USA > Maine > Aroostook County > History of Aroostook. vol. I > Part 27
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Mr. Jacob Russell came from the Bay of Chaleur and in 1845 settled on the lot upon which Daniel Neal made his clear-
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ing and lived in the timber house built by Mr. Neal for some ten years. He then moved to the lot on the Calais road on which Mr. Matthew Cassidy now lives. Mr. Russell lived on this farm until 1866, when he sold it to his son, Asa Russell. Jacob Rus- sell died in 1872 and Asa lived on the farm until 1874, when he moved to Danforth.
Mr. James Duffy came from Ireland and settled in No. 11 in 1846, on the Edward Dority farm. When Mr. Duffy took the farm there was a clearing of some twenty-five acres and a small house. Mr. Duffy built a good set of buildings and lived upon the farm until 1888, when he sold to Mr. George Alexander and moved to Houlton. Mr. Duffy was one of the prosperous farm- ers of No. 11 and was a good citizen of the town.
Most of the settlers mentioned above established their homes near the line of the Calais road and now have comfort- able residences along this road.
In coming to the town from Hodgdon the road runs for a short distance through a tract of low land in the north part of the town. This section is still unsettled and is hardly suitable for farming purposes. About a half mile from the north line of the town we come to the store and mill of Messrs. Norton & Bradbury. Mansur Bros. of Houlton built the mill on the Meduxnekeag Stream, a short distance west of the Calais road, in 1884. This mill contained one shingle machine, a rotary for sawing long lumber, and machinery for the manufacture of po- tato starch. Messrs. Norton & Bradbury of Houlton bought the property in 1890. Ransom Norton, Esq., the senior member of the firm, came from Livermore to Houlton in 1854 and was em- ployed as principal in the Houlton Academy for two years. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and was clerk of courts for Aroostook County from 1868 to 1880 and from 1883 to 1887, making sixteen years of service in this capacity. Mr. Norton now resides in Cary and gives his personal attention to the busi- ness. Mrs. Ransom Norton is the present postmistress of Cary. Mr. Henry C. Bradbury is the youngest son of Mr. True Brad- bury, one of the earliest settlers of the town of New Limerick. Mr. Bradbury has been in mercantile business in Houlton for many years and held the office of county treasurer for a number of years.
In the western part of the town is some very good land, but the settlement was not made here until some time after that upon the Calais road. Near the meeting house a road turns to the west and after continuing in that direction for about a mile and
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a half, branches and one road runs southward into Amity, while the other continues to the west and northwest into Letter A. and Linneus. A short distance from the Calais road Mr. Hiram Tra- cy has a very good little farm of forty acres. Mr. Tracy came from Amity eight years ago and bought this farm. He devotes himself to teaching during the winter seasons and is a member of the S. S. Com. of this town.
A short distance beyond is the iarm of Mr. Thomas Haney. Mr. Haney lived with Mr. David Moore during his boyhood and in 1859 bought the farm in the east part of the town on which Mr. Alex Hnaey now lives. In 1863 he joined the 16th Maine Reg.ment and served through the war. At the close or nes ser- vice he bought the farm on which he nov 1 ves. Mr. Haney is a carpenter and millwright and works at his tiale much of the time. He is the present commander of Frank Hunter Post and is Lieutenant Colonel of the keyjuincht of North a MIcine G. A. R.
Further in on th's road is what is known as the Wilcox set- tlement, as a large number of selviers o. that name live on good farms in that section of the town. Mr Le WIcox, the father of the large family who settled litre, came tiom Trescott, in Washington County, in 1848 and settled on a lot in the west cait of the town. He cleared up a good land and med tech it until his death twelve years ago.
Reuben Wilcox came to Cary In 15+9 and took a lot next north of his father's. He cleared up the farm and has lived on it ever since. He has a good set of buildings and is a prosperous farmer and a good citizen ..
William W.lcox settled south of his father and cleared a farm which he sold four years ago to Lewis Libby, and moved to the east part of the town.
John Wilcox has a faim of 160 acres, with 50 acres cleared. This is a very good farm, with a good barn and comfortable house. James Wilcox has 160 acres, with 60 acres cleared. Dugald Wilcox bought the Will.am Seamans farm in 1854. The farm contains 75 acres and when Mr. Wilcox bought it there was but a small clearing. He now has 50 acres cleared and a good set of buildings.
Mr. William Seamans came from Lubec in 1844 and first settled on the lot on which Mr. John Wilcox now lives. He stayed there one year and then moved to the lot upon which Mr. Dugald Wilcox now lives, where he remained twelve years and then sold to Mr. Wilcox and returned to Lubec. The next year
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he came back to Cary and bought a lot west of Mr. Truman Wil- liams, where he lived until his death in 1863.
Joshua J. Seamans had the farm next west of his father's. He was a soldier in the Sixth Maine Battery and no braver man ever marched forth to fight for the old flag. Sergeant Seamans served through the war and returned with broken health and died in 1868. Mr. Nelson Williams now has this farm.
Mr. George Herrick came from Charleston in 1858 and took the lot next west of William Seamans. In 1864 he sold to Joshua J. Seamans and moved to Easton.
Mr. Moses P. Libby came from Charleston in 1858 and took half the Herrick lot, near the Amity line. He lived upon it un- til his death in 1868 and his widow still resides there with her sons, Daniel and Lewis Libby.
Mr. James Haney came from Houlton in 1860 and settled on the lot where James Grover now lives. He cleared a farm and lived upon it until his death in 1884.
Mr. Lewis Brown of Houlton built a shingle mill on Davis Stream, near the Wilcox road, some twenty years ago. The mill run some eight years and was burned and has not been rebuilt. The dam still remains by the mill site.
Mr. David Edwards has a good farm next to Reuben Wil- cox. He has 176 acres, with 70 acres cleared and a good set of buildings.
In the south part of the town a road turns to the east from the Calais road and runs to the boundary line. Mr. Philip Cas- s'dy came from Woodstock in 1847 and settled on this road. He cleared a farm and lived on it until his death in 1860. Mr. Mat- thew Cassidy and sons now own th's farm. Mr. James Cassidy came from Bay Chaleur in 1850 and settled on this road. He made a farm here and built a set of buildings and lived here until his death some fifteen years ago. His son, David, now car- ries on the farm.
Near Mr. William Smith's a road turns east from the Calais road and after running in that direction for nearly two miles, turns to the north and afterwards to the northwest until it strikes the line between Cary and Hodgdon, where it turns to the west and runs out on the town line until it intersects the Calais road. This road is settled for nearly the entire distance and, though running for much of the way through a hard farming section, yet on portions of the road there are some very good farms. Mr. Alexander Haney has a very good farm on this road, a short distance east of the Calais road. Mr. Haney settled on this farm
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in 1868. He has 220 acres of land with 80 acres cleared. The Horseback runs through this farm.
Mr. Owen Scott and Isaac Sutter also have farms near Mr. Haney. Mr. John Wilcox lives on what was formerly the Peter Merchie farm, where the road turns to the north and runs by the farm of Mr. Charles Clifford and the Pollard farm and then turns to the northwest, in which direction it runs to the north line of the town. On th's portion of the road are some very good farms. Among these are the farms of Mr. John Spooner, Mr. David Skidgell, and the Fanjoy farms. This portion of the town is known as the Skidgell Ridge.
Mr. W.lliam Skidgell came from Hodgdon in 1863 and set- tled on this ridge, where he cleared a farm and lived on it until h's death some five years ago. His son, David Skidgell, now has the farm, which is one of the best in this portion of the town.
The half township will not rank as a first class town for ag- ricultural purposes, as much of the land is quite stony and dif- ficult to bring under cultivation. The soil in many port'o.is of the town is strong and productive and the sturdy settlers by dint of much hard labor have made for themselves comfortable homes and seem to be prospering.
The plantation was organized as No. 11, Range I in 1859, and in 1983 the name was changed to Cary, in honor of Hon. Shepard Cary, who formerly owned land in the township. There are five schools in the town, most of which are supplied with good, comfortable houses. The churches are well supported ard the social and moral tone of the town is good. The popula- tion of Cary in 1890 was 390 and the valuation $37,578.
LETTER B.
There are in Aroostook County a number of townships upon which rartial settlements have been made, but which are as yet but l'ttle developed and being somewhat off the main traveled thoroughfares are not much known away from their immediate vicinity. Many of these townships contain large areas of excel- lert land for agricultural purposes and are capable of supporting a large population and afford possibilities for as fine farms as can be found in any of the more thickly settled portions of the county. The fact that these townships have passed from the possession of the State and are now owned by proprietors who purchased them chiefly for the timber, works against their de- velopment as agricultural towns. The right of these proprietors
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to the ownership and control of these lands cannot of course be questioned. The State consented to sell and these gentlemen paid their money for the lands and have an undoubted legal right to hold them for lumbering purposes, or to dispose of them as they see fit, and in these rights they should certainly be pro- tected. Still the fact remains that ownership of these townships by non-resident proprietors who derive a generous income from the sale of stumpage renders their settlement practically impos- sible and thus hinders in a large measure the development of the County and its increase in population and production.
Among the townships capable of making good agricultural towns is Letter B, Range 2. This township lies directly east of Littleton, north of Ludlow and corners upon the town of Houlton. Leaving the stage road from Houlton to Presque Isle about a m'le north of Houlton village, a road turns to the left and runs d'agonally across the northwest quarter of the town of Houlton. This road not being a part of any stage route is not generally travelled except by the residents of that portion of the town and the settlers upon "Letter B," through which settlement the road continues. It is, however, an excellent turnpike road and runs through one of the most fertile agricultural portions of the town of Houlton. All along the road are handsome and productive farms with neat, well painted buildings and surroundings indi- cating thrift and prosperity. The natural scenery is very beau- tiful and this road affords a very fine pleasure drive upon a pleasant summer day.
Crossing a branch of the Meduxnekeag something over a mile after leaving the Presque Isle road, we continue on in a northwesterly direction through what is known as the Niles set- tlement, where there are some fine farms and very handsome residences. The road here runs very near the stream and a branch road crosses the stream and continues due north through Houlton to the Littleton ridge.
Passing the Niles settlement we ride by other handsome farms and leaving the town of Houlton through its extreme north- west corner, come to the township of "Letter B." The road en- ters this township at its southeast corner and running diagonally across two lots, then runs due west on the lot lines for something over two miles, when, like Emerson's highway, it ends in a squir- rel track and goes up a tree.
Only a small tract in the southeastern portion of the town- ship is settled, but this settlement contains some very good farms. The township is owned by Madigan & Donworth, and
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much lumber has been cut upon it in years past.
As we enter the settlement of Letter B, we first come to the farm and residence of Mrs. Pilsbury, on the left of the road. This is a very good farm with a handsome residence. Mrs. Pilsbury is a daughter of Col. Joshua C. Carpenter and formerly resided in Texas, her husband, now deceased, having been a member of Congress from that State. Miss Harriet Carpenter, a sister on Mrs. Pilsbury, resides with her. Col. Joshua C. Car- penter moved to Letter B. in 1852 ard bought this lot for Mrs. P.IsUury and made his home here until his death in 1855. He was killed by a falling the. A party of men were engaged in cutting a "drive," as it is called by chip, ers. The trees on quite an extent of ground are cut nearly off ani then a large tree on the outer entre of the "drive" is changed off and sent crashing upon the others, causing the whole pierre to fall I.ke bricks in a row. A laige diive had con cut md tho theti were falling a large bitch which was to carry vith it In its fall al! the partially chopped tites. Col. Carpenter stood of what was thought a sau distance, holding his watch to the the choppers. When the trec fell, a huge limb was hulled upon the Colonel, killing him instantly. Col. Camente, was a man well known in many portions of Maire, having been formeil, a prominent man in the Democratic party. He formerly res ced in Pecobscot County and was at one time Sheriff of the County. He was a man of much force ard vigor, always with the roughest site out, but possessed of a kind heart. In politics he was a sturdy fighter, always wanting "a free field and a fair fight." His son, Major Stephen Decatur Carpenter, of the regular army, was a gentle- man of culture and a splendid soldier. He fell while gallantly fighting at the battle of Murfreesboro and was much lamented by his comrades and many friends.
A short distance beyond Mrs. Pilsbury's the road turns squarely to the west near the residence of Mr. Luther Snell. Mr. Snell moved to Letter B in 1855 and settled upon this lot, upon which a very small clearing had been made. He now has fifty acres of good land which produces fine crops and has a good, comfortable set of farm buildings. Mr. Snell is a son of Mr. Luther Snell, who was for so many years the genial and kindly landlord of the old Snell House in Houlton. Mr. Snell, Sr., died in Houlton three years ago. He gave up active business some years before his death and spent the last years of his life quietly among the many friends with whom he had so long been associated.
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On the opposite side of the road from Mr. Snell is the pleas- ant residence of Mr. Davidson, a printer by trade, who formerly worked in the office of the Aroostook Pioneer. He has now re- tired to the quiet shades of this farm in Letter B. and his neigh- bors have shown their appreciation of his worth by making him school supervisor. The schoolhouse is situated near his residence and a good school is here maintained.
Next west of Mr. Snell's on the south of the road is the farm of Mr. George W. Carpenter, a grandson of the Colonel. His father, Mr. B. F. Carpenter, was the first man to make a clearing in the wilderness of Letter B. He came in 1858 and bought two lots and commenced clearing land. He built a log house and moved to his home in the forest in 1860. Here he continued to reside and to extend his clearing until his death, which occurred in January, 1879. His son now has the east half of the home- stead farm. Mr. Carpenter has about thirty acres of cleared land and raises good crops. The soil is rich and strong, not very stony and produces well. The residence is the comfortable frame house built by his father after the era of the log buildings was passed. His brother, Mr. William N. Carpenter, has the west half of the homestead farm. He has thirty six acres cleared and under cultivation, and has a comfortable home.
Opposite the homestead farm on the north side of the road is the farm of Mr. Thomas J. Carpenter, another son of Mr. B. F. Carpenter. He has 100 acres of good land, with fifty acres cleared and a good set of farm buildings.
Next beyond Mr. Carpenter on the north of the road is Mr. Charles Stevens, who came to the town some fourteen years ago and made a small clearing and built a comfortable house. Mr. Stevens is a house carpenter and does not do much farming. Mr. Frank A. Hammond lives next west on a good farm with good buildings. He is a man who has faith in farming and will no doubt make a success of it.
Opposite Mr. Hammond's, on the south of the road, is the farm of Mr. Michael Rugan, who commenced here something more than twenty years ago and now has a good farm with forty acres of cleared land. His next neighbor on the west is Mr. George N. Crawford, who bought a wild lot here in 1863 and has made a good farm .. He is an industrious man and has made a comfortable home. Opposite Mr. Crawford's is the Jameson farm, which is a very good farm, and passing this we come to the last farm upon the road. Mr. Andrew Gardner came from New Brunswick twelve years ago and bought this lot, upon which
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Mr. William Batchelor had made a small clearing. Mr. Gardner now has one of the best farms in the town and has a new and handsome house. The road terminates at Mr. Gardner's and his fields are bordered on the west by the forest. There are a few farms in the extreme southwestern portion of the township ad- joining the Ludlow line.
The Township of Letter B. is abundantly watered by streams and brooks. A branch of Meduxnekeag runs in an east- erly course entirely across the southern portion of the township and many brooks flow from the northern portions of the town into this stream. Mr. James G. McConnell has a mill on the Meduxnekeag, half a mile from the Littleton line. This mill was built many years ago by Josiah Gellerson and contains a rotary, lath machine, shingle machine and clapboard machine. The mill is run by water and formerly manufactured lumber for shipment, but has not been run to any extent for the past few years. Mr. Nelson Mitchell some years ago built a mill a mile above on the same stream. His son, Edward Mitchell, now runs the mill.
Letter B. is a good settling town. It contains much good timber land interspersed with fine hard wood ridges. The town- ship was at one time organized as Hammond Plantation, but is now unorganized.
MERRILL
Township No. 6, Range 4 was in 1876 organized as Merrill Plantation, taking its name from Capt. William Merrill of Port- land, who bought the southeast quarter of the township about the year 1840. This township lies directly west of the town of Smyrna, north of Dyer Brook Plantation, and has Moro Planta- tion on its western boundary. The State road, so called, now runs on the line between Merrill and Dyer Brook the entire length of these towns.
Captain Merrill made his first clearing on the hill west of the East Branch of the Mattawamkeag, a short distance from the Smyrna line. His son, Edward T. Merrill, moved to the town in 1844 and settled on this lot. The Merrills made a large farm here and built a good set of buildings. William G. Merrill an- other son of Capt. Merrill, had the next lot to the west. The Merrills lived in the town some ten years, when Capt. Merrill sold his interest to S. H. Blake, Esq., of Bangor, and his sons returned to Portland. Mr. William Anderson now lives upon the
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farm formerly occupied by Edward T. Merrill. The stage road from Houlton to Patten crosses the corner of the town and Mr. Anderson's buildings are on this road, the State road also run- ning along the south line of this farm. Mr. Arthur Rosie occu- pied the farm after Mr. Merrill left it and Mr. Anderson came to Merrill twenty-three years ago and bought the farm of Mr. Rosie. This is a very handsome farm, situated upon elevated land and has some very fine felds. It is under good cultivation and has a good set of farm buildings. The large barn was built by Cart. Merrill and the hinges upon the barn doors were made from iron taken from the Brit al orig Boxer, which was captured off Fost and by the galent Leatenant Eunows of the U. S. Brig Enterprise, on the 501 5 september, 1813. The old setders of the town topert that Cart. We.till bought the remains of the old Brid h halt and that he b. a ut to the township many articles, mostly iron implements, o. ta ned Iro mthat source. Relic hunt- ers can yet End in the town ar old crowbar or two and some blozen sabers and ofher art'ces tallen from the Boxer.
lamig to the riem rear Mir. Anderson's and riding toward the rest on the State feed, we first come to the farm of Mr. Ira K. Tabell, which was the farm originally occupied by Mr. Wm. G. Meri'll. This is a food lara, woll iccated aid consists of 110 acies ot level Jana, with about 75 acres cleared. Next west is the farm or Mr. G. W. Talbell, who came from Solon when a small boy, some forty-eight years ago. The next farm is occu- pied by Milo E. Leavitt, a son of Moses Leavitt, whose residence is just across the road in Dyer Brook Plantation. Beyond Mr. Leavitt's the road e: tors a strip of woods and the land falls off toward Dyer Brook Stream, which the road crosses on a sub- stantial bridge.
After passing through the woods we come out to the farm of Mr. Mellin Grant, and next beyond him, Mr. John Grant, both of whom have good farms. The next settler is Mr. Herbert Brown, who has a good farm on a handsome hardwood ridge. The next farm is occupied by the widow of Mr. Chas. Stephens, who came here from Ludlow eleven years ago and bought this lot, upon which there was a small clearing. He cleared up a large farm and built a handsome two-story house and a large barn. The farm is situated on a beautiful ridge of land and the view extends over vast areas of forest to the west and north, with little clearings dotted in at intervals and winding streams glancing here and there in the sunlight, while the ranges of mountains extending northward from old Katahdin form a grand
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and beautiful background to the picture. From the Stephens farm the land falls off to the west toward Moro, and there are no more settlers on the State road in Merrill.
The old Smyrna and Rockabema road starts from the East Branch near Smyrna Mills and runs diagonally across Merrill Plantation in a northwesterly direction, leaving the town at the northwest corner and, after running about a mile and a half due west on the north line of Moro Plantation, intersects the stage road from Patten to Fort Kent. This road runs for a greater portion of the distance through an unsettled country, though there are some farms at intervals along the road. There are a su some very good farms in the southwest quarter of the town on roads running from the State road to the old Redubema road. A large part of this township is still in i's wilderness state, but much of it would cut up into good farms and on's land wil. one day be wanted for settlement. Hastings Look, a tributary of the West Branch of the Matrawankeay, rurs tlimparh a port.on of the romthwest quarter of the to vn ald Dudle, Brook, an al- fluent of the Fast Bianch, crosses the northeast corner.
Mereil Plantation hall in 1890, a population of 244, and a valuation of $64,396.
OAKFIELD
OakFeld is the Switzerland of Aroostook. It is the most mountainous and broken of all the towns in the county now opened for settlement. It reminds one of the hill towns of West Oxford and for ruggedness of surface may be compared with the old town of Albany with this difference, that the muontains of Oakfield are yet covered with a heavy growth of birch and maple. The southern and southeastern portions of the town are extremciy stony, immense granite boulders lying thick upon the surface and greatly interfering with agricultural operations. In the northern and northwestern portions of the town the granite disappears and the surface is somewhat less broken and better adapted to farming.
Oakfield was formerly known as Township No. 5, Range 3, and is bounded on the north by the town of Smyrna, on the east by Linneus and New Limerick, on the south by the unset- tled Township No. 4, Range 3 and on the west by Dyer Brook Plantation.
The east branch of the Mattawamkeag flows in a due south course entirely across the extreme western portion of the town,
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leaving but a narrow strip of land between the river and the west line of the town. In the northern part of the town are Spaulding Lake and Long Lake, whose waters are discharged westward into the East Branch, while still farther north and touching the Smyr- na line is Timony Lake, a pretty little sheet of water whose outlet is at its northern point, from which a brook flows northward into Cochrane Lake and thence into the Meduxnekeag. In the north- western portion of the town is Meduxnekeag Lake, better known as Drew's Lake, portions of which are in the towns of Linneus and New Limerick. The highest part of the town is near the centre and on this high land many brooks find their source, some flowing into the East Branch and its lakes, and thus finding their way into the Penobscot, while others run into the Meduxnekeag and its feeders and finally mingle their waters with those of the beautiful St. John. On this height are springs whose waters tric- kle out in both directions and thus the same springs help to feed both the Penobscot and the St. John, and the crystal rills parting from the same little pool on this wood crowned eminence mingle with the ocean many miles apart. In the southeastern portion of the town are Skitacook Lake and Mud Lake. The outlet of these lakes is the Skitacook Stream, which flows southward through Township No. 4, Range 3 and empties into the east branch of the Mattawamkeag.
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