History of Androscoggin County, Maine, Part 93

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew, ed
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Boston, W.A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1050

USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > History of Androscoggin County, Maine > Part 93

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).

Physical Features, Soil, Population, and Valuation. - Minot has no high elevations, but the surface presents an attractive series of undulations, making a variety of hill and dale, while along the many bends of the Little Andros- coggin bits of scenery come out that would please and gratify an artist. From the higher hills views of more than ordinary beauty are presented. The soil in most parts is a strong, rich loam, with proper care giving good returns to the agriculturists. It has many good water-powers that have been largely improved and brought capital and developed a large manufacturing centre at

758

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

Mechanic Falls, where Minot shares with Poland in the increased advantages brought by manufacturing operations. Notwithstanding this, however, the increase of population has not made good the losses. In 1850 Minot had 1,734 population ; in 1860, 1,799; in 1870, 1,569; in 1880, 1,763; in 1890, 1,355. The valuation has largely increased, from $297,184 in 1850 to $752,146 in 1890.

EARLY SETTLERS. - Moses Emery, the first settler of Minot, moved to the north side of the river at Minot Corner in 1772 and was the chief adviser and aid of the later settlers, and it is quite evident that had not his home afforded them a temporary stopping-place, and his ferry the means of crossing the Little Androscoggin, the settlement of Minot would have been much retarded.

Captain Daniel Bucknum and Descendants.1-In May, 1778, Capt. Daniel Bucknam, Jr, with wife and eight children, moved from Sutton, Mass., and made a temporary abode with Moses Emery. Taking his two daughters, Phebe and Ruth, aged 22 and 18, they traveled five miles north into an unbroken wilderness, locating upon the interval made at the junction of Bog and Matthews brooks, at Hawkes pond, where he had purchased a square mile of land. Here, against a large, square rock, near a little brook, by the road from Mechanic Falls to West Minot, on the Hawkes farm, they erected a covering of trees, beneath which they camped two weeks, while they built a log house between the two brooks on the extreme southerly end of the high interval. He then moved the remainder of his family. The youngest were Shephard and Calvin, twins, six weeks old. His two stalwart girls built the first bridge across Bog brook, and helped him fell the trees, and clear the lands, and raise grain enough to meet the bare necessities of life. The next spring, exceedingly high water, surrounding his building, compelled him to build a house on higher ground, near the junction of the Oxford, Hebron, and Minot roads, where he subsequently built good, substantial farm buildings.

He was the second inhabitant of Minot, and was 56 years old when he came. His nearest neighbor was Moses Emery, five miles away, through a dense forest, not even a path between them. The only living beings about his home were Indians, bears, and wolves. The corn and grain that he raised had to be pounded in a mortar, or be carried on his back 15 miles to New Gloucester to mill. At one time, not returning at the usual time, nor even late in the night, Phebe and Ruth took his trail through the woods in search of him. When they arrived near Pottle hill, they found him fallen down, with the bag of meal lying across his neck, unable from exhaustion to extricate himself. He must have died where he had fallen had not his brave and faithful daughters rendered him timely aid. (It was years after this when Gen. John Bridgham built the first grist-mill at West Minot.) Continental money becoming worthless, he was unable to pay for all his land, but retained four

1 By J. A. Bucknam.

759

TOWN OF MINOT.

farms, known as the Shephard and Calvin Bucknam, and Hawkes and Bearce farms, which a change of town lines places in two towns, Minot and Hebron. During the Revolutionary War, Daniel Bucknam (being too old to enter the regular army) was chosen captain of a company of minute-men. He was a very large and muscular man, brave and loyal to his country, a great lover of jokes, and teller of stories. It was customary in those early times, about once a year, to "tackle up the horse and go to the west'ard" (Massachusetts), and pay a visit to their old neighbors and report what had transpired in the " District of Maine," and on their journey. At noon of the first day of his trip, he called at a country tavern (it might have been at Rickers) to bait his horse and eat his lunch. On entering the large bar-room, the big wood fire was entirely surrounded and every chair filled. No one moved to give him a place. He was terribly cold, so he said, "Gentlemen, I have in the shed a very wonderful horse. His head is where his tail ought to be, and his tail is where his head ought to be." All left their seats and rushed to the shed and found the horse turned exactly around in the shafts, contentedly eating his provender from the front end of the cart. They immediately saw the joke and returned and found the joker comfortably seated before the fire. They were so well. pleased that they passed the grog freely.

Captain Bucknam was a famous farrier and horse breaker, and a great lover of horses. When on his death-bed he requested that his favorite horse be led before the door that he might bid him farewell. He married, first, Miss Gould, by whom he had 16 children; all died in youth except Phebe and Ruth. He m., second, a Miss Boyden; he had three sons and three daughters. His oldest son, Daniel, 18 years old, was killed while felling a tree, leaving him dependent for help on his two oldest girls who could wield an ax equal to the best of men. They were gigantic in size, and it was said that Phebe could lift a barrel of cider into a cart, and raise it up on her knees and drink from the bung-hole. Phebe m. a Johnson, and was given a farm in Hebron for being the first white woman to live in the town. She m., second, a Tucker, of Dixfield, and third, a Seavey. Her children were enormously large and bony men and women. Her descendants are numerous in Dixfield, and are among its most respectable citizens. Ruth m. Mr Hawkes and settled on the original square mile in Minot. They had 11 children attaining maturity. They were very large and strong, and all, save one, raised large families. Shephard, the oldest twin, about 1800, m. Betsey Randall; they had eight children; all except one lived to old age. About the same time, Calvin, the other twin, m. Judith Bearce, by whom he had a daughter. He m., second, Zilpha, the oldest daughter of Deacon William Barrows, of Hebron, who was the founder of Hebron Academy, and one of the main pillars of the Calvinist Baptist Church. He spent his life fostering these institutions, and died at a ripe old age of 83, poor in purse, but rich in character. This is true riches -

760

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

he could take it with him; the other is always left for children to quarrel over. Calvin Bucknam had, by his second wife, Zilpha Barrows, Calvin, Sarah, Hope, Eleanor, Joseph, Worthy, Zilpha, William B., Rebecca, Josiah A. [See sketch.] Calvin m. Laurinda Twitchell; they had one son and two daughters. Sarah m. Deacon Joseph Barrows, of Hebron; they have one daughter living, Mrs S. C. Howe. Hope m. Lorenzo Merrill; they had five boys and four girls; four of the boys helped put down the Rebellion; one gave his life; all but two are now living. Eleanor m. Lewis Monk. Joseph m. Eunice Harris; they had two boys and four girls ; all but one now living. Worthy m. Lucy Howard. Zilpha m. Ezra Mitchell. William B. died, unmarried, in Missouri. Rebecca m. C. C. Cushman ; they had nine children; four are living. Calvin's third wife was Mrs Olive Hathaway, by whom he had one son, Hamlin, and one daughter, Olive Elizabeth, who married, first, Col Alexander Ryerson, of Sumner; second, Leavitt Hanson. The son was the first volunteer from Mechanic Falls in the Civil War. He returned a captain, but maimed for life. He married Rachel Brown and has two children. Nearly three per cent. of the present citizens of Mechanic Falls on the Minot side are descend- ants of Calvin Bucknam, Sr. He had 83 descendants; 56 are now living, and mainly in the vicinity of Mechanic Falls. Capt. Daniel Bucknam's younger daughters, Rebecca, m. Mr Dudley and had three children; Judith, m. Levi Beard; they had three children. Daniel Bucknam had 22 children, 56 grandchildren, and the probable number of his progeny now living is more than 500. All of his family that he brought to Maine, and his grandchildren, with very few exceptions, lived to a good old age. He died in 1809, aged 87 years. His wife died 10 years after at about the same age. At one time they had 40 grandchildren living on the original mile square, the children of Ruth, Lucy, Shephard, and Calvin. The farms owned by Shephard and Calvin are now owned by their descendants.

In the immediate vicinity of the Bucknams, settled the Dwinal, Crooker, Pottle, Currier, Woodman, Bridgham, Moody, Atkinson, Lowell, Atwood, Harris, Chase, Hawkes, Bearce, and other families. Nearly all had numerous children, and have many descendants now in the town, among the most reliable and enterprising citizens.

EARLY SETTLERS. - Samuel Shaw made a clearing about two miles above Emery's settlement, in 1776 or 1777, built a log house, to which he brought his wife, in 1778, from Hampton, N. H. He died, June 4, 1827, aged 78. His brother Levi soon settled on an adjoining lot, and in quick succession many others located. According to S. W. Shaw, Henry Sawtelle settled on the Jackson place, Israel Bray, Jr, on the Emery place, Israel Bray on the Little- field place, John Herrick on the Quimby place, and Edward Jumper on the Rice place. In 1777 John Hodge located on the J. W. Hodge place, Job Tucker on the Nathan Downing place, Solomon Walcott on the Win Hackett

1 -

761

TOWN OF MINOT.

place, Edmund Bailey1 on the A. M. Pulsifer place, James Toole on the G. P. and W. B. Merrill place, Stephen Yeaton on the place where C. D. Jasper lives, Stephen Yeaton, Jr, on the place now occupied by George H. Butler. Bradbury hill was settled this year by Moses and Benjamin Bradbury, Amos Harris, and David Dinsmore, each felling an acre of trees on four adjoining lots at Ross's Corner. In 1778 John Leach settled on the S. G. Pulsifer place, and Edward Hawkes near Hebron line. In 1780 John Coy, John and David Millett, who had made clearings and built houses in 1779, on Bradbury hill, brought their families for a permanent settlement. Coy settled on the Wells place, David Millett across the road, and John Millett where John M. Harris now resides. Benjamin Clifford on the Poole place. John Rowe and Zebulon Harlow on places adjoining. Mr Shaw says that nearly all these settlers had large families, making a much more densely populated neighborhood at its first settlement than in later years. All were originally from Gloucester, Mass., but later from New Gloucester. In 1780 also was made the first settlement on Woodman hill by John Allen from Gloucester, and Ichabod King from Kings- ton, Mass. With the close of the Revolution came hither many officers and soldiers, and settlements were made much more rapidly, and in various parts of the town. In 1781 Captain John Bridgham and his sons, Ensign John, Joseph, and Willard, came from Carver, Mass., and located at West Minot. Ensign, later Captain, John settled where L. B. Atwood lives, Joseph on the Joseph Crooker place, and William where the brick house stands on the William Lowell place, his father making his home with him. In 1782 Pottle hill was settled by Joseph, Noah, John, and Robert Waterman, from Halifax, Mass. Noah 2 located on the Abner Chase lot, Joseph across the road, John near by, and Robert, the place now owned by M. M. Pottle. Aaron, Amos, and Jacob Dwinal came the same year, Aaron locating where G. W. Currier lives, Amos where S. R. Pottle passed his life, Jacob on the place where John Ridley lives. Isaac Currier, Abner Chase, Moses and William Pottle came in 1782 or 1783,

1 Edmund Bailey was a sea-captain, who came from Cape Ann. His son, Samuel, and Jane (Landers) Bailey were both natives of Minot, and their son, Edmund L. Bailey, was born in that town in 1827, and was brought up on the farm, and has been in business as a butcher and cattle broker for many years. He is a Universalist in his religious preferences, a Republican in politics. He was one of the selectmen, assessors, and overseers of the poor of Minot in 1867-68-69, 1871-72-73-74-75-76, 1884-85-86, and 1888; has been a member of the Masonic order for 30 years, and is one of Minot's prominent and respected citizens.

2 He was a Revolutionary soldier and married Mary Ellis. He removed to East Hebron; in 1810 came to the northeast corner of the town, and with his sons, Jonah, Lodowick, Noah, and Ellis, bought lands of Wm Francis and Win Allen. The place is still called the Waterman neighborhood. Jonah m. Pamela Record; Alvan, of East Auburn, is their son. Lodowick, who bought of Allen, died in 1860, aged 71. He m. (1) Prudence Dillingham (daughter, Prudence, m. Simeon Fitz, and the last makers, Ira W. and Amos, of Auburn, are their sons); (2) Mary Shaw, of Plymouth Mass. (Ira T. Waterman, their son, inherited the home place, m. Mary A., daughter of Noah and granddaughter of Alphens Drake. Children : Charles E., Herbert B., Elbert D., Willard H., George W.); (3) Polly Larrabee.

762

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

the two latter settling where is now the poor-farm. Elias Davis and William Harris settled the Patch place, from which they were ejected, in 1789, by the Bakerstown proprietors. In 1784 came Joseph Leach to the J. E. Washburn place, and William, Davis, Samuel Verrill, and Samuel Verrill, Jr, all settling not far distant. Hither also, in 1785, Dr Jesse Rice, the first physician, came, an educated and useful citizen. In 1785 came True Woodman to Woodman hill, whither soon followed him, from New Gloucester, Isaiah and John Wood- man. This has been one of the strong families of the town, many of the later generations holding prominent positions in society. Seth Sampson, Eliab Washburn, and others from Bridgewater came later. The early settlers in the Hersey hill section were Samuel and Chandler Freeman, who came from Duxbury in 1783. They built a log house on what is still called the Freeman place, and were joined, in 1784, by their father, Joseph Freeman. Jonathan and Peabody Bradford came, in 1783, with the Freemans, Peabody locating on the H. C. Briggs place, and Jonathan on the W. F. Perry place, where, it is said, he built the second framed house in Bakerstown. The young settlement was soon increased by Jonathan Chandler, his sons, Nathaniel, John, Reuben, Ichabod, Avira; Enoch Freeman, Samuel Paul, Major Nathaniel Nash, Thomas Gurney, Zebulon Davis, James, Noah, and Amos Hersey, and others, making a strong and compact settlement. Most of those last mentioned were from Abington, Mass. The settlement by 1790 was so well advanced that the various neighborhoods were no longer isolated and separated from each other, but were connected by roads and communication was easy. The fertile soil of the new land yielded abundantly, vacant lots were rapidly taken up, schools and religious meetings were established, log houses were being exchanged for commodious frame houses, in some cases by brick ones, and wealth and pros- perity were following the poverty and hardships of pioneer life. The county roads, opened between 1785 and 1790, one from Buckfield to Portland over Hersey and Centre hills, and another from Paris to Portland over Pottle hill, brought good communication for all parts of the town with the sea-coast, and by the opening of the nineteenth century all the requisites of a fully-developed civilization were in existence, and the wild animals and aboriginal inhabitants had given place to herds of cattle and sheep, and decorous, industrious Christian people.

Samuel Verrill, of Welsh ancestry, came from Cape Ann to New Glouces- ter about 1760, and later to Bakerstown, locating near Centre Minot. He was an eccentric man in many ways; one was in being strictly free from debt. His favorite and oft-repeated motto was, "Owe no man anything, but love one another." He died in 1821, aged 90. He had four sons, Samuel, Davis, William, Daniel, and six daughters. Samuel2 m. a Prince, according to tradi- tion was town clerk 27 years, and on his final settlement with the town could give no explanation of an apparent deficit of three cents. He had 11 children

763

TOWN OF MINOT.

and has descendants in Minot. Davis settled where Dr Saunders now lives. He had Samuel3 (lived on west side of Taylor Pond), Ezekiel, Davis, Eunice, Lucretia, Emma, and Elizabeth. William lived in Hardscrabble. Among his children were William, Stephen (m. Louisa Haskell. Dexter W. and Jabez are their children), Ebenezer, Hiram, Reuben, Davis, Levi, all of whom have descendants in Auburn and Minot. Samuel 3 has children now living, Charles, Alden J., Lucretia (Mrs Charles Terrill).

John Millett, fourth in descent from the emigrant, the line being Thomas,1 Thomas,2 John,3 married Mary Woodhouse, and resided in Gloucester, Mass. He was born in 1730, and was a ship-master, and was accidentally killed on board his ship at the West Indies. His family moved to Minot, where many of the children married. Molly m. John Coy; Eunice m. Deacon Moses Bradbury ; Susannah m. first Adam Royal, second, Peter Buck, of Norway ; Elizabeth m. Deacon Chandler Freeman ; John m. Martha Sawyer, of Gorham ; Solomon m. Elizabeth Dinsmore ; Nathaniel m. first Susannah Parsons, second, Martha Merrill.

Hon. William Lowell was born in Buckfield, October 30, 1803, and died in Auburn, September, 1889. His parents settled in West Minot in 1804. His older brother, James, was a prominent early merchant of Lewiston. His brother, Stephen, was a leading citizen of Sangerfield. All three were active Whigs and later Republicans, and served in the state senate in 1853-4. Children of William were : S. A. Lowell (see Bench and Bar) ; W. G. Lowell, a member of the firm of Atwood & Lowell, in Auburn; a daughter, Mrs Perkins, resides in Minot.

The Cary family of this county descend from John Cary, who came from Somersetshire, England, to Duxbury as early as 1639. Ephraim Cary, born at Bridgewater, married Anna Hill in 1809, and soon after came to Minot with his father, Ephraim, who died in 1828, aged 80.

Captain William Ladd was born in Portsmouth, and was graduated from Harvard College with distinction in 1791. He was a merchant, commanded his own ship, carried on trade with Russia, and accumulated wealth. In June, 1814, at the age of 36, he removed to Minot Corner, and became a farmer. He delivered addresses, lectures in behalf of the Peace Society, and published essays and numerous books for children to counteract the military spirit. Though the advocacy of the doctrines of peace was his life-work, yet his money and his voice were always ready to promote the good of the community in which he lived. He died in Minot in 1841, aged 63, universally lamented and respected. William Willis says of him, "He possessed an ardent and sanguine temperament, indomitable courage and perseverance, while his spirit was so calm and self-poised that no sneer, or sarcasm, or bitter reproach could ruffle it, no opposition disturb or divert him from the course of duty and philanthropy he had prescribed himself."

764

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

Eliab Washburn,1 son of Capt. Joseph Washburn, was born in Bridgewater, Mass., April 15, 1740. He married, in 1762, Anna, daughter of Elijah Edson. In 1789 they came to Minot, where they bought 100 acres of one Rowe, the place where Joshua Sawyer now lives. Of their ten children Joseph (born December 3, 1769, died March 30, 1858), Anna (born 1774, m. Wm Childs), Olive (born 1777, m. John Coy), Marshall (born 1780), and Ruth (born 1782), were some time residents of Minot. About 1814 Mr Washburn and wife became members of the family of their daughter, Ruth (Mrs James Murdock), on Brighton hill, Hebron, where he died May 27, 1818, and his wife November 2, 1821. Mrs Washburn was one of the original members of the First Church of Bakerstown, and one of the original members of the Second Congregational Church of Minot. Mr Washburn was a soldier in Capt. James Allen's company in Col John Bailey's regiment in the Revolution.

Joseph, son of Eliab Washburn, was the fourth child in a family of ten. The two oldest died young, and as the father was in the Revolutionary army and received no pay (like so many soldiers at that time) Joseph was early taught the value of labor. He went to school but three weeks after he was old enough to study arithmetic, but acquired its knowledge by his own reasoning and calculating powers. He was apprenticed to a carpenter in Bridge- water and did not come to Minot until 1790. He remained over a year, then worked at his trade in New York and Georgia. He was married in Stamford, now Darien, Conn., to Polly Waring, in 1796. (She died November 10, 1862. ) A year later they came to permanently reside in Minot. Joseph found his father in trouble. Like many other early settlers, he must pay $6 per acre for the farm which he had supposed he already owned, or lose it. Joseph helped his father pay for the land, and influenced Mr Little to procure for him a deed of another 100 acres in consideration of having paid for an improved farm. This land extended over Goff Hill, Perryville, Fossville, etc., in Auburn. July, 1802, Joseph received of Josiah Little a deed of a lot where Joseph Leach had made improvements, and adjoined his father's farm. He paid Mr Leach for his improvements, and lived in the Leach house until November, 1807, when his new house, now standing, was occupied. A few years later he came into possession of the 100-acre lot in Auburn, which he sold about 1818 for $6 per acre. He received pay in money for 70 acres, and for the rest was paid only 12 chairs, a bureau, and a table, which served as a part of the wedding outfit of one of his daughters. Joseph Washburn and his brother, Marshall, married sisters and lived on adjoining farms, Marshall on the S. J. M. Perkins place, and as they were both housewrights they used often to work together. They built the Edward Little house in Auburn, the John Harris and S. J. M. Perkins houses in Minot, and others in various localities. Joseph

1 We are indebted to Miss Lizzie E. Washburn for these interesting incidents and family history.

765

TOWN OF MINOT.

often walked 12 miles with his tools on his back, and then did his day's work. He made the greater part of the pumps used in town, and many in the towns around. He made every wheel and the wooden parts of nearly every farming tool used on the place, and many for the next generation, and when a marriage was to take place "Uncle Joe " was the one most often called upon to make the bride's furniture. He was a Congregationalist, a stanch Whig, and a pensioner of the War of 1812. He was a man of good principles, great industry, and considerable sternness, but could appreciate a joke and always had a good story to fit the case in hand. He had his own style of argument, illustrated by this incident. A neighbor had brought a sleigh to his brother, Marshall, to be repaired. When he came to take it home he cried in dismay, "You've sp'ilt my sleigh ! You've cut off the hind studs so they're no higher

than the forrard ones!" " Well, they ought not to be higher," said Marshall. " Yis, they had ; it makes a sleigh go a good deal easier to have the hind studs the longest." They were in the midst of the argument when Joseph came in. "I'll leave it to Joe if 'tain't so!" cried the neighbor. "Yes," said Uncle Joe, with his moderate emphasis, "you make the hind studs half as high again as the forward ones and the sleigh will go as easy again, and if they are as high again the sleigh will go itself." "I swear 't don't make ner diff'rence!" exclaimed the neighbor, and went home satisfied.

James Edward Washburn (son of Joseph) lives at Minot Centre, in the house in which he was born October 10, 1810, and on the farm formerly owned by his father.1 At the age of 16 he went to Massachusetts to learn the carpenter's trade of his brother Charles. He remained eight years, and came once with his brother and others of the family on a visit to Minot. They rode in a covered carriage, but snow coming before they started back, the brothers went to the woods, and, finding a young birch with the right curve at the root to fit their wheels, they split out some runners, had them shod, and fastened them under their carriage wheels. This arrangement worked well with one exception, -other travelers on catching sight of it would forget to turn out. In December, 1834, he came home and remained, taking care of his parents until their death, and giving his attention to farming. Once on a part of the farm which had not before been cultivated he raised 75 bushels of the finest rye from 13 bushels. One kernel fell among the corn near by and produced 90 heads. In politics Mr Washburn has been Whig and Republican. He is a Congregationalist, and has been deacon since 1854. May 12, 1838, he married Martha Howard, daughter of Deacon Charles Briggs, of Auburn. They had five daughters and one son : Mary, Martha, Nancy Maria, Elizabeth Edwards, Adelia Lockwood, and John Marshall. The latter died at the age of seven years. Mary married Edgar H. Deering, of Portland, May 10, 1882. Nancy

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.

History of Androscoggin County, Maine, Part 93

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew, ed Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Boston, W.A. Fergusson & co. Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew, ed
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Boston, W.A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1050