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 6
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1 A few years after Josiah Robbins moved to town, there was a gathering to raise a barn for him. Bread was very scarce; and rum, in those days considered almost indispensable on such occasions, commanded an exorbitant price. But, as there were fish in abun- dance and some meat, it was concluded, instead of the ordinary refreshment, to have a supper. David Cummings, then a boy, was sent on an errand from the barn to the house, where he saw Mrs. Robbins taking bread from the oven. Watching his opportunity, he broke off a piece, and ran. He often spoke of it when he became a man, and added that this was one of the richest meals he ever ate; for his dinner that day had consisted of nothing but boiled beech- leaves.
55
CAT-AND-CLAY CHIMNEY.
bins, and the pond. The old cellar may still be seen. A cat-and-clay chimney was made by driving into the ground four crotched sticks, for the four corners of the fireplace. Bars were laid in the crotches; and on these bars, which were high and commonly of wood, was laid a mixture of clay and chopped straw. Length- wise in this mixture was laid a stick, about an inch in diameter; and this was also covered with it. Thus the sides of the chimney were built. In a few days, the clay was hardened by the heat. Flat stones were placed against the logs of the house, to prevent them from taking fire. The door was opposite the side of the fireplace. Long back-logs were slipped in under the bars on which the cat-and-clay chimney rested.
In May came Royal Grinnell, with his family. At that time there were fifteen families. It is said that there was not probably a washtubful of grain in the place.1 He lived on the Mill Farm two or three years,
1 There have been seasons of so great scarcity, that some of the most prosperous inhabitants occasionally subsisted on alewives and milk. This was the case with Samuel Hills and family. When Mrs .. Matthias Hawes was about fifteen years old, and resided with her parents in Warren, she fared thus for three weeks, and became so exhausted that she often laid her head down upon the loom where she was weaving, and shed tears. And, even when there was grain, it was difficult to get it ground. The millstones at Taylor's mills were small and poor. Often there was want of water. Oftener the mill was out of order. Then it was customary to put corn into a hole made in the end of a log, which was sometimes hooped with iron, and to crack it with a wooden pestle, either held in the hands, or attached to an apparatus like a pump-handle. Thus a family obtained hominy. For finer meal, the cracked corn was sifted through holes made in birch-bark with heated fork-tines. Sometimes it was considered advisable to take a grist to mill. Then it was carried to Oyster River, to Molineux's mills in Camden, or to Wessaweskeag in Thomaston. The bags were. boated to the Carrying Place in Warren. There they were left till the carrier went to the head of the tide, about two miles distant, hired a horse, and returned for them. They were then transported across the Carrying Place, put into another boat, and the horse was returned to its owner. In this way, by water and by land, the grist was borne forward to the mill. The same tedious process was repeated in return- ing. For each grist, it was necessary six times to cross the Carrying place in Warren.
Sometimes the grain was carried on horseback the entire distance from Union. Then it was necessary to walk by the horse all the way. The bushes, fallen trees, old logs, gulleys, were so numerous, and the.
56
PLANTATION HISTORY.
and had charge of the mills. Mrs. Grinnell was in the habit of assisting her husband in setting the mill-logs, and marking the boards. On an emergency, she took an ox-chain, wound it over her shoulders and back, and carried it to the blacksmith -shop of Samuel Hills, to be mended. After living at South Union three years, Mr. Grinnell, with his wife1 and children,
path, which was designated by spotted trees, was so bad, that fre- quently the bags were taken off and replaced twenty times during the journey.
Jessa Robbins says he has hauled grain on a hand-sled to Seven-tree Pond, carried it on his back the two miles at the crossing place in Warren, and rowed it to Lermond's. His mill being a tide-mill, and the water frequently low, he oftener had to go on with it to Coombs's, at Wessaweskeag. The journey always required two, and sometimes three days.
In a time of scarcity, the owners, on their return, frequently loaned the greatest part of the meal to the needy. The earliest crop of rye was harvested and ground as soon as possible, in order to relieve the inha- bitants, perhaps for a week, till other crops were ripe. If any one had a suitable piece of ground, he sowed barley, as it ripened earlier. When Royal Grinnell was miller at South Union, he frequently ground the poor man's peck or half-bushel of grain, without taking the toll.
1 Mrs. Grinnell and Nathaniel Robbins, Esq. have dwelt much upon the annoyance from the small black flies, with which the woods swarmed when they came here. Though they have now almost wholly disappeared, the common black flies cannot in number be com- pared with them. If it were practicable to count them, they could be reckoned only by millions. Their bodies were about half as large as mosquitos. They bit, and drew blood instantly. This was followed by an inflammation and swelling, which continued several days. If a child went to the door for a minute or two, it would return covered with them, and with the blood running down its face, hands, and legs. Haymakers, choppers, and laborers in general, covered their faces with handkerchiefs in self-defence. The annoyance was indescribable. When night came, they ceased from their bloody work. But it was only to give place to mosquitos, which then began in turn their attacks. During the warm season, the inhabitants had no peace, either by night or by day. The only partial remedy lay in building large fires, and raising a dense smoke before the doors of the log-houses; and, if the smoke filled the houses, it was considered vastly preferable to the mosquitos.
Dr. Thaddeus William Harris - whom Professor Agassiz does not hesitate to pronounce " decidedly the best entomologist in the world" - in his Treatise on Insects, p. 405, calls the small black fly, or gnat, Simulium molestum, and says : "These little tormentors are of a black color ; their wings are transparent; and their legs are short, and have a broad, whitish ring around them. The length of the
57
HOLMES. - JOSIAH ROBBINS'S FAMILY.
settled on the farm which was in possession of Phine- has Butler before he moved to Thomaston.
Aug. 25. Elijah Holmes, from Sharon, married in Stirlington Dorcas Partridge, from Franklin. He took up his residence on the place subsequently owned by the late Obadiah Morse, and now by James Adams Ulmer, of Thomaston. He cut the logs of his house, " backed" them together, put up the walls before any one knew it, and then announced to the family of Capt. Adams, with whom he boarded, that he had a house. He also lived on the farm now owned by Philo Thurston, and afterward near Capt. Tobey, on the farm since owned by Deacon Morse. Not many years passed before he moved to Rockland, and became an extensive landowner.
1786.
In 1786, Josiah Robbins moved his family from Franklin. On the Lord's Day before their departure for the wilderness, where they would be beyond the sound of the gospel, the sons and daughters were led by their parents to the front of the pulpit, and " in the presence of the large congregation received the ordi- dinance of baptism and the apostolic blessing of that venerable man," the Rev. Dr. Emmons. After this consecration, they took their departure. They landed
body rarely exceeds one-tenth of an inch. They begin to appear in May, and continue about six weeks, after which they are no more seen. . . . They are followed, however, by swarms of midges, or sand-flies, Simulium nocivum, called no-see-'em by the Indians of Maine on account of their minuteness. So small are they, that they would hardly be perceived were it not for their wings, which are of a whit- ish color, mottled with black. Towards evening, these winged atoms come forth, and creep under the clothes of the inhabitants, and by their bites produce an intolerable irritation, and a momentary smart- ing, compared, in Gosse's Canadian Naturalist, to that caused by sparks of fire. They do not draw blood; and no swelling follows their attacks. They are most troublesome during the months of July and August." It is very likely that these animals caused part of the suf- ferings alluded to; but, as the inhabitants in Union were not natural- ists, and had not a very correct idea of these insects, it is probable that oftentimes they did not distinguish the midges from the gnats which immediately preceded them.
58
PLANTATION HISTORY.
at Wheaton's, afterwards called Green's Wharf, in Thomaston, about two hundred rods west of the Knox Mansion. They went up the river in a gondola to the head of the tide. Then their luggage, furniture, &c. because of the falls, were hauled across the Carrying Place to a landing opposite Isaac Starrett's. Here they were met by Philip Robbins, and David Robbins from Stirlington, who came down the river in log- canoes. Boards were laid across the canoes, the goods were put on, and all embarked for the place of destina- tion. They landed on Philip Robbins's farm, near the island, May 17, 1786, after a journey of seventeen days, having waited in Boston fourteen days for a wind.
In the vessel with Josiah Robbins came Samuel Hills, the first blacksmith, with his wife. An older brother, a painter, had lived with Oliver Robbins in Thomaston, and died there. Hills came down to look after his brother's effects, and thus found his way to Union. In 1785 he had cleared Hills Point. He set- tled, lived, and died near Seven-tree Pond, on the east side of it, below Crawford's River. The farm is now owned by Nathaniel Robbins.
At the time of the arrival of Robbins and Hills, there was no house or settlement on the east side of the St. George's, except on the Taylor farm.
Besides the persons who have been named, there was, when Robbins and Hills moved to Stirlington, another person here, the year of whose coming is not known. Samuel Martin, from Bristol, who had lost the sight of one of his eyes, resided below Sunnybec Pond, at the saw-mill, which then stood thirty or forty rods above the present Upper Bridge. He afterward moved to Hope.
The names of all the settlers in Stirlington Planta- tion, and the places on which they lived, have now been given. Occasionally, in Mr. Hawes's Account- book, mention is made of the arrival and departure of other persons. They were obviously, for the most part, visitors. Some came to see their friends in the
59
ORGANIZATION OF THE PLANTATION.
wilderness ; others, perhaps, to look at the country with a view to settlement; and a few may have worked a short time with the settlers. But none, ex- cept those who have been named, ought to be reckoned among the settlers in town before it was incorporated. The period covers seventeen years since Dické, on Seven-tree Island, saw the comet; fourteen years since the Anderson party built their camp near Crawford's River, and twelve since the first arrival of Dr. Taylor.
ORGANIZATION OF THE PLANTATION.
In 1786, Stirlington, or Taylortown, was organized as a plantation. In connection with its organization is the following document. It is the earliest entry on any of the town-books : -
" Lincoln, ss. - To Philip Robbins, gent. a principal inha- bitant of the plantation called Sterlington, in said county . of Lincoln, greeting :
" In obedience to a precept from William Lithgow, Esq. treasurer of the county aforesaid, to me directed ; - These are to require you forthwith to notify and warn the inhabitants of your said plantation, being freeholders, to meet at the dwelling-house of Capt. Philip Robbins, in said plantation, on Monday the twelfth day of June next, at ten of the clock in the forenoon, in order that such of the inhabitants of the said plantation [as ] shall then assemble shall and do choose a moderator and clerk, and also assessors and collector or collectors for said plantation's proportion of all such taxes as have [been] or may be assessed upon the same county, either for soldiers' bounty-money or for defraying the neces- sary charges of the said county, until other assessors and collectors shall be chosen in their stead at the annual meet- ing of said plantation in March next; such clerk, assessors, and collectors to be sworn by the moderator of said meet- ing [to] the faithful discharge of their respective trust[s]; and the assessors, so to be chosen and sworn, thereupon to take list of the ratable polls and a valuation of said estate . of the inhabitants of said plantation, for to make such assess- ments, and to judge of the qualifications of voters in meet- ings of such inhabitants thereafter to be holden, until other"
.
60
INCORPORATION HISTORY.
valuation shall be made; and to make return of the names of the collector or collectors, with the sum committed to him or them to collect, as soon as may be, to the said William Lithgow, Esq. or his successor in said office of treasurer ; and make return of this warrant, with your doings thereupon, unto said meeting.
" Given under my hand and seal at Thomastown, in said county, May 3, 1786.
" MASON WHEATON, Justice of Peace.
"Sterlington County Tax £2 11 10
" Soldiers' Bounty . . 1 12 4₫
" A true copy.
" MOSES HAWES, Plantation Clerk."
CHAPTER VIII.
INCORPORATION HISTORY, 1786.
Petition for Incorporation. - Act of Incorporation. - Number and Names of the Inhabitants.
IN consequence of the preceding warrant, the inhabi- tants made a movement to obtain an Act of Incorpora- tion. The petition, which is the second document on the town-records, was drawn up within a fortnight after the plantation-meeting, and signed by Moses Hawes, Joel Adams, and Samuel Hills, " Committee of the Plantation of Sterlington." It is not probable that it was presented. There is not any copy of it in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and filed with the Act of Incorporation, as belonging to it, is the following petition, which un- doubtedly led to the granting of the Act :-
" To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled.
" The petition of the inhabitants of the plantation known by the name of Sterlington humbly showeth, - That they
61
PETITION FOR INCORPORATION.
have for a long time past and still continue to experience many and great inconveniences arising from the want of roads, bridges, &c. to and from this place, and [of] other privileges which incorporated towns enjoy ; and whereas the Honorable Court have seen fit to lay a tax of sixty-five pounds upon us, which, under our present low and distressed circumstances, we are unable to pay without great difficulty and inconvenience in the manner prescribed, as four-fifths of the land belongs to non-resident proprietors, and there being no roads laid out to this place; we therefore pray that the Honorable Court would permit us to lay out said tax in de- fraying charges of a bridge now a building of one hundred and ten feet long, and in opening and making roads, and building another bridge of one hundred and seventy feet long ; which bridge must be built before there will be any passing by land or water to or from this place. [And] If, in their wisdom and justice, [they] shall think reasonable and fit, [that they will] incorporate a certain tract of land, containing thirty-two thousand acres, including twelve thousand acres, which was deducted when the last purchase was made, for ponds and waste land, on which land is settled twenty-five polls, and upwards of seventy women and chil- dren ; which land was purchased by the once honorable John Taylor, Esq. of the late Secretary Fluker, into a township by the name Lindall,1 which is bounded as followeth, viz. : Southwardly on the town of Warren, westwardly on Waldo- borough, northwardly on land supposed to belong to this Commonwealth, and eastwardly on land belonging to the heirs of the late Brigadier-General Waldo, till it comes to first bounds mentioned, that we may receive and enjoy all those privileges which corporate towns are by law entitled to ; and your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. By order of the Committee,
" MOSES HAWES, Clerk.
" Sterlington, Sept. 12, 1786."
1 The word Lindall, on the manuscript-petition, is written in a back hand, and appears to have been inserted to fill a blank. As Dr. Jen- nison was connected with the Lindall family, it may have been done through his influence. There is a tradition, pretty well authenti- cated, that, when the subject was under consideration, the uncommon harmony and union among the people were spoken of ; and it was sug- gested and urged at the Legislature, that Union would be appropriate, and it was readily acceded to.
6
62
INCORPORATION HISTORY.
The preceding petition was followed by -
" An Act for Incorporating the Plantation called Sterlington, in the county of Lincoln, into a town by the name of Union.
" Whereas it appears to this Court that it would be pro- ductive of public good, and for the benefit of the inhabitants and proprietors, that the plantation called Sterlington, in the county [of] Lincoln, should be incorporated into a town :
" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, - That the plantation called Sterlington, and in- cluded within the boundaries described in this Act, together with the inhabitants thereof, be, and they are hereby, incor- porated into a town by the name of Union, beginning at the south-easterly corner thereof, being a stake and stones ; thence bounding easterly on land belonging to Waldo's heirs, by a line running north-west by north, eleven miles and eighty rods; thence bounded northerly by land sup- posed to belong to the Commonwealth, by a line running south-west by west, five miles and twenty-four rods ; thence westerly by lands supposed to belong to said Waldo's heirs, by a line running south, three miles and two hundred rods ; thence on the same land, east, three miles and an half; thence south, two miles and an half and twenty rods ; thence bounded west on the town of Warren by a line running east, six miles and two hundred and fifteen rods, to the bounds first men- tioned; 1 and the said town is hereby vested with all the
1 In consequence of a precept from the General Court of Massa- chusetts, the inhabitants moved, during the years 1794-96, to have a survey of the town. The plan was made by Ebenezer Jennison, Esq. and is now in the office of the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts. It is not very exact. There have been unsuccessful movements of late years for a new survey. If there were a good plan, a map would have accompanied this volume. The part of the town west of Medo- mac River was set off to Putnam, when that town was incorporated by an Act passed Feb. 27, 1811. In June, 1817, "all that tract or gore of land lying between the towns of Waldoborough and Union " was annexed to the latter. Consequently, the town is smaller and the boundaries are different from what they were originally.
Though there has not been a survey, the town-lines have been perambulated. Oct. 2, 1823, this was done between Union and Wal- doborough, from Medomac River to Warren line, by John Gleason, attended by John W. Lindley and Herman Hawes. In 1840, Sept. 8,
63
ACT OF INCORPORATION.
powers, privileges, and immunities, which towns within this Commonwealth are entitled to, or by law enjoy.
" And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, - That Waterman Thomas, Esq. be, and he hereby is, em- powered to issue his warrant to some principal inhabitant of the said town, requiring him to warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at such time and place as he shall therein set forth, to choose all such officers as towns are required and em- powered by law to choose in the month of March or April annually.1
"This act passed Oct. 20, 1786."
At the time of the incorporation, the town contained the following families ; 2 the figures denoting the num- ber of members : -
Willard Robbins and others perambulated the line between Union and Appleton ; Jan. 13 and 14, 1841, between Union and Warren ; and Jan. 25 and 26, between Union and Hope. In April, 1841, the town " voted that suitable stone-monuments be put up between said towns, provided the adjoining towns will be at their proportion of the expense." Sept. 12, 1844, Ebenezer Blunt, selectman of Union, and George Pease, selectman of Appleton, perambulated the line between the towns, and " set up stone-monuments at the corners, and where the line crossed the highways, and near the banks of all the ponds and rivers which said line crossed." The same was done Nov. 9, 1844, on the line between Union and Hope by Ebenezer Blunt, and by Josiah Hobbs, one of the selectmen of Hope. June 10, 1843, the town "voted that the selectmen be a Committee to petition to the Su- preme Court to have the line run between the county of Lincoln and Waldo." This is of importance, as Union is a border town.
1 At the end of the manuscript Act of Incorporation, in the State House at Boston, is the following memorandum : - " In the House of Representatives, Oct. 12, 1786. This bill, having had three several readings, passed to be engrossed. - Sent up for concurrence.
" ARTEMAS WARD, Speaker."
On the back of the bill is the following : - "In Senate, Oct. 18, 1786. This bill, having had two several readings, passed a concur- rence to be engrossed with an amendment at A. - Sent down for concurrence. "SAMUEL PHILLIPS, jun. President."
" A, dele from A to B, and insert thereof that the Plantation called Sterlington, in the county of Lincoln."
curred.
" In the House of Representatives, Oct. 19, 1786. - Read and con- " ARTEMAS WARD, Speaker."
The words to be erased in the first paragraph were, " A of said plantation that the same B."
2 N. P. Hawes's MS.
64
SETTLERS AFTER THE INCORPORATION.
Joel Adams 5
Ezra Bowen 5
John Butler 5
Richard Cummings 6
Royal Grinnell .. 4
Abijah Hawes . . .
3
Matthias Hawes. . 4
Moses Hawes 5
Samuel Hills 2
Elijah Holmes . 2
Amariah Mero. . . 2
Elisha Partridge . 5
Bela Robbins . . 2
David Robbins . . 9
Ebenezer Robbins. 3
Jessa Robbins . . 2
Josiah Robbins . . 5
Philip Robbins . . 3
Jason Ware 5
CHAPTER IX.
SETTLERS AFTER THE INCORPORATION, 1787-1793.
1787, Levi Morse ; Oliver Leland ; William Hart. - 1788, The Max-
. cys. - 1789, The Daggetts; Seth Luce; Christopher Butler ; Ichabod Irish ; Barnabas Webb. - 1793, Casualty to the Maxcy Family. - Remarks on the Early Settlers.
1787.
AMONG the settlers who came soon after the incorpora- tion was Levi Morse. He was hired "for forty shillings a month, and found," by Dr. Jennison, then of Brookfield, to chop for him three or six months, as Morse should choose. Having received one dollar to pay his passage by water, he left Sherburne for Boston, April 23, 1787. " April 26, sailed for St. George's River; arrived there, 29th. ... 1788, May 5, came [from Sherburne] to Boston; sailed Wednesday morn- ing; arrived [at] St. George's River, May 8th; went up to Union the 9th." From other memoranda left by him, it appears that he returned from Sherburne to Union every spring for several years ; spending the winters, as many of the early settlers did, in Massa- chusetts. In 1789, he brought with him John Locke, son of a former President of Harvard University. The agreement with Locke was to pay him, for six months,
65
SETTLERS FROM ATTLEBOROUGH.
" six pounds twelve shillings in good rye at the market price in" Sherburne, besides furnishing him with a passage, provisions, washing, and mending, from the time of his sailing from Boston. For a considerable part of the time before his marriage, Morse cooked his own food, occasionally employing Mrs. Josiah Rob- bins to bake his bread. He settled on the farm now owned by his sons, Levi Morse and George B. Morse.
With Morse also came Oliver Leland from Sher- burne. He began to clear the farm next to Morse's, on the south. After a year or two, he lost his thumb by the bursting of a gun while hunting near Craw- ford's Pond, and went back to Sherburne.
William Hart, from Sherburne, came with Morse. Both of them seem to have been under the patronage of Mr. Amory, who, being desirous of introducing settlers, offered to give Hart either of the lots of land which did not border on the pond. He selected the one north of the mill-lot. It differed but little in value from what were then considered the best ; for its west- ern boundary was but a few rods from the water. The farm is now owned by his son, John Fisher Hart. At one time, Morse, Hart, and Gillmor boarded with Josiah Robbins, for which they worked two days in each week.
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