USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Gorham > History of Gorham, Me. > Part 29
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A stage route was early established through Gorham, Alfred, Dover, N. H., and on to Boston.
A post office was established in Gorham in 1797, and Samuel Prentiss was appointed postmaster in September of that same year. Samuel Whitmore, Jr. succeeded him in June, 1807; and he in turn was followed by Alexander McLellan, Esq., who was appointed Dec. 5, 1809, and held the office for nearly twenty-eight years.
In 1820 there was a White Mountain, or Coos mail, coming down from Conway every Monday and returning the following Tuesday. Passing through the place on these same days, was also a York County mail, carried on horseback by " Master" Tucker. As these mails left Portland Tuesday morning, the Portland weekly papers - at that time the Portland Gazette, and the Eastern Argus - were printed Monday evening, to be in readiness for them. The rate on letters then was not uniform, as at present, but differed according to the distance to which the letter was to be sent. For Philadelphia, and all over three hundred miles, the postage was twenty-five cents. To New York, it was eighteen and three-quarter cents. For distances of thirty miles or less, it was six cents; for more than thirty and less than seventy-five miles, ten cents ; and for over seventy-five but
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less than one hundred and fifty miles, nine pence (twelve and one- half cents). A single letter, provided it contained no enclosures, might weigh one-half ounce. It was of no use for people to try and evade these prices by enclosing a number of letters for the same destination but for different individuals, in the same packet. Each enclosed scrap of paper, even if a bank bill, was charged full rates. Owing to this, a great number of letters were sent by the hands of friends, or even strangers, who might chance to be going in the right direction.
Mr. Mclellan was succeeded, Apr. 18, 1837, by Isaac C. Irish ; and he in turn has been followed by Stevens Smith, appointed Dec. 8, 1841 ; James Irish, June 7, 1845 ; Joshua B. Phipps, July 20, 1849 ; Samuel W. Lord, June 20, 1853; John Farnham, Dec., 1857 ; Eben W. Nevens, June, 1861 ; Cornelius Waters, May 7, 1863 ; Anna G. Waters, Feb. 16, 1880 -- Feb. 25, 1882 ; Henry R. Millett, Mar. 6, 1882 ; Theodore B. Edwards, 1885 ; Henry R. Millett, Apr. 14, 1889 ; Simon B. Guthrie, Apr. 3, 1893, and Edward Harding, 1897.
This office at the Village was made a presidential office in 1896 by President Cleveland.
There are also post offices at West Gorham, White Rock and North Gorham.
When a few years ago, rural delivery of mail was established in this State, Gorham was one of the first towns to profit by it.
On Aug. 10, 1835, a meeting was held at Alfred, to consider the expediency of building a railroad from Portland, passing through Westbrook, Gorham, Buxton, Hollis, Waterborough, Sanford, No. Berwick and Berwick, in Maine; Great Falls, Dover, Newmarket and Exeter, in New Hampshire; to meet the Andover and Wilmington Railroad at Haverhill, in Massachusetts. The delegates from Gorham to this meeting were Capt. Toppan Robie, Joseph M. Gerrish and Gen. James Irish. Gen. Irish was chosen chairman of the meeting, and he was also chosen chairman of a committee, appointed to make a preliminary examination of the ground, with a view to selecting the best route.
This railroad was incorporated under the name of the Me., N. H. and Mass. Railroad Corporation, and a charter granted, by an Act of the Legislature, approved by Gov. Dunlap, March 30, 1836. In December of the same year, the town of Gorham chose Gen. Irish, Capt. Robie and Josiah Pierce, Esq. to petition the next Legislature to grant a part of the surplus revenue of the Government toward building this railroad.
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RAILROADS.
Gorham village experienced quite a boom in real estate at this time, owing to the prospect of having a railroad built through it; but time passed, and the road was not built.
The York and Cumberland Railroad, which was planned to pass through most of the same towns, and connect at Salmon Falls, N. H., with the Boston and Maine Railroad, was incorporated in 1846. The company organized July 20, 1848, with Joshua Richardson of Port- land as president, and Toppan Robie of Gorham, treasurer. Work was begun on the road the same year. It was opened as far as Gorham about 1850; then to Saco River, and after that as far as Alfred. The first conductor on this road was Col. Humphrey Cousins, now of Gorham, who had charge of the first train that passed over it. The route of the road was changed, and Rochester, N. H., made the terminus. The name of the line was also changed from the York and Cumberland to that of the Portland and Rochester Railroad. On the first of January, 1900, this road passed into the hands of the Boston and Maine, and was incorporated into its system.
The Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad, now known as the White Mountain division of the Maine Central Railroad, passes through the northeasterly part of the town. It has a station at the village of White Rock, and also one on the Windham side at Little Falls, known as South Windham. A Gorham man, Mr. Stephen Stephenson, was one of the engineers engaged in the construction of this road. On Sept. 12, 1870, the first train of cars passed over this road from Portland to Lake Sebago.
The electric road, known as the Westbrook, Windham and Naples Road, and running from Saccarappa to Little Falls, was opened on the 17th of August, 1899. The electric road connecting with this road at " Mosher's," and running to Gorham village was built in the summer of 1901.
CHAPTER XVI.
SLAVES -THE TOWN'S POOR-CHANGE OF BOUNDARY LINE -OLD BELLS- TOWN CLOCK -THE RED STONE MONUMENT -
TOMATOES - THE POUND - FIRE ENGINES.
Slavery existed in Massachusetts for many years; in 1754 there were four hundred and thirty-nine slaves in Essex County alone. Slavery in the State, however, was of a very modified form, the con- dition of the slaves differing little from that of ordinary servants or apprentices, excepting that it was a life service. Their masters were not allowed to beat or chastise them unmercifully ; their marriages were protected by law ; the children of a female slave were free, and many other privileges were granted them.
The present Constitution of Massachusetts was established in 1780. The first article in the Declaration of Rights asserts that all men are born free and equal; and this was generally supposed to have reference to slavery, still it was a point on which all did not agree. In 1781, however, at the Court in Worcester an indictment was found against a white man for assaulting, beating and imprisoning a black. His trial took place at the Supreme Court in 1783, and the defence was that the black man was a slave, and the beating, etc., was the necessary correction of the master. This defence did not avail, the white man was found guilty and fined, and this decision was the death-warrant for slavery in Massachusetts.
A few slaves were owned in Gorham. John Phinney doubtless brought with him at least one slave. He certainly owned one shortly before he came to Gorham, as the following document will show :
KNOW all Men by these Presents That I Cornelius Waldo of Bos- ton in the County of Suffolk in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Merchant for & in consideration of the Sum of One hundred & fifty pounds in Money to me in hand paid by John Phinney of Falmouth in the County of York & Province aforesd. Innholder the Receipt whereof I hereby acknowledge, Have and by these Presents Do fully & absolutly Give Grant, Bargain & Sell unto the said John Phinney his Heirs and assignes forever My Negro man Named Nedd aged Twenty five years
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SLAVES.
TO Have & to Hold the sd. Negro Man Nedd unto the sd. John Phinney his Heirs and assignes, To His & their only proper use, benefit and behoof forever with warranty against all and every person and Per- sons whomsoever
In Witness Whereof I the said Cornelius Waldo have hereunto Set my Hand and Seale the Sixteenth Day of January anno Dom. One Thousand Seven hundred & Thirty two 1732/3-
CORNS. WALDO S
Signed Sealed & Delivered in presence of us Stephen Minot Jun Samuel Wentworth Ters.
Received on the day of the date above of Mr. John Phinney the Sum of one hundred & fifty Pounds being the full consideration within Expressed
pr CORNS. WALDO
In 1772 there were a number of slaves in town, of whom Jacob Hamblen owned one, Hugh Mclellan, one, and William McLellan, two. Mr. Hamblen in 1774 emancipated his "negro man servant named Ceasor," in consideration of his having " faithfully served him (the said Jacob), and in further consideration of Five Shillings " paid by the said Ceasor. The discharge was " signed and delivered " in presence of Austin Alden and Stephen Phinney, May 2, 1774, and recorded by Enoch Freeman, Oct. 18th, same year. William McLellan must have been a humane and considerate master, for he settled a slave named Prince and his wife Chloe, on a little farm of twenty- two acres, with a house free, and very kindly made provision for their support from the Mclellan family, during their remaining years. During the Revolutionary war Prince served as a seaman on board the "Frigate Deane " on a cruise to the West Indies, under Capt. Nickson. He also served fourteen or fifteen months on board the same vessel (then called the " Frigate Hague "), under Com. Manley. He was at Martinique when peace was declared, and was honorably discharged at Boston in the fall of 1783. Prince was a Guinea negro, bought in Antigua, from a venture sent by Mrs. Rebecca Mclellan, and brought home to her by Capt. Joseph Mclellan of Portland, who married Mary Mclellan, her husband's sister. A load of shooks was necessary to complete the purchase, and Prince always boasted that the first work he did in this country was to drive the team to Portland with this load of shooks that were to be sent to the West Indies to pay the boot to purchase himself.
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Prince was exceedingly strong and active, though by no means a large man. A story is told that a wager was laid that he could not draw a very large and heavy pair of ox-cart wheels up a certain steep clay hill : Prince, a little doubtful as to his own ability in the case, went out in the night and easily drew them to the top. The next day, when the crowd assembled, the prints of his bare feet, with the tracks of the wheels, betrayed him, and the wager was declared off. Mr. Mclellan bought a negress, Dinah, for a wife for Prince, and after her death another, Chloe, with whom he lived between sixty and sev- enty years. From the year 1818, he received a pension from the Government for his services performed during the Revolutionary war. He died July 19, 1829, aged 89, according to Pension Records.
Limbo was an African slave owned by Elder Hugh Mclellan. He was sent to the Great Meadows to spend the winter of 1760, to help Benjamin Stevens take care of the Gorham cattle. He was quite an old man at the time of the commencement of the agitation of the proposition to liberate the slaves in Massachusetts. About this time the Come-Outers and New Lights were in full blast in Gorham ; uni- versal freedom and universal liberty for every man to do just what he pleased, seemed to be the hobby of most of them. Limbo was very fond of going to their meetings. They attempted to persuade him to run away, but at first he was unwilling. One Sunday morning he was met in his little piece of corn, at some distance from the house, by some of his religious friends. This time they succeeded in drawing him away, and Limbo vanished. He probably went to Concord, N. H. No search was ever made for him, as Mr. Mclellan considered him worthless. In 1790 he was sold to Samuel Osgood of Fryeburg, by Moses Ames of Concord, N. H., for a yoke of oxen. He was a native of Africa, but was probably brought to Maine from the West Indies. He used to say that he was kidnapped on the coast of Africa, when out feeding the silkworms. He died Dec. 12, 1828, at the Oxford House, in the village of Fryeburg, and in the cemetery belonging to that village a tombstone has been raised to him. The Abolitionists ought to erect a monument to Limbo's memory, for he was probably the first slave ever sent over the underground railroad to freedom. He gained but a very short time, for soon after all the slaves in Massachusetts were liberated.
Several of the Hugh Mclellan slaves are buried on the east side of the road, nearly opposite the old Mclellan brick house.
Plato, who was a slave owned by Lieut. Cary Mclellan of Gorham, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army. He, together with another
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slave, Cato Shattuck of Falmouth, was mustered into the service by Maj. Daniel Ilsley of Falmouth, July 27, 1777, as a member of Capt. Paul Ellis's company, Col. Bigelow's 15th Mass.
After the abolishment of slavery in Massachusetts there were a number of colored men who made their home in Gorham, amongst whom were Cato, Thomas Francis, and Neptune Stephenson, the lat- ter of whom married in 1807 Mary Pollard, and died Aug. 9, 1824, aged 44. His gravestone says " A pious man."
Cato lived on the Capt. Sylvanus Davis place, where Jonathan S. Whitney now lives. Samuel Butts, who bought the place of Capt. Davis and who kept a tavern there, had on one of his sea voyages, found and brought home Cato, and when he came to Gorham he brought him here with him. Cato worked long and faithfully for Mr. Butts on his farm and at coopering, in which business Mr. Butts was also engaged. Having one day been to Portland with a load of shooks, he started on his return home rather the worse for rum, of which article he was very fond. When just above Little river, on the Fort Hill road, overcome by the liquor he fell from his team and the heavy wheels passed over his head and killed him. He was found that evening by Capt. Cyrus Hamblen who was on his way to a school meeting. The old negro was taken home, and the next day buried in Mr. Butts's field.
Thomas Francis came to town about the time of the freeing of the slaves, and lived for a time in the family of Elder Hugh Mclellan, and after his death in 1787 with Mr. Mclellan's son-in-law James Warren who settled Francis on a piece of land. Francis was married by Rev. Caleb Jewett on Sept. 30, 1792, to Lucy Ludlow, a colored woman.
In the early history of Gorham, and for many years, the entire care of the poor of the town was intrusted to the oversight of the Select- men. No specific sums of money were appropriated for their use, but the town would vote that the poor be assisted, or taken care of, as economically as possible. Later, it was customary for the Select- men to invite and receive bids for the support of the paupers ; letting them out to the lowest bidder, provided they considered him capable of properly caring for them. In many cases this was quite a profit- able operation, as the successful applicant, in addition to his money received from the town, would not fail to obtain a great deal of labor from his lodgers. As late as 1811 the town's poor were let out at auction. At a town meeting held in May, 1812, it was " Voted ; That those persons that are now wholly supported by the town, be
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
let out now at the present time in town meeting to the lowest bidders." But before the meeting dissolved it was "Voted; To reconsider the vote passed this day referring to the letting out of the poor." And this we think was the last time the letting out at auction of the poor was acted on by Gorham.
The purchase of a farm for the poor was agitated as early as 1807. Col. Lothrop Lewis, as a committee, reported favorably on the pur- chase of the Daniel Hamblen farm on South St. The price asked was six hundred and twenty-five dollars for five-sixths of the farm. Nothing definite, however, was done in this direction, until the town received from the Treasurer of the State its share of the surplus revenue of the United States (which amounted to a little over two dollars for each individual in the town), when it was decided to use ' this money for the purchase of a town farm. In May, 1836, it was " voted that Josiah Bacon have the poor for the year; to give him eight hundred dollars, and to raise nine hundred dollars for the sup- port of the poor." At this same meeting Daniel C. Emery, Esq., George Strout and Wm. Cobb were chosen as a committee to look out a farm on which to locate the poor, and in September the same committee, with Wm. Thomes in place of D. C. Emery, were author- ized to purchase the farm of John Hamblen, Jr., on the Gray road, to be used for this purpose. This farm was bought and stocked and a man hired to take care of it.
A large number of the voters of the town, however, preferred that the owners of property should be taxed a little heavier to support the poor, and that they themselves, who paid little or no tax beyond a poll tax, should pocket their share of the cash ; so in August, 1837, Caleb Hodgdon, Esq., Wendall P. Smith and Jacob H. Clement were chosen by the town as a committee to sell the town farm, distribute the "surplus revenue " and purchase another farm. In September, it was voted to raise thirty-four hundred dollars to pay for this latter. The committee, Nov. 20 of the same year, reported that they had sold the town farm to John Hamblen, Jr., subject to the town's approval, and recommended that the town hire the Huston farm of Mrs. Huston, as it would become their property at her death by the will of her husband, Simon Huston, and as the rent asked would be less than the interest of the value of the Hamblen farm. This report was accepted, and it was voted that the overseers of the poor should be a committee to take a lease of the Huston farm in behalf of the town. This was done, and until the death of Mrs. Huston in 1865, the town hired the farm of her.
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CHANGE OF BOUNDARY LINE.
At the death of Mrs. Huston the town gave a note to itself, for the value of the farm, for the sum of three thousand eight hundred and nine dollars and seventy-five cents. This note constitutes what is known as the " Huston Fund," the semi-annual interest of which, at six per cent., is applied to aid worthy and deserving poor, according to the terms of Mr. Huston's will. The town provides its farm with tools and stock, and hires a Superintendent to cultivate it, and to take charge of those of its poor who are placed there. In 1874 this Huston farm more than supported the poor of the town.
In December, 1829, a bill was introduced into the Legislature by Mark White and others petitioning that the town be divided and that a new town be formed from portions of Standish and Windham, to- gether with the northerly part of Gorham. It, however, failed to pass.
In 1835 Winslow Hall and some others made an effort to have themselves set off to Windham, but the town of Gorham opposed it, and the idea was abandoned.
The small, square piece of land, near the village of Great Falls, containing about twenty acres, was taken from Standish and set off to Gorham by Act of Legislature, approved Mar. 14, 1839. This was done for the accommodation of Daniel Fogg, 3d, whose land lay in both towns.
By an Act of the Legislature, passed March 4, 1864, a part of the town of Scarboro was set off and annexed to Gorham. This was accomplished chiefly through the efforts of Charles W. Deering, Eli L. Waterhouse, and others. The old line between the towns cut through many of the farms, while the new boundary, running from the Buxton line to the Nonesuch river, ran along the border of a range of lots. This "Scarboro Strip," as it is called, contains eighteen hundred and thirty-seven acres, valued at about forty thousand dollars.
The first bell hung in Gorham was on the old Academy. Tradition says that it was given by friends of the institution; but who they were has not come down to us. There is no record showing that it was purchased by the trustees. It was voted to have a cupola on the Academy, in which to hang a bell; and the first that we hear of the bell itself is that March 9, 1807, it was voted that Mr. Samuel Elder hang the bell as soon as it arrives in town. And on May 13, following, it was voted to pay Mr. Samuel Elder's bill of $21.49 for hanging the bell, he having then accomplished this duty. After many years' use this old bell becoming broken, it was carried to
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HISTORY OF GORHAM.
Boston and recast, or a new one procured, which is now on duty in the old Academy.
The bell on the First Parish church was purchased partly by subscriptions gotten up by the citizens of the village, and partly paid for by the parish. Sept. 11, 1820, the parish leased two lots of land, on the southerly side of their lot, of twenty feet front each, to Capt. David Harding, and Mr. Nahum Chadbourn, for seven years, at fifteen dollars each per annum. As it was found that enough could not be raised by subscription, at a parish meeting held Apr. 3, 1821, it was voted that the money arising from the leasing of the land to Harding and Chadbourn shall be appropriated to the purchase of a bell for the meeting house; the debts of the parish to be paid first. Also, that the parish assessors be a committee to receive all money that may be appropriated for purchasing a bell, (as well that by subscription as that voted by the parish, ) and put the same out at interest on good security. One year after this vote, viz. : Apr. 2, 1822, it was voted that the treasurer hire two hundred and fifty dollars to aid in purchasing a bell, if obtainable, by pledging the rents of Harding and Chadbourn as security for the loan and interest. It would appear that there was no trouble in procuring the money, for at this same meeting Capt. Toppan Robie was chosen a committee to procure the bell and see to the hanging of the same. We cannot say what day the bell arrived in town, but probably there was no delay, as everyone was anxious to have it hung before the installation of Rev. Mr. Pomeroy, which was to occur on the 12th of June fol- lowing. However, the bell arrived from Boston, and was quietly resting on the ground, on the south side of the belfry, on the 6th of June, with the shears all rigged out from the bell-deck all ready for hoisting ; when word was given out that it would be hoisted the next morning (June 7, 1822), and at the appointed time there was a general turnout. Whether the bell was blessed, or no, I cannot say, but am sure there were many speeches made over it. When all was ready (about ten o'clock, A. M.), the fall was passed through the snatch block, secured at the bottom of the belfry, and laid off some fifty feet on the ground. Word was given to take the warp, and walk off slow and steady. Every man, woman and child that could do so, got hold, and when the bell reached the bell-deck, the procession with the warp reached to Capt. Hunt's tavern (since R. G. Harding's store). After it was safely landed on the deck, the tackle and fall was changed to an eyebolt over the bell-frame and in a few minutes the bell was landed in place, and before twelve o'clock at noon was ringing
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merrily, and continued so to do for two days. The weight of the bell is twelve hundred and twenty-eight pounds, and its cost was about five hundred dollars. June 17, 1822, consent was given " that the bell may be rung on week days." At a meeting of the parish held Apr. 6, 1824, it was voted to appropriate the sum of ninety-six dollars and ninety-six cents to settle the debt incurred by purchasing the bell.
About the year 1868 the subject of having a Town Clock in the village was agitated, when the Hon. Toppan Robie came forward and proposed that he should purchase a clock to be placed on the Congregational church, provided the citizens of the village would alter and prepare the steeple over the bell for putting it up. Per- mission having been obtained from the parish, the alterations and repairs were done by subscription, at a cost of about five hundred dollars. Capt. Robie commissioned Mr. Simon E. Mclellan to go to Boston and procure the clock, which was done March 19, 1868, at a cost of five hundred and fifty dollars. The clock was put in place and set going in April, 1868. It was made by the Howard Watch and Clock Company, Boston, Mass.
An article was inserted in a warrant for a town meeting, to be holden in the schoolhouse at Gorham corner, May 6, 1805 : To see if the town would erect a suitable monument in some suitable part of the town, designating thereon the time when the said town was first settled, etc.
The meeting was held as aforesaid, and it was " Voted, that a stone be provided agreeable to the said article in the warrant for the meeting, and that the Hon. Stephen Longfellow be a committee for that purpose ; that said stone be placed near the Corner, in such place as said committee may judge most proper." And fifty dollars was raised to defray the expenses of the said stone.
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