USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Orono > Centennial celebration, and dedication of town hall, Orono, Maine, March 3, 1874 > Part 3
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mentioned, on what is now Mill street. John Marsh, who was destined to become a member of his family, accompanied him on his visit in 1773.
When the families of Messrs. Colburn and Eayres left their homes in 1775, as mentioned in their peti- tion, it is said, that, having buried, or in some way concealed, their effects near Upper Stillwater, they passed up the Stillwater to Pushaw stream, and fol- lowing that to the lake, crossed to the waters of the Kenduskeag, thence to the pond in Newport, and descended the Sebasticook to Fort Halifax, in Wins- low. From Winslow Mr. Colburn went to Pittston. He was at Camden some time after this, and while there, in charge of ammunition and stores, was sur- prised by a party of British soldiers, taken prisoner, and carried to Bagaduce (Castine). On an exchange of prisoners he returned to this place, to find that his buildings had been entirely destroyed during his ab- sence. His household effects, however, which had been taken to another place, were uninjured. In a short time they were required for the furnishing of another house.
Mr. Colburn owned or occupied, it is believed,
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nearly all the territory upon which the main land part of the village stands, extending up the Stillwater as far as the farm now owned by Elijah W. Wyman.
He died in 1808, and was buried in the old ceme- tery near South Water street. His children were, William; Betsey, who became the wife of Capt. Daniel Jameson, whose house was first near Upper Stillwater, and afterwards where Cony Foster's place is ; Sarah, who married John Marsh ; Jeremiah, who died unmarried, at the age of 21 years; and Fanny, the wife of Samuel White, Esq.
William, the eldest son, was born in Dunstable, Mass., in 1760. He was in the Revolutionary war for a time, and drew a pension for several years be- fore his death. The gun which he carried in the service is still preserved in the family as a valued relic of the struggle for independence, and as evi- dence of the claim, by inheritance, of its descendants, to a share in the glory of that historic period. He died April 6, 1847, at his residence on the Stillwater road, where his grandson, Charles H. Colburn, after- wards lived, until the house was destroyed by fire. His wife, whom he long survived, was Abigail Whitte-
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. more, a twin sister of Mrs. Abram Freese. Mr. Col- burn's children were, William, who died in 1862, a man of great industry and strong sense, and a good citizen; Jeremiah, venerable and greatly respected, whose home is on the place where he and his broth- er, William, had lived together for almost half a cen- tury; Edmund, who died in 1868; Abram, who is now living in town ; and Abigail, who died in 1825. Six of his children died in infancy.
There is something refreshing and reassuring in these days, when ties, the strongest and most sacred, are so easily and rudely broken, and people are everywhere on the move, discontented with their homes, and uneasily anxious to go somewhere else, to find an old family remaining, generation after generation, upon the spot where it was planted, its members drawing from the soil beneath them, the atmosphere around, and the sky above, the ele- ments of health, strength, fulness, and breadth -- making themselves a power, a beneficence, and a history in the community of which they are a part, and which they have aided to shape and organize, and in which they are contented and happy
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to live. Blessed is the town that grows and strength- ens in the possession of these old families, whose sons and daughters are willing to stand in the places of their ancestors, and are able to make them better, pleasanter, and more beautiful than they found them ! Of such families there are several in this town, but none whose entry upon the soil was at a date so early as that of Jeremiah Colburn. Possessing some of the best lands in the neighborhood, rich in soil and beautiful in situation, they have set an example to others by patient industry, intelligent interest in things around them, contentment with their lot, and blameless living, whose value can scarcely be esti- mated.
JOHN MARSH, the Interpreter, as he was called, was born in Mendon, Mass., in 1749, and came to Orono in 1774 with Jeremiah Colburn, whose daughter, Sarah, he afterwards married. Establishing himself in the immediate neighborhood of a large tribe of Indians, he, and his neighbors, Colburn and Eayres, lived as safely and tranquilly as if both parties had been of the same race and kin. While this fact
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argues well for the natives, it gives testimony, too, to the good character, practical sense, and kindly qualities of the new settlers. Mr. Marsh took great pains to cultivate the friendship of the Indians; he was much with them, and succeeded in gaining their confidence and regard; and, in return for his good offices, they rewarded him with a grant, princely in the extent of territory conveyed, and in the gener- osity that inspired the act-the specified considera- tion being merely nominal. The Commonwealth confirmed his title to the Indian grant of Marsh Is- land, and his possession was undisturbed. The vil- lages of Oldtown, Great Works, Pushaw, and portions of Lower and Upper Stillwater, containing altogether five thousand acres, and a population, at the present time, of near five thousand people, are included within this grant. No island within the State-not even Mt. Desert, with its three towns, and probably 50,000 acres -- is so populous or wealthy as this. Mr. Marsh had obtained some knowledge of the place before coming here in 1774, from having visited it as hunter and guide. Ile accompanied Messrs. Colburn and Eayres to the Kennebec in 1775, and afterwards
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piloted through a body of troops. He returned, and again piloted some soldiers from Hampden to Kennebec. He settled on the island known by his name, and on the spot where Col. Ebenezer Webster afterwards resided. The orchard in front of the res- idence of Paul D. Webster was planted by Mr. Marsh. He died on the Vinal farm in 1814, and was buried in the village cemetery by the side of his father-in- law. His wife, Sarah Colburn, born Oct. 1, 1759, died May 26, 1841. He left numerous children, of whom the Rev. Jeremiah Marsh, of Exeter, Me., born March 15, 1791, and Elijah, born Nov. 28, 1801, and whose home has never been elsewhere than on Marsh Island, are now living, as are three daughters, Mary, who married - Oliver, Abigail, who married Phineas Vinal, and Elizabeth, wife of -- Buzzell. Samuel, the eldest son, died in 1810; Benjamin, whose well-known form was so familiar on these streets a quarter of a century ago, died in 1863, in the cighty-third year of his age; Ziba, whom many of you remember as living on the island, on the River road, died in 1843; John, in 1852; and William, a
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Methodist clergyman, of good ability and much re- spected, in Canada, in 1865, at the age of 76.
CAPT. ABRAM TOURTELLOTTE, who was born in 1744, moved from Rhode Island to Orono, and settled on the farm on the Bangor road, now owned by Samuel Page, in 1781. He made the first clearing on this farm, and lived on it thirty-eight years, dying there in 1819. By his first wife, Hannah Coombs, he had two children, born in Rhode Island, Reuben and ยท Abram ; by his second he had two daughters, also born in that State-Hannah, who married a man by the name of Carpenter, and Amy, whose husband's name was Andrews; by his third, Leah Mansfield, he had seven children, all born in Orono. Reuben, the eldest son, came here at the close of the war. He was born in 1765. He married Lucy Mansfield, at Bangor, by whom he had twelve children, all born in Orono. He afterwards moved to Passadumkeag, where he died in 1826. Abram came to Orono with his father.
SAMUEL WHITE was born in Mendon, Mass., in 1760,
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and became an inhabitant of Orono in 1784, where he married Fanny, daughter of Jeremiah Colburn, by whom he had seven children. He settled first near Upper Stillwater, but moved in a short time to the farm on the island where his son Daniel lived so long. In the early years of the town he was a magistrate, whose services were frequently employed by his neighbors. He died January 19, 1829 ; his wife died April 3, 1828.
Daniel White, his son-the second of the name, the first having died in infancy-for so many years the owner and occupant of the southerly farm, be- longing to the college, was a native of Orono, and was a man of excellent sense, and of uncompromising honesty. He was, perhaps, the only man on Penob- scot river, who, prior to 1850, had carried on, for a term of ten or more years, the business of lumbering, and always preserved his credit intact and unsus- pected. Previous to that time, the occupation of the lumberman was a very different thing from what it has been since. The demand for lumber was limited, the supply boundless ; and if, one year, money was made, the business was so crowded the next that the market
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was sure to be over-supplied, and the losses would exceed the gains of the previous season. There was no such thing as calculating upon the market before- hand; and, besides, the risks and charges attending the driving and holding of logs were much greater than they are now. The lumber was of, perhaps, the very best quality of pine ever grown upon this continent, and it was not distant. But system in conducting the business had not been introduced ; everything was done on credit, and prices of goods and supplies were fabulously high. When, at one time, Maj. D., a slip-shod lumberman, desired to purchase of his old supplier, Gen. Trafton, of Bangor, five or six yards of cotton cloth, the General, not wishing exactly to deny the Major, yet hoping to close accounts with him, put upon his cloth the un- conscionable price of seven and sixpence a yard, thinking the Major would not pay it. But the latter, in no sense daunted or discouraged, simply said, "I like your conversation much, Gen. Trafton; I'll take the whole piece."
But Mr. White always paid cash, hired the best men, paid them fair prices and promptly, provided
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the best kinds of food and enough of it, and so got from his crews more good and profitable work than any other man in those days could. Col. Webster and John II. Pillsbury were often partners with him, and when they were, were pretty certain to make money. Besides this, he never took great risks, and having made one good operation and laid up money, he never risked it all the next year. And once having secured a capital, he could hold on to his lumber in dull times, when everybody else was obliged to sell, and the next year, when his neighbors could not get into the woods, his boards would be pretty sure to bring remunerative prices.
Firm and decided in his opinions, and not without prejudices, he was, nevertheless, a man who took pleasure in extending accommodation and relief whenever he could do so, and, though strict, was just in all his dealings. His word was better than his bond-for while he would pay the exact sum stipu- lated in the latter, he would pay the exact sum and a little more where he had only given his word, in order that there should be no question as to the in- tegrity with which his obligation had been kept. Mr.
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White was born in Orono, June 19, 1796; died Feb. 22, 1862.
Samuel White, a younger brother, was sometimes engaged in business with Daniel. He died in this town, June 16, 1856. His health for many years had been feeble, and he was not able to be engaged in active business. He was a just man.
There were four daughters, two of whom-Hannah and Rebecca-died young ; one, Fanny, married Re- tire W. Freese. She was born January 28, 1793, and died July 14, 1870. Betsey, born February 15, 1800, is living in Orono.
CAPT. DANIEL JAMESON, a shipmaster, was a native of Freeport, Me., who came to Orono about 1785, where he married Betsey Colburn. He was the father of Mrs. Wm. Colburn, jr., and of Daniel Jame- son, so well known in your village for many years, and who died in 1872. He was cast away, and died at sea in November, 1798, on a passage from Boston to Bangor.
JOSEPH PAGE, a native of Rhode Island, settled in Orono soon after the Revolution, on the farm on the
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Bangor road now occupied by James Page. His children were Roger, Joseph, James, Isaac, Huldah, Phebe, Polly, and Stephen. During the Revolution he lived near Mt. Hope, in Bangor, whence he was driven by the British for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the crown. His house was burnt and his stock stolen and carried away. His youngest son, Stephen, was born there in 1775, and when a small boy, was brought to this town, where he grew to manhood, married Annie, daughter of Joshua Eayres, and settled on the farm before occupied by his father. His second wife was Jane Orcutt, born in Eddington, 1780. He died Jan. 4, 1857, and his widow Dec. 1, 1871. Of his eleven children, six, viz. : Stephen, Samuel, Elijah, Martha, Catherine, and Jackson, are now living.
ANTOINE LACHANCE was born in Quebec in 1750 or 1751. In his declaration made August 28, 1832, to obtain a pension, he says 1751, but in a deposition given in 1837, he says he was nine years old when Quebec was taken by Wolfe. He was thus twenty - four or twenty-five years of age when Montgomery
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made his attack upon that city. He also states that he enlisted at Quebec in the army of the United States in 1775, with Capt. Livingston's company, and served in Col. Livingston's regiment; that the troops were under the command of Gen. Arnold ; that he was taken prisoner in June, 1776, escaped, and again enlisted under Capt. Page in 1778, and went with him to the Chaudiere as the pilot of a scouting par- ty, and was discharged on his return, which was in about six weeks; that in June, 1779, he enlisted on board the Monmouth, Capt. Ross, at Castine, and was in the service three months, during which time the vessel was taken to Bangor, and burnt; that in 1781 he enlisted in Capt. Walker's company, in a regiment commanded by Maj. Ulmer, and was stationed at Cas- tine. Wm. Colburn, the elder, testifies that he served with Lachance in the same company at this time.
After the strife of battle came the sweets of peace, and at Winslow, in this State, in the month of No- vember, 1782, our Canadian soldier exchanged the service of Mars for that of Venus, and became the husband of Sarah Buzze. They must soon after this time have moved to Orono. It is, perhaps, not im-
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probable that he had been here before his marriage, for Elizabeth (or Betsey) Jameson, daughter of Jere- miah Colburn, testified, Oct. 9, 1845, that she had known Antoine Lachance for sixty years before his death, and she was at that time eighty-four years old.
Lachance, in a deposition given in 1837, says he had resided where he then lived (on the southwest corner of the upper College lot) forty odd years. He was probably there as early as 1795, and re- mained till his death, which occurred August 6, 1839. His wife survived him, drew a pension, and died a few years ago. They had numerous children, and, from the fact that the father was usually called by his Christian name, assumed that as their patron- ymic, so we no longer have Lachances, but Antoines. The last time I saw Antoine, the elder, was at the September election at Great Works in 1838, at which, after a severe contest, Col. Ebenezer Webster was de- feated as candidate for Representative by Retire W. Freesc. The contestants rallied their last man, and Antoine appeared upon the scene about noon, ready to die in the last ditch for Col. Webster. He was
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very infirm, and in his primitive style of dress and sugar-loaf cap, made an exceedingly grotesque ap- pearance. When the word was spoken announcing the arrival of Antoine, there was a sensation that penetrated both ranks, and the proposition that in- stead of Antoine's coming to the ballot-box, the box should go to him, was accepted by general consent.
Antoine was a squatter upon the northerly farm now owned and occupied by the State College, but when he had been there nearly twenty years he con- veyed the lot to James Harrison; living there twen- ty odd years more, he testified that this deed was worthless, and that the land rightfully belonged, as indeed it did, to Seth Wright, of Northampton, Mass., who held it by deed from John Marsh. Antoine was a character, and many are the anecdotes told of him. He was good-natured, but unreliable-plain, but not without craft-accommodating, but prejudiced against paying debts. He did a little at farming, more at shingle-weaving, and still more, perhaps, at fishing, living from hand to mouth, but yet always man- aging to get enough. If his principles touching the rights of property were easy and mixed, his "sang
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forhead," as his neighbor Longfellow called it, was irresistible, and public opinion would never tolerate any oppression of Antoine. When he had been sup- plied for many weeks by Maj. Treat, with salt, meal, molasses, pork, tobacco, and rum, for the prosecution of the business of shad and salmon fishing, after long waiting and no fish brought by Antoine to the head of the tide, the Major came to Orono to see what he was doing. Antoine, discovering his ap- proach in the distance, began to give his dog a most unmerciful flogging; the dog yelled and Antoine swore, and such was the strength of the chorus that the Major could not be heard for several minutes. " What are you whipping that dog for ?" demanded Treat. Another cut, and " Blast the dog," only it was a tougher verb. "But what has the dog been doing ?" " The cussed thief has eat up all the fish !" shrieked Antoine.
Park Holland, Esq., was the agent of Wright, and, as such, had the oversight of the lot on which Antoine lived. The latter went to him, one day, and told him there was an old pine stub on the land, of no sort of value to any one else, but he thought he
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could make a few shingles of it if he could be al- lowed to do so. Permission was given ; but Mr. IIol- land noticed that for some months shingles were being taken in large quantities to market by Antoine. Meeting him one day, he inquired if that weren't a good stub. " Mighty good stub !" squealed the Frenchman, and that was the end of it, for who would think of prosecuting the " chartered libertine ?"
It may interest our College friends to know that the ground where their buildings stand was cleared up, and occupied for half a century, by a French Canadian, who had seen the fight between Wolfe and Montcalm, and had served before Quebec under Montgomery.
There came from Frankfort, in the present county of Waldo, ROBERT, JOHN, JOSHUA, and JOSEPH TREAT, before the year 1790, who made homes in Orono. They were engaged chiefly in fishing and lumbering. There are no descendants of any of them now in town. John moved to Enfield, and died there a few years ago.
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I doubt if the others had a permanent residence here. Robert was a prominent man in Bangor, doing business at the head of the tide for many years.
WILLIAM LUNT moved into what is now Oldtown as early as 1785. He had numerous children, some of whom resided afterwards in this part of the town, where there are now living several grand-children. His son Abram is now a resident of Milford, and is 84 years old.
ABRAM FREESE, with his sons John, Retire W., and Isaac, moved into town from Bangor in 1790. The former settled on the lot on the Stillwater road, after- wards owned and occupied, for half a century or more, by his son Retire W., and which is one of the best farms in this part of the State, so far as soil and situation are concerned. The father put up on this lot the first frame building erected in Orono.
Mr. Freese was probably in Orono before he lived in Bangor, for it is known that he accompanied Mr. Colburn to Kennebe'c, on one occasion, with his wife and her infant son, John. He died in Orono about the year 1800. 5
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Retire W. Freese was born in Bangor in 1785. He died on the farm on which he had always lived, in 1860. His wife was Fanny, daughter of Samuel White, Esq. He had a large family of children, sev- eral of whom are now living in this town. He rep- resented the town in the State Legislature in 1839. His erect and noble form as he moved upon your streets will not be easily forgotten by those of you who were accustomed to see him in his frequent visits to the village.
CAPT. DAVID READ was an early settler; he came from Topsham in 1793. He built, in 1800, the second frame house in town, that which was afterwards owned and occupied by John Bennoch, Esq., a few rods north of this hall. It was for the time an unu- sually good house, with large rooms, and high cor- niced walls. The first tavern in town was kept in this house by Perez Graves. The first meeting for election of town officers was held at this house, April 7, 1806. He built the first mill where the stone mill now stands. This was in 1786.
John Read, who owned for so many years the very
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RESIDENCES OF COL. EBENEZER WEBSTER, MRS. MARTHA (WEBSTER) TREAT, AND PAUL D. WEBSTER, ESQ.
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excellent farm on which B. P. Gilman, Esq., now lives, and George Read, who held the place_ now owned by Mrs. William Rollins, were his sons.
Mr. John Read was one of the selectmen elected at the first meeting after the incorporation of the town. He lived to a good old age, and raised a large family of children, none of whom are now living in Orono. His brother George died here some thirty years ago, leaving a widow and several children. Among the latter is Hugh Read, the proprietor of the Orono Hotel.
JOSEPH INMAN first occupied the farm which was afterwards owned by John Read. There were sev- eral members of this family, and some of their de- scendants are in town at the present time.
ANDREW WEBSTER settled in Orono about 1795; he was a native of Salisbury, Mass., and was probably the son of Andrew Webster, born in that town Nov. 12, 1710, whose parents were John and Sarah Web- ster, and when quite young was brought by his father to New Meadows, in Brunswick, Me. He was after-
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wards at Topsham, where he married Martha Crane. When a young man, he moved to Castine, and, after a brief residence there, he came to Bangor, and pitched his tent near the intersection of Main and Water streets, in the year 1771.
His house in Orono was on the site now occupied by the residence of his grand-daughter, Mrs. Joseph Treat. The old house was taken down in 1835. He died in it November 1, 1807, from an injury occa- sioned by the falling of a mill timber. His widow died in 1823. During the Revolutionary war he was taken prisoner by the British, and carried to Baga- duce. He left a large family, of whom three-Eben- ezer, Elijah, and Martha, wife of Capt. Francis Wyman-settled in Orono. Richard lived in Glen- burn ; Andrew and James settled in Liverpool, N. S., and died there ; Andrew was a physician. Daniel's home was in Bangor, near the head of the tide ; Prudence married William Hasey, of Glenburn ; Margaret married Aaron Griffin, of Albion.
Col. Ebenezer Webster was a man of great enter- prise and public spirit, and for more than half a cen- tury was one of the most active business men and
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useful citizens of the town. His hand was never idle, and his heart was always open. He was a gen- tleman, not through artificial aids or studied accom- plishments, but by the patent of his creator. The late Judge Frederic H. Allen was accustomed to say that he was by nature the most perfect gentleman he had ever known. Eminently a social man, his entertainment of neighbors and friends was so unaf- fected and cheery, that of the great number to whom his ample parlors had been opened, there probably was never one who was not made to feel, not merely that he was welcome, but that he had conferred a positive favor by his company.
Col. Webster was engaged in the business of lum- bering from an early age almost to the time of his death ; and at several periods was extensively inter- ested in the purchase of real estate, principally tim- ber lands. Many of his investments in this kind of property were fortunate, but some were not so. By one purchase he suffered great loss of property, and was, in consequence, much crippled in his affairs. But nil desperandum was his motto; and never was he down, but straightway he rose again, and went to
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work as cheerfully and confidently as ever. He was a man who had seen many phases of life, and who had known many of its vicissitudes. But by none of these experiences was his faith in his fellow-men ever shaken, or his readiness to help them, when in need, abated.
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