USA > Maine > Aroostook County > History of Aroostook. vol. I > Part 15
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The town is abundantly supplied with water, having numer- ous brooks and streams nearly all running in a southeasterly direction and emptying into the Meduxnekeag.
The population of the town in 1890 was 375 and the valua- tion $114,247.
MARS HILL
Directly south of the town of Easton, and lying along the boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick, is the fertile town of Mars Hill. The history of this town takes us away back to Revolutionary times, and the original plan of the town is in- scribed, on nearly every lot, with the names of the heroes who in the days that tried men's souls, fought for the independence of our country. In the year 1804 this township was surveyed
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by Charles Turner, Jr., and lotted into blocks containing 200 acres each. By a resolve of the Massachusetts legislature these lots were granted to the soldiers of the Revolution who were citizens of that State. The plan of the original survey as "drawn by Charles Turner, Jr., surveyor, September, 1804," lies before us as we write, while from the window of a hospitable home at the foot of Mars Hill can be seen the steep, wooded side of that beautiful eminence, flooded with the light of the full moon on this lovely July night. St. Paul as he stood in the midst of Mars Hill of old did not look upon a landscape half so fair as can be seen from the summit of this grand Aroostook mountain. Ris- ing abruptly from a beautiful plain to the height of nearly 2000 feet above the level of the neighboring stream, its top overlooks the fair and fertile Valley of the Aroostook, while with the aid of a glass the village of Houlton and the towns in its vicinity can be distinctly seen. Hilltop and valley, fertile farms and dense forest, glassy lakes and meandering streams, with here and there the clustered buildings of some neat village are the varied features that go to make up a landscape view of inde- scribable beauty.
The original plan is entitled "Plan of Mars Hill Township as lotted by order of the General Court of Massachusetts for the soldiers of the late Continental Army who enlisted for during the war as a part of this State's quota of said army and served three years under this enlistment." The starting point of the survey of the township was from a hemlock tree in the southeast corner of the town, which a note of Turner's on the wide margin of the plan informs us was "marked S. E. C. S. T., being 37 miles due north from the monument at the source of the Schoodic Waters." This monument was the point of departure for all those old sur- veys, as it marked the northernmost point to which the boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick had been agreed upon. This hemlock tree, probably the first tree marked with the axe in what was intended to be the township of Mars Hill, has since been cut by some rapacious Bluenose, for when the boundary was established by the Treaty of 1842 and the line between the two countries was finally run, it sliced off a strip a half mile wide from the entire eastern side of the town and left the town- ship but five and a half miles in width from east to west. Every lot in the town with the exception of four lots on the top of the mountain, lot 115 in the extreme northwest part of the town and the lots reserved for ministerial and school purposes, was grant- ed to some Revolutionaly soldier and his name is upon the lot
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on this old plan. Lot No. 54 in the centre of the town is marked "For first settled minister," and the lot immediately adjoining on the north is marked "Ministry Lot," while lot No. 33 is marked "For Schools." This shows the interest the good old commonwealth took in the religious and educational advantages of her citizens. The names on most of the lots are good old familiar English names, while here and there one shows that the soldier was a son of the Emerald Isle. As in every good work since names were invented, "John Smith" took an active part. We have here the record that he served his country at least three years in the old Continental Army, for lot No. 46 bears his hon- ored name. The name of Isaac Dyer appears upon a lot next to the boundary line and we may thus conjecture that from this good old Revolutionary stock the gallant Colonel of the 15th Maine may be descended.
Three miles north from the southeast corner of the town, on what was supposed to be the boundary line, is marked on the plan the "40 mile tree" and a note informs us that from this tree a "lane was marked and bushed out to the St. John River" some four miles distant.
Quite a number of the lots are marked as deeded to the wid- ow, heirs or assignees of the soldier to whom they were granted, but very many of them were not deeded and these are simply marked with the name of the grantee. The name of Samuel Cook appears upon Lot No. 61 as the original grantee, while quite a number of lots bear besides the name of the grantee the note "Deeded to Samuel Cook assignee." Samuel Cook was one of the early settlers of the town of Houlton and his old title to these lots in Mars Hill had much to do with the subsequent history of the proprietorship of that town. It came about in this wise. After this township, in common with all the other land in Aroostook came wholly under the jurisdiction of the State of Maine, the lots upon which unpaid State and County taxes had accrued, which indeed includes nearly the whole township, were advertised by the State as for sale for the taxes due.
The town as well as other towns in like condition in Aroos- took, was purchased by John Hodgdon, J. C. Madigan and Jere- miah Trueworthy, who took what is known as tax titles from the State. Subsequently an arrangement was made between these gentlemen by which Jeremiah Trueworthy became sole propri- etor of Mars Hill township under this tax title. Mr. Trueworthy proceeded to open the town for settlement and to give to the settlers bonds and deeds for their lots. Roads were opened
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throughout the town and Mr. Trueworthy gave to the settlers land at the rate of one acre for every rod of road built. Some land at the rate of one acre for every rod of road built.
Some early settlers who had for some time been squatters upon the town disputed Mr. Trueworthy's title and refused pay- ment to him and in some instances retained their lands without payment. This state of things remained for years, until Mr. Joseph Chandler obtained from the heirs of Samuel Cook the lots which in the olden time had been deeded to him. by Massa- chusetts. These lots were at the time of Mr. Chandler's pur- chase in the possession of parties who held them under titles given by Mr. Trueworthy, Mr. Chandler commenced suits to obtain legal possession of the land. The cases were carried to the full bench of Maine and in 1885 were decided in Mr. Chan- dler's favor, thus invalidating Mr. Trueworthy's title to the town. Those of the settlers who had been twenty years upon the town held their lots by possession, while in other cases various arrangements were made to give valid titles. It was found also atter the town was incorporated that Mr. Truewor- thy had given deeds of the school lots and that settlers were then living upon them and making farms. In order to give these settlers as little trouble, the town authorities, thinking Trueworthy's title good, made an exchange with him by which they released their claim to the original school lands and took from him deeds of other lots to an equal amount. These lots the town sold to settlers and a sum of $1065 dollars was re- ceived for them, which was invested for the credit of the Minis- terial and School Fund.
When the court decided adversely to the claim of Mr. Trueworthy it became evident that the deeds given by him to the town were worthless and the town was obliged to make good the warranty they had given to parties who had bought these lots. They therefore decided to hire of the trustees of the school fund this $1065 at six per cent for fifty years, and with this money the titles to these lots were made good to the set- tlers and the town is simply raising an additional sixty dollars for school purposes each year.
We have been thus particular in describing these events in regard to the history of the proprietorship of the town as they seem to be of more than local importance and will be of interest to readers in all portions of the State. We will now endeavor to trace the story fo the opening of the town and of its develop- ment to the present time. As in the case of all the towns in this
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portion of the county lumber parties had invaded the town long before a tree was cut upon it for farming purposes. Many a grand old "pumpkin pine" had been cut and floated down these streams to the St. John River and a market years before any pio- neer thought of making a home upon the town.
The first settlers to make an opening upon the town for farming purposes were John H. Bridges and John W. Ruggles, who in 1844 made a chopping in the southeast corner of the town on what is now the road from Houlton to Presque Isle.
The farm upon which the first tree was cut by John H. Bridges is now owned by Mr. Benj. F. Jones of Blaine. Bridges and Ruggles were at the time living in the adjoining township of Deerfield (now Westfield) and did not remove to Mars Hill until four years later.
In 1844, Mr. Moses Snow commenced a clearing in the same vicinity and the next spring moved with his family to the new home, thus being the first actual settler to establish a resi- dence in the town. About the same time John Akeley came with his family and commenced making a farm in this neighborhood, and soon after came James McDonough.
All the above named settlers were originally from New Brunswick and as this was previous to the sale of the township for taxes, were simply squatters upon the town. Akeley re- mained but a year or two and his lot was afterwards taken by John Banks.
At that time the entire township with the exception of the small clearings made by these few pioneers, was an unbroken wilderness, penetrated only by the hardy lumberman and the adventurous hunter.
The first chopping made upon what is now the mail route from Fort Fairfield to Blaine was made in 1852, by David Tewkesbury, who fell twenty-five acres of trees upon the farm now occupied by John J. Hill, who two years ago repre- sented the district in the State Legislature. Mr. Tewkesbury did not clear the land, however, and some three years later it was cleared up by Mr. Jeremiah Trueworthy, who built a barn upon the farm and in 1859 sold it to Benj. Whitehouse, who lived upon it for a number of years and then sold it to John J. Hill, a worthy veteran of the war of the Rebellion, who now resides upon it.
Henry Wilson removed from the town of Easton about 1856 and took a lot on Rocky Brook in the south part of the town, a short distance east of the Fort Fairfield road.
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Upon this lot was a good mill privilege and Mr. Wilson at once proceeded to build a mill with an up and down saw and afterwards put in a shingle machine. Here Mr. Wilson made a good farm, upon which he resided until his removal to Houlton some two years ago. During Mr. Wilson's residence in the town he was one of the leading citizens. He was for years Mr. True- worthy's agent and did much for the interest of the town.
In 1856, James Shaw and family came from New Bruns- wick and settled on the lot adjoining Mr. Wilson. Members of this family are still among the prosperous farmers of the town.
In 1859 Mr. Sewall N. Pierce came from Auburn and bought a lot on the line of the Fort Fairfield road some four miles from Blaine Corner. Mr. Pierce has long been one of the leading citizens of his town and has done much for its religious and educational interests as well as for its industrial development.
In 1859 quite an extensive opening was made upon what is called the West Ridge, though there was no road there at that time. In that year Joel Howard, Warren Preble, Lucius Smith, Hazen Hill, Wm. D. Graves and Nathan Oakes made large choppings in that part of the town. Some of these, how- ever, did not settle in the town, but sold their improvements. Joel Howard and Wm. D. Graves are now prominent citizens of the town of Presque Isle.
In the same year, 1859, Warren L. Boynton came from Lib- erty, Waldo County, and bought 400 acres on the west side of the mountain and of this he has made a fine productive farm.
In 1861 Mr. Benj. F. Jones came to Mars Hill and bought about 160 acres of land on the Fort Fairfield road. Here he cleared up a good farm, upon which he lived for seven years, when he removed to the town of Blaine, where he now resides.
The breaking out of the war and the uncertainty in regard to titles to the land, both had the effect to retard the growth of the town, and in 1863 diphtheria raged with fatal violence, and in that year there were twenty-five deaths in the town. In spite of all these drawbacks, however, the town continued to increase and new settlers came each year.
The township was organized as a plantation in 1866, and at the first plantation meeting Henry O. Perry, B. F. Jones and S. A. Rhodes were chosen assessors, and Sewall N. Pierce, clerk.
H. O. Perry came to the town about the time of the war, but left to join the Union Army in which he did faithful service. Upon his return he settled in Mars Hill and engaged in farming
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and was twice elected to represent the district in the State Legislature. Mr. Perry removed to Blaine about 1870. He has served upon the Board of County Commissioners, and is now serving a second term as Deputy Collector of Customs at Fort Fairfield.
In the early days of the settlement religious meetings were held in private houses until schoolhouses were built. The first clergyman was Rev. J. G. Ricker, who came from Boston in 1859 and bought a lot and commenced to build a house. He remained but a short time, however, and for some time Rev. Elbridge Knight of Fort Fairfield preached in the town. Meetings are still held in the schoolhouses, as no church building has yet been erected, though one is now in contemplation.
Private schools were early established and immediately af- ter the organization of the plantation a tax was assessed for the support of public schools, and upon the passage of the Free High School law a High School was at once established. The town has now nine district schools, which are all supplied with schoolhouses. Mrs. Lizzie York is the present superintendent and the schools are prospering under her careful management.
In 1877 Messrs. Collins and Hume built a starch factory at Mars Hill village. This factory is now owned and operated by Hon. Geo. W. Collins of Bridgewater. Soon after the open- ing of the starch factory Mr. Bedford Hume built the first store at the village. This store is now occupied by B. F. Pierce. Soon after this Mr. George Stewart built the store now occupied by Mr. Howard Safford.
The village of Mars Hill is situated in the south part of the town upon the Fort Fairfield road. The line of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad runs directly through the village and the building of that road will no doubt make this one of the most prosperous villages of Northern Aroostook.
MASARDIS
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Masardis is one of the historic towns of Aroostook, and many are the incidents of the Aroostook War related by its old- est citizens. It was here that the troops of the heroic McIntyre and the redoubtable Rines entrenchd themselves and here the brave Strickland bade defiance to the power of Britain. From
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behind their breastworks on "the point" where the St. Croix joins its waters with the noble Aroostook, they sallied forth on their grand advance on Fort Fairfield, and it was to these same breastworks that they made their masterly retreat of seventy miles in a day after the capture of McIntyre and others at Fitz- herbert's tavern in Fort Fairfield.
One cannot help being patriotic at Masardis, so closely is the place connected with the history of those warlike days. Here we are shown the site of the old "commissary." Yonder is the point on which the troops of Maine camped behind their breast- works, their four-pounders and six pounders pointing down the Aroostook River. Ere we have been half a day in the town we are presented with a rusty old six pound cannon ball as a relic of the war.
But Masardis is older than the Aroostook War, and we must first give the history of the town in its ante bellum days and let the events of the war come in their order.
In 1833 Thomas Goss came to Masardis with his family and settled on a beautiful intervale on the west bank of the Aroostook, opposite the mouth of the St. Croix Stream. Mr. Goss was orig- inally from Danville, Me., but previous to his settlement at Mas- ardis he lived upon the Pyles farm, now the Hutchinson farm, a short distance north of the Aroostook bridge in the present town of Presque Isle. He remained at Masardis until 1840, when he moved to the mouth of the Little Machias River in Ashland, where he lived for some time and then took up his abode in the wilderness away out on the road to Fish River.
The next man with a family who settled in the town was John Knowlen, who came from Passadumkeag in 1835, with his wife and three children and settled near the St. Croix Stream, about half a mile above its mouth. They left Passadumkeag in January, with one single team and a double team to haul their household goods. Five miles north of Patten they found the road so narrow and snow so deep that the double team could go no farther, so they piled their goods up in the woods and covered them with bark and boughs, intending to send back for them as soon as the road would permit. The snow increased so that they could not get out to them and were obliged to leave them there until the next winter. From Mrs. Knowlen, who is still living in the town, a smart old lady of 83, we learned many particulars of these early days. The first two years the frost killed their crops and they raised nothing to eat. The river and stream was full of trout and the woods of berries and this helped out their living
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in the summer time and in the winter Mr. Knowlen worked in Patten and got provision for the family. In 1836, Roswell T. Knowlen was born, he being the first child born in Masardis.
These pioneers were subjected to many hardships during the early years of their settlement in the new town. Mrs. Knowlen relates that in the summer of 1839 they got out of pro- vision and her husband started with a boat to go down the river to Presque Isle, then called Fairbanks, to obtain a supply. She was left with four children and had only one pint of Indian meal in the house. She had a farrow cow that afforded milk for the little ones, and the oldest boy caught fish from the river. She says that for three days she ate nothing but boiled wild chocolate root. A neighbor, Mr. Wm. Cowperthwaite, who had recently moved in there, learned her situation and brought her a little flour and tea. Mr. Knowlen could get no flour at Fair- banks and was obliged to go to the mouth of the Aroostook, where he paid $22.00 for a barrel of flour and $18.00 for a bar- rel of herring. He was gone ten days and the old lady says they were sad and anxious days to her and the little ones, but from that time they never lacked for bread.
Mr. Joseph Pollard came from Old Town to Masardis in 1837. Mr. Pollard formerly lived in Cornville, where all his children were born. Mr. Pollard moved to Old Town and for some time was employed by lumbermen and land owners to look up timber and attend to various interests in the forests of Nor- thern Maine. He thus became acquainted with the Aroostook country and, believing that it would at no distant day be opened to settlement, he decided to build a mill and take up a lot for a farm on the upper Aroostook. Late in the winter of 1838, Mr. Pollard left Old Town with five tons of supplies loaded on sleds for the far off Aroostook. The West Aroostook road was pass- able for teams at that time as far as the Knowlen place, where the road turns off to go down through Smyrna to Houlton. Ar- riving at that place, Mr. Pollard sent his teams back and with a crew of eight men made hand sleds with wide runners and went to work to haul the supplies through to Masardis. This was a work of much magnitude, and was performed in this way: Load- ing the hand sleds the crew would start in the morning and pro- ceed through the woods all day, camping at night. They would then return and haul another load to this camp, and when all was up proceed another stage, and in this way they continued until all the goods were up to a camp some four miles from Masardis, where the road now turns off to the Oxbow. It was now late
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in March and finding a good sugar berth at this place, the party camped here and made 300 pounds of maple sugar and then proceeded to haul their goods to Masardis.
Making his headquarters at Masardis, Mr. Pollard built a mill on the St. Croix Stream about nine miles from its mouth, in Township No. 9, R. 4. The mill contained an up and down saw and a run of stones and bolt. At the same time he took up a lot of 160 acres on the hill, a short distance south of the junc- tion of the St. Croix with the Aroostook, and immediately com- menced clearing up a farm, but did not move his family to the new home until October, 1840. The family came by team as far as Mr. Daniel Smith's, who then lived on what is now called the Cliff place, about fourteen miles from Masardis. Mr. Smith was the father of Hon. Oramandel Smith and it was here in the wil- derness of Northern Aroostook that the genial Secretary of State first saw the light. This road being impassable for car- riages from that place, Mrs. Pollard and her five children, the oldest being eleven and the youngest seven, walked fourteen miles through the woods to her forest home. The old lady is still living at Masardis with her son, Mr. J. F. Pollard, and is bright and active at the age of 87. From her we received many incidents concerning the hardships of their pioneer life.
They were obliged to leave all their goods at Mr. Smith's until snow came, and the old lady says that for three months she had no pillow to lay her head upon and was subjected to many discomforts.
Mr. Pollard continued to run the mill on the St. Croix for five years, when he sold it to Leonard Jones of Bangor. It af- terwards passed through a number of hands and was burned about 1855. In 1843 Mr. Pollard built a frame house on his own land, the family having previously occupied a log house built by Leonard Reed, who moved to Presque Isle and kept a hotel there in the early days. In his new house Mr. Pollard commenced keeping tavern, and having bought a tract of land on the west side of the road opposite his original lot he there built a large house in 1866. This house was burned in 1884. Mr. Pollard and his wife were alone in the house when the fire broke out, and she lay in bed with a broken leg. Neighbors finally came and carried her out, but not until the fire had come uncomfortably near her bed. The house was rebuilt during the next summer. Mr. Pollard died in February, 1888. being almost 90 years old. His son, J. F. Pollard, was a soldier in the 1st D. C. Cavalry and afterwards in the 2d Me. Cavalry.
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Sanfield D. Reed came in with Mr. Pollard in 1838. There were then at Masardis, besides the Goss and Knowlen families, Samuel Leavitt, a young man who came about the same time that Mr. Goss came, Benj. Howe, Geo. Fields, Sanford Noble, Wm. Cowperthwaite and a man named Dow.
In the winter of 1839 we first begin to catch glimpses of the Aroostook War, and in that winter a number of new settlers came to Masardis. Wm. Fitzgerald came with Mr. Pollard in 1838 as a millwright and having finished the mill, settled at Masardis in 1839. He built the house in which Mr. Quincy now lives and kept hotel there for a number of years. He was also engaged in trading and lumbering and moved to Presque Isle about 1870. During the same winter, 1839-9, Alexander Woodward and Samuel Fogg came from Old Town. Mr. Wood- ward was for a number of years a prominent business man at Masardis, where he engaged in lumbering and trading until 1854, when he moved to Minnesota. Abel McAllister came from Mont- ville the same winter and lived at Masardis some ten years. Isaiah Pishon came from Passadumkeag and settled near the mouth of the St. Croix Stream.
In February 1839, the famous posse under Sheriff Strick- land and Land Agent McIntyre arrived at Masardis and built a building called the "Commissary" a short distance north of Mr. Pollard's. On the point where the St. Croix enters the Aroos- took, they built a fort or breastwork, behind which they sta- tioned their artillery, consisting of four and six pounders, and here the troops camped in tents. In a few days the advance was made to the mouth of the Little Madawaska above Fort Fairfield, and immediately after that the hurried retreat of the posse to their breastworks on the point. Mrs. Knowlen describes the ar- rival of the posse after the retreat and says that many of them came to her house in the night, and that teams loaded with sol- diers were coming all night long. All was excitement at Mas- ardis, as it was expected that a body of British troops would follow on up the river for the purpose of capturing the Yankees. Videttes were placed down the river to give the alarm on the approach of the enemy. One day a man from the outpost came rushing in and reported that the British were coming. All was confusion and consternation at the little settlement as the of- ficer notified the settlers to be ready to leave their homes at once. It was soon learned, however, that the dreaded Britist were only some loads of hay coming up the river.
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