USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Garland > History of Garland, Maine > Part 8
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Hollis Mansfield, a son of Samuel Mansfield, lived with his father several years, but his death occurred before that of his father. He died in 1847.
The old homestead remains in the line of the family descent, being owned by Henry Mansfield, a grandson of Samuel, who still occupies it.
Andrew Griffin, the first tanner and shoemaker of the township, became dissatisfied with his prospects and sold his property rights and business to Simeon Morgan of Elkinstown in 1809, and moved to Levant. Mr. Morgan soon moved into the house vacated by Mr. Griffin. Mr. Griffin was the first resident to leave the township after having established a home in it.
A Notable Barn
In the year 1809, John Chandler built a barn on the site of his original buildings, eighty feet long and forty- four feet wide. This was only eight years after the ring of the settler's axe had first been heard in the township, and seven years from the harvesting of the first crop. Up to this time the inhabitants had as a rule provided themselves with some cheap substitute for a barn.
This barn, towering from an elevated site in the Chandler opening, like the school boy's exclamation point, excited wonder and surprise in the minds of many. Others were filled with admiration of the courage that carried its conception to a successful result, and of the
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faith that led to the expectation that the barn would ever be filled with crops.
In the construction of the barn, Seba French, after- wards known as Judge French of Dexter, was the master carpenter. The nails used in its construction were wrought by the hand of a common blacksmith. Some of them have been preserved as curious relics of the morning of the present century.
A More Notable Barn
John Chandler and Edward Fifield emigrated to the township in 1805-the former from Hopkinton, N. H., and the latter from Ware. They had known each other in New Hampshire.
There appears to have been a spirit of rivalry between the two men. It was generally known in the township that each intended to build a barn of unusual size. Both were uncommunicative about dimensions. When Mr. Fifield was questioned about the size of his pro- spective barn, his uniform reply was-"I shall wait until Chandler builds and then build a larger barn than his."
In 1809, Mr. Chandler took the initiative and built so large that he believed no sane man would attempt to outdo him, but he misjudged. Mr. Fifield was firm in his determination to surpass his neighbors in the number and size of his buildings as well as in the extent of his fields and crops. He was still uncommunicative about the size of his intended barn, but assured inquirers that it would be larger than Chandler's, and that the frame would contain three hundred and sixty-five braces to cor- respond to the number of days in the year.
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Soon after, Mr. Fifield gratified the curiosity of his neighbors with the sight of a veritable barn one hundred and twenty feet long by forty-four feet wide. Like the Chandler barn it occupied an elevated site, and when, years later, the surrounding forests were cleared away, it was seen for long distances. It was claimed to be the largest barn in the State at the date of its construction. Seba French of Dexter was the master builder.
The raising of the building was an occasion long remembered. The country for miles around was scoured for assistance. The flow of the favorite New England beverage was commensurate with the greatness of the building. There are vague traditionary rumors that the men did not all get home with whole suits. As an inci- dent of the occasion no use was found for the 365th brace, a discovery that was followed by a boisterous laugh from the jubilant crowd and a demand for an extra treat.
A Remarkable Journey in 1809
Isaac Wheeler, Esq., and his brother-in-law, John S. Haskell, planned a visit, with their wives, to relatives in Rutland, Mass., in the autumn of 1809. Their com- pany included one little boy of tender age for each couple. There were at that time neither roads nor car- riages in the township or vicinity. The only practicable alternative was to make the journey partly on horse- back. The pioneers of eastern Maine did not allow trifling obstacles to deter them from the execution of cherished plans. Each couple took its one small boy on- to the horse with them, making a company of six to be
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carried on two horses. Thus mounted, they jogged leisurely along to Winthrop, a few miles beyond Augusta. Here they hired a two-seated carriage to which they hitched the two horses, and performed the remainder of their journey in luxuriant ease.
The return journey was accomplished in the same manner. The two boys grew to the stature of men. One of them, Reuben Wheeler, died in early manhood, esteemed by all who were favored with his acquaintance. The other, Daniel Murray Haskell, lived to a good old age, a citizen whose personal qualities were worthy of imitation by the generations that followed him.
The First Death in the Township
On the 20th day of November, 1809, the death of Mrs. Polly Fifield, wife of Edward Fifield, occurred. This being the first death among the little band of set- tlers, it was the occasion of peculiar sadness throughout the township. Mrs. Fifield had the faithful services of Dr. Peabody of Corinth. The funeral services were con- ducted by a clergyman from Corinth.
The Township in 1810
Sampson Silver came into the township first in 1804 in the employment of Amos Gordon. In 1805, he came again and worked for John Chandler. During this year, he purchased of Amos Gordon a part of lot ten, range five, felled two acres of trees and erected buildings. In
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1810 he married and commenced housekeeping. Mr. Silver's old homestead was later the home of Albert G. and Parker Gordon.
Isaac Copeland, who had purchased the westerly part of lot eleven, range five, of John S. Haskell, and had felled an opening on it in 1809, built a house in 1810 and moved his family into it in the autumn of the latter year. He had previously lived in Elkinstown. His place was afterwards owned and occupied for many years by the late Stephen D. Jennings, and passed from him into the hands of his son, Mark C. Jennings.
Cutteon Flanders, a brother of Jeremiah Flanders, emigrated from Hopkinton, N. H., in 1810 and settled on the lot afterwards owned by Asa H. Sawtelle, and now owned by John Hayden.
Ezekiel Straw emigrated to the township from New Hampshire in 1810, and purchased lot seven, range seven. Two years later, having made a clearing and built a house, he married and commenced housekeeping. Mr. Straw's old homestead is now owned and occupied by Lionel Lincoln.
The Rev. John Sawyer made a beginning on lot six, range ten, in 1810, and resided there for several years. The old Sawyer homestead was subsequently owned and occupied in turn by Edward Fifield and I. A. Palmer. It is now owned and occupied by D. F. Patten.
Mr. Sawyer's first visit to the township was in 1809, when he bore with him a commission from the Maine Missionary Society for a few weeks' service.
This society had been organized only a single year at that time. Mr. Sawyer was among its earliest missiona- ries. His labors here created a deep religious interest and resulted in the organization of a Congregational church, the third organized within the present limits of Penobscot County-the church at Dixmont being the
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first, that of Brewer the second and Garland the third. The early history of the Garland Congregational church, and a biographical sketch of Mr. Sawyer, will appear in another connection.
A Sorrowful Event
In the year 1810, a deeply sorrowful event occurred in the township. Joseph Saunders and his brother Oliver were felling some trees for timber on the center road running east, about a half mile east of the center of the township. A tall spruce tree which they were chopping was arrested by a smaller tree as it began to move slowly towards the ground. Joseph stepped forward to weaken the smaller tree by a few blows of the axe, so that it might yield to the pressure of the larger tree and let it fall to the ground, but the larger tree unexpectedly became detached from the smaller and fell rapidly. Oliver, seeing his brother's peril, warned him of his danger, but it was too late. The tree in its downward movement crushed one of his legs. Becoming very faint, he begged for water. His brother replied, "There is nothing to bring it in;" when he instantly exclaimed, "Bring it in your shoe!" As soon as assist- ance could be procured he was removed to his home. His neighbors believed that his life could be saved by the amputation of his limb, but his family had a superstitious dread of the dismemberment of the human body by the knife and saw, and he soon passed away.
He was a young man, and his death having been the first that had occurred by accident, was a severe shock to the inhabitants of the township. At the time of his
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death, he had recently made a profession of religion under the ministrations of the Rev. John Sawyer. Mr. Saunders was a brother of Mrs. Robert Seward, and an uncle of Mrs. Charles E. Merriam.
The First Grist-Mill
A saw-mill had been built in the township in 1802, the year from which its settlement dates. The prompt action of the proprietors in providing a saw-mill encour- aged emigration to the township. A few years later a set of stones had been placed in the basement of the saw-mill for grinding corn and rye, but the patrons of this very imperfect machinery complained of an undue percentage of sawdust in the meal thus obtained, and the inhabitants of the township were anxious for a mill that would give them the material for purer food.
The Grant family, who had owned and run the saw- mill from the beginning, had become involved in debt, and were in no condition to confer upon the township the boon of a grist-mill. In 1810, the ownership of the mill property was transferred to Mr. Sanger, one of the proprietors of the township, to satisfy a claim he had on it. Mr. Sanger soon sold it to Isaac Wheeler, Esq., who in turn sold it to Mr. Church of Clinton, Maine. Mr. Church was an enterprising man and a skilled mechanic. The following year he built a small but con- venient house on the mill brow, west of the site of the present village saw-mill, and moved his family into it. A depression on the surface of the ground still reveals the site of the house.
Having provided a shelter for his family, he built a
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grist-mill upon the site of the present grist-mill. From a block of granite found near the mill he fitted a run of stones with his own hands, and performed nearly all the labor involved in the construction of the mill. It was accounted a good mill for the times, and was patronized by the inhabitants of this and neighboring townships.
The house built by Mr. Church was occupied by his own family as long as he remained in town. It was afterwards occupied by Reuben Bartlett, who emigrated to Garland from Nottingham, N. H., about the year 1819, and purchased the mill property. About the year 1826, he built the more commodious house now owned by Fred Osgood, and sold the house built by Mr. Church to Samuel Johnson, who moved it to the site now occu- pied by the Eugene French house. In 1829, Benjamin H. Oak of Exeter purchased this house, and the forty acres of land connected with it and moved into it in the spring of 1830, where he lived until his death in 1842. About the year 1844, it passed into the hands of Rev. Leonard Hathaway, who took it down to give place to a larger and better house, where he passed the remaining years of his earthly life.
Death of the First Physician
In March, 1810, Dr. Joseph Pratt, the first physician of the township, died at the house of Joseph Garland, where he had boarded.
Dr. Pratt's faithful performance of his professional duties, and his ever ready sympathy with the sick and suffering, gave him a warm place in the hearts of the people. The intelligence of his death spread rapidly through the township, carrying grief to every household.
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Doctors Peabody of Corinth and Skinner of Brewer were his attending physicians. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. John Sawyer at the house of Joseph Garland.
His disease was typhoid fever. He was buried near the present residence of David W. Dearborn. After the Greeley Cemetery was established, he was disinterred and buried there. Neither stone nor other monument marks his present resting place. His immediate successor was Dr. James Parker, who commenced practice here in the summer of 1810, and was the second physician of the township.
Questionings
Why did our fathers emigrate to this barren region where frost and snow hold uninterrupted sway for one half the year, and the reluctant soil yields its inhabitants scanty support as the reward of resolute and unremitting toil? Why did they not seek a more productive soil under summer skies? These questions are often asked by the dwellers of eastern Maine.
The early settlers of Lincoln township were mainly from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and the western section of the Province of Maine. These sections had been settled many years and the best lands had been appropriated. As a rule the families were large in those days, and the old homes had become like overstocked hives. The grown-up children must seek new homes as their fathers and mothers had done in years gone by. The industrial occupations outside of agriculture were limited in range.
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The manufacturing industries that now allure young men and women in large numbers from agricultural pur- suits, had no existence then. The Lewistons, Law- rences, Lowells and Manchesters, and the hundreds of villages where factories line the borders of their streams and rivers, and the hum of whose machinery is as incessant as the roar of their waterfalls, are creations of a later date. Commercial employments, house carpen- try, ship building and other mechanical industries, all on a limited scale, with the additions of navigation and fishing, gave employment to a limited number of people, but the great mass of New England laborers were obliged to draw their subsistence from the heart of Mother Earth. It was therefore natural for young men to choose the employment that had given their fathers the means of support, and not unfrequently, had made them independent. To this class of men, lands that were cheap, productive and accessible were the desidera- tum. All these conditions could be found in the easterly section of the Province of Maine.
Land could be purchased at low prices, and of its productiveness, there was abundant evidence. The appearance of the surface soil indicated fertility. One enthusiastic prospector from New Hampshire filled his tobacco box with dark rich looking loam which, on his return home, he exhibited to his friends, declaring that it would make good pudding. What disposition he made of his tobacco in the meantime tradition does not inform us. The character of the forest growth indicated strength of soil. More conclusive evidence was found in the large crops of wheat, rye and corn that had been raised in near at hand townships which had been settled at an earlier date.
Inducements of another character were presented to allure settlers. The best statesmanship of Massachu-
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setts had been employed to promote the settlement of the eastern lands of that state by the adoption of a liberal policy. Reservations of land had been made in each township by the general court of Massachusetts to aid in the support of the institutions, so dear to New England people-the school and the church; a policy which attracted a good class of emigrants. Other influ- ences attracted other classes of emigrants. .
Then, as now, there were men who, being repelled by the conventionalities and restraints of society, were car- ried on the current of emigration to the outer limits of civilization. There were also men who sought border life to gratify their propensity for hunting and fishing.
Was it a Misfortune?
Such has been the remarkable growth of the western states in population and wealth within the last seventy- five years, that many a worthy citizen of Maine has regarded it as a misfortune that our fathers did not emi- grate to the West instead of Maine. At the date of the earliest settlements of this section of Maine, very little was known of the "great west." Ohio, the near- est western state, was then an almost unbroken wilderness, at a great distance away. The difficulties and hardships involved in emigrating to Ohio were an effectual bar to emigration to that state, where, in after years, so many residents of Maine emigrated to their sorrow. Sensible people of the next generation had but little reason to regret that they had been born in Maine. If the question of choice had related to the relative capacity of contributing to the food supply of the world, Maine
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could not have been a factor in the case. If, on the other hand, the question had related to the type of men and women who could boast of Maine nativity, its citi- zens would not shun the comparison. The best types of men and women are not found in the most productive sections.
"In marches of a mighty age, Our place is on the van."
-Mrs. Mace.
The pure breezes from hill top, mountain and sea con- tribute to the physical, mental and moral fibre of her citizens. The late Honorable James G. Blaine, who for breadth of statesmanship and grasp of detail, has had no equal in the United States, was an adopted son of Maine, where he lived through the whole of his political life. The Honorable Thomas B. Reed, formerly Speaker of the National House of Representatives, a position of importance next to that of the President of the United States, was a native and citizen of Maine. William P. Frye, President pro tem of the Senate of the United States, who, with his colleague, Honorable Eugene Hale, hold the chairmanships of some of the most important committees of that august body, are natives of Maine. Honorable Nelson Dingley, the able leader of the National House of Representatives, was a native of Maine. The late Honorable Charles A. Boutelle, the able and fearless member of the National House of Representatives from the fourth representative district of Maine, held the chairmanship of the Naval Committee. The late Honorable Melville W. Fuller, also a native of Maine, received the appointment as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The Honorable Bartlett Tripp, minister to Austria under President Cleveland, was born in Maine. The late Honorable Alfred E. Buck, at one time minister to Japan, was a Maine man.
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The distinction of serving as governor of Massachusetts, has been accorded to several Maine men. Daniel Webster has been credited with saying that, "New Hampshire is a good state to emigrate from." It may truthfully be said that Maine is a good State to be born and reared in.
Maine is comparatively free from many of the physi- cal evils that afflict the West-evils that result from adverse atmospheric conditions. Among these are floods, which sometimes submerge large areas of territory, phenomenal storms of wind, hurricanes and blizzards, also cyclones that sweep through tiers of states, destroy- ing crops, houses and sometimes whole villages and attended by great loss of life. The population of the West is largely more heterogeneous than that of Maine.
Petition for an Act of Incorporation
The most important event of 1810 was the petition for an Act of Incorporation. The township had been settled nearly eight years and had steadily grown in numbers, and there were now (1810) forty or more fami- lies within its limits. It had been favored with an encouraging degree of prosperity, and the prospects indi- cated continued growth. But its most urgent needs could not be provided for until its inhabitants, in an organized capacity, were invested with the power of levy- ing taxes upon the property of the township. Among their immediate wants of a public character, were roads and schools. A meeting of the inhabitants of the township was called early in 1810 to consider the question of the propriety of petitioning the General Court of
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Massachusetts for an Act of Incorporation. At the appointed time, the legal voters assembled at the house of Joseph Garland, and organized by choosing a chair- man and clerk. It was decided to petition for an Act of Incorporation.
This important point having been decided in the affirmative, the question-What shall be the name of the prospective town? now confronted the citizens. Stand- ing upon the stone step, which had been fashioned by Nature's hand, and placed in front of Joseph Garland's house, Deacon John S. Haskell moved that the word "Garland" should be inserted in the petition as indicat- ing the choice of the inhabitants of the township in regard to name. The motion was heard with great satisfaction and carried without opposition.
What's in a Name?
The citizens of Garland ought to hold their fathers in grateful remembrance for giving to the town so sensible, so convenient and appropriate a name as that by which it is known. A name may be desirable for what it lacks as well as what it contains. Many towns are burdened with names through whose accentual windings, changing inflections, harsh sounding and unpronounceable syllables drag their slow length. What bottles of ink, boxes of pens, reams of paper, stores of vocal power, and crimes against the rules of orthography and pronunciation are saved in a single decade by the use of the simple name given to this township when it took on a corporate exist- ence. It is a model of convenience and simplicity. It is easily spoken and easily written. Its distinct utter-
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ance indicates its orthography and pronunciation. It is scarcely susceptible of being misspelled or mispronounced.
It is not so inconveniently long nor short as to sug- gest scantiness of material, nor does it deceive the trav- eller, who is dreamily passing through it, with the idea that he is travelling in Greece, France or Italy. It has a poetic and musical ring that is suggestive of pleasant things. It is also of importance because it is invested with historical significance. It perpetuates the memory of the heroic family, that of Joseph Garland, which left a snug little home in New Hampshire to encounter the hardships, privations and perils of pioneer life through a long cold winter, while yet there was not another family within the township.
The following incident will show that there was some- thing of advantage in the name by which this town is known, on at least one occasion. In the year 1823, there was living in England a family of laborers, includ- ing the father, mother and two sons. They were hard- working and respectable people but could see no prospect of rising above the conditions which had been the lot of their parents and of themselves thus far.
They had heard of America, of the people who lived in their own comfortable homes, of its cheap lands and its opportunities. A home of their own filled their thoughts by day and dreams by night until they reached the decision to emigrate to America. They had been compelled to practice a rigid economy in their previous lives, but to secure the funds to pay their passage to the country they sought, they must turn the screws still harder. By reducing their daily expenses to the lowest possible figure, they saved money enough to emigrate to Belfast, Maine. One of the sons aptly, if not elegantly, characterized the money thus saved as "pinch-gut-
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money," because it was an abridgment of their daily food.
At Belfast, the father supported his family by work as a day laborer two years, but the purpose of their coming to America was to make a home of their own. Destitute of money, they sought land where it could be purchased cheap on credit.
The attention of the father had been called to the township afterwards known as Bowerbank in Piscataquis County. Accompanied by his eldest son, he started on a trip for that township. Reaching the town of Sebec, and finding that the road running north terminated at that place, he decided not to travel any farther in that direction. Having heard the town of Dexter favorably mentioned, he turned his steps towards that place. He had but just passed within the limits of Dexter when the name Garland upon a guide-board struck the fancy of the son. Pronouncing the name several times, and becoming enamored with it, he persuaded his father to visit the town with the attractive name before purchas- ing elsewhere.
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