USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Garland > History of Garland, Maine > Part 9
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As a result of the visit, he purchased a part of lot six, range six, felled a piece of trees, built a log-cabin, into which he moved his family in 1825. The site of the cabin was at the center of the town on the south side of the center road running east and west, and nearly opposite the present residence of James M. Stone, for- merly the home of Joseph True.
By virtue of the industry and economy to which they had been accustomed in the old country, they improved their condition from year to year. A few years later they were living in a comfortable house with such out buildings attached as characterize the home of a well-to- do farmer.
Allured by the thrift of this family, other English
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families emigrated to Garland from time to time, whose descendants have taken rank with our most industrious and prosperous citizens. This accession of English citi- zens may be traced to the attractive name given the town by our fathers.
The family that emigrated to Belfast in 1823, and to Garland in 1825, was the family of Deacon James March. Deacon March often related to his new neighbors that in England after a hastily prepared breakfast, cooked over a fire of straw, he and his wife hastened to the harvest field, taking with them a small barley loaf, which served as food until darkness compelled a cessation from labor.
A Copy of the Petition for Incorporation
A copy of the petition for an act of incorporation, and of the names of the signers, taken from Massachu- setts records, was kindly furnished the writer by Dr. John F. Pratt of Chelsea, Mass. The petition, dated March 10, 1810, was placed in the hands of Honorable James Carr, representative to the General Court of Massachusetts from Bangor, who was requested to take charge of it. The petition read as follows:
To the Honourable the Senate and House of Representa- tives in General Court Assembled, at Boston, June Session, 1810.
Humbly Sheweth : The subscribers, inhabitants of . Township No. Three in the Fifth Range of Townships North of the Waldo Patent in the County of Hancock, that at present there are between two hundred and two hundred and fifty souls resident in said Town and near
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fifty persons liable to pay taxes. That from the first settlement of said Township which is nearly eight years since, we have been deprived of the benefit and privilege of an incorporation Wherefore your Petitioners pray the Legislature of this Commonwealth to incorporate them into a Town by the name of Garland, with all the rights and privileges that other towns are entitled in this Commonwealth by the Constitution, -Bounded as fol- lows: East by Township No. Two, in the same Range, on the North by Township No. Three, in the Sixth Range; bounded on the West by Township No. Four in the aforesaid Fifth Range; bounded on the South by Township No. Three in the Fourth Range of Townships North of the Waldo Patent aforesaid, conformable to the original lines and corners as run and set up by Gov- ernment Surveyors in the year of our LORD 1792, originally intended to include a Tract six miles square be the same more or less. Your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.
Township Number three, March, 1810.
(Signed)
(signed)
Edward Fifield.
Phillip Greley.
Isaac Hopkins.
Justus Hariman.
John Stevens.
Simeon Morgan.
John Hayes.
John Knight.
Nathaniel Fifield.
John S. Haskell.
John Trefetheren.
Edward Pratt.
Dudley L. Fogg.
Joseph Garland.
Thom's Gillpatrick, Jr.
Theophilus B. Morgan.
John Pratt.
Thomas Gillpatrick.
Benj. Gillpatrick.
Moses Gordon. Josiah Bartlett.
Thomas S. Tyler.
Silas Libbee.
John Jackman.
William Blasdell.
Oliver Woodard.
Jeremiah Flanders.
Enoch Jackman.
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Cutteon Flanders.
William Godwin.
Enoch Clough.
Abraham Bond.
John E. Gordon.
Samson Silver.
Jacob Garland.
Isaac Wheeler.
William Dustin. William Sargent.
Ezekiel Straw.
James McClure.
Amos Gordon.
John Stevens.
John Chandler.
Andrew Kimball.
Eleazer Woodard.
Something of the history of each person whose name appears on the petition has been given in preceding pages, except in cases of Isaac Hopkins, John Stevens, Dudley L. Fogg, John and Edward Pratt, Silas Libbee and Oliver and Eleazer Woodard. The name of Isaac Hopkins appears on the voting list only in 1812. It may be inferred that he was only a temporary resident.
John Stevens bargained for a small piece of land on John Chandler's lot, where he lived only a short time. He was a single man. Of Dudley L. Fogg tradition makes no mention. John and Edward Pratt were resi- dents here but a short time. They early took up their residence in Piscataquis County.
Silas Libbee bought a piece of land on the old Harriman place, which he soon abandoned. He after- wards bought a part of the lot known as the Joseph M. Gerry place. He was not long a resident of Garland. Oliver Woodard made a beginning on lot four, range six, where George W. Adams formerly lived.
The petition for an act of incorporation was probably copied from the form which other townships had used. In response to the petition, the following act was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts :
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Act of Incorporation
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven.
An act to incorporate township number three in the fifth range of townships north of the Waldo Patent into a town by the name of Garland.
Section 1st. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled and by authority of the same: That township number three in the fifth range of townships north of the Waldo Patent in the county of Hancock, bounded as follows: North- wardly by township number three in the sixth range; westwardly by township number four in the fifth range; southwardly by township number three in the fourth range; and eastwardly by township number two in the fifth range, together with the inhabitants thereof be, and hereby are incorporated into a town by the name of Garland vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities which other towns do, or may enjoy by the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth.
Section 2. Be it further enacted, that any justice of the peace in said county of Hancock be, and hereby is empowered to issue his warrant directed to some suitable inhabitant of said town of Garland requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet at such time and place as shall be expressed in said warrant, to choose all such officers as towns are by law required to choose in the month of March or April annually.
In the House of Representatives, February 14, 1811.
This bill having had then several readings was passed to be enacted.
JOSEPH STORY, Speaker.
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In Senate, February 14, 1811.
This bill having had two several readings was passed to be enacted.
H. G. OTIS, President.
Council Chamber :
16th of February, 1811.
Approved E. GERRY.
Secretary's Office,
February 11, 1811.
A true copy, Attest BENJ. HAMANS Secretary of the Commonwealth of Mass.
The act of incorporation was copied into the first volume of town records, and the correctness of the copy attested by Joseph Treadwell, Garland's first town clerk. An inspection of the geographical description of the township will show that county and State lines have been changed since the incorporation of the town.
The act of incorporation had the effect of converting an unorganized, into an organized community, and of investing it with all the powers, privileges and immuni -. ties that a town may exercise and enjoy. Through the agency of the courts it could now enforce legal claims against individuals or communities, and defend itself against claims of an opposite character. It could now assess taxes to make roads, to build schoolhouses, sup- port schools and for other public purposes and enforce their payment.
It was brought into political relations with State and National governments. The ballot of its humblest voter would weigh as much in determining who should be governor or president as that of the wealthiest or most aristocratic citizen of the State.
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HISTORY OF GARLAND, MAINE
The transformation of township to town had been made under auspicious conditions. The act of incor- poration, the bill of rights of the inhabitants, had been granted by the State of Massachusetts which had been the home of the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the state that had given to New England the school, the church and the town meeting, and to the country the best type of civilization the world had ever known, the state whose soil was the first stained by patriot blood in the War of the Revolution.
The renowned jurist, Joseph Story, signed the act as Speaker of the House. The cultured and polished Harrison Gray Otis signed it as President of the Senate, and Elbridge Gerry, afterwards Vice President of the United States, approved it as Governor.
Garland in 1811
The crowning act of the township in 1811 was its assumption of the powers, privileges and immunities of a corporate existence. The inhabitants of the new town had now only to await the coming of that characteristic New England institution, the town meeting, to enter upon the exercise of their new powers. The inhabitants of the new town now impatiently awaited the act of incorporation which seemed very slow in coming. The nearest post-office was at Bangor, twenty-five miles away, and to the post-office in Bangor the document was sent. A messenger, who was awaiting its arrival, took it immediately to Garland. In this year of grace, 1897, a document mailed in Boston late in the afternoon of a specified day, would reach the post-office in Gar-
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land on the forenoon of the next day. The document which the inhabitants of Garland were impatiently awaiting in that memorable March of 1811, was a little more than two weeks in coming to the Bangor post-office. On its arrival at Garland, it was placed in the hands of Isaac Wheeler, who held a commission of justice of the peace bearing the seal of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts.
Squire Wheeler forthwith issued the following war- rant, dated March 16, 1811 :
L. S. Hancock js: To Amos Gordon, one of the inhabitants of Garland in said county of Hancock, Greeting :
L. S. You are hereby required in the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to notify and warn the Freeholders and other inhabitants of said town qualified by law to vote in town affairs, to assemble at the dwelling house of Isaac Wheeler, Esq., on Monday the first day of April next at nine o'clock in the forenoon for the following purposes : (viz.)
1st. To choose a moderator to govern said Meeting.
2d. To choose a Town Clerk.
3d. To choose three Select Men.
4th. To choose three Assessors.
5th. To choose a Constable.
6th. To see what the town will do with respect to a collector.
7th. To choose all other officers that the law requires.
8th. To see how much money the town will raise to repair highways.
9th. To see how much money the town will raise for the support of schools.
10th. To see what the town will do with respect to building schoolhouses.
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11th. To see how much money the town will raise to defray the expenses of the town.
12th. To do all other business that the town shall think proper when assembled.
Given under my hand and seal this 16th day of March, 1811.
ISAAC WHEELER, Justice of the Peace. ยท
Upon the above warrant Mr. Gordon made the fol- lowing return :
In pursuance of the above warrant to me directed, I do hereby notify and warn the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Garland qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet at the time and place mentioned in the foregoing warrant and for the purpose therein expressed :
This 18th day of March, 1811.
AMOS GORDON.
A true copy-
Attest, JOSEPH TREADWELL, Town Clerk.
The matters of business presented in this warrant were couched in forms that had been transmitted to the inhabitants of Garland through successive generations, and are still in general use. The items of business were presented in these preliminary proceedings with a clear- ness and propriety of expression that would not be dis- creditable to any board of town officers that have had the affairs of the town in charge from that day to this.
Two classes of voters were mentioned in the warrant- freeholders and other inhabitants qualified to vote in town affairs. The freeholder was an inhabitant who held an estate of a prescribed value in his own right. This gave him the right to vote in State and National
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affairs as well as in town affairs. The other inhabitants mentioned were those whose estate did not reach the prescribed value. These could vote only in town affairs.
The First Town Meeting
The first town meeting was held on the first day of April, 1811, at the house of Isaac Wheeler, Esq., which stood upon the site of the residence of the late William B. Foss, now the home of F. D. Wood and family, a few rods north of the Free Baptist church.
The advent of the town meeting was the beginning of a new era to the inhabitants of Garland. They had lived together for eight years with no semblance of organization. No inhabitant could be compelled to per- form the slightest service for the public good although he would share the benefit of such service equally with other inhabitants. The citizens had been groping along cir- cuitous paths in the wilderness, carrying their burdens upon horseback or conveyances of the rudest character. Their children were living without schools, save here and there one at uncertain intervals of time, supported by voluntary subscriptions.
Other matters relating to the public convenience and welfare had been neglected, but the town meeting, the most democratic of American institutions, had come, bringing with it the elements of prosperity and progress. It could not, indeed, create wealth, but it could levy taxes upon existing resources and establish schools. That potent factor of representative government, the voice of the majority, could compel the citizen, willing or not, to bear his share of the public burdens.
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HISTORY OF GARLAND, MAINE
The coming of the first town meeting was an occasion of great importance to the inhabitants for reasons other than those which have been noticed. It created places of trust, responsibility and honor that must be filled. It created emoluments which although at the present time would be regarded of trifling importance, were not matters of entire indifference then. It would not be uncharitable to suppose that some of the more promi- nent citizens, ambitious for office, had been modestly awaiting honors which they believed would be thrust upon them. There were others who were glad of an oppor- tunity to express in some tangible form their good-will towards an esteemed neighbor or friend. There were still others who cherished favorite plans in respect to the location of roads and schoolhouses, and if these could be realized, they cared but little who bore away the honors and emoluments of office.
Punctually at the hour, the inhabitants assembled at the appointed place, and organized the first town meet- ing by the choice of Thomas Gilpatrick for moderator, and Joseph Treadwell for clerk. Josiah Bartlett, Isaac Wheeler and Thomas Gilpatrick were chosen selectmen and assessors. Edward Fifield was chosen constable and collector, and was voted a compensation of ten dollars for collecting all taxes for the year 1811.
Isaac Wheeler, Esq., was chosen treasurer. John Chandler, Amos Gordon, Josiah Bartlett, John Hayes, Joseph Saunders, Thomas S. Tyler and Ezekiel Straw were chosen highway surveyors. The choosing of high- way surveyors at this meeting seems a little premature as no highways had been established. 'They were instructed to allow twelve and one half cents per hour for work on the highways, a precedent that has been fol- lowed to the present time. William Godwin, Andrew Kimball and James McClure were chosen surveyors of
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HISTORY OF GARLAND, MAINE
boards. Joseph Treadwell and Amos Gordon were chosen surveyors of split lumber. William Sargent, Benjamin Gilpatrick, William Palmer, P. Greeley, Cutteon Flanders and O. Woodward were chosen hog- reeves. William Blaisdell, Justus Harriman and Moses Gordon were chosen fence-viewers. Isaac Wheeler was chosen sealer of weights and measures. John S. Haskell and William Sargent were chosen field-drivers. Enoch Jackman was chosen sealer of leather.
The record of Garland's first town meeting closes with the following entry :
Voted to dissolve the meeting. Accordingly it was dissolved.
A true copy of proceedings,
Attest, JOSEPH TREADWELL, Clerk.
The handwriting and general neatness of Mr. Treadwell's record is very creditable. An inspection of the records will show a disposition to make the honors of office go to as many of the inhabitants as possible. Seven highway surveyors were appointed when, as yet, not a single highway had been established. Several other offices were filled for which there was no apparent use.
This first town meeting was without doubt a meeting of the genuine New England type. The inhabitants had come together to exercise the rights and enjoy the privi- leges with which they had so recently been invested.
In the town meeting, each inhabitant was the equal of every other, and each could represent his own views upon every question by voice and vote. It may be assumed that the proceedings were not strictly parliamentary. In the typical New England town meeting, the sharp personal thrust and instant retort, whether in order or not, can no more be anticipated than lightning from a
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HISTORY OF GARLAND, MAINE
cloudless sky. The roar of laughter that follows is the safety-valve for the escape of dangerous elements.
The Second Town Meeting
The year 1811 was fruitful of town meetings. The second town meeting was held at the residence of Isaac Wheeler, Esq., on April 22, 1811. Edward Fifield was chosen moderator. The main purpose of this meeting was to consider and act on the question of roads.
To the inhabitants of the new town this was a question of serious difficulty on account of the long stretch of road demanded for the public convenience. If the forty- five families of the town had been located on contiguous lots in some particular section, the burden of making roads would have been greatly diminished, but they were scattered over a large part of its surface. There were families on the eastern border of the town and on the western. There were families in the extreme northwest corner, and in the southwest corner, as well as in the central part of the town. All these families must be accommodated.
There was one favorable condition. There could be no dispute about routes. These had been predetermined by the original proprietors of the township, who had caused it to be surveyed into squares whose sides were one mile long, by range ways running through it from north to south and from east to west. These range ways constituted the routes for roads. Nothing remained to be done but to determine distances, and to indicate here and there a deviation from the direct route to avoid natural obstacles.
1
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HISTORY OF GARLAND, MAINE
At this meeting the selectmen submitted their report on the subject of roads. The first route described in the report, extended from the west line of the town through its center, to its east line, and the road is now known as the east and west center road. Within one and one half miles of the east line of the town, some deviations from the range line were indicated as desirable, but some years later, the route was restored to the range line. And still later a curve to the north was made near the old Bartlett place to avoid the steep part of the hill at that point.
The second route described in the report of the select- men and accepted by the town, followed the range line between the eighth and ninth ranges, from the west line of the town to the southeast corner of lot four in the ninth range of lots. This route was a mile north of the east and west center route and parallel to it. The width of this road was fixed at three rods. A section of road upon this route, reaching from the west line of the town to the Sangerville county road, was built; also a shorter section, reaching from the recent site of the schoolhouse in district number five, one half mile east, and passing the Horace Davis and Emerson places. The part of the route between these two sections of road was discon- tinued by vote of the town. The families, now residing on the westerly section are those of George Arnold, Charles Carr and Robert McComb.
The third route described in the report, extended from the west line of the town at a point near the present residence of Mark Jennings, easterly between the fourth and fifth ranges of lots, to the corner a few rods east of the site of the Congregational church.
The fourth was a short route in the southwest part of the town.
The fifth route began on the range way at the top of
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HISTORY OF GARLAND, MAINE
the hill, a few rods north of the residence then of the Rev. John Sawyer, but now owned by D. F. Patten, and ran southerly over the site of the present village to Exeter line. The larger part of this route became, a few years later, a section of the road leading into Piscataquis County. It was to be four rods wide.
The sixth route described in the report, extended northerly from the southeast corner of land now owned and occupied by Alfred Patterson, to the point of inter- section with the county road now leading to Sangerville. One mile of the southern section of this route has never been built, the starting point having been changed to a point near the Maple Grove Cemetery, running thence in a northwesterly direction and intersecting the original route near the site of the present residence of Charles Greeley.
The town voted to accept the report of selectmen relating to routes, and to establish roads in accordance therewith. It voted also to establish a road from the northwest corner of J. Bartlett's land, to the southwest corner of J. McClure's land, thence to the mill. This vote embraced the existing road, leading from the north- west corner of the farm now owned by Calvin Campbell, to the southwest corner of the cemetery near the school- house in district number seven.
From the cemetery the line of the road ran westerly to a point near the site of the present residence of James Rideout, where it bore to the south and intersected the route of the road running south, where it is now inter- sected by the road from Holt's Mills. A few years later the route from the present Rideout place was changed so as to run in a pretty direct course to the crest of the hill, a few rods north of the present grist- mill. In 1855, the road was again changed to avoid the dangerous turn at the point of intersection with the
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HISTORY OF GARLAND, MAINE
north and south road. This change was from the Preble Brook to L. Oak's store.
At this second meeting the town had voted to make twenty miles of road. This was a necessity of the time, but it proved a troublesome necessity. Eighteen miles of road embraced in this action of the town are now in use. Many years passed before any of these roads became passable for the modern carriage.
At this meeting the town voted to raise five hundred dollars to make and repair highways. Although the second town meeting was devoted mainly to the consid- eration of roads, the question of schools received some attention. So closely connected in the New England mind of those early days were roads and schools that an appropriation for one was immediately followed by an appropriation for the other.
At the meeting the town voted to raise one hundred dollars for the support of schools, and that the school money should be paid in corn at five shillings, rye at seven shillings and wheat at eight shillings per bushel. This, with similar votes from year to year in the earlier days of the town's history, shows that corn, rye and wheat were an important element in the currency of the inhabitants, which, with all its disadvantages, had the merit of an intrinsic value in harmony with that by which it had been invested by the legislature of the town, a merit of which some of the modern schemes relating to currency are lamentably destitute. The present generation may well regard the robust honesty of their fathers with pride.
Another vote at the meeting of 1811 was that each district should build its own schoolhouse. This vote seems a little premature, inasmuch as not a single district had been established, but it disclosed an interest in
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schools which was an ever-abiding element in the hearts of the early inhabitants.
The proceedings of the second town meeting of 1811 were closed by a vote to raise fifty dollars to defray town charges.
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