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 9
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 9
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 9
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 9
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 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
About the year 1783, Isaac Smith and Sam- uel Walton went after a load of moose-beef they had captured, and took their hand-sleds to transport it home. They returned with their loads as far as the mouth of the Wesserrunsett, when Walton declared that he should haul his load far enough to get it out of the way of Myrick's dogs, when he should leave it. Smith endeavored in vain to persuade him to go home with him. He left his companion, and soon after his sled, and went up as far as to cross the brook in Skowhegan village, within a hundred rods of home; but fatigued with travel and benumbed with cold, he wandered from his path, and was found the next day, frozen to death. He had several times taken off his snow-shoes. He left a wife, who was a daughter of Colonel John Moore, and one child.
The plantation of Canaan kept a sort of rec- ord previous to its incorporation, commencing as early as 1783. There are some events worthy of note. The warrants were dated " Howard's Town or Canaan," and the meet- ings were held in Peter Heywood's house. The
12*
138
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
first regularly elected officers of the plantation were chosen March 15, 1784, and were John White, Moderator ; Samuel Weston, Clerk ; Solomon Clark, William Steward, Robert Hood, Assessors ; Seth Wyman,* Peter Hey- wood, Collectors ; Joseph Weston, Treasurer ; Phineas Steward, Daniel Smith, "to notify the inhabitants who live on the river, to work on
* Seth Wyman was a son of Seth, who was first lieutenant in Lovewell's fight. He shot the first Indian in that engagement.
" Seth Wyman who in Woburn lived, A marksman he of courage true ; Shot the first Indian whom they saw, - Sheer thro' his heart the bullet flew.
" The savage had been seeking game, Two guns and eke a knife he bore, And two black ducks were in his hand ; He shrieked and fell to rise no more.
" Good heavens ! they dance the powow dance, What horrid yells the forest fill ; The grim bear crouches in his den ; The eagle seeks the distant hill.
" ' What means this dance, this powow dance ?' Stern Wyman said ; with wondrous art, He crept full near, his rifle aimed, And shot the leader through the heart."
A song composed the year of the fight thus speaks of Wyman. After Lovewell fell, and the whites retreated, they
" Wyman captain made, Who shot the old chief Paugus, which did the foe defeat, Then set his men in order, and brought off the retreat, And braving many dangers, and hardships on the way, They safe arrived at Dunstable, the thirteenth day of May."
The General Court presented Wyman with a silver-hilted sword, and a captain's commission, for his heroic conduct. The military spirit seems to have descended to the present gener- ations. It should be observed, that Chamberlin has generally had the credit of shooting Paugus. Chamberlin's descendants settled in Canaan and Starks.
139
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
the highway division at Mr. Isaac Smith's ;" and William Steward, " to notify those who live on the middle road; " and Samuel Emery, " those who live on the third range of lotts :" Solomon Clark, Solomon Steward, Surveyors of Lum- ber.
September 1, 1784, it was voted not to peti- tion the General Court for incorporation. This vote, however, was reversed the next month, and in November, a petition for incorporation was drawn up, and the boundaries are thus recorded : " Beginning on the river, the south line of F 2, and following said line until a N. N. E. course shall strike the upper corner of this Plantation, and then following Down the River to Scowhegan Falls, thence to Norridge- walk north line, thence east on sd. line untill a South Course strike the South line H. 1, five miles from the River, and then following sd. line to the River, and thence to the first-men- tioned Bounds." Dr. Whitaker* was appointed agent to transact any proper business con- nected with the petition. The Doctor seems to have transacted most of the public business of the plantation for several years.
June 1, 1786, Peter Heywood was chosen a delegate to Portland, to attend the convention held June 3, 1787, to consider the question of " separation." He was unable to attend, and it was voted in August to send the opinion of the plantation in writing. December 15, 1786, however, Dr. Whitaker was chosen delegate,
* See " Ecclesiastical."
140
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
and Samuel Weston substitute. Gideon Park- man contributed $7 towards his expenses, and William Steward, Joshua Goodridge, Isaac Smith, John Emery, John Weston, contributed one half bushel of rye each; Perley Rogers one fourth bushel of rye; John White, Solo- mon Steward, Isaac Russell, one bushel of rye ; Adam Carson, Phineas Steward, Seth Wyman, Abraham Steward, William Carson, Joseph Emery, one half bushel of corn ; Peter Hey- wood, junr., one bushel of corn ; Ephraim Car- son, Phineas Steward, junr., one fourth bushel of corn; Samuel Weston three fourths bushel of corn. Peter Heywood's horse was procured for the journey of the Doctor, and it was paid for thus: Samuel Steward gave a bushel of rye, Robert and Samuel Emery and William Stew- ard gave each one day's work.
The first recorded election was held April 2, 1787, and forty-four votes were given for John Hancock for Governor, and forty-one for Sam- uel Thompson for County senator.
When Canaan was about being incorporated, quite a number of people, namely, nineteen settlers on the west side of the river, within its alleged limits, were desirous of belonging to Norridgewock. This the people of Canaan objected to, and as their tithes were to benefit Dr. Whittaker, he drew up, in 1786, " A Brief Narrative of the State of Canaan, showing the necessity of Incorporation, and why the town should be bounded agreeable to our Petition." He gives many shrewd reasons why the seceders should not be allowed to join Nor-
141
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
ridgewock, and it must be confessed that some of them have more of the shrewdness of the lawyer, than of the honesty of the clergyman. He describes the bounds of Canaan and Nor- ridgewock thus: * " About fifteen years ago, Peter Heywood, Esq., and Mr. Joseph Weston applied to the Plymouth Company, who agreed to give away to settlers two small tracts of land ; one on the east side of the Kennebec, in the bend of the river above Souhegan falls, to which they added one tear of lots on the west side s'd river, from the upper end of said tract, down to the upper end of the other tract, given to settlers as afores'd. This is called Norrigwalk. The other tract lies wholly on the west side, in another bend of the river, below Norrigwalk, as may be seen by the plan, and contains about 10,000 acres. On the opposite side of the river, the proprietors gave to settlers two lots, and reserved two for themselves, from the mouth of Wesserunset to the lower end of the said tract. These lots lie only on the front next the river, and these, together with the tract on the west side opposite, is called Canaan."
He argues that the nineteen joined in settling a minister over the people of Norridgewock and Canaan, in 1777, and again, in 1784,t that all public affairs in Canaan plantation had been shared by them, "even to the last plantation meeting. He contends in their behalf, that Norridgewock had no minister, and that if the nineteen settlers are allowed to go away, as
* " Brief Statement," p. 1, owned by Eusebius Weston, Esq. + Messrs. Emerson and Whittaker.
142
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
they are more than one third of the settlers, " the residue will be utterly unable to fulfil their contract with their minister, and they must break up.
" This evil will not be removed by giving us a larger extent below, but rather increased ; for what shall we have in lieu of nineteen settlers' lots, as well settled and improved as the rest of the plantation in general ? Why, the compensation must be a tract of poor land down the river, five or six miles from our meeting-house, with few settlers, and which lies in the hands of the Plymouth Company, and is not likely to be settled, if it were settled, for many years. In a word, should this plan take place, and the part we hear that Norrigwalk has petitioned for be set off to them, the matter is up with Canaan as a people. Besides, would it not be quite without a precedent, should the General Court cut Canaan to pieces, to gratify Norrigwalk, which lying above, may extend their bounds for miles up the river above their ancient bounds, without injuring any settlers, or discommoding any town or plantation ? Why should Norrigwalk leave out at the upper end of their former bounds nine settlers, and crowd down on Canaan, to take in eighteen or nineteen, unless it be with a view to brake up this people, and root out the Gospel from among us.
" The first adventurers here, believing that God is the Governor of the World, and that it is the indispensable duty of all men to worship Him, and attend on the ordinances and institu-
143
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
tions of our common Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, according to the Holy Scriptures, kept in view, in their settling in this wilderness, the design of settling a pious orthodox minister to preach the Gospel, and minister the ordinances of Christ among them as soon as it should be in their power. The undertakers were empowered to allow none to take up any of said land, but such as they should judge would be friendly and forward to settle and support the Gospel among them, and accordingly such care has been taken that at this day there is not a single sectary among us." He then says, " How hard it must be for us to be driven back again, to be deprived of the Gospel ? How affecting and afflicting to be cast back again into a state tending fast to heathenism, which we had so long lamented, and from which we have so lately emerged, and be left like the other towns and plantations for sixty miles around us, one only excepted, * without any preaching or public instruction !" He goes on to say that the famous nineteen petitioned with Canaan, and against Norridgewock, and that their course is unfair and dishonorable. " Surely such dark and sly designs ought not to meet the approbation of the G. Court." After enumerating other reasons, the petitioners add through their reverend organ : " All these evils we could the more easily submit to, if any great public good could arise therefrom, either to the State or to Norrigwalk. But we can conceive of no material advantage that can * Hallowell.
144
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
accrue to them by breaking up this town, nay, they themselves, being asked can tell of none. They have no minister, nor are ever likely to have one, as they for nearly five years past have never hired preaching, nor do they even desire to have it, though they might have frequent lectures without pay.
" Surely it wears no good face to endeavor to disable the only place in these parts, for sixty miles around, Hallowell only excepted, who has a minister, while they neither have, nor are taking one step toward procuring one.
" Should the General Court countenance such conduct, and give to Norrigwalk nineteen out of fifty-four settlers' lots, (which are all yt are settled on both sides the river,) we shall be forced to conclude that they have lost all due care for the instruction and eternal happiness of their subjects. May God preserve us from the necessity of forming such a shocking, dis- honoring idea of a Christian nation." The petition is artfully drawn up, and certainly rubs hard on the good people of ancient Nor- ridgewock.
The people of Norridgewock at this time proposed to those of Canaan that both towns should be incorporated together, but the prop- osition was refused. Had it been complied with, it would have made an extensive town. The reason given was, that it would " introduce the greatest confusion and contention, and ruin both places."
The town of CANAAN, Somerset County, State of Maine, the fifty-seventh town incor-
145
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
porated in the State, lies east of the Kennebec river, forty miles north of Augusta, one hundred and three north north-east of Portland, and forty-two miles west of Bangor, and is bounded north by Skowhegan, east by Pittsfield, south by Clinton, and west by Skowhegan. It is situated in 44 deg. 40 min. north latitude. It contains an area of 15,891 acres, of which there are 500 acres covered with water; 266 occu- pied by roads; 2035 of waste land; 6300 of unimproved land; 2400 of wood land; 1555 of pasturage; 73 of natural meadow; 1762 of English mowing; and 1000 of tillage. The productions are generally the same as those in Norridgewock and vicinity, and the general aspect of the town is quite rough, though it presents many level plains and fertile vales. The soil is mainly a clayey loam .* The value of the real estate is $193,807, and of all taxed property is $214,133. There are 253 polls, 190 dwelling-houses, 175 barns, 15 stores, shops, &c., and 20 other buildings.
The town of Canaan was incorporated June 18, 1788,f and the first town meeting was held August 21, 1788. The first officers were Daniel Cony, Esq., Moderator ; Samuel Wes- ton, Town Clerk; Samuel Weston, John Fow- ler, and Seth Wyman, Selectmen and Asses- sors ; Levi Powers, Constable; Joseph Weston,
* Dr. Whitaker, in arguing against the secession of certain settlers, in 1788, declared that there were about 10,000 acres of fair land, mostly on the west side, in Bloomfield, and that the capacity of Old Canaan, (which makes now three rich towns,) was very small.
+ The Town Records were transcribed in 1796.
13
146
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
Town treasurer ; Samuel Emery, Tax-gatherer ; Lieut. Isaac Smith, Informer of deer and moose. Eli Weston's barn-yard was to be the pound.
In the year 1790, Samuel Weston was allowed "eighteen shillings for protracting and drawing" a plan of the old Plantation of Ca- naan.
The first burial ground was fenced in the year 1790.
May 2, 1791, unanimously voted to petition to be separated from Massachusetts. In the following year the same was tried, yeas 41, nays 0.
A pound was built in 1793. In 1795 it was voted to join the town of Winslow, in petition- ing for a division of Lincoln County. The same year there were ten votes for revising the constitution, and none against it. At the same meeting it was voted to protest against the erection of a bridge at the Hook, (Hallowell) and not to object to a bridge at Fort Western, (Augusta.)
In 1797, there were thirty persons in favor of a separation, and none against it. In 1807, the vote stood yeas, 30 ; nays, 80.
In the year 1808, it was voted to petition the President to remove the Embargo, and in the year following, a powerful protest was sent to the general government. It was unanimously voted to petition the General Court for a divi- sion of Kennebec County, in 1809.
In 1809, 22 were for, and 31 against a di- vision of the town.
147
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
Moose are yet occasionally found, but until 1790, they were so plenty as to be killed for the hide and tallow merely. An expert hunter, with a sharp knife, could shave the hair from the skin of a moose in fifteen minutes.
The list of the first tax-payers has been lost, and the reader who desires the names of the first inhabitants, can obtain a clew from these, the names that occur in the plantation records previous to the incorporation of Canaan, in 1788.
Peter Heywood, sen. and junr., Seth Wyman, John White, Samuel Weston, Solomon Clark, William Steward, Robert Hood, Joseph Wes- ton, Phineas Steward, Daniel Smith, Solomon Steward, John Fowler, Isaac Smith, Isaac Russell, John Emery, Abraham Ireland, Perley Rogers, Joseph Cleveland, Hezekiah Lambert, Asa Wyman, John Pooler, William Weston, Solomon White, Oliver Trowbridge, Solomon Oakes, Edward Piper, Noah Clarke, Levi Pow- ers, Nath'l Whitaker, Joseph Savage, Samuel Steward, Joshua Goodridge, Bryce McLel- lan, Eli Weston, Ebenezer Richardson, Abra- ham Steward, Maximilian Jewett, Christopher Webb, David Lancaster, Samuel Whitman, James Turner, John Weston, Gideon Park- man, Adam Carson, Phineas Steward, jr. William Carson, Joseph Emery, Ephraim Car- son, Samuel Emery, Abiathar Kendall, Jona- than Robbins, Nathaniel Burrill, Samuel Var- num, John Oakes, Samuel Emery, Abraham Ireland, jr., William Steward, jr., Noah Clark, Amasa Steward.
148
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
There are sixty names in the above list. Dr. Whitaker, in his reasons for the incorpo- ration of Canaan, says, "there are 54 settlers in the plantation." Several of the above were juniors, and it is probable that nearly, if not entirely all the male inhabitants of Canaan, in 1788, above eighteen years of age, are speci- fied. Those not mentioned in the Winslow tax list, came between 1780 and 1788.
The first Postmaster in Canaan was Samuel Weston, who was appointed in 1795. He was succeeded by Eli Weston, and in 1812, Gen- eral Joseph Locke was appointed.
An interesting episode is made by the " LAMBERT FRAUD," so called, one of the most surprising delusions that ever took possession of a community.
In the vicinity of the year 1800, Daniel Lambert and his son Moses lived in that part of Canaan now called Bloomfield. They were men who were not generally regarded as of ordinary powers of mind, but the sequel will show that they circumvented the most acute of their neighbors. The father and son were very poor and needy, but suddenly their fortunes began to mend. Daniel Lambert, the father, gave out, that by aid of witch-hazel rods he had discovered untold wealth. To substantiate his declaration, he produced a battered brass candle- stick, brightly polished, which he declared he dug from the earth. He obtained permission to dig on the farms of his neighbors, but at length his ambition and plans extended, and he excavated in other towns. Finally, he wrought
149
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
as far north as Anson, and as far south as the mouth of the Kennebec river. He even went to the State of Rhode Island, and his pits, (which many a poor man's all fell into,) were scattered along the shores of Maine and Massa- chusetts. At last he declared that he had dis- covered the long lost treasures buried by Robert Kidd. The proofs he adduced were battered candlesticks and polished brass, which he liberally showed, and the sight seemed to inoc- ulate the people with insanity. He declared that he had sent the gold to Philadelphia to be coined, and that when it returned he should freely scatter it among the people of this vicinity, and that they should all be rich. Hundreds of infatuated men flocked to Lam- bert, and urged him to accept their cattle, horses, and other effects, which he readily did, and converted them immediately into cash. Thus he seized the property of hundreds of families, and became apparently very wealthy. So extravagant and lavish did he become, that he was often known to light his pipe with valuable bank notes.
He announced that the first arrival of the coined gold might be expected September 1st, and handbills were issued, calling a meeting at Norridgewock on that day. Many of the gold- finder's victims assembled, but Daniel Lambert, as may be supposed, had fled. The bubble burst, and with it the hopes of the deluded. But those who assembled, determined not to be balked, procured a suit of clothes of Mr. John Ware, and hung their deceiver in effigy, and 13*
150
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
then cut off his head. Probably Lambert was well satisfied with his punishment. The son, however, did not fare as well. He was arrested and imprisoned. The father afterward returned and settled a few miles above Bangor, on the Penobscot. " LAMBERT'S DAY," September 1st, was observed for several years, with a good- deal of mirth.
The excitement, so universal and intense, can hardly be realized at the present day. It is still remembered as one of the most remarkable events in the history of Somerset County.
The present flourishing and active village of Canaan was commenced in the year 1803, when Jeremiah Goodwin, Thomas Chase, and Nathan Taylor (who was drowned in 1804) moved there, and began to erect mills, and lay the foundation of the present enterprising village. In the year 1805, Joseph Barrett entered the town. At that time the region round about the village was an unsettled wilderness, and bears and other wild animals were very numerous. The sheepfold and corn- field were often subjected to their visitations, and obliged to surrender a portion to their savage visiters.
The most of the early settlers of modern Ca- naan were those who designed to engage in the lumber business, and who were very poor and much addicted to intemperance. In process of time, Canaan rather flowed with rum and molasses than with milk and honey, and it became a by-word and a synonyme for poverty and drunkenness. Probably but few towns in
151
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
the State had so large a proportion of paupers and drunkards. Hon. Joseph Barrett estimated from the town statistics, that the people drank up the amount of the entire valuation three times in thirty years.
A most remarkable change has been effected. Canaan is now occupied by a temperate, vir- tuous, and industrious people, and probably is equalled by but few towns in the State for the industrial and moral enterprise of the people. The soil is very fertile, and there is as large an average of wheat raised per acre as in most towns in Maine.
The strongest opposition to the Embargo pre- vailed in this vicinity, and the Town drew up and transmitted to the President a petition for its removal. The petition was a well written document, and a series of resolutions, equally well constructed, were recorded on the Town Books, and unanimously adopted by the people of Canaan.
" Resolved, - That, in the opinion of the inhabitants of this town, the end of establish- ing the present FEDERAL GOVERNMENT was the more effectual protection of the people of the several States in their various civil rights and interests ; that the Federal Constitution is to be considered as a compact between each and all the States, whereby the submission of the several States is binding so long and no longer than while the affairs of the Union are admin- istered in strict conformity to the rules and principles set forth in that important instru- ment; and that it is the undoubted right of the
1
152
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
people to assemble together to declare their sentiments, to make known their grievances, and to demand and insist upon redress.
" Resolved, - That we view with indigna- tion and horror the present dreadful situation in which our country has been involved by the Federal Government, - AN EMBARGO unprec- edented in its nature, and perpetual in its terms, imposed on the whole of our foreign com- merce by land, as well as by sea - the wasting business, interrupted, and very nigh destroyed, - all the channels of useful enterprise blocked up, - thousands of our citizens thrown out of employ and exposed to suffering and want - the produce of our farms deprived of a market, and left to perish on our hands -the usual sources of revenue dried up, and the Govern- ment reduced to the necessity of resorting to destructive loans and heavy taxes, upon our houses and lands - Vast and unusual quotas of Militia required from the States without assigning any reason - Formidable additions made and making to the standing army in a time of profound peace - Detachments of this army spread thro' our large towns - placed under the controul of underling officers in the revenue department, and employed without the consent of the civil magistrate, in enforcing at the point of the bayonet arbitrary and uncon- stitutional measures - Laws passed and pass- ing in Congress, of the most unprecedented and despotic kind, which break in upon the proceedings of the common Law courts, which tend to annihilate all State authority, and over-
153
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
turn the ancient foundations of Liberty - Our relations with foreign powers managed in a one-sided, uniform, and partial manner - The most flagitious outrages, insults, and breaches of treaty on the part of France smothered over and winked at, while the most trifling provoca- tions on the part of Great Britain are basely exaggerated and magnified into a cause of war - All steps towards an amicable adjustment of difficulties with the latter power either stu- diously avoided, or taken with such evident and barefaced insincerity and duplicity as wholly to fail of their purpose - Every insid- ious artifice put in practice to impel the people to war with England, and a consequent alliance with the French Emperor, with whom, alliance is death, and against whom eternal War, - as is demonstrable from history, -furnishes the only means of safety.
" Resolved, - That in this perilous crisis of our national affairs, the language of private remonstrance having failed, and the General Government being fatally bent on a system of measures which tend to destroy our country, there is but one peaceable remedy left, and that is, for the State legislature, the great bulwark of our liberty, to throw themselves between the people and their oppressors, - to raise their voice against such a career of despotism, and provide that the Commonwealth receive no detriment.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.