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 40
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William Grover, the third son of John and Jernsha (Wiley) Grover, was a young man of fine physical form and development, and of great strength both of body and mind. He engaged with his
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father in the lumbering business. He was accustomed to act as foreman of gangs of "river drivers" in delivering logs to the Bruns- wick saw mills. This work was done on the flood stage of the river, as soon as it was clear of ice in the spring, and was arduous and exposing in the extreme. From this exposure he became affected by severe neuralgia of the head. A quack doctor undertook to cure him of this. The quack's mode of practice was to heat two rocks to steaming heat, place one each side of the patient's head, cover the top of the head with a blanket so as to keep the steam in, then pour water on the rocks, creating a profuse steam directly upon the head. Under this system of torture the neuralgia left the patient but he soon became subject to fits, the brain having been perma- nently injured, and he afterwards died of insanity, thus produced.
In the year seventeen hundred and ninety-one, wild pigeons in almost endless numbers, pitched upon the territory west of Bethel Hill as a brooding place. Here they laid their eggs and hatched their young. The young pigeons called squabs, just before they are able to fly, are very fat and palatable. The settlers gathered them up in vast numbers and feasted upon them as long as they lasted. An account of the visitation by pigeons the year above named was. printed in the New York Journal and Patriotic Register of July twentieth of that year. They are therein said to have been first: discovered by Mr. Benjamin Russell. The slaughter of the inno -. cents made by the people, prevented the parent birds from selecting this as their brooding place thereafter.
The black bear was one of the greatest pests of the early settlers. He destroyed much of the corn when it was in the milk, and later was a terror to the flocks of sheep. Eleazer Twitchell once placed a tub containing new rum and molasses in his corn field, and going out in the morning, he found bruin beastly drunk. On waking up he found himself securely chained and was easily dispatched. The same method has been practiced in other towns with similar results. It was taking an unfair advantage of the beast, but he should not. have got drunk, though in this respect he was only following the example of many of the settlers.
Hunting was one of the profitable employments of the early set- · tlers in this town. Fur-bearing animals, such as the otter, beaver, mink, sable and muskrat were abundant, and larger game, such as bears, moose and deer were by no means scarce. The works of the
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beaver are still seen on the streams flowing into the Androscoggin in this region. One season, James Swan, Benjamin Russell, John Perkins and one other, all of whom were cunning hunters and trap- pers, beside a large amount of other game, killed sixty moose. They tried out the tallow for candles, cut off and carried away the best portions for food, and left the remainder to be devoured by wolves. As the early settlers could raise no domestic animals for food, they depended on the chase to supply the larder. The region around the Bear and Sunday rivers about Songo pond and in the region about the Alder river ponds, were favorite haunts for game. The last beaver killed in town was in eighteen hundred and twenty- five. He was twice caught in a trap by a fore leg and gnawed them off. He was then caught by a hind leg and secured.
There was considerable excitement in the plantation in seventeen hundred and ninety, occasioned by the death of Mr. James Mills. This was the first accidental death, if not the first death that occurred in the plantation. Mr. Mills moved from Dublin, New Hampshire, five years before, and went to farming on Grover Hill. While engaged in felling trees for his brother-in-law, he was struck by a falling tree and instantly killed. He had married Hannah, daughter of Moses Mason of Dublin ; her brother, Walter Mason, was the one for whom Mr. Mills was at work. He left five child- ren, and his widow subsequently married Elijah Grover.
Rev. Caleb Bradley, afterwards of Westbrook, when a young man, preached for a short time in Bethel. He also taught the school here in seventeen hundred and ninety-eight. He, that year, preached a thanksgiving sermon, the first of the kind ever delivered in the town. The sermon was subsequently printed. In the evening of that day, Mr. Bradley and Dr. James Brickett, both young men and full to the brim of thanksgiving glee, spent the evening at Captain Twitchell's. They were invited to go down cellar for the purpose of seeing the arch where Mrs. T. had some mince pies. Mr. Brad- ley succeeded in roguishly purloining one of these and secreting it in his overcoat pocket. When supper came there was a general laudation of Mrs. T.'s pies, when Mr. Bradley declared that he could furnish a better one than any on the table. The challenge was accepted, but on going to his pie, what was his surprise to find the dinner turkey bones in its place. The sharp sighted Mrs. Twitchell had completely outwitted him.
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What has ever been known as the great freshet on the Andros- coggin, occurred in seventeen hundred and eighty-five. The water reached a height never before nor since known. While it did con- siderable damage, it taught the settlers a salutary lesson, namely, to erect their houses on higher ground. The upper dam on Mill Brook was swept away and the water rose to the attic in the house of Capt. Eleazer Twitchell, situated on an island below. His family was taken out at the attic window. In Lieutenant Clark's house on the Burbank place, the water rose to the beams, spoiled his books and papers and badly damaged his household goods. Joseph Greely Swan lived near Alder river bridge. His wife was taken out of the chamber window, but the house containing their goods, includ- ing a web in the loom, was swept away. The house of Benjamin Russell also went down stream. Other places all along the river through the town, were more or less damaged. The water rose to a height of twenty-five feet ; all the intervals were submerged and much of the low upland.
Jonathan Bean, who came from Standish to Bethel. in seventeen hundred and eighty-one or eighty-two, was then quite advanced in years and had a large family of grown up children. He settled on the farm which David Marshall left when he fled to New Gloucester, and afterward known as the Sanborn farm. He became insane and did many queer and ridiculous things. On one occasion, he fancied he could cross the Androscoggin river in summer time on snow shoes. So binding the shoes to his feet, he stepped off the bank into deep water. Of course, he immediately sank, and had not assistance been near, he would have been drowned. He left a large posterity scattered through Bethel, Mason, about the Umbagog lake region and on the Androscoggin, while very many of his descendants went west.
After the Rokomeko Indians at Canton Point were scattered, it is quite likely that the dead of the Indians temporarily residing here, were buried on a point of land near Mill brook, on the Jonathan Clark farm, more recently known as the Burbank farm. There was anciently a small clearing there, and a number of graves were visi- ble upon it when the place was first settled. It is known that the Indians in their later visits to this region, made this place their camping ground. From the gun-barrels found at the old Indian camping grounds, Oliver Fenno, the first blacksmith, wrought fire
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shovel handles for the use of the settlers. On one occasion, as he was heating a gun barrel in his forge, it suddenly burst, from a charge of powder with which it had been loaded, no one knew how long. The ball passed through the work-bench at the opposite side of the shop.
There was evidently an ancient Indian village at one time, on the north side of the river, opposite the residence of the late Timothy Chapman. Precisely when it was deserted cannot now be ascer- tained, but it was probably soon after the Pequakets were broken up by Lovewell and his party. About ten acres of land appear to have been cleared for the purpose of growing corn, but when the first white settlers came, it was covered with a heavy second growth. Molly Ocket, a squaw, well known to the people in Bethel early in this century, who was then very old and remembered Lovewell's fight, said the Indians lived very happily in this place before the whites drove them away. On clearing the land, some twenty or more rude cellar holes were found where the Indians buried their corn. Implements of iron and cooking utensils were found here in abundance by the early settlers, indicating that the settlement was suddenly broken up. These Indians generally buried their dead at Canton Point, but one skeleton was dug up here which Molly Ocket said was that of a girl who was accidentally killed in a drunken frolic.
At the narrows below Bethel Hill is a place called "Powow Point." The Indians here had a maize-field of two or three acres on the east- ern bank, and here they often met in council. There is a tradition that an Indian camp was once burned here, and that their imple- ments as well as their charred remains were subsequently found. It was supposed that they had obtained a quantity of fire-water, had become beastly drunk, and so miserably perished as the result of their own folly. This place where the Indians had their rendez- vous, and where their council fires often brightly burned in the olden times, is now one of the most delightful spots in all the town.
No wonder the Indians were attached to this region and were grieved at being obliged to leave it, for it was a royal hunting ground. Every kind of game common to Maine was found here in great abundance, while the brooks, rivers and ponds were alive with food fishes of many kinds. The Androscoggin was navigable for canoes for a long distance, and when the first settlers came, and
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before the hostile raid, large fleets of boats passing up and down the river was no uncommon sight. After the close of the revolu- tionary war, the Indians came again in smaller bands, and continued their annual visits to this region for several years. They would build a rough camp and remain in one place for several weeks, mak- ing moccasins, baskets and trinkets, which they disposed of to the settlers in exchange for tobacco, spirits and food. After a time their visits ceased, and no Indians, save perhaps a stray one or two from the Penobscot tribe, have been seen in this region within the memory of the living of to-day.
An Indian called Captain Philips and another known as Captain Swasson, both of whom fought on the American side in the Revolu- tionary war, sometimes came to Bethel with others. The latter had been presented with a sword for conspicuous bravery in battle. Tomhegan, properly Tumtumphegan, was the scoundrel who led the attack on the settlement. Other Indians who frequently visited here, were Peol, Black Susup, a Mohawk, Sanloo, Assabeel and Pasul, who was the oldest son of Sabattis by his first wife. Most of these Indians were familiar with savage warfare, the French and Indian wars having been the school of their youth, and the war of the revolution of their riper years.
Among the Indians from Canada who frequently visited Sudbury Canada, was Lewey. He styled himself a sergeant, probably hav- ing seen service in the French war. On one occasion he came to Captain Eleazer Twitchell's house when he was absent, accompanied by several of his tribe. They wanted rum, which Mrs. Twitchell furnished on condition that Lewey would see that they did no mis- chief. After they had drank, they became very noisy and wanted more, and threatened, if it was not given them, they would break down the door. Lewey who was a very strong Indian, quelled them by main force, and then calling for Captain Twitchell's drum, he commenced to play upon it and started out of the house, the Indians staggering after him in single file. He marched them round until they sobered off sufficiently to go to their camp near the mouth of Mill Brook.
When John Holt first came to Bethel, he bought the land at Mid- dle Interval where John Kilgore afterwards lived. It has since been known as the Joshua Chase farm. When he came again, he selected a lot on Swan's hill. He worked here one year and then
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returned to Andover and was married to Lydia Russell. He and his wife with their household goods loaded upon a horse's back, soon after came to Bethel, where she found a little log hut with greased paper as a substitute for glass. The nearest grist mill was at Bethel Hill, five and one-half miles away. Mr. Holt on one occa- sion, took a bag of grain to mill, and while there bought a three quart pail, a kettle and a pig, and taking grist, kettle and pig on his back, he reached home with them. He served three years in the war for independence, and was a Captain of the militia in Betliel. He also held various town offices and was deacon of the Baptist church. He was born June eleventh, seventeen hundred and sixty- two, and died July sixteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty. His wife was born May twelfth, seventeen hundred and sixty-five, and died September twelfth, eighteen hundred and forty-seven.
Bears have sometimes been very troublesome to the farmers of Bethel by killing their sheep, robbing the bee-hives and raiding the corn fields, but rarely has human life been endangered by them. A young man in the adjoining town of Newry had a thrilling adventure, an account of which is well worth preserving. It was in the year eighteen hundred and forty-six, on the sixteenth day of September, that Orrin, son of Enoch Foster, a boy of about sixteen years of age, was sent by his father to look up some cattle which had strayed away from the mountain pasture into the woods. His route took him up the side of Puzzle mountain, through pasture and forest, and when about two miles from home, he came across a path which led to a brook. Thinking he had found the trail of the lost cattle, he pressed on, and soon heard the sound of some animal in the bushes near by, and going toward the point from which the sound seemed to proceed, he was surprised and alarmed at the appearance of a huge bear, which, with eyes flashing fire and gnashing teeth, sprang toward him from a thicket not three rods away. Foster tried to encourage a small dog which accompanied him to attack the monster, but he cowardly slunk away and hid himself in the bushes. Foster then turned and went about two rods to a sappling beech, which was the only tree in the vicinity and which was about seven inches in diameter at the ground. The body of the tree was smooth, and the lower limbs were about eight feet from the ground. The bear with jaws distended and eyes glowing like fire, was close upon him, and his only chance was in being able to climb the tree. He sprang · with all his strengtli and tried to grasp the lower limbs, but failed,
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but he seized the trunk of the tree with both his hands and drew his feet up. The bear comprehending his intentions, sprang after him, but happily falling a little short of his aim, he struck at the root of the tree. Foster succeeded in reaching the limbs, and as the bear recovered, he again sprang and raked Foster's foot as he was draw- ing himself into the lower branches. He came very near drawing Foster down, but with all his strength he broke away and ascended the tree with the bear in close pursuit. He went up nearly thirty feet from the ground where the tree was so small that he could easily clasp it in his hands, and the bear foaming with rage and dis- appointment, was about four feet below him. The tree began to bend under the great weight, and Foster tried to balance it, but the bear kept slowly advancing. In this moment of extreme peril, it occurred to Foster to try and shake his pursuer from the tree. Securing his hold with a vice-like clutch, and with all his strength, quickened and increased by the fear of a horrible death, he shook the tree, and the bear being unable to sustain his weight on the under side, fell to the ground. His fall of twenty-five feet momen- tarily stunned him, but he soon sprang up and made several unsuc- cessful efforts to re-climb the tree, but each time fell back. While Bruin was trying to climb up a second time, Foster was not idle. Taking out his jack knife, he descended the tree a short distance, and cut off a large limb about five feet long, which he whittled to a point at one end, intending to make an attempt at the bear's eyes, should he succeed in re-climbing the tree. Being foiled in his attempts at climbing, he watched Foster's motions for a few moments and then went for the dog. But the dog was not pleased with Bruin's attentions and kept himself at a safe distance from his bearship and finally left for home. The bear then returned to the foot of the tree and vented his anger in dismal howls and in gnash- ing his teeth. He would then follow the cattle path for twenty rods or more, and then return to the tree, thinking probably that Foster had availed himself of his absence and had descended from the tree. He tried this ruse again and again, but at last he became discour- aged at the prospect of an evening meal in this direction, and about sunset, with a howl that seemed to shake the mountain and rever- berate through its dark ravines and caverns, he slowly retired.
When Foster rushed against the beech he bruised his stomach, and after the immediate danger from the bear had passed, his chest began to pain him severely, and he found it was badly swollen. He
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was without coat, and exposed on the north side of a mountain, to the chilly blasts of an autumn night. He also began to suffer from hunger and thirst, having neither ate or drank since morning. His hands and feet were badly swollen by holding onto the tree, and the blood rushed to his head and throat so as to almost produce delirium. He had called for assistance until his voice had failed him, and after the bear left him, he did not dare to leave the tree, fearing the mon- ster might still be lurking near, ready to pounce upon him. This occurred on Sunday, and his parents had attended religious services at some distance from home and had stopped with a friend to take tea. Returning at night, they found the dog had returned without his master, and, from his uneasiness, they felt certain that Orrin had met with some accident and was detained on the mountain. The news quickly spread through the neighborhood and some twenty persons assembled with lanterns and tin trumpets, and with lighted torches. Dividing into small squads, they ascended the mountain, blowing their trumpets and building bonfires, to much of which young Foster from his elevated perch in the tree top, was a silent spectator. But he was so debilitated that he could neither go down from the tree nor make himself heard. It was eleven o'clock when three persons approached the tree, and among them he recognized the voice of his father. The hour of deliverance had come and he was soon in the midst of his friends. After having his limbs chafed for a while, he was able, with the assistance which he received, to descend the mountain and reach his home, but it was more than a year before he was able to perform much labor. To him, his deliv- erance was like a renewal of life. While the hungry bear was exert- ing all his strength to reach him, he expected to be torn in pieces, and when the monster left him, death still seemed to hover near him in the fearful forms of cold, hunger and exhaustion. While in the tree, when hope had nearly abandoned him, Foster started the blood from his arm with the point of his knife, and with a pointed stick as a pen, and the blood as writing fluid, he inscribed upon his pocket handkerchief the words, "killed by a bear," and then tied the hand- kerchief to the tree, that should he never return, his friends might learn of his terrible fate.
The one hundredth anniversary of the attack on the upper settle- ment of Sudbury Canada by a small party of Indians belonging to the Saint Francis tribe of Canada, was duly noticed at Bethel Hill on the third day of August, eighteen hundred and eighty-one. At
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early morn, the village bells were rung, and by nine o'clock, a large number of people had gathered on the Common. A procession on Broad street was formed, under the direction of Major Gideon A. Hastings, and headed by the Bethel band, marched through the principal streets to the Common, where a block house had been built similar to the one constructed after the Indian raid. Then occurred a closely contested sham fight between a company of rangers, and a party disguised as Indians. Of course the former were victorious, though when the contest was at an end, the latter did not in any sense resemble whipped Indians. The procession much augmented was then re-formed and marched to Kimball Park, where literary exercises were held. Mr. David F. Brown was President of the occasion. Prayer was offered by Rev. Javan K. Mason, a native of Bethel. In a few well chosen words, Chairman Brown then intro- duced Dr. Nathaniel T. True as the orator of the occasion, who gave a detailed account of the attack upon the little settlement, and of the incidents in the captivity of Segar and Clark. Albert S. Twitchell of Gorham, New Hampshire, also a native of Bethel, read a poem composed for and appropriate to the occasion, and with brief remarks by several others, the literary exercies were brought to a close. A picnic dinner followed. It was one of the largest audiences ever assembled in town. The officers in charge of the celebration, beside those already mentioned, were: General com- mittee of arrangements, Nathaniel T. True, Moses T. Cross, Good- win R. Wiley and Richard A. Frye. Committee on the sham fight, William E. Skillings, Leander T. Barker, Addison E. Herrick, H. Clinton Barker and Frank B. Tuell. Officers of the parade, William E. Skillings, Leander T. Barker, Addison E. Herrick, Dwight C. Rose and H. Clinton Barker. Among the elderly persons present were Thaddeus Bartlett, John Y. Dustin, Ayers Mason, Gilman Chapman, Nathaniel Swan, George Grover, Alphin Twitchell, Eleazer Twitchell, Isaac C. Cross and Francis Barker. Some of these were sons and others grandsons of the early settlers, and Eleazer Twitchell was the son of that Captain Eleazer Twitchell who was captured by the Indians, made his escape and remained concealed in the woods all night. Only ten years have elapsed since this celebration took place, and yet the President and orator of the day, and nearly all of the elderly people mentioned as being present, have died.
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The late Daniel G. York is responsible for the statement that the road from Bethel station to the Mills Brown house was built in eigh- teen hundred and nineteen, and that the committee to locate it con- sisted of Abel Wheeler, Francis Keyes and John Thompson, all of Rumford. In the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three, the same committee located the road from the mouth of Bear river to Umba- gog lake. It was then expected that this would be a great thorough- fare from the upper Coos region to Portland, but such hopes never have been and are not likely to be realized. The building of the Atlantic and Saint Lawrence railroad, and the opening of the Coos Division of the Maine Central road, have established outlets for the great north country, which will probably never be essentially changed.
In the year eighteen hundred and eighteen, there were no bridges across either Bear or Sunday river, and Mr. York related a little experience he had when only eight years of age. His father then lived on the place since known as the Leander Jewett farm, and his- grandfather, Abraham Russell who was visiting there, wished to have Daniel go home with him. Sunday river had recently expe- rienced a rise, but as the general muster was to come off the next day, Mr. Russell could not wait for the waters to subside, so he boldly entered the swollen river, but in a moment the wagon floated, and the body becoming detached, Daniel was thrown out, and succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, but he hardly knew how. The horse was drowned, and Mr. Russell clinging to the bottom of the wagon, floated down stream until his frail bark caught on a root and held fast. Daniel procured help, and Mr. Russell was rescued from his perilous position, by throwing a piece of wood with a rope attached, into the river, above which Mr. Russell caught, and was pulled ashore.
The memory of those who set out the shade trees around the Common and on the street sides of Bethel Hill, will remain fragrant as long as these trees shall live. In many cases offerings of thanks will be bestowed upon unknown persons, but where the names are known they should be handed down as doers of good deeds for the benefit of those coming after them. The street along the east side of the Common was once called Straw street, because O'Neil W. Robinson, Moses Mason and John Hastings lived upon this street and their wives were sisters, and before marriage, bearing the name
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