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 32
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
332
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
future enfolded in the unknown and undeveloped resources of the century to come. Who shall utter words fitly to be spoken? Whose conceptions can properly embrace the occasion? Whose vision is clear enough, whose. comprehension is broad enough, and whose judgment is just enough, to understand and to weigh the history of the last century, and to epitomize it on such an occasion? More difficult still, on whom rests the spirit of prophecy to forecast the future! Who can fairly state or fully learn the great lessons which are taught by the ages which are gone? Who can un- derstand the significance of the "eternal now," or penetrate the veil which hides the future?
The most we can do on this occasion is to recognize it, to greet each other, and in the spirit of faith and trust in the Infinite Father of us all," "Await the great teacher Death, and God above."
Thanking you for your invitation, I am,
Very truly, etc., A. J. GROVER.
1
CHAPTER XXV.
TEMPERANCE REFORM.
HE early settlers of Bethel in regard to morality and religion, were certainly abreast of the inhabitants of any other town in the county, and in advance of some, and yet the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage pervaded all classes. It was one of the vices of the period, and general throughout the whole coun- try. The people had come to regard them as essential to health, and they were also the symbol of hospitality and good fellowship. Their universal demand created a supply, and for years after the first settlers came to Bethel, they constituted part of the stock in
trade of every grocery store in the town .* They were sold by the glass to be drank on the premises, and in quantities to suit pur- chasers to be carried away. As a family supply, they ranked next to tea and coffee, and many ranked them second only to bread. In all the account books of the early traders, rum, gin, brandy and wine are as conspicuous as any other family supplies, and sometimes make up nearly half the account. Parson Gould did not approve of excess in drinking, but his "excess" would be regarded as liberty at the present day. He partook of the social glass with his parish- ionėrs, both at his own house and theirs, and also at places where it was sold. If any of his people drank to excess, in a community where rum was freely sold and drank by all classes, the sin of intox- ication could not be regarded as a very grave one, and a reprimand from a minister who walked up side by side and took his drinks with the one against whom it was directed, could not have had great weight, if administered. But the influence of the minister in this
*When Robert A. Chapman went into trade on the Hill, he went into a store where liquors had always been sold. Mrs. Chapman, who was bitterly opposed to the drinking habit as well as to the traffic in ardent spirits, advised her husband to drop that branch of the business, but he expressed doubts about the propriety of so doing, and fears that he would not succeed if he did, but Mrs. Chapman carried her point, and the wisdom of the new departure was soon manifest in a better class of customers, increased trade and a flood-tide of prosperity.
334
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
regard, was no doubt injurious. The people then followed the guidance, not only in spiritual, but in temporal affairs with much greater faith and confidence than do the people of our day.
This condition of things continued with little change for many years. Temperance in the use of intoxicating drinks was of slow growth, and abstinence much more slow. The profits arising from its sale, then as now, blunted the consciences of those engaged in the traffic, and blinded their eyes to the enormity of the evil. The Massachusetts Temperance Society, the first in the country, was organized in eighteen hundred and twelve, but its influence was little felt in Maine, or anywhere else. The American Temperance Society was organized in eighteen hundred and twenty-six, and this was the result of many years' agitation of the subject ; how many, it is impossible to say. The proceedings of the second meeting held in Boston, January twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, were printed. At this time there were two hundred and twenty-two temperance societies, of which five, exclusive of Massachusetts, were State societies. Thirteen of these societies were in Maine, though Maine then had no State organization. Two of the Maine societies, viz. : East Machias and Prospect, made reports. The former reported ninety members, and only two grog shops in the place, and after the following September, there was to be no retailer in town. The society at Prospect, organized in April, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, with five members, now had one hundred and one, of whom forty-six were females. One retailer had struck ardent spirits from his list of merchandise, and in one shipyard, it was no longer used. The following members of the American So- ciety were reported as belonging in Maine : Bath, Rev. John W. Ellingwood ; Portland, Rev. Charles Jenkins, Rev. Bennet Tyler, D. D., Hon. Albion K. Parris and Hon. Wm. P. Preble ; Saco, Ether Shepley, Esq. The East Machias Society organized in Jan- uary, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, may have been the first temperance society in the State. The other societies in Maine were in Brunswick, Gorham, Portland, Gardiner, Buckfield, New Sharon, Saco, Livermore, Norway, Windsor and Brewer Village. The Livermore Society, then in Oxford county, was organized July fourth, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, with Rev. George Bates as Secretary. In eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, a temperance society was formed at Bethel Hill with the following members : Dr. Timothy Carter, Dea. Robbins Brown, Leonard Grover, Jedediah
335
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
Burbank, James Walker, John A. Twitchell and Rev. Charles Frost. On the occasion of its organization, a temperance address was delivered by William Frye, Esquire.
The first annual meeting of the Maine Temperance Society was holden at Augusta, January twenty-third, eighteen hundred and thirty-three. The printed proceedings do not show that Oxford county was represented by delegates. Governor Samuel E. Smith was elected President, Hon. Samuel Pond of Bucksport, Secretary, Elihu Robinson, Augusta, Treasurer, and Charles Williams of Augusta, Auditor. Judge Ether Shepley presided. Oxford County Society was reported as having been organized July first, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, with Hon. Luther Cary of Turner, Presi- dent, and Samuel F. Brown, Esq., of Buckfield as Secretary. Buckfield reported "opposition great to temperance reform, by politi- cal demagogues, followed by their supporters half drunk." Frye- burg reported, "much opposition from temperate drinkers, drunkards and sellers of rum." Hebron reported, "opposition by several classes and various characters." Andover, "opposition by the intemperate. Sweden, "opposition is composed of men of every class-two men, however, who are rival candidates for office, have more influence than all others." Sumner, "opposition by intemper- ate and moderate drinkers, and by some who are professors of religion." Thirteen societies are reported in Oxford county, but many towns, including Bethel, make no report. The Buckfield society is reported defunct. Previous to the organization of the Maine State Society, the "Union Temperance Society of Oxford County," was organized, presumably at Paris, and originated among the members of the Oxford bar. The following is the constitution adopted, and the names of the first signers :
"The undersigned being desirous of exerting their influence in the cause of temperance, and recognizing and adopting the principle of total abstinence from the use of ardent spirits, hereby form our- selves into an association, to be called the Union Temperance Society of the county of Oxford.
ART. 1. The officers of this Society shall be a President, Vice President and Secretary, to be chosen annually by the members at the June term of the Court of Common Pleas.
ART. 2. There shall be a meeting of this association on some day dur- ing each term of the Court of Common Pleas, at the Court House, of which
336
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
meeting it shall be the duty of the Secretary to give seasonable notice- and it shall be the duty of the President to request some gentleman to deliver an address at each meeting.
ART. 3. Every person signing this constitution shall become a member of this society, thereby engaging to adopt a total abstinence in reference to the use of "ardent spirits as a drink."
Levi Whitman, Stephen Emery, Robert Goodenow, Wm. E. Goodenow, R. K. Goodenow, Isaiah P. Moody, Timothy J. Carter, Daniel Goodenow, Reuel Washburn, Henry Farewell, James Walker, Samuel F. Brown, Tim- othy Carter, Peter C. Virgin, Levi Stowell, Joshua Randall, Virgil D. Parris, Solomon Hall, Thomas Clark, James Starr, John Woodbury, Augustine Haynes, John Jameson, Chas. Whitman, Albert G. Thornton, Hannibal Hamlin, Cyrus Thompson, S. Strickland, Eben Poor. Wm. War- ren, Ira Bartlett, James V. Poor, Thomas Gammon, Elisha Morse, Geo. Turner, David Gerry, Ephraim Bass, Erastus P. Poor, Stephen Chase, Ebenezer Jewett, Abraham Andrews, Jr., Daniel Chaplin, John S. Barrows, Josiah Blake, Simeon Walton.
At a meeting of the society, January twenty-second, eighteen hundred and thirty-three, it was voted that a committee of one or more gentlemen in every town in the county be appointed to take a copy of this constitution and procure subscribers, and the following gentlemen were appointed for the service, viz. : Fryeburg, Benjamin Wyman, Ebenezer Fessenden, Jr., Henry C. Buswell ; Brownfield, James Steele, Samuel Stickney, George Bean ; Hiram, Peleg Wads- worth, Alpheus Spring ; Denmark, Samuel Gibson, Amos Poor ; Lovell, Abraham Andrews ; Sweden, Chas. Nevers, Nathan Brad- bury ; Fryeburg Addition, Samuel Farrington ; Waterford, Charles Whitman, Daniel Brown, Esq., Dr. Leander Gage ; Albany, Aaron Cummings ; Livermore, Reuel Washburn ; Jay, Jas. Starr; Can- ton, John Hearsey ; Hartford, Cyrus Thompson ; Sumner, Samuel Sewall ; Peru, Levi Ludden ; Dixfield, Henry Farewell ; Mexico, Joseph Eustis : Hartford, Elder Hutchinson, Joseph Tobin, Edward Blake ; Buckfield, Seth Stetson, Zadock Long, Lucius Loring ; Paris, Abijah Hall, Jr., Simeon Walton, Asaph Kittredge ; Hebron, Wm. Barrows, Dr. Carr; Oxford, Jairus S. Keith, S. H. King ; Rumford, Henry Martin ; Andover, Sylvanus Poor, Jr. ; Bethel, Jedediah Burbank ; Newry, Josiah Black ; Woodstock, Elder Jacob Whitman.
At the second annual meeting of the Maine Temperance Society, held at Augusta, February fifth, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, Hon. Prentiss Mellen was made President, and the other officers of
337
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
the previous year were re-elected. There were more reports made from Oxford county towns than the year previous, showing an in- crease of interest in the cause. The officers of the Oxfor l county society were the same as before. Many new towns had formed as- sociations, and Buckfield was the only town where the association had become defunct. The report from Buckfield showed much op- position to the cause. "One deacon both drinks and sells rum," says the report.
The following table shows at a glance the extent of the organized temperance reform in Oxford county in 1834 :
No. of
Town.
When Organized. 1831,
President.
Secretary.
Members.
Albany,
Asa Cummings,
P. Haskell, 91
Andover,
Rev. Wm. Gregg,
E. Poor, Jr., 88
Bethel,
1829,
Dr. T. Carter,
L. Grover, 140
Brownfield,
1834,
I. Spring,
Wm. Wentworth,
110
Carthage,
1834,
D. Storer,
D. Stickney, 27
Dixfield,
J. Adams,
Dr. A. F. Stanley, 64
Denmark,
1833,
Amos Poor,
J. Smith, 40
Fryeburg,
1833,
E. Fessenden, Jr.,
Dr. R. Barrows, 195
Greenwood,
Rev. E. Whittle,
John Small, 80
Gilead,
G. W. Chapman,
Wm. Wight, 67
Hartford,
N. Bicknell,
J. Churchill, 137
Hebron,
S. Myrick,
S. Perkins, 138
Jay,
1833,
Maj. M. Stone,
Col. D. Merrit, 133
Livermore,
1828,
Reuel Washburn,
J. Chase, 132
Young Men's,
J. Leavitt,
S. Hearsey,
202
East Livermore,
C. Haines,
F. F. Haines,
126
Lovell,
Rev. V. Little,
A. Andrews, 85
Norway,
1833,
Uriah Holt,
Benj. Tucker, Jr., 250 50
No. Norway,
Oxford, 1833,
Dr. J. Tewksbury,
Giles Shurtleff, 125
So. Paris,
1832,
Seth Morse,
Henry R. Parsons, 116
Sumner,
Rev. S. Sewall,
Zury Robinson, 120
Sweden,
E. Powers,
Wm. H. Powers, 79
Turner, 66
Dr. P. Bradford,
J. P. Harris,
113
Weld,
J. Abbott,
Rev. L. Perkins,
148
Waterford,
1830,
L. Gage,
Wm. W. Stone
300
J. Phillips,
J. R. Shaw, 176
The next great temperance reformatory movement was that called the Washingtonian. This began in a small way in Baltimore, among a few reformed drunkards, but it spread like wildfire through- out the middle and eastern States. It came into Maine about the
22
338
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
year eighteen hundred and forty-two, like a tornado, and seemed likely to sweep everything before it. An Oxford county Washing- tonian society was formed, holding its meetings in different parts of the county, and there were subordinate societies in almost every town. The proceedings as given in the papers of those years, show the great interest manifested in the good work, and that leading men and women were everywhere in the movement. Thousands of inebriates not only reformed themselves, but used every effort to bring others into the organization. Hundreds all over the country were in the field battling against the common enemy, and every- where the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. About the year eighteen hundred and forty-two, or perhaps a little later, the movement reached Oxford county, and its effect here was the same as else- where. Everybody was awakened, almost everybody took the pledge, and many kept it inviolate ever after. It did a vast amount of good. But the history of all great moral movements plainly in- dicated what the fate of this must be. Human passions, however noble the cause, have their metes and their bounds, beyond which they cannot pass, and the great success of a movement is often the first step towards reaction. In the excess of zeal in the Washing- tonian movement, there was wanting that concert of action to give it permanency. The cause was like a rudderless bark upon the sea, without compass or pilot, and freighted with the materials of its own destruction.
It was when the Washingtonian movement was at its height that thoughtful men in New York conceived the idea of an organization that would combine and consolidate the discordant elements of the movement, invest it with a social character, and leave lasting im- pressions of affection and interest on the mind, in connection with the great cause and its objects. The outcome of this was, the Order of the Sons of Temperance, an organization which has doubt- less accomplished more than any other, in giving permanence to the temperance cause, after the enthusiasm awakened by the Washing- tonian movement could no longer be maintained. The first Division of the Sons of Temperance was organized in New York city, at Teetotaller's Hall, No. 71, Division street, on Thursday evening,
September twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-two. The order had a steady growth and reached the State of Maine in De- cember, eighteen hundred and forty-four. A Grand Lodge for Maine was organized at Angusta in April, eighteen hundred and
339
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
forty-five, and three years later, there were one hundred and ten Divisions in the State, with a membership of over seven thousand. In eighteen hundred and fifty, the movement had reached Oxford county.
Bethel Division, number one hundred and sixty, was organized at Middle Interval near the close of eighteen hundred and fifty. Israel G. Kimball was Worthy Patriarch and Albion P. Beatty, Recording Secretary. At the close of the year, twenty-nine members were reported. The following year, True P. Duston was Worthy
Patriarch. The highest number reported to the Grand Lodge was fifty-six, and soon beginning to decline, in eighteen hundred and fifty-six, it failed to make any report to the Grand Lodge and its. charter was surrendered.
Eagle Division, number one hundred and sixty-three, was organ- ized in the spring of eighteen hundred and fifty-one. Alfred Twitchell was Worthy Patriarch, and Benjamin Freeman, Recording Secretary. This year the delegates to the Grand Lodge were. Alfred Twitchell, James Walker and Thomas E. Twitchell. In eighteen hundred and fifty-two, Benjamin Freeman was Worthy Patriarch and Alfred Twitchell, Recording Secretary. In eighteen hundred and fifty-three, the delegates to the Grand Lodge were, Daniel A. Twitchell, Benjamin Freeman, John A. Twitchell, Dr. Almon Twitchell, Rev. David Garland, Josephi A. Twitchell and Alonzo J. Grover. In eighteen hundred and fifty-four, the number of members was sixty-one. Delegates to the Grand Lodge : David F. Brown, Dr. Almon Twitchell, David Garland, Benjamin Free- man, Alfred Twitchell, Joseph A. Twitchell, Nathaniel T. True and Asa P. Knight. This was the highest wave of the movement, and three years later the membership was only thirty-eight. An effort was made to revive the order. David Garland was chosen Worthy Patriarch, and Dr. Ozmon M. Twitchell was made Secretary. It was all to no purpose ; the order had had its day in this community, and no return was made to the Grand Lodge after this year. In eighteen hundred and sixty the charter was surrendered.
A juvenile temperance society was organized here in the fifties, and with good success for a time, but like all similar societies, the novelty wore off, dissensions crept in and it was soon numbered with things of the past. The Good Templars had a lodge here which flourished for a time. The Reform Club was also popular, and other local temperance societies have been organized, accom-
340
HISTORY OF BETHIEL.
plished their ends, and then gone to decay. All these societies have been highly beneficial, and the aggregate good they have ac- complished can hardly be over-estimated. Bethel is a strong tem- perance town, and also a prohibition town. Every time that the Maine Prohibitory Liquor Law has been in issue, and every time it has been submitted to a popular vote, Bethel has given the princi- ple of prohibition a cordial support. Intemperance exists in town to a greater or less extent, and always will so long as human de- pravity exists, but the popular feeling is against it, and so long as it is opposed by the best people in the town, it cannot make great headway. The liquor dealer is the enemy of the home, the enemy of morality, virtue and religion, and for years the good people of this town have not suffered the traffic to be openly carried on within its limits ; and where the majority against it is so large, the contra- band business cannot, for any great length of time, be carried on surreptitiously.
1 .
CHAPTER XXVI.
DAVID ROBBINS.
HE alleged crimes of David Robbins, committed upwards of sixty years ago, are fast fading from memory. At the time when these events transpired, they created intense excitement in Oxford and Franklin counties, and in Coos county in the State of New Hampshire. They were a fruitful topic of conver- sation for many years after. Among the names indellibly stamped upon my childish memory is that of David Robbins, and I was early taught to regard it as the synonym of depravity and wickedness- yea, of very fiendishness. Mothers imprudently frightened their children into obedience by the bare mention of this name, and noth- ing could strike terror to the hearts of the little ones like telling them that "David Robbins would come for them and carry them off."
The evidence against David Robbins was largely circumstancial, but it was of such a character as to leave little, if any, doubt of his guilt. Of his minor crimes the proof was positive, while the graver charges of abduction and murder, were never fully sustained. The principal reasons for this were, that he had his home in the wilder- ness remote from courts of justice, and second, that he was never brought to trial for his alleged crimes. The great Webster said of a person charged with a capital crime, that "suicide is confession," and avoiding trial by flight amounts to essentially the same. Sixty years ago, when the story of his supposed crimes was known to every man, woman and child in northern Maine, and was repeated at every fireside, no one for a moment doubted his guilt.
The early life of David Robbins is shrouded in mystery. It is by no means certain that we have his real name, though he was never known by any other after he came to Oxford county. It was about the year eighteen hundred and twenty, that a young man appeared in Bethel, who gave his name as David Robbins. He came on
.
342
HISTORY OF BETIIEL.
horseback, and the animal he rode and the clothes he wore consti- tuted the sum total of his personal estate.
Whence he came, no one knew ; and concerning his past life, he declined to give any account. He was tall but slightly built, his complexion sandy, his hair inclining to red, and his nose, which was his most prominent feature, was hooked like the eagle's beak and a little bent toward the left side. His muscles were hard like whip- cords, and his powers of endurance something marvelous. He worked for the farmers in the vicinity of Bethel Hill, and was con- sidered an extra hand. In the autumn he would do a day's work upon the farm and then husk corn or thresh grain until midnight during the entire season of harvest. He was very quiet in his man- ner, holding no conversation with any one except what was abso- lutely necessary in the performance of his work. In his threshing operations he went from place to place. This was before the days of threshing machines, and grain was separated from the straw by means of a hand implement called a flail. In the winter, Robbins worked in the logging swamp in the neighboring town of Gilead, for the brothers Aaron and Ayers Mason.
In the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty-one, Robbins pur- chased a wild lot of land in the town of Albany, and in June of that year commenced to fell trees with the evident purpose of mak- ing him a home. The place where he commenced his clearing was near Bethel line, and was afterward settled by Mr. Samuel Brown, who occupied it for many years. Robbins spent the following year in much the same manner. He worked for the farmers a portion of the time, felled more trees upon his own lot, cleared up a piece where he had felled the year before, threshed grain and husked corn in harvest time, and worked in the lumber woods in winter. He . never appeared to be tired. He was straight as an arrow and lithe as the willow in all his motions and movements. He was very penurious, in fact his leading characteristic appeared to be the accu- mulation of money. He was grasping and mean, allowing himself but little for clothing, and when working for himself, subsisting on the cheapest and coarsest fare. While in Bethel he was not charged with any violation of the law, though soon after he came, the cloth- ing mill operated by Asa Twitchell, was broken open and a large quantity of cloth belonging to customers, stolen. The horse brought to Bethel by Robbins was also taken away. The thieves were over- taken near Waterford and most of the stolen property recovered.
343
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
It is remembered that there were those in Bethel at the time who suspected Robbins of being a party to the theft, and this suspicion was strengthened by his subsequent career ; but he was not molested and there was probably no very good reason for suspecting him. It was also believed by some that the horse he rode upon into Bethel was a stolen one.
It is remembered that in the autumn of eighteen hundred and twenty-two, Robbins made a journey to the head-waters of the Androscoggin river, a region then but little known in Bethel. He was absent three or four weeks, but the object of his visit was known only to himself. In the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty-three, to the great surprise of the people in the neighborhood of Bethel Hill, Robbins was married to Miss Harriet Stearns, daughter of Thomas Stearns, one of the wealthiest and most respected farmers in town. The ceremony was performed by Bar- bour Bartlett, Esq., on the twenty-third day of April. Such an alliance was never thought of outside of the contracting parties until it took place, and it was said that the parents of the bride were equally ignorant of her intentions until the day arrived, and all they could say or do failed to change her purpose. Robbins did not set- tle upon his Albany lot, but soon after his marriage he packed up his few household goods and farm implements, and with his wife, set out on the long and wearisome journey through the present towns of Newry, Grafton and Upton in Maine, and Cambridge and Errol in New Hampshire. They then followed up the Androscoggin river to the mouth of the Megalloway, then up this river many miles, to a point which he had selected on his former visit, for a home-site. He was among the first settlers in this still remote region. and the nearest settlement was in Errol, a day's journey away. He fell to work with his usual vigor, and by toiling almost night and day, he soon had a shelter for his wife and a good area of land about it cleared up. Fish and game were then abundant in this region, and Robbins was an adroit angler and hunter, and kept the larder well supplied. He soon had quite a farm in this wilderness. He built him a comfortable house and out-buildings, kept cows and oxen, and ere long the prattle of children was for the first time heard in this wild region. Robbins was an expert trapper, and the country abounded in fur-bearing animals, which became to him a great source of gain. He made quite frequent trips to Andover by way of Umbagog and Richardson's lakes, and to Farmington by way of
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.