USA > Maine > Gazetteer of the state of Maine > Part 60
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | 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 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
Several citizens of Saco were in the Louisburg expedition under Pepperell, among whom were Deacon Benjamin Haley, Benjamin Scamman, Nathaniel Scamman, Andrew Stackpole, Roger Smith, Jonathan Smith, Haven Tarbox, and Benjamin Mason. The names of those in the continental army during the Revolution, are as follows : John Googins, killed at Hubbardston, Stephen Sawyer, John Hooper, Abiel Beette, Nicholas Davis, Jonathan Norton, Daniel Bryant, James Scamman, John Tucker, John Runnels, John Ridlon, Ebenezer Evans John and William Carll, Levi, Richard, Zachariah and Elias Foss, John Duren, Anthony and William Starbird, William Berry, James Evans, Samuel Sebastian, Joseph Norton, Major Stephen Bryant, Josiah Davis, Joseph Richards, Ephraim Ridlon, Stephen Googins, Thomas Means, Solomon Hopkins, James Edgecomb, and Solomon Libby. . The following Saco men were in the company of Captain John Elden, of Buxton, in 1776, doing good service at Dorchester Heights, namely : Lieutenant Samuel Scamman (afterward deacon), Jerathuel Bryant, John Muchmore, Daniel Field,
489
SACO.
David Clark, Abner Sawyer, Joseph Norton, Andrew Patterson, David Sawyer, Jr., James Edgecomb, Robert Bond, Daniel Field, Jr., Abra- ham Patterson, Moses Ayer, John and Hezekiah Young, Joseph Patterson, William P. Moody, Samuel Dennet, John Scamman and Samuel Lowell. Colonel James Scamman led a regiment to Cam- bridge early in 1775, which served about a year.
Richard Bonython, the pioneer and one of Gorges' councillors, is notable as a faithful and just man, even entering a complaint against His own son John for using threatening language to the excellent Mr. Vines. John bore a different character, being violent and quarrel- some. He seems not to have gained the confidence of the better or larger portion of his townsmen ; yet when Massachusetts extended her jurisdiction over Maine, he led the opposition, gaining the sobriquet of " Sagamore of Saco." The following couplet is said to have been in- scribed upon his tombstone, probably not by his relatives :
"Here lies Bonython, Sagamore of Saco, He lived a rogue, and died a knave and went to Hobbomocko"
Yet he was not without his good traits. In opposing Massachusetts he was vindicating the rights of Gorges ; and he generously presented the town with 20 acres of upland for the minister. Robert Patterson removed his family into the place in 1729, settling at Rendezvous Point, and was active in the service of the town. He and his de- scendants are noted for their longevity. Colonel Thomas Cutts, a descendant of a highly respectable family of Kittery, came to Saco about 1758, and commenced trade with a capital of $100. Though he had failed in Kittery in his first business venture, in Saco he developed " an immense aptitude for business," and soon enlarged his capital, and em- barked in extensive enterprises. In 1759 he bought a share of Indian or Factory Island, as a place of business, and built a small house and store on the south-west end. He, later, engaged in shipbuilding and navigation, and for some years previous to the breaking out of the Revolution had a very profitable and extensive timber trade with the West Indies. Having become owner of nearly the whole of the island, he removed, in 1782, to an elegant house on the upper end, where he passed the remainder of his days, which ended in 1821. His real estate was appraised at nearly $100,000.
Dr. Samuel White, Esq. (for he was a magistrate as well as a phy- sician), settled in Saco about 1750. Dr. Thomas G. Thornton, who came in 1791, married a daughter of Colonel Cutts, and then engaged in merchandizing. He was appointed United States Marshal of Maine in 1803, and discharged the duties of that office until his death in 1824. Dr. Richard Cutts Shannon was for some time a surgeon in the navy, but resigned and settled in Saco in 1800. During a period of nearly twenty-eight years following, he was the principal physician of the town, and at the time of his death, in 1828, was deacon of the first church. The first regular attorney here was Hon. Cyrus King. He had previously been private secretary to his brother Rufus, while am- bassador to England, and was admitted to the bar in 1797, and com- menced practice here. In 1812. he was chosen to represent York County in the thirteenth Congress. In 1815, he was appointed major- general of the militia, and died suddenly in 1817. Joseph Bartlett came to Saco about 1803, practising law with success for several years.
BAY VIEW
.15
BAY VIEW.
491
SACO.
He was State senator in 1804. He built a singular but rather elegant house near the site of the old Ferry house. But he was an eccentric genius, as his " Aphorisms " declare. He first removed to Berwick, then became a wanderer. John Fairfield was reporter of law decisions in 1832; representative to the 24th and 25th Congress, from 1835 to 1838 ; governor of the State in 1839, 1841 and 1842; National senator from 1843 to 1847. Ether Shepley, on his admission to the bar, about 1814, came to Saco and commenced practice. After filling various offices with honor, he was elected National senator in 1833; in 1836 he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court, and chief justice in 1848. In 1855, he retired from the bench; and in 1856 he was chosen sole commissioner to revise the public laws. He received his honorary degree of L.L.D. from Dartmouth College, and was thirty-three years trustee of Bowdoin College. The following citizens of Saco of more recent date have attained to distinguished public position :- J. F. Scamman was representative to 29th Congress in 1845; William B. Hartwell was State secretary in 1845,; Seth Scamman was president of the State senate in 1858; Rufus P. Tapley was, in 1865, appointed associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court ; Edwin B. Smith was speaker of the Maine House in 1871, and is now assistant attorney- general of the United States ; and Wilbur F. Lunt is United States district attorney of Maine.
Lumbering was the early business of the place, and the raw material was here turned into all varieties of stuff; and a large business was carried on in it with the West Indies. For the year ending September 30, 1827, 21,000,000 feet had been sawn, the greater part for the home trade. In 1811 Josiah Calef and Thomas Cutts erected on Factory Island a rolling and slitting-mill for iron, and eleven machines for making nails. A company, consisting mostly of Boston capitalists, began preparations for a cotton mill on Factory Island, cutting a canal through the solid rock to conduct the water-power. In 1829 their mill of 1,200 spindles and 300 looms commenced running, employing 400 persons; but in 1830 it was destroyed by a fire. The location is now occupied by the York Manufacturing Company. This company has five mills, and operates about 42,800 spindles and 980 looms, em- ploying some 1,200 hands, and turning out nearly 6,000,000 yards of cotton goods annually. There are now four saw-mills, manufacturing long and short-lumber and box-shooks, three planing and moulding-mills, three door, sash and blind factories, several carriage factories, a tan- nery, bleachery, also a belting, boot and shoe, loom-harness, soap, and other factories. The York National and the Saco National banks, in this city, each has a capital of $100,000. The Saco and Riddeford Savings Institution held, November 1, 1880, in deposits and accrued profits $1,214,899.82. Saco Savings Bank held at the same date $172,- 838.89. William S. Noyes publishes here the York County Indepen- dent, a family journal, and the State Democrat, a political sheet,- both excellent of their kind. The village of Saco, especially along the river road, presents many tokens of an early and prosperous period in the large, old mansions with ample yards, and other appearances of homely comfort with elegance. But the notable feature of Saco is its noble beach,* nearly nine miles in length, and affording a
* See article on Old Orchard Beach.
492
GAZETEEER OF MAINE.
drive-way hundreds of feet wide, with the deep blue ocean booming or one side and lines of imposing hotels, and pretty cottages on the other. Near the hotels is a beautiful forest-park of 30 acres, with pleasant paths, arbors and rustic adornments. About two miles distant, on Foxwell's Brook, is a picturesque waterfall, 60 feet in height.
The face of the country is little varied by hills, and is somewhat swampy in the middle of the town, shoreward of which is quite an ex- tent of pine plain. In this vicinity the soil is a fine sandy loam ; in the interior the surface is more uneven and the soil more gravelly, and the hard woods flourish.
Saco has churches of the Congregationalists, Baptists, Episcopals, Unitarians, and Christians, two of the Free Baptists, and two of the Methodists ; some of the edifices being quite elegant. The schools in the village are graded, from primary to high. The entire number of schoolhouses in the city is sixteen ; and the school property is valued at $18,125. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $3,116,374. In 1880 it was 83,408,533. The population at the same date was 5,755. In 1880 it was 6,395. See Biddeford.
Saddleback Mountain, See article on Dallas Plan- tation.
Sagadahoc County is situated upon the lower portions of the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers. Within it are contained Merrymeeting Bay, where the two rivers join; Sagadahoc River, which they form ; and Sasanoa, an arm of the Sagadahoc. Gener- ally, however, the name Kennebec is applied to this stream quite to the sea, thus making the Androscoggin its tributary. This county contains ten towns and one city, as follows: city of Bath, towns of Arrowsic, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Georgetown, Perkins, Phipsburg, Richmond, Topsham, West Bath and Woolwich. The length of the county north and south is 33 miles, and its breadth, from 6 to 17 miles. It has an area of about 300 square miles, including water sur- face, which is about 45 square miles. The county is chiefly remark- able topographically for the number of its streams, bays and coves, and its numerous tide-powers. The surface of the county, though consider- ably broken, has no high hills, and the general altitude is such that the fresh-water streams and salt inlets are not productive of deep ravines. In the south-eastern portion of the county especially, the bed rock is imperfectly covered with soil, and consequently, it shows many ledges. Three of its towns, Arrowsic, Perkins and Georgetown, are islands, and three, Phipsburg, Bath and West Bath are nearly so. The business is agriculture, ice-storage, lumber manufacture, ship-building, navigation, commerce and the fisheries. Steamboat communication with Portland and Boston is had through the whole length of the county, while during the hot months steamers run across the country from the Ken- nebec towns to Boothbay beyond the Sheepscot River. The Maine Central Railroad traverses the western part north and south along the course of the Kennebec, and connects with the Knox and Lincoln Rail- road, which connects Bath with Rockland on the Penobscot.
Sagadahoc County was formerly included in Yorkshire, and later, in Lincoln County ; having been set off from the latter and incorpo- rated in 1854. The exploring company of DeMonts, led by the intre-
493
SAGADAHOC COUNTY.
pid Champlain made the first known visit of Europeans to Sagadahoc. Popham's colony, having erected buildings and constructed a vessel, after a few months' sojourn forsook their settlement in 1608; but voy- ages of the English to the vicinity for fur-trade and fishing were con- tinued. Capt. John Smith, of Virginia fame, explored the region in 1614; and on the map of the country which he displayed to King Charles, that monarch entered the name " Leethe " as a substitute for " Sagadahoc."
When the Council of Plymouth was dissolved, and the territory divided, 10,000 acres somewhere on the east side of the Sagadahoc were added to each of seven of the twelve divisions, that each of the noble owners might share in the visionary metropolis of New England. The grant to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, in 1622, had for its eastern boun- dary, the Sagadahoc. From this he granted to Sir Richard Edge- comb, a tract on the north side of the Lake of New Somerset (Merry- meeting Bay) and another on the coast, probably on New Meadows Harbor. The Pilgrims of New Plymouth received their patent rights
ENGLISH SHIP OF THE 16th CENTURY.
of trade on the Kennebec in 1623, which was enlarged in 1629 to a right to the soil and exclusive rights of trade within its limits. The boundaries of this grant, like those of most of the early ones, were not accurately defined ; and when the patent passed from its Pilgrim own- ership and became the Kennebec Purchase, its wealthy proprietors extended their claims over the territories of their neighbors beyond what generally found warrant in law, when the issues came to be tried in the courts. The : indefinite boundaries, therefore, were the cause of much litigation. Rights to the soil were sought from the natives also ; the first known being the Nequasset purchase, made in 1639; the islands below soon after, and within 20 years the whole of Saga- dahoc County was held under titles from its Indian possessors. The grant to Purchase and Way which, together with the Pejepscot Purchase.
494
GAZETTEER OF MAINE.
included a large part of Bowdoinham, and all of Topsham, Bath, West Bath,and Phipsburgh, was made in 1630; Purchase himself having resid- ed near the Pejepscot (Brunswick) Falls since 1627. In 1654 New Ply- mouth colony instituted a form of government covering all the settle- ments of the Kennebec. This was succeeded by the more effective juris- diction of Massachusetts, which continued, with a partial interruption only for a few years by the Duke of York's government, until Maine be- came an independent State. In 1672, upon a petition of the settlers for protection, the territory beyond the Kennebec, which had been erected into the county of Cornwall by the Kings' commissioners,-deputies of the Duke of York, was transmuted into the county of Devonshire ; York being limited to the western side of the Sagadahoc. An appearance of right to exercise this jurisdiction had been secured by a new inter- pretation of the terms fixing the boundary of her patent by Massachu- setts. The motive for this movement was found in the new claim of the French, under the treaty of Breda, to the territory as far west as the Kennebec.
The first Indian war in Maine, called King Philip's war, broke out in 1675 ; yet the plundering of Mr. Purchas' house was the only hostile act in Sagadahoc County until August, 1676. At this date occurred the descent of the savages upon the settlements of Hammond, Clark and Lake, in which 53 persons were made captives by the Indians. The region was now almost wholly abandoned by settlers ; and though various small and temporary settlements were attempted, there was no permanent occupation until 1715, when twenty families located on Arrowsic, and the Pejepscot town of Augusta was begun under Dr. Noyes in Phipsburg. Yet these were swept away ; and forts and gar- rison houses were often the only places of safety for the inhabitants, until the fall of the French power in the North in 1759 terminated the Indian wars in Maine. From 1717 to 1720 many Scotch-Irish Presby- terians had come in ; and after Governor Dummer's treaties of 1725-7 the immigrants became numerous.
During the Revolution, there was much alarm in the Sagadahoc region from British cruisers ; but no considerable action occurred. Two British armed vessels which threatened Bath, were attacked on their way up the river, and turned back. In the war of 1812, the noted action between the Enterprise and Boxer occurred off its south- eastern shore. In the war of the Rebellion the county furnished to the Union forces 2,488 men. Robert Gutch and Ichabod Wiswall were the first religious ministers in the county, the first coming about 1660.
Steam-power was first used on the Kennebec as early as 1818, for propelling rude craft; and in 1823 steam communication was opened between Bath and Boston. What is now the Bath branch of the Maine Central Railroad was opened to the city in 1849; and the Knox and Lincoln Railroad was opened in 1871. The first newspaper was published in the county in 1820. There are now but two. Eight national banks and three savings institutions are located in the county.
Sagadahoc County was set off from Lincoln and incorporated in 1854, Bath being made the shire town. Its valuation in 1870 was $11.041,340. In 1880 it was $10,297,215. The polls in 1870 numbered 4,669, and in 1880, 5,182. The population in 1870 was 18,803. In 1880 it was 19,276.
495
ST. GEORGE.
Sagadahoc River is the stream formed by the union of the Kennebec and Androscoggin, and extends from Merrymeeting Bay to the ocean. This was the Indian name for this stream and its vicin- ity. Generally, however, the name Kennebec is applied to it quite to the sea, implying that the Androscoggin is a mere tributary to the somewhat larger Kennebec.
St. Albans is situated in the south-eastern part of Somerset County, bordering on Penobscot County. It is bounded on the north by Ripley, east by Corinna, south by Palmyra, and west by Hartland and Harmony. Its area is 23,040 acres. The surface is undulating, and the soil is generally fertile. Nearly in the centre of the town is Indian Pond, with its length north-east and south-west. In the same line north-eastward is Little Indian Pond. Moose pond forms upward of one half of the western boundary. St. Albans village, the principal business centre, lies at the outlet of Indian Pond, at the south-western extremity. The manufactories at this place consist of a saw-mill for long lumber, and shingle and grist mills, a shovel-handle and sash and door factories, and others of less extent. St. Albans is 22 miles east by north-east from Skowhegan. It is 10 miles from the Maine Central Rail- road station at Pittsfield on the stage line from that place to Harmony.
This township was purchased of the State of Massachusetts in 1799 by Dr. John Warren, of Boston, and was settled during the following year. It was incorporated June 14, 1813. There are Congregationalist, Free Baptist, Methodist and Friend societies in the town. The public schoolhouses number 15, and the school property is valued at $5,575. The population in 1870 was 1,675. In 1880 it was 1,394. The valua- tion in 1870 was $420,233. In 1880 it was $418,931.
St. Francis Plantation lies at the southern point of the notch in the northern border of Aroostook County. St. John Planta- tion bounds it on the east. The St. John River forms the northern line, running in a north-eastern course. The St. Francis River comes in the northern side of St. John, about midway of the town. The latter river at this point broadens, and contains several islands. The plantation is connected with Fort Kent by a stage-line.
St. Francis was settled by Acadian and Canadian French. It has one public schoolhouse, valued at $100. The population in 1870 was 253. In 1880 it was 299. The valuation in the latter year was $20,840.
St. George is the most southerly town of Knox County. It embraces the southern and larger part of a long and broad peninsula formed by St. George's River on the west and the ocean on the east. It is bounded on the north by South Thomaston. The area is 11,026 acres. It includes Metinic, Elwell and George's Islands. Tennant's Harbor is the principal village. Others are St. George, South St. George, Martinsville and Clark's Island. At South St. George some ship-building is done; other productions are ice and canned lobsters. At Tennant's Harbor, is a large sail loft ; and in this vicinity the Long Cove and the Clark's Island granite companies, and others, have their business. Tennant's Harbor and Port Clyde each have a marine railway.
496
GAZETTEER OF MAINE.
St. George originally was a part of Cushing, from which it was set off and incorporated in 1803.
It is said that two families settled in this town as early as 1635. The shores were long noted for the immense flocks of wild ducks, geese and other waterfowl that had their haunts on it, and on the adjacent islands of the bay. During Lovewell's war, in the spring of 1724, the shore of this town was the scene of a most tragic encounter between the whites and the Indians. Captain Winslow, a descendant of the Ply- mouth colony governor of that name, being in charge of the fort at Thomaston, made an excursion down the St. George's for the purpose of fowling. He was accompanied by sixteen men from the garrison in two stout whale boats. A large company of Indians were in the vici- nity for the same purpose, but concealed themselves, and watched the white men. As Winslow's company ascended the river the next day on their return, the Indians fired upon them from an ambush on the shore. The first boat containing Captain Winslow had been permitted to pass, and the whole fire was directed upon the rear boat under the charge of Sergeant Harvey. The sergeant fell, and a brisk fire was returned by his companions upon their assailants. Winslow, though past danger, hastened back in his boat to the assistance of his com- panions. Thirty canoes full of savages immediately shot out from the shore and surrounded the two boats, commencing their assault with a horrible whoop. Every one of Winslow's brave company fell, except three friendly Indians, who escaped and communicated the sad intel- ligence to the remainder of the garrison.
The surface of St. George is moderately uneven. There are neither high hills nor deep valleys. Stone Hill, about 200 feet in height, is the greatest elevation. The principal rock is granite. Turkey Pond, one mile in circumference, is the largest sheet of fresh water. The woods are chiefly of spruce. The soil is a clay loam, good for potatoes, which is the crop chiefly cultivated. The principal curiosity of St. George is a cave called the " Devil's Den," which has a depth of six or eight feet only. The first minister was Elder Ephraim Hah, who, with his suc- cessor, Elder Benjamin Eames, was a Calvinist Baptist. There are societies of the Adventists, Baptists and Free Baptists in the town. The Baptists and Free Baptists have church edifices. The town is much given to musical entertainments by home talent. St. George village and Tennant's Harbor have each its cornet band. St. George has 16 public schoolhouses, and its school property is valued at $5,000. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $403,342. In 1880 it was $523,266. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 12} mills on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 2,318. In 1880 it was 2,875.
St. John Plantation lies on the south side of St. John's River in the northern part of Aroostook County. It is bounded on the east by Fort Kent and Wallagrass Plantation, and west by St. Francis Plantation. Wallagrass stream runs from west to east along the southern border, having three ponds in its course near the centre of the town, and northward are two other small ponds, their outlets flowing northward to St. John's River. The plantation has a grist-mill and a hotel. The stage-line from Fort Kent to St. Francis runs along the St. John.
This plantation was settled by Canadian French. The population in 1870 was 127. In 1880 it was 66.
497
SANDY RIVER PLANTATION.
St. John's River, see articles on Boundaries, Climate, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes and Ponds, in the first part of this volume.
Salem is situated in the eastern part of Franklin County, 7 miles from the railroad station in Strong, and nearly 20 miles from Farmington. It is bounded east by Freeman and Kingfield, south by Phillips, west by Madrid, and north by Mount Abraham township. The northern part of Salem is occupied by the southern base of the Mount Abraham group of peaks. Curvo stream, a branch of Carra- basset River, takes its rise in this group of mountains ; and passing through the midst of the town, furnishes at Salem village the power for a saw and a grist-mill. Along the streams there is considerable interval land ; but elsewhere it is quite gravelly. Cobble-stones are said to abound in some parts of the town. Beech, birch, maple, cedar and spruce are found in the forests.
Salem was formed from parts of Freeman, Phillips, and Number Four in the First Range, Bingham's (Million Acres) purchase. The first clearing was made by Benjamin Heath 2d from Farmington, about 1815 ; to which he and John Church 1st, and Samuel Church removed in 1817, being soon followed by Messrs. Double and Hayford. The town was incorporated in 1823 under the name of North Salem, which was changed later to the latter word of the name alone.
A quaint, red, one-story building constitutes the town house, and also serves for religious meetings in the absence of a church edifice. The village has a small Sunday school library. Salem has four public schoolhouses, the total school property being valued at $400. The town valuation in 1870 was $64,432. In 1880 it was $59,868. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 1} cents on the dollar. The popula- tion in 1870 was 307. In 1880 it was 273.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.