USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Garland > History of Garland, Maine > Part 14
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The annual meeting of 1821 was held on April 4th. Philip Greeley was chosen moderator; Reuben Bartlett, town clerk; Isaac Wheeler, Philip Greeley and Reuben Bartlett, selectmen and assessors; Ezekiel Straw, treas- urer, and Isaac Wheeler, Reuben Bartlett and Philip Greeley, superintending school committee.
It was voted to raise twelve hundred dollars to build and repair highways, four hundred dollars for the sup- port of schools, fifty-five dollars to pay arrearages, and fifty dollars for town expenses. It was voted that the road tax should be paid in labor, and other taxes in grain ; wheat at nine shillings, and corn and rye at six shillings per bushel each. John M. Fifield was chosen collector of taxes, and a compensation of nine mills per dollar voted for the service.
The legal voters of Garland assembled on the 10th of September to vote for governor and other State officers. For governor, Albion K. Parris received forty votes ; Joshua Wingate received five votes; Isaac Case received one vote.
For representative to the Legislature, Daniel Wilkins of Charleston received thirty-five votes; Cornelius Coolidge of Dexter received ten votes.
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Action of the Town Relating to Lots of Land Reserved for Public Purposes
In the resolve of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, granting the township now known as Garland to Williams College, three lots of land of three hundred and twenty acres each were reserved for public purposes, to wit: one lot for the use of schools, one lot for the first settled minister, his heirs and assigns, and one lot for the use of the ministry. In the conveyance of the township by the college to the men known as the origi- nal proprietors the same reservations were made. 'The first action of the town with reference to the reserved lots was at a meeting on September 10, 1821, when Isaac Wheeler, Jeremiah Flanders, Philip Greeley, William Godwin and John Chandler, were appointed a committee to examine the reserved lots, and determine which should be reserved for the benefit of schools, which for the first settled minister, and which for the ministry.
Another meeting was held on October 8th. The records fail to show that there was any report from the committee appointed at the previous meeting. At the meeting of October 8th, the following articles were presented for consideration :
"To see if the town will make provision for the settlement of Elder Robinson, or any other person, as a public preacher of the gospel in this town. It was voted that so much of this article as relates to Elder Robinson be passed over, and that a committee be appointed to invite some person to preach in town on trial. It was also voted that a man who shall be accept- able to the town as a public teacher of morality, piety and religion, shall receive one hundred acres of the pub- lic land." Isaac Wheeler, Reuben Bartlett, Joseph
-
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.
Garland, John S. Haskell and Thomas S. Tyler were appointed a committee to execute the purposes of this vote.
Number of Families in What is Now Garland Village in 1821
Our well-remembered citizen, the late David Fogg, who came to Garland in 1821, and became a member for the time being of the family of his brother- in-law, Abraham True, is authority for the state- ment that at the date of his coming, 1821, there were only five families within the limits of what now is Gar- land village. These were the families of a Mrs. Burton, Abraham True, Reuben Bartlett, Dr. Moses Buswell and Isaac Wheeler, Esq. The True and Burton fami- lies lived together in a house at the foot of the hill below the present residence of Mrs. Charles E. Merriam. The remains of an old cellar indicate the site of the house.
Reuben Bartlett lived in a little house on the brow near the present village saw-mill which had been built a few years earlier. Doctor Buswell lived in a house near the center of the village in proximity to the site of the present residence of Elmer Hill.
Isaac Wheeler, Esq., lived in a house on the site of the residence of the late William Foss, now the home of F. D. Wood. The post-office in 1821 was at the resi- dence of Reuben Bartlett, now owned by C. F. Osgood. The mail which was received once each week was brought on horseback in summer, and in a pung in winter.
Outside the limits of the village, several men estab-
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lished homes in the town in 1821. Among these were Jacob Greeley, who built on the hill a little way north of the schoolhouse in District No. 1 (Dearborn).
Benjamin Pressey established a home within the limits of the present school District No. 3, where the late B. L. Trundy resided. Samuel Greeley, afterwards a well- known citizen, emigrated from Salisbury, N. H., and lived in the house vacated by Joseph Garland, the first citizen of the town, about this time.
The late Jeremiah Ladd gave the following account of the coming of the Ladd family to Garland. His father, Captain Daniel Ladd, a native of Lee, N. H., emigrated to Garland in 1821. He first lived on the William Blaisdell place, then upon the place now occupied by James L. Rideout. In 1823 he bought the farm for- merly the residence of Rev. A. P. Andrews, where he built a small house. The carpenter's work upon this house was done by the late Joseph Prescott, who had then just come to the town, and a Mr. Avery. Three or four years later, he bought the Joseph Saunders place, near the hill known as High Cut, afterwards known as the Emerson place. He then purchased land adjoining the Emerson place and built on it.
His next move was to the place now owned by Charles H. Brown. Captain Ladd came into the town over the old county road. The first building he passed after entering the town was a mechanic's shop, located near the late residence of Story Jones, now owned by Aaron Knight, and which was owned by two brothers of the name of Davis.
The second building passed was a house nearly oppo- site the present residence of Glenn Morgan. There had been other families between this house and the village which had moved away. Captain Ladd found the road that led into town almost impassable. The swamps and
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wet places were spanned by logs placed across the road side by side, known as corduroy road.
A ride over this kind of road was tiresome to passers over it, and wearing to carriages.
Garland in 1822
At the annual meeting of 1822, held April 3d, Philip Greeley was chosen moderator; Reuben Bartlett, town clerk; Isaac Wheeler, Reuben Bartlett and Ezekiel Straw, selectmen and assessors; Isaac Wheeler, Reuben Bartlett and Ezekiel Straw, superintending school com- mittee.
It was voted to raise three hundred dollars for the support of schools, twelve hundred dollars to build and repair highways, one hundred dollars to repair school- houses, seventy-five dollars to pay town charges, twenty dollars to buy powder, and that the taxes should be paid in wheat at one dollar and twenty-five cents or in corn or rye at eighty-four cents per bushel, the grain to be deliv- ered to the treasurer by the first day of February.
On September 9, the legal voters assembled to indi- cate their choice for governor and other officers, when Albion K. Parris received thirty-three votes; Ezekiel Whitman received twenty-three votes; Philip Greeley received one vote.
For representative to the Legislature, Winthrop Chapman of Exeter received twenty-three votes; Daniel Wilkins of Charleston received fourteen votes.
Mr. Wilkins was the successful candidate in the dis- trict. On the same day the town voted to assist one of its worthy citizens, who had come to a condition where
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assistance was needed, to the amount of fifty dollars This is the earliest record of assistance to the poor. John Hayes collected the taxes this year for five mills per dollar.
Newcomers in 1822
Ansel Field of Paris, Maine, took up his residence in Garland in 1822, and purchased land on the old county road, about one mile south of the village, where he erected buildings and lived. Mr. Field and his wife united with the Congregational church. At the end of about fifteen years he returned to Paris. The farm he left was purchased by the friends of the Rev. John Sawyer. The venerable clergyman spent the last years of his eventful life in the town where he had been instru- mental in the organization of the third Congregational church within the present limits of Penobscot County. The farm where he lived is now owned by Glenn Morgan.
George R. Coffin came to Garland as early as 1822, and established a home on lot two, range five, where he lived for many years. This farm, once owned by Deacon L. M. Rideout, is now in the possession of Galen S. Burrill.
Joseph Prescott and Jeremiah Avery came to the town in 1822 to ply their trade as carpenters. Mr. Avery remained in town only a short time. Mr. Prescott bought of Joseph Sargent a part of lot four, range four, where he made a home for his family and lived until his death in 1849.
The name of Walter Holbrook appears on the records of the town as early as 1822. He established a home
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on lot four, range six, where he lived until about the year 1835, when he returned to Massachusetts.
James Powers came to town in 1822. He married a sister of Captain John L. Jackman.
Benjamin Pressey established a home in the Parkman neighborhood, south of the pond, once owned by B. L. Trundy, now the home of Loren Curtis. He was a carpenter, and built for the Fogg family the house a few rods east of the schoolhouse in District No. 3. William Soule moved into the town about the year 1822, and settled in the Parkman neighborhood, south of the pond. He had a large family of boys, among whom were Gideon, David, John and Rufus.
Samuel W. Knight's name appears upon the military roll of 1822, which is about the date of his becoming a resident of the town. He purchased a part of lot two, in range seven, where he made a home for his family and lived until his death. This old homestead in 1890 was owned by the late Cyrus Snell, whose son Charles afterwards became the owner and has recently sold to Mrs. Ruel Maguire.
Dr. Seth Fogg emigrated from Deerfield, N. H., to Garland in the year 1822, bringing with him a large family of sons and daughters. One son, David, and one daughter, Mrs. Abraham True, were here a year or two earlier. Doctor Fogg first moved into the house vacated a few years earlier by William Sargent, on the place where James L. Rideout now resides. In 1823 he moved into the Burton house, located a few rods north of the present house of Mrs. Charles E. Merriam. Shortly after, he moved into the house that had been built for the Fogg family by Mr. Pressey, where his death soon occurred. This house is now owned and occupied by John McComb, Jr.
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Search for a Missing Child in a Neighboring Town in Which Citizens of Garland Participated
Common privations and hardships united the early inhabitants of a town in bonds of earnest and sincere sympathy. Each citizen of the town was neighbor to every other citizen, and was always ready to assist others in cases of sickness, accident, or misfortune. Nor was such sympathy pent up within town limits.
An incident occurred in a neighboring town that illus- trates this phase of social life in early times. On the sixth of June, 1822, a little four-year-old daughter of Daniel Ames of Sangerville was sent early in the day to a neighbor's house, a short distance away, on some trivial errand. She was obliged to pass through a nar- row piece of woodland to reach the point to which she was sent.
Not returning as soon as she was expected, a boy was sent to inquire further, who was told by the neighbor that she had not been seen there during the day. Night was near. The neighbors were quickly alarmed and providing themselves with canteens and torches, spent almost the entire night in an anxious, but fruitless search for the missing child.
Early the next morning, a dozen young men were sent to traverse the woodland, a little distance apart, and listen for the faintest sounds of alarm or distress which perchance might come from the lips of the little girl, but no sound was heard. The alarm soon reached adjoining towns, where companies of men were speedily organized to assist in the search. Among these was a company from Garland, under direction of Captain Philip Greeley.
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The search was continued through several days. It was not relinquished until the last ray of hope had van- ished from the hearts of distressed relatives. The fate of the little girl is to this day shrouded in mystery.
Masonic Lodge
A lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was organized in Garland on January 24, 1822, in the hall of the two- story house then owned and occupied by William Godwin, which stood upon the site of the house now owned and occupied by the heirs of the late William H. Knight. The house of two stories has since given place to a house of smaller dimensions.
This was the second lodge organized within the present limits of the County of Penobscot, and the thirty-fifth within the limits of Maine. It embraced members from adjoining towns, including Exeter and Dexter, and was known as the Penobscot Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons.
Some of the leading members living in Garland were Isaac Wheeler, Philip Greeley, Jeremiah Flanders and William Godwin. Years later, the headquarters of this lodge were removed to Dexter.
Garland in 1823
The legal voters of Garland were summoned to meet on April 7, 1823, to vote for a representative to Con- gress. For this office William Emerson of Bangor received forty votes; Obed Wilson received four votes.
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Neither of these candidates was elected. There was, however, a significance in the large relative vote of Mr. Emerson which is worthy of mention. It had no relation to party politics or locality. He was a merchant in Bangor, and had rendered valuable assistance to the inhabitants of Garland in the time of their sorest need at much personal risk.
At the opening of 1817, there was great destitution of seed for the crops of the approaching summer, a fact that had found place in the heart of the generous mer- chant. With rare thoughtfulness, and rarer generosity, he advised them to prepare the largest possible acreage for crops, and accompanied his advice with the offer to furnish them with seed which had been withheld by the disastrous summer of the preceding year, and to extend to them the privilege of making compensation when more propitious seasons should provide the means to pay.
The grateful people of Garland believed that a man possessing the fine personal qualities that had been exhibited by Mr. Emerson, would worthily represent them in Congress if elected. It afforded them an oppor- tunity to exhibit their grateful appreciation of remem- bered generosity which they did not fail to improve.
The annual town meeting was held also on the seventh of April. Philip Greeley was chosen moderator ; Reuben Bartlett, clerk ; Reuben Bartlett, Ezekiel Straw and Daniel Ladd, selectmen and assessors ; Isaac Wheeler, Samuel Warren and Daniel Ladd, superintending school committee; Philip Greeley was appointed collector of taxes, and a compensation of two per cent. voted him. Isaac Wheeler was chosen treasurer.
The town voted to raise one thousand dollars to make and repair highways, three hundred dollars for the sup- port of schools, to be paid in grain, wheat at one dol- lar and twenty-five cents, and corn and rye at eighty-
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four cents each ; and thirty-five dollars for the purchase of powder to be paid in the same currency. One hun- dred dollars was voted to pay town charges, fifty-five dollars of which was to be paid in money and forty-five dollars in grain. The fifty-five dollars mentioned in this vote was the first money raised in Garland as payment of taxes. It may fairly be inferred from this fact that money was not overabundant in the early years of the town's history.
Previous to 1823, the highway tax had been paid in labor, and all other taxes in grain.
The legal voters of Garland assembled to cast their votes for governor and other officers on September 7th. For governor, Albion K. Parris received forty votes. For representative to the Legislature, Cornelius Coolidge of Dexter received twenty-two votes; Nathaniel Oak of Exeter received eleven votes.
This election resulted in the choice of Mr. Parris for governor, and Mr. Coolidge for representative to the State Legislature. It is worthy of note that while the full vote for governor in Bangor was only eighty-four, the vote in Garland for the same officer was forty.
First Store in Garland Village
What is now Garland village did not grow as fast as other parts of the town. This was due to the repressive policy of the agent of the proprietors, who would sell land only at prices much above its real value. Of the forty-five petitioners for an Act of Incorporation in 1810, not more than three or four resided within the limits of the present village.
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Of the forty-five families living in the town in 1820, only five families resided in the village. The first store in the village was built in 1823 by Isaac Wheeler, Esq. Upon its completion, Abraham Cox and John Walker, afterwards a well known merchant of Exeter for many years, put a stock of goods into it. Their success was not flattering and they abandoned the business after a short trial. The building has since been used for vari- ous kinds of merchandising. For the last twenty years it has afforded a very convenient place for the purposes of a post-office.
Following Cox & Walker, it has been occupied in turn by Charles Reynolds, Charles Plummer, Calvin S. Wheeler, John S. Kimball, Stephen Kimball, John H. Ramsdell, Elijah Norcross, Charles Chandler, Lorenzo Oak, a Mr. Dunham, Johnson & Preble, (N. W. Johnson and Wins Preble) and Henry C. Preble. A millinery business was carried on in one of its apart- ments by the late Mrs. Octavia Hobbie, Miss Lizzie Rideout, and the late Mrs. Nathaniel Johnson, for several years.
Returning to the events of 1823, Garland was favored by the coming of several families during that year. Among these was the family of Joseph Sargent, who purchased the farm upon which his brother William made a beginning in 1802, now the residence of James Rideout.
Mr. Sargent emigrated from Boscawen, N. H. His goods were brought to Bangor by water, while his family made the journey to the same place overland.
Leaving their children at Bangor, they made the trip to Garland with horse and wagon. Their ride to this place was along a road that bore but faint resemblance to New Hampshire turnpikes. Arriving at their new home they found but little to inspire confidence or hope
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for the future. The home they had left behind, from which they had been driven by adverse fortune, was fur- nished with all the comforts and conveniences that characterized the best homes of the rural districts of New Hampshire at that time. The home they found at the end of their journey was scarcely suggestive of home.
The family moved into the house of a neighbor to remain until their own house could be made habitable. The contrast between the old and new home was the occasion of much grief to Mrs. Sargent. Although naturally of a lively and cheerful disposition, she spent many an hour in weeping when alone. But she was a woman of the heroic type and resolutely concealed her own sadness when in the presence of others. By the force of industry and good management, prosperity at length returned to this family, bearing with it the well earned enjoyments that blessed their earlier life.
Garland in 1824
The annual town meeting of 1824 was held on March 30. Philip Greeley was chosen moderator; Reuben Bartlett, town clerk; Daniel Ladd, Ansel Field and Walter Holbrook, selectmen and assessors; Isaac Wheeler, treasurer; Isaac Wheeler, Samuel Warren and Ansel Field, superintending school committee, and Daniel Moore, collector of taxes, for a compensation of two per cent.
The town voted to raise one thousand dollars to make and repair highways, four hundred dollars for the sup- port of schools, and fifty dollars to buy powder and
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defray town charges. For the first time the town voted that all taxes except highway taxes should be paid in money. The first step towards this policy had been taken a year earlier.
The election for the choice of governor and other officers was held on the second Monday of September, when Albion K. Parris received thirty-four votes for gov- ernor ; Cornelius Coolidge received thirty-three votes for representative to the State Legislature. Mr. Coolidge was the successful candidate.
A Mustering of the Militia
An event of more than local interest occurred in Gar- land in 1824. It was nothing less than the mustering of the companies of the fifth regiment of the militia. Other regimental musters occurred in town, but a description of one will answer for all. The troops were assembled on the level field on the north side of the road leading to Dexter, belonging to Isaac Wheeler, Esq. There were no buildings, public or private, upon this street at that time. Where now stands the town-house, the Congregational church and parsonage, and private residences, there were tents and booths for the sale of gingerbread, pies, and food of a more substantial char- acter for the hungry, new cider and beer for the thirsty youngsters, and something stronger for older people. Indeed the latter drink sometimes acquired mastery over men who were among our best citizens.
There was here and there a dance-floor of rough plank where men under the influence of the favorite New England beverage disported by scraping the bottoms of their heavy brogans to the music of a cracked violin.
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A Political Campaign Projected
The year 1824 marked the opening of a Presidential campaign. The politicians of the Congressional district of which Garland was a part, called a convention to assemble on the day, and at the place of the general muster, to nominate a candidate for Presidential elector and to organize for the campaign. Jonathan Farrar, a well known citizen of Dexter, was nominated for elector. A large committee was appointed to prepare an address to the voters of the district setting forth the issues involved in the campaign.
Bangor, Levant, Charleston, Exeter, Dexter, Corinth and Garland were represented in this committee. Gar- land was represented by Philip Greeley and Amos Gordon. The assembling of two such bodies as the regi- mental muster, and the Congressional district convention, on the same day may be regarded as a "red letter" day in the early history of Garland.
Garland in 1825
At the annual meeting of 1825, held on April 4th, the officers chosen were Daniel Ladd, moderator; Reuben Bartlett, town clerk; Daniel Ladd, Ansel Field and Walter Holbrook, selectmen; Isaac Wheeler, Dr. Seth Fogg and Paul M. Fisher, superintending school com- mittee, and William Godwin, treasurer.
The town appropriated four hundred dollars for schools, fifteen hundred dollars for roads, one hundred and five dollars for town charges, and one hundred and sixty dollars to pay existing demands. Daniel Moore
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was chosen collector, and his compensation was fixed at four and nine tenths per cent. It was voted to receive grain for all taxes except highway taxes which were to be paid in labor. Prices fixed for grain were seven shillings, and sixpence for wheat, five shillings for corn, and six shillings for rye.
Fall Elections
The legal voters of Garland assembled on September 12th to vote for governor and other officers.
For governor, Albion K. Parris received eighteen votes ; Enoch Lincoln received fourteen votes.
For representative to the Legislature, Winthrop Chapman received twenty-four votes; Reuben Bartlett. received seven votes.
Mr. Parris was elected governor by a large majority. Neither of the candidates for the State Legislature sup- ported by the voters of Garland was elected. Cornelius. . Coolidge of Dexter was the successful candidate. The representative class embraced, at that time, the towns of Garland, Exeter, Corinth, Charleston and Dexter.
Destructive Fires in 1825
The farmers of central Maine were favored with abundant crops in 1825. The continual warm weather of the summer season resulted not only in abundance of crops, but in early harvests, thus giving the farmers a. long autumnal season for its appropriate work. At that.
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time a majority of the farmers in this section were increasing the area of their crop-producing lands from year to year. In the work of clearing the lands of the forests that covered them, fire was an indispensable agency.
Late in the summer, and early in the autumn of 1825, fires were extensively kindled in aid of clearing lands, and the farmers congratulated each other upon getting "good burns." But the warm weather that had given them good crops, early harvests, and aided them in get- ting "good burns," had also dried the surface of their lands, and had made everything of a combustible nature food for flames. By the last of September, wells had become dry, rivers and streams had been greatly reduced in volume, and brooks had disappeared.
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