USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 16
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Pembroke, 1832
This Washington County town was named for Pembroke, Wales, whence came the crude salt which was refined as table salt in the salt works of the Maine town. "Pembroke salt" was widely known. The name of the town was given by Jerry Burgin, Esq., of Eastport, who gave the town its first set of books for the privilege of naming it.
The territory was settled in 1774, the pioneers coming from Gouldsborough, Maine. By 1780 other settlers had arrived, for the most part from other sections of Maine and Massachusetts. Pembroke was a part of Dennysville until February 4, 1832, when it was set off and incorporated under its present name. The Indian name was Pem- maquam, that of the river which is the principal stream of the town.
The pioneer settler was Hatevil Leighton of Gouldsborough; Edmund Meagher (Mahar) and Wm. Clark came in 1780 and settled near Cobscook Falls. They were followed by Robert Ash, M. Denho, Joseph Bridges, Zadoc and Caleb Hersey, Samuel Sprague, Theophilus and Bela Wilder, Moses Gardner, and M. Dunbar, most of whom came from Maine and Massachusetts. Theophilus Wilder is said to have been a resident as early as 1740. The Herseys and Theophilus Wilder were Revolutionary soldiers, and the latter was a captain under Gen- eral Gates and present at the surrender of Burgoyne. The large, square stone building of the old Iron Works resembles an old fort. The plant was established in 1828 with machinery brought from Wales. General Ezekiel Foster, an enterprising merchant of Eastport, was the origina- tor of the business.
Ephraim Abbott, in his Journal entry of August 2, 1811, writes:
Went on to Penmaquam, lodged with Mr. Warren Gardner. Sun. Aug. 11 preached two sermons at his home, went to Mr. Bela Wilders to pass the night. At West Cove held meeting at the home of Mr. James Mahar, a very poor set- tlement about four or five miles from P. On Mar. 31, 1812 went to Pemmaquan visited Mr. Samuel Leighton and Capt. Hardy. Apr. 2 visited Mr. Zadoc Hersey's family on the east side of Pemmaquam. Preached and lectured at Mr. Isaiah Hersey's in the afternoon and in the evening on the west side.
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April 3 visited Ox Cove Mr. Joseph Bridges, Abraham Bridges and John Carter and preached a lecture at Mr. Solomon Cush- ing's.
Naples, 1834
Some widely traveled people have said that this town in Cum- berland County on Lake Sebago rivals in beauty its namesake on the Bay of Naples in Italy.
Made up of parts of the neighboring towns of Otisfield, Harri- son, Raymond and Bridgton, it was incorporated under its present name in 1834.
Squire George Pierce, who built the first mill at Edes Falls, be- came not only Naples' first citizen, but its first physician, surgeon, lawyer and millwright as well. The proprietors of the original town of Otisfield set aside Lot 65 at Edes Falls on February 17, 1774, for the use of a mill to encourage the settlers. Mr. Pierce agreed to build a saw mill by November, 1774, and a grist mill by November, 1775, for which he was to receive 50 pounds and 20 pounds respectively on their com- pletion.
Joseph Marsh built a tannery as early as 1791 where he dressed skins obtained from trappers. In 1799 Eleazier Bartlett and two sons made the first opening in a dense forest between Crooked River and Long Lake, half a mile west of Edes Falls, known now as Bartlett's Corner. At this period Nathan Gerry and Eliot Staples built Naples' first inn and "entertained travelers." In 1816, this inn, known as the Elm House under the ownership of John Chute, became famous as Maine's first temperance hotel. The first public building to be built in the village of Naples was the schoolhouse in 1822, near the steam- boat landing. Back on a small hill, a tiny clearing was made the next year by Thomas Stevens and a store, under the management of Joshua Chadbourne, was opened soon after by Benj. Goodridge. All else was forest. Enoch Gammon, a lumberman, kept goods for the accommoda- tion of his hands in his house near Mast Cove, north of Naples on Long Pond, where large numbers of masts were rafted. The post of- fice was opened in 1828, under the name of South Otisfield, with Abra- ham W. Chute as postmaster. His first quarterly report was for 371/2 cents.
Naples' story begins, as does that of practically all Maine towns, with extensive lumber operations and saw mills, followed by cattle and dairy farms as soon as the land was cleared.
Madrid, 1836
The only Maine town to bear a Spanish name is Madrid, named for the capital of Spain. The interest in foreign and classical
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names or admiration for the struggles of foreign peoples which was rife in our country at this time accounts for the borrowing of the name. Settlements were started in our present Madrid, Maine, about 1807 and 1808. The township was formerly owned by Mr. Jonathan Phil- lips of Boston, but passed into the hands of Jacob Abbott; it is situated about twenty miles northwest of the Court House in Farmington. Abel Cook, David Ross, John Sargent, Lemuel Plummer, Miller Hinckley, Joseph Dunham, Ebenezer Cawkins and Nathaniel Wells were among the first settlers.
Madrid had three saw mills, a grist mill, two clapboard ma- chines, and two shingle machines, but no house of public worship - according to the Gazeteer of Maine, published in 1881. Meetings were held in the schoolhouses from the time of the first settlements. A Free Will Baptist organization was early formed under the supervision of Joseph Dyer. The Sandy River at the southwestern part of the town is the site of the chief business center. Right from the village center is Chandler Mill Stream, which joins the Sandy River. On both of these water courses are a series of cascades and lovely falls.
Verona, 1861
This town is an island toward the mouth of the Penobscot River off Bucksport and Orland. It was anciently called Penobscot Island then Wetmore's Island and Orphans Island.
In 1763 there were three families on the lower end of the island and no settlers above on the river. After the Revolutionary War, the heirs of the Waldo Patent claimed it and the General Court granted their claim. The island was owned by the wife of Wm. Wet- more, a granddaughter of General Waldo and daughter of Sam- uel Waldo of Falmouth. Wm. Wetmore was a lawyer in Castine; he may have come as early as 1789. He was the only lawyer in Castine ever elevated to the degree of barrister, an honor which required the recipient to appear in court in wig and gown. He was born in 1749, graduated from Harvard in 1770 and settled in what is now Castine. He is said to have been Judge of Probate in Hancock County.
It was to Wm. Wetmore that on May 18, 1879, Samuel Waldo of Boston sold one half of this island; and on May 2, 1790, Lucy Waldo of Boston sold a quarter of the same for $300. Widow Sarah Waldo sold him the remainder of the island.
It was called Orphans Island for a while because it was all that remained for General Henry Knox, who owned a large portion of the Waldo Patent, to bequeath to his orphan grandchildren.
When the town was incorporated in 1861, it adopted the name of Verona, an ancient Italian city in Venezia, whose splendid monu-
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ments rendered it attractive to travelers. Historically important since the time of Charlemagne, it changed hands in many campaigns.
"The Wayfarer," commenting on the "outlandish name of Verona," says that like some others, it has no significance, nor any re- lationship to any person or ancient name in the vicinity.
Under the census of 1790, the following are given as living in Orphan Town (Verona) : Syrenus Collins, Bazilah Hopkins, Peleg Hearsy, James Scott, Wm. Nickerson, James Cunningham, James Buckley, Wm. Mace, Moses Blaisdell, Moses Sanders, Caleb Merrill, Frederick Hames, Isaac Webber, Benj. Lillie, Eleazer Walker, Elipha- let Perkins, James Abbott, Wm. Grout, Wm. Pomroy, Joseph York, John Crocker, Benj. Rawlins, Thos. Cummins, Jonathan Blake and Samuel Richards.
Sorrento, 1895
Situated in Hancock County, this town is located on French- man's Bay and offers a vista of mountains and sea which makes it, in the minds of many travelers, the counterpart of its namesake, the Italian city on the Bay of Naples. It was formerly a part of Sullivan, but was set off and incorporated in 1895.
Cadillac was the French lord here in the seventeenth century. Douaquet, as it was then called, was one of the seigneuries established by the French authorities at strategic points. The Indians frequented Sorrento with their furs, since access was easy through many streams and rivers and over short portages.
The first English families of Waukeag Neck, now Sorrento, were Benjamin Ash, James and John Bean, Ebeneezer, Moses and Joseph Bragdon, Richard Downing, Samuel and William Ingalls, John, Nathaniel and Samuel Preble, Daniel Sullivan, Jabez Simpson, John Urann, John White and Benj. Welch.
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CHAPTER X Names of Maine Towns Derived from Other States in the Union
In the period following the Revolutionary War, large numbers of immigrants came into the District of Maine from Massachusetts, em- boldened by its splendid forests, its fine water power and its productive land. They, like the earlier emigrants from England, France or Ireland, chose to name the new towns which they established in loving memory of their Massachusetts homes, many of them having been previously transferred from English towns. Even before the Revolutionary War, a few Maine towns offer examples of this transference of Massachu- setts names.
New Gloucester, 1774
Maine's twenty-ninth town, incorporated in 1774, had been granted by the General Court in 1735 to sixty inhabitants of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Massachusetts, whence the Maine town derived its name with the natural prefix "New." A survey of this town into lots was made in 1737, at which time the proprietors stated they "had erected nineteen framed houses and a saw mill, thrown two bridges across Roy- all's river at the cost of 400 pounds, made twelve miles of good road and cleared considerable land." It was in the autumn of 1742 that the household goods of the pioneer settlers were landed at the mouth of Royall's River and poled up the stream on rafts to the bridge which had been erected.
During the French and Indian wars, 1741-1751, the settlement was abandoned, but in 1753 some of the inhabitants returned, building a blockhouse which for six years served as a home, a fort and a church.
A portion of the town was laid out and drawn by lot on Feb- ruary 17, 1738; and the remainder was apportioned in 1765, 1767, 1773 and 1790. Four lots were reserved as mill lots, for which the oc- cupants were required to erect mills within two years. John Willett was sent, soon after the first drawing, to open a cart road from the point of debarkation on Cousins River to the present village and to construct a bridge across Royall River. To induce settlement 30 pounds were of- fered to those who would remain three years, 20 pounds for two years, and 10 pounds for one-year settlers. The first clearing was made by Jonas Mason on the east slope of Harris Hill, west of Stevens Brook.
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Other inducements were offered and in 1744 Capt. Isaac Everleth came to advance the interests of the proprietors and open more roads. John Meguire came at the age of fifteen in 1748 and in the summer of that year remained alone in camp while the others went across the river to cut the meadow hay which they owned in common. He was to watch the oxen and sound the alarm for Indians. About this time, the settlers were ordered away for their own safety by the military authorities.
After the return of some of the settlers in 1753, James Procter of Woburn garrisoned the fort with six men, two of whom were killed and a third scalped by the Indians. During a six-year period the set- tlers sought shelter there each night and sallied forth to work, while one kept guard over his fellows. Joseph Tyler was captured by the In- dians in 1755 and afterward became an interpreter. In 1756 the gar- rison was put on half-pay by the government of Massachusetts. In 1760 the saw and grist mills were completed on Royall River at Great Falls.
The heads of families were John Stinchfield, David Millett, Wm. Stevens, Humphrey Woodbury, Samuel Worthley, Benjamin Hammon, John Meguire, John Stinchfield, Jr., Horton Mitchell, Captain Nathaniel Everleth, Wm. McLane, and Wm. Stinchfield all of whom were born in this country, except John Stinchfield. Eight more families moved into the town before winter came. Colonel Isaac Parsons settled on a farm near the village in 1761. John Woodman settled in the valley below, near the bridge.
The proprietors' records were moved from Gloucester, Massa- chusetts, to New Gloucester, Maine, in 1763. At a meeting in the fort, Samuel Merrill was chosen moderator and treasurer; Colonel Isaac Parsons, clerk; Jonathan Tyler, Daniel Merrill, Wm. Harris, commit- tee and assessors; Nathaniel Everleth, collector and Wm. Harris, sur- veyor of roads.
In May, 1776, Capt. Isaac Parsons left for the War with 55 men. In 1787 the old fort was sold for seven bushels of corn. New Gloucester became a half-shire town with Portland in 1792.
The jury rooms were in the old Bell Tavern, kept by Peleg Chandler in 1782. A whipping post was erected near the pounds, and stocks were made in which some of the community usually spent their Sundays. In 1825 there were five stores, five taverns and one social library, established in 1795. Rev. Samuel Foxcroft (Harvard, 1754) was the first minister and officiated until 1802.
Shaker Village was organized in 1791. The earliest of the sect came in 1783 under the leadership of Elder John Barnes, whose as- sociates were Robert McFarland, Eldress Sarah Kendell and Lucy Prescott.
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New Sharon, 1794
New Sharon in Franklin County was settled about 1782. In 1791 it was granted to Prince Baker and others by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and continued to be settled so rapidly that it was incorporated in 1794. Williamson states that this township was a part of the tract granted to the representatives of Captain William Tyng and his company in consideration of their sufferings and services dur- ing the dangerous pursuit on snowshoes of the Indian enemy during the first winter of Queen Anne's War. It was therefore first called Tyngstown. Afterward it was called Unity and finally took the name New Sharon, from the Massachusetts town, Sharon, with the prefix "New." The name of the Massachusetts town was taken from a plain in Palestine, and refers to the fields where David's herds fed.
Prince Baker of Pembroke, Massachusetts, one of the grantees of the township in 1791, was the earliest settler. He was followed by Nathaniel Tibbets, Benj. Chambers, Benj. Rollins, James Howes and Samuel Prescott. The village of New Sharon is one of the prettiest in the state. It is situated on both sides of the Sandy River where a na- tural fall is increased by a dam and the stream spanned by a bridge. Abel Baker built the first mills at the falls in 1801. They afterward passed into the hands of Francis Mayhew, by whom they were rebuilt and much improved. The water power privilege at the falls is a superior one and the location possesses many advantages for a business place. It has had, at various times, a grist mill, a saw mill, a shingle ma- chine, starch factory, one or more tanneries, a fulling mill, a carding machine, a number of blacksmith shops, and many mechanics. In these times there are lumber and wood products mills and a corn canning factory. Week's Mills in the northwest part of the town had an early set of mills and a starch factory, both now abandoned.
The bridge across the Sandy River at the village was first erected about 1809 or 1810 and has since been rebuilt with solid stone abutments. A church was first organized in 1801 and in 1815 the Rev- erend Hezekiah Hall came to town. George Dana Boardman, the de- voted and distinguished missionary to Burma, was a native of this town.
New Vineyard, 1802
Located in Franklin County, the town was incorporated as the one hundred and thirty-fourth town in Maine in 1802. As a plantation it had been called by the same name as well as by Number 2 on the west side of the Kennebec River, north of the Plymouth Patent. It was settled in 1791 by parties from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, among whom was Captain Nathan Daggett, pilot of the French fleet
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commanded by Count D'Estaing. Thus this Maine town, like those al- ready mentioned, bears the name of the earlier home of its settlers.
The township was purchased from Massachusetts by the group from Martha's Vineyard, together with Jonathan Knowlton, of Farm- ington, who acted as their agent. Daniel Collins and Abner Norton, having previously started improvements, moved in with their families in 1791, thus becoming the first settlers.
These were soon followed by Samuel Daggett, James Manter, Ephriam Butler, John Spencer, Cornelius Norton, David Davis, John Daggett, Benjamin Benson, Joseph Smith, Henry Butler, Herbert Boardman, Charles Luce, Henry Norton, William Farrand, Seth Hil- man, Ezra Winslow and Calvin Burden.
Settlements were soon begun north of the mountains, by people mostly from Middleboro, Massachusetts. Among these occur the names of George, Eleazer, Paul and Remiah Pratt, Elias Bryant, Simeon Hackett, Jabez Vaughn and Cephaniah Morton.
New Vineyard Village, formerly known as Vaughn's Mills, near the middle of the town, is the chief business center. It has had, in the past, two saw mills, a grist and spool mills; now it has a box manufac- tory and a wood-turning mill.
A range of mountains crosses the town from southwest to north- east, dividing the waters of Sandy River from those of the Carabasset on the north. The scenery in some parts is strikingly beautiful.
Andover, 1804
Andover in Oxford County was incorporated in 1804 as the one hundred and fifty-eighth town in the District. The township had been purchased in 1791 from Massachusetts by Samuel Johnson and others of Old Andover in that Commonwealth. The corporate town in the District of Maine derived its name from Andover, Massachu- setts, from which nine-tenths of the first inhabitants emigrated.
It was first called East Andover, the word "east" having been used to distinguish it from Old Andover, while it was a part of Massa- chusetts. Since 1821 it has been Andover. It was first settled in 1789 by Ezekiel Merrill, Esq., who came with his wife and six children from Andover, Massachusetts, to this place, having stopped by the way at Fryeburg. He and his three sons drew their effects on hand sleds through the woods; the only guide was a spotted trail of the Indians. Mrs. Merrill lived here for three years without seeing the face of a white woman except those of her own daughters. The next settlers were Jonathan Abbott, Samuel and Sylvanus Poor, Theodore Brickett, Francis Swan, Josiah Wright, John Abbott, Jeremiah Burnham and others from Andover, Massachusetts. These were of the most respect- able families of Old Andover, and this namesake on the borders of
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civilization has ever been noted for its good society and high standard of morals. The first mills were erected in 1791 by Colonel Thomas Poor. The first church was formed in 1804, the first settled minister being the Reverend John Strickland, in 1806.
Andover, Maine, was the birthplace of John A. Poor, whose conceptions and ambitions one needs to know as a background for an understanding of the railroad history of Maine. He believed in the development of Maine as the shipping center of Canada and the Great Lakes District, and persuaded many persons to his opinions.
In 1845 the cheapest route from Ohio to England was by way of the St. Lawrence River. It was Poor's plan to tap this artery of com- merce and to divert the flow of trade to the open winter harbors on the Maine coast. The railroad through Maine would be a trunk line, from which branches would radiate and thus connect the United States with the Maritime Provinces. The story of the development of rail- roads in Maine is the story of the fulfillment of Poor's dreams.
Charleston, 1811
Maine's one hundred and eighty-first town was Charleston in Penobscot County. It was first called New Charleston, to distinguish it from Charleston in Massachusetts proper; but after Maine became a state in 1820, the adjective was no longer necessary and so was dropped. The township is Number 2 in the Fifth Range. The first white settler on it came in 1795, when the owner was Charles Vaughn. According to Mr. B. S. Foss of Charleston, to whom I am indebted for the information, this first settler was Joseph Bridgham, and his son Elsworth was the first child born in town. On July 14, 1802, the township was granted to John Lowell. Less than nine years after that, it was ready for incorporation as a town and became New Charleston on February 16, 1811.
At the time it was incorporated Charleston had nearly 250 inhabitants. The first church in town was Calvinistic Baptist, formed in 1810 or 1811, partly under the leadership of the Reverend Paul Ruggles of Carmel. Reverend Henry Hale was its first settled minister. It had sixty-seven members in 1821.
Hiram Tibbetts, whose father had come from England at an early date, came to Charleston from Kenduskeag in 1825 and in 1840 settled near the center of the town. He was a splendid citizen and held many public offices. Solomon Dunning came early to Charleston from Levant and followed the mercantile business with Amasa Holden in Charleston Center for about forty years. He was selectman for a num- ber of years, County Commissioner for one term, and a member of the Legislature for two terms. Mark Scribner came from Kennebec County in 1829 and settled on a farm, continuing as a farmer for his
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entire life. Lyman Lord came from Lyman about 1827, first settled at Bradford, but came to Charleston in 1843. Job Foss, from New Hamp- shire, located in Charleston in 1831 as a farmer. Franklin King, born in Whitefield, first settled in Bradford about 1836. His son Ansel was a prominent citizen and received a liberal education at several acade- mies and engaged in mining in California for some five or six years. He was selectman, supervisor of schools and Trial Justice of Penobscot County. Wm. Peaks of Dedham, Maine, a mill man by trade, arrived in Charleston in 1839. His son, Thomas J., served with distinction in the Civil War, returned to Charleston as a merchant and held import- ant offices in town and state. Among other early settlers of the town were Jefferson Stevens, as early as 1828, and Levi Marshall, around 1850.
In the western part of the town several brooks unite and form the northern branch of the Kenduskeag; other streams form them- selves into the west branch and east branch of Pushaw Stream where there are good water powers, formerly occupied by mills. The principal occupation in Charleston is agriculture.
Canton, 1821
The Canton and Dixfield Register of 1905 records: On Feb- ruary 5, 1821, an act to divide the town of Jay and to incorporate the westerly part into a township by the name of Canton, for Canton, in Massachusetts, was passed by the Maine legislature and signed by the first governor of the state."
Some writers disagree with this statement, since a study of the names of the proprietors of "Phipps Canada" (later Jay) does not indicate that a single one of them came from Canton, Massachusetts, but they all did come from other towns near Boston.
A careful study, however, of the names given to towns in the newly established State of Maine shows a strong tendency to use Massachusetts designations. From west to east in the Maine town of Canton flows the Androscoggin in a zigzag course. In its great southern bend, at the center of the town, is Canton Point Village and post of- fice. On the southern side at the point, the Androscoggin receives Whitney Brook, the outlet of Whitney Pond which occupies a portion of the southwestern area of the town. At a fine water power on the outlet near the pond is Canton Village and post office. Here have been Canton Mills, consisting of a saw mill, manufacturing short lumber, a shook and stave mill and a grist mill. At present these are replaced by a tannery and canning factories.
Along the river and Whitney Pond there is much fine farm land, and the town is not surpassed by any for agricultural purposes. At Canton Point, the Rockomeko of the Indians, there is a large and
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beautiful tract of intervale which at its first occupation by the white people showed the hills which usually mark long-forsaken corn fields.
The first efforts of settlements at Canton Point were made in 1790, or 1792. Wm. Livermore, Moses Coolidge, Henry Goding, Peter Austin, Abraham Peterson, Edward Shepherd, Wm. French, Joseph Coolidge and Alexander Shepherd were among the first settlers. They were followed by others, principally from Massachusetts. Peter Austin had been one of the first selectmen in Jay at the first town meeting in 1795; Wm. Livermore was treasurer at this same date and served as town clerk from 1795 to 1801; Henry Goding and his wife were among those helping to form the Baptist Church on Jay Hill in 1799; Joseph Coolidge was one of the first to make his home in Jay, going to Hallo- well on horseback for the purchase of corn which he had ground at Wayne.
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