USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > Wales > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 22
USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Monmouth > History of Monmouth and Wales, V. 1 > Part 22
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of his posterity, a house joiner and a man of consider- able ingenuity. For a time he operated the saw-mill at North Monmouth for Gen. John Chandler, and in 1814 we find him taxed for a mill in his own right. Ile suffered the experience of many of his townsmen in being defrauded of his farm by his employer, and. when well along in years, settled at the Center, on the Horace C. Frost place. He had ten children, the oldest of whom, Betsey, married Dr. Francis Caldwell and settled in Skowhegan. One of her sons married a sister of the wife of the late Eben S. Pillsbury, the prominent political leader. After the decease of his first wife, Dr. Caldwell married her younger sister, Rachel. Josiah, the oldest son of William Frost, married Mahalay Moody, a daughter of Capt. John Moody, of East Monmouth. He and three of his children were drowned in Cochnegagan pond, by the capsizing of a sail boat, on the last day of May, 1838. His two surviving sons, George and Abel H .. are now prominent men in the West. Moses. jun., married Clarissa, daughter of David Moody, and removed to Winthrop; Lydia married Simeon Paine and removed to North Anson; Abel died in Louisiana, while Theo- dore, Hannah, Isaac and Oliver all settled in Monmouth. The two latter were, like their father, carpenters; and on Oliver and his sons, three of whom are drummers. fell a double portion of the spirit of his grandfather. Isaac moved to Wales in 1848, and. thirteen years later. returned to North Monmouth. where his wife, Mary S .. daughter of Asahel Blake, died, in 1862. The follow- ing year he purchased, of Benj. S. Ellis, the Simon D arborn farm, where his son-in-law, Howard Stetson.
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Esq., now resides. Here he died, Mar. 27, 1876, hav- ing lived a quiet, unassuming and godly life. Two of his daughters, Mrs. Joseph Given and Mrs. Howard Stetson, are still residents of the town. Oliver, the youngest of Moses Frost's children, married Cornelia A. Richardson, daughter of Josiah Richardson. That he was a master of his trade, much of the neatest joiner work in town bears silent testimony. He reared a large family, to which his ingenuity has been transmitted. Oscar F., the oldest son, to whom more extended notice will be given later as a literary man, possesses marked inventive ability, and has secured patents on some of his devices. He also possesses what is a stronger mark of his lineage-a passionate fondness for the snare drum. His younger brother. William B., to whom this trait also descended, served in the late war as drummer-boy.
Daniel Prescott, whose name appears on the town records for the first time under the date 1801, must have been a citizen of Monmouth at least three years prior to that date. He was born in Epping. that incu- bator of Monmouth families, May 13, 1766, and bore to Capt. Sewall Prescott the relationship generally known as "double" cousin. About ten years before coming to Maine, he married Molly Towle, and settled in New Hampshire, where three of his children were born. On coming to this town, he selected a lot near the base of Norris Hill, and in the shade of the large willow that swings over the highway a short distance south of G. Boardman Pierce's, he built his house. * Mr. Prescott was a tailor, and if he was as nimble with
* This house was burned about forty years ago.
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the needle as it is claimed he was in every other move- ment. he must have been in a fair way to break the record of a modern sewing-machine. His diligence is spoken of as something remarkable. A neighbor states that he has seen him sit in a chair to chop wood after he became too feeble to stand at his work. Of his eight children, those best known to our citizens were Solomon and Epaphras Kibby. Solomon purchased a farm in the "New Boston" district, now owned by A. H. Blake, on which he lived until about 1860, when he went to California to spend the residue of his days.
Epaphras Kibby Prescott was born in Monmouth, June 29, 1801. After a course of study at the town schools and Monmouth Academy, he applied himself to the study of medicine, under Dr. James Cochrane. sen., and was graduated from the medical department of Bowdoin College Sept. 5. 1827. He immediately entered on the practice of his profession in his native town, and two years later married Almira Berry, of Minot. About 1843, he purchased of Rev. Jedediah Prescott the stand now owned by his son, O. K. Pres- cott, and removed there from the home of his father. where he had resided. Dr. Prescott always held a good share of local practice, and, on account of his suc- cess with fevers and malignant sores, was by many considered a physician of extraordinary ability. He was a man of firm judgment, and, in the capacity of justice of the peace. was often called upon to settle le- gal questions between his townsmen. He died Sept. 17, 1876. His son, Otis Kibby Prescott, who resides on the home place, has read medical works extensive- ly but has never taken the degrees necessary to become
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an established practitioner. Nathan Prescott, who came from New Hampshire not more than three years later than his cousin, Daniel, made himself a home in the "New Boston" district. He was a brother of Capt. Sewall Prescott.
It is supposed that Stephen Prescott, another mem- ber of this numerous family, and the father of our lately deceased citizen, Nathan F. Prescott, was not far be- hind Daniel and Nathan in finding the way to Mon- mouth, although he must have been very young at that time. Two brothers, David and Joseph, accom- panied him when he came to this state, both of whom settled in the vicinity of Dexter. Stephen secured what he considered a good bargain in a lot of land on Back street, now the west end of the Cumston farm. Here he made a clearing and built a house, which was taken down many years ago. At the age of twenty- four, he married Mary Leavett, of Buxton. Miss Leavett was a niece of Moses Boynton, who, with his brother, Daniel, settled in the western part of the town a little earlier than 1810. In 1815 Mr. Boynton was visiting his relatives in Buxton, and Mary returned to Monmouth with him, riding the entire distance on horseback, behind her uncle. She became acquainted with her future husband while on this visit, and married him one year later.
In about two years after their marriage they left their home and went into the house on Norris Hill which has been mentioned on page 106 as the former store of John Chandler, having lost the farm through the treach- ery of the man of whom the land was purchased. This crushing blow to his youthful hopes ruined Mr. Pres-
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cott for life. The rest of his days were spent in mov- ing from place to place. He died on the farm now occupied by Mr. Rolfe.
Mr Prescott was a ship carpenter. Hle worked at his trade in Bath, Pittston and other river towns, and assisted in constructing the Kennebec dam. Habitual working in perilous places made him perfectly fearless, and marvelous are the feats of daring which are told of him. There are many who can recall the thrill of ap- prehension which ran through the crowd that assisted in raising the steeple of a church at the Centre when they saw him climb to the pinnacle and stand poised on one foot. Of his eight children only one, Nathan, re- mained in Monmouth.
Nathan F. Prescott was born Apr. 21. 1822. In early life he began working with his father in a ship- vard. He married Rhoda O. E. Titus, daughter of Dea. David Titus. In 1854 he purchased of Sands Wing the Capt. Kelly farm on Stevens Hill, one of the most beautiful locations in town, on which he resided until his decease in the summer of 1893.
Mr. Prescott was one of the few men who have, through persistent industry and good management, found farming in Maine a profitable employment. He was quiet and unobtrusive, but was regarded as a man of sound judgment. William E. Prescott, his only son, was born May 23, 1860, and graduated from Bates Col- lege in the class of '86. After graduating, he taught several terms in high schools and academies before learning the drug business, in which he is now engaged.
Gilman Thurston settled. this year, on the place now owned by Wm. H. Gilman. He afterward exchanged
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farms with Capt. Wm. P. Kelly, who lived on Stevens Hill, and still later moved to the Lyon district, where he died. He remained a bachelor until late in life. when he married Elizabeth, daughter of Ebenezer Starks. In 1812 and 1813 he was elected to the office of selectman.
John Gilman, son of Daniel Gilman, who came from New Hampshire with the Epping colonists, was taxed for the first time this year. He married Mary Straw, daughter of William Straw, and settled on a lot of wild land which is now known as the Daniel Whittier place. in the Lyon district. After partially clearing this farm. he sold it to Dearborn Blake of Epping, who was al- ways known as "Newcome" Dearborn Blake. to dis- tinguish him from Dearborn Blake, the son of Phineas. who had been a resident of the town several years. Mr. Gilman then purchased of the Sawyers the farm on which his son, Ahvah Gilman, resided until his dcease. This farm had been partially cleared by Abial Bedel. who held a squatter's claim. Mr. Gilman paid him for this claim, and Bedel removed to the eastern part of the state, where he subsequently became a minister of con- siderable note in the Baptist church.
Like his father, Daniel, the pioneer, who has been mentioned on page 100, Mr. Gilman had nine children. of whom all but one of those who reached maturity settled near him. Daniel William Gilman, his oldest son, settled on the farm now owned by his son, Henry Oscar Gilman. This farm was cleared by Jonathan Hoitt, who came from New Hampshire, and whose daughter. Dolly, Mr. Gilman married. Mr. Gilman lived at one time on the Besse place: subsequently in
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Litchfield and Richmond, whence he returned not far from 1860 to the Hoitt farm, where he died, in 1881, at the age of seventy-six.
John Orin Gilman, the father of Benson O., J. Henry and George E. Gilman, was the second son of John. He was born Dec. 22, 1812, seven years later than his brother, Daniel W., and was married at the age of twenty-three years to Hannah A., daughter of Eliphalet Folsom. Alvah, the father of our citizen, William Henry Gilman; Josiah, who died at the early age of twenty-nine, and Augustus, who left the farm and en- gaged in trade at the Center with J. S. Noyes, shortly before his removal to Lewiston in the seventies, were the youngest sons of John. Alvah and Augustus both married daughters of Phineas Kelly. The former was born Feb. 24, 1815, and the latter, June 2, 1828.
It is doubtful if any other family in town has clung so closely to Monmouth throughout all its generations as have the Gilmans. Of fifty-five descendants of Daniel the pioneer who have reached maturity only twelve have sought homes outside their native town. This family dates back in history as far as the year 1066. The name is of Norman derivation and mem- bers of the family accompanied William the Conquorer from the Province of Maine, in France. to England. The first to settle in this country was Edward, who came to Ilingham, Mass .. in 1638. John, his son. set- tled in Exeter. N. H .. in 1650. He was councillor in the time when New Hampshire was a British province, and from him, it is supposed. descended the Gilmans of Epping, N. II., whence Daniel, the Monmouth settler. came.
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Robert Gilman, another son of Daniel the pioneer. setted on the farm now owned by Mr. Davis Emerson. He afterward moved to the Gilman Thurston place and again to the farm now owned by Mr. March, where he died, in 1865, at the age of ninety years. His first wife was Lydia Straw. Hannah Lyon and Mrs. Lydia Hil- dreth, of Gardiner, his second and third wives, both preceded him to the border of the river of shadows; his decease occurring only about ten hours later than that of the latter. Of his four sons two, Robert and Charles R., are still respected citizens of this town. * The latter, born December 26. 1819, married Isabella Marston and settled on the home place, whence he re- moved, in 1885, to the Center. Since the decease of his daughter, Lotta A., who died in 1864, at the age of seven years, his family has consisted of a son, Charles William, a manufacturer of straw goods in New York city, and a daughter. Ella E., the wife of Albert G. Smith. a professional teacher and local justice of the peace. Robert married Lucy Haskell and, like nearly all the other members of the family, settled in the Lyon district, while William, the oldest brother, left the haunts of his boyhood and established himself in the oil business in Boston.
Sometime during the year 1801, Jonathan Thompson died. As one of the five who broke a way into the forest. he had borne a principal part in the hardships of those brave and rugged pioneers, and watched the * Since this chapter was written, Charles R. Gilman has died. On the 13th of November. 1893. he was found lying on the floor of the cellar of his stable ( whither he had gone to make some repairs), in an unconscious condition. His demise, which resulted in a few hours, was apparently caused by paralysis of the brain.
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steady growth of the little settlement, as it developed first into a plantation, with limited rights and privileges, and then into a town, vested in all the advantages that the commonwealth could bestow upon its older and larger sisters. In the administration of local affairs, the wheel had been steadied much of the time by his firm and unerring hand. As assessor and collector of the plantation, and as selectman of the town, all his duties had been discharged in a manner to win the re- spect of his constituents and compeers. Many sincere mourners followed him to the grave, and many hearts not bound to his memory by blood ties, were filled with gloom at this first selection from the ranks of the influ- ential and respected.
Twenty-six years had passed since the families of Jonathan Thompson, living on the crown of the hill which bears his name; Philip Jenkins, on the Cyrus Titus place; Reuben Ham, on the farm owned by his descendant, Mrs. Beckler; Thomas Gray, in his cabin- home on the meadow, and Joseph Allen, on the Bas- ford place, were, aside from soil, stream and forest, all there was of Monmouth and Wales. The reader who has followed with any degree of attentiveness the fore- going pages cannot fail to look back with interest on what those years had brought forth; but what must have been the retrospect to those four pioneers, whose minds were drawn to the comparison by the removal of their companion !
It may be supposed by some that there is reason for doubt concerning the localization of Joseph Allen. In my grandfather's manuscript, from which a large por- tion of the material for the second chapter of this history
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was taken, it is not stated exactly where those who made the first clearings in the township settled. I have had no difficulty in locating the other four, but am doubtful whether, as has been supposed, Allen ever made a clearing on the Ridge. In fact, there is every reason to believe that he made his clearing on the Bas- ford place, now owned by Mr. Richardson.
Reuben Basford, who came from Mt. Vernon in 1810, married Joseph Allen's daughter, and to him fell the farm after Mr. Allen's decease. Basford was the father of Capt. Joseph A. Basford, whose life was spent on the same farm. There was another Joseph Allen, who came from New Meadows about three years later than the pioneer, and. doubtless there are many old citizens who, in reading the first chapters of this volume, have identified him with the latter.
Joseph Allen the younger was born in the vicinity of New Meadows, Feb. 8, 1770. At the age of seven or eight years he came to Wales plantation to live with his uncle, Ichabod Baker. He came by what was then a new route. The first of the pioneers had followed the Androscoggin river as far as Lisbon, and thence a
line of spotted trees, or rangeways. His course lay up the Kennebec as far as Hallowell, thence across by way of Manchester and Winthrop; a course that soon be- came the established line of communication between Wales plantation and the outside world. The Revolu- tionary soldiers mentioned at the close of chapter second had just passed over it, on their way to the seat of war, and the fact that he found junks of pork and other edibles scattered along on the ground demon- strates that they were not pinched with hunger as they
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were on the return. Joseph remained with his uncle until he reached his majority. He then married Lydia Billington, of Wayne, and took up the farm on the Ridge now owned by the Allen heirs, and built a cabin where Ernest Andrews's house stands. The Ridge was then entirely unsettled, and Mr. Allen made his way to the lot by a line of spotted trees. The house which he erected a few years later, on the spot where his cabin stood, was burned about seven years ago.
Joseph Allen had five sons and five daughters. Two of the daughters, Betsey, who married Andrew Pink- ham, and Lydia, who married Amos Loomis, settled in Monmouth. His oldest son, David, a lad of about sev- enteen years, was drowned while bathing in the mill- pond at the Center, not far from 1813. Samuel, the next oldest boy, removed to Newport, Me .; Joseph to Lowell. Mass , while Hiram and Daniel remained for the most part in the home of their boyhood.
Hiram Allen, who was born April 28, 1802, left the farm and engaged in trade at Monmouth Center. His home was the "John Hawes house," now occupied by Andrew B. Pinkham. He afterward traded in Litch- field, but returned to Monmouth Center and lived in the house now owned by Capt. Towle, where he died July 20, 1872. His widow, whose maiden name was Mehitable Allen, married Ezra Philbrook. She died Feb. 23, 1880, aged seventy-two years.
Daniel Allen, the youngest son of Joseph, married Ann Eaton Littlefield, of Bath, and settled on the Ridge. He was a deacon of the Baptist church and an honorable and esteemed citizen. Of his two children. Walter F., born May 26, 1840, died in early manhood.
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His daughter, Anna Pinkham, married John W. Jack- son, a skillful blacksmith, and settled on the home place. Mr. Jackson died in 1891, eight years later than Dea. Allen, whose decease occurred at the age of sev- enty-two years.
As near as can be ascertained, the mill on the Wil- son stream, long known as "Moody's mill." and now owned by Jeremiah Gordon, came into existence in 1801. David Moody, the builder, was a son of Rev. Gilman Moody, the pioneer settler and Methodist min- ister. Mr. Moody, although an active, enterprising, and, in the true sense of the term, stirring man. was easy- going and moderate. Open-hearted and frank himself, he was always ready to trust others, and was surprised when he discovered that some men were not equally ingenuous. An amusing incident is related concerning his experience as an officer of the law. In 1809 he succeeded in hardening his heart against his fellow man sufficiently to take upon himself the vexatious du- ties of a town constable. Melee Lee, a colored man who wandered into town in 1797 and worked about from place to place, had contracted a debt, and as he could not, or would not, pay, he must suffer imprison- ment. Mr. Moody, to whom pertained the unpleasant task of committing the fuliginous culprit to jail, drove to the place where he was known to be at work. Dis- mounting at a safe distance, he approached cautiously from behind. and was almost upon him when Lee be- came aware of his presence and took "leg bail."
"Oh!" exclaimed the easy-going official, "I thought you were going to be clever, Lee." And he was cor- rect in his surmises; for Lee was far too clever to fall
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into his official clutches. The opening years of the present century were numbered in a period of intense interest in educational matters throughout the District of Maine.
As far back as 1674 a general penal law was passed in the Commonwealth requiring every town of fifty families to employ a teacher to instruct all who desired to become familiar with the simple accomplishments of reading and writing. This law also provided for the establishment of grammar schools, where all of the studies required in a college-preparatory course should be taught, in each town of one hundred families. But attendance was not compulsory in either case, and, in the face of this statute, the ratio of illiteracy to erudition stood as one hundred to one.
In contradistinction to the present era it may be cited that in the year 1800 the city of Portland could boast only three natives who had received a classical educa- tion. And this ratio would, probably, apply to the rest of the district. At the opening of the present century only seven grammar schools were supported under the commonwealth law.
In 1801 a number of our leading citizens presented the following petition to the General Court:
"Humbly Sheweth Your Petitioners Inhabitants of the Town of Monmouth, that the Settlement of the Town of Monmouth commenced in the year of our Lord 1778 by people who had no doubts on their minds at that time but what the land on which they settled was states land. Some of the first settlers cut roads Eighteen or Twenty miles through an entire wilderness to Git their families Into said town. And the settle-
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ment of said Town was carried on for a number of years under many disadvantages; we however flatterd our selves that our Land would be given us by the State, or at the worst, that it would be purchased at a Moderate price; we also expected that land would be Granted for the Support of schools and a Preached Gospel, which priviledges we viewed of great conse- quence as a town: but to our Sorrow we find the land on which we settled belonged to Individuals and not to the State, and we have since been obliged to purchase our land at a very dear rate: without a foot of land be- ing given to a settler In said Town for settling thereon. but what we most lament is that not any land has been granted In said town for support of schools or a preached Gospel; priviledges which almost every Town In this Commonwealth enjoy.
Your Petitioners convinced by the number of Grants which have been made to support Academis In this Commonwealth and the laws which have from time to time been enacted, that it is the object of the Legisla- ture to encourage the education of youth and to diffuse knowledge by every Honorable and Consistant way and means In their power, beg leave to represent that a Free Grammar School In said Town of Monmouth would be of Great publick Utility, not only in said town of Monmouth but to a Number of Towns around them who are laboring under many difficulties and disadvan- tages Therefore your wise consideration and grant such a tract of unappropriated land as you may think proper for the support of a free Grammar school In said Town of Monmouth under such directions and regulations as you In your Wisdom may
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think best and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray. Monmouth Jany. 5th 1801.
(Signed)
Simon Dearborn
Caleb Fogg
James McLellan
Ichabod Baker
Josiah Brown
Robert Hill
James Norris, Jr. Eliphalet Smart
Jeremiah Chandler
Aron Allen
John Welch
Jonathan holmes
William Brown
Benj. French
Asahel Blake
Ansel Blossom
Ebenezer Straw
Levi Fairbanks
John Merrill
John Blake
Suel Prescott
Peter Lyon
Robert Withington
Jonathan Judkins
David Page
James F. Norris
Daniel Smith
Matthias Blossom
Simon Dearborn, Jr.,
Nathaniel Smith
Charles Danielson
James Blossom
Joseph York
David Kimball."
In response to this petition, the General Court granted ten thousand acres of land for the support of the institution. and a further endowment of $1.500 was made by Lady Elizabeth Temple and others. Under this fund. the building was erected in 1803, and occu- pied directly after its completion. The institution was first known as Monmouth Free Grammar School. In 1809 it was incorporated as Monmouth Academy. The first preceptor of whom we have any knowledge was Ebenezer Herrick, who taught one term in 1810.
The average annual salary of the early instructors was about $475. In 1819, the salary was raised to
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$500. Three years later, fifty dollars was added to this amount. In 1836, a change was effected which gave the preceptor the tuition and the additional sum of two hundred dollars from the treasury. As circum- stances existed which would not warrant giving a larger compensation, in 1846 the tuition only was al- lowed.
At the time of the incorporation of this institution there were only three other classical schools in the state. Beauty and centrality of location combined with the thorough competence of the instructors and a well- chosen curriculum soon gave the school a broad repu- tation, and attracted pupils from all parts of the state. Among the prominent men of the state and nation who received a portion of their education at Monmouth Academy may be mentioned Hon. S. P. Benson, Hon. Geo. Evans, Gen. O. O. Howard, Ex-Gov. Selden Connor and Ex-Gov. Washburne of Illinois.
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