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 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
1 Phinehas Butler, of Thomaston, who furnished a great part of the information in this chapter.
31
TAYLOR'S ARRIVAL.
thanks for the protection of Heaven. Accordingly, he stood up by a majestic tree in this wilderness, and began his devotions. Suddenly, the party was started by the rustling of leaves and crackling of limbs. Their excitement was not diminished either by the awful stillness and solitude of the place, or by the darkness which was fast gathering around them. The doctor paused. Every one looked eagerly for the cause of the noise. Their fears, however, were soon quieted. There came rushing by them a frightened moose. The doctor resumed and finished the prayer. This was probably the first public act of devotion ever performed by a white man within the limits of the town. Such were the peculiar circumstances and the spirit in which the pioneers began the arduous work of settling Union. The serious and the ludicrous were comically combined.
Dr. Taylor and his companions passed the night in the open air. Early the next morning, they discovered the camp within a very few rods of their resting-place. They took possession of it. It was the only shelter they had during the season. The same day, Tuesday, July 19, they began to cut down trees near the ledge in Joseph Gleason's field. Accordingly, this may be regarded as the day on which the first blow was struck with a view to a settlement of the town. As the per- sons who came previously did not make a permanent establishment, this is the day which should be kept in remembrance for centennial celebrations.
Before a week elapsed, the Anderson party came and claimed the place. High words passed between them and Taylor. The doctor told them he had bought the land, and should at all events make a set- tlement on the mill-lot, where he then was ; but that each of them might have a hundred-acre lot in any other part of his purchase. They indignantly rejected the offer, and went off.
Dr. Taylor's party continued to labor through the season. They felled the trees on several acres, princi- pally on the north side of the river, beginning at Seven-tree Pond, and working towards Crawford's
32
PLANTATION HISTORY.
Pond. In the fall they went away. Taylor hired out John Butler and Phinehas Butler in Thomaston, where they passed the winter. Upon going to Massa- chusetts, Taylor got the following deed 1 executed :- -
"KNOW ALL MEN by these presents, that we, Thomas Flucker, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, Esq. and Han- nah Flucker his wife, Isaac Winslow, of Roxbury, in said county of Suffolk, Esq. and Francis Waldo, of Falmouth, in the county of Cumberland, Esq. all of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, in consideration of the just sum of one thousand pounds, lawful money, to us in hand paid before the delivery hereof by John Taylor, of Lunenburg, in the county of Worcester and province of Mas- sachusetts Bay aforesaid, physician, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge, have given, granted, bargained, and sold, and do by these presents give, grant, bargain, sell, alien, and fully, freely, and absolutely convey and confirm unto him the said John Taylor, his heirs and assigns for ever, a certain tract or parcel of land lying on St. George's and Madomock Rivers, in the county of Lincoln and pro- vince .aforesaid, being a township containing thirty-four thousand five hundred and sixty acres of good land, bad land, and water, butted and bounded as followeth : to wit, beginning at a birch-tree marked, which is the north-east corner of Waldoborough; thence running south seven degrees east by said Waldoborough, two miles and an half to a hemlock-tree marked; thence due east across Seven- tree Pond and Crawford's Pond, so called, six miles and two hundred and fifteen rods to a stake and stones at the line of the township called Camden, belonging to the Twenty Associates, called the Lincolnshire Company ; thence north- west by north crossing Sunnyback Pond, so called, by the land of said Twenty Associates, eleven miles and eighty rods ; thence south-west by west2 five miles and twenty-four
1 The copy of the deed, and several abstracts of other deeds, have been furnished through the kindness of the Rev. Uriah Balkam, of Wiscasset.
2 Among the papers of the late T. L. Jennison, M.D. of Cambridge, Mass. is a memorandum purporting to be by David Fales, Esq. of Thomaston, " that the western line of Dr. Taylor's township was not run in its proper place when the town was laid out, and that the courses given in the deed were according to the direction of the mag- netic needle, and not on a true meridian."
0
33
TAYLOR'S LABORS.
rods ; thence south three miles and two hundred and eighty rods to a spruce-tree marked, which is the north-west corner of the town of Waldoborough; thence easterly by said Waldoborough three miles and one hundred and sixty rods to the bound first mentioned.
"To have and to hold the said granted and bargained premises, together with all their appurtenances, free of all encumbrances whatsoever, to him the said John Taylor, his heirs and assigns, as an absolute estate of inheritance in fee simple for ever. And we, the said Thomas Flucker, Hannah Flucker, Isaac Winslow, and Francis Waldo, for ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, do hereby covenant to warrant and defend the afore-granted premises unto the said John Taylor, his heirs and assigns for ever, against the lawful claims and demands of all persons.
" In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Flucker, Han- nah Flucker, Isaac Winslow, and Francis Waldo, have hereunto set our hands and seals this thirtieth day of Sep- tember, anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and in the fourteenth year of his majesty's reign.
"THOS. FLUCKER, and a seal. " HANNAH FLUCKER, and a seal.
"ISAAC WINSLOW, and a seal. "FRAS. WALDO, and a seal.
" Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of us,
" DANL. HUBBARD. " DAVID GREENE.
"Suffolk, ss. Boston, Nov. 17, 1774. - Then the above- named Thomas Flucker, Hannah Flucker, Isaac Winslow, and Francis Waldo, personally appeared and owned this instrument to be their act and deed.
"JOHN AVERY, Just. Pacis."
1775.
In September, 1774, while Taylor and his men were felling trees in the forest of Maine, and beginning the settlement of a town, the first Continental Congress was in session at Philadelphia. On the 19th of April, 1775, was the battle of Lexington and Concord ; and on the 17th of June, that of Bunker Hill. The war of the
34
PLANTATION HISTORY.
American revolution was begun in earnest. Dr. Tay- lor was an ardent whig, and one of the leading mem- bers of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.1 He was too much interested in political affairs to return immediately. Accordingly, in April, he sent Thomas Wright, who, with the two Butlers, again took posses- sion of the camp, and went to work on the Mill Farm. Wright was soon taken sick, and returned to the West-
1 Dr. Taylor was born about the year 1734, probably in Townsend, Mass. He was a physician and trader in Lunenburg, when he pur- chased the plantation of Stirlington. He was married, by Rev. Wm. Emerson, to Mrs. Rebecca Prescott, of Concord, Aug. 28, 1766. She died March 3, 1772. July 16, four months afterward, he was mar- ried, by Rev. Nathaniel Merrill, to Mrs. Anna Dole, of Dunstable, N.H. She died Feb. 1774. He married, July 6, 1777, Ruth, second daughter of John Hunt, Esq. of Watertown; and she died Nov. 30, 1778. He was also once published without being married. After he left Lunenburg, he resided at Pomfret, Ct. and subsequently at Douglas, Mass. He had a son John, born Jan. 1, 1768, and a daugh- ter Betsey. The latter married Josiah Reed. By his second wife, he had a son Daniel, who lived for a time in Belchertown, Mass. was called Doctor, had at least a son and two daughters, and probably moved to the State of New York. According to Phinehas Butler, Dr. Taylor, when a young man, cared little for religious subjects, " till he had a dream about the resurrection. After that he appeared to believe in God and a Saviour." From the Lunenburg town-records, it appears he was one of the selectmen and assessors of that town in 1771, 1772, and 1773. In 1772, he was chosen representative to the Legislature by the towns of Lunenburg and Fitchburg. When he was elected in 1774, these towns, May 20, voted to him patriotic instructions. He was member of the Massachusetts Provincial Con- gress, which convened at Cambridge, Feb. 1, 1775, adjourned Feb. 16, met at Concord, March 22, and continued in session till its adjourn- ment, April 15. It is said to have been through his influence that the adjournment to Concord was effected. Being convened at Con- cord, April 22, the Provincial Congress adjourned, and met the same day at Watertown, where it was dissolved, May 29, 1775. In the meantime, the battle of Lexington was fought. Dr. Taylor was one of the prominent men of the Congress, on which devolved very solemn and weighty responsibilities. On the journals, his name occurs oftener than that of any man, except Gen. Ward. On the important committees he was associated with Col. Prescott, of Bunker Hill memory, Governor Brooks, of Massachusetts, Vice-President Gerry, and Governor Gill. He was on the committee which drew up the reply to Gen. Gage's proclamation of June 12, 1775, promising par- don to all except Samuel Adams and John Hancock; and was one of the committee to take depositions, after the battle of Lexington and Concord, to be forwarded to Dr. Franklin, in England. He was also a member of the Massachusetts Council, elected May 28, 1777.
35
GRAIN SOWN AND HOUSE BUILT.
ward, as Massachusetts and even New Hampshire were called then, and for a long time afterward. The two young men continued to work through the sum- mer. More trees were cut, principally but not entirely on the north side of the stream. By the labors in the present and the preceding years, a clearing was made from Seven-tree Pond to Crawford's Pond. Towards autumn the felled trees were burnt. Oxen were then hired of William Boggs, of Warren, and ten bushels of rye were sown. This was the first grain ever sown in Union.
The Butlers had toiled in solitude. To them the Lord's Day and the week-day were the same. With each morning they rose to provide or prepare their food and chop trees. It is not to be wondered at that they felt no particular attachment to this mode of life. Accordingly, when they had sowed the grain, they went to Massachusetts. After their departure, Taylor came, hired Germans and others, lived in the old camp, sowed rye on the remainder of the cleared land, and returned to Massachusetts. Having been absent about two months, during which John Butler lived with Col. Willard, of Lancaster, and Phinehas with Dr. Taylor's father, in Townsend, the two young men returned to Union. It was late in the fall. Taylor hired them out to Benjamin Packard for the winter.
In the course of this season, Benjamin Packard, of Cushing, who came from Bridgewater, Mass. had built a log-house. It was the first house of any kind ever built within the limits of the town, unless some are disposed to dignify by the name of house the shanty or camp which had been put up at the Mill Farm. It was about twenty feet long and eighteen feet wide. It had one room, a cat-and-clay chimney, a stone chimney-back, but no jambs. It was.about fifty rods north-west of the island in Seven-tree Pond. Of the three knolls there, the cellar is still visible on the one nearest to the island. Stones were dug out of the cellar-hole in September, 1848. It is supposed they belonged to the chimney, as the cellar probably
-
36
PLANTATION HISTORY.
was not stoned. In the winter of 1775-6, Packard and the Butlers lived here, getting out lumber for Tay- lor's buildings at the Mill Stream. The pine-timber was taken chiefly from the west side of Seven-tree Pond, and the oak from the east side, some of it even from the island in Crawford's Pond. Their fare was poor. Packard was a poor provider, and the Butlers suffered with hunger. In the course of the winter, while at work on the island in Crawford's Pond, Phinehas Butler saw by the side of a log something which excited his curiosity. He went to the log, and, as he stooped to see what was there, a bear suddenly thrust his nose up into his face. Butler settled his axe into Bruin, and despatched him forthwith. “ After that," says he, " we lived like princes."
CHAPTER IV.
PLANTATION HISTORY, 1776.
Philip Robbins's Purchase. - David Robbins's the first Family. - Richard Cummings. - Taylor again. - First Frame House. - First Crop of Rye. - Raising of a Barn. - Log-houses of Richard Cummings and David Robbins. - Arrival of the Families of Philip Robbins and Richard Cummings. - Crowded House. - Timber House. - Barn. - Taylor's Mills.
WITH the year 1776 came a change. Several persons agreed with Philip Robbins, of Walpole, Mass. to take farms, if he would come east and purchase a tract of land. Accordingly, Robbins made an agreement with Dr. Taylor for about 7,500 acres, at fifty cents an acre. He also agreed to introduce a specified number of set- tlers. Subsequently, Robbins, in consequence of a misunderstanding with Taylor as to the price, did not take so much. The deed was executed August 1, 1777; in which John Taylor, of Stirlington, con- veys to Philip Robbins, of Stirlington, for £1,200 lawful money, a tract of land "in said Sterlingtown,
37
ROBBINS'S PURCHASE.
containing near 4,000 acres more or less, bounded thus : Beginning at a hemlock-tree marked, by Seven- tree Pond, so called, which is part of St. George's River; thence running west, by the line of the town of Warren 596 rods to a hemlock-tree marked, at Waldo- borough line ; thence north 7º west, two miles and a half by said line to a birch-tree marked, at the north-east corner of said Waldoborough ; thence east, two miles and ninety-six rods to St. George's River, near the mouth of Bowker Brook, so called; thence southerly, by said St. George's River as it runneth, and by Round Pond and Seven-tree Pond as they lie, to the bound first mentioned." 1
David Robbins, Philip Robbins's oldest son, had been living two years at Thomaston, on what is called the Kelsey Farm, situated on the west side of the Meadows, and had there built a small log-house. His father offered to give him one hundred and fifty acres more or less, in Union, if he would settle on it; and his
1 Mrs. Mero says, the two parties agreed in the fall that the papers should be made out by Dr. David Fales, of Thomaston. Accordingly, after laboring on his land in the year 1776, and inducing some settlers to come here, Robbins departed for the Westward for the purpose of bringing down his family. The day before he expected to sail, he called on Fales, according to agreement, to sign the papers; but Tay- lor had gone. Under the circumstances, Robbins hesitated what course to pursue. However, as he had already done much on the land, and there was hardly a doubt that Taylor would abide by his agreement, Robbins concluded to proceed. The next year, Taylor in- sisted on having about one dollar an acre. Robbins finally took the tract above described. He gave particular charge to his agent at Walpole to pay his debt to Taylor on the very day that it became due ; but a violent storm -came on, and he did not arrive at Taylor's till the following day. Then, as continental bills had depreciated, Taylor insisted on having specie. Finally, according to Jessa Robbins, Tay- lor told Philip Robbins he should pay specie, or he would sue him to the farthest court. Robbins told him he would not pay him specie, if he sued him to h-1, and got the d-1 for his attorney. The
result was a lawsuit. Robbins "scraped together" some money, besides what he got for his farm at Walpole. After the execution was out, Taylor hesitated to take the pay. The attorney applied to the Judge and Clerk to receive the continental money. It was counted out; Robbins's lawyer had in his hands a demand against Taylor, which amounted to more than the execution ; a writ was immediately served, and the money secured to Taylor's creditor. 4
38
PLANTATION HISTORY.
wife fifty acres more, if she would come and cook for him and his hired men. David Robbins could not get a deed, or any security for one, of the person who had sold to him in Thomaston; for he had gone off, it was said, as a tory. Accordingly, his father's proposition to him and his wife was accepted. With their chil- dren they came in May, 1776, and occupied the log- house built by Packard, who, in consequence of the Robbins purchase, was obliged to go off. This was the first family which moved into Stirlington. Before the decease of David Robbins, there was standing in Warren or Thomaston only one house, built before he came here. At the time of his coming, there was not another family above Boggs's in Warren. None of the land between them was cleared. There was no road, not even a footpath. Mrs. Robbins1 did not see the face of a woman from the time of her arrival in May till the following autumn. To this day, people speak of her excessive joy when another female came to reside with her.
At the same time with David Robbins came Philip Robbins and his sons, Jessa and Ebenezer. Philip Rob- bins settled west and north of the island in Seven-tree Pond, on the place where Stephen Hawes now lives. He brought six men to assist him in clearing his land. During the season he cut down and burned over about twenty acres.
Richard Cummings, from Stoughton, came the same spring in May, cleared a small spot on the farm now owned by Henry Seiders, sowed some spring grain, tarried a short time, and returned to Massachusetts.
In the spring of the same year, Dr. Taylor again visited his township. Having hired Col. Benjamin Burton, afterward an officer in the revolutionary war, Nathaniel Fales, of Thomaston, and others, he built the first frame-house in the place. It was about
1 Probably the first white females ever in the place were two young women of somewhat suspicious character, who, in the spring before the arrival of Mrs. Robbins, came by themselves from Warren in a boat to the Mill Farm, and returned on the same day.
39
RAISING OF A BARN. - LOG-HOUSES.
eighteen feet by twenty, and stood on the spot now occupied by Joseph Gleason's house. Gleason's kitchen is over the old cellar, and Taylor's well furnishes the water now used by Gleason's family. This was the only frame-house in Union till some years after the town was incorporated. The boards were brought on the ice from Lermond's Mills, at Oyster River, by Phinehas Butler.
This year, the Butlers, Jessa Robbins, and others, reaped the rye, of which the Butlers had sowed a con- siderable part in the preceding year. It was the first grain ever harvested in town.
In the course of the same summer, Taylor erected a barn, measuring about thirty-four by forty feet. The posts, beams, and rafters were of oak. The entire male population of Stirlington, consisting of six men and two lads, one seventeen and the other nineteen years old, were present at the raising. The timber was so large and heavy, and the gang, of which Philip Robbins is said to have been the captain, was so small, that two days were required to put up the frame. The flesh was scraped from the arms, and the gang so exhausted by lifting and straining as to be hardly able to work for nearly a week.
It was some time in the course of the year that Richard Cummings built a log-house. Except Pack- ard's, it was the first in town. It was situated about midway between the road and the pond. In the fall of the same year, or in the spring of the next, David Robbins built the next log-house on land now owned by the heirs of his son David. It was between the present house and the pond, so near to the latter - perhaps fifteen rods distant-that the water used by the family was brought from it. The top of the house was covered with slabs brought from Mill River in Thomaston. "The house," says Mrs. Dunton, " was caulked with moss. The chimney was on the outside of the house. Mother baked all the bread by the fire, but the next year got along comfortably, as we had a clay oven out of doors."
40
PLANTATION HISTORY.
In the fall, Philip Robbins went to Walpole, and re- turned with his family. On arriving at the Fort Wharf in Thomaston, they were met by their friends, and came up the river to Stirlington.1
In the vessel with the family of Philip Robbins came Richard Cummings and his family. They landed from Seven-tree Pond, Nov. 2. Before this, Philip Robbins lived with his son David in the Pack- ard House. When his family came, all for a short time lived together. There were fourteen persons dwelling together in this small log-house. The first fall, three low bedsteads were set up in the garret. It was necessary to lay the fourth bed on the floor of the garret, so as to crawl over it to get to the others. The ascent to the garret was by steps cut into a log which stood by the side of the fireplace. Another bed, with a trundle bed under it, was in the room below, which was also the kitchen, reception-room, parlor, &c. The members of the household who were unprovided for lay on the floor. This house Philip Robbins and his family occupied probably about four years. Thus the fathers and mothers of the town found it necessary to live and to lodge.
In this year Philip Robbins put up a timber-house. The timbers, twelve by twenty inches in size, were dovetailed, or locked in, at the ends. The roof was covered, but there were no doors or windows; nor
1 Mrs. Susan Mero says, that, when they arrived at the Fort Wharf, her uncle Gregory, of Camden, met them, and insisted on carrying her, then a girl eight years old, to his home. Accordingly, she mounted his horse behind him. On the way they went through an almost impassable swamp, in which the horse sometimes sank two or three feet. After a week's visit, her uncle brought her to Tay- lortown. Guided by spotted trees, they came up on the east side of Seven-tree Pond. The bushes and limbs were so thick that she fre- quently was in imminent danger of striking her feet, and being turned and thrown from the horse. At Crawford's River, there being no bridge, Taylor's men were hailed across the stream. They went to the pond, and rowed round its mouth instead of crossing it. The boat was then rowed back, though at first she hesitated about "getting into a thing that looked so much like a hog's trough." Shortly afterwards, she was carried across the pond, about five-eightlis of a mile, to her father's,
41
MILLS. - ABIJAH HAWES.
was it inhabited for three or four years. "It was so built that the Indians could not shoot through it." Into this the family put their effects when they came in November.
"In the fall of this year, Philip Robbins got out a frame for a barn, which he put up in 1777.1 It was in this year also that Taylor put up the frame of a saw- mill, a little below the present mills on Crawford's River. A grist-mill was afterwards put under the saw- mill.
CHAPTER V.
PLANTATION HISTORY, 1777, 1778.
1777, Phinehas Butler enters the Army. - Purchases by Abijah Hawes; by Ezra Bowen; by Jonathan Amory; by Joel Adams, Jason Ware, and Matthias Hawes. - Settlement of John Butler. - 1778, Suchfort the Hessian. - Blacksmithing. - Calamitous Fire. - Suffering for Food.
1777.
IN February, 1777, Phinehas Butler, who was acting as Taylor's agent, enlisted in Stirlington under Col. Benjamin Burton,2 and joined the army.
In June came Abijah Hawes, the first settler from Franklin, Mass. He had received continental bills in payment for services in the revolutionary war. The bills were depreciating, and he resolved to purchase a farm with them. In order to save his means and buy
1 Col. Burton's bill shows the value of labor at the time : -
Novbr. 22 1776 St Georges
PHILIP ROBINS Dr To Hughing of a fraim for a Barn O. T. [Old Tenor] £22 10 0 To 9 Days work of Myself and Brother at 3£ per Day 27 00. 0 To one Two year old Heffer a 12 Dollars 27 00 0 To 13 Days Work at 37/6 · 6 6 .
100 16 6
2 Col. Burton died in Warren, May 24, 1835, aged 86. 4*
42
PLANTATION HISTORY.
as many acres as possible, he performed the journey from Franklin to Stirlington on foot and alone. He selected the farm now owned by his son, Whiting Hawes, on the west side of Seven-tree Pond, suppos- ing that it would be the more salable from the cir- cumstance that David Robbins had settled on the one side of it, and Ezra Bowen, who, after having worked for Taylor a year or two, had the same month selected the farm on the other side. Bowen's is now owned by Capt. John Pearse Robbins, and is next to Warren line. Hawes and Bowen began to chop the trees on their respective lots on the same day.
July 4, a deed was executed by which " John Taylor, of a new plantation called Sterlingtown, in considera- tion of the sum of £2,000 lawful money, conveys to Jonathan Amory, of Boston, merchant, a tract of land in Sterlingtown, with a dwelling-house, barn, grist- mill, and saw-mill thereon standing, containing about 6,500 acres more or less, bounded thus : Beginning at . a maple-tree marked, at the most south-westerly corner, which is on the line between the town of Warren and said plantation ; thence east by said town-line, till it comes to Camden line; thence by said Camden line north-westerly, till that line strikes St. George's River ; then on the east side of said river, till it comes to the first-mentioned bounds."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.