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 37
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
Jonathan Blake carried on the manufacture of wagons and sleighs for some years at South Bethel, and then moved to Norway. David Elliot made carriages at East Bethel. Pinckney Burnham came to Bethel from Gilead and carried on carriage making at Bethel Hill, on an extensive scale for many years. He was a first-class work- man and turned out honest work. He has had numerous appren- tices and employed many skilled workmen. A few years ago he sold out and engaged in trade, but has now retired from active business. In more recent years, Frank C. Bartlett and Jarvis C. Billings have carried on carriage making in all its branches, and H. C. Barker does the wood work of carriages and sleighs. The useful trade of blacksmithing has been carried on in very many places in town. Probably the first smithy in town was Oliver Fenno, who lived and worked on Robertson's Hill. Fletcher Russell is said to have been the first in the village. John Hastings wrought out a great many horse and ox shoes at his shop on Bethel Hill. Simeon O. Reynolds worked at the trade at Middle Interval and also at the Hill. Benjamin Brown, Jr., was a blacksmith at the lower part of the town, and among the early ones was William Staples, who worked at different times in what is now Hanover, and on the oppo- site side of the river in what is still Bethel. Ephraim Whitcomb carried on the business at South Bethel some fifty years ago. James L. Dilloway was a cunning worker of metals at Bethel Hill. For many years the people at the lower part of the town have had their blacksmithing done either at Locke's Mills or Rumford Corner, though E. Bean now operates a shop at East Bethel. W. D. Mason and E. Mills now carry on the business at West Bethel, Phineas F. Hastings at North Bethel and Jarvis C. Billings, A. C. Frost, W. D. Hastings, E. P. Holt and J. Abbot at Bethel Hill. Captain Timothy Hastings was also a blacksmith.
A steam mill was erected near the mouth of Sunday river in the sixties, by Hon. David Hammons and others, for the manufacture of lumber, and after having been successfully operated for some years, it was burned down and not rebuilt. When the steam mill above the Hill was rebuilt, it was as a spool mill, and is still run as
25
386
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
such. One of the most important manufactures in town is that of chairs, by the Bethel Chair Company. The town furnished the buildings at a cost of eighty-five hundred dollars, in eighteen hun- dred and eighty-five, and James H. Barrows, formerly in the same business at West Paris, leased them and operated in them for about two years, and then the Bethel chair company was organized with a capital of twenty thousand dollars, and James H. Barrows was made president and general manager, Josiah U. Purington, secretary, and Hannibal G. Brown, treasurer. It is one of the largest chair facto- ries in the country, and turns out the finest kind of work, giving employment to about sixty workmen.
The indispensable trade of house carpenter has always been well filled in this town. Jesse Duston, Phineas Howard, Amos Hills, who built the first church, Ephraim Powers and Nathan F. Twitchell were among the early carpenters, and since that time there have been a large number including John A. Twitchell, Edmund Merrill, Stephen Holt, Moses Houghton, Alonzo Howe, Samuel Bird, David Elliot, Edmund Merrill, Jr., Moses C. Foster, Josiah Dutton, Syl- vanus Mason, Nahum W. Mason, George Kimball, Gilbert Tuell, John Holt, Sidney I. French, Hiram Twitchell, Charles H. Douglass, L. H. Holt and J. A. Knapp.
Harness and saddle making was early carried on by Phineas Stearns, Nathan Marble and others. Hiram Young long worked at the business at Bethel Hill, and his son has succeeded him. The saddle part of the business has been dropped, as the call for them is very limited in modern times. Within a few years various indus- tries have been introduced into town, unknown to the early settlers. Oliver H. Mason is said to have been the first to use mineral coal in town in eighteen hundred and seventy-three ; now it is quite exten- sively used and there are local dealers. The manufacture and trade in stoves was unknown to our ancestors ; also in ready made cloth- ing and boots and shoes. The Locke family have been the most prominent mill-wrights, though others have done more or less of this work. Hazen Keach was a mill-wright, and James N. Hods- don works at the business now. John Chadbourne was a mill- wright at the lower part of the town, near the close of the last century. He sold land to Richard Estes in seventeen hundred and ninety-six. Ezra Twitchell, Jr., and his son-in-law, John Russell, were brick masons, and laid many of the chimneys in town. There have been many who have worked at this business. Among those
.
387
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
of later years have been John Stevens, Hannibal K. Andrews, Sam- uel K. Estes, Thomas B. Kendall and W. B. Kendall. Most of these were also plasterers. The public libraries of Bethel have not been extensive. The library of Gould's Academy was the principal one, until the Bethel Public Library was organized a few years ago.
It will not be possible to recall all the traders or store keepers of early and later Bethel. The number is large, and many of them were only temporary residents of the town. It has already been stated that some of the early settlers kept a few goods in their dwelling houses for the accommodation of the early settlers, before stores were established as a separate institution. The first trader at Bean's Corner was Thaddeus P. Bartlett, who built the store still standing. He sold out to Eliphaz C. Bean, who traded many years, and after he sold out, the store was converted into a dwelling house, and there was no store kept there for some time. Dana B. Grant opened a store there a few years ago and sold out to Elbridge G. Crooker, who now trades there. Abial Walker was the first trader at Walker's Mills (South Bethel), and. after him was Erastus Hil- born. Levi Washburn was in trade there a few years, occupying part of the old Blake carriage shop, since destroyed by fire. He. introduced the industry of stripping birch for bed-filling in place of straw, shipping the product to Boston. It was a short-lived indus- try, the manufacture of excelsior superceding it. The traders at. Middle Interval have already been named, and many of the early traders at Bethel Hill. Among those who have sold goods of various kinds at the Hill, have been James Walker, O'Neil W. Rob- inson, Eli Twitchell, Robert Chapman, Elbridge Chapman, George Chapman, Gilman Chapman, John Harris, Ezra T. Russell, Moses T. Cross, Ira C. Kimball, Edwin Eastman, Clark S. Edwards, Abernethy Grover, Melville C. Kimball, Newton Swift, Benjamin Barden, Amos Merrill, Wm. Y. Merrill, W. J. Hayden, H. B. Hall, Abner Davis, Nahum Grover, Ceylon Rowe, Edwin C. Rowe, Enoch. W. Woodbury, Josiah U. Purington, Charles Mason, Oliver H. Mason, Mighill Mason, Seth Walker, Ira C. Jordan, Pinckney Burn- ham, Hannibal Grover, Susie Russell, Abbie A. Russell, Thirza Mason, Goodwin R. Wiley, S. L. Hall, Hastings Brothers, Samuel A. Black, T. H. Jewett, Horatio R. Godwin, Gilman P. Bean, Geo. J. Hapgood, R. E. L. Farewell, Wm. E. and Julius P. Skillings, C. E. Benson, Chas. A. Lucas and Frank B. Frost. This list is by no
388
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
means complete, but it embraces many of the past and present mer- chants of Bethel.
A lost industry, and one of which the later generations are igno- rant, was the manufacture of potash. To keep comfortable in their cheaply constructed houses, the early settlers consumed vast quan- tities of hard wood resulting in large accumulations of hard wood ashes. The primitive forests cut and burned upon the land when cleared, produced a large quantity of the salts of potash, and this stored in the soil, was accessible to crops, and in quantity, sufficient for many years, so the people had no use for their wood ashes but to sell them to the potash makers. The manufacture of potash was a simple process. ; The ashes were leached and the lye boiled down until it would crystallize. The traders monopolized the business. They bought the ashes and paid for them in goods, and then hired help to make the potash. Eight or ten cents per bushel was the usual price paid for ashes, and the income arising from their sale was of great benefit to families in straightened circumstances. The potash when made was put into casks and carried to Portland, and having passed through a refining process, much of it came back in the form of saleratus. Some men would cut and burn wood in the forest merely for the ash product, but this was not a profitable busi- ness, and only the shiftless and thriftless engaged in it.
Another of the early industries of which the rising generation are ignorant, was that of the manufacture of shaved shingles. This industry flourished before the pine timber disappeared, and furnished winter employment to many persons. The implements required were few and simple. After the tree had been felled it was cut up into sections of the proper length (sixteen inches for short shingles ) by means of a cross-cut saw. These sections were then quartered and the parts were called shingle bolts. These bolts were riven by means of an implement called a frow, driven by another implement called a maul, into thin pieces, and were then finished in a shingle horse by means of a draw-shave. This was before the days of sawed shingles, and they found ready sale at a remunerative price. They were often hauled to Portland. Long shingles for covering the roofs of barns and out-buildings were manufactured in much the same way, only the ends were left of equal thickness, and in laying the sides were made to lap over instead of the ends.
Starch was manufactured more than fifty years ago, and the farmers of Bethel and the adjoining towns contracted to plant a cer-
389
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
ยท tain acreage of potatoes and sell the product delivered at the mill for twelve and a half cents a bushel. The yield of potatoes to the acre then was much greater than now. A variety known as long reds or Laplands, was planted, and new or well prepared land yielded four or five hundred bushels of this sort to the acre. Later, starch manufacture was carried on by Mr. Eber Clough near Bethel Hill. With the small yield to the acre, of recent years, the labor involved in fighting the potato beetle, and the consequent high prices of the tubers, starch making cannot be profitable.
The ferry boat has been the only means of crossing the open Androscoggin river for most of the time since the town was settled. These ferries were early established by the town and were kept under municipal control. Samuel Barker early had charge of the ferry opposite the Hill, and it always bore his name. A little above Middle Interval was the ferry operated by Bezaleel Kendall and which still bears his name. The ferry below Middle Interval was early operated by the Dustins and then by Stephen, son of Pere- grine Bartlett. The people at the lower part of the town generally crossed at Rumford until within a few years, when a ferry boat was put in opposite the village in Hanover. On account of the sudden and powerful freshets on the Androscoggin, it has been found diffi- cult to support bridges across it. In eighteen hundred and thirty- nine, a toll bridge was put across at Barker's ferry, but it was carried away the very next winter and the same freshet carried away the only toll bridge erected in Rumford. An account of the present bridge at Barker's ferry, may be found in abstracts of town records. There are times during summer drouths when the river can be forded at various places, and of course in this latitude, during the winter months, the river is spanned by ice sufficiently firm to bear the heaviest teams.
West Bethel situated in a fine agricultural region, has always been a center of more or less business. Elijah Grover, who lived a short distance from the Corner, was perhaps the first trader, and the place was sometimes called Grover's Corner. It was also long known as "Gander" corner, from the circumstance that two frolicsome black- smiths stole a gander from a neighboring farmer, roasted him over the forge-fire and feasted upon him in the blacksmith shop. Nathan Grover kept a tavern at his place, and at the Corner the taverners have been Gilbert Chapman, Jacob Grover and Ormsby Wight. Wight was also a trader, and his brother, Seth Wight, Jr., was also
390
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
in trade for a time. Then came Henry Ward from Portland and was in trade for many years, doing a large business. John S. Allen and Gilbert Chapman have also sold goods at the Corner. After the Wards, came Lyman W. Alger, and had a large business. Fletcher Kendall was an early blacksmith, and others have here followed this important business. Milton Holt and George H. Brown are now engaged in trade here, but Alpheus S. Bean is the chief business man in this part of the town and a large owner of real estate. He is a large farmer, is also engaged in trade and owns and operates a large steam mill for the manufacture of lumber, and for working up lumber into dowels, boxes and various other useful articles. Mr. Bean possesses rare business qualities and gives direction and personal supervision to the varied operations which his business requires. Pinckney Burnham manufactured carriages and sleighs here before he went to Bethel Hill. The ferry across the Androscoggin here is known as Mason's, from Sylvanus Mason who lived near it on the north side. The only church here is that owned by the Free Baptists, an account of which has already been given.
CHAPTER XXIX.
REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS.
N this chapter are given some of the early and a few of the later transfers of real estate in the town of Bethel. From early deeds and other documents relating to the township, it would seem that there was some doubt as to the county in which it was situated. Some refer to it as in the county of York and others in the county of Cumberland, while a considerable num- ber speak of it as "either in the county of York or Cumberland." The result of this confusion was that some of the deeds were put on record at Alfred, some at Portland, and after the year eighteen hun- dred, when a registry was established at Fryeburg, and previous to eighteen hundred and five, when Oxford county was formed and a registry established at Paris, they were recorded at Fryeburg. Many of the early conveyances were not recorded at all, and there is no record evidence showing that the parties who occupied the lands and who conveyed them away, ever owned them. This was proba- bly due to the fact that the registry office was situated at some dis- tance from Bethel, and in those days when there was but little money in circulation, the sum required to pay for recording was not always at hand. So the deeds were laid by until circumstances should be more favorable, and in some cases were destroyed by fire, and in others were doubtless lost. In some few instances they were placed on record fifteen or twenty years after they were given.
Jonas Bond of Watertown, Massachusetts, was quite a large pro- prietor of Sudbury Canada lands. He was an original proprietor in the right of his father, also Jonas Bond, and he also purchased a large interest of Thomas Harrington of the same town. Edward Bond, son of Jonas Bond, Jr., inherited a portion of these lands including the great island near Bethel Hill, which is spoken of in the conveyances as Bond's Island. Edward Bond came to Sudbury Canada about the year seventeen hundred ninety-five, with the idea
392
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
of settling here. He cleared land on one of the islands and raised an immense crop of corn. He purchased several lots of land besides his inheritance, and became a large landed proprietor. In eighteen hundred, he married Sarah, daughter of Abraham Russell, and the same year bought a large tract of land, embracing over three hundred acres in the town of Westbrook, near Stroudwater village, and settled upon it, and there he ever after lived. He was the grandfather of Mr. Leonard Bond Chapman, the well known local historical student of Deering, who married Ruby, daughter of Edmund Merrill of this town.
The earliest deed of Sudbury Canada lands on record, was given in seventeen hundred and sixty-eight (see page 26-7) ; the next, and the earliest on Cumberland records, is dated March twenty, seventeen hundred seventy, and is a deed given of land for non-pay- ment of taxes thereon. The early purchasers of these lands appear to have bought them on speculation and with no intention of ever settling upon them. The speculative fever on eastern lands was very active during these years, and we find the same parties buying and selling rights in Turner, Livermore, Paris, Jay and Bethel.
Joseph Twitchell of Sherbourn, to Ezra Twitchell of Dublin, N. H., the 15th intervale lot north side of the river; the 18th lot in the 8th range; the 13th lot in the 4th range, and 40 or 50 acres of the lot lying eastwardly of the 14th lot, south side of river, September 18, 1787.
Luke Knowlton of Shrewsbury, Mass., to Jonathan Keyes of same, one whole right in Sudbury Canada, which he bought of Nathaniel Gray, Jr., of Worcester, and which was the original right of Joseph Orlando, Novem- ber 3, 1772.
James Towle of Woburn, to Jonathan Keyes of Shrewsbury, one whole right in Sudbury Canada, March 18, 1774.
August 29, 1774, Ebenezer Bartlett of Newton, sold to son Elisha of same, lot number five in the first division and interval lot number 13 in the fifth range, land in Sudbury Canada.
April 16, 1782, Elisha Bartlett of Newton, sold to brother Thaddeus of Sudbury Canada, the same premises deeded to him by his father as above ; consideration, one shilling.
June 6, 1789, Joseph Twitchell of Sherbourn, sold to Stephen Bartlett of Sudbury Canada, the third interval lot on the north side of the river.
September 30, 1773, Aaron Richardson of Newton, blacksmith, sold to Jonathan Bartlett of same, one whole right in Sudbury Canada, the first division being number 33, south of great river.
November 1, 1788, Nathaniel Parker of Needham, Mass., sold to Pere- grine Bartlett of Newton, number 8 of the first division; consideration, Bartlett to pay taxes and perform settling duties.
393
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
September 10, 1794, Joseph Parker of Newton, sold to Jeremiah Andrews of Sudbury Canada, number 3 interval lot at the east end, the 15th lot in the 7th range, and number 13 in the 3d range. He also bought of Abraham Russell, lot number 2 in the seventh range, and of Eleazer Twitchell, June 4, 1781, interval lot number 4 at the east end, and lot number 28 in the 4th range.
February 11, 1796, Richard Estes of Sudbury Canada, bought of John Chadbourne of same, millwright, the 5th interval lot at the east end, and the 3d upland lot in the Sth range.
October 18, 1779, Jesse Duston of Fryeburg, bought of Thaddeus Rich- ardson of Pearsontown, interval lot number 6, north of river, with upland lot belonging to it.
July 20, 1789, Enoch Bartlett of Sudbury Canada, sold to Dominicus Frost of same, fifty acres of land next to the river and "just below eighth island right."
March 4, 1783, Samuel Ingalls of Sudbury Canada, sold to Nathaniel Segar of same, interval lot bounded southerly by river, northerly by town line. westerly by interval lot number one; wife Elizabeth joins in the deed.
December 8, 1794, Proprietors of Sudbury Canada, to Nathaniel Segar, an island known as Bellows' Island in Sudbury Canada ; also five acres out of interval lot number one, at east end of town.
June 20, 1793, Benjamin Coffin of Conway, N. H. to Joseph Ayer of Brownfield, one right in Sudbury Canada, interval lot number 6 laid out to Nathaniel Pike.
July 19, 1796, Josiah Bean of Sudbury Canada, sold to Joseph Ayer of same, lot number 7 in the seventh range of lots in Sudbury Canada.
July 17, 1787, Eleazer Twitchell of Sudbury Canada, to Gideon Powers of same, 2d interval lot north of Great river, and a piece of land lying at the head of said lot.
March 8, 1788. Same to Paul Powers, 5th intervale lot at east of town- ship, and 3d lot in the 8th range.
1786. Isaac Russell and wife Mary, both of Sudbury Canada, to John Holt, nine acres of interval in said Sudbury Canada.
1793. Peter Twitchell of Sherbourn, Mass., to Eli Grover of Sudbury Canada, land in Sudbury Canada.
1796. Francis Kimball of Bradford, Mass., to Amos Gage and Eli Grover of Sudbury Canada, land in Sudbury Canada.
Joseph Parker of Newton, Mass., to Jedediah Grover of Bethel, the thirty-first lot in the fourth range, south of river, in Bethel.
1794. John Grover to Jedediah Grover, lot 28 in the 5th range in Sud- bury Canada; witnessed by Benjamin and Nabby Russell.
1799. John Mason of Bethel, to Jedediah Grover, land in Bethel; witness, Benjamin and Mary Russell.
March 20, 1770. Proprietors' committee to Thomas Harrington, two whole rights in the first division of lots, the first, No. 39, south side of the river, drawn on the right of Ebenezer Rice, and No. 14, on the north side of the river, drawn on the right of Daniel Brewer.
394
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
Jonathan Brewer of Waltham, to Thomas Harrington, a certain whole right of land granted to Josiah Richardson and others, it being one-third part of the great island, so-called, and is numbered the sixth lot.
1781 .. Thomas Harrington to Moses Bartlett of Newton, No. 39 on the southerly side of the great river.
1786. Thomas Harrington to John Stearns, Jr., of Watertown, interval lot number 14 on the north side of the river, with all the upland lots and the common lands thereto belonging.
1787. Thomas Harrington to Josiah Fuller, Esq., of Newton, four lots, each containing 100 acres, viz. : lot 3 in the 3d range west side of river, Island lot No. 6, and lots numbered 3 and 4 in the twelfth range, on the east side of river, provided Fuller put settlers on three of them.
1792. Thomas Harrington of Watertown, to Jonas Bond of same, all rights not heretofore disposed of in a township granted to Josiah Richard- son and others, being part of the great island so-called, which I purchased of Jonathan Brewer and Josiah Richardson; also an interval lot, being a lot lying on the great island, and is No. 4, being the same I bought of Oliver Peabody ; also two whole rights in Sudbury Canada, granted to said Richardson, also all the after-drafts and divisions to the said rights belonging.
1795. Benjamin Clark of Sudbury Canada, to Elijah Bond of Watertown, the 25th lot in the 4th range.
1795. Eliphalet Parker to Elijah Bond, a certain lot, about 40 acres in Sudbury Canada, which lot was numbered 37 in the first division, and is on the south side of the great river, drawn to Charles Richardson in the right of Samuel King.
1799. Leonard Bond and Jonas Bond of Watertown, executors to Jonas Bond, deceased, and Ruth Bond, in relinquishment of dower, to Elijah Bond of Bethel, quit-claim all rights in the estate of their late father, being and situated in said Bethel.
1787. Benjamin Russell of Sudbury Canada, to Daniel Bean of same, interval lot number 24, south side of river.
Benjamin Russell to Phineas Howard of Temple, N. H., housewright, lot number 10 in range 9 in Sudbury Canada.
1781. Abraham Russell of Sudbury Canada, to Jeremiah Andrews of same, the second lot in range seven, containing 100 acres.
August 6, 1781. Eleazer Twitchell to Jonathan Bartlett, lot number 5 in the 6th range.
February 7, 1797. Eleazer Twitchell to Thaddeus Bartlett, 3d lot in the 7th range.
January 25, 1780. Joseph Twitchell of Sherbourn, and others, to Jona- than Bartlett, one whole right in Sudbury Canada, the first lot being num- ber 15, drawn on the right of Daniel Wood.
October 8, 1784. Same to Amos Gage, first intervale lot north side of river, drawn to the right of Robert Merriam.
James Walker to Stephen McLellan and William Brown of Portland, a piece of land lying near the center of lot 23 in the 4th range, south of the
395
HISTORY OF BETHEL.
road leading from Eleazer Twitchell's house to the mills with the potash thereon containing one-half an acre; also another piece of land lying about fifty rods distant from the last named, containing half an acre, with house, barn and shed thereon, being the same property I bought of Eleazer Twitchell in 1802, February 2, 1804.
Joseph G. Swan to James Walker, seven acres adjoining said Walker's land on the road from Albany to Rumford, on the south side near Alder river bridge, May 26, 1809.
Abial Walker of Concord, N. H., to James Walker, one-half of lot 19 in the 4th range, south of river, August 10, 1804.
Amos Hastings to Timothy Hastings, interval lots north of river, same I bought of John Russell, March 4, 1807.
Amos Hastings to Timothy Carter, land bounded south by land of said Hastings, on the east by land of Reuben Bartlett, and on the west by the county road, September 16. 1806.
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.