History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 128

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 128

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The waters of Webster are mainly the Mattagondus Brook, which rises a little north of Carroll post-office, flows west into Springfield, and just beyond the southeast corner of Webster into Prentiss, and through that into the Plantation. It enters about two miles below the northeast corner of the Plantation, flows a little more than this in the interior westwardly, northerly, and east- erly again, till it leaves Webster a little below the corner just designated, flows across the northwest angle of Pren-

5II

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

tiss and the southwest corner of Drew Plantation, very near these corners, into Kingman, where it finds a last resting-place in the Mattawamkeag. One of the smaller affluents of the Mattagondus, which enters the stream in Prentiss, shortly below the mouth of the Spruce Brook on the other side, heads in the southeast part of Web- ster, and runs east and southeast about two miles to the Prentiss line. Still further in the southeast angle of the town is a brief reach of one headwater of the Mattakeunk Stream, which flows south and southwest to a union with another branch in Springfield. The East Branch of this stream flows past the southwest corner of the Planta- tion, just where it corners with Springfield, Lee, and Winn.

In the west centre of the town rises Gordon's Brook, which flows in an irregular course east of north, and then northwest, four or five miles in all, to an exit a little be- low the northwest corner of the Plantation, whence it passes across a corner of Winn and joins the Mattawam- keag near the north line of that town.

Webster Plantation® has had a comparatively rapid growth. It had only 9 polls in 1870, and 28 inhabitants, which had multiplied more than four hundred per cent., or to 118, by 1880. It has no post-office as yet, but de- pends mainly upon the Kingman and Springfield offices. Part of the people are upon a branch of the road be- tween these two places, which passes through the south- east corner of Webster, then nearly the entire length of Prentiss, and then for about a mile across the northeast angle of Webster, and into Kingman to the post-office and the railroad. A few of the Plantation settlers are upon this highway ; but more upon the aforesaid branch, which leaves the main road about a mile below the south line of Webster, and runs northwest to the line about a mile and a half from the southeast corner, and a little further dividing into two branches or "plug" roads, one of which goes about a mile to the northward and ends, and the other northwest and west, nearly parallel with the south line and about half a mile from it, for about two and a half miles, when it also ends. The road in Pren- tiss, up the north bank of the Mattagondus, also runs for a little way into the interior of Webster, as likewise a short branch from it half a mile below.

Webster was settled about 1843, the first immigrants being James Austin and S. W. Leighton. It was organized as a Plantation thirteen years afterwards, September, 1856, and named from the principal proprietor of the township. It is the oldest of the present organized plantations of the county, except Woodville, though it ranks Drew Plantation in seniority by but one week.

Farming and lumbering are the chief occupations of the Webster people. It had, as before noted, a popula- tion of 28 in 1870, and 118 in 1880. In 1878 its peo- ple were reported as numbering 117. Polls in 1870, 9; in 1880, 20. Estates in the same years, respectively, $24,727 and $36,129.

The Plantation officers in 1881 were :

A. A. Patch, Joseph Cole, William H. Stinson, Asses- sors; A. S. Leighton (Kingman post-office), Clerk; A. A. Patch, Treasurer; H. P. Crockett, Constable and Collec-

tor; H. P. Crockett (Kingman post-office), Samuel Tucker, H. L. Tucker, School Committee.

A. S. Leighton, of Webster Plantation, was born in this town. He was a son of Stillman W. Leighton, who came to Springfield from Cherryfield in 1839. Stillman Leighton married Theresa Walter, of Burke, Vermont. They came from Prentiss to this town in 1845. They have had ten children, eight of whom are living-Mary, now Mrs. Mary Cooper, of Prentiss; Alfred S., of this town; Luther W., of Minnesota; Samantha, now Mrs. Crockett, of Webster Plantation; Henry P., in Massa- chusetts; Rose, in Massachusetts; Lillian I., at home, and Leon A. Mr. and Mrs. Leighton are both living. Mr. Leighton has for many years been one of the prom- inent men of the Plantation, holding most or all of its leading offices. A. S. Leighton, the oldest son of this family, was born December 9, 1847. His principal business has been farming, though he has been engaged in lumbering and bark business. He lives with his father on the old homestead. They have a fine farm of three hundred and twenty-five acres, with one of the best sets of farm buildings in town. This farm Mr. Leighton has cleared entirely from the standing timber.

A. A. Patch, of Webster Plantation, is a son of Daniel Patch, of Morrill, Maine. Daniel and Lucinda Patch had five children, of whom four are living-Alma, wife of William Kelsey, of Bristol; Alva A .; Adner, of Wor- cester, Massachusetts; and Alice. Alva A., the oldest son of this family, was born January 25, 1856, in Knox, Maine. In 1872 he went to Worcester, Massachusetts, and engaged in teaming for seven years, or until 1879, when he came here to Webster Plantation and bought the farm where he now lives. He married Lena Slater, daughter of J. G. Slater, of Webster Plantation. Daniel Patch died in 1874, and Mrs. Patch in 1863. Mr. Patch now holds the office of First Assessor and Treasurer. He has a good farm of 425 acres.

WOODVILLE PLANTATION.

This tract, which is as yet a plantation, although it will probably be a flourishing town by and by, is straight up the valley of the Penobscot, on the same side as Bangor and distant from the city forty miles. It has itself a pretty large territory, and is surrounded by large tracts. It is bounded on the north by Medway, on the northeast and for a little way on the southeast by the Penobscot, beyond which is Mattawamkeag; on the south by Ches- ter; and on the west by the large Township No. 2, in the Eighth Range. It was itself formerly Indian Town- ship No. 2. Molunkus town, in Aroostook county, cor- ners with it on the northeast.

The Penobscot River has a flow of nearly seven miles, in a gentle curve, along the east front of Woodville. About midway of this course are the Boom Islands, on the Mattawamkeag side; and just below the southeast corner is the small island mentioned in our accounts of Winn and Chester. The greatest width of the town is from the Boom Islands straight west to the town line-a

512

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

little less than seven miles. By the curve of the river both the north and south lines are shorter, the north line considerably so. The west line is about six miles long.

At tolerably regular intervals of two miles below the northeast corner of the Plantation, small tributaries, each rising in two branches, flow in from the west. Each has a saw-mill near its mouth. The Pattagumpus Stream (variously mentioned upon the maps as the "Pat- tagembus" and the "Pattakumkis") rises near the mid- dle of the west line of the Plantation, and receiving several petty affluents at intervals, flows northwest about four miles into Medway and the Penobscot. In the northwest angle of Woodville heads a larger tributary, which flows in a large curve one and a half miles in the Plantation and then crosses into Medway, where it shortly joins the Pattagumpus. Just west of this, near the west line, are two small headwaters of the Madakeunk Stream, which unite a little before leaving the Plantation for Township No. 2, where the main source of this stream exists in the shape of a pretty large pond. An- other small tributary of the Medakeunk rises near the southwest corner of Woodville, and flows into the north- west angle of Chester.

A little east of the heads of the Pattagumpus, in the northwest centre of the Plantation, is the source of the Ebhors Stream, which, it will be remembered, joins the Madakeunk in Chester about twenty miles before it reaches the Penobscot. This stream has a flow of four miles in Woodville, receiving a small affluent from each side about half a mile northeast of South Woodville post- office. At the south Plantation line it has another from north of west, and another from the same direction nearly a mile above.

Woodville Plantation increased over fifty in population during the decade 1870-80; and although its people are not so numerous as those of some plantations that have no post-office, they read and write so much, it seems, that they require and have two post-offices-North Woodville and South Woodville, respectively. The former is about two miles from the north line of the Plan- tation, and nearly three from the river. It was kept at last accounts by Mr. Calvin Stanwood. The Woodville office is about a mile from the south line of the Planta- tion, and one and a half miles from the west boundary. It is kept by a postmistress, Mrs. Caroline Read. Both of these are on the county road from Lincoln Centre to Medway, which completely intersects the Plantation from south to north, and is the only high road in it. It enters from Chester, a mile east of the southwest corner of the Plantation, and runs northeast and north about seven miles to a point on the north line about a mile west of the northeast corner, where it passes into Medway and up the southwest bank of the Penobscot. School No. I is on this road, a little below Woodville post-office; and School No. 3 a mile or more above North Woodville. From this a country road runs off easterly to some settle- ments; likewise one from above Woodville post-office northwest a little over a mile. All the settlements in the town are upon these, except a very few on the river, about the mills.

ORGANIZATION .*

This township has generally been known as "Indian Township No. 2," or West Indian," lying opposite "In- dian Township No. 1," now Mattawamkeag. It was or- ganized into the Plantation of Woodville in 1854, some one of the family of Benjamin Stanwood giving it its name.

THE SETTLEMENT

of most of the towns on the Upper Penobscot, or in the vicinity of Mattawamkeag, was by men who came to work upon the Military Road from Lincoln to Houlton, be -· tween 1830 and 1835. Charles Scott and James Dudley came from Machias, Maine, to the upper part of Wood- ville, in the vicinity of what has been long known as the Phineas Libby Place. This was in 1832. A year after- wards Moses and Mark Scott made clearings and settle- ments in the vicinity. Previously, though but a year or two, the Scotts had made settlements in Chester, which lay between the lower end of this township and the Pe- nobscot River. In most instances log huts were built in the little clearings of the pioneers, till, as prosperity dawned upon their efforts, they hewed out timbers from the plenteous pine found in their midst, and obtained boards to cover their mansions from Lincoln, the nearest mill, for a long time.

In 1837 Clark Hanson made a falling of ten acres of trees on the place now occupied by James Pond, near the Chester line, near which Temple Ireland, in Chester, had made a settlement in 1832, the only and first clearing in that part of the town. Mr. Hanson was a brother of Eli Hanson, formerly of Bangor, who keeps a hotel there. The mother of Mr. Hanson, Mrs. Esther Han- son, of Winn, turned her one hundredth year September 12, 1881.

In 1833 Peleg Otis and William Mayberry came from Brewer and made clearings where now the George Glid- den and James Pond farms are. Mr. Otis was to have a State lot given him, if he would make a farm there.

Maanwhile, or within ten years, settlements increased in the upper part of the township, and especially down by the Penobscot River,

James Dudley, 2d, and Roland and Charles Dudley made some slight clearings, all of which have since been abandoned. These were in the vicinity of Madakeunk Rips, in the Penobscot River.

James Dudley, 2d, built a mill on Eagle Stream, close by the banks of the Penobscot River. This stream empties into the Penobscot a short distance above the mouth of the Medakeunk Stream.

This was about 1840. In 1842 Benjamin Stanwood came from Eden, Maine, and settled near the Libby place. His son Calvin now resides there.

John White and Simon Hanson, about 1840, made farms where now John E. Faloon and Donald Smith have the best farms in town, on a high point of land back of the Eagle Stream, above spoken of.

INDUSTRIES. The northwestern side of the township is drained by

*Nearly the whole remainder of this sketch is by B. F. Fernald, Esq., of Winn.

513

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

the Pattagumpas Stream, which empties into the Penob- scot just north of Woodville, in Medway, that part of it forming "Tract three." This gives an opportunity for lumbering in that part of Woodville and Township No. 2, lying west of Woodville. Through the central and southwestern part of the township runs the Ebhors Stream emptying into the Madunkeunk stream.

On the streams of this town there is considerable meadow hay cut, particularly near the town of Winn.

THE PIONEER SCHOOLS.

Margaret Crocker was the pioneer to instill into the minds of Woodvillians the rudiments of education. There are now three school districts in the Plantation.

MODERN TIMES.

With the exception of some half a dozen farms, the settlements in Woodville are made on the county road running to Medway, all the rest being an almost un- broken wilderness. During the summer of 1881 a road was laid out by County Commissioners, running from nearly, opposite Winn village in Chester, to the county road, which will greatly develop this section.

About the year 1875 an act of incorporation was passed to make Woodville a town by that name, but it was not accepted by the people.

A LARGE OWNER.

A few years ago Messrs. H. Poor & Son, of Boston, own- ers of the tannery at Winn, bought a large part of the wild land in Woodville, but gradually sold it off; and a large tract of some five thousand acres was sold in Oc- tober, 1881, at Bangor.

STATISTICS.

Woodville Plantation had 230 people in 1860, 170 in 1870, and 223 in 1880.

The voters of Woodville numbered 32 in 1870, and 50 in 1880.

The estates in these years were valued at $30,196 and $31,937.

THE PUBLIC OFFCERS

in the Plantation in 1881 were as follow: Woodville, Mrs. Caroline Read; North Woodville, Calvin Stanwood, Postmasters; Charles Rush, Joel F. Kimball, Benjamin F. Read, Assessors; Joel F. Kimball, Clerk; Joel F. Kimball, Treasurer ; Charles Rush, Constable and Col- lector; Thomas Scammon, Calvin Stanwood, Joel F. Kimball, School Committee.

A BIOGRAPHY.

George Glidden, who came to Woodville in 1836, is a : son of Arnold and Hannah Glidden, who came from

Pittston, Kennebec county. They had eight children- Mercy, Nancy, Polly, Betsey E., Hannah, and Charles, all of whom are deceased ; and those living are Susan, now Mrs. Robert Betham, of Enfield, and George, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Glidden came here after George made the settlement where he now lives, and spent the remainder of his days here. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He died about 1850; and Mrs. Glidden about 1860. George Glidden was born May 8, 1806, in the town of Pittston, Maine. He mar- ried for his first wife Miss Mary Betham, by whom he had four children-Harriet, deceased wife of James Sib- ley ; Augustus, deceased in the army; James, now in Aroostook county; and Jeremiah, of Woodville. Mrs. Glidden died in 1835. Mr. Glidden married for his second wife Mrs. Ruth Dutton, who died in 1878. Mr. Glidden cleared up the farm where he now lives. He has cleared one hundred acres, and owns seventy of it now. He has been engaged in lumbering quite exten- sively, in connection with his family.

WEST INDIAN.

This settlement, so called to distinguish it from the other, known as East Indian, both being situated upon townships belonging formerly to the Penobscot Indian reservation, is another of the sparsely settled plantations erected in 1875, but whose organization has not been maintained. The name totally disappears from the cen- sus returns of 1880, but in 1870 the tract had thirteen inhabitants. It was first settled about 1820. It is situated west of Medway.

WHITNEY RIDGE.

This settlement, whose name will be found upon the census returns, is in a strip of Township No. 3, in the Eighth Range of the Waldo Patent, just north of Max- field. It was settled in 1836, and organized as a Plantation in the same year when Pattagumpus and West Indian were similarly organized; but in this tract, as in the others named, the organization is not main- tained.

Whitney Ridge had a population of 18 in 1870. "SETTLEMENTS."

Under this head the inhabitants of the unorganized townships in the county have been enumerated as a group in the census returns of the last three decades. They had in all 1,074 people in 1850, 1,287 in 1870, and 170 in 1880. The small number reported the last year is doubtless due to a more detailed enumeration in the several divisions of the county then had been cus- tomary.

I. T. Crosby. 2. Heirs of S. Cros- by. .

3. Theo. Trafton. 4. Peter Burgess.

5. B. Emerson.

19. D. Webster.

20. R. Treat. 2I. R. Treat.

7. Wm. Hammond. 22. J. Drummond. 8. Jacob Dennett. 23. Abraham Allen.

9. John Dennett.

24. Ewins & Haines. 25. R. Treat.

26. R. Treat.

27. R. Treat. 28. R. Treat.

29. Jona. Lowder.

30. A. McPhetres. 3I. R. Treat.

32. R. Treat. 33. R. Treat.

34. R. Treat.

35. D. Emerson.

36. R. Treat.

37. Joseph Mansell. 38. T. Crosby.

39. R. Treat.

40. R. Treat.

41. R. Webster.

42. John Crosby.

43. Godfrey & Web- ster.

44. S. Greenleaf et al. 45. S.Greenleaf et al.

46. J. Gardner. 47. A. Griffin. 48. Wm. Davis.

49. Wm. Davis. 50. Wm. Hasey. 51. Wm. Hasey.

52. R. Lapish et al.

53. R. Lapish et al. 54. S. Sherburne. 55. Wm. Lancaster.

56. A. Clark. 57. G. Fullman.

58. R. Lapish et al.

59. S. Potter.

60. R. Lapish et al. 61. Joseph Potter. 62. R. Lapish et al. 63. W. Hammond. 64. R. Lapish et al. 65. R. Lapish et al. 66. W. Potter et al.

67. John Smart. 68. N. Harlow. 69. Wm. Hasey. 70. W. Hammond. 71. Heirs of James Dunning. 72. D. Campbell. 73. D. Campbell. 74. W. Hammond. 75. W. Hammond. 76. W. Hammond. 77. W. Hammond. 78. A. Patten. 79. R. Lapish et al. 80. R. Lapish et al. 81. Heirs of J. Kelsea 82. Heirs of James Boyd.

83. Heirs of T. How- 100. Jos. Treat.

ard.

84. John Haynes. 85. R. Lapish et al. 86. R. Lapish et al. 87. R. Lapish et al. 88. Benj. Bussey, 89. R. Lapish. 90. Wm. Boyd. 9I. D. Webster. 92. Jona. Morse. 93. P. Campbell. 94. P. Campbell. 95. J. Drummond. 96. David Neal. 97. John Harlow. 98. J. Drummond, 99. W. Forbes.

IOI. Heirs of Mc- Laughlin. 102. Hatch, Patten, et al. 103. B. Emerson. 104. R. Treat. 105. J. Lowder. 106. W. Hammond.

107. A. Hathorn. 108. D. Hathorn. 109. S. Hathorn. IIO. Jos. Treat. III. Patten et al.

I12. Benj. Low.

113. J. Hutchings. II4. T. & C. Low.

E. 1800 R.

108

107

100

109

105

106

10 28

104

103

III

62 63 64

[104

102

174

12| 131

114 :112

Scale 400 rods to 1 inch.

Copied from Park Holland's Plan in the Office of the Register of Deeds, Penobscot County, Maine, being his return of the Survey of Settlers' lots who settled in said town previous to February 23, 1798. Survey and Plan made 1801.

W. COOMBS, C. E.

N. 2ºE. 1960 R.

113

9€

140

BANGOR

S. 33ºE. 1032 R.

101

102

37 38 39 40

136

26 27 28 29 30 31 |32 33 34 35

10. Heirs of J. Dun- ning.

II. R. Lapish et al.

12. John Haynes.

13. Wm. Boyd.

14. Heirs of J. Kel-

sea.

15. S. Noble,

(first minister.)

16. Thos. Howard.

17. R. Treat.

18. R. Hitchburn.

6. Thos. & Charles Low.

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY,

THE ANNALS OF BANGOR. -

1769-1882.

[FROM CHAPTERS I. TO XXX., INCLUSIVE, BY HON, JOHN E. GODFREY, OF BANGOR. ]

BANGOR.

CHAPTER I.

Evidences of Early French Occupancy of Penobscot-Progress of English Settlements up the Penobscot River-Settlement of Bangor in 1769-Jacob Russell the First Settler-Settlers of 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, and 1774-First Religious Meetings-First Missionaries- Rev. Daniel Little-First Doctor-The Penobscot Indians-Their Course in the Revolutionary War-First Frame House in Bangor- Truck House-The Truck Master-Jedediah Preble.

1769 to 1776. Although the French were up and down the Penobscot River during a century and a half before the conquest of Canada (in 1759), and erected dwellings at various points on its banks, yet no dwellings were found standing when the English came into the region. Tracts of land had been cleared, and cellars of houses remained, but no other evidences of the occu- pancy of the country by civilized man were in existence.

Until after the erection of Fort Pownall, in 1759, there were no traces of English settlements above Wassum- keag (Fort Point). The southern part of Orphan Island (now Verona) was settled in 1763, and Colonel Jonathan Buck was the first settler in Bucksport, in 1794.

The progress of settlement up the river was slow. It did not reach Bangor until 1769. There was some un- certainty in regard to the disposition of the Indians ; but Jacob Buswell* or Bussell, a poor man, sometimes fisher, boat-builder, and cooper, ventured to erect and occupy a log cabin upon the high land east of the Ken- duskeag and overlooking the river, just below the rockst of Champlain. It was a beautiful spot near the intersection of what are now York and Boyd streets, and not far from the rear of St. John's (Roman Catholic) church. Near it was a fine spring, which has disappeared beneath the improvements of later years. The view down the river --- then unobstructed-was three or four miles in extent, and very beautiful. The selection of the site showed taste in Mr. Bussell or some members of his family. But he was a squatter. He had a wife and nine chil- dren. He might have been a private soldier with habits

*The following petition is in the Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 78, page 550 :

Province of the Massachusetts Bay.

To His Excellancy, Thomas Pownall, Esq., Captain-General & Governor in Chief and over said Province, to ye Hon'ble His Majesty's Council & House of Representatives in Gen'l Court, assembled June ye rothe, 759.

Humbly Shews-John Buswell, of Salisbury, that his son Jacob Buswell was a soldier in ye Canada Expedition in 1758, under Capt. William Osgood, and he was taken sick on ye Rode Coming home and lay sick six weeks after he got Home and your petitioner was put to great charge for Nursing and Doctor's bill and other necessarys agreeable to account herewith annexed. Wherefore your petitioner Humbly prays your Excellency and Honors that he may be allowed as is usual in like cases: and your Humble Petitioner in Duty bound will ever pray.

JOHN BUSWELL.

The Committee reported {2 0 0 in full.

+Large ledges in the Penobscot River off the foot of Newbury street, now covered by Roberts's wharf.

not unexceptionable, and in poor health. If so, there was good reason for his seeking a region where he could ob- tain land and feed for nothing, where he would not be likely to be found by the tax collector and deputy sheriff, and where game -and fish - were abundant at his hand. For such advantages such a man could afford to risk the questionable disposition of savage neighbors.

But Mr. Jacob Bussell was not long a solitary squatter in that region. His son Stephen, who had just married Lucy Grant, came with Caleb Goodwin and his wife and eight children, from Castine in the spring of 1770, and put up their log huts a little southerly of that of the first settler.

It was soon learned abroad that there were attractions at this point, and the Bussells and Goodwins were not long permitted to enjoy them alone. The illusion of savage unfriendliness being dispelled, men who had their fortunes to make were disposed to avail themselves of the resources of this virgin country.

In 1771-72 Thomas Howard, Jacob Dennet, Simon Crosby, Thomas, John and Hugh Smart-brothers- Andrew Webster, Joseph Rose, David Rowell, Solomon and Silas Harthorn, and Joseph Mansel, established themselves within the precincts of what is now Bangor, though at some distance from the first comers.

Mr. Howard first built and occupied a cabin near the river, but afterward built a house on the northerly side of State street, about a mile from the Kenduskeag Stream, where Miss Hannah F. Howard, one of his descendants, now lives. Dennet took the lot where the Central Rail- road station is; Rose, a lot near Treat's Falls; Rowell, a lot further up the river; (some of his descendants are now in Eddington and Bradley); the Smarts took lots, severally, near the First Parish meeting-house and Morse's Hill. An- drew Webster built his cabin on the easterly side of Main street, at its intersection with Water street. Nearly all these came from Woolwich and Brunswick and neigh- borhood, in this State. The Harthorns were from Wor- cester, Massachusetts, and built the first framed house not far from Mt. Hope. It stood between the road and the river a short distance below the Penjejawock Stream. Some of the family descendants are now in that neigh- borhood. Solomon died at Sunkhaze (now in Milford). They both had large families.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 128

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