USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Gorham > History of Gorham, Me. > Part 32
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HOUSE BUILT BY PRINCE DAVIS.
Oiled paper sometimes served as a substitute. When the Rev. Mr. Coffin came to the neighboring town of Buxton in 1768, he put a few panes of glass in his study, and these were the only ones in the house, or the town. When Prince Davis built his house on the Flaggy Meadow road, about 1764, he made his windows of 7 x 9 glass, and only two panes in width and five high, on account of the scarcity and high price of glass. At night the huge fire and blazing pine- knots gave sufficient light for all necessary purposes. Later came tallow candles, either dipped, or run in moulds, and sometimes bay- berry wax was mixed with the tallow, and gave out a pleasant frag- rance as the candles burned.
In these days of plenty, of comforts, and conveniencies, we can but smile when told of the doings of our ancestors, and the shifts and contrivances our mothers had to make use of, in order to have
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good times and keep up appearances. For many years after the settlement of the town, population was sparse, roads hardly more than foot-paths through the woods, and barely passable for teams, and the houses small, some of them only log cabins; but the few inhabitants had large hearts and social dispositions, and hospitality was never known to lack. A well furnished house of that day would be a curiosity of this. The furniture was of the coarsest and com- monest kind, most of it of purely domestic manufacture. The article of lumber was not lacking, but the cabinet-maker was missing. Such articles as could be manufactured by the man of the house with his scanty supply of tools was thought to be all that was needed, and all that could be accommodated in the house. Wooden dishes or trenchers of home manufacture were in common use for the table. These were followed by pewter dishes, which were much used. A hundred years ago the dresser, filled with long rows of pewter plat- ters, plates, mugs and porringers of various sizes, was the pride of the housewife's heart. These, being often rubbed and scoured by her diligent hands, shone like polished silver. On one of these large round pewter platters it was the custom to serve up a whole dinner, the meat in the centre and the various vegetables piled around it.
At that time visiting and parties were thought to be the business of the day, not of the evening or night. Locomotion was slow, carriages were not known in town, only such as were drawn by stout and rugged oxen, which the settlers had for carrying on their lumber- ing operations, and tilling their farms.
Let us give a sketch of a neighborly visit about the year 1770. When the day came the family were up and stirring in the morning, breakfast was had and cleared away, and then came a general fixing and dressing up of such as were to go visiting. If the distance made it inconvenient for the women to walk and carry the baby the oxen were put to the cart or sled as the season might be, the old- fashioned basket-bottomed chairs in sufficient numbers to hold the company were arranged in the cart, and if the weather made it necessary, the best and brightest colored quilts and coverlets of the ladies' own manufacture were brought into requisition, for then the buffalo that ranged over the vast prairies of the great West was an animal of which they knew nothing, and they made use of such comforts as they had. Compliments were rarely sent, if so or not, the difference was but little ; the visits were visits of aid, comfort and encouragement. When all was ready the team was carefully driven toward the destined place by the watchful husband and father,
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who walked by the side of his oxen, and with skill and dexterity avoided the stumps, logs and rocks, that he might not injure his precious load. These rides and drives were not through pleasant, shady lanes and over gently sloping hills, covered by the rich crops of the husbandman. They were through the dark forest where the axe of the woodman had made but small way ; the trees had been cut and thrown on each side to allow a passage; the rocks, too large to be moved by the scanty help then to be had, were shunned as best they could be. Here and there was a small clearing of a few acres, with its black and charred stumps, and with its small house, the home of the hardy pioneer, and a still smaller hovel or shed for the scanty supply of stock.
These settlers were men and women for the times in which they lived ; hardy, robust and brave. They could clear the forest, till the land, raise their crops, and defend their homes and families against attacks of the Indians as well as trained and tried veterans of war could do. But war has nothing to do with the day of which we are now writing ; the black cloud has passed, these dark forests can now be passed in safety so far as the savage is concerned ; the visit of friends, not of Indians, is expected, and when they arrive all is bustle and joy. The baby is caught in the arms of the matron of the house, the woman is helped to get down from the cart, and the boys jump their own way. The oxen are taken off, secured and fed, for no farmer neglects his oxen. All this is but the work of a few minutes.
Now comes the real business of the day, which is still but a little advanced from the morning. The men go about the work of the farm, both visitor and host, in order that they may have a good appetite for dinner, and that the improvements of the farm may be seen and talked over, the children run to their play, and the women to making the preparations for dinner. The fowls are caught and dressed in nearly as short a time as it takes us to tell of the operation, some of the girls are sent to hunt the hens' eggs, and to make the custard and pudding. The old cider is put on tap, and perhaps the men allow themselves a drop of something a little stronger.
Now comes the dilemma, what is to be done for a table; the little pine table in the corner of the room can never be made big enough for a "social board" to hold all the company; but women have quick invention ; Bill and Tom are sent in haste to take down the barn door ; in it comes and the little pine table is put under one end, and something else under the other. The old family chest is turned upside down, and the substantial domestic-made linen tablecloths
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are brought out from their depository. These were spun and woven by the matron's own hands before she left Cape Cod when she was a girl, and are of a lily whiteness, and of the most approved figure and pattern of diamond and huckabuck. The honor of eating from them is never awarded to the family, except when they have company. They were her wedding tablecloths, and consequently much prized. The barn door is quickly covered with the cloth, and there is a social board of which no woman need be ashamed. The table is made literally to groan under the weight of substantials and delicacies prepared for the dinner. These delicacies are not of foreign pro- duction, as the settlers can have but few things other than the produce of the forest, field and brook, immediately around them.
When dinner is ready all the chairs from the cart are removed, and all the seats in the house are called into requisition. The horn is blown, and the men and boys come from the clearing with wills to do ample justice to the fixings prepared by their wives and mothers. Dinner commences, and it soon appears evident that " A dinner of herbs where love is, is better than a stalled ox with hatred," for all is joy and contentment ; all the labor is performed that is intended for that day, there is no hurry, all take their time and enjoy themselves.
When the meal is over, and a little time spent in talk, the afternoon is on the wane, and the careful father and prudent mother think it about time to be moving ; he has his work to attend to and his chores to do; she has the cows to milk, and milk to strain. So the oxen are again put to the "carriage," the passengers stowed, the driver takes his place, and in due time the happy and contented party arrive at their forest home, and for a month talk of nothing but the pleasures of this visit.
Wolves and other predatory beasts were for many years numerous and troublesome. At the time of Almery Hamblen's birth in 1775 wolves abounded in the woods in great numbers, and it is said that they chased the attending physician and the man who went for him, so that they had to run their horses to the house at their utmost speed to escape being overtaken by them. The event occurred, we suppose, in the night. About this time a bounty was paid of forty shillings on every wolf killed. The State refunded to the towns what they paid for the destruction of wolves on the presentation of a certificate, of one of which the following is a copy :
Mr. Treasurer
THIS may certify that there has been paid out of the Town Stock of Gorham for three Grown Wolves, and - Wolves Whelps, kill'd in
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and near this Town, and within this Province, since the first Day of December last past, and the Heads thereof brought unto our Constable or Constables, and the Ears thereof cut off in the Presence of some of our Selves, as the Law directs, and so certified unto us, in the whole the Sum of Six Pounds ; which Sum we desire you to allow to our Town, by paying the same unto Mr. Caleb Chase our Town Treasurer. Dated in Gorham aforesaid, the third Day of January Anno Dom. 1774.
SAMI WHITMORE
JAMES GILKEY Select Men
CALEB CHASE Town Treasurer
or Town Clerk.
This certificate was duly attested by the Constable, Cary Mclellan. As late as 1815 a bounty of twenty dollars was voted on the heads of wolves killed in town the current year. There was also a bounty of one dollar on foxes as late as 1811. Bears occasioned much loss to the settlers by carrying off their pigs and calves. An amusing little story is told of a man then living in the north part of the town, who was greatly annoyed by the depredations of one of these animals, and resolved to lie in wait for him. When the bear appeared, and rose on his hind legs to take a good look at things and plan his campaign, Mr. R. raised his gun and took a careful aim, but before pulling the trigger sang out "Take care there !" Bruin taking the hint, dropped and vanished. When asked why he shouted at the bear, he said he " thought it no more than fair to give the critter a chance." It was rare that Bruin met with so considerate a foe.
Comfort had much more to do with the dress of our ancestors than did fashion. Each woman was skilled in the art of carding, spinning and weaving, and her household were clothed in good, solid, sub- stantial, home-spun cloth, spun and woven by her own hands. One of the entertainments of the day was a " wool breaking," or carding bee, where the women would meet with their wool-cards at the house of one of their number, and break, or card her wool for her, ready for the spinning-wheel. This was hard work, but the opportunity thus given for talking over the news, besides doing a neighborly kindness, paid for it all. Each family gladly helped the others. No service was beneath the dignity of any when friends and neighbors required aid. There were also spinning-bees, when all the spinners, married and single, would assemble with their wheels, which made merry music while their practiced hands drew out the threads of wool or linen. Five skeins of seven knot yarn was a fair
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day's work for each. Flax was raised in considerable quantities, and spun upon the "little " or flax wheel. Many beautiful specimens of snowy hand-made linen are still treasured in town, the work of a hundred years ago. The dye-pot played an important part in each household. Much of the cloth for wearing apparel was of indigo- blue, striped or checked with white threads.
For many years a clock was too precious a luxury to be brought into the wilderness. Nor was there need of one. The goodman and his wife could regulate their daily work to a nicety by a glance at the sun, or by the noon-mark on the door sill, or window ledge.
The holidays and amusements of our forefathers were not very numerous. Fast Day was observed as sacredly as the Sabbath. All secular employments and sports were laid aside, and all attended service, where they usually heard a long discourse on the degeneracy of the times. The annual Thanksgiving was kept with thankful hearts. All went to meeting, save those who were detained at home by age or sickness, or the necessary preparations for the dinner. After dinner the young folks spent the day in the sports of the times, and at dusk the family gathered around the hearth with nuts, apples and cider, for a general good time. Corn-huskings, quilt- ings, apple-bees, the general muster, and the raising of buildings were occasions of festivity .. It was the custom at a raising to break a bottle of spirit on the ridgepole, and to repeat some rhymes, naming the frame as it was called. When in 1839 Jacob H. Clement of West Gorham raised a stable, John Phinney, an old revolutionary soldier who was present, repeated the following lines which he said were used in naming the frames of Capt. John Stephenson's house and barn which were raised about 1775 :
For the house frame.
" Cursed is the tory's heart, Which from the Congress laws depart.
If the laws they do not fear I hope they will not prosper here, And if the laws they do obey I hope they will prosper in corn and hay." For the frame of the barn.
" May flames' nation seize All them that doth displease The name of the other frame."
At all these gatherings rum, grog and flip circulated freely. The day or evening closed with a liberal supper and a merry dance.
The Sabbath was strictly a religious day, and its privileges were dearly prized. No one was excused from attending meeting, except for the best and most valid of reasons. The meeting house was
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without fire, and would seem to us a bleak, cheerless place. A fore- noon and afternoon service each Sabbath with long prayers and longer sermons was the rule. A prayer of an hour and a quarter, and a sermon of two hours in length were not unusual. About the close of the last century footstoves came into vogue. These were tin boxes, some nine or ten inches square, perforated with holes, and contained an iron pan, which when the stove was in use was filled with good, live, hard-wood coals from the hearth. These stoves, enclosed in an open frame of wood, were carried by a bail, and it was the custom for the small boys to carry them to church each Sabbath for their mothers and sisters. When placed beneath the feet they afforded a grateful warmth to the chilled worshipper. The present Congregational church at the village was once set on fire and nar- rowly escaped destruction through the overturning of one of these stoves. Wood stoves were not placed in the meeting house till 1822, and many and strong complaints were made at the time on account of the discomfort caused by the heat given out by them. Tithing men were appointed whose duty it was to enforce the laws against travelling on the Sabbath, and also to see that order was preserved in the Lord's house. These men were provided with suitable staves or poles at the expense of the town, and with these they rapped smartly on the head the offender caught nodding, or playing in the meeting house. The following are among those who served as tith- ing men : - James McLellan, Benjamin Morton, Thomas Irish, Cary Mclellan, Richard Lombard, Samuel Murch, James Irish, John Perkins, Nathaniel Freeman, Isaac Plummer, Nathaniel Phinney and James Chadbourn. Misdemeanors in church, as well as some other offences, were sometimes punished by confinement in the stocks. These stood on the green, south of the church. They consisted of two thick, oaken planks set on edge, one above the other, between two posts, which in turn were set in foot-pieces and firmly braced. The upper timber could be raised or lowered. In the upper edge of one and the lower edge of the other, half-circles were cut, which formed when brought together round holes of the size to hold a man's leg just above the ankle. The unfortunate offender was made to sit down on the ground, and place his legs in the lower notches, the upper plank was then let down upon them, and locked fast by the con- stable, and he was left to meditate on his misdeeds, or to be jeered at by the mocking crowd around him. This punishment fell into disuse after some years, and the stocks were thrown aside on the lot across the street. It is said that the last use that was ever made of
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them was when some graceless boys met a farmer who had come to market, and was rather the worse for liquor. Seeing a chance for sport they pounced upon him, and dragging out the old stocks, fast- ened him into them, of course to his great rage and mortification when he became sober. The next morning he reappeared in the village with a yoke of oxen, and a chain which he fastened to the stocks, and hauled them off, and that was the last that was seen of them.
Profanity was punishable by the laws of the Commonwealth with fine or imprisonment. There lie before me two writs issued for this offence. On Sept. 10, 1789 B- was convicted, before Judge Thacher, of uttering " one prophane oath," and was sentenced to pay a fine of four shillings. This he refused to do, and was accordingly committed to jail for five days, and ordered to pay one shilling for the writ and constable's fees. Mr. B. does not seem to have laid this lesson well to heart, for he is again "convicted on his own con- fession of having been guilty of uttering one prophane oath on the 8th day of Nov. 1791, and is adjudged to pay a fine of 12 shillings - this being the 3d time he has been convicted of prophane swaring - and 3$ & 4ยช costs." Again refusing to pay he was sent to jail for ten days, with 1/4 to pay for writ and constable's fees. It is to be hoped that by this time he saw the error of his ways, and amended them.
Funerals were occasions for neighborhood gatherings. The ser- vices were simple, but not always short. On one such occasion, Rev. Mr. Rand prayed with great fervor for one hour and thirty minutes. It was long the custom to place a liberal amount of tansy upon and around the coffin, with the view of warding off any danger of infec- tion or injury that might arise from the presence of the corpse. Until the time of the temperance reform, liquors were freely provided at funerals, and minister, mourners, and all present were expected to partake. This incident is related of a funeral that took place on the Flaggy Meadow road. The day being very warm and the road to the old cemetery long, the bearers when the procession reached the village set down the bier and its burden before one of the stores, and proceeded to refresh themselves with a glass of grog, the mourn- ers, meanwhile, decorously waiting. It was the custom to have two sets of bearers ; the one, near the age and station of the deceased ; these walked beside the body; the other, who were generally young and strong, carried the coffin on a bier covered with a heavy, black- cloth pall. The first hearse that was used in town is within the memory of some of us. At each corner of this vehicle rose a slender
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post. Between these, placed high above the wheels, was an open platform. On this the coffin rested, and was covered by the pall.
There was not lacking a tinge of superstition in those days. Several persons in town were reputed, and firmly believed, to be witches. Mrs. H-, who lived in the south part of the town, bewitched the cows, and spoiled the butter. Through her influence, the warp and the woof in the loom of her neighbor snarled and tangled, and the work of the weaver was well nigh ruined. When, however, Mrs. H. made her appearance, and got into the loom and put her hand on the shuttle, every thread untangled and straight- ened out at once and the work went on as usual. In another part of the town lived a worthy woman, also esteemed to be a witch. The playmates of her children feared to eat the hot biscuit and butter she offered them, lest they should be bewitched by her. Another woman was said to be able to turn herself into a black cat, and in proof of this it is related that one night when a black cat was prowling about the house of a neighbor, something was thrown at it which hurt its head. The next day the woman appeared with a handkerchief bound about her forehead, and in answer to inquiries explained that she had hurt her head. What further proof could be needed that she and the cat were identical? Mrs. S-, who lived not far from the Buxton line, was not blessed with so smooth, handsome and pleasant a face as some ladies have, and perhaps was not so highly polished in her manners. She somehow acquired the reputation of a witch, and curious stories were told of her witch doings, one of which we will relate. One of her neighbors, on his way home from the village by a cross-cut through the woods, met her near a miry place in the track. Suddenly meeting a person in such a place, probably startled the horse a little, and at the same time he stepped into the deep mud and fell down, throwing his rider some distance into the mire. Mrs. S., in a kind manner, dragged the man out, and laid him up to dry. The horse, after floundering in the mud awhile, got out and ran home, and his rider went to sleep in his comfortable place, where he was found some time after by his friends. When found and asked how he came to be in such a plight, he said that old Mrs. S. had bewitched him; that she rose right up out of that mud hole, took him and his horse, and poked them into the mud and then vanished; that he got out somehow, he did not exactly know how; but he thought the devil had been trying to carry him off. He said he had had an awful fright, and he was glad they had come, and he wanted his friends to keep Mrs. S. and the devil off of him
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till he could get home and read his Bible. And all this the old man firmly believed to be true, but people believed that the spirits he found at the village had more to do in the affair than any witch spirits that Mrs. S. could conjure up.
There was a spirit of remarkable thrift prevalent in most of the early New England towns. Especially were they careful as to the character and standing of any who proposed to come and settle within their limits. If it was rumored that a new party was coming,- great pains were taken to find out some few things about the man's moral character, and all things about his financial status. If he bought real estate and paid for it or if it was learned that the incom- ing man was a person of property, well and good; but if he could show no property, he must be a man of rare moral virtues to be acceptable to the town as a resident. The fear was that such an one would become a load upon the charity of the municipality, and increase the pauper bills. When it was thought that there was risk that one might become a town charge if he came to the town to live, he was respectfully warned by the town authorities not to come any nearer, or if he had already come, he was warned to leave. Such warn- ing relieved the town of all liability for support, in case he proved unable to take care of himself. Here is a sample of one of these warnings :
Cumberland ss. To the Constable of the Town of Gorham in sd County, Greeting.
L. S.
You are in the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts directed to Warn, And give notice unto Kezia Whitney -- Elizabeth Parker, the Wife of John Parker Deceasd and her Family - together with her Mother, the Widow Warren, -- John Poland & Family- William Holmes-Joseph Wakefield & Family -Joseph Young, Jun"- Charles Caveno & Family- Gideon Snow -Joshua Swett - Turff Thomas - Mary Goodwin - Reuben Libby -& James Brackett, Who have lately come into this Town, for the purpose of abiding therein, not having obtained the Town's Consent therefor ; That they depart the limits thereof with their Children & others under their Care, (if such they have) within fifteen Days .-- And of this Precept with your doings thereon you are to make return into the office of the Clerk of the Town, within Twenty Days next coming, that such further proceedings may be had in the premises as the Law directs- Given under our hands & seals at Gorham aforesaid this Thirteenth Day of May, A. D. 1791.
STEPHEN LONGFELLOW
SAMUEL ELDER
JAMES PHINNEY
Selectmen of Gorham.
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Cumberland ss- Pursuant to the within Warrant.
I have Complyd with the within Warrant, and Notified & warned all the within named persons, to depart this Town, Except the Widow Warren & she is in Scarborough. - Gorham, June 2nd. 1791.
CARY MCLELLAN, Constable.
The mechanic arts or trades were transmitted from generation to generation by an older man, or one well versed in all the mysteries of the craft, teaching the art to a younger one till he became an accomplished workman. Generally the lad was apprenticed for a certain term of years. By the terms of the indenture the master agreed to teach and the lad agreed to learn all the various processes of the art or business. Among other trades and lines of business in which boys were apprenticed, was that of agriculture, as the following indenture in my possession will show :
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