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 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
Molly Ockett often came to Bethel. She was acquainted with all the families and was ever ready to prescribe for any who were sick. She carried no remedies along with her in her journeyings to and fro, but when asked to prescribeshe would start for the woods where she was sure of finding what she wanted. Her remedies in part consisted of blood-root, Solomon's seal, buck-thorn, skunk- cabbage, oak, elm, basswood and pine barks, sweet elder, sumach berries, mountain ash bark and a great variety of herbs. She had
16
.
242
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
great skill in collecting them and also in concocting drinks, in mak- ing salves and poultices and in applying them. Many had great faith in her remedies and skill, and at some homes she was ever a welcome visitant. She was often present at the births of children, and was sometimes retained in families for weeks that she might be present on such occasions. She felt deeply chagrined when a phy- sician came, and she realized that she must seek a new field of work.
DR. TIMOTHY CARTER.
The first physician who came to Bethel and settled here perma- nently, was Dr. Timothy Carter. When he came, the town had been settled for more than twenty years, had increased in population and wealth, and with the neighboring towns that had no physician, could give one a good support. Dr. Carter was born in the town of Ward, Worcester county, Massachusetts, November twenty-seventh, seventeen hundred and sixty-eight. When he was but eleven years of age, his father, who was a house carpenter, fell from a building which he was finishing, and was instantly killed. His son Timothy being the eldest child, went to live in a family in Sutton, Massachu- setts. He was largely dependent on his own resources for a living and for an education, but he had ability and pluck, and made the most of his advantages. He worked for the man in whose family he lived and who was a dealer in oil, attended the common schools, taught school winters, and in this way obtained a good education for the times in which he lived. He studied medicine with Dr. James Freeland of Sutton, and for several years practiced medicine with his teacher. He was married to Miss Fannie Freeland, July twenty-eighth, seventeen hundred and ninety-three, who was born Sept. ninth, seventeen hundred and seventy-one, and died in Bethel, Nov. fourteenth, eighteen hundred and fifteen. Dr. Carter removed to Bethel in seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, at a time when there were about eighty families in the town. He settled on the spot afterwards occupied by his son, Elias M. Carter, Esq., at Mid- dle Intervale. This section of the town was at that time regarded as the centre of influence, as it had increased more rapidly in popu- lation than the West Parish. Dr. Carter soon had an extensive practice. His rides on horseback extended from Dixfield to Shel- burne on the river, a distance of nearly fifty miles, while he was constantly called to visit families among the mountains and in places
DR. TIMOTHY CARTER.
DR. MOSES MASON.
243
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
where no carriage could possibly enter. Much of the time his only guide was the spotted trees. In eighteen hundred, the next year after he came to Bethel, he was chosen town clerk and treasurer, which offices he filled for twelve years. His plain handwriting stands very conspicuous on the town records. He was selectman for several years, and was Justice of the Peace during his entire residence in town. He was also the superintending school com- mittee for many years of his life, and visited the schools all over the town year after year without a cent of compensation. Probably he did as much to raise the standard of our common schools as any other man. He became connected with the Congregational church and was chosen Deacon in eighteen hundred and seventeen, which. office he held to the time of his decease. For his second wife, he married June twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and eighteen, Miss. Lydia A., daughter of Theodore Russell, who was born in Bethel, July sixteenth, seventeen hundred and ninety. He stood high as a physician, enjoying the confidence of his numerous patrons in a remarkable degree, and he was no less esteemed as a citizen and as a man. Several physicians received their medical instruction from him, among whom were Dr. James Ayer, Dr. Cornelius Holland, Dr. John Barker and Dr. John Grover. He was a man of fine presence, tall, and rather slender, and straight as an arrow, even when advanced in years, and his head as white as the snow. He was social in his habits and affable and kindly in his relations with his fellowmen. He was eminently a gentleman after the pattern of the old school, and no man ever lived in Bethel that had more warm and devoted personal friends. In my boyhood days I have often seen this venerable man and good physician, both at his home and when riding in his carriage, and I never saw one who more impressed me as a person entitled to profound respect. He died suddenly of heart disease, February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and forty- five, and was mourned by a whole town and by many outside the town of Bethel.
DR. MOSES MASON.
Dr. Moses Mason was a conspicuous figure at Bethel Hill for many years. He was portly in size, of fine presence, and in his later years, when his hair, which he allowed to remain quite long, was white as snow, he was a good example of the patriarch. When he was ten years of age he came to Bethel with his father's family.
244
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
Having but limited facilities for obtaining an education, and work- ing for his father upon the farm until he reached his majority, he found himself at twenty-one years of age, very near the foot of the ladder. Desiring to prepare himself for the practice of medicine, he entered the office of his brother-in-law, Dr. James Ayer, and not only studied medicine but the rudiments of an education. He taught school winters, and after some years, he managed to pull through so as to commence practice at Bethel Hill in eighteen hun- dred and thirteen, being then twenty-four years of age. He built a fine mansion house facing the common, upon land which, when he commenced practice was a swamp. He married June fifteenth, eighteen hundred and fifteen, Miss Agnes Straw of Newfield, who came to the new town, and with willing hand and heart, aided her husband in her appropriate duties towards establishing a home. The doctor soon had a respectable and lucrative practice, and won the confidence of a numerous class of citizens. Still the doctor was never wedded to the practice of medicine. He had early, partly by the force of circumstances and partly from choice, engaged in pub- lic affairs, which from year to year increased upon him till the year eighteen hundred and thirty-three he was elected to Congress, when he laid aside the practice of medicine entirely. He was appointed the first postmaster in town in eighteen hundred and fourteen. Pre- vious to that time the inhabitants had to go to Waterford for their nearest office. The doctor used to say that he was scarcely ever more excited in his life than while he stood listening to the post- man's horn sounding in the distance, announcing the important fact that the mail was coming to Bethel for the first time. The first arrival of a train of cars created no such an excitement. He held the office till eighteen hundred and thirty-four, a period of twenty years, when he resigned. He was commissioned Justice of the Peace in eighteen hundred and twenty-one, which office he held most of the time to the time of his death. He united in marriage some eighty-six individuals, for which he never received a cent, in- variably giving the fees to the bride. He was appointed County Commissioner in eighteen hundred and thirty, and in eighteen hun- dred and thirty-three he was elected Representative to Congress from the second District, and re-elected in eighteen hundred and thirty-five. He was in Congress during the exciting administration of Andrew Jackson, where he made the acquaintance of Wright, Clay, Webster, J. Q. Adams, and others who took a prominent part
DR. JOHN GROVER.
245
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
in the public affairs of that day. Few men could better entertain a visitor with the congressional history of that period than Dr. Mason. He was a member of the Governor's Council in eighteen hundred and forty-three and five, and in eighteen hundred and forty-four he was appointed a trustee of the Insane Hospital. For fourteen years he was chosen a selectman of the town. He was elected President of Gould's Academy in eighteen hundred and fifty-four, which office he held till his death. For several years before his death, the Doc- tor had but little connection with public affairs, but lived in quiet retirement on the spot which he first chose for a home, where he employed his time in reading and in some mechanical work in which he was quite ingenious. He spent much time in adorning the Wood- land cemetery, in which he exhibited excellent taste. He was, at the time of his death, the oldest proprietor in the village, having lived on the same spot more than fifty years. Though decided in his political preferences, he had the good sense to respect merit where- ever it was found. As a counsellor, especially in political affairs, he was unusually sagacious, as long as he was engaged in public life, pretty surely predicting the result of any given course of action. The Doctor was a large proprietor in the present town of Mason, built and operated mills there, and when the town was incorporated it was named in his honor.
DR. JOHN GROVER.
Dr. John Grover was not only the most eminent physician and surgeon that ever resided in this town, but of those who were born and reared here and spent the major part of their lives here, he was the best educated and possessed of a greater store of useful knowl- edge. He was the son of John Grover, the early settler, and was born at the homestead of his father in the west part of the town, November twenty-second, seventeen hundred and eighty-three. During the greater part of his minority he attended to agricultural pursuits, assisting his father in cultivating his large farm and in lumbering, attending to brief terms of school. He was an observant youth, and at an early age became a student of nature whose works were so lavishly displayed in the valley of the Androscoggin and in the adjacent highlands.
Jedediah Burbank. Esq., once remarked that he employed young Grover about some work, and going out to visit him, found him en- gaged in solving a mathematical question on a post which he had
246
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
hewed smooth for that purpose. Such a mind can never be arrested in its onward course, and accordingly John Grover found his way to the study of Rev. Daniel Gould, who was at that time in the habit of giving instruction in the English and classical studies, to the young men of the town. He also went to Monmouth and Hebron Academies, which had been recently established. Having a desire to study the French language, he went to Montreal, where he pur- sued the study under Messrs. Roi & Jobin, for eighteen months. This rendered him able to speak and read fluently in that language. Having acquired an extensive knowledge of the French, Latin and Greek languages and the mathematics, he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Timothy Carter of Bethel, and subsequently under Dr. John Merrill of Portland. He also attended two courses of lectures at Harvard University.
During the war with Great Britain, he was hospital steward at Portland. Having thus had advantages, especially in surgery, much superior to most young men in a newly settled country, he commenced the practice of medicine in Bethel in eighteen hundred and sixteen, where he was in constant practice of his profession to near the time of his death, a period of nearly fifty years. His prac- tice was very extensive, and often of the most difficult and trying character. For many years it was very much as a consulting phy- sician and surgeon. Few men have devoted their leisure hours to reading and study so unremittingly through a long life as he, and at the age of seventy-five was constantly making himself familiar with all the improvements in medical science, and in new and valuable remedies. It is not saying too much, that few men in the State of Maine could talk so understandingly on so great a variety of topics as Dr. Grover. When visiting the academy as a trustee, he could throw out some valuable suggestions on every topic presented which was worthy of thought by teacher and student. He was, for thirty-five years surgeon of the militia. He was a member of the convention that met at Portland to frame the Constitution of Maine, and was elected Representative to its first Legislature. In eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, eight and nine, he was elected a member of the Senate. For many years he was President of the board of trustees of Gould's Academy, and took a more lively and active interest in its prosperity than any other man. He always attended the examinations of the classes until enfeebled by age and infirmity, and was something more than a mere passive looker-on.
247
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
He was critical in his examination, and his questions were always practical and to the point. In eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, Dr. Grover made an extensive journey through the western States, and his observations were published in series of letters which were very entertaining and valuable.
For many years Dr. Grover resided at the place previously occu- pied by Parson Gould, and more recently by Dr. Robert G. Wiley. He sold this place and purchased of Jacob Ellingwood his place at the southwest of the common and extending down the Mill Hill. Dr. Grover remodeled the house, and here he lived for many years and until his family had grown up and most of them had left him. This house is now known as the "Elms," and has undergone im- portant changes since the Doctor left. The Doctor built a house on another part of the lot he purchased of Ellingwood and farther to- ward the mill, and here he spent the remainder of his days. In his later years he spent most of his time in his office, which was sup- plied with a large and varied stock of medicines, and where he was consulted by, and prescribed for large numbers of people. In eigh- teen hundred and nineteen, he united in marriage with Miss Fanny Lary of Gilead, who performed well her part in rearing their distin- guished family of children. He died July nineteenth, eighteen hun- dred and sixty-six, aged eighty-three years.
For many years Doctor Grover was a familiar figure to the people of early Bethel. He travelled on horseback, carrying his drugs and instruments in saddle bags, after the manner of the times, and he often travelled in this way, thirty. or forty miles a day. He was better skilled in surgery than any physician in this part of the State, and there was not a difficult case within fifty miles where he was not called, either as principal or consulting physician. He was a student and an investigator to the day of his death. This was a marked trait of his character, and to the last, he took pleasure in re-examining the very elements of scientific knowledge as handled by some master mind. His life presented points worthy of imita- tion of every young man. It showed what a determined purpose can accomplish under difficulties. When he was a farm hand there were none better, and when a river driver, he had the reputation of being the best in the community. When he studied medicine, he determined to excel in the profession, and. he accomplished his pur- pose. As a scientist, he had no equals in his native town. As a politician in the modern acceptation of the term, he failed, or would
248
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
have failed, had he attempted it. He would not practice deception upon others nor allow it to be practiced upon himself. He was some- times rough in his demeanor and language, but he could be kind and courteous when sure that he was not being patronized. Taken all in all, Bethel will not soon see his like again.
DR. ROBERT G. WILEY.
Dr. Robert G. Wiley was born at Fryeburg, November eleventh, eighteen hundred and seven. After attending to the studies per- taining to a profession, he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Ira Towle of Fryeburg, and subsequently under Dr. John Grover of Bethel. Under their instruction he had an excellent op- portunity for becoming familiar with the different phases under which disease constantly presents itself, and under which circum- stances the physician is instantly called upon to express his judg- ment. He was thus prepared to enter at once upon the duties of his profession. Having attended the medical lectures at Brunswick, and there being an opening at Bethel, in consequence of the election of Dr. Moses Mason to Congress, he commenced the practice of medicine in Bethel in eighteen hundred and thirty-five. Earnest in his profession then as he is now, he could be seen at that time on horseback, with his saddlebags behind him wending his way into every inhabited recess within his circuit of practice. Dr. Wiley has been more exclusively devoted to his profession than is the lot of most men. When not in duty, he is always at home in the enjoy- ment of his family. He engages in no public matters. His horse is harnessed wherever a call is made for his services, and away he rides, and so it has been for more than half a century. It would seem as though he had had enough amid the storms of wind, snow and rain to wear out a common man, but the Doctor still retains his hold and is good, apparently, for years to come. A large book filled with incidents of domestic life could be written from the Doc- tor's experience as a physician. In consequence of this devotion to his profession, he has secured an extensive practice and enjoys the confidence of a large circle of friends. October seventeenth, eigh- teen hundred and thirty-five, he was married to Miss Abigail B., daughter of the late Col. Thaddeus Twitchell of Bethel. Their course of life has been shadowed by the sudden death of several of their children. The Doctor has resided for many years on the
DR. ALMON TWITCHELL.
249
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
pleasant spot formerly occupied by Dr. John Grover, a mile and a quarter west of the village, where he has a small lot of excellent land which he keeps in the highest state of cultivation, and from which he obtains a bountiful annual harvest.
DR. ALMON TWITCHELL.
Dr. Almon Twitchell was born in this town September fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eleven, was the son of Joseph Twitchell, the first male child born at Bethel Hill, and grandson of Eleazer Twitch- ell who built mills near Bethel Hill, and was the earliest settler in this part of the town. Dr. Twitchell is said by his contemporaries, to have manifested in his boyhood, a love of study and a desire to fit himself for future usefulness. He enjoyed no special educational advantages until he was twenty-three years of age, yet like every one who become really successful in life, he set about educating himself. He taught school at the age of eighteen, and to obtain means for pursuing his studies, he continued to teach winter schools. for nearly a dozen years. When the High school was opened at Bethel Hill by Nathaniel T. True, among the pupils was Almon Twitchell, who took up Latin, Greek and French, and the higher mathematics, and was among the best scholars in the school. He fitted for college in all the requisite branches, but being somewhat advanced in years to take a college course, he decided not to enter. At school he was marked among his fellow students for sobriety, candor, and attention to study. At the same time there was enough of dry humor in his mental make-up, to render him a cheerful and entertaining companion.
In eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, having decided on the medical profession, Almon Twitchell entered the office of Doctor Reuel Barrows of Fryeburg, where he remained three years, mean- time attending two courses of lectures at the Maine Medical School, from which he was graduated in eighteen hundred and forty. He entered the office of Dr. Ingalls of Bridgton, where he remained one year, and then settled down in practice at North Paris. He was. successful in his practice, which extended into Sumner, Woodstock and other neighboring towns, but the country was somewhat sparsely settled, the roads hilly and generally much out of repair, so that the Doctor's professional work taxed his strength to the utmost. In eighteen hundred and forty-five, at the earnest solicitation of his old
250
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
friends, he moved to Bethel Hill, where he continued to reside. He soon had a large and lucrative practice for a country town, was not only a popular physician, but in other respects, one of the most popular men in town.
While at North Paris, in eighteen hundred and forty-three, he married Miss Phebe M., daughter of Captain Jeremiah Buxton of North Yarmouth, a lady of much ability, in whom he had a safe counsellor and a most worthy companion. Dr. Twitchell early identified himself with the temperance cause, was strictly abstinent in the use of alcoholic stimulants, discouraged its use as a beverage in others, and administered it in his practice with extreme caution. He oftened lectured upon the subject of temperance from the medi- cal standpoint, pointing out the terrible effects of alcohol upon the delicate tissues and organs of the human system. He was originally a free soil democrat, and aided in organizing the republican party in Oxford county. He was twice elected to the State Senate, and having the entire confidence of the party, had he lived, he doubtless would have received higher honors. His candor and integrity com- pelled the respect even of his political opponents, and as a party adviser and manager, he had few equals and no superiors among his contemporaries in the county where he lived. Of the later years of his life, I can speak with more perfect understanding, having been for nearly four years under his tutorship and for a considerable por- tion of the time, one of the household. He was a domestic man, fond of his home and his family, and kind and courteous to all stop- ping temporarily or otherwise, beneath his roof-tree.
From the time when he returned to Bethel, he had not enjoyed perfect health. Exposure to the rigors of our climate brought on rheumatic and neuralgic troubles, and while rarely confined to the house for any great length of time, he as rarely saw a well day. Early in the autumn of eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, he was taken sick with what appeared to be a slow fever, complicated with gastric and hepatic troubles. Though suffering more or less, he kept about and did some professional business until into October, when he was obliged to take to his bed. He continued to fail until Saturday evening, October twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and fifty- nine, at about nine o'clock, when he breathed his last, the imme- diate cause of his death being hemorrhage from the bowels. His pastor, Rev. Absalom G. Gaines, and the writer hereof, besides the family, were the only persons present when he died. On Tuesday
251
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
following his death, his funeral was largely attended, and his pas- sing away when but little past middle life, was deeply mourned by a whole community.
DR. JOSHUA FANNING.
Joshua Fanning, son of James Fanning, was born in Suffolk county, Long Island, New York, March ninth, seventeen hundred and ninety-seven. For several years he attended school with an eminent teacher, where he acquired a good English and Classical education. Having determined on the choice of the medical profes- sion, he entered the office of David Hozack, M. D., a distinguished physician and professor of New York city, and graduated at the Columbia Medical College in eighteen hundred and nineteen. His opportunities for hospital practice were excellent. Under such Professors as Doctors DeWitt, Mitchell, Hozack, Post, Mott, Francis, names familiar to the profession as household words, the student could not fail of receiving such lessons as would prove of the greatest value to him in subsequent life. He commenced prac- tice at Sag Harbor on Long Island, where he remained till eighteen hundred and fifty-four. After spending a year in Ohio, he was en- gaged in lumbering operations in Grafton and Newry, Oxford county, Maine, in which he was not as successful as in the practice of medicine. In eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, he settled at Bethel and re-entered upon the practice of his profession. In Jan- uary, eighteen hundred and twenty, he was married to Miss Alma Tuttle of Riverhead, Long Island.
DR. OZMON M. TWITCHELL.
He was the son of Joseph Twitchell and was born in Bethel, June twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and nineteen. After attending school more or less during his minority at Gould's Academy, he entered the office of his brother, Dr. Almon Twitchell. He also attended lectures at the Medical College in Hanover, New Hamp- shire, and Woodstock, Vermont. He settled in Milan, New Hampshire in eighteen hundred and forty-six. There being no physician near, and the country being comparatively new and sparsely settled, his rides were often quite extensive. September second, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, he was married to Miss Rosalba D. Chandler of Milan. In eighteen hundred fifty-four and
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.