USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 11
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(TO JAMES MALCOM.)
OCTOBER 10, 1806.
A dispute exists between the proprietors of Belfast, which they are willing should be adjusted by a re-survey, so as to con- form to Joseph Chadwick's original survey. This has been agreed between me and a committee of the said proprietors, Messrs Durham and Cochran, on the 8th inst. In order to this, the lines at Belfast may be resurveyed from little river westerly, until the distance shall be obtained mentioned in the deed : thence north 22° west, until the distance shall be obtained as mentioned in the deed, and the quarry of stones found, thence the baek line north, 68° east, the distance mentioned.
The accurate survey of this Belfast is a matter of great moment to me, and I request Mr. Lewis and his chainman may be employed on this occasion. Notice must be previously given to the proprietors, through their committee, Messrs. Durham and Cochran. You will observe that the little river line afterwards differs materially from the Belfast measure.2
On the 27th of October, the proprietors voted "to send Alex- ander Clark as a surveyor, with Mr. Lewis, General Knox's sur- veyor, to perambulate the lines of the town." The death of General Knox, which occurred two days before, postponed further action in the premises. In 1811, the following deposition of
1 Proprietors' records.
2 Original paper in Lib. N. E. Hist. Gen. Soc.
110
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
Richard Stimson relative to the dispute was taken, and two years afterwards legislative enactment established the bounds in conformity to Clark's plan, including the disputed territory, as stated in Chapter I.
I, Richard Stimson, of lawful age, testify and say that some time in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty eight I was a sworn chainman to Joseph Chadwick, who was appointed to run out the Town of Belfast from the original proprietors, Flucker, Winslow, and others. The same fall, in company with said Chadwick, we ran out the shore from Half-way creek to Little River, and thence took some considerable time to examine the land, when, it being late, we made no further survey that year.
In the summer following, we proceeded to run the outlines of said Town, and made a corner at the outlett of the first of the half-way creek ponds, and run westerly till we struck the head of the Tide in Belfast River, when the committee of the purchasers discovering a good tract of Timber land, we made an offsett at right angles to the Northward -- this deponent cannot say how far-and then proceeded westerly on the same course, and made the Northwest boundary of said Town. We then proceeded at right angles, and made the southwesterly corner of said town, which was a white burch tree. From thence we run our line out to Little River, and in running this last line we crossed the Georges Road, not more than one hundred and fifty rods from the Southwest corner. We never run out the northerly line of said Town, easterly, from said offsett. About five or six years after this, I saw said southwest corner, and have frequently since (per- haps seven or eight times) seen it. This deponent further says that he was in company with Messrs. Peters and Malcom last fall, when the said Peters was running out the lines of said Town, and was with them at said white burch tree, and has no doubt that this is the same tree which the said Chadwick marked for the South- west corner of said Town. This deponent further says that at the same time he was with the said Peters and Malcom at the yellow burch Tree called the Dinsmore corner, and is sure that this Tree was never marked by Chadwick for a corner. This deponent further says that he run said Georges Road out in the year seventeen hundred and sixty four, in company with said Chadwick, at the request of the proprietors of the Waldo Patent.
111
PROPRIETARY HISTORY.
Ques. By the Defend" Atty. Which is the larger of the half-way Creek ponds ?
Ans. I cannot exactly tell. At the time said Chadwick run out said Town, the upper Pond was flowed by a Beaver's Dam, and I should judge that the upper pond was then the largest ; but since it has fallen away, there appears to be little or no differ- ence.
Ques. By the Puffs. Atty. What was the Northwest corner ? Ans. A Rock Maple tree, westerly of a quarry of stones.
Ques. By same. Did you run the line from the Northwest corner to the Southwest corner ?
Ans. Yes, we run and marked it all the way.
Ques. By the Defts. Atty. In running from the northwest to the Southwest corner of said Town, did you cross the Georges Road ?
Ans. No, we did not.
his
RICHARD ++ STIMSON. mark.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
HANCOCK, SS. Town of Prospect, this eighteenth day of January, A.D. 1811, personally appeared before us, the subscribers, two Justices of the Peace, in and for the County of Hancock afore- said, quorum unus, the aforesaid deponent, and after being care- fully examined and duly cautioned to testify the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth made oath that the foregoing Deposition by him subscribed is true. Taken by Jonathan Wil- son and others to be preserved in perpetual remembrance of the thing. And we duly notified all persons living within twenty miles of this place of caption we knew to be interested in the property to which the said deposition relates, and Phineas Ash- mun, William Crosby, Jonathan Wilson, Tolford Durham, and John Cochran attended.
Fees, $2.68. BOHAN P. FIELD, Justice of the Quorum. WM. MOODY, Justice of the Peace.
HANCOCK, SS. Reca April 16, 1811, & Recorded in Book No. 30, page 124, and examined by B. Hall, Reg.
A second drawing of fourth division lots is thus certified under date of Nov. 6, 1794 : -
112
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
First Division.
Fourth Division.
First Division.
Fourth Division.
First Division.
Fourth Division.
1
41
27
13
52
31
2
5
28
3
35
29
21
4
24
30
23
5
14
31
47
6
54
32
20
7
37
33
53
8
42
34
16
9
48
35
29
10
22
36
40
11
46
37
12
13
4
39
10
14
49
40
43
15
27
41
26
16
21
42
51
17
30
43
18
17
44
39
19
15
45
3
20
34
46
28
21
6
47
22
18
48
36
23
38
49
19
24
1
50
25
25
8
51
33
38
9
In 1798, doubts having arisen as to the legality of certain antecedent proceedings of the proprietary, a meeting called by General George Ulmer, Justice of the Peace, was held on the 7th of March. Thirty-five and one-half shares were repre- sented, and a vote was passed confirming the location and draw- ing of all the different division lots. Under a new organization, John Cochran, 2d, succeeded James Patterson as clerk. Parcels of undivided land continued to be sold from time to time. About one hundred acres remained in 1818, and were sold at auction, April 9, for $235.36. Six years later, the condition of the treasury warranted a dividend of three dollars to the proprietor of each original right.
The last meeting of the proprietors was held Feb. 24, 1838, at the house of John Cochran. As Mr. Cochran had become aged and feeble, Benjamin Houston was chosen clerk in his place, and the last record is in Houston's handwriting.
113
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
.
1
CHAPTER VIII.
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
Richard Stimson. - Sawmill on Wescott Stream. - Persons temporarily here in 1769. - Permanent Settlement the Next Year. - James Miller, John Davidson, and others arrive from Londonderry .- Saturday Cove. - Miller's Log Cabin. - Davidson's Nar- rative. - He lands near Moose Point. - Builds a Camp. - Settlers in 1770. - Site of the Village predicted. - John Brown and Family. - Manners and Customs of the First Settlers. - Food. - Clothing. - Further Accessions. - Samuel Houston. - Des Barres' Chart of Belfast Bay. - Copy. - Heads of Families in 1779.
A TITLE to the land having been secured and the harbor lots drawn, preparations for settlement were immediately entered upon. Mr. White, in his history, quotes from a statement made by Dr. Abbot that, " previous to executing the deed of Belfast, the grantors had employed Richard Stimson to survey and make a suitable location for a road from Georges River in Thomaston to Fort Point in Prospect; and Stimson, having rendered the service, was to be entitled to one hundred acres of land on any part of the route he should select. The work was performed ; and Stimson made choice of a plat on the west and adjoining to the ' Half-way Creek,' which is the line between Belfast and Prospect. Here Stimson and his family had arrived before the Belfast proprietors had come into possession ; and, by Chad- wick's survey, Stimson's location is within the town, and he may therefore be called the first settler, although not connected with the proprietors."1 The description in the deed of the township commences on the bay at Half-way Creek; and lot No. 1, in the first division, by Chadwick's survey, has the shore " on the south- west side of Richard Stimson's land " as a point of departure. A few years before her death, Mrs. Tolford Durham stated that Stimson first settled at Mount Ephraim, and did not occupy his subsequent place of residence until several of the inhabitants of Belfast had arrived. This position is sustained by other concurrent witnesses.2 Mr. White also says that John Mitchell built a saw-
1 White's History, p. 35.
2 Locke's Sketches.
8
.
114
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
mill on the Wescott Brook, before a house had been erected in town. Probably this was during the summer of 1769; for a vote passed at Londonderry, under date of July 20, provides an allow- ance for " the men that is on the premises this year." A tradition exists in the Miller family that James Miller and his sons were here at that time, and partially completed a log cabin on the Frothingham lot. No evidence exists of any permanent settlement until the spring of 1770.1
" We moved our families in 1770 and 1771," is the language of a petition addressed to the General Court by the first settlers. About the middle of May, 1770, James Miller and three other proprietors, with their families, left Londonderry for their new home in the wilderness. John Davidson and John Morrison, and perhaps others, accompanied them. The party consisted of about thirty. Removing their goods to Haverhill by land, a gondola floated them down the Merrimac to Newburyport, where they embarked in a vessel, crowded and uncomfortable. After a long passage, they joyfully hailed the evening's close which ended their weary week, upon reaching a harbor in Penobscot Bay which was at first supposed to be their destination. But Belfast proved to be six miles beyond ; and the name of "Saturday Cove," then given to the harbor which they entered, is still retained. Miller's lot was No. 37; and on the shore below the Frothingham house he first landed, with his wife, two sons, and a daughter. This was May 20th. " If I ever felt to cry in my life," said his son James, years afterwards, "it was when we were first set ashore in Belfast ; for there was no cleared land nor house to be seen except the spot and cabin before us." This cabin was between Union Street and the bank of the river. It was constructed of large logs, matched and fitted snugly together ; the interstices were filled in with clay and moss. Holes were cut through for windows and a door, and split and hewn logs composed the floor. Miller had intended to bring boards for a covering from Londonderry ; but the bad state of the roads from there to Haverhill, at that season of the year, prevented. Hemlock bark stretched upon poles constituted the roof during the first summer. This was not impervious to water; and during a rain storm the children took
1 The late Thomas D'Arcy McGee, in his History of the Irish Settlers in North America, which was published in 1855, makes a strange blunder when he says, "In the year 1723 the Irish settlement of Belfast, in Maine, was established by a few families."
115
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
refuge under the table, while their parents were sheltered in the corner of the stone chimney. The log hut was occupied only a year, its place being supplied by a frame-house of one story. The latter was demolished in 1814. Until a short time since, its location was distinctly marked by a mound of stones. A half century ago, on the anniversary of the landing, the descendants of Miller repaired to the site of this house, and to the spot where his debarkation took place, and duly celebrated the event.
The lots of Davidson and Morrison were within the limits of the present town of Searsport, that of the former being afterwards occupied by Hugh Ross. "The most of those belonging to Belfast," says Davidson's Narrative,1 " went ashore before Morrison and myself, for their land lay westerly of ours. When our turn came to go ashore, two of the hands took our effects into the boat, and brought us around to the eastward of Moose Point, to the south end of our lots, the sun being then but an hour and a half high, at night, and the tide being far out. Our stores were hurried to the beach, and the men and boat soon left us. Judge of our situation, - the roaring sea on one hand, and the howling wilderness on the other. But we had no time to lose. The tide was coming in, and by great effort we removed our goods above high-water mark before dark. Then the consideration was how we were to pass the night. I proposed to strike a fire, and camp with our baggage. Said Morrison, ' We will not stay here, for the Indians will kill us before wuorning. I mean to see Mathew Reid before I sleep,' who was four miles distant. So we left our effects, and set out; and I stopped over night with Mr. John Barnet, in going two miles. Next morning, we returned to our stores, and found them all safe.
" As Morrison's lot joined mine, we concluded to build one camp for us both. The first day we put up the walls, and the next day put on the roof, and covered it over with spruce bark, so as to be tolerably comfortable. The height of the camp from the ground to the ridge-pole was about six and a half feet. We then com- menced our labor of clearing the land ; first, about the camp. My principal work, this season, was to cut cordwood, and prepare the ground for future crops. As I had no oxen, I had to change my
1 This was written in 1832, after completing his eighty-second year. It is entitled, " A Narrative of the Trials and Sufferings of John Davidson and his Family, in the Time of the Revolutionary War." The original MS., containing forty-nine pages, is in the possession of his grandson, John Q. A. Davidson.
116
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
work for ox-work; and in this way I succeeded in getting to the landing about fifty cords, a pretty large load for a vessel. But the place was new, the coasters unacquainted with the harbor, and I could find no market for the wood until it was spoiled. And, as the easiest way to clear the landing to make room for green wood, I burned it up, although the loss seemed great, as much as twenty-five dollars or more."
White's History enumerates Mitchell, Miller, Chambers, William Mclaughlin, William Patterson, and John Cochran, of the original proprietors, and James Patterson, Nathaniel Patterson, John Morrison, and Thomas Steele, the representatives of others, who, in 1770, "began to open the forest preparatory to husbandry." He omitted to include Davidson, Reid, and Barnet, the two latter of whom were already here when Miller and others arrived. Barnet's father drew lot No. 20, afterwards occupied by Clark and Gilmore ; and it was here that the son resided. The lot of Mathew Reid, No. 31, lay near the east end of the lower bridge. John Durham became the owner in 1772, and Reid probably returned to Londonderry.
Mitchell supposed that the principal settlement would be on the eastern side of the harbor ; and although he owned lot No. 35, which now includes a portion of the populous part of the city, he selected as his residence the beautiful and commanding situation on the point near the mouth of Goose River. He said to Miller, "The village will be on the east side." "No," was the reply, "it will be on the west side ;"1 a prediction which was fully sustained. The stone foundations of his house were visible until 1866, when Hiram E. Peirce used them in constructing a dam.
William McLaughlin and William Patterson settled on lot No. 3, in what is now Searsport ; Cochran, on No. 42; Chambers, on No. 46. The two last lots were afterwards purchased by Judge Read. Thomas Steele occupied No. 21, which his father drew ; James and Nathaniel Patterson, No. 32, above the present east bridge.
Davidson did not pass the first winter here. Morrison and Steele were accidentally drowned in December, 1770. This left at the close of the year the following settlers : on the western side, Cochran, Chambers, and Miller; on the eastern, Reid, Mitchell, Barnet, the three Pattersons, and Mclaughlin : ten, in all.
1 Locke's Sketches.
117
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
Other persons arrived the next spring, but their number and names are not accurately known. John Brown worked here two seasons before bringing his family, who arrived June 25, 1773, in Captain Moody's sloop. He was engaged in clearing land, a labor which Davidson resumed on his return. Davidson sowed two bushels of winter rye, whichi produced over twenty-fold. The third year, his brother James made a visit to him; and, with the aid of a yoke of oxen, the two got out a house-frame, which they raised and partially covered that season. The next year, the cellar and a well were dug.
Early in the third year of the settlement, when a petition for incorporation was made, "the number of inhabitants amounted to only fifty, of every age and sex."1 Accessions must have taken place during that season ; for at the first town meeting, held Nov. 11, 1773, eleven persons were chosen to fill different municipal offices. Among them are not included Chambers, Davidson, Reid, Cochran, and Mclaughlin, who were first settlers. Probably many of the pioneers did not at first bring their families. Those of Benjamin Nesmith and probably of others arrived in June, 1773. Log huts, erected during the summer, awaited them.2 Samuel Houston came two years before, and lived at first in a cabin which his two eldest sons, who preceded him, had built.8 It stood about forty rods from the shore, in front of what was afterwards the house of Joseph Houston. In December, 1774, Davidson brought his young wife to the settlement. Their farm stock consisted of two cows, a yoke of oxen, and seven sheep. "Our house not being finished," says his narrative, " we were obliged to move into the log camp ; but, although the weather was cold, I persevered in making the house fit to live in, and built a chimney and oven of stone, there being no bricks in that vicinity. In the course of the winter, we moved into the house, and found the stone oven to do very well." Hay for the cattle was cut and stacked during the summer on the meadows above Goose River, and in the winter hauled for use. Miller and his sous were accustomed to bring hay from Belmont on a hand-sled, when the snow became sufficiently crusted to bear their weight. On one occasion, Miller set fire to a meadow of decaying grass. He was surrounded by the flames,
1 Mr. White says "twenty-five families," but I prefer to follow the exact language of a petition signed by nearly all the inhabitants in 1784.
2 Mrs. Jane (Brown) Durham.
8 Locke's note-book.
118
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
and only saved his life by reaching a brook, where he laid down flat in the water.1
The first settlers were, of course, strangers to the luxuries of living. For several years, they depended for the means of subsist- ence almost exclusively upon their crops, and upon fishing and hunting. The rich newly burnt land produced a plentiful supply of cereals and potatoes. Moose, deer, and even bears were abundant, and the river furnished salmon, shad, and alewives. Groceries could not be obtained nearer than truck-house at Fort Pownall. Barley-broth and samp, the latter composed of corn broken in a mortar, boiled, and eaten with milk, were favorite articles of food. All their clothing was home-made ; the wool being carded, spun, and woven by themselves. The first carding-machine used on the Penobscot was at Bucksport, after the Revolution. Several of the proprietors were practical weavers ; and linen, pre- pared from flax raised here, took the place of cotton cloth. They also made tow clothi, as it was called, which men and children wore during the summer. In winter, the usual dress was frocking, made of wool, blue and white striped. Boots were unknown. Their place was supplied by cowhide shoes, with knit leggings. Bear-skins frequently were used instead of blankets. All the cooking and warming were done by the aid of fire on the brick hearth, or in the brick oven. Pine knots or tallow candles furnished the light for long winter nights, and fire was kindled by flint and steel. The tinder-box was an important feature in every household. There were no carpets, sofas, or mattresses. Feather beds and pillows were luxuries regarded as heirlooms, the subject of bequest by will. Crockery, glass, and tin ware had not come into general use. A few pieces of china were reserved for particular occasions, but culinary and eating vessels were of iron, wood, and pewter. Pewter platters and bowls glistened in a row on the dresser of every kitchen or living-room. The houses had no paint, and several were without windows. John Robinson brought here a sash containing a few small diamond-shaped panes of glass : the whole was destroyed during the first year of his residence, by a vagrant hog in an attempt for shelter. Ile substi- tuted a thin sheepskin, through which a dim light found its way.
All the early inhabitants of Belfast were in comfortable pecuniary circumstances. Their lands were paid for, and they were therefore exempt from the demands of mortgagees or adverse claimants. 1 Locke's note-book.
119
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
Yet a glance at the inventories of the estates of some of the most prominent men shows how limited were their domestic conven- iences and manner of life.
Thomas Clark, who died after the town was reorganized, left real estate valued at $800. His personal effects consisted of one coat, appraised at thirty-six shillings ; one waistcoat and breeches, . four shillings ; one chest, at six shillings and eight pence ; one axe, at two shillings ; and an iron ladle, at six pence : the whole equal to twenty dollars of our currency. The household furniture of Nathaniel French, who owned at the time of his death four hundred and twenty-five acres of eligible land, valued at $1,120, comprised two chests of drawers, valued at $7.00; nine chairs, at $4.50; warming-pan, $1.00; two trammels, $1.00; shovel and tongs, $4.00; table, $1.00; linen wheel, $1.00; two wooden wheels, $2.00; three beds, $25.00; bedclothes, $16.66; pewter and earthen ware, $7.67 : in all, $73.83. His wearing apparel was appraised at $17.00. John Cochran (1st), who died in 1799, owned first division lots No. 49 and 50, besides timber lands at the Head of the Tide, the whole valued at $3,073. His furniture, valued at $79.83, appears to have been " one case drawers, desk, chest, two tables, three beds and bedding, twelve chairs, one loom, two spinning-wheels, two pots, and sundry small articles." Ben- jamin Nesmith, who was one of the largest tax-payers, by his will, dated July 6, 1799, bequeathed specifically to his wife " one feather bed, bedstead and bedding, also all the pewter and pots." To his daughter Mary, he bequeathed "one feather bed, bedstead and bedding, one square table, one tea-table, one good chair, one good chest, one iron pot, one dish-kettle, one tea-kettle, a fire- shovel and tongs, one good milch cow, two sheep, one case of knives and forks, and also the sum of fourteen dollars in cash, which is to be laid out to her to buy a silk gown and trimmings for the same."1 No inventory of the estate of any person who died here previous to 1800 enumerates a single carpet, mirror, clock, book, picture, or article of ornament or luxury, excepting the silk gown last mentioned. Notwithstanding this, the people were regarded as wealthy by their less fortunate neighbors on the Penobscot.2
As is fully stated in another chapter, a petition addressed by
1 Registry of Probate, Hancock County.
2 In one of the interior towns, a man was called "very rich " who could afford to have pork with his beans every day in the year.
120
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
ASVIAS
B
Pemififaquewakee River
Goofe River
12L
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
the proprietors to the General Court, dated May 16, 1774, repre- sented that the purchasers of the township entered into a bond with the grantors to make an immediate settlement, but that one half declined so doing, "because of said bond not being authenti- cated." The petition, which purports to have been drawn in Belfast, contains nineteen names, among them those of David Hemphill, William Nickels, and James Murray, who are not known as actual settlers. At this time, the Revolutionary troubles had commenced. Boston harbor was closed to trade, and the unsettled condition of the whole country did not invite attention to wild lands. During the following five years, the town received no permanent increase from abroad. A map of Belfast Bay, com- prised in a series of copper-plate charts of the coast and harbors of New England, and published by Act of Parliament, in 1776, by Joseph F. W. Des Barres, designates only fifteen houses here. Probably there were others, which were not visible from the water. On the foregoing page is a reduced copy of this map.1 It contains several inaccuracies. Goose River is only indicated by a rivulet, while its name is applied to Little River. The error in the etymology of Passagassawakeag is apparent.
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