USA > Maine > York County > History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 85
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One of the earliest settlers in the northwest was John Libby, who eleared the farm now owned by Andrew Chase, in the northwest part of the town, joining Lebanon.
Of other families remembered as among the early settlers may be mentioned the names of Chadbourne, one of the earliest families in Berwick, Twombly, Weymouth, Ford, and Fernald. Samuel Hanscom came about 1770, from Kittery. The father of Samuel Hanscom, Sr., was made executor of his father's estate when but nineteen years of age. He remained a bachelor till forty years old. He had nine children, among them a pair of twins. Samuel, Sr., was the oldest son, and lived at the old homestead.
Hercules, father of Oliver Fernald, came from the old settlement at Kittery, and settled on Beech Ridge, a half- mile north of the present Free-Will Baptist meeting-house. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and assisted in building the works on Dorchester Heights.
The early occupants of Kittery Common would come first and chop a clearing, which they would burn and reburn until free from the danger of woods fires, when they would haul in logs, and, joining togetber, assist each other in roll- ing up a house. Then they would move in their families, and finish by completing doors, roof, and the broad stone fireplace with wooden flue.
304
BRACKETT HALL,
son of John and Merriam (Brackett) Hall, natives of North Berwick, was born Sept. 13, 1815. His father was born July 14, 1786. He (Brackett) is of English descent, being a lineal descendant of one of three brothers who came from England more than two hundred years ago and settled at Dover Neck, N. H.
Brackett Hall spent his boyhood till he was twenty at home and in the common schools of his native town, when he hired out to Aaron Davis Williams, a vegetable farmer of Roxbury, Mass., with whom he remained as foreman for seven years. In the spring of 1843 he came to North Berwick, and set- tled upon the farm of one hundred acres, which he had purchased of Joshua Jenkins the year before, to which he has added, by purchase, the adjoining farms of Elijah Jenkins, Reuben Hayes, and Reuben Ricker, also a large portion of the Hiram Randall farm, making in all a farm of about five hundred acres. He married, March 27, 1842, Abigail, danglı- ter of Philip and Dorotha Hall, of North Berwick. She was born in 1814, and died March 27, 1851. The children of this union were Mary Ann, born Jan. 1, 1844, wife of James Joyns, of Gloucester, Mass .; Abbie M., born April 23, 1849; and John
B., born Jan. 3, 1851. He married, Nov. 27, 1859, for his second and present wife, Mary A., daughter of James and Mary A. (Getchell) Emery, of Wells, Me. She was born Ang. 27, 1841. Of this union were born Elmer E., March 25, 1861 ; Davis Wil- liams, March 17, 1865; and Frank E., Oct. 15, 1872.
Mr. Hall has never taken a very active part in politics, having had his time and attention well oc- cupied in improving and bettering his farm. He espoused the Greenback cause at the organization of that party, and has since advocated its principles, believing them to be the best for the general public good. In the fall of 1879 he was nominated by his party for the office of county commissioner. Al- though not successful, he received a flattering recog- nition, running ahead of his ticket, and receiving the entire vote of the Democratic party. He is, and has ever been, a hard working, calculating, and prudent farmer, whose many years' toil has yielded him a competence for his declining years. In re- ligious sentiment he believes the dictates of con- science the best guide. He is generally considered a man of irreproachable integrity, a kind husband, father, and friend, and a good citizen in every sense of that term.
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TOWN OF NORTHI BERWICK.
Abraham, Nathaniel, and John "Lord, three brothers, came from Ipswich, about the year 1700, and were the an- cestors of numerous families of Lords scattered throughout the State. Elder Nathaniel Lord was a son of Abra- ham, and grandson of Samuel and Martha Lord.
INDIAN TROUBLES.
The early settlers had severe trials, arising from the diffi- culties to be encountered in bringing a wilderness to fruit- fulness. Mrs. Mary Chadbourne, now in her one-hundredth year, relates that the first summer upon the place cleared by her husband, who was a widower with several children when she married him, they lived many days on boiled greens for dinner, and whortleberries and milk for the other meals of the day ; meal or flour they had none. The hus- band must seek employment at other settlements to earn money to make payment for the land, while the wife and children planted and tended the crops till harvest. Wolves prowled at night about the clearings and rude cabins of the settlers, only prevented from entering by the bright fires within. Many of the early settlers were Friends, and on that account received more immunities from the Indians than those of the settlements on the sea-coast. But one incident of Indian depredations on the inhabitants of this town is related. Sarah Morrill, a daughter of Peter, was out one day gathering hemlock-boughs for a broom. She wandered some rods from the house, unmindful of danger. Suddenly she came upon a party of Indians lurking in am- bush, and in her fright screamed, which so exasperated Wawa, the leader, that he dispatched her at once. Jede- diah Morrill is said to have brought in her lifeless and bloody body soon after ; the Indians remaining hidden near, but offering him no violence, because he was a Quaker. Her scalp was taken to Canada and sold to the French.
The spot of this occurrence is marked by a young apple- tree in the south part of the village, in a field a short dis- tance from Mrs. Hurd's hotel.
On a promontory of land back of Mr. Morrill's house a captive white woman was kept one winter by the Indians. Late in the fall a descent was made upon the York settle- ments by a party of savages, and she was made a prisoner ; winter coming on suddenly, before they could return to Canada, they spent the winter about the outlet of Bonny Beag Pond. During the winter she gave birth to a child, which, from scanty food and exposure of the weather, was feeble and sickly. The Indians compelled the mother to gather pine fagots, with which they burned the babe to ashes. The unhappy and heart-broken woman found among the ashes a bone uuconsumed that belonged to her child ; this she concealed in her bosom for a time, but the Indians discovering it took it from her, lest some spell of witchcraft should be wrought by it to their injury. In the spring she was taken to Canada and sold to the French, after which she was ransomed and returned to her friends.
PLACES OF HISTORIC INTEREST.
Around Bonny Beag Pond many circular stone hearths are found. They consist of a bed of stone about four feet in circumference, upon which Indians build fires for cooking. On the north side of the outlet, in a ravine near the west 39
border of the pond, was found the greatest number of these hearths, and here probably.a village stood. Near by was the field in which they raised their maize ; now it is covered with quite a growth of wood. The land about the outlet is owned by Mr. Nathan Morrill, a descendant of Jedediah. In plowing the fields many Indian implements have been brought to the surface. He has a fine collection of them, consisting of stone chisels, gouges, pestles, sinkers, hatchets, arrow-heads, a scalping-knife, etc., which he kindly exhibits to those curious in such matters.
A deep basin south of the pond is covered with a shallow pool of water, beneath which the light quicksands cannot be fathomed. This is known as Sunken Pond.
A one-story frame house in the northeast corner of the town, near Little River, stands on the east side of the road, and is occupied by John Chase, Esq. This house was built by Absalom Stackpole, a Revolutionary soldier, before he entered the army, and is about one hundred and ten years old. Mr. Stackpole was born in 1752, and lived here until eighty-eight years of age.
WATER-POWERS AND THEIR USE.
The heavy forests of pine that originally covered this town encouraged the erection of mills, and one of the first was built by Peter Morrill on the Great Works at the vil- lage, about 1722. A run of stones was connected with it, by which gristing was done for the settlers. Afterwards he engaged in the manufacture of iron, but it proving to be of poor quality, its manufacture was soon abandoned.
A mill for carding wool took the place occupied by the iron-works, which was operated as early as 1810, and per- haps earlier. Io 1832, Friend Hill bought a half-interest in the privilege with John D. Lang, and in 1834 a wooden building 60 feet long, two stories high, with an attic, was put up for the purpose of doing custom-work and the manu- facture of machine blankets. Friend Hill is reported to have been the first in the country to establish a factory for the manufacture of this kind of goods. Satinet likewise formed a portion of goods produced. In 1861 the wooden building burned down, and in 1862 the present fine mill was put up. It is of brick, three stories high, with attic, and 120 feet long by 42 feet wide. As a provision against drought, the company have an engine of sufficient power to carry the works independent of water-power. Forty looms, 6 sets of cards, and 13 spinning-jacks are operated here, which turn out daily 1500 yards of flannel, beside blankets, and give employment, on an average, to about 80 hands. The company is known as the North Berwick Company, and has a capital of $100,000.
Upon the Great Works there are reckoned eight powers, ranging from 10 to 36 feet fall, but partially improved. At Doughty's Falls are 2 powers, owned by the North Berwick Woolen Company. The Hobbs privilege, at Bonny Beag Woolen-Mills, a mile above the village, has upon it a small factory doing custom-work. Ebenezer Hobbs has a grist- and saw-mill, eighty yards above. This power was first used by Thomas Hobbs, Jr., grandfather of the present occupant, who built a mill here at the first settlement. Thomas Hobbs, Sr., lived at Doughty's Falls.
The Wentworth privilege is occupied by a saw-mill.
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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.
Farther on is a good, unimproved power, owned by Nathan Morrill, and at the foot of Bonny Beag Pond he owns and improves a power by saw-, grist-, shingle-, and clapboard- mills. A stave-mill was added in 1868. The area of Bonny Beag is computed at 1600 acres. One foot of dam gives storage to a large quantity of water. On the Negun- taquit, a branch of the Great Works, are several powers, only one of which is improved, and this near its mouth, by T. B. Hussey's agricultural works. Farther up this stream, on land of J. E. Hobbs, is a good, unimproved power,- dam easily and cheaply constructed, and a sufficiency of water for many manufacturing purposes two-thirds of the year.
NORTH BERWICK VILLAGE.
This is the only village in the town. It is located in the southern part, and contains about 140 dwellings, about 60 of which, together with most of the business houses, were built sinee 1870. The main village was formerly between the Great Works and Neguntaquit Rivers, aud bore the name of Doughty's Falls, which are located on Great Works River at that point. The stage-line and mail-route extended north from this point by way of Springvale, Al- fred, Waterborough, and Limerick to Cornish previous to the opening of the Boston and Maine Railroad. Soon after, F. O. Rogers, his elerk, George Snow, Sheldon Hobbs, and Jeremiah Lord moved their business east of the rivers, near the depot, and that side became the business eentre of the town. The place was an important wood market pre- vious to 1875, when eoal began to take its place. It is now an important trading and manufacturing centre, and one of the neatest little villages in the county. It contains three churches, school-house, Odd-Fellows' Hall, and many fine dwellings. The business is as follows :
North Berwick Company, woolens: William Hill, pres- ident ; William Hobbs, agent ; established 1831; rebuilt 1862; more fully described elsewhere.
Carding and woolen yarns : J. M. Ilobbs.
Plows and agricultural implements : Timothy B. Hus- sey, since 1855 ; established by William Hussey, inventor of the Hussey plows, in 1835. Their plows, after a trial of more than thirty years in New England, have acquired a reputation complimentary alike to the place and the manufacturer.
Prescott's stove polish : J. L. Prescott & Co., since 1878; established by J. L. Prescott in 1869; steam-power, employs 18 operatives, and puts up 1200 to 1500 gross per month.
Box manufacturers : Samuel Buffum & Co., wood boxes, etc., since 1864; established 1855, by William R. Tober.
Bricks : H. A. Butler.
Carriages : Pieot & Day, established in 1878.
Coffins and caskets : Oliver Meader, John F. Staples, undertakers.
Smiths: F. A. & N. C. Knight, established in 1866; A. J. Allen; Andrew J. Sargent.
Painter: E. T. Cavanaugh.
Tailor : II. S. Kidder.
Harness: G. S. Mansfield, established in 1874; B. F. Place, established in 1859.
Boots and shoes : C. E. Snow, established in 1845, at
the age of twenty-one,-the oldest business house in the village ; F. Johnson.
Jeweler : Charles H. Welch, established in 1879.
Photographs : G. A. Hanson.
General stores: J. C. Barston, established in 1878; George H. Snow, the oldest mercantile house in the town, established in 1846, at the age of twenty. Mr. Snow was previously clerk for F. W. Rogers for six years.
Co-operative store : Hon. John Hall, president; John A. Dennett, secretary ; D. R. Ford, agent ; established under the auspices of North Berwick Grange, No. 103, and opened to public investors in May, 1879.
Groceries and drugs : H. S. Fall, established in 1869.
Drugs and stationery : J. O. MeOrrison & Co., in com- pany with Charles H. Pierce, in 1876; established by J. R. Colby, with circulating library, in 1873.
Stationery and fancy goods : B. Albert Parker; William H. Tibbets, fancy goods, established in 1875.
Millinery : C. H. Hicks, established in 1875; F. O. Johnson.
Dry goods : C. H. Littlefield, established in 1879.
Stoves and tinware: Joseph A. Hanson, established in 1873; runs sale-wagon and supplies peddlers.
Meats : E. B. Johnson.
Livery-stables : Isaiah Buffum ; F. O. Johnson.
Hotels : Pine-Tree, Moses Furbish, 1879, formerly J. W. Stackpole; North Berwick, Mrs. Lydia A. Hurd, since 1876 ; erected by Charles Ricker, in 1854.
American Express : C. W. Greenleaf, agent ; succeeded the Eastern Express Company, in 1879.
Telegraph : W. S. Dyer, private line; Western Union, by railroad lines. The Atlantic and Pacific line by county roads from Portland to Boston, via Alfred and Dover, N. H., passes through the town, but has no office.
North Berwick National Bank : Organized March 3, 1860, as a State bank, with a capital of $50,000. William Ilill, president ; Pelatiah Hussey, cashier. Converted into a national bank in July, 1865. Charles W. Greenleaf succeeded Mr. Hussey as cashier in July, 1871. In No- vember, 1870, it was entered by burglars, and $2500 of bank and $4000 private assets abstracted.
Lawyer : Hon. Nathaniel Hobbs.
Physicians: S. A. Nash, established in 1872; J. O. McOrrison, established in 1876.
Dentist : E. M. Sargent, since 1877.
Insurance : David S. Austin, since 1874.
Mails : Daily by railroad; Miss Sarah F. Hobbs, post- mistress. A post-office formerly at Bonny Beag, in the northeast corner of the town, was closed by the department in September, 1879.
INCORPORATION.
The town of North Berwick was incorporated by an act of the Legislature passed March 21st, and approved March 22, 1831. The inhabitants were required to pay their por- tion of previously-assessed taxes, and received their share of the old town stock of powder, balls, flints, and camp- equipage.
The first election for town officers was held at Elder Nathaniel Lord's meeting-house, two miles from Bonny
RES. OF WILLIAM HILL, NORTH BERWICK, ME.
NORTH BERWICK WOOLEN FACTORY.
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TOWN OF NORTH BERWICK.
Beag Pond, on the Oak Wood road, April 4, 1831. Daniel Clark presided as moderator.
Sheldon Hobbs was elected Town Clerk ; William Wey- mouth, John Chase, and Jairus Came, Selectmen, Assessors, and Overseers of the Poor; Isaac Frost for Doughty's Falls · district, Benajah Hall, for Beech Ridge district, and John Young, for Bonny Beag district, Constables and Collectors ; Sheldon Hobbs, Treasurer and Clerk of the Market ; William Weymouth, George Heard, Mark Nowell, Jr., School Com- mittee ; 16 field-drivers and fence-viewers, 9 surveyors of lumber, 4 lot-layers, 2 sealers of leather, a pound-keeper, and the following-named persons, living in various parts of the town, were elected supervisors of highways to expend an appropriation of $1500 : Benjamin Heard, Ivory Libby, James Estes, John Young, John M. Hanson, Samuel Still- ings, John Abbott, Jr., Peter Grant, Jr., Caleb Ford, Jr., Isaiah Johnson, Oliver Hill, John Hammons, Stephen Quint, Stephen Harris, William Gubtail (2d), Abram Jun- kens, Ich'd Wentworth, William Hall, Francis Chadbourne, William Hussey, Isaac Frost, Uriah Chadbourne, Miles Brackett, Richard Yeaton.
The town has always been classified as the Donghty's Falls, Beech Ridge, and Bonny Beag districts, and one selectman, who is also assessor and overseer of the poor, elected annually from each district. Elections were held in the old church until 1876, when it was abandoned, and the town business transferred to a hall in the village of South Berwick.
CIVIL LIST. TOWN CLERKS.
Sheldon Hobbs, 1831-36; George Hurd, 1837; Philander Hartwell, 1838-42; James Johnson, 1843; Sheldon Hobbs, 1844-52; Nathan Neal, 1853-55 ; John Johnson, 1856-65 ; John Hamilton, 1866- 67; George W. Gray, 1868-71; David S. Austin, 1875 ; William H. Baston, 1877-78.
SELECTMEN.
1831 .- James Came, William Weymouth, John Chase. 1832-35 .- William Weymouth, John Chase, Isaac Buffom. 1836 .- William Weymouth, John Chase, Isaac M. Hobbs. 1837 .- William Weymonth, John Chase, Samuel Ilanscomb. 1838 .- Joseph Weymouth, Daniel Clark, Samuel Hanscomb. 1839 .- Levi Hanseomb (2d), William Weymouth, Daniel Clark. 1840 .- Joseph G. Goodwin, Levi Hanseomb, William Weymouth. 1841-42 .- Daniel Clark, Isaac M. Ifobbs, William Hall. 1843 .- Joseph G. Goodwin, Jacob Prescott, Ivory Libbey. 1844 .- Joseph G. Goodwin, Peter Grant, Levi Hanscomb. 1845 .- Joseph G. Goodwin, Peter Grant, William Hall. 1846 .- Joseph G. Goodwin, William Stanley, William Hall 1847-48 .- Peter Grant, Isaac M. Hobbs, William Hall. 1849 .- Samuel Hanscomb, J. Goodwin, John Johnson. 1850 .- Mark Nowell, Levi Hanscomb (2d), John Johnson. 1851 .- Joseph G. Goodwin, Levi Hanscomb (2d), John Johnson. 1852 .- Haven A. Butler, Levi Hanscomb (2d), John Johnson. 1853-54 .- Haven A. Butler, William Hall, Daniel Quint. 1855 .- James G. Page, Mark Johnson (2d), Joshua Hurd. 1856-57 .- Haven A. Butler, Levi Hanscomb, Peter G. Ford. 1858 .- Haven A. Butler, William R. Clark, Joseph Staples. 1859 .- Haven A. Butler, William R. Clark, William W. Johnson. 1860-61 .- Haven A. Butler, Stephen Ford (2d), Benajah Hall. 1862 .- Haven A. Butler, Benajah Hall, Ezra Billings. 1863 .- Haven A. Butler, Ezra Billings, Andrew Chase. 1864 .- Isaac Hobbs, Gilman Ham, Andrew Chase. 1865 .- Haven A. Butler, Gilman Ham, Benajah Hall. 1866-67 .- Haven A. Butler, George H. Wentworth, John Hall. 1868 .- Haven A. Butler, Stephen Ford, Levi Hanscomb. 1869-71 .- Haven A. Butler, George H. Wentworth, John G. Hall.
1875 .- George II. Wentworth, A. C. Buffam, Seth Dillingham. 1877 .- George 11. Wentworth, David S. Austin, Herbert L. Abbott. 1878 .- David S. Austin, Hollis G. Ham, Mark W. Chase.
CHURCHES. FRIENDS.
From what can be gathered, it appears the Friends formed one of the earliest organizations in the town. Soon after 1742 a society was gathered here, which has continued in existence to the present. The first meeting-honse stood on the Oak Woods road, sonth of Bonny Beag, where quite a settlement of Friends existed. Removals and deaths thinned the number, and as the house fell to decay it was taken down and the present one built about one mile south- west from the village. In the days of its union this society was quite prosperous. Unfortunately, a want of harmony on doctrinal points divides the councils of the society. In 1750 a meeting was regularly established, a meeting-house built, and a preparative granted. In 1751 the Dover monthly meeting commenced, holding their monthly meetings at Berwick (as then called) for the accommodation of the Friends in this part of Maine. This arrangement lasted till 1802, when a separate monthly meeting was estab- lished,-the members of Eliot and Berwick constituting it. No quarterly meeting has ever been hield here.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN BERWICK.
In 1681 several persons were baptized in Kittery by ministers of the Baptist faith. These united to the Bap- tist Church in Boston, Mass., this being the nearest one to them. A house had been erected there amid much opposi- tion in 1679, but was nailed up by the marshal, under the law of the commonwealth, and a paper put upon the doors forbidding their being opened without permission from the General Court. The society, however, had continued to exist.
William Screven, one of the Kittery converts, an early emigrant from England, was selected as the leader, and he was licensed by the church at Boston to exercise his gifts at Kittery or elsewhere, as the providence of God might cast him. The Kittery brethren soon gained in numbers, and attempted to form a separate church. In this they were violently opposed by the Congregationalists both in Maine and Massachusetts, who considered the Baptists " as religious fanatics, and their doctrines and influence most deleterious to the welfare of both society and religion." No sooner was the design of the few Baptists heard of in the town than Mr. Woodbridge, the minister, and Mr. Hncke, the magistrate, began to bestir themselves, and the magistrate summoned those people who had been to the Baptist meeting, and threatened them with a fine of five shillings for every such offense in the future. During the same summer the General Court for the province of Maine summoned Rev. Mr. Sereven to appear before them, sub- jected him to trial, and placed him under bonds for good behavior. The court record of Aug. 17, 1682, recites that " refusing to submit himself to the sentence of the court prohibiting his public preaching, the delinquent stand committed until the judgment of this court be fulfilled." For the next offense he was fined £10, and forbidden " under any pretense to hold any private exercises at his
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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.
own house, or elsewhere, on the Lord's day, either in Kit- tery or any other place within this province; and in future he is enjoined to attend worship in our public assemblies upon the Lord's day, according to the laws established in this province, upon such penalties as the law requires upon neglect of the premises."
Though violence, fines, and imprisonment were now threatening this little band, they continued to worship according to their belief, and on the 25th of September, 1682, Rev. Isaac Hull, of the Boston church, assisted them in forming a separate organization.
The determined opposition of the authorities during the ensuing year caused the more timid members to forsake the new church, while Rev. Mr. Sereven-like the Puritans- sought refuge in flight, and, with the remainder of his flock, settled upon the more hospitable shores of South Carolina.
It was not until 1763, eighty-five years after, that another effort was made to establish a church at Kittery. In 1765, Rev. Hezekiah Smith, an evangelist, who had labored with the people throughout Massachusetts, began to extend his tours to the destitute regions of New Hampshire and the province of Maine, and to "receive any persons into the church whom they should esteem to be meet subjects, pro- vided they live at such distance they cannot be received into the church in the usual order." He baptized a Congrega- tionalist minister and two deacons in Nottingham, and also Otis Robinson, afterwards the first settled Baptist minister in Sanford, at Livermore, N. H.
In 1767, Rev. Mr. Smith preached at Great Ifill, in Berwick, and received his converts as members of his church in Haverhill. July 8, 1768, " Elder" Greenleaf, Deacon Jacob Whittier, and Deacon Samuel Shepard dis- missed these members and constituted them a church in Berwick. They were called on the town records " members of the First Antipedo Baptist Church of Christ in Boston." Twelve other churches were established from the Haverhill church about the same time.
Previous to the visits of Rev. Mr. Smith, Joshua Emery had separated from the Congregationalist connection and brought upon himself much ridicule, with the name of New Light applied to him by his enemies. Ile was a man of eminent talents, and had been previously highly respected. Mr. Smith came by his invitation, and soon found in him an ahle assistant.
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