the taxes as they are now assessed."
June 25, 1790, " Voted that Mr. Josiah Reed shall have liberty, if he will find all the plank necessary for the bridge across the main river, and twenty days' work on said bridge, then he shall have liberty to work the remaining part of his highway-taxes elsewhere, as he shall think proper, on roads
1 Josiah Reed was Dr. Taylor's son-in-law ; and his daughter mar- ried Henry, son of Major-General Henry Knox. In 1798 and 1799, he was representative from Thomaston to the Massachusetts Legisla- ture.
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REED'S CASE.
to the northward of said bridge, that are now laid out, or may be in the course of this season, provided he shall work them this season."
Oct. 4, 1790, an article was introduced into town- meeting, " to see if the town will choose three men to examine the taxes, as was proposed by Mr. Reed and others." Samuel Hills, Philip Robbins, and Josiah Robbins, were appointed a committee for that purpose. They were " empowered to agree with Mr. Reed with- out choosing a committee of indifferent men, if they could upon any terms they should think reasonable. If they could not agree, then they were to proceed and choose a committee with him to settle said taxes." Nov. 8, 1790, " after hearing the report of the commit- tee, the town voted they would have a new commit- tee (by the old ones dismissing themselves), namely, Samuel Hills, Joseph. Guild, and Samuel Daggett." The meeting was adjourned to the next Friday, when the report signed by Guild and Hills was read as fol- lows : -
"They found the real value of the wild land, as was taxed in 1788, £6,627. 14s .; that the third part of the value [was] £2,209. 5s .; that the sum total for taxation in 1788 was £3,158. 16s. The value of Mr. Reed's land for taxation stood at two per cent, or one third the value was $998.18s.
" Mowing and tillage we have doubled from what it was in the valuation of 1788. The town, we find, granted for highways, in 1788, £110; after deducting out the polls, there remains to be laid on property £96. 4s. We find that Mr. Reed was taxed according to the valuation £31.4s. 4d .; and, by doubling the mowing and tillage, he has to pay of the above tax £30. 2s. 54d. We have gone by the valua- tion of 1788, and done as nearly as we can as was re- commended by Thomaston committee, and find, when the abatement is made in all his taxes, he is only abated £5. 5s. ¿d. We would be understood it is only on wild land "
[The town voted they were satisfied with the report. ] " A debate arose between Mr. Reed and the town. Mr. Reed supposed the town did not rightly understand the mind of
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Thomaston committee, and made the following motion, viz. That the town would choose one or more men, to go down to Thomaston with him to the committee to get their opin- ion in writing." "Voted that Mr. Moses Hawes go down with Mr. Reed to Thomaston to the committee; and the committee are desired to say how much of his taxes are abated. For which we pledge our honors to abide their judgment. Mr. Reed pledges his honor also. The com- mittee are desired to give their opinion in, in writing."
Dec. 25, " The report of Thomaston committee was read. Voted to adjourn to Jan. 10.
" Jan. 10, 1791. The inhabitants met on the adjournment, and gave the report of Thomaston committee the second reading, and voted they would accept of the report, if they would rectify two mistakes, viz. To cross out of their ver- dict one tax which the town never had, or rather they have put one in twice, and put in No. 8 State-tax and a tax of nine pound granted by the town. Then, if they will rectify these mistakes, they will be in full accepted." "Voted, that, if Mr. Josiah Reed does pay to the several collectors the sums that [have been adjudged by ] the committee mu- tually chosen by the town and said Reed, then the collec- tors shall give him a receipt in full of the tax he shall pay."
May 23, 1791, the town passed a vote, giving " orders to the collectors, that, if Mr. Reed pays them what the commit- tee ordered within one month after they have demanded or shown him his taxes, they shall give him a receipt in full for the whole, as they were before they were abated ; otherwise, upon his neglecting or refusing, to distrain for the whole, as they were on the rate-strikes before the committee abated them."1
Mr. Reed still declined paying his taxes. His land was put up at auction, and bid off by Samuel Hills for Mr. Ichabod Irish, who sold it to Dr. Webb. Finally, the land being sold irregularly, the town had
1 At the same meeting it was " voted that thirty pounds be raised, as soon as may be, to pay back-taxes." This sum may have been to meet the deficiency caused by the reduction of Reed's taxes. There is no record to show whether it was ever collected or not.
Nov. 3, 1794, there was an article before the town to see if it would abate one-half of Josiah Reed's meeting-house tax in Mr. Edward Jones's bills." " Voted not to abate Mr. Josiah Reed's tax."
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SURPLUS REVENUE.
to settle with Mr. Irish, and lost the case, though there was no lawsuit.
SURPLUS REVENUE.
A surplus of public money having accumulated in the treasury of the United States, Congress voted, June 23, 1836, that it should be apportioned among the several States of the Union, on deposit, until repay- ment thereof should be required by the secretary of the treasury. The Legislature of Maine, Jan. 26, 1837, passed an Act, providing for the acceptance of that portion of it to which the State was entitled. March 9, 1837, the Governor approved a bill, authorizing it to be deposited with the several towns, in proportion to their population, on condition that, whenever it should be called for by Congress, it should be re- funded within sixty days after notice. Selectmen were authorized to cause a new census to be taken, distinguishing all persons under the age of four years ; those of four and under twenty-one; and those of twenty-one and upwards, belonging to each town on the first day of March, 1837.
Accordingly, April 3, 1837, the inhabitants of Union voted to receive their proportion of the money, and chose John Lermond agent to procure it of the State treasurer, and "to loan it to the best advantage, upon such security as the selectmen might approve, he giving bonds to the town for the faithful dis- charge of his duty." No person was to have more than five hundred dollars, provided there were " other good applications sufficient to take the sum. In- terest annually. The above subject to be called for in sixty days." A verbal report made by the agent, July 1, 1837, was accepted; and he was “ directed to give notice to the subscribers of the several notes holden by him, sixty days previous to the next April meeting, that they may be paid then, unless sooner called for by the General Government." He was also instructed to get what was still due from the Govern- ment, and to keep it till the town should dispose of it
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FINANCIAL HISTORY.
at the September meeting. In September the agent made his report, and the vote was that "the money remain in the bank, where he has deposited it; and, should the fourth instalment be received, it be put in the bank also." But the fourth instalment never came. The sum received was $3,500, from which $21.74 were deducted for expenses.
April 2, 1838, John Lermond, Peter Adams, and Phillips C. Harding, were chosen to divide the money, between the first and the tenth of May; paying two dollars apiece to all persons whose residence was in town on the first day of March, 1837, whether ne- glected through mistake, or absent at the time the census was taken; "the remainder (if any) to be ap- propriated for schooling." Three persons, who had borrowed probably with the expectation that the money would not be called for, made an unsuccessful request to have an extension for a year, more or less. And the special agent was directed to "obtain, upon the faith of the town, so much of the surplus money as should be deficient on notes given for said money on the seventeenth day of April instant." Neither the town nor individuals were benefited.
PAUPERS.
WARNING OUT OF TOWN. - Union has never been burdened with paupers. There was a custom of warn- ing " new comers " out of town, in order to prevent them from gaining a residence, and consequently a claim for support. In a town in Massachusetts, a se- lectman, in his official capacity as selectman, is said to have signed an order to the constable, warning himself out of town. The inhabitants of Union, willing to be on the safe side, availed themselves of the privilege. Accordingly, in a warrant calling a town-meeting, May 20, 1787, there is an article "to see what the town will do about warning out all persons that appear likely to be a town-charge hereafter. Voted the se- lectmen should warn out all they think necessary." Hence we find the following records :-
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PAUPERS.
"To the constable of the town of Union, in the county of Lincoln .- You are hereby forth with to warn Silvester Prince, and Rhoda Prince his wife, and Naaman, and Sarah, Olive, and Susa, and Silvester, their children, late of Waldobo- rough, in the county of Lincoln, as they say, immediately to depart out of the bounds of this town, as they are here now residing, and like to be a town-charge. Hereof fail not, and make due return of this warrant, with your doings thereon, to one or more of the selectmen, or to the town- clerk, as soon as may be.
" Given under our hands, at Union, this seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand [seven] hundred and eighty-seven.
" PHILIP ROBBINS, Selectmen "JASON WARE. of Union. " Union, Dec. 21, 1787."
" By virtue of this warrant to me directed, I have noti- fied and warned the within-named Silvester Prince, and Rhoda Prince his wife, Naaman, Sarah, Olive, Susa, and Silvester, their children, of the contents thereof, by reading the same to them, and warned them immediately to depart out of the bounds of said Union, as I am directed.
" ABIJAH HAWES, Constable."
At the same date, Molly Robbins, late of Fox Island, was warned out, and so were Phinehas Butler, and Elizabeth Butler his wife, late of Thomaston. The only other notice of the kind on record occurred in 1789, and stands thus : -
"I have warned Philip Robbins, jun., an inhabitant of Senabec, and also Jonathan Newhall, of Warren, to depart the bounds of this town, by order of the selectmen.
"MOSES HAWES, Town-clerk."
MAINTENANCE OF THE POOR. - March 7, 1803, David Robbins, Samuel Hills, and Joel Adams, were chosen overseers of the poor. None have been chosen at any other time; unless we except the selectmen, who were particularly appointed to the office in 1819, 1822, and 1826. When any aid has been wanted, the selectmen or the town have been appealed to. Very few towns
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FINANCIAL HISTORY.
have been taxed so little as this, for the support of the poor. The earliest mention of payments is in March, 1804, of $25.23, for Susannah Olney, -a squaw, - and of $13.50, in March, 1805, " for her black child." In 1806, some assistance was rendered to one man and his family. There seems not to have been any further aid afforded to any one till 1818, when the family of a man, in consequence of his inability to work at his trade of shoemaking, became a charge. From that time to the present, there have always been a few to be aided. Those requiring considerable assistance have generally been put up at auction, and taken by the lowest bidder. Notwithstanding this practice, which is commonly regarded as very inhuman, there is generally a disposition to make the situation of the unfortunate as comfortable as circumstances will admit. The overseers or selectmen have frequently been instructed by the town to provide for them; and thus, without being put up at auction, they have often found comfortable homes, or been taken care of by per- sons who felt a friendly interest in them, but upon whom it was too much of a tax to give them a sup- port for years. If the number should increase, it would occur to the inhabitants that the most econo- mical as well as humane disposition which could be made of them would be to provide an alms- house, where they could feel that they had a permanent home. For several years, this course has been adopted with great success in many of the towns in Massachu- setts, and been found less expensive than the other, even when the inmates were few and the majority of them infirm.
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EARLY DIFFICULTIES IN TRAVELLING.
CHAPTER XXX.
HIGHWAYS.
Early Difficulties in Travelling. - Moss. - Paths. - Spotted Trees. - Exposure of Matthias Hawes. - First Roads. - First Highway Dis- tricts. - Character of the Roads. - Corduroy Roads. - Boating and Visiting. - Ox Sleds. - First Teaming to Neighboring Towns.
EARLY DIFFICULTIES IN TRAVELLING.
IT is not easy to imagine the difficulty of the travelling, when there was no way of coming to this place but through the woods or up St. George's River. Philip Robbins came in 1776 ; and then there was not a foot- path between this and either of the neighboring towns. In the woods, particularly if the weather was cloudy, the inhabitants were often saved from being lost, and sometimes even from perishing, by the information ob- tained of the Indians, that moss grows on the north side of trees situated on low ground. Meadow-roads and hunters' paths for hand-sleds were bushed out for winter, when the settlers could not be better accommo- dated on the ice. Footpaths were early marked out, by spotting trees and removing the underbrush. The chips were taken from two sides of the trees, so that the white spots were visible to travellers going in either direction. The incision was only through the bark; for a wound in the wood soon healed. But such paths were of little or no use, except in the day- time, when the spots could be seen.
It was probably in the fall of 1782 that Matthias Hawes went down the river, to borrow a yoke of oxen to harrow in rye. The only guide was the spotted trees. On his way home, a violent storm arose; and dense darkness came on so suddenly, that he chained the oxen to a tree not far below the place afterward settled by Samuel Hills, and spent the long, tedious
24
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HIGHWAYS.
night in walking and exercising, to keep himself warm.
In the memorial to the Legislature in December, 1780, it is stated that there was no way of getting to Stirlington but through the woods and up the St. George's, part of the way by land and part by water ; and that even this was obstructed nearly six weeks every spring and fall by the ice. No roads had been laid out in 1786, when the petition was made for an Act of Incorporation.
FIRST ROADS.
March 5, 1787, the town voted that the selectmen should lay out two roads, and that all the roads should be three rods wide. Accordingly, in relation to the first road laid out in the town, the report of the select- men states : -
" They have spotted and looked it out as followeth : - May 7, we looked and spotted : Beginning at Warren line, at a hemlock, which we spotted; then running northwardly through the land of Ezra Bowen by stakes and spotted trees ; thence across the land of Abijah Hawes is north- wardly by stakes and spotted trees, till it comes to the corner of David Robbins's field; thence through said Rob- bins's field by stakes, till it comes to Richard Cummings's barn and house; thence running northwardly, as it is staked out; thence through Moses Hawes's, as the road now runs, to the west end of said Robbins's house ; thence running by stakes north-east, in said Robbins's pasture, till it comes to the bridge at the head of Seven-tree Pond over St. George's River; thence north-east by spotted trees, to Josiah Rob- bins's field of rye; thence through said field by stakes, till it strikes the road leading to Senebec."
The road, as it now runs, does not agree with the se- lectmen's report. Josiah Robbins had cleared the land from the pond to the present road by the Old Burying Ground. Not willing to appropriate for the public good a field on which he had expended so much labor, he fenced it. The neighbors, with an accommodating
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FIRST ROADS.
spirit, passed along in the woods near to the fence on the west side of his rye, and a path finally became the road, leading over the hill instead of winding round it, as was intended by the selectmen.
The preceding report was followed by the one pertaining to the second road, which will be readily recognized as on the south and west sides of Round Pond.
" May 10. Then Mr. Philip Robbins, Mr. Ezra Bowen, and Mr. Jason Ware, met and laid out a road, beginning between Mr. Moses Hawes and Mr. Richard Cummings, on said Hawes's land, west-north-west, to Mr. Jessa Rob- bins ; through his lot and a lot known by Dunbar's land, and through by Mr. Adams ; through his land, and through the land of Mr. Ware, to Mr. Matthias Hawes; and through his land, and the land of Mr. Woodward, until it comes to the land of Mason Wheaton, Esq. (cleared ground), nearly as it is now cleared; then running straight to the east end of his house ; thence to the north-east corner of his chopped land ; thence nearly a north-east course, by spotted trees, till it comes to John Taylor, Esquire's, north line, by Senebec."
May 30, the day on which the two roads were con- firmed, it was voted that another should be laid out east of Seven-tree Pond, and another through Ebene- zer Robbins's land to Waldoborough. At the same town-meeting, the first movement was made in relation to highway-districts. The town gave "the selectmen orders to divide the highways for the surveyors, and proportion the inhabitants to do the work in each of their divisions."
"July 9, 1787, Mr. Philip Robbins, Mr. Ezra Bowen, and Mr. Jason Ware, met and laid out" [the third road, which was from Mr. Matthias Hawes's to Dr. William Jen- nison's] " as follows, viz. : Beginning a little south-east of Mr. Matthias Hawes's hovel, running northwardly across his pasture to a spotted oak, then by spotted trees till we come to the old road that Dr. William Jennison cleared, and then on the road, with small variations, just enough to
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straighten the road, by spotted trees, to the clear land of Dr. William Jennison."
"Nov. 19, 1787, voted that the road to Barretts Town shall stand as the selectmen laid [it] out, the twenty-second of September; Mr. Philip Robbins and Mr. Jason Ware, selectmen ; and Mr. Jessa Robbins, pilot. Beginning at the brook north-east of Mr. Josiah Robbins, then running east-north-east until we come nearly to the end of the second tier of lots, then running north-east half a mile, then running north-east and by east, then north-east with small variations to Barretts Town."
" Oct. 6, 1787, Mr. Ezra Bowen and Mr: Jason Ware, two of the selectmen of Union, met, looked and laid out the road through to Waldoborough, as follows, viz .: Beginning at Round Pond Road on Mr. Joel Adams's land, at a white birch-tree spotted ; then running south-west until it comes to the land of Mr. Dunbar, then running west by spotted trees till [it] comes to the old road from said Adams to said E. Robbins, then running nearly south-west by spotted trees and stake through the improvements of said Robbins, and on nearly the same course to Waldoborough."
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