USA > Maine > Oxford County > Woodstock > History of Woodstock, Me., with family sketches and an appendix > Part 2
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Massachusetts was always liberal in the support of educa- tion, and large grants of eastern lands were from time to time made to colleges and other educational institutions. In 1797, while the two BRYANT brothers were lotting out their home- steads, falling trees and making arrangements to settle upon these government lands, the Legislature of Massachusetts granted to the Trustees of Dummer Academy a tract of land three by six miles, equal to half a township, to be selected by the Trus- tees from any of the unappropriated lands within the District of Maine, excepting such as were situated within six miles of Penobscot river. The Trustees employed LOTHROP LEWIS, EsQ., a surveyor, under the direction of the committee of the Legis- ture for the sale of eastern lands, to visit the wild lands in the District of Maine, and in 1799, he returned a plan of the west half of township Number 3, in the County of Cumberland, and recommended its acceptance by the Trustees. The circumstances which led him to select land so far in the interior and so far away from Penobscot river would be interesting to know, but there is nothing on record to throw light upon the subject. The object of the Trustees, doubtless, was to obtain land that they could soonest realize money from, and as a new County road had already been located and partly built through this territory, and as settlements were already commencing, it seemed quite probable that the whole township would soon be wanted for settling purposes and the proceeds soon be available for the purposes of the Academy. This may explain the circumstances and it may not. The location was accepted by the Trustees, and on the 5th day of March, 1800, the committee for the sale of eastern lands conveyed the same to the trustees, in terms as follows :
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
"To all to whom these presents shall come : GREETING :
"Whereas, the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled, by a resolve passed on the 27th day of February, A. D. 1797, granted to the Trustees of Dummer Academy, and to their suc- cessors, half a township of land six miles square for the use of said Academy, to be laid out or assigned by the committee for the sale of eastern lands, in some of the unappropriated lands in the District of Maine, belonging to said Commonwealth, excepting all lands within six miles of Penobscot River, with the reservations and conditions which have been usually made in sim- ilar cases; and whereas, LOTHROP LEWIS, Surveyor, in pursuance of instruc- tions to him given by the committee for the sale of eastern lands, did in the month of November, 1799, return to the said committee a plan of the tract of land hereinafter described for the purpose aforesaid : Now, therefore, know ye that we, the undersigned, whose seals are hereunto affixed, being a major part of the committee for the sale of eastern lands, in conformity to the resolve aforesaid, do by these presents convey and confirm to the Trustees of Dummer Academy, and to their successors, a certain tract of land in the County of Cumberland, being part of township number three and bounded as follows: Beginning at the northwesterly corner of Paris and thence running easterly and bounded by said Paris, three miles and eight rods to a stake; then turning and running north thirty degrees west, six miles to a rock maple tree marked; then turning and running south sixty-eight and one-half degrees, three miles and eight rods to township number four (now Greenwood) ; then turning and running south thirty degrees east by town- ship number four, to the first bound, containing eleven thousand, five hundred and twenty acres; conditioned, however, that the said grantees shall lay out and convey to each settler who settled on said tract before the first day of January, 1784, one hundred acres of land, to be so laid out as best to include his improvements, and be least injurious to the adjoining land; that they shall settle on said land ten families in six years, including those now settled thereon, and that they shall lay out three lots of one hundred and sixty acres each, for the following uses, viz : one lot for the use of the ministry, one for the first settled minister, his heirs and assigns, and one lot for the use of schools in the said tract. To have and to hold, &c.
" In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals the 5th day of March, A. D. 1800.
SAMUEL PHIPPS, LEVI JARVIS, JOHN READ."
Thus, what is now the west part of Woodstock, passed from the Government of Massachusetts to the Trustees of Dummer Academy, and took the name of "Dummer Academy Grant." The Trustees, however, did not hold it long, but disposed of it
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
so soon as they could realize what they regarded as a fair price for it. On the thirteenth day of October, A. D. 1800, MICAIJAH SAWYER, for and in behalf of the Trustees, deeded the grant to MICHAEL LITTLE,* of Poland, for and in consideration of the sum of six thousand two hundred and forty dollars.
In the spring of 1801, Mr. LITTLE took measures to have his half township settled, and to that end, employed ALEXANDER GREENWOOD, of Hebron, a well-known surveyor of land, to go to Number 3, and run it out into lots. There were no settlers in the half township that could claim the benefit of the condi- tions named in the grant to Dummer Academy, and each squatter was under legal obligation to pay for his land. Mr. LITTLE also might have disregarded the survey of the " thousand acres " in lotting out his half township, but he did not choose to do so. He was under obligations to perform the conditions imposed upon the Trustees of Dummer Academy, with regard to getting a certain number of settlers upon the land within a specified time, and he probably felt it to be his best policy to conciliate and keep quiet those already there. Mr. GREENWOOD, accom- panied by STEPHEN CHASE and other assistants, visited the township in March, but found the snow so deep that it was im- possible for them to do the work at that time, and so returned home. But later in the season they came again, and the land was run out into lots, generally of one hundred and sixty acres each. The land being lotted out, Mr. LITTLE began to make efforts to have it settled. In the fall of 1801, STEPHEN CHASE, who had been in Mr. LITTLE's employ in Lewiston, and who had assisted in lotting out the township, accompanied by his
* MICHAEL LITTLE was son of Col. JOSIAH and SARAH TAPPAN LITTLE, of New- bury, Mass., and was born there March 14, 1772. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1792, married Oct. 19, 1800, SARAH STORER. For second wife, he married ELIZABETH RICKER, of Somersworth, N. H., who survived him. His only child, and that by his first wife, was JOSIAH STOVER LITTLE, the late President of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad Company. MICHAEL LITTLE moved to Lewiston, and built a house there, which is still standing on Main Street, a short distance from the bridge. He was a man of enterprise and business capacity, and a large owner of wild lands. He died March 16, 1830.
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
brother, MERRILL CHASE, came to Number 3, with the view of selecting lots for themselves. After spending some time in prospecting, STEPHEN CHASE selected lot number thirty-three, and MERRILL lot number twenty-eight. These were adjoining lots, and situated south-easterly from the one afterwards se- lected by DAVID RICKER and still known as the " Ricker " farm. They felled a piece of trees upon each of their respective lots, in such a manner that their clearings were together, and their log houses, which they put up and partly finished the same fall, were near each other. In March following, they moved in with their families. For five years after he came to town, STEPHEN CHASE kept a journal, copious extracts from which may be found in another part of this book. A perusal of this journal shows us the simple habits, the daily routine and the more important happenings in this plantation up to the year 1806. Settlers came in very slowly. In 1803, TILDEN BART- LETT purchased lot numbered fifteen, but he never moved to it. Several years subsequent, he bought land on the Gore and moved, as will be shown in a sketch of the Gore. NOAH CURTIS, from Norway, purchased lot number ten in 1804, and moved to it that year. This was the lot occupied by his son SETH, and later by his grandson ADONIRAM. NOAH CURTIS had a family of grown-up boys, one of whom, MORTON, in 1805, bought lot number fifteen of TILDEN BARTLETT; this was the lot on which LUKE OWENS first made a clearing, the one which MORTON CURTIS occupied during his lifetime, and which his son CROSBY occupied after him. CONSIDER FULLER moved into Woodstock in 1801; he settled on Gore B, afterwards occupied by CHARLES CURTIS and others.
Soon after a settlement in the west part of Woodstock was effected, a section two lots wide and running the width of the half township on Paris line, was run out on the east half by a surveyor named John K. Smith. These lots were of different sizes, and in number some twelve or fifteen. Abraham and
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
Jonathan Walton* settled upon two of these lots, and the former, if not the latter, was here in 1801. Mr. A. Hutchinson and also E. Hutchinson occupied two other lots. Still another was taken up by a man named Reniff. Benj. Fobes bought lot number seven, according to Smith's survey in 1804, and soon after John Gray and John Starbird bought two adjoin- ing lots; the two last named lots, in 1825, were annexed to Paris.
On the twenty-third of June, A. D. 1803, the Legislature of Massachusetts granted to the Trustees of Gorham Academy the eastern half of township number three in the County of Cumberland, including the portion already settled. The grant was made with the condition that before its proceeds could be made available to the Academy, the Trustees should raise the sum of three thousand dollars by private subscription, within one year from the date of the passage of the act. The specified amount was raised within the time named, and Lothrop Lewis and Matthew Cobb were a committee for running out the land. The grant was surveyed in 1806 by Gen. James Irish, of Gorham, afterwards Land Agent of Maine. In this, as in the survey of the " Thousand Acres " in the west part, the pre- vious survey of a few lots by Smith was not disturbed, and these lots are still referred to in all conveyances of the same as " according to Smith's survey." Soon after the survey was made, that is in 1807, the entire grant was sold by the Trustees to James H. Chadbourn and twenty others, mostly citizens of Gorham, for the sum of ten thousand dollars. The purchasers divided the land among themselves, and afterwards sold it out to settlers.
At this time Maine settling lands were very cheap, and there
* Perhaps a elearing was made on this territory even before the BRYANTS came to the west part, by WALTON and HUTCHINSON, who built log huts and wintered here, in which case they were really the first settlers in town. If this is true, which is by no means eertain, they did not remain long, and the BRYANTS have always been re- garded as the first permanent settlers.
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
was scarcely any difference in the price between a good and a poor settling lot. The result was that good townships filled up rapidly, while such uneven, unattractive townships as number three were overlooked and neglected. In the spring of 1804, Cornelius Perkins came from Paris to lot number six in the east part, and was the first settler in the school district which ever since its formation has borne his name. He was an in- dustrious and useful citizen, and raised up a large family of sons, thus. adding materially to the population of the town. George Townsend, Lazarus Rand and David Rand, and also Benaiah Dow, settled in the east part. When the western emigration fever broke out, several families from the east part, including the Townsends, Waltons and perhaps others, went to Ohio. About the year 1812, widow Lydia Dunham, whose husband, Asa Dunham, was in the 1812 war, and had died in the hospital at Burlington, Vt., moved from Norway to the Dunham neighborhood, since called. Her two older sons, Asa and Samuel, settled at North Paris, but Sylvanus, Joseph and Daniel remained in Woodstock, and reared up families of industrious sons who made useful citizens. About the same time, the sons and daughters of Luther Dudley, who had recently died in Paris, came into the Dunham neighborhood and settled there. Josiah Dudley, the oldest son, was for many years one of our most valuable citizens. He went from here to Paris. So far as the records show, this embraces about all the settlements in the east part of number three up to 1812, when the two half townships were united for plantation pur- poses.
David Ricker, Jr., born in Somersworth, N. H., who came to Minot and had been in the employ of Michael Little, whose second wife was his near relative, came to number three in 1803, and settled on lot number twenty-seven, the same since occupied by his son David, Jr. An opening was made on the place the year before. John True bought lot number twenty-one about the year 1801, built a house upon it and
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HISTORY, OF WOODSTOCK.
moved here ; but in 1807, he sold out to Enoch Hammond and returned to Poland, whence he came. In 1802, William Swan, of Paris, two of whose daughters had married Christopher and Solomon Bryant, came here and bought out the farm on which Luther Briggs had settled in the "Thousand Acres." He
died prior to 1815. His son William, Jr., came at the same time and settled on number five west, "Thousand Acres." Mr. Briggs bought half of lot number twelve and part of lot num- ber eleven, and moved there. He lived and died upon this farm. Jotham Perham, son of Lemuel, of Paris, came here in 1808, and settled on lot number fifty-six, in the west part, this lot bordering on the east part of the township. James Nutting, who had been in the employ of Michael Little, as millman, at Lewiston, came into town previous to 1812, and settled on a half lot in the Curtis neighborhood. Mr. Little gave him a lot of land, on condition that he would come and settle it. Edward Lothrop, whose wife was a sister of Luther and Jacob Whitman, came here about the year 1810 and settled on lot number fifty-nine; this was afterwards the Packard farm. Asa Thurlow came here in the spring of 1801, and settled on lot number sixteen. Rowse Bisbee, son of Charles, of Sumner, came here probably in 1808, and built a mill on the stream near Abel Bacon's. He afterwards moved to lot number fifty-seven, and was there in 1812. This lot had previously been occupied by John Nason. Levi Drew was here in 1812. The Drew opening, so called, in the Perham neighborhood was probably made by him. Joshua Felt, a native of Temple, N. H., came here from Rumford in 1810. He settled near Noah Curtis, Jr., who lived on the place since known as the Dudley farm. He died in 1812, but his family remained, and the widow subsequently married Merrill Chase. Edward Pollard was living in Number Three in 1803, some- where between Asa Thurlow's and Stephen Chase's, but he moved to the east part, as seen in Chase's journal, and soon after out of the plantation. Lemuel Perham and Lemuel
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
Perham, Jr., were both here in 1812, and they probably came in that year. The former, and probably both of them, lived near the place where Jotham Perham settled four years before.
In 1812, Plantation Number Three (for the two half town- ships now about to be united for municipal purposes will here- after be spoken of as a unit) had been settled fourteen years and contained forty-two families. There is much. evidence going to show that these fourteen years, to the pioneer settlers, had been years of toil and privation. They were, without a single exception, poor men, with nothing but their hands with which to wrest from a rough surface and hard soil, the means of subsistence for themselves and for their families. It was a hand to hand struggle for existence. The town was for the most part covered with a heavy growth of wood, and the cutting down of these great trees and getting rid of their giant trunks, so that the land could be worked and subdued, involved an amount of labor of which only those who have had the personal experience can form any just estimate. The climate of that region has changed materially since that time. Then a crop of Indian corn, which was the chief dependence of the early settlers, was very likely to be destroyed by early frosts, and the loss of this crop to this people meant pinching want for the year following. There were no western granaries then to supply the deficiencies in food-production here, and if there had been, there were no facilities for transportation. The people, so far in the interior, were obliged to subsist on what they could raise, and the loss of a single crop was to them a matter of great moment. I have often conversed with persons who lived in Plantation Number Three during those years, and they all told the same story of hard work, deprivation, and sometimes of pinching hunger. Wheaten flour was found in but few houses, and as an every day diet in none; it was reserved for company or some such special occasion. Sugar, except maple, was a luxury not often indulged in, and those families that could afford it at all made a single sugar loaf last a year. Up to
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
1808, they had no grist mill, and all their milling was done in Paris. They had no stores, and were obliged to go to Paris Hill, over a hard road, for what few groceries they were able to purchase ; they had no physician nearer than Paris Hill, and - few religious privileges. As one of them once expressed it in my hearing, " We were too poor to live without suffering for the necessaries of life here, and too poor to go anywhere else." And so they toiled on, year after year, hoping for better days, and their hopes were realized, as will be seen in the course of this history. At the end of these fourteen years, since the two Bryant brothers became the pioneers of the forty families that followed, let us look over the plantation and see where the settlements are and who have made them. Beginning on the County road, next to Greenwood, first we have the place of Jacob Whitman. Following northwardly, we come to the place of Rowse Bisbee, who still run the mill built by him in 1808. The next place was Luther Whitman's. Farther on, was the place where two Packard brothers from Buckfield, have cut down trees, but they never moved here. John Dacy came here next, and then Alexander Day. Farther on, on the right, was William Swan; Gideon was also living here at that time. Whether William Swan, Senior, was then living, the records do not show ; three years later he was dead, and his widow, Lucy, occupied his old place. On the left, Samuel Bryant had made. a clearing and built a hut on the Common lot and had lived there; but ere this he had moved to the south part of the town; whether his old house was occupied at this time, and if so by whom, cannot be told. Farther on was the home of Solomon Bryant, and the next was that of his brother Christo- pher. Noah Curtis, Jr., was on the Dudley place ; beyond was the home of the widow Felt. Charles Curtis and Consider Fuller lived somewhere on this road, and Edward Lothrop was on the Stephen Packard place. Joseph Whitman was on the place now occupied by D. J. Libby. This was the last house in that direction within the limits of number three. John
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
Billings, who settled farther along, had not yet come. Below the Packard place, a road run easterly south of where the old town house stood, and into the Perham neighborhood. Upon and near this road lived John Nason, Jotham Perham, Lemuel Perham and Lemuel Perham, Jr., and perhaps Levi Drew. The former roads and buildings have been so changed since, that it is difficult to point out the exact location of these settlers. Commencing again at the road that leads from the Benjamin Bacon place to the Curtis neighborhood, the first was Samuel Bryant's, and perhaps his father, Solomon Bryant, lived with him ; he had the west part of lot twelve. The next was Luther Briggs. Levi Berry had moved to Paris, and his lot number eleven was now occupied by James Nutting. Morton Curtis lived on lot number fifteen, formerly occupied by Luke Owens, and Noah Curtis, Sen., and Seth on the adjoining lot. Enoch Hammond lived on number twenty-one, or the True lot, and Asa Thurlow on lot number sixteen adjoining. Going north on this road, Merrill Chase lived on number twenty-eight, and adjoining that was the farm of his brother Stephen, number thirty-three. West of Merrill Chase, on the next lot, was David Ricker, on lot number twenty-seven. These latter houses were situated on a road that formerly went from the Chase places, south-easterly, by way of Enoch Hammond's and Asa Thurlow's, to Paris.
How the settlers were situated in the east part, is not so easily told. The second County road, located through Number Three, started at North Paris and was to extend through Mil- ton Plantation to Rumford. A part of the road was built, but it was never finished through. Upon the line of this road the first settlers in the Dunham neighborhood were located. Here and in the vicinity were Lydia Dunham with her family ; also the family of Luther Dudley, the Rands, Townsends, Waltons, Hutchinsons, etc. Cornelius Perkins was on a settler's road, and Benaiah Dow located far toward Sumner. Benj. Fobes, who was still here in 1812, lived on the first tier of lots run out
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
by Smith, and Gray and Starbird had not yet come. This brief sketch, imperfect though it be, will convey some idea of the location of the forty-two families which inhabited Plantation Number Three at the commencement of the year A. D. 1812.
Up to 1812, the inhabitants of Number Three had not been required to contribute to the burdens of taxation except for local purposes, if indeed they were taxed at all. There is no record extant showing that previous to this, they ever organized for any plantation purposes whatever. Stephen Chase, in his journal, speaks of a caucus to choose a delegate to a convention to " represent the Plantation of Stover," and this is the only hint we have in anything recorded, showing that the plantation was ever organized, and this was for political purposes only. But the time had come when they were called upon to bear their proportional part of the burdens of taxation, as the following warrant will show :
OXFORD, SS.
To Stephen Chase, a principal inhabitant of the Plantation called Number Three, in said County, GREETING :
In obedience to a precept from Henry Rust, Jr., Esq., Treasurer of said County, directed to me, the subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace within and for the said County of Oxford, dwelling near said plantation, you are hereby required, in the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to notify and warn the inhabitants of said plantation, by law qualified to vote for the choice of town officers, to meet at the dwelling house of Noah Curtis, in said plantation, on Monday, the twenty-third day of March, instant, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, to choose a Moderator, a Clerk and also Assessors and Collectors for assessing and collecting said plantation's proportion of the State and County taxes ordered on said plantation for the current year. Hereof fail not, and make return to me of this warrant, with your doings thereon and the doings of said plantation in consequence thereof, on or before the thirtieth day of March, instant.
Given under my hand and seal this tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve.
LEVI HUBBARD, Justice Peace.
On the above warrant was the following return :
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
OXFORD, SS.
PLANTATION NUMBER THREE, March 23, 1812.
Pursuant to the within warrant to me directed, I have notified and warned all the inhabitants qualified as within prescribed to meet at the time and place, and for the purposes within mentioned.
STEPHEN CHASE.
As this is the first recorded meeting of the plantation, the proceedings are given entire :
PLANTATION No. 3, March 23, 1812.
At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of Plantation Number Three, duly assembled at the dwelling house of Mr. Noah Curtis, in said plantation, on Monday, the twenty-third day of March, instant, at 10 o'clock A. M., the meeting being opened, the inhabitants proceeded to act on the articles con- tained in the warrant, and first made choice of Mr. Stephen Chase for Moderator to govern said meeting.
2. Made choice of Merrill Chase for Plantation Clerk, who was sworn to the faithful discharge of his office by me,
STEPHEN CHASE, Moderator.
Voted, To choose three assessors for the year ensuing, and made choice of Messrs. Cornelius Perkins, Merrill Chase and Jotham Perham.
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