USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Holden > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 21
USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Eddington > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 21
USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Orrington > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 21
USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Brewer > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 21
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
An account of John Farrington, pioneer settler to the Wrentham Settlement, Holden, was written by his grandson, Charles O. Farrington, about 1859. This account tells something of the family, something of the hardships of pioneer living, and many items of interest about their ways of life. It seems to be appropriate to include Mr. Farrington's account here.
"My grandfather, John Farrington, when a young man lived in Wrentham, Massachusetts.
"He was a farmer and a carpenter, but left his business and served in the army during a part of the War of the Revolution.
"In 1786, in company with six other families, he with his wife emigrated to the District of Maine.
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"The vessel that brought them here anchored near the South shore of the Penobscot River, just opposite the Kenduskeag Stream. They brought with them a few cows, and probably oxen and such tools as would be needed in frontier life.
"Landed upon the shore, they are upon a rich soil that nourished a forest of majestic pines that life their tops a hundred feet above them. A sort of Homeland inviting them to stay. And did our immigrants remain here? They did not. But why, why, why not? We can only answer they did not; but made a straight way through the forest to the tops of hills several miles south; to a land of inferior hard wood growths; a land of ledges, rocks, and poor soils.
"My Grandmother, not feeling able to walk, made the trip upon the back of a cow.
"After choosing their locations the forest sang with the sounds of their axes felling trees and building log camps for homes. One morning, my Grandfather went out and left the door open and soon in walked a bear and put his front paws on the bed where my Grandmother and her children were lying. Not seeing anything he wanted to eat there he left to look for his usual breakfast in the forest.
"In the course of time, perhaps twenty or more years, the family consisted of six boys and three girls. My Grandfather had built a house and moved from his log hut into it. There was one large room in the house to which he invited the neighbors for social gatherings and religious meetings which he conducted for many years; probably until the large meeting house was built near the river.
"Meanwhile large numbers of people have been coming to the forests of Maine. Forest trails have been lengthened and made into roads. Forests have been surveyed and laid off into 100 acre lots. Sawmills have been built and boards and timber have been made, and houses have taken the place of log huts; and the vessels that brought pioneers returned with loads of lumber.
"As my grandfather's children reached the age of 21, he gave each of them 100 acres of forest. The lot of Oliver, my father, was on the west side of the trail, now made in to a road, and was on Cold Spring Hill, about three miles from the Penobscot
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River. Meanwhile he had become acquainted with the family of Deacon Lot Rider, living on a farm that bordered on the Penobscot River, and, liking the location and the family and especially the daughter, Hannah, he bought, February 22, 1822, an adjacent farm.
"There was on this farm one half of a large abandoned meet- ing house, a famous spring, and a small dwelling house, and Oliver asked Hannah to become his wife and live with him in the house upon his farm, to which she consented. It was not long before there were children in the house and the house was too small, so he built a larger two-story house on the South side of the street and they moved in and lived near the large abandoned meeting house. ...
"The spring, was near the river and vessels anchored in deep water a mile below and sent their boats for barrels of water to drink on long sea voyages to deliver their loads of the famous pine lumber from the forests of Maine. Through the droughts of summer, the floods of spring and fall, and the ice of winter the same unvarying gush of cool, clear water came bubbling from under an immense rock and continues to, to this now present day, when horses with loaded wagons deliver the water to the dwellers in two cities.
"They could get food from the farm, but clothing, schooling, and books cost money, and that must come from the forest. The two oldest boys, Henry and Joseph, hauled hemlock bark in the summer and logs in the winter. The bark was delivered to Captain Arey, at his brick store at the ferry and shipped to Boston, and the logs left at a sawmill which stood where the large brick Hathorn block now stands.
"I had frequently been to the forest with my brothers and knew the business well; and now they leave to begin their life work as men and now at 17 years of age, I take their place.
"At sunrise when I went to the barn to feed the oxen I saw four deer feeding in the field near the forest. Pretty fellows they are; we often see them there.
"It is a bright summer morning and if you are all ready please take seats on the hay we have on the cart for the oxen's dinner. As we go down Main Street we pass the end of Chamberlain Street and can see the house we are now in. (This was the
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house on the upper corner of Chamberlain and Washington Streets next to the telephone building). We pass a few more houses and last Charles Holyoke's and are in the forest; the street a narrow lane, tall trees on both sides, the sky a band of blue reaching far ahead of us. Off to the left side we see a narrow strip cut into the woods where we often see deer feeding - and look! There are three, yes, four deer browsing on the tender tops of bushes. It is rather late in the day and they see us and we only get a glimpse of them as they dash away into the forest.
"We are soon on the top of Whiting's Hill, two and one-half miles from the river and see Mount Katahdin a hundred or so miles away. Half a mile further and we turn to the right into the forest. We stop to take a drink of cold spring water from the thin birch bark dippers and then jolt away over the stones and tree roots of the narrow rough woods road. On the left is a camp where Smith, our bark peeler lives and where we stay when we come for a week's work. And Hark! We hear the stroke of an axe, then the crashing of a falling Hemlock as it strikes the ground. We draw near and it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the man who wielded the axe that felled the tree. He is an old soldier of the Mexican War and as he tells it, he and General Taylor fought the war through to victory and the people made Taylor President of the United States and left Smith to peel bark; witness the ingratitude of a republic. We notice that the tree rests, not on the ground, but on a log, so that the bark can all be peeled from the tree. Our bark peeler measures off four feet and with his axe cuts through the bark clear around the tree, then cuts through the bark lengthwise, and continues until all the bark is cut into four foot lengths.
"He then takes a sprid, an implement somewhat like a chisel, but the steel is thin and curved, and the wood handle is three feet long, and with this the first four foot length of bark is pried, stripped off, and he has a fine piece of bark as the tree is nearly three feet in diameter and the bark is about ten feet wide - though only four feet long. He leans it up against the tree to dry and when dry the bark is split into two foot strips and made into neat piles, to remain until marketing time in September."
In closing his anecdotes, Mr. Farrington speaks of the pines which fell many years ago, the bark and sap decayed, moss
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grew upon the logs and the clear perfectly preserved pine re- mained. His brothers had frequently found such logs, dug them up and brought them home and on stormy days the father of the family sawed them up, split them, and shaved them into the best of staves and shingles.
Another person who came early to the community was Dr. Elisha Skinner. He came in 1787 from Mansfield, Massachusetts. He entered the army in the early part of the Revolution as a surgeon's mate and was shortly promoted to the office of surgeon. He held this office until the end of the war. He served with the Southern army. While in the army he was a good and faithful surgeon and when he became a civilian he became a successful physician in private life. He was deacon of the Con- gregational Church of Brewer for some time and for many years was Master in the Rising Virtue Lodge of Free Masons. He died on November 3, 1827.
Major General John Blake came first to this part of the country to survey the wild lands. While here he purchased 100 acres on credit and the next year he came back, bringing his wife and two children, and settled six miles east of the river.
He was a farmer, lumberer, and mill owner. He was always ready to help those in need. He was active in both the Revolu- tion and the War of 1812; but in spite of this no pension was granted to him until 1832, a few years before his death.
Later in life he moved to Brewer, about a mile above the bridge. Mrs. Blake died here in 1835. He died in 1842. Both are buried in the family lot in the Holden Cemetery.
Daniel Sargent was a prominent and successful business man in the Penobscot Valley and a resident of Brewer for forty-three years. He was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, February 3, 1811, being descended from one William Sargent, who came to Massachusetts from England in 1642. He grew up on a farm and like all boys of the period much of his boyhood and youth was spent in doing farmwork. Until he was about sixteen he attended school only about three months during the year.
After attending Amesbury Academy for two terms, he, at the age of 18, taught school in Amesbury. He continued this work for five winters, working on the farm too, until after the death of his father, when he re-moved to Maine. While he was living
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in Amesbury he served as a member of the superintending school committee and also held the office of treasurer and collector for the town.
Mr. Sargent was married to Susan Hopkins Patten on February 19, 1835. Their family consisted of four children, the two youngest of which were born in Brewer, the Sargents having moved to Brewer Village in 1838. After establishing a grocery store he became interested in a number of businesses. One of these was ship building. In 1846 he entered a partnership with George O. Goodwin which existed until 1854. He bought an interest in a sawmill owned by Charles G. Stearns. The new firm which was formed was called Sargent, Sterns, and Company and carried on the grocery and milling business. In 1853, he purchased the Bruce Mills at the Cove and in 1854 he bought out Mr. Goodwin's interest. Sargent and Sterns were partners in the manufacturing of lumber and in storekeeping for the next fifteen years. In 1862, they purchased the steam saw mill in Hampden which was later owned and managed by the Sterns Lumber Company. Sargent, Sterns & Co. dissolved in 1864 and Mr. Sargent took the mills and premises at Brewer. Mr. Sterns taking the Hampden property. While the partnership was in existence they had also added shipbuilding to their business in company with Simon Moulton, Captain Daniel Shedd, George Goodwin, and others.
The sawmill and water privileges at East Orrington were purchased by Mr. Sargent in 1867 and in 1871 he added the steam sawmill on the river at Orrington. The Arctic Ice Company of Bangor bought this river property and also the property adjacent to it in 1880. It is interesting to note that Mr. Sargent's mill was on the very same spot at the mouth of the Segeunkedunk Stream at the Cove in South Brewer where Colonel John Brewer built the first sawmill in what is now Penobscot County in 1783.
Harlan and Daniel, Mr. Sargent's two sons, came into the business as partners in 1872 and the firm was then called D. Sargent & Sons. Upon the retirement of the father in 1881, the firm carried on under the name of D. Sargent's Sons.
In 1875 the firm was one of the pioneers in the business of harvesting and shipping ice from the Penobscot. The business grew and prospered and by the winter of 1879-80 the total capacity of their buildings was sixteen thousand tons.
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One of the original members of the Congregational Church formed at Brewer Village in 1843, Mr. Sargent served con- tinuously as deacon for many years, a number of which were in the capacity of senior deacon.
In 1847, he bought the house known as the Judge Perham Place. He removed the old house and built a new "spacious and elegant" house.
Originally a member of the Whig Party, Mr. Sargent became a Republican when that party was organized. He was elected to the State Legislature as a representative of the people of Brewer and Orrington in 1873. He was a civic leader, active in local affairs. He served several times on the Brewer Board of Selectmen and also on the Superintending School Committee of the town. Mr. Sargent died August 23, 1885, and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.
The Holyoke family was one of the early families in Brewer. John Holyoke lived in Boston before coming to Brewer. A story which seems to be fairly well founded tells of his participa- tion in the group who destroyed the tea in Boston Harbor at the time of the famous tea party. Mr. Holyoke, however, never con- firmed the tale; the whole party was pledged to secrecy. When Mr. Holyoke arrived in Brewer he took up two lots of land, one above and one below the bridge. Each of these lots extended forty rods on the river side and went back into the interior for four hundred yards. Mr. Holyoke's first house was built on the upper lot; but the approach to this must have been rather difficult as at the time the river was the only highway. He later built a frame house on the lower lot. This house stood twenty rods from the river and in later years was replaced by another building.
The family played an important part in both the political and financial responsibilities of the town. One son, John, was elected to the Maine Legislature in 1863, and re-elected in 1865. He also served as president of the Brewer Savings Bank for fourteen years. Another son, Caleb, was elected to the Legislature in 1869. He was a director of the Trader's Bank of Bangor for twenty- six years. The eighth son of the family, Dr. Thomas Holyoke, was elected a representative to the Iowa Legislature where he served two successive years. He was also a president of a National Bank in the city of Grinnell.
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Tragedy struck the family of Captain F. G. Arey, before the Captain made his appearance, as his father was lost at sea some months before his birth. He was born in Bucksport, July 26, 1822. Captain Arey followed the family tradition and went to sea while he was very young. He had worked his way to Master and owner when he was thirty-five years of age. He moved to Brewer in 1855 and bought the brick store on Wilson Street, where he traded for about twenty years. After this he became a dealer in real estate and lumber lands. While engaged in the trading business he bought and sold wood and bark and "in fact almost anything that would sell." Captain Arey owned two wharves in the town.
The Reverend Adoniran Judson Copeland was born in Holden while it was yet part of Brewer, in 1814. He was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1840 and the Bangor Theological Seminary in 1843. His ordination took place in Brewer in 1845, following which he did missionary work in Aroostook County for a time. He later went to Illinois where he served as pastor at Corno and at Genesee.
Francis Carr was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, December 6, 1751. He was educated in the public schools of that town. He served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representa- tives from Haverhill from 1791-95 and from 1801-3. He moved to Orrington in the District of Maine and served as representative from there from 1806-8. He was a state senator from 1809-11 and was elected on the Democratic ticket to the 12th Congress of the United States to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Barzillai Gannett. He served as a member of Congress from June 3, 1812 to March 3, 1819. He died in Bangor, Oct. 7, 1821.
W. H. Maling, born May 7, 1825, was one of the oldest lumbermen on the Penobscot River. He went into the lumber business at the age of sixteen and settled in Brewer in 1862, after having lived in Lincoln, Medway, and Winn. He was connected with the Milford Land and Lumber Company and is said to have explored and located as much timberland as any other man on the river.
Jacob L. Barker was born in Lewiston, September 15, 1805. He settled in Brewer in 1833. He was a carpenter by trade. He became an important figure in the political affairs of the town. He served as selectman as well as several minor offices. Beyond
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the borders of his home town he also served as County Com- missioner.
Born in Brewer, September 10, 1833, William P. Burr, attended the public schools of the town until he was about seventeen years of age. He then started to learn the printer's trade. He worked as a journey-man printer for about two years at Machias following which he moved to Ellsworth. After working there for two years he bought a half interest in the Ellsworth American, a Republican newspaper. He continued with this paper until 1865 when he sold out to Mr. N. K. Sawyer, who already owned the other half of the paper. He then returned to Brewer and was engaged in the grocery business for about five years. Mr. Burr was elected town treasurer and town clerk in 1869 and continued to serve in this capacity for nine years. He was appointed post- master in 1879. He was a member of the Greenback Legislature in 1878-9. There was but one other Republican from this district in that body.
S. H. Smith of the firm of Smith, Woodbury & Company, was born March 19, 1834, the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Smith. Their home was in Piscataquis County. Mr. Smith came to Brewer when he was seventeen years old. He worked at the joiner's trade and in 1862 went into the army. After the war he worked in the mill at Brewer, buying an interest in 1865. Later he bought other interests and added other kinds of manufacture. Brushwoods and boxes were made in his mill and long and short lumber were sold.
Joseph R. Farrington was born in Brewer, May 5, 1830. He attended the public schools of Brewer and graduated from Farmington Academy, now the Teachers' College. In his early years, he and his brother Henry were engaged in the brick- making business. In 1871, Mr. Farrington became superintendent of the State College Farm at Orono, where he was also an instructor in the agricultural department of the college. He held that position for nine years when he resigned to accept the position of superintendent of the State Reform School at South Portland. Mr. Farrington married Miss Ellen Elizabeth Holyoke of Brewer, October 11, 1855.
Ebenezer Matoon Chamberlain was born in Orrington in 1805 on August 20. He attended the public schools and studied law. He completed his law studies in Connersville, Indiana, where he
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moved in 1832, and the next year he was admitted to the bar in that state. He began the practice of law in Elkhart County. He was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1835-7, served as judge of Elkhart's Circuit Court for nine years; was elected to the 33rd Congress in 1853-55, then returned to Indiana and resumed the practice of law in Goshen. He died there March 4, 1861.
Probably one of the most distinguished military figures to have come out of the Penobscot Valley; one who proved himself a leader in the fields of education, religion, and culture, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain stands out as Brewer's most famous citizen.
The house where he was born on September 8, 1828, still stands on North Main Street. This house, which his father built when he was married, was remodelled about 1910. Joshua Lawrence was the son of Joshua Chamberlain and Sarah Dupee Brastow.
Most of his early life in Brewer was spent at the house at 80 Chamberlain Street which his father built when the son was eight years old. While he was quite young he developed the longing to learn to play the bass viol. Since none was obtainable he made a dummy out of a cornstalk with homemade stops and strings and a willow branch for a bow. He practiced on this crude instrument and when he was finally able to borrow a real instrument he was able to give a creditable performance.
Something of Joshua's ancestory may give us an insight into his own persevering spirit. William Chamberlain migrated from England to Massachusetts about 1648. Chamberlains served in the Colonial Wars and in the American Revolution, One son was a colonel in the War of 1812. One Chamberlain was second in command of the American troops in the Bloodless Aroostook War that reached the brink of armed conflict. This Joshua Chamberlain taught his sons that nothing is impossible. If someone said that it was, a man was supposed immediately to go out and do it. When his sons, Joshua Lawrence among them, told him that in clearing rocks from their farm they had left certain of them too heavy to move, the elder Chamberlain simply said, "Move them!" The boys went back and moved each of the too-heavy rocks.
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Many shipyards lined the river when Joshua was a boy. Joshua's grandfather owned one of them. One of the boy's favorite stunts when a lad was to climb the main trunk of every vessel launched on the river and hang his hat atop of it.
After attending the public schools of Brewer, Joshua prepared for college at a military school at Ellsworth. When he discovered that he would need Greek in the course which he had chosen he taught himself that language. He attended Bowdoin College, graduating with the class of 1852. While there he became affiliated with Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He received his A.M. degree in 1855 and LLD in 1869. Meantime he was graduated from the Bangor Theological Seminary in 1855. He was honored with an LLD degree from Pennsylvania College in 1866. On December 7, 1855, he married Miss Frances Caroline Adams of Boston.
After graduating from the seminary, Mr. Chamberlain received a license to preach; but instead he became an instructor at Bowdoin College. He instructed courses in Logic & Natural Theology, Rhetoric & Oratory, Modern Languages, Mental & Moral Philosophy. He also lectured in Political Science and Public Law. He served as president of the college from 1871 to 1883. After 1867 he was also a trustee of the college.
In 1862 he was granted a leave of absence from the college and he enlisted in the U. S. Army as Lieutenant Colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry. He was promoted to Colonel the following year. It was while holding the rank of Colonel that he played an important part in the battle of Gettysburg. He held his position on the extreme left of the Union line on Little Round Top. For his daring heroism at this time he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. On the battlefield at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864, he was made a brigadier General by General Grant. This was the first promotion ever made on the field of battle. The promotion was made "for meritorious and efficient services in battle and especially gallant conduct in leading his brigade against the enemy in the assault on Petersburg." He was breveted a major-general in 1865 for conspicuous gallantry in action. He participated in many battles and was wounded three times, once almost mortally. He commanded the parade at the formal surrender of Lee at Appomattox. He remained in command of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac until its dissolution. He did not receive his discharge until January
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1866 at which time he was offered a Colonelcy in the regular army. Chamberlain's Petersburg wound had never really healed and he felt that he must return to civilian life.
He was elected Governor of Maine in 1867 and served three years. In 1876 he was elected Major-General of the Militia of Maine. In 1878 he visited Europe on appointment by President Hayes on the United States Commission to the Paris Exposition with special view to systems of education. In 1900 he was made U. S. Surveyor of Customs, District of Portland, and held this office until his death. Two of his four children survived him. They were Mrs. Horace G. Allen of Boston, and Harold O. Chamberlain of Brunswick.
A lady once asked General Chamberlain to tell her how he happened to be in the war. "Madame," he instantly replied, "I didn't happen." He remarked elsewhere, "When my country called I replied with the best there was in me."
In reply to Sherman's statement, "War is Hell," Chamberlain said, "In the privations and sufferings endured as well as in the strenuous action of battle, some of the highest qualities of man- hood are called forth - courage, self-command, sacrifice of self for the sake of something higher . . . and on another side fortitude, patience, warmth of comradeship, and in the darkest hour tenderness of caring for the wounded and the stricken .. . Such things belong to something far different from the place of sphere assigned in the remark of the eminent exemplar of the aphorism."
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