History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 101

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100

USA > Maine > Penobscot County > History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 101

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).

Kingman is completely intersected from east to west by the Mattawamkeag River. This enters from Drew Plantation about two miles from the southeast corner of Kingman, makes a bend to the northward a little, nearly touching the railroad at Crossuntic Station, passing along the south front of Kingman village, and out of the town less than one and one-half miles from the southwest cor- ner. Two miles below Kingman, on this stream, at a locality known as Sowtaradi, is the extensive Shataruck Boom, which can hold four to six millions of feet in logs at one time.

About three-fourths of a mile before reaching King- man village the Mattawamkeag receives a tributary, the Crossuntic Stream, coming almost straight from Macwa- hoc Plantation, and one-third of a mile above this another small tributary, coming in from Prentiss at the southeast corner of Kingman, and flowing most of its course near the east line, joins the Mattawamkeag. Half a mile be- fore leaving the town the river is swelled by the vastly more important affluent, the Molunkus Stream, which enters from Macwahoc at the northwest corner of King-

man, makes a slight bend across into Mattawamkeag, thence back into the town, and on south with a straight, broad current to the river.

The chief thoroughfare of Kingman is, of course, the European & North American Railway, which passes through the town near the north bank of the river, nearly east and west, making a station at Kingman vil- lage, and "Crossuntic Station," two and four-fifths miles east of that-a mere occasional stopping-place to accom- modate loggers and others in the woods. From the west end of the village a road goes off up the Molunkus and into Macwahoc near the northwest corner of that town. Nearly all the country settlement in Kingman is on this road, and mainly on the east side of it. From the mid- dle of the village a road crosses the Mattawamkeag and runs off southeastward across a corner of Webster Plan- tation into Prentiss. Another road from Prentiss across Drew Plantation strikes the river nearly opposite Cross- untic Station. Short roads also extend east and west from the village.

Kingman village is one and one-half miles from the west side of the town, and two from the east side; a little more than three miles from the north line, and over two miles from the south boundary. It is a long and narrow site, stretched along the north bank of the Mattawam- keag. A principal element in its growth the last ten years has been the establishment here of the extensive sole-leather tannery of Messrs. F. Shaw & Bros., with a long row of cottages for their workmen. The tannery and the railroad have mainly developed Kingman. Here, or in the neighborhood, are also several saw- and shingle- mills; and the usual stores and shops, with the post-office and school-house, are included in the place. The hotel here is the Kingman House.

This town is known in the surveys as Township No. 6, in the fourth range north of the Bingham Purchase. The Waterston and Pray Purchase, in this region, included nine hundred acres in the north and east part of the present Kingman. The rest of the town formed a part of the appropriation made many years ago by Massachusetts, in pursuance of the liberal system of grants then prevail- ing, to aid the town of Camden, then in Lincoln but now in Knox county, to build a bridge over the Ducktrap Stream. Settlement got into this remote region very slowly, however. It is said, indeed, that the settlement of this territory dates only from 1864. The tract was still a dense and comparatively unbroken forest in 1859, when, on Independence Day of that year, it received its first municipal organization as the McCrillis Plantation. For nearly seven years it existed under this designation, and then, March 28, 1866, perhaps from the date of the

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

former incorporation, it became Independence Plantation. There were still but few settlers, and another seven years were yet to pass before their number would warrant the erection of a town. Finally, in 1873, the improved prospects of the Plantation, especially at the village, jus- tified emergence from the chrysalis state; and on the 25th of January, of that year, the decisive step was taken which made it a town under the present name. This title. was given in honor of Mr. R. S. Kingman, junior member of the firm of Shaw & Kingman, predecessors at the village of the firm of F. Shaw & Brothers, in the tannery and mercantile business.

We have no census returns of this tract back of 1870. In that year "Independence Plantation" had 185 people. At the last census (1880), Kingman town had a popula- tion of 546-an increase, as before noted, of 361. The polls in 1870 numbered 16; in 1880, 165. Estates in these years, $30,677, $75,455-in the former case a val- uation quite large, in proportion to the population or number of voters.

The principal manufactory in Kingman is, of course, the great tannery at the village. There are also in the town one steam-mill and shingle-factory, one shingle- and lumber-mill, one shingle-machine, one harness-maker, one carriage-maker, two smiths, one large dry goods and grocery store, and three general stores. There is one resident lawyer.

The following-named are the town officers for this year (1881): Curtis Beatham, James S. Richardson, Al- mon Leavitt, Selectmen; Almon Leavitt, Town Clerk; H. A. Smith, Treasurer; Curtis Beatham, S. L. Rodgers, C. L. Goodwin, Constables; A. Leavitt, O. W. Beatham, Erastus Doble, School Committee ;. J. E. Estes, W. S. Smith, Justices (trial). Mr. W. F. Staples is the King- man Postmaster.

The town is fairly supplied with schools. Until re- cently the Union League Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, was in existence here; but there are just now no public or semi-public societies in the town.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF SETTLERS.

F. W. Campbell, of Kingman, was born March 13, 1828. He is a son of Robert and Mary Campbell, of the Province of New Brunswick. Robert Campbell was a son of Tamberland Campbell, a native of Scotland. He was a soldier in Wolfe's army at Quebec. Robert and Mary Campbell had twelve children-Michael, now in the Province of New Brunswick; Sally, deceased; Hattie Ann, deceased; Mary, wife of Thomas E. Simon- son, of New Brunswick; Julia, wife of William Simonson; Charlotte, now Mrs. H. House, of Frankfort, Maine; George, now in New Brunswick, a Baptist clergyman; Wellington, deceased; Frederick W .; Sophia, now Mrs. L. H. Wright, of New Brunswick; Henry A., deceased; Amanda, deceased. Mr. Campbell lived and died in New Brunswick, his death occurring in 1878. Mrs. Campbell died in 1869. F. W. Campbell was reared on the farm in New Brunswick till of age. He first en- gaged in milling, principally working in saw-mills, follow- ing the business for about six years, when he went to

farming in New Brunswick. He lived there until 1861, when he moved to Frankfort, where he lived about eight years engaged in farming. In 1870 he moved to his present place in Kingman. He lives about one mile north of Kingman. He married for his first wife Miss Louisa Branning, of New Brunswick. By her he had four children-Martha; Robert, deceased; John F., and Jarvis. Mrs. Campbell died in 1855, and Mr. Camp- bell married for his second wife Miss Clara Staples, of Sedgwick, Maine. They have had one child that died in infancy. Mr. Campbell was Deputy Sheriff in New Brunswick; also Town Counselor for some time.

William Horton, of Kingman, is a son of John and Sarah Horton (nee Sarah Day). They were from Halifax. John and Sarah Horton had eight children-Benjamin, deceased; John, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased; William; Sarah, wife of William Trecarton, of Carlton, New Brunswick; Fannie, widow of John Pangburn, of Carl- ton, New Brunswick; Henry, now in Massachusetts; Bar- bara A., deceased. Mr. Horton died in 1848, and Mrs. Horton is still living in New Brunswick. William Hor- ton was born January 9, 1838, at Halifax, Nova Scotia. His father was a seafaring man, and the boys were reared on a farm until William was ten years old, when his father died and the farm was sold. William, at the age of ten, went to sea, and followed it with his uncle until he was fifteen. He then left the sea and came to New Brunswick and worked in the saw-mills and logging woods for two years, when he fitted out boats and fished two years. He came to the States in 1859, having mar- ried Miss Eleanor McFadden the year before. He then settled where he now lives, it being then a wilderness with but two settlers in town, built a log-house, and cleared up his present farm. He now has a very good set of farm buildings and a good farm. To this couple have been born three sons-David Henry, John Leslie, and Wil- liam Guy. He has 188 acres in his farm. He was burned out in 1862 and lost all his buildings.

Captain James H. Boyd, of Kingman, was born in Bristol, Maine, May 11, 1826. His parents, James and Sarah Boyd (nce Sarah Chamberlain), had six children, viz : John, deceased; James H .; Archibald, now in Bangor; Rodney, also in Bangor; Elizabeth, deceased; Caroline, deceased, wife of Henry Treat, of Bangor. James Boyd died at Frankfort October 15, 1858. Mrs. Boyd died October 16, 1871. James H. Boyd, the second son of this family, lived with his parents on the farm until he was fourteen years of age, when he went to sea. He followed the sea and engaged in steamboating until 1849, when he went to California. He became mate and finally captain of a vessel. He made foreign voyages mostly. He remained on the Pacific coast until 1870, engaged in steamboating on the Columbia River as mate and captain, also in mining and tanning. During this time he was six years in Idaho. In 1870 he re- turned to Bangor and built a steam mill at Mattawam- keag, where he remained three years, when he came to Kingman and built the steam mill on the river near Kingman. Here he has since lived, engaged in the manufacture of short lumber. He married for his first

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wife Miss Mary T. Miller, daughter of General Miller, of Bangor. She died in 1863. Mr. Boyd married for his second wife Miss Lizzie Savary. They have no chil- dren.

James L. Scott, son of John Scott, of New Brunswick, who was born in the United States, married Joan Han- son, of New Brunswick, by whom he had eleven children: Mark, Phebe, Mary, Moses, Fannie, Luther M., Ruth, William, John, Calvin, James, and one that died. in in- fancy. James L. Scott died in 1851, and his wife in 1854, both in Chester, Maine, having settled in the county in 1824. Luther Scott, the third son, was born

March 8, 1818, in New Brunswick, and went to Bangor, Maine, with his parents, when six years of age. They moved thence to Oldtown, and in 1831 settled in Ches- ter. When a young man Luther Scott went to Wood- ville and engaged in farming and lumbering, returning to Chester after a few years, where he lived twenty-six years. In 1878 he moved to Kingman, where he now lives. He married Caroline Smith, of Chester, and had a family of ten children, three of whom are deceased: John, died in the army; David S., William W. Henry H., Alvin B., Millard F., Alonzo B., Thomas J., Franklin P., Lillian M., and Clara A.

LAGRANGE.

DESCRIPTIVE NOTES.

Lagrange is the largest organized town in the county, save Lincoln and Burlington, and is very nearly as large as the latter, having the same length, but differing by a slightly less width. It is bounded on the north by Med- ford, Piscataquis county; on the west by the whole length of Orneville, Piscataquis county, and about half the length of Bradford, Penobscot county; on the south by Alton and a corner of Argyle; and on the east by the whole western breadth of Howland and the entire length of Argyle. It is not quite a regular parallelogram, the sides not being precisely of equal length and the angles consequently not exactly right angles. A slight jog also occurs on the east line, over two and one-half miles from the northeast corner, just at the southwest corner of Howland, by which the line is carried about one-fifth of a mile to the eastward, widening the rest of the town by so much. The south boundary is five and one-eighth miles long, and this width narrows but by an almost impercepti- ble amount for five and one-half miles north, until the jog is reached, where the town is a trifle less than five miles wide, and narrows still further to four and five-sixths on the north line. The west line of Lagrange is its longest boundary, being eight and one-third miles long. The length shortens a very little going eastward, and is but eight miles on a line drawn straight from the north- east corner. The town, however, contains over forty square miles, or between twenty-five and thirty thousand acres. It is fifteen miles due north of Bangor, and five miles from the Penobscot River on the south line of Edinburg. The Bangor & Piscataquis Railroad runs for nearly six miles in this town, entering from Alton not quite two miles from the southwest corner of Lagrange, running west of north to South Lagrange Station and post-office, about three-fourths of a mile from the south

line of the town, at the intersection of the only two im- portant roads in this part of the town; thence four miles further to Lagrange village, and about a mile beyond passing out of the town into Orneville. This road is of great service and convenience to the people of this region. Nearly parallel with it almost to the county line is the wagon-road which comes in from Alton upon the gentle elevation or "horseback," continuing through these towns. The highway runs through Lagrange village, and by a general north course thence to the north line of the town, where it passes into Medford. It is the only highway that completely traverses the town in any direc- tion. At South Lagrange a branch starts off at right angles toward the southwest corner of this town, where it crosses into Bradley. The narrow strip of territory which it crosses, between the town line and a stream run- ning from north to south a little distance from it, is known in local parlance as "the Gore." It is wholly uninhabited. This brook is the Dead Stream, which heads near the county line about a mile and a quarter northwest of Lagrange village, and flows about five miles to the south line, where it runs into Alton, receiv- ing a small tributary two miles above its exit. At the village a road runs off eastward with a straight track for about two miles, when it ends near the East Branch of the Birch Stream. This heads in the north central part of the town, and runs south and southwestward four and one-half miles to a junction with the West Branch within two-thirds of a mile of School No. 3. The West Branch rises in the northwest part of the town, and flows about eight miles southward. Below the junction the Birch Stream broadens considerably, and runs about two miles to the south line, where it passes out of the town and forms the boundary between Alton and Argyle. At the cemetery just east of Lagrange village, a well-settled

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

road runs off to the northeast, forking into two branches at the edge of Howland, half a mile below the northeast corner of Lagrange. A mile north of the village a road rurs a short way west into Orneville, and a mile further another highway runs east half a mile, and thence east of north to its departure from the town on the Medford line. A mile and a half from its beginning it crosses a small brook which has three little headwaters a mile or more east of the road, and a petty tributary west of it, and also crosses, when perhaps a third of a mile from the county line, another small tributary flowing from a pond at the southwestward a mile and a half to a junction with the main stream somewhat nearer the line. Near the northeast corner of the Hoyt Brook comes in from Med- ford, and flows near the east line to its exit across the corner of Howland into Edinburg. Running alongside of it, southwesterly, at one to two miles' distance, is the Hemlock Stream, which heads about one-third of a mile south of the pond aforesaid, and after near six miles' run passes into Edinburg. The banks of this stream, and indeed the whole central and southern parts of the eastern half of Lagrange, are as yet unsettled. The land is in fertile meadow, very valuable for hay and the like. -The road along the "horseback" is thickly settled al- most to the north line of the town. The settlement is naturally densest about the cross-roads at Lagrange post- office. This place is near the east line of the town, al- most exactly half-way down its length. The Town House is here, also Free Baptist and Union churches, a public school-house, and the usual stores and shops; with important mills. There is also a grocery store at the South Lagrange Station and post-office, kept by the post- master and station-keeper, Mr. J. P. Stearns.

The soil of Lagrange is rather superior, in comparison with the rest of the county, and the surface generally level enough, and well-timbered. Lumbering has con- sequently been long a prominent industry in the town ; though large amounts of wheat and other kinds of grain are grown by the agriculturists. The broad, low ridge extending through the town from north to south, and known as the "horseback," is wholly occupied by excel- lent farms.

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY .*

To write the history of a town that shall be strictly true as to date and incident, after a lapse of three-score years, is next to impossible. One man will fix the date of a certain event in the year 1821, for instance; another will fix the date of the same event in the year 1820; and the third, with equal positiveness, will fix the date in the year 1822. Now, it is certain that but one of them is correct, and barely possible neither of them; hence the reader of the following brief history of the early settlement of the town of Lagrange is most respectfully asked to exercise that charity that "thinketh no evil," and charge such errors, if any exist, to the head, and not to the heart.

MORE DESCRIPTION.

Within the corporate limits of the town of Lagrange, as per act of incorporation dated February 11, 1832, is embraced what was then known as the plantations of Oxford and Hammond, bounded on the north by Kil- marnock (now called Medford), on the east by Howland and Township One (now called Edinburg), on the west by Bradford and Milton (now called Orneville), and on the south by Township No. 3 (now Alton). It contains about thirty-four thousand acres. Its general surface is remarkably level; nothing like a mountain, or even a hill sufficiently elevated above the surrounding country to attract the eye of the traveler, is to be seen. Its surface waters are conveyed slowly towards the great Atlantic reservoir by Dead, Birch, and Hemlock Streams, and by Cold Brook.

PRIMITIVE TIMES.

At the time of the advent of the white man, all these streams literally swarmed with spotted trout, which were caught in large numbers and highly prized as a nu- tritious and healthy food by the pioneers.

Before the sound of the woodman's axe ever resounded through its forests, the entire town was covered with a heavy growth of pine, spruce, hemlock, fir, and hard wood. It was most emphatically a timber township. Here in these dark forests the stately moose, the shy deer, and the yet more timid caribou roamed at pleasure, raised their young, and selected their camping grounds for the winter, with their inalienable rights uninvaded, save only by "Lo, the poor Indian." Here on these streams the industrious beaver felled his timber and built his dam, traces of which are plainly visible at the present day. Here, too, in these dark forests roamed the black bear at pleasure, often paying his compliments to the early settlers in midnight raids into their oat- and corn- fields.

THE FIRST IMPROVEMENTS.

Years before any permanent settlement was made, Jo- siah Bennock, Esq., of Orono, cleared several acres of land on lot number thirty-eight, on the east side of the Bennock road, now so called, which was the first land cleared, and seeded it to grass, that he might cut hay to be used in his lumber operations on Dead Stream.

About the year 1820, a road was laid out by the State from some point in Orono through Township No. 3 (now Alton), and the Plantations of Oxford and Hammond (now Lagrange). This was located on the " horseback," so called, which forms the divide between the waters of Dead and Birch Streams. That part of the road south of the north line of Lots No. 51 was built by Mr. Bennock ; and from that time to the present it has been called the Bennock road, while that part north of said Lots 51 has been called the State road.

THE PIONEERS.

In 1821 Captain John Freese entered upon Lot No. 14 in Hammond, being the corner lot in the plantation on the west side of the State road. He felled a few acres of trees, cleared the land in the spring of 1822, put in his crop, built his log cabin, and moved his family

"The remainder of this sketch, except the biographies, has been most kindly contributed by Pliny B. Soule, Esq., one of the Lagrange pio- neers, and for more than a generation a Justice of the Peace and other- wise a prominent citizen at Lagrange village. Posterity, as well as the present generation, owes a debt of gratitude to this gentleman, for his painstaking care in the preparation of this part of our History.

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into it in the fall of 1822. In June of that year David Hinkley and Orrin Fuller, both of Livermore, came here. Mr. Hinkley settled upon Lot No. 50, upon the east side of the Bennock road, and Mr. Fuller upon Lot No. I, in the Williamson square, so called, on the east side of the State road. As there are no plantation records for refer- ence, it is very difficult ascertaining who were the next settlers ; but it is remembered that Hatsell Delano, Hugh P. Kealliher, Welcome and Zadok Bishop, and Simeon Bryer were among the earliest settlers. Mr. Bryer located in 1824, upon Lot No. 1, in the first range of lots adjoining Kilmarnock, now Medford. Nathaniel Foy, David Hoyt, and John Gray were among the very early settlers.

FIRST THINGS.

Rev. Mr. Reed, of the Methodist Episcopal church, preached the first sermon, in the log cabin of Zadok Bishop.

The first child born in the settlement was a girl, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hatsell Delano.

The first male child born within the limits of the town was named David Hoyt, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. David Hoyt.

The first school was taught by Miss Mary Lindsey, of Livermore, in a little room in Zadok Bishop's cabin.

A very pleasant rivalry existed for some time between Mr. Hinkley and Mr. Fuller as to who should build the first framed buildings. The former, who is still living at the ripe age of eighty-four years, often uses the prefix " I says," when relating anything he said on a former oc- casion. So in this instance he relates it in this way : "I says, 'Orrin, you needn't fret nor chafe nor hurry, for I shall raise the first house, and I shall raise the first barn, and I shall get married first, and I shall have the first baby,'" -- all of which assertions time proved to be true.

The first saw-mill was built about the year 1827, upon the site and on the same mud-sills upon which the saw- inill now stands on Dead Stream.

THE GREAT DROUGHT AND FIRE.

In 1825 occurred the great fire that swept over Eastern Maine, destroying crops, houses, barns, mills, and many thousand acres of valuable timber lands. . So severe and protracted was the drought that the tops of the trees in the valleys of Birch, Hemlock, and Dead Streams, where the growth was mostly hemlock, spruce, fir, cedar, and juniper, with here and there a pine, had become so dry that the fire was driven through them by a strong wind with almost railroad speed. There was no fire on the earth beneath till it fell from the tops of the trees above. Every reasonable measure that self-preservation or inge- nuity could suggest to save life or property was resorted to. Holes were dug in the earth, and wearing apparel and bedding buried below the reach of fire. Barrels, tubs, and pails were filled with water, though in some in- stances it had to be carried quite a distance, and placed near the log cabins. Swabs were made and fastened to the end of long poles, with which to wet the roofs should the cabins take fire. After the fire had spent its fury and the smoke cleared away. look in whatever direction you

would, it was one wide scene of blackness and ruin, save a little green spot here and there, an oasis amid the black- ness and surrounding desolation. It required firmness and decision to remove this black mass of timber and make the earth bud and blossom like the rose; but the hardy pioneers were equal to this and every other emer- gency.

A SAD TRAGEDY.

About seventy years ago (the exact time cannot be as- certained) any one standing where the Dirigo House now stands at Lagrange Corner, casting his eye south- ward along the spotted line which was the only guide the traveler had at that distant day, might have seen a wayfarer with a heavy pack upon his back, slowly beating his way against a cold, driving, northeast snow-storm. The cold was intense, and the wind blew a gale. The State road had not been located. Perhaps three or four families had settled on the intervales in Howland and Maxfield. A line had been spotted from what is now known as the State road, on the south line of the Ham- mond tract easterly to the Piscataquis River. A line had also been spotted from what is now Lagrange Cor- ner in a northeasterly direction to intersect the line above referred to. The anxious traveler reaches the" corner, pauses a moment evidently to decide upon what course to take, turns to the right, and with all his strength and energy urges his way onward.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 101

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co. Number of Pages: 1100

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100