USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > History of Androscoggin County, Maine > Part 87
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711
TOWN OF DANVILLE.
Horton and Elizabeth Wagg, a patriarchial family of 19 children, of whom four died in childhood. The sons that settled in Danville were James, who married Rebecca Penley and had 11 children, Matthias, Jr, who married Sally Dingley and had eight children, and Samuel, who married Nabby Fogg and had 11 children.
For its excellent series of records, Danville has been indebted to several painstaking clerks, but to none of them for a longer period than to Ebenezer Witham. His father, a native of Gloucester, Mass., was one of the first to settle in the northwestern part of the town, moving there soon after 1780. His mother was Sarah Hool. They had eight children, of whom four married and had children. Two of the sons, John and Ebenezer, were on the board of selectmen over a quarter of a century.
True Woodbury, a native of Newbury, Mass., married, in 1780, Susanna Nevins, of New Gloucester, and shortly after settled in what was, 20 years later, the fourth school district. He had 15 children, and his sons and grand- sons have been prominent in town affairs. To the same neighborhood and at about the same time came William and James Nevins, natives of Gloucester, Mass., and presumably brothers. William married Elizabeth Ray, had five children, and died July 23, 1800. James married Joanna Haskell and had 11 children, the eldest, James, being born in Poland, and the second, William, in New Gloucester. He died May 19, 1832; his wife survived him and died January 31, 1848, in her 90th year. John Walker, a native of Windham, with his wife, Jane Lake, came to this district about 1790. The names of six of their children are given in the town records. So also are the names of the seven children of Nathaniel and Sarah (Morgan) Sawyer, who lived here from 1790 till their death in 1828.
Joseph Dresser, a native of Gloucester, Mass., married there December 5, 1773, Mary Lane, and settled previous to 1782 directly opposite Dresser's rips, on the farm now owned by E. H. Hutchins. They had four children, of whom only two have descendants, Mary, who married William Moody, 2d, and Martha, who married Joseph Davis. Dr Joseph D. Davis, of Auburn, and James F. Davis, for many years proprietor of the Maine Hotel, were children of the latter. Aaron Dresser, a brother of Joseph, married Alice Rowe and cleared, about 1782, a farm on the cross road near his brother's, which came to be known as the Michael Holland place, from his son-in-law. He had nine children and died February 25, 1845, in his 87th year.
Edward and William Plummer settled in what was afterwards the fifth school district, between 1787 and 1789. They were natives of Scarborough and presumably brothers. William married Abigail Jordan and had nine children, whose descendants still live here. He died October 29, 1838, in his 81st year. Edward married Deborah Bragdon and had two sons and four daughters.
712
HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.
There were several families by the name of Larrabee among the early settlers, but the only one known to have come previous to 1790 was Solomon, who, with his wife, Lucy Dunn, and eight children, was living in this district in 1803.
Richard Hollis, a native of Weymouth, Mass., is perhaps the only one of the early settlers in the sixth school district that has no descendants of the name now resident in town. He married, February 13, 1777, Sarah Hanscome, of Cape Elizabeth, and had five sons and seven daughters. He died March 11, 1815, of typhus fever, at that time prevalent in this region.
George Leach, a native of Cape Elizabeth, came to this portion of the town with his wife, Catherine Wheeler, about 1788. They had five sons and three daughters.
Moses Hanscom, of Cape Elizabeth, married Molly McGray, of Harpswell, and lived in this district with his seven daughters and three sons, of whom the late Rev. Moses Hanscom, of Auburn, was the youngest.
James Wagg, a native of Cape Elizabeth, settled in the south part of the town, on the river road, as early as 1780. He married Dorcas Strout and had, besides five daughters, three sons, Samuel, James, and William P., several of whose descendants are residents of Auburn.
One of the few natives of New Hampshire among the early citizens of the town was David Gross, who, with his wife, Sally Newell, came in 1791. They had seven sons and five daughters. He died January 3, 1837, and his widow June 28, 1859, in her 85th year.
Lemuel Dyer, of Cape Elizabeth, removed to Danville about 1782, and was prominent in town affairs until his death, January 1, 1813. He married Sarah Leach, who died January 29, 1847, in her 86th year. They had three sons that died in childhood, and seven daughters.
Benning and Samuel S., sons of Capt. John Wentworth, of Kittery, a veteran of the old French as well as of the Revolutionary War, were among the early settlers of Pejepscot. Benning, named for his father's uncle, Gov. Benning Wentworth, of New Hampshire, enlisted in his father's company in 1776 and served for five years. He had a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters. In 1816 he removed to Ohio with his entire family, except the eldest daughter, Sarah B., who married the Rev. James Garcelon. A year before his death he had over 50 grandchildren living, nearly all in the west. Samuel Salley Wentworth settled, soon after his marriage, on the River road, and had eight children, of whom the two youngest were burned to death in 1819. Two daughters, Sarah Bartlett and Elizabeth Jordan, married their neighbors, Ephraim and Joseph Crockett. Of the two sons, William settled in Ohio and was a soldier in the Mexican War; Foster settled finally in Norway, and had seven children, of whom William H. and Charles B. died, in 1864, in the service of the United States.
713
TOWN OF DANVILLE.
Ephraim Crockett and his wife, Rebecca Stanford, came from Cape Eliza- beth about 1789. They had ten children, nearly all of whom married and reared large families. Their son Ephraim's descendants alone numbered nearly 100 persons when the latter's widow died in 1875.
Andrew Robinson Giddinge, commonly known as "Squire " Giddinge, was both one of the first settlers and most prominent citizens of Pejepscot. He was of the sixth generation in descent from George Giddinge, who came from St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, to Ipswich, Mass., in 1635, and was a prom- inent man, serving as deputy to the General Court for ten years. He was named for his great-grandfather, Capt. Andrew Robinson, who was a great- grandson of Rev. John Robinson, the famous pastor at Leyden, of the Pilgrim Fathers. Squire Giddinge was born September 22, 1763, at Gloucester, Mass., the native town and residence of his parents, Capt. Andrew and Elizabeth (Davis) Giddinge. On the death of his father, who had served during the French and Indian War and was lost at sea during the Revolution, young Giddinge left Dummer Academy, where he had been a pupil for several years, and entered the employment of Daniel Sargeant, a merchant of Boston. After a year he embarked upon a sea-faring life, and on his second voyage to the West Indies was taken prisoner at St Christopher. He remained in prison some time and then was sent to London on an English ship. He fortunately met there an old acquaintance, Capt. George Hales, who procured for him a protection for the South Sea whale fishery. He made an 18 months' voyage with Capt. Hales, returning to London with a ship-load of oil, but to a poor market. Peace had now been declared, and his thoughts turned homewards. After several vain attempts, he procured passage from Amsterdam to New York the month before he was 21. He subsequently made three voyages to Europe, then bought an extensive tract of land in what was practically a wilderness, and settled in Pejepscot in 1787. Here he resided till his death, which occurred June 22, 1847. His home for a third of a century was the large square house at Danville Corner standing behind a row of elm trees. These trees, which he had set out himself, were the pride of his old age, and he some- times referred to the well-trodden footpath inside the row as his quarter-deck. In Danville, Squire Giddinge's life was as quiet as the previous portion had been adventurous. As a trial justice he held court and gave counsel in all legal and semi-legal matters, and he served several years as one of the justices of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace. He was the one most frequently called upon by the community to draft petitions, survey land, and write deeds. For several years he held an innkeeper's license, and his house was in many respects the social center of the town. During the greater part of his long life he kept a diary, still in the possession of his descendants, and of which free use has been made in preparing this sketch. He was a remark- ably fine penman. With a pen made from a duck's quill he could write the
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HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.
Lord's prayer within a circle the size of a dime with such distinctness that it could be read with the naked eye. He possessed much facility in the compo- sition of verse. The following is the first of seven stanzas that close his record for 1839:
" Time still waves his pinion, nor let us repine, But chant our adieu to old thirty-nine, For its mercies be thankful, our hearts let us cheer, And hope in our God for the coming new year."
Especially full of the religious hope and assurance that characterized his long life of honor and usefulness are the verses he dictated on his 83d birth- day, too numerous to be repeated here, but which remain treasured in the memory of his grandchildren. Mr Giddinge was twice married. His first wife, Anna Lane, died December 12, 1798, aged 31, leaving a son and two daughters ; his second, Elizabeth Parsons, died May 22, 1831, leaving two sons. Anna, the eldest child, married Col. Nathaniel L. Ingersoll, a prominent and influential citizen of the town, and had several children who maintain the family traditions. Andrew R., the eldest, and Amos T., the youngest son, lived for many years at the Corner, but none of the name are now resident in town. The remaining son, Rev. George Parsons Giddinge, D.D., was a prom- inent member of the Episcopal church in Illinois and Missouri, and largely instrumental in the establishment of Trinity church in Lewiston.
Captain John Penley, who became a resident of Pejepscot previous to its incorporation, and whose long life saw the end of its municipal existence, has been chosen as another example of the sturdy and able men who have been prominent in town affairs and have left descendants and representatives to follow in their steps. He was the son of Joseph and Esther (Fogg) Penley, and was born May 11, 1782, near Strout's Point in Freeport, then included in the town of North Yarmouth. His father, born in Gloucestershire, England, July 13, 1756, had a rather romantic career. Visiting, one day, his elder brother, a hatter in London, he strayed down to the docks, was seized by the press gang, hurried on board a war-ship, which sailed without allowing him the slightest opportunity to communicate with his friends. While the vessel was cruising off the Maine coast, angered at having received a flogging for some trifling offence, he with a messmate stole the ship's boat and came ashore. Though closely pursued they succeeded in escaping. He enlisted in the American army in the war that shortly followed, served several years and settled near its close in Freeport. His son, Capt. John Penley, was a boy of 10 when the family removed in 1792 to Pejepscot. His opportunities for education had been slight; they were even less in his new home, but he improved them to such an extent that he was not hampered in this direction in his subsequent successful business career. He married early, always lived upon a farm, and sometimes owned and operated as many as eight or ten, but
715
TOWN OF DANVILLE.
the purchase and sale of horses and cattle was the occupation in which he was especially interested and to which he gave much attention during the fourscore years he lived in Danville. He was one of the pioneers in the now important industry of sending Maine cattle to the Brighton market, and one of his droves was the second driven out of the state to that market. He held for many years the position in the state militia that gave him the title by which he was usually known. He represented the town in the legislature in 1824 and in 1838, and was repeatedly elected to various municipal offices. He was one of the organizers in 1847 of the Auburn bank -which was first named the Danville bank -and long continued one of its directors. He had a place in the management of the Lewiston Falls Bridge Company, for forty years the most important of the local corporations. He was kind towards the poor and those in his employ, and just and honorable in business. Though not a member of any church, he worshiped with and was much interested in the welfare of the Free Baptist church near his homestead. To the care and repair of its building and of the burying-ground adjacent he gave much, in time and money, during his life, and at his death bequeathed to it $1,000. He died January 13, 1873, in his 91st year. Captain Penley married first, in 1802, Desire Dingley, by whom he had thirteen children, and second, in 1834, Julia A. Wagg, by whom he had five children. Rufus Penley, of South Auburn, is one of the four surviving children of the first marriage, and those of the second are represented by ex-Mayor Penley, of Auburn.
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HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.
POLAND.
CHAPTER XLI.
BAKERSTOWN. - Grant of -First Location- Origin of Name -Proprietors of -"A Township Lost "- The New Grant - First Division of Lots-Action of Proprietors - Settlers and Improvements in 1783-Petition of Settlers, 1785- Bridgham & Glover Pur- chase- Litigation - Final Settlement and Award to Little.
HE history of Poland commences with Bakerstown, which name it should have taken on incorporation. In 1735 John Tyler, Joseph Pike, and others, "officers and soldiers in the expedition to Canada, Anno 1690, under the command of Capt. John March, Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, and Capt. Philip Nelson," petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for two town- ships of land in consideration of their military services. The petition was granted February 3, 1736. One of these townships - Bakerstown 1 -" was laid out Westerly of Merrimack river, and northerly of and adjoining to Contoo- cook, by Richard Hazzen, surveyor, at the direction of the Honorable Thomas Berry, Esq., Charles Peirce and John Hobson, Esqs., October 23, 1739," and allotted to these proprietors: Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, Deacon Joshua Moody, Joseph Gould, Joseph Page, Jr, Elisha Sweatt, John Kent, Caleb Moody, Nathanael Clark, John Thurlo, Joseph Osgood, Samuel George, Hannah Bolton, Capt. John Sargent, Benjamin Hoag, John Badger, Samuel Smith, Jr, Jonathan Marsh, Joseph Ilsley, Gideon Lowell, Stephen Chase, Joseph Short, Thomas Huse, John Lunt, Abraham Titcomb, Joseph Pike, James Brown, Stephen Longfellow1, Stephen Longfellow2, Samuel Bartlet ye 3d, Nathanael Barnard, Capt. Thomas Hale, Jeremiah Goodridge, Capt. Thomas Wallingford, John March, Rev'd Mr William Johnson, William Huse, Joseph Davis, Henry Dowe, Samuel Sargent, Samuel Silver, Robert Savory, Tristram Greenleaf, Eleazer Hudson, Dr Joseph Hills, Thomas Challis, Jonathan Blaisdel, James Toppan, Daniel Bradley, David Bartlet, Peter Ayers, Eleazer Johnson, Lazarus Goodwin, James Anderton, John Littleale, Edward Emerson, Zachariah Beal, Capt. John Sergent, Percival Clark, Ebenezer Stewart, Joseph Holland. Massa- chusetts at this time claimed the greater part of Laconia, and Bakerstown was located where is now the town of Salisbury. In 1740 the Masonian claim met
1 According to J. J. Dearborn, M.D., historian of Salisbury, N. H., the township by common consent received its name in honor of the brave Capt. Thomas Baker, who in 1720 killed the sachem Waternumus on the bank of the rapid stream entering the Pemigewasset near Plymonth, still called Baker's river. So little was known of the country that this grant was considered to lie in that vicinity.
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TOWN OF POLAND.
with kind reception from George II, who in 1741 settled the question of boundary by creating the Province of New Hampshire, and the Massachusetts title was invalid.
Coming events had cast their shadow before, and at a proprietors' meeting held September 29, 1740, "the Proprietors being informed that by the Deter- mination of his Majesty in Council relating to the controverted Bounds between the Province of the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire we were excluded from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to which we always supposed ourselves to belong ; therefore it is unanimously Voted that a Petition be preferred to the King's most Excellent Majesty, setting forth our distressed condition and praying we may be continued in the said Province of the Massa- chusetts." Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., was "Impowered to present the Petition to His Majesty in our behalf," etc. This was of no avail, and Bakerstown " on the Merrimack and adjoining Contoocook " was abandoned. Nothing was further done until we find this record in the ancient volume of Proprietors' Proceedings :
Whereas there was a Township granted by the Government of Massachuseth Anno 1736, to a number of Officers and Soldiers their Heirs &c. for their Service in the Canada Expedition, Anno, 1690, as by the foregoing Records may more fully appear, in which Township they had laid out Lots, built Mills and Houses, and had been at great Cost and Charge in bringing forward the settlement of the same, Which by running the late Line between the Province of Massachusetts and New Hampshire fell into the latter. After divers Petitions and applications to his late Majesty King George the Second; and also to the Government of New Hampshire for said Township to be Confirm'd to them all which petitions and applications were in vain, therefore the said Township was given up as lost from Anno 1754 to Anno 1764, at which time the Proprietors having hope that the Government of the Massa- chuseth would grant them another Township in lieu of that lost, thereupon a Number of the former Proprietors met together and appointed an Agent to Sollicit their cause at the General Court of said Province of the Massachusetts for some redress either in Lands, or in such way and manner as to said Court should seem meet, the Transactions of which affair are more fully set forth in the following Records:
In March, 1764, Major Samuel Gerrish was chosen " to petition the Great and General Court for some Relief for a township lost," the next year Captain Moses Little and Col Jonathan Bagley were chosen to join Major Gerrish, and in 1765 was made the following :
PROPRIETORS AGREEMENT WITH YE AGENTS. - That our Agents Maj.'r Samuel Gerrish, Capt. Moses Little & Col. Jonathan Bagly, who are to Sollicite the Great & Gen.rl Court for a Grant of a Township of the unappropriated Land in this Province in lieu of a Township Granted to a number of Officers & Soldiers in the Canada Expedition call'd Bakers Town, which Township by the late running the Province Line has fallen into New Hampshire That they shall have & enjoy all the Lands the said Great and Gen.rl Court shall Grant to the former Owners or Proprietors of said Bakers Town, over and above Six Miles and Three Quarters of a Mile Square in full Satisfaction for all their trouble charge & expence in preferring the said Petition and getting a Township Granted And if the said General Court should be pleased not to grant a Township over and above Six Miles and Three quarters of a Mile Square, then they our said Agents Gerrish, Little and Bagley to be at the whole expence without any charge to the Proprietors, and if any more than Six miles and three quarters of a mile Square should be granted they the said Agents to have it and to take it in proportion, in every Division of Lotts that shall be laid out in said Township.
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HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.
Through the earnest labors of their agents, the General Court granted in 1765 to the Bakerstown proprietors "a township of land in the Province of Maine to be laid out on east side of Saco river, and to adjoin some former grants." This was to be seven and one-half miles square, 8,600 acres being allowed for water in ponds. The location was not to interfere with the Pejepscot claim or New Gloucester.
The First Division of Lots was made or drawn December 23, 1767, by Mr Simon Ayer, Capt. Robert Sergent, and Capt. Moses Little, as follows :
Capt. Stephen Greenleaf 61, Deacon Joshua Moody 48, Henry Eaton 4, Elisha Sweatt 22, John Kent 86, Caleb Moody 63, Nathaniel Clark 90, John Thorla 58, Joseph Osgood 34, Samuel George 87, Hannah Bolton 83, Capt. John Sergent 39, Benjamin Hoag 88, John Badger 70, Samuel Smith Jun.r 9, Jonathan Marsh 75, Joseph Ilsley 32, Gideon Lowell 11, Stephen Chase 2, Joseph Short 21, Thomas Huse 5, Thos Berry Esq. 100, Samuel Bartlet 3d 81, John Lunt 97, Abr.m Titcomb 30, Joseph Pike 89, James Brown 47, Stephen Longfellow 40, Stephen Longfellow 98, Nathaniel Barnard 79, Capt. Tho.s Hale 78, Jeremiah Goodridge 50, Col. Tho.s Wallinsford 33, Jolin March 72, Rev'd Willm Johnson 13, William Huse 53, Joseph Davis 57, Henry Dowe 7, Samuel Sargent 36, Sam. el Silver 94, Robert Savory 93, Tristram Greenleaf 20, Eleazer Hudson 82, William Johnson Rev.d 99, Joseph Hills 31, Thomas Challis 43, Jonathan Blasdel 27, James Toppan 6, Daniel Bradley 56, David Bartlet 3, Peter Ayer 65, Eleazer Johnson 55, Lazarus Goodwin 10, James Anderton 91, John Littleale 28, Edward Emerson 37, Zachariah Beal 69, Capt. John Sergent 77, Percival Clark 1, Ebenezer Stewart 12, Joseph Holland 66, Joseph Gould 62, First Minister 52, Ministerial Right 29, Harvard Colledge 17, School 44, Jona Bagley Esq 80, 67, 49, 92, 54, 19, 60, 25, 64, 84, 74; Captain Moses Little 85, 46, 23, 16, 96, 35, 71, 76, 18, 41, 24; Major Samuel Gerrish 51, 15, 26, 8, 14, 45, 95, 73, 42, 68, 59.
The proprietors' meetings are held in Newbury and Amesbury up to May 14, 1798. It was voted "to receive the plan of the new township obtained by our agents in lieu of Bakers Town lost "; also that "the reward heretofore voted to their agents is a sufficient reward to them for their time trouble and expense in getting the new township, etc.," and "if Ten of the proprie- tors will settle on the new Township within one year they shall have Ten Dollars each for their encouragement paid by the proprietors, also to build a saw-mill in the new township and a town house and to clear roads, etc." The three agents are allowed to settle five additional families. Capt. Robert Ser- gent and Capt. Daniel Bradley are chosen to lot out the new township ; they are to be paid " 25 shillings per day (old tenor) for their service and find them." David Bradley, Samuel Little, Simon Ayer, and Ezra Hale to be chainmen at 20 shillings, old tenor, per day and "find them." 100 acres are to be laid out to each proprietor, and $90 are voted to lay out ninety lots. April 7, 1767, " the committee to lay out lots are to clear a road from the settlement of New Gloucester into the township where they lay out the lots, and build a log house for the benefit of the settlers." December 28 it was voted to pay the committee (Little and others) £100, old tenor, for building the house and clearing the road from the mill in New Gloucester up to the house ; also to build a bridge over Little Androscoggin river, and to prosecute any person or persons that shall trespass upon their township. 1768, March 21, voted to build a saw-mill for the settlers, to give " a number not exceeding
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TOWN OF POLAND.
ter that should build a house 20 feet long and 18 feet broad on the town and finish it for the reception of a family within eight months, and live in the same, ten dollars for their encouragement." A reward was voted to Nathanael bayley and John Nevens (he was axeman of the first surveying party, according to tradition cut the first tree felled, and was a resident of the town from 1768 to 1832, when he died, over 100 years old) for information concern- ing trespassers engaged in cutting timber. 1769, January 2, committee's report of the laying out of the first division of lots is accepted, and their account of £472-3-2 O. T. (lawful money £63-7-0) allowed. April 11 a committee was chosen to " view a site for a saw-mill, purchase it, and have a mill erected upon it." July 4 voted to raise £57, L. M., to bring forward the settlement of the new township. Lot 24 in First Division chosen as the best site for a mill. October 10 a committee was appointed to lay out a highway from New Gloucester head line to the saw-mill in Bakerstown and to agree with some person or persons to clear and make passable the same. James Ordway is granted lot 2 in the additional lots, in lieu of lot 20 in the first division which " has fallen into a great swamp and will not do to settle on." He reports having a man at work upon the lot asked for.
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