USA > Maine > Oxford County > Paris > History of Paris, Maine, from its settlement to 1880, with a history of the grants of 1736 & 1771, together with personal sketches, a copious genealogical register and an appendix > Part 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
28
434
HISTORY OF PARIS.
Paris and the sled-factory. He was eneumerator of the census of 1870, for the town of Paris. He married Augusta M. Prentiss, a grand-daughter of Dea. Caleb, early trader at South Paris.
VIRGIL D. PARRIS.
Hon. Virgil Delphini Parris was the son of Capt. Josiah and Expe- rience (Lowden) Parris, and a first. cousin of Hon. Albion K. Parris. He was born in Buckfield, Feb. 8, 1807, and graduated at Union College, N. Y., in 1827. Among his class-mates were Leon- ard Wood, D. D., ex-President of Bowdoin College. Hon. E. G. Rawson of Bangor, Gov. Bowie of Maryland, Hon. Preston King and Judges W. W. Campbell and Rufus W. Peckham of New York, the latter of whom was lost in the steam-ship Ville de Harve. Adopting the law as his profession, he was admitted to the bar in 1830. Entering upon active life at a period of high political ex- citement and inheriting an ardent temperament from his patriotic ancestors, he zealously espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson, and in 1827, before he became a voter, organized in his native town the first Jackson Club in Maine. In 1831 he was chosen Assistant Secretary of the Maine Senate. From 1833 to 1838 he represented Buckfield in the Legislature, and in 1838 he was elected to fill the vacancy in the XXV Congress occasioned by the death of Hon. Timothy J. Carter of Paris, and in 1839 was re-elected. In 1842 and 1843 he served as State Senator from Oxford county, and in the latter year, when Edward Kavanagh became, by the death of Governor Fairfield, Acting Governor of the State, Mr. Parris was chosen his successor as President of the Senate. In 1844 he was appointed by President Tyler, United States Marshal for the Dis- trict of Maine, which position he held during the administration of President Polk till 1849. In 1853 President Pierce appointed him Special Mail Agent for New England, and in 1856 he was appointed Naval Store-keeper at the Kittery navy yard. With the inangu- ration of President Lincoln, Mr. Parris retired from office, although he still continued to take an active part in politics until precluded by disease. Mr. Parris had a decided taste for scientific pursuits. He was interested in all branches of natural history and was a collector of antiquities ; but he took especial pleasure in astronomy and numismatics. To the latter subject he was a devotee and possessed one of the finest collections of coins in the country, which he took much pride in exhibiting.
435
HISTORY OF PARIS.
Mr. Parris was a man of iron will, with great energy of character ; his integrity was unquestioned, his impulses were generous, most genial in his companionship. As a man, a citizen and a friend, he was esteemed the most by the those who knew him best. Before stricken with disease he possessed great physical vigor, strength and activity. He married in 1833, Miss Columbia, daughter of Capt. Samuel and Polla (Freeland) Rawson, who survives at this time (1884). He died in Paris, where he had resided quite a number of years. Saturday morning, June 13, 1874. Mr. Parris did not re- sume the practice of law after retiring from politics. He was one of the originators and prime movers in building the Buckfield rail- road. and was interested in all the projects for the advancement of his native town and county.
EDWARD L. PARRIS.
Edward Louden Parris is the son of Virgil D. and Columbia (Rawson) Parris and was born in Buckfield, September 3, 1837. He came to Paris with his parents and spent several years here. He graduated at Union College, Schenectady, New York, studied law, and, having been admitted to the bar, settled in the practice in New York City, where he has been very successful. He is now holding the important office of Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of New York.
HENRY R. PARSONS.
He was born in New Gloucester in September, 1794, and died at South Paris, October 3, 1874. His ancestors were from Gloucester, Mass. In 1813 he came to Paris and ever after resided here ; after that time up to his decease, he was largely identified with the history of the town and a prominent actor in most of the important business enterprises therein. He was an earnest advocate of the cause of temperance and secretary of the first temperance society in Paris, which was organized in 1832, and an ardent supporter of any step which. in his view, tended to improve the morals or ameliorate the condition of his fellow-men. Although never seeking political preferment for himself, he took a deep interest in the great political questions that agitated and divided the country, and was ever solic- itous for the success of that party to which his convictions of right and justice caused him to ally himself. He held many offices of trust in the town and was always regarded by his fellow-citizens as
e d
e
436
HISTORY OF PARIS.
one eminently qualified to advise and manage in difficult affairs. His proverbial honesty and strict integrity of character gained for him the respect and confidence of his associates. He was married in 1814 to Miss Betsey Gross of New Gloucester, with whom he lived for more than 57 years. They raised a large family of child- ren, of whom seven were then living. The three sons are prominent business men in the west ; and of his daughters, one, Mrs. Hewett, resided with her father, one was the wife of Dea. Elisha Morse of South Paris, one resided at North Yarmouth and one at the West. Col. Parsons, at the time of his death, was almost the only living representative of those who were prominent in the early history of the town, and by his death almost the last link was broken that con- nected the town with that early period.
SIDNEY PERHAM.
Hon. Sidney Perham first came to this town from Woodstock as Clerk of the Courts, to which position he was elected in 1859. But his ancestors were connected with the early settlement of the town, his grandfather, Lemuel Perham, Jr., being upon the Center lot on Paris Hill in 1791. Lemuel Perham, Jr., came to Paris from Upton, Mass., where his father had kept a public house for more than forty years, and where his grandfather, Benjamin Perham, also resided. Benjamin Perham was the son of John, of Chelmsford, Mass., and grandson of John the emigrant, who settled in Chelmsford in 1664, and that year married Sarah Shepley. The father of Sidney Per- ham was Joel, who was born on the Center lot, now occupied by Col. C. H. Ripley, March 31, 1797, and whose wife, Sophronia Bisbee, was born at South Paris, April 1, 1801. When twelve years of age, Joel Perham moved with his father's family to Woodstock. where he after resided and where Sidney was born March 17, 1819. Sidney Perham was brought up on a farm, and, on becoming of age, he purchased the homestead of his father, where he continued to reside until his removal to Paris to fill the position as above stated. He was re-elected to the same position, but before the close of his second term he received the nomination of Member of Con- gress for the Second Maine Congressional District, and he was elected. He was re-elected twice to the same position, his service covering a large portion of the period of our civil war. In 1871, he was elected Governor of Maine and was re-elected twice. While living in Woodstock he was elected a member of the Maine
Han Sidney PerhamD)
-
437
HISTORY OF PARIS.
Legislature in 1855, and was chosen Speaker. He had previously been much in town office and was well versed in public affairs. After his third term as governor had expired, he was in private life until the appointment of Hon. Lot M. Morrill as Collector of the port of Portland, when, on his recommendation, Governor Perham was appointed Appraiser of Merchandise for the same port, which position he still holds. In all the public positions he has filled, he has enjoyed the fullest confidence of his fellow-citizens. He early enlisted in the cause of temperance, and no citizen of the State has done more good, honest, square temperance work than he. He began to lecture on the subject when a minor, and there are few places in the State where his voice has not been heard. He has be- longed to the leading temperance organizations in the State, and been at the head of two of them. He has been President of the Trustees of the Maine Industrial School for Girls since the School was founded, and has also served for several years as President of the Trustees of Westbrook Seminary. He married Almena J., daughter of Lazarus and Lucy (Cole) Hathaway of Paris, and has had five children, four of whom are living. He was President of the Directors of the Paris Hill .Manufacturing Company, and has served as a Director of the Norway National Bank. His attach- ment to his early vocation, that of agriculture, is still strong, and he has frequently been called upon to address the farmers at their annual festivals, which he has always been able to do to great ac- ceptance. For several years, while engaged in farming in summer, he taught schools in winter, and always with marked success. His life has been busy and his occupations varied, but he is still vigorous, and, to all appearance, years of usefulness are yet before him.
HENRY E. PRENTISS.
Henry E. Prentiss, son of Henry and Mary (Hart) Prentiss of Paris, graduated at West Point, the fourth in his class, in 1831, and was Assistant Teacher of Mathematics in the Military Academy for two subsequent years. He was then commissioned and sent with troops to Fort Morgan, Alabama. Being commissioned in the artillery instead of the engineers, he, in 1835, resigned his commis- sion and commenced the study of law with Messrs. Kent and Cut- ting of Bangor. In 1836 he formed a co-partnership with Hon. Israel Washburn, Jr., at Orono, and in 1837 opened an office in Ban- gor, where he remained for several years and until he engaged largely
438
HISTORY OF PARIS.
in land and lumber operations, which proved more lucrative and con- genial than the practice of law. Possessing engineering skill, energy and great physical endurance, he became familiar with all the timber lands of the State from actual observation, and was thus enabled to purchase understandingly. He was connected with many large lumbering operations and was for many years Clerk of the Penobscot Boom Company. He amassed a comfortable fortune. He was a strict temperance man, and upon the temperance issue he was elected Mayor of Bangor in 1870 and the year following. In 1858 and 1859 he was a member of the State Legislature and among the ablest in that body. He was public spirited and a friend to education. He donated no less than four public libraries and left funds to support them, one of which was to his native school dis- trict in Paris. He was a man of culture and refinement, fond of literature and very agreeable in conversation. Though possessed of abundant means, he was ever a plain man, never exalting himself, and ever living an honest, frugal and industrious life. He married Abigail A., daughter of Samuel Rawson of Paris, September 30, 1836, who survives him. Mr. Prentiss, after retiring from active business, made an extended European voyage, accompanied by his wife and children, which he enjoyed very much. He died July 1, 1873.
SARAH J. PRENTISS.
She was the daughter of Henry Prentiss and was born in Paris in 1823. She was a lady of literary tastes and many accomplishments. She was not only a writer, but an artist as well, and many of her landscape sketches done in oil have been greatly admired. Many of the productions of her pen, both in prose and poetry, have found their way into print. During the war of the Rebellion, when nurses were wanted to take charge of the loyal sick in Southern hospitals, Miss Prentiss volunteered her services, and was there until near the close of the war. After her return from the South with impaired health, she went to Europe and was absent three years. She returned with health still more impaired, and finally she was obliged to give up her home in Paris and go to live with her brother in Bangor. She died Oct. 21, 1877, aged 54 years. She is gratefully remembered by many wounded and sick Maine soldiers who were fortunate enough to come under her kind care during her hospital service. She attributed her impaired health and early death to malaria con- tracted while in the Southern hospitals. She was kind-hearted, a
-
7. Daniel's By Baron.
439
HISTORY OF PARIS.
friend to the poor, and the benefactor of many families in her native town who will ever remember her with gratitude.
AMBROSE K. SHURTLEFF.
Ambrose K. Shurtleff, son of Alva Shurtleff, was born in Paris, August 12, 1815. In 1829 he went to Portland and into the em- ployment of Eleazer McKenney, and afterwards was book-keeper for Abner Shaw, also a native of Paris. About the year 1834, he formed a co-partnership with John G. Warren, under the firm name of Shurtleff & Warren, and for the next eight years carried on a wholesale grocery business. At that time a new firm was formed, Mr. Warren retiring and Mr. Charles Leach taking his place, which continued for a few years, when Mr. Leach went out and Mr. Shurt- leff carried on the business alone until 1860, when he retired from active mercantile business on a competency. He was for many years a Director in the National Traders' Bank and for fifteen years its President. He was for several years a member of the Portland City Government, a Director of the Portland and Rochester Railway, Trustee of the Maine Savings Bank and Vice President of the Board of Trade. He married Lorenda, daughter of the late Seth Curtis of Paris, whose death preceded his by several years. He died in Portland, January 3, 1880. He left no children, and his estate, after liberal bequests to several Portland charitable institutions, was left to his brothers and other near kindred.
GEORGE K. SHAW.
Rev. George K. Shaw was born in this town June 1, 1805. He graduated at Gorham Academy, and at eighteen years of age he began to teach in the public schools in Cumberland and York coun- ties. While engaged in teaching he pursued theological studies and occasionally preached. In 1838 he took charge of the Universalist society of Dixfield. Here he labored as pastor and preacher for eight years. Feeling the need of a larger income, he accepted the position of Register of Probate of Oxford county. In 1846 he re- moved to Paris Hill. The labors of the ministry he continued to perform, preaching in several towns in Oxford county. During his residence in Paris he gave a large number of addresses on education and temperance, and for two years edited a monthly religious peri- odical, and was political editor of the Norway Advertiser. In the summer and autumn of 1855 he resided in Alfred and wrote the
440
HISTORY OF PARIS.
editorials of the Maine Democrat, which was then published in Saco by Alpheus Hanscomb. Late in the autumn he received an appoint- ment as Clerk in the Interior Department at Washington. This position was held for about six years. In 1874 he obtained a place in the General Post Office Department in Washington. During his fourteen years residence in that city he was a regular editorial con- tributor to democratic newspapers. He moved to Biddeford in July of 1869, and assumed the editorial management of the Maine Dem- ocrat, then published in Biddeford by the Watson Brothers. He continued to edit the paper till it became financially embarrassed. After its change to the State Democrat and removal to Saco, he was a regular contributor to its editorial columns. Socially, Mr. Shaw was a genial and pleasant gentleman. For several years prior to his death, his health was poor. He kept about till within a few weeks of his death, when he took his bed. His sufferings were at times intense, but he was sustained by a strong and clear Christian faith. He died in Biddeford.
EATON SHAW.
Eaton Shaw was the son of Gilbert and Silence (Cole) Shaw, and was born in Paris in 1803. At the age of 17 years he became quite successful as a teacher in the public schools, and soon after studied architecture in Boston. After remaining in Boston six years he removed to Portland, at which time he gave up the study of archi- tecture and studied for the ministry .. For many years he was an effective and popular preacher in the Methodist church. He origi- nated the Congress street Methodist church in Portland, and was its first preacher. His health had been injured by study in the begin- ning of his ministry, and in 1852 he was compelled to retire per- manently from the pulpit. He was for several years State Liquor Agent. He was married in 1828 to Miss Mary Roberts of Portland and had a family of three sons and five daughters. All of his sons served in the Union army in the war of the rebellion. Mr. Shaw died at his home in Portland, August 9, 1884.
RUFUS S. STEVENS.
Among the successful business men of Paris, who began at the foot of the ladder and worked their way up, was Rufus S. Stevens. He was the son of Simon and Nancy (French) Stevens, and grand- son of Dr. Cyprian, our first settled physician. IIe was born Octo-
441
HISTORY OF PARIS.
ber 21, 1821; attended school and worked upon the farm in his . youth and entered a store on the Hill as clerk when he came to his majority. He was in trade at the Hill in partnership and alone, and in company at South Paris. He was a shrewd business man and rapidly accumulated property. He was also an active politician and served a term in the House of Representatives in 1855, and in the Senate in 1864. He was an earnest worker in the cause of tem- perance and identified with the leading temperance organizations in town. Soon after the close of the war he moved to Minneapolis and went into business there, but died a few years later. He mar- ried Sarah, daughter of Deacon Elisha Morse of South Paris, who survives him.
DAVID P. STOWELL.
David Porter Stowell was the son of Elias and Polly (Barnard) Stowell, and was born in Paris, October 22, 1816. He was the youngest of ten children. He received an academical education, studied law, and, on being admitted to the bar, settled in Dixfield and afterwards in Canton. He entered the volunteer service Octo- ber 31, 1861, as major of the First Maine Cavalry, and was dis- charged for disability in 1863. He was a man of fine physique, over six feet in height and well proportioned. After his return from the army he again went into practice at Canton, but his health was permanently impaired by the exposures incident to the service, and he continued to fail until death came to his relief, July 26, 1884. Major Stowell was a kind-hearted, genial and companionable man and a general favorite. He married Miss Sophronia, daughter of Capt. Isaac N. Stanley of Dixfield.
AUGUSTUS S. THAYER.
Dr. Augustus S. Thayer is the son of America and Caroline (Prentiss) Thayer, and was born in Paris, March 18, 1835. He at- tended the town schools, also at Paris Hill Academy and at Gould's Academy in Bethel. He studied medicine, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, March 12, 1864, and commenced prac- tice in Portland the May following. He has been very successful in the practice of medicine and has worked up a large and profitable business, although the competition has always been sharp and the profession in Portland largely represented by older physicians. He was appointed physician on the staff of the Maine General Hospital at its opening in October, 1874, and teacher of Theory and Practice
442
HISTORY OF PARIS.
in the Portland School for Medical Instruction, in the spring of 1881. Dr. Thayer was married January 1st, 1867, to Mary, daugh- ter of Jarvis C. Marble of Paris, who died after a few years ; and for his second wife he married Annie L. Soule of Groveton, N. H.
HENRY O. THAYER.
Rev. Henry O. Thayer, second child of Ziba and Almira (Fobes) Thayer, was born at South Paris, December 2, 1832. He graduated at Bowdoin College in the class of 1862, and taught successively in Yarmouth and Limerick academies nearly a year after graduation, and then entered upon a course of theology, graduating from the Ban- gor Institution in 1865. He was ordained in 1866. had settlements in Solon and Bingham, and in 1867 he settled at Woolwich, where he yet remains. Besides successful work in the ministry, he has given much time to investigations into the history of the early set- tlements on the lower Kennebec, and has furnished several valuable articles to the press. He is a member of the Maine Historical Society and an active worker in the field of local history. He was married November 7, 1865, to Miss Sarah E. Hewitt, and has sev- eral children.
WARREN H. VINTON.
Hon. Warren Howard Vinton was born in this town in 1825. His family name was Besse, but when he became of age he changed his own to Vinton. He was educated in the common schools and at Hebron and other academies, studied the profession of law and set- tled in Gray. He is a fluent and interesting speaker, and able in debate. He has been much in office, having served as Supervisor of Schools and Selectman in Gray ; Commissioner on the publica- tion of the Revised Statutes of 1857; Trustee of the Reform School ; member of the House of Representatives in 1857 and 1873, and of the Senate in 1854, 1862, 1877 and 1878, the last term as President. In his legislative experience he has taken part in many storiny debates and has always acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his friends.
443
HISTORY OF PARIS.
CHAPTER XLVII.
PARIS VILLAGES.
PARIS HILL.
"Beautiful for situation," in borrowed phrase from the psalmist ; "Grand for observation," in the language of the tourist, are terms briefly descriptive of the village of Paris Hill. Yet to no other village in Maine can they so truthfully be applied. Situated as this village is, at an altitude of 831 feet above the sea level-the high- est but one in the State-its extended views at once attract the notice of the traveler. Henry Tudor, Barrister at Law, in his Tour of North America, published in London in 1834, says that "Paris Hill is a place as little resembling its original as a cottage does a palace ; at the same time it may be said that to the extent in which it falls short of its great prototype as to architectural beauty, does it exceed it in the beauties of nature, being surrounded by a circle of mountains of the most imposing and romantic features." It is not unfitting that we scan the broad stretch of horizon and the con- spicuous land-marks so familiar to every resident, although
""Tis a picture in memory distinctly defined."
The Ossipee is noticed first to the southward in the western line of mountains ; then the whole ridge of Mount Pleasant attracts the attention, and next, though farther in the distance, Chocorua may be seen. Whiteface, Passaconaway, Trypyramid and Moat are out- lined against the horizon. Then Kiersarge, like some bold sentinel, stands out alone, as watch and ward, while next, as we sweep north- ward, are Carrigain, Double-Head, Giant's Stairs, and Bold-Face. Then the White Mountain group, or Presidential range, among which "the eye catches the rounded swell of Madison, the sharp spurs of Adams, Jefferson and Clay, and then the supreme head of Washington." Carter appears in the foreground, and further to the north the Moriah range ; then Barker's, Lincoln Peak*, Saddleback, and Puzzle, which is last in the broad sweep of vision.
The village of Paris Hill is chiefly built on lot 13, in the fifth range, the southern line of the lot being on Lincoln street and the
* This mountain is situated in Grafton and was named in honor of Governor Enoch Lincoln, by Prof. John Locke of Cincinnati, in 1853. It is the third highest mountain in Maine.
444
HISTORY OF PARIS,
northern line passing between the residences of Mrs. Arabella Carter and Samuel R. Carter. This was one of four lots in the draught No. 9, that fell to Ezekiel Whitney, the original grantee, and re- mained in his possession until Nov. 13, 1793, when it was sold by a committee of the proprietors, for delinquent taxes, to Isaac Jack- son. The two county roads had been located the May previous, crossing this lot-one from Gray meeting-house passing over Paris Hill to the center lot, as referred to elsewhere ; the other passing diagonally across the town, from south-east to north-west. So much of the last named road as was laid across lot 13, was discon- tinued. The record of its location is as follows : "From a point opposite Benjamin Hammond's barn, thence north 40 deg., west 249 rods ; thence south 89 deg., west 53 rods to the center of the road, intersecting said road near the barn of Lemuel Jackson, Jr." The course of this road from Benjamin Hammond's to the south line of. lot 13 was changed, and from the point near the residence of Hiram Jackson the road was laid out on the lot line, and is now known as Lincoln street. At the time of the location of these roads, Lemuel Jackson, Sr .. was living on "Granny Jackson Hill," on lot 14, and Lemuel, Jr., in the house now the residence of Mrs.Carter. Isaac Jack- son may or may not have occupied a log house near by, for no record points to a local habitation. Levi Jackson was settled on the lot west. of Lemuel, Sr., now known as the Goodenow farm, and his brother-in- law, John Willis, on the lot north. The lot east of lot No. 13, being lot 13 in the sixth range, has been claimed as constituting part. of the "kettle purchase." It was in draught 42, and was in the right of Ephraim Burrage. This was deeded to Joshua Fuller, July 10, 1772, and by him to Lemuel Jackson, Sr., January 19, 1781. The Jacksons and Willisses had owned the land on all sides of lot. 13, in the fifth range, for a dozen years or more, and it is a matter of some surprise that it remained so long intact.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.