USA > Maine > Aroostook County > History of Aroostook. vol. I > Part 13
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back up the river with his family and settled on the lot where his son, Job Churchill, now lives, some four miles down the river from the town of Washburn. When Mr. Churchill returned a number of settlers had taken up lots along the river and he was. no longer alone in the wilderness.
In 1837 Thomas McDonald came from Miramchi and set- tled on the north side of the Aroostook about a mile below the mouth of Salmon Brook. His son, Mr. John L. McDonald, still resides upon the lot which is now a handsome farm with com- modious buildings and fertile fields.
Soon after that Wilder Stratton settled on the lot first taken. up by Nathaniel Churchill and his children still occupy the farm, having a beautiful residence on the height some distance back from the river. Mrs. A. W. Stratton, an accomplished writer and a well known contributor to numerous publications, is at present living there.
The first settler in what is now the village of Washburn, and the pioneer business man of the town, was Isaac Wilder, who came to Aroostook from the town of Pembroke in Wash- ington County, about the year 1840. Mr. Wilder remained for a time at Fort Fairfied where he worked on the barracks as a carpenter, then pushing on up the river he built a saw mill in the dense wilderness on the banks of Salmon Brook. At that time the only settlers upon the town were the few who were located on the Aroostook River in the southwest portion of the township. As late as 1844, in the report of the Commissioners of Maine and Massachusetts who in that year visited this sec- tion to adjust the settlers' claims, we find mention of but twelve of these settlers along the river bank in 13, R. 3, now Wash- burn. These were Peter Bull, Nathaniel Churchill, Jabez S. Currier, Joshua Dunn, John Hicky, Lawrence Farrel, Wilder Stratton, Elizabeth, widow of William Mumford, Joshua Chris- tie, Job Churchill, Stephen Harris and Ebenezer Esty.
The State of Massachusetts then owned the town, as the mother State still held each alternate township in this eastern wilderness.
At the time of Mr. Wilder's coming there was no road in in the township, the river being the only thoroughfare. The mill contained an up and down saw and clapboard machine. The boards and other long lumber were rafted in the water, and upon these were piled the clapboards, and the rafts were floated down the stream to the Aroostook River, thence down to the Aroos took Falls, where the lumber had to be taken from the water,
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hauled by the falls, rafted again below and thence floated out into the St. John and down the river to Fredericton.
With Isaac Wilder, came his brother, Charles Wilder, who settled and commenced a clearing near the mouth of the stream.
In 1843, Charles O. Stoddard came from Perry, in Wash- ington County, and settled on the bank of the Salmon Brook stream a short distance below the mill. In the same year Robert Wilder, brother of Isaac, came from Pembroke and made a clearing next above Stoddard, and with him from the same town came Samuel Bugbee, who settled on the adjoining lot below Stoddard.
In 1843 also came Hiram Braddock. who moved from Cal- ais and made a home on the north bank of the Aroostook, about half a mile below the mouth of Salmon Brook. Soon after these settlers came they cut the road through from the mill to the Aroostook River at the mouth of the brook. This was for some years a road through the woods, hardly passable for teams in summer, and was not turnpiked until 1846. In 1845 the road was cut through from the south bank of the Aroostook, opposite the mouth of Salmon Brook, to what was then called the "State Road," leading from Presque Isle to Ashland. By fording or ferrying across the Aroostook, the settlers near Wilder's mill had communication by means of this road with Presque Isle where much of their trading was then done.
In the winter of 1844-45 the township was organized as the plantation of Salmon Brook and the same year a school was established in the house of one of the settlers. Some three years later a schoolhouse was built near where the village cemetery is now located. In this house religious meetings were held from time to time and occasionally a faithful missionary penetrated these wilds and preached to the settlers.
In 1850 a road was commenced from Wilder's mill toward Caribou. Later on this road was continued to Caribou village and is now a fine smooth turnpike running through a magnificent farming section.
In 1850 Gould Crouse and his sons, Jerry, Abram and Wil- liam, came from New Brunswick and settled on the Aroostook River in what is now known as East Washburn.
Joshua Dunn, a brother of Elbridge Dunn, Esq., of St. John, then lived on the lot which is now the beautiful homestead of Mr. Jerry Crouse, and sold the lot to the elder Crouse.
In 1852 Mr. Theodore Wilder came from Pembroke and commenced the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. S. W.
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Tabor, on a fine swell of land some two miles northeast of the village.
Settlers came slowly for a time, a few making clearings on the new road toward Caribou, and quite a number coming after the Editorial Excursion in 1858, the reports of which made the country better known to the outside world.
Isaac Wilder kept a few goods for sale at his mill, but no store was built in the town until 1860. In that year Chauncy Harris built a store, and in 1861 rented it to Mr. Nathan Perry, then from Bangor, who traded in it for a short time and then moved to Presque Isle. In 1865, Benjamin Wilder, a son of Robert Wilder, built another store where he traded until 1871, when he sold out to Nathan Perry, who still continued his busi- ness at Presque Isle, his sons attending to the branch store at Salmon Brook. In 1880 Mr. Perry sold out the business to Farnham Bros., who are today the principal merchants and resi- dent business men of the town.
Isaac Wilder continued to own and operate the mill until 1879, during which time it was twice burnt and rebuilt. In 1879 Mr. Wilder sold the property to Messrs. Johnson & Phair of Presque Isle, and died not long afterward. This firm and the branch firm of E. J. Johnson & Co. continued to operate the mill and increase the business until the firm of Johnson & Phair was dissolved some three years ago and the property came into the hands of Hon. T. H. Phair, the present owner.
The present village of Washburn has been mainly the growth of the last ten years, though the settlement received quite an impetus from the establishment of two starch factories, built by Mr. Miller of New Hampshire, the one at the village about 1875 and that at East Washburn a few years later. Both of these factories are now the property of Hon. T. H. Phair.
The town of Washburn was incorporated in 1861 and was named for Gov. Israel Washburn, from whom the town received a present of a library of two hundred choice volumes. By the census of 1880 the population of the town was 809, and by that of 1890 was 1097. The valuation of the town was $100,243, which in 1890 had increased to $215,341.
Adjoining Washburn on the west is Township 13, R. 4, organized as Wade Plantation, but generally known as Dunn- town. The Aroostook River flows across the southeast corner of this township, and there are numerous settlers along the river on either bank. The road from Washburn to Perham crosses the northeast corner of the township. Farnham Bros. pur-
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chased 10,000 acres in the northern part of this township some years ago and have a tract four miles long by one wide, along the Perham line already lotted for settlement, and a road run- ning through the middle of the tract on the line between the tiers of lots. These are all first class settling lots, and there are fifteen lots on the tract still unsold. They will soon run out an- other tract into 48 lots of most excellent settling land. They sell these lots for $3.00 per acre to settlers and make no reserva- tion of timber. Settlers are required to pay $50 down and are allowed all needed time on the balance if interest is paid. The southern part of this town is owned by the Dunns. The Aroos- took River runs for a distance of about five miles through the southeast portion of the township and on each side of the river are roads leading to Washburn village. The lots along the river are all taken and there are already some excellent farms. There are two schoolhouses in this part of the plantation and one has already been established among the settlers on the Farnham block. With the exception of the lots along the river and the Farnham lots the township is still in its wilderness state and is for the most part excellent settling land. In the southeast por- tion of the township on lots number 23 and 24 lying south of the Aroostook River is the deposit of iron described in the re- port of the scientific survey of the State of Maine. Should a railroad ever run in the vicinity these lands would probably be valuable for the iron ore, which could then be profitably worked.
Wade Plantation was first organized in 1859. In 1862 it lost its organization and was not reorganized until 1874. The population by the census of 1890 was 158.
SHERMAN
The southern portion of Aroostook County comprises an area of five ranges of townships in width from east to west and extending about fifty-five miles northward from the County of Washington and the eastern shoulder of Penobscot. At the northern extremity of this strip, the county extends three ranges of townships farther to the west along the the northern border of Penobscot, and two townships farther north the southern line of the county extends across the entire State. The towns along the western border of this southern portion of Aroostook are
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watered by tributaries of the Penobscot, and it was the vast lum- ber business of the Penobscot that first induced settlers to en- ter upon the fertile lands of this part of the County. Lying along the western border of Penobscot County, the fourth town- ship north from the extreme southern line of Aroostook, is the goodly town of Sherman, one of the most enterprising as well as one of the best in an agricultural point of view of the southern Aroostook towns. The old West Aroostook road branches off from the Military road in the town of Molunkus, near the south- ern border of Aroostook and continuing northward through Mo- lunkus, the wilderness township of No. 1, R. 5, Benedicta and a portion of Sherman, then veers to the westward into Penobscot County and runs up through the towns of Staceyville, Patten and a portion of Mount Chase, re-enters Aroostook about mid- way of the town of Hersey and extends away north to the St.
John River at Fort Kent. The length of this road from the
"mouth of the road" in Molunkus to its terminus at Fort Kent, is upwards of 125 miles and it is now the longest stage route in the State. As early as 1832, this road was cut through nearly to the south line of Sherman, then known as No. 3, Range 5.
In that year Mr. Alfred Cushman of Sumner, Oxford County, the pioneer settler of Sherman, came in and took up a lot on the west line of the town some two and a half miles north of the southwest corner. The town then belonged to the State of Mas- sachusetts and Mr. Cushman bought 200 acres of land, paying $1.75 per acre in cash and taking a deed from the Land Agent of Massachusetts. Mr. Cushman's lot was in the midst of a vast wilderness, the fair town of Patten and all the country for many miles northward being at that time covered with its original for- est growth and the country untenanted save by the crews of hardy lumbermen who had their winter camps along the rivers and streams which traversed this grand forest tract. Having made a small clearing and built a primitive habitation, Mr. Cushman next year moved his family to their new home. The road from Molunkus was then hardly passable for teams ex- cept in winter and Mr. Cushman and his wife and three children walked in from the mouth of the road, he carrying the fourth child, an infant, in his arms for a distance of eighteen miles.
The lot upon which he settled was a beautiful slope of fine productive land and he at once went to work to clear away the forest and make a farm. His market was at the lumber camps nearby, and his hay and grain sold for remunerative prices. His first crop of hay brought him $25 per ton and the price for
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grain was in proportion. Mr. Cushman tells of enormous crops raised upon his farm in these early days, having one year 210 bushels of ears of handsome corn on an acre, and raising 77 bushels of fine wheat from one bushel of seed. The old gentle- man is still living upon the old farm, which is now in the midst of a beautiful cultivated section, with broad and fertile fields extending in every direction over the slopes that were covered by the greenwood trees when he first made his settlement here in the forest. Four stalwart sons did faithful service in the Union army and this old pioneer is now enjoying the twilight of life, tenderly cared for by his children and enjoying the re- spect of the community in which he has lived so long
The year following Mr. Cushman's settlement the road was cut through nearly to Masardis, and in 1834 Mr. John Cram from Lowell, Mass., came in and took the lot south of Mr. Cushman's.
In 1836-37 Mr. Cushman built the tavern stand near his house and here he put up travelers for about two years, when he sold to one Lewis and he in turn to Mr. Theodore Trafton, who kept the hotel until some twelve years ago. Mr. Cush- man gives as the reason for his going out of the hotel business that it was expected in those days that all innkeepers would keep a supply of liquor for customers, and as he could not con- scientiously do this he abandoned the business.
Among the other early settlers of the town upon the old Aroostook road were Mr. Spaulding Robinson, who came from Sumner, Oxford County, about 1840, and made a farm near Mr. Cushman's and also engaged largely in lumbering and trade.
Mr. Luke Perry and sons who came about the same time and settled near the south line of the town, and Mr. Richard Boyn- ton, who came from Alna a few years later. In 1850, Mr. Boynton built a hotel at the mouth of the road leading to the east branch of the Penobscot, which he continued to keep until his death and which is now kept by his son, W. H. Boynton. This hotel is about half a mile from the south line of the town and in spring and fall is filled with crews of lumbermen going to and returning from the woods, and does a large business. There are a number of stores and shops in the vicinity of the hotel, but the business centre of the town is now the village of Sherman Mills, something more than a mile farther to the east. In the northeastern portion of the town is a magnificent swell of land known as Golden Ridge, upon which are now some of the finest farms in this portion of the County.
The first to enter upon this grand ridge of land was Mr.
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Samuel Chandler, who made a chopping in 1840. He did not remain, however, but sold his lot to Mr. Wesley Caldwell, who took possession the following year. Mr. Caldwell was a native of Paris, Oxford County, and moved to Lincoln in 1824, being one of the pioneer settlers of that town. He removed to Sher- man April 11, 1841, and commenced clearing up a farm on Golden Ridge. He raised his first crop in 1842 and the next year moved his family to their first home, which they reached on July 4th, 1843. They came across from Cushman's to their log house by a spotted line through the woods, as there was then no road in the township with the exception of the West Aroostook road, which had been recently built-
In 1843, Mr. Joseph Dolley came from Lincoln and took a lot next to Wesley Caldwell's. Horace Morse and John Hale also came in 1843, and in 1845 Daniel Emery, John Scudder and George Davidson moved in on the Ridge. In the meantime a settlement had commenced at what is now Sherman Mills, and in 1843 the road from the Mills, running over Golden Ridge to Island Falls, was laid out by the State of Massachusetts. Very few additions were made to the settlement upon Golden Ridge until 1849, when Moses Perry, Charles H. Jackman and Joseph Morrison came in and in 1850 Daniel and Jonathan Sleeper took lots on the Ridge.
In 1851, Mr. George W. Webber moved into the new set- tlement. Mr. Webber first came to Aroostook from New Hamp- shire in 1829 and lived for a number of years in the town of Linneus. He continued to live upon his farm on Golden Ridge until 1870, when he removed to the Mills, where he has ever since been engaged in trade. He was town treasurer of Sher- man for many years and is one of the oldest and most respected citizens of the town.
The first Sabbath School in the town was the Union Sab- bath School, which was organized by the few settlers on Golden Ridge in May, 1844, and has held its meetings continuously un- til the present time, never having lost its organization. In those early years, before any school was established in the town, the children of the settlers were taught to read in this Sabbath school.
The history of the settlement at Sherman Mills commences with the year 1840, in which year Mr. Morgon L. Gary, from Hingham, Mass., made a chopping of twenty acres. In 1841, he burned and cleared part of the land and built a mill near where the grist mill now stands. During the same year the
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1
road from the Aroostook road to the mill was cut through. Gary's mill which was built upon the Molunkus Stream and contained an up and down saw, was burned in 1846 and Mr. Gary immediately rebuilt, putting into the new mill in addition to the saw, what the settlers called a "coffee mill," or a small mill for grinding grain. This mill he continued to run until about 1856, when he sold to Mr. Spaulding Robinson. In 1862, Mr. Robinson took down the mill and the firm of Robinson & Bean built the grist mill now standing, in which are three run of stones. In 1863, the same firm built a new saw mill, with an up and down saw, lath saw and planer.
Mr. Gary built the first frame house at the Mills in 1848. This house is still standing in good repair, and is occupied by Mr. E. A. Jackman as a public house. The postoffice at Sher- man Mills is also located in this building. The next house at the Mills was built by Spaulding Robinson in 1861.
The growth of the village was slow during the years of the war, but with the revival of business at its close a new impetus was given to this new settlement. In 1867, Mr. Leonard C. Caldwell opened the first store at Sherman Mills in a store for- merly occupied by Spaulding Robinson on the Aroostook road, the building having been moved to the Mills.
About the same time the parsonage was built and the houses of John W. Caldwell, Mrs. Perry, Mr. Gary and others. In 1868, the Town House was built on the east side of the stream and in 1869 the handsome Congregational Church building was erected. This church was organized in 1862 and Rev. W. T. Sleeper, now of Worcester, Mass., was its first pastor. In 1870, a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was organized at Sher- man Mills, a hall having been finished for their use in the sec- ond story of the grist mill. In 1872, the store now occupied by L. E. Jackman was built. The second story of this building is now used as a residence by Mr. George M. Frye.
In 1876 the death of Mr. Spaulding Robinson occurred. Mr. Robinson had long been one of the principal citizens of the town and had occupied many public positions. He at one time repre- sented his district in the Legislature of Maine and was for many years local agent for State lands. His son, Mr. A. T. Robin- son, succeeded to his business, and until quite recently was en- gaged in trade at the Mills. He was a soldier in the 8th Maine Regiment and for ten months and a half was a prisoner at Andersonville.
Another of the old settlers of the town was Mr. Isaiah B.
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Foster, who came from Dover in 1844 and settled about a quar- ter of a mile from the Mills on the road to Golden Ridge.
In 1877, Messrs. Merrill, Piper and Libby of Colebrook, N. H., built a starch factory at the Mills. Mr. George M. Frye afterwards purchased Libby's interest and he and Mr. Piper bought out Mr. Merrill. About the same time Mr. B. H. Towle, from Lee, built a tannery near the Mills. This tannery was operated uptil 1888, when it was destroyed by fire and has not been rebuilt.
Previous to 1858, the entire southeast quarter of the town was still in its wilderness state, no settler having entered upon that portion of the town. In that year Mr. John Burnham set- tled on what is known as the East Ridge, taking the lot now occupied by Mr. John Scanlon at Woodbridge's Corner. With Mr. Burnham came George W. Durgan, Granville Franks, An- drew and Frank Sinclair and Albert Osgood, all from Bluehill, Hancock County. This party arrived at Trafton's on the Aroos- took road, May 20, 1858, and on the 22nd procured a guide and proceeded through the woods to the southeast part of the town, where they selected adjoining lots and, having built a camp in which they all lived together, went to work making a clearing.
In the fall of 1858, Mr. Burnham brought his family to Sherman, but did not move to his lot until the spring of 1860, when he commenced housekeeping in a log house on his new farm. In 1868 Mr. Burnham sold his farm and bought the farm half a mile west of the Mills, where he now resides.
Later in the year 1858, a number of other settlers came and selected lots in this part of the town, made small choppings and went out, returning the next year to clear up the land. Among these were Mr. J. W. Ambrose from Wells, York County, Benj. L. Sanborn, Ole Hanson, Ezra Curtis, Lysander Robinson, Daniel D. Cox, A. C. Verill, Deacon Thomas Ball, Cyrus Daggett, and a number of others.
Most of these settlers moved to their lots in 1859. Mr. Am- brose took a lot in the extreme southeast corner of the town and in January, 1860, moved his family to the town, taking up temporary quarters in a little log house at the mill. Having made a small clearing and put up a log house, in the fall of 1860 he placed his family and all his household goods upon an old sled, and with a yoke of oxen hauled them through the woods four miles to their new home. After paying the expenses of getting his family to Sherman he found himself possessed of just $33 and an old horse which he exchanged for a cow.
,
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He has now a fine farm of over 300 acres, with 80 acres cleared and under good cultivation. Mr. Ambrose has served for many years on the board of County Commissioners, has represented his district in the State Legislature and held various town of- fices.
Mr. John W. Perry and James F. Farmer, sons-in-law of Mr. Ambrose, took up lots in the adjoining township of Silver Ridge and these two lots were afterwards annexed to the town of Sherman in order that these settlers might have the benefit of schools. The settlers in this part of the town immediately commenced to open the road, which was run directly east from the Mills to Woodbridge's Corner, and thence in a southerly direction to the south line of the town. This is now a fine, smooth road and runs through a good farming country.
Taken as a whole the town of Sherman is a grand agricul- tural town, nearly all the waste land being in the extreme north- west corner.
We neglected to make mention of Hon. Wm. Irish, who came to Sherman from Oxford County in 1869, and was for years a prominent citizen of the town. Mr. Irish was a member of the House in 1871, and of the State Senate in 1872. He died in Dakota about a year ago.
The town of Sherman is justly proud of its war record. The population of the town in 1861 was 486, and the town fur- nished during the war 113 soldiers, actual residents of the town and all volunteers except twelve. Thirty-four were killed or died in service and the term of actual aggregate service of the soldiers of the town was 220 years. A handsome soldiers' monument stands in the village cemetery, having been erected at a cost of $1000, and dedicated July 4th, 1882.
The township was at first organized with Benedicta, after- wards with Island Falls and then as a separate plantation under the name of Golden Ridge. The town was incorporated Jan. 28, 1862, and was named for Senator John Sherman of Ohio.
WOODLAND
The task of opening up a new town in the wilderness sec- tion of Northern Aroostook is one of greater magnitude than many imagine, and the labor, hardships and privations attending
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the work of hewing a home out of the wildwood and at the same time providing the means of support for a family are such as are calculated to put to a severe test both the physical and men- tal vigor of the man who undertakes it. The idea of making the wilderness blossom as the rose is a very pretty and poetical one when someone else does the work, but he who essays the task must make up his mind that between the wilderness period and the advent of the rose era there must be many weary days of toil and a brave and manly struggle which only a man of grit, energy and persistence can bring to a successful termination- Hard though the task may be, however, and severe and trying as are the hardships incident thereto, yet many sturdy men have fought the battle through to a happy issue and are today en- joying the fruits of their toil in the way of a pleasant and com- fortable home and a fertile and productive farm, the income from which renders them comparatively independent.
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