USA > Maine > Hancock County > Blue Hill > Historical sketches of Bluehill, Maine > Part 2
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The year previous the town voted "For to clear a Rhode from here to Pronobscutt" and chose a committee consisting of Sam- uel Foster, Israel Wood, Robert Parker, Joseph Wood and John Roundy to attend to laying out said "Rhode".
At the annual town meeting held "Mon- day, April 7, 1794, voted that the follow- ing Roads be recorded. Viz :-
"1. The Road on the Neck.
"2. The Road leading to the Tide Mills from the Main Road that leads to Mr. Carleton's.
"3. The Road from the Head of Blue Hill Bay to Noice's Brook by Mr. Joseph Parker's.
"4. The Road leading from Beech Hill by the Meeting house to the Head of Blue Hill Bay.
"5. The Road leading to the old Penob- scot Road near Mr. Robert Wood's from the Head of Blue Hill Bay by Capt. Joshua Horton's."
The foregoing extracts from the records fix the fact of the location of the first roads laid out and built in the town.
For the purposes of this paper our in- vestigation and statements will neces- sarily chiefly be confined to the consider- ation of the places and residents along the roads designated above as the "road leading to the Tide Mills" and "the Main Road that leads to Mr. Carleton's" in one direction and to the Head of the Bay in the opposite direction.
It appears by the records that there were
four person who settled in the south part of the town by the name of Carleton, whose given names were Edward, Dudley, Moses and David, all from Andover, Mass., and evidently brothers. They built the mills first known as Carleton's mills, mentioned in the town records in 1770 for the first time when Dudley Carleton was elected a selectman, in 1771 was re-elected and in 1772 was chosen one of a committee to keep the fish course clear at Carleton's mills.
April 3, 1775, "Voted that the Inhabi- tants of the Town meet at the house of Mr. David Carleton the 2nd Monday in May to see Something abought making the hour Something better, at 8 o'clock in the morning. Meeting Ajourned to house and time aforesaid." Then follows this en- try: "The Disturbance Between Brittain and America Prevented the meeting Ac- cording to Ajournment." "This Disturb- ance" probably was news of the battle of Lexington.
March 28, 1776, David Carleton was chosen one of the committee of corre- spondence and in 1779 a surveyor of lum- ber.
March 7, 1785, Moses Carleton was one of a committee of three "to hire a Preacher and Collect the Money to pay him."
Edward Carleton was chosen a surveyor of lumber in 1789, and in 1792 and 1793 one of a committee to keep the fish course clear. The fish course was at Carleton's mills, to provide a passage for alewives to the pond above, where they went to spawn. At those mills also frost fish came to spawn about the time of Christmas, and were taken in great numbers. Fish were a valuable article of food for the settlers of the town, and care was taken that the alewives should not be obstructed in their
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BLUEHILL, MAINE.
yearly visits to the fresh water ponds where they deposited their eggs and hatched their young.
The writer well remembers the fish course spoken of, and that on certain days when "the fish were running" they could be taken under regulations made by the town, while on other days the people took fish unlawfully and subject to a fine.
In 1795, Edward Carleton was chosen with others to superintend and inspect the fish course, fix the place for catching fish from Monday at sunrise until Wed- nesday at sunset. He was also allowed by vote of the town "three pence per light for 360 lights of sashes delivered for the Meeting house" and chosen to present the proposals to the church, by the town, for it to offer through a committee to Jonathan Fisher regarding his settlement, and that Mr. Carleton be desired to request the church by a committee to wait upon Jonathan Fisher, with the town's proposal for an exchange of the minister's lot and Mr. Carleton's lot, if he settles in the town.
In 1797, "Voted that Major David Carleton have the consent of this town to bid upon the Pews as he shall please." This was for the sale of the pews of the new meeting house, and would indicate that Major Carleton had moved to Sedg- wick and without the vote as above would not have had the right to bid for the pews when they came up for sale.
From the church records it is learned that David Carleton and Mary, his wife, owned the covenant and had baptised Molly Adams Coggeswell and Dudley, July 4, 1784, by Rev. Seth Noble.
Edward Carleton and Phebe, his wife, owned the covenant and had their daugh- ter Abigail Abbott baptised by Oliver Noble, Oct. 17, 1790.
Moses Carleton and Mary his wife pre- sented the following children:
Leonard, Oct. 17, 1790. Rev. Oliver Noble.
Ebenezer, July 8, 1792. Rev. Peter Powers.
Elizabeth, Aug. 22, 1794. Rev. Samuel Eaton.
There is no record to show that Dudley Carleton was a member of the church at Blue Hill, that he had a family, or when and where he died.
The Carletons were men of activity and
business energy in the earlier years of the settlement of the town. They lived near- by their mills upon lands later conveyed to Amos Allen and his sons, who also purchased from them the mills that were built and owned for many years by the Carletons. Just where stood the houses of David, Edward and Dudley Carleton, the writer has no means of definitely determining at this writing, but the house of Moses was standing in the writer's boyhood upon the site of the present house of the late Joseph Allen. It was a two-story structure in front and of one story in the rear, but what year it was built cannot now be stated, though probably shortly after the Carletons came to the locality from Andover.
In the early years of 1800, the Carletons built a ship near the mills, called the "Juno", of which Dudley Carleton, 2nd, son of David, was master. She was 250 tons, single deck, and a full-rigged ship, in which the father of the writer made a voyage to Liverpool, England, and back to Boston as one of her foremast hands.
A number of other vessels have been built there in later years, and lumber from the mills, and wood from the landing have been scowed down the Salt pond, and passed out over the Fore Falls to form many cargoes shipped to western markets. It was no uncommon sight to see half a dozen or more vessels at anchor below the Falls receiving cargoes from Carletons or Allen's mills and other landings along the shores of the Salt pond, in the boyhood of the writer.
Moses Carleton's family record is as fol- lows:
1. Moses, born Jan. 10, 1785; married Nancy -
2. William, born Dec. 12, 1786; married Pamela Osgood.
3. Leonard, born Jan. 30, 1789; married Sally -
4. Ebenezer, born March 27, 1791; mar- ried Polly Dorr, of Penobscot, Nov. 15, 1815.
5. Elizabeth, born (no date given.)
6. Michael, born Oct. 26, 1795; a sailor preacher at Salem, Mass.
7. Polly, born Nov. 22, 1797; never mar- ried; died Sept. 20, 1865.
8. Parker, born April 7, 1800; died at Andover, Mass., Nov. 23, 1823.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BLUEHILL, MAINE.
9. Betsey, born Sept. 21, 1802; married Josiah Coggins.
10. Sukey, born July 4, 1805; married Jonah Dodge.
11. Samuel, born Jan. 11, 1808; never married; died Jan. 10, 1862.
12. Phebe, born Dec. 2, 1810.
Moses Carleton, head of this family, died Oct. 1838, aged 79; Mary his widow, August 20, 1857, aged 88 years.
Ebenezer Carleton, son of Moses, mar- ried Polly Dorr, of Penobscot, Nov. 15, 1815, and settled on the west side of the First pond, where he lived as a farmer and brought up a family of children as fol- lows:
1. Charlotte, born Feb. 14, 1816; married Capt. John Douglass, of Brooksville.
2. Kimball, born July 30, 1817.
3. Susan, born April 10, 1819; died Jan. 27, 1824.
4. Abigail, born April 16, 1821; married Simeon P. Tapley, of Brooksville.
5. Elizabeth, born April 24, 1823; died August 13, 1825.
6. Deborah, born April 19, 1825.
7. Susan, born August 7, 1827.
8. Michael, born Nov. 4, 1829.
9. Lucinda, born Feb. 14, 1832.
10. Charles, born June 9, 1835.
The other sons of Moses Carleton set- tled elsewhere in the town, and the family of Major David Carleton removed to North Sedgwick.
Amos Allen, born in Sedgwick, Oct. 3, 1772, married Joanna Herrick, of Sedg- wick, Dec. 25, 1793, removed to Blue Hill in 1795, where he became owner of Carle- ton's mills and of the land and buildings taken up and improved by the Carletons. He was a miller, farmer, ship-owner, preacher and a representative to the Maine legislature in 1820-1-2-3, and in 1842, and a man of influence and force of character.
When elected to the legislature of 1842, it was generally supposed that he favored a bridge across the Falls, and all in favor of that object voted for his election. A petition was sent to the legislature for a charter to build the bridge, and requests to Mr. Allen to present the petition and advocate the measure.
The petition recited the convenience it would be to the people residing in that part of Sedgwick, now Brooklin, and on the Neck, with the miles travel it would shorten for those on the Neck desirous of
traveling to Blue Hill village, either on foot or by carriage or team of any kind by İand.
Great was the surprise felt by the friends of the measure and those who had made Mr. Allen's nomination and election sure, to find him arrayed against the charter openly, and by a speech that set the legis- lators roaring with laughter by the ridi- cule he heaped upon the whole subject.
As reported in the Portland Advertiser of that date, which the writer of this ar- ticle read at the time, he first said it would be a positive disadvantage to the ship- building interests of the Salt pond, which was great and promised to become greater, and would prove, if the charter were granted, a depression of values above said bridge. Then he turned his ridicule upon the interests of the petitioners upon the Neck, by saying, "they talk about the convenience it would be for those having carriages to drive to the village!" "Car- riages", said he, "carriages and teams! The only carriage upon Bluehill Neck is Jerry Eaton's ox-cart, and the only team his oxen."
The petitioners were incensed against him for that treatment of their case, and he never after went to the legislature. He died Jan. 28, 1855, aged 84 years. His chil- dren were:
Hepzibah, born July 7, 1794; married Joseph Herrick, of Sedgwick.
2. Amos, born Dec. 27, 1796; died Feb. 14, 1802.
3. Ebenezer, born Nov. 28, 1799; died June 19, 1819.
4. Herrick, born Sept. 4, 1801; married Lydia Stover.
5. Amos, born Jan. 6, 1804; married Polly Walker, of Brooksville.
6. Joanna, born Dec. 16, 1805; married Seneca Parker.
7. Joseph, born August 24, 1808; mar- ried 1st, Hannah Dodge, 2nd, Harriet N. Parker.
8. Hulda H., born April 22, 1812; mar- ried Robert Wood Hinckley.
9. Harriet, born March 12, 1816; married 1st, Joseph Cole, 2nd, John Allen.
10. George Stevens, born Sept. 14, 1818; married Mary S. Osgood.
11. Daniel Barden (adopted), born May 17, 1822; married Mary E. Allen, of Sedg- wick.
Amos Allen lived in a large two-story
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BLUEHILL, MAINE.
house, built probably about the time he came from Sedgwick. After his death his son Amos lived in the homestead, and after him, his son David, making three generations to occupy it. Some ten or more years ago the old house took fire and was consumed. Upon its site another house has been erected, and is occupied by descendants of the first Allen at that place.
Joseph Allen, son of the first Amos, was married to Hannah Dodge, of Sedgwick, Dec. 25, 1834, and set up housekeeping about that time in the old Moses Carleton house, which he occupied for some years, then pulled it down and built upon the site the house now standing there. Han- nah Dodge, his wife, died childless in -, and in 1868 he married 2nd, Harriet N. Parker, by whom he had children. Mr. Allen died a few years ago.
Herrick Allen married Lydia Stover Jan 25, 1831, and it is supposed that he built his house about that time, which still stands the nearest to the mill stream. His children were:
1. Caroline Augusta, born Nov. 28, 1831; married R. G. W. Dodge.
2. Frances Joan Parker, born June 14, 1833.
3. Augustine Melville, born June 1835.
1
4. Edward Wheelock, born June 24, 1837.
5. Ruby Maria, born Sept. 3, 1839.
6. Harriet Elizabeth, born May 7, 1842; died April 29, 1847.
7. Julia Maria, born August 11, 1845; died July 14, 1863.
8. Roscoe George, born Dec. 22, 1847.
Herrick Allen, head of this family, died March 15, 1869.
The Allens owned all the land from the Sedgwick line to Long cove fronting upon the Salt pond, and stretching back there- from some distance into the interior. They were good farmers as well as mill and lumbermen. Daniel B., the adopted son of Amos, sr., built his house upon the eastern part of the land of his foster father previous to 1850, where he resided until his death. The house, barn and out- buildings are all gone at this writing. He married Mary E. Allen, of Sedgwick, daughter of Nathan and Nancy Parker Allen, March 28, 1848. Their children were as follows:
1. Edith Hinckley, born Sept. 14, 1848.
2. Nancy Jane, born Dec. 29, 1850.
3. Lillia Adelaide, born August 16, 1853.
4. Nellie Maria, born Nov. 2, 1855.
5. Daniel Edwin, born Feb. 2, 1862.
6. David Benjamin, born Sept. 22, 1866. Amos Allen, sr., and his wife Joanna, were members of the Blue Hill Congrega- tional church, but in 1806 withdrew and joined the Baptists, and were original members of the latter church at its organ- ization. He was licensed to preach, after which he was known as Elder Amos Allen. He preached for the Neck church and for the Baptist church at Brooksville.
In those days the elders and ministers were accustomed to take wine and spirits on great occasions, and at other times when they felt like it. It is related of Elder Allen that while engaged to preach at Brooksville, he arose on Sunday morn- ing but not feeling well took a glass of rum on an empty stomach, which unfitted him to attend to his duties for that day. Later, being asked why he did not fill his engagement to preach on that Sunday, he frankly stated that the glass of rum over- powered him, and he thought it best to remain at home. The explanation was satisfactory to the church and all con- cerned.
Beyond Allen's mills upon the main road stood a small house, in the boyhood days of the writer, occupied by a Mr. Closson and family. The house has been gone many years. Off the main road to the right was the home of Eliphalet Grindle and family, and another not far distant from Grindle's was the house and home of a family by the name of Durgin.
The Allen neighborhood was isolated from the rest of the people of the town; it was a community by itself, well known to the writer seventy years ago.
Long Cove was the next place of im- portance northeast of the Allen settle- ment. Its importance consisted of being a landing to which were brought cord- wood and saw logs from the interior to be scowed to vessels loading be- low the falls with wood for Bos- ton and elsewhere, and for rafting and floating logs to the tide mills. Wood to the amount of hundreds of cords was hauled there each winter and piled upon the shore awaiting spring and summer to be forwarded to market. It was a busy
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BLUEHILL, MAINE.
place for a portion of the year, and pre- sented a picture of activity and enterprise.
The cove extended a quarter of a mile or more above the highway bridge that crossed over it, and it was the head waters of the cove where a brook emptied into it that the boys frequented in the spring to catch smelts.
Upon the rise of ground east of the cove in those days was the house on the north and barn on the south of the road of William. W. Gray. He was the son of Joshua Gray, of Sedgwick, and his wife was Lucy, daughter of Josiah Closson, of the same town. They had no children of their own, but adopted one or more. Mr. Gray was an industrious man, who gained a livelihood by farming, and by working at odd jobs for others. He and his wife have been dead a half century, his house and barn are gone, and his farm is now owned by a son of Daniel B. Allen.
The next place north and easterly is what the boys called, sixty or seventy years ago, "Mackville". There lived Peter McFarland, a shoemaker of Scotch descent, who is said to have come from the city of New York, where he left a wife and several children, here to build a log cabin and make his abode prior to 1800. He married Elizabeth Carter by whom he had eight children, viz:
1. Jonathan Fisher, born Oct. 12, 1803; married Prudence.
2. Lydia, born Oct. 23, 1805.
3. Peter, born July 14, 1807; married Lucy Day.
4. Oliver Mann, born Nov. 20, 1810; married Lucretia Carter.
5. Irene, born August 2, 1613; married William Staples, of Sedgwick.
6. Alpheus, born Feb. 22, 1817; married Rebekah Carter.
7. Amos Allen, born Sept. 13, 1820; died in army at Ship Island, 1863.
8. Rodney, born Jan. 6,, 1824; married Margaret Cain. Rodney is the only one living at this date; he resides at Bar Harbor.
Peter McFarland, sr., had a struggle to earn sufficient from his farm and shoe- maker's bench to bring up his large family. He was a man fond of grog, and a fiddler; his sons were fond of music and of song, indulging in both so far as their limited knowledge permitted. Rodney, the youngest son, beat the snare drum for
the boy's military company of the neigh- borhood, of which the writer was cap- tain. With military hats made of paper adorned with tailfeathers of cock or hen, and with wooden guns and swords march- ing to the music of the "White Cockade" made by fife and drum, the boys were ready to parade whenever opportunity offered, and were proud of their warlike mimicry.
Mr. McFarland, sr., played his fiddle for dances, having a series of old Scotch tunes, including the "Scolding Wife", "The Girl I Left Behind Me", "High Betty Martin" and the like, which he played and charmed the boys of those days.
He and all his family, save one, "have joined the great silent majority". Two of his sons, Alpheus and Amos, and a grand- son, Ebenezer, son of Peter, jr., were sol- diers in the army for the preservation of the Union in the war of the Rebellion.
After the death of the heads of the family, the marriage of the children, and the removal of them from the haunts of their childhood, the 'place was owned for a number of years by Giles Johnson Grindle, and occupied by him and his family. The land stretched from William W. Gray's to Mother Bush Brook with a shore line upon the Salt Pond. The build- ings are gone at this writing, and the land is owned and cultivated by a son of the late Daniel B. Allen.
Mother Bush Brook, after dark, was a place to be shunned by lone boys, for fear they might see the ghost of Benjamin Friend, whom tradition said haunted that spot. The "Ghost of Mother Bush Brook" was described in verse some years ago by the writer, and requires no further notice here.
From that brook ontto the crown of the Coggin hill was a part of the rough stage road between Sedgwick and Blue Hill, wooded on both sides, and a lonely way, six or seven decades ago. From the brow of the Coggin hill one looked down upon the Tide Mills or Falls district, where the settlement of the town began April 7, 1762. Beyond rises Blue Hill mountain in all its grandeur, with Newbury Neck, Schoodic and Mt. Desert hills on the right, the sparkling waters of the bay, with Long Island nearer at hand, the Falls, the is- land where Wood and Roundy built their log cabins, and with the tide mills, pond,
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BLUEHILL, MAINE.
etc., in the foreground. All these the writer sees engraven upon the tablets of his memory as he saw them from that spot more than seventy years ago, when he was a boy of the neighborhood, though nearly three score years have gone by since that was his home.
THE TIDE MILL NEIGHBORHOOD.
began at the Coggin lot and extended to Bragdon's brook and just beyond, where the schoolhouse stood in which the writer first learned to lisp his "A B C's."
The Coggin lot was the one taken up by Thomas Coggin, who came to it from Beverly, Mass., with his family in 1765. Here he built his humble abode and re- sided the first years of his life in town- just how many the record does not show. He was born Feb. 14, 1734; married Lydia Obear Feb., 1755. He died Feb. 11, 1821, aged eighty-nine years; she died Oct. 22, 1800.
He and his wife were baptized by Oliver Noble and taken into the church at the Falls June 13, 1873, and their son Samuel, and Molly his wife, were baptized by Rev. William Lyons and became members of the church August 2, 1791.
The children of Thomas and Lydia (Abear) Coggin were:
I. Hezekiah, born April 3, 1756.
II. Molly, born Nov. 17, 1758; married Robert Haskell Wood Dec. 15, 1782.
III. Lydia, born July 19, 1763; died May 1, 1791.
IV. Josiah, born Nov. 29, 1764; married Molly Pecker, April 19, 1795; she was born Sept. 19, 1773; died July, 1853; he died in the South. Their children were:
1. Hannah Russell, born Nov. 22, 1795; married George Clay Jan. 20, 1817; she died Dec. 23, 1840.
2. Josiah, born Jan. 16, 1797; married Betsey Carleton; he died-no date.
V. Samuel, born July 19, 1768; married Mary Horton Oct. 2, 1786; he died Sept. 13, 1843 aged 77 years. Children:
1. Samuel, born April 1, 1787; married Rebecca Cross.
2. Mary, born March 16, 1789; married Lewis H. Green.
VI. Elizabeth, born Jan. 16, 1773; mar- ried Nathan Arnold; died July 20, 1819.
The first remembrance the writer has of the "Coggin lot" was when Capt. Isaac Merrill built the house now standing in 1831. and the barn a year after. Capt.
Merrill was the son of Caleb and Betsey (Candage) (Day) Merrill, widow of James Day; born May 5, 1804. He was a sea captain, who married Louisa Clough, daughter of Asa and Abigail (Pecker) Clough, August 28, 1831; she was born Sept. 27, 1811; died August 22, 1847 leaving children as follows:
1. Caroline Carr, born Oct 20, 1832.
2. Juliet M., born Oct. 12, 1834.
3. William Horace, born Feb. 22, 1836.
4. Parris Granville, born Jan. 28, 1839.
5. Mary Louisa, born Dec. 5, 1841.
6. Abby Pecker, born Jan. 9, 1844.
Capt. Merrill married 2nd Joanna S. Hinckley July 11, 1851, to whom was born a son, 7, Frank Pearl Wallace, March 10, 1855. Capt. Merrill sold his place and removed to the village, where he died Dec. 18, 1881, aged 77 years, 7 mon. hs, 13 days. Since the days of Capt. Merrill, the "Coggin lot" has been owned and occupied by a Mr. Conary and others.
The next house and place was that of James Candage, who built the house that was standing until a few years ago, some- where about 1800. James Candage was the son of James and Elizabeth Candage, who settled upon the Neck in 1766 from Beverly, Mass., born May 9, 1753; married Hannah, daughter of John Roundy, April 13, 1775; she was born at Beverly, August 4, 1753; died March 12, 1851, aged 97 years, 7 months, 8 days; he died Jan. 12, 1819, aged 65 years and 8 months. Their chil- dren were:
I. Elizabeth, born Sept. 16, 1775; mar- ried Samuel Morse.
II. Samuel Roundy, born Jan. 15, 1781; married Phebe Ware (Parker), widow of William Walker.
III. Gideon, born August 18, 1783; mar- ried Sarah Stinson.
IV. Sarah, born Jan. 4, 1786; died March 14, 1844.
V. James, born May 1, 1788; died August 1, 1798.
VI. Azor, born April 8, 1791; married Chloe Parker.
VII. John, born Dec. 21, 1793; died August 9, 1798.
The farm of James Candage contained about a hundred acres, extending from the tide mill pond westward over the fields, pastures and ledges to Mother Bush pond. He was half owner of the tide mills and, for that period, well to do.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BLUEHILL, MAINE.
The house in which he lived was divided into two parts, the western half being occupied by himself, his wife and daugh- ter Sarah and the other half by his son Azor and family.
Azor Candage was a schoolmaster in his younger days, a fine writer with the quill pen and something of a carpenter and joiner. He was also a justice of the peace and aided those who needed his services in making out deeds and other legal papers, but in the boyhood of the writer he depended chiefly upon the products of the farm for support, the whole of which came to him upon the death of his father in 1819. His mother and sister Sarah, however, had certain rights in the prop- erty during their lives, and lived in the house until their death.
He married Chloe Parker Sept. 26, 1815; she was born Oct. 12, 1795; daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth (Chandler) Parker, granddaughter of Col. Nathan and Mary (Wood) Parker, and great-granddaughter of Joseph Wood, the first settler. Her hus- band, Azor Candage, was descended from James Candage, sr., and John Roundy, sr., two of the early settlers. Their children were:
1. Harriet Newell, born April 24, 1816; married Phineas Dodge; died Oct. 21, 1879.
2. Joshua Parker, born July 8, 1819; married Belinda B. Stover; died Nov. 15, 1870.
3. Elizabeth, born April 27, 1822; died August 25, 1833.
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