USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Wales > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 20
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Monmouth > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 20
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Mr. Straw appears to have been a man of great ver- satality.
Whatever any one wanted his hands and his wife's
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could evidently furnish. His day-book, now before me, bears charges against nearly all of the first settlers, especially members of the Epping colony. We find him working at the cobbler's bench, manufacturing goad-sticks, running a cider-mill, setting a coal-kiln, butchering, doctoring, pressing hay, making trousers and waistcoats, and weaving cloth for the local market.
He had a flourishing orchard, and sold large quanti- ties of apples and cider. His was the first cider-mill in town of which we have any knowledge.
Jerah Swift settled the same year on the Neck, on the farm owned by H. T. Leach, which had been taken up and partially cleared by his father-in-law. His first wife was a daughter of Maj. James Norris; his second was Widow Averill, by whom he had four children, one of whom was the wife of John Gale. He is spoken of as a good citizen.
John A. Torsey, who settled at East Monmouth the same year, was the son of Dr. Gideon Torsey, who came to America from France as surgeon in the army during the French and Indian war. Dr. Torsey married Re- becca Morgan, and settled in Gilmanton, N. H. Mrs. Torsey died Feb. 14. 1809, aged seventy-five years, seven days. They had five children, David, Elizabeth, John Atkinson, Moses and William. The last was the pro- genitor of the Winthrop Torseys. John Atkinson, the subject of this sketch, was born Feb. 7, 1771. At the age of seventeen he left his home in Gilmanton, N. H .. and with a travelling companion walked to the Kennebec river. He married Ruth Blake, at Monmouth, March 29, 1800. Mr. Torsey was a man of extraordinary character and range of genius. Encouraged by oppor-
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tunities, he might have gained a name among men, un- less eccentricity, that almost inseparable companion of genius, had proved a barrier to his advancement. As a mathematician he had few equals. It was his pastime. his recreation, to wrestle with problems that would have discouraged one less in love with the study. Pedagog- ical pursuits would have seemed far more in keeping with the man than the cobbler's bench. but he chose the latter. He was a practical land surveyor, and was for a time in the service of the Plymouth proprietary, running lines. It was during the troublesome period known in state history as the "Malta war" that he was engaged in this service. The life of a surveyor in those days was far from pleasant, if not in constant jeopardy. While surveying a tract of land in Litchfield, h . was fired on several times by free-booters disguised as Indians. The first, second and third shots went wide of the mark. and Torsey paid them no attention. supposing they were intended to intimidate him; but when a bullet whizzed by at a saucy distance, and lodged in a hard wood stump just back of him, he gathered his instruments and de- parted for a more congenial clime. The last years of his life he devoted much of his time to writing. It would be gratifying to be able to decipher the contents of his manuscript. if only to appease curiosity, but, alas! a system of short-hand devised byhimself guards faith- fully the words that were conveyed to paper only to re- fresh his decaying memory, or to satisfy an impulse for literary work.
He settled first about opposite the Hiram Titus place on Monmouth Neck; later on a lot near the Blake homestead. He erected a house in what is now the
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orchard of Rufus A. King, which was subsequently moved to the brow of the hill several rods eastward. where it is now occupied by HI. H. Thompson. He spent the last years of his life in the house now owned by Rufus A. King, which he purchased of Simon Otis.
While Straw, Torsey and Swift were forming new acquaintances in their several neighborhoods, another new comer was adjusting himself to the inconveniences of forest life near Dearborn's corner.
Josiah Towle, in common with all others of the name in New England, descended from one of three Towle brothers who came from England early in the eight- eenth century, and settled in New Hampshire, having received grants of land from the crown. One of the brothers, Benjamin, settled in Chichester. He partic- ipated in the Indian Wars. His son, Benjamin jun .. came to Monmouth in 1800, and settled on the place where Frank Rideout lives. He was accompanied by his wife and seven children. One son. Josiah, as has already been stated, preceded him by three years, and settled near Dearborn's Corner. having married Sarah. daughter of Levi Dearborn. He was the father of nine children, only one of whom, Elizabeth, who married Wm. G. Brown, remained in Monmouth.
Another son of Benjamin Towle jun., was Joseph, who came to Monmouth in 1804 and settled on the so- called "Pinkham place," on which Mr. Perkins now re- sides. He returned to New Hampshire after a short residence in this town.
Benjamin, a third son of Benj. Towle jun., and the father of our citizen. Capt. Daniel G. Towle, came to Monmouth in 1800, to work for Capt. Wm. P. Kelley,
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whose daughter, Sarah, he soon married. He remained with the captain seven years, and of him, in the mean- time, purchased the farm now known as the Hiram Fos- ter place. Whi'e clearing the latter place and preparing his home, it was his custom to work for his father-in- law from daylight to dark, and then, shouldering his axe he would walk through the woods to his own lot. and, all alone in the darkness, entertained by hooting owls and screeching loupcerviers, toil away far into the night, felling the heavy pines and piling them for a burn. Such was the metal of which the pioneers were com- posed. Is it any wonder that, almost to a man. they secured a competence ?
In 1798 a change was effected by which the town was divided into four districts-north, south, east and west. The west district was to contain all the land from the north to the south lines of the town, "begin- ning at the mouth of Intervale Brook at Wilson Pond, keeping the course of said brook southerly to the south side of Mclellan's and Clement's land [now J. M. Given's]; thence a southerly course to the west bank of Cochnewagan pond, keeping the bank of the pond to the south end of said pond; thence a south course to the south line of the town and to comprehend all between that line and the west line of the town. The east district to begin on the east line of the town on Cobbossee Pond, keeping Cobbossee road to the crotch of the road leading to Capt. Dearborn's [ Chas. Moore's] and Ensign Kelley's [Nathan F. Prescott's ] thence a west course to Intervale stream, thence keeping the westerly bank of the pond to the north line of the town, and to comprehend all the land between the last-men-
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tioned line and the north and east lines of the town. The north and south districts to contain all the rest of the town, the dividing line between the north and south districts to be a line run west-north-west and from the east to the west districts, half way from the north to the south lines of the town." At the same time it was voted to raise six hundred dollars to be expended in building school-houses.
Hitherto the valuation tax-bills and collector's war- rants had not been recorded on the town books. See- ing the necessity of keeping these for future reference, a vote was taken which resulted in the choice of John Chandler as engrosser, with instructions to copy all such papers used since the incorporation of the town into a book to be provided for that purpose. Capt. Le- vi Dearborn, John Chandler and Ichabod Baker were chosen a committee to run the lines and raise the bounds between the north and south schools districts A further vote determined that each district "shall have what money they pay towards building school-houses, and the Proprietors money to be divided equally between the four districts, to lay out on the school-houses in their respective districts."
The valuation lists show that seven houses, nine barns and four shops had been erected since the pre- vious year. Another "potash" had been established at East Monmouth by Phineas Blake. The taxable polls now numbered one hundred fifteen against one hundred one for the last year. The voters had increased from ninety-three to one hundred two. There were ninety- eight families in town, an increase of thirteen.
A committee of one was appointed in each of the
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new school-districts, to act as agent and general su- ervisor. Lt. Simon Dearborn was chosen for the north district, Wm. P. Kelley for the east. Capt. Levi Dear- born for the south, and Benjamin Clough for the west. Orders were issued to the several committees of the four school-districts for sums aggregating $620.37, to be expended in building school-houses. The sums were disposed of as follows: To the north district, $248.77; south, $179.81; east, $108.32 and west, $86.47. In compliance with an order from the Gener- al Court, issued the previous year, a survey of the bounds of the town was made in 1798 by a practical surveyor by the name of Davis, assisted by Capt. James Harvey and Gilman Moody. This survey could rot have been very thorough as the total expense was only nine dollars and seventeen cents. In addition to this, the sum of three dollars was drawn by Jedediah Prescott. Esq .. for assisting in making a plan of the town. In 1798 as many as six or eight new families took up a residence in the town, and it is a singular fact that of all these families not a male descendant bearing the name now remains to represent them. A few years hence but for the records contained in this history the names of Loomis, Wickwire, Gove, Starks, Hawes, Arnold, Av- ery and Johnson would be unknown to the citizens of Monmouth.
Adna Loomis settled on the farm where George Per- kins now resides. He came from Connecticut, and it is supposed that he, Capt. Arnold, Ezekiel Wickwire and Samuel Avery, Capt. Arnold's son-in-law, who settled on the farm where G. W. King lately lived, and who, it would appear from the inscription on the brown, moss-
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covered tablet near the south-west corner of the vard. was the first person buried in the cemetery at Mon- mouth Center, all came together.
Capt. John Arnold was born in Connecticut in the year 1754. He married, in his native state, it is sup- posed, a lady by the name of Barrell, who bore him eight of his ten children. The other two were sons of the mother of Stephen Sewall of Winthrop, whom he married after the decease of his first wife.
His title was gained on the seas as commander of mer- chant ships. By degrees he gained ownership in ves- sels until, prior to the French Revolution, he became exceed ingly wealthy. This war resulted in the loss of his shipping, and blasted the enterprises in which he was engaged. He then turned his mind toward the Kennebec Valley. Landing in Hollowell in one of the closing years of the last century, he came thence to Monmouth. As early as 1801, he was taxed for one- half of a mill and other property. But it is doubtful if he made this his permanent residence before 1807. Capt. Arnold died at the home of his son, Ebenezer, in Mon- mouth.Sept. 5, 1847.at the unusual age of ninety-three years.
Ezekiel Wickwire was born in Lebanon, Conn .. April 4, 1766. His boyhood and youth were spent at sea with Capt. Arnold. In 1798 he came to Monmouth and purchased of Gen. Dearborn the farm now owned by the heirs of the late W. H. Tilton. After making a small clearing and building a house about two rods north of the spot where the main house now stands. he returned to his native town for his family, having married, March 19, 1794, Cynthia Torrey of that place, whose father was
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a sea captain. In the fall of 1799 he returned with his wife and one child, and as his house was not fur- nished with windows and doors, very essential features in a northern climate, he went to Capt. Arnold's to spend the winter. After getting his farm well started, he spent three summers at his trade, butchering. In 1800 his younger brother, Elisha. a lad of sixteen years. came to live with him. Elisha received from his broth- er the gift of the Eben Loomis farm. It was then wild land. He made a clearing and built the house that still stands. He married Sally, daughter of Timothy Wight. Later in life he sold his farm to a Mr. Hunt and removed to Augusta, where he served as jailor. From there he removed to Windsor, where he died, in 1840, leaving no children.
The annals of the town furnish few more melancholy episodes than the brief connection of Samuel Avery with its history. Of his life before moving to this place we have no knowledge. When he came from Rockwell. Conn., he was a man of only twenty-five years, vigorous, energetic and active. His young wife. who accompanied him, was the daughter of Captain John Arnold. One mile south of Monmouth Center they built what, in those days, was considered a man- sion, a building that was then far more stately and im- posing than any other residence that had been erected in the town. Unless human nature has undergone a great change in the past century. it is perfectly safe to say that the young men of the settlement all envied their new associate. Living in the best residence in town, the father of two children, the husband of a young lady whose family was the acknowledged stand-
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Residence of Geo. W. King, Esq. SHOWING HOUSE ERECTED BY SAMUEL AVERY IN 1799.
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ard in wealth and social eminence. his was a position to invite envy. On New Year's Day, 1799, many a young man would have eagerly exchanged with him his life- prospects. What followed is told by a simple inscrip- ton on a brown slab, with a trilobate top, in the village cemetery:
IN MEMORY OF MR. SAMUEL AVERY, WHO DIED STH JUNE, 1799, IN THE 26TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
To the left of this time-defaced slab stands another, of the same peculiar form, on which is inscribed be- neath the lichens:
IN MEMORY OF TWO CHILDREN OF SAM'L & JERUSHA AVERY: SAMUEL DIED IST MARCH, 1799, AGED I YEAR & II MONTHS. SALLY DIED 17TH FEB. 1799, AGED 8 MONTHS & 19 DAYS.
Elijah Gove settled on the well-known "Henry Day place." He was fourth in a family of sixteen children. and was born in Nottingham in 1773. He married Mary Herrick, of Lewiston, whose family was well known in political circles in the first of this century, and reared a large family, the members of which will be noticed in a later connection. Mr. Gove was a re- spected citizen and was once honored with a place on the board of selectmen.
Ebenezer Starks took up a residence in the eastern
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part of the town. The traveller on the "Neck" road will notice on the side of the road near the house oc- cupied by the Misses Tilton a large flat rock. This was the door stone of Ebenezer Stark's house, and al- though all other traces of it have been removed, this sol- itary relic stands today on the identical spot where it rested when the graded and turnpiked road was noth- ing more than a cow path through the thicket.
Mr. Starks was the father of Hon. Alanson Starks, an honored citizen and for many years the treasurer of Kennebec County.
Ichabod Hawes settled in the New Boston district. He had two sons. John and Charles. John, who was a blacksmith, came to Monmouth and built the house near the moccasin shop, now occupied by Andrew B. Pink- ham, and a shop which stood where the Grange store now stands. Just above this shop stood a house built by Daniel Witherell, a blacksmith, who occupied the "Cannon shop" that stood on the W. W. Woodbury store lot some years before Mr. Hawes established in business here.
William Johnson purchased of George Hopkins. the Capt. Peter Hopkins place, and Hopkins and Jonathan Thurston removed to Belfast. John Huse followed soon after. Hopkins had an opportunity to become one of the richest men in Waldo County. He owned a large property in the heart of Belfast, including one square which is now the most valuable portion of the city. But Huse through some means came into pos- session of all this property and Hopkins died in poverty. The former soon after his removal to Belfast, opened a tavern, and shortly after was appointed deputy sheriff.
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Ilis large property fell to the noted Williamson family, a prominent member of which married his daughter.
Among the permanent settlers of Monmouth whose names first appeared on the tax-list in 1799, were John Sawyer and Samuel Brown.
John Sawyer came from Cumberland county. He was one of five boys, the sons of John Sawyer of North Yarmouth, an extensive ship owner and merchant.
John, jun. followed the seas when a young man. After his marriage to Mary Hannaford, he settled on a farm in North Yarmouth. In 1799, or possibly the latter part of the previous year, he removed to Monmouth, and settled on the farm north of the Capt. Basford place. The house in which he lived, which was erect- ed by a former proprietor (probably Thompson), was afterwards purchased by Daniel Allen, and removed to Monmouth Ridge.
After a few years' residence in town, Mr. Sawyer moved to Durham, Me., where, he remained until his decease. He had six children ; only one of whom, John, settled in Monmouth.
John Sawyer, third, who was a lad of seven years when his father moved to this town, married Philena Allen, daughter of Joseph Allen of pioneer fame, and settled on the farm adjoining Washington Warren's on the north, which he subsequently sold to Samuel Beal. and removed to the farm now owned by Mr. A. L. Walker, at North Monmouth. After remaining on this farm a few years, he sold it to David Moody, and pur- chased of Capt. John Arnold the place on which his son, J. Augustus Sawyer, now resides.
Samuel Brown was born April 11, 1786. He re-
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moved from Chester, N. H. with his wife, Dorothy Gove. of Nottingham, and settled first on wild land in the Lyon district. This farm, now owned by the heirs of Chase Brown, he cleared. The work must have proved congenial,for he had hardly got the place into a good state of cultivation when he sold it to Chase Blake, who. married Mrs. Brown's sister, Eleanor, and again struck his axe into the solid "old growth" on the Pinkham farm, now occupied by Mr. Perkins. Even this did not satisfy his desire for solid manual labor, and he went over to the Trask farm, Day's corner, and made a clearing and built the house that now stands there. He exchanged this place with Andrew Pinkham, who lived on the Ichabod Baker place. Later he purchased of General Chandler the farm now owned by his son- in-law, Dea. C. B. Bragdon.
Mr. Brown was in trade a number of years in the store, that in course of time evolved into the Cochne- wagan House. He died April 12, 1876. Nine years after Samuel Brown came to Monmouth, his brother, Abraham, followed him and settled on the farm where George Gilman lives. He married Mrs. Eleanor Gove Blake, the widow of Chase Blake. Mr. Blake lived on the place he purchased of Samuel Brown only about two years, when he was stricken down with a "cold fever" from the effects of which he died at the age of twenty-six, leaving a young wife and two little girls, Olive and Mary, the latter of whom married True Woodbury of Litchfield. Mr. Brown settled on the Blake farm and succeeded in amassing a considerable property.
Although, as has been stated, the closing years of the
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century were, in the main, uneventful, some changes were effected in the routes of travel and transportation, which added considerably to the convenience of the citizens of Monmouth.
The new route, opened in 1793, from the Kennebec river to Portland, by way of Monmouth, was considered far superior to the old one, which led by way of Bath. Two days were required to make the journey by the old way, while "by starting early, so as to breakfast at Chandler's, in Monmouth," Portland could be reached in the forenoon of the next day. The roads were still too rough to admit of the use of wheeled ve- hicles and all journeying was done on horseback. The old route was inconvenient on account of the many rivers that ran across it. In 1790, Gen. Dearborn and Gen. Sewall, of Augusta, in going from that point to Portland, to attend the district court, "swam the river at Abbagadasset and crossed the Cathance and Bruns- wick rivers in a ferry boat."
In 1794, when the mail service was established be- tween Portland and Wiscasset, the new route by way of Monmouth was adopted by the government. As is stated in another chapter, Matthias Blossom, of Mon- mouth, was the first mail agent between these points. With a large pouch containing through mail strapped to the horse's back behind the saddle, and a smaller one in front containing local mail matter, he rode through the settlements blowing a long tin horn to warn the people of his approach, and to give those who were expecting letters time to get their shillings ready; for in those days a letter might be carried a thousand miles without the prepayment of postage, and the full
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amount- a matter of dollars, sometimes, instead of cents-collected of the receiver. Letters were not in- closed in envelopes. but were folded and sealed with wax, and the rates of postage depended on the number of sheets and the distance over which they were carried. For a single sheet, the postage was from six and one-fourth cents to twenty-five cents; an additional sheet, no matter how small and light, doubling the rate.
It is with a keen sense of regret that I now draw to a close the final chapter of what may be termed the pioneer period. Whether I have succeeded in interest- ing the reader or not, the life I have lived during these months of intimacy with the founders of our town has been one of constant infatuation. In visiting the sites of their log cabins and standing before their stone fire- places ; in poring over their musty account books, and familiarizing myself with their crude chirography; in handling the implements with which they gained a liveli- hood and, surveying the fields that blossomed in re- sponse to their sturdy blows, I have become one of them, and, in a large measure forgetful of present sur- roundings, have dreamily lived in another age. How- ever much I may have failed in carrying others with me into those scenes of the past; however far short of a suc- cess this work may prove from a literary as well as financial standpoint, the satisfaction with which I now survey in the retrospect the months which have been spent in what a stricter utilitarian, would pronounce a thankless and wasteful task, is greater than that afford- ed by the accumulation of gold.
Much that might, and should, have been said con- cerning these men whom we have learned to respect
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for their strong, manly self-reliance has, of necessity, been withheld. Investigation is constantly bringing to light some fresh and interesting fact, which, if used, would necessitate either the abandonment of the plan of arrangement, or a revision and reprint of much that has already been issued. It may be that the most im- portant of this matter will be used as an addendum to the chronological chapters. What, for instance, could be more interesting than th well-authenticated supposi- tion, revealed by recent research, that Samuel Simmons, the pioneer, mentioned on page 33, was the great grand- father of Franklin Simmons, the celebrated sculptor of Florence, Italy.
The eastern part of the town is preeminently rich in relics of the pioneers. All along the shore of the Cob- bosee-contee may be found the cellars and fallen stone chimneys of their log cabins. The native who has spent his boyhood and early manhood within an hour's walk of these interesting remnants of another century with- out having visited them, can hardly spend a half-day more profitably than by taking a stroll along the rim of this beautiful lake, beginning at the Winthrop line, where, at almost his first step. he will stand bef re two well-preserved cabin cellars in the "Benson orchard." Here William and Samuel Titus, at some time prior to 1790, made their clearings and built their primitive homes. The Titus brothers were born in England. Their first settlement on reaching this country was at Attleboro', Mass., whence they came to this town by way of Hallowell, coming up to "the Forks" by land, and thence across by boat. William, not far from 1796, removed to the place now owned by Robert Ma-
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comber, and Samuel to the one now owned by Mrs. Rogers, at East Monmouth.
Near the lower end of the pond, at the terminus of an abandoned road, is a large pasture and wood-lot where ยท stone fire-places and other well-preserved marks of the pioneers still stand. It is not easy to believe the state- ment that almost a hundred years have passed since smoke ascended from these ash-covered hearths, and but for the evidence of the massive trees which inter ace their gnarled roots around the foundation stones it would pass for an error. Here were the houses of the Allens-Daniel, Woodward and Edmund-the clearings which they so laborously cut out of the wilderness now again covered with a heavy forest growth. Here is food for reflection over the mutations of time which is spiced and seasoned when one stands in the foot prints of those whilom citizens with whom we have become so well acquainted.
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