Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 92

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790

USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892 > Part 92

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).

The town of Monmouth embraces an area of nearly twenty-five square miles. It was originally a part of the Plymouth patent, and when incorporated as a plantation included the territory now the town of Wales. It is nearly square, with its northwest, southeast and southwest angles a trifle acute; although the comparatively recent sacrifice of a few acres on the north and south to the towns of Win- throp and Wales has broken the geometrical straightness of the lines. It is bounded on the north by Winthrop and Wayne, on the east by Litchfield and the Cobbosseecontee, south by Wales, and on the west by Greene and Leeds. The surface is generally broken, abounding in rich, gravelly loam, resting on a sparsely covered granite base, which crops out frequently in the northeastern part of the town. The soil is admirably adapted to farming and orcharding, and, in its primeval state, supported some of the heaviest timber ever grown in Maine. It is claimed that of all the lots into which the territory was subdi- vided, not one proved unproductive.

EARLY SETTLERS .- Thomas Gray, an old hunter and trapper, liv- ing in that part of Brunswick known as New Meadows, while on a hunting expedition discovered the chain of lakes that encircles the town. He returned to his neighbors with glowing accounts of the wonderful section abounding in fine meadow grass -- a product of con- siderable importance in those days-and so excited them that they determined to join him in forming a settlement on the newly discov- ered territory. In the summer or fall of 1774, Gray, accompanied by Reuben Ham, Joseph Allen, Philip Jenkins and Jonathan Thompson, all from New Meadows, came in to cut and stack a quantity of " blue- joint " and fell some trees. The following winter, as soon as the streams were frozen, Gray and his son, James, a lad of fourteen or fif- teen years, drove in the cattle belonging to these men and built a rude

766

HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

log hut. This-the first cabin erected between Winthrop and Web- ster-stood somewhere on the meadow south of D. H. Dearborn's. All their provisions, as well as cooking utensils and other necessary arti- cles, were brought in on their backs. The following spring Gray, Ham, Allen, Jenkins and Thompson moved in with their families. Gray settled on land now owned by D. H. Dearborn, and the others on adjacent lots farther south.

The first few years a large portion of the provisions had to be pro- cured at Brunswick, Topsham and Bath. When the crops failed these men were often obliged to make their way through the tangled forest a distance of twenty-five miles to purchase corn, and then return with it on their backs. It was no uncommon thing for one of them to carry a bushel the entire distance in a day. Wild meat was abundant. Part- ridges could be shot from the door-way, and bears, moose and deer captured without difficulty. When Gray took up his lot, there was a family of beavers living in the meadow southeast of D. H. Dearborn's. They had a large dam, the remains of which may still be seen. He set a trap for them, but when, after a few days, he returned to carry away his beaver, he found neither game nor trap. After a long and unavailing search, he cut a hole in the dam, letting the water out, and found his trap on the bed of the brook with a stout beaver in its jaws. On the bog between Monmouth and Leeds beaver dams were then abundant. The first two or three years after the Brunswick colony was established, bears and moose were killed in large numbers. The last moose killed in this vicinity was discovered by James Gray in Sabattis swamp. The intrepidity of these pioneers was remarkable. Thomas Gray carried to the grave a mangled and withered hand-the result of holding it in a bear's throat while Reuben Ham despatched the animal from behind with an axe.

At the end of two years six other families came from New Meadows. They were those of John Welch, Ichabod Baker, Alexander Thomp- son, Hugh Mulloy, John Austin, and Benjaoni Austin. Welch built his cabin a few rods west of M. L. Getchell's, and took up nearly two hundred acres of wild land having for its northern boundary the range- way on which Maple street was subsequently laid out, and extending as far south as the northern limit of the land appropriated by Ichabod Baker, who settled on the place now owned by Mrs. Ambrose Beal. Welch was the lineal ancestor of Prof. Rodney Welch, of the Chicago Times, and Lorettus S. Metcalf, founder and late editor of the Forum. Thompson settled on the lot now known as the "Widow Ann Blake place," on High street; Mulloy, on the farm now owned by R. G. Bickford, south of the Center; John Austin, on the Blossom place, which included all the land on the west side of Main street, between Maple street and the town house, and Benjaoni Austin on the "great bog," near the Leeds line. Benjaoni Austin was a man nearly sixty

767

TOWN OF MONMOUTH.

years old. He asserted, with evident pride, that his grandfather was a brother of the Indian King Philip.

Two years later, or about 1781, Peter Hopkins and Captain James Blossom came in. Hopkins was an Englishman. He came from Bos- ton, but probably stopped in Hallowell or Augusta before coming to this place. He made a clearing on the farm now known as the John- son place, at North Monmouth, near the Winthrop line. Captain Blossom came from Barnstable, Cape Cod. He bought John Austin's claim, and Austin went over to the "great bog " and made a clearing on the farm now owned by John Plummer. Blossom's cabin did not, as many suppose, stand on the site of the "old Blossom house," now the ell of Brown's Hotel, but beyond the upper dam, north of Cochne- wagan pond. The Blossom farm embraced all the land now owned by the heirs of the late Jacob Shorey.

In the course of a few months several other families moved from New Meadows and joined their old neighbors. They were those of James Weeks, Nathan Stanley, Zadoc Bishop, Christopher Stevens, Samuel Simmons, William Welch, Samuel Welch, Edward Welch, Oliver Hall, Timothy Wight and John Fish. Weeks settled on the J. W. Goding farm. His cabin stood about half way between High street and the residence of Miss Charlotte Harvey. He subsequently sold his claim and moved into the edge of Winthrop. From Winthrop he removed to Lewiston, and afterward exchanged places with Josiah Straw and came back to Monmouth. Stanley settled on the place where M. M. Richardson now lives. He sold his clearing to Joel Chandler and removed to Winthrop, where many of his descendants now reside. Zadoc Bishop built his cabin near the Wilson stream, about twenty rods southeast of the south wing of Gorden's mill-dam. When General Dearborn built his mill at East Monmouth, he backed the water up until it covered Bishop's farm almost to the door stone. He then removed to Bishop's hill, in Leeds. Christopher Stevens settled on the corner lot at the junction of the main road from Win- throp with the Academy road, a few rods north of the residence of Benjamin Ellis.

The Welch brothers did not remain here long. One of them made a clearing at the head of Cochnewagan pond, near the smelt brook. Timothy Wight settled on the Bishop place, opposite J. P. Richard- son's, near the Winthrop line. A few years later he exchanged farms with Caleb Fogg who, in the meantime, had settled at the head of Cochnewagan pond. Fish settled on the place where Benjamin Ellis now lives. He was the first tavern keeper in the settlement. His house was a rendezvous for all the tipplers of the place. He purchased his liquors at Hallowell, and, as his pocket book never carried the equivalent of more than two or three quarts of the " ardent " at one

768

HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

time, must have been a valuable assistant in leveling the highway be- tween the settlement and Kennebec river.

In selecting lots these pioneers almost invariably made choice of land in the vicinity of the meadows. When Gray and his companions were cutting grass on the intervales, the summer before they started the settlement, each man selected the land upon which he afterward built his cabin. Gray, Allen, Ham, Jenkins and Thompson selected the meadow east of D. H. Dearborn's; Austin, Welch, Mulloy, Blos- som and Baker afterward settled near the meadow east of the Center, and Bishop and Hopkins near the lowlands irrigated by the Wilson stream. The Austins and James Labree, John Austin's son-in-law, who came through the woods from New Meadows soon after his wife's relatives, drawing on a hand-sled all his worldly possessions, pitched their tents near the Leeds bog.

A terrible disappointment awaited these men. It was commonly reported that the land was once owned by one of the Vassals, a tory, of Boston, and had been confiscated during the revolution; so the early settlers called their new home Freetown. Those who came a little later supposed that the payment of a few pence per acre to the commonwealth, to which the estates would, by virtue of the confisca- tion act, belong, would satisfy all demands. Great was their conster- nation when the proprietor, who had returned to his estates as soon as the treaty of peace was signed, demanded excessive payments on ac- count of improvements that the settlers themselves had made. They immediately took action against the unjust claims, and bound them- selves together by their " words, honors and the penal sum of one hundred pounds, lawful money," to resist any attempt to recover more than three shillings, lawful money, per acre for the land. Had they purchased their lots when they first settled on them, this sum would have been eagerly accepted by the proprietor; but after protracted litigation and considerable resistance on the part of the settlers who, in some instances, attempted to defend their rights by force of arms, they were forced to succumb to a payment of two or three dollars per acre.

Soon after the close of the revolutionary war, General Henry Dear- born, whose renown as secretary of war and commander-in-chief of the United States army it is necessary to mention only to distinguish him from his nephew, General Dearborn, whom some of our older citizens distinctly remember, came to look after the 5,000 acres of wild land which he had taken in exchange for some property in New Hampshire. He found, " squatting " on his purchase, Hugh Mulloy, whom he ejected, after giving his note to the amount of " fifty Span- ish milled dollars " for the clearing he had made. In this clearing General Dearborn erected the first building in the settlement that could, with propriety, be termed a house. It was, like the abodes of

769

TOWN OF MONMOUTH.

all the early inhabitants, built of logs; but the logs were hewed square, and, in all points, it was far superior to the rude cabins by which it was surrounded. This building was taken down at a date within the writer's recollection, and used in framing one of the outbuildings on the Bickford place.

Not far from 1782, two of General Dearborn's brothers -- Simon and Benjamin-and six neighbors-Caleb Fogg, James Norris, Josiah Brown, Daniel Gilman, Gilman Moody and John Chandler-came from Epping, N. H., and took up farms, principally on his land. At about the same time, Daniel Allen, Peter Lyon, Josiah Whittredge, Gorden Freas, Nathaniel Smith, Benjamin Stockin and Nathaniel Brainerd came. Simon Dearborn found John Fish, the tavern keeper. on his land. Fish refused to accept a reasonable compensation for his im- provements, and defied Dearborn's claim. After considerable con- test, in which Fish endeavored to gain by fraud what he could not by right, he was forcibly expelled. Benjamin Dearborn settled on the corner that bears his name, below the Center. He was a shoemaker, as was, also, Josiah Brown, who settled a few rods south of him, on the Wales road, where the ruins of the chimney he built may still be seen. The house was destroyed by fire a few years ago.

Caleb Fogg settled, first, at the head of Cochnewagan pond, and. later, on the farm now owned and occupied by B. M. Prescott, on High street. He served many years as an itinerant preacher of the Meth- odist connection. Of a large number of descendants, Rev. John B. Fogg is the only one now living in the town who bears the name. Daniel Gilman, the progenitor of all of that name now residing in town, took up the farm now owned by Dea. Daniel Pierce, one mile south of the Center. The lot then included the land of Mr. Stewart on the opposite side of the road. Gilman, like many others, lost his farm, and, at an advanced age, started anew on land opposite E. K Prescott's, west of the academy, where he spent the remainder of his days. His house disappeared many years ago. Gilman Moody made a clearing at the head of Cochnewagan pond, which he exchanged, shortly, with Timothy Wight, for the Bishop place at North Mon- mouth. Moody seems to have had a mania for making new clearings. In addition to those already mentioned, he partially cleared the farms owned by George L. King, south of the Center, and that of Phineas Nichols, at East Monmouth, on both of which he lived for a time, and on the latter of which he died. He was a local preacher of the Meth- odist church.

Daniel Allen settled at the outlet of South pond, Peter Lyon on the Greenlief Smith place, on the main road between North Monmouth and the Center, and Gorden Freas on the place owned by the late Mrs. Nancy K. Prescott, north of the academy. He sold his possessions to Captain Sewall Prescott and returned to New Hampshire. Nathaniel

770

HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Brainerd and Thomas Stockin settled near the outlet of Wilson pond, and Nathaniel Smith on the M. M. Richardson place, near Ellis' Corner, which he purchased of Nathan Stanley. He subsequently sold out to Abraham Morrill and moved over beyond Norris hill, where he died. James Norris settled on the place where his grand- son, George W. Norris, now lives, on Norris hill. He was a commis- sioned officer in the revolutionary army and married a niece of Gen- eral Henry Dearborn. Accompanied by his wife, who rode a horse and carried a small child, he walked the entire distance from Epping.

John Chandler bought James Weeks' claim-the J. W. Goding farm of to-day-near the academy. It is generally supposed that Chandler built the first framed house in the settlement, and that it afterward became the ell of his mansion, which was destroyed by fire in 1880. It is a well authenticated fact, however, that the first framed house was built by Alexander Thompson, on or near the spot where the small yellow house now stands on the " Widow Ann Blake place," to which previous reference has been made. John Chandler lived in this build- ing the year after he came from New Hampshire, which gave rise to the supposition already mentioned. There are six different claimants to the honor of erecting the first framed house, and, indeed, the ones raised by Chandler, Josiah Brown, John Welch and Ichabod Baker came into existence so soon after that it is only fair to mention them. Welch's and Baker's were raised the same day.

John Chandler's life was an eventful one. When he came into the settlement, he was not only distressingly poor, but illiterate in the ex- treme. From a traveling pedagogue he learned to read and write and, possibly, the rudiments of mathematics. All his spare hours he de- voted to study, being assisted by his wife, who worked with him in his blacksmith's shop, in the field clearing and piling smutty logs and in planting and harvesting. Wherever a dollar was to be found, there you would find Chandler. He was blacksmith, trader, tavern keeper and general jobber. In General Dearborn he had an influential friend, and it was probably as much his influence as Chandler's ability that placed him, in 1803, among the councillors and senators in the general court of Massachusetts. In 1815 he represented the Kennebec district in congress. Next he was appointed high sheriff. In 1812 he became a major general of the state militia, and, later, the same year, was ap- pointed brigadier general of the forces sent to the northern frontier. In 1819 he was a member of the general court, at Boston, and assisted in drafting the constitution of Maine. He was first president of the Maine senate, and was one of the two first United States senators from Maine. His last official appointment was that of collector of the port of Portland, under President Jackson. He was, unless we except General Dearborn, the most prominent man in Maine, and beside his

771

TOWN OF MONMOUTH.

state and national appointments, he was more than fifty times elected to public office by the people.

Joel Chandler, the general's brother, soon followed him from Epping. He was drowned only a few days after his arrival, while en- gaged in surveying near South pond. His son, Major General Joseph Chandler, spent the most of his boyhood in the family of his uncle John. He was fond of books, and spent a large portion of his time in reading, studying and assisting the general in his studies. He com- piled a reading book entitled " The Young Gentlemen's and Ladies' Museum," which was widely used in the public schools. Soon after General Dearborn built his mill at the outlet of South pond, young Chandler erected a store there and engaged in trade. Later, he re- ceived a captain's commission in the United States army and was sta- tioned at one of the forts in Portland harbor. After leaving the army he returned to Monmouth and built the house on High street, known many years as the "Newton Prescott stand," and a store a few rods farther north. The house was taken down about six years ago to make room for a modern dwelling. The store was removed to the Center. In 1811 he was appointed clerk of courts for Kennebec county and removed to Augusta.

For many years a continual stream of immigration poured from Epping and adjacent towns. Somewhere near 1788 a trio composed of Captain Sewall Prescott and James and John Judkins came from this point. James Judkins had been here prior to that time working for General Dearborn. He returned to Epping in the fall and re- mained there until April, when, in company with his brother and Prescott, he started on foot, bearing on his back a pack of about thirty pounds weight, containing all his earthly possessions, as did, also, the others. Thus loaded, and hindered by the natural obstacles of the forest, they managed to cover about thirty miles a day. Prescott took up the claim of Gorden Freas. The latter, deluded by the free-land rumor, had cut a small opening near the spot where the old " gun house " used to stand. He was a poor man and had no prospect of paying for his farm. He returned to Epping, whence he came. Pres- cott was a blacksmith. The " Old Fort," which he erected in 1802 for a tavern, stands very near the spot where he built his first shelter. James Judkins made a clearing on the John Barrows place. They took the precaution of shipping a year's supply of provisions to Hal- lowell before starting from New Hampshire.

After Captain Peter Hopkins and Zadoc Bishop, who, as has been stated, took up a residence near North Monmouth in 1781, the first settler in that region was John Morgan, who cleared the Dea. Peter Blaisdell farm, now the property of Henry Allen. He was followed by Jeremy Hall, who came from Winthrop, and Thomas Stockin, from Mt. Vernon. A little earlier than 1790, probably, three other

772

HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

families came from Mt. Vernon and settled near Stockin at the outlet of Wilson pond. Nathaniel Brainerd came first, but was soon fol- lowed by Reuben Brainerd and Robert Hill. Thomas Stockin and his cat kept a bachelor's hall in a cabin that stood nearly opposite the upper dam. Hill settled a little farther south. The Brainerds did not remain in this part of the town more than a year or two.

The eastern part of the town was the last to be settled. The first men who cut a way into the forest in this section came from Win- throp and settled on the " Neck." Although Gail Cole was there as early as 1776, many years passed before he had a successor. Daniel Allen, the grandfather of L. L. Allen, was the next to take up land. He was followed by Reuben Brainerd, whose wife was Allen's sister, as was also the wife of William Read, who settled on the George Ma- comber place. Nearly all the " Neck " pioneers were from Massachu- setts and Connecticut. Coming by way of Hallowell, they worked their way through into this town by degrees. The first few years they had very little to do with plantation affairs. Their interests were identical with those of their friends and relatives in Winthrop, and although they had crossed the line they were practically citizens of that town. It was not until Phineas Blake, sen., settled in East Mon- mouth that that portion of the town was united, socially, with the other settlements. He also came from Epping, and was related by marriage to General Dearborn. He and his sons settled adjacent lots, gaving rise to the appellation "Blaketown," which was for many years used to designate that community. John Blake, the ancestor of Rev. John Blake Fogg, who settled on Norris hill; Asahel Blake, who set- tled on the place now owned by Clarence Thompson, and Chase Blake, who took up the Chase Brown farm, in the Lyon district, all came from Epping, but were only distantly connected. John Torsey, the father of Henry P. Torsey, LL.D., D.D., settled a few rods east of Phineas Blake, and, about the same time, Captain William P. Kelly, the ances- tor of the Winthrop family of that name, settled on the crown of Stevens' hill. He came from Meredith, Conn., dragging his house- hold effects through the forest on a four-ox team.

About 1810 serious troubles arose between these settlers and the proprietors of the Plymouth lands. Many of them, after expending years of hard toil on their lots, were forced to relinquish them to the lawful, if not rightful, owners, without remuneration for the improve- ments they had made. Others, who bought their lots of the " squat- ters " at a fair price, were called upon to pay exorbitant sums for the lands that were all but worthless before being cleared and cultivated. Among others, Alexander Thompson was a victim. Unable to pay the price that was demanded, he left everything-the result of years of weary toil-and pushed his way into the forests of the eastern part of the state to begin life again.

773

TOWN OF MONMOUTH.

Being on the border between the rival claims of the Plymouth patent and the Pejepscot purchase, those who lived in the western part of the town suffered more severely than the early settlers of other towns. Many who succeeded in raising enough to satisfy the greed of the robbers on one side, were called upon by the other claimants, after the boundary was established, for another slice, with no redress from the first party. Thus driven to the wall the poor wretches began to show their teeth, and the proprietors, after a time, became convinced that surveying land and expelling squatters was not healthful employ- ment. Judge Bridge, of Augusta, who with two others purchased the " Baker right," came to Monmouth to negotiate with his tenants. He came on a spirited horse and, after a remarkably brief visit, returned on a jaded pair of legs, his beast having been shot from an ambush.

CIVIL HISTORY .- A committee appointed by the general court of Massachusetts visited the settlement in 1780, to learn the condition of the people and take preparatory steps toward incorporating the terri- tory as a plantation. At this time between twenty and thirty families were scattered about on lands now included in the limits of the town, each of which was represented by one or more members qualified by the laws of the commonwealth to vote. Bloomingboro'-now Free- town no longer, since it had been discovered that the land was not to be appropriated at the " squatters' " option-entered the realm of offi- cial history in 1781. The following records call for no explanation:

" By the desire of a number of inhabitants of Bloomingboro', the whole are hereby notified to meet at the house of Ichabod Bakers, on Friday, ye 24th day of August, 1781, at 12 of the clock, in order to act on the following articles. First, to chuse a Moderator; 2dly, to chuse a Clark; 3dly, to see if the inhabitants will think proper to chuse one man to act as Capt. for the preasant year; 4thly, to see if the inhabi- tants will accept the proposals made to them by the committee of the general court; 5thly, to act on any other thing that shall be thought proper by said inhabitants-Signed-Peter Hopkins, Hugh Mulloy, Christopher Stevens, John Austin, Jeames Weeks, Oliver Hall, Tim- othy Wight, Nathan Stanley, James Blossom, William Welch, Edward Welch, Samuel Welch and John Fish."

" Wales, Aug. ye 24th, 1781. At the above said meeting, voted, as follows, viz: 1stly that the Destrict wherein we now reside shall be known by the name of Wales, beginning at the South line of Win- throp, and running eight miles or thereabouts; 2dly, voted, that what- ever tax or taxes the Hon. Gen. Court shall think proper to lay on said Destrict we levy and raise within ourselves.

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.

Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 92

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York, Blake Number of Pages: 1790

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790