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 24
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
fifty-five, he was elected a Representative to the Legislature of New Hampshire, William B. Lapham, his brother's student attending to his practice during his absence. For many years he was a Justice of the Peace and Notary Public. On the death of his brother, Dr. Almon Twitchell, he removed to Bethel and engaged in the practice of his profession here. A year or two later he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where he has since resided. He had one child, a son who resides in Madison.
DR. DAVID W. DAVIS.
Dr. Davis was born in Effingham, N. H., in eighteen hundred and twenty. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School, and in eighteen hundred and forty-five he commenced practice at Locke's Mills. He was very successful and built up a large practice. His buildings were burned in eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, and instead of rebuilding, he moved to Bethel Hill. He was well known in the village and at once had a large and lucrative practice. In eighteen hundred and eighty, his health began to fail, and his dis- ease, mild at first, developed into a cancerous condition of the stomach. He suffered greatly during the last few weeks of his life and died March fourteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-one. He was a member of Jefferson Lodge of Masons of Bryant's Pond, and was buried with Masonic honors.
OTHER PHYSICIANS.
Quite a number of Physicians were born and reared in this town who have practiced medicine elsewhere. The first medical student who was raised in town was Dr. James, son of Joseph Ayer. He studied medicine with Dr. Timothy Carter, and married Thirza, daughter of Moses Mason, settled in Newfield, and died in eighteen hundred and thirty-four.
JOHN BARKER, M. D., was born in Massachusetts, but spent his early years in Bethel. He studied medicine under Dr. Carter and settled in Wilton, Me. He received an honorary degree of M. D. at Brunswick Medical College in eighteen hundred and forty-six, and died in New York city, where he was residing with his son, Dr. Fordyce Barker, the distinguished physician and surgeon of that city.
DR. CHARLES STEARNS, son of Charles Stearns, studied medicine with Dr. John Grover and settled in St. George where he died.
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
DR. LEANDER GAGE was the son of Amos Gage, one of the first settlers in the town. Having studied medicine with Dr. Timothy Carter of Bethel, he settled in Waterford where he was for many years a prominent physician, and where he died.
DR. CULLEN CARTER, son of Dr. Timothy Carter, studied medi- cine and settled in New York city.
DR. THOMAS ROBERTS was born in Bethel, now Hanover, and having graduated at Brunswick Medical College settled in Rumford, where he died.
DR. ZENAS W. BARTLETT, son of Elhanan Bartlett, was born in Bethel, now Hanover, graduated at Brunswick Medical College and settled in Rumford, then removed to Dixfield, where he died.
DR. SAMUEL BIRGE TWITCHELL, son of Ezra Twitchell, graduated at Dartmouth College, and subsequently graduated at Geneva Med- ical College, and commenced the practice of medicine in Wakefield, New Hampshire, and died in Bethel in eighteen hundred and fifty- four. .
DR. SILAS P. BARTLETT, son of Ebenezer Bartlett, was born in Bethel, graduated at Brunswick Medical College and settled in East Dixfield, where he still resides.
DR. WM. TWITCHELL, son of Eli Twitchell, studied medicine with Dr. Isaac Lincoln of Brunswick, and graduated at Brunswick Med- ical College and settled in Cayuga county, New York.
DR. CHAS. RUSSELL, son of James Russell, studied medicine with Dr. Robert G. Wiley and settled at West Paris, then moved to Fayette, where he died.
DR. J. HENRY B. FROST, son of Rev. Chas. Frost, graduated at Amherst College and subsequently in a Medical College in Philadel- phia, and practiced in Bangor.
DR. JOHN E. L. KIMBALL, son of John Kimball, graduated at Woodstock Medical College and went into practice in Saco.
DR. BENJAMIN W. KIMBALL, son of Israel Kimball, obtained a good education at Gould's and Bridgton Academies. He studied medicine with Dr. Almon Twitchell, attended lectures at Dartmouth and Bowdoin Colleges, graduating from the latter. He was appointed physician to a tribe of Indians on a reservation in Wash- ington Territory for a year or two ; then took a special course in pharmacy and spent some years in the drug business in Idaho ; took a special course in Philadelphia on diseases of the ear and eye, and set up as a specialist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he is now
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
in practice. He has married since he settled in Minneapolis, and has several children. He is a fine scholar and well educated in the various branches of the medical profession.
DR. C. W. GORDON of Conway, New Hampshire, married Mary E., daughter of Timothy Barker, and moved to Bethel Hill. He was in practice a few years, but his health failing, he gave his attention to agriculture. He died several years ago.
DR. WM. WILLIAMSON, son of John Williamson, was born in Manor Hamilton, Ireland, September twenty-second, eighteen hun- dred and twelve. At the age of nine years his parents came to America and resided most of the time in Bethel. William, mani- festing an inclination for study, was sent to the high school in eigh- teen hundred and thirty-five, and subsequently to the academy in Bethel, and then commenced the study of medicine under Dr. B. C. Mulvey of Saco. He graduated at the Medical School in Bruns- wick in eighteen hundred and forty-seven. He practiced medicine ahout two years in Saco and then removed to Bethel and settled at Middle Intervale, where his father resided. After that time he be- came deeply engaged in agricultural pursuits. The practice of medicine was never congenial with his feelings, and he gave his ser- vices after he settled in Bethel, only when he could not avoid it.
The physicians now in practice at Bethel, with the single excep- tion of Dr. Robert G. Wiley, have come here within a few years, and none of them are native born. Dr. John A. Morton married for his second wife, a daughter of Hon. William Frye. Dr. John A. Twaddle and Dr. C. D. Hill are in practice here, and Dr. John G. Gehring is a resident but not engaged in practice. Dr. Wm. H. Gray, who was formerly an army surgeon resided on Bethel Hill and engaged more or less in practice before his death, which occurred very suddenly in eighteen hundred and ninety.
HON. WILLIAM FRYE.
CHAPTER XXI.
LAWYERS.
ETHEL had little need of members of the legal profession for the first few years after its settlement. Matters of difference which arose among the early settlers were gener- ally referred to one of the Justices of the Peace, who was considered competent to decide points of law, and where no points of law were involved, the services of other disinterested persons were made use of and sometimes the assistance of the minister was invoked.
WILLIAM FRYE.
William Frye was the first lawyer who came to Bethel with the view of settling here. He was a young man, and here he spent the remainder of his years. From a sermon preached by his pastor, Rev. Edwin A. Buck, the following obituary notice is extracted : "Hon. William Frye was born in Fryeburg, May twelfth, seventeen hundred and ninety-six, and was the youngest son of Richard Frye of that town. His grandfather, from whom the town of his nativity derived its name, was a General of distinction in the revolutionary war. His early studies, in which, as may be inferred from his subsequent life, he was chiefly distinguished for accuracy, were prosecuted in the academy of Fryeburg under preceptor Cook. As an evidence of his proficiency he obtained the prize at the academy for a Latin poem, at the early age of fifteen. After that, having become fitted for an advanced standing in college, eager to enter upon the active duties of life, he entered at once upon the studies of his profession, a step which in subsequent life he greatly regretted, regarding a thorough collegiate course as highly valuable for every profession, and as especially so, for that on which he had entered. Having chosen the law for his profession, he commenced and prosecuted his studies at Fryeburg under the direction of Judge
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Judah Dana and Mr. Stephen Chase. In the fall of eighteen hun- dred and twenty, not long after having been admitted to the bar, he decided upon a settlement in Bethel, as a place whose situation gave promise of favorable circumstances for the honorable pursuit of his profession. In September, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, he was married to Miss Lois Twitchell. From the first, highly esteemed by those who were so happy as to form his acquaintance, ere many years the confidence of his fellow-citizens was evinced by his election to town offices, in which he served first as one of the selectmen, and subsequently as town clerk for the period of six years. But the value of his services was known and appreciated beyond the bound's of his ordinary practice. Twice he received the appointment of County Attorney ; twice he was sent as Representa- tive to the Legislature, and twice was chosen a member of the Senate of the State. From eighteen hundred and fifty-two, as regularly appointed School Commissioner for Oxford county, he visited each town in the county, laboring to promote the cause of public educa- tion. Thus for the space of eighteen years he served to general acceptance in these several stations of public life.
His interest in the cause of education was ever prominent. View- ing it as a bulwark of our free institutions, he sought not simply for the education of his own children and those in the more immediate circle of his friends, but to open facilities for the general diffusion of knowledge. As a Trustee of the Academy in Bethel, he served faithfully as Secretary of that board from the foundation of the institution to the time of his decease.
At the age of eighteen he was drafted as a soldier in the war with Great Britain. On his arrival at Portland he was seized with a fever and returned home, probably satisfied with his experience in military life. As a lawyer, Mr. Frye was highly and justly es- teemed. He was pre-eminently a peacemaker. He discouraged litigation, even where there were prospects of large gain to himself, if it would incite to or encourage prosecution. His clients not only looked to him with confidence for advice, but entrusted to him any and every secret with the assurance that their confidence would not be betrayed. Being judicious and safe, it was as a counsellor that he excelled. Possessed of that integrity and cautiousness, which are the prominent characteristics of those who excel before the jury, he was most highly esteemed by those to whom he was best known. Having continued his habits of study through life, and having now
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attained the full maturity of his mind, being possessed of an exten- sive experience and excelling in accuracy as a scribe, as a lawyer he held a position which another will not be able soon to fill.
As a citizen he was always interested in whatever he regarded as conducive to the public good. He even gave counsel to the town free of charge, and, in like manner, discharged other public labors. He ever encouraged whatever was calculated to elevate society, and deprecated that which was injurious. Of marked sobriety, he also preserved an equanimity of character, not always to be met with in the arena of political life, or in those harrassed by the annoyances of vexed legal questions. No profane words from his lips pained the christian's ear or corrupted the morals of society, or bespoke a spirit within, regardless of the divine claims. Pure minded and upright in his intercourse with others, he sought to cultivate the same characteristics in those around him. Courteous in all his dealings, he won the respect of strangers, confirmed the love of his friends and soon disarmed his enemies, if any such he had." Mr. Frye was a man of sedentary habits. He was seldom seen elsewhere than in his office or at his own home. He was never seen lounging about the stores or public places of resort, but was always ready to tender his services whenever needed. This sedentary disposition probably undermined his constitution gradually, and a chronic disease of the stomach troubled him for several years, till he was suddenly taken sick, and almost before his neighbors knew of his danger he was dead. This occurred February eighteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-four.
DAVID HAMMONS.
Hon. David Hammons was past middle life when he came to Bethel, and had a well established reputation both as a lawyer and statesman. He was born in Cornish, Maine, May twelfth, eighteen hundred and eight. He received a good academical education at Limerick Academy, and then studied law in the office of Hon. David Gould of Alfred. He was then admitted to the Oxford bar, and for many years practiced in York and Oxford counties. He was a good lawyer and advocate, and had an extensive practice. In eighteen hundred and forty-eight he was elected to Congress from the first Maine Congressional district, and at the expiration of his term, practiced at Cornish. In eighteen hundred and fifty-nine he moved to Bethel Hill, and continued in the practice of law. He enjoyed a
17
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
large practice until age and impaired health obliged him to abandon it altogether. He was a democrat of the ultra school, and conscien- tious in his way of thinking and acting. He married, September twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, Miss Martha O'Brien of Cornish, and left a family, some of his sons being lawyers.
O'NEIL W. ROBINSON.
Major Robinson was the son of O'Neil W. Robinson formerly of Bethel, where the subject of this notice was born July seventeenth, eighteen hundred, and twenty-four. He graduated from Bowdoin College in eighteen hundred and forty-five, and studied law in the office of Elbridge Gerry of Waterford. Admitted to the bar, he opened an office at Bethel and was very successful in his business. He was here when the war of the rebellion broke out, and became Captain of the Fourth Maine Battery of Light Artillery, and went with it to the Army of the Potomac. In time he became chief of artillery of the third army corps, and did good service wherever he was. In April, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, his health became much impaired, and he came to his father's house in Waterford on leave of absence. He grew rapidly worse and died July seven- teenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, it being his fortieth birth- day. He was never married. He was an honest, square man, and as an attorney, entitled to the highest confidence. In making col- lections he always made it a point to pay to his client the identical money collected for him.
RICHARD A. FRYE.
Richard A. Frye, eldest son of Hon. William Frye, was born in this town July twenty-second, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine. He attended the common schools and fitted for college at Gould's Academy. He did not go to college, but entered upon the study of the law with his father, was admitted in eighteen hundred and fifty- five and succeeded his father in the practice. He is considered a good counsellor, and has had a large and lucrative practice. He is methodical in his habits and pays strict attention to business. He succeeded his father as Secretary of Gould's Academy, and has served one term as Judge of Probate for the county of Oxford. He
HON. ENOCH FOSTER.
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
was married December nineteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, to Miss Esther Kimball, daughter of Kimball and Rachel (Godwin) Martin of Rumford, and has one son.
SAMUEL F. GIBSON.
Samuel F. Gibson, son of Hon. Samuel and Rebecca (Howard) Gibson, was born in the town of Denmark, county of Oxford, in April, eighteen hundred and twenty-three. He read law in the office of Howard & Shepley of Portland, (Joseph, afterwards Judge Howard was his uncle) and was admitted to practice at the Cum- berland bar. He began practice in Patten, in this State, but having: received a clerkship in the Quartermaster's department, United States Army, he went to California, where he remained three years. He then returned to Maine and settled at Bethel, where after a year or two, he opened a law office. He married Miss Abb, daughter of Moses Pattee of Bethel, who died after a few years, and he married Agnes M. Ayer. He had five children, two by the first and three by the last marriage. When he first came to Bethel he was a con- tractor on the Atlantic and Saint Lawrence railroad, and then was in trade for a year or two before he resumed the practice of law. During the war he served six months as assistant quartermaster, with the rank of Captain, having charge of water transportation and stationed at City Point, Virginia. He died of apoplexy, in Bethel, in eighteen hundred and eighty-eight.
ENOCH FOSTER.
Hon. Enoch Foster, son of Enoch and Persis (Swan) Foster, was: born in Newry, Maine, May tenth, eighteen hundred and thirty- nine. He spent his boyhood days upon his father's farm, attended the town schools, subsequently attended Gould's Academy and at the Maine State Seminary. He pursued a partial course at Bowdoin College, studied law in the office of Hon. Reuben Foster at Water- ville, graduated from the Law school at Albany, New York, and having been admitted to the Oxford bar, he commenced practice at Bethel in eighteen hundred and sixty-five. After the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, he enlisted and was mustered into the United States service as second lieutenant of company H, Thir- teenth Maine Regiment, December thirteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one. He was subsequently promoted to first lieutenant, served
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
as provost marshal under General Banks and resigned that position to take part in the Red river campaign. He was discharged from the service March eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, his term of enlistment having expired.
ยท
In the practice of law Mr. Foster was successful from the start, and soon held an enviable position at the Oxford county bar. A close student, a fluent and eloquent advocate, and added to this, a love of his profession, could not fail of bringing him prominently before the public in a short time. He was elected attorney for the State for the county of Oxford, and served two full terms of three years each, ending January first, eighteen hundred and seventy- four. The same year he was elected member of the State Senate, and re-elected the following year. March twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, he was appointed by Governor Robie, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine, and reappointed by Governor Burleigh in eighteen hundred and ninety-one. As a member of the highest Judicial tribunal of the State, he has taken high rank, and his decisions in law in nisi prius, have rarely been overruled by the full court. His opinions from that court are clearly and succinctly drawn, and are good ex- amples of condensed, yet comprehensive composition. His family statistics may be found in their proper place.
MOSES B. BARTLETT.
Moses Barbour Bartlett, son of Barbour Bartlett, was born in Bethel, and after fitting for college in Gould's Academy, he grad- uated at Bowdoin College in eighteen hundred and forty-two. After teaching a high school for a season in Brunswick, and Gould's Academy in Bethel for one year, he commenced the study of law in the office of Wm. Frye, Esq., and settled in Bethel till eighteen hundred and forty-eight, when he removed to Norway, and subse- quently, after several years, to Waterford. His practice was quite lucrative, but being anxious to acquire more, and his health becom- ing impaired, he moved to Georgetown, Putnam county, Florida. Since that time he has removed to Kansas and still resides there. Some few years ago he dropped the name of Moses and substituted that of Alison. He married Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of General Thompson of Brunswick, and has a family.
RESIDENCE OF A. E. HERRICK, ESQ.
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
JOEL C. VIRGIN.
Lawyer Frye remained without a competitor till the year eighteen hundred and thirty-four, when he was confronted by an individual who subsequently became notorious for his thievish propensities. It would be pleasant to omit this name from our history, but per- haps it may, by way of contrast, exhibit in a clearer light the good qualities of other members of the legal profession who have been settled here. Joel C. Virgin was born somewhere in New Hamp- shire, fitted for and entered Dartmouth College, where he remained through his Sophomore year, when he left and commenced the study of law. After admission to the bar, he came to Bethel. He remained here about three years and became a vagabond. His strongest propensity seemed to be that of stealing. Dr. Nathaniel T. True had the misfortune to be his room mate while in Bethel, and strangely his limited supply of money found its way out of his pockets without his consent. Still it was not for years afterwards that he mistrusted what became of it. So strong did this propensity become that he would often pilfer things that did not seem to be of any importance to him ; consequently he was frequently brought before public officers, and the last heard of him here, he was in the State Prison at Charlestown.
ADDISON E. HERRICK.
Addison E. Herrick was the son of Benjamin and Maria (Gar- land) Herrick, and was born in Greenwood, June twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and forty-seven. He attended the common schools, fitted for college at Hebron Academy and graduated from Bowdoin College with the class of eighteen hundred and seventy- three. He taught in the Abbot Family school at Farmington for three years, and for three years was principal of Bluehill Academy. He studied law with Hon. Enoch Foster and was admitted to the Oxford bar in eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. He then be- came partner of Hon. Enoch Foster, and so continued until the latter was appointed Judge. He is the treasurer of the Bethel Sav- ings Bank, and represented Bethel in the last Legislature. He is a good example of a self-made man, having obtained an education and a profession by his own unaided efforts. He is made cf that stuff that never fails of success. He was married June nineteenth,
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eighteen hundred and eighty-two, to Minnie D., daughter of Captain M. K. Chase of Bluehill, and they have Miriam E. Herrick, born October eleventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.
WILLIAM C. FRYE.
William C. Frye, second son of Hon. William Frye, was educated at Bethel Academy, studied law and practiced for a time in Rum- ford. He then settled in the south and married Mrs. Maggie Weaver of South Carolina.
ALONZO J. GROVER.
Among Bethel young men who emigrated to the west and there distinguished themselves, was Alonzo J. Grover. He was the son of Jeremiah and Sophronia (Blake) Grover, and was born in Bethel, August twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight. He was an alumnus of Gould's Academy, and is well remembered by those who attended late in the forties and early in the fifties as a fluent speaker and prominent in the debating society connected with the school. He had, even as a student, radical views upon political questions of the day, and was a decided abolitionist. In religious matters he was sceptical and delighted in the discussion of questions before the lyceum, in which his peculiar sentiments could be indulged in. After leaving the academy he studied law, and was admitted to the Cumberland bar in eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and immediately went west, settling in the practice of the law at Earlville, in LaSalle county, Illinois. He aided materially in effect- ing the first republican county organization in the west, at Ottawa, in LaSalle county, in eighteen hundred and fifty-four. He was a very ardent republican until Horace Greeley, of whom Mr. Grover was ever a great admirer, was a candidate, when he gave him his support.
Mr. Grover was not only a lawyer of much more than average ability, but he was able as a political writer. In eighteen hundred and seventy-four, five and seven, he published many articles in the Chicago Tribune in favor of taxing bonds and of a greenback cur- rency, and when that paper refused to admit his articles, he started the Earlville Transcript, in which he sunk several thousand dollars, but sent his greenback candidates, one to Congress and the other to the State Senate. In the famous Greenback campaign in Maine,
HON, ALBERT S. TWITCHELL.
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HISTORY OF BETHEL.
Mr. Grover was on the stump in this State, and by his fluency of speech, contributed not a little to the success of the party. Return- ing to Illinois, he soon after moved to Chicago and there continued in the practice of law, and later was candidate for Judge of the Superior Court in that city. During the campaign it was stated in his favor that he was honest and upright in his dealings, never per- mitting a note to go to protest, and never owed a dollar that he did not pay. It was claimed that he was identified by early life and experience, with the workingmen, and knew well the hard road they had to travel. He never sought office, but much preferred to work for those who would carry out his views, and in this case he was not a candidate, until the nomination was made and he was urged to accept it. Mr. Grover died in Chicago in the early part of eighteen hundred and ninety-one.
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