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 5
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
The next meeting was at Mrs. Coolidge's in Watertown, January 7, 1787. Reuben Hubbard was voted three pounds, seventeen shillings and eight pence, it being the expense incurred at the last meeting. A committee of three was chosen to take a view of the land in No. 4, and locate such roads in such places as they shall think best for the public, and report their doings at the next meet- ing. Christopher Grant, Barachias Morse and Isaac Bolster made up the committee. It was voted that at future meetings, each per- son should bear his own expenses.
A meeting was had at the house of Mrs. Coolidge on the 29th day of January, 1788. It was voted that Alexander Shepard be clerk in place of Alexander Shepard, Jr.,* deceased. It was voted to
*Alexander Shepard, Jr., son of Alexander and Mary (Willard,) was born in Newton, Sept. 9. 1741. He married Oct. 25, Elizabeth (Jackson) Greenwood. He was much employed in surveying the public lands in Maine and for his services obtained a grant which was called Shepardsfield, now Hebron. He moved upon his grant with John Green-
44
HISTORY OF PARIS.
accept a road laid out by the committee beginning at the road between the grist and saw mill ; thence to and over the bridge lately built across the river ; thence to the northwest corner of the mill lot so called ; thence as near to the line between the second and third ranges of lots as the land will admit of, till it comes to the road leading to Bisco's Falls. Peter Durell of Newton was added to the committee.on accounts.
April 3, 1788, Wm. Clark Whitney and Nathan Nelson were added to the committee for building a bridge at Bisco's Falls.
The next meeting was June 4th, 1788, at the residence of Isaac Bolster in No. 4. It was voted to accept and pay the account of Israel Whittemore for work done on the roads. A committee was chosen to take a view of the land on each side of the line between the second and third number of lots at the south end of the town- ship, in order to find the most convenient place for a road, with the view of discontinuing the road leading near the house of Capt. Isaac Bolster to the land of Daniel Whitney and Seth Morse. On the committee were Lemuel Jackson, Reuben Hubbard and Thomas Stevens.
The next meeting was called at the house of Samuel Wellington in Watertown, on the 11th of May, 1791, on the petition of S. Jackson, David Sanger, Lemuel Jackson, Isaac Bolster, Christopher Grant, Israel Whittemore, Josiah Bisco, Nathaniel Bemis and Luke Bemis. The attendance was so thin that no business was transacted, and the meeting was adjourned to June 8th, following. Daniel Stowell, Lemuel Jackson and Seth Morse were made a committee of sale. Jonathan Stone was chosen clerk and was authorized to call on Alexander Shepard, the former clerk, for the book of records. Alexander Shepard* had become interested in the township known as Phipps Canada, now the towns of Jay and Canton, and had
wood, Jr., Dr. Goddard and other men from Newton. His only son dying, he adopted Thomas, the son of John and Elizabeth Greenwood, whose name became Alexander Shepard, but he died at Harvard College in 1783, aged 26. Alexander Shepard died early in 1788. He was a useful man and of much service to the grantees of new townships in Maine.
*Alexander Shepard was of Newton, where he was one of the most prominent and val- uable citizens. He was a man of education and unquestioned ability. He was prominent among the patriots in the struggle for independence. He was the first of the name in Newton and his ancestry has not been traced. He married Mary, daughter of Jonathan Willard and had nine children, of which Alexander, Jr., was the oldest. John, his young- est son, was the founder of the Baptist Church in Newton, its first deacon and treasurer. Alexander Shepard had deceased in Jay previous to 1796, probably the year previous, at an advanced age.
45
HISTORY OF PARIS.
moved there prior to the time of this meeting which probably accounts for his absence. Jonathan Stone having been chosen clerk of the proprietors, the oath of office was administered to him at Middleboro, June 8, 1791, by John Remington, Justice of the Peace.
Several adjourned meetings were next held at the Inn of Samuel Wellington in Watertown, but no business of importance was trans- acted, there being but few present. At a meeting holden at that place the 31st day. of January, 1793, it was voted that Isaac Bolster of No. 4, gentleman, and German Brimmer of Boston, merchant, the representative of Ralph Inman deceased, formerly a proprietor of the township, be a committee to go before the committee of the General Court to whom had been referred the cross petitions for and against the incorporation of No. 4 into a town. This committee was instructed to signify the unanimous disapproval by the meeting, of an act of incorporation, more especially at that time, and to ask for a dismissal of the case, or at any rate, for a postponement to the next term of the court. The following vote was also passed : "That the interest of the Proprietary had been much neglected for some years, and that it had become necessary for all persons who had filled any office (except the treasurer) to be called upon to ren- der an account of their doings." It was voted that the treasurer inform himself as to a bond given by Alexander Shepard, Alexander Shepard, Jr., and Aaron Richardson, and if the conditions should be found to have been broken, to put the same in suit ; also that a committee examine into the conduct of the committees of sale since 1782, and to search and report the state of the records at Portland, so that the rights of the proprietors and occupants may be ascer- tained. At an adjourned meeting the above vote was revoked, and the duties imposed by it, were placed upon the treasurer.
What the precise condition of the township was when certain of the inhabitants asked for an act of incorporation, we have no means of knowing ; no records save those of the proprietors, covering the years previous to this are in existence, if indeed any were made. But a return of Plantation No. 4 was made to the General Court in 1791, the year before the act of incorporation was prayed for, from which we glean the following statistics of polls and property :
Whole number of polls. 60.
Dwelling houses
20. Total Tax, 9£
Barns
20. 9£
46
HISTORY OF PARIS.
Grist Mills
1. 2
total tax, 3 £ Saw Mills.
Acres of tillage land
70.
21 £
66
English Mowing ... 200.
75 £
66
Pasturage . . ...
200. 66
20 £
Unimproved lands . 4000.
24£
No. of horses
6. 66
1£ 16s
66
oxen.
30.
66
8 £
66
steers and cows
40.
7£ 3s 4d
swine.
60.
2£ 5s
The valuation of the property is not given, only the tax, though there must have been a valuation as the basis of the taxes. This is probably the first tax the township was called upon to pay.
CHAPTER IX.
CONTEST FOR INCORPORATION.
Petitions and Remonstrances .- Prayer for Incorporation Granted.
Township No. 4 had now been settled upwards of ten years, and probably had a population of from three to four hundred. There is no evidence that there was ever any plantation organization, and hitherto the management of affairs was with a few persons who had become the possessors of entire rights. For reasons set forth in the petition which were doubtless well founded, quite a number of the land owners of less than a right, desired an act of incorporation. They wanted better roads, public schools and a public ministry, and, what probably influenced their action as much as either of these, they desired a part in the management of the affairs of the township. The non-resident proprietors especially, and some of the resident, resisted the movement mainly on account of the in- creased taxation which they well knew must follow. But the peti- tioners seem to have had everything easily their own way. The General Court had adopted the policy of incorporating plantations into towns so soon as their population and wealth would render them capable of managing their affairs in a proper manner, and the opposition of non-resident proprietors was always met with, and the reasons well understood. The movement for incorporation and the
Fresh Meadow . . .
20.
47
HISTORY OF PARIS.
opposition to it, belong to the history of the town, and the petitions and remonstrances are given in full.
The petition for the incorporation of the town read as follows :
"To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled :
May it please your Honors to hear the petition of a number of the inhab- itants of a township known by the name of No. 4, in the county of Cum- berland and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We your petitioners find- ing ourselves greatly embarrassed, and under very difficult circumstances in regard to regulations both of a civil and religious nature, viz : We are at present destitute of the preached Gospel and schools of learning; our roads and bridges are exceedingly bad, your petitioners finding no way to redress said grievances but to have recourse to the Honorable Legislature of the commonwealth for assistance. We therefore, your petitioners, humbly pray that your Honors would grant us the privileges of incorpora- tion of the above said town by the name of PARIS, and exempt us from paying State and county taxes for the term of five or six years, until we are under circumstances to be more serviceable to the Commonwealth, and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.
No. Four, Oct. 11, 1792.
Joel Robinson, Abijah Warren,
Reuben Hubbard,
James Morse, Malachi Barrows, William Stowell,
Allen Dwelly,
Daniel Whitney, Levi Hubbard,
Abijah Hall, Asa Barrows, Phillip Donohue, .
Cyprian Stevens.
Jonathan Hall, James Lebroke,
Seth Morse,
John Daniels,
Barzillai Dwelly,
Samuel Durell,
Thomas Stevens,
Jesse Briggs,
John Billings,
Samuel Stowell,
Lemuel Perham.
The remonstrance, or rather the first one is given below :
"To the Whole Court :
The memorial of a number of the inhabitants of township or plantation known by the name of No. 4, in the county of Cumberland and Common- wealth of Massachusetts, Humbly Showeth, That whereas your memorial- ists are apprehensive that some of the inhabitants of said township with- out considering the inability of the inhabitants about petitioning to the Honorable Court to incorporate said township into a town which without some better information might incline the Honorable Court to think that the inhabitants of said township in general, are wealthy and are able to bear the burdens of a tax, which your memorialists hereby presume to say is not the case with them, but quite the reverse, many of us being new beginners and laboring under many embarrassments, are hardly able to support ourselves and families, being yet involved in debt for our land and have no resource but the subduing of the rough and uncultivated wilder- ness, which will afford us no surplus after our real necessities are supplied ; add to it our hard labor and uncomfortable cottages, the cost of transpor-
48
HISTORY OF PARIS.
tation, being fifty miles from market and rough roads, the charge of which to them that hire them there transported, is nearly one-half the value of the produce ; which puts it out of the power of many to procure clothing to screen themselves and their families from the severity of the inclement winters. While the greater part of the inhabitants of said township labor under the aforesaid disadvantages, and the additional burden of clearing and marking roads in said township, any supplies drawn from them by taxes, would deprive them of some part of the scanty means of their sub- sistence, and to be incorporated into a town in our present condition, we conceive would not serve to relieve us from any of our present burdens nor assist us to avoid any future evils. We therefore accordingly wish that our present vigorous exertions to place ourselves in a situation equal with our fellow citizens in wealth and ability, may not be interfered with by any burdens laid on us that our infant state cannot support, and that the Honorable Court will take our case into wise consideration, and let us remain in our present state, until the period of wealth may arrive, your memorialists as in duty bound will ever pray.
Isaac Bolster,
Asa Sturtefant,
Peter Brooks,
Lemuel Jackson,
Joseph Cole,
Josiah Smith,
Josiah Bisco,
Silas Maxim,
John Willis,
Daniel Clark,
John Besse,
Samuel Gardner,
Wm. C. Whitney,
Nathan Pierce,
John Jackson,
Solomon Bryant,
Stephen Robinson,
John Besse, Jr.
Solomon Bryant, Jr.
Edward Andrews,
Benj. Ham,
Isaac Jackson,
Z. Washburn,
John Gray,
David Andrews,
James Bowker,
Eleazer Cole,
Barnabas Jackson,
Soloman Jordan,
Calvin Cole,
Edmund Dean,
Joseph Perry,
Joseph Swift,
Abiezar Andrews,
Asa Dean,
Elisha Cummings,
Caleb Cushman,
Samuel Bennett,
Wm. Swan,
James Lebroke,
Joshua Besse,
Jaqueth Washburn,
Levi Jackson,
Nicholas Chesley,
Abner Shaw,
Luther Pratt,
Asa Perry,
Nathaniel Haskell.
Nathaniel Pratt,
John Tuell,
A second remonstrance was placed on file a short time after the first and a few weeks before the passage of the act of incorporation, of which the following is a copy :
"To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled :
The petition of the subscribers, inhabitants of the plantation of No. 4, in the county of Cumberland, humbly showeth that your petitioners at a meeting on the 18th of May inst., voted to petition your Honors that the Plantation then called No. 4, be not incorporated in the present situation of the inhabitants, and made choice of a committee to wait on your Honors to offer their reasons against the incorporation of said plantation-also
49
IIISTORY OF PARIS.
voted if an incorporation should take place that your Honors would be pleased to incorporate plantation No: 4 by the name of Lebanon, and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray."
Lemuel Jackson, Jr.
Abiezar Andrews, Elisha Cummings,
Edward Andrews,
Asa Perry, John Willis,
Joseph Churchill,
Edmund Dean,
Joseph Hammond,
Joseph Perry,
John Jackson,
Caleb Cushman,
Isaac Bolster, Jr.
Peter Brooks,
Lemuel Jackson,
John Tuell,
Joshua Besse, Jr.
Isaac Bolster,
John Boyle,
Joseph Cole,
David Andrews,
Ebenezer Rawson,
Abner Shaw,
Levi Jackson,
Nathan Nelson,
Jaqueth Washburn,
Barnabas Jackson,
Isaac Jackson,
Solomon Jordan, Wm. Jordan,
Benj. Hammond.
The prayer of the petitioners was favorably answered and quite promptly, notwithstanding the remonstrants outnumbered the peti- tioners more than two to one, and notwithstanding the action of the proprietors at the meeting in Watertown, in unanimously instructing its committee to oppose the bill. The name of Lebanon proposed by the remonstrants, in case an incorporation should be granted, could not consistently have been adopted for the new town, because there was already one town by that name in the State, Lebanon in York county, having been incorporated in 1767.
CHAPTER X.
END OF THE PROPRIETARY.
Extracts from the Records. - Assessors Chosen and Rights Assessed. -Roads Provided for .- The Proprietary Closes up its Affairs.
Feb. 6, 1793, at a meeting in Watertown, Isaac Bolster was directed to receive a bond from Lemuel 'Jackson in behalf of the Proprietary. The clerk of the Proprietary was also directed to deliver the books and papers to Capt. Isaac Bolster. This meeting was adjourned to the house of Lemuel Jackson in No. 4. The adjourned meeting was holden at No. 4, on the 3d of April, 1793 ; Daniel Stowell was chosen moderator pro tem, and Josiah Bisco, Daniel Stowell and Nathan Nelson were made a committee to settle with Capt. Isaac Bolster, a former treasurer. Daniel Stowell was chosen collector and treasurer. A committee of five was appointed
4
Josiah Smith,
Nicholas Chesley,
50
HISTORY OF PARIS.
"to make enquiry and see if Mr. Lemuel Jackson has kept his mills in repair agreeably to his obligation with the proprietors," consist- ing of Seth Morse, William Stowell, Thomas Stevens, Levi Hub- bard and Nathan Nelson. The meeting adjourned to the house of Daniel Stowell on the 10th of April, inst., at which the committee appointed to settle with Mr. Bolster, was directed to settle also with Lemuel Jackson, a former treasurer. The proprietors chose as assessors; Josiah Bisco, Levi Hubbard and Daniel Stowell. A com- mittee consisting of Thomas Stevens, Seth Morse and Reuben Hubbard, was chosen and directed to prosecute the bond of Mr. Lemuel Jackson for failure to keep his mills in repair, but not to commence the suit under seven months ; afterwards this vote was modified so as to leave it discretionary with the committee. An adjourned meeting was held at the house of Daniel Stowell, when the committee on accounts made a report which was read and accepted. The committee to settle with former treasurers also made reports which were accepted. It was voted to raise a sum of money to discharge the proprietors' debts, and a tax of ten shillings was voted on each one hundred acre lot and one of twenty shillings on each two hundred acres, public lots excepted.
The next meeting was held at the house of Nathan Nelson on the 18th of September, 1793. Daniel Whitney, Israel Whittemore and Seth Morse were made a committee on accounts. A committee was also chosen to settle with the Agents appointed to settle the town- ship, and the committee last chosen was made the committee for this duty. The next adjourned meeting was holden January 1, 1794, at the house of Reuben Hubbard. The committee appointed to correct the lines of the town made a report which was accepted. There was now a manifest lack of interest at the meetings, indicat- ing that the work of the Proprietary was well nigh done. About the only business transacted at several adjourned meetings was the reception of the reports of the committees on accounts for labor on the roads, and for other services. At a meeting June 10th, it was voted that a further tax of seven shillings and six pence on each single lot, and twice this sum on each double lot, be raised to meet expenses. Dec. 10, 1794, a vote was passed directing the com- mittee on sales to defend the Proprietary in certain suits which had been brought by parties whose lands had been sold for delinquent taxes. Several adjourned meetings were now held, but no business was transacted, either because they had none to transact or because,
51
HISTORY OF PARIS.
no quorum was present. At a meeting, March 31, 1795, the vote raising a tax of seven and sixpence on each single lot and fifteen shillings on each double lot, was reconsidered and declared null and void.
The next and last meeting of the proprietors of which any record was left, was called by the committee chosen for calling meetings, and was holden at the dwelling house of Capt. Daniel Stowell on the second Wednesday of June, 1795. Daniel Stowell was chosen moderator, and Josiah Bisco, clerk. An article in the warrant looking to a final division of the property of the proprietors and closing up the affairs of the company, was not acted upon at the meeting which was adjourned to the 25th day of August following. Another meeting or two may have been held and the proceedings not recorded in the book of records, but whether such was the case or not, we have no means of knowing. The town had now been incorporated two years, and the business which it had heretofore been the duty of the proprietors through their officers and com- mittees to perform, such as the opening and repair of ways, &c., now devolved upon the municipal officers of the town. There was therefore no longer any need of the Proprietary except to close up its affairs as a corporation, with the details of which the public are not specially interested.
CHAPTER XI.
The Grantees of No. 4, of 1771, with Brief References to the Gran- tees of 1735-6.
A brief sketch of the grantees of 1771, at the close of their records, seems appropriate in this connection. About half of these were also grantees of the township between the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers, petitioned for in 1735 and granted the year follow- ing. In the following sketches, brief mention is also made of most of the original proprietors who had either deceased, become super- annuated or assigned their rights prior to the grant of 1771. These grantees were among the most substantial citizens of Watertown, Newton and Cambridge, and also of Worcester, They included ministers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, farmers, mechanics and gentlemen of leisure, but as only one of them ever settled upon the
52
HISTORY OF PARIS.
grant, it is probable they became grantees rather as a matter of speculation, than from any desire to leave their comfortable homes for the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life.
CAPT. JOSHUA FULLER was the son of Lt. Jeremiah and Mary Fuller of Newton, Mass., and was born there April 12, 1703. His grandfather John Fuller born 1611, was at Cambridge Village now Newton, in 1644, and among the first settlers. It is not known that he was any relation to the Plymouth county families of this name. Joshua Fuller married Anna Stevens of Waltham for a second wife in 1746, by whom he had five children. His name is on the petition for a grant of land in 1735, and heads the petition for a renewal of the grant in 1771. He was also interested in other land grants. Twenty-one of the descendants of John Fuller served in the war of the Revolution. He (Joshua) died August 23, 1777.
JONATHAN WILLIAMS, JR., was a grantee on the right of his grandfather Ensign John Spring. He was the son of Jonathan and Deborah (Spring) Williams, and was born Nov. 5, 1744. He married Mrs. Sarah Spring in 1767, and took the homestead. He died in 1776, aged 39 years. His father Jonathan Sen., also a grantee named elsewhere, was the son of Isaac and Martha (Whit- man) Spring and grandson of Capt. Isaac and Martha (Park) Spring whose father was Robert of Roxbury, the emigrant ancestor of a very distinguished family.
THOMAS GREENWOOD was born to John and Hannah (Trowbridge) Greenwood, January 28, 1696. His grandfather, Thomas, a weaver, settled in Newton in 1667, then aged 24 years. Dea. Thomas Greenwood, the grantee of Paris, was a prominent citizen ; was Deacon, Captain, Justice of the Peace, town clerk, selectman, and for several terms a member of the General Court. By wife Lydia, he had five children and deceased at Newton in 1774. His name appears among the grantees in 1735.
EBENEZER STEARNS was a descendant of Isaac who early came to Watertown and is the common ancestor of the Stearns family of New England. Ebenezer, the grantee, was the son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Dix), and was born in Watertown, July 24, 1704. He was by trade a clothier and moved to Worcester. He married Apr. 12, 1737, Mary Spring of Newton. He died in Worcester in Sept. 1777. He was a grantee of 1735.
: OAKES ANGIER; son of Ephraim and grandson of Rev. Samuel ;
53
HISTORY OF PARIS.
Angier of Watertown, married Abigail Coolidge of Watertown in 1730. He purchased the public house of Samuel Jackson, Esq., in 1731, at Newton Corner which afterwards became "Angier Corner." He had no children and died in 1782, aged 85 years.
THOMAS QUINER was of Watertown where he married Sarah Warren in January, 1736-7. He was a grantee in 1735 and also in 1771.
STEPHEN HARRIS was a grantee on the right of his father Thomas Harris of Dorchester, who married Lucy Pierce of Watertown in 1745. Stephen was born May 24, 1762, and was consequently only nine years of age when he became a grantee of No. 4.
DAVID SANGER became a grantee in 1771, on the right of his father, David Sanger son of John and Rebecca (Parks) Sanger and grandson of Richard Sanger of Hingham, Sudbury and Watertown, a blacksmith who married Mary Runnels. David, Jr., was born May 23, 1756, and married Grace Sanger in 1788.
PETER DURELL of French descent was a grantee in 1771. His descendants are in Paris and are given at length in Family Sketches.
SAMUEL JACKSON was a grantee in 1771, on the right of Capt. Samuel Jackson whose name headed the list of grantees of 1735. Capt. Samuel was probably the son of Deacon Edward, and married Borodell, daughter of Capt. John and Hannah (Staunton) Jackson. He deceased prior to 1755. The later grantee may have been his son. They were of the Newton family of Jacksons and not known to be related to Lemuel Jackson, our early settler.
LIEUT. ISAAC JACKSON who was a grantee of 1771, on the right of his father, who died in 1769, was the son of Isaac and Ruth (Green- wood) Jackson, and was born May 9, 1732. He married Jemima Jones in 1758, who died in 1767; he afterwards married Sarah Cheney, and in 1777, Mary Hammond. He was a soldier in the French war and in the Revolution. He died in 1795.
THADDEUS TROWBRIDGE who became a grantee in 1771, on the right of his father Dea. William Trowbridge, who was a grantee of 1735, and died in 1744, aged 60 years. Thaddeus, above, married Mary Craft, Nov. 20, 1749, and took the old homestead. He died in 1777, aged 49. His father, Dea. William was a large slave holder.
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.