Gazetteer of the state of Maine, Part 29

Author: Varney, George J
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Boston Russell
Number of Pages: 648

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Fort Fairfield was incorporated March 11, 1858. The town then included only letter D., lying mostly south of the Aroostook. In 1867, Plymouth Grant, called also "Sarsfield Plantation," was annexed. The name was from the fort built within the town in the period of the border difficulties. The fort was named for John Fairfield, who was governor at that period. The first settlements were about 1816, the settlers being from New Brunswick. The place assumed prominence from its position during the boundary fracas in 1839 ; following which, a company of United States troops were quartered there. The railroad that runs from Gibson, opposite Frederickton, N. B., reached the town in 1875.

The town has associations of Masons, P. of H., and I.O.G.T. There are churches of the Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Bap- tists, Methodists, Free Baptists, Roman Catholics and Univer- salists. The village has a circulating library. The number of public schoolhouses is twenty-one. The value of the school property is $6,900. The value of estates in 1870 was $276,800. In 1880 it was 8468,471. The population in 1870 was 1,893. In 1880 it was 2,807.

Fort Kent is situated on the south bank of St. John's River, in the northern part of Aroostook County. It is 126 miles N.N. W. of Houlton via Caribou and Van Buren. Frenchville adjoins it on the east, Wallagrass Plantation on the south of the western half, and New Brunswick on the north. The territory is about 11 miles in length along the river east and west, and from 3 to 63 miles in width. The surface is somewhat uneven with few hills above 200 feet in height. The streams that furnish water-power within the town are Fish River and Daigle and Perley Brooks. The fall on the first is about a mill above its confluence with the St. John, and is occupied by a saw-mill having several single saws and a gang, and a grist-mill with four sets of stones. There is also a good power on the St. John River about a mile below the mouth of Fish River. Other powers are being

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FOXCROFT.

improved, and will doubtless soon mingle the hum of mills with the roar of their falls.

Slate is the underlying rock. The soil of the upland is a dark loam, while there is some rich interval land. Oats, wheat, buckwheat, barley and potatoes are all cultivated, and yield well. The buildings in the town are generally in good repair, showing the people to be a thrifty community. The centre of business is near the mouth of Fish River. The town is the terminus of the stage-lines to the St. Francis.

Fort Kent was first settled by Acadian-French refugees. The for- tification from which the town takes its name was erected in 1841, and was named in honor of Governor Kent. Among the valued citizens not now living were I. H. Page, Major Wm. Dickey and B. W. Mallett. The church organizations are the Congregationalists and Roman Catholics. The latter have a church-edifice. The Madawaska Train- ing School for Teachers, a State institution, is located here. Fort Kent has nine public schoolhouses, valued at $1,725. There are also 1,000 acres reserve land for public purposes. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $65,357. In 1880 it was $72,666. The population in 1870 was 1,034. In 1880 it was 1,512.

Foxcroft is situated in the southern part of Piscataquis County, having Bowerbank on the north, Dover on the south, Sebec on on the east and Guilford on the west. The town contains 17,915 acres. Sebec Lake occupies the larger part of the northern boundary. This body of water has an area of 14 square miles. Other ponds are Wes- ton's, Snow's and Garland, being from a mile in length downward. The Piscataquis River near the southern boundary; and the Weston, Chase and Hammond Brooks, as well as the river, afford some water-power. The town has considerable granite, and also slate, some of which is said to be of the finest quality. The soil is various, but generally productive. The principal manufactures are at the village opposite Dover village on the Piscataquis. There are here a woolen-mill, lum- ber and grain mills, a door, sash and blind factory, a spool-factory, an iron-foundry, a shoddy-mill, tannery, carriage-factory and several others.

Foxcroft was one of the six townships given to Bowdoin College by Massachusetts. In 1800 it was purchased by Colonel Joseph E. Foxcroft, of New Gloucester, for the sum of $7,940,-about 45 cents an acre. In 1802 Colonel Foxcroft hired Elisha Alden to cut a road across the township at a cost of $73. This road passed from the Chandler place to the " Four Corners," and thence over the hill to Morse's land- ing, on Sebec Lake. John, Eleazer and Seth Spaulding were the first settlers ; moving in with their families in 1806, when they built the first mill. Mr. S. Chamberlin and Ephraim Bacon put up the first framed house in town in 1807; and Eliphalet Washburn, the same summer, raised the first barn in town. Captain Joel Pratt came in the next spring ; others followed, among whom were Timothy Hutchinson, Joseph Morse, John Chandler and Jesse Washburne. Dr. Winthrop Brown, from Berwick, commenced the practice of medicine in Fox- croft in 1809 or 1810.

At a visit in one of the years just mentioned Colonel Foxcroft advised the inhabitants to hold religious meetings. The people readily

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adopted his advice and met at the house of Eli Towne, bring- ing such hymn-books as they had. Mr. William Mitchell, an old schoolmaster, was present with a book of sermons in his pocket, ready to read at the proper time. Desirous of opening the meeting in the usual form, inquiry was made for some one to make the opening prayer, but not a man in the settlement had the necessary piety and confidence to perform this simple duty. There was a woman present Mrs. William Mitchell,-who had kept up prayer in her family from its commencement, and at the solicitation of the company this "Mother in Israel," made the first public prayer in Foxcroft. Rev. John Saw- yer soon after began to perform religious services in the place in 1809 or 1810. The daughter of Mr. S. Chamberlain, now Mrs. Greeley, born in 1808, is still living, being longest a resident in town. Messrs. Nathaniel, Daniel, William and Moses Bucks, came from Buckfield later. The plantation had first been known as Spauldingtown. It was incorpo- rated as the second town in the county in 1812, being named in honor of the chief proprietor. Mr. John Bradbury was chosen the first town clerk, and Messrs. Joel Pratt, S. Chamberlain, and William Thayer, selectmen and assessors.

The war against England was declared this year, and there was much alarm in regard to the Indians. A meeting to consider the sub- ject was held in Foxcroft in August. All thought there should be a fortification, but as most of the settlers along the river desired to have it on his own land, no agreement could be reached, and the project was abandoned. Finally Phineas Ames (known as King Ames), made a speech in a rough, but eloquent way peculiar to him, in which he counseled delay and moderation. The result of the deliberations was the choice of Mr. E. Bacon, to visit Boston as agent of the Piscataquis settlements to procure arms and ammunition from the State, providing that sufficient money was raised voluntarily to defray his expenses. But the money was not raised, and the agent did not go, though some abandoned their homes for safe locations, and all barricaded the doors for safety against a possible midnight assault. The Indians, however, showed no disposition to break the peace.

The first store in town was opened by John Bradbury soon after 1813, who became quite successful as a merchant and mill owner. Bela Hammond & Sons a little later operated a kitchen-chair factory on Merrill Brook; and sometime after Benjamin Hammond & Com. pany built a saw-mill and a bed-stead factory, and opened a store at the village. Charles P. Chandler, James S. Holmes, and Nathaniel Carpenter were highly esteemed citizens in their day. Foxcroft sent near 150 soldiers to aid the Union cause in the war of the Rebellion ; of whom 40 were lost.

The Congregationalists are the leading denomination in town, hav- ing a handsome church-edifice and a chapel. For public entertain- ments, the inhabitants give a preference to the more intellectual sort, as concerts and lectures. Foxcroft Academy was chartered in 1823,- the first institution of the kind north of Bangor, and still flourishing. The village schools are graded. Foxcroft has eight public school- houses, valued at $4,000. In 1870 the valuation of estates was $400,- 109. In 1880 it was $394,675. The rate of taxation in 1880 is stated at 82 on $1,000. The population, according to the census of 1880 is 1,264.

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FRANKFORT.

Frankfort is situated on the western bank of the Penobscot River, in the north-eastern part of Waldo County. It is bounded on the north by Winterport, east by Bucksport, on the opposite side of the Penobscot, south by Prospect and Searsport, and west by Monroe. The town is about 7} miles long, east and west, and 4} wide. The sur- face is broken and rough. The soil is gravel in parts, in others loam. The principal crop is hay. There are several high hills, the highest of which, mounts Waldo and Mosquito, are in the south-eastern part of the town. The former is about 1,000 feet in height. It was formerly called mount Misery, from the sufferings connected with the death of two boys who ascended the mountain, and perished in the snow-storm by which they were overtaken. In 1815 a party of excursionists who ascended the mountain re-named it Mount Waldo. Mosquito Moun- tain is an immense mass of granite, and is noted for the number of mosquitoes swarming about it from the stagnant marsh between its base and the river. Halley Hill is another elevation of land near the centre of the town. Each of these three eminences have granite quar- ries near them, from which immense quantities of granite have been taken. The principal stream is Marsh River, the north branch of which, flowing from the west, forms a portion of the north-western boundary of the town ; and having formed a junction with the south branch, which bounds a small portion of the town on the east, empties into the Penobscot at Marsh Bay. On this stream are several powers, of which the first is occupied by mills. At this place is Marsh Village, 16 miles from both Bangor and Belfast. The stream is the outlet of several ponds in the town adjoining at the west, and of Goose Pond at the south-western corner of the town. There are some charming nooks along Marsh River in the western part of the town. Frankfort has three companies engaged in quarrying granite, a saw, shingle and grist mill, etc. The buildings in the village, and through the rural parts of the town give indications of thrift. Maple and birch trees prevail in the forests ; and many of the former have in years past been set along the streets, to the beautifying of the town, and refreshment of the traveler.

As originally incorporated in 1789, Frankfort embraced the whole territory along the western bank of the Penobscot from Belfast to Wheeler's mills, on Soadabscook Stream ; thus embracing also the present towns of Prospect, Winterport, Hampden, and parts of Bei- fast, Searsport and stockton. In 1793 this was divided into the three towns of Prospect, Frankfort and Hampden; the first being the long- est settled,-retaining the records but not the name. Prospect then included Searsport and Stockton, and Frankfort, the present Winter- port. The last was set off in 1860, when Frankfort acquired its pres- ent boundaries. It is found that there were settlers in Frankfort as early as 1770, for in 1773 there were twelve families residing at Marsh Bay, one family at Oak Point, and one where the village now is. Among these first settlers were J. Treat, E. Grant, J. Kinnakum, J. Woodman, P. King, S. Kenny and E. Ide. According to a MS. letter of Joshua Treat, Esq., an early settler, "the first settlers got their liv- ing by hunting moose, beaver and muskrat, and by fishing in Penob- scot River." There were conflicting claims of proprietors under the Waldo patent-to which this tract belonged. Thorndike & Company

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finally proved to be the owners of this township, which they sold to settlers at $2 per acre.

The war of 1812 was a serious injury to the town, both as to de- velopment and losses of property in lumber and vessels by seizure, and from destruction of the coasting trade. Among later valued citizens we have the names of Robert Treat, Waldo and George A. Peirce and John Wiswell. Frankfort sent 60 men to do battle for the Union in the war of the Rebellion. Ten of these were lost. The church-edi- fice in the town belongs to the Congregationalists. Frankfort has eight public schoolhouses, valued, with their appurtenances, at $4,500. The value of estates in 1870 was $220,646. In 1880 it was $186,815. The rate of taxation in 1880 was 21 mills on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 1,152. In 1880 it was 1,158.

Franklin, in Hancock County, is situated at the head of Taunton Bay, a prolongation of Frenchman's Bay. It is 11 miles from Ellsworth, on the Bangor and Cherryfield stage-line. There are several ponds, whose streams furnish considerable water-power. it has nine lumber-mills, two grist-mills, a tannery and three granite quarries. The material wealth of the town is mainly in its water- power and its granite. The granite is porphyritic, but splits well, and is handsome when hammered. Few in the town live exclusively by farming. The soil is coarse and rocky, but under good cultivation is fairly productive. It is better for grazing than for annual crops. Nearly one-third of the hay is cut on the salt marshes, whence it is raked, and boomed in as the tide flows. Cranberry culture has received some attention, with successful results. Franklin is said to have shipped more spars, railroad ties, and ship timber than any other town of its size in this or in Washington County.

Franklin was originally plantation No. 9. It was incorporated in 1825, being named in honor of Dr. Franklin. It was first occupied by the French at Butler's Point. Moses Butler and Mr. Wentworth came in 1764, and are supposed to be the first English settlers. The next were Joseph Bragdon, Mr. Hardison, Mr. Hooper and Abram Donnell. On Butler's Point are apple trees upwards of one hundred years old.

The town furnished 120 men to the Union cause in the war of the Rebellion, paying bounty to the amount of $12,280. The Methodists and Baptists each have a church in the town. Franklin has nine public school houses, and the school property is valued at $5,000. The valua- tion of estates in 1870 was $168,348. In 1880 it was $178,220. The population in 170 was 1,042. In the census of 1880 it was 1,102.

Franklin County is situated in the western part of the State, its northern extremity bordering on Canada. Somerset County bounds it on the east, Kennebec and Androscoggin on the south, and Oxford County on the west. The area is 1,600 square miles. The Saddle- back and Mount Abraham range of mountains, continuing eastward on a line with the Rangeley Lakes, divides the county in two nearly equal portions and separates the Sandy River valley on the south from that of Dead River on the north. From the line of highlands that marks the boundary between it and Canada flow down the head waters of the Androscoggin and Kennebec. Mount Abraham, 3,387 feet in height, and Saddleback Mountain, about 4,000 feet, mark the middle portion

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of the county, and Blue Mountain, also about 4,000 in height, with its eastward range of hills, subdivides the southern section. The Andro- scoggin River passes across a corner of Jay, the south-western town of the county, and the streams of towns on this side are generally tributary to this river. An interesting feature is the combination of scenery about one little valley of ten miles radius from the town of Farmington, embracing the bold features of mountain ranges, with the low, warm, fertile valley, having the geological features and botanical exuberance which are not often found except in extensive countries. The region in view from the Saddleback range is no less striking, for on the west and south-west lie the Rangeley and Richardson Lakes, partly in Franklin and partly in Oxford ; northward is the Dead River Valley with this tributary of the Kennebec winding peacefully through it. Clearings in many directions show dots of buildings and broad tracts of grass-land and cultivated field.

Franklin County was the home of the Norridgewock tribe of the Abnaki nation of Indians. Their principal village was near where Sandy River enters the Kennebec. There was a village of thesc people at Farmington Falls ; another was at Chesterville Centre, on the Little Norridgewock. Though the tribe removed to Canada before settlements were made in the county by white people, yet a few strag- gling families seem to have made different points in Franklin their homes for many years later, having some intercourse with the hunters, trappers and early settlers. The first of these found on Sandy River the camp of one of these secluded aborigines named Pierpole. He assisted them with valuable information in regard to their new home ; but not receiving the sympathy that was desirable from his new neigh- bors, and being Roman Catholic in religion, he migrated to Canada with his family, carrying with him the dead body of his child.

By the reports of hunters, the existence of the " Great Interval " on Sandy River became known in certain quarters, creating a large degree of interest. In 1776, therefore, five enterprising young men from Topsham explored the region with a view to settlement. Their names were Stephen Titcomb, Robert Gower, James IIenry, Robert Alexander and James Macdonnel. They selected lots in the centre of the " Great Interval," measuring them off with strings of basswood bark. No family, however, moved into the place till 1781. Mr. Titcomb, intend- ing to become the first settler with a family in the place, started with them and his household goods in the autumn of 1780, but was blocked up by snow at the last house on the route, situated in Readfield. When spring opened he went to his clearing and put in his crop ; then, returning for his family, he met Joseph Brown and Nathaniel Davis on the way with their families. Settlers soon followed from each State of New England, excepting, perhaps, Vermont. The first mill in the county was on Davis's Mill Stream, now called Temple Mill Stream, near the centre of Farmington. This was erected by the combined enterprise of the settlers, and put in operation in the autumn of the first year that families wintered in the place. Many Revolutionary soldiers were among the early settlers. Enoch Craig was one of these, and became the founder of one of the enterprising and substantial families of Franklin County. In 1789, he married Dorothy Sterling, of one of the leading pioneer families, they being obliged to make a journey to Hallowell in order to be legally united. Within ten years

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of the wintering of the first families in Farmington, the Sandy River Valley, through most of its extent had become the seat of a flourish- ing community ; and this town alone contained 85 families.

A railroad connecting with the Maine Central was opened to Farm- ington in 1859; and in 1880, a narrow-guage railway was constructed from Farmington to Phillips. The county having until within a few years been without the facilities of communication necessary to the development of manufactures beyond the supply of some of its local wants, affords perhaps the best illustration that can be found in New England of the relative profits of exclusively agricultural investments in a region distant from large markets, owing none of its prosperity or

WESTERN NORMAL SCHOOL, FARMINGTON.

wealth to commerce, manufacturing or lumbering operations. What, then, has agricultural industry, unassisted by any other enterprise or investment, done for a community of 17 towns in the interior of Maine ? The reply is " It has for nearly a century supported in com- parative affluence an average population of some 20,000." Just in proportion as grazing-that is, stock-growing-was made the main re- liance and endeavor, their progress and prosperity have been conspicu- ous. Rev. J. S. Swift, author of an excellent article on Franklin County in the "History of New England " of Cocker and Howard, and having large acquaintance in the county, says that he "knows of

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no instance where a Franklin farmer has kept out of speculation, and made a specialty of grazing through a series of years, who has not be- come pecuniarly independent."

Both soil and climate are well-adapted to the production of corn and wheat; and oats on the intervals not unfrequently yield from 75 to 90 bushels to the acre. A large business is also done in canning sweet corn. Noble orchards were early planted in the older towns of the county, but were mainly useful for cider and vinegar, or for home use in cooking. The new orchards are chiefly intended to produce apples suitable for eating in their natural state, and great quantities are every year exported to all the cities of the country, and some even to Europe.

The first sermon preached in Franklin County was about 1783, by Rev. Mr. Emerson, at the log-house of Stephen Titcomb. A Methodist meeting-house was erected at Farmington Falls as early as 1800. The meeting-house at the Centre (now the court-house) was raised in 1803; and in a few years, spires began to rise in many parts of the county.

Franklin has three flourishing agricultural societies, each with an enclosed park and buildings for the purposes of exhibition. The first printing-press was set up in Franklin County in 1832, and a paper called the " Sandy River Yeoman," was published one year, then abandoned. In 1840, the " Franklin Register " was started at Farm- ington, and, after four years, changed to the " Chronicle," which has- though by different publishers-been sustained uninteruptedly ever since. In 1858 the "Franklin Patriot " was started, continuing through the war of the Rebellion,-a smart supporter of the opposition side against the " Chronicle." The " Phillips Phonograph " was started in 1878. Franklin County is also notable for its educational privileges, chief of which are the Western Normal School, for training teachers, the Wendell Institute, and the "Little Blue " or Abbott Family School for boys.

The act establishing Franklin County was passed in 1838. It now contains 19 towns and 11 plantations which are organized or have had an organization. Their names are Avon, Carthage, Chesterville, Eustis, Farmington, Freeman, Industry, Jay, Kingfield, Madrid, New Sharon, New Vineyard, Phillips, Rangeley, Salem, Strong, Temple, Weld, Wilton, and Coplin, Dallas, Greenvale, Letter E, Perkins, Rangeley, Jerusalem, Lang, No. 6, Sandy River, and Washington plantations .. Farmington is the shire town. The population in 1830 was 15,938. In 1870 it was 18,807. In 1880 it was 18,177. The estates in 1870. were valued at $5,791,659. In 1880 they were $5,812,866.

Franklin Plantation, in Oxford County, lies 14 miles north of Paris. Its size is about 5 miles long by 22 wide. There is a con- siderable mountain in the southern part, and three in the north-west -. ern. In the extreme north-western angle is Mount Zircon, somewhat noted for the mineral spring situated on its western slope in Milton Plantation. A stream in the southern part affords several small water- powers, upon which are a shingle-mill and a saw-mill for long and short lumber. There are said to be valuable deposits of gold and silver about the mountains.

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This plantation was formerly No. 2, and was composed of the Bux- ton, Milton Academy and Bartlett grants. The first clearing was made in 1816, the first settlement in 1820, general settlement, 1830. The plantation was organized in 1841. The only church is that of the Advents. The number of public schoolhouses is three, having a value of $300. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $35,487. In 1880 it was $26,110. The population in 1870 was 178. In 1880 it was 159.

Freedom lies on the western line of Waldo County, 18 miles W. N. W. of Belfast. It is bounded on the north by Unity, east by Montville, south by Palermo, and west by Albion, in Kennebec County. The surface is uneven. The principal hills are Beaver and Sandford. The ponds are Sandy and Duck. Both are situated in the eastern part of the town, and supply Sandy Stream, which runs northward through Freedom Village to Unity Pond. The area of Sandy Pond is about 850 acres, of Duck, 200 acres. On Sandy Stream near the village are five powers. On these are a flour-mill, a corn-mill, a saw-mill for long lumber, a shingle-mill, a shovel-handle factory, a carding, clothing and woollen mill, and a tannery. The village has several handsome resi- dences, and the streets are pleasantly shaded with maple and elm trees. The nearest railroad station is that of the Belfast branch of the Maine Central at Thorndike. As an agricultural town Freedom ranks at about an average. The soil is chiefly gravelly loam. The chief crops are hay and potatoes. There is some ledge and many granite bowlders. The usual variety of trees are found in the forests, but these are mainly of the hard woods.

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Gazetteer of the state of Maine, Part 29

Author: Varney, George J Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Boston Russell Number of Pages: 648

Author: Varney, George J
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Boston Russell
Number of Pages: 648