History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 77

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 730

USA > Maine > York County > History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 77

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Benj. C. Jordan first did business in this county at Bar Mills, in Buxton, in 1864, confining it exclusively to the manufacture of oak lumber. Mr. Jordan was the first lumber dealer in the State who kept oak lumber in stock ready to fill orders immediately, having manufactured as high as 3000 tons in a single year. In 1878 he moved from Buxton to Alfred, having leased the Shaker mill for a term of years ; since that time the principal part of his manufacturing business has been done at this mill. He has recently begun the experiment of raising forest-trees by planting acorns, pine-cones, and the seeds of other valuable species, and by setting out large numbers of the young trees.

Dr. Frank B. Merrill, a native of Buxton, graduated at Bowdoin in 1847, and the Medical School of Harvard in 1849. Soon after he moved to Alfred, and rapidly rose in his profession. He now has an extended and lucrative practice.

Amos L. Allen, clerk of the courts, graduated at Bow- doin College in 1860; was admitted to the bar of York County in 1864. He has been nine years clerk of the courts, and recently re-elected for another term.

CHURCHES. CONGREGATIONALISTS.

This town, as before stated, was originally a part of San- ford, which was settled in 1764 and 1765, and not long after there were religious gatherings in Waterborough and Lyman, at Mast Camp, near Bunganut Pond. The first settlers had enjoyed religious privileges elsewhere and de- sired to establish them here, and were in the habit of meet- ing together for social worship. About 1780 a church was formed, consisting of from 12 to 20 members, under the charge of Rev. Mr. Little, of Kennebunk, and Merriam, of North Berwick, who administered the ordinances of baptism and the sacrament. In 1782 this society was formed into what was called the North Parish of Sanford, where itin- erant preachers officiated occasionally. In 1786, Rev. Moses Sweat settled in Sanford, and frequently preached in the North Parish, or Massabesic, as it was then called. The ministrations of Mr. Little and Mr. Merriam wrought some conversions, but their zeal soon engendered extrava- gances, and some became strangely affected and disorderly, which gave them the name of Merry Dancers; most of them seceded, and joined those on Shaker Hill. In 1787 the North Parish attempted to settle a minister, and invited several preachers as candidates, among whom were Rev. David Porter, Isaac Babbit, and Mr. White, all of whom declined. Feb. 7, 1791, Rev. John Turner was called and accepted, and was ordained the following September, and remained with them twelve years, and then moved to Bid- deford. Soon after Rev. Jabez Pond Fisher preached a few Sabbaths, and was invited to settle, but he declined. In 1804, Rev. Joseph Brown was settled and remained four

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years, when he resigned, and the society employed for a few Sabbaths Rev. Tilly Howe; and subsequently Rev. Mr. Coe, of Durham, and others, preached occasionally. In 1816 the parish was reorganized, and Rev. Nathan Douglass was settled and remained some ten or a dozen years, and in the early part of his ministry was very suc- cessful in reviving the church. He was followed, in 1828, by Revs. D. D. Tappan ; in 1833, A. W. Fisk; in 1846, J. Orr. The first deacons in the Congregational Churches were Moses Stevens, Stephen Giles, Ebenezer Hall, Joseph Garey, John Wormwood, and Samuel White.

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.

The Baptists in Alfred formed a society, and held their meetings in dwellings and barns, under the ministrations of Elder Henry Smith and Jonathan Powers. They were un- educated men, but possessed good natural abilities. An unsuccessful attempt was made, in 1810, to build a church on the hill between John and Samuel Friends'. Afterwards, iu 1818, a church was built on Back Road, near Mr. Bick- ford's. Until the year 1822 or 1823 they were considered a branch of the Waterborough Church. At this time 30 members organized a church on Back Road. They kept up their organization more than thirty years under the ministrations of Revs. N. G. Morton, N. G. Littlefield, and others. In 1855 they joined the Baptist organization in the south part of Sanford, and built the meeting-house at Conant's, now Littlefield's, Mills. Their first preacher was Rev. A. Dunbar, who has been succeeded by Revs. J. N. Thompson, A. W. Boardman, S. Powers, C. D. Sweat, and others.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Rev. Green G. Moore, of Buxton and Limington Circuit, lectured in the Congregational meeting-house in Alfred, May 1. 1829, and during the following weck in the Calvin Bap- tist house on Back Street, one mile from the centre of the village. This was the beginning of Methodism in Alfred. In the following fall he held meetings onee in two weeks in a hall near the Corner. By perseverance a little class was soon formed. The first permanent meeting was estab- lished in May, 1830, by Rev. John Lord, who held a pro- tracted meeting in the court-house. The next month Alfred was connected with Shapleigh ; Revs. Daniel Fuller and Almon P. Hillman supplied the places alternately. In 1831, Alfred was separated from Shapleigh, and Rev. Ezra Kellogg was appointed to Alfred. During his ser- vice arrangements were made to commence the building of the church edifice, which cost about $2000, and was dedi- cated Dec. 10, 1834. The vestry was finished in the fall of 1838, at a cost of $1600, and the basement remodeled lately. Rev. J. W. Atkins succeeded Mr. Kellogg. From his time to the present consecutive appointments in number have been made and regular preaching maintained.

THE SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH.

Twelve members were dismissed from the Waterborough Church, Aug. 29, 1844, and organized into a Second Bap- tist Church, at the Gore. Meetings were held at the school- house until the building of the meeting-honse, at a cost of $700, in 1817. Rev. Z. Morton, their first minister, has

been succeeded by Revs. N. G. Littlefield, R. Chase, F. K. Roberts, C. Case, and S. B. Macomber. A chapel was pre- sented to the society in 1871 by Wm. G. Conant.

BURIAL-GROUNDS.

There was no common place of interment appropriated in Alfred until after the first Congregational church was built, in 1784. The first person interred was Maj. Morgan Lewis. This ground being mostly occupied, another has recently been appropriated. The old ground, as well as the site of the contiguous church, was a gift from Nathaniel Conant, Sr.

The first church was two-story and faced the west, and had a large porch at each end. In 1834 the present house was erected in the place of the first one, and an organ, raised by subscription, was placed in it in 1854.

COURTS.

Alfred became a half shire-town in 1802, a full shire- town by gaining the courts from York in 1832, and the principal shire-town by the removal of the January term to Saco in 1860.

COURT-HOUSE.

At the court of general session held at York, April 17, 1806, Wm. Parsons, John Holmes, and others, were ap- pointed a committee to form a plan of the court-house and select a proper site. At the next September term they reported " that the spot on the southwest side of the road leading from Alfred meeting-house to Kennebunk, nearly opposite to Capt. Webber's, on a knoll partly on the land of Abiel Hall and partly on the land of William Par- sons, is the most suitable ; that the building should be 50 by 40 feet, two stories high, and that the cost would be $3000." It was ordered that the building of the house should not be commenced until sufficient security is given by the district of Alfred, or subscribers, to defray the expenses of the frame and of erecting the same on the spot. In the summer of 1807 the court-house was built ; cost, 83499.69.

FIRE-PROOF.

The fire-proof was built in the fall of 1819, on the north- east corner of the court-house yard; cost, $3056. The present fire-proof wings on each side of the court-bouse were finished in the fall of 1854; cost, $29,171.50. In the summer of 1854 the " dome light" was placed on the court- house, over the court-room ; eost, $998.50.

THE JAIL.

In 1803 John Holmes was appointed an agent to pro- eure a good title of a lot for a jail. Oct. 3, 1803, Thomas Hutchinson and others of the parish of Hevitoe, in the county of Devon, England, deeded, through their agent, to the county of York, a tract of land containing two acres, in Alfred village, for a jail. In 1806 the log jail was completed ; cost, about $3000.

In October, 1833, a committee of eight from different parts of the county reported that a new stone jail was needed. Estimated eost, $6000. It was built in 1834, costing $7737.12. The lot for the new jail and house of correction was purchased, and the foundation of the build- ing laid at a cost of $6000. The Legislature subsequently

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TOWN OF ALFRED.

authorized the expenditure of $30,000, and the building was completed in 1873.

TOWN-HOUSE.

The town-house was erected in 1854, and accidentally took fire in 1861, and, with some adjoining buildings, was consnmed. It was rebuilt in 1862.

OCCURRENCES WORTHY OF NOTICE.

Persons drowned in Alfred : Andrew Noble, half a mile below Shaker Bridge, at the foot of the pond; Eliphalet Griffin, a blacksmith, in Shaker Pond ; Bradford, son of Daniel Holmes, in Shaker Pond ; John Leighton, grandson of Gen. Samuel Leighton, in a pond near Lyman Littlefield's mill.

A woman captive from Wells, on her way to Canada, be- came exhausted and was tomahawked by the savages near where the Saco road crosses the river below the bridge, near Mr. Cam's.

The smallpox prevailed about 1780. It was caught by a man named Gerrish, who took it from a pair of shoes he had bought of a peddler. Dr. Hall, then recently settled, and others, went into a hospital, at Harmon's, north of the Shakers, and were inoculated. Dr. Frost, of Kennebunk, took charge of the patients.

In 1817 an elephant was shot by a mischievous wretch from another town, as it was leaving the village near the Round Pond. The culprit was tried for the deed, but escaped due punishment.

A weekly paper, called the Eastern Star, was started in Alfred, to support Mr. Crawford for the presidency of the United States, chiefly under the auspices of Mr. Holmes. Adams was elected, and the paper died out.

MASONIC.#

On the 10th of Jannary, 1828, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Maine granted a charter for a subordinate lodge to the following petitioners: John Gowen, William H. Pillsbury, Elisha Bodwell, Edward B. Remick, Jeremiah Goodwin, John Trafton, Charles Blanch- ard, John T. Paine, John Nutter, Benjamin J. Herrick, and Roswell Putnam, empowering these brethren to con- vene at Shapleigh, Me., and exercise there all the rights and enjoy the privileges of the ancient craft. The name assumed by the petitioners and conferred by their charter was that of Fraternal Lodge, No. 55.

At a meeting of the lodge holden Feb. 9, 1828, the fol- lowing officers were elected : John T. Paine, W. M .; Elisha Bodwell, S. W. ; Charles Blanchard, J. W. ; John Trafton, Treas. ; William H. Pillsbury, Sec .; John Gowen, S. D .; Edward B. Remick, J. D.

The charter was signed by Samuel Fessenden, W. G. M .; Robert P. Dunlap, S. G. W .; Amos Nourse, J. G. W .; William Lord, G. S.

On the 10th of March, 1852, a dispensation was granted by the Grand Lodge of Maine for the removal of Fraternal Lodge to Alfred from Shapleigh, upon a petition therefor made by Benjamin J. Herrick, Hiram N. Tripp, Edward Chase, Joshua Herrick, Albert Locke, Abial Farnham, and

Samuel Trafton. The dispensation was signed by John C. Humphreys, W. G. M., and Charles B. Smith, G. S.

The following is a list of officers first elected after the lodge was removed to Alfred : Joshua Herrick, W. M .; Edward Chase, S. W .; Hiram N. Tripp, J. W .; William Trafton, Sec. ; Albert Locke, Treas. ; Benjamin J. Herrick, S. D .; Abial Farnham, J. D .; Samuel Trafton, Tyler.

From this time until 1869 the lodge occupied a hall in the old academy building. June 9, 1869, the new Masonic hall-for which arrangements were made the preceding year, occupying the third story in a new store built by Frank H. Littlefield-was dedicated to its Masonic uses.

The Grand Lodge, under the auspices of which the cere- monies were performed, was represented upon this occasion by Warren Phillips as G. M., A. W. Mendum as D. D. G. M., H. H. Burbank as S. G. W., and George H. Knowlton as J. G. W.

Bradford Commandery, of Biddeford, furnished an escort of Sir Knights for the occasion, and an oration was deliv- ered by Rev. Sylvanus Hayward, of Sonth Berwick.

The following is a list of Past Masters : John T. Paine, Joshna Herrick, Wm. H. Miller, Jefferson Moulton, Moses W. Emery, Hiram N. Tripp, Thomas Rogers, Thomas Hol- land, John S. Derby, Alonzo Leavitt.

The lodge is in a very flourishing condition, with a mem- bership of about 100, with the following officers : Marcus W. Towne, W. M .; Asa L. Ricker, S. D .; Otis R. Whicher, J. D .; Silas Derby, Treas. ; William Emery, Sec. ; Luke H. Roberts, S. D .; George W. Roberts, J. D .; Washington C. Taylor, S. S. ; James H. Littlefield, J. S. ; Hannibal M. Sawtelle, Chaplain ; Willis J. Linscott, Tyler.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

MOSES A. SAFFORD

was born in Kittery, Me., Sept. 28, 1833. Acquired his education at the public schools, by private instruction, and at a seminary,-a larger portion of four years being spent at sea.

Commenced reading law in 1857. Was admitted to the bar in 1861.

Was in the United States naval service, on the ship " Constellation," from November, 1861, to February, 1865, since which time he has practiced law in Kittery, a portion of the time in connection with official duties at the United States naval station at that place.

Is now register of probate and insolvency for York County, having served since Jan. 1, 1877.

WILSON HAMMONS

was born in the town of Lovell, Oxford Co., Me., Ang. 27, 1843, the second child of David and Martha (O'Brien) Hammons. His father and mother were natives of York County, the father of Parsonsfield, the mother of Cornish. Their children were Weston, Wilson, and Everett.

Weston and Everett are attorneys-at-law, the former

* Furnished by A. L. Ricker, Esq.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

living at Anoka, Miun., the latter at Clinton, Kennebunk C'o., Me. His father is a lawyer by profession, and is also engaged extensively in the manufacture of lumber. His residence is at Bethel, Oxford Co., Me.

Wilson Hammons received his education at Bridgton and Gould's Bethel Academies, Westbrook Seminary, and Waterville College.

In 1861, went to California and remained there, and at Virginia City, Nev., three years, engaged in mining, and as local editor of a daily paper there.

Returning, in 1865, to Maine, took a course of study at the Edward Little Commercial College at Auburn. In the fall of 1866 commenced teaching at Phillips, Franklin Co. Taught three terms. Has been twice married. By his first wife had four children, viz., Willie P., Bessie M., Freddie D., and Charles.

In 1869 was employed as detective, in Chicago, under Allen Pinkerton, and afterwards as assistant superintendent of Pinkerton's Detective Agency in New York City. For the next four years was engaged in merchandising at An- oka, Minn. Came to Alfred in the fall of 1873, and en- gaged in the manufacture of oak lumber. In 1876, in addition to this business, has carried on a general store.

Mr. Ilammons is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Alfred. IIe is also a member of the Masonic, Odd-Fellows, and Good Templars societies.

ASA LOW RICKER

was born in Waterborough, Me., April 13, 1841, the fourth son of Thomas and Sarah Ann ( Low) Ricker. His father was born in Berwick, Feb. 9, 1801, and is now living in Shapleigh, aged seventy-eight years. Gideon Ricker, father of Thomas, was born in Berwick in 1773, and married Mary Buzzell, about 1795. Noah Ricker, father of Gideon, was born in Dover, N. H., in 1726, and married Margaret, daughter of Simon Emery, of Kittery. He died in Ber-

wick, Dec. 17, 1811. His wife died in Waterborough, Jan- uary, 1822, aged ninety-three years. Joseph Ricker, father of Noah, lived in Somersworth, N. H. He married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Jabez and Dorcas Garland, Nov. 16, 1720, with whom he was admitted to the Dover First Church, March 22, 1730. He married his second wife, Mary May, in Berwick, Dec. 17, 1761. Joseph was the second son of Maturin Ricker, who came from England to Dover, N. H., and was taxed there in 1672. He was killed, with his brother George, by the Indians, June 4, 1706. He left four children,-Maturin, Joseph, Noah, who was captured by the Indians when his father was killed; he was carried to Canada, was educated, became a Catholic priest, and remained there,-and Sarah, who became the second wife of John Wingate. The mother of Asa L. Ricker was Sarah Ann, daughter of Jeremiah and Abigail (Ham) Low, was born in Shapleigh, Me., Ang. 21, 1802, and died in Waterborough, Aug. 25, 1863.

Asa L. Ricker was brought up on his father's farm in Waterborough ; received a common-school education ; taught school in Shapleigh in the winter of 1860, and in Waterborough in the winter of 1861 ; enlisted as a private in Co. C, 32d Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, Nov. 2, 1861, and was discharged from the United States service March 24. 1863 ; taught school in Sanford in the winter of 1864; was married to Augusta K., daughter of Richard Shakley, of Sanford, May 19, 1864. His wife was born in Acton, Me., Dec. 18, 1844. They have two children, Elma A., born in Waterborough, July 27, 1866, and Annie A., born in Alfred, April 28, 1874. Mr. Ricker was se- leetman of Waterborough in 1869 and 1870, was elected register of deeds of York County, in 1872, and again in 1877. Religious preferences, a Baptist, and in politics a Republican. Is a member of Fraternal Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, of Murray Chapter of Royal Arch Ma- sons, of Maine Council of Royal and Select Masters, and of Bradford Commandery of Knights Templar.

KITTERY.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

THE town of' Kittery comprises about fifteen square miles of territory, at the extreme southern point of York County. It was one of the earliest points of white settlement in the county, and was incorporated the first town of the province of Maine in 1647. At that time its boundaries extended to the southern corner of Lebanon, and included the towns of Berwick, North Berwick, most of South Berwick, and Eliot, which were unsettled, except at Quamphegan Falls, in South Berwick, and by some fishermen at Eliot.

The Berwicks, which were constituted a perpetual com- mon in 1652, were taken off in 1713. The northern half of the remaining town, which was identified with it in the

history of the later Indian wars and the Revolutionary struggles, became a separate town under the name of Eliot in 1810.

The present town of Kittery is bounded on the north west by Eliot, on the northeast by York, on the east by the At- lantie Ocean, on the south by Portsmouth Harbor, and on the southwest hy the Piscataqua River.

Spruce Creek forms a large bay or harbor, extending from its narrow entrance at Kittery Point, two and a half miles to the northward, with an average width of half a mile, and an irregular broken shore. Its coast is broken and lined with islands, among which the principal are Gerrish and Cutts, on the Atlantic coast, severed from the mainland by

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TOWN OF KITTERY.

a narrow stream, Seavey's, Fernald, now the United States Navy-Yard, Badgers, Jamaica, and, nine miles off Kittery Point, to the southward, the Isles of Shoals.

The surface is broken and rocky in the south, rising to the northward in rolling farm-lands, mainly ocenpied by workmen employed about the navy- and ship-yards. The soil is a productive elay and granite deposit, abounding in marine matter in the lower portions, and producing abun- dant erops of black and tame grasses, corn, potatoes, and vegetables.

EARLY SETTLERS.

The first settlers came to this town for traffic, and not to make for themselves homes. One of the first and most lucrative employments offered was that of fishing. And as this required but a small capital, it was admirably adapted to the circumstances of many of the first settlers, who were men of small means. The foundations of some of the largest fortunes of the State were laid by humble beginnings in this business. To those who had no taste or talent for this branch of business, lumber offered peculiar inducements. The banks of the Piscataqua, with its tributaries, were covered with a dense growth of oak and pine timber, excellent for ship- building, and easily rafted to the mouth of the river, whence it could be shipped to England or the West Indies ; while to the more adventurous the boundless forests opened their leafy aisles abundantly filled with game, the skins and furs of which were valuable articles of export.

The locality began to be familiarly known to history at the time of the settlements at Agamenticus and Piscataqua, now Portsmouth, early in 1623. Capt. Champernoon, in connection with a cousin of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, had charge of the settlement. Twelve thousand acres, included in the Agamentieus patent, were on the south of York, or Agamenticus, River. The southern part of Kittery was first called Campernoon's .* The most convenient and available points were soon occupied by industrious fishermen, to the head of tide at Quamphegan Falls, at Spruce Creek, on Stur- geon Back (Eliot), and at Kittery Point, previous to the arrival of Walter Neal in 1630. These settlements were then known collectively as the plantation of Piscataqua, and had been made for six years.t

Mr. Neal, who was agent for both Gorges and Mason, sold all the lands in Kittery between the date of his arrival and his departure in 1633. The "townsmen," or committee on prudential affairs, were afterwards authorized to grant lands, and from them nearly all the early settlers derived their titles.

Among the early settlers were three brothers from Wales, John, Robert, and Richard Cutts. John settled at the Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), and acquired wealth in mercantile pursuits. Richard at first carried on the fish- eries at the Shoals, and then removed to Portsmouth. Robert, after a short residence at Barbadoes, located on Great Island, but afterwards removed to this town and car- ried on ship-building.t

Capt. Francis Champernoon settled in Kittery, and two of his danghters married into the Cutts family. A third married Humphrey Eliot, whose son, Champernoon Eliot, was the principal heir of Capt. Champernoon.

Capt. Thomas Cammock obtained a grant in 1633 ex- tending half-way to York River. This he sold to James Trueworthy in 1636.

Mr. Godfrey had charge of a trading-post in Kittery in 1632. In 1633, Capt. Thomas Warnerton succeeded him. His land was south of Capt. Cammock's, joining. He was the friend of whom Jocelyn said that, upon the occasion of his return to England in 1639, he " came off to the vessel and drank his health in a pint of rum at a draught."

Supplies of live-stoek, farming and domestic utensils, clothing, and building materials were sent from England, and corn for bread was raised elsewhere, and, after being ground in mills upon the Charles River, now Boston, Mass., was bronght in slow sailing-vessels.

The trade along the coast began to manifest a spirit of exclusiveness soon after permanent settlement began. In May, 1634, Mr. Hoskins, sailing from Piscataqua to Cush- enock, a later settlement to the eastward, was forbidden to trade with the natives and ordered to depart. The magis- trate, finding him determined to remain, sent three men to cut his eables. They parted one, when Mr. Hoskins with an oath exclaimed, "Touch the other and death is your portion !" At the same time he seized a gun. They pro- ceeded to eut the cable, when he shot one of them dead, at the same time receiving a fatal wound himself. Beaver- skins were the chief articles for which trade was conducted with the natives at this time, their production filling a demand now supplied by the various modern manufactures.

It is stated by Williamson that in 1630 there were 200 souls, all told, in the Piscataqua settlements : but he makes six to a family his base of estimates, which would hardly be expected to be the ease in a new country, where only those with grown families or very young are acenstomed to settle. An ordinary basis in settled communities is four and one-half to a family. This would give but 149, which is a much more reasonable estimate. Forty-one persons signed the compact in 1640 in this plantation, and there were some others also then living on the Isles of Shoals.

Among the other settlers were John Andrews, Philip Babb, Mary Baylie, John Bursley, Humphrey Chadbourne, William Chadbourne, Nicholas Frost, Charles Frost, Wil- liam Everett, Nicholas Shapleigh, Thomas Withers, Capt. F. Champernoon, Edwin Small, John Heard, John Edge- comb, John Piekes, John Fernald, and Peter Wyer.

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History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 77

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 730

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 730