USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Gorham > History of Gorham, Me. > Part 25
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probably as important to them as the future. They liked to have the mill handy ; this location was handy, being in the highway to and from market, and here the first grist mill was built, in all probability, by a Mr. Blenham.
Who Blenham was, whence he came, or where he went, is not now known. He occupied the thirty acre lot 122, on which these little falls are situated. The hill on which Messrs. Matthew and William H. Johnson live (1889) was called by the old people Blenham's Hill. Blenham commenced his mill before the Indian war. What state of forwardness it was in, is not known; but here, tradition says, the early settlers had their corn ground before the war. During the war the Indians set fire to the mill; they unwittingly, however, when applying the torch, hoisted the gate, which prevented the full comple- tion of their intended destruction. The mill was not repaired. At a Proprietors' meeting, March 28, 1743, the right to settle the lot was confirmed to Blenham in consequence of his having completed the mill :
Voted Yt ye Blenham house lot, and ye mill lot, have ye privilege of settling ye lot on condition of there being so much done at ye cost of ye owner, per ye advancement of ye settlement of ye township.
An old lady now (1875) living in Gorham, about eighty years of age, says she remembers distinctly, when a young girl, hearing the old people tell of old Mr. Blenham and his mill, situated on these lower falls, and that it was burned by the Indians in the war; that Mr. Blenham lived near where the Buttrick house afterwards stood; also of the Blenham hill.
Gorham's mills were built on the falls at the bridge, on the south shore. He probably did not build them under the vote passed August, 1739. He did not need to have the Proprietors vote him the fee of the lot, for No. 64, on which the mills were built, was one of the lots belonging to the Gorhams. About the year 1780, Timothy Hamblen, whose house stood on the hill above the bridge on the west side of the road, built a saw mill on the northerly shore of the large falls, and it was for many years carried on by him, and after his death by his sons Enoch and John. The sons added a grist mill at the lower end of the saw mill at the time the other mills were used by Mr. Buttrick as a clothier's establishment. One of the rooms in the old Hamblen house was said to have been the second room plastered in town. The old house, the old saw mill and grist mill built by the Hamblens have disappeared. Mr. Daniel Davis's mills (now owned by John Parkhurst), occupy the site where the Gorhams
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built their mills, and the little falls where the Blenham mill was destroyed by the Indians are unoccupied.
At the Proprietors' meeting aforesaid, held March 28, 1743 :
Voted and granted unto Capt. John Gorham, Four hundred acres of the common land in that corner of the township adjoining to Falmouth on Presumpscot River, alias, the eastern corner of said Township, he ye said Gorham to finish or cause to finish the Saw Mill and Grist Mill that he has already begun in said township on Little River, and also give security to ye committee chosen to sign ye grants, that he will give in exchange to ye proprietors so many acres of his undivided lands for ye use of ye proprietary, that is of ye third division.
Col. Gorham died soon after this vote was passed by the Proprie- tors. He did not finish the mills, but they were completed by his brother, David Gorham; to him were confirmed the four hundred acres of land, as appears by a vote passed Jan. 11, 1759.
The two votes above cited show clearly that at the time, 1743, there were two sets of mills, one known as Blenham's mill, which appears to have been finished, and the other, the Gorham mills, in a state of building. That the Gorham mills were at the bridge is clear, for they owned the lot on which they were built, and these were the mills finally finished by David Gorham.
That there were no mills in town for grinding corn during the war, after the burning of the Blenham mill, is a fact as well authenticated as any tradition. The settlers were compelled to carry their corn to Capisic to have it ground, and when they had none, to go to Portland, purchase it, and have it ground on the way home. There was then no road, only a track through the woods marked by spotted trees. Some carried their grist on their backs; those so fortunate as to own a horse went on horseback.
As before said, no one now knows who this Mr. Blenham was, or what became of him. It is believed that before the war, there were some twenty families in town, in addition to some men unmarried. No perfect list of these persons has been preserved to let us know who they were, but we know the names of most of them. The probability is, that after the burning of his mill and the destruction of his property, Blenham left town for parts more safe, abandoning his rights and improvements, and on account of his age, (he was known as old Blenham,) or for some other reason, never returned.
In 1753 Solomon Lombard, Esq., Enoch Freeman, Esq. and Wentworth Stuart erected a mill on the site of the Blenham mill, at a cost of £1738-9s-8d. On Feb. 11, 1762, David Gorham sold to
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Lemuel Rich of Truro, Mass., thirty acres in the whole (thirty acre lot No. 64), with one-half of the mill, mill-dam, stream, and all material for building mills on said thirty acre lot, also the whole of the thirty acre lot lying opposite the first, No. 63. This half of the saw mill, and one-half of a grist mill, dam and the privileges of the stream, together with a quarter of the thirty acre lot No. 64, Mr. Rich sold in 1765 to Enoch Freeman.
The first fulling mill in Gorham was built by two men, Conant and Chase, about the year 1788 or '89. It was located on the Hamblen falls, on the site of Gorham's mills. In 1790 Chase, then of Haver- hill, Mass., sold to Josiah Morse of Pembroke, N. H., clothier, the north half of the thirty acre lot 122, together with the fulling mill situated on the said half. Morse carried on the business a few years, but removed to Limington about 1797. He was succeeded by James Tyler, a clothier and fuller, who carried on the principal part of his business at the mill by the bridge, but had a fulling mill and dye house on the little, or Blenham fall, just below. In 1801 Tyler sold out the mills and business to Willard Buttrick, who continued to carry on the business at the same places. In August, 1813, the fulling mill and dye house were destroyed by fire, together with some six thousand yards of cloth belonging to other persons, and sent to him to be dressed. After the fire he moved all his machinery into the mill near the bridge, and abandoned the Blenham falls. Here he remained till he sold out to Peter Whitney. Mr. Whitney was the last that carried on the business at these Gorham falls, and probably the last that carried it on in Gorham. A few years before his death in 1842, his mill was changed to a grist mill and saw mill.
Samuel Warren raised a saw mill, Aug. 2, 1763, on Little River, on the mill privilege belonging to the hundred acre lot 66, which lot he purchased in 1761 of William Lakeman and Anthony Brackett. Mr. Warren's two sons, Samuel and James, afterwards owned a grist mill on the northerly side of the old Buxton (Flaggy Meadow) road, and near to the town line. A man by the name of Partridge raised the frame of a saw mill in Gorham on the 8th of November, 1763, but where this mill was located we do not know.
In 1753 Joseph Quimby of Falmouth purchased of Samuel Cobb, one-half of the hundred acre lot 75, which lot contains the mill privilege on Little River near what is called Stephenson's bridge, near the foot of Brandy Brook hill. On these falls he built a saw mill, which was raised Oct. 2, 1764. This mill was owned in common, and run on shares by several of the neighboring settlers; amongst
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FIRST MILLS.
whom, John Watson and Isaac Skillings owned a right, as possibly did Nathan Whitney also, for we find that he purchased on Sept. 8, 1764, of Abijah P. Lewis a half of the mill privilege. Quimby sold his share of the mill and privilege in 1766 to Ebenezer Mayo of Falmouth. There was a grist mill, known as Harding's mill, on these falls as early as the year 1785. This mill was probably built by the two Hardings, Capt. Samuel and his brother Simon. On the 24th of August, 1789, we find the owners to be Simon Harding, Martha the widow of Capt. Samuel Harding, Capt. John Stephenson, and James and Lucy (Holbrook) Rolfe.
Soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, Cary Mclellan and his brother William built a saw mill on the hundred acre lot No. 25. This mill was situated on the westerly side of the road, on the small stream which crosses the road at the foot of the hill, just south of where Mrs. Levi Hamblen lately lived. When they built this mill there was not water enough in the brook, as they said, to mix their grog; but in the following spring the little stream, swollen by a sudden freshet, rose and completely destroyed the mill. Solomon Lombard, Esq., the McLellans, and some others, who were largely interested in lands and timber in Gorham, owned and ran a number of small saw mills on the brooks and small streams in the various parts of the town. They would cut the timber on the banks and near by at odd times, and then saw it up in the spring and fall, when the melting snows and heavy rains would furnish power enough to run the machinery.
In the early years of the century there were several small carding mills in town, where the farmers' wives could bring their wool and have it carded into rolls ready to be spun on their spinning wheels. Solomon Newcomb had one of these mills. It was situated in the north part of the town, on what is known as the " West Branch," on land lately owned by Mr. Benjamin Irish. About 1816 Livy Buker built a carding mill at Gambo, where he carried on the business for a few years.
It appears that the old Proprietors intended to reserve a burying- place in the northeast corner of the settled minister's lot, 57, and the spot was used for that purpose from early times, though the town's title was never made perfect. In this yard William Bryant and his family were buried in April, 1746, as were also those who died in the fort in 1750 at the time of the dreadful disease that then prevailed. This thirty acre lot which belonged to Mr. Lombard, the first settled minister, finally came into the hands of Mr. James Phinney. It
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
appears that Mr. Phinney proposed to give the land occupied to the town, and at a town meeting held on the 3d day of May, 1802, it was " Voted, that the selectmen see that the forty dollars voted to fence ye burying place at Fort Hill be laid out to ye best advantage, and take a deed of Mr. James Phinney for the burying grounds. And that the Selectmen be, and they are hereby directed to purchase of Mr. Phinney land enough to complete one acre, with what he is to give the Town."
The present Methodist church edifice at the village covers what was one of the earliest burying places in town. At the time it was used it was an orchard, and belonged to Capt. Bryant Morton, whose first wife was probably buried there. Besides Mrs. Morton, there were buried here Rev. Ebenezer Townsend, Mrs. Samuel Hamblen, Mrs. Cole, Joseph Morton and many others long since forgotten.
In the year 1770 Mr. Jacob Hamblen presented the town with a half acre of land to be used for a burying ground. Mr. Hamblen's dwelling house was on the thirty acre lot 16, where Mr. Harding's store lately stood, and the land which he gave was a part of his homestead farm.
The following vote was passed at a town meeting held on the 25th day of March, 1771 : - " Voted, That Solomon Lombard, Esq., Capt. Edmund Phinney, Nathan Whitney, Nathaniel Whitney, Joseph Cates, Benjamin Stevens, Benjamin Skillings, Eliphalet Watson and Joseph Pilkinton be a Committee to Return the Thanks of the Town to Mr. Joseph Hamblen for his Generosity in giving to the Town Half an Acre of Land for the Purpose of a Burying Yard."
The meeting was then adjourned to the 3d of April, when the committee through its chairman reported publicly as follows :
" An Address of thanks, of the Town of Gorham, to Mr. Jacob Hamblen, for his Generous present and gift to the Town of a tract of Land for a Common Burying Place, Pronounced by SOLOMON LOMBARD, Esq., Chairman of the Committee that was Chosen by the Town for that purpose the 25th of March, 1771.
" MR. HAMBLEN, this Large Committee are Commanded by the Town of Gorham to wait upon you, Sir, with an Address of thanks of the Town for your free and Generous present made to the Town of a parcel of land for a Common Burying place, where the people may Bury their Dead out of their Sight. True it is Sir, that the intrinsic value of the present made to the Town is not Equal to the Donations of Some of Greater Fortunes who have Built Hospitals and Endowed them, and have Built Churches and Endowed them, and thereby have transmitted their names and Honor to Unborn Ages, Yet, Notwithstanding this, Sir, the free and Generous Air and the Religious end for which you made this gift to the Town, renders
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BURYING GROUNDS.
it a Great, Noble and Generous Donation where Survivors may Deposit their greatest Treasure, their Dear friend and Relative ; that provision be made for Depositing the Dead is as necessary as to make provision of houses for the Living to Dwell in. By the Apos- tacy and fall from God, Adam and all his posterity became Mortal : in the day thou Eatest thereof thou Shalt Surely Die. Death is entailed upon all Adam's Posterity, and every one knows, that as he is Born, he shall Surely Die; so that Burying places not only are Convenient, but .Absolutely Necessary, for the Dearest friend and relative while living, that gives the most Sensation of pleasure and delight in Converse and Communion with them, but when once Cold Death Embraces this Object in her Arms, He or She, becomes Disa- greeable Company. That object that once Delighted every eye and Charmed every Heart, and engrossed the Strongest Affections ; when once the lovely Corpse becomes Shaded with the Image and Picture of Death and Corruption, all pleasing Sensation and Delight is lost and gone, and the Breast that once swelled with Joy, now is Charged with an insupportable load of Grief, and his thoughts employed, where to Deposit his Dead out of his sight. When God visited Abraham and by his Afflictive hand had Snatched from him a Portion of his very heart, in the Death of his Dearly beloved Sarah, she who once by her Beauty charmed him, and her becoming mien greatly Delighted him. And her ready and Cheerful Obedience and Affection for him gave her the highest place in his heart of all Earthly Objects, but upon this Event, viz, the Death of Sarah, he was so far from Receiving pleasure or Satisfaction from the presence of the Corpse, that it Excited the greatest pain and Uneasiness of mind, and he Seeks a place to repose his Dead out of his Sight, for we find Recorded in Sacred Writ, that Abraham stood up before his Dead and Spoke to the Sons of Heth, Saying I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with you, give me a Possession of a Burying place with you that I may Bury my Dead out of my sight. Upon which they Generously offered him the Choice of their Sepulchres to Bury his Dead. Upon which Abraham bowed himself to the people in Grati- tude to them ; but this was not what he was desirous of ; but a piece of Ground that he might Call his own, that he might there without Trespass, view the monument of his Dying or Dead friend, and there Empty his Breast over Charged with Grief in Showers of Tears over her Grave. For this purpose he entreats the Sons of Heth to plead for him with Zohar for the Cave Machpelah at ye end of his field for as much Money as it was worth, where he might Deposit this once Lovely Corpse, and without Trespass or offence to any visit and mourn over. Sr, the Same desire prevails in every man, he desires the Liberty of visiting the Grave Yard, and see the little Hillock, the Rising Ground, the memorial of the Dead, without Ground of Com- plaint from any one, there to Contemplate the State of Mortality, the irreparable loss Sustained, and to weep over the Dead. There is, Sr, a Secret pleasure in this, as weeping for Sin yields Comfort to the penitent, so mourning for the Dead does yield Satisfaction. This
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
mourning is not Altogether a painful Sensation. You, Sr, have put it in the power of the people in this place to visit their Dead, as often as their inclination Excites them thereto. The Dead Bodys are Deposed as Seed, as Seed Sown for the Resurrection. And Probable it is that most of us may soon, in a few months or years, mingle our Dust with those there Buried, until the Sound of the last Trumpet, Arise ye dead, and Come to Judgment. God in mercy prepare each of us for such an Event.
" And now, Sr, to Conclude, we, the Committee do, in the name of the Town, wish and pray that God in his providence may Shower down into your Bosom, Seven fold of the Good things of this Life in Recompense for your Charity and Goodness, and in the world to Come may you be Rewarded with Life Eternal, and that both you and we may be so happy as to joyn the Great Assembly above, Angels, Arch-Angels, and the whole Church Tryumphant in Singing the Song of Moses and the Lamb, where there shall be no more pain or dying, no weeping for Departed friends, but fullness of Joy at God's Right Hand."
This lot of land, which Mr. Hamblen so kindly gave to the town, is the burying ground at the village, on South St., which is now known as "The Old Yard."
The "New Yard " at the village, on Main St., was purchased by the town about 1830. It consisted originally of the southeast quarter of the present yard, and has been twice enlarged. In 1846 the town bought of Daniel C. Libby, a sufficient quantity of land to extend the yard through to Main St., and in 1878 the cemetery was doubled by the purchase of the Capt. Nathaniel Frost place, on its western side.
In the north part of the town there are large burying grounds. One is situated at Sapling Hill, and another is near the North Meeting House. The beginning of this latter yard was when, in November, 1790, the town voted that the selectmen should buy an acre of land in the north part of the town for a graveyard. The land was purchased of Zebulon Whitney, and in 1793 John Phinney, Uriel Whitney and Decker Phinney were chosen a committee to build a good post and board fence around it. Since then more land has been added to this yard from time to time, until it has reached its present size. There is also a smaller yard near Merrill T. Files's store at White Rock, the land for which was purchased by the town of Josedeck Sanborn in 1791. East of the present schoolhouse at White Rock, and near the spot where the old church once stood, is an old burying ground, with but three stones standing in it bearing inscriptions. This yard, four rods wide on the road and six rods
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deep, was given for a neighborhood burying ground by Mr. Clay, a part of whose farm it was. Here some seventy-five of the older dwellers in this region are buried, including Joseph McDonald, Sr., Mrs. Lydia Young, William Clay and his wife Anna. When the road was widened a few years ago about a rod of the yard was thrown out into the highway.
Great Falls (North Gorham) has a nice cemetery, which was pur- chased and laid out about 1850. At Little Falls, besides the large yard on the hill near William H. Mclellan's, there is the smaller "Swett yard " near the Free Baptist church, where two of our earliest settlers, Timothy Cloutman and his wife Katy, are buried. The south part of the town for many years used a burying ground, situated just north of the residence of Melville C. Burnell. In 1880, however, the town purchasing land for the present yard near Parker's Corner, this yard was taken up, and the bodies from it, and various private yards, were moved to their new resting place. There is also a cemetery at West Gorham, and one near S. S. Waterhouse's. Besides the " Swett yard," mentioned above, there are many other private or family burying grounds scattered over the town.
Gorham certainly has no need to feel ashamed of its numerous cemeteries, shaded with beautiful trees; many of them containing fine monuments, and with their lots for the most part neatly and tastily laid out.
CHAPTER XIII.
DIFFERENT VILLAGES IN THE TOWN.
BUSINESS CENTRES - NORTHEAST PART OF THE TOWN -WHITE ROCK - WEST GORHAM - GAMBO - MALLISON'S FALLS, AND LITTLE FALLS.
About the year 1800 Black Brook road, so called, (now closed) leading from the late Rufus Mosher's to the late William Burton's, and passing the house of Mr. Hamblen, was the principal thorough- fare to Horse Beef, Great Falls, Sebago Pond, North Windham and Raymond. Over this road all the lumber and other material hauled to and from the above places had to pass. Many thought that the centre of business would be near the mouth of Black Brook Road, consequently quite a collection of buildings sprang up near there. Within sixty rods there were ten houses, most of them of two stories, two stores, two cooper's shops, two shoemaker's shops, and a blacksmith's shop; and quite a business was done here. Joseph Gilkey built one of these houses, a large two story one, which stood a little east of where Mrs. Rufus Mosher now lives. This house was torn down about 1815. Mr. Gilkey was a joiner and house carpenter by trade. The coopers were James King, Joseph Whitney and Clement Phinney. Mr. Southernham was the blacksmith, while Joseph Whitney, Edmund Gammon and Nathaniel Hatch were in trade here. Mr. Gammon kept a grocery store, which stood nearly opposite the dwelling of Mrs. Rufus Mosher. This building was afterwards moved on to the cross road, and now forms the dwelling house where the late Daniel C. Libby lived.
As time passed, however, business gradually centered more and more at the Corner. Here, stores had been kept soon after the Revolution by Cary Mclellan, and Samuel Prentiss, the latter of whom built the "Old Yellow Shop" about 1784. Daniel Cressey about 1795 built the first store which stood on the corner of Main and South streets, where the store of F. H. Emery now stands. Here he did a thriving business. John Horton had a store on Main St. just west of the house where Llewellyn Brown now lives. This store was afterwards owned and occupied by Capt. David Harding, Jr. Across the street, and nearly opposite, was the shop of Nathaniel Gould, saddler and harness-maker. Joseph Hunt had a
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shop on the east side of School St. where he made and sold hats. The site of this shop is now covered by the building at present used by the Public Library. In 1810 Capt. Ebenezer Hatch traded in a store which he built on School St. on the lot where the buildings of Simon E. Mclellan now stand. For this lot Capt. Hatch paid a row of silver dollars equal in length to the width of the lot on the street, which was two rods. The Joseph Hunt lot, just spoken of, was purchased in like manner, except that its street line (twenty-eight and one-half feet) was covered with half dollars. In 1820 Dea. Nahum Chadbourn and Capt. David Harding, Jr. hired the parish lot, and built two stores on it. In one of these Dea. Chadbourn carried on his business of saddler and harness-maker, while in the other Capt. Harding, and after him his son David, traded. About 1802 Toppan Robie and Sewall Lancaster built a store on the southwest corner of High and School streets. Mr. Lancaster died in 1812, and soon after Mr. Robie formed a partnership with his brother Thomas S. Robie. About 1812 Alexander McLellan built a store on the northwest corner of High and School streets. In the stores of both T. and T. S. Robie, and Mr. McLellan there was carried on for many years an extensive and flourishing business in the grocery and variety line common to the country store of that day. It would be hard to name any article of ordinary use which could not be found in those stores. Mr. McLellan, who was postmaster for many years, kept the office in his store. Much of the trade of the time was carried on by barter. Most of the above-mentioned merchants packed beef for the West India market. They employed many coopers in making their barrels, and also in making heading and shooks which they sent to the West Indies to be exchanged for molasses, sugar, rum and various other commodities.
In winter a long procession of ox-sleds, teams and pungs loaded with country produce, coming through the Notch from Vermont and Coos County, passed daily down over Fort Hill and through the vil- lage on their way to the Portland market. Much business was brought by them, however, to Gorham, and not infrequently whole loads of their produce were disposed of at the village stores. Gorham village was a lively place in those days. After the new road to Standish was opened about 1820, cutting off the hard hills of the Fort Hill road, the teaming came down High St., but with the opening of State St.I most of the country travel came into town that way. In
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