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 41
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of Straw. The trees surrounding the common on the north side, were set out by Hon. Robert A. Chapman ; those opposite Judge Foster's place, by the early proprietor of the place, O'Neil W. Rob- inson ; those opposite the Mason place by Dr. Moses Mason, and those against the Hastings place by John Hastings, the old village blacksmith. Hiram Ellingwood, a grandson of Captain Eleazer Twitchell, and formerly a hotel keeper here, set out the trees in front of Major Gideon A. Hasting's place, and also in front of the Elms hotel. Many of the shade trees at the upper end of the vil- lage, and many of those around the academy were planted by stu- dents. Doctor True, while he had charge of the academy, made it the duty of the young men of the school, to plant each, at least, one tree, as a memento of their school days, and for the embellishment of the academy grounds. He usually hinted also, that if agreeable to the student, a second tree might be planted upon his premises at the upper end of the village, and it was generally done. The beauty of the village is due largely to its beautiful shade trees, and those students including the writer, who toted maples, elms and other young trees from the woods and set them out, as others have fre- quently done, both actually and figuratively, "planted better than they knew."
A writer in the Bethel Courier in eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, gives a little sketch of the appearance and business of Bethel Hill, which possesses some interest by comparison with the village thirty- two years later, starting from the railway station, which he said needed remodelling. He spoke of the dry goods and grocery busi- ness, and also the hardware business carried on by Mason & Com- pany, which meant Charles and Oliver H:, and Mighill Mason. He spoke of the taste even then, in the construction of buildings, and remarked that hardly an inferior looking building could be found in the whole village. Passing into Chapman street, Kilgore's carriage manufactory was complimented, and notice taken of the sash and blind factory not yet completed. Passing up Main street, the fur- niture shops of Robertson & Goddard were noticed, and also Small's photographic gallery. Mason street was looked into where several buildings had been erected, and which the writer predicted would become a pleasant part of the village.
Swift & Foster's store was next noticed, and the well kept post office therein. The office of Samuel F. Gibson, Attorney at Law, was here, and the tailor's shop of Patrick H. McCloskey. The
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Bethel Courier office was near by, and the two jewelry stores kept by Russell & Abbot. Blake's grocery store received due attention, and across the way, Chapman's block, occupied by Alfred Twitch- ell, cordwainer, Richard A. Frye, lawyer, Hiram Young, saddler, Doctor Grandin, dentist, Young's shoe store and the millinery establishment by Abbie A. and Susan Russell. Surely, here was a busy hive, and a great variety of employments. Robert A. Chap- man's store, known for a generation to everybody in town, and long occupied by him and his brother Deacon Elbridge, was the next place noticed, and then striking clear across the broad common, the block of stores occupied by Ira C. Kimball, William J. Hayden and William H. and Frank Chandler were spoken of. Here, also, was the law office of O'Neil W. Robinson, Junior.
The Bethel House, then occupied by the Chandlers, but since burned, stood south of the block of stores, and all were burned together in war time. Reynold's blacksmith shop was the first busi- ness place on the Mill hill road, and then came the carriage factory of Burnham & Mead. On the Island, a little below where the Mill Brook divides, and a little above where its waters re-unite, stood the saw and grist mills as they still stand. Opposite was the large tannery operated by David F. and Robbins Brown, and by their father, Robbins Brown, before them. Ah! there have been sad changes here. The tannery is seen looking shabby and run-down, but the Browns, fathers, husbands, wives and children sleep the sleep that knows no waking. Two of the sons died in the war for the Union, and two more have since passed away ; one of the fathers died by his own hand, and one of the mothers became insane ; all, save one, found premature graves, and it was a terrible wreck of two good and highly respected families. The Courier writer then spoke of Clough's starch factory, and farther along, the carding and cloth-dressing mills once operated by Moses T. Cross. The writer then ascends the Mill Hill, and notes the blacksmith shops of Captain Samuel H. Chapman and John Hastings. Two fine churches on Church street were noticed, and then Kimball Park or Common was visited, and the prediction made, which has already been verified, that some day it would become one of the most attractive places in the village.
The little hamlet known as Bean's Corner, situated on the south side of the river, was formerly a place of much more importance than it is now. Thaddeus Bartlett once owned the land in this
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vicinity, and afterwards it became the property of his sons, Ball and Thaddeus P. Bartlett, and the old homestead was subsequently occu- pied by his son-in-law, George Kimball. The first store built here was by Thaddeus P. Bartlett, who traded in it for a number of years. Ball Bartlett kept a hotel, which was well patronized half a century ago. The place took the name of Bean's Corner, when Eliphaz C. Bean, then a young man, nearly sixty years ago, took the store and operated it for many years. May and other military trainings, and the fall musters made the place quite lively at times, and as the people in this region were convivial in their habits, assemblies were very common in autumn and winter, both at Bart- lett's and Bean's. Dealing in ardent spirits formed no small part of the business, and the Washingtonian movement and subsequent agitation of the temperance question was very damaging to the chief interest of the place. The early blacksmith here was Joseph Ayer, who came from Standish. But neither trader, hotel-keeper, carpen- ter nor blacksmith depended entirely for their living upon these branches of business, but each did more or less farming, and when their business fell off, they had something substantial to fall back upon. Mrs. Betsey Segar who was the daughter of Arnold Powers, was the tailoress for this region, and she was a very capable one. She made many a young man happy with his first fulled cloth suit, including a frock coat with gilt buttons. The place has never grown much, but there are quiet, happy homes here, and the inter- vale farms are fertile and productive. The heads of families of fifty years ago, with the exception of Eliphaz C. Bean, are for the most part dead, and those of that period who survive, have long since moved away.
The Washingtonian movement which swept over the country late in the thirties, struck the region of Bean's Corner and produced a wonderful change there in a very short time. Middle aged men and some who had passed middle life, and who had always been in the habit of drinking more or less, became interested and signed the pledge, and not a few of them kept it to their dying day. They held meetings at the school house, and the excitement partook of much of the nature of a revival of religion. They confessed their previous sins, exhorted each other to stand firmly to their pledges, and invited the wavering to join them. But perfect harmony did not always prevail at these meetings. I was present on one occa- sion when one of the speakers confessed that he had often been
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drunk, and, said he, "there are those here who have seen me intoxi- cated ;" "that is so," interposed one of his neighbors who sat near, "I have seen you drunk many a time." The first speaker turning toward him, and shaking his fists at his face, exclaimed in thunder tones, "the same to yourself, sir ; I have often seen you drunk." No doubt both told the truth, but the speaker preferred to confess his own faults than be told of them.
David Marshall who first settled on the Sanborn place near Ken- dall's ferry, and was frightened away by the Indian raid and did not return, was in the battle of Bunker Hill. He used to tell the story how, during the heat of the engagement his right hand man was shot down, and well he knew who had done the deed, for he saw him step out from behind a tree, and taking deadly aim, discharge his piece. Marshall expected his turn would come next, but hastily loading his gun, he pointed it at the spot where the enemy soon re- appeared, and both pieces were discharged at the same time. The enemy's ball grazed Marshall's side, but the moment his piece was discharged he dropped it, and fell, pierced through the body by Marshall's better directed bullet. The death of his fellow soldier was avenged, and a haughty veteran sent to take away the liberties of the colony, was rendered powerless, and yet, Marshall said he could hardly express his feelings of sorrow that he had killed a fellow-man, though an enemy to his country, and in self-defence.
In the second Bull Run battle, General Cuvier Grover showed courage rarely equalled during the whole war. It was on this occasion that General Heintzelman, in whose command was Grover's brigade, in his report stated, that "Grover's brigade made the most gallant and determined bayonet charge of the war. He broke two of the enemy's lines, but was finally repulsed by the overwhelming num- bers of the rebel third line. It was a hand to hand conflict, using the bayonet and the butt of the musket. In this fierce conflict of not more than twenty minutes duration, the brigade numbering about two thousand, lost four hundred and eighty-four, mostly killed and wounded." The brigade was made up of the second New Hampshire, the first, eleventh and sixteenth Massachusetts, and the twenty-sixth Pennsylvania. The force of the enemy which they charged was Stonewall Jackson's corps numbering nearly thirty thousand, and Jackson in his report, speaks of it as a determined and hand to hand attack, and says the advance by the Federals was
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made "in defiance of our fatal and destructive fire, and with great determination." Had Grover been properly supported, his charge would have been a great success, but as it was, it is a marvel that any of them came out alive.
In the early days, trout were much more plenty in the Andros- coggin than now, and in some of the eddies, the patient and skilful angler was often well rewarded for his toil. On one occasion, a nervous and somewhat eccentric individual, whose name it may not be best to mention, but whom we will call "Johnny," undertook to recover a trout in a unique, and what proved to be a dangerous way. He had succeeded in hooking a large trout, but the hold was not strong, and after the fish had broken water, he freed himself from the hook. Entirely oblivious of the fact that the water was at least ten feet deep, and that he could not swim any more than a rock, our fisherman instantly leaped in after the fleeing beauty, and was rescued with extreme difficulty by his companions who happened to be near.
This same individual had his own peculiar views with regard to marriage obligations, and having lost one wife and being about to be married to a second, he employed a Justice of the Peace to do the legal part of the ceremony. The Justice was obligating the proposed wife, using the usual formula of "love and obey," when he was suddenly brought to by the bridegroom with the injunction, "stop right there ;" I want you to insert after the word "obey," the words, "all reasonable commands." The Justice who was a novice at the business, was considerably thrown out of bias, but finally recovered himself and finished the ceremony.
"Tommy" lived at the lower part of the town and was a charac- ter in his way. He had no school privileges when young, and so had no education. He bought two?wild lots of land between Locke's Mills and the Androscoggin, before the Otter pond road was built, put him up a shanty, and while his mother (his father having died) did the housework, he attacked the forest and cleared his lands. After a time he was married, and then he threw his old mother upon the town. He became a forehanded farmer, but it seemed almost like retributive justice, that adverse circumstances in later years, should make him a town charge. His first wife died early of con- sumption, and he married a second. She also was a feeble woman, and he always claimed that he had been cheated. Speaking of the
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circumstances : "Why," he would say, "when I went to see her, her friends had collected all the yarn in the neighborhood and hung it up around her room and made me think it was her own spinning ;" "and now," continued he, "she hasn't seen a well day since I owned her, and it will take two or three hundred dollars to get her through." He always blamed his father for spending property which, according to the terms of a will, was to come to him and his brother, only the father was to have his maintenance out of it, and it took it all. The father died and was buried in the field upon the new farm, and nothing having been put up to mark the spot, its situation was soon lost, and for more than seventy seasons this field has been cultivated or mowed, and the identity of the spot where sleeps a son of a Doctor of Divinity of Bolton, Mass., is lost for- ever. But with all his uncouthness, and all his apparent roughness, "Tommy" was a thoroughly honest man, and a motto which he strictly adhered to was, to give honest measure, and render to every man his exact due. He also had a soft and tender side to his heart, and no real sufferer ever appealed to him in vain. His lack of education and of knowledge of the world, rendered him suspic- ious, and having suffered on several occasions by being swindled, he came to look upon all who approached him as cheats. It is not often that a man complains that his taxes are too low, but such was the case with "Tommy." One of his neighbors who owned less land was assessed a much greater amount of taxes, and on finding it out, "Tommy" went to the assessors for justice. He owned nearly twice as much land, he said, as his neighbor had, and he could not see why he should not be taxed as much. Whether he found the assessors in an obliging mood has not been transmitted, but it is certainly to be hoped he did. Though not an habitual drinker, yet like most men of his age and time, "Tommy" would occasionally indulge in a social glass, and sometimes he would take on a little too much. On the occasion of the raising of the frame of the woolen factory at Locke's Mills, (long since burned,) there was a social dance, to which all were invited. "Tommy" had been imbibing quite freely and concluded to remain and "trip the light fantastic toe," and his grotesque figure, to say nothing of his antics in the mazy dance, caused great merriment. Late in the evening he mounted his horse and started for home, arriving at which, the horse tried to stop, but "Tommy" insisted that the horse was mis- taken, and applying the stick, he forced the animal to go three miles
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farther, and when he in a measure, had come to himself, he turned about and reached home near daylight. Absorbed in the exploits of the evening before, he called up his wife and the hired man to see him dance, and no wild Indian in full war paint ever cut up more antics than Tommy did upon that kitchen floor. Finally he jumped upon the table ready set for breakfast, and overturning it, fell sprawling, with broken crockery all around him, and this ended the performance.
Samuel Goss was an early settler in Bethel, on the farm after- wards owned by Richard Estes. He afterward removed to what is known as Red Hill, in Rumford. He was possessed of a fine real estate in Massachusetts, left him by his father, Rev. Thomas Goss,. which he exchanged for wild, eastern lands. He was not brought. up to labor, and was not a business man, and so the transaction proved his financial ruin. It also affected his sons, his male heirs being the legatees according to the terms of his father's will, after- he had his maintenance out of the property. One of his sons, Abial Goss, settled in Cambridge, Mass., and became quite wealthy. He: was a carpenter and contractor.
Wolves were quite plenty in Bethel when the early settlers came, and their howling at night has caused many a mother to shudder. and press her helpless babe closer to her bosom, while she thanked the Lord for the shelter and protection which their rudely con- structed house afforded. . They were often destructive to sheep, and would sometimes attack and overpower cattle. But the last wolf left Bethel many years ago. It was about sixty years ago, when I was a child and we lived in a clearing at the east part of the town, that in winter our attention was called by some one of the family, to two animals which came into the opening in the gray of the early morning, and seemed in no haste to go away. The patriarch of the family pronounced them wolves, and a large hunt- ing dog named "Colonel," was put after them and quickly sent them to cover in the woods. Then some neighbors came with another dog, called Major, and they followed the fugitives the entire day in the direction of Canada, but did not get sight of them. But those who followed their tracks agreed with the patriarch that they were wolves, which they undoubtedly were. I only remember that they were gray and gaunt, looked much alike and much like the pictures of wolves in the story books.
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As late as the forties, bears were quite plenty in the woods around the base of Goss mountain, and in the woods at the south of the mountain, which extended to Alder river. Along Alder brook, be- tween the base of the Goss mountain and Alder river, back of the "Dug-away" hill, as it was called, the bears had regular beaten paths, and in passing at night along the road which ran along par- allel with the brook and on the opposite side of the Dug-away hill, the growling of bears could sometimes be heard, and the calling sounds of the cubs. Our patriarch once set a trap in one of the paths, and we were all greatly excited a day or two after, when it was found that the trap was missing. A clog was attached to the trap to impede the bear's progress, and some of the neighbors hav- ing turned out to witness the sport, the trail was easily followed and bruin brought to bay within half a mile of the place where he was caught. He was held by a sappling against which the clog had caught, and was dreadfully ferocious. A good sized dog which approached too near, was tossed into the air and landed ten feet away. After watching him for a few moments, a well directed ball put him out of his misery. This was the last bear I saw executed, and it was about fifty years ago.
Our patriarch was something of a bear hunter, and on one occa- sion when he had a piece of corn on new land nearly half a mile from home, and found that the bears were destroying it, he set a gun, by attaching a line to the trigger, so that if the bear should run against the line he would fire the gun and perhaps get the ball through his head or body. Near the middle of the night, the forest echoes were awakened by the sound of the gun, and so excited was the patriarch that he could not wait until daylight to learn the result, but dressing himself, he went alone through the woods to the corn field, and soon returned with the information that a huge bear had shot himself and was lying dead near the place where he had received the fatal bullet. By the aid of neighbors, he was brought to the house on the following morning, where we all could inspect him. He was a monster bear, and terrible even in death to the group of children that surveyed him, from what they considered a safe distance. I thought at the time and I have thought since, that it required no small amount of courage on the part of the patriarch to get up at midnight and go off through the woods to the place where the gun had been discharged, with the chance of finding, not a dead bear, but a wounded one, and from which, in the darkness, he might have found it difficult to escape.
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The following statistics respecting the adjoining town of Mason were written down by the late Dr. Moses Mason. The town of Mason was run out into lots by Jason Sherman in eighteen hundred and twenty-five. In eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, Moses Mason built mills there. The town was incorporated in eighteen hundred and forty-three, and named in honor of Moses Mason. At that time the following were residents, being heads of families : Jonathan Everett, Benjamin Bean, Ebenezer Bean, Jonathan Bean, Amos Bean, Peregrine Duston, Charles Burk, Chapman Brackett, Jeremiah Grover, Cyrus Mills, James Mills, Artemas Mason, John Paine, James A. Paine, Levi Shaw, Nathaniel Tyler, Nathaniel Tyler, Jr., and William Tyler.
The border town of Gilead which joins Bethel on the west, form- erly called Peabody's patent, was settled about the year seventeen hundred and eighty-one. The first three settlers were Oliver Pea- body, Enoch Messer and a Mr. Pettingill, who was killed by the Indians after they had raided Bethel. The next settlers were the Larys, Joseph, Joseph, Jr., and Jonathan, and Mr. David Blake, who afterwards came to Bethel and built mills. This was in seven- teen hundred and eighty-eight. Four years later came Thomas Peabody, then John Bennett and John Mason. In seventeen hun- dred and ninety-six, seven settlers purchased as many ranges of lots with a view of settling. They were Eliphaz Chapman, Jr., John Swan, Ephraim Wight, John Bennett, William Lucas, Samuel Wheeler and James Rogers. Others who came at the same time but did not buy land, were Timothy Bennett, James Wiles and Andrew Gould. The first deaths were of Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Swan and Mrs. Lucas, all caused by consumption. Blake built a mill on Wild river but the first freshet swept it away. By the aid of his neighbors he rebuilt it, but it was again carried away, and discour- aged, he gave it up and left the town. After the death of his wife, Lucas sold to Isaac Adams and went to Canada. During the absence of Adams, his wife attempted to cross the river in a small boat with her sister, her child, Sarah Bradley, a girl of twelve years, and Joseph Blodgett. The boat was capsized and all perished except Miss Lydia Twitchell, the sister of Mrs. Adams. Eliphalet Burbank from Bradford, Mass., came to Gilead in eighteen hun- dred and two, and bought a fine interval farm of Lieut. Lary. He was accompanied by Samuel Barker, who settled in Bethel. Mr.
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Burbank moved into the town the following winter, hauling his household goods from Bradford with teams of six oxen and two horses. He was an enterprising man, a good farmer and a valuable addition to the colony. He had six sons, one of whom, Jedediah Burbank came to Bethel, and two daughters. He died in Gilead in eighteen hundred and sixteen. George W. Chapman was also an early resident in Gilead, and both he and his brother represented
the town in the Legislature. Samuel Barker came to Bethel and bought of Daniel Clark, the farm afterwards owned by his son Francis Barker, and is still in the family. Mr. Barker was the pro- prietor of Barker's Ferry and gave name to it. The Larys of Gilead moved to Shelburne and Gorham, New Hampshire, and have been prominent in those towns. They came from Wolfboro, New Hampshire, and were connected with the Messers and Blakes.
A musical geuius was Hosea Ripley. He was not a native of Bethel, but he lived at South Bethel many years and died there. He taught the old-fashioned singing schools at the lower part of the town and in adjoining towns nearly fifty years ago, and was con- sidered an excellent instructor. He organized a band at Bryant's Pond and one in Bethel, and perhaps in other places. He could play with ease upon every kind of wind or stringed instrument, and was therefore in great demand as a teacher of bands. He had a fine voice for singing, and all these qualities, while they did not bring riches as they almost never do, they did bring him much enjoyment and made him a general favorite.
Capt. John Harris in politics, was an ardent whig, and when the whigs gained the day, whether in the State or nation, he believed in celebrating it. In the campaign of eighteen hundred and forty- eight, when General Taylor was elected President, a few whig young men hauled the cannon to the Common and made preparations to fire a salute. The piece stood in front of the Doctor Mason house, and the Doctor who was a strong democrat, came out and objected to the firing, giving as a reason that the concussion would break his window glass. The boys hardly knew what to do, but just then Captain Harris came along, and learning the situation, he took a good look at Doctor Mason's house, and then exclaimed, "seven by nine glass, boys, touch her off and I'll pay the bllls," and touch her off they did, and when they were done Captain Harris had no small bill to settle.
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