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 6
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JOSIAH BROWN was a proprietor of No. 4, on the right, of his father Dea. William Brown, who was a grantee in 1735. Wm.
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
Brown was the youngest son of Jonathan and Mary (Shattuck) Brown, and grandson of Capt. Abraham Brown or Browne, one of the first settlers in Watertown. Wm. Brown ante, married Hannah Pease of Cambridge, and second, Sarah Bond. His son Josiah, the grantee, born Aug. 2, 1724, was of Waltham, where he was a prominent citizen. His wife was Hannah Flagg. He died March 16, 1776.
JOSIAH GODDARD born July 12, 1701, in Watertown, was the son of Josiah and Rachel (Davis) Goddard, and married in 1730, Mary Bigelow. He moved to Newton and had a family there. He was the grandson of Wm. Goddard, a former citizen and grocer of Lon- don and an early resident of Watertown.
WILLIAM PARK appears to have been a grantee in his own right and also on the right of his father, Richard Park, who married Sarah Fuller in 1717. William, the grantee, was born Feb. 16, 1718, and his wife was Lucy Fuller. The name was very common in Newton a hundred years ago.
THOMAS FROST was an original grantee and also in 1771. He was probably of Waltham, but we have not been able to trace his lineage.
THADDEUS TROWBRIDGE who became a grantee in the right of his father Dea. William, had a second right, that of his uncle, Rev. Caleb Trowbridge, who graduated at Harvard College in 1710, married Sarah Oliver and the same year was ordained at Groton. He was the son of Dea. James and Margaret (Atherton) Trow- bridge, was born Nov. 7, 1692, and died in 1760.
SAMUEL JACKSON became a grantee in the right of his father Edward and Mary (Gale) Jackson. He was born April 16, 1737, and married Lois Woodward in 1763. He died in July, 1801. Edward Jackson, the father, who had the right in 1735, was the son of Edward and Mary Jackson, was born Oct. 1, 1698, and died in 1738.
DAVID COOLIDGE, an innholder who married Mary Mixer, was born to Thomas and Sarah (Eddy) Coolidge, January 25, 1705. He was a grantee 1735 and 1771.
EZEKIEL WHITNEY became a grantee in the right of his uncle David Whitney, who was born to John and Abigail (Hagar) Whit- ney, June 16, 1697, and who had died prior to 1745. Ezekiel was the son of John and Susan Whitney, and was baptized April 12,
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
1741. He married April 13, 1768, Catharine Draper of Roxbury, and lived in Watertown.
JOHN STOWELL was of Newton and bought land there of James Barton in 1722. By wife Sarah, he had Sarah, James, Benjamin, Hezekiah who went to Worcester, Jerusha and David. He moved to Watertown and several of the younger children were born there. He was a constable in Watertown in 1737. He probably had brothers Daniel, David, Israel and Isaac. They were probably from Charlestown. Our Stowells are of the same race.
EPHRAIM BURRIDGE (or Burrage) was a proprietor in the right of his father John, who married Lydia Ward in 1718, and died in 1745. John, Jr., lived in Newton, and by wife Sarah had seven children born there. Ephraim, the grantee married Elizabeth Sever in 1767.
WILLIAM PARK who was a grantee in his own right, was the son of Lieut. Richard and Sarah (Cutter) Park. The date of his birth is unknown, nor have we any record of his family.
DAVID LIVERMORE who appears to have been an original grantee and again in 1771, cannot readily be traced. There was a David in Watertown, a blacksmith, born 1714-15, but he is said to have died in 1756. It is possible that the grantee may have been Daniel instead of David, who was the son of Daniel and Mehitable, born in 1707, and a resident of Weston.
JONATHAN WILLIAMS was a grantee in the right of William Williams who was the son of Capt. Isaac Williams, Jr., and was born in 1690. Jonathan Williams married Deborah, daughter of Ensign John Spring, who was the son of Isaac and Martha Whit- man Spring, and was born in 1711. His son Jonathan Williams, Jr., was also a grantee in the right of John Spring, as stated else- where.
JOSIAH MIXER was of Waltham. He was born Nov. 16, 1716, and married first Mary Garfield, and second Mrs. Sarah Mead. He was the son of Joseph and Anna (Jones) Mixer, and grandson of Isaac who took the oath of fidelity at Watertown in 1652; his wife was Mary Coolidge to whom he was married in 1655. This Isaac was the son of Isaac the emigrant who came from Ipswich, England, in 1634, and was a proprietor of Watertown.
JONATHAN LEARNED, Sen., who married Hannah White, was born in Watertown, Sept. 15, 1708, and was the son of Thomas who
1
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
married Mary Mason. His son Jonathan, was a proprietor in 1771, on the right of Ebenezer Goddard, as stated elsewhere.
SAMUEL HYDE or Hide, was the son of Nehemiah and IIannah (Murdock) Hyde of Newton, and was born Oct. 8, 1731. He married Mary King of Cambridge in 1765, and died in 1790. He became a grantee on the right of Richard King, who was a grantee in 1735. Richard King was a carpenter in Watertown in 1740. Six years subsequently, he moved to Scarboro, Me., and became a wealthy lumber exporter. He married first, Isabella Blagden of York, and second, Mary Black of the same town. He was the father of Rufus King, the eminent statesman, of William King, the first governor of Maine, and of Cyrus King, an eminent lawyer formerly of Saco. The wife of Samuel Hyde was doubtless a rela- tive of Richard King.
WILLIAM COOLIDGE, JR., was born Oct. 2, 1749, and married Mary Bridge. He was a grantee in the right of Joseph Allen, and died in 1779. His grandfather was Dea. John Coolidge who married Margaret Bond in 1699. Joseph Allen was probably the son of John Allen of Sudbury, who married Abigail, daughter of John Myrick of Charlestown, at Watertown, May 5, 1687.
CAPT. WILLIAM COOLIDGE was a grantee on the right of his father Dea. John Coolidge. He was born March 13, 1712-13, and married Elizabeth Brown in 1743.
BENJAMIN BOND was a grantee in 1735 and also in 1771, was probably the son of William and Mary (Learned) Bond of Water- town. He was born in 1715, and if he is the grantee of 1735, he was then but 22 years of age. He married Abigail Mixer and resided in Weston. His father died in 1745, and he administered on the estate. His brother William was a soldier in the old French and Indian wars.
JAMES DIX, son of John and Mary (Lawrence) Dix, was born Oct. 13, 1716, and died Apr. 19, 1801. He married in 1743, Sarah Bond, and was a trader in Watertown. He afterwards lived in Milford, Grafton, Northboro, Holden, Marlboro, and died in Sud- bury. He was the father of Dr. Elijah Dix of Worcester in 1770, and of Boston in 1795, born August 14, 1747, who was much inter- ested in Eastern lands, was chief proprietor and gave his name to two of our Maine towns, Dixfield and Dixmont. Dr. Dix married Mary Lynde and had eight children, all born in Worcester. The
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
grandfather of James Dix was Edward who embarked at Gravesend, in 1635, aged 19 years, and came to Watertown among the earliest settlers.
DANIEL ROBBINS was probably the son of Daniel Robbins of Cambridge whose wife was Hannah Trowbridge. If so, he was born January 10, 1733. His father was an original grantce.
JAMES HAY Who represented the right of Richard Coolidge, was a leather dresser of Watertown, and his wife was Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Richard and Mary (Trowbridge) Coolidge.
CAPT. JOSEPH COOLIDGE, son of Isaac and Hannah ( Morse) Cool- idge, born Apr. 22, 1726, married January 26, 1745, Elizabeth Frost. He was of Sherburne, Mass.
JOSIAH FULLER, son of Josiah, born Oct. 24, 1739, married Anna Priest of Waltham in 1761, and second Eunice, daughter of Capt. Joshua Fuller. He died in 1825, aged 84 years. Capt. Joshua, his second wife's father was the person whose name appears at the head of the grantees of 1771.
SAMUEL SHATTUCK was the son of Dr. Joseph and Mary (Ladd) Shattuck and was born in Watertown, May 29, 1716. His grand- father, William Shattuck, was an early settler of Watertown.
NATHANIEL SMITH, son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Church) Smith, born Oct. 22, 1723, was probably afterwards of Groton and then of Marlboro'.
WILLIAM COOLIDGE. He was of Waltham and married Mary Brown of Watertown, in 1743. His son William, Jr .. was an early settler in Livermore. Several of this family settled in Jay and Dix- field but none came to Paris. They all descended from John Cool- idge, who was made a freeman in Watertown in 1636.
AMOS LIVERMORE was a proprietor of Number Four on the right of his father, Oliver Livermore, son of Daniel and Mary (Coolidge) Livermore, born March. 11, 1697-8. Oliver Livermore married Ruth, daughter of Samuel Stearns, and Amos the 7th child was born July 28, 1737. He was a descendant of John Livermore, who came to New England from Ipswich, England, in 1634, aged 28 years. Of this descent was Dea. Elijah Livermore, who was an early settler in Livermore and gave his name to the town.
NATHANIEL COOLIDGE became a proprietor on the right of his uncle Thaddeus, who was the son of Richard and Mary (Bond)
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
Coolidge, born Oct. 6, 1710 and died Aug. 3, 1744. Nathaniel, above-named, an innholder, was the son of Nathaniel, who was born in March, 1701-2, married Grace Bowman and died in 1766. Nathaniel, Jr., was born Dec. 7, 1728, married Dorothy Whitney and was also an innkeeper at Watertown Bridge from 1764 to 1770.
ELISHA LEARNED became a proprietor in 1771, on the right of his father, David Learned, an original grantee. who was the son of Thomas and Mary (Mason) Learned, and born Feb. 10, 1710-11, a miller in Watertown, married Sarah Mixer July 22, 1730. Elisha was born Aug. 12, 1737 and in 1763, married Mary Bemis.
SAMUEL RANDALL, born Nov. 12, 1711, was the grandson of Serg't John Randall, by wife Susanna, and son of Samuel, born March 20, 1668-9, who married Elizabeth Gleason of Cambridge, in 1708. Serj. John above-named, was probably the son of Widow Elizabeth Randall, who died in Watertown, Dec. 24, 1672, aged 80 years. Our grantee perhaps moved to Waltham.
GEORGE HARRINGTON was the son of John and Hannalı (Winter) Harrington and his wife was a Parker, daughter of James of Groton. He was of Watertown. His son George, born March 16, 1717-18, married Rebecca Allen in 1740 and lived in Weston. Both were grantees in 1735 and again in 1771. Their ancestor was Robert Harrington, supposed to have been a relative of Dea. Thomas Hastings, the emigrant.
JOSIAH BISCOE was our early settler. He was a grantee in the right of his father, Thomas Biscoe, whose wife was Abigail Mason. Josiah Biscoe was the only one of the sixty original grantees who came to Paris. The final e in this name is often dropped. An account of him is given in Family Sketches.
EDMUND BARNARD was the son of Jonathan and Hannah (Stowell) Barnard, and was baptized July 3, 1743. He was a grantee in the right of his grandfather, Samuel Stowell.
GEORGE HARRINGTON, JR., was the son of George, Sen., above- named and was born March. 16, 1717-18. £ He married Rebecca Allen and lived in Brookfield. For second wife, he married Betsey Smith of Waltham.
NEHEMIAH MASON was born June 14, 1721, and died Aug. 6, 1776. His father, Joseph Mason, Esq., who married Mary Monk, was a tanner in Watertown. He was a Justice of the Peace and town
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
clerk and a useful man in the town. He died July 6, 1755. He was the son of Joseph and Mary (Fiske) Mason, and grandson of Capt. Hugh Mason, the emigrant, a tanner and one of the first residents of Watertown.
DANIEL BOND, who represented the right of his father of the same name, was born Nov. 25, 1723 and died in 1782. He married Sarah Gray, widow of James, and daughter of Henry Spring. They had twelve children.
ABRAHAM WHITNEY, whose father John Whitney was a grantee of 1735, was born Aug. 8, 1716, and married Tabitha Allen. He de- scended from John and Elinor Whitney who came from Ipswich, England, 1635, and was then aged 35 years. He settled in Water- town, and his descendants are very numerous.
JONATHAN LEARNED was a grantee in 1771, on the right of Eben- ezar Goddard who was one of the grantees of 1735. He was the son of Jonathan Learned who married Hannah White. He was born Oct. 12, 1731, and married Apr. 29, 1762, Susan Willis. Eben- ezer Goddard was born Oct. 30, 1696, and was son of William the emigrant. He married Abigail White. His family intermarried with the Learned family which may account for the transfer of the . claim.
WILLIAM DANA was a grantee in 1735 and 1771. He was a de- scendant of Richard Dana of Cambridge, who was the common an- cestor of all the New England Danas. William probably was of Cambridge.
REV. SETH STORER was the son of Col. Joseph and Hannah Storer of Wells, Me., where he was born May 26, 1702. He graduated at Harvard College and was ordained in Watertown in 1724. He died Nov. 27, 1774. Jonathan Bemis whose right he represented was the son of John and Mary (Harrington) Bemis, and grandson of Joseph the emigrant. He was born Nov. 17, 1701 and married Anna, daughter of Daniel and Mary Livermore.
EBENEZER BROWN of Waltham, was a grantee in 1735 and in 1771. His wife was Abigail Adams, perhaps of Lexington. He was the son of Dea. William and brother of Josiah already mentioned.
JONAS COOLIDGE who became a proprietor on the right of his father Jonas Coolidge, whose wife was Elizabeth Thornton of Watertown, was born in Newton Feb. 1, 1744.
NATHANIEL SPRING, son of William and Abigail (Coolidge) Spring
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
of Watertown, was born Aug. 26, 1715. He was a grantee in 1735 and in 1771. He married Martha, daughter of Isaac and Martha Williams, and moved to Worcester.
CHRISTOPHER GRANT, Jr., was a grantee in the right of his father who was probably the son of Joseph and Mary (Grafton) Grant. Christopher Jr., was born Feb. 4, 1743-4, and by wife Sarah had five children, all born in Watertown.
SAMUEL FULLER was a grantee on the right of his father, Isaac Fuller who was the son of John Fuller Jr., whose wife was Abigail Boylston. Isaac Fuller died in 1755, aged 61 years. Samuel was born Nov. 26, 1724, and in 1746 married Lydia Stearns.
NATHANIEL STONE, who was a grantee in 1735 and again in 1771, may have been that Nathaniel, one of the children of "Goodman" Stone who was baptized in the second church in Watertown, Nov. 20, 1709. No other traces of him are found in Watertown or Newton, and quite probably he resided elsewhere. There were two grantees in 1771 by the name of Nathaniel Stone. One of them was an officer of the organization, and the oath of office was administered to him in Middleboro, where he probably resided.
NATHANIEL STONE who was a grantee on the right of Moses Hast- ings, was probably the son of Lt. Isaac Stone of Framingham who. married Elizabeth Brown of Sudbury in 1722, and moved to Shrews- bury where Nathaniel was born in 1732. Nathaniel married Thank- ful, daughter of Jonathan Morse, and second the widow of Wm. Goddard of Westmoreland, N. H. Moses Hastings was born to Samuel Hastings of Watertown in 1715, and was married to Eliza- beth Taylor in 1739. He moved from Brookfield to Shrewsbury, and died there June 10, 1767 ; his widow married Samuel Bigelow in 1770.
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
CHAPTER XII.
A BRIEF RESUME.
In the preceding pages, after giving an epitome of early Maine History, the origin of our land titles and a sketch of Provincial grants, extracts from the Proprietor's records were given, showing that a grant of land was made in 1735-6 to Samuel Jackson and fifty-nine others, most of whom were residents of Watertown, New- ton and Waltham. The records do not show that this grant was a compensation for military services, and there is nothing in the origi- nal papers which indicate that it was made for any service either military or civil. The action of the General Court goes to show that it was simply a grant of land between the Merrrimac and Con- necticut rivers made to certain applicants, with certain specified conditions as to settlement and improvements ; this and nothing more. It has already been stated that the grant was made at a time when the boundary question between Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire was being agitated, and that the former hoped by occupying the territory before the question was decided, to hold a fee in the soil if not the territory as a part of her commonwealth. It has been shown that other townships were granted at the same time and in the same region for no other purpose than to secure their settlement, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is fair to presume that the grant to Samuel Jackson and his associates was made in the same way. Not only do the original grant and proprietors' records show this to have been the case, but in deeding their rights to settlers and others, the grantees made no reference whatever to military service as the basis of or reason for the grant, while the grantees of the Canada townships and others made for military ser- vices, almost invariably referred to it in their conveyances.
The records show that Samuel Jackson called his associates together and that they organized and held several meetings. Assess- ments were made on the rights from time to time, to meet the expen- ses of the committee appointed by the General Court for locating the township, and for lotting it out and doing the necessary work preliminary to a settlement. That the original grantees or many of them, intended to settle upon "township No. 4, located between Merrimac and Connecticut rivers," there can be no doubt. It has been shown that while they were making commendable efforts for
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
complying with the conditions of their grant, the long contested boundary question was settled against Massachusetts, and "No. 4," with thirty-six other townships granted by that Province were declared to be in New Hampshire. The grantees of No. 4 either could not or did not care to make terms with the Masonian proprie- tors, and so the matter of their grant was allowed to slumber for the space of thirty years.
It has been shown how, after the close of the French and Indian wars, and the interior of the then Province of Maine had been opened up for settlement, the surviving grantees of several of the New Hampshire townships, petitioned the General Court for eastern lands in lieu of those they had lost. The surviving grantees of No. 4 met in 1769, and reorganized. A committee headed by Joshua Fuller, was chosen to petition the General Court for a renewal of their grant, and their petition met with a favorable response. Whatever may have been the foundation of the original grant, there can be no doubt that that of 1771 was in lieu of the one lost by the settlement of the boundary question, for it was so stated in the peti- tion, and in every official document that emanated from the General Court relating to it, and no reference was made in any paper which would throw any light upon the cause of the original concession. It has been shown that a committee was chosen to locate and make a plan of the township granted, and that this having been done, the grant was confirmed by act of the Legislature. Then a committee was sent down to lot out the new No. 4, but before they had proceeded far with their work, it was discovered that the plan was all wrong and the surveyors were obliged to return with their task unaccom- plished. A new plan was made and a new confirmation obtained from the General Court, and it was not till 1773, that a new com- mittee accompanied by a surveyor, visited the township and lotted it out in accordance with the new and correct plan. The following year a road was cleared out between No. 4 and New Gloucester and arrangements were being made for securing settlers, when the war of the Revolution burst upon the country, and all minor matters were for the time being laid aside. No meeting of the proprietors was held between April, 1775, and September, 1777, and none at which any important business was transacted until March, 1779. Then the importance of hastening to comply with the terms of the grant was appreciated ; measures were taken for making roads and building mills in the township, a committee was chosen and made responsi-
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
ble by bonds and sureties, for procuring the requisite number of set- tlers, bounties were offered to the first families, and a tax of thirty pounds in silver money was assessed upon each right, to be used for the sole purpose of forwarding the settlement of the township. The committee obtained quite a number of settlers in Worcester county, but appear to have met with better success in the Old Colony, in the early settled towns of Plymouth, Middleboro', Bridgewater and Plympton, with a few from Taunton, Raynham and Wareham. Lem- uel Jackson of Middleboro', was a forehanded man for his time, and had a family of grown-up sons. He and his son-in-law, Dea. John Willis, made the first settlers' purchase in December, 1779. They doubtless felled trees in 1780, burned them and raised a crop of corn in 1781, and moved in with their families in 1782.
CHAPTER XIII.
SETTLED
AT LAST.
Probably no Plantation Organization in No. 4 .- The Records of the Proprietary Meager .- The First Settlers .- The Jacksons, John Willis and John Daniels .- Mrs. Marshall's Story .- Early Pur- chasers of Land.
Whether No. 4 ever had a plantation organization or not, we have no means of knowing ; if it had, no records of proceedings are now in existence, and it is quite probable that no such organiza- tion was ever had. The roads and bridges . appear to have been looked after by the proprietors up to the date of incorporation, and assessments were from time to time made to defray the expenses, and the only other necessary functions of a plantation would have been the assessment and collection of State and county taxes. A tax was assessed on the polls and estates of No. 4 by order of the Great and General Court in 1791, as the record elsewhere goes to show, but it was probably assessed and collected by a committee of the Proprietary. We have no evidence that any other tax was ever called for previous to the incorporation of the town, when the func- tions of the Proprietary except for the sale of lands and the collec- tion of debts, ceased. We shall therefore assume, in the absence of · all evidence to the contrary, that no plantation organization existed, and that the proprietors' records convey the only intelligence of the
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HISTORY OF PARIS.
public doings within the township, from its settlements until the question of incorporation began to be agitated in 1792, and these records, upon topics of general interest, are very meager. They are valuable so far as they go, but they do not supply the place of plantation records.
Had a plantation organization been effected in No. 4, its records would have been valuable as showing the number of persons taxed from year to year, and the financial standing of the early settlers. But in the absence of such records, we must rely for information as to when different early settlers came in, upon family tradition and upon the records of their titles to real estate. The early settlers have long since been dead and, in most instances, their children have followed them. The term "early settlers" in this history will gener- ally be restricted to those who came in prior to the incorporation of the town, though those who came subsequent to the incorporation and prior to the year eighteen hundred, might perhaps, with pro- priety be reckoned with this class of citizens.
The most reliable information we have as to the number of settlers a few months prior to the incorporation, is contained in the petition for an act of incorporation and the two remonstrances thereto. These may not contain the names of all the adult males in the town- ship, but as there appears to have been considerable excitement over the subject, it is fair to presume that nearly all signed one or the other of these petitions, and if so there were not far from eighty male inhabitants of the plantation of twenty-one years of age and upwards, in the autumn of 1792.
A hundred years or thereabouts, after the first settlement of any town, in the absence of positive information such as can be gained only by journals, diaries or other contemporaneous records, it is always a matter of some difficulty to ascertain precisely when the first settler or family. came in, and it is so in the case of Paris. There is little if any doubt that New Gloucester was the rallying point of the first settlers, as it was of several other towns in central and eastern Oxford county. New Gloucester with the exception of a few straggling settlers in Poland, was a border town, had been settled for forty or more years, and was incorporated in 1774. The early settlers of several interior Maine towns, came down from Massachu- setts, left their families at New Gloucester then penetrated the wilder- ness to the place designed to be their future homes, felled trees, . burned them, and then returned to New Gloucester to spend the
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