USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 14
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Those present at the organization of the town in 1837 were True Bradbury; his sons Ebenezer C., Aaron N., Moses and Cyrus K .; Hall J. Bradbury, son of Ebenezer C .; John Dow, Moses and Lemuel Drew, Royal B. Colbroth, John Felch, Joseph Goodenow, Oliver Gould, Jonathan Hayes, Samuel Morrison, Samuel Morrison, Jr., Stephen Randall, Joseph Stimson, Charles Spooner, Moses Philpot, Ira and Ivory Webber.
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CHAPTER VIII
German, Classical, Scottish and Swedish Names in Maine Towns and Cities
Few of the towns in Maine are endowed with names of Ger- man origin.
Brunswick, 1738
Here is one of the exceptions. The first inhabitant of our pres- ent town of Brunswick, Thomas Purchase, settled at Stevens point in 1625 or 1626. Hc evidently came to fish and cure salmon and sturgeon, which he exported to England, as well as trade with the natives. In 1632 he and George Way secured a patent from the New England Council embracing this famous fishery on the Pejepscot (Androscog- gin) "four miles square toward the sea."
Libby, in the Maine Province and Court Records, states that early names given to Brunswick and Topsham were Northampton in 1667, a name found only in the record given; Harwick, 1685, and Augusta, 1717. Settlements were made under the Pejepscot Company. Between 1717 and 1720, forty-one persons are known to have settled in Brunswick, but nearly all abandoned their homes in Lovewell's War; and it was not until 1730 that the settlement was renewed. The first meeting of the inhabitants was held in 1717. At the first clection of town officers in 1719, Captain John Gyles, Thos. Wharton, James Starrett, John Cochrane and Joseph Heath were chosen as selectmen, and Joseph Heath was also chosen clerk and town treasurer. This was when Brunswick was a township.
When it was incorporated as a town in 1738, the name of Bruns- wick was bestowed upon it. Wheeler, the historian of the town, gives the following explanation: "The name Brunswick was probably given to the town in honor of the House of Brunswick to which family the then King of England belonged. So far as is known, there were no Germans among the early settlers, so it is hardly likely to have been named for the German city."
Frankfort, 1789
Maine's seventieth town, Frankfort, was incorporated in 1789 and took the name of the German town which had been used as the plantation name of Old Pownalborough. Frankfort was the name of the
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town in Germany from which some of the settlers of this early plan- tation had come and was doubtless adopted on their account. When no longer in use in that area, the name was transferred to the newer town. The first settlers were Joshua Treat, E. Grant, J. Kinnakum, J. Wood- man, P. King, S. Kenney, E. Ide, Henry Black and Tethan French.
The building of Fort Pownal on the Penobscot in 1759 had paved the way for a settlement of all the towns on the river. From here they gradually moved up the river.
Williamson says: "In the present town of Frankfort, we find there were settled inhabitants as early as 1770; for in 1773, there were twelve residing at Marsh Bay; one family at Oak point and one where the village now is. The first settlers got their living by hunting moose, beaver and muskrat and by fishing in Penobscot River."
Dresden, 1794
This town was settled in 1752 by French Protestants. It was a part of ancient Pownalborough, earlier Frankfort Plantation. It was incorporated as a separate town in 1794, taking its name from the Ger- man town from which a few of its inhabitants had emigrated under the auspices of General Waldo. Among the French settlers were Jean Pochard, weaver, his wife Jeanne and four sons, Chas. Houdelette, James Fredrick Jaquin, George Goud, John Bugnont, John Pochard, Daniel Jalot, Peter Goud and Joseph Bas. Houdlette had come from Mannheim, Germany, although originally from Southern France. In 1763 Jacques Bugnon went to Germany for more settlers, probably Germans. The Plymouth Company called Bugnon German, although he claimed to be French.
The building of Fort Richmond about 1723 brought in men who later became well known in Dresden: At the first town meeting at Dresden in 1794, Edmund Bridge was moderator, John Polerecsky, town clerk, Wm. Patterson, Carr Barker and Jacob Brown, selectmen.
Embden, 1804
· The author of Embden, Town of Yore, Ernest George Walker, believes that the three names which this town, located in Somerset County on the Kennebec River, has borne: Queenstown, Windsor and Emden (Embden), were evidence of the feeling of loyalty in the minds of the givers of these names for the English rulers, George III and his Queen Sophia, even after the Revolution.
When the settlers' petition of 1803 for a town was before the General Court at Boston, "Windsor," name of the royal palace where George and Sophia resided, was in the draft of the proposed enact- ment, as the name of the town. Someone, running his pen through Windsor three times, as shown by parchment copy in the archives of
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the state capital in Boston, wrote "Emden" in its stead. The additional b in the spelling of the name of the Maine town, as well as the original form, both appear in the early town records. Those of 1805 followed the practice of the additional b and Benj. Colby, Jr., the clerk of that day, may be regarded as the authority for the present spelling.
The first settlements were along the river, in 1779, by Amos Patridge, George Mitchell and Wm. Hamblen. In 1782 Samuel Hutch- ens and a Mr. Young located on Seven Mile Brook at the southwest corner of the town. They were followed by Captain John Gray from Wiscasset and in 1790 by Thos. McFaden, Joseph Cleveland, with his sons Jonathan and Luther, and Edward Savage. John Chamberlain, who shot the Pequaket chief, Paugus, came at about the same time.
Lubec, 1811
Although the first settlers in Lubec in 1758 were French people from Nova Scotia, they moved to the upper parts of the St. John River. Then came, in 1776, the English, patriotic fugitives from Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. They included Colonel John Allen, who was of great service to the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Varney says it may well be supposed that some Germans had settled here, since when the town was incorporated in 1811 it was named for the good old German city Lubeck, in which form the word appears in the act of incorporation. It was first called Soward's Neck; and before its in- corporation comprised the mainland of the town of Eastport. It may be called the "Land's End" of the United States.
The real permanent settlers here, however, were from Lynn, Massachusetts, Gouldsborough and the vicinity of Castine. In 1790 there were from twelve to fifteen families here. The five founders of Lubec were Jabez Mowry, Ezra T. Bucknam, Josiah Dana, Samuel Wheeler and Jonathan Bartlett.
Flagg's Point, where Lubec Village now stands, had for its first traders Mr. Lewis Frederick Delesdernier and his son-in-law, Mr. Nehemiah Small. The former was an Acadian Frenchman who es- poused the Whig cause in the Revolution and for a time was associ- ated with Albert Gallatin in the military service at Machias.
Bremen, 1828
This town was a part of the town of Bristol until 1828, when it was incorporated as a separate town under the name of Bremen, given in honor of the German city.
The first settler of Bremen, Maine, was William Hilton from Plymouth, Massachusetts, who moved in with his family, consisting of four sons and three daughters, in 1735. He was, however, soon driven away by the Indians; but at the close of the war in 1745 he returned.
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Commodore Samuel Tucker, of Revolutionary fame, was a resident of the town and one of the most distinguished naval officers in the history of our country.
The first town meeting was held in a schoolhouse near the home of Daniel Weston. Robert Miller was moderator and Sullivan Hardy, town clerk. Miller was a Scotchman from the vicinity of Edinburgh who had long resided in Bremen. Sullivan Hardy was an educated man who held many important town offices.
Hanover, 1843
A town in Oxford County bears the name of a German prov- ince. The Maine town was formerly a part of Bethel. It was settled in 1774, was set off from Bethel, and in 1843, together with Howard's Gore, was incorporated under its present name, doubtless from a con- tinued loyalty to members of the English royal family, the Georges, whose forebears came from that province.
Nathaniel Segar from Newton, Massachusetts, was its first settler in 1774. He was in the United States service until 1780, when he returned home, but was taken captive by the Indians in their last raid on Maine and was held prisoner for sixteen months, when he again re- turned to the present Hanover.
In 1780, and soon after, came Jonathan Bean, Jesse Dunston and Moses and Stephen Bartlett. Howard's Gore was a tract of land left in running out the towns of Bethel, Newry and Rumford. It was purchased by Phineas Howard of Temple, New Hampshire, in 1792, from whom it received its name. It was incorporated as a plantation in 1812, and at the plantation meeting held at Asa Howard's, the modera- tor was Phineas Howard; clerk, Asa Howard; assessors, Ezra Smith, Stephen Saunders and Phineas Howard. The plantation life covered a period of about forty years during which affairs were conducted with great economy and great ability; the records were well kept in plain and clear writing.
Whenever I drive through the little towns of Solon, Athens or Corinth, here in Maine, I know that some lovers of Greek learning settled or came early to these places. Whenever I visit Troy, Rome, or Carthage in Maine, I realize that some admirer of the civilization of these ancient cities was present when their counterparts were chris- tened in our forests.
It was for the most part in the period following the Revolu- tionary War that a wave of classicism swept our country and the re- vival of classical names became common.
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Athens, 1804; Solon, 1809
In the southern part of Somerset County, Athens, incorporated in 1804, is an example of Maine's use of classical names. It was settled by Revolutionary soldiers. Solon, which joins it on the west, was settled at about the same time, and became a corporate town in 1809. The first settlers of this latter town were from Wiscasset, but were soon fol- lowed by others from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. When Ath- ens was incorporated the name of the capital of ancient Greece was chosen for it by its inhabitants. At the incorporation of Solon, the name selected was that of one of the seven sages of Greece. Some lovers of ancient Greece and its lawgivers must have lived in this little town in Maine. Its plantation name was Spauldingtown, for Thomas Spaul- ding, one of the grantees. Wm. Hilton of Wiscasset, who removed thither in the fall of 1782, was the first settler, and a former neighbor of his, William Hunnewell, took an adjoining farm.
The first permanent settler in Athens was Samuel Hall, son of Daniel Hall of Wakefield, New Hampshire. He owned the first mill in the village, located a short distance above the bridge. Another family of prominence in the early settlement of Athens was that of Colonel Jonathan Kinsman from Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was educated at Brown University, a man of business ability who came in 1798, cleared land, made a home for his family and called the place Kinsmantown.
Corinth, 1811
The township of Corinth in the southwestern section of Penob- scot County was granted by Massachusetts to John Peck in 1794, and the settlement was started a few years later. It was first organized as a plantation under the name of Ohio which was changed on its incor- poration in 1811 to Corinth, the name of the ancient city in Greece. This is not at all surprising in view of the background of the settlers and the prevailing ideals of classical culture at the time.
In the year 1792 Mr. Abner Tibbetts settled on the south side of the township. The Messrs. Wm. Tibbetts, Mark Trafton, Joshua C. Thompson, John Goodhue, Wm. Hammond, Royal Clark, Dr. Wm. Peabody and others joined Mr. Tibbetts in his enterprise, and farming started in earnest.
Milo, 1823
Situated in the southeastern part of Piscataquis County, Milo also bears a classical name. In 1802 Benjamin Sargent and his son, Theophilus, came to Bangor from Methuen, Massachusetts, went up the Penobscot River by longboat, turned into the Piscataquis River and finally settled in what is now Milo.
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After making a clearing for his cabin, the senior Sargent re- turned to Massachusetts, leaving fourteen-year-old Theophilus and his dog alone to pass the winter in the wilderness. With the help of friendly Indians he survived the ordeal.
The Snows, Moses and Stephen, who had already selected their lots and felled their openings, settled in the Pleasant River Valley in 1804 and the Boobers, with their hand mill for grain and corn, soon followed.
The honor of naming the town fell, as it should, to Theophilus Sargent who, according to Milo's historical students, chose the name of Milo from the famed Greek athlete, Milo of Crotona. The town was incorporated in 1823.
Not only the State of Maine but many other states in our coun- try have made use of the name of Troy in christening a town. Troy, or Ilium, was an ancient ruined city in Asia Minor, which played a large part in the Trojan War, the most famous of the wars celebrated in Greek literature.
Troy, 1827
This town of Troy in Maine had borne a number of other names before the name of Troy was selected in 1827. The first clearing in the town was made about 1801 by John Rogers, who was agent for the proprietor, General Bridge, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The earliest settlers locating here from 1801 to 1813 were from different parts of Maine. Among them were Henry Warren, Charles Gerrish, Jr., Enoch and Jonathan Bagley, Enoch Bagley, Jr., Christopher Varney and John Smart. The Francis Hillman farm is one of the few farms in the town cleared by the early settlers. The Hillmans, originally from Martha's Vineyard, came from Readfield in 1778. In 1793 Andrew Bennett came from the town of Sidney; he built a log house and was probably the first permanent settler.
At the organization of the town into a plantation, it received the name of Bridgestown in honor of the first proprietor, already men- tioned. It was incorporated as the town of Kingsville in 1812 in honor of the man who later became the first governor of Maine. This name was changed to Joy in 1814, for one of its owners, Benjamin Joy, a merchant of Boston. Later it became Montgomery for the English Gen- eral, Montgomery, who fell at Quebec; and in 1827 when classical names were much in vogue, it became Troy.
Smyrna, 1839
This town in Aroostook County reminds one of an ancient city, Smyrna, now the modern Izmir in Turkey. In its earliest days, the an-
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cient city was a colony of Ephesus and attained such celebrity that it was received as the thirteenth city of Ionia. After its destruction by Tamerlane in the fifteenth century, it was rebuilt and later considered as the emporium of the Levant.
Its namesake, Smyrna, in Maine, had as its first settler Nehe- miah Leavitt, in 1830, from Royalton, Vermont, a Methodist minister, to whom the grant of the township had been given by the state, pro- vided he place 100 settlers on the town within five years, build a saw and grist mill and four schoolhouses. Although given an extra five years, he was unable to meet these conditions and sold his claim to Messrs. Dunn and Jeffries.
Among the early settlers were: John Marley of England, who first went to Boston and then to Smyrna in 1831, Willard Corliss, who came from Lubec in 1833, Elias and Franklin Blodgett from the west- ern part of the state, and Samuel Drew, from Limerick, who went to New Limerick in 1820 and to Smyrna in 1835. He was a local preacher of the Free Baptist faith. Thos. Hassett came from Ireland; Alexander Herrick, from Norridgewock, and Wm. Irish came from Buckfield. He was a very prominent citizen, but later moved to Sherman. More Leav- itts came, relatives of the first settler, and with them came Laughtons, Lyons, Oakes and Jonathan Sleeper and his four sons, all of whom had farms in Smyrna when it was incorporated in 1839.
Rome, 1804
Ancient Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, was situated on the banks of the river Tiber, about eighteen miles from the sea. Admirers of this ancient city bestowed the name upon a Maine town, a small town in the northwesterly part of Kennebec County. It was settled about 1780 and was called West Pond Plantation, until its in- corporation in 1804. The historian of the Maine town states that "it has seven times as many hills as the eternal city whose name it bears, and granite enough to build the old Roman capital." The pioneer settlers came soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, in which several of them had served. John Rogers was the sergeant of the guard that marched Major André to the gallows and saw Lord Cornwallis surrender his sword at Yorktown. He was the first in this region to chop and clear his few acres. Others among the first settlers were Jo- seph Hall, Benjamin Furbush, Stephen Philbrick, Joseph Halbo, Trip Mosher and Starbird Turner, neighbors and associates of John Rogers.
Carthage, 1826
Ancient Rome's deadly rival was Carthage, located in Northern Africa, nearly on the site of modern Tunis. This also has its namesake in Maine. It is a small town in the southwestern section of Franklin
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County. It was Number Four in Abbott's Purchase. Benj. Weld, the owner of much land, for whom the town of Weld is named, was fol- lowed by his son, William, who took all of Carthage and one-half of the remaining towns and subsequently conveyed them to Dr. LaFay- ette Perkins, the first physician in Weld, in 1815. The first settlers were Wm. Bowley and a Mr. Winter. The former built what are called Bow- ley's Mills on Webb River. These early settlers came about 1803 when the town was lotted by Samuel Adams. It was incorporated in 1826 and given the name of the ancient African city. The principal village is Berry's Mills on Webb River in the western part of the town.
The influence of Scottish immigrants appears in only a few cases in the names of Maine towns. The present town of Medford was called Kilmarnock in 1824 at the instance of Gen. J. P. Boyd, a Scots- man who had purchased one-half of the town. The Bennoch Road, leading from Orono to Medford, was opened in 1826. It follows the west bank of the Penobscot and was built by John Bennoch who was originally from Scotland. He received grants of land in this area for building the road. It was doubtless at the request of these few Scottish people who were owners of land in this vicinity that the names Edin- burg, Argyle and Glenburn were bestowed upon these towns.
Glenburn, 1822
Located in Penobscot County, Glenburn bears a Scottish name. It was settled about 1806, but was not incorporated as a town until 1822. At that time it received the name of Judge Samuel Dutton of Bangor, who had a large interest in the township. Dutton had come to Bangor in 1801 from Hallowell, where he had been admitted to the bar the previous year. A sound lawyer, he was later a Judge of Probate of Penobscot County, one of the founders of Bangor Theological Semi- nary, a civil engineer and the agent for proprietors owning lands in the county.
In 1837 the name of the town was changed to Glenburn, a Scottish word made up of glen, a narrow valley, and burn, a small stream, therefore, a small stream (Kenduskeag) in a narrow valley.
Some notes are available concerning the early settlers of this town: George Worster came to Glenburn from Berwick, Maine, in 1805, coming first to Kenduskeag, then Levant, and finally to Glen- burn, then called Dutton. He was a farmer and lumberman in the western part of the town. Jonathan Vickery of Gorham came to Glen- burn in 1827. He also became a successful farmer and lumberman.
Austin Edson, a millwright from Randolph, Vermont, came to Glenburn in 1830. James Pendexter came from Cornish, Maine, in
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1843. That same year Abner French, son of Zadoc French, one of Bangor's earliest settlers, moved to Glenburn.
Edinburg, 1835
Situated as it is on the west side of the Penobscot River, this town was doubtless given the name of the Scottish capital at the re- quest of John Bennoch, previously mentioned as the builder of Ben- noch Road. Nearly six miles of this road are in Edinburg, and settle- ment is largely in its northern part. David Haynes, originally from Dresden, but later from Bangor, moved here on February 2, 1813. He was then the uppermost settler on the river, and so remained for four years. A man named Jonathan Roberts lived on the lot next below. At the time Haynes moved to the township of Edinburg, few settlers were there. Solomon Comstock lived on what is now called Comstock Point; just below him was Wm. Ayers, then James Spencer and on the lower lot, Sam Ayers.
The next settlers after Haynes in Edinburg were Jesse Hath- orn, Robert Nichols, Roland and Daniel Dudley and John Piper. Later came R. B. Tarbox, Isaac, Alvin, Elbridge and Aaron Haynes, all of whom remained there until after 1833.
David Haynes, mentioned as an early settler, assisted by his son, Alvin, carried the mail to Houlton once a week. The son carried the mail to Howland by wagon, where it was transferred to a boat which his father paddled to Scows' Landing, two miles above Matta- wamkeag on that river. Here was a camp where they met the Houlton crew and exchanged mails. The crew carried the mail through the woods seven miles to Jimscittiecook Falls, now Kingman, where they went by boat to the Forks, now Haynesville, then traveled on horse- back through the woods to Houlton. This took place in the early nine- teenth century. The town of Edinburg was incorporated in 1835.
Argyle, 1839
Here was the terminus and rafting of the upper Penobscot boom, located on the old stage route from Old Town to Edinburg. It was a part of the Ancient Birch Stream Settlement and of the subse- quent Argyle Plantation. The name of the plantation and town is that of a county in West Scotland. The town was incorporated in 1839 and reduced to plantation status again in 1938.
Among the earliest settlers was John Buzzell, a farmer and lum- berman who came about 1810. He was a grandson of the Penobscot pioneer, Jacob Buswell, the first settler of Bangor in 1769. Another old settler was Wm. Foster of Bradley, a pioneer in 1815 from Gray. Isaac Buzzell, son of John, was a most prominent man in town, not only holding all the several town offices, but also serving as a member of
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the State Legislature. Wm. Foster, already noted, was also an out- standing citizen, and Isaac Freeze from Bangor was an early lumber- man on the river.
Among other early settlers were Wm. Bailey, John and Philip Spencer, Jr., Wm., George and John Freese, John Marsh, Stephen Buzzell, Wm. Costigan, Samuel Grant and his sons, Joshua Eldridge, Nathaniel Danforth and a man by the name of Ilsey.
Three towns of Maine are of Swedish origin :
Linneus, 1836
The land included in the township of Linneus, Maine, in Aroostook County was originally granted to Harvard College in 1804 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to endow a botany professor- ship, and was named for Linnæus, the Swedish botanist.
The first settler on the tract was Daniel Neal of New Bruns- wick, in 1826. He had lived previously in Maine, but had gone to Can- ada to practice his trade of ship's carpenter, coming from there to his forest home in the new grant. After living here for about ten years, he moved to Jackson Brook. Soon after the coming of Neal, a man named Nesmith settled near Cold Spring. He had formerly lived in Thomas- ton, Maine; from there he had gone to Miramichi. He suffered losses in the great fire at that place and, in company with a man by, the name of Anderson, came to Linneus, built a camp and made im- provements. Later the place was sold to Colonel Benjamin Rackliffe.
The opening of the "soldier road" induced soldiers to come to Linneus. In 1828 or 1829 Samuel and John Shields came from New Brunswick and settled near the line of Hodgdon, clearing up farms where they lived for many years. Mr. John Jones came the same year and settled near them. Colonel John Rackliffe came from Waldo County about 1829 and settled a short distance south of Linneus Cor- ner. He was for years a prominent citizen of the town. Jacob Martin came about the same time and lived in the town for many years.
Captain Moses Burleigh of Palermo, who settled here in 1830, was a captain in the militia of Maine in the War of 1812. He was sta- tioned at Belfast with his company when the British ascended the Penobscot River to capture the U. S. Corvette "Adams" then under- going repairs at Hampden. Here at Linneus, he was appointed assist- ant land agent and took an active part in expelling trespassers from this vicinity. Many members of this family have held very important positions in the state and county. The younger son, Hon. Edwin C. Burleigh, became governor of the state in 1888.
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