USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Garland > History of Garland, Maine > Part 3
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It increased largely the burdens of road making and delayed the division of the town into school districts, the building of schoolhouses and the opening of schools.
The names of the men who made beginnings in the township in the summer of 1802, the places from which they came so far as known, and the lots upon which they settled, are as follows :
Moses Hodsdon of Levant, Me., now Kenduskeag, took possession of lot number seven of the fourth range as agent of the proprietors who desired to retain it because it encompassed the principal water power in the township. Lot number seven in the sixth range was selected by Isaac Wheeler, Esq., of Rutland, Mass. John S. Haskell of New Gloucester, Maine, selected lot number eleven in the fifth range, which is now owned by one of his grandsons. Thomas S. Tyler settled on lot
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number nine in the fifth range. Edward Sargent of Boscawen, N. H., made a beginning on lot number three in the fifth range. He built a camp near the present residence of Samuel O. Davis. Being a car- penter he early came to the conclusion that a carpenter's wages in Bangor promised a more certain support for a family than farming in a new township. He left the township and took up his residence in Bangor. Samuel O. Davis and David Allen now own and occupy the lot abandoned by Edward Sargent.
William Sargent, a brother of Edward Sargent, made a beginning on lot number three in the fifth range, where he resided for several years. About the year 1817, he caught what was then known as the "Ohio fever," a disease that resulted from cold seasons preceding that date, and like many other citizens of Maine, he sought relief by emigrating to Ohio. The lot which he aban- doned was unoccupied until 1823, when Joseph Sargent, a brother of William, purchased it and erected buildings upon it, where he resided for many years. It subsequently passed into the hands of Luther Rideout and is now occupied by his son, James L. Rideout.
John M. Chase, from Danville, Maine, made a begin- ning on lot number one in the seventh range. It after- wards passed into the hands of Isaac Wheeler, Esq. It was owned and occupied by Ezekiel Page for some years and subsequently by Bradbury G. Atkins, whose family own and occupy it at the present time.
John Tyler, from New Gloucester, Maine, made a beginning on lot five in the seventh range. The Tyler place was afterwards owned and occupied by John L. Jackman. Charles H. Brown is the present owner and occupant.
Joseph Garland, who had the honor of giving name to the town, made a beginning upon lot nine in the
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seventh range, where he cleared land, erected buildings and resided for about twenty-five years. Samuel Greeley, from Salisbury, N. H., purchased this farm about the year 1827, where he lived until his death, when it passed into the hands of his son, James Greeley. It is now owned by David Dearborn.
Enos Quimby made a beginning on lot number ten in the seventh range, where he remained but a short time.
Thomas Finson made a beginning on lot four, which he subsequently sold to Moses Smith and left the township. Mr. Finson emigrated from New Gloucester, Maine.
Peter Chase made a beginning on lot seven in the seventh range and built a house three years later, but abandoned it soon after, never having a family here.
Arnold Murray, from Palermo, Maine, made a begin- ning on lot eight in the ninth range.
Justus Harriman, from Salisbury, N. H., made a beginning on lot nine in range nine, where he remained through life.
James Garland, from Salisbury, N. H., made a begin- ning on lot ten in the ninth range.
Thomas Gilpatrick made a beginning on lot eleven in the ninth range.
Joseph Saunders, from New Gloucester, Maine, made a beginning on a part of lot four, range nine.
The ranges of land which covered the surface of the township extended from its eastern to its western limit. Of the men who made beginnings in 1802, five selected lots on range five, an equal number made beginnings on range seven, and seven of those men showed a preference for range nine. The latter range runs near the summit of the range of hills which extends from east to west across the northern section of the town. This range now embraces some of the most productive lands in the town.
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A majority of the pioneers who made beginnings in 1802 became residents of the town for longer or shorter periods. Some of them lived here to a good old age, and, casting off the responsibilities of active life, where many years earlier they had assumed them, they quietly passed their last years in the homes which their own sinewy arms had wrested from the wilderness.
The First Family
In the year 1801, there was living among the hills of New Hampshire in the town of Salisbury, a family embracing the father, mother, and three children of tender age, the threads of whose subsequent history are closely interwoven with those of the early history of the town of Garland. It was the family of Joseph Garland. The tide of emigration from various sections of New Hamp- shire was setting towards the region in the Province of Maine which encircles the present city of Bangor. Moved by the tendencies of the times and encouraged by the favorable representations of relatives and acquaint- ances who had visited the township now known as Gar- land, Mr. Garland selected it as the site of his future home. With two horses harnessed to an emigrant's wagon he started on his tedious journey "down east" with his family and such household goods as he would first and most need.
This was in the autumn of 1801. Reaching the town of Bucksport, he remained at the place through the winter. His nearness now to the site of his future home enabled him to build a small cabin of logs and to make preparations for the reception of his family before he
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should again change base. In June, 1802, he resumed his journey with his family and reached Bangor at the end of the first day. The second day's journey brought the family to the Wilkins place, now known as the Bacon place, in the southwest part of Charleston, where they passed the night. This was the nearest point to their little cabin in the forest that could be reached by a team of horses. Their journey was completed by methods of a more primitive character. On the morn- ing of the third and last day of the journey, Mrs. Garland was helped to the back of one of the horses and the youngest child was placed in her arms. Mr. Garland mounted the second horse and took another of the chil- dren. Daniel Wilkins, afterwards a well known citizen of Charleston, took charge of the third child. Thus organized, the party, accompanied by two or three other men, moved slowly but cheerily through a dense forest, guided on their way by spotted trees. Crossing the east line of the township their route led them in a north- westerly direction near the sites of the present homes of Mrs. Leonard Skillin, Thos. B. Packard, Samuel O. Davis, James L. Rideout, A. Hanson and thence north of the meadow to the store of David E. Knight. From this point, following the line of the road that leads to the present home of David Dearborn, they reached the little cabin that rested in the "gloom of the forest" at the foot of the slope west of the present residence of Mr. Dearborn.
A number of men who were engaged in felling trees in different parts of the township, left their work and hur- ried to the point where the expected newcomers would cross the township line. On the approach of the party the old forest rang with cheers for the heroic woman, who was the first white woman to enter the new township. These men of rough exterior but warm hearts, escorted
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her to the little cabin by the brook that was to be her home for the first few years, gallantly removing the obstacles that lay in her pathway.
It is doubtful if any woman has since been conducted into the town by so large and appreciative an escort.
Mrs. Garland's ride into the township was not accom- plished without an accident, which was fraught with some danger. In fording one of the streams that crossed her pathway the horse was frightened by the barking of a dog and she was jolted from her saddle, but the prompt assistance of a man who was walking by her side saved her from an involuntary bath.
Mr. Garland and his wife, with their three small chil- dren, were the first family to establish a home in the present town of Garland, and they had come to stay.
The date of their coming was June 22, 1802. To them belongs the honor of giving date to the settlement of the town-nor was it an empty honor coming to them by accident. On the contrary, it came as the result of an intelligent purpose to establish a home, where, by honest toil they could secure a comfortable living-a home which would be one of a community of homes where they could enjoy the social, educational and relig- ious privileges, which are so highly prized by the descendants of a Puritan ancestry.
Mr. Garland and his family were now face to face with the privations and hardships of a life in the wilderness, when through the long winter which followed they were the sole residents of the township. Their rude cabin afforded very imperfect protection from wind, rain and snow. A large stone fire-place, surrounded with a smoke flue of sticks and clay, was made to do service for warming and cooking. Their furniture was of the most primitive character. In place of chairs they used blocks of wood of suitable size and height. Their cooking
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utensils were limited to indispensable articles. Their surroundings were in striking contrast with those they had left behind. But having deliberately determined to establish a home in the township of their choice, they cheerfully accepted the changes it involved and looked hopefully towards the "better time coming."
The First Fruit Nursery
Mr. Garland had felled ten acres of trees on the site of the present residence of David Dearborn. Among his earliest acts in the line of farming, with an eye to the future wants of the township, he carefully cleared a half acre of land and planted it with apple seeds which he had brought from his New Hampshire home. The seeds sprang up and the young trees grew vigorously. Mr. Garland soon found himself the proprietor of a val- uable nursery. Some of our older citizens have distinct and pleasant remembrances of this old nursery. Some of the stumps of the trees that grew in it are still to be seen. When the young trees had reached a suitable size, John S. Haskell transplanted a small orchard from this nursery, and eight years later Mrs. Haskell made pies from the fruit of it. This was the first time that their children had indulged in the luxury of an apple pie.
Many of the old orchards in this and neighboring towns were planted from this nursery. In the absence of roads men carried trees from it upon their shoulders many miles, guided on their way through the dense for- est by spotted trees. Enos Flanders of Sangerville car- ried twelve trees on his shoulders through the woods to his home, a distance of twelve miles. Seth Nelson of
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Guilford obtained trees from it to plant his first orchard. Loring's History of Piscataquis County is authority for saying that William Farnham of Sangerville brought young apple trees from Garland upon his shoulders and planted the first orchard in town. In his history of Guilford Mr. Loring says that, "As nursery trees could not be obtained nearer than Garland, and as there was no summer road thither, Deacon Herring, Captain Bennett and Nathaniel Herring brought young apple trees from that place upon their shoulders fully sixteen miles and set out the first three orchards in town. In about eight years they ate fruit from them."
Thus the thoughtful consideration of Mr. Garland in planting this early nursery brought to many of the set- tlers of this, and neighboring townships at an early date, a luxury more generally esteemed and highly valued than any other that grows from New England soil.
There is another incident of interest connected with this nursery. In the year 1807 or 1808, Moses Gordon, who had become a resident of the township in 1805, visited his native town, Hopkinton, N. H., making the journey on horseback. On his return he brought scions from an apple tree in the orchard of a Mr. Flanders, an old neighbor, which were ingrafted upon trees in Mr. Garland's nursery. The fruit from these scions proved to be an early and excellent fall apple and was the only ingrafted fruit in this town for many years. It has always been known here as the Flanders apple, and to Moses Gordon belongs the credit of its introduction to this town.
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Early Buildings
In the early settlement of Garland log-cabins were few and far between. The proprietors of the town- ship caused a saw-mill to be built and to be made ready for use as soon as houses would be needed by incom- ing families.
This mill was placed on the site of the mill now occu- pied by Edward Washburn. There was, also, a saw-mill at Elkinstown, now Dexter, as early as 1803, where set- tlers in the west and northwest part of the township could obtain boards to cover their buildings. Log barns for temporary use were common, but the first framed barn in the township was built by John M. Chase in the summer of 1802, on lot one in the seventh range. The site of this barn may now be seen on the farm of the late Bradbury G. Atkins.
The first framed house was built in the autumn of 1802 on lot five in the seventh range, near the site of the present residence of Charles H. Brown. Joseph Treadwell, the grandfather of our present citizen, Joseph C. Treadwell, built this house for John Tyler. Mr. Treadwell came from his home in Danville, Maine, on horseback, bringing his tools with him. He cut and hewed the timber for the house, hauled it with his horse, framed it and superintended the subsequent work until it was ready for use. An old-fashioned roof with double slope covered the body of the house. Years ago this old landmark was removed by John L. Jackman to give place to a house of more modern style. This old farm is now owned and occupied by Charles H. Brown. Some of our older citizens will remember with pathetic interest, the tall, spare, pale, patient and sorrowful woman, Aunt Susan Tyler, the last of her family, who lived in the quaint old house, tenderly caring for many years for an imbecile brother.
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The First Saw-Mill
There was nothing more essential to the convenience and well being of the new settlements in eastern Maine than the saw and grist-mill. But the saw-mill was first in the order of importance. The early settlers could spin their flax, their cotton and their wool and make their cloth at home. They could throw their bags of corn and wheat across the back of a horse, and guided by spotted lines, could travel considerable distances to get their milling done without much hardship.
But the transportation of lumber for their buildings through a wilderness without roads, across streams with- out bridges and through swamps with uncertain depths of mud, involved hardships.
The saw-mill was therefore regarded as an institution of great usefulness. In early Colonial times it was pro- tected by special legislation and mill owners were regarded with marked consideration. In 1824 the Legis- lature of Maine enacted a law to encourage the settle- ment of townships in northern Maine, which provided- "That a tract of land not exceeding two hundred acres, together with the best mill site in any such township, shall be reserved, and at the direction of the Agent may be given to any person or persons who shall erect the first saw-mill and grist-mill thereon * * within three years from the time the settle- ment shall first commence in such township."
It is not strange that the presence of a saw-mill in the township which was to be the home of New England families was regarded with great satisfaction. It marked the transition from the log-cabin to the house of greater convenience and more attractive exterior. It was an index of the progress of intelligence and refinement. It
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is true that these qualities are often found in the log- cabin, but like caged birds they fly to more congenial conditions at first opportunity.
The earliest establishment in the township-now Gar- land-for the common benefit of its prospective inhabi- tants was a saw-mill, built by the proprietors on the site of the present village saw-mill. The necessary mill irons had been shipped to Bangor in 1801.
Story of the Crank
The late Deacon John S. Haskell often related for the amusement of his friends the following story. Illustrating different phases of hardships incident to life in the wilderness, it may appropriately be retold. The subject of the story was not one of those human cranks of twisted intellect and perverted sensibilities. It was a crank of a different type. In the year 1799 the proprietors of township number four in the fifth range of townships north of the Waldo Patent, now Dexter, employed Samuel Elkins of Cornville, Maine, to build a saw-mill in that township. A site for the mill was selected near the outlet of the beautiful lake whose waters have since turned the wheels that have made Dexter one of the largest and most prosperous villages in the State. The mill irons had been sent to the site of the prospective mill for use when needed. Mr. Elkins had built a camp for the accommodation of his workmen and made other preparations to prosecute the work of building the mill, but before much progress had been made he died and the work was suspended.
Early in the year 1801, Moses Hodsdon of Levant,
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now Kenduskeag, had built a mill at that place which had been used only a short time when the mill crank was broken and the work was suspended. Several families were expected in the coming spring who were depending upon lumber for the construction of their cabins. A mill crank to replace the broken one could be obtained only by sending to Massachusetts. The Penobscot River being closed to navigation by ice there was no way of getting the indispensable crank before the river should be clear of ice. Mr. Hodsdon was in a dilemma.
At this juncture an old hunter by the name of Snow, who frequented the new settlements in this section, appeared, and was apprised of Mr. Hodsdon's mis- fortune. He could help him out.
There was he said at the Elkins place in "number four" a full set of irons not in use. Mr. Elkins, who had been depended on to build the mill at that place, had died and the irons would lie unused for months. With his large hand sled made to haul big game on, he could, with help of his big sons, haul the crank belonging to the set over the hard crust of the deep snows to the point where it was needed. Mr. Hodsdon could get and use it and attend to the incidental matter of borrowing later.
Yielding to the logic of necessity, Mr. Hodsdon acted on the cranky suggestions of the old hunter and made a bargain with him which resulted a few days later in put- ting his saw-mill in running condition. He was now able to furnish lumber to enable settlers to build the cabins necessary to shelter their families.
In the meantime he had written to the executor of the Elkins estate and had been informed when the crank would be wanted at the Elkins place. In the autumn of 1802, we find Mr. Hodsdon, who seems to have been a sort of tutelary guardian of the settlements of this section, under contract to build a saw-mill in township
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number three, now Garland. The irons for this mill had been shipped to Bangor in the autumn of 1801 and hauled to the township in February, 1802. The team that hauled these irons to number three, hauled the bor- rowed crank so far on its return to the Elkins place in number four.
In the autumn of 1802, Mr. Hodsdon commenced building the mill in number three with a crew embrac- ing several men who had been making beginnings earlier in the season. Among the latter were John S. Haskell and Isaac Wheeler, Esq. The time stipulated for the return of the borrowed crank which was lying passively near the mill site in number three had arrived. Mr. Hodsdon was now confronted with the question of "ways and means." There was no available team to haul it to the place from which the old hunter had taken it. If there had been a team at hand there was not the semblance of a road, not even a spotted line to indicate the way. No one of Mr. Hodsdon's crew had ever vis- ited number five. No one of the crew knew what rugged hills or impassable swamps might be encountered on the way to the objective point.
There was, however, one large powerful horse at hand. Tradition says he was owned by a Mr. Stevens of Blais- delltown (Exeter), but there was neither harness nor vehicle. The old proverb that "necessity is the mother of invention" was illustrated anew. Mr. Moses, the master carpenter, made a wooden frame large enough for the crank to rest on, which could be securely fastened to the back and shoulders of the horse. It was now neces- sary to have a line spotted from the west line of number three to the mill site in number four to guide the men who were charged with the return of the crank. Just at the right time another old hunter appeared. His name was Peter Brawn. He claimed to have hunted and
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trapped game over the whole region and he could indi- cate the easiest route to the mill site in number four with certainty.
Peter was shrewd and plausible. Like many men of the present time, he believed that places of trust are instituted for the benefit of those who fill them. He was often employed to indicate the most feasible route of travel between two places separated by miles of forest, whose inhabitants desired to be brought into neighborly relations. Peter's ruling passion was hunting, and his work of a more public character was made to contribute to the capture of game. If the game he sought bur- rowed in the highlands, the route he indicated for travel would sometimes lead over the highest hills. If he was trapping animals whose congenial haunts were along the borders of bogs, swamps and ponds, the unfortunates who followed his lines were very liable to be led through mud and water. But, of this trait of the plausible Peter, the party hiring him was ignorant. He was therefore employed to make a safe and easy route to the mill site in number four, with strict injunctions to avoid hills and especially muddy places. All the necessary prepara- tions to start the crank anew on its rounds having been completed, John S. Haskell and Gideon Haskell, both stalwart and resolute men, were detailed to return the crank to the place where its wanderings began. The horse, which was to be an important factor in this impor- tant service, was placed in position to receive the load, the saddle was carefully adjusted, the wooden frame was placed upon the horse and securely fastened, the crank was put upon the frame and the expedition was ready to move.
It was a cloudy and dark September morning and the atmospheric conditions were such as to inspire the heart with a sort of indefinable dread. Prudence dictated
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delay, but the Haskells were accustomed to exposure and hardship and could bid defiance to wind and rain. They took no compass, but what need of a compass when the confident Peter would make the way so plain that they could not miss it! They started from the site of the present village grist-mill, and moving cautiously north to the corner near the site of the present Congregational meeting house, they turned their faces towards the west and followed the line of the present county road leading to Dexter to a point nearly a mile beyond the west line of township number three. Here the line of the hunter, making an angle towards the south, led them down a sharp declivity to the margin of an impassable bog where it terminated. The most careful inspection failed to indicate a continuation of the line. The unwelcome conviction was forced upon the Haskells that the plausi- ble Peter had proved false.
And now a series of performances commenced that were not down on the program. The horse that had patiently born his heavy load thus far was relieved of his burden and fed upon coarse grass that grew on the border of the bog. The Haskells were now alive to the gravity of the situation. They were in a dense, and to them, an unknown forest without compass to guide them and the sun was still obscure by threatening clouds. The larger part of the day was still before them, which they spent in eager search for some track or trail that would suggest the way out, but in vain. After fruitless wanderings, continued until nightfall, they found them- selves at the edge of an opening now known as the Batchelder Hill in Dexter, but were ignorant of the fact. They hallooed loud and long, hoping to hear an answer- ing voice, but there was no response.
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