History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 66

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 66

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TRAFTON, D. D., Rev. MARK (Bangor). Rambles in Europe; 377 pp., 12mo .; Boston, 1852. ... The Safe Investment, or Systematic Beneficence, 38 pp .; Boston, 1856 .... Baptism: Its Subjects and Mode; second edi- tion, 91 pp .; Boston, 1870. . . . Scenes in My Life, during a ministry of nearly half a century; 349 pp., 12mo .; Boston, 1878. . .. A Sketch of the History of Maine, in Crocker's History of New England; 9 pp., quarto, double columns; Boston, 1879.

VALENTINE, ELLIOT (Teacher in Bangor, 1840-55). Mental Arithmetic, 100 pp., 18mo ; Bangor, 1840.

WAKEFIELD, Mrs. LUCY F. (Bangor). Fugitive pieces -among them: Fremont, the Pathfinder, in Bangor Whig, September, 1861, just after the proclamation issued

by him emancipating the slaves in Missouri .... Histor- cal verses entitled "1769-1869," for Bangor's Centennial; also, for the same, "Penjejawock," named from the stream emptying into the Penobscot two miles above Kenduskeag bridge, the locality where was the site of the first framed house built in Bangor, and in the neighbor- hood of the author's home; the Devil's Rock, of early tradition; and a few rods above this, the beautifully wooded eminence, now known as Mt. Hope Cemetery; published in Centennial volume, 1869. . . . The Haunted House, a legend of the old first framed house ; Bangor Whig, February 24, 1870 .... The Deer Hunt, in Whig, March, 1873, containing an appeal to sportsmen to spare those beautiful and harmless animals, which at that time were in danger of being exterminated from the State.

WASHBURN, Hon. ISRAEL, Jr. (Orono). The Power and Duty of Congress in Respect to Suffrage, 21 pp .; Boston, Massachusetts, 1869. ... From the Northwest to the Sea, II pp .; Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1873 . . . . Notes of Livermore, Maine, 169 pp .; Portland, 1874 Centennial of Orono, Maine, 168 pp .; Portland, 1874 .... Dedication of the Soldiers' Monument at Cher- ryfield, Maine, July 4, 43 pp .; Portland, 1874. . .. Me- moir of Hon. Ether Shepley, LL. D., included in volume 8 Maine Historical Collections; Portland, 1881. . . . The Northeastern Boundary, vol. 8 Maine Historical Collec- tions, 106 pp .; Portland, 1881. ... Among his prominent speeches, published while Representative in Congress from the Fourth District in Maine, were: Plan for short- ening the transit between New York and London; 1852 The Compromise as a National Party Test; 1852 .... The Sandwich Islands; 1854 .. .. On the Bill to Organize Territorial Government in Nebraska and Kan- sas; 1854. . .. On the President's Message Vetoing the French Spoliations Bill; 1855 .. .. The Kansas Contest- ed Election; 1856. . .. The Politics of the Country; 1856 .... The President's Message on the Slavery Ques- tion; 1856 . . . . Kansas and the Lecompton Constitution; 1857 .... The Republican Party; 1858. . .. The Issues: The Dred-Scott Decision; 1860 ;- all the above published in Washington .... Addresses to the Legislature of Mine while Governor of the State, January 3, February 22, April 22, 1861; January 2, 1862; published in Augusta .... Political speeches, August, 1855, published in Port- land and elsewhere; October, 1855, in Boston Atlas and elsewhere. . .. Addresses in Oldtown, July 4, 1858; in Portland, July 4, 1862, and July 4, 1865; on Peace, at Portland, in Advocate of Peace, 1874; in Orono, before the State College, on the Laws of Success, 1875 .. . . Articles in the Universalist Quarterly Review: Charles Lamb; Walter Savage Landor; Modern Civilization; The Logic and the End of the Rebellion; Dr. Gamaliel Bailey; Compulsory Education, etc.

WEBSTER, Mrs. MARY MOULTON (Bangor). A con- tributor of occasional and fugitive articles that were al- ways welcome and attained great celebrity, though the writer was unknown to the public. In Voices of the Kenduskeag, 1848, appeared A Simple Sketch of Simple Things, 21 pp.

WHEELER, Rev. CROSBY H. (Hampden and Bangor;

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

missionary in Turkey from 1857). Ten Years on the Euphrates, or Primitive Missionary Policy Illustrated, with maps and engravings, 330 pp .; Boston, 1866. . . . Letters from Eden, with engravings, 432 pp .; Boston, 1868 .... Little Children in Eden, 157 pp .; Portland, 1876 .... Contributor to Missionary Herald, and to "magazines and newspapers in America, Europe, and Asia.

WHEELER, Mrs. SUSAN A. (Bangor; missionary in Turkey from 1857). Grace Illustrated, or a Boquet from our Missionary Garden, 352 pp .; Boston, 1876 .... Daughters of Armenia, 157 pp .; New York, 1877 .... Contributor to Life and Light, Boston, and Christian Mirror, Portland, etc.

WHIPPLE, JOSEPH. A Geographical View of the Dis- trict of Maine, with particular reference to its internal resources, including the History of Acadia, Penobscot River and Bay, with Statistical Tables; 102 pp., 8vo; Peter Edes, Bangor, 1816. One of the very first books printed in the Penobscot Valley.

WIGGIN, ALBERT C. (Bangor). History of Castine. . .. History of Waldo County, in Crocker's History of New England, 9 pp., quarto, double columns, 1880. . .. Fugitive Pieces .... City Editor of Bangor Commercial.

WIGGIN, EDWARD (Bangor). Poems, Essays, Lec- tures, Addresses, etc .; among them : Epistle to Doria, in David Barker's volume of Poems; Jim Black; Mince Pie as my Mother Made it, etc., chiefly in newspapers.

WILLIAMS, SMITH (Exeter ; one of the early school- teachers). Published The Universal Spelling Book, embracing the rudiments of letters, and developing the principles of pronunciation in a manner never before attempted, etc., 216 pp .; Philadelphia, 1831.

WILLIAMS, Rev. THOMAS (Pastor of First Congrega- tional Church, Brewer, 1813-22). Sermon before the Maine Missionary Society, at its Twenty-fifth Anniversary in Wiscasset: Theme, Wisdom in Winning Souls, 17 pp .; Portland, 1832.

WILKINS, Mrs. LAURA HATCH (Bangor). Kate Parker, 464 pp .; Boston, 1874. ... Madge Markland, 320 pp., 12mo., 188I .... Fugitive Pieces in magazines and papers.

WILLIAMSON, Hon. WILLIAM D. (Postmaster, Bangor, 1810-20; Judge of Probate, Penobscot County, 1824- 1839; etc.). Speeches in Congress when Representative, 1821-22; these attracted considerable attention .... A History of the State of Maine, from its first discovery A. D. 1602 to the separation A. D. 1820,-vol. I., 696 pp., 8vo; vol. II., 729 pp .. 8vo; Hallowell, 1832 .... A New Impression of the same, 1839.

WILSON, D. D., Rev. ADAM (Pastor First Baptist Church, Bangor, 1838-41, and a resident previously). Several Addresses and Sermons Published .... Editor Zion's Advocate, Portland.

WILSON, AMANDA M. (Bangor). A newspaper article now and then, and a few poems.

WINES, Rev. ABIJAH (Professor in Bangor Theological Seminary, 1817-19). Human Depravity, 40 pp .; Mid- dleton, Vermont, 1803 .... Vain Amusements, 40 pp .; Windsor, Vermont .... Sermon at the Ordination of Rev.

Benjamin Sawyer, Cape Elizabeth; The Perfection of the Divine Government, 24 pp .; Portland, 1809. ... The mere Amiable Man no Christian, 26 pp .; Portland, 1828.

WOODHULL, Mrs. SARAH F. (Bangor). Fugitive pieces, and others for special occasions, written amidst the cares and responsibilities of everyday duties, oftentimes as a relief from them, and expressive of the thoughts and feelings that plead for expression in words. Among them: A Plea for Colleges for Females, which appeared in Mrs. Hale's Literary Magazine .... Articles on Wo- man's Spheres: Not "Rights," but Privileges .. .. Several tales and poems for the Bangor Clarion, Charles Gil- man editor 1829, etc; among them a prize tale entitled, "Foundling of the Forest," also a sketch in poetry, "The Whippoorwill," and "The Female Missionary". . .. Articles appeared in Mrs. Hale's Magazine, Mrs. Steph- ens's Magazine, and The Eastern Magazine; also in relig- ious papers, mostly for the Mirror, at Portland. Some of the titles of poems were -- The Indian's Lament, 1834; My Country (on slavery), 1834; Ode on the Challenge of Cilley, afterwards sung at his burial in Thomaston; On to Victory (temperance); Ode for Dedication of Thomaston Academy; They Tell Me I must Die; The Young Mother; The Patient Sufferer; Thoughts Sug- gested by the Burial of a Schoolmate, 1844 ; Carriers' Ad- dresses 1836, 1852; On the Death of a Daughter of General Knox, and the Condition of the Knox Mansion in Thomaston, 1853; The Morning Star, 1856; New England's Snows, 1855 -- 56; The Mother's Idol, 1859; Three Indian Summer Songs; Questionings and Angel Ministries; Nobody Called Me Darling; Two Golden Wedding Hymns, one in 1880; Installation Hymns; On the Death of Lincoln, 1865; My Home, in June, 1861; The Marble Bust, 1868; The Dew Drop Mission ; Two Hymns for Bangor's Centennial, 1869; Half-Cen- tury of Bangor's Seminary, 1870; Under the Snow, 1873.

WOODS, D. D., LL. D., Rev. LEONARD (Professor in Bangor Seminary, 1835 -- 39. President Bowdoin College, 1839 -- 66). Review of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, New Monthly; Boston, 1828 .... Lectures on Christian The- ology, by George C. Knapp, translated from the German ; 2 vols., 8vo. ; 1831. ... Theology and Natural Science: Review of Bretschneider's Letter to a Statesman, translated from the German; Literary and Theological Review, New York; Vol. I ..... Review of Olshausen's Commen- tary on the New Testament; Vol. I. . . . A Suffering and Atoning Messiah Taught in the Old Testament, trans- lated from Hengstenberg's Christologie; Vol. I ..... Christianity and Philosophy, two articles; Vol. I. . .. Re- view of Goethe's Works; Vol. 2 .. .. Political and Eccle- siastical Reform; Vol. 2 .... Radicalism, two articles; Vols. 2 and 3. ... Unity of the Church in Doctrine, translated from D'Aubigne, two articles; Vol. 3 .... Christian Union, two articles; Vol. 3. ... Society of United Brethren; Vol. 3 .. .. Contrast Between the Lu- theran and Calvinistic Theories of Election, translated from Schleiermacher, with introductory notice; Vol. 4 .... Thoughts on the New Haven Theology; Vol. 5. . . . Remarks on President Day on the Will; Vol. 5. . ..

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Faith, three articles; Vols. 5 and 6. ... Neglect of the Classics in the Literary Institutions of Our Country; Vol. 6. ... Letters to a Southerner, three articles; Vol. 6. All the above from "Theology and Natural Science" in Literary and Theological Review. ... Eulogy on Daniel

Webster, by request of the city government and citizens of Portland; 1852. ... Address on the Life and Charac- ter of Professor Parker Cleaveland, with a portrait of Mr. Cleaveland; 1860 .... Address on Opening the New Hall for the Maine Medical School; 1862.

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY.

TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

ALTON.

The common statement is that Alton is eighteen miles north of Bangor. But the points in these towns most widely separated are but little more than that distance apart. It is about eighteen miles from the confines of Bangor city proper to the north line of Alton town. We shall, in this book, make a special effort to correct the current loose assertions regarding distances in Penobscot county. Taking Bangor as the point of departure in all directions, we shall reckon the distance of any town from it by the length of a straight line uniting their nearest points, without reference to wagon roads or railroads, or the interruption of lakes and rivers. Thus Alton is but eight miles from Bangor-that is to say, the south line of Alton is separated about eight miles from the north line of Bangor, between which and it lie Oldtown and the narrow part of Orono alone.

Alton is bounded on the north by Lagrange, the north- ernmost town in the county of this tier of townships; on the east by Birch Stream, beyond which lies Argyle; on the south by Oldtown; and on the west by Hudson and Bradford. Its boundaries are right lines upon three sides, but the fourth side is made irregular and tortuous by the course of the Birch Stream. This water, running in a general course of south-southeast, narrows the width of the town from six and two-thirds miles on the south line to six and one-tenth when about three-fifths of the way up its length, and to about three and one-third miles on the north boundary. The length of the town, on the western limit, is a little less than nine miles; but as the north line runs due east and west, and the southern boundary a little south of east (or north of west), the town lengthens out somewhat as it stretches eastward, until, on a line drawn due south from the point where Birch Stream enters Lagrange, the extreme length of the town is about a furlong greater.

This boundary water heads, in its west branch, near the north and west lines of the county, in Lagrange town, and its eastern fork about three miles to the southeast. The branches unite two miles above Alton, and flow thence in tolerably straight current to the junction with the Stillwater, at a mouth opposite the northernmost point of Orson Island, in Oldtown. A mile below the north line of Alton it receives the petty tributary known as Ten-mile Brook, which has its source in Pickerel Pond, a sheet of water about three-fourths of a mile long by one-fourth broad, almost in the exact geographical centre of the town. A mile east of the lower part of this is Holland Pond, in which the McKechnie Brook takes its rise, flowing thence in a south and southeasterly course nearly four miles to another stream, watering the southeast of the town, by which it reaches Birch Stream.

Half a mile southwest of Pickerel Pond is another dimin- utive lake, called Pug Pond, in which the Pug Brook makes a start, running thence south into Oldtown. A larger brook than any of these is the Dead Stream, whose headwaters are in the northeast corner of Bradford and . in Lagrange, west of the post-office of that name. In a nearly due south course it intersects the entire western part of Alton, near the west boundary, dipping over into Bradford for a very short distance, near the southeast corner of that tract. When about two-thirds of the way down the town, it is broadened into a mill pond, and fur- nishes motive power to a saw- and shingle-mill and a tannery. Near the south line of the town it enters Pushaw Stream, a bend of which, about a mile in length, also lies within its territory. West of the Dead Stream the Pushaw receives another but very small tributary, which waters the southwest corner of the town. Two and a half miles north of the Pickerel Pond is a very small lake, with a short outlet into Ten-mile Brook. Mansell Pond, half a mile southwest of Holland Pond, has an outlet of about a mile length into the McKechnie Brook.

The entire town is intersected almost diagonally by the Bangor & Piscataquis Railroad, almost ten miles of whose track lie within it. The Alton Station is between Holland Pond and the wagon road, which follows the railway with general parallelism. Here the post-office is kept by Mrs. A. T. McKechnie. The only through road from north to south of the town pursues a some- what zigzag course, but keeping pretty near the railroad all the way. Its route is upon the remarkable ridge or "horseback," which, beginning at the great bend of the Penobscot in Veazie, pursues a northerly direction through that town, Orono, Oldtown, Alton, and La- grange. Most of the settlements in the town are upon this road ; and they are quite numerous on that section of it south of Holland Pond. One public school-house is situated upon it, about a mile and a half above its en- trance into the town ; School No. 2 is a little more than two miles north of it, at Mansell Pond ; and School No. 4 six miles further, near the north line. The Good Templars' Hall was also built on this road, a little below the school-house at Mansell Lake ; and the Town Farm is half a mile below that. A few hundred yards above the Farm, at a building in which a store was formerly kept, a branch road takes a bee-line almost due westward to Dead Stream, near the tannery and saw-mill of Mr. George Milliken, running thence to the town line. An- other road starts from the Milliken neighborhood and runs southwest a mile and a half to a junction with the Hudson and Orono road, which cuts across the south- west corner of Alton, crossing the Pushaw Stream in this

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town. Upon the former road is School-house No. 6, about half a mile below the mills. There is considerable settlement in this part of Alton, and also in the short section of the town traversed by the road to Orono. Something more than a mile north of Holland Pond another road diverges from the highway along the rail- road, and runs off northwest through Bradford and Charleston. Still another wagon-road comes into the town from the river-road in Argyle, leaving that road at School No. 2, a point nearly opposite the Greenbush post-office, and, after about a mile's progress in Alton, enters the main road in this town just above Mansell Pond.

The surface of' Alton is generally level, and much of it is in meadow; but the soil of this tract is not very rich. Its people, however, are mostly given. to farming, but few manufactures having yet got in, though a tannery wa's formerly located on the Dead Stream, and a saw-and shingle-mill is still kept running by Mr. George Milliken. There is one general store in the town, kept at present by Hiram C. Judkins, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace and of the Quorum.

Alton also derives some industrial and commercial im- portance from the fact that its waters furnish the termi- nus and rafting-place of the Upper Benobscot Boom.

This region was originally known as Birch Stream Set- tlement. Stephen Tourtelott and his family were the pioneers upon the present tract of Alton. He came in 1818, and built the first log cabin or other civilized hab- itation in this part of the county. Three years after- wards, in 1821, came Mr. Anniel Rand, whose son Hiram has been for more than half a century a resident of the region. George H. McKechnie, Esq., is another of the early settlers. He is still residing here, and is the only Trial Justice of the Peace in the town.

Alton was originally a part of the Argyle Plantation, which extended to the Penobscot, and was subsequently a part of Argyle town. Five years after the erection of the latter-that is to say, on the 9th of March, 1844 -- the present town was set off from . Argyle under the name of Alton. Its population at that time was not far from 200. By the census of 1850 it had 252 people; by that of 1860, it had 531 ; of 1870, 508; and in. 1880, 419. Its polls in 1860 numbered 127; in 1870, just the

same; in 1880, 116. The valuation of its estates in the first-named year was $58,184; in the second, $116,362; and in the third, $78,959.

The latest report of public officers-elect at this writing [October, 1881,] is as follows: George Milliken, George A. Severance, J. D. Sargent, Selectmen; Frank D. Bow- ley, Town Clerk; Melville Crawford, Treasurer; Amasa Hatch, Jr .; Collector; O. E. Gerry, A. Hatch, Jr., H. C. Judkins; Constables; D. M. Dunham, School Super- visor; Hiram Judkins, F. D. Bowley, Quorum; G H. Mc- Kechnie, Trial; Justices.

Among the few institutions yet organized in this town is the Alton Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars, which meets on Saturday evenings.

Mr. George H. McKechnie, of Alton, is a son of Joseph and Electa P. McKechnie, of Athens, Maine. The elder McKechnie was a native of Waterville, in this State. His father, John McKechnie, was a native of Scotland, and a physician. His wife was of Irish descent. Her family name was North, and she was a sister to Judge North, formerly of Augusta. Joseph and Electa McKechnie had nine children, viz .: Orinda M., Hiram A. B., Charles E., Harry, Mary A., George H., Horace S., Susan E., and Joseph J. Mr. McKechnie died April 6, 1846, and Mrs. McKechnie, June 14, 1861. He was a farmer and lumberman. George H. McKech- nie was born May 3, 1810, in Athens, Maine. He moved to Alton in 1833. Before this he worked two years in a store in Athens. He married Miss Eleanor E. Leighton, daughter of Samuel Leighton, of Holden, in this county. They have had seven children, five of whom are now living, viz: Elbridge W., of Sangerville, Maine; George B., of Alton; Sarah E., wife of Horace L. McKechnie, of Alton; Edward L., of Alton, and Anna B. They lost one in early life, and Delia F., who mar- ried Willard F. Snow, is. also deceased. Mr. McKechnie has held various town offices, having served as Select- man, Treasurer, and Collector in his town. He has served over twenty years as Trial Justice. In 1866 he was sent to the Legislature as Representative from his district. He is at present a farmer, and always has been more or less, though engaged some in lumbering and in- surance business.

ARGYLE.

Argyle is the companion town to Alton, and formerly included it in the same municipality. It lies upon the same side of the Penobscot and in very nearly the same dimension of length, with only the comparatively narrow water of the Birch Stream separating them. It is bounded upon the west by Alton, on the northwest by Lagrange, and the north by Edinburg, on the east by the Penobscot River, beyond which lie Greenbush and a short breadth of Milford, and on the south by that part of Oldtown lying north and northeast of Orson Island. Its nearest distance to Bangor-that is, from the southwest corner of Argyle to the northeast corner of Bangor-is eight and one-fourth miles. The greatest breadth of the town is at the north line, between the Penobscot and Birch waters, where it is about eight miles; the narrowest at the south boundary and upon a line drawn from a little bay in the Penobscot below the mouth of the Hemlock Stream and opposite the foot of Cow Island. On both of these lines the width is but two and one-third miles. It is thus one of the smaller towns in the county, but by no means the least important. Opposite its eastern front, in the river, more than forty of the islands of the Indian reservation are thickly scattered, several of them nearly or quite a mile in length. The principal islands in this stretch of the river, coming down the stream, are Olemon, Sugar, Birch, Hemlock, Cow, Jackson, White Squaw,

Freese's, and the Ten Islands, Some of the islets are made highly useful in the booming and rafting operations on the river, and the tribe has derived small sums in shore rents therefrom. Formerly a small steamer plied in good stages of water on this part of the river, and for some distance further up.

Besides the Penobscot River on the east and the Birch Stream on the other side of the town, the waters of Argyle are exceedingly insignificant. The Hemlock Stream rises near the pond in the northern part of La- grange, and flows in a southeasterly direction across Ed- inburg into Argyle, through which it flows about eight miles into the Penobscot opposite the middle of Hem- lock Island. Into a little inlet of the river, nearly oppo- site Olemon Island, in the northeastern part of the town, flows Hart Brook, which rises in the southeast corner of Piscataquis county, a little north of Lagrange, and also flows across Edinburg and for about a mile in this town. Half a mile ahove it, and parallel with it, a very small tributary flows to the Penobscot. Two miles south of the Hemlock Stream, another rivulet of about two miles' length debouches into the river.

No railroad yet touches Argyle; but the trains of the European and North American, near the opposite bank of the river, afford its inhabitants sufficient accom-

modations for the present. Communication across the Penobscot is so far by small boats.

Argyle has but one great highway, the river road or county road to Oldtown, hugging pretty closely the bank of the stream through its course of eleven miles in this town. This is also known as the old stage road from Oldtown to Edinburg. Upon this road is settled very nearly the entire population of Argyle. Upon it are the only school-houses in the town-No. 4, a little below the mouth of Hoyt Brook; another with an adjacent cemetery and a shingle mill in the vicinity on the west of the road, a little above the mouth of Hemlock Stream; another (No. 2) at the junction of the east and west road about to be described; and still another (No. 7) a little more than a mile north of the south line of the town. Upon this road, half a mile above No. 2 school- house, is also the post-office, kept by Mr. Alexander Mckay. Nearly two-thirds of a mile up the road from School No. 7 is another cemetery, and a little more than this distance above the cemetery is the Argyle Boom, to which a short road runs from the county road. A saw and shingle mill, turning out boards, shingles, and spool stock, is run by Isaac Foster upon the Hart Brook, half a mile above its mouth. The shingle mill formerly mentioned as on Hemlock Stream is conducted by Gil- man Comstock.

The only road across the town-and this does not run to the river by one-third of a mile -- is that leaving the county road at school-house No. 2, and running nearly due west across the Birch Stream to the main road in Argyle.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 66

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