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 8
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1815
The news of an honorable peace created great rejoicing in town. Several of the larger houses were illuminated, and the word, "peace," appeared in many windows. There were also demonstrations in other ways by the boys, in which not a few boys of larger growth joined, such as bonfires and the firing of guns. Opinions had been somewhat
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divided in regard to the necessity and policy of the war, but all united in hailing the return of peace. The town valuation this year was fifty thousand two hundred and seventeen dollars; number of polls, two hundred and forty-five. The highway tax was one thousand two hun- dred and fifty-five dollars and twenty-four cents, and the money tax, one thousand one hundred and forty-one dollars and thirty-seven cents. Levi Whitman was again sent to the Great and General Court. Among the settlers were William Cordwell, Ephraim Crockett, Peter Town, John Twitchell, Josiah Smith, Samuel Shackley and Abram Jordan. Jordan did not remain, but settled in Bethel. Mr. Noyes remarks that he left the village school this year, where he had been employed for five successive terms. The average number of pupils was from eighty to ninety in winter, and about forty in summer. Shortly after leaving the school, he commenced upon a farm and became a good farmer. The spring of this year was very cold and backward. On the 18th of May came a snow storm, one of the severest of the year, the fall amounting to eighteen inches. On the following day, the funeral of Charles, the oldest son of Nathaniel Stevens, was held, and the people found it difficult to reach the funeral in their sleighs. A party of men, consisting of James Flint, Jeremiah Staples, and Joshua Young, attempted to take a raft of logs down the Great Pond, but the wind rose and blew a gale, the fastenings of the raft parted, and the men, seizing each a log, were driven down the pond and succeeded in reaching the shore. Jabez Chubb, one of our early settlers, was drowned this year while driving logs on the Crooked River. He married a daughter of Phineas Whitney, the old settler and former soldier. Calvin D., son of Solomon Millett, died July 2d.
1816
This was the cold season so often referred to by our fathers and mothers. The following brief summary of the weather during this memorable year, is thus given by one who jotted down the facts at the time and had it published.
January was mild, so much so as to render fires almost needless in sitting rooms. Decem- ber, the month immediately preceding this, was very cold.
February was not very cold; with the exception of a few days, it was mild, like its prede- cessor.
1 !
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March was cold and boisterous, the first half of it; the remainder was mild. A great freshet on the Ohio and Kentucky rivers caused great loss of property.
April began warm, and grew colder as the month advanced and ended with snow and ice with a temperature more like Winter than Spring.
May was more remarkable for frowns than smiles. Buds and fruits were frozen - ice formed half an inch in thickness -corn killed and the fields were again and again replanted until deemed too late.
June was the coldest ever known in this latitude. Frost and ice and snow were common. Almost every green herb was killed. Fruit nearly all destroyed. Snow fell to the depth of ten inches in Maine, several inches in Vermont, and it fell to the depth of three inches in the interior of New York; it fell also in Massachusetts.
July was accompanied by frost and ice. On the morning after the fourth, ice formed of the thickness of common window glass, throughout New England and New York, and some parts of Pennsylvania. Indian corn was nearly all killed; some favorably situated fields escaped. This was true of some of the hill farms.
August was more cheerless if possible, than the summer months already passed. Ice was formed half an inch in thickness. Indian corn was so frozen that the greater part of it was cut down and dried as fodder. Almost every green thing was destroyed both in this country and in Europe. Papers received from England said, "It will be remembered by the present generation that the year 1816 was a year in which there was no summer." Very little corn in the New England and Middle States ripened. Farmers supplied themselves from the corn produced in 1815 for seed in 1817. It sold for from four to five dollars a bushel.
September furnished about two weeks of the mildest weather of the season. Soon after the middie, it became very cold and frosty, ice forming a quarter of an inch in thickness.
October produced more than a usual share of cold weather; frost and ice common. November was cold and blustering. Snow fell so as to make sleighing. December was mild and comfortable.
Rev. Ransom Dunham, then residing in Paris, and but recently deceased, made the following statement : "In 1816, June 7th, snow fell 2 inches. I rode from Hebron to Livermore that day on horseback and came very near freezing. It was so cold that it killed the birds ; English robins were picked up as well as all kinds of birds, frozen to death. Frost every month that year. In 1817 corn was worth $2.00 and $2.50; wheat from $2.00 to $3.00 per bushel." Mr. Noyes says the crops were much injured by the cold and drought, and frost nearly ruined the corn. Seed corn was worth three dollars per bushel the following spring, and Major Cummings, who had purchased a part of what now constitutes Greenwood, bought several bushels of seed of Mr. Noyes, which he distributed among the settlers on his purchase. The town valuation this year was fifty-two thousand seven hundred and thirty-two dollars, and the number of polls was two hundred and sixty-
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four. The number of scholars had reached five hundred and nineteen ; money taxes one thousand one hundred and seventy-five dollars and ninety cents ; road tax one thousand six hundred and forty dollars and twenty-three cents. John Rust, son of the proprietor, came this year ; also John March, Jeremiah Mitchell who had married March's daughter, and several others. The fires raged in the fall, and did great damage in the destruction of wood and timber. The barn of Samuel Pingree with all his crops, was burned by a forest fire. The schoolhouse in district number eight was burned in the winter of this year, and many books were destroyed in the building. This was the first schoolhouse erected in the town. Robert, son of Robert Frost, died May 7th.
1817
The valuation this year was forty-nine thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine dollars; number of polls, two hundred and sixty-two, and of scholars five hundred and eighty-eight; highway tax, one thousand two hundred and seven dollars and thirty-five cents ; money taxes, one thousand five hundred and thirty-two dollars and seventy-seven cents. Jonathan Swift came this year and went into trade at Fuller's Corner. He was previously of Paris, and his father came from Cape Cod. There were hard times in all the interior towns this year, on account of the scarcity of food stuffs. This was owing to the previous cold season and the short crops. Of corn, there was none to be had at any price, and rye was worth two dollars and fifty cents per bushel, and was scarce at that. There was very little flour to be had, and it was worth eight cents per pound. The war having so recently closed, all articles of food not produced in town were still very high. But the farmers kept at their work. They sowed large areas, which the fire had burned over the autumn previous, to rye, putting not more than half a bushel of seed to the acre, on account of its scarcity, but the crop was good.
1818
The number of polls this year was two hundred and sixty-nine, and of scholars five hundred and fifty-six. The valuation of the town was forty-nine thousand four hundred and three dollars. Lemuel Shedd, one of the early settlers, was killed this year, while assisting in raising a house for his son. Mr. Shedd was holding one post and Ward Noyes
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the other, and in so doing they stood with their backs to the end that had been already raised, and which was supported by a couple of sticks of timber. The men were about to take hold of the timbers to raise this middle portion, when a strong gust of wind blew the end already raised, upon them. The men who saw it coming, had time to escape, but the beam struck Mr. Shedd on his head, crushing it against the post he was about to hold, and killing him instantly. Captain Noyes was struck on thigh and knee, and severely though not fatally hurt. Mr. Shedd had served all through the Revolutionary War, and came to Norway soon after the first settlers. Timothy, son of David Gorham, died August 5th.
1819
The valuation this year was fifty thousand four hundred and ninety- six dollars; number of polls two hundred and fifty, and of scholars five hundred and fifty ; total money taxes, one thousand four hundred and sixty-seven dollars and ninety-four cents ; highway tax, two thou- sand one hundred and eighteen dollars and fourteen cents. No repre- sentative chosen. The question of a separation from Massachusetts had been agitated for several years, and was now coming to a successful issue. Norway had at first been opposed to separation, but, as time advanced, the separatists increased in number and finally polled a majority of the votes. The attachment to Massachusetts from which most of our early settlers originally came, was naturally strong, but it was weakened somewhat by the position taken by Massachusetts against the General Government during the late war. With the native born citizens of Norway, which now began to be quite numerous, the ties which bound them to the Bay State were less strong, while the advantages of having a State government nearer home could not be overlooked. There were several new comers this year, among whom were William, Ebenezer and George Lord, Oliver Hale, Martin Stetson, and Hatevil Hall. The latter, perhaps, came here from Winslow, whence came most of the families of this name to this town. The schoolhouse in district number one was burned in January of this year. The school was keeping, and the scholars sustained quite a loss in books. It was soon after rebuilt. The late Ezra F. Beal, in a letter written in 1870, gave the following facts with regard to the winter of
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1819. There was no snow to make good sledding until March. People found it very difficult to get up their fire-wood. The first Sunday night in March it began to snow, and the storm continued with high winds for three days. The snow fell two feet on the level, and the roads were blocked up in all directions. On the second Monday in March, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Crockett of Norway went to Portland to market their pork, and returned as far as Gray Corner, where they stopped at the well-known tavern kept by Titus O. Brown. James Longley, the stage driver who came up from Portland, advised them to continue toward Norway, on account of an approaching snow storm. Messrs. Bennett and Crockett, and several other Oxford County people immediately started, but they only reached the old Atkins House, six miles from . Gray, before they were obliged to put up on account of the violence of the storm and the accumulation of the snow. They were obliged to tarry here until the storm was over and the roads broken out. Mr. Ben- nett did not get home with his horse for over a week. On election day (the first Monday in April), the snow had settled but little, and the people were greatly troubled to break through the drifts on their way to the polls. The winter of 1870 was much like that of 1819, and the winter of 1885 was also similar, though the first snows came a little earlier. Major Elijah Hall and his son, Thompson Hall, built a saw- mill in town this year.
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CHAPTER IX.
ANNALS CONTINUED.
1820
AARON WILKINS was chosen a delegate to the Constitutional Conven- tion, and Henry Rust Jr., the first Representative to the Maine Legisla- ture. The valuation this year was seventy-six thousand six hundred and seventy-one dollars, a large advance over previous years, occasioned probably by a new appraisal. The number of polls was two hundred and fifty, and of scholars five hundred and twenty-six. The highway taxes were one thousand five hundred and seventy-three dollars and fifty- five cents ; money taxes one thousand three hundred and sixteen dollars and forty-seven cents, of which nine hundred and sixty dollars and one cent were for town, one hundred and twenty-two dollars and sixty-seven cents for state, and two hundred and thirty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents for county. Horatio G. Cole came this year and was a valuable acquisition. The vote on the question of separation was one hundred and ninety-nine, but how divided, in the absence of the town records, cannot be given without consulting the returns. That a majority was in favor of separation, there is no doubt. Major Jonathan Cummings committed suicide this year, on account of financial embarrassment. He was the son of the proprietor of the two Cummings Purchases, came here early, and of course was ever a leading citizen. About the year 1806, he purchased of the trustees of Phillips Academy, the half town- ship of land granted the Academy by Massachusetts, and which now forms the southerly half of the town of Greenwood. He bought it largely on credit, the trustees holding a mortgage to secure payment. Settlers bought land of Major Cummings, but in most cases did not get a quitclaim from the trustees, and so after several years, when he failed to take up his notes, and was unable to do so on account of losses in other directions, the settlers were called upon to pay or give up their farms. Major Cummings was naturally an honest man, of a kindly and obliging disposition, and the losses sustained by the settlers through his
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means, and which he was unable to make good, preyed upon his sensi- tive nature and doubtless produced temporary insanity. Mrs. Mary Cleaves died May 2d, aged ninety-two. Other deaths were: Solomon Smith, aged twenty-three, June 21st; Judith Ayer, aged two, August 23d ; Captain Henry Rust, aged fifty-nine, August 25th ; Edwin P. Reed, aged two, August 30th; Mrs. Whiting, aged thirty-two, Septem- ber 8th; Asa Lovejoy Jr., aged forty-seven, September 26th ; Mrs. Jacob Tubbs, aged sixty-eight, December 24th ; Miss Martha Davis, aged sixty-five, December 26th.
1821
Under the first apportionment Hebron was classed with Norway to form a representative district. Hebron elected this year, and Alexander Greenwood was chosen. The valuation was seventy-seven thousand one hundred and eighty-three dollars ; polls two hundred and sixty-two ; scholars five hundred and ninety-one. The highway taxes amounted to one thousand five hundred and thirteen dollars and forty-five cents, of which five hundred and four dollars and two cents were for county roads. The money taxes were one thousand three hundred and eighty-five dollars and seventy-four cents. Stephen Cummings became a resident this year; he was a son of Dr. Stephen Cummings of Portland, and a grandson of the proprietor of the Cummings Gores. Betsey Gammon fell down the cellar stairs in the house of Benjamin Fuller, and broke her neck. She was living in Mr. Fuller's family. The Rust Gore, also called Phillips Gore was annexed to Norway this year. It was situated south of the Waterford three tiers, and contained about eighteen hun- dred acres. This Gore should have been embraced in the first act of incorporation and it was only a mistake in drafting it that it was not done. This annexation established a portion of the line between Oxford and Cumberland Counties. Five families were living in this Gore, namely, John Pike Jr., Benjamin Jordan, William Frost, Robert Frost and Zachariah Weston. Peter Everett, one of the early settlers, a native of France, died February 27th. Mrs. Churchill died Septem- ber 25th, aged twenty-five, and Emma Stevens, November 7th, aged thirty-eight. There were besides, several deaths of children.
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I822
The valuation was now seventy-seven thousand two hundred and eleven dollars, number of polls two hundred and seventy-five, and of scholars six hundred and twenty-one. The road taxes this year amounted to two thousand three hundred and ninety-three dollars and thirty-seven cents, and the money taxes one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine dollars and five cents. The school tax was now six hundred dollars. A new county road was opened this year through nearly half the length of the town, which became a great thoroughfare between the valley of the upper Connecticut River and Portland, and the "Coos" teams, heavily laden with the surplus products of that valley, passed through this town on their way to market, and returned with store supplies for many years; in fact, until the opening up of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad. It required strong bridges to bear safely over the six or eight horse, heavily laded teams. The house of Bela Noyes Jr. was burned this year, in December. He was then unmarried, and was finishing the inside of his house, preparatory to bringing home his prospective wife. The fire broke out in the night time, and Mr. Noyes and a hired man barely escaped with their lives. In a nude condition they fought the fire from the barn, for nearly an hour, and by the aid of neighbors saved it. David Major, the hired help referred to, lost his chest, clothes, and pocket-book containing fifty dollars in money and about two hundred in notes. Doctor Asa Dan- forth was the most prominent among the new-comers this year. Cap- tain Ward Noyes died April 23d, aged fifty years. Other deaths were Mrs. Sarah Eastman March 26th, aged seventy-one, Widow Bartlett May 7th, aged sixty-five, and Mrs. Bartlett February 24th, aged forty- three.
1823
Uriah Holt was chosen representative. The town valuation was seventy-nine thousand and fifteen dollars ; number of polls two hundred and ninety, and of scholars six hundred and thirty-one. The highway tax was one thousand three hundred and thirty dollars and forty-six cents, with a special additional tax of eight hundred and thirty-nine
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dollars and ninety-three cents. The total money taxes were one thou- sand three hundred and fifty-six dollars and sixty-eight cents. The additions to the voting list this year were twenty-seven names, mostly sons of earlier settlers, who had become of age. In May, or in the early part of the summer, James French Jr. son of the early settler, had his house burned, with most of its contents. The house was built by his father in 1806. In July the saw-mill built by Major Elijah Hall and his son, was destroyed by fire. The burning was caused by fires running in the woods. The mill was not rebuilt until 1830. In Sep- tember a fatal sickness prevailed in the northwest part of the town, and to some extent in other places. Thirteen persons died in one small neighborhood within three weeks. It was not confined to any particular age, but old and young alike were attacked and died. The first building erected at Ford's Corner, afterward called Frost's Corner and now Nor- way Lake, was put up this year. It was a little store built by Job E. Stevens, and this was the only building here for six years. Stevens was succeeded in the store by John B. Ford from Gray, and hence the early name of the hamlet. The wife of Moses Houghton died April 14th, aged forty-two, and Mr. Enoch Merrill August 9th, aged eighty ; he came from Andover, Massachusetts. Dysentery prevailed in the north part of the town this year, in August and September, and among the fatal cases were the following : August 26th, child of Jonathan Stevens; 27th, child of William Corson; child of John Merrill; child of E. Bancroft ; child of J. Bancroft. September 12th, Mrs. Benjamin Pea- body ; 13th, child of Reuben Hill, eighteen months. Three children of Hezekiah Pingree; child of E. Merrill Jr .; child of E. Merrill; child of Mr. Bancroft; 14th, Mrs. Elijah Flint; child of Mr. Hutchinson. October 6th, child of M. Lassell ; 8th, child of Simeon Noble, four ; child of David Morse, nine.
1824
The valuation was seventy-five thousand four hundred and ninety-five dollars ; polls, two hundred and sixty-eight; scholars, five hundred and seventy-one; highway tax, one thousand two hundred and twenty-six dollars and two cents, with an extra tax of one thousand one hundred and seventy dollars and nineteen cents ; money taxes, one thousand
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three hundred and three dollars and sixty-nine cents. The second paper in the county, and the first in this section, was started on Paris Hill this year, by Asa Barton. It was called the Oxford Observer. Hereto- fore, about the only papers read in this town, and those continued to be read, were the Portland Gazette, which subsequently became the Port- land Advertiser, and the Eastern Argus. Frederick Coburn of Green- wood represented this district in the Legislature. The following were among the deaths in Norway this year : January 2d, child of J. Knight ; 28th, child of Deacon B. Herring. February Ist, Mr. Stephen Latham, fifty-five, colic ; 16th, Andrew Merriam, nineteen. April 14th, child of Israel Millett; 30th, Fatima Millett, ten. May 10th, Mrs. Shedd, con- sumption ; 18th, child of Aaron Shackley, seven weeks. June 18th, Mrs. Jeremiah Hobbs, seventy-nine, lung fever ; she was one of the oldest settlers. August Ist, child of C. Pike, four. Aaron O. Hall, fever. August 8th, C. F. Pike, four ; 23d, Martha Bartlett, ten months. September 5th, M. E. Greenleaf, fifteen months ; 6th, Orvella Tucker, three; 7th, Laura S. Morey, two ; 27th, Catharine Knight. October 14th, William F. Beal, fifteen months. July first of this year, James Longley advertised his stage route between Portland and Paris and Norway, through Gray, Poland, Hebron, etc., making the round trip twice each week. Fare between Portland and Norway, one dollar and eighty cents.
1825
The valuation this year under a new appraisal went up to ninety-nine thousand four hundred and fifty-three dollars ; polls, two hundred and sixty-seven ; scholars, six hundred and thirty-five; highway tax, one thousand seven hundred and forty-one dollars and forty-one cents ; money taxes, one thousand three hundred and sixty-four dollars and twenty-eight cents as follows : schools, five hundred and fifty dollars ; poor and town charges, three hundred dollars ; county tax, two hundred and eight dollars and twenty-one cents; state tax, one hundred and ninety-eight dollars and eighty-five cents; overlay, fifty-seven dollars and fourteen cents ; delinquent highway, fifty dollars and eight cents. Elijah Flint's barn was burned in April of this year. Mrs. Flint carried some ashes into the barn to put under a goose she was wishing to have
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set ; there proved to be something beside ashes, and the barn was soon in flames. This year, Levi Whitman, Joseph Shackley, Moses Ames and Daniel Young petitioned the legislature to set off certain lands from Paris and annex the same to Norway. The representative from Paris was instructed to oppose the prayer of the petition and the same was not granted until thirty-four years later. Old Mrs. Case who moved into Norway in 1793 from Middleton, Massachusetts, in an ox cart (see ante) died May 29th, aged ninety years. Other deaths were : January 17th, child of J. Pike. James Noyes. March 3d, child of W. Mitchell, two ; 26th, Mrs. H. Noble, fifty-eight, consumption. April 29th, child of J. Hobbs, eight months. May 26th, Rebekah Downing, sixteen. July 12th, Mrs. H. Archer, eighty-four; Isaac Chute from habitual intemperance. August 2d, child of J. Smith, one ; 15th, child of Darius Holt Jr .; 27th, child of Reuben Hill, two. September 3d, child of J. Shackley ; 6th, child of William Lord, one ; 16th, Lydia M. Fuller ; 2Ist, child of William Frost, four; 24th, child of J. Pike, two ; 26th, child of H. Pingree, three; 29th, Mrs. S. Smith, forty-seven. In March of this year a new post route was established between Oxford County and Augusta, by way of Paris, Buckfield, Hartford, North Tur- ner, Wayne and Winthrop.
1826
This year Asa Barton moved his Oxford Observer establishment from Paris Hill to Norway, appreciating the advantages of this village for the publication of a newspaper over his former place. The affair was conducted very quietly, and it is said by elderly people, that the press and other material were brought over in an ox-cart in the night time. Paris Hill people were highly indignant at the transaction, while the citizens of Norway Village were correspondingly jubilant. Mr. Barton also moved the Oxford County book-store to Norway. The valuation was ninety-nine thousand eight hundred and twenty-six dollars ; number of polls, two hundred and sixty-five ; number of scholars, six hundred and twenty-four. Dr. Jonathan S. Millett returned to Norway and com- menced the practice of medicine here. He was a son of Captain John Millett, an early settler, and became a very popular practitioner in his native town. In May, Mr. William Pierce, who lived on the Cummings
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