USA > Maine > Oxford County > Bethel > History of Bethel : formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890, with a brief sketch of Hanover and family statistics > Part 12
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ROBERT A. CHAPMAN.
Hon. Robert Andrews Chapman, eldest son and child of Eliphaz Chapman, Jr., was born in Gilead, September twenty-second, eigh- teen hundred and seven. He spent his youth upon his father's farm, and attended the town schools of Gilead. He had a natural aptitude for business, and when still a minor, he found employment
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in the store of O'Neil W. Robinson, at Bethel Hill. His ambition was, as I have heard him say, to own that store and do business therein in his own name. Though the realization of his ambitious hopes seemed to him like something afar off, and perhaps never to be realized, yet it was only a few years before he acquired the store as an actual possession, and continued to operate it for nearly half a century. He was very successful in all his business enterprises, and at the time of his death was the wealthiest man in town. For many years, he and his brother Elbridge were associated in business together, and kept the largest assortment and did the heaviest busi- ness of any firm in the village. Finally Elbridge moved to Portland where he engaged in the wholesale trade, while Robert A. Chapman continued the business here, for a few years in company with Hon. Enoch W. Woodbury.
Mr. Chapman was one of the most industrious of men. When I was attending school in Bethel, I was in the habit of occasionally rising early and going to Paradise Hill to have a view of the gorgeous sunrise seen from that point, and I never passed Mr. Chapman's place in the early morning twilight, without seeing him about his chores, milking his cows, and feeding his horses, or at work in the garden, and getting ready for his day's employment in the store. He was correct in his habits, strictly temperate, a liberal supporter of, and a constant attendant at the Congregational church. Mr. Chapman was not a politician in the modern sense of the word. He never felt that he could afford the time to hold office, his own private business being sufficient to absorb all his time. In the time of the old parties, his sympathies were with the democrats, and as such he was elected to the State Senate in eighteen hundred and fifty, and re-elected the following year. When the third party in Oxford county was organized in the interest of prohibition of the liquor traffic, Mr. Chapman joined the movement, and he followed, when that faction became absorbed in the great republican party in eighteen hundred and fifty-five. Mr. Chapman was tall and erect, but rather slender, lithe and active in all his movements-a marked face and figure which impressed one at once as belonging to no ordinary man. His penetration and sagacity, coupled with his activity and perseverance, would have assured success in any pro- fession or business he might have chosen, but he chose mercantile pursuits, and in his success outstripped all his predecessors and contemporaries. Probably Bethel never had a clearer-headed busi-
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ness man than Robert A. Chapman. He married March twenty- eighth, eighteen hundred and thirty-three, Frances, daughter of Dr. Timothy Carter of Bethel, and had a family of six children, five of whom with the widow are still living.
ELBRIDGE CHAPMAN.
Deacon Elbridge Chapman, third son of Eliphaz Chapman, Jr., was born in Gilead, June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and thirteen. He came to Bethel Hill when a young man and was long in trade with his brother Robert. He was more especially the man in the store, while his brother attended to the outside business. He was a man of strict integrity and his word was as good as his bond. He married Delinda, daughter of John and Lucia (Twitchell) Kimball, and had four children. Professor Henry Leland Chapman of Bowdoin College is their oldest son and third child. Mr. Chap- man early joined the Congregational church, was chosen deacon and became a leading member. In the absence of the pastor, when a sermon was to be read, the duty generally devolved on Deacon Chapman, who was a good reader. He was a prudent and indus- trious man, a man with a kind heart and obliging disposition, a good neighbor and valuable citizen. He had a deep interest in the prosperity and welfare of his adopted town which he manifested in many ways and on various occasions. He was a quiet man, domestic in his habits and had strong attachments for home and family. Sometime in the fifties he moved to Portland and was in the whole- sale trade there, first in the grocery business and afterwards in the dry goods business. He never possessed a vigorous constitution and after a prolonged sickness, he died at his home on State street, Portland, June twentieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight. His widow has since deceased. She was a most excellent woman and will long be remembered in Bethel, not alone for Christian virtues and blameless life, but for her fine soprano voice which for so many years was heard in the choir of the Congregational church.
ELIAS M. CARTER.
Elias Mellen Carter, son of Dr. Timothy Carter, was born in Bethel September eleven, eighteen hundred and eleven. Few citi- zens of Bethel have been more conspicuous in public affairs, and. none have left a clearer record. He served as town clerk for several
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years, but it was in the capacity of selectman that he appeared at his best. He had sound judgment and unwavering integrity, quali- ties that admirably fitted him for the position of chief executive officer of the town which position he long held, and could have held much longer had he consented. He served also as Representative to the Legislature, as Executive Councillor, and as County Com- missioner, in all which responsible positions he acquitted himself with distinguished ability. He was long in commission as Justice of the Peace and in the trial of causes, was noted for his candor, impartiality and legal acumen. He always resided at Middle Inter- vale, was the "squire" of the little village and its recognized best man. By occupation he was a farmer, and devoted himself to work on his large farm when not engaged in public affairs. His social qualities were of a high order, and he was exceedingly popular with all classes.
PHINEAS FROST.
Phineas Frost, son of Thomas Frost, (see Family Statistics) was born in this town and spent the greater part of his life here. He was brought up to labor on the farm and his educational facilities were none of the best, for at the age of seventeen years, when the last war between the United States and Great Britain broke out, he enlisted and served until near its close, in Captain Hull's Company of the Ninth United States Regiment of Infantry commanded by General, at that time Colonel Winfield Scott. Near the close of the war, in an engagement, he was severely wounded by a rifle ball which was never extracted and which troubled him more or less during the remainder of his life. Returning from the war, he mar- ried Abigail, daughter of Josiah and Molly (Crocker) Bean and settled on Howard's Gore, now a part of Hanover, where he owned and operated a mill. A little later he returned to Bethel and en- gaged in farming. For many years he was prominent in town affairs, serving as one of the selectmen and for many terms as chairman of the board. During those years, he had a greater per- sonal following than any other man in town. Every measure that he originated or adopted, he was sure to carry through, and in the many wordy contests between the upper and lower parish, he was ever the leader and champion of the latter. He generally adopted the popular side, advocating the cause of the poor, and this in part, accounts for his popularity and uniform success. He was a ready
PHINEAS FROST
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speaker, bold and defiant rather than persuasive, and pursued his object to the bitter end without fear or asking favor. When the town received its share of the surplus revenue there was a sharp contest over its disposal. Mr. Frost advocated dividing per capita among the inhabitants of the town and, after a sharp and long debate, he carried it through. He five times represented the town in the Maine Legislature, and of that body he was an able and valuable member. The last time he was not the candidate of any party. It was at the time when parties were badly divided and were being reorganized and the Democrats having nominated O'Neil W. Robinson, Esq., a very popular man and regarded as somewhat liberal in his views, the nomination was supported by the dissenters who afterward became Republicans. The district was composed of Bethel, and the towns and plantations northwardly and in the lake region, and as soon as the nomination was made and ratified, Mr. Frost, on foot and with staff in hand, commenced a pilgrimage through the district, visiting every leading Democrat therein. The result was when election came, that Mr. Frost was elected by a decided majority.
When quite advanced in years, he commenced to clear up a new farm, the one a short distance from the road between the river and Locke's Mills, and now occupied by Jonas W. Bartlett. Here he erected a substantial set of farm buildings and cleared up quite a number of acres of land. His younger sons were now with him, but when they grew up they were not contented here, and as fast as they became of age went to seek their fortunes elsewhere. He finally sold out his farm and followed them, and in eighteen hundred and fifty-six he moved to a rural town in Minnesota, where he engaged in farming. Later he removed to the shire town, now the city of Anoka, where he died on the twentieth day of March, eigh- teen hundred and seventy. His wife died October twenty-first, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and their remains repose side by side in Oakwood cemetery in the city of Anoka, where several of their children reside. Mrs. Frost was a sturdy housewife and an excellent mother, and her large family of children were well brought up and fitted for the duties and responsibilities of life. This little sketch, with the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Frost, kindly furnished by their children, will keep them in perpetual remembrance by their numerous surviving friends in this town, and will keep fragrant their memories in the years to come.
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ELI FOSTER.
Deacon Eli Foster was the son of Asa and Anna (Bartlett) Foster of Newry, and was born in that town. When he became of age he married Dorcas, daughter of Stephen Bartlett of Bethel, and settled on wild land situated on the road between Locke's Mills and the Androscoggin river, though at the time he erected his house, the road had not been built. His land consisted of lowland and upland, and when he selected his building lot, he exercised that judgment and foresight with regard to future wants, not often shown by the early settlers. The spot selected was where the lowlands joined the upland, near a beautiful brook which comes from the hills at this point and meanders through the level ground to Otter brook. He left the forest on the high ground in the vicinity of his buildings, which consisted largely of the sugar maple, standing, and they are standing to this day and constitute one of the finest sugar orchards in the town. On the hill east of this maple grove, he cleared land for pasturage, and the level ground was cleared up for meadow and crops. The broad area of high interval, almost a dead level, and stretching away across Otter brook and to the hills beyond, attracts. the attention and elicits the admiration of all passers by. Mr. Foster's education was somewhat limited, but he had natural abilities of a high order. He was a model farmer and a first class business man. His thrift, which was the result of prudence and economy, sometimes excited the envy of his less fortunate neighbors, and even of those who were often glad to have the benefit of his better circumstances. He was kind-hearted and accommodating, social in his tastes and habits and rendered needed assistance to the poor by giving them employment at seasons when they could find it nowhere else. His wife was a helpmate indeed. She was skilled in all the domestic arts for which the settler's wives were distinguished ; carding, spinning and weaving both flax and wool, she furnished clothing for the household, beginning with the raw material and ending with the made up and finished garments. In the evening after the household duties had been carefully attended to, she would sit with knitting work in hand, and it was marvelous . to witness the numerous pairs of hose, linen for summer and woolen for winter wear, and mittens, she would produce in a single year. Mr. Foster was chosen Deacon of the Baptist church and was filling the posi- tion at the time of his death. He was a man of decided views, a strong temperance man, and a few years before his death, gave up
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the use of tobacco, of which he had long made use. His wife survived him many years, dividing her time between the old home- stead occupied by her only son, and the home of her eldest daughter, Mrs. Ira Cushman of South Bethel.
JOHN GROVER, SENIOR.
Among the earliest settlers was John Grover. Respecting the genealogy of the family, an interesting communication from his grandson, Hon. Lafayette Grover of Oregon, will be read with interest.
"In late researches into the early history of New England, I have quite satisfied myself as to what time our family ancestors came to this country, I find that John Grover, the first of our name in this country, was living in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in sixteen hun- dred and thirty-four. He was probably among the first who arrived after the landing of the Mayflower in sixteen hundred and twenty. John Grover had a son John, born in sixteen hundred and forty, (as the old records in Charlestown still show), whose oldest son John settled near Andover, Massachusetts, where our great grand- father James was born, who, with his five sons and three daughters (James, John, Jedediah, Eli, Elijah, Sarah, Olive and Naoma), soon after the close of the Revolution, purchased extensive tracts of land in Bethel, Maine, from whom all of our name descended, who live in this town. Our great grandfather was a man of great piety and some learning, and was a deacon in the church. He died in Bethel, and was the first man interred in the old cemetery on our old farm. John Grover, our grandfather, was the second son of the family, served in the Revolution, was at the battle at Princeton and Trenton, New Jersey ; returned home when the year's service expired, married Jerusha Wiley in Fryeburg, (who was a sister of the wife of General Amos Hastings,) and settled as a farmer at West Bethel. His farm included all the land upon which is built the village at West Bethel. Father was the oldest son and called John, which seems to have been a family name for many genera- tions. Our ancestors came from England. The name is purelp English, and in my antiquarian researches into the genealogical history of the middle ages, I have found the "coat of arms" belong- ing to our family. The escutcheon is surmounted by a crest, and an arm, embossed, from the clouds holding a wreath. There is but one "coat of arms" representing the name of Grover in all Heraldry,
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and that established beyond all question of dates, consequently there never was but one original head, so the descent is not questionable."
Mr. John Grover came to Bethel in company with Capt. Eleazer Twitchell in seventeen hundred and eighty. He had a camp in company with Mr. Peter Austin on the farm now owned by Capt. Samuel Barker. He was engaged the next spring in making sugar and in clearing land. When the Indians came to Bethel, in seven- teen hundred and eighty-one, they visited his camp and destroyed the sugar he had made. He happened to be from his camp and escaped to the house of Capt. Twitchell, where he and the others spent the night, expecting an attack at every moment. The next morning he started without ceremony immediately after breakfast. for Fryeburg, and arrived there, a distance of thirty miles, by noon. Capt. Twitchell soon after sent off a man on horseback, but Mr. Grover arrived there first. Grover Hill took its name from him.
An incident or two of him is worthy of record. He was stationed for a time at Dorchester Heights, when the British occupied Boston ; a detachment was ordered to throw up intrenchments during the night for the purpose of annoying the British in the city. A fire was incautiously built which served as a capital mark for the British Artillery. They immediately commenced a brisk cannonade ; the balls flew thickly. One arrested Mr. Grover's attention by cutting its way through an oak tree near by him. Another struck a man in the chest standing close by, cutting him nearly in two. The detachment sought refuge in the rear of the hill where they were safe. The next morning a large number of balls were collected by the soldiers. Powder carts loaded with sand arrived quite frequently, giving the enemy to understand that they were well supplied with ammunition. Mr. Grover was one of the hardy pioneers, well fitted to begin the world in a new country. A few years before his death he removed to Mercer, Maine. His son Mason was in the war of eighteen hundred and twelve, and being taken sick his father went to see him. This was in the direction of Montreal, but the father died on the way in eighteen hundred and fourteen. He had ten children. His wife died in Bethel, June, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine.
CUVIER GROVER.
At the age of fifteen years, Cuvier Grover, son of Dr. John Grover, was prepared for college, but declined to go, much to the
GEN. CUVIER GROVER, U. S. A
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regret of his parents. He would go to West Point Military Academy and be a soldier, or he would be a merchant. Not being old enough to be admitted to West Point, he went to Boston and secured a position as clerk with Mr. Eben D. Jordan, now the head of the great commercial house of Jordan, Marsh & Company of that city. He remained with Mr. Jordan two years and was rapidly promoted in business, until in the spring of eighteen hundred and fifty-six his father procured for him the place he wished above all others, the appointment as cadet at the United States Military Academy. He- passed his examination for admission readily and took high rank as a scholar the first year of his cadetship. But in the second year he reached to near the head of his class, and held his place during the balance of his course, and his name was annually thereafter pub- lished in the Army Register as one of the five "distinguished cadets" at the National Military School, where on account of the exacting severity of the course of studies and drill, not more than one-third of the young men who enter ever graduate.
His high scholarship entitled him to be appointed to the Corps of Topographical Engineers when he went into the army ; but he pre- ferred the artillery and was assigned to the Fourth United States Artillery as second lieutenant in eighteen hundred and fifty. In eighteen hundred and fifty-three, he was assigned by order of the Secretary of War to engineering duty on the exploring expedition through the region now traversed by the Northern Pacific Railroad, under the command of Isaac I. Stevens, then appointed to the Governorship of the newly organized Territory of Washington. This expedition as a leading object, was to examine and report. upon the feasibility of the construction of a railway to connect the head of Lake Superior with the navigable waters of the Columbia river and the Puget Sound. This region was then a terra incognita, inhabited only by savage tribes.
Lieut. Grover took a prominent and active part in this explora- tion. Leading journals of the country expressed grave doubts as to the advisability of this effort to locate a line for a Pacific railroad in that quarter, for the reason that, if feasible grades could be found, the depth of snows and the inhospitable climate in the Rocky Mountains near the forty-eighth parallel of North latitude would forbid the operation of a railroad there. This objection was con- stantly in Governor Stevens' mind, and was the talk of the camp as the expedition advanced, without being solved by any obtainable
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information. At Fort Benton, a trapping post among the Indians, they were told that no one, not even an Indian, had ever passed the Rocky Mountains in those latitudes in winter time. Lieutenant Grover proposed to remain on the head waters of the Missouri, exploring the upper branches of that river till the first of January, then cross the mountains in the dead of winter and report the climate and the depth of snows, if he could have thirty men to aid him. The expedition consisted of three hundred, all told, but Governor Stevens declined to make the detail, remarking that the proposed service was extra-hazardous and he could not order it, however much he desired the knowledge of these facts. Grover replied that he would volunteer himself for this work, and perhaps a sufficient number of men would do the same. Stevens ordered his command drawn up in line and stated to them the proposed duty and the offer of Lieutenant Grover to volunteer for its per- formance if he could have thirty men to remain with him. He also stated to them that he had declined to order any men for such work, but if the number wanted would volunteer for the special service, they were at liberty to do so, and requesting such as were willing to volunteer to step two paces to the front. Four men stepped out of the ranks. And Stevens turning to Grover, said : "Lieutenant, you see you cannot have your men." Grover replied : "'I will take the four." After much hesitancy, the detail was made and Lieutenant Grover remained with his small force surveying the Upper Missouri and the Milk river for light steamboat navigation and lines for railway approaches to the foot of the Rocky Moun- tains, during the months of October, November and December, eighteen hundred and fifty-three. Then on January first, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, made his memorable crossing of the Rocky Mountains in the dead of winter on snow shoes, drawing his rations with a train of dogs hitched to sledges. This duty was performed in the midst of hostile Sioux and Blackfoot Indians, and he and his few men stood many a narrow chance for their lives. He found no snow depths over eighteen inches in his transit of the entire moun- tain range, and the climate of fair winter moderation. This owing to the trend of the main chain of the Rocky Mountains in these latitudes toward the Pacific coast, and the ocean breezes drawing eastward from the Pacific Ocean up the valley of the Columbia river and over the Puget Sound, effecting a decided modification of the winter climate in those mountain regions, as contrasted with the
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mountain temperatures farther south. So this great climatic prob- lem was solved for the first time, and the objections to the feasibility of a Northern Pacific Railroad were removed by the report of Lieu- tenant Grover of his winter expedition of eighteen hundred and fifty three-four.
In eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, while he was serving as first lieutenant of a company in the Tenth United States Infantry, his company was ordered to duty on the Utah Expedition, com- manded by General Albert Sidney Johnston, for the reduction of rebellious Mormons. The captain of his company being reported on the sick list, Lieutenant Grover took command and marched on foot with his company all the way from the Missouri river to Utah, though as commanding officer of his company he was entitled to be mounted, and he brought his company to the end of this long march in such good condition that he attracted the attention of the com- manding general, who when martial law was declared in Utah, appointed Lieutenant Grover Provost Marshal of that Territory. In this most delicate and difficult office, he conducted his duties with distinction, and to the entire satisfaction of his Commanding General. At the close of his service in Utah he was promoted Captain in the Tenth Infantry and was retained on frontier duty at Fort Union, New Mexico, at a two company post, where he was at the breaking out of the war in eighteen hundred and sixty-one. Surrender was demanded by the rebel authorities of all United States troops and munitions of war then in Texas and New Mexico. While other posts were complying with the demand, on account of lack of force to resist, Captain Grover, taking instant notice of the situation, devoted all his resources to mount and provision his men for a long forced march, and burned and destroyed everything else, even the post itself. He then pushed so rapidly North that the force sent to capture him, after his refusal to surrender, was too far behind to overtake him, and came only to witness the smoking ruins of the destroyed post. After being reported in the news- papers as captured and killed, he duly arrived with his command at the Missouri river, whence he immediately reported himself at Washington. After receiving the compliments of the War Depart- ment on his exploit, he was tendered the Colonelcy of the First Regiment of Sharp Shooters, at that time just being organized, but he declined the special honor, preferring the broader field of the general service.
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