History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 118

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 118

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This town is remarkably covered with a network of roads. The Bucksport & Bangor Railroad makes an un- usual number of stations within it, as Arctic, North Orring- ton, Pierce's Crossing, Orrington, and South Orrington. The old river road, entering from Bucksport, traverses the northwest and west side a distance of nearly seven miles. The settlement of the town is mainly upon this highway,

which is almost a continuous village. It passes through North Orrington, Orrington, and South Orrington post- offices, and by a number of school-houses and other public or semi-public institutions. It sends off into the interior southeasterly no less than six highways, at dis- tances averaging about a mile, most of which nearly or quite cross the town. Still another, from Brewer Village, up the east bank of the Segeunkedunk, soon enters this town and passes to East Orrington. This place is about a mile from the northeast line, at the end of the broader part of the Segeunkedunk. It has a post-office, a Con- gregational church and two school-houses, and is an impor- tant road center, six highways converging there from as many different directions. Goodale Corners is a settlement near a mile from the south end of Brewer Pond, and has also a post-office. It has also convenient connection by wagon-roads with nearly every part of the town and ad- jacent towns. South Orrington, very near the west corner of the town, has also two schools, a church build- ing, a cemetery, and a good business quarter. Orring- ton post-office is near the middle of the river front and the river road, and is similarly equipped for the public convenience, having also the Town House.

THE PIONEERS.

The first settlement upon the soil of old Orrington was made by Colonel John Brewer, in June, 1770, at the mouth of the Segeunkedunk Stream, where now is Brewer Village, within the limits of the town of Brewer. The history of that settlement, therefore, is properly a part of the history of that town, in which Colonel Brewer and his beginnings in the Penobscot Valley will be found noticed at some length.

The honor of being the original pioneer upon the tract of the later and present Orrington is claimed for Jesse Atwood, grandfather of Captain Horace Atwood, now of Hampden. The elder Atwood was born in the town of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on the 17th of May, 1749. He was just twenty-nine years old, in the time of his young manhood, when, on the 17th of May, 1778, he set his stakes down in the Penobscot wilderness, where now is Orrington town. Here he spent the entire . remainder of his life, which was prolonged fifty years more, or to the very venerable age of eighty-four; here he died in the fullness of years, April 9, 1833; and here, in the Orrington burying-ground, his honored remains repose.

Within the next two or three years a number of settlers followed Colonel Brewer and Mr. Atwood to the beauti- ful banks of this part of the Penobscot. Most of them were seafaring men from Massachusetts, retiring from the pursuits of the deep or driven from them by the troubles of the time. The former residence of Colonel Brewer at Worcester, in that colony, led to the giving of this tract, when it took a plantation name, the title of "New Worcester." After the unfortunate operations of Gen- eral Winslow and Commodore Saltonstall against the British fort at Castine, the inhabitants of this region were considerably annoyed and frightened by the enemy, so much so that they deemed it prudent to retire to the

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

older settlements southwestward, from which they did not return until after the peace.

Some time before 1786, but at just what date the pres- ent writer is unable to say, Mr. Simeon Fowler settled upon the river, within what is now Orrington. He was one of the original proprietors of the tract, after its re- lease by the State, became otherwise a prominent citi- zen, and was the first Treasurer of Hancock county, after the act for the erection of that then immense county took effect.

PROPRIETORSHIP.

When Colonel Brewer and his associates projected a settlement in the Penobscot Valley, the jurisdiction of Great Britain was undisputed in all this region. They expected to secure a "concession" or grant of such land as they wanted from the British Crown; but, pending its procurement, they obtained the license of the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay to settle upon the desired tract. They came accordingly to the east bank of the Penobscot, and settled in the summer of 1770 and after. The condition of permission to locate here was that they should obtain a confirmation of title to the land, from the British Government, within three years; and they accordingly sent a petition for that purpose, by one Doctor Calef, of Ipswich, Massachu- setts, which was respectfully heard, and the grant was promised. Full confirmation was for some reason de- layed, however, until the outbreak of the Revolution, when every pending matter of the kind was naturally suspended until the close of hostilities. On the other hand, the settlers were not ousted, although the three years had several times been repeated and elapsed be- fore they secured a valid title to their lots. They had, soon after the original settlement, caused the boundary lines of a township to be run; and, some time after the return of the settlers succeeding the war and the peace, the township was resurveyed in detail and lotted by Bar- nabas Dodge. Then the lots abutting upon the river were selected for investment by Colonel Brewer and Mr. Fowler. They effected a purchase from the State of Massachusetts March 25, 1786, of 10,864 acres in one body here, including these lots. The purchase money amounted to £3,000, which was paid in the "consoli- dated notes" or money of that period. These were much below the par value of their face in silver. Other- wise they would have paid more than a dollar per acre for their grant, which would have been a very extraordi- nary price for that time and this region.

The remainder of the tract constituting the old Or- rington, or the original township surveyed, was conveyed by the State to Moses Knapp and his associates.

MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION.

Orrington has a special distinction, above all other towns of Penobscot county, not only in being the first to be incorporated, but the only one of them all that was ever a town of the old and very large Lincoln county. It is the sole, solitary one that has belonged in succession to Lincoln, Hancock, and Penobscot coun-

ties, though a number of them belonged to Hancock be- fore they became Penobscot territory.

The primitive settlement here seems to have been known variously, from its place and number in the sur- veys, as "Plantation No. 9," and from the original resi- dence of Colonel Brewer in Massachusetts, as "New Worcester," which was doubtless its official plantation name. The number of inhabitants upon the tract, rap- idly increasing when the war of the Rebellion had closed, early justified full organization as a town; and on the 21st day of March, 1788, its incorporation as such was granted by the General Court of Massachusetts. This was more than two years before the act for the erection of Han- cock county took effect, and while all this region was in the enormous and ancient county of Lincoln. It was the fifty-third town created in the District of Maine, the first in what is now Penobscot county, and the first, ex- cept Machias'and Penobscot (February 22, 1787) erected east of the river. For some time the inhabitants east- ward of the river had complained of the inconvenience, annoyance, and delays they had experienced from the re- moteness of Pownalborough (now Wiscasset), the old county seat of Lincoln, from their homes; and the for- mation of a new county or counties in that direction was only delayed until there should be a sufficient number of corporate towns in this region to provide jurymen accord- ing to the legal requirements. March 24, 1788, the General Court made a call upon the larger islands and the newly settled townships and plantations in the Dis- trict of Maine to assign their reasons at the next session of the Legislature, if they had any, why they did not ap- ply for incorporation as towns. This produced a general awakening and spirit of inquiry and enterprise among the people; and in pursuance of the demand and of the pre- vious agitation of the subject, no less than twenty settle- ments in the District, within the space of a year and a quarter, applied for and received charters of incorpora- tion. Among them were Orrington, Sedgwick, Blue Hill, Trenton, Deer Isle, Mt. Desert, Sullivan, and Gouldsborough, whose erection prepared the way hand- somely for the subdivision of Lincoln and the creation of Hancock and Washington counties. Machias was, however, at that time the only incorporated town in the latter county.

During the same period, Vinalhaven, now in Knox county, and Islesborough, now in Waldo, but both made up of islands in the Penobscot Bay, were also granted charters; likewise Frankfort, in the present Waldo county, but then extending into the territory of the later town of Hampden, in this county, was one of the twenty new towns.

The enterprising and intelligent pioneers of Orrington, it will be observed, did not wait for the call of the Gen- eral Court before submitting their petition; but had their town created three days before the summons upon the islands and plantations was issued.

It was a large town, extending originally from "Buck's Ledge," on the river-so called from Colonel Jonathan Buck, the founder of Buckstown or Bucksport,-fifteen miles up the east bank of the stream to the great bend

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY MAINE.

at the southwest corner of Eddington, and far enough into the interior to include a tract of 37,304 acres, or about fifty-eight and one-fourth square miles. A more accurate idea may be formed of its size by reference to the map at the beginning of this volume, and bearing in mind the facts that three towns are now included within its original tract-Orrington, very small now by comparison with its ancient limits; Brewer, set off from Orrington, February 22, 1812, and taking away 23,582 acres at one fell swoop; and Holden, set off from Brewer April 13, 1852.

THE ORRINGTON NAME.

At least two theories have been mooted concerning the application of this somewhat singular name to this tract. As a geographical designation, it is certainly very rare. No other "Orrington" than this Penobscot name is noticed in Lippincott's great Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World, and there is no other post-office in the United States bearing the name-which is a quite unique fact.

A note to the volume recording the Centennial Cele- bration of Bangor gives the following information :

The name of Orrington, it is said, originated in this way: At a meet- ing of the people of the settlement, Parson Noble was present, and was delegated to procure an act of incorporation of the town. Upon inquiring by what name, Captain James Ginn, the clerk of the meeting, suggested that it be Orangetown, the name of his native town [in Mary- land]. The suggestion was approved, and the Captain, who, though a good penman, was deficient in orthography, in his record of the vote spelled it "Orrington." The parson, partly from waggishness and partly because of the originality of the name, allowed the orthography to remain. It is so inserted in the charter, and no disposition has since been manifested to amend it.

This Parson Noble is the same one who secured the insertion of "Bangor," instead of "Sudbury," in the pe- tition of the people of "Kenduskeag Plantation" for the erection of a town. His name and personality are thus quite closely associated with the geographical nomencla- ture of this region.

The settler Ginn, mentioned in the foregoing anecdote, is the same who, during his residence here in the early day, bought and brought in a slave woman and her child from Massachusetts-the only human chattels, very likely, that were ever upon the soil of Penobscot county, except possibly such as have casually stepped ashore from vessels in port.

Mr. Williamson, in a foot-note (Vol. II., page 539) to his History of Maine, promulgates the following theory:

When the agent to the General Court was requested to give a name to be inserted in the bill for its incorporation, he accidentally opened a book and saw the name, which, being novel and sonorous, he caused to be selected.

This statement is apparently verified by a letter to Mr. Williamson from the Hon. D. Perham, who was certainly high authority. The other theory, however, is the one which now receives popular credence; and the exceeding rarity of the Orrington name, if not its absolute absence from law and literature before the incorporation of the town, render it altogether the more probable.

RECORD OF PROGRESS.

The first census taken by the Federal Government made account of Orrington-the only town or plantation now belonging to Penobscot county which is named in it,

except Bangor and Eddington, the latter of which, how- ever, was not yet an incorporated town. Orrington itself was named with "adjacent places," and with them con- tained 477 inhabitants. The number increased nearly seventy per cent. during the next decade, and in 1800 Orrington alone counted 786 people.

The following was the official valuation of the town in 1801: Polls, 100; 41 dwellings, at 12 to 30 shillings; 5 shops, at 10 to 18 shillings; 2 warehouses, 12 shillings; 31 barns, 12 to 15 shillings; 4 grist- and saw-mills, 80 to 60 shillings; tillage, 241 acres, at 6 shillings to 90 cents; upland (mowing land), 339 acres, 7 shillings to $1.40; meadow, 40 acres, 5 shillings; pasture, 299 acres, 2 to 3 shillings; woodland, 10,454 acres, 6 to 9 shillings; unim- provable, 2,747 acres; town and proprietary, 24,520 acres, 6 shillings; horses, 7; oxen, 94; cows, 147; swine, 86.

Within the decade 1800-10 Orrington nearly doubled its numbers, and for a number of years before and after that date enjoyed the distinction of being the most pop- ulous town in the county. It had 1,341 inhabitants by the third census, when Bangor had but 850, and even Hampden had but 1,279. But before the next census was taken Orrington had lost nearly three-fourths of her territory and much of her population by the secession of Brewer. The united population of these two towns in 1820 was 1,783, which shows that Orrington would then still have been much the most populous town in the county, had the division not taken place.

In 1812 Orrington had 162 polls, with $3,368.51 val- uation of estates, and a general tax of 55 cents on the $1,000.

In 1820 Orrington had 1,049 people and 214 polls. It had now but 172 less population than Bangor, and 429 less than Hampden, which was the largest town in the county. Its voters were but 53 less than the former, and 127 less than the latter. Its estates, however, were much behind either of the others, being but $58,216, against $107,593 for Hampden and $132,998 for Bangor. Eddington, the other old town, was still further in the rear in this and all other respects.

The remaining census returns of this town have been as follow: 1830, 1,234; 1840, 1,580; 1850, 1,852; 1860, 1,950; 1870, 1,768; 1880, 1,529.

The return of polls in 1860 was 440, 442 in 1870, and 449 in 1880. The number of its grown men, then, has not fallen off, nor have its estates, which were for these years, respectively, $355,442, $400,839, and $405,898.

A CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

In September, 1800, following a few months' preaching through this region by the Rev. James Boyd, a Congrega- tional society was formed of members residing in Bangor, Hampden, and Orrington, and Mr. Boyd was regularly ordained as a minister and received as pastor. He was soon, however, ascertained to be a wolf in sheep's cloth- ing, and his ministry hereabouts came to an end at the expiration of about a year, with the calling of a church council in November, 1801, and his dismissal without recommendation. The society, which had before been

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

known indifferently as the Bangor church or the Orring- ton church, was thereafter considered as entitled to the latter designation only. The society was considerably distracted and broken for a number of years, being most of the time without stated preaching ; and in November, 18II, after a short term of service in Bangor by the Rev. Harvey Loomis, enough members were dismissed from the Orrington society to form the church at Bangor.

In 1812, a missionary named Thomas Williams, sent out under Congregational auspices, made his appearance in the upper part of the old Orrington town, which had now become Brewer. His services proved acceptable, and his settlement as pastor was shortly proposed. In January, 1813, he was ordained and settled as pastor of the old Orrington church, now mustering but seventeen members. He remained in the service of this society a number of years. In 1821 he and the Congregational pastor at Bangor were the only settled preachers of the faith in the county. True, there were four other Con- gregational churches, but they were without pastors.

The Orrington church survived until 1847. In 1834 another division of the society was made, and on the 12th of June in that year the East Orrington church was formed. This is still in existence, and was last minis- tered unto by the Rev. Clarence S. Sargent, of Brewer Village, who has retired from labor in this field.

THE METHODISTS.

In the year 1795 the Rev. Joshua Hall was sent to the Penobscot country by the New London (Connecticut) Conference as a pioneer missionary preacher. He had an immense field of service, extending from the mouth of the river as far up and on both sides as he could find settlements in which to preach. This was called the Pe- nobscot Circuit, and subsisted as such for about ten years, when, in 1806, it was divided into the Orrington and Hampden Circuits. A Methodist Society had al- ready been organized in the town, which gave the name to the former.

In 1809 the Union River Circuit took the name of Penobscot Circuit, and seven years later it was united with the Orrington Circuit. This relation endured but three years, when the circuits were again disunited. In 1820 a third circuit of the Penobscot name was formed, with the Rev. Benjamin Jones as Presiding Elder. About this time the Orrington Circuit included the societies at Orrington, Brewer, Brooks, and Eddington, which to- gether had three hundred members.

About the year 1798 Elder Enoch Mudge, who had begun his ministerial labors in this State, at Readfield, some years before, began preaching in Orrington, and served the Christian people and the people here and hereabout for nearly twenty years. He was sent by the town as its Representative in the General Court of Mas- sachusetts in 1811, 1814, and 18:6. He returned to Lynn, where he had been converted, before the separ- ation from that State, and preached there for several years longer. The historian Williamson, in his paper on the Religious Denominations of Maine at the Close of the Revolution, published in the seventh volume of the Maine Historical Collections, says of Elder Mudge :

His natural abilities were such that, although having had but a com- mon education, he became an excellent and acceptable preacher. His style was good, his voice pleasant, his manner prepossessing, and his discourses instructive. In stature he was short and stout. He had a fair countenance and thick lips. I have listened to his sermons with pleasure and profit.

Further notice of Elder Mudge will be given below, in a biographical sketch of his son.

Other pioneer Methodist preachers hereaway, whose names have been preserved, were Jeremiah and William Marsh, and John Kenney, the latter of whom was a local preacher.

The Methodist Society at Orrington is still maintained, and was ministered to in 1881 by the Rev. Benjamin S. Arey. Another society has been founded at South Or- rington, whose pastor in charge during the same year was Rev. J. A. Morelen.

THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSES.

The aforesaid letter of Mr. Perham, of which an ab- stract is given by Mr. Williamson, in his History of Maine, says that these were two in number, and were erected "seven miles apart, equidistant from each end of the town."

A PIONEER NURSERY.

One of the first nurseries established in the State, and probably the very first in Eastern Maine, was planted by Mr. Ephraim Goodale, at what is now Goodale's Corner. The following is a copy of his ancient hand-bill, which was distributed far and wide. It will be noticed that he names his residence as Buckstown (Bucksport), which was probably his post-office.

PENOBSCOT FRUIT TREES.

EPHRAIM GOODALE, of BUCKSTOWN, offers for sale for Cash or approved Credit, as low as can be purchased in New-England, and of as good a quality, the following

PEAR TREES,

Uvidales, St. Germaine,

Blue, Sugar, English Sweet,

St. Michael, St. James,

Large Sweet York,

Davenport, Perry,

Small Sweet York,

German, Baking, Bond.

Premetive,

Dergaloo, Jargonelle,

Monseur John, Windsor,

Catton, Burgamot,

Gardenelle.

N. B. Pear Trees are not subject to Lice.

APPLE TREES.

Bell's Early,

Yellow Geniton,

Maiden's Blush,

Warren Russet,

Quince, Cuincing,

Stone Sweet,

Black Pippin, Pumpkin Sweet, &c.

Golden Pippin, Also .... A few Butternut, Plumb & Quince Trees.

E. Goodale has spared no pains in selecting the best fruit, and by keeping them labelled has ascertained what sorts are most congenial to this country. Every person knows the utility of transplanting from a kindred soil.

The nursery and orchard at this Corner have been maintained for many years, and their products have usually presented the largest and best variety at the Po- mological and Agricultural Fairs of the county.

THE FIRST POST-OFFICE

in old Orrington was that founded at Brewer Village in 1800, of which Colonel Brewer was Postmaster.

The present Orrington post-office was established in 1813, and has Albert H. Smith in charge.

Nonesuch, Snout,

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Other offices of the kind in the town are at South Or- rington, Lincoln Wheelden, Postmaster; North Orring- ton, Charles Hoyt; East Orrington, Charles A. Sever- ance; and Goodale's Corner, C. D. Chapman.

PUBLIC OFFICERS.

The first Representative of this town in the General Court of Massachusetts was the Hon. Oliver Leonard, who was delegated thereto in 1798. The Rev. Enoch Mudge, as before noted, was Representative from Orring- ton in 1811, 1814, and 1816.

The following-named gentlemen were serving as town officers in 1881: J. D. Baker, C. A. Severance, Warren Nickerson, Selectmen ; Joseph D. Baker, Town Clerk ; A. G. Dole, Treasurer; Asa L. Kent, Collector; T. H. Crowell, J. D. Hines, Constables; Augustus N. Lufkin, J. Wyman Phillips, Hattie W. Pollard, School Commit- tee; J. D. Baker, J. Wyman Phillips, C. H. Freeman, Augustus N. Lutkin (Quorum), Justices.

INDUSTRIES AND PROFESSIONS.

Orrington has one resident physician, but no lawyer, and no hotel is at present kept in the town.

The leading industry in this fine and fairly fertile tract at present is agriculture, in which pursuit a number of good farms have been developed. Much attention is also given to dairying, and milk from the dairies of Or- rington is delivered daily in Bangor.

This town has shared in the general advantages of the Lower Penobscot for ship-building, and has to some ex- tent improved its advantages. In April, 1862, the sloop Blackbird, a small vessel, was launched here ; and in Sep- tember, 1866, the schooner Naonta, of 193 tons, was completed at the Orrington shipyard. Other river ves- sels, whose annals are not yet written, had their birth- place on the Orrington shore.

The manufacturers in this town include one maker of drain tile and clay pipes, one of earthenware and pipes, one of boots and shoes, one tannery, and one churn- maker. There are four tolerably extensive saw-mills, and two grist-mills.

The merchants comprise seven engaged in general country storekeeping, and one milliner.

ORRINGTON IN 1872.

The following is a notice of this town in Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World, edition of 1873. As before noticed, this is the only town of the name which the globe furnished for notice in this work. Orrington Corner, however, by which name the post-office was des- ignated, is the head of a very brief and unimportant paragraph :

Orrington, a post-township in Penobscot county, Maine, on the Penobscot River, fifty-five miles [!] below Bangor, and sixty-six miles east by north of Augusta. It contains one Congregational and three Methodist churches, a high school, and eight stores. The streams afford motive power for six saw-mills; which cut annually about two million feet of lumber ; several shingle-mills, lath-mills, and turning- mills, and a paper-mill. There is also a steam saw-mill, turning out about seven hundred thousand feet of lumber annually. About twenty vessels are owned here and employed in the West India and coastwise trade. A ferry connects Orrington with Hampden on the opposite side of the Penobscot. Population, 1,950.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 118

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