USA > Maine > Somerset County > Skowhegan > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 13
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Canaan > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 13
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Bloomfield > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 13
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Starks > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 13
USA > Maine > Somerset County > Norridgewock > History of the old towns, Norridgewock and Canaan, comprising Norridgewock, Canaan, Starks, Skowhegan, and Bloomfield, from their early settlement to the year 1849; including a sketch of the Abnakis Indians > Part 13
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them to the Kennebec river, and would have gone to the settlements but for his wife, who was sick. He then wished them well, having previously drawn a map of their route on a piece of birch bark.
On leaving the Indian, Mr. Forbes gave him a part of his valuables, and expressed his great gratitude. He then followed the river, but found every conceivable obstacle in his path, and April 12, finding his provisions exhausted, he set forward, with his eldest son, hoping to find a settlement, and return with succor. He ac- cordingly erected a camp for his wife and four other children, and started, leaving them a small piece of tallow and a pound and a half of moose-meat ! The first and second days they travelled on the ice, as it would bear them, but unfortunately they mistook a carrying place, twelve miles across, and followed the bend of the river sixty miles. The third day they found the river tolerably clear of ice, and they built a raft, and got it under weigh about ten o'clock the fourth day. Of course they were constant- ly wet through by the many rips, over which they passed. About noon their raft struck a rock, and parted, leaving them only a single string of logs. At this time they lost their axe. At four o'clock, after drifting in great danger on the spring tide, they struck an eddy and reach- ed shore. After this they travelled by land un- til the 20th of April, when they heard the report of a gun ! They answered several times in vain, and supposing that they heard the fall of a tree, they abandoned themselves to despair. April 22, however, having built a small fire, they
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
were seen by Luke Sawyer and others, and con- ducted to the settlement at Seven Mile Brook. They had eaten the few ounces of moose- meat they took, and their moccasons, having nothing else to subsist on, and they were so ex- hausted, that they could scarcely stand alone.
On their arrival, Major Hale, Willam Hus- ton and Ebenezer Hilton started for his wife and children, and after being absent thirteen days they returned, unable to find them. It had now been twenty-four days since they left the wife and four children, with the pound and a half of moose-meat and a small piece of tal- low. But Mr. Forbes succeeded in prevailing upon James McDonald and Jonathan Ames to renew the search, he accompanying them. But finding him a hindrance rather than a help, the two sent him back and pursued their journey together. On the 2d of June, they reached the place where Mrs. Forbes and the children had been left, and to their great aston- ishment, they found the mother and one child alive! They had been forty-eight days without fire, and fifty with the before-mentioned meat and a little of the inside bark of the fir-tree. Thirty-eight days after Mr. Forbes left his fami- ly the little boy died, Katharine the next day, and Mary four days after. The poor woman herself was expecting to die each moment, and the other child, Peggy, had scarcely the breath of life. The three dead children were laid out side by side in the camp, for the mother had not strength to bury them. On the 3d of June, they placed the surviving child and the mother
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
on a bier, and at length reached Norridgewock, where the family settled, and dwelt some time. They occupied a house formerly standing be- tween the houses of T. C. Jones, Esq. and Alfred Stackpole. A child was born soon after their arrival.
The dangers and hardships of the family, in travelling so far, under such circumstances, cannot now be fully appreciated. The early pioneers of this now beautiful country deserve the endless gratitude of this and all succeeding generations.
The families residing in Norridgewock at the time of its incorporation, may be learned from the following list of the first payers of taxes. Those not mentioned in the Winslow tax list came between 1780 and 1788.
Asa Longley, Charles Witherell, Joseph Tar- bell, Josiah Nutting, Amos Adams, Edmund Parker, Asa Parker, Luke Withee, Thomas Heald, Alpheus Parlin, Nathaniel Withee, Jon- athan Spaulding, Ephraim Linsey, William Varnum, John Longley, Samuel Cook, Levi Sawyer, John Lamson, Zebulon Gilman, James Laplain, James Adams, Amos Adams, Jr., Sol- omon Squier, Unite Keith, Sylvanus Sawyer, Jr., Samuel Richards, James Smith, Phineas McIntyre, John Ware, Luther Pierce, Calvin Pierce, Uzziel Withee, Abraham Clarke, Dan- iel Steward, Benjamin Moore, Col. John Moor, Jonas Parlin, Goff Moor, Robert Richards, Eleazar Spaulding, Lieut. Eleazar Spaulding, Seth Spaulding, widow Jane Laughton, John Laughton, William Spaulding, Jr., Josiah 18*
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
Spaulding, Levi Proctor, William Spaulding, Josiah Spaulding, Jr., John Clark, Oliver Wood, Silas Wood, William Weston, David Lancaster, Oliver Heywood, Samuel Squier, John Squier, Peter Farnsworth, Isaac Kidder, Dr. Zebulon Gilman, widow Elisabeth Heald, Josiah Heald, Thomas Whitcomb, Simon Pierce, David Pierce, Benjamin Thomson, Charles Whitcomb, Moriah Gould, Davenport, John Brown, Ephraim Brown, John Cook, widow Ann Cook, Moses Bickford, Sylvanus Sawyer, George Brown, Moses Martin, Maj. Zephaniah Keith, Levi Samson, John Parlin, Nathan Parlin, Benjamin Hinds, John Heald, Ezekiel Emerson, William Sylvester, Ephraim Ward, Obadiah Witherell, Zachariah Longley. If there were any others in 1788, their names do not appear on the tax list.
The Town of Norridgewock, County of Somerset, State of Maine,* lies on both sides of the Kennebec river, in north latitude 44 deg., 40 min. It is the shire town, and was the fifty-eighth incorporated in the State. It lies 28 miles N. from Augusta, 90 miles N. N. E. from Portland, 55 miles W. from Bangor, and 60 miles S. S. W. from Moosehead lake, and is bounded north by Madison and Farmington, east by Skowhegan and Bloomfield, south by Smithfield and Mercer, and west by Starks and Mercer.
The general aspect of the town is uneven. Along the banks of the river the intervales are
* Originally Mavooshen.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
broad, and the soil in many places is very level, producing some of the most beautiful farms in the world ; but the surface is generally broken into small vales, and numerous fruitful hills, which give the town almost every variety of scenery. The soil is a sandy loam, resting on limestone, and is very productive.
" Old Norridgewock was a most pleasant site, opposite the mouth of Sandy river, - the general and almost sole resorting place of the tribe, immediately after their numbers or ranks were thinned ; and a spot consecrated to them by every sacred and endearing recollection." ( Williamson, Hist. Maine, vol. i., p. 467.) The name originated from the appearance of the water in the Kennebec, at this place. There are no cataracts, but the water from Norridge- wock falls to Skowhegan is a succession of small rapids and intervals of smooth water. Hence the name : Norridge [falls] wock [smooth
water]. The Indians called the entire region, from the head of Moose river to Madison falls, Arantsook, or, as they more correctly pro- nounced it, Dalantsou, meaning Great Camp-
ing Ground .* From the falls at Madison to Skowhegan falls, including most of the terri- tory treated of in this history, they used an Indian term, which the French pronounced Nanrantsouak, and the English, Norridgewock. An intervale was called Natuah.
There is another way of accounting for the name of the town. It is said that in the old
* Governor of Penobscot, via Rev. O. H. Johnson.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
French War, the Indians took an English pris- oner by the name of Norridge, who was sick. They carried him up the Kennebec until they arrived at our town, when they placed him on his feet, angrily exclaiming, -" NORRIDGE- walk!" - a name which the territory has since been known by. This name, however, desig- nated the region on its first discovery by the English, long before the French War. Tradi- tion cannot always be relied on.
Granite is found in great abundance, and of such an excellent kind as would be the wealth of any town on the sea-board. As it is, it is of more benefit to the people than a gold mine.
There is an area of 24,620 acres of land, of which 880 are covered with water, 610 occu- pied by roads, 1,204 of waste land, 8,059 of unimproved land, 2,859 of wood land, 5,009 of pasturage, 3,000 of mowing, and 2,999 of til- lage. The value of the real estate is $187,787, and of all taxable property, $300,000. There are 400 polls, 280 dwelling houses, 365 barns, 18 stores, shops, &c., and 140 other buildings. The town is six miles and two hundred rods long from north to south, and six miles one hundred rods broad from east to west, being very nearly square. The river enters the town at its north-west corner, and passing south-east five miles, to about the centre of the town, makes a sharp bend just below the villages, and passes out of the town in a north-easterly direction. It is from twenty-five to forty rods in width.
There is some excellent limestone in the
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
town, on the estate of J. S. Abbott, Esq., and in other portions. According to a survey of the State,* the limestone on the estate of S. Sylvester presents the following analysis : - carbonate of lime, 88.2 ; carbonate of iron, 1.2; insoluble mica and silex, 10.6, - giving 49.6 per cent. of pure lime. It is of a very excel- lent quality, and contains veins of pure calca- reous spar, which passes through the kiln without melting, and issues pure lime. It will readily slake in water, and gains 40 per cent. It bears as much sand as any in use. The low price of wood, and other conveniences, urge upon our citizens the propriety of using it for all proper purposes. As most of the soil of the town is deficient in lime, it ought to be used for dressing. On the land of J. S. Abbot, Esq. lime is found, presenting the following anal- ysis : - 51.2 carbonate of lime ; 48.4 insoluble matter ; . 4 oxide of iron ; 28.7 pure lime. It is weak, and slags at high red heat.
The soil is excellent, for the most part. Dr. Jackson published the products of the soil on the farm of Obadiah Witherell. It yielded 15 bushels of wheat, 200 bushels of potatoes, or 40 bushels of corn, per acre. It is a loose yel- low loam, surrounded by slaty limestone, mica slate, lime and gypsum. He also examined the plain of Dr. Bates, now owned by Charles Bates, Esq. It is a yellow loam, resting on sand, then gravel, then quicksand and clay. It yielded 37} bushels of oats and pease to the acre. The analysis of the uncultivated land
* Jackson's Survey.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
of Mr. Bates is as follows : - pebbles and sticks, 50 ; roots of grass and sand, 350 ; fine powder, 600. The fine powder, on being submitted to a chemical test, yielded water, 4.8 ; vegetable matter, 10.2 ; oxide of iron, 6.8 ; insoluble mat- ter, 77.1; carbonate of lime, 0.9; loss, .2.
These regions were once the favorite resorts of the moose, bears, deer, and all other animals that usually haunt these latitudes. They are yet occasionally seen. As lately as May, 1848, John W. Sawtelle and S. M. Handy, Esqrs. saw two moose cross the river, and pass near the dwelling of the former and disappear over the rising ground near Mr. Works' house.
The first records in the Town Books read as follows :
"Lincoln ss. To Lieu. Obadiah Witherell of Norridgewock in said County, Greeting.
" In the name of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts you are required fourthwith to Notify and warn all the Free men Inhabitants of said Town of Norridgewalk to meet at the Dwelling house of Mr. John Clark's in sd Town on Wednesday the Twentieth day of August next, at one o'Clock afternoon, then and there to choose Town Clerk, Selectmen, and such other Town officers, as the Several Towns within this Commonwealth are Impowered and Directed by Law to choose, on the month of March or April annually, and also to Transact such other business as shall there be thought necessary and Important. Hereof fail not &c.
DANIEL CONY Justis Peas."*
* Town Records.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
Pursuant to the above warrant the first meet- ing was held, and the following gentlemen served as the first legal officers of the Town of Norridgewock : - Dr. Daniel Cony, Moderator ; John Clark, Town Clerk; John Clark, Major Zephaniah Keith, Moriah Gould, Selectmen ; John Heald, Constable.
" Mr. John Heald was in the next place chosen Town Treasury."
Lieut. Obadiah Witherell, Samuel Parker, Lieutenant Eleazar Spaulding, Ephraim Brown, and Peter Farnsworth, Surveyors.
Benjamin Hinds, Simon Pierce, and Josiah Spaulding, Tythingmen.
Sylvanus Sawyer, " moos and Dear Reaf."
Benjamin Thompson, " Hogg Reaf."
The Collectorship having been set up at vendue, it was bid off by Charles Witherell, at 42 per cent.
It was voted that the Selectmen should " sarve " as assessors. " Voted that men's labor be 4s. per day, and ox work 2s. 6d. per day."*
A petition was forwarded to the General Court, praying that the taxes assessed upon the town for the few years previous to its incor- poration, should be abated .;
In a warrant calling a meeting on the Tenth of September of the same year, the people are called upon to decide whether they will choose " a committee to Lay out a highway Through the Town on the Est side of Kennebeck River, where it may be Lest Predical and Most Bene- fical to the Publick." ¿
* Town Records. + Ibid. ţ Ib.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
Messrs. John Heald, Ephraim Brown, Josiah Spaulding, Nathan Parlin, and William Spauld- ing, were chosen a Committee to lay out a road " from Norridgewock Point to the lower end of the town, on the east side of the River." This road was ordered to be four rods wide .*
At an adjournment of the same meeting, holden October 6th, Messrs. Ephraim Brown, Josiah Heald, and Peter Farnsworth were chosen to lay out a road on the west side of the river, t and Messrs. Zachariah Longley, Obadiah Witherell, and Amos Adams to lay out a road in the back part of the town on the east side of the river.$
The first votes were cast December 18, 1788, when Hon. George Thatcher received thirty- five votes as a candidate for Congress, and Hon. Daniel Cony and William Graham, Esq., received thirty-five votes as candidates for Presidential Electors. The people at this time seem to have been like a jug handle, all on one side.§
It seems that in the year 1789, the town employed certain men to transact business in Boston, for it is recorded, April 6, 1789, “ voted to draw 25 bushels of Rye out of the Town Treasurer to pay for the Cow that Major Zephh Keith had for his Son's services at Boston." Il
Captain Samuel Weston was employed to describe the boundaries of the Town, and he made his report March 31, 1789. He thus describes them: "Beginning at the head of * Town Records. ¡ Ibid. Į Ib. § Ib. || Ib.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
Scowhegan falls, so called, at a black Oak tree standing on the bank of Kennebec river, being a boundary between Canaan and Nor- ridgwalk, thence running north one mile & one hundred Ninety six poles, to an Hemlock tree marked I. M. 196. R. thence turning and running West, numbering and marking the respective miles to Norridgwalk Point, striking said Point seventy Eight rods north of line, run due East from the South East corner of Lot no. 1. formerly in Norridgwalk, but now in the Possession of Mr. Oliver Willson, being seven miles and two hundred and forty eight poles to the bank of Kennebec river, on the Easterly side thereof, thence turning and running across a small part of said Norridgewock point, thence across the river, numbering and marking the miles to the Southwest corner of said town, being six miles, and two hundred and two poles to a red oak tree marked on the north side 6. M. 202 R., and on the East Side 6. M. 113. R. thence returning to South East Corner of Norridgewock, and South West Corner of Canaan, to a small Hemlock tree marked on the East side 4. M. 208. P., thence running west, Numbering and marking the miles to the South West corner of said town at the red oak tree aforementioned, being Six miles, & one hun- dred & thirteen Rods." *
The road from Skowhegan falls was survey- ed and run in the year 1789. It commenced four rods from the bank at the head of Skow-
* Town Records.
19
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
hegan falls, and terminated at Mr. John Clark's house .*
It was voted, April 20, " to have the training field before Mr. Clarke's Dore, up and down the river."+
In those primitive times, when fences were rare and sheep were nimble, it was found nec- essary to record the marks by which sheep might be known and recognized. Accordingly we are certified that William Weston's sheep are marked with a swallow-tail cut out of the' left ear ; David Lancaster's, with a swallow-tail on the right ear, and a halfpenny under the same ; William Spaulding's with a hole punch- ed in both ears; Moriah Gould's with the left ear half cropped; John Healds with a crop of the left ear; Obadiah Witherell's with a hole in the left ear ; Lovell Fairbrother's with a crop and notch on the right ear.#
About this time Mr. John Ware procured a beaver of an Indian, which he domesticated and kept in his store. It was his custom to let him out at nightfall, and he would follow his instincts in the neighboring Kennebec, and re- turn at dawn of day to his home. One night the beaver was kept in the store, and a violent south-west rain-storm came up, and drove the rain violently under the street door. Mr. Ware heard a noise all night beneath him, but he lit- tle suspected the cause. On going down in the morning, he found that his favorite beav- er, fearing a flood, had prepared according to
* Town Records. 1 Ib. # Ib.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
his nature to resist it, by sawing up the rounds of chairs and whatever else came in his way, to manufacture a dam. The absence of mud, however, rendered it somewhat leaky, - but it was in the way of the flood.
The barn of Wm. Sylvester was used as the first pound, in the year 1791. In the year fol- lowing the town voted not to pay Josiah Spaul- ding, for " the bridges."
In the year 1792, when the question arose whether the District of Maine would become an independent State, the vote in Norridge- wock stood, yeas 32, nays 2 .*
John Malloy, Samuel Howard and others, having petitioned for a bridge over the Kenne- bec river, at the "Hook," it was declared by the town that a bridge in that place would be very prejudicial to navigation, but that one might be erected at F. Weston's, which would not be " detrimental to vessels, &c.," as the lat- ter place was the " head of navigation.t
September 3, 1795, £17 were raised to pur- chase a stock of ammunition for the use of the town. In the year 1797 it was voted to "give 12 cents for each crow's head that is killed." In the same year, when the people were asked if they were favorable to a separation from Massachusetts, there were 54 for and 6 against. There were at that time 67 federalists, and one democrat.
In the year 1801, a petition having been pre- sented for the alteration of the road between Silas Wood's and Benjamin Farnham's, it was * Town Record. + Ib. # Ib.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
voted to comply with the request, provided " the neighbors who will be most accommodat- ed will give something handsome Extraordi- nary, &c."*
January 11, 1806, the town remonstrated against a bridge at Swan Island, and sent a memorial to General Court .;
April 6, 1807, the people of Norridgewock gave 3 votes for and 94 against making a sepa- ration between Maine and Massachusetts.
September 14th, 1808, the town voted to petition the President of the United States to suspend the operation of the Embargo laws. In the year following, William Jones, Calvin Selden, John Harlow, John Ware, and Richard Sawtelle, were chosen as a committee to cor- respond with other towns respecting the times, - the " present critical situation of our national and public affairs," and to propose a plan by which the people could relieve themselves from the threatened destruction of public liberty.#
In the year 1809, Mr. Ezekiel Emerson of Norridgewock was hunting in the neighbor- hood of the lake, when he was taken violently sick. He found a camp belonging to a friend occupied by a lad ; the father had gone in pur- suit of game. He told the boy of his sickness, and asked him not to be alarmed if he died. In a few hours he breathed his last, and was brought home to his friends. He was a son of Rev. Mr. Emerson of Woolwich.
The question of a separation between the State of Massachusetts and the District of Maine arose again in 1816, and there were * Town Records. + Ibid. ± Ib.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
thirty-three for, and fifty-one against the separa- tion. A Convention was holden in Brunswick, on the last Monday of September in the same year, to discuss the expediency of erecting the Province of Maine into a Sovereign State, and William Allen, Jr., Esq., was elected as a dele- gate from Norridgewock. The town declared by a vote of sixty-five to sixty-four that Maine should not become a State .*
May 15th, 1819, it was voted that "the County of Somerset have liberty to erect a court-house on such part of the common belonging to the town, as shall be designated for the purpose, so far as the town have a right thereto. The site was selected and a deed from the town was given. The same year the town forwarded an earnest petition to the General Court, praying that the district of Maine might become a State immediately. The vote stood 160 yeas, and 33 nays. William Allen, Esq., was chosen a delegate to Portland, to form a Constitution for the State of Maine.i
The Constitution was drafted, and when it was presented to the people for their ratifica- tion, there were sixty-six votes cast in Norridge- wock, all of which were for the Constitution. #
In 1820, the town protested against being classed with any other town in electing a representative. In the year following, the town passed a series of resolutions, protesting against the appointment of Warren Preston as Judge of Probate.
September 10, 1821, the town unanimously
* Town Records.
19* + Ibid. į Ib.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
voted against erecting the towns of Farmington, Strong, Avon, Phillips, Kingfield, Freeman, New Portland, New Vineyard, Industry, and other towns and plantations into a new county. At the same meeting the town remonstrated against the annexation of East Pond Settle- ment to Norridgewock .*
In the year 1829, the first public action in relation to the subject of Temperance was had, when the town voted by 87 to 79 not to grant licenses to Retailers of Ardent Spirits, to allow alcoholic liquors to be drunk at their stores. The same question was resumed in the Spring of the following year, and decided as before, but in September, the question was decided in favor of granting licenses.
A protest was unanimously passed this year against being classed with any other town in electing a representative to the General Court.
The great Freshet of 1832, was the most remarkable that has ever occurred on the Ken- The waters nebec since the memory of man. were highest at midnight of May 21st. The roads and dwellings were overflowed in many places for miles. In Norridgewock, the dwell- ing of Dr. Amos Townsend, now occupied by Charles Norton, was on an island, accessible only by a boat. At the residence of Thomas C. Jones, Esq., the water came in, and flowed up to Turner's tavern, which had two feet of water in the cellar. Twenty inches higher, and the water would have flowed in by the north school-house, and met that which backed up from below the village, and in the opinion
* Town Records.
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HISTORY OF NORRIDGEWOCK.
of many, the wash would have taken away the entire village on the north side of the river. The greatest consternation prevailed ; stores and houses were emptied of their contents, and artificial means were employed to prevent the buildings from being undermined, when the waters began to abate, and the danger passed. Mills were destroyed at Skowhegan, and many thousands of dollars' worth of prop- erty were overwhelmed on the Kennebec and other streams.
In January, 1839, a large wolf committed many depredations in our neighborhood, and the people turned out en masse to destroy him. He was of the Canadian species, and the largest ever seen in this vicinity. After chasing him two hundred miles in seven days, he effected his escape.
On petition of James Mills, in 1843, it was voted to grant no licenses for the sale of ardent spirits, except for medicinal and mechanical purposes ; and that each retailer should keep a book containing a record of all sales, with the name of the purchaser, &c., which record should be open for public inspection. In the following year, the selectmen were warned to be on their guard, and prosecute all violations of the License law .*
February 3d, 1845, on motion of Hon. Drum- mond Farnsworth, -John Robbins was ap- pointed agent to ferret out and prosecute all violations of the License law. It was voted that one person on each side of the river * Town Records.
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