USA > Maine > Aroostook County > Houlton > History of the town of Houlton, Maine, from 1804 to 1883 > Part 4
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HISTORY OF HOULTON.
Pearce, Esq., of New Salem, who, for many years repre- sented that town in the Legislature of Mass., and was one of the most useful and influential citizens in that town, and was highly esteemed for his public services and private character, as a gentleman of strict integrity and moral worth. Those brothers, possessing a proprie- tary share in the half township, settled under favorable circumstances, and made valuable improvements.
Feb. 7, 1821, a society was organized by the name of Instructive Companies, the object of which was moral and literary improvement. The members were as fol- lows : Samuel Kendall, Jr., Romaine L. Putnam, Joshua G. Kendall, Edwin Townsend, Edmund Coan, Stern Putnam, Jacob Harward, and Joseph Kendall. They were constitutionally bound to meet every Thursday evening from September to March. During the summer they were to meet the last Thursday in each month. This might be considered as a small beginning, neverthe- less there was an apparent improvement in the several compositions of the members during the operation of the society ; but soon our President removed to Woodstock, where he rendered himself useful as a teacher, and this society lost its organization. The crowding cares and duties inseparably connected with our laborious situation soon proved that our life did not consist in the rhyme and measure of poetry. Falling trees, chopping the logs and piling them together, burning and clearing off the brands, was no mere fancy work for delicate hands and frilled bosoms ; still the farmer, perhaps, realizes as much satisfaction and enjoyment as the literary and pro- fessional classes of men whose cares and duties are usu- ally augmented by their increased responsibilities, if conscientious in the discharge of their obligations, while the husbandman engages in his vocation, preparing the prolific soil, in the opening spring sowing the variety of seed, planting fruit trees, cultivating the garden,
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uniting the esculent with the ornamental, looking for- ward, anticipating an ample remuneration for his labor ; daily witnessing the progress of vegetation, from the tender blade to the ear, then the full corn and ripe fruit ; and then comes the autumnal gathering.
" Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; How jocund did they drive their team afield,
How bowed the wood beneath their sturdy stroke.
Let not ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscurc ;
Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile, The short and simple annals of the poor."
The writer, conforming to dates, in chronological order, inust submit to many abrupt transitions, from the moral, sentimental and religious, to secular occurrences of business life.
In the summer, Ebenezer Warner built a mill-dam and saw-mill near his residence at the falls of the south branch of the creek, it being a valuable privilege, two miles above A. Putnam's mill, at the village.
In 1821, Mr. Timothy Frisbie, formerly from Frye- burg, Me., removed to Houlton from the Province of N. B., where he was, by death, bereaved of an affection- ate companion, leaving a husband and family of sons and daughters to mourn their irreparable loss. The fam- ily of Mr. Frisbie now constitute a portion of the most influential and enterprising inhabitants of Houlton and vicinity where they are settled.
In July Mr. Holman Cary, Thomas Shaw and Haskell Cary left New Salem for Houlton, to visit their friends and see the country.
In 1822, Deacon James Russell and family removed from Bloomfield to Houlton, where they resided a short time, then removed to Monticello, but soon after returned to Houlton, where they remained until the decease of Deacon Russell, whom we shall have occasion to mention more particularly hereafter.
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The inhabitants of Houlton, still soliciting missionary aid, the Rev. Mr. Harding replies in answer to their com- munication, as follows :
NEW SALEM, Feb. 16, 1822.
Your letter, dated Dec. 29, past, favored by Esquire Houlton, I have received, and read with much interest. I am very sensible, dear sir, of the unpleasant situation in which you are placed, in regard to Christian privi- leges and ordinances ; and have no doubt your situation will meet the sympathy of the Evangelical Missionary Society. Agreeably to the request of the inhabitants, expressed by you, as their agent, I will present your situation before the executive committee of that society. I do not know the exact state of the funds at the present time, nor whether they will be able to send a mis- sionary the present year. If they should, I will exert my influence to have one who shall not only have the. common qualifications of a missionary in a teacher of religion, but one who may be peculiarly qualified for your particular situation ; one who will seek for the pro- motion and prosperity of the people, in a temporal as, well as spiritual view. What you intimate in your letter about my visiting you, has been a subject of conversa- tion between Esquire Pearce, Col. Putnam and myself, before receiving your letter, and we had come to the conclusion to visit your plantation in company, when a road should be made passable from Bangor there. But, dear sir, you are sensible that such an agreement could not have been made without some preliminary conditions. These conditions were so numerous that I hardly dare promise myself the pleasure of such a visit. The prin- cipal conditions on my part were, the health of my fam- ily and the situation of the parish. Should health be restored in my family, or so far restored that duty would not demand my particular attention at home, and the circumstances of the parish be such as in the
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view of judicious members of the church and society would warrant an absence of three or four months, I shall fulfil my engagements with Esquire Pearce and Colonel Putnam, and with them visit you in the course of a year or two, or as soon as a road shall be passable from Bangor to Houlton Plantation.
I remain, as always, your constant friend and devoted servant in our common Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
ALPHEUS HARDING.
Dea. Samuel Kendall.
We presume our estimable friend did not then anticipate seeing the day when he could take a passage on the rail car from Bangor to Oldtown, thence up the river, nearly half the distance to Houlton, on board the steam- boat; or of a railroad so far in progress, on the same route; nor when the people of this county would be looking to the time not far distant, when the iron horse, with his shrill neigh, warning his approach, would come laden to exchange commodities for the products of Aroostook. We rejoice that Maine is not without her distinguished sons, who possess policy, forecast and acu- men, whose influence and talents are arrayed with the wisdom and experience of successful advocates upon the subject of this noble enterprise, and we hope, ere long, Maine will prove her efficiency, by engaging more fully in this contemplated gigantic work of philanthropy, which will open an avenue to north-eastern Maine for the encouragement and signal benefit of an increasing population, of a hardy, stalwart yeomanry, possessing in - dustry, enterprise and intelligence, who will develop the resources of this extensive domain, converting the forest to "fruitful fields," when the hills and valleys shall echo with the bleating of flocks and lowing of herds. Such a people may be denominated the bone and sinew of a nation-yea, constitute the safeguard and stability of a republic.
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We congratulate our British neighbors in the prospect, ere long, of the completion of the St. Andrews railroad, up to the latitude of Woodstock and Houlton, and in longitude nearly equi-distant between the two places.
In March, 1822, Moses White, Esq., and Jason Cum- mings, being apprised of the exorbitant prices of various articles of trade at Houlton and in the Province, left Bangor with a load of goods, which they conveyed with a horse-team upon the ice up the Penobscot and Matta- wamkeag rivers, from thence they hauled them on to- boggins, as the Indians call them, a sort of sled with one runner, made of birch-bark, a foot or eighteen inches wide, and about six feet long. Finding their fireworks damp, their only alternative was to camp without fire, which must have been rather a cool berth for them at that season, and though they removed the snow with a shovel, for a place to lie, yet they were without shelter, save the woods, with each a blanket in which to en- velop himself, they lay themselves down upon their bed of boughs, if not to the embrace of somnus and de- lectable dreams, at least with the forlorn prospect of suffering endurance till morning, which must have been admirably verified. After breakfasting upon their frozen fare and cold beverage, they traveled through to Houlton, where they sold their goods at advanced prices for fur, which was then an object of speculation.
There having been grants of townships in this new section of country, to several institutions, the attention of capitalists was attracted eastward, with a view of speculating in wild lands. But with some it proved an unfortunate enterprise. Nathaniel Ingersoll, Esq., of New Gloucester, having an interest in Williams College Grant to the amount of $6500, and in Westford Academy Grant of $3500, frequently visited Houlton, with a view ultimately, of an advantageous sale, which, at the time of his purchase, might have been considered, at least, a
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safe investment. But the tide of emigration. continued westward, and those lands remained in their primeval state, notwithstanding all the inducements which could reasonably be offered to settlers by proprietors at that time, consequently this venerable gentleman sacrificed $8,000 of $10,000 invested in those two grants.
Doctor Samuel Rice, after a residence of twelve years at Houlton, having been our physician, and improved from a forest state a valuable farm, with good buildings, removed to Woodstock, where his practice was greatly increased, but much to the inconvenience of the people of Houlton and vicinity. The absence of himself and family made a great void in our society. They were highly esteemed, and by his removal the inhabitants sustained the loss of a valuable physician, citizen and friend. Prior to his removal from New Salem, he was the most popular physician of that town, and during his residence at Houlton he had an extensive practice- receiving frequent calls from the Province, of from; ten to fifty miles distant, with which he complied at all seasons, however inclement the weather, or unfavorable the circumstances, and was conscientious in his charges.
During the summer Messrs. James and Peleg Lander, sons of Thomas Lander, of Fairfield, came to Houlton, where they became residents. .
In the winter, Messrs. Wadleigh, Ayer and Stinson came from Bangor with several loads of goods, hauled by horses harnessed one before the other, following the Penobscot, Mattawamkeag, and Baskahegan upon the ice, from thence making the shortest transit to Houlton, that being the depot for those forest merchants. Their goods being subject to high duties, the people from the Province came there for various articles.
At that time Houlton began to bear the appearance of a sort of miniature forest market. Those speculators increased their stock, as well they might, where goods
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HISTORY OF, HOULTON.
sold at such exorbitant prices. The reader must either suppose that money was very plenty, or of but little value, or that thick, cowhide boots were a scarce article, to command the California price of nine dollars a pair, which has been paid for those brought to Houlton. No wonder that young men of enterprise, engaged in the transportation of goods through the woods, as it was called, from Bangor to Houlton, even though they had to travel on the ice of those serpentine streams, driving their horses tandem upon a zigzag path for many miles in the woods to their place of destination, for their tav- ern bills for entertainment, at that time, from Bangor to Houlton, must have been rather small.
They, o'er the ice bound, fettered streams, Pursued their journey, long and cold ; While sparkling snow in sunlight gleamed, Their treasures in the forest sold.
". The long winter evenings were occupied by the youth in the social and improving study and practice of vocal music, who were instructed by Mr. Putnam Shaw, who also taught day school in the usual branches, in both of which he received a liberal patronage.
: In the spring of 1823, Mr. 'Holman Cary and family removed from New Salem to Houlton, and were greeted with a cordial welcome by their former acquaintances and friends, as an acquisition to our little circle, which had drawn on the old Bay State, principally for what they then were. In the autumn, James and Peleg Lander, having purchased the mill of Aaron Putnam which was built in 1810, removed it and erected a new saw mill upon the same site, which proved valuable property,- pine timber being abundant, and commanding a high price at the principal markets. Mr. Joseph Stevens and family removed from Fredericton, N. B., to Houlton, where they resided. Mr. Stevens was esteemed as an active, useful artisan.
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HISTORY OF HOULTON. 1
In October, 1824, Moses White, Esq., left Houlton for Winthrop, accompanied to Bangor by Amos Putnam, Jacob Haskell and Joseph Kendall, who were bound for New Salem, their native place. On our arrival there, we could but exclaim, " What a change even ten years have made in that place !" The youth had grown up ; many had removed, and others died; but there stood the old meeting-house, with its " church-going bell," which had so long marked the time for gathering the worshipping assembly, who softly trod the " long drawn aisle " to their respective pews, with button doors and seats which, with hinges, rise and fall; the spacious gallery, with its new choir, whose voices resounding " praise divine,"-and more than all, the pulpit, with its former occupant, whose familiar voice was melody to the ears of his long absent auditors, from whose lips they early received wise and judicious instruction and admo- nition, which are ineffaceably impressed upon our mem- ories, as are his venerable form and features. There, in the cemetery, stands the monuments of the departed, with the moss-grown epitaphs over the graves of our revered ancestors, which remind us of the destiny of all succeeding generations. A few rods distant stands the house of our birth-place, where the light first dawned upon our "infant vision." The garden, too, with its stone-wall enclosure, and its choice fruit trees, which through our chamber windows used to cast their shadows in the radiance of the morning sun-beams,-these were . not all there ; the corrodings of time had lessened their number and marred their beauty, and the tall pear tree, divested of its verdure and robbed of its golden treas- ure, stood near, and the orchard at the north, which produced its variety of specific fruit, where, for the celebration of the anniversary of our Nation's brithday, the people assembled beneath its shade, seated around the long spread table, loaded with delicious viands. At
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the head were the clergyman and the Hon. Samuel C. Allen, who announced the patriotic toasts which were signalized by the repeated roar of the old cannon. But the ruthless hand of Time seems to suggest to us the inter- ogatory of where are now those guests who met on that joyful festival,-that devoted band of patriots and philan- thropists, whose bosoms then glowed with love to God and man ? How few there are left whose mortal remains have not long slept in the narrow house, but whose spirits have flown to their ultimate reward.
" Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, Or flattery soothe the dull cold ear of death ?
Perhaps in that neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire ; Ilands that the rod of empire might have swayed, Or waked to ecstacy the living lyre."
The grave, that cannibal of flesh, has gorged its millions, yet wiser, if not better, each succeeding gen- eration grows, and onward is the motto of the present age ; and what will not yet be achieved, since, by the blessing of God, success has crowned the efforts made in the construction of the Atlantic telegraph. Who can now name an object of so vast magnitude and practical bearing upon the family of mankind, that would require the united skill, art, science and indomitable persever- ance of two natives, or even the world ? Canals, rail- roads, team-bridges and telescopes have been brought to an astonished perfectability, and, to cap the climax, lightning has come, as Heaven's vicegerent, tracing the submarine cable, annihilating time and distance, as if to aid in the mighty reform when a nation shall be born in a day ! Who, then, shall doubt the fulfilment, and, ere long, of the prophecy of Isaiah, in its spiritual sense, " when the wolf also, shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the
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HISTORY OF HOULTON.
calf and the young lion, and the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together ; and the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Who will not then join in the universal anthem of " Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men."
In February, 1824, Messrs. Zebulon and Nathaniel, sons of Nathaniel Ingersoll, Senior, of New Gloucester, of whom mention has been made, left Bangor in com- pany with James Babcock, with five or six hundred dollars worth of goods, destined for Houlton. They came on the ice of the Penobscot, Mattawamkeag and Baskahegan rivers, thence following a newly cut road for horses and sleighs to pass. On this route is a horse- back, as it is called, upon which the road passes four or five miles, running nearly north and south, crossing an extensive bog of two or three miles in width, which lies about sixteen miles south from Houlton. This horseback is, what some would style, one of nature's accidental developments-a mere production of blind chance, void of design or plan; but we would rather ascribe the construction of that turnpike (just wide enough for teams to pass, without falling down a de- clivity of twenty-five 'or thirty feet into a marsh which forms a striking contrast to that formidable highway,) to the universal Architect, by whom it appears to have been made to facilitate transportation for man, the lord of His creation and creature of His care. We are in- formed that this horseback, with but little interruption, excepting where the diverging streams are wont to pass, extends in a northerly direction through Amity, No. 11,
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Hodgdon, Houlton, and continues on the same course to an indefinite distance, assuming, as it does, in many places, a more formidable ridge than above described, until it becomes lost in the swells of Aroostook. These traders having arrived at Houlton, Mr. Z. Ingersoll re- mained in the vicinity and engaged in the lumber busi- ness in company with Messrs. Joseph and Henry Houlton, in the valley of the Aroostook, in which enterprise they were' successful. Mr. Ingersoll, for many years, was rather a transient inhabitant of Houlton ; and still he might, with propriety, be styled such, although himself and family have long been . residents, of the place ; yet he is a land-holder in Iowa; which calls his attention- there more or less annually.
Mr. Stephen Pullen, a native of Waterville, a man of industry and enterprise, removed from New Brunswick to Houlton and purchased the farm of Doctor S. Rice, for which he paid $1400.
. During the summer Rev. Mr. Howden, a Scotch Pres- byterian from the Province, visited Houlton with his family, where he preached several Sabbaths, with whom the inhabitants were pleased, and made an effort to build him a house, with a view of enjoying his ministerial labors as their settled pastor. But on a more mature deliberation of the subject-considering the limited re- sources of the church and people, and the requirements necessary for their support, the anticipated relation was relinquished.
In the autumn Mr. Shepard Cary arrived at Houlton from New. Salem, his native place.
Messrs. Palmer & Cowen, from Kennebec, with a nu- merous herd of cattle and horses, came through to Houlton. Soon after Mr. John Basford, Deputy Sheriff from Augusta, accompanied by Messrs. Black and Rollins. arrived with twelve horses and goods to a considerable amount, which were principally sold in the Province.
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Mr. Basford attached a part of the stock driven by said Palmer and Cowen, by virtue of a precept from Au- gusta. Mr. Basford has since remained, an active and useful resident of Houlton.
About this time Messrs. Kimball & Stinson came, also, with horses and goods. Horses, oxen, and commodities of all kinds even to the equipage of sleighs, harnesses, &c., were disposed of without sacrifice. Three young men, viz .: Steward, Hutchinson and Colboth, shoemakers, came to Houlton from Kennebec, and worked at their trade in a small building on the bank of the creek. Mr. James Gould, a native of Berwick, blacksmith, re- moved to Houlton, where he commenced business, and succeeded as a skillful workman.
In the summer of 1825, Messrs. White, Cummings, Eastern and Babcock left Bangor with eight horses and several bateaux loaded with goods, destined for Houlton, following their accustomed route. We believe that this was the first effort made to convey goods of any consid- erable amount, by water craft to this part of the country. Leaving their bateaux at Baskahegan. they transported the loads on horses a distance of about twenty miles to the transient home of those traders. About this time Daniel Bracket, a native, (we believe), of Limerick, came to Houlton and worked with Mr. Gould at the anvil.
John Matherson, a native of Scotland, removed from the Province to Houlton. Mr. Matherson informed the writer that he raised from his first clearing of five acres, 200 bushels of wheat; ten do. of corn; 100 do. of pota- toes ; 25 do. of turnips, and a cart-load of pumpkins, which, estimated at the prices for which those articles of produce then sold, would amount to about $472.
October 7, 1825, was signalized by a fire, which pre- vailed in this region of country and in the Province of New Brunswick, Miramichi appeared the most distin-
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guished for its dreadful ravages, hence, it derived the appellation of the " Miramichi fire."
The wind, like Sirocco, for days had blown, And night's sable mantle o'er earth was thrown ;
While the fire appeared from heaven to come down, On woodland and plain, on hamlet and town.
While darkness profound pervaded the night ; The contrast dire, made more vivid the light, Like the flash of cannon and the shcen of war, Which rendered more frightful the midnight hour.
So great was the destruction of that place, that hun- dreds of the inhabitants perished. The writer was in- formed by Mr. Newman, a native of Miramichi, but a resident of Houlton, who witnessed that tragical scene, that the village of Newcastle, and Douglasstown, three miles below, were both consumed. The fire came upon them so suddenly that they could make no preparation, -surprising them, as it did, in the night, the people were obliged to flee from their houses, for refuge, to caves and wells,-children were crying for their parents, and parents, frantic with grief and despair, for their children. The animals instinctively run for the rivers and streams. There were instances, we were informed, where the lives of individuals were preserved by holding on to them while swimming. The waters did not " be- come blood," but were so impregnated with smoke and ashes, as to kill the fish-the salmon died in their native element. The scene, to the inhabitants of Miramichi, who, at that time, were an amalgamation of different nations, must have been not unlike that which was fore- told of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the day of judgment, in the 25th chapter of Mathew, "neither let him that is in the field return back to take his clothes," &c. Many who fled to the river were drowned, among whom a family, (husband, wife and children,) while endeavoring to cross the river in a canoe, from Douglass to Chatham, a distance of about two miles, were over- whelmed by the waves and all lost.
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Those in the forest that were remote from the river. and streams, and had nowhere to flee for refuge, fell victims to the raging element. From a party of seven men engaged lumbering, only'one escaped to relate the intelligence of the sad fate of his companions ; and his life was saved by literally burying himself in mud. These instances of mortality were no isolated cases, but we mention them as giving a general idea of the condi- tion of those who perished during that storm of wind and fire.
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