USA > Maine > Oxford County > Woodstock > History of Woodstock, Me., with family sketches and an appendix > Part 11
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At North Woodstock, the first person to open a general store was Edmund Chase; after him came in the order named, John R. Briggs, Russ & Adams, Chauncey C. Whitman, Whitman and Bessee, Henry Howe, William Small, Ezra Jewell, McKen- ney Brothers, C. M. Wormwell & Co., Perham & Burk, Charles Dunham, Frank Godwin, Godwin & Perham, and Cole & Look. No heavy stocks of goods have ever been kept there, and goods were largely exchanged with the farmers for country produce.
The first trader at Bryant's Pond was Ezra Jewell. He was a veteran in trade, having been in business in Bangor, Portland and Norway. His store was the one opposite the hotel, on the Rumford road. Henry Howe came here from North Woodstock and built a store, which was burned in 1860, and stood on the same spot where Joel Perham re-built in 1860. His brother William was in company with him. They sold out to Joel Perham, Jr., who traded a few years and sold out to Davis & Stearns. He bought it back after a year, and sold out again to W. B. Lapham, who ran it a year, and then it went back again into Perham's hands. Jonathan Jewell built the store at the east end of the village, and did a large business in flour and
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corn. A. K. Knapp & Son were there after him, and since that time O. C. & H. Houghton, W. H. Cole, C. P. Berry and others have occupied it. The store north of the hotel was built by Hezekiah Rolfe, and was occupied by him, then by C. P. Knight, Lyman Bolster and F. M. Bartlett. A. B. & N. B. Crockett, from Andover, built a large store on the land belonging to the Railway Company south of the station, where they traded a few years. Afterwards it was occupied by Dunham & Estes, Pray & Merrill, and lastly by F. M. Bartlett & Co. It was burned while occupied by them. The Ezra Jewell store has been occupied by Jewell & Sawyer, D. M. Jacobs, D. P. Bowker, Thomas R. Day and Ansel Dudley. Several of the above kept only confectionery, nuts, and tobacco in its different forms. Sylvania Perham has kept a millinery and fancy goods store here for nearly thirty years. She has generally had a large trade. Joseph Churchill, from Norway, kept a stock of Gent's Furnishing Goods here for some years, in the building put up by him. He occupied the upper part as a dwelling.
E. R. Knight, with his father, kept the first hardware store here. They also manufactured tin ware. They were succeeded by S. A. Brock, who carried on the business very successfully for a few years and then went to Bethel. Mr. Durgin carried on the business in the Knight store awhile, and was succeeded by Charles R. Houghton. Thomas Sampson built and kept a small store at South Woodstock. Others may have traded there previously. Granville Fuller kept a store near the Metho- dist meeting house, in the south part, which he sold to Wm. H. Cole, receiving in payment the farm known as the Gilbert place.
PHYSICIANS.
The first regular physician in this town was Dr. Nathan A. Bradbury, who came here in 1827. He was the son of Joseph Bradbury and of Tabitha Cotton, his wife, and was born in Poland, June 20, 1801. His father, with his family, moved to
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Norway, where Nathan A. was married to Eliza Millett, Oct. 15, 1827. He lived in a house near Stephens' Mills, which was subsequently bought by Kilbon Perham, moved to his present farm and occupied by him until a few years ago, when it was torn down to give place to a better one. Dr, Bradbury was here only a few years when he moved to Sweden, in the west part of the County. He was Superintending School Com- mittee here in 1828 and 1829. One of his daughters became a regular physician, and married Dr. Babb, of Eastport.
The next one was Dr. Gilman Rowe. He was a native of New Hampshire, but came here from Canada. He married Cynthia Buck, daughter of Moses, of Sumner, and after re- maining in this town a short time, he moved to North Paris and died there. He was here in 1838. His widow became the second wife of America Bisbee, of Norway. Dr. Rowe did an extensive practice while here, in this and the surrounding towns.
Dr. Edwin Green, was here in 1846. He was a native of Paris, and married a Kendall, of Berlin, N. H. He was a well educated physician, but not a successful practitioner. He after- wards lived on a farm in Sumner, his place being near the road which leads from the Dunham neighborhood to Jackson Village. He died a year or two ago.
The first physician at the Pond was Dr. W. B. Lapham, who came from Bethel in 1856. He was here until 1871, with the exception of three years and a half in the army.
While Dr. Lapham was away in the army, Dr. Henry M. Adams moved from Rumford to the Pond. He was a dentist, but went into general practice here. In 1865, he removed to Cedar Falls, Iowa, and from thence to Dakota.
Dr. Orren Stephens, son of Benjamin, of this town, settled at the Pond in 1870, and after a year or two moved to Oxford.
Dr. E. Bragdon, Jr., succeeded Dr. Lapham at the Pond, and was here about two years when he moved away. The next one was David Watson, who had served in the United States Navy. He was here a year and a half and then moved to Conway, N. H.
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Dr. Charles D. Bradbury, from Buckfield, moved to a farm in Sigotch, and did some practice in that section. His wife was Malone Chase, daughter of Thomas, of Buckfield. It was upon his land that gold was discovered, which led to the sinking of a shaft and the expenditure of quite a large sum of money, in efforts to develop what probably never existed.
Dr. Joseph S. Burns, son of John G., of the " Gore," a gradu- ate of Bowdoin College, studied medicine and was here a short time and then went South.
Dr. R. P. Sawyer came to the Pond from Portland and is still here. This includes all the regular practitioners.
Dr. Peter Brooks and Dr. Christopher Bryant were quite famous "root and herb" Doctors in the early time, and the latter, from his habit of digging his remedies from the ground, was called " Doctor Digeo." Samuel Bryant, Jr., claimed that the mantle of his uncle fell upon him, and practiced more or less with similar remedies up to near the time of his death.
Many out of town physicians have been employed. In the early times, Drs. Croswell and Benj. Chandler, of Paris, were in high repute, and later, Drs. Kittredge, Brown, Twitchell and Russell, from the same town, were more or less employed. Drs. Danforth and Millett, of Norway, were well known here, and also Drs. Fuller, Roberts and Russell, of Rumford, Drs. Wiley and Grover of Bethel, and later, Dr. David W. Davis, of Locke's Mills, and Drs. Yates and Packard, of West Paris.
LAWYERS.
Woodstock has never been overburdened with lawyers. Thos. S. Bridgham, son of Sydenham and grandson of Dr. William, all of Buckfield, came here and opened an office in 1858. He married Martha, daughter of Hon. James H. Farnum. He re- mained here only two or three years.
The next and only other one was Herrick C. Davis, son of
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Benjamin, of this town. He was at first a carpenter, then went into trade and finally studied law. He was here until he was elected Register of Probate in 1872, when he moved to Paris.
THE PUBLIC LOTS.
The reservations for ministerial and school purposes have already been referred to; these constituted the public lots. An Act was passed January 19, 1816, authorizing the sale of these lots, and providing for a Board of Trustees to have charge of the funds. The Board of Trustees provided for in the Act were Stephen Chase, Cornelius Perkins, Alexander Day, John Bil- lings, Seth Curtis, Merrill Chase and Thomas Farrar. The sale of the public lots did not produce a large sum of money, probably not more than three or four hundred dollars. The records of the trustees not being in existence, the exact sum cannot be stated; but it furnished a topic for discussion in many a town meeting. In 1840, the town voted to place the ministerial and school funds in the hands of the municipal officers, and to constitute them and their successors in office a Board of Trustees thereof. The money was loaned from time to time to different parties in town, endorsed notes being taken for security, and the result was that the parties became insolvent and the entire amount was lost. There was never any minister settled in town who was entitled to receive benefits from the funds, under the conditions on which the reservations were made.
POLITICS.
Like the inhabitants of all hilly or mountainous regions, the people of Woodstock were ever a clannish set. They were in the early days, and they have, in a great measure, been so ever since. In their politics, for more than fifty years after the town
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was settled, they were practically a unit. Oftentimes there was · only one scattering vote, and that thrown by Rowse Bisbee, who for some years was the sole representative of the Whig party in town, and from 1821 to 1828, when the candidates for Governor were old residents of the County, the vote in that town was unanimous. It continued to be practically so as stated, until the temperance question became an issue, and then, in spite of all her democratic proclivities and traditions, the town voted for temperance as against the democratic opposition, the first time the issue was presented. The first anti-slavery or free soil sentiment cropped out in 1844, when Edward Robinson received six votes for Governor. In 1850, John Hubbard, Democrat, received 155 votes, George F. Talbot, Freesoil, 15, and William G. Crosby, Whig, 8. Governor Hubbard was elected, and signed the Maine Liquor Law which had been passed by the Legisla- ture, and for this act the Democrats undertook to bounce him and voted for Anson G. Chandler. The question of prohibition was here fairly presented, and Woodstock gave Hubbard 129 votes, Chandler 60, and William G. Crosby 4. In 1853, the candidates were Anson P. Morrill, Maine Law, Albert Pillsbury, Democratic, William G. Crosby, Whig, and Ezekiel Holmes, Freesoil. Woodstock gave Morrill 107, Pillsbury 66, and Holmes 29. Crosby received none in this town, but he was a constitutional candidate and was made Governor by the Legis- lature. In 1854, the anti-slavery elements of the country had begun to unite to form the Republican party, and the Freesoil of Woodstock, as well as the temperance votes, were thrown for Morrill, who had 145 to 84 for Albion K. Parris, the Dem- ocratic candidate. Morrill took his seat as Governor the follow- ing January. In 1855, Morrill received 140 votes, Samuel Wells 91; the Democratic ticket in the State prevailed and Wells was elected Governor. In 1856 occurred the first Repub- lican campaign; Hannibal Hamlin was the Republican candi- date for Governor, and Woodstock gave him 162 votes to 81 for Wells. Hamlin was elected. The relative strength of the two
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parties remained about the same until the next Presidential campaign, when Israel Washburn, Jr., Republican, received 172 votes to 73 for Ephraim K. Smart. At the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, Woodstock was intensely loyal to the National Government ; in 1861, Washburn, Republican, received 161 votes, Charles D. Jameson, the gallant commander of the Second Maine Regiment, and a war Democrat, received 37, and John W. Dana, who represented those opposed to the prosecu- tion of the war, had only 6 votes. Since that time, the vote of Woodstock has been given to the Republican ticket by a ratio of 3 or 4 to 1. There has probably been as little corruption in conducting the political campaigns in Woodstock as in any town in the State. . The voters here have decided convictions, and such men cannot be easily influenced to vote differently from what they think. It is not a question to be discussed here, whether they have voted intelligently or not, but there is not the least doubt about their voting as they believed, and they are men who can give a reason for their faith and acts.
MILLS.
The first mill in town was built by Rowse Bisbee in 1808, on the brook near Abel Bacon's. In 1812, he sold it to James Nutting, who subsequently sold it to Capt. Samuel Stephens. It could only be operated a portion of the year for lack of water, and after the land was cleared along the stream, the . volume of water grew less and less. The old mill was taken. down in 1834 or 1835.
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Samuel H. Houghton built a saw mill quite early, at the foot of Bryant's Pond, which was operated by various parties for thirty or forty years, and then was allowed to go to decay. Merrill Chase built the first mill and was the first settler in Sigotch.
Rowse Bisbee, about the year 1820, built a saw mill on the right hand side of the Rumford road, at Pinhook, and afterwards
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built a grist mill at the foot of the Billings Hill. These, long since, were taken down. A saw mill was built north of Pinhook, perhaps by Oliver Robbins. It had several owners, among whom was Thomas Crocker, of Paris, before it finally rotted down. Ziba Andrews built a mill in the south part of the town, about the year 1827, and a mill of some kind has been operated there ever since.
Josiah J. Knight bought the Chase mill in Sigotch about the year 1839, and operated it for quite a number of years, manu- facturing various kinds of lumber. He sold out to Bartle and Nathan Perry, who operated it quite successfully until they sold it, about the year 1870. Joseph Davis and Seth, his brother, had a saw mill on the brook near their residences, which did considerable business. Alfred D. Bryant, in company with others, has since operated a mill near by the last named. None of these mills have been first class, on account of the limited supply of water. They have only been able to operate during the high water, in spring and fall.
About the year 1840, a clover mill was built on the brook north of Pinhook, and was operated by Horatio G. Russ. Since 1875, a spool factory has been built at Bryant's Pond, the town contributing generously in aid of erecting the buildings. It should also be mentioned, that Jonathan A. Rowe had a grist mill for grinding corn and rye at Pinhook, and also a shingle mill.
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INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES.
ORIGIN OF A FAMILIAR TUNE.
Capt. Jonathan Cole, as stated elsewhere, married Abigail Whitman, daughter of Jacob, of Buckfield. At the wedding was the well-known musical composer Maxim, whose " Turner," " Hallowell," "Hebron," &t., have been sung at almost every fireside in the land. He had also composed " Buckfield," and on this occasion he told the new-made bride that he would compose a tune representing the town where she was to make her future home. So he sat down and composed " Woodstock," which was subsequently sung with great unction by the wed- ding guests. This is not the "Woodstock" which appears in many collections, but is the one contained in the Northern Harmony, which is perhaps the only book in which it has appeared.
NEW USE FOR A SKILLET LEG.
When John Billings lived in a log house, on the farm after- wards occupied by Capt. Jonathan Cole, and had but a small clearing, one morning his dog began to run and bark through the neighboring woods, and soon becoming stationary, Mr. Billings knew that he had treed his game, whatever it might be So taking down his old "queen's arm," he loaded it heavily
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with powder and buck shot, and, to make it doubly sure, he dropped a skillet leg into the barrel. Shouldering it, he went over to Joseph Whitman's, his nearest neighbor, and engaged him to go with him to see what the dog had treed. The direc- tion was on the hill east of Mr. Whitman's house, and when they came near where the dog was, they looked up and saw a large cat-like animal leaping from tree to tree. Mr. Whitman was greatly excited, and axe in hand, jumped over windfalls and tore through the underbrush, exclaiming, " By golly, its a cata- mount." Mr. Billings followed close behind, and soon the monster stopped, turned toward them and prepared to spring. But when he had drawn himself up to make his leap from the tree, Billings coolly took aim and fired. The animal fell dead at their feet, his heart pierced by the skillet leg, while the recoil of the gun from the overcharge knocked Mr. Billings nearly senseless. The skin of the catamount was shown as a trophy many years afterwards.
THE FIRST DEATH.
The first death in town was that of a child of Abram Walton. Mr. Walton settled on one of the lots in the east part, which was run out by Smith. He felled trees and burned them in the autumn. The next spring, he built a log hut and moved in with his family. He junked and piled his piece in early summer, and set fire to it. While it was burning, his little daughter, three years old, wandered away from the house, and was burned so severely that she died. Her name was Ellen Walton. It is said by some that this occurred the year before the Bryant brothers made a settlement in the west part, upon the grant to Dummer Academy. Walton and Hutchinson, who came in with him, did not remain many years, but moved away, the former going west and the latter building a mill at North Paris.
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HUNTING FOR BURIED TREASURE.
Old Doctor Bryant, one of the first two settlers of Wood- stock, also called, from his root-digging propensity, Dr. " Digeo,' was a firm believer in ghosts and witches. He also believed that Jewell's Island, in Casco Bay, was the place where Capt. Kidd deposited his money, and he often went there and searched for it. His idea was, that Capt. Kidd, after burying his treas- ure, made one of his men swear to guard it, and then killed him and buried him above the iron chest containing the gold. When anyone searching for the gold struck the chest, the sen- tinel ghost would always make some demonstration to frighten him away. If the searcher could only hold his peace and keep on with the work, he would succeed ; but if he was frightened into speaking a word, the charm would be broken and all would be lost. Dr. Bryant once told, in the hearing of the writer, how he and Hector Fuller, a colored man, once went to. the Island fully determined to brave everything and bring away the coveted treasure. So, nerving themselves by the free use of elixir vitæ and laying in a little store in case of need, they pro- ceeded to the Island. Observing all the required formalities, they commenced to dig, the moon shining brightly the while. After digging down several feet, one of them took the crowbar and striking into the earth at the bottom of the pit, it hit upon something that had a decided metallic ring, when instantly there appeared in the hole they had made, a sow with a family of pigs. They understood this to be a demonstration of the guard, and resolved to stand their ground, but the animal became ferocious and caught one of the diggers by the leg, which brought from him a profane ejaculation, when lo and behold, the animal and her family disappeared, the pit was filled up and they found themselves sitting upon the shingly beach with the tide water almost touching their feet. Listeners to this marvelous story generally believed that it was an hallucination caused by their potations, but nothing would so offend the Doctor as to hint at such a thing.
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CLOSE CALCULATION ..
Cases have sometimes occurred where persons who wished to have the nuptial knot tied have tried to beat down the parson's fees, but it is not very often that one who wants to get mar- ried tries the market as he would in selling his farm produce. But such a thing did occur in this town. Mr. S. had bought and prepared the nest and snared his bird, and now wanted to have the legal formalities gone through with; so he went to a Justice of the Peace and asked the terms. He was answered that the legal fee was one dollar and twenty-five cents, but applicants for such service generally paid two dollars or more. He said, "A dollar and a quarter is a darned sight too much for ten minutes work," and so he went to another and asked the · same question, and was answered in essentially the same way. He asked if the fee could be paid in shingles, and was answered in the affirmative. He considered a moment, scratched his unkempt head, and then suddenly exclaimed : "By gosh, I've got it ; my cart wheels have got to be repaired, and I can get Elder Ricker to do it for a dollar a day, and he can marry us at noontime, and it won't cost me a darned cent," and away he went to put his brilliant project into execution ; whether he succeeded to his mind or not cannot be stated.
A HARD CASE.
The above calls to mind a circumstance in which, as in many other cases, "the course of true love did not run smoothly," though it was no fault of the lovers. A man in the east part of the town paid his respects to a girl in the same neighborhood, much younger than himself, in fact, one who had advanced but a short way into her " teens." He hauled hay to the Pond and bought dress goods, which he presented her ; the day was ap- pointed for the marriage, and the services of a magistrate be-
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spoken. But he visited the Justice solitary and sober that day, and with the blackest of "black eyes." His story was briefly told. He went to the home of his intended, but was met at the door by her father and big brother, who beat him. most unmercifully and drove him away. He wanted either a warrant for the arrest of his assailants, or a writ to recover the clothes he had furnished the girl. He said: "Her father seemed to be well pleased with my attentions while I was clothing her up, but as soon as the gal was clothed up, the old man turned me away like a dog." A little advice served to calm the anger of the disappointed lover, who agreed that it was not best to have the affair made public by carrying it into court, and so it was allowed to subside.
" SMALL POTATOES."
Seed potatoes were usually very scarce in Woodstock in the spring, and the settlers often had to bring them from a long dis- tance through the woods, on their backs. One spring, Merrill Chase was short of potatoes to plant and went to Asa Thurlow's, hoping to obtain some. But Mr. Thurlow only had a few small ones scattered on his cellar bottom, which he offered to give to Mr. Chase if he would scrape them up and take them away, which he gladly did. He got in all about three pecks. They were so small that Mr. Chase, when he planted them, carried them in his planting bag and used a planting hoe, the same that he used in planting corn on burnt land. His hogs broke out of their pen and dug some of the potatoes, but he saved over eighty bushels, the product of three pecks of seed, none of them larger than sparrow's eggs. Many of the potatoes raised weighed two pounds each. This shows the great productive- ness of Woodstock soil.
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BACKWOODS' LIFE.
Luther Whitman, Jr., moved into the east part of the town in 1821. The tract of land upon which he settled had been sold for taxes and bid off by his father, to whom it became forfeited. It was situated on a high hill and was covered with a heavy growth of hard wood. It was quite an undertaking for Mr. Whitman to commence life for himself upon such land, but he had just been married, was full of hope and courage, and so was his wife, and neither of them thought of shrinking from the trying duties which the situation imposed. When they set out, their household goods were few and simple, and Mrs. Whitman rode on horseback as far as Lemuel Perham's, which was the end of the road. From this point they traveled on foot two miles into the woods, guided only by a spotted line, to reach their place of destination. Here Mr. Whitman had already erected a log cabin, in which he and his companion set up their household goods and gods. It was some years before they had any neighbor nearer than Mr. Perham. On two occa- sions during those years, the fire went out on the hearthstone, and Mrs. Whitman was obliged to go to Mr. Perham's for a supply. It was no easy matter to carry fire two miles through the woods, but she took a piece of old cotton cloth, rolled it tightly and setting the end on fire, it kept alive until she reached her home. They suffered many privations, but Mr. Whitman was a stalwart worker and well skilled in woodcraft, and in process of time, they had a large and productive farm. They reared a large family of intelligent and interesting children, but all save one died young, most of them in early man and womanhood. The father also sleeps with his fathers, upon this hill-side farm, where he had toiled for more than forty years. Failing health compelled the only surviving son to sell out the farm, and he moved to Paris; his aged mother still lives with him.
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LOG CABINS.
Mrs. Lucretia Nutting, who died a year or two ago in Per- ham, Aroostook County, at a great age, came into Woodstock to work when she was quite young and when the settlers were but few. In conversation with the writer a short time before her death, she spoke of her impressions when she first came to this town. It was after dark when she came up by the old, then the new county road, and she said she saw occasionally what appeared to her to be stacks of hay placed at intervals along the road, but on passing them again in the day time, she found they were the huts of the settlers. They were built of logs and covered with bark, and not much larger than moderate sized stacks of hay, yet it was in these same huts that many of the staunch and representative men of the town were born.
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