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 14
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
On one of his visits to the old Locke homestead, he composed for the family the following lines which were set to music (America) and illustrated with a cut of the Locke mansion :
KINSMAN'S LOVE.
I.
We came from distant lands To join our friendly hands With those we love; And here, midst friendship's flow, We've all been blest below With joys which angels know In realms above.
II.
Here, where our mother's tears, Her hopes, her toils, her fears, For us were given ; A joyous, youthful train, Have found, o'er hill and plain, The golden age again, The gift of Heaven.
III.
Here, where the rocks and hills, The groves and leaping rills, In beauty shine ; And lofty mountains rise Up t'wards their kindred skies, With which their grandeur vies, In looks sublime ;
IV. The spiry fir-tree breathes From out perennial leaves, Its odors sweet ; The murmuring pine-trees tower Above the humbler bower, Defying storm and shower, On plain and steep; V. White mountains, clad in light, Lift up their peaks in sight, With snowy glare; And here Great Spirit dwells, Amid the mystic dells, So Indian legend tells, Our God is there ;
VI. Where Alpine flowers bloom Around our father's tomb, Since early spring ; The Linnean vine is seen, The spicy wintergreen,
The water-lily's sheen- Our hymn we sing.
VII. Where winds salubrious blow, And crystal rivers flow, Our health to save ; We consecrate the ground,
Where treasures such are found,
With music's hallowed sound, To Kinsman's love.
VIII.
And now, again we part, While ev'ry throbbing heart, Beats high and warm ; And though the leaf be sear, Be this, our meeting here, To mem'ry ever dear, Not time shall harm.
IX. Our love shall ever live, And joy shall ever give, To souls so kind. Thus time and space, no power, To mar this blissful hour, Or blight so sweet a flower, Shall ever find.
X. When far away we go, Where mighty rivers flow, Our hearts shall move. Our love shall time defy, Shall seat itself on high, To reign above the sky, For God is Love.
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
XI. Then bless his holy name From whom these raptures came, In solemn lays ; Sing now, ye kindred band, In this wild picture land, Of his blest works so grand, To God give praise !
CHARLES R. LOCKE.
Charles Russell Locke, son of Samuel B. Locke, was born in Bethel and always lived here. At the death of his father, he be- came possessed of the old homestead and here he lived, reared a large family, and here he was gathered to his fathers. Though following the occupation of a farmer, he possessed the traits peculiar to his family and was a natural mechanic. He was a man of sound judgment, of strict integrity and therefore a valuable citizen. As one of the selectmen of the town, he discharged his duties with dis- crimination, and as a Justice of the Peace he aimed to deal out exact justice between man and man. He was an intelligent farmer, following well tried and approved methods and satisfied with mod- erate gains. He was a quiet man and enjoyed the quiet of home life. He was a practical man and despised shams of every kind. In his household he was kind and indulgent, and hospitable to all who came beneath his roof-tree. He was a consistent and devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
MOSES MASON.
It is always gratifying to the biographer to be able to trace back the ancestry of his subject as far as possible. Moses Mason was a descendant of Capt. Hugh Mason who, with his wife Esther, came to this country in sixteen hundred and thirty-four, and settled at Watertown, Massachusetts. He was a tanner by trade and was much employed in town affairs. He was commissioned as captain in sixteen hundred and fifty-three ; and was elected Representative to the Legislature for ten years. He died October tenth, sixteen hundred and seventy-eight, in his seventy-third year; his widow died May twenty-first, sixteen hundred and ninety-two, aged eighty- two years. He left three sons and five daughters, of whom Daniel became a farmer, by whose wife, Experience, he had five children.
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His youngest son by his first wife was Moses, who married in Boston, June sixth, seventeen hundred and forty-nine, Lydia,. daughter of Jesse and Mary Knap, and settled at Newton. He. removed to Sherborn about seventeen hundred and fifty-seven. In July, seventeen hundred and sixty-seven, he sold land in Sherborn and then removed to Dublin, where he died October first, seventeen hundred and seventy-five. His widow removed with the family, in seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, to Bethel, Maine, and died there in eighteen hundred and two. He had four children.
Moses Mason, the subject of our sketch, was born April twenty- sixth, seventeen hundred and fifty-seven. He served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and fought under General Stark at the battle of Bennington. As he was marching to the assault, his. fellow soldier, Absalom Farwell, who had seen hard service as a boatswain on board a man-of-war, addressed him. "Moses," said he, "if they put my lamp out and don't yours, take my money out of my pocket and carry it to my wife, and if they put yours out and. don't mine, I will take yours and carry it to your mother." As they passed over the battle ground the next day, Farwell said to Moses, "Moses, you were afraid yesterday when you came on to the grounds." "No, I wasn't, sir." "Yes you were, for if they put your lamp out, you didn't care what they did with your money," showing the old veteran that he betrayed fear.
He picked up an elegant sword and powder-horn on the next day, which he brought with him to Bethel and which are still preserved in the family. An incident in the battle was related by him. While they were pressing upon the enemy in their retreat, his comrade threw his gun with the bayonet forward which stuck into the back of a retreating soldier and bent forward over his head. His son, Doctor Mason, had in his possession the gun used by him in that battle. June twentieth, seventeen hundred and eighty, he married Eunice, daughter of William Ayers, and settled in Dublin, New Hampshire. In seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, he removed to Bethel and bought the farm occupied by Capt. Eleazer Twitchell, and now owned by Moses A. Mason, on the north side of Barker's Ferry. On this farm was originally a heavy growth of pine timber. So cheap was it that the fences were made of what would now be valuable pine logs. He was an industrious citizen, and a good neighbor ; was chosen Representative to the Massachusetts Legis- lature for five years. He died October thirty-first, eighteen hun-
1
AYERS MASON.
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
dred and thirty-seven, aged eighty years. His widow died February fourth, aged eighty-five years. They had nine children born in Dublin, and two in Bethel. Mr. Mason was endowed with but a limited education, yet he was a man of correct judgment, and by his practical good sense, often settled the difficulties among his fellow citizens without regard to the law.
AYERS MASON.
A familiar face to three generations of Bethel people, was that of Ayers Mason, who died June fourteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, at the remarkable age of ninety years. He was born in Bethel, on the farm his father, Moses Mason, bought of Captain Eleazer Twitchell and settled upon in seventeen hundred and ninety- nine, December thirtieth, eighteen hundred, and at the time of his death, was the only nonagenarian in town, He was brought up on his father's farm, and at the age of twenty-five years, married Eunice (Hale) Mason, widow of his brother Charles. He settled upon the farm on the Middle Interval road near its junction with the road to South Bethel and Locke's Mills. This is the farm upon which Joseph Greeley Swan settled in the early times, and here Mr. Mason spent the most of his remarkably long life. He was a good farmer, and also an excellent man of affairs. He was a large owner of timber lands and was more or less engaged in lumbering in Bethel, Newry, Grafton and around Umbagog and other northern Maine lakes. He was a shrewd man of business, ever on the alert for the main chance, a good judge of timber lands, and by good management he accumulated quite a large property.
Mr. Mason was possessed of a kind and amiable disposition, a. man who would never lack friends wherever he might be. He was social in his habits, fond of his family and friends, a good neighbor and a valuable citizen. He was a man of strong convictions, and where principal was concerned, as firm as a rock. He was an early anti-slavery man, and an original Republican, though the members of his father's family in politics, were generally on the opposite side. He was a man of strictly temperate habits, and his long life was doubtless due to this fact. He was rarely sick a day, until the crisis came which must come sooner or later to every one, and from which there is no appeal. He died of old age, the complex machinery of his system being worn out, and
"It was his time to die."
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He had lived a widower twenty-five years, in the family of his youngest son, William Wallace Mason, who owns and cultivates the paternal acres.
NATHANIEL T. TRUE.
The ancestors of Dr. Nathaniel Tuckerman True include some of the best puritan families in New England, such names as Pike, Bradbury, Stevens, Worthley and Hatch. His great grandfather, Jonathan True, was one of the early settlers in North Yarmouth, and his grandfather, also Jonathan, was born there April thirtieth, seventeen hundred and fifty-eight. He was the second settler in that part of ancient North Yarmouth, which was set off and called Freeport, and subsequently set off from Freeport and called Pownal. He left nine children, one of whom, John True, born August seven, seventeen hundred and eighty-five, married November thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ten, Mary, daughter of Abijah Hatch, and was the father of the subject of this sketch, who was born March fifteenth, eighteen hundred and twelve, and was their eldest child. He was brought up at hard labor upon his father's farm in Pownal, attending the short schools of the town, and finally later in life than is usually the case, fitting for college under the instruction of Dr. Joseph Shuman of North Yarmouth Academy. He was twenty- two years old when he entered college, and he remained only two years, when he commenced the study of medicine. In eighteen hundred and thirty-five, he taught the high school at Bethel Hill and also taught several successive terms. He met with marked success and from the first was a popular teacher. In eighteen hundred and forty, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Maine Medical School and commenced practice at Pownal. He was pleased with the study of medicine, more especially the branches of natural science connected with it, for which he had a fondness amounting almost to a passion. He liked the study of chemistry, botany, geology and mineralogy, and became proficient in each of them, but he had no love for the practice of medicine, and well knowing that he lacked the essential element of success, he soon abandoned it. He had a fondness and an aptitude for teaching, and laying aside his drugs and instruments, he adopted teaching as a life pursuit. He became the principal of Monmouth Academy and had charge of it for several years. When Gould's Academy was put in operation, Dr. True was preparing for the
.
DR. N. T. TRUE.
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
medical profession, and when he was ready to teach again, the place of teacher was already filled. But the trustees of Gould's Academy and the people of Bethel remembered the success which attended Dr. True's efforts as a high school teacher, and as soon as an opportunity was afforded, they invited him to the academy, and he readily accepted, for he was greatly attached to the people and the town. It was in eighteen hundred and forty-seven when he returned to Bethel, intending to make this his permanent home. The palm- iest days of Gould's Academy followed the advent of Dr. True, and continued for several years. The academy building was packed at each spring and fall term, and on some occasions pupils were turned away for lack of room.
Dr. True remained in charge of the academy until the trustees decided that new methods should be introduced and an infusion of younger blood to put them in operation. After this, while his family continued to reside in Bethel, Dr. True had charge of a Normal school in Western New York, and afterwards taught at Milan and Gorham, New Hampshire. He was editor of the Bethel Courier, the only paper ever published in Bethel, for nearly two years, and it was in this paper that his chapters on the history of Bethel were published. He was a member of the school committee in Bethel, and served a term as supervisor of schools for the county. At the death of Dr. Ezekiel Holmes of the Maine Farmer in eigh- teen hundred and sixty-five, Dr. True was invited to take charge of the agricultural department of that paper, which he conducted for four years. He was also an efficient member of the Maine Board of Agriculture. He wrote much upon the subject of agriculture and horticulture, and was the leading spirit in the Bethel Farmers' Club during the few years of its existence. He contributed many articles upon various topics to the columns of the Oxford Democrat, Lewis- ton Journal and Portland Transcript. He instructed his students at Bethel not only in theory but in practice, and it was his delight to take his spring and summer classes in botany, through the fields, pastures and woods and gather and classify the various kinds of flowers in their season ; or his pupils who were interested in geology and mineralogy, up to Paradise Hill, and sometimes even to the mountain tops, where he pointed out to them and explained the diluvial markings, and gathered minerals of various kinds. His influence was felt throughout the town, and aside from his good
10
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
work in the school room, he was a good citizen and interested in every movement calculated to benefit the village and town.
Dr. True's studies embraced a very wide range, and he was able to give instruction in almost every department of useful knowledge. They embraced languages both ancient and modern, the natural sciences, practical surveying and engineering, scientific agriculture, navigation, astronomy and the higher mathematics. If he failed in anything, it was trying to cover too much ground, for no man can be proficient in everything, and the chances are that if he tries to know something about everything, he will be profound in nothing. For the benefit of those not personally acquainted with him, and his name will be heard by many who can never see him, it may be well to add that he was undersized, compactly built, dark com- plexioned with dark blue eyes, of a nervous temperament, quick in his movements, his natural gait in walking being very rapid, his mind so often absorbed as to be oblivious of everything going on around him. I have often been amused at seeing him start with his family for the church, keeping uniform step with them for a short distance, when suddenly his mind would fix upon something foreign to his present surroundings, and he would step off at his usual rapid gait, and not come to himself until he was several rods ahead of his party. Dr. True was interested in historical and anti- quarian matters. Though not a resident of Bethel until his mature manhood, he soon became the historical man of the town. At the time of the Centennial celebration, he was selected as the historian of the occasion, and later at the Centennial of the Indian Raid, he was again called upon to officiate in the same capacity. Much of the material embraced in this history, was gathered and preserved by him. Soon after his removal to town, he united with the Con- gregational church and was ever a faithful member. He was chosen deacon and officiated in that capacity a number of years. He was a ready speaker, and when lecturing on geology and kindred sub- jects, always addressing his audience in a familiar and off-hand manner and making himself easily understood. He was enthusiastic in the school-room, and could always inspire his pupils with the same spirit. The ablest men that Bethel has raised and sent out into the world, are among those who have been under Dr. True's instruction. His last work in eighteen hundred and eighty-three, was a resumption of his old employment, this time at Litchfield Academy. Here he was stricken with paralysis which ever after-
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
ward rendered him an invalid and a cripple. He lingered along at his old home in Bethel for a year or two, and then passed away.
For thirty-five years or more before his demise, Dr. True occupied one of the most beautiful situations in the charming village of Bethel Hill. The place is still occupied by the family. The commodious house is shaded by fine old trees, and the broad avenue leading thereto, is bordered by trees some of which were set out by his pupils forty or more years ago. He also had a small outlying farm on the Paradise Hill road, on which he raised excellent fruit and other crops. He was one of the most industrious of men, never losing any time, and ever an early riser. He was a kind-hearted, genial man and full of sympathy for those working for self-education with limited means. He was pleasant in the school room, popular with his pupils, and hundreds of them scattered over the country were grieved at the news of his death. Of his writings, but little was ever published in permanent form, and most of them will soon be forgotten unless gleaned from the various newspaper files and reprinted. His historical address at the Centennial is embalmed in this volume.
ELEAZER TWITCHELL.
While Joseph Twitchell may be regarded in some respects as the father of the town, his son Eleazer is entitled to the credit of having been the founder of the village at Bethel Hill. He gave the Common to the West Parish on condition that the parish should clear the land and build a church edifice upon it. The land was cleared and the meeting-house lot staked out, and a portion of the lumber hauled for its construction, while subscriptions were solicited to aid in building it. At the same time, Eli Twitchell was making an effort to have the meeting-house built on the banks of the river near the ferry and between that and the mouth of Mill Brook. Both sides made a sharp canvass and there was the usual excitement attending it. Parties living on the north side of the river were particularly anxious to have the meeting-house nearer to them than to the Common, and they were successful. Years after, nearly half a century, when the old church was dismantled and a new one built on the Hill, there was the same feeling, and a second church was organized, on the north side. Captain Twitchell becoming dissat- isfied at the course pursued, fenced the Common into a field, and raised wheat and potatoes for several years. Aged citizens still
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HISTORY OF BETHIEL.
remember the Common covered with stumps and roots and a crop of wheat out-topping them all. The captain not only designed it as a location for a church but as a place for regimental parade, and after a few years, still desirous that there should be a Common, he removed the fences. As he had not given any deed of the land, after his death, his heirs, Jacob Ellingwood and Joseph Twitchell, all honor to them, generously deeded the land to the parish on con- dition that the stumps and rocks should be removed. This was done in eighteen hundred and twenty-nine. The inhabitants volun- tarily removed the rocks and stumps on the Common and on what is now Broad street, so that a regiment could and frequently did parade up the street and march down to the Common. The follow- ing is a copy of the deed, which will be read with interest :
"Know all men by these presents that we, Joseph Twitchell, yeoman, and Jacob Ellinwood, cordwainer, both of Bethel, in the County of Oxford, and State of Maine, aware of the utility to the public from the conversion of a plot of ground into what is usually denominated a common, for the accommodation of the public on the days of training and other popular collections ; Convinced that the title to land appropriated to such use should be vested in the public ; Desirous that the parcel of land in this town generally called the Common, should be converted and accommodated to the public use, ease and convenience ; and in consideration of one dollar and of certain labor, paid, done and performed thereon, by the inhabitants of the West Parish in said Bethel, the receipt and performance whereof we do hereby acknowledge, do hereby give, grant, bargain, sell and con- vey unto the said inhabitants, their heirs and successors the above named parcel of land situated in said Bethel as aforesaid, and being part of lot number twenty-three in the fourth range of lots on the south side of the Androscoggin River, and bounded as follows to wit: beginning at the southeast corner of land situated in the said lot and deeded by Joseph Twitchell aforesaid to James Walker, Trader, thence running south- wardly to the northwest corner of land deeded by Eleazer Twitchell to James Walker, Esq., thence eastwardly on said land to the road leading to Norway. Thence northwardly on said road to southeast corner of land, deeded by the said Joseph to the said Walker, Trader, and thence westwardły on the said Walker's land to the first mentioned bound, be the same more or less for the purpose of using the same as a Common. To have and to hold the aforegranted and bargained premises with all the privileges and appurtances thereof, to the said inhabitants, their heirs and successors to them, their use and behoof forever so long as they shall use and occupy the same as a Common as aforesaid and shall not convert the same to any other use by erecting buildings thereon or otherwise. And we do covenant with the said inhabitants, their heirs and successors, that we are lawfully seized in fee of the premises; that they are free of al
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incumbrances : that we have good right to sell and convey the same to the said inhabitants, to hold as aforesaid. And that we will defend the same to the said inhabitants, their heirs and successors forever so long as they make use of the same as aforesaid against the lawful claims and demands of all persons.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this twenty- fourth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.
[L. S.]
JOSEPH TWITCHELL, JACOB ELLINGWOOD.
The captain was generous in his impulses and many poor families that came into town received assistance from him, until they could get well started. When new families were coming, he would send a team to meet them and help them along, and open his house to them until they could get into their own quarters. He did a large business in farming and lumbering, and employed much help. In the winter he cut the large white pine trees growing on the bottom lands, on both sides of the Androscoggin, and cutting them into suitable lengths, hauled them upon the river when covered with ice. After the ice broke up in the spring, the logs were driven to Bruns- wick and sold to dealers there, who had them converted into boards and planks which they shipped to the West Indies and to other foreign markets. The pay was part cash and part West India goods, including sugar, molasses and rum. About two cuts were generally taken from each log, just so much as was free from knots, and the remainder was allowed to rot upon the ground. The price paid, landed upon the river, was from two to three dollars per thousand. Captain Twitchell not only cut timber from his own land, but he purchased large quantities that had been cut by others, and had it driven to Brunswick with his own. He was well known to the business men of Brunswick. He paid for the timber he bought from the settlers, largely in goods which he hauled from Brunswick and which he sold from his own house. West India rum was a leading article in his trade with the settlers, and each family consumed more or less of it. After failing to obtain a grant of a portion of the town of Greenwood, Captain Twitchell and another purchased quite a large part of it, but it proved a losing investment.
ELI TWITCHELL.
Captain Eli Twitchell was the son of Captain Joseph Twitchell and was born in Sherburn, Massachusetts, February seventeenth,
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seventeen hundred and fifty-nine. He marched with others to the vicinity of Bunker Hill immediately after the battle, and by carrying a very heavy gun on his shoulder, he contracted a disease of the bone of the arm, a portion of which was removed. This unfitted him for severe bodily labor. He came to Bethel probably in seven- teen hundred and eighty-two and commenced operations on the farm afterward owned by his grandson, Curatio Bartlett. He came on foot to Bethel in the winter, and was so chilled and exhausted that he was compelled to walk on his hands and knees for the last two miles before he reached his brother Eleazer's house. He built a comfortable farmhouse on the borders of the interval below Mr. Bartlett's house. He kept bachelor's fare for some time, though it it is said that the young ladies of the day were fond of visiting him every week and cooking up a week's supply of food for him, and, receiving in return some of the West India goods which he kept for sale. He was the first person in town who brought such things into town for sale. He married Miss Rhoda Leland of Sherburn, who died in seventeen hundred and ninety-four. His second wife was Lucy Segar, who died in eighteen hundred and forty-four. In con- sequence of his lameness he directed his attention to mechanical pursuits in which he was very ingenious. He made brass clocks, and guns, and repaired watches and jewelry. The Indians brought their jewelry to him from Canada to be repaired. During the great freshet in seventeen hundred and eighty-five, he stepped from his door into a boat and went over to the spot where the Ayers Mason house now stands. At the organization of the town he was chosen Captain of the Militia. He built a large house on the spot where Mr. Bartlett's house now stands, which was burned some years ago. He had four children by his first wife, and one by his second. Captain Twitchell died in November, eighteen hundred and forty- five. He was a man of public spirit, and was much of the time in town office, as collector, treasurer, clerk and selectman. He also was a land surveyor and Justice of the Peace.
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