History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 226

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 226

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John A. Dudley, of Milford, is a son of John and Nancy Dudley (nee Nancy Cummings). His grandfather, Paul Dudley, was a native of Massachusetts. He came to Penobscot county about 1798, and settled in Milford on what is now known as the Dexter Brown place. He was a Revolutionary soldier in Washington's army. John and Nancy Dudley had five children, viz: Lucy L., deceased wife of Richard Blaisdell; Daniel D., now in Minnesota ; Leafy, wife of William Baily of Milford; James C., of Minnesota ; John H. Mr. Dudley always followed the lumber business in connection with farming. He died March 18, 1869; Mrs. Dudley died December 20, 1864. John A. Dudley was born January 18, 1828, in Milford, where he now lives. He married Lucy M. Hathorn, daughter of Eli and Hannah Hathorn, of Mil- ford. Mr. Dudley has a good farm of 150 acres on the river road in Milford, with a good set of buildings, and is a well-to-do farmer.

M. G. Stone came from New Hampshire to Maine in about 1808. He first settled in Bangor, but shortly moved from there and lived in Greenfield, Passadumkeag, and Bradley, where he located in 1819. He married Deborah Chesley, of New Durham, and had a family of eight children-Josiah, Abigail, Mary, David, Benjamin, Nancy, M. C. and Alfred M. Mr. Stone died in 1849; his wife died in 1855. M. C. Stone was born in 1813. He married Mary Jane Atkins, daughter of Nathaniel Atkins, who had nine children-Joseph W., Hannah P.,

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Mary J., Henry, Nancy C., Nathaniel A., Charles W., Olive A., and Justin B. Mr. and Mrs. Stone were mar- ried in 1843, and have had five children-Charles W., living at home; Olive D., now Mrs. Rogers, of Milford; Abbie F., now Mrs. Stafford, of Bangor, and Mary J., now Mrs. Cunningham, of Milford. Mr. Stone has been engaged as log agent, and though sixty-eight years of age still works at the business.

Among the prominent men of Milford is M. W. Saw- yer, who is the son of Edmund Sawyer, of Medford, Maine. He was born in Saco, Maine, and lived for a time at Oldtown. He moved to Medford about 1835, where he still lives. He married Lovinia Snow, of Milo. They had six children, three of whom only arrived at maturity, viz: Lizzie F., now Mrs. I. G. Mayo, of Milo; Carrie H., now Mrs. W. W. Walton, of Milo; and M. W., all of whom are still living. M. W. Sawyer was born in Medford, Maine, March 1, 1839. He came to Mil- ford and settled in 1865, engaging in general merchan- dising and lumber business. In 1865 he married Miss Lucy A. Willey, daughter of William Willey, of Milford. They have had three children, viz : Edmund M., Frank W., and Lulu B., all of whom are still living at home. Mr. Sawyer has a fine store and dwelling house in Mil- ford, and is one of the most prominent men of the place. He has served his town as Treasurer for several years.

F. H. Butterfield is a son of John Butterfield, who came to this town from Kingsboro, Massachusetts, when a lad of seven years. The father married Betsey C. In- galls, of Milford, and had fourteen children, ten of whom arrived at maturity - Mary, Charlotte, Emeline, Charles W., Joseph, John, George F., Harry N., William J., and F. H. F. H. Butterfield was born March 18, 1840, and is unmarried. William J., born February 27, 1838, mar- ried Lois D. Riggs, of Milford, and has had four chil- dren, of whom two are living - Hattie E. and Bessie E. William is now Clerk of this town. The Butterfield Brothers' hotel is the oldest in town. They have kept the hotel together since 1869, though William J. was in the business before this date. They do a large business, boarding the mill men.

Among the prominent men of Milford is Mr. Arthur Lamb, who is the son of William Lamb, of Sheffield. William Lamb married Miss Nancy Pollock, of Edin- burgh. They had five children, viz: William, Arthur, James, John, and Thomas, all of whom are now deceased except Arthur, who was born in 1813, and came to this country in 1835. He married Hannah Cookson, daugh- ter of Joseph Cookson, of Greenfield, Maine. They have had ten children, nine of whom are still living: Wil- liam L., of this town; James, now of Lincoln, Maine; Arthur, now of Greenfield, Maine; Joseph, now of Greenbush, Maine; Lany A., now Mrs. Missue, of Greenbush; Agnes J., now Mrs. J. Priest, of Milford; Polly, now Mrs. E. McDade, of Milford; Sarah, now Mrs. Levi Priest, of Canaan, Maine; and Florence, now of Lowell, Massachusetts. Mr. Lamb first settled in Milford village, where he lived eighteen years. He then moved to Greenbush and lived about thirteen years, then moved to his present farm in North Milford. Mr. Lamb

has served as Assessor, Overseer of the Poor, Selectman, etc. He is now one of the Selectmen of this town. He is also the mail carrier from this office to Greenfield.

Captain Samuel Baily came here or to this county from Boston with his father, Samuel Baily, Sr., about 1798 or 1799. He first settled in Bangor, or his father did, where he lived about ten years, and then moved to Milford. Samuel Baily, Sr., married Eleanor Bird. They had three girls and seven boys, viz: Sarah, Samuel, William, Amos, Polly, Thomas, Jane, John, David and Daniel. Samuel Baily, Sr., was a drum major in the Revolutionary war. He was among the very first settlers of this town. Samuel Baily, the father of Wil- liam Baily, the subject of this sketch, married Catharine Dudley, of this town, daughter of Paul Dudley, Esq. They had eleven children, viz: Paul D., Charles, Nancy D., Lucy, Lucretia, Martha D., William, Catharine, David, Samuel, Paul D., (the first by that name having died). Mrs. Baily died March 23, 1821, and Mr. Baily married for his second wife Leafy (or Olivia) Cummings, by whom he had two children-Samuel and Caroline. Mr. Baily followed various pursuits during his life, being a farmer. trader (Indian), lumberman, etc. He died January 18, 1832. William Baily is the third son of this family. He married Olivia C. Dudley, daughter of John Dudley, of Milford, March 26, 1838, and settled on the old home- stead, where he has since lived, and where all his brothers and sisters were born. Mr. and Mrs. Baily have had only one child, Carrie E., who married E. W. Conant. She died December 24, 1874, leaving one son-Eddie A .- now fourteen years old. Mr. Baily has followed the business of trader, lumberman, and drover.

Among the old settlers of Milford is Mr. George F. Dudley, who was born here. His father's name was Paul Dudley, who was the son of Paul Dudley, Sr. Paul Dudley, Jr., came to this town in 1798 when thirteen years old. He married Mary Freeze of Argyle, Maine, daughter of Isaac Freeze. Isaac Freeze was taken pris- oner at Castine by the British and compelled to work in their fortifications, ships, etc. Paul Dudley, Sr., settled in the neighborhood now called Sunkhaze, being one of the first settlers; came on the ice. Paul Dudley, Jr., had eight children who grew to maturity, four boys and four girls, viz: Arad, Rebecca F., Charlotte I., Susan P., William F., George F., Eben W., and Margaret A. Paul Dudley, Jr., died in October, 1868. Mrs. Dudley died in 1856. George F. Dudley, the subject of this sketch, was born June 20, 1821, being the fourth child born and living in town. He married in 1849 Miss Rebecca T. Daily, daughter of Nezer Daily, of Canton, Maine. They had two children, viz: George H., now of Milford, and Mary R. Mrs. Dudley died September 27, 1856. Mr. Dudley mar- ried for his second wife Mrs. Sarah Dudley, daughter of Orrington Smith, of Bucksport, and the widow of another person of the same name, by whom he has two children, viz: Fred and Charles H. Mrs. Dudley had one child by her first husband, also named Fred. Mr. Dudley has one hundred and sixty acres of land, and also follows lumbering for a business.

PASSADUMKEAG.

[The following interesting and valuable additions to the history of this town, by Mr. M. A. Austin, of Milford, were received after the former sketch had gone through the press. ]

This is a well watered town, fronting as it does on so large a river, besides which the Passadumkeag, a stream of no mean proportions, flows diagonally through the town from the eastern to the western line. Cold Stream, the outlet of Cold Stream Pond, waters the northeast part of the township, and joins its waters with the Passa- dumkeag, near the centre of the town. Much of the soil of the town is low and flat or sandy in its character, but there is some good land. There is some good land front- ing on the Penobscot River and some very good farms, and there is a ridge of land running from Passadumkeag Stream to the south line of the town about two miles back of the main river, where there is some excellent land though a portion of it is somewhat rocky.

This ridge is known by the name of Gould's Ridge. It extends into the town of Greenbush, and here are some very good farms and a neighborhood of thrifty, en- terprising farmers. Between the ridge and the Penobscot River is a tract of forest land, and the boggy character of the soil will probably cause it to remain in its natural state for a long time to come.

In the eastern part of the town is a large natural meadow, which, being overflowed by the surplus waters of the Passadumkeag in the annual spring freshets, produces plentiful crops of wild grass. It was the great resource of the early settlers of this and adjoining towns, and even now it makes an important part of the hay crop of many of the farmers.

This town was included within the six-mile strip, ex- tending six miles back from the eastern bank of the Penobscot, recognized as belonging to the Tarratines previous to the treaty of 1796. In that year that tribe of Indians ceded to the whites, by treaty with the State of Massachusetts, a strip of land six miles wide, beginning at the head of the tide on the eastern side of the Penob- scot and ending at the north line of what is now Passa- dumkeag. This tract of land was known in the early part of the century as the " Old Indian Purchase." A few years after this it was laid off into townships, and these townships subdivided into lots by order of the State of Massachusetts.

The exact date at which the town was settled it is impos- sible now to ascertain, but it was shortly before the War of 1812. At the time that war commenced there were six families in town, James Comings and his son Ben- jamin Comings, Elisha Tourtelotte, Joshua Ayers, Enoch Ayers, and Elisha P. Evans.

These settlers came to No. I, as the town was then

called, at nearly the same time, the Comingses and Ayerses preceding Tourtelotte and Evans by a year or two. Mr. James Comings came from Meredith, Massa- chusetts. He was a man of thrift and energy, and possessed a large share of the accumulative faculty for which the sons of Massachusetts have always been noted. His wife was a lady by the name of Ingalls, and was a sister to Colonel Ingalls, one of the early settlers of Mil- ford. He settled on a lot of land fronting on the Pen- obscot River about two miles above the south line of the town. He applied all his energies to the improvement of the land he occupied and soon had a good farm. He set out the first fruit trees in the town and soon had a good orchard for that time and locality. He built a large house and buildings fronting the river, and used to pro- vide food and lodging to such travelers as called for it. Rivers have always been the highways of pioneers and the location of Mr. Comings was just right to accommo- date the primitive travel of the Penobscot.

The other settlers occupied lots on the river and began to carve out homes for themselves in the wilder- ness.

In 1815 Reuben Tourtelotte came into the town and settled on the main river, a short distance below the mouth of the Passadumkeag.

In 1816 Thomas Knowlen moved into the town. He was a hunter, and was very skillful in his avocation.

Joshua Hathaway came here in the year 1820. He settled on the point formed by the confluence of the Passadumkeag with the Penobscot.

This was considered a very pleasant and valuable loca- tion, and it is the site of the village of Passadumkeag.

'Squire Hathaway, as he was called, was a gentleman of the old school. He had an excellent education, was a pleasant and genial companion, and was possessed of more than average abilities.

The first road in the town followed the river closely. It was cut through the township in 1816. It was rough and rugged in its character, being the primitive style of highway, but it supplied all the needs of that early period.

The first trader in town was Ezra Richardson, who commenced business in a small way. The store he oc- cupied was a log one, but it was suited to the needs of that rude period. Shortly after the formation of the State of Maine in 1820, an appropriation was made by the Legislature to improve the road running near the Penobscot. It was laid out in what are now the towns of Greenbush, Passadumkeag, Enfield, and Lincoln.

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

This was a great help to the country on the Upper Pe- nobscot, and the building by the General Government of the Military Road, as it was called, from Lincoln to Houl- ton, to accommodate the garrison maintained at that place, was a great convenience and a great help to the opening up of the country.

In the fall of 1825 Thomas Knowlen, before men- tioned, went to the Aroostook country on one of his hunting expeditions. He was accompanied by one com- panion, and they had excellent luck, securing a large lot of valuable furs. Knowlen never returned, but his body was afterwards found in the stream near which he had encamped. His companion came back and stated that Knowlen was killed by the Indians, but he was not gen- erally believed, and it was commonly supposed that he had a hand in the matter himself.

About 1826 'Squire Hathaway sold out on the Point and moved up the Passadumkeag to the mouth of Cold Stream. Mr. Hathaway was the first mail-carrier in this section of the country, and many were the delicate and important commissions with which he was entrusted. The route was between Passadumkeag and Bangor, and he was a faithful and conscientious public servant.

The first tavern was built by James Sanders, Jr., in 1820, and shortly afterwards Tristram F. Jordan built a second one. Sanders's was on the north side of Passa- dumkeag Stream, and Jordan's on the south side, and both did a good business. All the supplies for the garri- son at Houlton were hauled by teams by here, besides the business of all the up-river country. In addition to the hotel business Messrs. Sanders and Jordan went into trade, and Passadumkeag Point, as it was called, became the centre of quite an extent of country.

Before 1830 Parson Lawton began to labor in this place, and it ever afterwards remained his home. He was a Congregationalist, and through his efforts a flourishing church was established.

About 1830 Dr. Murch settled in the place and re- mained here a long time. He was the first physician, and built up quite a practice.

Gould's Ridge was first settled by 1822. It was named for Zebediah Gould, who settled on the Greenbush end and built a timber house there, near the bank of Olamon Streanı.

Shortly after this Joseph Spiller and Nicholas Gilman moved onto the Ridge, felled trees and built houses. There was no road there at this time, and the first settlers followed the path which the Ayerses, the first settlers of Argyle, had made in order to reach Passadumkeag meadow.

Before this time it was the custom of the families set- tled in the upper part of Argyle, to cut hay on the meadow and stack it at the junction of Cold Stream with the Passadumkeag. Here they built log barns to which they drove their cattle and kept them for the winter. It looks like a shiftless proceeding now, but we know not the difficulties which surrounded the early settlers.

The hotels and stores at the "Point" made that the commercial centre of the township, and about them grew

up quite a smart little village. It is a pleasant and salu- brious location, but the lack of water-power has retarded its growth, and it is not probable that it will ever become so large a place as its projectors believed.

The town was never a plantation, but in 1834 the in- habitants had become quite numerous and some organ- ized form of government was necessary. They accord- ingly petitioned the Legislature to be incorporated into a town by the name of Passadumkeag. The Legislature promptly responded, and in January, 1835, passed a bill corporating the town of Passadumkeag. A meeting was called in March of that year, and the act of incorpora- tion accepted. The first officers were Tristram F. Jor- dan, Clerk; Tristram F. Jordan, Samuel Dam, Amos Dennis, Selectmen; Aaron Haynes, Treasurer and Col- lector; William T. Baker, Joshua Norton, Jr., John S. Patten, School Committee; Joshua T. Haynes, Consta- ble. The old name by which the village at the Point had always been known was retained for the whole town. It is an Indian name, and signifies "quick water." It is not exactly applicable to the lower part of the stream of that name, and it is probably derived from the rips on the Penobscot between Passadumkeag and Edinburg.

About this time another tavern was erected by Isaac Haynes in the upper part of the town on the river road. At that time steamboats and railroads had not been in- troduced, and all the business was done by horse teams, a great number of which were employed in hauling the supplies required by the heavy lumbering operations car- ried on in the forest country above. Hotels were numer- ous in those days. In country places they were generally not more than four miles apart, and in every place where any business was done two or more were generally estab- lished. Passadumkeag was then the most important place on the river between Milford and Lincoln, and be- ing half-way between those it was supposed that it was the natural centre of a large extent of country. But the . want of water-power has been severely felt, and the vil- lage has not kept pace with the expectations of its found- ers.

The first member of the legal fraternity was a man by the name of Randall. He remained here many years, but finally removed to Lincoln. Another lawyer attract- ed to the young and as was supposed promising village was James B. Cleveland, a son of the celebrated Professor Cleveland, of Bowdoin College. James B. graduated at that institution, studied law, and settled in Passadum- keag. He was a man of fine talent, of genial and kindly disposition, and had many warm friends. He was great- ly interested in politics, and was elected Representative to the Legislature in 1850. Shortly after this he went home to Brunswick, and died soon after.

A few years after the incorporation of the town two brothers by the name of Bassett built a tannery on the banks of the Penobscot a short distance above the bridge across the Passadumkeag. It was operated only a few years, not proving remunerative. About 1840 a blacksmith by the name of Daniel Peavey moved into the town and occupied a little shop on the south side of the bridge. He was possessed of wonderful mechanical

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

913

talent, and patented many valuable inventions, among them the Peavey cant dog, now in general use all over the country, a hay press and stump-puller that came to be commonly used. But his mechanical talent was bet- ter than his business talent, and he never gained wealth by his ingenuity. He was the father of a numerous fam- ily, among which were four pairs of twins.

The hotels at the Point always did a large business, the stage-line from Oldtown to Mattawamkeag making this a half-way station at which the passengers dined. The establishment of the steamboat line on the upper Penobscot did not hurt their business, as the passengers still had an opportunity to dine here.

James Thompson kept the hotel on the south side of the stream in 1845. He only occupied it a short time. On the outbreak of the Mexican war he raised a com- pany for the New England Regiment, of which he was commissioned captain. He took part in all the battles of his regiment, the famous "Bloody Ninth," particularly distinguishing himself at the battle of Molino-del-Rey. He survived the dangers of the battlefield, but was car- ried off by a fever shortly after the occupation of the Mexican capital.

The census of 1850 did not show so large a population as in 1840, but this was accounted for by the fact that a third part of the town had been set off to the town of Lowell. The part set off contained a third part of the population and wealth. The town at this time was fairly prosperous, and gained in population faster than the State taken as a whole.

After 1850 it was proposed to navigate the Passadum- keag by steam, and a charter was taken out by Peavey and others, but nothing came of it; the charter was after wards renewed, but no steamboat was ever built, and it was probably an impracticable project.

The census of 1860 showed a population of 360, an increase of 155 during the decade. By this census the valuation was $26,011. The number of polls 77.

The commencement of the war at this time seemed to retard the progress of the town, and the village seemed duller than in the earlier days, but the fall- ing off in population that occurred during the decade was probably occasioned by the withdrawal of the young men and young women from the farms to the larger cities and manufacturing centres of the country. This, and the large emigration to the West, caused a general falling off in the number of inhabitants of the farming towns in all parts of the State.

The town contributed its share to the armies of the country, and was represented in most of the regiments that were raised in the eastern part of the State. Town meetings were held to encourage volunteering, and money was voted to aid and provide for the families of volunteers, and a large debt was incurred in the efforts to provide volunteers to fill the quotas assigned to the town under the different calls, but the effort was too much for so small and poor a town, and a draft was obliged to be resorted to; but the town furnished its men, and has reason to be proud of its military record.

Many of the brave men sent on to the front perished on the battlefield; others endured the horrors of the prison pen and came home to remember how they struggled with disease and death.

About 1864 a company was organized to raft the logs cut on the Passadumkeag and its tributaries, and a boom was established on that stream, just above the village. Previous to this every operator rafted his logs separately, or drove them in the Penobscot boom at Argyle. The new boom was a great convenience to the lumbermen of that vicinity, besides adding to the business of the town.

The lack of water power had been severely felt and no mill had ever been built. This was a feature peculiar to this town, as saw-mills are the first thing thought of in a country like the Penobscot, where almost the sole business is lumber, but in 1862 Hiram Peavey built a mill and commenced sawing lumber. The power was steam, and had it been favorably located it would have been a good investment, but it was too far from market, and the local business was insufficient to support it. It was shortly afterwards burned, but Mr. Peavey was a man not easily daunted, and he at once rebuilt it. He commenced operations again but failed to make money. It cost too much to get lumber to Bangor. He after- wards disposed of it to Winterport parties, but it never did a paying business until the railroad reached the town.

In the summer of 1869 the European & North American Railway commenced running to this place. For a time this was a terminus of that road, and steamers ran from here to the head of navigation. But this was for a short time only, and when the railroad was com- pleted by the town to points above, the steamboat line was discontinued. But the railway was a benefit to the town and the steam mill was put in connection with it and commenced to do a profitable business. It was in operation a year or two and was again destroyed by fire. It has since been rebuilt by the Messrs. Plummer, who have since continued to operate it. It contains a cir- cular saw-mill for cutting long lumber, a shingle-machine for cutting shingles and heading, and a stave machine. It has lately been doing a profitable business. It has been the means of adding to the wealth and population of the village, and now, when the business outlook is so favorable all over the country, it will probably be more constantly employed and add still more to the population of this pleasant little village. The war left the town largely in debt, but since that time it has been largely diminished and the town is now practically out of debt. During the last ten years the town has increased some- what in population, several houses have been built and the town presents a decidedly better appearance that it did in 1870. It is now about sixty years since the first commencement was made at the village by 'Squire Hatha- way, and although it has not become so important a place as the early settlers expected, it has become a pleasant and prosperous village that would contrast strongly with the long, low log house of the honest old pioneer who first took up his residence at the confluence of Passa- dumkeag with the Penobscot.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 226

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