USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > History of Piscataquis County, Maine : from its earliest settlement to 1880 > Part 6
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This town encouraged the Bangor & Piscataquis Railroad, which passes through it, to the amount of $6000. Large quantities of freight from Brownville slate quarries and Ka- tahdin Iron Works are sent from its depot, and the business of the town was 'essentially benefited by the opening and running of that road.
In 1845, a toll-bridge was built across the Piscataquis River, in this town, to open a new route to Bangor,-the only toll-bridge on the river, though several public ferries have been established.
This town has had as physicians, J. F. Califf, Ezra Kim- ball, Chester Huckins, S. B. Sprague, G. B. Crane and Hannibal Hamlin.
LAWYERS. J. B. Everett, C. A. Everett, J. H. Macom- ber jr., William P. Young, and M. L. Durgin jr., have prac- ticed law in town, the last two now remaining.
In the summer of 1878, J. Fenno & Co. erected a mill for splitting out spool timber, upon the canal formerly opened for Cushing's factory. It has commenced operations; they purchase a large amount of white birch hauled to the mill, and have bought a tract of wild land, which also furnishes this
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY ..
material. Upon this land, near Ebeeme Lower Pond, in the north-east part of Brownville, they have also built a steam- mill, for the same purpose. Recently a melancholy event occurred there. As a pleasure party from Milo was visiting it, the boiler exploded, killing Effie Snow, and severely, but not fatally, injuring Frank Gray, a workman, and Nellie Gould, all of Milo. It occurred March 3, 1880.
In November, 1879, Mr. Will Frost, a resident of Milo, was fatally injured by the rolling of logs at the Gulf on Pleasant River, and died the next day.
In 1870, the population of this town was 938; its State val- uation #161,855.
CHAPTER X.
SANGERVILLE.
SANGERVILLE was Number Four, Sixth Range, and has an area of 24,216 acres. It was first sold to John S. Foley, but it reverted to the State. As early as 1800, Col. Calvin Sanger of Sherborn, Mass., purchased three-fourths of it, and eventually became its sole proprietor. This township has a good soil, with less waste land than others, most of it being good upland, not very stony, and easily cultivated. It is well watered by the Piscataquis River and its two ponds, North-west and Center, on the issues of which are available
mill privileges. The stream from North-west pond flows through Sangerville village, and has five mill privileges, all of which have been occupied. Upon the uppermost one, Weymouth once run a shingle machine, but it is now aban- doned. On the second, the woolen factory stands, and is in successful operation. Carleton's Mills occupied the third. This has a fall of seventeen feet, and now turns O. B. Wil- liams' saw- and grist-mill, and a shingle machine. On the fourth, Prince's fulling-mill was built, and on the fifth, This- sell's shingle machine run. Both of them are now abandoned.
A dam across the outlet of North-west Pond, owned by the Factory Company, retains a supply of water, which makes these privileges quite permanent.
Black Stream, entering this town from Dover, has a fall of fifteen feet, upon which a saw-mill and shingle machine stands. A few rods below, another fall runs a grist-mill. Upon the upper fall, the first grist-mill in town was built by Phineas Ames, but for the last sixty years, these mills have been owned by the Knowltons.
6
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
On the outlet of Center Pond, Gray and Brockway's saw- mill and shingle machine and A. E. Hall's carriage shop im- prove a fall of fourteen feet. Three miles below, there is another fall of twelve feet, upon which John Cleaves built a saw-mill in 1829. This is still improved with a saw-mill and shingle machine, and is now known as French's Mills.
FIRST SETTLEMENT. The first opening was felled in this town in 1801 or 1802, by Phineas Ames from Hancock, N.H., upon the old Marr place, near Lane's Corner. He first moved his family to Harmony, to make a temporary stay. There he had a son born, Phineas jr., March 6, 1803. In the fall of that year, his wife and babe rode in on horseback, Mr. Ames leading the horse, a part of the way by a spotted line. This was the fourth family settling in this county. Henceforth the new settlement was called Amestown.
James Weymouth was the next settler. He was from Lee, N. H., and he, too, moved his family to Harmony, while pre- paring a home for them in the wilderness. His son William was born in Harmony, May 7, 1804. As that year was clos- ing, he moved his family to Amestown, by early sleighing, and Mrs. Ames was permitted to see the face of a white wom- an, and to have a neighbor. The above dates are well ver- ified, and make Weymouth's removal to be in December, 1804. Mr. Weymouth's first place was near Center Pond. There he lived seven or eight years, then sold out and began anew on the place where he afterward lived and died. Jesse . Brockway from Washington, N. H., was the third settler. His family had dwelt two years in Cornville, and two weeks after Weymouth moved, his also came. His daughter Han- nah (now widow Batchelder) was born in Amestown, Feb- ruary 21, 1805, the first birth in town, and the third in the county. Mr. Brockway began on the eastern slope of Pond's Hill, but in a few years sold to Apollos Pond, and took up another wild lot near it. On this, the rest of his life was spent.
Phineas Ames deserves further notice. He gained some notoriety among these early settlers. It is not now known on what terms he pioneered the way into this new township.
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But it is an established fact that he lotted out Col. Sanger's part of it, some time previous to 1807. His survey proved to be inaccurate. His compass varied, and he made no allow- ance for the variation. So Col. Sanger had a re-survey. Moses Hodsdon had lotted out the south-east quarter of the township, which Col. Sanger had not purchased. Isaac Cool- idge from Massachusetts, in October, 1807, made this re-sur- vey, and made a plan of the whole township, by which the several lots were sold and deeded. The probabilities are, that Mr. Ames received the lot on which he first settled, as compensation for his survey. He early built the grist-mill on Black Stream, already alluded to. Though there was a splendid fall and sufficient water, it was weak and slow- moving, of but little profit to him, or convenience to the public. About 1810, Col. Sanger exchanged three wild lots with Mr. Ames, for his mill and farm. Upon one of these he commenced anew, and after toiling on a while, exchanged it with Edward Magoon, and settled near Knowlton's mills. There he and his second son Samuel lived until 1824, when they sold to William Campbell, and . moved to a place in Dover. On this, he and his son Samuel, and recently, a grandson, Phineas, have all died. Mr. Ames was a man of great strength and of great powers of endurance. But there were exaggerated and fabulous stories told of the immense burdens that he would bring in at one load. It used to be said that he at one time brought "a roll of sole leather, three bushels of salt, and a potash kettle, on his head," all the way from Harmony. He might have brought leather, salt, and a light iron kettle, as one load, but his sons branded the above as an unmitigated falsehood. But he and other pioneers en- countered incredible hardships. At first, their provisions must be lugged from Harmony, and later, from Dexter. Mr. Weymouth' described one of these fatiguing adventures. He with Mr. Ames and his two elder sons, were bringing in supplies. At length the younger son broke down and de- clared that he could not lug his load any further. "Hang it up on a tree," said his father, "and we will come and get it."
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
" Give me a day's work," said Mr. Weymouth, "and I will carry it for you;" for Uncle Jim always had an eye for a good bargain. His proposal was accepted, and he added this to his own heavy load. A few miles further on, and the other boy gave out. Weymouth made the same offer, and piled another bag on to his own broad shoulders. Evidently, there was more than one giant in those days. Mr. Ames was a blacksmith, and he and his son Samuel ever did some- thing at that business. Daniel Ames and his lost child will be noticed hereafter. Probably only two new families came in 1805; one of these was Eben Stevens, a carpenter. In March, 1806, William Farnham moved his family from Nor- ridgewock, and this made the sixth. Mr. Farnham's lot was on the south side of Pond's hill, and being a tanner, he early started that business, and tanned the first leather in the county. He also brought young apple trees upon his shoul- ders, from Garland, and planted the first orchard in town.
In January, 1808, there were thirteen families in town. Four of these were Oakes,-Abel, Levi, Solomon and William, all brothers, and Samuel, a nephew to them, who soon left and settled in South Carolina. These men, originally from Massachusetts, then came from Canaan.
In 1809, Walter Leland commenced clearing the lot north of the Leonard Dearth farm. He has resided in town longer than any other one, and is now the oldest person in town, being ninety-six years of age. The same year, Samuel Mc- Lanathan also came and began to clear the Benjamin Lane farm. Leland was a nephew to Col. Sanger, by birth, Mc- Lanathan, by marriage, and he was Col. Sanger's agent.
By this time Enoch Adams was here. He came from New Hampshire, with Mr. Hill, an early settler of Sebec, and after remaining in his employ one or two seasons, selected his lot in Sangerville, and began his life's work in earnest. He was an industrious man, a skillful farmer, a natural accumulator. He added another lot to his first purchase, and possessed one of the best farms in the county. The next year, Mr. Leland married, boarded the builders of Sanger's Mills, and superin-
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tended the work. After the grist-mill was completed, he tended it, grinding on certain fixed days, for those who came. Eleazer Woodward, a mill-wright, recently from Vermont, put these mills in operation, and Guy Carleton and Oliver Woodward were among the workmen.
In 1810, the census shows one hundred and twenty-six in- habitants, a rapid increase surely.
By 1812 or 1813, Carleton and Dudley commenced opera- tions where Sangerville village now stands. They built a saw-mill, then Dudley sold out to Carleton, and left. Carle- ton soon put a grist-mill in operation, sold out the saw-mill to his brother Robert, and in 1816 started a carding machine, the first in the Piscataquis valley. In those days of resolute women, wool was often carded by hand, but the introduction of a carding machine marked an era in their domestic labors. Mr. Carleton, some time after, re-possessed the saw-mill, and re-built his grist-mill, putting it in the most improved style, and at his death, in 1836, left these and other property, to his oldest son Joseph. He was ever a leading man in town, and will come into further notice.
INCORPORATION. This was the third incorporated town of this county. The act was passed in June, 1814, and wisely made the middle of Piscataquis River its northern boundary. A small portion of Number Six, Seventh Range was included within its limits, and a still smaller portion of Sangerville left to Guilford. But it brought the burden of bridging the river equally upon each town. This act was not carried into effect till the next spring. Then N. Chamberlain of Dover issued a warrant to Edward Magoon, to call the first town meeting. It was duly held March 15, 1815. Mr. Chamberlain was present, and they chose him moderator. But they took their own citizens for the permanent officers, electing Samuel McLanathan, town- clerk, and Guy Carleton, first selectman. In the fall of that year, the town cast thirty votes.
These new towns, owing to a scarcity of money, usually paid their town charges in grain. Sangerville fixed the price
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
of it thus : wheat, $1.50, corn and rye, $1.00 each, per bushel. In the cold seasons, rye was advanced to $1.25, but wheat and corn remained as before.
A town meeting was called in 1815, to see if the town would settle Elder William Oakes, and thus convey to him the lot of land reserved for the first settled minister. The town re- fused to do it. Elder Oakes was prominent in the town and vicinity, and naturally comes in for a distinct notice. His father was an old soldier in the French and Indian war, fought under Gen. Wolfe on the plains of Abraham, and when that fallen hero's remains were sent to England for in- terment, Mr. Oakes, being a joiner, made his coffin, and as- sisted in embalming them. When the army was disbanded, he returned to Massachusetts, was twice married, and raised up a large family.
Elder Oakes was the youngest of those brothers who early came to Sangerville. He was a robust, athletic man, of in- dustrious habits, a skillful lumberman, a good horseman, quick in thought, gifted in speech, of a cheerful tempera- ment, but quite deficient in education. He had early seen the Piscataquis valley, in connection with Weston's survey company. He was already a member of the Baptist church in Canaan, and when Elder Macomber formed a church in this town, he entered it, was licensed to preach, and ordained. But he was not an acceptable minister to all. Though not grossly immoral, he was once suspended from the ministry, for general inconsistency. After a short period of wander- ing, he came back with professed penitence, was restored, and ever after, retained his standing, preaching in various places, often with apparent success.
Samuel McLanathan was another leading man in town. He had a good degree of native talent, was a ready speaker, and a very independent thinker. His religious views were peculiar, and he held all of his opinions with the tenacity of a death-grip; and this, and his love for strong drink, once plunged him into a fearful extremity, from which he barely escaped with his life. On a cold winter evening, he was re-
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turning from Bangor, in company with Capt. J. Pratt, and when nearing his home, they met a neighbor, with whom Mc- Lanathan engaged in a dispute about a certain business diffi- culty. Warmed with stimulants and anger, he could not be persuaded to desist, and go home. Becoming cold, Capt. Pratt started slowly on, thinking that this would constrain him to break off, and overtake him. But he persisted too long and did not overtake him. So Capt. Pratt called at McLanathan's house, warmed and refreshed himself, and rode on to Foxcroft, he and Mrs. McLanathan concluding that her husband had stopped at a neighbor's. In the morning she dispatched their hired man to ascertain. He had not gone more than a mile before he found him, partially frozen and nearly dead. When he broke off his dispute, he started at a quick pace to overtake the sleigh. He ran till his strength failed; he then tried to walk on, but his limbs soon faltered. Still persevering, he crept upon his hands and knees. In this way he passed through an open brook, and wet his hands and feet. When he could no further proceed, he made such exertions as he could in twisting and wring- ing the bushes, to keep up his natural warmth. He was found with one arm hanging over the lower limb of a tree, and his body leaning against its trunk, or else the snow would have been his winding-sheet. His hands and feet were severely frozen, so that he lost all of his toes and fingers, ex- cept a part of his right thumb. This nearly disabled him for labor, but he could write legibly, holding the pen between that thumb and the palm adjoining. He was frequently elected to important town offices, and when a mail route was established, he was appointed postmaster. After remaining upon the Lane farm about twenty-five years, he was obliged to sell it, to raise the means to pay his Uncle Sanger for its soil; and thence he moved into Dover, living at Macomber's Corner. He raised up a smart, enterprising family, which settled in various places. In his old age, he returned to Massachusetts. There he renounced his fatalistic views, abandoned his drinking habits, and became a believer in the Christian religion, and died in Christian peace.
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
The cold seasons passed, and Carleton's Mills became the center of a growing business. Aaron Morse was there, "beating the anvil;" John Andrews opened a small store ; and in 1817, Thomas Prince built another dam, forty rods below Carleton's Mills, and put up a fulling mill, the second anywhere north of Dexter; in 1819, Isaac Macomber opened a country store; Thomas Robey came in, as a cabinet maker ; and soon after, Thomas Fuller started a tannery. By this time, the place won the name of Sangerville Village. About this time, certain persons in the vicinity united in forming the Sangerville, Guilford and Parkman Social Library. It was kept at Sangerville village, and was an appreciated insti- tution. Its well selected books have been worn out, but the information therefrom obtained still lives in the mature minds of those who, when young, devoured their contents, and their safe and elevating influences still abide. The ea- gerness with which new books would be grabbed, when such were added to it, is not yet forgotten. Nor should the blaz- ing fire, in the light of which they were read, in many a humble household, be entirely obscured by the more steady and brilliant light of our present domestic luminaries.
In 1817, Isaiah Knowlton exchanged his farm in Sher- born, Mass., for Col. Sanger's mills, and from that time they have been owned and run by him and his descendants.
In 1820, Sangerville had a population of 310. It sent B. C. Goss as delegate to the convention to form a State Constitution. After S. McLanathan had held the town clerk's office three years, Mr. Goss succeeded him, and put the records into substantial shape. He was a shoemaker by trade, sometimes a school teacher, but a lover of strong drink. By marriage he was a brother-in-law to Guy Carleton, but his neglect of business, tippling, and political rivalry kept them at the opposite poles of the fraternal magnet. He possessed good native endowments, and, rum aside, he would have reached a high literary and political position. After a few years he left town and returned to Readfield. This year, Dr. Charles Stearns settled in the village as a physician.
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Not long after, Dr. Jeremiah Leach also came, and remained there in practice until his death.
In the year 1822, events of unusual interest turned up, some auspicious, others not so. In the month of January, Elder Daniel Bartlett was settled as the pastor of a Baptist church, which had been recently instituted. The town voted him the lot reserved for the first settled minister, provided, that he would deed to the Congregational Society one aver- age half of said lot. Three disinterested persons were to di- vide it. These terms were accepted, and Joseph Kelsey, Abram Moore, and Alexander Greenwood were selected to do it. They performed the work satisfactorily to both par- ties. Elder Bartlett prosecuted his ministerial labors with zeal and energy. He was quite successful, and the church grew rapidly in numbers and strength. He was soon called to part with his wife. In looking for another, he intrigued for a fair young lady, already under matrimonial engage- ments, and nearly succeeded. But the uncertain tide turned, and it proved a decided failure. Interested parties were of- fended, and the uncommitted condemned his course. His own people stood by him. He married another, and labored on. But his health failed, his support was insufficient, and on his recovery, he went to another field. Reverses now came over that church. Its halcyon days were over; it dwindled and passed away.
Another store was opened in the village by Edward Mitch- ell. To this the post-office was soon after removed, and Mr. Mitchell became postmaster. This year, Col. Sanger bought Thomas Prince's fulling-mill, and introduced Mr. J. P. Leland, his nephew, to run it.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF DANIEL AMES' CHILD was the great event of this year. This presents a hard page of history to be filled. But as far as possible, a candid statement of known circumstances shall be given. With some of these incidents, the writer was personally acquainted. But of many facts, explanations, impressions, conjectures and con- clusions, he is indebted to the better informed of that period.
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
Daniel Ames was the oldest son of Phineas Ames, the first settler of the town. Daniel was about fifteen years old when the family moved into the wilderness. There he enjoyed little opportunity to attend school, or to receive any other cultivating or refining influences. No one ever needed such, more. He was naturally rough, sullen, callous, and ob- stinate. He possessed a hasty and ungovernable temper, and this was his great infirmity. He married Mary Wey- mouth, a daughter of Samuel Weymouth, who was among the early settlers of this town. Their first three children were sons, the fourth, Ruth Ames; was born Aug. 14, 1818, and she became notorious as The lost child. The date was June 6, 1822, when she was about four years old. At that time Mr. Ames was living near the eastern base of Doutty's hill, one and a half miles from Sangerville village. On the eve of that day, Mr. Aaron Morse knocked at our door, to an- nounce her loss, and to invite my father to go in search of her. Toward morning, my father returned, and from him and others came the following particulars. Ruth, her par- ents said, was sent in the forenoon to Mr. David Doutty's, to return a borrowed towel, which was put into a work-bag, and this was tacked to the sleeve of her dress; that she had a red silk handkerchief tied over her head, and had no other extra clothing. As the child did not return when expected, they sent one of the boys after her, and he returned, saying, that Ruth had not been seen at Mr. Doutty's. They then made search, and not finding her, sent one of their sons to the village for help, but he failed to make it known so as to awaken any interest. So it was nearly dark when they sent again, and when Mr. Morse heard of it. He, always strongly attached to children, at once started to organize a search. Quite a company gathered, and with lanterns and torches, they scoured the woods into which they supposed she had turned aside, became bewildered, and was lost. They ex- tended their search as far as Carleton's mill-stream, west- ward, and as far as the Piscataquis, northward, but found no little Ruth. At a late hour, concluding that she was now
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fallen asleep, and would not awake till thoroughly rested, they detailed a dozen young men to patrol the woods in si- lence, in order to catch the echoes of her cry, into which they expected her to break upon awaking; and the rest of the company dispersed, weary and sad, to their homes. The morning rose, but no voice nor sound of the lost child arose with it. The report that Ames' child was lost, spread like the rays of the morning. It startled everybody. Such an event had never happened in this newly settled region. It produced the greatest excitement that ever surged through that community. So the search was prosecuted for three or four consecutive weeks. Hundreds of men and boys gath- ered, day after day, going through the fields, pastures and forests, kept in line by the blast of trumpets. Some came from a wide range,-from Harmony, Garland, Exeter, Sebec and Atkinson. Some would remain over night, lodging in the neighborhood, and to many, Mr. Doutty and others, dealt out immense quantities of food, after their own supplies were exhausted. One day, when a great number was on the ground, Col. J. Carpenter mounted a sprightly horse, mar- shaled them into a close rank, and marched them shoulder to shoulder, through pasture and woodland, closing the rank as soon as they had passed a tree or rock which unavoidably broke it. Thus thorough was the search repeatedly made, over the region where the lost child, starting from the point stated, must have wandered. But after all these immense efforts, not a particle of clothing, not a vestige of any kind, not a track on the margin of stream or river, left by the ob- ject of that careful search, was ever discovered! The days spent, and the miles traveled, in this fruitless search must be counted by thousands. The amount of sympathy, anxiety and sorrow can hardly be overestimated. Mr. Ames coun- seled them to cease, before the sympathizing public felt ready to do it. At length further search seemed in vain; and their efforts were suspended. But the report had gone out widely, and the question continued to be asked, through all the re- gion, "Is Ames' child found?"
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
After two or three months, a notice was sent to Sangerville, that an old Englishman was tramping about on Kennebec River, with a female child on his back. He was a dissipated vagrant, and though he declared that the child was his own daughter, some thought that this might be " Ames' lost child," which the old man, passing that way, had stolen. Mr. Ames was dispatched in haste, saw this child, and said at once, that it was not his, and returned home without it. But the pub- lic were not so easily pacified. The report had taken wing that Ames' child was found, and everybody was glad to be- lieve it, and was unwilling to give it up. So the selectmen of the town took the matter in hand. They sent a person to bring the child and the suspected vagrant to town, so as to have a legal investigation. Mr. Appleford, the straggling · father, frantic with grief and rage, protested by all that was sacred, that the child was his own, that her mother had died in Canada, that this child was all that was left to him, that it would be outrageous to wrest her from him. Mrs. Ames owned the child, and her husband now fell in with her, though their respective relatives did not believe it. Mrs. Ames, the child, and Mr. Appleford were kept at Macomber's store, in the village, and many resorted thither to see and hear the opposing claimants. The child soon received and returned the gentle fondlings of Mrs. Ames, but when with others, not knowing what a fierce strife was going on about her, would tell, with artless simplicity, about Lake Ontario, her sick and dying mother, and other incidents, a knowledge of which could not have been foisted into her childish imagination. The lost Ruth had a crippled hand. A severe burn had crooked and stiffened two of her fingers, and left a perma- nent scar. "The old man," said some, "had cured that scar with a certain kind of oil."
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