History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 86

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 86

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Robert D. Crocker came to this town with his father, Nathaniel Crocker, of Cape Cod, in 1820, and settled on the place now occupied by Ezra G. Crocker, where they cleared the farm and built a home. . In early life his occupation was that of saddler and harness-maker, but after his settlement here he followed farming. He was a prominent man and held the offices of Sheriff,

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor continu- ally for thirty years. He died at Albany, New York, aged ninety-six years. His wife was Lydia Noddard, of Massachusetts, by whom he had ten children: Harrison G. O .; Robert D .; Job; Ezra G .; Lydia; Sophia; Nathaniel; Samuel G .; Abigail; Mary A .; all but two of whom are living. Daniel died at the age of eighty- two, and Lydia died aged ninety-three. Robert D. Crocker was born in Barry, Worcester county, August 7, 1812. He received a common school education as pro- vided at that early day. When seventeen years of age he commenced work in the stage-stable, where he worked nine years, afterward driving the stage sixteen years, car- rying the mail to Bangor before any boats came up the river. He was afterwards engaged as agent by V. D. Pinkham, of Augusta, on the stage line. Nearly two years after settling in Dixmont he kept the Elmer House. Since that time he has followed farming. He has been a hard-working man; starting out in life with- out a dollar, by his own unaided labor he has accumu- lated a competence. In public affairs he has been prominent, having served the town seventeen years as Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, and as Representative in the State Legislature in 1861. He married Orind L. Livingston, of Mount Vernon, Kennebec county, daugh- ter of Daniel and Lydia Leighton, who were among the early pioneers. To Mr. and Mrs. Crocker were born five children: Henry D., Lewis N., Albert D., Mary Frances, and E. Carrie.

Stephen Bickford, the son of George W. Bickford, of Newburg, was born December 10, 1833. In early life he was engaged in farming, until he became of age, when he worked in the mills on the Penobscot River two years, after which he settled in Dixmont, where he now lives. Mr. Bickford had but little assistance on starting in life, but by hard labor is now in comfortable circumstances. He was married October 9, 1855, to Aurora B. Free- man, daughter of Thomas and Mehitable Freeman. By this union were born three children: Edwin F., Asa J., and Freddie. Edwin is the only one of the sons now living.

John Buckman was a son of John Buckman, Sr., who emigrated from New Hampshire in 1805, and settled on the place now occupied by J. E. and F. Buckman. They came here when the country was a wilderness, purchasing their farm of three hundred acres of Dr. Dix. They suffered the privations of early settlers in clearing and improving a farm, often going miles on foot through the forest to procure the necessaries of life. Mr. Buckman was present at the battle of Hampden. He died on the place now occupied by the family. John Buckman, Jr., was a successful farmer, and an honest man. He married Sarah Holbrook, hy whom he had six children : Rebecca, Frederick, Fidelia, Eliza A., Franklin, and John E. Frederick Buckman was born May 15, 1827. He obtained an education and occupied himself with farming and teaching common schools and writing schools. He married Nancy Woodman, of Plymouth, Maine, December 25, 1858. She is the daughter of Joseph and Nancy Woodinan. To Mr. and

Mrs. Buckman were born four children: Idella (de- ceased), Mary E., Carrie E., and Walter F., the three last mentioned living at home.

John E. Buckman, a son of John Buchman, sr., was born in Dixmont, January 28, 1837, where he has al- ways resided. He married for his first wife Thirza Tosier, of Plymouth, who died in April, 1872. He was again married, September 10, 1874, and has two children: Dora May, born September 3, 1876, and Nora J., born March 30, 1877. He, with his brother Frederick, cared for their parents during life, and now occupy the old homestead.

Josiah Howe emigrated from Brookfield, Massachu- setts, in r802, and became one of the first settlers of the township. He acted well his part in the early develop- ment of the country, and was a very public-spirited man. He is a cousin of Elias Howe, the inventor of the Howe sewing machine. Mr. Howe was a Justice of the Peace for many years, and also held the office of Selectman, etc .; was a deacon in the Free-will Baptist Church. He married Sally Ayer, by whom he had ten children : Dexter, Otis C., Samuel, Sally, Betsy P., Anna R., William, Matilda C., Julia A., and Lucy C. Of this large family but one-Julia-is now living. She married Calvin B. Morse, of Woodland, Aroostook county. Otis C. Howe, son of Josiah Howe, was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, February 22, 1799, and came to Dix- mont in 1802. He was a hard-working man, and be- came an independent farmer. He was a deacon of the Free-will Baptist Church, and respected by all who knew him; always liberal in church and missionary enterprises, and ever ready to help the poor. Phœbe Coffin, daughter of John F. Coffin, became his wife, April 26, 1831. They raised a family of six children. Crosby O. Howe is a son of Otis C. Howe, and was born in Dixmont, De- cember 10, 1838, where he received an education. He early engaged in peddling tinware for Edward Ellison, of Bangor, and in seven years accumulated $4,000. He then went to Vineland, New Jersey, where he engaged in the real estate business, in which he was successful. After this he became agent for the estate of Frank Siddle, and while thus engaged bought the right of the State of Ohio for the sale of the Anderson spring bed, which brought him in about $100,000. He manufactured his wares at Hudson, Ohio, and was thus engaged four years, when he returned to his native place and purchased the old homestead. Here he cared for the comfort of his parents in their declining years, and besides farming has been engaged in buying and selling stock for the Brighton market. He has been successful in this busi- ness, shipping some two thousand head of stock weekly. Mr. Howe married Eliza A. Folsom, daughter of Josiah S. and Miriam Folsom, of Sangerville, Piscataquis county, March 2, 1869. To them have been born four children: John F., Wynn O., Annie M., and Delia A.

Greenleaf Smith enigrated to Dixmont in 1840, and settled on the place now occupied by him. In his early life he engaged in lumbering on the Penobscot River, but for many years has been engaged in farming, at which he has been successful. He married Caroline H.

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY MAINE.

Tyler, daughter of Rowland and Sally Tyler, who were among the pioneers of the county. Mr. Tyler was at the battle of Hampden, where he was taken prisoner. He was a prominent man in his town and served as Selectman for many years. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born four children-Charles F., born May 4, 1839, was one of the first to lay down his life in defense of his country in the war of the Rebellion; he enlisted in the Ninth Maine Volunteers, Company H, and died at Hilton Head, South Carolina, March 3, 1862; Llewellyn D., born February 8, 1841, was a private in the same company, and served three years, and now lives in Ban- gor; Walter G., born February 17, 1843, was a private in the Eleventh Maine Volunteers, company K, and was wounded at the battle of Bermuda Hundred, and in the last battles of the war, and is now living in Monroe, Maine; Laura L., born February 5, 1848, died May 30, 1866; Irwin, died in infancy.

Benjamin Piper is the son of Daniel and Anna Piper. He remained at home until he reached his majority, after which he was a successful teacher for some years. He has for many years been engaged in farming, in which he has accumulated considerable property. He married Julia Bickford, daughter of Ebenezer and Susan Bickford, of Newburg, September 17, 1829. To them have been born seven children-Parsons, Susan B., Daniel, Julia A., and Warren C. The latter left home and friends to fight his country's battles. He was a private in company K, Second Maine Heavy Artillery, and died in hospital, at Washington, of disease. The . remaining children were Evelyn, and Benjamin, Jr., the latter of whom died in Dixmont in-1877.

Albert Mitchell is the son of John and Betsey Mitch- ell, of Troy, Waldo county, who were among the early settlers of that county. Albert Mitchell came to Dix- mont in 1876. He lived at home until his father died. He afterwards worked with Jonas M. Treffin, at carpen- tering for some fifteen years, in Massachusetts, when he returned to Maine. Since his return he has represented his district in the Legislature, and has been Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor. He married Mary E. Ferguson, by whom he had four children-F. A., Hattie E., Maud O., and Samuel H.

Charles W. Prescott was born May 11, 1829, in Troy, Waldo country. He is the son of Charles Prescott, of that county. In 1855 he settled on the place now owned

and occupied by him. For the past seven years he has been engaged in buying hay for the Boston market, handling about twelve hundred tons per year; and has also bought and shipped stock for the Brighton market. He married Anna Barker, of Troy, and has had four children-Stephen B., Mary E., Herbert J., and Charles S. Mr. Prescott has accumulated a good property, and is a highly esteemed man in the community, where he now holds the office of Selectman, and is Chairman of the Board. His father was an early settler in Troy.

Peregrine White was born in Jackson, Waldo county, Maine, and is a son of Abiather and Abby White, who emigrated from Massachusetts. He left home when about eighteen years of age, and engaged with his brother in blacksmithing at Dixmont, where he remained some five years. He invented a machine for making the backing for picture frames, which proved a valuable in- vention. Neglecting to patent his machine, others have improved it, and now it is extensively used. Mr. White has been town Treasurer and Constable, and has represented his district in the State Legislature. He mar- ried Hannah G. Picker, daughter of I. G. Picker, of Jackson, and has had a family of ten children-Frank A., William H., Lizzie B., Chandler V., Eben D., Laura A., Charles G., Harry E., Daisy May, and Philip A.

Benjamin Bussey is a son of Otis I. Bussey, who emi- grated to Newburg, and became one of the pioneers of the township. Mr. Bussey engaged in teaching at an early period of his life, and became very successful in that profession. He received a good education and was a fine penman. He was Town Clerk for many years. Eliza Wheeler, of Hampden, became his wife, and bore him three children-Daniel I., Benjamin, and Lydia. Benjamin, the second son, received a common school education, and in his early life engaged in farming. In 1852 he went to California and engaged in mining for two years, at which he was successful. He returned to Newburg in 1857, and settled in Dixmont, where he en- gaged in the mercantile business two years, since which time he has worked at farming. He has held various township offices. In 1858, August 29, he was married to Elizabeth A. Brown, daughter of J. M. and Julietta Brown, of Newburg, and has had three children-Agnes E., born May 18, 1859, and was killed by an accident in 1876; Louis J., born March 16, 1863, and George B., born December 17, 1866, both of whom live at home.

EDDINGTON.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

This is one of the oldest towns in Penobscot county, being the only one, except Bangor and Brewer, that ap- pears upon the census returns of 1790, when all be- longed to Hancock county, and the only town whose census was taken by itself, the others being returned "with adjacent places." It has much shrunken from its ancient limits, but is still respectable in size among its sisterhood of the county. It has a peculiar boundary- on the northwest the Penobscot, beyond which lie Veazie and Orono, with the famous old "Bend" at the south- west corner of Eddington; on the northeast and for a little way on the east Bradley, with the intervening line making an angle in Nichols Pond, and, after passing to the southwestward a little way, running off sharply to the south, where it forms the east boundary, with Clifton beyond; on the south a straight line separating Edding- ton from Dedham, in Hancock county; on the northwest of this part of the town Holden, as also on the south- west of the main tract of Eddington; and on the south- west of the western part of the town Brewer, with a right-lined but slightly broken boundary line between. No description, unless a very elaborate one, can convey a correct idea of the shape of the town; the reader must be referred to the map accompanying this volume. The length of the boundary on the Penobscot is three and a half miles; of the side toward Bradley, six miles; that on Clifton, a little over five and a half miles; that west on Holden, a trifle more than three and one-fifth miles ; that on Holden southwest, and for a little way on the east, about five miles; and southwest on Brewer, a little more than one and one-third miles. The extreme length of the town, from the middle of the curve in the river above Eddington Bend to a point below Nichols Pond, is six and one-half miles; its greatest width, from north to south, from a cape in Nichols Pond across the angle in Davis Pond, is five and one-half miles. The middle or main body of the town has a breadth of two and four- fifths miles at the northwest end, the breadth converging slightly to the southeast extremity, where it is but two and one-fourth miles; the entire distance from the north corner of the town, opposite Orono, to the southeast corner, in a straight line, striking the east corner of Hol- den, is a little more than nine miles. The distance from the west corner of Eddington at the Bend to the nearest point of Bangor is less than one and a half miles.

As already indicated, Nichols Pond lies partly in the east angle of the town; less than a square mile of its surface, however, is in Eddington, the major part lying in Bradley. This fine sheet of water takes its name from James Nichols, one of the early settlers in the

town. On the confines of Holden, at the west of the south projection of Eddington, stretches Holbrook Pond, about two and one-fourth miles in length, the larger part of which is also outside of the town. The boundary line describes a great curve in this lake. A half-mile - outlet connects it with Davis Pond, a roundish sheet of nearly a mile in greatest diameters, a small part of it lying in Holden, and itself in turn connected with Nich- ols Pond by an outlet across the town. The petty stream 'uniting Snow Shoe Pond in Clifton with the Nichols water, passes for a short distance along the eastern edge of Eddington; and further down in the club-foot of the Eddington boot are the Kidder Brook and one other tributary of Holbrook Pond, and one affluent to the head of Davis Pond, from the neighborhood of Black Cap Mountain. The main stream of the northwestern | half of Eddington is Blackman Brook, which rises half a mile from Davis Pond, and flows with a very devious course, altogether in this town, almost to the north corner, where it debouches into the Penobscot. It is utilized for shingle mills at two or three points, and for a saw-mill close to its mouth. A small tributary of the Eaton Brook in Brewer also rises in this part of the town, dips down for a short arc of flow into Holden, thence back into Eddington, and after about two miles' further course departs into Brewer.

The most remarkable and famous feature of this town, next to the Penobscot River at the northwest, is the Black Cap Mountain, almost at the extreme southeast. This hill, or range of hills, is about one and one-half miles long, by an average breadth of a little more than half a mile. It towers up to a quite respectable height, and is conspicuous across the country for long distances in each direction, being a prominent object in the land- scape, as viewed from Bangor, and is also in view from the sea. Other hills and broken ground contribute to vary the scenery of this town. The soil of Edding- ton is generally good, and farming is the prominent and a profitable industry in the town.

The principal village is Eddington Bend, where the Eddington post-office is situated. Here, besides a fair population, well-housed, is a Methodist church, a ceme- tery, and a school, with the usual stores and shops of a country village. It is at the junction of the old river- road, or military road to Houlton, with the only wagon- road southwesterly and south through the whole length of the town. This is the old "Air Line" stage-route to Aurora and Calais. Its main line runs six miles to East Eddington village and post-office, around the south- east bay of Davis Pond. There it divides-one fork running north of east into Clifton, and thence to Han-

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

cock county. Just outside the village this sends off a road due south, which runs to the north end of Black Cap Mountain, and is much used by visitors to that eminence. In the village the other fork makes off southwesterly, past School No. 7 and the adjacent cemetery, and School No. 6, to an angle in the town-line one-third of a mile from the southwest corner, from which it passes by the head of Holbrook Pond into Holden. At School No. 7 it pushes out a south road some way into the country, parallel with the west flank of Black Cap. At Edding- ton a short cross-road runs from Davis Pond a mile or so, to country neighborhoods near Nichols. The main road toward the Bend has also some short "plug" roads, and a branch near the former village, by the north of Davis Pond into Holden. Schools No. 3 and 4, with a cemetery half a mile above the latter, are on the main road. School No. 7 is in the river-road, a mile from the north corner of the town. Most of the settlement is on this road, and that easterly from the Bend, although tbe south division of the town is well populated. At East Eddington are a Universalist church, a school-house, hotel, etc.

COLONEL JONATHAN EDDY.

The history of Eddington properly begins with this hero of the Revolution and of the pioneer annals of Penobscot county. Jonathan Eddy was a native of Norton, an old but still small village of Bristol county, Massachusetts, born about 1726. . Some time after 1758, being then in his manly prime, he removed to the Far Northeast, in the present Nova Scotia, at that time in the Province of Quebec, which became permanently British territory by the Treaty of Paris, negotiated February Io, 1763. Here he settled at Fort Lawrence on the Cum- berland Basin, an inlet from Chignecto Bay, at the head of which, two miles from Fort Lawrence, was Fort Cumberland. He was probably one of the many emi- grants from New England who had accepted the seduct- ive offers of Governor Charles Lawrence, of Nova Scotia, after the fall of Louisburg, to settlers upon the fertile lands from which the Acadians, or French Neutrals, had been driven. In pursuance of his proclamations, six vessels carrying emigrants left Boston alone, and several others carried emigrants from Plymouth, Rhode Island, and New London, to the promised land in the ancient Acadia. It is very likely that Colonel Eddy was in one of the former parties. The place of his new settlement had been the scene, in May, 1755, of the successful movements of a fleet of forty-one English vessels and a land force of British regulars, against the French garrisons in the vicinity. Shortly after this, in September of the same year, General Winslow, command- ing the military, pronounced the terrible edict which removed the unhappy Acadians of Grand-Pre from their homes, and sent them wandering about the New World. This is the event made memorable in song, as well as story, by Mr. Longfellow's beautiful poem of "Evange_ line."

Colonel Eddy lived for ten years at Chignecto Bay, where he acquired considerable influence and promi- nence, and became Sheriff of the county in which he

dwelt. He was still residing in the Province in 1776, when General Washington, shortly after the Declaration of Independence, started two agents of the colonies toward that region, to enlist the sympathies and perhaps the aid of those who were connected with the struggling patriots by ties of consanguinity. They were timorous of British interference, however, and did not reach their destination. But Colonel Eddy heard of their mission, and made it the occasion of a journey to Boston, where he represented to the General Court, from his knowledge of Fort Cumberland, that its garrison had been reduced to a number barely sufficient to care for the artillery and munitions of war therein, and that the sudden dash of a small force upon it would undoubtedly capture the fort. No aid was voted him, or direct encouragement given him ; but, full of his scheme, and believing firmly in its practi- cability and usefulness to the cause of independence, he returned home and devised a plan for the reduction of the post. Mr. Williamson thus tells the rest of the story :

To ascertain its true condition he sent Captain Zebulon Rowe, who visited and thoroughly examined it without exciting suspicion. Eddy next had the address by persuasives, threats, and the promises of re- wards, to raise about 150 men; and with a competent number of them he proceeded to Chepody Hill, in the night time, and took a Captain, a sergeant, and fourteen men prisoners, without loss. The third night afterwards, he and a party of twenty-five men attacked a vessel of one hundred tons as she lay aground, and made prize of her. She had on board six hundred barrels of pork and beef, a ton of candles, fifty firkins of butter, seven hundred new blankets, and two hogsheads of rum, all intended for the garrison ;- a part of which, however, was re- taken.

The whole fort embraced about an acre of ground. Its entrenchment was fifty feet in width-the slope twenty-five feet, and the embankment within eight feet in height -- and the breadth on the top four feet On the outside were pickets and logs stretched along the declivity, which might be rolled down with the utmost ease and with great vio lence upon any assailants .* Collecting his whole force, inclusive o nine Indians belonging to St. John's River, he approached the fort, in a cloudy night, September 27, by three parties; one attempted to as- cend the banks by scaling ladders, while the others in different quarters made a furious assault. But Colonel Gorham, commander of the gar- rison, having been apprized of the design, and been reinforced, made a brave defense, killed several of the invaders, and completely repulsed the rest.

Seldom is a defeat attended with more painful circumstances. Those who had houses in the vicinity soon saw them in flames, and their fam- ilies in the depths of distress. No other alternative remained to the un- fortunate assailants than for them either to surrender at discretion or flee the Province. If caught, their fate might be that of rebels or even traitors; and, therefore, they left their families, and took their route along the north shore, across the river St. John at Fredericton, proceed- ing down the Schoodic, and thence to Machias. Here they successively arrived, half-naked and famished, having been in the woods twenty-five days. Their families, who remained behind through a winter of severe suffering, were brought away in the spring, under a flag of truce.

This unfortunate affair is directly connected, as will be seen below, with the settlement of Eddington. Mr. Eddy entered the Continental army and became a Col- onel during the war, "active, bold, and patriotic," says Mr. Williamson. Three years after its close the grant was made to him and his associates by the General Court, which forever associated his name with this no- table town in the Penobscot Valley. He lived long enough to see the promise of its future, and finally passed away within its borders in August, 1804, aged seventy- eight years. When Hancock county was formed, in

* There were in the fort a magazine and barracks; and a vessel of fifty guns could safely ride into the adjoining harbor.

----

Colonel Jonathan days

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

1790, Jonathan Eddy, of Penobscot, was made its first Register of Probate.

THE FOUNDATIONS.

The settlement of Eddington had begun five years be- fore the grant to Eddy and his companions. As early as 1780, eleven years after the first settler appeared at Bangor, several families became located on this side of theriver. Among them were Alexanderand Stephen Grant, Daniel Mann, Stephen Buzzell, Jacob Oliver, and. P. Mahoney. Mr. Jordan Grant, who survived in this town to the great age of more than ninety years, was a descend- ant of one of these families.

These people, however, had no rights as yet in the soil, except such equitable rights as might be derived from pre-occupancy. They had become well settled, however, when the Congress of the United States, in answer to the petition of Colonel Eddy and a number of other soldiers who had lost everything during the Revolutionary strug- gle, recommended their case to the benefactions of Mas- sachusetts, since, under the Articles of Confederation and the impoverished state. of the nation, Congress itself could do nothing adequate to their sufferings and merits. Accordingly, on the 16th of June, 1785, the voice of the General Court was heard in the grant to the gallant Col- onel and nineteen of his comrades of the Revolution, all, like him, refugees from Nova Scotia, of lots of land of various sizes in the territory of the subsequent Edding- ton, the whole amounting to 9,000 acres, and to be located in one body. The grant seems to have contem- plated the prompt settlement of the tract, since it was conditioned in each case upon the erection of a dwelling- house upon the lot within two years from the date of the grant, and its occupation at once. Most of the grantees soon came upon the tract, which was regularly surveyed and allotted in 1787.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 86

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