USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > Centennial history of Norway, Oxford County, Maine, 1786-1886, including an account of the early grants and purchases, sketches of the grantees, early settlers, and prominent residents, etc., with genealogical registers, and an appendix > Part 10
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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 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
90
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
the house should be used exclusively for the transaction of town busi- ness. The deaths this year were as follows : March Ist, Mrs. Abigail Fuller, seventy-two, influenza; 29th, Martha M. Young, eleven, fever; 30th, child of L. Millett, three. April 3d, Amos Upton, ninety-six, old age; 19th, child of Paul Twombly, one; child of Jabez Chubb. May 18th, child of Dresser Stevens; 23d, Cyrus Lord, twenty-six, consumption; 30th, Ephraim Barrows, seventy-seven, decline. July 15th, Archelaus Fuller, thirty-five, colic; 30th, Dudley Pike, seventy- three, decline. August 9th, child of William Hall, two weeks; 16th, child of Dr. L. Tripp, sixteen months. September 13th, child of J. Greenleaf, one month; 25th, child of E. Flint, four; Mrs. William Frost, forty-four. November 12th, wife of William Hall, thirty-two, consumption. December 15th, Jonathan Saunders, insanity. He attempted to destroy his own life several years before, by cutting his throat, but did not cut quite deep enough, and most of the time afterward was a raving maniac.
1839
The famous " Aroostook War" broke out this year. New Brunswick lumbermen trespassed upon the public domain in Aroostook County, and Sheriff Strickland, of Bangor, was ordered to put a stop to it. He went with a posse of two hundred men, and the trespassers retired before him, but continued to make hostile demonstrations, in which they were sustained by the local government of the Province. The matter was laid before the governor and Maine Legislature, and troops were immediately ordered to rendezvous at Augusta. There was a draft in this town, but a more particular account will be given in the chapter on military affairs. It was a bloodless contest, but created con- siderable excitement, and at one time affairs looked quite warlike. The valuation this year was one hundred fourteen thousand, nine hundred and sixty-eight dollars, number of polls three hundred and eighteen, and of scholars seven hundred and seventeen. Highway tax two thousand two hundred eighteen dollars and ninety-nine cents; money tax two thousand one hundred twelve dollars and seventy-four cents. John Shedd's house was burned June 15th, with its contents. It was a good house, built by his father in 1806, on land upon which he settled
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91
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
in 1788. The cause of the fire was unknown. Among the deaths this year are the following : January 21st, Jacob Frost, eighty-four, old age; he was wounded at Bunker Hill. February 2d, daughter of John Perry, eight; child of William Lord, four months; Samuel Andrews, sixty- eight, consumption; child of William Twombly, five. March 10th, child of Amos Briggs, nine months; 19th, Chloe Cobb, seventy-eight, con- sumption; 20th, child of Joel Millett, ten months; 31st, child of J. Stanley, eighteen months. April 10th, Mrs. John Millett, seventy-eight, consumption; 30th, wife of Dudley Pike, eighty-two, dropsy; John B. Ford, thirty-eight, consumption. May 4th, Mrs. L. Houghton, thirty- seven, same. June 3d, Amos Hobbs, seventy-seven, dropsy -one of the first settlers; 19th, Sally Parsons, twenty-one, palsy. July 16th, child of Henry C. Reed, five months. August 6th, Sally S. Hale, eleven, colic; 17th, child of William Beal, five; child of Dr. L. Tripp, one month. September 10th, Mrs. Peter Buck, eighty, consumption; 16th, Mrs. Zebedee Perry, eighty-one, dropsy; child of Mrs. Town, two; 19th, child of Henry W. Millett, seven months; child of J. Saunders, fifteen months. October 16th, Edmund Frost, colic. December 22d, child of David P. Hannaford, eighteen months; 29th, Josiah Blanchard, seventy; 30th, M. A. McAllister, sixteen.
CHAPTER X.
EARLY OXFORD COUNTY.
WHEN the first settlers came to Norway, the wilderness of Western Maine had been invaded in almost every direction. Settlers had ascended the Saco River above Fryeburg, and the Great Androscoggin above Bethel, and between these two rivers the sound of the woodman's ax had been heard for a number of years. The first town settled within the present limits of Oxford County, but then in the county of York, was Fryeburg. The first settlers were from Andover, Massachu- setts, the home of General Joseph Frye, the grantee, and from Concord, New Hampshire, and came in 1763. This town was incorporated in. 1777. Brownfield, granted to Captain Henry Y. Brown, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was settled soon after Fryeburg, and contained nearly twenty families in 1768. Lovell was settled in 1779, Hiram in 1774, Porter in 1781, and Waterford by David McWaine in 1775. These towns are all situated westerly from Norway. On the north, Bethel, called Sudbury Canada, was granted in 1768, and a settlement begun in 1774; Newry, called at first Sunday River Plantation, and then Bostwick from the name of the proprietor, was first settled in 1781. Among the early settlers were several persons from Ireland, and one of these, Luke Reily, a famous schoolmaster in his day, named the town Newry for the town in Ireland whence he came. Ezekiel Merrill came to Andover in 1786, and was the sole occupant of that region for two years, when others came. Jonathan Keyes came to Rumford in 1780, but the Indian attack upon Bethel in 1781, frightened him away; he came back in 1782 accompanied by several others who remained there. The territory between Bethel and Norway, embracing the present towns of Albany and Greenwood, had not been granted when Norway was settled, and was not settled for several years after. On the east, Paris was granted in 1772, and a settlement commenced on Paris Hill in 1781. The first families moved into Buckfield in 1777, and the land was purchased of the commonwealth a few years later. Turner and
93
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
Livermore had been settled previous to Buckfield, and Jay, which then included Canton, and was formerly an Oxford County town granted to David Phipps and associates, and called Phipps Canada, was settled contemporaneous with Paris. To the south of Norway, Oxford which constituted a part of the grant to Alexander Sheppard Jr., first called Sheppardsfield and incorporated as Hebron, was settled in 1778 or 1779, and Otisfield, granted to James Otis in 1777, had several settlers when Joseph Stevens and others moved into Rustfield from Gray. Thus it will be seen that the first settlers in this town had neighbors on adjoining territory in three directions, and within about twenty miles in the fourth. True, the settlers were few in all these directions, and were still maintaining a struggle for existence against many adverse circumstances. There were no roads connecting the several settle- ments, and there could be no communication except through forest paths and on foot.
A census of the District of Maine was taken in 1790, and the returns, on file in the archives of the government, give Norway a population of four hundred and forty-eight. At that time there were between seventy- five and eighty families in town, a remarkable increase in the short space of three years. Oxford County was created in 1805, and was made up of towns previously included in the counties of Cumberland and York. The act provided : -
That the counties of York and Cumberland shall be divided by a line beginning at a place called the Crooked Ripples on the Androscoggin river at the South East Corner of the town of Turner, from thence to run westerly on the dividing line between the towns of Turner and Minot, to the most north easterly corner of said town of Minot; from thence south-westerly on the lines between the towns of Minot and Hebron; thence northwesterly on the line between Hebron and Otisfield to the town of Norway; thence westerly and northerly on the line between the towns of Otisfield and Norway to the southeasterly corner of the town of Waterford; thence westerly on the line between said Waterford and Otisfield to the northeast- erly corner of the town of Bridgetown; thence westerly on the northerly line of said Bridge- town to the northwest corner thereof; thence southerly on the westerly line of said Bridgetown to the southwest corner thereof; thence westerly on the north line of the town of Baldwin and Prescott's grant, to Saco river; thence down the middle of said Saco river to the mouth of the river called the Great Ossipee; thence westerly by a line drawn on the middle of the river last mentioned to the line of New Hampshire and the county of York and Cumberland afore- said: That all and every part and parcel of the counties of York and Cumberland situated on the northerly side of the line before described and extending northerly and westerly, so as to comprehend all the territory lying between the state of New Hampshire and the county
1
94
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
of Kennebec, and on the northerly side of the dividing line aforesaid, excepting the towns of Wilton, Temple, Avon and township number three on Sandy River, northerly of Avon which towns shall be considered as belonging to the county of Kennebec, shall be and the same is erected into an entire and distinct county by the name of Oxford.
The following are the original towns of Oxford County, with the date of their incorporation, and their first representative to the Legislat- ure : -
Name.
When Incorporated.
Rep. to General Court.
Paris ..
June
20, 1793.
.Elias Stowell
Hebron ..
March
6, 1792.
William C. Whitney
Buckfield
66
16, 1793.
Enoch Hall
Turner
. July
7, 1786
.John Turner
Livermore
Feb.
28, 1795.
Simeon Waters
Hartford
June
13, 1798.
. David Warren
Sumner.
66
13, 1798
Simeon Barrett jr.
Norway ..
March
9, 1797
.Luther Farrar
Fryeburgh.
Jan.
II, 1777 .
.John McMillan
Brownfield.
Feb.
20, 1802.
Joseph Howard
Lovell
Nov.
15, 1800
Philip C. Johnson
Waterford.
March
2, 1797 .
.Eber Rice
Albany.
June
20, 1803.
.Asa Cummings
Bethel.
Feb.
10, 1796. 26, 1795
James Starr jr.
Dixfield.
June
21, 1803.
Silas Barnard
Rumford
Feb.
21, 1800.
. William Wheeler
Gilead.
. June
23, 1804
Eliphaz Chapman jr.
Newry ..
15, 1805.
. Melvin Stowe
East Andover.
23, 1804
Edward L. Poor
Towns in Oxford County incorporated since the county was formed, with dates of incorporation : -
Byron.
Jan.
24, 1833
Canton. .
Feb. 66
5, 1821 ( taken from Jay.)
Denmark.
20, 1807
Grafton
March 19, 1852
Hanover
Feb.
14, 1843 ( taken from Bethel.)
Hiram.
27, 1814
Mason.
3, 1843
Mexico
13, 1818
Oxford.
66
5, 1821 ( name changed from Partridgetown.)
Porter.
166
20, 1807
Roxbury.
March 17, 1835
Stoneham
Jan.
31, 1834
Stow ..
66
28, 1833
Sweden.
.Feb.
26, 1813
Upton
9, 1860
Woodstock
66
7, 1815
Carthage
20, 1826
Weld ..
8, 1816
27, 1829 ( taken from Hebron.)
Peru ..
Eliphaz Chapman
Jay ..
Franklin County was created in 1838, and took from Oxford County the towns of Jay, Carthage, and Weld. Androscoggin County was erected in 1854, and took from Oxford County the towns of Livermore
95
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
and Turner. The following statistics show the comparative standing of Oxford County towns in population, agriculture, and educational matters at the dates specified : -
POPULATION.
Towns.
1790
1800
1810
1820
Andover.
22
175
264
368
Bethel.
100
616
975
1,267
Brownfield.
250
288
388
727
Buckfield.
453
1,002
1,25I
1,501
Denmark.
436
972
Dixfield
403
595
Dixfield and Mexico
I37
1,004
1,057
Gilead. .
88
215
328
Greenwood ..
273
392
Hartford and Sumner.
189
243
720
1,113
Hebron, including Oxford.
530
981
1,21I
1,727
Hiram.
192
203
336
972
Jay, including Canton
103
430
1,107
1,614
Livermore.
863
1,560
2,174
Lovell and Sweden.
147
365
Lovell ..
202
430
Mexico
14
148
Newry
92
202
203
Norway Paris
448
609
1,010
1,330
Peru.
92
343
Porter.
272
292
487
Rumford
262
629
871
Sweden
249
Turner ..
349
722
1,129
1,726
Waterford.
150
535
860
1,035
Woodstock
236
509
Weld
318
495
·
844
1,320
1,894
Hartford ..
547
734
Albany.
69
165
288
Fryeburg
...
96
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS, 1820.
TOWNS.
Acres of
Tillage.
Upland
Mowing.
Pasture.
Barns.
Horses.
Oxen.
Cows, etc.
Upland
Hay.
Corn.
Wheat.
Andover.
71
225
182
43
57
IIO
15I
3.38
208
480
Albany
78
196
İ59
36
21
60
91
196
370
142
Bethel.
564
I208
1053
165
I22
216
435
675
2136
905
Brownfield
119
459
281
81
52
130
211
264
II55
186
Buckfield
580 1335
1670
190
III
288
536
815 3154 1616
Denmark
184
73I
994
84
49
1 58
242
483
1642
420
Dixfield.
183
574
399
61
51
105
199
499
872
629
Fryeburg*
412
696
585
136
85
222
354
190
595
688
Greenwood.
41
I44
176
34
87
183
414
II7]
1125 3057
1029
Hiram.
169
489
310
74
44
132
196
380
830
885
Howard's Gore.
17
53
66
9
6
8
18
53 56 1361|2081
2180
Lovell.
79
266
125
58
19
56
II3
129|
613
112
147
Norway.
29I
772
1779
I68
109
254
468
772 1680
889
Newry
61
I19
55
32
26
74
274
IO2
18I
362
417
Porter
7I
272
167
78
26
77
I41
295 1091
398 1417
Sumner
373
1475 2637
129
85
174
247
1091
I668
503
Sweden
80
381
273
39
16
61
95 676
243
451
185
Turner
776
2 505 2058
265
I54
334
447
512 1935
633
Woodstock
32
365
199
26
22
56
162
295
200
170
Weld®
164
309
426
63
39
86
189
245
479
548 2277
581
Gilead.
I74
222
230
37
31
56
42
123
144
472
187
Hartford
375 1518 2543
3116
183
118
301
651
754
66
105
179
180
602
Paris ..
580
1705 1988
Peru.
100
I 59
II4
32
20
58
Rumford
221
1225
1086
I20
97
173
384 1036
1673 3168 2185
Waterford ..
313
I441
1533
161
IIO
186
146 699
1250 1779
1345
Livermore
725 2595
1838
274
I 57
315
Mexico
37
105
72
II
II
26
Jay.
551
1354 1045
189
129
295
618
130
I663
II42
Hebron
460 1921
I43
26
58
109
1982 3652 2057
244
I54
108
*Fryeburg had 720 acres of fresh meadow yielding 609 tons of hay.
411
97
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
EDUCATIONAL, 1825.
No. of
Districts.
No. of
Scholars.
Amount
Raised.
Amount
Expended.
Population
1825.
Andove
3
173
$132 00
$150 00
400
Albany . .
4
126
120 00
120 00
307
Brownfield.
9
360
249 06
298 80
850
Buckfield.
13
706
529 50
607 16
1700
Bethel
14
600
468 IO
502 84
1400
Canton
6
290
200 00
239 13
700
Carthage
4
81
68 99
68 99
210
Denmark.
12
397
299 77
333 28
800
Dixfield .
7
400
240 00
240 00
800
Fryeburg
I4
490
400 00
490 00
1250
Gilead. .
3
144
112 00
127 06
400
Greenwood ..
9
255
202 00
202 00
650
Hartford
I5
597
453 00
453 00
1250
Hebron
I7
726
691 00
691 00
17 50
Hiram
II
38 1
381 00
381 00
800
Jay
8
482
339 23
417 29
ISOo
Lovell.
9
236
100 00
225 08
470
Livermore.
14
966
703 75
871 31
2400
Mexico
3
109
100 00
100 00
225
Norway.
IO
637
550 00
563 70
1 500
Newry
2
160
122 00
122 00
340
Porter.
5
255
194 80
218 91
620
Paris
16
817
700 00
830 08
2200
Peru ..
6
205
152 23
1 52 23
150
Rumford
IO
413
306 96
348 99
1100
Sweden ..
5
167
100 00
164 00
380
Sumner
8
497
408 87
416 00
I 200
Turner
16
932
599 00
799 00
2000
Waterford.
9
394
344 82
414 96
I 200
Woodstock
8
21I
1 50 00
161 25
450
Weld
5
282
200 00
200 00
7
CHAPTER XI.
ANNALS CONTINUED.
1840
THE excitement over the Presidential election this year is still remem- bered by many. It was the famous "Log Cabin " and " Hard Cider" campaign, when General Harrison was sung into the Presidential office. The valuation of the town stood at one hundred sixteen thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven dollars; number of polls three hundred and twenty-one, and of scholars seven hundred and thirteen. The highway tax was two thousand four hundred and nine dollars and ninety-five cents, and the money tax four thousand and twenty-seven dollars and forty-six cents. The high money tax is accounted for in the fact that a town farm was purchased which cost one thousand one hundred and ten dollars, and several hundred dollars more were required to stock it and repair the buildings. There was also a deficiency the previous year, caused by the sums required for fitting soldiers for the Aroostook campaign. Daniel Holt's blacksmith shop at the village was burned in the night time, and also his coal house standing near. Early in the fall, the widow Esther Millett's barn was burned with its contents. One of her boys fired at a squirrel which was running along the eaves, and it is thought some portion of the wadding which was ignited, passed through a crack and came in contact with the hay. She was a woman of much energy, and the next year she replaced the old barn by a better one. John, son of Baker Ames, was drowned December 4th, in the mill pond above the village, while playing with other boys upon the ice. His age was nine years. The death rate this year is shown in the following list : January 13th, Mrs. Thomas Hill, ninety, old age. March 4th, Mrs. H. Giles, sixty-six, consumption; 2Ist, Miss Pool, eighteen, colic; 25th, child of Simon Stevens, seven. April 24th, John Needham, eighty, palsy; 25th, Mrs. Joel Frost, sixty-four, apoplexy. May 18th, Elizabeth Whitman, forty-two, dropsy. June 27th, Mary A. Collins, consumption. September 3d, Miss Stevens,
99
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
sixty-five, consumption; 22d, child of Elliot Smith, two. October 18th, Mrs. Pool, thirty; 21st, Mrs. Thaddeus Brown, sixty-four, dropsy - she was the widow of Captain Ward Noyes. November 6th, David Woodman, ninety-three; 7th, Mrs. H. Shackley, fifty-two, con- sumption; 30th, Mrs. Eben Bancroft, fifty-six, same. December 31st, wife of Joshua Smith, sixty-five, consumption.
1841
Simon Stevens was elected to the Legislature. Valuation one hun- dred fourteen thousand four hundred and twenty-three dollars; number of polls three hundred and ten; number of scholars seven hundred and twenty-three. For roads, the town raised three thousand five hundred eighty dollars and fifty-one cents, and for a money tax, three thousand three hundred ninety-eight dollars, and four cents. Fifteen hundred dollars were for poor and town charges, there being a deficiency for equipping the new town farm. In September, a tax of one thousand two hundred sixty-two dollars and sixteen cents was raised for opening the road between Ford's Corner, near Norway Lake, and Otisfield. The road was constructed in the autumn of this year. Simeon Walton came into town this year from Paris. He was a jeweller, and the son of Reuben Walton. He married Peggy Hannaford, and died in 1862. Isaac Abbott was another new-comer. He came into town first in 1808, and had lived here a considerable portion of the time since, but more recently in Oxford. His father came from Andover, Massachusetts, to Andover, Maine, prior to 1800. Isaac Abbott had the misfortune to freeze his feet while crossing Umbagog Lake in 1804, and both legs were amputated about eight inches below his knees. He had no arti- ficial legs, but ever after walked upon his knees, in this way performing considerable journeys, and doing more or less work. He married a daughter of Asa Lovejoy, who settled early on the Waterford three tiers. Deaths: January 3d, Joel Town, lung fever; 7th, Henry L. Noyes, son of D. Noyes, twenty-eight, consumption. February 25th, Mrs. Chubb, fever. March 10th, wife of Henry Noble, same; 21st, child of M. P. Smith, eight months. April 10th, widow of Joseph Stevens, eighty-three, hurt fatally by a fall - the first woman who came into Norway; 20th, child of Moses Ames, five months. May 15th, wife
100
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
of M. P. Smith, thirty-one, consumption; 17th, Willis Sampson, sixty- five, cancer and dropsy. June 2d, Josephine Young, thirty-three, con- sumption ; 25th, wife of Moses Ames, thirty-three, same; 26th, Mr. Francis, seventy-nine, stoppage. August 2d, Diana Ames, nine. Sep- tember 14th, Nancy Jones, consumption; 24th, child of Dr. N. Grant, one. October 21st, child of E. Brown, one month; 29th, child of J. Turner, two months.
1842
Benjamin Tucker Jr. was sent to the Legislature this year. Town valuation one hundred fifty-four thousand and eighteen dollars; number of polls three hundred; of scholars six hundred and ninety. Highway tax two thousand six hundred and fifteen dollars and thirty-eight .cents; money tax two thousand five hundred and fifteen dollars and forty-six cents. Rev. Timothy J. Tenney's name appears on the town books this year for the first time. He was the Universalist minister. He mar- ried a daughter of Hon. Samuel Gibson of Denmark, who afterward
became a citizen of Norway. William and Elias Stowell are also placed in the list of new-comers; the former was the father of the wife of Henry Rust, and his wife was Catharine Nixon, and the latter of the wife of Horatio G. Cole, and his wife was Lucretia Houghton. On the 18th of March of this year, the house of Colonel John Millett was burned. It was a large, well-constructed house, and the loss was heavy. The origin of the fire was never known. The death rate was uncom- monly large this year, as shown by the following record : February 12th, Malvina Frank, five; 18th, child of W. Ramsdell, four, canker- rash; 22d, child of same, two, same; 24th, child of Aaron Shackley, four, same. March 2d, Desire Tubbs, nineteen, consumption; 5th, child of Cephas Sampson, two, canker-rash; 20th, child of Seba Gammon, same; 22d, child of J. Richardson, scarlet fever. April 3d, child of Amos Briggs, same; 21st, Mrs. Churchill, seventy-six, consumption; 24th, child of H. W. Millett, two; 29th, child of Rev. T. J. Tenney, fifteen months, canker-rash; 29th, Jonathan Hall, fifty-two, apoplexy. May 5th, child of A. Thayer, one, canker-rash; 12th, child of A. A. Latham, two and one-half, same; 14th, child of A. Thayer, three, same; 3Ist, Sarah Maria Noyes, only daughter of D. Noyes, eighteen, con -
IOI
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
sumption. June 4th, child of William Hall, six, canker-rash; 15th, Catherine Tubbs, nine, consumption; child of Mr. McAllister, seven, canker-rash. July 1Ith, Widow Prince, seventy-three, apoplexy. August IIth, Asa Pool, fifty, consumption; 14th, William Lord Jr., twenty-six; 3Ist, Hannah Tubbs, sixteen, consumption. September 20th, John Pierce, son of William Pierce, twenty-four, canker-rash; 22d, child of E. L. Knight; wife of Henry Pike, forty-three; Mrs. Thompson, ninety- one, old age. October 9th, Maria P. K. Holt, daughter of Uriah Holt, eighteen, consumption; roth, Lydia Frost, twenty-one, dropsy; 23d and 24th, two children of Reuben Noble, canker-rash; 28th, wife of Lee Mixer, thirty-four, consumption; Benjamin Witt, seventy-seven, palsy - the first blacksmith. November 6th, Peter Buck, ninety four, old age - the first shoemaker; 24th, Mrs. Ruth Rust, seventy-nine, jaundice; son of Daniel Town, ten, canker-rash. December 13th, child of William Hall, three, scalded; Mrs. Serena Frost, thirty-one, fever.
1843
The town valuation was one hundred fifty thousand three hundred and twelve dollars; number of polls three hundred and forty-seven; and of scholars seven hundred and thirteen. Highway tax three thousand six hundred ten dollars and one cent; money tax two thousand seven hundred seventeen dollars and seventy-seven cents. Adna C. Denison came to town this year, and went into trade, and his coming wrought a revolution in the trade of this and the surrounding towns. He bought everything the farmers had to sell, and paid cash in cases where they did not want goods. This was something new for this region. The selectmen were authorized to license the town clerk and treasurer to sell spirituous liquors for medicinal and mechanical purposes only, and to refuse licenses to all others. The profits, after a fair compensation to the licensed officers, were to go to the town. For governor, Hugh J. Anderson had one hundred and twenty-seven votes; Edward Robinson, ninety-four; and James Appleton, forty-five. Some people were much exercised this year about the end of the world, which had been pre- dicted by William Miller. There were some converts to this absurd doctrine in this town, but not as many as in some of the towns in the vicinity. The town sustained an irreparable loss this year in the burn-
IO2
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
ing of all its records from the date of incorporation. They were kept in the house of Job Eastman, who had been town clerk for nearly half a century, and who was now ninety-three years of age. His house caught fire in the winter, and he, his wife, and another inmate, escaped with nothing on but their night clothes. Mr. Eastman was nearly help ?. less from age, and his wife with extreme difficulty dragged him from the house and through the deep snow to the barn-yard. They were all exposed to the extreme cold of a winter night for a considerable time before help arrived, when they were taken to the house of a neighbor. Mrs. Eastman's feet were frozen in a shocking manner, but she recovered and survived quite a number of years. Mr. Eastman died February 28th, 1845, aged ninety-five years. A shocking affair occurred on the 6th of October of this year, at the residence of Dresser Stevens. Mr. Stevens was having a husking, and among others present was Hiram Totherly, who, being joked by some of the other young people, retorted some- what sarcastically, which irritated their feelings. At the close of the husking, Totherly, and Ebenezer, son of Jeremiah Hobbs, had some words, and soon closed with each other. They fell to the ground, when Totherly, with his jackknife, stabbed Hobbs several times, and a wound just above the clavicle, or collar-bone, proved fatal. He was tried and convicted of manslaughter. After a year's imprisonment, he enlisted in the Mexican war, and died in the hospital from the effects of a wound received in battle. Deaths: February 20th, Richard Morse, fifteen, fever; William Hobbs, sixty-three, consumption; 21st, Dorcas Knight, eighteen, same; 22d, child of J. Morse Jr., three weeks. April 4th, Mrs. Bullen, forty-eight, consumption; 6th, Sarah Rust, thirteen, ery- sipelas; roth, Joel Frost Jr., fifty-three, fever; child of Mr. Smith, two. May 2d and 3d, Josephine, two, Harriet D., four, children of J. N. Hall, whooping-cough; 17th, child of Pleaman Holt; 26th, Catherine G. Noyes, wife of H. L. Noyes, thirty-two, consumption; Esther Herring, insanity. June 23d, widow of Eben Cobb, ninety, consumption. July Ioth, Mrs. Amelia Wilkins, dropsy. September 21st, Harriet Crockett, nineteen, fever; 23d, child of John Howe, fourteen months; 26th, Joshua Smith, seventy-three, consumption. November 8th, Catherine Morse, eleven, fever. December Ist, John Millett, seventy-six, influenza; 7th, Mrs. Israel Pike, fever.
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