History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 217

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 217

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).

But in the spring of 1801 Joseph Pease, with his sons and two sons-in-law, Josiah Barker and Reuben Seavey, came in, on foot, from Parsonsfield, to plant and sow the ground where the trees had been felled the year before, and to make further improvements preparatory to remov- ing their families hither the ensuing winter. Mr. Pease had taken up, or purchased, lot No. 6, Range 3,- now known as the James Brown farm,-where he at once commenced operations. Seavey commenced on lot No. 3, Range 4,-since known as the George W. Hill farm, -- and Barker upon his lot, No. 4, Range 4,-since known as the Timothy Drew farm. On this lot was planted, by Albana Pease, then a lad in his fourteenth year, the first hill of corn ever raised in town. This resolute boy had been hired for the season by Barker, his brother-in-law, and had traveled all the way from Parsonsfield, via Augusta, Dixmont, and Bangor, and thence through the wilderness to this, his future home ; which, to boys of this day, would be deemed almost an impossible undertaking.

In the same spring several others came, and com- menced felling trees preparatory to a settlement upon the lots they had selected. It appears by the Proprietors' Records, before alluded to, that the following lots were contracted for, under date of June 1, 1801, to wit : Josiah Lane, 160 acres ; Ebenezer Avery, 100 acres ; Simeon Tozier, 160 acres; Richard Staples, 160 acres ; Joshua Palmer 80 acres ; all at nine shillings per acre.

And while these contracts were being made with the proprietors, Dr. Blasdel was still actively engaged in procuring settlers to enter upon his own lands, as well as those of the proprietors; and for this purpose advertised widely in the western towns of the State, and also in New Hampshire, whence most of the early settlers emi- grated.

Messrs. Pease, Barker, and Seavey remained here till their crops were harvested and secured, and in the mean- time felled more trees, and built their cozy log cabins to shelter their families on their prospective arrival.

On the 19th day of May, 1801, a petition signed by B. Joy, John Gardner, David Greene, William Turner, and John Cushing (being five of the proprietors of the township), was presented to the Hon. Oliver Wen- dell, Esq., of Boston, one of the Justices of the Peace throughout the Commonwealth, requesting his Honor to

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

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issue his warrant "to call a meeting of said proprietors and their associates, to be holden at James Vila's Con- cert Hall, in Boston, on the 7th day of July, (then next following,) at 10 o'clock A. M., then and there to act on the following articles, viz."

[Here follow seven articles to be acted on.]

The meeting was called, and the trustees met accord- ingly, on July 7, 1801, there being present John Gard- ner, Benjamin Joy, William Turner, for himself and as an attorney for Edward D. Turner and Stephen D. Turner (his brothers), David Greene, and John Cushing; and, thirdly, "voted that David Greene, Benjamin Joy, and John Gardner be authorized and empowered to make, in behalf of the proprietors, such deeds and con- veyances as they have agreed to make to settlers and others, and also all other deeds and conveyances neces- sary to be made by said proprietors pursuant to any votes or orders passed in legal meetings."

1802. On the 10th of March, 1802, Joseph Pease, and on the 12th Reuben Seavey, with their families, arrived upon the township; and Josiah Barker followed them within a month or two after; but owing to the health of his family he was obliged to delay their jour- ney till the next summer, when he returned to Limerick, and brought his wife and three children (the youngest an infant about three months old) all the way on horseback -the mother with her babe riding upon one horse, and the father and two other children, one tied on behind him and the other in his arms, riding a second horse. This arduous journey on horseback seems almost a par- allel to the departure of the old patriarch from Padan- aram, with his "wives and little ones" upon the backs of his camels. But the reader will take under considera- tion the fact that this journey was performed long, long years before the advent of steamboats and railroads, or even the convenience of common carriage roads through the country.

In Boston, 15th March, 1802, at a meeting of the proprietors of township No. 3, Range 4, Benjamin Joy, Moderator, it was "voted that the proprietors in con- formity to their vote of the Ist inst. now come to a divis- ion of said township by lot, according to the plan pro- posed by Benjamin Joy, Esq., and that William Turner, their clerk, be appointed to draw for the absentees. The proportions of the several proprietors having been ascer- tained and agreed to, according to the statement which hereafter follows, and the tickets having been duly pre- pared and examined by the proprietors, they were then drawn and the different lots marked against each proprie- tor's name, the result of which is as follows, and the several proprietors are entitled to the several lots affixed to their names, which division is unanimously agreed to."

The quantity of land then remaining in the township, unsold and to be divided among the proprietors, was 16,300 acres, the proportionate quantity to each proprie- tor at that time being as follows: Sally Wetmore, 708 acres; Stephen D. Turner, 531; John Cushing, 636; David Greene, 1,185; Ebenezer Oliver, 425; John Gard- ner, 4,075; William Turner, 2,653; Benjamin Joy, 4,319; Edward D. Turner, 1,768; total, 16,300 acres. The

several lots drawn to make up the above quantities were duly entered upon a schedule and recorded in the Pro- prietors' Records, also upon their plan of the township, the original being now (1881) in the writer's possession.

On the roth of August, 1802, was born to Polly Pease, wife of Reuben Seavey, a son, named Reuben Seavey, Jr., being the first child born within the limits of the town- ship. He lived to the years of manhood, married, and settled in Stetson, where he raised up a family, and died January 19, 1858, aged fifty-five years five months and nine days.

1803. On the 24th of March, 1803, occurred the first death within the township, being that of. Arene Barker, infant daughter of Josiah and Nancy Barker, aged eleven months and twenty-three days, being the child that its mother had brought through on horseback the summer before. In April, 1803, occurred the second death in "Blasdeltown," being that of Mrs. Sarah L. Tozier, the wife of Lemuel Tozier, the "first settler," aged thirty-nine years and five months. Mrs. Tozier died of the measles, being at the time enceinte, and already the mother of twelve children. Her death produced, as well it might, a great shock to the community, as she had been not only the stay and support of her family, but, indeed, as a "mother in Israel" to the infant plan- tation. Mrs. Tozier's funeral was conducted in "due form" by Simon Prescott, the "neighbor" before alluded to, and living in the adjoining township, now Corinth. The remains of Mrs. Tozier and of the Barker child were buried in the corner of the "Tozier and Barker lots," being now in the public highway at "Linnell's Cor- ner." The remains of the Barker child were subse - quently taken up and removed to the old burying ground on Brown's Hill, and there buried by the side of its mother, who died July 22, 1821, aged forty years and five days. But Mrs. Tozier's grave still remains in the highway, and its precise locality is now unknown.

Under our present date (1803) quite an accession wa made to the list of immigrants to the new plantation. Among these were Samuel and Joseph Osgood, who commenced in the north or northeasterly part of the town, in what is still known as the "Osgood Settlement," and soon after were followed by their brother, Benjamin Osgood, from New Hampshire, whence they had emi- grated. In the same year (1803) came John Chamber- lain, Esq., with his three sons, Ebenezer G. Chamberlain, Zenas, and Pickman, and one daughter, who had emi- grated from New Salem (now Meredith), New Hampshire, but had lived a few years, we think, in Hampden prior to their coming to Blasdeltown. The Chamberlains settled in the southwest part of the town, and were worthy and respectable citizens. Before the close of the year 1803 occurred the marriage of Samuel Osgood, of Blasdeltown, and Roxanna Knapp, of Orrington (now Brewer), this being the first marriage in the vicinage of Blasdeltown. In the autumn of this year came Nathan- iel Barker, then nineteen years of age, from Limerick, and passed the following winter with his brother Josiah, at whose house Ebenezer G. Chamberlain," during the winter evenings, instructed a class in the rudiments of

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

arithmetic, in which married people as well as single took lessons.

1804. On the 14th of February, 1804, occurred the second birth in Blasdeltown, being that of Ira, the eldest son of Josiah and Nancy Barker. He is still living, and is a resident of Corinna, Maine. At this time, or per- haps a little earlier, Lemuel Tozier had married, for his second wife, Betsey Hathorn, widow of Asahel Gates, of Orrington (now Brewer), and had removed her with her two children, Arumah and Jacob Gates, to his own home in Blasdeltown.

i :

In August, 1804, was taught the first school in this plantation, by Miss Anna M. Stevens, of Warwick, Mas- sachusetts, who was then visiting her sister, the wife of Dr. Gale, an early settler in what was then called "New Ohio," on the town line between the present towns of Corinth and Levant, and where the doctor died the same fall. At the close of her school Miss Stevens returned home to Massachusetts, where she was afterward twice married, and reared an enterprising family.

After an absence of half a century from the scenes of her early missionary labors, she was invited to be present at the fiftieth anniversary of her school, which was cele- brated March 3, 1855, at the Town House in Exeter, where was held a full convention, composed of the teachers and scholars of the several public schools in town, and of which David Barker was Supervisor, and officiated as chairman of the meeting. At this conven- tion the invited guest, then the "Widow Anna M. Met- calf," a very intelligent lady of about "three score years and six," was present, and partook of the festivities of the occasion, sitting at the same table with five of her old scholars who have since all passed away. Several other distinguished personages were also in attendance, among whom were the Rev. John Sawyer, then in his one hundredth year, and who addressed the Throne of Grace; and the late General Isaac Hodsdon, who was then, as he expressed it, "living on borrowed time, with his furlough nearly expired," gave a very able and appro- priate address of welcome to the distinguished guest, with whom, in the long past, he had been acquainted, but had not before seen in the last fifty years. In ex- tending a written invitation to Mrs. Metcalf to honor the convention with her presence, an inquiry was made of her as to her recollections in regard to her "famous school," also a request for her to state if she could give the names of her scholars, the length of her school, and how supported, her means of conveyance to and from the plantation, and particularly to describe the edifice in which the school was taught, etc., to which she responded as follows:

In answer to your inquiries respecting the first school taught in "Blaisdeltown"-(doubtful whether the first attempt of a romantic girl of sixteen should be called a school)-I will say that at a meeting in the house of Mr. Levi Bradley, in "New Ohio" the much honored and lamented Rev. Jotham Sewall, who was on a missionary tour through the then almost unbroken wilderness, inquired if there was any young lady present who would like to teach, as he had $5 of missionary money to spend in that way. The result was-after the usual preliminaries -- the school in question, commencing in August, D gond be difficult for me to depict to modern comprehension the ingeniously constructed edifice in which the school was commenced;

although I distinctly remember the four posts-crotched a little at the top, stuck into the ground-on which were laid four other poles, or sticks of wood, with boards leaned up against and over the top, with a square hole left for ingress and egress. Boards were laid on the uneven ground for a floor. I presume there was not a nail used about it. It was located close beside Mr. Josiah Barker's barn, which was necessary, perhaps, to protect the frail tenement from being blown over. After a time the school was removed to the sleeping-room in Mr. Tozier's house. The manner of my conveyance to the scene of my labors has entirely escaped my recollection. It could not have been by railroad, stage, nor omnibus. It probably was on horseback, and very likely on the same horse behind Dr. Gale. I recollect all those families you mention, as I boarded with all or most of them. The scholars were Samuel and Clark Pease, Polly Chamberlain, Arumah Gares; Sally, Richard and Elijah Tozier; Judith and Sophia Barker; John and Clarissa Seavey, and perhaps one or two others whose names I have forgotten. I remember eating very excellent bread baked in an iron dish-kettle over a great blazing fire, and potatoes boiled in a birch- bark sap-trough !* My first trial of roads in the wilderness, was on horseback from Bangor to "New Ohio Plantation," and the next day I was unable in consequence to sit up at all without fainting. I well remember, likewise, the beautiful simplicity and unaffected kindness and friendship of the people in those new settlements, and I most heartily deprecate some of the improvements of modern times.

So much for the first "school ma'am" of Exeter, so worthy of the remembrance and esteem of the present and future descendants of the old stock.

It may be proper to add, that the five families in the neighborhood of the school contributed $5 additional to the "missionary money," which prolonged the term to ten weeks.

During the month of August, 1844, a son was born in the family of Samuel and Roxanna Osgood, this son being Calvin Osgood, now of Garland, Maine.

1805. In March, 1805, came Daniel Barker, from Lim- erick (a native of Exeter, New Hampshire, for which "Blasdeltown" was subsequently named), and purchased the homestead of Leonard Tozier, who then removed to Brewer, where he continued to reside until the death of his second wife, excepting a few years, in which he had again beaten back into the wilds of "Jarvis Gore" (now part of Dedham), where he again achieved the honor --- as in Exeter-of being the "first settler."

Mr. Leonard Tozier, the distinguished pioneer, was born in Pownalborough (now Wiscasset), August 17, 1756. His first wife, Sarah Lancaster, was born in Wins- low (then "Fort Halifax"), October 29, 1761. They were married by Ezekiel Pattee, Esq., of Fort Halifax, January 19, 1780, and settled soon after in what is now Glenburn, on the Kenduskeag Stream, on the point of land (or "oxbow" on the stream), still known as "To- zier's Point." Mr. Tozier died in Waterville, Maine, at the home of his daughter Sally, who had married Elias Tozier, her cousin, in the winter of 1843. Mr. Tozier left a large number of descendants, some of whom are now living in Corinth, Maine, where his son, John Tozier, who died January 18, 1878, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, eleven months, and thirteen days, had long been a worthy and prominent citizen, and where his widow still survives him.

1805 to 1810. Between these years rapid progress was made in the settlement and growth of Blasdeltown. During this period came Elias Milliken, with a large fam-

* Something similar, probably, to the Madwacan "cosse-eau," or "cosse de bouleau."-ED.

875

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

ily, from Scarborough, and Bartlett Leathers, from Not- tingham, New Hampshire, and Thomas Townsend, Sam- uel Judkins, Joseph Bradbury, William Tibbetts, Charles Crosby, Jr., Elisha Crosby, John Crocker, Benjamin Hil- ton, Nathan Doan, Bangs Doan, Nathan 'Prescott, John Mclellan, Mark Chase, Benjamin Sinclair, Richard Palmer, Joseph and Henry Tibbetts (twin brothers), Jo- seph Davis, Moses Dudley, and John Kenniston, and others soon followed and took up lands in the south part of the town, while in the central part had arrived Sam- uel Eastman, John and William Staples, Samuel Brown, Stephen and Matthew Hedges, Noah Dow, Samuel Spar- hawk, Charles Butters, and some others.

In the northern part of the town the Osgoods were soon followed by William Palmer and two of his sons, William, Jr., and John Palmer, Aaron Hatch, Joseph Champeon, Asa and Joseph Cortland, Nathaniel Oak, Ebenezer and Paul Towle, Nathaniel and John Hill, Phineas, Ebenezer, Nathan, and Nathaniel Batchelder, Gardner Farmer, Gideon Lambert, Nahum Pierce, Jesse Cross, and his brother-in-law, - Waite. Jesse Cross, above named, was a Free-will Baptist clergyman, and came from New Hampshire. His wife, who was a sister of Waite, died within a few years after their removal here, and her remains, with those of a child of Joseph and Nancy Osgood, were buried side by side in Gardner Farmer's orchard; but in after years were taken up and removed to the old burying ground, in the "Osgood set-

tlement." Soon after the death of his wife Mr. Cross and his brother, Waite, returned to New Hampshire.

During these years, there being no corporate authority for raising money by a tax in the plantation, the children,

the early settlers, though poor, provided such means as they had for the education of their children, already be- ginning to increase to a respectable number of scholars. There were some few among the inhabitants, both male and female, who had been teachers, among whom were E. G. Chamberlain, and Mrs. Joseph Bradbury. The latter opened a private school in her own house, on the Tibbetts place, within a year or two after the close of the one by Miss Stevens, where most of the children in the neighborhood-her own among the rest-attended. Private schools were also taught about this time in the Osgood settlement, and Hedges neighborhood, being where Hazen Messenger now lives.

INCORPORATION AS A TOWN.

1810. Early in the spring of 1810 a petition was signed and sent to the Legislature, then convened in Boston, for an act of incorporation, the following being a copy :

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled. June, 1810:

The subscribers, inhabitants of Township Number Three in the fourth range, north of the Waldo Patent, commonly known by the name of Blaisdeltown, beg leave to represent that their numbers have increased to upwards of forty families; that they labour under all the many and great inconveniences, which naturally arise in consequence of their unincorporated situation.

They therefore pray that the said Township, with the inhabitants therein, may be incorporated into a town by the name of Exeter, with all

the privileges and immunities which other towns in the Commonwealth enjoy. As in duty bound will ever pray.

SAMUEL SPARHAWK,

JOSEPH OSGOOD,

SAMUEL EASTMAN,

JOSEPH CHAMPEON,

NATHANIEL BACHELDER,

BENJAMIN OSGOOD,

SAMUEL BROWN,

SAMUEL OSGOOD,

MATTHEW HEDGES, GARDNER FARMER,

NATHANIEL OAK,

WILLIAM PALMER,

WILLIAM PALMER, JR.,

ASA CARTLAND, NAHUM PIERCE,

JOSIAH BARKER,

NATHANIEL HILL,

DANIEL BARKER,

JOSEPH PEASE, JR.,

JOSEPH BRADBURY,

MOSES DUDLEY,

ALBANA PEASE,

NATHANIEL BARKER,

JOSEPH TIBBETTS,

HENRY TIBBETTS,

REUBEN SEAVEY,

BENJAMIN HILTON,

THOMAS TOWNSEND,

MCKENZIE PEASE,

RICHARD STAPLES,

CHARLES CROSBY,

JOSEPH PEASE.

AARON HATCH,

On the foregoing petition a Bill, an "Act to incorpo- rate the Town of Exeter," was reported by the Commit- tee, and finally passed on the 16th of. February, 181I.

ORGANIZATION AND EARLY PROCEEDINGS-SCHOOLS.

18II. The warrant for calling the first town meeting in Exeter under its charter (or act of incorporation, in February, 1811,) was issued by Moses Hodsdon, Esq., of "Conduskeag Plantation" (as the present town of Ken- duskeag was then called), and under this warrant the legal voters of the town assembled at the dwelling-house of Samuel Eastman, on Lot No. 1, Range 6, on Mon- day, April 1, 1811, and chose Matthew Hedges Moder- ator; John Chamberlain Town Clerk; John Chamber- lain, Samuel Osgood, Joseph Pease, Jr., Selectmen ; Gardner Farmer Treasurer; Nathaniel Barker Collector of Taxes.

John Chamberlain, Esq., was retained in the offices of Clerk and Chairman of the Board of Selectmen for three consecutive years. He was a saddler by trade, and the first Justice of the Peace in town, holding that office under an appointment by the Governor of Massachusetts. He was one of the earliest settlers in town, and died here on the 3d of January, 1830.

No sooner had the citizens of Exeter become organ- ized as a town than they began to manifest a renewed interest in the education of their children. At their sec- ond town meeting, May 28, 1811, on the tenth article of their warrant, "Voted eighty dollars for schooling this year." On Article 19, "Voted two hundred dollars for building school-houses," which are the first votes touching the subject of education. At this meeting Joseph Os- good, Joseph Pease, Jr., and Samuel Brown were chosen a committee to superintend the building of school-houses. The sum of $80, raised for schooling, was to be paid by the first day of February, 1812, in wheat at 9s., rye at 7s., or corn at 6s. per bushel.

The town met again December 26, 1811, to consider the question whether school-houses should be built by the town or the several school districts. After consider- able discussion and deliberation, it was decided "That the town will build school-houses for the several districts as soon as they shall contain twenty children from the ages of four to twenty-one years;" and Charles Butters, Joseph Pease, Jr., and Aaron Hatch were chosen a

of course, had to be instructed at private charge.

But

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

committee "to mark out the outlines of as many school tricts as they shall think proper to make."

The committee forthwith made their report, which was accepted. This report embraced three school districts, viz .: "South Central" (southeast No. I, Hill's Corner), "Northeast" (No. 2, Osgood Settlement), and "North- west" Districts (Exeter Corner). This division was found to be impracticable; for, at a meeting of January 17, 1812, the town voted to have but two school districts, viz .: "Southeast and Northeast, and that the dividing line between them be the centre line which passes through the town north and south;" and that the money ($200) which had been raised May 28, 1811, "or its stated value in grain," be apportioned to the building of said houses.

These houses were to be 26 by 20 feet on the ground, 9-foot posts, and hipped roof, and to be set up 'and fit for summer schools by the 20th day of June next (A. D. 1812).

These two houses were built in the summer of 1812, but not in season for the summer schools. They were used for schools, however, the next winter, 1813.

On the 19th December, 1812, the inhabitants voted "That the town be districted anew, and to contain but four districts, running a line through the town east and west betwixt the Sixth and Seventh ranges, and a line north and south through the town betwixt No. 6 and No. 7, throughout the ranges, each quarter to form one district." It was further voted "That each of the four districts shall have five hundred dollars apiece allowed them by the town for building school-houses." The school-houses in the foregoing districts were built by the town, and all others have since been built by the several districts. The school-house in the Northwest District was built in 1815, and the Southwest (No. 4) in 1820. Other districts have since been set off from the four original districts, and established in the following order, viz .: District No. 5, in 1820; No. 6, in 1823; No. 7, in 1824; No. 8, in 1827; No. 9, in 1829; No. 10, in 1831; No. II, in 1835; No. 12, in 1839; No. 13, in 1839; No. 14, in 1841; and No. 15, in the same year, 1841.

The first public town school in Exeter was taught in the summer of 1811, in District No. I, or Southeast Dis- trict, by Miss Susan Prescott, daughter of Nathan Pres- cott, then living in the district. That school was kept in the west room of Joseph Pease's log house, being on Lot No. 6, Range 3, now known as the James Brown place.

The second town school in the same district was taught in the summer of 1812, by Miss Elizabeth Budge, in a room in Nathan Prescott's log house (there being, in fact, none other than log houses at that time in the town).

During the same summer, 1812, the first town school was taught in District No. 2, or the Northeast District (then so called), by Miss Mary T. Hill, daughter of Captain Na- thaniel Hill, then living in the district. The next winter, 1813, Isaac Jacobs wasthe first male teacher in District No. 1, and Lewis Bean in District No. 2. The first school in District No. 3, or Northwest District, was taught in the summer of 1813, by Miss Sarah Shaw, daughter of

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 217

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