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 29
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
As the records of the plantation are supposed to be irrecoverably lost, I am compelled to leave a blank of much that transpired during these years.
The only records of the plantation now known to be in existence is the report of a committee to settle accounts with persons who had worked on the fort and on the roads, and for scouting. John Grover was allowed £1 10s. for going to Fryeburg on an express. This was in 1782. Accounts were settled at this time for work on the roads. Probably the first road in town was from near Albert Burbank's farm to David Brown's house, and thence toward Water- ford, over the highest, driest and rockiest portions of the land.
In 1784, Capt. Peter Twitchell moved to the town and commenced clearing a farm on the land now occupied by Alphin Twitchell on the north side of the river. Many persons remember him as a man of strong physical and mental power. He died in 1854, aged 94 years. In 1785, occurred the first death in the settlement. James Mills, while engaged in felling trees on Grover Hill, was struck by a tree and instantly killed.
I have no record of events during the years 1783 and 1784, till
304
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
October 25th, 1785, when there occurred the greatest freshet ever yet recorded in the Androscoggin river. The inhabitants had built their log houses on the intervales of this river, when they were swept away with all their contents. Capt. Twitchell's house on the island was surrounded with water, and he took off his family with a raft. This was a severe, but useful lesson, as they rebuilt their houses in position above the reach of freshets. One acquainted with the location can form an opinion of its height when he is told that from Clough's mill to the Androscoggin river there was one continuous sheet of water. It rose two feet above the sills of Moses A. Mason's dwelling house beyond the bridge.
We certainly must attribute to the early settlers two unusual and disastrous events, the Indian raid and the great freshet.
I do not learn that there were many additions to the population of the town for three or four years after these events. But great crops always occur after a great freshet, and the bountiful harvests induced others to come through the woods to the Scoggin country as it was then called.
It may give us an idea of the relation of this town to that of Paris in this county in 1785, when Miss Dorcas Barbour, who after- ward became the good wife of Stephen Bartlett, left her home in Gray, on horseback, behind her father, and rode as far as they could go in this manner to Paris Hill. From this place she con- tinued her journey on foot or on snow-shoes, accompanied by Mr. Josiah Segar, who dragged along a sled containing all her goods. They reached a camp at night, where they found difficulty in pro- curing a fire for some time, but she always afterwards insisted that she spent the night very comfortably with Mr. Segar. They reached Mr. Keyes' house at Rumford Point the next day, and the following day met her sisters in what is now Hanover.
Among the early settlers was Rev. Eliphaz Chapman, who re- moved from Methuen, Mass., to Bethel, in 1789, and settled on the site of the old Indian village and their corn-fields, now occupied by Timothy Hilliard Chapman. His family came to town the next year. This was the first opening on the north side of the river above Moses A. Mason's.
Allusion has already been made to John Grover. He and four brothers settled on or near Grover Hill. Though rather tardy in getting married, yet, Mr. President, as all good citizens should do, he married, uniting his fortune with that of Miss Wiley of Frye- burg, of whose children may especially be noted Dr. John Grover, for more than fifty years a physician in this town.
Let us glance for a moment at the condition of these pioneers who had come from a country comparatively old, to a wilderness. Their route from Massachusetts to Sudbury Canada was either by way of Fryeburg, or to Standish, and then across Sebago and Long Ponds, on the ice in the winter, or in boats in the summer, and the rest of the way through a dense forest. Their most frequent neighbors were the Indians, who still occupied the region as their hunting ground, and who claimed a legal right to the country.
305
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
The pioneers had no roads. Spotted trees served as guideboards. Though exiled from the world, they had stout hearts, and the earth yielded bountiful crops. Marvellous stories were told by them re- lating to their crops of wheat, potatoes and corn on the rich soil of the intervales.
Yet they had their luxuries. They employed their time in the spring months in making maple syrup and sugar. Hulled corn boiled in maple syrup is no mean fare. Sage tea took the place of tea and coffee. Fresh moose steak was as good then as now. They could raise the finest wheat, which, made into a cake and. baked before the rousing fire, had a flavor which is sought in vain in modern cookery. Dea. George W. Chapman commemorates their luxuries in verse :
"Our blueberry sauce and cranberry tart, And blessed maple honey, too, Refresh the taste, rejoice the heart, And loss of appetite renew."
Their sleep was just as sweet in a log house as in a palace. The blazing hard wood fire in one corner of their house sent out rays of comfort to its inmates. A series of shelves in the kitchen held the bright pewter plates and the crockery ware in proud array, while the cupboard beneath had two kegs, one of which contained molasses. They ate their baked beans in those days with their knives instead of their forks, and drank their tea and coffee from the saucer if it was too hot.
A stranger at the table was never waited upon, but was invited by the host to help himself to the food placed in the centre. A man that could not help himself in those days was considered of little account.
Breakfast was had by candle-light in winter so the men could go to the woods by daylight. Dinner was had at twelve o'clock, and announced by the dinner horn or by a halloo from the mother of the family. Supper in the evening by candle-light.
The evenings in autumn and winter were largely spent by the men in husking and shelling corn, making shoes, baskets, brooms, bottoming chairs, making axe handles, and perhaps an ox yoke. The women worked even later at night than the men. Sometimes twelve or one o'clock would find the mother busy with her needle, preparing for the wants of her family. There was no ten-hour system then. The hired man was out of bed by daylight in sum- mer, and worked till dark, with only time to eat his meals, and if a young man he was expected to see how fast he could work. Mar- vellous stories can be told here to-day by old men, of how much a man could do in a single day. Fifty years ago it was the best man in town that could get ten dollars a month in summer.
There was a neighborly feeling existing then which is hardly known at the present day. If a neighbor called at another's house he rarely ever knocked, or if he did he heard the familiar words,
20
306
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
"walk in." The apple-paring bee, the husking, the raising, the quilting bee were scenes of real hearty enjoyment. Public demon- strations were few, and these served as a substitute and a useful purpose.
The family kitchen was the common reception room for every- thing. The long poles overhead served for the clothes after they had been washed and ironed, while in the autumn they were cov- ered with dried pumpkins and strings of dried apple. The old musket which had served in the war hung to a beam overhead. The huge fireplace was regularly supplied with a great back-log, fore-stick, and other wood every morning. The pile of ashes. served for roasting potatoes and burying up the coals at night. If the fire went out during the night recourse was had to the flint and steel and tinder box, or a boy was dispatched to a neighbor's for a live coal. Seats were improvised, and the neighbors assembled in the kitchen for a lecture from the clergyman, while on Sunday even- ing a neighboring youth made his appearance to court the oldest, or some other daughter of the family. Candles and lamps and window curtains were not needed then. The blazing fire shone cheerfully into the faces of those who made their courting a serious matter.
Evening visits to each others' houses were common in winter. A bowl of apples and a mug of cider always made their appearance. A bountiful supper, in which doughnuts and mince pies were sure to be seen, was followed by stories of pirates and witches which abounded in those days, or of the personal adventures in the revo- lutionary war, or on some knotty doctrinal subject in theology .. We smile at these things, but there was a hearty, rational pleasure scarcely enjoyed by a more artificial state of society.
They easily made necessity the mother of invention. A wooden sap trough could easily be converted into a cradle by the addition of a set of rockers. The manufacture of wooden bowls, plates and spoons gave them employment during the long winter evenings. For the want of brick to make a chimney, they could make a hole through the roof, and top one out with mud and sticks. A moose sled of peculiar construction, called by the Indians, tarhoggin, answered a variety of purposes during the winter, while at a later period long poles lashed to the sides of a horse served for drawing in their supplies from the outer world. Everybody could use snow- shoes. Holes dug in the ground served as a place of deposit for their potatoes, and a crib made of poles protected their corn. Hopes of a better home stimulated them, and their increasing fam- ilies and bountiful rops were abundant rewards to them for all their toil.
Among all the inconveniences incident to pioneer life, I have never heard of but one instance where a difficulty occurred which could not in some way be overcome. A man by the name of New- land had a fine pig which he placed in a large hollow pine stump for his sty. The pig grew rapidly, and so large that he could not be taken out of his pen without spoiling the stump.
When coming to Sudbury Canada they spoke of going through
307
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
the woods to the Scoggin country. Everybody knew when a stranger came, what was his business, and when he left.
It may give you some idea of the toils and the strength of the men of those days when you are told that Jonathan Barker came from Fryeburg on the snow in the spring of 1780, up Sunday river, hauling on a hand-sled a five-pail iron kettle, a three-pail iron pot, and a grindstone, while he probably had on his shoulders, his pro- visions, his gun and axe. He had his camp plundered by the Indians. His son, Capt. Wm. Barker, aged eighty-six, and his wife Abigail Segar, daughter of Nathaniel Segar, aged eighty-three, still reside on the farm first cleared by Lieut. Segar, and in the house built by him, which are, with Lieut. Clark's house, probably the oldest in town.
Capt. Barker was born on the farm now occupied by John Rus- sell. Edmund Bean, aged ninety in November, and present to-day, was also born in this town, and these are the two oldest native-born citizens now living.
As the Plantation now rapidly increased in population, the citi- zens petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for an act of incorpo- ration as a town, which was granted June 10, 1796-seventy-eight. years ago.
It might puzzle most of tlie present population to know what. place is referred to by the following description of its boundaries in the act of incorporation :
"Beginning at a beech tree marked S. Y. one mile from Amare- scoggin river and on the north side of Peabody's Patant. thence running south 20 degrees east, four miles and one-half on Peabody's Patant, and Fryeburg Academy land to a hemlock tree marked 1-1-1-111. Thence east twenty degrees north nine miles on Oxford and State lands to a beach tree marked 1. Thence north twenty degrees four miles one quarter and sixty rods on Newpenni- cook to Amariscoggin river ; thence west two degrees south, three miles and three quarters on Howard's Grant to a beach tree ; thence west thirty four degrees south on Thomastown to the first mentioned bound."
Such are the original boundary lines of Bethel.
The name of Bethel was suggested by Rev. Eliphaz Chapman. -
I must pass over the events of the next few years. Settlers now poured into the town more rapidly, so that from 1790 to 1796 a large number of the intervale lots were occupied. This was espe- cially the case in the lower part of the town, where the broad intervales early attracted the attention of these pioneers.
It would be pleasant to notice more fully the name of Moses Mason, father of the late Dr. Moses Mason, a man of correct. judgment. good sense, and a peacemaker among his neighbors.
Samuel B. Locke came to Bethel in 1796. Most of us know what a family he reared, and that one, Prof. John Locke, became distinguished for his scientific attainments.
Time will not allow me to-day even to name many families who
6
308
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
moved into town, which have played an important part in its history. The future historian must do this.
Passing on to the close of the last century, it may be well to spend a moment in reviewing the ground we have gone over. It will be noticed how prominent was the influence of a few family names in moulding the character of the town. First-The Twitch- ells were the only descendants of the old proprietors. They were strong men, and well fitted for pioneer life.
Then the Grovers, who settled around Grover Hill, should be noticed. Some of them seem to have been born good, and they have played an important part in the history of the town,
The Bartletts have always proved an industrious and thriving people, and have done their share towards developing the natural resources of the town, and adorning it with tasteful residences.
The Swans should not be forgotten. They seem to have con- verged toward that most lovely spot in town known as Swan's Hill, which our summer visitors should not fail to see for the beautiful scenery, the maple orchards and thriving farms of its occupants.
The Russells have hardly kept up their original number. Many moved from the town, so that comparatively few of the name now remain, though of good quality.
The Chapmans have been among our most successful business men. They seem to have the peculiar faculty of buying dear and selling cheap, and yet contrive to thrive by the process.
The Powers are a name highly respectable and successful in the various pursuits of life in which they have been engaged, but have nearly all left the town.
The Farwells have held possession of Mt. Farwell, which they have embellished with fine farms.
The Masons, fat at forty, are shrewd in business, and prosperons without apparent effort.
The Beans have acted well their part as good townsmen.
Then there are the Barkers, the Estes, the Kimballs and the Holts, and other names of equal importance which might be men- tioned, did time allow.
Capt. Eleazer Twitchell may be regarded the founder of the village of Bethel Hill. He looked with jealous care at everything which should bring the Hill into notice. He had a road built from the grist-mill up the hill, which gave rise to the name Bethel Hill. He had built a large house known as the castle in 1797, on the Common, in the rear of the late Lovejoy Hotel, now burnt, where he kept tavern, had a store, surveyed lands and timber, and had charge of a saw and grist-mill. This was the first house on the Common. He gave the Common to the parish in 1797 on condition that the town would clear off the trees and build a church on it. The opposition to this measure from the north side of the river led .to a compromise by building the church near the mouth of Mill Brook, some twenty rods above the great bridge over the Andros- coggin. As he died without giving a deed of the property, his heirs, Joseph Twitchell and Jacob Ellingwood, gave it by deed to the town
309
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
.
in 1823. It is to be hoped that the ladies of the village will devise means to have the rocks removed and the surface graded.
From Capt. Eleazer Twitchell's account book, we have an illus- tration of habits of people :
January ye 11, 1796.
To 1 Gall. of Rum $1.33
1 pt. do .. .18
2 qts. Molases. .40
1 1b. Tobacco .26
3 lbs. Fish. .21
1 lb. Sugar .-
.17
1808. To, 1 mug Cyder.
12 mug of Flip.
.10
1 gill of Bitters.
.10
1 bush. Salt.
1.50
1810.
To 1 bush. Pertatoes
1.04
1811. To lodging one nite
.16
12 mug Toddy.
.14
In 1799, James Walker came to Bethel Hill and opened a store in one of the rooms in Capt. Eleazer Twitchell's house. This was the first regular store in town, though Capt. Twitchell and his brother Eli had kept a few goods to accommodate the people. In 1802 he built a large house and store on the spot now occupied by Mr. Barden as a hotel. This was the second house built on the common.
There was but one store in the village for many years, and no more than two till about the year 1837. Robert A. Chapman com- menced trade in the village in 1831, and has continued without interruption till the present time, a period of forty-three years, and has labored probably more hours during that time than any man in town. There are now about thirty stores and shops in town where various articles are bought and sold.
Among the prominent citizens of Bethel, must be mentioned Jedediah Burbank, Esq. He settled in 1803 on the farm originally cleared by Lieut. Jonathan Clark. As a Justice of the Peace, selectman for six years, and a landlord of a public house for many years, as an active member in the church, and in the cause of tem- perance and education, he was well known. He bought the castle built by Capt. Twitchell, in 1833, and erected the first hotel of modern pretensions in 1834, which was afterwards enlarged and known as the Lovejoy House. He died February 29, 1860, aged 75 years.
The following sketch of the condition of our ancestors will show in what respect their condition differed from that of the present generation :
"They raised flax which was spun and woven into cloth, from which they made checked pocket handkerchiefs, checked aprons and gowns, while for Sunday shirts nothing better was expected. Starched shirt collars were not in fashion then. If anything nice was wanted, a few pounds of India cotton was woven with the linen.
.05
310
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
From the coarser tow, trowsers were made, and working shirts and frocks in summer. No bathing cloth was ever better for the skin than a coarse tow shirt, of which your speaker will show you a specimen woven for him half a century ago. The wool from their sheep was manufactured into blankets, woolen shirts, frocks and waled cloth colored blue, while one web went to the fulling mill, out of which go-to-meeting clothes were made. They did not suffer from the cold. Every farmer carried his calf and cowskins to the tanner, who changed them into leather, and often he spent the fall and winter evenings in making boots and shoes for his family. A pair of calfskin shoes was considered a fine present to the good mother and oldest daughter of the family. The boys could wear cowhide shoes, which, well greased with tallow, looked nearly as well as calfskin. A young man dressed as a dandy was of no account whatever. Gradually the well-to-do citizen wore a buff vest and a long tailed coat made of English blue broadcloth, and adorned with brass buttons, while a ruffled shirt appeared promi- nently in front. A watch chain with a carnelian seal hung from his pantaloons. Drawers and undershirts were articles unknown. For the older men, a red bandanna pocket handkerchief served a good purpose, and a muffler for the neck in cold weather, while the young men had a gay colored silk handkerchief, one end of which, a quarter of a yard in length, was sure to hang from the coat pocket behind as a flag of truce. No young man in those days was considered well dressed without this appendage.
The ladies wore their dresses with a short waist and a short skirt, exhibiting a well turned ankle and foot, which was covered with a shoe having a black silk bow or buckle on the top. A vandyke surrounded the neck, pinned down at a point behind and before. A ruffle surrounded the neck, and the married ladies had a cap con- taining many yards of ruffle. No doubt they appeared very hand- some and attractive, especially when a neat row of spit curls bordered a comely face. A gentleman with a lady behind him on horseback was a pleasant, and sometimes an enviable sight.
At their huskings, quiltings, and social gatherings, there was an artless simplicity of manner among the young, which would not be witnessed on similar occasions at the present day. Society had its conventionalities the same as now. A clergyman in a gray or blue suit of clothes would have lost his position in his parish. Every- body with a beard, shaved once in a week, either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. An unchristian, unshaved man did not then exist.
Fashion had its absurdities as great as those of to-day. The huge, protruding bonnet in front can only be excelled by the no bonnet at all of the present day. Shoes, with high, slender heels, projecting from the sole of the foot, has no corresponding deformity now. Huge ear-rings, and combs on the top of the head, were extravagances like those in a different way at the present time. Large, flowing dresses with long trails existed then as now. Ladies were admired as much then as those of to-day. The powdered wig
311
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
of the last century has no corresponding absurdity to-day, while the handkerchief with its several folds around the neck, has given way to the more comfortable necktie."
Twitchells' mill has a history of its own. Built in 1774, it was at first without a miller, each patron grinding his own grist. It was liable to get out of repair and freeze up in winter, so that the inhab- itants were compelled to grind their grain in hand mills. Captain Twitchell repaired it in 1781. In 1788 it was rebuilt by Samuel Redington, a millwright of Augusta, father of the late Judge Redington. In 1802 a tub wheel was put in, which was regarded a great improvement.
In subsequent years it ground slow, as if under the direction of the gods. Persons living can remember Capt. Twitchell as the miller, who would put in a grist and leave the mill to spend the evening at a neighbor's, where he spent his time in singing, "My name was Robert Kidd as I sailed."
Sometimes he spent the whole night grinding for customers, and sleeping on a seat constructed for the purpose, before a huge fire built in the wall of the mill. After him Mr. Jesse Cross was the miller. He would put three bushels of wheat in the hopper at night, set the mill to running, go home and spend the night, and next morning visit the mill and find the grist still unfinished.
I must here allude to another grist-mill. Mr. Jesse Duston, who came to town in 1778, erected a small water wheel in a brook, on or near the Adam Willis' farm in Hanover, and attached a small granite stone which turned like a grindstone. Beneath this was another stone hollowed out so as to receive the edge of the revolv- ing stone. Corn was dropped in by hand. My informant states that the meal was not very fine, but that it answered a very good purpose.
We now number a population including that portion of Hanover which originally formed a part of Bethel, and was set off February 14, 1843, about two thousand three hundred souls. It is not a manufacturing town. Every occupant of a farm is supposed to own it. Every prudent mechanic soon has a home of his own. Every man engaged in trade is expected to gain a competency. Bank- ruptcy rarely occurs. While in England and Wales, one out of every twenty-four persons is a pauper. While in Europe the trav- eller is beset by beggars that swarm around him, in this town three- fourths of its inhabitants never saw a pauper or beggar. Our villages and our dwellings, like our landscapes, improve every year, indicating taste, refinement and intelligence. Intemperance, the curse of many towns, has been but lightly felt here. Its sons and daughters with habits of industry may be found in every State in the Union, prospering, as a matter of fact. Like a birdling which looks out of its paternal nest and desires to fly, so do the young men and women fiee away to form homes of their own. We rejoice that it is so. We are proud of them in their success.
If we cannot record among our citizens great orators, statesmen
312
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
or warriors, we can present a long array of names who have become good citizens of our Republic in the highest sense of the term. Six of its citizens have represented their constituents in Congress. One native born is now Governor of a State. One is now a Colonel in the United States Army. Three have been Professors in our colleges, while many have honorably filled the positions assigned them by their fellow citizens. The number who have entered the learned professions is very large.
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.